Jeez, I guess I was in a turkey-induced coma over the holiday and missed some of these, but Stereogum was on top of it: Brit mags Uncut, Mojo and Q have released their Top 50s, while stateside rag Blender opted for a Top 33, just to be cute. So, are any critical trends emerging, and is any one album this year’s In Rainbows, a juggernaut of critical praise?
Not really. I’ve created a convenient chart showing the positions of most albums that have received more than one mention, and it’s a bit of a mess, with Nick Cave ending up on top just by virtue of being everybody’s 10th-or-so favorite. Granted, this is a Brit-heavy list, and that at least proves the maxim that Brits love Kings of Leon (and Elbow). But Girl Talk and Sigur Ros make surprisingly strong showing as well. So, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Spin: it’s your job to bring this chart back over to the American side. Of course, it’s clear that the definitive list will be your moronically-named guest blogger’s (look for it before Christmas!) so you can actually just ignore all of this.
