Record of the Year 2020

Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Leo said:
is there a better way for them to develop a list? or is any list developed by more than one person subject to that problem?
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I think it's particularly noticeable for Wire because pluralism is kind of central to what they do. With a mag that's tied in to a particular scene it sort of makes sense to triangulate the middle ground of what all the writers are into, but if they dip into everything from avant-classical to grime it just seems incongruous.
 
subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
Leo said:
is there a better way for them to develop a list? or is any list developed by more than one person subject to that problem?
Click to expand...

I agree it's difficult. Their method is:

We asked our contributors to nominate their top ten records, CDs, downloads and streams of the year, then we counted up the votes.

I'm guessing the points are therefore 1=10, 2=9, 3=8, and so forth, which seems all very fair.

The problem is that "fair" will tend to result in "good" rather than "best". For "best" I think a method should reward genuine enthusiasm over gentle praise. For instance, if they graded them in a Formula One type way:

1=25, 2=18, 3=15, 4=12, 5=10, 6=8, 7=6, 8=4, 9=2, 10=1

Then it would take six (rather than four) halfway "pretty good"s to triumph over two "absolutely the best".
 
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C

catalog

Well-known member
boomkat list is better, but harder to go through. they just have loads of artists, then their own staff ones. they don't bother trying to do the aggregate thing.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
"Everyone nominate one and then vote for the order" or even "everyone nominate one and then don't bother ordering them" would arguably make for a more interesting list? Or it might be better to just accept that sticking a linear order on such a disparate bunch of things is a fools errand and not bother at all...
 
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Leo

Leo

Well-known member
Slothrop said:
everyone nominate one and then don't bother ordering them"
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the wire usually does that, a small sidebar at the end where they list all contributors to the poll and the one album each of them picks as their best of the year.

Derek from the wire used to post here (although I can't tag him), perhaps he can chime in.
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I am much more interested in reading a single person's end of year list than a collective one. Especially if that person is really immersed in a particular sound.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
They have individual charts for the columnists or whatever they are called. People talk about the Wire chart every year so it isn't a complete waste of time from that perspective.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
I keep reading gushing articles about Sault, how they're this amazing "mysterious" UK post-punk alt-funk genius move but the clips I've heard online are really underwhelming. what am I missing? am I missing?
 
B

boxedjoy

Well-known member
really over-rated. Jools Holland adjacent under-produced pseudo-post-funk for people who want their iTunes folder to reflect that they went on a #blm march but would rather listen to didactic platitudes than engage with contemporary r&b or rap.
 
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