Comments

Shocking to think this thing is only a week away.
I always thought her and T Bone Burnett would be a perfect musical pairing. Just thinking out loud. Love that voice!
Eleanor Friedberger just keeps banging them out. Personal Record is even better than Last Summer and up there with The Fiery Furnaces's best work.
How's it Wrong is definitely a Top 5 song for me this year.
While I don't agree with this I do believe she should be on this list. Better than Taylor Swift's Red that somehow made the best of list last year.
Glad to see Portia's a fan too. Also, just glad to see Portia. Side note: Are they the first "indie" band to play on Ellen?
Come on; Criminal not at #1?
So far I've been underwhelmed by the album but I think it's because on the surface none of the other songs seem to come anywhere close to the hauntingly beautiful "Bugs Don't Buzz", to me the song of the year so far. My brain also only has time for one grower at a time and that is currently occupied by Trouble Will Find Me. Listening to Random Access Memories is also making it difficult to want to listen to dark, brooding music.
How is an 8.8 way too low? At the most it's 1.2 pts too low, which really isnt that much.
I had never cared for Daft Punk either and now I'm totally in love with this album.
Getting JT would've been cool but I think it could've turned into too much of a JT song instead of a Daft Punk song. Pharell is neutral enough to provide the sound while not taking over the track.
Remixes have already started led by that turd Pitbull doing an intro to "Get Lucky". God I hate that asshole.
Seems like you just built your expectations too high. I say you rate the album for what it is and not what it wasn't
Song of the Summer. Whether that holds any merit is to be seen but what can't be denied is how ridiculously catchy it is and I doubt that's gonna wane anytime soon.
This maybe totally off since I've only listened to this album once but to me this album is to disco what Destroyer's Kaputt was to 80's soft rock.
You had me until you referred to Spoon's Transference as "more of the same". Granted it wasn't a huge departure of Spoon's Spoonyness but considering they had spent every album before trying to perfect their sound until they achieved it with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Transference could be seen as a devolution of their sound with hopes of achieving a new sound and a pathway towards a new direction of music.
Rhye is currently sitting atop my favorite as well but I think it's because they're a new band and their fresher sound can have more of an impact than say a well established band like The National can. Not saying The National are bad in any way but just that they have their zone after putting out several albums and the ability to blow you away is diminished. But this year has been great for music, most notably I think is that they're haven't been too many clunkers. The only one that comes to mind is The Strokes but they've been on a downhill slide for a while now.
I had to listen to Modern Vampires just to get myself back up again.
I'm curiouse why everyone is having such high hopes for the Daft Punk cd. I like them but it's mainly since I know they'll put out a kick ass single that everyone will be dancing to this summer but asking them to put a full album of amazing material is a lot to ask.
From non well intentioned sources
Crap, I actually like this. Damn you LDR!
Par for the course. Good but I was expecting more.
It must've been really hard to not mention The Knife anywhere up there.
Does we really want Ray J to have more exposure? Best to forget it so that we can go back to forgetting about Ray J.
Any chance we could get a James Blake - Overgrown review? Is it being shunned for some reason? Did no one on the staff like it?
This is why I trust you as my musical sherpa, Tom. Side note: Is this the first female sweep for AOTW and MOTW?
I hope we get some kind of write-up on it. Kurt Vile, The Knife, and James Blake all deserve to be AOTW. I really wish there was no other music coming out so I could give each more listens, especially Shakin the Habitual since it's so demanding, but now Phoenix's and Deerhunter's new ones are now out there to go along with The Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Iron & Wine, Ghostface Killah, Charli XCX. Too much music not enough time!
The year started off slowly but I think ever since JT's 20/20 Experience dropped it's just been a non-stop onslaught of music. I am pissed though that I've been anxiously waiting for this album to drop and forget to bring my headphones to work today.
Well if you're gonna go that route you can say they're ripping off MJ and Prince and R. Kelly but that would be taking away from how great these artists are and how hard it is to get away from the huge shadows cast by those greats.
You obviously haven't listened to the new one by The Knife
Could only listen to half but so far so good. Now all we need is a preview of the new albums by The Knife and James Blake. I don't envy whoever has to pick AOTW for next week out of those 3.
Best I'd have to go Kill the Moonlight but as far as favorite I have to go with Transference. It always irks me when people think of it as a misstep when in fact it is very much them falling back to move forward.
After a slow start 2013 seems to picking up big time. The Strokes, Phoenix, The National, The Knife, Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, Vampire Weekend, James Blake, Wavves, Iron & Wine. And those are just in the next two months.
Oh Neko, how I've missed that beautiful voice. If she ever did a full album with T-Bone Burnett I think I'd be in heaven.
That's a pretty defeatist attitude.
Yea, if the artist or band isn't from Williamsburg they shouldn't be covered on this site!