The results of the Village Voice’s critics’ poll are out, and not surprisingly, Kanye West’s Late Registration finished at No. 1. Personally, I don’t think West’s music is all that great — I can hear some innovative musical layers on his record, and some of the songs are very strong, but as a whole, it just doesn’t click with me. Then again, I know I’m not the best judge of hip-hop.
For the second year, I got a chance to vote in this poll. Here are the albums and singles I voted for, and the places where they ended up in the overall poll. I knew some of my choices would fall way down on the list, while others would place high. As it turned out, four of my top 10 album choices made the poll’s top 20. The singles list is always more difficult for me to decide on. What is a single these days, anyway? Since you can buy practically any song as a download, I consider any track on an album from last year eligible for the singles list. Hence, my list is more like a list of favorite songs than a list of the best radio hits of 2005. That said, I did try to choose a few songs that were the “singles” or videos from albums that I liked. Only one of my choices made Pazz & Jop’s top 10 singles.
ALBUMS
1. Sleater-Kinney, The Woods — 4
2. Amadou & Mariam, Dimanche a Bamako — 13
3. Devin Davis, Lonely People of the World, Unite! — 343
4. Sons and Daughters, The Repulsion Box — 192
5. Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs — 49
6. The Go! Team, Thunder Lightning Strike — 19
7. M. Ward, Transistor Radio — 104
8. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois — 3
9. Brakes, Give Blood – 254
10. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Naturally – 77
SINGLES
1. Sleater-Kinney, “Jumpers” — 112
2. Robbie Fulks, “Georgia Hard” – 536*
3. Gorillaz/De La Soul, “Feel Good Inc.” – 4
4. Devin Davis, “Giant Spiders” – 536*
5. The Go! Team, “Ladyflash” – 183
6. Spoon, “Sister Jack” – 60
7. Sons and Daughters, “Dance Me In” – 235
8. The New Pornographers, “Twin Cinema” – 235
9. M. Ward, “Radio Campaign” – 536*
10. Andrew Bird, “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left” – 536*
* — I was the only critic to vote for these songs.
Click here to go to the Voice’s Pazz & Jop page, which has the complete list of winning albums and singles, individual critics’ ballots and essays. Here’s my ballot at the site…