This month, Exclaim! started posting our annual year-end lists. Of course, readers had many different opinions on what should and should not have been on the lists. Here is some of the highlights of what they had to say.
Frank Ocean took the No. 1 spot in the Groove list and there was much discussion on this in the comments. BobbyHiltz said, "Not a big fan of the #1 choice, but I am glad to see BBNG on a year-end list." HankPond added, "Enough with the stupid Frank Ocean already…It's not that impressive. Miguel, also nothing much to speak of. But, yeah, after the first two, the rest of the list is great. Much love for BADBADNOTGOOD and Georgia Anne Muldrow."
Other commenters asked HankPond to address why he thought the record wasn't impressive. He fired back with, "I don't think it's bad by any stretch. It's even good occasionally. 'Pyramids' in particular. I just didn't find it to be all that revolutionary or cathartic, let alone consider it to be the greatest album of all-time, which its amount of #1 EOTY list placements would suggest. The album seems to be more of a success of marketing than actual music, which makes me sad for all the other artists being left off lists like this because they chose to keep their heads down and make good music rather than hone their social media skills. From where I'm sitting, Frank Ocean isn't that much different from Al Walser, though Ocean's music is clearly better."
However, it was the Pop and Rock lists that garnered the most discussion. Steven de Taeye said, "Thanx for another lacklustre year end list. You guys are starting to turn into Pitchfork. Unreliable, pretentious and flavour of the week were never attributes I would associate with Exclaim. But 2012 has proven my monthly excitement for your issue was energy wasted. Sigh." Another commenter Ian was actually disappointed Mumford & Sons didn't make the list, and AV said, "Dirty Projectors SUCK!"
Kenneth rebutted with, "The two new record shy the Swans and Godspeed were hardly 'flavour of the week' or 'pretentious' by the way, shape or means. While I don't agree with the choices on the list (who would want to?) some of them do have merit — simply saying 'Dirty Projects SUCK!' gets us nowhere."
Jazz had kinder words saying, "Just wanted to echo the sentiments of the other commenters and thank you guys for taking the time to put together a thoughtful array of year-end coverage with dim prospects of gratitude or appreciation from your readership. While many of the choices on the above list don't quite chime with my own, I understand that listeners possess varying frames of reference, which dramatically colour what we hear when we hear certain pieces of music. And hey, you guys probably listened to a hell-load more albums than I did right? Hahaha. Anyway, keep up the good work guys, and here's hoping next year's list is comprised entirely of albums I have heard and approved of, because then the world would be a really interesting place…kidding! xoxoxoxo."
Finally, in response to the Dance and Electronic best-of list, HankPond said, "You can tell that a lot of people who don't listen to much electronic music put this list together. Yeesh." TimmyTom added "Yeah, super MOR list. Only a few interesting selections. Doesn't go deep at all and hardly any interesting outliers included." What constituted a record was also argued. The More You Know stated, "CFCF's record was an EP, not an album."
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Frank Ocean took the No. 1 spot in the Groove list and there was much discussion on this in the comments. BobbyHiltz said, "Not a big fan of the #1 choice, but I am glad to see BBNG on a year-end list." HankPond added, "Enough with the stupid Frank Ocean already…It's not that impressive. Miguel, also nothing much to speak of. But, yeah, after the first two, the rest of the list is great. Much love for BADBADNOTGOOD and Georgia Anne Muldrow."
Other commenters asked HankPond to address why he thought the record wasn't impressive. He fired back with, "I don't think it's bad by any stretch. It's even good occasionally. 'Pyramids' in particular. I just didn't find it to be all that revolutionary or cathartic, let alone consider it to be the greatest album of all-time, which its amount of #1 EOTY list placements would suggest. The album seems to be more of a success of marketing than actual music, which makes me sad for all the other artists being left off lists like this because they chose to keep their heads down and make good music rather than hone their social media skills. From where I'm sitting, Frank Ocean isn't that much different from Al Walser, though Ocean's music is clearly better."
However, it was the Pop and Rock lists that garnered the most discussion. Steven de Taeye said, "Thanx for another lacklustre year end list. You guys are starting to turn into Pitchfork. Unreliable, pretentious and flavour of the week were never attributes I would associate with Exclaim. But 2012 has proven my monthly excitement for your issue was energy wasted. Sigh." Another commenter Ian was actually disappointed Mumford & Sons didn't make the list, and AV said, "Dirty Projectors SUCK!"
Kenneth rebutted with, "The two new record shy the Swans and Godspeed were hardly 'flavour of the week' or 'pretentious' by the way, shape or means. While I don't agree with the choices on the list (who would want to?) some of them do have merit — simply saying 'Dirty Projects SUCK!' gets us nowhere."
Jazz had kinder words saying, "Just wanted to echo the sentiments of the other commenters and thank you guys for taking the time to put together a thoughtful array of year-end coverage with dim prospects of gratitude or appreciation from your readership. While many of the choices on the above list don't quite chime with my own, I understand that listeners possess varying frames of reference, which dramatically colour what we hear when we hear certain pieces of music. And hey, you guys probably listened to a hell-load more albums than I did right? Hahaha. Anyway, keep up the good work guys, and here's hoping next year's list is comprised entirely of albums I have heard and approved of, because then the world would be a really interesting place…kidding! xoxoxoxo."
Finally, in response to the Dance and Electronic best-of list, HankPond said, "You can tell that a lot of people who don't listen to much electronic music put this list together. Yeesh." TimmyTom added "Yeah, super MOR list. Only a few interesting selections. Doesn't go deep at all and hardly any interesting outliers included." What constituted a record was also argued. The More You Know stated, "CFCF's record was an EP, not an album."
Make your opinion on Exclaim! content heard by speaking up on Exclaim.ca, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
