The Tris McCall Report

Critics Poll 2007 -- The Albums

Life will still be there tomorrow.

The Sunlandic Twins took the silver medal in Critics Poll XVI. This was a surprise finish: although I'd been flogging the act to friends for years, no Of Montreal album had ever cracked our top forty. Satanic Panic In The Attic -- the set that preceded Sunlandic Twins -- picked up a scanty 37 points in the '04 Poll. The Gay Parade, the band's (OM was then still a band) 1999 release, got some love on the Poll; this was the height of Elephant 6 mania, and, lest their embrace by with-it hipsters makes us forget, Of Montreal was a charter member in that nerd-rock collective. By the time Satanic Panic was released, Kevin Barnes had shed his backing group and most of his prior Sixties-classicist associations, and reinvented himself as an electropop maestro.

Critics Poll voters slept on the set that immediately followed Barnes's transfiguration (his first steps were admittedly tentative), but by '06, we were wide-awake. Nothing was going to deny Twin Cinema in Critics Poll XVI; two years later, a weaker effort from The New Pornographers combined with a career-year for Barnes to give Of Montreal the top spot in Poll XVIII. It was the predictable outcome -- in fact, many of you did predict it -- and it was the outcome we got. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer took this year's Poll by a comfortable margin over Radiohead and The National.

Those who boarded this bus in 2004 missed out on the anticommercial Barnes: the one who recorded trebly-sounding satires of country life, casual character assassinations, strange, fatalistic poem-songs with handles like "A Man's Life Flashing Before His Eyes While He And His Wife Drive Off A Cliff Into The Ocean", subtle broadsides against power and privilege, black humor at the expense of the establishment. Barnes's critique of mainstream culture was neither intermittent nor untheorized -- he gave interviews in which he denounced all kinds of purported wrongdoing by authorities. He made his feelings about corporate conformity clear. This was, for many, Of Montreal's mark of distinction: they were the "political" Elephant 6 band. They weren't in a locked room with a copy of Odessey And Oracle; they had a plan for actual social engagement. Of Montreal released a compilation pointedly titled If He Is Protecting Our Nation, Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children?, with an obscene and provocative cartoon of George W. Bush on the cover. As late as '05, he was still writing songs like "Forecast Fascist Future"; "boredom murders the heart of our age while sanguinary creeps take the stage", he sang, "boredom strangles the life from the printed page." That was the chorus, people -- and it would have fit in just fine on Joni Mitchell's recent jeremiad.

Pop history is littered with ideological volte-faces, but few have ever been as stark, or as disturbing, as Barnes's. In a grotesque gesture of complicity with a corporation that has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Bush and the Republican Party, Of Montreal sold the licensing rights for Sunlandic's lead single to the Outback Steakhouse. Predictably, the restaurant people changed the lyric to something unspeakably inane, and unearthed a Barnes sound-alike to sing the song they'd crushed into a jingle. Because most indie-hipsters are unwitting conservatives -- interested primarily in private sybaritic pleasures and material comforts -- the prevailing response was a shrug. But Of Montreal had spent years cultivating fans inspired by Barnes's alleged progressive politics; thus, 'net discussion of the Outback commercial reached a pitch rarely heard when pop stars turn company shills. Many wanted to know (and for good reason): what the fuck did Kevin Barnes think he was doing?

Barnes responded like a flack in a post-debate spin room, going on the offensive in Stereogum, insulting those who were legitimately confounded by his actions, confusing every issue he could, and pandering to corporate apologists. Capitalism, he'd now decided, was a benign force, and one that nurtured the creative spirit. Like many who've gotten a whiff of the money, Barnes had suddenly discovered the argumentative benefits of slippery relativism. Later, he'd sell another song to NASDAQ; rumor has it that more commercials are in the works for '08. The militant nonconformist of 1997 has become a walking symbol of capitulation to the establishment and the wholesale corporate buyout of so-called "indie" music.

He symbolizes other indie-rock movements, too. Of Montreal's successful and unexpected conversion into a beat factory prefigured the hipster's mid-decade interest in dance music and electropop. To his immense and enduring credit, Barnes is never cheeky, winking, or subtly insulting about the genres he pillages; the disco, R&B, and Eighties new wave influences on Hissing Fauna are worn proudly, and effectively. Barnes doesn't need to fall back on are-we-kidding-or-are-we-not self-referentiality; he's a hell of an instrumentalist, and he can throw down on the bass guitar as well as any musician working in any contemporary style. His funk is not stiff, spectral or arty like Britt Daniels's, or largely theoretical like James Murphy's; he makes music that anyone can shake a tailfeather to. As his hunger for mainstream acceptance has become more acute ("Suffer For Fashion", the lead track on Hissing Fauna, was submitted for airplay consideration on commercial radio, where it was promptly laughed out of the broadcast towers for being too... well, still too Of Montreal), he's buffed up his production values, too. Like many still kicking from the Nineties lo-fi underground, his current music sounds more like the Billboard 100 than it does with basement punk. Barnes's story -- his journey out of willful obscurity and self-imposed exile into something like rapproachement with the quotidian mainstream -- is, in a way, a shorthand account of the history of indiepop. You decide yourself if it's a comedy, a tragedy, or something altogether different.

The results, and the points:

1. Of Montreal -- Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer (511)
2. Radiohead – In Rainbows (393)
3. The National – Boxer (338)
4. The New Pornographers – Challengers (321)
5. Okkervil River – The Stage Names (320)

Poll voters refused to join in on the critical demolition of the latest New Pornographers set. Challengers isn't as good as the band's other albums, but neither is it the wet blanket that the IRCE insists that it is. Carl Newman had been overdue for a backlash, and when it arrived, it knocked the stuffing out of the most personal set of songs he's ever waxed. Neko Case's melancholic performance on the title track is a heartstopper; more than that, it's positively human. The New Pornographers have never finished lower than fourth in this Poll -- Challengers drew a higher percentage of total votes than Electric Version did in '03. They're going to have to flame out completely (as did The White Stripes this year) before I'm convinced that they aren't still tops for our voters.

When I put Black Sheep Boy atop my ballot in 2005, I was one of only six Poll participants to vote for Okkervil River. Hey, we were all snoozing; Down The River Of Golden Dreams, was, in retrospect, the best album of 2003. Two years after my first place vote, it's safe to cue up Biggie Smalls -- if you don't know, now you know. Touring: it's recommended.

6. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (305)
7. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Magic (255)
8. The Fiery Furnaces – Widow City (253)
9. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (249)
10. Wilco – Sky Blue Sky (235)

The bottom half of the Top Ten looks much like the top -- principally "indie", principally male, and entirely Caucasian. But enough grousing for the moment; how about this phenomenal showing by The Boss? Yes, Springsteen's support came disproportionately from Garden State voters, but some of you furriners cast ballots for Magic, too. None of Springsteen's Nineties albums got any local love on the Poll, and neither The Rising nor Devils & Dust made much of an impact with Jersey folks, either. You could make the argument, I suppose, that recent strong showings by The Hold Steady and The Killers have softened up hipster fortifications toward emotional incursions by Brucie and his crew. Yet I think this illustrates what a true single (and I don't mean "Radio Nowhere") can do for the public perception of an album.

Three recent Critics Poll champs released new sets in '07: The New Pornographers, who took Poll XVI and only grudgingly gave ground in XVIII; Spoon, winner in '02 with Kill The Moonlight (and second runner-up to the NPs and Of Montreal in '05); and '04 landslide victor The Arcade Fire. Poll voters don't give up on favorites easily, and an eighth-place finish in a field this competitive is nothing cheaply earned. That said, much of the support for Neon Bible felt lukewarm and laden with qualifiers, and at least three voters wrote in regrets that they'd rushed to a positive judgment on Funeral.

While we're here, let's take a moment to pour some out for one of the unlikeliest heroes in indiepop history. I admit I teared up when I got the news, and I'm tearing up now. Faster, hammers!, we're almost there.

11. Kanye West – Graduation (219)
12. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black (215)
13. Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin (188)
14. Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight (184)
15. Jay-Z – American Gangster (180)

Once clear of the Top Ten, leftfield commercial-radio pop takes over. Amy Winehouse might be an oddly self-destructive public figure, but as a pop singer, she's conventional. Band Of Horses strikes me as Mr. Mister for the 21st Century: add some overdriven rhythm guitar to "Take These Broken Wings", update the period production, and presto!, you've got "Is There A Ghost". Under The Blacklight is the sound of a band disintegrating -- or just getting drawn and quartered by the conflicting commercial directions of its own members. Jigga returned with another exercise in high-gloss self-glorification and mythmaking; for those who sat through Kingdom Come, this time out, mercifully, it was danceable. No self-flagellating songs about his inability to re-route hurricanes, either; on American Gangster, once again, he's a dirtbag, not a deity.

And then there's Mr. West. The Louis Vuitton Don dominated the airwaves once again in '07, and finally did so with a production style that felt like a perfect extension of his controversial personality: synth-drenched and sample-studded, intoxicated, glitzy, colorful, heavily cribbed from Eurodisco, big-beat, and arena electronica. Kanye emceed and didn't do half-badly on the mic, but c'mon, let's be real. Graduation was RINO music -- rap in name only. After mounting a nice '06 comeback from near-banishment, hip-hop bombed on Poll XVIII. Ghostface, to give you a for instance, followed up his '06 third place finish with an old-fashioned goose-egg: he didn't get a single vote for Big Doe Rehab. Surely the mid-December release date had something to do with that; still, it's rare to see an artist of his stature drop from 255 points to zilch in a single year. That doesn't happen to Wilco. You dig?

16. Panda Bear – Person Pitch (174)
16. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away (174)
18. Caribou – Andorra (165)
19. Against Me! – New Wave (162)
20. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver (161)

Gosh, who invited Against Me! to the wimp-rock party? Chronologically speaking, Tom Gabel is every bit as grown-up as the other poker-faced popsters in this section, but he sure doesn't act that way -- he comes right up to you and hollers in your face about international politics. Noah Lennox sure isn't going to do that; in fact, all that reverb signifies proper, adult-type distance, good proxemics. He'll just wait across the room for you. Pitchfork might consider that classy, and so might you; me, I want to hear some urgency in action.

21. Tori Amos – American Doll Posse (155)
22. Palomar – All Things, Forests (152)
23. Feist – The Reminder (140)
24. Jaymay – Autumn Fallin’ (137)
25. John Vanderslice – Emerald City (134)
26. Kristen Hersh – Learn To Sing Like A Star (133)
26. Blonde Redhead – 23 (133)
27. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam (123)
29. Future Clouds & Radar – Future Clouds & Radar (120)
29. Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends (120)

Speaking of Panda Bear, I imagine that Person Pitch would have done better on the Poll if it hadn't been out at the same time as Strawberry Jam. Few respondents listed both -- they were probably worried that they'd come off as obsessed Animal Collective cultists, or something. Noah Lennox ought to compare notes, or share handguns, with Ghostface, who was apparently incensed that RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan dropped 8 Diagrams into head-to-head competition with Big Doe Rehab. Wouldn't it be cool to see Lennox administer a critical beatdown on the rest of the Animal Collective guys? Okay, forget it, that wouldn't be cool at all.

Palomar and Jaymay paced all locals; go on and cry favoritism if you want, but they deserved every vote they got. Frankly, Jaymay shouldn't even be considered local anymore -- she lives in England now, and she's landed herself on a stylish, tea 'n' crumpets British label. Those of us who can't wait for the stateside release of Autumn Fallin' jumped the gun and put it on our '07 ballots; I hope we don't split her Critics Poll XIX vote. I'm protective, and big-brotherly, like that. Other friends and neighbors polling well: The Roadside Graves (72), Tim Fite (60), My Teenage Stride (58), Flaming Fire (52), Mishka Shubaly (47).

31. Lil Wayne – Da Drought 3 (119)
32. The Good, The Bad, & The Queen – The Good, The Bad, & The Queen (118)
32. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog (118)
32. Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation (118)
35. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Living With The Living (116)
35. The Ergs – Upstairs/Downstairs (116)
37. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime (115)
38. Jesu – Conqueror (112)
38. The White Stripes – Icky Thump (112)
40. Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights (111)
40. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (111)

Lo, how the mighty have fallen into a tie with the Ergs. For the first time since going solo, perennial favorite Ted Leo failed to ace the Poll. As always, his support was homegrown -- all but eleven of his points came from Garden State voters. The mirror image from the other side of the Hudson was Sharon Jones, an artist I know nothing about. 100 Days, 100 Nights was named on fourteen New Yorkers' ballots, and on nobody else's.

Da Drought 3 is the first mixtape to make the Top 40. Hell, if you guys consider it an album, I'm not going to tell you that it isn't. I may be pedantic, but I'm not legalistic; keep on voting for anything you want.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Some say that this Poll can't be properly contextualized, since it's just a survey of people I've met through music and writing. I don't try to mystify that. All Polls are cross-sections of arbitrarily-defined groups, and I happen to like my cross-section best. You're (mostly) folks I know and respect; I wouldn't be quite as interested in tabulating the votes of some anonymous readership or constituency of professional critics. I'm not a statistician, and even if I were, I'd still love pop music too much to ever attempt to damn it with scientific methodology.

Still, they call me the Count because I love to count, or perhaps because of all the necromancy I do. Since I took the Poll online in 2002, the voting has become very consistent: the regulars check in with their annual ballots, and, every season, we pick up additional regulars. I've now got a filing cabinet filled with back-dated, alphabetized responses, and it's incredibly gratifying -- not to mention fascinating -- to open it up and read what, say, Ben Krieger, or Vrinda Patel, wrote about pop records over the past few years. Each passing Poll makes that experience richer for me. This time of the year is enjoyable for me because of your cooperation, your wit, and the seriousness with which you take our fundamentally silly game. Oceans of gratitude go out to all 166 respondents. This was, without a doubt, the biggest, best, and most comprehensive Poll we've done yet, and it was your participation that made it so great. On Wednesday, I'll post the miscellany, including the many terrific comments you sent; this is a favorite day for many readers, and the voters this season did not disappoint. I'm also impressed by how many of you filled out full and thorough singles lists -- ones that displayed a healthy working knowledge of trash commercial radio. Either you're all becoming less embarrassed to list your favorite cupcake pop tracks, or you're just, you know, shaking it proud.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Other albums receiving #1 votes (see if you can guess which one is mine):

• Air -- Pocket Symphony
• Ben Weasel & His Iron String Quartet -- These Ones Are Bitter
• Celebration -- The Modern Tribe
• Consequence -- Don't Quit Your Day Job
• Chris Garneau -- C Sides
• Dirty Projectors -- Rise Above
• El-P -- I'll Sleep When You're Dead
• Fujiya & Miyagi -- Transparent Things
• Graham Smith/Kleenex Girl Wonder -- Mrs. Equitone
• Japancakes -- Loveless
• Jens Lekman -- Night Falls Over Kortedala
• Johan -- Thx Jhn
• J. Roddy Walston & The Business -- Hail Mega Boys
• Lily Allen -- Alright, Still
• Loney, Dear -- Loney Noir
• Low -- Drums And Guns
• Mark & The Spies -- Mark & The Spies
• Matthew Dear -- Asa Breed
• M.I.A. -- Kala
• Mike Wexler -- Sun Wheel
• Paleo -- The Song Diary
• Perpetual Groove -- LiveLoveDie
• Pink Floyd -- Dark Side Of The Moon (no, really!, it got a #1 vote.)
• Rasputina -- Oh Perilous World
• Reverend Glasseye -- Our Lady Of The Broken Spine
• Say Anything -- In Defense Of The Genre
• St. Vincent -- Marry Me
• The Blank Tapes -- Daydreams
• The Long Blondes -- Someone To Drive You Home
• The Ponys -- Turn The Lighs Out
• The Winter Sounds -- Porcelain Empire
• Tum Tum -- Eat Or Get Ate
• Verlaines -- Potboiler
• Willie Colon -- The Hustler (reissue)
• Yeasayer -- All Hour Cymbals
  

Tune in tomorrow for the singles list.

Tune in Wednesday for the miscellaneous categories.

Tune in Thursday to read my ballot.

Tune in Friday for the valedictory address.

Prior Critics Poll results online:

Poll XVII (2006)
Poll XVI (2005)
Poll XV (2004)
Poll XIV (2003)

 

 

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