#54

Well, if you’re not racist then you just have a shocking taste in music. Fucking Primal Scream? Garbage? The Kills? ‘American Valhalla’?

#55

Justice - Safe and Sound
The 1975 - Somebody else
The Avalanches - Frankie Sinatra
The Kills - Doing it to death
Metronomy - Night Owl
Meiyler Jones - How to recognise a work of art

#56

Why is the automatic assumption made that, whenever someone points out a certain kind of homogeneity in these lists, they are assuming that the compilers have built in, implicit prejudices against music made by people of colour? I mean, it’s come around to that argument, but that’s not where it began.

Look over those first few posts again.

Kallgeese: .#DiSsSoWhite

Sean: Just picked music I liked. My guests liked. And our writers liked. It wasn’t meant to be anything but a few tunes we’re into. Interesting that people reach to call you a racist, but wouldn’t call someone sexist if this was a wall to wall willy fest.

Kallgeese: I’m not saying you or the other writers are racist Sean…

Just imagine how else it might have gone:

Kallgeese: .#DiSsSoWhite

Sean: heh, yeah, 'tis a bit. Any suggestions on other great songs of the year that might help mix it up?

3 Likes
#57

DiS is so white it didn;t even include bIackstar in it’s Iist of the year! :wink:
onIy messing with u but hears a Iist of some ‘bIack music’ i’ve heard this year that i would recommend… (not sure now ‘new’ any of the acts are tbh!)

run the jeweIs released good shit in the Iast year (bi-raciaI hiphop - hahaha!)
haIf decent released a great double a side recently (white english hiphop)
prince released a record within this catchment period of the Iast year (dec15)
it had some of his best stuff in years - extraIovabIe, groovy potential and more.
Iiving colour had good ep recentIy - had a cover of B.I.G who shot ya?
kendra foster released a damn good album - think d’angelo, monae, soIange.
kooI keith had some great stuff this year including an mf doom coIIabo.
prophets of rage are mixed race/part hiphop and made some cooI stuff too.
i’m guessing a re-issue of bitches brew by miIes davis (or the OST) won’t count?

guessing there are tonnes of others… i rareIy thing of music in race terms anymore tbh so hiphop doesn’t read to me as any specific race. i also think if u hear misognyny in rap stiII then u are not trying to find good stuff in the same way as maybe u would another genre fuII of bad qualities/vaIues/Iyrics etc - not an accusation just a soft suggestion. there’s plenty of diverse hiphop out there! maybe u are relying on being fed too much by the mainstream (that does not even do hiphop so much as this weird dance/rap/pop amalgam these days!) when gaga ends up on a best of Iist it screams to me ‘too much pop!’. :wink:

#58

I tell you what then, we won’t bother using the Term “Best Of…” anymore for lists. Instead it will be “A List Of Music That We Have Checked For Proportionality Based On Race, Gender, Class, Sexual Orientation (And Any Other Category We’ve Missed), Artistic Merit Be Damned”. Would that make you happy?

#59

Opinions are like arseholes…everybody has one.

#60

not sure why sean mentioned women on the list to the question of racial homogeny.

it’s just stuff we’re into sounds like answer to white dominance in elite jobs- we just picked the best candidate.

#61

Not sure why I’m entering the fray on a Saturday evening, but this is a really odd response to what was a reasonable post.

As has been pointed out several times - and, in fact, in the very post you responded too - defensiveness is an unhelpful way to react to what was a fair observation. I don’t want to speak for @robluvsnic but this clearly isn’t about “what makes him happy”. The dismissive “Any Other Category We’ve Missed” also suggests you aren’t really grasping the point here.

1 Like
#62

Yeeeeeow! What a wonderful response.

Do you know what this list looks like? One driven by PR emails you’ve gotten throughout the year. DiS at this point exists as a vehicle for the forum in my eyes. In terms of musical criticism it hasn’t been relevant for many years and the above list bears this out.

1 Like
#63

As I have pointed out several times, for me, making a “Best Of…” type list - based on artistic merit - doesn’t start with quotas or any notion that it should be apportioned based on race, gender etc. You obviously disagree. Which is fine. But then don’t call it a “Best Of” list, and don’t accuse others of having an implicit / explicit bias simply because they prefer the former method.

#64

Do you know what you sound like? The sort of person who wears a “You haven’t heard of my favourite band” t-shirt. I’m sorry that our tastes don’t appear to be as cool and edgy as yours. But hey, seeing as you obviously have such a vast, superior knowledge, and seeing as you don’t think our criticism is any good, here’s an idea; why not have a go yourself? Put your opinion out the on the Internet for all to see, and show us all how “criticism” is done. Fancy it?

#65

I think Sean should be able to post a list of music he likes without worrying about what race they are first.

1 Like
#66

enjoying the defensiveness and outright denial ITT still

2 Likes
#67

Not really. As I said at the outset, I find that kind of moral inspection of choices pretty tedious.

As for the line about it being a “best of” list, it’s starting to sound like what’s really bugging you as that people are questioning your authority: “too bad if you think this list is deficient in some way. This is the best music, fully accredited as such by my impeccable ears and infallible capacity to identify artistic merit. Your opinion to the contrary is just that: an opinion, not to be confused or compared with my expert judgement”.

Anyway, pretty obvious there’s no hope of encouraging you to see things otherwise, so I’ll leave it at that.

2 Likes
#68

Again, you’re completely missing my point. Of course lists of “Best Of’s” are subjective, and only the opinion of that particular critic - I would never, and have never, claimed that any list I’ve made to be definitive or in some way “more right” than anyone else’s. It’s opinion, pure and simple - and see my above comments about opinions…

And no, what’s bugging me (and i think this is the 4th time I’ve said this) is the casual implied bias that I and Sean apparently have, when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. But I’m obviously not going to convince you, so we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

#69

“Opinions are like arseholes…everybody has one.”

isn’t that a weird thing for someone who just posted their own opinions as an articIe (of sorts) to say? i mean a review or critique is uItimateIy just an opinion. i don;t think u are a racist or whatever but u are a bit highIy strung maybe! :wink:

it’s a weird thing to say every body who criticises the Iist should take up writing, reviewing, blogging or whatever as that really isn’t everybody’s caIIing or even inclination. it takes a certain type of person to think their opinions and musings are worthy of more than just a comment somewhere. said as someone who has written for quite a few publications and sites from IocaI to national to net-based.

one Iast thing about opinions. yes, everyone has them… but they are uItimateIy validated by facts, experience, knowledge etc to ascertain their worth. many factors (breadth of knowledge for example) Iead people to decide whether they think those opinions are worth taking seriousIy. though admittedIy u would not know from recent referendums and elections, granted. so it seems counter productive to compIain about feedback from something u put out there for people to judge. especially on a forum that is built for discussion. there’s nothing big or clever about being condescending toward people who deemed your opinion worthy of 1. reading and 2. taking time to comment on. it’s actually a bit spoilt when u should be thankful anyone gives a shit at aII. not got anything against u or your Iist per se. but if people have beef with it, at Ieast they paid attention. would u prefer they just ignore it or maybe gave a the oId spinaI tap 2 word review ‘shit sandwich’ or maybe stopped coming here?

just a few things to think about if u intend to carry on with this critic/writer thing. meant in as friendIy a way it can be meant with no malice or hurtfulness intended. best wishes and have nice xmas! :slight_smile: x

#70

Thanks for posting this.

To be honest, I’m a bit embarrassed that it wasn’t more inclusive. I always strive for inclusivity.

Full disclosure and for the sake of context: This show was put together in a matter of hours, with me dragging some tracks from my favourites of the year playlist and adding in songs from a thread on our staff Facebook group. I had about 90mins of music and didn’t know how long we would talk for, and Andrzej and Danielle picked more tunes when they came in, so I ended up with over 2 hours of music, which meant things like Dilla’s take on ‘Cars’ which I was meant to play and a Frank Ocean track that was mentioned by one staff member that I hadn’t listen to, didn’t make it onto the show, and as I said above, I listened to the Anderson Paak track that I’d picked and realised the lyrics weren’t exactly radio friendly. Was also meant to play a Michael Kiwanuka song but totally forgot - but am assuming he’ll feature in our albums of the year show next month.

To be clear, the planning for this show was done in less time than I was on air. It was just me picking some of my favourites and sharing a few staff picks. I was trying to be representative of what I like and what the team like.

My reaction above wasn’t my finest hour and I’d like to apologise for over-reacting. I don’t want to make any excuses but I had driven to Glasgow and back, dealt with all the issues with advertising breaking the site, been at a meeting with a brand from 10 which lasted nearly 3 hours before going on air, and was replying to this thread amidst my first day at a new job. I really was not in a good headspace and to be honest I spend a lot of time considering shutting this site down for all of the woe and frustration it brings, with very little in return. No-one likes the insinuation that they’re racist, either intentionally or by excluding whole genres and cultures. I have always prided myself on being as inclusive and diverse as possible as a site, but I can’t hand on heart sit here and say that when compiling this radio show (which I do for free btw, it isn’t some paid gig, it’s just a little station that have given us some airtime) that the idea of any diversity was top of my agenda it was just about stuff we like, but I will endeavour for more racial diversity in future.

So yeah, comments taken onboard. Onwards.

8 Likes
#71

Because I’m not personally into either of them. The Solange album is fine but it made me want to listen to all the Erykah Badu albums I love. Found it pretty bland, especially given the hype. Also don’t get the fuss with Frank Ocean.

1 Like
#72

He already does!

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#73

Bit of a year-end bump.

Here’s our album of the year radio show:

Phoenix - Love Like a Sunset Part 1
Electrelane - Film Music
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
Hookworms - Form and Function
The Antlers - Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
M83 - Highway Of Endless Dreams
School of Seven Bells - Signals
Eluvium - Fugue State
Radiohead - True Love Waits
Hammock - Dissonance
Angel Olsen - Intern
Explosions in the Sky - Disintergration Anxiety
Amber Arcades - Fading Lines
ANOHNI - Drone Bomb Me
Yann Tiersen - Porz Goret
The 1975 - Somebody Else
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Before The Flood
Nick Cave & The Badseeds - Distant Sky
Mogwai - Scram
David Bowie - Girl Loves Me
David Bowie - ‘Tis A Pity She Was A Whore
Badbadnotgood - IV
Anderson Paak - Come Down
J Dilla - Trucks
The Kills - Doing It To Death
Julianna Barwick - Same
Ed Harcourt - Loup Garou