Musicweek, Part 1: An Overview and Some Lists

So, here we are. For two years I've been contemplating making a list on this blog of my favorite albums. I've probably alluded to this desire to write a post on it in like three other posts (don't trust me on that, this blog does not fact-check). I have made multiple "Top Five Albums" notes on my computer from various times over the course of the last few years that fashion as sort of a snapshot of my musical tastes at different times of my life. And make no mistake, this is exactly what this list is: a snapshot. These are the albums that most appeal to me at this moment in time, and nothing more. I will not attempt to objectively rate these albums in a definitive sort of way, and I will certainly not put them in their proper historic context. The inherent flaws of a list such as this are many, but I've tried to take these into account as best as I can.

"Ratings/lists are always subjective": Sadly, yes. Part of the beauty of art is that it is left up to the receiver to decide the value of said art. Everyone has different tastes in music, and you are entitled to your own opinions now matter how stupid they are. (Don't worry, I won't ever tell you that your opinions are bad [but let's be honest, we both know they are].) Thus, a list of the best albums will always have detractors because everyone has a different favorite album. To try to account for this as much as I can, I've tried to pick albums that I've listened to for a relatively long amount of time, i.e. at least a few months. Many really good albums take a few listens to break in, and then you love the album for a few weeks and its on constant repeat. However, after a few weeks maybe you grow tired of the album and don't really want to listen to it anymore. Maybe a few months pass, and you listen to it again and you either like it or dislike. It's this listening with fresh ears even after you've listened to it to death that I try to use. Every few weeks people run into the Greatest Album Ever, and believe it is so for a few weeks until they move on to something else. After this, they'll come back to the album, maybe repeat this process a few more times, and eventually an equilibrium is established where the enjoyment of an album reaches a somewhat stable state for a long period of time. I feel this is the true rating of an album. This doesn't exactly solve the problem of subjectivity, but that's okay. What it does fix is my own subjectivity towards music I've been recently listening to and gives a fair playing field to all albums I've ever listened to, and it allows me to pick out albums from which I can get a constant enjoyment.

Well actually that's just about the only problem, and as long as I make it clear to you and myself that this is not a definitive list but rather just a list of albums that I love at the moment we should be good. This will not be a ranking, but rather a list of my top 5 albums. In other words, I'm not going to number them 1-5, because I don't want to make the albums that aren't number one feel bad. I'll put it in a vague list from best to not best, but it isn't a set-in-stone rank (more of a *nudge nudge, i think this one is a little better, but don't tell anyone*). It'll go from best to not-best, but not really, you know? Anyways, here we go. There's more than one list, for reasons I'll explain later in the week. Without further ado:

My Top Albums

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

Is This It by The Strokes

Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips

Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem

Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins

Notable Exceptions (Artists)

The Beatles

Radiohead

Nick Drake

Important Albums

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West

Bricolge by Amon Tobin

Discovery by Daft Punk

Dear Science / Return to Cookie Mountain by TV On The Radio

Merriweather Post Pavillion by Animal Collective

No Way Down by Air France

SMiLE by The Beach Boys

White Blood Cells by The White Stripes

Klaviewerke EP by James Blake

Ah, that was actually rather refreshing. So each day for the next week I'll have a post dedicated to one of the albums on this list, most likely starting from the bottom and moving up, but I'm not sure yet. There will also be a day for the "notable exceptions" list and one for "important albums" that didn't make the Top Albums list for some reason or another. I think this is the start of something beautiful (for me at least). See you tomorrow.