Paedantic Basterd

I'm sorry, when I read this thread, I thought "Soooo, basically, a whole bunch of stuff we already knew, because we also pay attention to the musical community". I wish you had offered opinions.

starrynight

I'll leave it to the end of the year, as with 2010. That way I can look through a few hundred lists and discover more obscure stuff that doesn't get hype.

Rainard Jalen

To explain, I was simply trying to lay a decent foundation for an on-going discussion. Clearly there is nothing especially interesting about the opening post, but I think it is fairly comprehensive in its detailing of the most important releases in indie/alternative. The truth is I have heard very few of any of those records (mostly because I have listened to virtually nothing all year aside from f'cking Elvis Costello, the bastard whose early music is too gripping to make me want to listen to anything else. Damn you Elvis.)

I'm really just curious to gather other people's opinions as I think it would benefit my own decision-making process when it comes to choosing what to bother with.

In all honesty the only records of the bunch that I really want to hear are TV On The Radio's new one and the latest offering from Wild Beasts. That's playing it safe, as these are bands I already like and have enjoyed listening to in the past. I want to be a little more adventurous hopefully, as I have been in previous years.

I'm not particularly excited by the Fleet Foxes release, simply because I wasn't big on the debut. Perhaps I should give it a go though.

PJ Harvey's England Shakes I have heard a few times but only really as background music. Maybe I should delve a little deeper.

starrynight

I'd rather say most famous than most important.

Rainard Jalen

The most acclaimed. And therefore the most important. To be important necessitates being known. If something is so obscure as to not be somewhat widely recognized as great then it can have no importance in wider circles. Simple as that.

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra

Unexpect should be releasing an album at the end of the month. They're a tremendous band, so I don't know why they don't get much excitement/coverage.

Fables of the Sleepless Empire - Unexpect

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starrynight

But you don't know what people in the future will consider to be important, why limit myself to what gets hyped now? There's loads of stuff out there. I do listen to some hyped albums because that is what people discuss, but that doesn't mean I agree about their importance.

Rainard Jalen

Do you hear anybody now talking about the greatness of some album that came out in 2001 that very few people recognized at the time? Do you see any such albums in the end of decade best of 2000s lists? Fact is that it doesn't really happen. The music press is too big in the modern era.

There were times in the past, say the late 60s to at the most the mid-90s where wonderful releases were really confined to very small circles of the music-listening community and never got recognition at the time, only to be looked back on in awe by much larger crowds many years on. The reason for this was the lack of the world wide web and its webzines, discussion boards and whatnot. These days, on the other hand, anything that has any particular merit to it gets attention fairly quickly an the word spreads like wildfire.

Anteater

Personally, I think Kaputt is more interesting than the majority of this year's Indie-oriented releases. The 80's jazz/sophisti-pop aesthetic sounds rather colorful compared to much of what's been hyped this year, and I'm not the only one who has realized that.

That being said, Iron & Wine have also delivered spectacularly this year, and I also feel Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues will most likely grow on people as time goes by.

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starrynight

I don't agree. First of all there is only room for so many records to be hyped every year. Also there is much more music available to people now than before, very hard to get a grasp on all of it. Consensus music lists are pretty useless as they just like the most famous things, individual lists can be much more interesting.