how hard does music blow in 03....

at this point, i probably wouldn't argue with this statement either.

...and i can't think of any albums on the horizon that might change my mind about it. hopefully some new artists will come along and surprise me.

Can this be the thread where people tell me where to start with all this nu dirty south/thug pop rap that y'all been harping on about?

and digging on all the insane shuffle crap coming out, and lo and behold actually loving a rock record (Elephant), and finally hearing Jeff Parker's debut cd tonight, well, I haven't been more excited in a long time.

What the heck is up with all the lame, trollish threads by previously unseen posters lately, anyway?

Great music around as always, shit music as always, end of story. Blah.

plenty of good stuff has come out this year.

just get new batteries for your hearing aids.

I liked the new Luomo aLbum, and The Bug, and that Dizzee Rascal is quite the rascal.

Writing off that state of mind, though, as something that's a limitation of fun/a sign that you're getting old/a sign that you're too conservative is telling, though -- a bit of groupthink in reverse -- and the best counterarguments DON'T play that card as some sort of automatic explanation. That everyone's likes and dislikes are their own is patently obvious, that someone's differing belief means they don't 'get it' on a cosmic scale is extremely NON-obvious, I'd venur. Tico Tico's current belief, for instance, may be a radical inversion of a rockist paradigm, where it's all the stuff in the charts that is usually good and all the stuff that doesn't make it that's usually bad, but like he notes above, this is all down to his state of mind and how one interprets what is there, not down to a sense of "I've found the key for EVERYBODY." I'm not fond of movements either, Pete, but neither am I fond of free agency in a listener locked into one particular approach -- free agency in a listener means infinite approaches beyond the constraints of genre or listening model, and in my case recently, that's also the increasing freedom to shut off and step back from everything.

http://www.blissout.blogspot.com/

I have to admit that the amount of insistence that its been a good year for music is stupifying

(It also might be that if I'd had my experience and outlook now in 1982, say, my head would have exploded with the wonder of it all. I'll never know.)

Yes! And when I factor in file sharing and the ability to buy more than one record a month...

THERE IS NO NEW BIG THING COMING IN MUSIC - at least not in terms of fresh sounds, new beats or whatever. i truly believe we've reached the end in that respect. i don't mind whether i end up being proved wrong or not. as i said before i've still got enough catching up to do to keep me happy for a good while longer...and so should you.

*I don't remember what or where. I never remember anything important.

When I was briefly involved with ETAN, someone else in the group once wrote up a flier with Chomsky's name spelled this way.

What the fuck is your problem, Jim? And what's with The Coral obsession? I liked the first album but the recent singles have been shite; I haven't mentioned them in aeons. I suggest you take that chip and feed it to a seagull.

I don't think hip-hop really tries to make "albums" most of the time anymore. They tend to be more like extended branding/promo opportunities than, y'know, coherent works of art. Once you fit in the guest spots for other big MCs, the guest spots for the up-and-coming MCs on the star's boutique label, the movie tie-ins, the R&B joint, the product placement, the couple of tracks you had to have from the big money producers, the hidden bonuses you had to thrown in to make people buy the CD... there's not much time left over to make sure tracks 1-18 are all really good and flow nicely.

(The real question is, how good a playlist can you make out of the year? My May and July mixes are pretty damn hot already)

Ben, you're probably right about the hiphop "album". So where does that leave consumers who are busy working and busy with the rest of their life and don't have time to make mixes...

I have not heard any of that stuff Chuck mentions, but hip-hop tracks I really like this year (at least I think they mostly came out this year) (and OK, some of them are probably R&B but who can tell the difference anymore) include...

Kanye West--The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Solange--Feelin' You (Chopped 'n' Screwed Mix)
Kardinal Offishal--Belly Dancer
Beyonce--Crazy in Love
50 Cent--In Da Club
TES--New New York
Snoop Dogg--Beautiful
Kiley Dean--Make Me A Song
Freeway--What We Do
Talib Kweli--Get By Remix
Nas--Flyest Angel
Lil Kim/50 Cent--Magic Stick
Slum Village--Disco Remix
R Kelly--Snake (Remix)
Pharrell/Jay-Z--Frontin'
Busta Rhymes--Light Your Ass on Fire
Outkast--Ghetto Musik

And I would throw stuff like Dizzee Rascal in there except I'm not allowed to call him hip-hop...

Also, almost all the good hip-hop albums came out at Christmas last year anyway...

Well, I can't hardly think of ANY albums EVER (hip-hop or otherwise, this year or any year) that I'd recommend people pay 15 bucks for; I almost never pay more than five dollars for an individual album these days myself (only buy used copies at Princeton Record Exchange, unless I'm getting reimbursed by the Voice), and even then it's gotta be really promising. Then again, I get my CDs mostly for free, so what do I know? Also, I've never downloaded a song in my life; wouldn't know how to if you paid me. So I guess that answers the first part of your question. As for your second part, I don't know what you're asking; I'm not saying any of those will place in the Pazz and Jop top 40 (in fact, I doubt any of them will), but since when has THAT been a good way of judging how good a record is? I was kinda confused about your earlier post, too, Steve; seems like your confusing consensus by rock critics with CDs' actual worth, but then if I remember right you've done that before, and it never makes sense to me at all. Anyway. If you're asking whether I'll VOTE for any of those albums I listed MYSELF, in MY top ten, well, I'd say Triple Threat defintely have a shot. Maybe McEnroe too, though that shot would be a longer one. I voted for Northern State last year, though. And this year, Bubba Sparxxx's album (which I left out of the list above, since I've only actually heard a five-song advance sampler CD) is a shoo-in; in fact, if the year ended now, I'd just vote for the advance sampler CD -- which, by the way, is as consistent as any hip-hop album in years. (Jon Caramanica, who has apparently heard the entire album, says it's easily going to be the hip-hop album of the year. And yeah, I'd say that one very well might have a shot at finishing in Pazz and Jop. So does Fannypack's album, come to think of it, though you didn't ask about that one.) (And oh yeah, if I had to bet right now about what album would WIN pazz and jop, I'd bet on OutKast, even though it's not out til September and I haven't heard anything on it yet, and may or may not like a lot of it when I do.)

Obviously everyone decides what a cd's "actual worth" is by themselves individually by playing it and seeing if they like it, whether or not a lot of rock critics like it or whether or not it sells 10 copies or a million copies or has a video played on tv or whether it wins a prize in the UK or whatever. With the enormous number of cds available out there, and with radio in many places being stinky and online access not always available, a few folks including me actually turn to see if there's a consensus among their friends, people at ILM, print media whatever to decide what to get. Yea a "consensus" can be "wrong" or change over time(didn't Kogan write about this recently--Nuggets and garage punk enthusiasts changing the perception and consensus regarding the value of 3 minute songs versus lengthy rock as art masterpieces?), but isn't it interesting to examine? Isn't that one of the reasons for publishing a Pazz & Jop poll or contributing to ILX? Isn't that one of the reasons Pazz & Jop editors try to seek out more and different contributors from different backgrounds? Of course such polls can be infuriating or not tell you anything, but not always... Isn't it interesting to you that the guy who started this thread, Simon Reynolds, and others all think it has not been such a good year for hiphop even if you disagree with them all? Isn't it interesting that such a perception is out there?

And yea I only wanted to know which cds you yourself were considering putting in your own Pazz & Jopp poll ballot, and now I see that of those 12 or so hiphop cds you mentioned, around 4 or so you think might make your list. Now if only my local used cd stores had some of those discs...

I remember thinking it really sucked in, like, 1986 or so (before the Beasties/LL Cool J/Mantronix/Schooly D came along, proving me wrong.)

Speaking of which, I also left Killer Mike (whose best song may well be "Rap is Dead"!) off the list of good hip-hop albums this year. And I also left off Hitman Sammy Sam! What the hell is wrong with me??

All right you non-cynic it's all good types, tell me about all the great 2003 acid-jazz, drum n bass, and techno records I've been missing...

becky baeling
funkervogt
real mccoy
swampburger
antimatter vs. matter
audio bullys
warren burt
buttboy
code & flexor
yoshimi and yuka
yuko nexus 6
*Babylon Is Ours: The USA in Dub*
black tape for a blue girl
cooler kids
bappi lahiri
the vanishing
andre afram
natacha atlas
crack: we are rock
four tet
kaada
mr. dibbs
najma
nawal
red snapper
adrian sherwood
dwayne sodahberk
subtitle
why?
young gods
zongamin
*acualera songs 2*
*Broklyn Beats*
*Garage Rap Vol. 1*
*Garage Rap Vol. 2*
*Crews Control*

Of these, the final four compilations (which might not even count) have the best chances of finishing in my top ten, if I ever figure out how to tell them apart. A.R.E. Weapons will definitely make my top ten, and probably my top five for that matter.

Wait, wouldn't that have been '68, not '67? (I think the '67 series was, like, the Orioles and somebody, but maybe my memory's way off.) Anyway, I'm wondering if this means Denny McLain was the real original rrrapper. I can totally see that. (Also, does this mean that my suspicions that St. Lunatics were actually Nelly's softball team are correct? They even have a guy who dresses in catcher's gear!)

He's a Yankees fan for life, and no we do not discuss that in my office. He says Bernie Williams is a wonderful human being, but since the album's such a big jazz hit, he felt he should deal with it. (Me, I'm still waiting for that indefinitely delayed Mark Fidrych/Dock Ellis/Bill Lee/Bo Belinsky supergroup collaboration myself.)

I was joking about "acid jazz"... If it still exists, like "drum n bass", it seems to still exist in its own separate little world that only ultra fanatics seem to follow...But then blues and zydeco records don't ever seem to reach beyond their little core followings either and I occasionally pay attention to them. Some zydeco is now influenced by hiphop though(although this bothers some of the fans of the genre).

Chuck, is the Adrian Sherwood cd you're referring to that one called "Hippy" I read about somewhere . I think he titled it that way rather than "hippie". I used to like his productions years ago. Is this one more of his hybrid dub-electronica whatever you want to call it...

I think the exaggeration is quite tangible in the piece, I find it hard to believe someone who writes about music for a living could be finding this year (or any year) so so bad.

I mean even if the standard was constantly slipping I think if you really do love music you are addicted enough that you'd still find things to get excited about. That said I don't think it is slipping and as Jess hints, there's a definite touch of "if you're enjoying this year loads then you too are part of the malaise" about it.

Jerry you're right, but it's never a "story" with Reynolds I'm afraid. The whole blog lately reminds me of 7am on Sunday mornings with a few half asleep mates sitting around asking each other to get up and change the CD, you open another beer and cling on to that for a while but eventually you just have to accept that the party is over.