Tis the season for end-of-year album lists sprouting up around the Internet. Who thought you would see the day when Rolling Stone and Spin would try to out-indie Pitchfork? You know, it’s a sign of the times. Indie rock has crossed over into the mainstream generating big bucks and attracting a corporate crowd that passionate indie fans find nauseating.
Yes, the big independent music blogs that so adamantly defended the right to practice the DIY ethos are now becoming the very thing they hated. The old-school music industry has invited themselves to the party and have infiltrated the music blogosphere with all the crass commercialism they can muster.
Do you really need us to tell you that Bon Iver came in at number one with Destroyer, M83, PJ Harvey and Girls rounding out the top five? Somehow even Beyonce made it on the list. One of the more interesting quirks about Pitchfork in this social media age is that the “indie cred” meistros don’t allow comments on their web site. Yeah, no one can tell them anything.
Fortunately, our friends at BrooklynVegan do solicit input from their readers. Upon posting the Pitchfork top 50 album list earlier this week, a flurry of creative commentary ensued on the Brooklyn-based blog.
Since most of the top album lists are pretty much interchangeable, we thought it would be entertaining to cull the best reader comments into a top ten list. Without further ado, Ladies and Gentleman….We give you the Top 10 anonymous comments on Pitchfork’s top 50 album list of 2011:
10 Stop, I’m gonna hurl.
09 Hypefork
08 I thought this was indie rock, not indie chillwave synth bullshit. Its good in small doses but for 2011 it’s a free pass to p4k stardom.
07 I want Pitchfork to come out with a list of the WORST music of the year. So I can go buy everything on the list.
06 There's lots of ad space for sale on Pitchfork!
05 No mention of Radiohead anywhere on this list? This must be a fake.
04 It’s because Radiohead sucked so bad this year that even Pitchfork finally realized it.
03 Stick a pitchfork in it. It's done.
02 Pitchfork should be hereafter thought of as foxnewsindiemusic.com. Thanks for finding a job you love and ruining it by taking cash from the big labels for favorable reviews : ) whatever
01 WHO THE FUCK CARES WHAT PITCHFORK THINKS?
Pitchfork Top 50 Albums of 2011
50 Youth Lagoon - The Year Of Hibernation
49 Wild Flag - Wild Flag
48 Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine
47 Sepalcure - Sepalcure
46 Cults - Cults
45 Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
44 Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
43 Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
42 SBTRKT - SBTRKT
41 Liturgy - Aesethetica
40 AraabMuzik - Electronic Dream
39 The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient
38 Sandro Perri - Impossible Spaces
37 Iceage - New Brigade
36 Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
35 Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra.
34 Katy B - On A Mission
33 Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
32 Panda Bear - Tomboy
31 Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
30 Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
29 DJ Quik - The Book Of David
28 Cut Copy - Zonoscope
27 Beyoncé - 4
26 The Field - Looping State Of Mind
25 Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
24 Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
23 Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
22 The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
21 Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne
20 Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
19 Danny Brown - XXX
18 Atlas Sound - Parallax
17 Clams Casino - Instrumentals
16 Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
15 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
14 Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
13 EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
12 James Blake - James Blake
11 St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
10 The Weeknd - House Of Ballons
09 Real Estate - Days
08 Drake - Take Care
07 tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
06 Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
05 Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
04 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
03 M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
02 Destroyer - Kaputt
01 Bon Iver - Bon Iver
