Emcee Esher presents, 2007: The Top 50 Albums as told by Max Slobodin
Every year since i was in 8th grade, the musicologist Max Slobodin has personally handed me a list of the top 50 albums of the year, meticulously compiled, analyzed, recompiled, shortlisted, recompiled, and finalized. This process normally takes my good friend all year, and he is a prime example of one of our generation with his finger right on the pulse.
Lately it's been tough to find good, new music; which is ridiculous! The internet has opened so many arteries of possibility to the discovery of new tunes, it's insane that i haven't heard half of the records on his list.
And this is the short list! What follows is an interview with Max detailing how he sifts through the years releases and comes up with the list.
EmceEsher: so can you tell me a little bit about the rankings and how you came to them?
Max: i
do what i usually do... i keep a list of albums that ive listened to
that i like, even marginally... i never know if one will grow on me....
the list grows and grows.. until its the end of the year then i take
that longlist (recently about 200+ lps), and narrow them down to the 51
album shortlist to be included in the top 50 (50 ranked + 1 honorable
mention), i then usually settle on the Honorable Mention, and draft potential albums for the top 10.... and i relisten to a lot of albums
EE: it's like...work!
M: for
the list in general, its really abstract, the ranking process... its
more in groups of 5... its like.. really.. how the fuck can you tell
what is a 34 or a 33? its basically what sounds good... but obviously,
the higher on the list is the more i think of an album and the more the
music spoke
EE: that's what i figured, i mean you have pharoahe next to battles, but both albums are incredible and uncomparable, that's why i like your lists though, because you keep all of the genres together and allow them to meld.
M: yeah, but although i do think sometimes "do i have some hip hop in here?" or women artists or whatever... i can care less as long as its good
EE: so do you think you edit your lists for "fairness" to all genres?
M: not
particularly... i mean... im open to most everything as i'm listening
to, discovering stuff during the year.... but art isn't
affirmative action... i'm not going to list something just because its
brand x.. so i guess the fairness comes from being open to stuff... but
then again i do have my biases
EE: i'm surprised radiohead wasn't number one, and Bjork is pretty low too what's the deal?
M: i
did have it at number one originally... but i didn't feel it was a bold
enough statement... usually my number ones have been bold statements of
taste and aesthetics (03- notwist, 04- tv on the radio, 05-
wilderness).. granted, i fucking love the album... but a RH fanatic
like me... its like taking the easy way out.. and yeah, while i
immensely enjoyed Volta.. its not really her best work.. or does it
carry the experimentation of Medulla, but i prefered other albums over
that this year.. and Volta suffered as a result
EE: So how did the ravonettes end up at number 1 this year?
M:
that album is like neon golden in that respect... both of those number
ones engulfed you in a sound... whereas stuff like tvotr and wilderness
took you by the throat.. you know? its kind of a pattern in my number ones:
01 - amnesiac - sound
02 - turn on the bright lights - throat
03 - neon golden - sound
04 - desperate youth - sound
05 - wilderness - throat
06 - cookie mountain - throat
07 - lust lust lust - sound
EE: That's quite an abstract way of looking at it, but i guess categorizing music by anything other than subjective mood
M: yeah, but then it gets much more complicated, like lets take Boards Of Canada... perfect for both and this also gets into another question... like... when you want to
listen to music.. but you don't know what you want to listen to... how
do you decide between nick drake, agalloch, justice, or spoon
EE: and does music inform your mood or the other way around?
M: right.. the whole high fidelity cliche
So, now that you know how the list came to be, without further ado, here it is!
THE HONORABLE MENTION kt tunstall - drastic fantastic
50 lcd soundsystem - sound of silver
49 blackfield - II
48 patrick wolf - the magic position
47 vhs or beta - bring on the comets
46 soft - gone faded
45 black dice - load blown
44 raccoo-oo-oon - behold secret kingdom
43 we are wolves - total magique
42 liars - liars
41 animal collective - strawberry jam
40 kenna - make sure they see my face
39 menomena - friend and foe
38 rjd2 - the third hand
37 feist - the reminder
36 duran duran - red carpet massacre
35 jose gonzales - in our nature
34 blonde redhead - 23
33 apparat - walls
32 electrelane - no shouts, no calls
31 spoon - ga ga ga ga ga
30 hard-fi - once upon a time in the west
29 sophie ellis-bextor - trip the light fantastic
28 chromatics - night drive
27 el-p - i'll sleep when you're dead
26 dot allison - exaltation of larks
25 marnie stern - in advance of the broken arm
24 the field - from here we go sublime
23 watchers - vampire driver
22 bjork - volta
21 klaxons - myths of the near future
20 justice - Ü
19 deerhoof - friend opportunity
18 amon tobin - foley room
17 pj harvey - white chalk
16 pharoahe monch - desire
15 battles - mirrored
14 handsome furs - plague park
13 the national - boxer
12 m.i.a. - kala
11 burial - untrue
10 strategy - future rock
09 cocorosie - the adventures of ghosthorse and stillborn
08 the besnard lakes - the dark horse
07 grinderman - grinderman
06 arp - in light
05 interpol - our love to admire
04 radiohead - in rainbows
03 prinzhorn dance school - prinzhorn dance school
02 yeasayer - all hour cymbals
01 the raveonettes - lust lust lust
HERE'S THE TOP 50 PLAYLIST!!! GO NUTS!!!
Notes: Dot Allison's new record isn't on IMEEM yet, so in it's place is a Massive Attack song she's featured on, Watchers' "Vampire Driver" Not available
also, check out Max's awesome blog and last.fm page
all images copyright of their respective owners.