[image by Gerd Arntz]
Its hard to get a feel for how many people I know who listen to music actually read music reviews, or if they just check for ratings. I’ll admit that I do a bit of the latter; I mean how could you not when most sites lead with a number. I think I started to be turned off to reviews by Pitchfork. And don’t get me wrong, they deserve credit for finding a place for music reviewing in the digital internets age, and have plugged many a band that I have come to enjoy. But with the exception maybe of Ian Cohen’s excellent Nas review, their formulaic overall feel/track descriptions/final summary reviews rarely carry the depth of knowledge and insight that make Cokemachineglow reviews so engaging. CMG reviews speak with the passion of a fan and with the reserve of someone who wants to win an argument so bad they will hit you over the head if you miss a point. And they’re incredibly entertaining. Oftentimes, even hilarious.
These were my favorite reviews of the year. Each managed to either open my mind to something that I missed in an album or most succinctly (and funny-like) express opinions that I shared. If you’re bored over the holidays, I promise there is some good reading in here. I was thinking of giving a little backlash and posting what I felt were the most overrated acts of the year, but I think that save Adele & Fleet Foxes, this pretty much covers it. Thanks, CMG, for the entertainment and education:
01. Wolf Parade (Mark Abraham)
“We’re so hard-wired as humans to define ourselves through the shit we buy […] that we produce alternative consumer cultures where the objects we own mean what we want ourselves to mean and then we turn around and say we live a different way than our parents.”
02. Black Milk (Chet Betz)
“This is what RZA wishes new RZA sounded like. ”
03. Black Kids (Colin McGowan)
“In other words, everything is wrong: this is not how their ‘brand’ should be translated; and it is a brand, a major label representation of what indie kids are dancing to or have been dancing to, enjoyably, ecstatically, since before the Kids were born.”
04. Invincible (Mark Abraham)
“She chronicles the entire complex history of gentrification in a couple of minutes.”
05. Why? (Colin McGowan)
“A multi-faceted effort featuring some unexpectedly pleasant pop sensibilities and a handful of one-liners that recall the grim hilarity of Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?”
06. She & Him (Jessica Faulds)
“And if you’re going to write music that sounds like the ’60s (and ’50s and ’70s) but survives in 2008, then you’d better write the best songs the ’60s (and ’50s and ’70s) have to offer.”
07. No Age (Alan Baban)
“This is hardcore made by a bunch of cool people, for a bunch of sort of cool people and also, loosely, about a bunch of other, less cool people who do stuff and say things and drink beer and most probably cry into their pillows (when they’re not whispering secrets into it).”
08. Vampire Weekend (David Ritter)
“It is this shallow but overwhelming slathering of Afro-pop influence that makes an album full of strong, nerdy songs so irritating.”
09. The Roots (Mark Abraham)
“Yes, I remember when the Black-Eyed Peas deplored selling out too. They got over the hump.”
10. of Montreal (Christopher Alexander)
“Kevin Barnes made this record for Kevin Barnes, and it’s clear that he hates himself.”
