And yet, more lists?!
I’ve seen a few of these popping up and thought it might be fun to do my own. I don’t usually like to degrade popular music (anymore) and that’s really not even what this is. More like, it’s me trying to reconcile the broad popularity and or/critical acclaim that these albums have with my own unimpressed reaction to them.
Ergo, my six most overrated albums of 2011.5.
Panda Bear - Tomboy (electro-pop genius from independent music’s Holy Grail)
This is probably my favorite record on this list, and it’s certainly not bad. In fact, it’s pretty good, and I still listen to it from time to time. However, I can’t help but feel that the overly positive reception it’s gotten has less to do with it’s own merits and more to do with Animal Collective’s (deserved) popularity following the success of Merriweather Post Pavilion.
My stance is this: Tomboy is acceptable, but I don’t enjoy it as much as Merriweather Post Pavilion, I don’t enjoy it as much as Person Pitch, and really I don’t even enjoy it as much as Avey Tare’s solo LP from last year.
While Noah Lennox has a very distinct style and production, and his music stands out, too many of these songs just don’t seem to go anywhere. I feel as if the whole thing lacks craft.
Favorite track: Surfer’s Hymn
Least favorite track: Huh, none really. So have another good song.
Fucked Up - David Comes to Life (sonically hard-to-pin-down rock opera that shines a defiantly bright light in a bleak world)
I actually loved this at first. And then I didn’t. I recorded a review, but the gist is that the two elements, the much-touted story and the music, don’t work together. Some would call it artful, I call it wearisome. Eh.
Favorite track: Queen of Hearts
Least favorite track: Let Her Rest
Lady Gaga - Born This Way (boundary-pushing synth escapades that breathe new life into pop and dancefloor soundscapes alike)
“Lady gaga has created the greatest album of the last two decades that breathes new life into the genre of pop music taking it in brave new directions that have never been explored by a popular artist. She has created the soundtrack for our lives that will go down in history next to The White Album and St Pepper. 11/10”
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Favorite track: Hair
Least favorite track: Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)
The Weeknd - House of Balloons (embracing R&B experimentation like a cerebral blur)
Here’s the thing. I absolutely love the way that this album sounds. I love everything about the way that this album sounds. I love the music, I love the effects, I love the vocals, I love the production.
But I hate the lyrics. I hate the lyrics so much that they make it impossible for me to enjoy this album. It’s not just that they’re bad (they are) but I hate the sentiment that they express. The whole thing has a very personal feel, but the narrator in the story of these songs is just not someone I can sympathize with.
Favorite track: The Knowing
Least favorite track: Wicked Games
Tyler, the Creator - Goblin (a calculated study in cognitive dissonance)
I’m going to let the reviews speak for themselves here:
“Tyler, the Creator, is the leader of the Los Angeles-based underground hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, a sometime solo artist and, at 20 going on 8, rap's current Boy King. He has just released his scenery-chewing second disc, the entirely horrifying and occasionally artful "Goblin," after many months of mix tapes and self-releases. Those releases positioned Tyler as the Travis Bickle of rap, a vitriolic, hyper-violent, roiling bucket of hyperbole and teenage id whose fondness for rapping about murder, rape and all-purpose pillaging makes Slim Shady look like a Jonas brother” (The Washington Post, Positive)
“The record's feeling of drift and desperation also lends a very different tone to the controversial nature of Tyler's raps, which even at their most sickening feel like the ramblings of a lonely outsider. His fantasies and lack of filter are still huge roadblocks for many if not most listeners. They're depraved and despicable, tied in part to a long and unfortunate legacy of gangster and street rap. They're also one aspect of a larger, character-driven story-- a license that we grant to visual arts, film, and literature but rarely to pop music. That's not to claim Tyler is making some broader commentary about the world, or gender politics, or adding multiple layers of complexity to his more violent thoughts; he's not. Instead, his more reprehensible lines come across like a pathetic attempt for an underdeveloped, disconnected mind to locate some emotionality, control, or simply attention.” (Pitchfork, 8/10)
“Although the album will no doubt polarize listeners, it also effortlessly appeases those who have already made up their mind about Tyler the Creator and Odd Future at large. The material is as disturbing as detractors might expect, and then some, while Tyler's snappy lexicon and accomplished musicianship will only further nourish the hype surrounding him. Goblin could well be one of the decade's most significant releases: On one hand, it endorses wanton violence and cavalierly advocates rape with such feverish enthusiasm that there will surely be a furious backlash from the general public, while on the other, it acts as the apogee of a genuinely wonderful success story that breathes independence back into grass-roots hip-hop. However history decides to assess it, there's no denying that this cocktail of self-loathing hysteria and bilious vitriol will get chins wagging and fingers pointing. Queerly irresistible in the same way one idly stares at road kill, Goblin is a masterpiece for those capable of stomaching it.” (Slant Magazine, 4.5/5)
Favorite track: Yonkers
Least favorite track: Transylvania
James Blake - James Blake (tasteful production aesthetics reveal new elements with every listen)
Time to board the hype train.
If I’d made a list like this for last year, James Blake would have been near the top of that as well. His three EPs received inexplicably universal acclaim and he came to dominate the blogosphere.
I’m not alone in this but I just can’t see the appeal of this guy. His music bored me at first, and I got over that. But I still have a hard time seeing it as genius, or original, or whatever else it’s being labeled. It’s just subdued electronic music with a dubstep background. I get that it has fans, everything has fans, but the seemingly universal adoration to this album, and Blake’s music in general, is something I can’t wrap my head around.
Favorite track: Measurements
Least favorite track: Unluck
Ergo, my six most overrated albums of 2011.5.
Panda Bear - Tomboy (electro-pop genius from independent music’s Holy Grail)
This is probably my favorite record on this list, and it’s certainly not bad. In fact, it’s pretty good, and I still listen to it from time to time. However, I can’t help but feel that the overly positive reception it’s gotten has less to do with it’s own merits and more to do with Animal Collective’s (deserved) popularity following the success of Merriweather Post Pavilion.
My stance is this: Tomboy is acceptable, but I don’t enjoy it as much as Merriweather Post Pavilion, I don’t enjoy it as much as Person Pitch, and really I don’t even enjoy it as much as Avey Tare’s solo LP from last year.
While Noah Lennox has a very distinct style and production, and his music stands out, too many of these songs just don’t seem to go anywhere. I feel as if the whole thing lacks craft.
Favorite track: Surfer’s Hymn
Least favorite track: Huh, none really. So have another good song.
Fucked Up - David Comes to Life (sonically hard-to-pin-down rock opera that shines a defiantly bright light in a bleak world)
I actually loved this at first. And then I didn’t. I recorded a review, but the gist is that the two elements, the much-touted story and the music, don’t work together. Some would call it artful, I call it wearisome. Eh.
Favorite track: Queen of Hearts
Least favorite track: Let Her Rest
Lady Gaga - Born This Way (boundary-pushing synth escapades that breathe new life into pop and dancefloor soundscapes alike)
“Lady gaga has created the greatest album of the last two decades that breathes new life into the genre of pop music taking it in brave new directions that have never been explored by a popular artist. She has created the soundtrack for our lives that will go down in history next to The White Album and St Pepper. 11/10”
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Favorite track: Hair
Least favorite track: Highway Unicorn (Road to Love)
The Weeknd - House of Balloons (embracing R&B experimentation like a cerebral blur)
Here’s the thing. I absolutely love the way that this album sounds. I love everything about the way that this album sounds. I love the music, I love the effects, I love the vocals, I love the production.
But I hate the lyrics. I hate the lyrics so much that they make it impossible for me to enjoy this album. It’s not just that they’re bad (they are) but I hate the sentiment that they express. The whole thing has a very personal feel, but the narrator in the story of these songs is just not someone I can sympathize with.
Favorite track: The Knowing
Least favorite track: Wicked Games
Tyler, the Creator - Goblin (a calculated study in cognitive dissonance)
I’m going to let the reviews speak for themselves here:
“Tyler, the Creator, is the leader of the Los Angeles-based underground hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, a sometime solo artist and, at 20 going on 8, rap's current Boy King. He has just released his scenery-chewing second disc, the entirely horrifying and occasionally artful "Goblin," after many months of mix tapes and self-releases. Those releases positioned Tyler as the Travis Bickle of rap, a vitriolic, hyper-violent, roiling bucket of hyperbole and teenage id whose fondness for rapping about murder, rape and all-purpose pillaging makes Slim Shady look like a Jonas brother” (The Washington Post, Positive)
“The record's feeling of drift and desperation also lends a very different tone to the controversial nature of Tyler's raps, which even at their most sickening feel like the ramblings of a lonely outsider. His fantasies and lack of filter are still huge roadblocks for many if not most listeners. They're depraved and despicable, tied in part to a long and unfortunate legacy of gangster and street rap. They're also one aspect of a larger, character-driven story-- a license that we grant to visual arts, film, and literature but rarely to pop music. That's not to claim Tyler is making some broader commentary about the world, or gender politics, or adding multiple layers of complexity to his more violent thoughts; he's not. Instead, his more reprehensible lines come across like a pathetic attempt for an underdeveloped, disconnected mind to locate some emotionality, control, or simply attention.” (Pitchfork, 8/10)
“Although the album will no doubt polarize listeners, it also effortlessly appeases those who have already made up their mind about Tyler the Creator and Odd Future at large. The material is as disturbing as detractors might expect, and then some, while Tyler's snappy lexicon and accomplished musicianship will only further nourish the hype surrounding him. Goblin could well be one of the decade's most significant releases: On one hand, it endorses wanton violence and cavalierly advocates rape with such feverish enthusiasm that there will surely be a furious backlash from the general public, while on the other, it acts as the apogee of a genuinely wonderful success story that breathes independence back into grass-roots hip-hop. However history decides to assess it, there's no denying that this cocktail of self-loathing hysteria and bilious vitriol will get chins wagging and fingers pointing. Queerly irresistible in the same way one idly stares at road kill, Goblin is a masterpiece for those capable of stomaching it.” (Slant Magazine, 4.5/5)
Favorite track: Yonkers
Least favorite track: Transylvania
James Blake - James Blake (tasteful production aesthetics reveal new elements with every listen)
Time to board the hype train.
If I’d made a list like this for last year, James Blake would have been near the top of that as well. His three EPs received inexplicably universal acclaim and he came to dominate the blogosphere.
I’m not alone in this but I just can’t see the appeal of this guy. His music bored me at first, and I got over that. But I still have a hard time seeing it as genius, or original, or whatever else it’s being labeled. It’s just subdued electronic music with a dubstep background. I get that it has fans, everything has fans, but the seemingly universal adoration to this album, and Blake’s music in general, is something I can’t wrap my head around.
Favorite track: Measurements
Least favorite track: Unluck