Pazz & Jop predictions thread

[koganbot]

I really have no clue this year. Remember that last year "Rehab" beat "Umbrella," so these people are not to be trusted, but also it was clear that the four tracks likely to compete were going to be "Umbrella," "All My Friends," "Paper Planes," and "Rehab" (which was the order they finished on Idolator).

Anyway, being clueless, I think Santogold could win both album and single, but then I also think Beyoncé could win single, since she always polls high in that category (though I don't like either "Single Ladies" or "If I Were A Boy" as much as "Crazy In Love" and "Baby Boy"). As for albums, something awful like Fleet Foxes or something that I'm ignoring like TV On The Radio will probably place high, and beyond that I can't think of any. Well, Kanye will place, but I don't know where. Scooter won't place. I really don't know about Ne-Yo - not top 10, I don't think. Vampire Weekend? As for singles that do well on poptimists, "Closer" could get in the top 20, "No Air" I don't know, probably top 40. "American Boy" will do reasonably well, "Wearing My Rolex" will probably be lucky to get top 40. "A&E" will do well. Lil Wayne is the wild card, since his album ought to place top 5, and I'd guess the same for "A Milli," but I really don't know. There's probably some mainstream respectable prestige item like last year's Plant & Krauss that I'm not remembering. And a lot that have slipped my mind.

Comments

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

'Dear Science' is a total departure. It's a beautiful, gospelly album (I think Lex would actually probably like it) and it is full of these beat-driven, pretty pieces of melancholy. I have some uploaded which I will find in a minute but particularly give 'Crying' a listen if you can. It's nothing like 'Return To Cookie Mountain' on most levels. More like 'Staring At The Sun' off the first EP insofar as more blues, less rock and yet also this album is the 'fuck it the world's ending, let's fall in love or something' rather than 'ohmygodkillyrself' which the other two sort of are. along with a lot of fucking.

Slipknot's new one is political and released at the right moment... I suspect it will do better than would be expected but perhaps not.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Slipknot don't have a chance in hell. (And also, they're not very good, never were, though I do think they *invented* something. Just not something I ever liked.) (Well, actually, Korn might've invented it. But Slipknot took it to a, um, higher level. And it was something that sucked, either way.) (And even if I liked them, it doesn't matter -- they've never done well in Pazz & Jop, and they had way less visibility this year than they did, back when kids -- including my own kids, if you really wanna know -- actually used to care about them.)

As for TV On The Radio, I heard it, and didn't think it was so hot. Didn't come close to making my Top 150 list. Here's what I wrote about it (and Gang Gang Dance's album, which also didn't come close to making my 150 list, for what it's worth.):

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/11/im-a-pretty-ope.html

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Maybe I've been taken in by it's exceptionally good reception amongst the British rock press. Here they're accepted as having transcended The Kidz but I forget; very different spheres.

TV on the Radio isn't as good as Bloc Party but that's because I like my clattering beats on the gothic side. 'Dear Science' is still very Ashlee, though. I had never thought of TVOTR as being like Peter Gabriel. My other half describes them as 'a post-apocalyptic barbershop quintet.' They make very sexy music.

GGD is one of those things I quite like but would never buy. Good party music, though.

[weasel-seeker.livejournal.com]

Joining in to rep for the surprising melodicism of the new TV on the Radio album. While I do quite like their earlier albums, for indie-ist attributes that we normally sneer at here (and rightfully so, etc. plz don't hurt me, Lex), Dear Science tries to do (and does) something very different, I think. Anyway, I still wouldn't call them "pop" and I'm not sure if they merit discussion here. But they're certainly worth a shot! Dear Science battled it out with Erykah for quite sometime in my head for Album of the Year before going down in flames.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

>it's exceptionally good reception amongst the British rock press<

Did it score in any year-end polls in the UK, though? I can't imagine Slipknot did well at *NME* or anyplace like that. Maybe the metal press, but that's never been any kind of indicator of rock-crit success elsewhere, on either side of the pond. And it's not on *Terrorizer*'s top 40 (I just checked.) So where...*Kerrang*? (Don't think I saw that one.)

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

#2 in the Rock Sound Top 75 albums (http://www.rocksound.tv/blog/entry/top-75-albums-of-2008) (which is their pick, rather than the readers' poll where it ranked much lower)
#7 for Metal Hammer, which is probably about the highest they've ever ranked (http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/features/metal-hammer-critics’-top-50-albums-2008-9-7/)

*shrug* I'm not pretending to be incredibly accurate about the whole thing and I don't know that much about Pazz & Jop as a whole but I think they will get in there somewhere.