auto

Seems like a pretty ignorant attitude and highly unlikely.

Adam Tyner

Hey, I'm one of the people defending the non-hipsterness of the list. I'm not making any accusations.

atlantamoi

I've been so disappointed with commercial radio for so long, I'd probably drop from shock. I'd LOVE to see these bands on Grammy shows, MTV music awards shows and commercial radio. I'm not sure why hearing great new music on the radio would be a bad thing. Oh, wait, I'm supposed to be a hipster for listening to that stuff. Shhh. It's my little secret.

Andrew Bird was mentioned earlier. I just don't understand why this video would be so underground to be only for music geeks. It's beautiful. And takes a hell of a lot of talent to play live like this. I guess I'll never understand why people who grew up with what became classic rock have decided to stop allowing themselves to be exposed to new talent.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ySoOkE92KlY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ySoOkE92KlY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

The Bus

DUDE! No one rocks like REO and Bay City Rollers used to.

Giles

just a quick shout out to my thread to where you can post what YOU think are the 'Best' songs of the year are (hint, hint)

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/music-talk/...gs-2009-a.html

RagingBull80

I don't understand this. And why is this a "hipster" list?

I honestly don't care for most of the stuff on that list. Some of it's alright but eh. The YYYs song is not even anywhere near the best song on that album.

And if I heard my favorite song on that list ("The Strangers" by St. Vincent) I would be happy. I would be happy that Annie Clark (St. Vincent) is getting more exposure. More exposure for her means more money and more money means she can keep making music; so I'm puzzled by the statement quoted above.

atlantamoi

St. Vincent is on the new Twilight (New Moon) soundtrack. She'll probably get quite a bit of exposure and money through that.

Hiro11

If someone had come to me and said "pick the 25 songs that NPR radio hosts would pick as the best 25 of the year", my list would probably have closely matched the actual list.

I'm not saying this is bad music (far from it, in fact), just that this is a laughably stereotypical white/upper-middle-class/liberal/urban/rock-snobby list. Lots of arty/folky stuff that doesn't rock too hard, has interesting lyrics, incorporates notable world beat type influences and could be played successfully at an Upper West Side wine and cheese party.

atlantamoi

Funny post. Sure, you can say all that. Guess I find my favorite songs sort of along those lines, but I mainly just sit here on my ass in front of the computer listening to music. Well, sitting on my ass in my car as well. Never been to an Upper West Side wine/cheese party. I saw AC/DC, Pogues, St. Vincent and Airborne Toxic Event live this past year (forgot I went to more than two shows). I like a mixture of tunes, but still lean towards what NPR listed.

maxfisher

Whether someone avoids music because it's on the radio or because it's not as well known, it's equally stupid. I love most of the songs on the list and the albums they come from. I also enjoy Coldplay, The Killers, Muse and plenty of other more popular artists. I listen to music I like with little regard for how much or little the masses care for it and I think a lot of people here do the same. If anything, I'd say there is a greater percentage of people who avoid more obscure music because they think it's snobby or hipster.

Anyway, we've got a local radio station on which I've heard Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, The Decemberists, Wilco, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, M. Ward, Dirty Projectors, Metric, Beirut, Bat for Lashes and Modest Mouse. That's in Indianapolis, so I have a hard time beleiving none of this stuff is getting any airtime in other cities.

JAA

Great list . . . certainly appeals to much (but not all) of my tastes.

Tscott

um, sorry?

As someone almost of this age (I'm currently 38) I'm thinking I might start to take offense to these sweeping generalizations of the older set. This is the second such silly statement I've seen in these best of the year/decade threads. For the record I do listen to Dirty Projectors, along with about 10 or 12 of the other bands listed in this list. I found out about most of these bands by reading posts on another forum that's made up mostly of people in their late 30s and 40s. A substantial number of us are music fans, and thus keep current with what's out there, along with stay in touch with or rediscover older stuff too. (I've discovered Roxy Music, The Db's, Young Fresh Fellows, and many more from this group of online friends).

If these songs were played on the radio, I honestly wouldn't know. My local radio sucks (except for the local NPR station) and thus I go elsewhere to find music that I like. And I do this regardless of if it is popular or not. In fact, I can still feel free to listen to any Avril Lavigne song anytime I like, because I haven't heard them overplayed on the radio like, I imagine, everyone else has.

Yep. As it should. I haven't listened to this podcast yet, although I do subscribe to All Songs Considered, but I've listened to yesterday's "Discussion: The year in music, 2009" and really enjoyed that. My favorite podcasts of theirs are usually the round table discussions as they listen to and enjoy, or rip on, everyone else's picks. I made a few interesting discoveries from that listen of stuff I hadn't heard of before.

And the best part of that podcast was the last two minutes- after talking about music for the past hour and 40 minutes, they start rattling off names of bands for two minutes they wanted to talk about in the podcast, but didn't have time to get to.



In short, what I think I'm saying is, if you see any music list filled with stuff you've never heard of, don't think of that as a fault of the list, but an opportunity for you to discover something new. Check it out, if you don't like it afterwards, the only thing it cost you was time.

yoshimi

How many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?

I dunno, but the number is really obscure and you probably haven't heard of it yet.

Heat

I haven't listened to the latest podcast yet but just wanted to say that if you like All Songs Considered, try Sound Opinions which is a podcast hosted by Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, the top music critics at the Chicago Sun-Times (Jim) and the Chicago Tribune (Greg). They have reviewed many of the albums on the list and have had some of the artists stop by the studios for an interview (Grizzly Bear on November 6, Phoenix on October 23, St. Vincent on July 10, etc).

Giles

^ do you know if that show is on NPR's Sirius/XM station I was hooked on the show when I heard it while driving through Illinois - the musical guest was THE DODOS

Giles

Here are the two's The Best Albums of 2009

Jim DeRogatis’ Top Ten

1. Ida Maria, Fortress 'Round My Heart

2. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone


3. Kid Sister, Ultraviolet

4. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix


5. Lily Allen, It's Not Me, It's You


6. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion


7. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love


8. Screaming Females, Power Move

9. Japandroids, Post-Nothing


10. U2, No Line on the Horizon


Greg Kot’s Top Ten:

1. St. Vincent, Actor

2. BLK JKS, After Robots

3. Cymbals Eat Guitars, Why There are Mountains

4. The xx, The xx

5. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

6. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone

7. Kid Cudi, Man on the Moon: The End of Day

8. Rihanna, Rated R

9. Japandroids, Post-Nothing

10. Kid Sister, Ultraviolet

Metrodub

Was just coming in to post something very similar. I own every album of the 25 listed and I'm 37. Much like Tscott, I discover many of these artists through forums (such as the Sound Opinions board) because I feel that what is played on commercial radio as a whole isn't as appealing. Some Boston stations do play some of the artists in the NPR list, but it's few and far between.

I do agree with Hiro11 that this list is a bit heavy on the folky stuff, but then again, it's NPR. Where's Fever Ray, Sonic Youth, Baroness, Antlers, Twilight Sad, Atlas Sound, The Thermals, Alberta Cross?

atlantamoi

While I do wish radio was much better, you make a good point. I never had to get tired of Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" because I didn't hear it beyond my own listening environment. Wouldn't argue with Rolling Stone naming it the best song of the decade.

I know that I do sort of bristle a little bit with people calling us 40+ year olds out for not caring about new music. Not true for me, but I certainly know a lot of people my age who wouldn't have a clue about Dirty Projectors. Hmmm, come to think of it, that might be true for many of my co-workers in their 20's.

Heat

That was the November 20th show. You can download it here if you want, along with other shows by them: http://www.soundopinions.org/

Or you can subscribe to them through iTunes, it will download through iTunes in .mp3 format.

Nice list.

Boba Fett

For the record, I'm 25 but complain about movies and music like someone twice my age. 95% of the music I listen to is at least a decade or more old.

RagingBull80

I guess I'm in the demographic for this list (I'm 22) but I don't listen to even half that stuff and I still don't understand why it's considered "hipster" music.

I also don't understand why it's considered a "laughably stereotypical white/upper-middle-class/liberal/urban/rock-snobby list" either.

White: Is that because there's no rap on the list? Maybe the NPR people don't like rap music? I bet there are a lot of people out there that aren't hipsters that don't like rap.

Upper-middle-class: I don't even understand this at all unless it's going back the race issue.

Liberal: I've noticed that a lot of creative people in the entertainment industry have a more liberal view on things. People not included on this list as well, so...

Urban: Huh? As in "in the city?" So... The more people, the more tastes.

Rock-snobby: By rock-snobby does that mean stuff that's not played on the radio? I don't see what's wrong with not listening to the radio. Most of the time the radio stations only cater to the newest of the new and the hittest of the hits. Even classic rock stations only play the hits of the '70s. I'm not a fan of the new metal stuff therefore I don't like the rock station we have. I'm not a fan of rap so I don't like that station either. And so on and so on...

Dan1boy

For the sake of argument, I just sampled The Dirty Projectors (www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors) and I still don't get it...I really don't. Please help.

The Bus

I heard two Dirty Projectors songs and wasn't terrible impressed.

What do you think of "My Girls"?


Or "1901"?


Or "Warm Heart of Africa"? (disregard the video)

Heat

The thread title is a little off, the vote was for the best album, not song. The songs are just representative songs from the albums.

I've also added the start time on the podcast for each song to make it easier to check out a particular artist.

Sessa17

I think its great you listen to that stuff & it shows you have fantastic taste. But I stand by my statement, I never said all people over 40 don't list to the DPs, just most, I don't even see how that can be disputed. You are an exception. Most people in the demo of the genre don't even listen to the Dirty Projectors (or like bands), they are listening to mainstream music, so its not really an offensice statement claiming that most people over 40 don't listen to them.


Well said, its why I started the "post a song you deeply love thread". If you look at my posts in that thread, or the monthly listening thread, my taste doesn't fit in with most here, but I'm trying to get people to dig new stuff.