“Best of the year” pronouncements are particularly silly when they come before the end of the year, let alone before a decent interval has elapsed in which to digest the music/film/whatever. Feb 14 would seem a good date on which to decide on the best, or favorite, from the previous year. But of course to wait that long would to be scooped by the premature evaluators.
Mayhap me protest too much. Village Voice waited until a few days ago to come to the standard hipster conclusion about album of the year. Looking at the Pazz + Jop 2008 list, I see that they listed my album of 2008, albeit at 34. It’s unlikely that a wait of a few weeks would have changed their wrongheaded minds much.
The current premature evaluation leaders are those who have anointed Merriweather Post Pavilion as album of 2009. It’s certainly cool and catchy…
… and now I give my music video of 2009 for “My Girls.”