Saturday, August 18, 2012

Manufacturing Consensus



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