Roots rockers Alabama Shakes hold the #11 spot in the Pazz & Jop poll with their first single, ‘Hold On.’
I’ll admit, after crapping all over the R&B and hip-hop songs dominating the top of this list, I was starting to feel vaguely racist. And when I heard the early moments of this song and started swaying along appreciatively, I thought “Of course… my first real praise is going to be for the white southern rockers.”
Not only did Frank Ocean’s album top the Village Voice critics poll, he placed two songs on the singles list. The second, ‘Pyramids,’ comes in at #10.
I was disappointed in the first entry by Ocean. As much as I want to like his music, based on what I’ve learned about his story, it just didn’t rise above standard R&B fare. I suspect that it is exactly Ocean’s story that has catapulted him to the top of all of those critics’ lists. Or maybe the album’s deeper cuts bear more fruit.
Coming in at #7 and #8 on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll are Solange’s ‘Losing You’ and Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know.’ As I’ve featured both of those songs on the blog already, I’m jumping ahead to their 9th selection today.
I’m surprised Gotye shows up this far down. I did check last year’s poll and found that the song received 8 votes, so if those voters failed to give it a repeat vote this year, it might be losing a few slots due to the timing of its release.
I downloaded Tom Waits classic 1985 album Rain Dogs because it’s one of those records that serious music lovers needs to know. Sort of the way that serious film lovers need to have seen Taxi Driver.
I haven’t actually listened to the whole thing through yet so today’s random selection is new to me. I like it well enough.
I was really worried I’d dredge up another Christina Aguilera track from Bionic today, so this is an even more welcome treat.
‘Rose Parade’ is one of the standout tracks from Elliott Smith’s wonderful album Either/Or. It details, in a more straightforward way than he normally used, his participation in a street parade.
Meet Me In Montauk 