Year after year, these Jazz & Pop surveys make it clear how far my tastes are from the critical consensus.
That’s weird, because I tend to think of myself as the sort of cultural snob who likes critically acclaimed work and sniffs at the lowbrow stuff. That seems to be true when it comes to movies.
But music critics obviously love a whole lot of music I find boring. Unimaginative rap and tedious slow-jam R&B tracks dominate these lists.
Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ tied for 11th on the Villahe Voice Pazz & Jop poll. I featured the song on my own year-end countdown, only the second track I’ve had in common with this critics’ list (the first being Haim’s ‘The Wire’).
In the 13th spot is Tegan & Sara’s ‘Closer.’ I’m curious to hear this song, because I’ve read a fair bit about it.
I’m continuing my recap of the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll this week, I hope with less Kanye West.
Clocking in at #11 is Justin Timberlake’s ‘Mirrors,’ the second single from his album The 20/20 Experience.
I like Timberlake more as an actor and a Saturday Night Live performer than a musical act. I’m just not all that into his brand of smooth R&B.
Here’s a track from a collection of early Bob Dylan demos, recorded in 1961 and ’62.
Given my current obsession with the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, it’s hard not to hear a song like this in the context of that great film and the early Greenwich Village folk scene is captures.
Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to The Mission was one of the first instrumental soundtrack I ever owned (second only to Star Wars, I think) and remains one of the few in my collection.
While the movie has faded in my memory, this music has stayed with me for decades. The haunting ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ melody, which shares space in this cut with the chanted vocals, is one of my favorite pieces of music ever.
Meet Me In Montauk 