The new Bjork isn't that great. I'm beginning to think with Bjork and Radiohead they can tape themselves snoring or brushing their teeth and critics would praise them. Let's face it Bjork is unique but she has a terrible voice and the fact that critics are eating this up just proves that some critics need to get their heads out of their bums and start being "real." Just because you're tired of the same formulaic pop on the radio doesn't mean the new Bjork record is "always" the perfect alternative, at least not this time. This is why people don't really read reviews for music anymore. Wilco's not the greatest band in the world or else they would be played on the radio. Look at the Strokes, White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. These bands were all ahead of their times but still managed to get played on the radio. Radio is different now than it was five years ago. Modest Mouse and Fountains of Wayne were just cult bands but now their hitmakers. The new Bjork hardly even gets played on college radio let alone alternative. When it comes to producing music and uniqueness Bjork is in a league of her own but when it comes to singing, Elizabeth Fraser she isn't.

I agree; critics will praise anything released by certain artists. Bjork's new album might be "daring," but that doesn't make it good. Hell, Madonna's AMERICAN LIFE got some good reviews, and it was just a rehash of her past few albums.

I really like Loretta Lynn's latest album, but I think it's been overpraised because of Jack White's involvement. He's another critical darling. There are some standout tracks on VAN LEAR ROSE, but I stopped listening to the CD less than a month after I bought it.

I disagree with the notion that Björk has a terrible voice. In fact, I think she has among the most powerful, beautiful and versatile voices out there. I don't feel like Medúlla is her best, but I don't feel like it's a load of crap either.

I love Bjork myself and the new album is not a load of crap but if you say Bjork has one the most beautiful voices in the world, that's a load of crap. Might as well say that Iggy Pop's voice rivals Marvin Gaye's voice or Courtney Love's rivals Whitney Housten. Sinead O' Connor, Tori Amos and Liz Fraser from the Cocteau Twins have all made songs that haunt us because they have been sung without instruments and all these women have haunted voices which is what make these song's so intriging. Bjork tried to follow in these women's footsteps but it just doesn't work. It's been done before and it's been done much better.

Liking a voice is a completely subjective assessment. I honestly feel that Björk's voice is among the best I've heard and I like Medúlla quite much. Sue me.

I agree, Björk's is an amazingly beautiful voice. Adhering to convention does not beauty make. She has a terrific set of pipes, and she sings outside the box. Truly, a terrific singer.

Shaun

Well, the way I see it there are two contenders. Sadly, one of them is the Arcade Fire's debut, which is actually a very good album, but nowhere near the level the hype has it.

But I think the real winner of this (non-)competition is the Street's A Grand Don't Come For Free. It's really one of the least remarkable albums of the year, positively or negatively. It's much worse than his first and if it weren't for the gimmick of the narrative I think it might have been received more honestly. Besides "Fit But You Know It", there's nothing to get excited about. "Dry Your Eyes" makes me cringe. Again, not a bad album overall, just pretty middle of the road.

Let me add The Killers' "Hot Fuss" into the mix. The album isn't a bad one, but it simply never impressed me. I'd give it 3 stars at best.

And oh yes, add me to the "Bjork has a beautiful voice" list. I read a review of Neko Case's new album the other day that put her in the company of Bjork and Corin Tucker as the most powerful voices in music right now, and that really felt accurate to me.

I completely disagree with this one sentence:

"Wilco's not the greatest band in the world or else they would be played on the radio."

Now, I don't think Wilco is the greatest band in the world, but music doesn't have to be played on the radio to be good. In fact, the mass-marketing of music by dollar-oriented super-stations is pretty much destroying radio, which used to be a place where you could find a lot of good stuff, rather than just a few pearls in a sea of garbage like you can now.

According to me, these albums of 2004 are overrated :

Sufjan Stevens "Seven swans"
The Streets "A grand don't come from free"
The Walkmen "Bows+arrows"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Abattoir blues/The lyre of Orpheus"
Modest Mouse "Good news for people who love bad news"
Interpol "Antics"
Animal Collective "Sung tongs"
Bjork "Medulla"
The Libertines "The Libertines"

Bjork has a unique voice. Some people can be moved by it, others not. But anyway, beautiful voice doesn't necessarely beautiful beautiful music.

i agree about interpol. i'd also say franz ferdinand, dios, and strokes aren't that good. however i dont agree about sufjan stevens, and modest mouse. these are realy great albums.

I love Modest Mouse myself and I feel "Evil" is the greatest song Interpol's ever written. I have to tell you that there is such a thing called college radio and they are anything but commercial so don't tell me that all radio is commercial because there are some real gems here in LA. I can't stand it when people like Tom Petty whine and cry about the lack of talent on the radio. It's been improving and there are more than a handful of exceptional radio stations here in LA. KCRW played the last Liz Phair to death and that made me proud because not only was this her best record to date but at the same time it was giving the finger to all the critics who have been panning her for over a decade for NOT making another "...Guyville." Sure it was a pop record but what's wrong with that. In Britain Oasis and Franz Ferdinand are considered pop and they're brilliant. Don't mock pop radio unless you have good reason to back it up.

a belief with some critics that whatever one particular act puts out, it's brilliant- some of those acts would be Bjork, Radiohead, U2, PJ Harvey, etc. Madonna, I would not count among those, though- look at American Life. You don't see it on this site, now do ya? :) For the others mentioned, no matter how mixed the reviews may have seemed, almost all of their recordings are present.

Loretta Lynn's album is pretty darn good- the Jack White factor definitely added to the "hip/cool" factor, though.

I would love to secretly monitor critics for like 6 months and see what they listen to most. It would be interesting to see if they ever listen to KID A...and whether N Sync ever creeps in :)

Who the hell is this Tom Waits guy? He gets so much praise but I've yet to hear a single song that has truly captivated me. Quit putting him on top 20 lists. He's ALWAYS on them no matter what. I'd also like to see Nick Cave off the top 10 and to see Modest Mouse into the top 10. It was pretty obvious that Elliot Smith was going to make the list no matter what. I also don't think Wilco should be so high up there either. There are more deserving albums. I'm tired of singer songwriters getting more praise than they deserve. Critics tend to judge more on lyrics than melody nowadays, unless you're Radiohead or Bjork. This list needs improvement!!!!!!

I agree - lyrics are given too much attention. Songwriting is about a lot more than lyrics, but I rarely see critics recognize that. The reality is that few songwriters have great lyrics, anyway.

Most of Q magazine's Top 10 of 2004 are over-rated. imo.

The Streets "A grand don't come from free"
The Walkmen "Bows+arrows"
Modest Mouse "Good news for people who love bad news"
Interpol "Antics"
Animal Collective "Sung tongs"
Bjork "Medulla"
The Libertines "The Libertines"

I'm with Moonbeam on the above. I like a track here and there from some of these acts but the only one of these I *might* eventually buy is The Libertines and that's somewhat doubtful.

Reading this old conversation about Björk's voice, I think one of the most interesting polls we could do in the future would be about our favourite singers. And yes, Björk would definitely be in my list, up there with Ella, Scott, David and others.

Uh, I only said that The Killers were overrated, not any of those others! I actually quite love Medulla.

Sorry meant to say I agree with Dumbangel.

Sorry about that, Moonbeam. And I actually do like Bjork sometimes but I couldn't get into MEDULLA other than "Where is the Line?"

what about overrated albums of 2008? i'd say these three so far -

WE STARTED NOTHING BY THE TING TINGS Look, these guys suck. They're funny, but they're songwriting is just balls and they're not great musicians either. They're just 'hip'.
FLEET FOXES BY FLEET FOXES Look, it's a good album. But 5 stars?? Sweet jesus, it's not that good. A lot of people seem to be praising them because it's folky, but trust me, only people who don't know anything about folk say that Fleet Foxes are folk.
PARTIE TRAUMATIC BY THE BLACK KIDS Crotch obsessed indie with irritating tuneless voices. And the critics PRAISE this?

Fleet Foxes is not folk, no, but it's definitely one of the best albums of the year.

Islands and Black Kids albums this year are just awful. Borderline unlistenable. The Islands are trying to make twee sound grandiose and epic, and The Black Kids just sound like the New Pornographers if they were really terrible songwriters.

There are also a lot of just-decent albums that are getting massive praise. Like, Harvey Milk. Lil Wayne. Health.

I really liked The Islands album. I loved The Unicorns and then was disappointed by the first Islands album.

Kiran, I don't think the Ting Tings are trying to be anything more than fun and they succeed at it. Not every band has to have deep meaning or amazing musicians. Music can be fun without having much to it. I think most of us here disagree with you about Fleet Foxes.

If anything Good News by Modest Mouse is incredibly underrated. Hardcore fans couldn't take that it was a hit so they picked the Moon and Antartica to be their cult classic. Before Good News nobody thought of the Moon and Antartica as the best albums of 2000. It wasn't until they finally got a hit that fans rebelled and declared the Moon as their best record.

I think the Ting Tings album is OK- nothing spectacular, but fun nonetheless.

they sound like every other british girl songwriter or pop group coming out with their their rudegrrl accents with watered down hip hop. Same old stuff. Braitain is releasing some terrible music lately.

I think it would be interesting for those who are still around to revisit their list of overrated albums from 2004 in 2008 and see if they've changed their opinions any.

If anything Good News by Modest Mouse is incredibly underrated. Hardcore fans couldn't take that it was a hit so they picked the Moon and Antartica to be their cult classic. Before Good News nobody thought of the Moon and Antartica as the best albums of 2000. It wasn't until they finally got a hit that fans rebelled and declared the Moon as their best record.

This just isn't true. Moon was on quite a few indie EOY Top 10 lists for 2000, including No. 3 on Pitchfork. As a result, Good News was HIGHLY anticipated in the indie community. As far as backlash over "Float On" breaking, there may be something to that.

Either way, I'm no fan of Modest Mouse, but I certainly remember huge hype at the time of Moon (mainly because Lonesome Crowded West was already a beloved album).