The Chatterbox, Random Music Discussion

The Rolling Stone Best 50 Songs of 2014 is here. Their choices might surprise you! I know #2 certainly surprised me.

My thoughts:

• 50. I didn't know Counting Crows were still active. Or a thing. Same with 28.
• 47. I like this one. Relaxed and pleasant.
• 44. St Vincent is always good, but I think this song is a rather weird choice. I feel the same about 43.
• 35. Fuck yes.
• 32. Why is Maroon 5 still a thing?
• 30. I could say the same about the new Coldplay album, but this song is actually quite pleasant. I also like the music video.
• 24. Reminds me that I have yet to listen to the new The Black Keys album.
• 22. One of the better songs on the very uneven album, but still not nowhere the best.
• 21. I like the album art. Nothing else to really say about them, which probably speaks for itself.
• 19. I loathe this one SO much.
• 18. One of the nicer surprises this year, though not quite enough to make me not want another fun. album over this.
• 15. One of the better mainstream hits this year.
• 12. I still think his solo material is lackluster, and this is no exception.
• 9. One of the better albums of the year.
• 6. Is this sponsored or something?
• 2. WHAT? REALLY?
• 1. Ugh.

Yeah, obviously I'm not the target audience here. Though I'm going to check out 46, 45, 40, 39, 23 and 14 later.

Most of them were like alternative indie rock songs or whatever I've never even heard of.

And how the hell did Future make it on the list?

As I've said before, those lists are always shit. Rolling Stone, being a for-profit entity, is stopped from making any interesting, non-mainstream, or even sincere choices, as that's not what will sell with their audience.

NPR has a more interesting list. It's more varied popularity-wise (everything from the household titles to the unknown), and it's alphabetical to avoid ranking incompatible titles.

*reading list*

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!

Oh hey, someone I recognize.

edited 9th Dec '14 6:55:33 AM by PhysicalStamina

Not too many familiar names there, but the ones I do know are great.

On a side note, Taylor Swift's new album has been featured on surprisingly numerous "Best of 14" lists already. Should I be concerned about the state of music criticism or should maybe give it a chance...?

Artist names I have heard of (in reverse alphabetical order):

• Taylor Swift
• Seattle Symphony
• Run the Jewels
• Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra / Prague Philharmonic Choir
• Mary J. Blige (at one point I actually thought it was "Mary J. Bilge")
• Leon Fleischer
• Aphex Twin

Another year-end list : http://www.factmag.com/2014/12/09/the-50-best-albums-of-2014

I have exactly two albums in common with this list but it's still interesting. If flawed (i.e. the inclusion of PC Music).

Aww, but I like PC Music. 3:

Also, goddamn is Benji overrated.

edited 9th Dec '14 12:30:18 PM by ILoveDogs

edited 9th Dec '14 12:53:52 PM by DrStarky

Might be why I don't read it.

I read it, but guiltily.

You aren't alone. Like bad tech-metal, a lot of flashy showboating that dresses up a lack of anything worthwhile said.

Try reading reviews of vaporwave albums. That's a workout.

I occasionally read music criticism to get recommendations, but I always take all the opinions within it with a truckload of salt, because as I said earlier, at the end of the day, music critics usually have to make money, or at least impress their audience. I'm always going to trust the best of 2014 list of some unknown, unpaid blogger (in terms of sincerity, that is) more than I trust those of NPR, Rolling Stone, or Pitchfork.

What I really hate though, is when people naively act as if music critics are some kind of more highly trained music listener that can make objective judgements about the quality of music. (If somebody wants to make an objective ruling about the quality of music, they have to make an individual argument to the compositional and historical quality of the particular piece, (Which is something that virtually no music critics do anyway) rather than merely claiming well-received = good.)

edited 9th Dec '14 8:56:04 PM by CardsOfWar

So basically, Reviews Are the Gospel behavior?

When I give my opinions of a work of music, I comment on the music.

I don't give a crap about whether it was well-received. It could be popular but crap in my opinion, it could be popular and great in my opinion, it could be unpopular and crap in my opinion, and it could be unpopular but great in my opinion.

Yeah, pretty much. Especially when a person obnoxiously writes off music that didn't get a review on Pitchfork or whatever, rather than contentedly sitting in a bubble of their own confirmation bias.

Isn't Pitchfork known to be full of pretentious hipsters though?

It was just an example, but Pitchfork readers can be just as guilty of acting as if their music is objectively superior because it gets a good review as Rolling Stone readers (Again, just an example). I'm not sure how them being 'pretentious hipsters,' (which is an incredibly vague term in the first place) conflicts with that at all...

Pitchfork, I treat as a sort of guilty pleasure. It's a good way to be exposed to new music, I'd say, but don't always take the reviews too seriously.

Yeah, I have already expressed my plain distrust towards Pitchfork and their policies, but that said, they have introduced me to great new music.

I'm just saying what I've read about them.

I second the "discovering music" approach, usually by finding a few critics or a publication as a whole with whom or which you usually agree with, whose opinions you can respect, or that you think are well written. What is important to remember is that having the exact same tastes as another person is nigh impossible, but finding common ground is comparatively easy.

That's why I like the Needle Drop, because despite the fact that I very seldom agree with Fantano, I still like hearing his opinion on new music, as well as respect his relatively open (genre-wise) approach to selecting what he reviews and what he likes. Even though, again, I almost never agree with him. I'm kind of the same with Fact actually.

edited 10th Dec '14 9:08:41 AM by Akalabth