The Wire Top 50

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Anyone know if this has been posted online?

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

why don't you go look for yourself, you lazt twat.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

well, i did, but i couldn't locate it.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

so what makes you think any of us could? do you imagine us to have special powers or something?

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

well, no. and there's no reason to take such a tone. i was only asking.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

i apologize if i came off as being surly. but we're tired of people posting these threads that request info that, based on the lack of responses, we could obviously give a shit about.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

Didn't we already have a thread on this?

― detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

fair enough. i suppose i'll just wait. now go on and get back to discussing a subject more deserving of your time.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

so what makes you think any of us have time? do you imagine us to be unemployed or something?

― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

hey dude, i was only asking.

― TRG (TRG), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Is the new issue of The Wire actually in shops? I'll need to pop down to Smiths if it is.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)

use one search function

― detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:54 (twenty years ago)

xxx-post: if you're posting to this thread, you have time to kill.
xx-post: not sure if it's actually on the street yet, but the new issue is posted at their web site (without links to the list).
x-post: search for "the wire", "wire 2005 top albums", "top 50 wire albums", etc... proved fruitless.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

Probably helpful:

REWIND 2005
To illustrate our 50 Records Of The Year Chart 2005 we've collated 10 tracks for your listening pleasure from a selection of labels and artists. The tracks are all streamed at 40kbs mono.

Ariel Pink - Immune To Emotion from Worn Copy
CocoRosie - Noah's Ark from Noah's Ark
Edan - I See Colours from Beauty & The Beat
Konono No1 - Kule Kule from Congotronics
Tetuzi Akiyama - Fast Machine (for Alan Licht) from Route 13 to the Gates Of Hell: Live in Tokyo
The Books - Be Good To Them Always from Lost And Safe
The Chap - Woop Woop from HAM
The Focus Group - You Do Not See Me from Hey Let Loose Your Love
The Lappetites - My Within from Before The Libretto
Thuja - Fit The third from Pine Cone Temples

http://www.thewire.co.uk/web/mp3specials.php

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Thursday, 15 December 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

Is the new issue of The Wire actually in shops?

Dunno 'bout dem shops, but I got my January ish. in the mail today. (And I don't even live anywhere near Britain :)

So, 50 Records Of The Year.
The first ten:

The Books, Lost And Safe
MIA, Arular
Animal Collective, Feels
Richard Youngs, The Naive Shaman
The Lappetites, Before The Libretto
The Focus Group, Hey Let Loose Your Love
LCD Soundsystem
Tetuzi akiyama, Route 13 To The Gates Of Hell: Live In Tokyo
CocoRosie, Noah's ark
Boards Of Canada, The Campfire Headphase

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

If you dont mind typing it out... what was the top 10 in the avant rock list?
Was Sunno))), Boris or Khanate in it or the main lists?

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

Sunn O))) was on the Top Ten I sent them (along with Orthrelm).

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

t: will you be posting the remainder? it was be much appreciated. at your own pace, of course.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

anyone heard the richard youngs? surprised, but happy to see hey let loose finish so high.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

I usually type out the lists if i have them, but i don't have my copy of The Wire yet. I'm pretty sure the only shop in my town that sells it wont get it til monday at earliest.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

MIA? LCD SOUNDSYSTEM? give me a fucking break. no sufjan, no credibility. fuck the wire.

― Tynan DeLong (TynanTynan!), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:47 (twenty years ago)

People who listen to Sufjan Stephens on purpose don't deserve to have ears.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

i was wondering how long it would take for someone to exclaim: fuck the wire! shocked it was someone pining for sufjan, though. not exactly wire-y, now is he?

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

erm...

Top 50/ Pt.II (Nos 11-20)

Antony & The Johnsons, I Am A Bird Now
Ariel Pink, Worn Copy
The Chap, Ham
Black Mountain
Isoleé, We Are Monster
David Behrman, My Dear Siegfried
The Sealed Knot, Unwanted Object
Kokono No 1, Congotronics
Edan, The Beauty And The Beat
Jackson & His Computer Band, Smash
-----

Avant Rock A-Z

Birchville Cat Motel w/ Lee Ranaldo, 30th December 2004
Burning Star Core, The Very Heart of the world
Double Leopards, Out Of One Through One And To One
Earth, Hex;
Hisato Higuchi, 2004 11 2005 4
Jandek, Glasgow sunday
Mouthus, Slow Globes
MV/EE & The Bummer Road, We Offer You Guru
Om, Variations On A Theme
Skullflower, Orange Canyon Mind
Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Wedlock
Sunn O))), Black One
Jack Rose, Kensington Blues
Yeloow Swans/ Grey Daturas, Copper/ Silver
Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice, Buck Dharma
------------

Tynan: Sufjan is in the 3rd ten, "No.28"

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:55 (twenty years ago)

wired then, he is.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

Top 50, Pt.III (HUHUh-UHUH)

"Nos.21-30"

Lightning Bolt, Hypermagic Mountain
Lau Nau, Kuutarha
Thuja, Pine Cone Temples
Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Wedlock
Kanye West, Late Registration
John Fahey, The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick
Mouthus, Slow Globes
Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise
Rova:Orkestrova, Electric Ascension
John Wall, Cphon

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

The Wire r001z !

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006V4KY0.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― ELLI$, Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

IT'S A CREDIBLE SOURCE
http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/archives/images/ap_logo.jpg

― detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

definitely prefer season 2, although all 3 are stellar. excellent list, ellis.

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:06 (twenty years ago)

didn't we already have a thread on the reliability of the AP?

― mohair (jon kapper), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

Pt.IV ("31-40")

Jamie Lidell, Multiply
Susan Howe & David Grubbs, Thiefth
Broadcast, Tender Buttons
Om, Variations On A Theme
Low, The Great Destroyer
Akron/Family, Akron/Family
John Coltrane, One Down One Up:Live At The Half Note
Brian Eno, Another Day On Earth
Josephine Foster, Hazel Eyes I Will LEad You
Prurient, Black Vase

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

Tp50, Pt V, 41-50

Bonnie 'Prince' Billie & Matt Sweeney, Superwolf
Sightings, Arrived In Gold
Masayuki Takayanagi, Action Direct
Einstürzende Neubauten, Grundstück
Pelt, Untitled
Matthew Herbert, Plat Du Jour
Buck 65, Secret House Against The world
Six Organs Of Admittance, School Of The Flower
Keiji Haino, Global Ancient Atmosphere
Eliane Radigue, Elemental II

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

I thought the first two Books records were superior to the third. And Earth's Hex just bored me. But that's the thing with lists.

― Brakhage (brakhage), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

I wonder how many votes some of these needed to get to place.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

Jolly good. Are you going to transcribe all those amazingly self-indulgent "Best/Worst" lists by everyone who went anywhere near the Wire offices in 2005?

― ortho_bob (ortho_bob), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

Pros: went everywhere and met everyone. Cons: mass death

― Brakhage (brakhage), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:22 (twenty years ago)

Good to see OM in there.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

for a moment i thought you meant of montreal

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

Pros: went everywhere and met everyone. Cons: mass death
-- Brakhage (cognitivebia...), December 15th, 2005. (brakhage) (later)

hahaha, well said.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

there seems to be something of an imbalance between music that you would typically find in the magazine and this much more accesible list.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 15 December 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

Critical Beats A-Z

Isoleé, My Hi-Matic
DJ Koze, don't Feed The Cat
Motiivi:Tunetmaton, 1939
Don Atom feat. Tea Time, Mueve La Cintura
Skream, Midnight Request Line
Tori Alamaze, Don't Cha
Les Visiteurs, Snoop's Acid Drop
Lindstrom, I Feel Space
Paul Kalkbrenner, Tatü-Tata
Matias Aguayo, Drums & Feathers
Hell, Follow You (Dominik Eulberg Remix)
Aswefall, Ride (Der Schmeisser Lovelysplintermix)
Rude 66, Die Starke Der Vernichtenden Schlage
George Issakidis, Understand What I'M Saying
MANDY vs Booka, Shade Mandarine Girl

(I've heard exactly none of these:)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

i've heard 9 of them and at least 5 are excellent.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 15 December 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

jed - so which are the excellent ones then?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 23:16 (twenty years ago)

Isoleé, My Hi-Matic
Motiivi:Tunetmaton, 1939
Tori Alamaze, Don't Cha
Lindstrom, I Feel Space
Matias Aguayo, Drums & Feathers
Hell, Follow You (Dominik Eulberg Remix)

actually there's 6.

"Don't Cha" - the original track the pussycat dolls covered and took to number one - "My Hi Matic" (in fact all of the Isolee album) and Lindstrom's "I Feel Space" are all completely essential.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 15 December 2005 23:20 (twenty years ago)

t'anx, j.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 December 2005 23:21 (twenty years ago)

cool that Jackson made it, Orthrelm not making it (especially when 2004 Sightings record did) is bad

― Dominique (dleone), Thursday, 15 December 2005 23:56 (twenty years ago)

still don't get Lightning Bolt :|

― Oh Oh Oh Oh Ah (fandango), Friday, 16 December 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

"there seems to be something of an imbalance between music that you would typically find in the magazine and this much more accesible list."

I agree, but even so, a lot of stuff on this list seems pretty obscure. I don't even remember reading about some of these records in The Wire this past year.

― Dan Siedler, Friday, 16 December 2005 07:56 (twenty years ago)

I'll third that comment about the self-indulgence of the best/worst lists - can't bear 'em, but then I can't stand the short genre-based reviews at the back either. Oh and Boards Of Canada in the top 10?? Give me a break.

― 11V (11V), Friday, 16 December 2005 08:52 (twenty years ago)

Here ya go, 11V!

― National Roffle Association (Paul in Santa Cruz), Friday, 16 December 2005 09:22 (twenty years ago)

why is it they review so much obscure jazz [insert random name] Quintets et al, and none of them get in the end of year list? They need to get rid of those and delve deeper into what's going on at 'Arthur Magazine' level...

― Rizz (Rizz), Friday, 16 December 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

anyone heard the richard youngs?

Isn't that the whole point?

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 10:26 (twenty years ago)

respect your elders

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Friday, 16 December 2005 10:30 (twenty years ago)

i have one track, "Sonar in My Soul", from the Richard Youngs - it is excellent, like World of Echo era Arthur Russel crossed with Robert Wyatt crossed with... something else.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 16 December 2005 10:51 (twenty years ago)

tht fkn tunetamaton track! yowsa!

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 16 December 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)

This is weirdly conservative list from the Wire.

Good thread, fuck those use the search function/search for yourself assholes. What bunch of pissant little turdoids.

― Jerk, Friday, 16 December 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

Hi,every1!
U wanna some mo''?

Outer Limits A-Z:

Avarus, Ruskeatimantti
Keith Berry, The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish
Maurizio Bianchi & Land Use, Psychoneurose
Boris with Merzbow, Sun Baked Snow Cave
Andrew Chalk, The River That Runs Into The Sand
Double Leopards & Wolf Eyes, Breeding Turbines
sophie Durand & Manu Holterbach, Verres Enharmoniques: Un
Henry Flynt, Purified By The Fire
Grouper, Way They Crept
Keiji Haino, Uchu Ni Karami Tsuiteiru Waga Itami
Inca Ore, A Knit Of My Owm Fibers/ When You Are sleeping I Tell You Secrets
Paavoharju, Yhä Hämärää
James Plotkin, Kurtlanmak
Prurient, Black Vase
Alexander Tucker, Old Fog

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 16 December 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

I've been listening to that Paavoharju album a lot.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Jazz & Improv A-Z

Chris Abrahams, Thrown
Derek Bailey, Carpal Tunnel
Clive Bell & David Ross, Mystery Lights/ Nightflowers
Bill Carrothers, Civil War Diaries
Cold Bleak Heart, It's Magnificent, But It Isn't War
Cooper-Moore & Assif Tsahar, Tells Untold
Crowther/ Franklin/ Marsh, Amherst Dislodged
Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano, Steel Sleet
Mochizuki Harutaka, Solo Document 2004
Kerbaj/ Sehnaoui/ Sehnaoui/ Zahc, Rouba3i5
Mat Maneri, Pentagon
MEV & AMM, Apogee
Owl Sounds, Owl Sounds with Arrington DeDionyso
ROVA::Orkestrova, Electric Ascension

...anyone heard the Bill Carrothers CD?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

please, could you post the Electronica A-Z ? many thanks.

― Matt B (aerial1), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

Electronica A-Z

Alva Noto, Transpray
Alva Noto &Ryuichi Sakamoto, Insen
Biosphere, Dropsonde
Susanne Brokesch, Emerald Stars
Colleen, The Golden Morning Breaks
C-Schulz, 5.Flicker Tunes
Tod Dockstader, Aerial
Markus Guentner, 1981
Hulk, Silver Thread Of Ghosts
Inch-Time, Any Colour You Like
Kyo Ichinose, Lontano
Jan Jelinek, Kosmische Pitch
Minamo, Shining
Mountains, Mountains
Venetian Snares, Rossz Csillag Allat Született

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

*will take no more requests until sunday afternoon*

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

The Richard Youngs album is superb. Jed's description is applicable to its entirety.

― Crocus Behemoth (modern dance), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Damn. I didn’t even know there WAS a Wolf Eyes/Double Leopard record!

Anyone actually hear the Lappetites record? What’s it like?

I love the Wire but somehow the personal year-end blurbs always get my nerves. Maybe I’d feel differently if the writers’ punctuation was limited to periods, apostrophes, and commas?

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

Did we do a thread one year where ILMers wrote their own Wire-style blurbs?

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

How the fuck did Arular get so high on that list?! I mean, it's a good album for shaking your ass to, but it just doesn't hold up over time. I burnt myself out on that one really quickly.

― Josh Witkowski (braineater), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Arular = Fashion victims muzak

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

It's what passes for pop music at the Wire

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

i couldn't agree more with you Witkowski. That was a real hype machine there, and I don't really get that album anymore. I don't really get the Books at number one, but whatever. Pretty well rounded list, but Buck 65 should be no where near a top 50 list.

― Tynan DeLong (TynanTynan!), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

Except the fantastic Richard Youngs album, the first ten records of this Top 50 are really disappointing ! In the 90's, the winners for The Wire were genius like Scott Walker, Mark Hollis or Coil and now the heroes are Animal Collective, the sad Coco Rosie + the disappointing album by The Books is No.1 !!! What a nightmare !

The good news : The classic and definitive Coil album "The Ape Of Naples" is now available and it's a wonderful record !
+ Scott Walker is back with a new masterpiece for 4AD early in 2006 !

― Matt B (aerial1), Friday, 16 December 2005 22:22 (twenty years ago)

no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.
no sufjan, no credibility.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 16 December 2005 22:34 (twenty years ago)

I love Critical Beats

― [jailhouse tattoo] (nordicskilla), Friday, 16 December 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

The year-end list usually serves to remind me to check out records I blew off during the year. That said this list seems kinda weaker than usual. Not sure why that is exactly. I wasn't really paying attention during 2005.

Matt B, I would reserve praise for the Walker until it's like, out. Unless you have it in which case YSI like, now.

― Brakhage (brakhage), Saturday, 17 December 2005 03:39 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, go Critical Beats! Phil rocks it!

― Mika, Saturday, 17 December 2005 08:46 (twenty years ago)

2005 has been, album wise, weak

the reissues and comps best, anyone care to type, since i will buy my copy in january when it hit the stand in italy?

― francesco brunetti, Saturday, 17 December 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

Tod Dockstader "Aerial #1" (one of the best work of the decade and definitely the most powerful album of 2005 !) is only listed in the Electronica A-Z and MIA is No.2 of the TOP 50... I think there's a problem at The Wire !

According to my contact at Beggars Group, the Scott Walker album is now completed and a relesase date is announced for March !

― Matt B (aerial1), Saturday, 17 December 2005 11:43 (twenty years ago)

why thank you, thank you. i like critical beats quite a bit myself. can't believe how long i've been doing it (and that they still let me, me having converted into such an irrepressible techno snob).

i, too, am shocked that MIA and boards of canada charted in the top 10... i certainly didn't vote for them!

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Saturday, 17 December 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

There must be more voters than I thought, because I didn't vote for any of the top 50 albums.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Saturday, 17 December 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

not one? that's kinda amazing. a badge of honour!

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 17 December 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

man, it seems to me those who don't love arular & lost & safe can't hear. but that's the point: as kant pointed out, aesthetic response is "subjectively universal." you can't believe anyone else could love/hate what you don't love/hate. but guess what? they do. & they ain't wrong, just as you aren't right. m.i.a.'s record is my favorite of the year, also love lightning bolt, animal collective, even sufjan. but i don't feel like insulting people who disagree w/ me because i know their subjective response to these records SEEMS as universally applicable to them as mine does to me. it's so fucking stupid to think there's something wrong with people who listen to different music than you do! fuck, i think britney's "toxic" is solid gold. only adolescents think their judgments are CORRECT. (another example: i think scott walker & mark hollis are pretentious little prigs who need to get a hobby.)

― mr, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

oh, & "credibility"? "CREDIBILITY"??? CREDIBILITY??? what is this, CNN? jesus, dude, we're talking about POP MUSIC. take yr serious flag & fly it somewhere else.

― mr, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 02:26 (twenty years ago)

it usually flies at The Wire. that's what we're saying. but if you think that your "Toxic" love is going to surprise anyone you obviously haven't read much of ILM, where talk of britney or lightning bolt is on, pretty much, an even playing field.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 02:31 (twenty years ago)

jesus, dude, we're talking about POP MUSIC

The Wire doesn't talk about pop music that much unless you define it in terms which are so broad they become meaningless.

btw. the the sufjan/credibility thing (apart from the original poster) is a joke.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

no excepter, no credibility.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

OK, so my irony radar was down on Sufjan. But come on, the Wire not talk about pop music?? Pop is short for popular. Are they writing about Bach now? The field of "popular music" has always encompassed anything & everything that is neither "classical" nor "folk." That's where the term comes from. It's just musicology. & even if you're using it in its technically improper sense (Britney's pop, Anthony Braxton's not), The Wire is yr mag. I seem to remember Bjork on the cover not so long ago, not to mention all sorts of pop gets reviewed there - Kanye, Eminem, &c. Anyway, any thread where Britney & Lightning Bolt are on an even field gets my vote. Sorry if I came off all dude, where's my Kant.

― mr, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 05:59 (twenty years ago)

I liked Kant's early stuff better.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 07:43 (twenty years ago)

see, mr, i just absolutely disagree with you there. calling pop music everything that is neither "classical" nor "folk." just doesn't make any sense. so pop music is defined by what it's not? it's not classical or folk so it must be pop? that's complete nonsense. some of the music the wire writes about, whatever you want to call it, is extremely not-popular (i.e. prob sells around 1000 copies worldwide) and fwiw is definitely a hell of a lot less popular than Bach.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

there seems to be something of an imbalance between music that you would typically find in the magazine and this much more accesible list.

yeah this is what i meant upthread, its certainly a POPular list.

― rizzxx, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

This issue STILL hasn't come out in W H Smiths here.
Same with the kerrang Xmas special.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

I got two copies in the mail yesterday - I have a big feature in there on Noah Howard and asked the editors to send me copies (usually I have to buy it like anybody else).

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

they had some problems with the cover of the cd or something, thats what they told me a week ago

― rizzxx, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

That explains why my local book store only had the November issue last week.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 15:49 (twenty years ago)

What CD?

Back to Bohn arselicking Einsturzende Neubauten in the editorial every month.

I only buy this for the little reviews (Short Cuts?) bit at the back - that's where the good reecords they should be covering are always ghettoised.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

The December issue was to come with two CDs.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

Where I live (Maryland) it's $9.99 in shops, dunno what prices are elsewhere. Sort of ridiculous, but I pay it anyway.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

Back to Bohn arselicking Einsturzende Neubauten in the editorial every month.

You pays your money you takes your choice

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

I'm a fool I know.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Well, whatever. I'm just telling you what the term "popular music" MEANS in musicology - the term didn't arrive out of nowhere, it was invented for a precise purpose. It means any commercially produced contemporary music intended for a wide audience - i.e., any audience who aren't part of the original community the music is produced within ("folk"). It also was intended to distinguish commerically available recordings with mass appeal from classical music. Now, whether the band sells 1000 copies or a million doesn't really matter - it's a question of GENRE. Also, a thousand copies is still a comparatively wide audience, considering that most bands that have ever existed haven't managed to sell five copies of their records. The music written about in The Wire is a priori popular, since it's intended to reach a mass (non-academic, non-classical, non-elite) audience. Wouldn't those artists selling 1000 copies love to sell more? You're confusing the slang usage of the word "popular" - as in, he's the most popular guy in school - with its categorical meaning of "produced by & for the PEOPLE." The term has an accepted usage in the study of musical genres, & to ignore it seems to ME to be making the word mean whatever you want it to mean. Apparently we could go on about this, but I've made my points & will shut up now.

― mr, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

musicolgy doesn't go over very well on ILM.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

Hulk - silver thread of Ghosts, a great record.

― p, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 22:30 (twenty years ago)

well maybe those artists selling 1000 copies dont deserve to sell more..if´the less you sell the better your music is´then i´m an excelent artist..but i´m not of course

― cubas bras, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

Dear Mr.

The Wire covers academic and classical music, in fact even has sections devoted to them (not sure about elite though) so how should those bits be classified. Also a lot of the music that doesn't exactly fit into those categories is perhaps even less likely/able/seeking to get a wide audience so what about them?

Also again, other uses of the word 'popular' as used on this thread are not slang, rather other meanings, so FUCK OFF, as musicology does not actuallly define what a word stands for.

― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 00:04 (twenty years ago)

SO, with all of the fantastic webzines and websites expounding on modern music, is the Wire still worth the 100 bucks???

(I may just treat myself for x-mas if I can justify the purchase - my parents credit card will do the treating.)

― Meehan Ah Um (Meehan Ah Um), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

i would guess that the strict musicologists definition of classical music (roughly the period from 1750 to 1820,that's after bach btw.) would be about as useful here as thier def. of pop music. i.e. not very.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

jed otm.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I have to say, while it's helpful to be told what "popular music" means within the professionalized academic milieu of musicology, that does not cede to musicologists an ownership of the term. What's needed here is a more nuanced account of polysemy, a sense of the same word having a capacity to mean different things to different interpretive communities. You could compare this with the fate of the word "fantasy", which means one thing to a Freudian academic, and quite another to your average person. (all kinds of harsh and negative scenarios are "fantasies" to the Freudian and not to Joe Blow) In the economic context of the distribution of music there is nothing "popular" about a release whose pressing is limited to 1000 copies, regardless of what it may pull off artistically or how its artist may see him or herself in relation to genre or the charts. According to the musicological def., a free improv record is popular music by dint of not being folk or classical. But that this is so suggests problems with the musicological framework. (Not to sound like Marissa Marchant, but there are obviously some very ugly historical processes at work in the tensions behind what the word "popular culture" might have once meant-- cultural productions generated by everyday people, edging ever closer to a vanishing point of identity with the word "folk"-- and what it means now-- top down products delivered with a markup through chain stores and streamlined international distribution systems)

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 06:07 (twenty years ago)

MIA? LCD SOUNDSYSTEM? give me a fucking break. no sufjan, no credibility. fuck the wire.
-- Tynan DeLong

whos that frenetic shithead? try to get off at nme sites and don't try to diss MIA & LCD cos' ill kick yr ass back and snack yr brain you emo cracker floating with surfjan

no sufjan, no credibility.
-- M@tt He1geson

is that a new impotents motto or other sheeeit?

― why, Wednesday, 21 December 2005 07:39 (twenty years ago)

Raw Patrick: aw, poor baby. You gonna be all right, or should I call yr mom? Less moronic respondents: I actually don't have anything invested in the term "popular music." I'm just saying that to say The Wire doesn't write about popular music is, well, stupid. I also wouldn't try to diss academics while simultaneously employing arguments based on "polysemy" (although thanks for defining it in case anyone on this thread happens to be retarded). Perhaps we can split the difference & adopt R. Xgau's term "semipopular music." Or perhaps invoking Xgau will make Raw Patrick start crying again. Raw Patrick, you a stupid muthafucker!

― mr, Thursday, 22 December 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

One obvious thing should have been said long before now: what the hell's the matter w/ being popular? I thought only disaffected adolescents were disturbed by the idea that lots of other people like the same things they like. I mean, how narcissistic.

― mr, Thursday, 22 December 2005 04:21 (twenty years ago)

i much prefer this list , no clap your hands or wolf parade!!!

― noididn't!, Thursday, 22 December 2005 04:25 (twenty years ago)

Shit, I've become so out of touch this year I didn't even know some acts I love put anything out. Glad and not glad at the same time to see this list. That said, the Dave Douglas has to be better than some of that list. (I'm thinking Eno in particular.)

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 22 December 2005 04:25 (twenty years ago)

the list looks pretty good..and I don't think sufjan is not the only good record of the year!! plus charting it best record of the year may be a little too "academic" for wire.

― mat, Thursday, 22 December 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

Wire keep sending mixed signals, I'm thinking - both the books and MIA got one-page pieces (I'm sure the books did but correct me if I'm wrong) and yet they are making it nos. 1 and 2 on the list. This tells me if they're goona get behind some (pop) recs they shd try and make more of an effort, maybe?

(Elsewhere, disappointing so see Gadenstatter's 'comic sense' not get in the top 15 modern composition even though he got a one-page write up!)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 22 December 2005 12:22 (twenty years ago)

Back to Bohn arselicking Einsturzende Neubauten in the editorial every month.

-- Raw Patrick (rawsweate...), December 20th, 2005. (Raw Patrick) (later)

i thought that RP was surely taking the piss with this but i bought the mag today and sure enough the editorial is completely devoted to Neubauten. i think it's baffling and even slighty shocking that Bohn devotes at least every other editorial to them ( and most of the other half to Nick Cave).

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 22 December 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

drew daniel OTM and whatnot.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Can I have some opinions on the electronic albums listed? I've heard only the Colleen and Venetian Snares both of which I love, wondering if there's anything else on that list that might be up my alley (also the new books is the best album i've heard this year and i'm glad it top the main list).

mr.,
i didn't know what polysemy meant and i don't think drew was condescending in any way by clarifying the term, but quite rude for you to infer that I'm retarded.

― a Side-walkin' Street Wheeler (aaron ef.), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

neither did i but i used it 4 times in general conversation today, thanks drew!

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

OK, you're not retarded. I just figured that even if someone didn't know what it meant, its meaning is on its surface - "poly" = many (as in polygamy), "semy" = meaning (as in semantic). Maybe now we can discuss the noetic involvement of semipopular music.

― mr, Thursday, 22 December 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

OK, you're not retarded.

Best concession of the day.

― save the robot (save the robot), Friday, 23 December 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

does anyone know their hip-hop A-Z? cheers

― tdouble, Sunday, 25 December 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

HipHop A-Z

Aasim - Hip Hop 101
Edan - Beauty And The Beat
Ghostface - Kilos
Ellay Khule - Califormula
Legendary KO - George Bush Doesn't Care About Black people
Mac Dre & Mac Mall - dredio
Mistah FAB - Super Sic Wit It
Quasimoto - The Further Adventures Of Lord Quas
Sadat X - Experience And Education
Juelz Santana - There It Go
Beanie Sigel - The B.Coming
13 & God - EP
Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly
TTC - Batards Sensibles
Tuff Crew & Krown Rulers - Phanjam

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Sunday, 25 December 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

I'm sorry, but The Wire are totally out of it where hip hop is concerned. Young Jeezy, Lil' Wayne, Bun B, holla.

Anyone know the reissues list?

Thanks.

― mr, Tuesday, 27 December 2005 04:45 (twenty years ago)

yes, plesase, i'd like to discover the reissues list + the compilations list...

many thanks.

― Matt B (aerial1), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Still missing some of the categories...

― mycockisbig, Saturday, 7 January 2006 00:08 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

what a tragedy for credibility

― DOPEMETER (The Reverend), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 00:32 (sixteen years ago)

hahaha so THIS is where "no Sufjan, no credibility" came from

― Matos W.K., Wednesday, 22 July 2009 04:20 (sixteen years ago)

from a sock

― WWUDifyrsonws@hmcrynallaloneonthebdrmflrcuzhesHongro (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 04:22 (sixteen years ago)

Great posts by 'jon kapper' at the start of this thread.

― Joerg Hi Dere (NickB), Wednesday, 22 July 2009 08:45 (sixteen years ago)

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