Strange to see such an odd sense of consensus on the P4K contributors' list. I often go out of my way to defend the mag against its detractors, who claim that they act as some kind of consensus-generating machination of hipster evil. As far as defensible criticism goes, it's generally a crapshoot on that site, but one thing it has going for it is that it champions new and interesting stuff regularly. With all its cred-building power, it'd be very easy for the site to ignore (arguably) new trends and innovative movements, but the site refuses to fall back on its laurels, almost to a fault. Judging by the general lack of surprise circulating on the critics' list, it's hard to imagine any oddball selections making their way onto the "People's List" after the tallies are counted next week.
Nevertheless, I submitted my choices to be counted and the selections can be viewed in graphic form at this link or in text form below. Already easy to see a couple I missed, but I guess these things are never definitive
* When creating my list, I did not know that albums from 2012 did not qualify. However, I've included my two picks from this year below:
555 ENTERPRSISES' BEST ALBUM FROM 1996 to 2012
| 100 | Bjork- Vespertine |
| 99 | Pierre Bastien-Mecanoid |
| 98 | Orbital- Middle of Knowhere |
| 97 | Air- Talkie Walkie |
| 96 | Britney Spears- Blackout |
| 95 | Brock Von Wey- White Clouds Drift On and On |
| 94 | Ellen Allien- Berlinette |
| 93 | The Bug- Pressure |
| 92 | Massive Attack- Mezzanine |
| 91 | Kanye West- Late Registration |
| 90 | Surgeon- Force and Form |
| 89 | Mordant Music- SyMptoMs |
| 88 | Locust- Morning Light |
| 87 | Golan Levin/Scott Gibbons/Gregory Shakar- Dialtones: A Telesymphony |
| 86 | Balam Acab- See Birds EP |
| 85 | Pantha Du Prince- This Bliss |
| 84 | Marilyn Manson- Antichrist Superstar |
| 83 | The Magnetic Fields- 69 Love Songs |
| 82 | James Blake- CMYK EP |
| 81 | Boris- At Last-Feedbacker |
| 80 | Four Tet- Pause |
| 79 | Vatican Shadow- Kneel Before Religious Icons |
| 78 | Black Moth Super Rainbow- Eating Us |
| 77 | PJ Harvey- Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea |
| 76 | Metro Area- Metro Area |
| 75 | Double Leopards- Halve Maen |
| 74 | Hnatiw- Life is Good |
| 73 | Arp- In Light |
| 72 | Arcade Fire- Funeral |
| 71 | Orbital- In Sides |
| 70 | Burial-Burial |
| 69 | Solvent- Solvent City |
| 68 | Polmo Polpo- Like Hearts Swelling |
| 67 | Junior Boys- Last Exit |
| 66 | The Bug- London Zoo |
| 65 | Ariel Pink's Haunted Graphitti- Worn Copy |
| 64 | Emeralds- Does It Look Like I'm Here? |
| 63 | Burial Hex- Intiations |
| 62 | Com Truise- Galactic Melt |
| 61 | Various- Soundboy Punishments |
| 60 | Cannibal Ox- The Cold Vein |
| 59 | Tool- Aenima |
| 58 | Pole-2 |
| 57 | Boards of Canada- Geogaddi |
| 56 | Windy and Carl- Introspection |
| 55 | Belong-Colorloss Record EP |
| 54 | To Rococo Rot- The Amateur View |
| 53 | Lichens- The Psychic Nature of Being |
| 52 | The Weeknd- House of Balloons |
| 51 | Missy Elliot- Supa Dupa Fly |
| 50 | Of Montreal- Satanic Panic in the Attic |
| 49 | Animal Collective- Sung Tongs |
| 48 | Wolf Eyes- Dead Hills |
| 47 | The Advisory Circle- Other Channels |
| 46 | Aphex Twin- Come to Daddy |
| 45 | Julia Holter- Ekstasis |
| 44 | Various- Splendor Sdtrk |
| 43 | Radiohead- Kid A |
| 42 | Gas-Gas |
| 41 | Various- My Estrogeneration |
| 40 | Various- Bang and Works vol 1 |
| 39 | Fennesz- Endless Summer |
| 38 | Gas-Konigforst |
| 37 | Tori Amos- Boys For Pele |
| 36 | The Postal Service- Give Up |
| 35 | Ariel Pink's Haunted Graphitti- Before Today |
| 34 | Vex'd-Degenerate |
| 33 | Sweet Trip- VelocityDesignComfort |
| 32 | Belle and Sebastian- If You Are Feeling Sinister |
| 31 | Sun Araw- On Patrol |
| 30 | Aaliyah-Aaliyah |
| 29 | Arp- The Soft Wave |
| 28 | John Maus- We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves |
| 27 | Fuck Buttons- Tarot Sport |
| 26 | Dan Deacon- Bromst |
| 25 | High Places- High Places |
| 24 | The Flaming Lips- Yoshimi versus the Pink Robots |
| 23 | The Boredoms- Vision Creation Newsun |
| 22 | Grouper- A I A; Alien Observer/Dream Loss |
| 21 | Oneohtrix Point Never- Rifts |
| 20 | Various- Night Slugs vol 1 |
| 19 | Meat Beat Manifesto- Subliminal Sandwich |
| 18 | Dizzee Rascal- Boy in Da Corner |
| 17 | Broadcast- The Noise Made by people |
| 16 | Various- Pure Silk |
| 15 | Cut Copy- In Ghost Colours |
| 14 | Herbert- Around the House |
| 13 | Junior Boys- So This is Goodbye |
| 12 | Death Grips- The Money Store |
| 11 | Hum- Downward is Heavenward |
| 10 | M83- Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts |
| 9 | Various- Run the Road |
| 8 | Grouper- Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill |
| 7 | Aphex Twin- Richard D. James |
| 6 | Caribou/Manitoba- Up in Flames |
| 5 | Coil presents Black Light District- A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room |
| 4 | Broadcast- Haha Sound |
| 3 | The Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin |
| 2 | Burial- Untrue |
| 1 | Boards of Canada- Music Has the Right to Children |
