And so here we are, then. A year down the line and its time to polish up the red carpet, seal up the envelopes and strike up the 230-piece orchestra for the first Annual Over Awards for blogospheric achievement in music!!!!So let's get down to brass tacks as we sort the wheat from the chaff, the serious from the daft and the winners from the losers in probably the least-hotly anticipated ceremony of all time...
First of all, thanks to everyone for contributing suggestions and ideas for awards. Some categories were tied up with a single vote, some were more hotly contested. The album of the year race threw up a very definite top 20, and a ringing endorsement of our diversity along the way. I've tried to fit as many nominations in as possible but, at the end of the day, let's just hope that music is the winner. And thanks too, of course, to the mighty Shane for our slightly woozy award-daemon. Ladies and gentlemen, release the awards!
We begin the evening with the Blimpy McFlah Honorary Award for Nepotism in the Workplace, awarded for dedication in the field of nominating one's own work for an award. With an honourable mention to May1366 for his literary nominations, the winner of the award is...
The video for "Lies" by Broken Records.
Our next category is the Overtime award, an open category honouring those older albums that 'Spillers have discovered over the last year. There were six nominations altogether, each
receiving a small commemorative tankard. The nominations were:
'Cease To Begin' by Band of Horses
'Apologies to the Queen Mary' by Wolf Parade
'The Bairns' by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset
'100 Proof Aged In Soul - Somebody's Been Sleeping In My Bed' by The Hot Wax Session
'Curse Your Little Heart' by DeVotchKa
The Cowboy Junkies' back catalogue
And now we reach the first part of the mighty Overview Award for the 'Spill album of the year: Honourable Mentions. These are all the artists who got close but received no stogie and, I hope, no-one has been missed out. Deep breath and rounds of polite applause for:
The Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Pocahaunted, Marillion, Opeth, Mostly Autumn, Pineapple Thief, Panic Room, Uriah Heep, Josh and Co, Magenta, Van Der Graaf Generator, Deerhunter, Malcolm Middleton, Ballboy, The Dodos, Black Angels, Esau Mwamwaya, The Asteroid 4, Black Keys, Mogwai, Kasai Allstars, Calvin Party, Death Cab For Cutie, Lambchop, The Whipsaws, My Morning Jacket, Nada Surf, The Notwist, dEUS, Edwyn Collins, Kanye West, Solange Knowles, Gnarls Barkley, Flight of the Conchords, Billy Bragg, Goldfrapp, Drive-By Truckers, Sun Kill Moon, Lanegan and Campbell, The Willard Grant Conspiracy, The Gutter Twins, Gary Louris, Calexico, Her Space Holiday, The Accidental, The Real Tuesday Weld, Baba Zulu, Electric President, Emiliana Torrini, Los Campesinos, Eugene McGuinness, Roots Manuva, Lykke Li, Laura Borealis, Seckou Keita, Nine Inch Nails, Bodies of Water, Nigeria Rock Special, The Alien, James Blackshaw, Cathy Davey, Bookhouse Boys, Show of Hands, Eliza Gilkyson, Coconami, Radio String Quartet, James Taylor, Ron Sexsmith, Ulf Wakenius, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis, The Roots, Belle and Sebastian, Pete Rock, KRS-One, RZA, Common, EPMD, Conor Oberst, Why?, Shearwater, M83, Wolf Parade, Titus Andronicus, Blackout Crew and Fleet Foxes.
Certificates are in the post to all of the above, but this also brings us nicely to the Overcooked Award, given to that band which just hasn't quite met with the tastes of the blog this year. The clear winner of the award and, therefore, needing to try harder despite what Pitchfork says are:
Fleet Foxes.
That's democracy, folks.
Moving swiftly on, now, to an award that I shall entitle the Gremlin FC Award for Hunk of the Year. This is a single nomination award and so I am happy to announce that the winner is...
Roy Keane (with grey beard cut to very close - not full)
I'm not sure there's much I can add to that save to say that sadly Roy couldn't be here tonight to collect his award but he sent Mick McCarthy to collect it on his behalf.
So, with the end of the evening firmly in sight, it's time to look at the albums that didn't quite make it into the top 10 of the Overview. Here, TOTP-style, is your numbers 20 to 11:
20=: 'Leucocyte' by the Esbjorn Svensson Trio
20=: 'I Started Out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most of It Left' by Seasick Steve
20=: 'Dark Angel' by The Reasoning
20=: 'Shine' by Estelle
20=: 'You Can Do Anything' by The Zutons
20=: 'You & Me' by The Walkmen
20=: 'Fotheringay 2' by Fotheringay
20=: 'Habdiehre' by La Brasse Bande
12: 'Replica Sun Machine' by The Shortwave Set
11: 'Third' by Portishead
And so now all that is left is to look at two more categories and then reveal the top ten. Stick with me, it should be worth it...
The next award is the Overact Award for film of the year. It was a tight category but went, by one vote from Persepolis, to:
Wall-E.
And I think we can all be secretly happy with that.
A pause now to remember some of the names that were mentioned in an earlier thread, in response to May's suggestion for a commemoration of all those who have gone Over to the Other Side this past year:
Levi Stubbs, Norman Whitfield, Bo Diddley, Isaac Hayes, Mitch Mitchell, Miriam Makeba, Jimmy McGriff, Buddy Miles, Merl Saunders, Mikey Dread, Esbjorn Svensson, Davey Graham, Jerry Wexler, Johnny Griffin, Humphrey Lyttleton, Richard Wright, Howard Sparnenn and Eartha Kitt. All sadly missed.
And finally we arrive at the big finish - the Top Ten of the 'Spill OverView Award for Album of the year. Thankfully there was no controversy or tied scoring at the top ofthe leaderboard, so here is your final bunch.
10: 'For Emma, Forever Ago' by Bon Iver
9: 'The Cool' by Lupe Fiasco
8=: 'Alas I Cannot Swim' by Laura Marling
8=: 'Renaissance' by Q-Tip
6: 'Real Emotional Trash' by Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks
5: 'The Midnight Organ Fight' by Frightened Rabbit
4: 'Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust' by Sigur Ros
3: 'The Hungry Saw' by Tindersticks
2: 'Dear Science' by TV On the Radio
And the 'Spill album of the year is......
1: 'The Seldom Seen Kid' by Elbow.
And there we have it. Personally I reckon that is the right result as it was also the most voted for album. Feel free to post your own lists in the comments, or to award other gongs, or to pick it all apart, or to make your predictions for 2009, or to complain that this years awards didn't feature any high profile pop/rock crossover collaborations. Whatever, really. It's the internet, yeah?
I need a lie down.
Happy Birthday you wonderful 'Spill you.
37 comments:
Epic effort, very entertainingly presented. Thanks Snadfrod!! I'm listening to the Elbow track now.
Snadfrod, I salute you! Shall be going through this in more detail once kids have emerged from bath (early to bed, back to school tomorrow!)
Overwrought that I forgot to nominate Dorian's book for the Overwrite category...
Cheers!
Ladies, thankyou. I'm glad I finally got round to it, there's lots of kids to bathe and feed round here, too...
Having had to go and eat immediately after hitting 'post' I must now apologise for the random formatting and lack of clips/ornamentation etc. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tart it up a bit tomorrow.
And as for the Overwrite category, sadly it was a bit neglected and so didn't make the final cut. Dorian's book, though, would be a very fine honorary shout. Cheers debby!
overjoyed that only one of my top ten made the Over top ten.... shows just how diverse we all are...
and why didn't I think of that Blimpy and may 1366?
I nominate ME for the 'OVERdrawn' award.
over and above the call of duty there snadfrod hope the darts was a blast.
Oh, Shane, the darts was a PROPER blast. Go to youtube, search 'Barneveld 9 darter' and picture me going mental just above his throwing hand. Magic darts.
And for all your efforts throughout the year, I reckon we can all agree on the Overdrawn award going to you. Fully deserved. Now, what were you saying about City?...
I had a look (don't think I can pick you out..as I have no idea what you look like) it does look a riot.
me.. I said nothing about city.. at least you'll have fun with some new players.. my city will just be thrown the scaps of Delias xmas dinners til relegation.
1. Snad - epic and very very funny, thanks so much for putting all the effort in!
2. Shane - fab art as ever!
3. That Devotchka LP is indeed amazing - must dig it out. Shame their most recent effort was a bit of a damp squib, I eagerly anticipated it, and then was left cold by the couple of tracks I heard from it.
4. WHO NOMINATED BLACKOUT CREW?! Go to the back of the class, and PUT A DONK ON IT!
5. Who nominated Titus Andronicus? I didn't think their LP was properly out yet? I'm looking forward to getting it in a few weeks.
6. My full list looks like this:
1. Midnight Organ Fight - Frightened Rabbit
2. Dear Science - TV On The Radio
3. Alas I Cannot Swim - Laura Marling
4. Microcastle - Deerhunter
5. Sleight Of Heart - Malcolm Middleton
6. I Worked On The Ships - ballboy
7. Visiter - The Dodos
8. Directions To See A Ghost - The Black Angels
9. The Very Best Mixtape - Esau Mwamwaya
10. These Flowers Of Ours - The Asteroid Number 4
7. Very cool top ten, and very interesting to see the convergence of opinion/taste
8. Best blog of 2008 award: Teh "Spill methinks....
Thanks for doing this, snad, ace effort. I liked both the suspense (even if it was enforced by kid care behind the scenes), and the awards speech. Unlike artist-in-residence saneshane, I feel very mainstream - in an RR sort of way - with four noms in the top ten. (I always like it when last.fm says "Your musical compatibility with Friend X is VERY LOW").
Certainly endorse the noms for Overdrawn & Overwrite.
Oh, and don't forget there's a free Elbow track courtesy of the Guardian, TODAY ONLY, at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/competition/2009/jan/04/elbow-grounds-for-divorce
Now, off to seek out the two albums in the Overspill top 10 that I haven't heard...
My musical compatibility with the Spill is VERY LOW... Actually just dropped in to say (i) fabulous, best awards programme of the year; (ii) wish I'd realised that we could also make fun of fellow Spillers as I could have thought of loads of humourous ideas; (iii) but to be fair, my recollection is that May1366 had to be forced kicking and screaming, more or less, to divulge his identity and share some of his work - albeit having dropped enough fascinating hints over the year to make us all curious.
I love this blog. Hic. Time for another shot of Welsh. Yup, Christmas present from darling stepdaughter was a bottle of the only single malt to be distilled in Wales, and actually it's not that bad. Oggy Oggy Oggy!!!!
Cool, like the Oscars except better and (slightly) shorter. It had the obligatory Disney segment, but where are the dance routines to the nominees? Good job Mr. Frod.
@ snadfrod - top work, that man! Sorry I didn't get around to contributing. You would have enjoyed my Overexposed submissions...
I'd like to take you up on the offer of posting my own list by adding two to the 'Overtime' award:
The Crane Wife by The Decemberists and:
The Trials Of Von Occupanther by Midlake
... both of which I discovered through you wonderful people. They have provided the soundtrack to my festive break and I thank you.
Unlike Shane, I'm absolutely GUTTED that I was the only person who voted for 8 of my 10 selections! My compatability with the rest of my own life at the moment is VERY LOW, obviously never mind anyone elses !!
:o(
Top work, Snadfrod, off to youtube the darts now to see if I can spot The Beard.
Snadfrod - rapturous applause for the presentation - I feel like stopping off at Elton's AIDS benefit party on the way home after reading that.
Abahachi - full disclosure: while it's true I didn't volunteer the precise nature of my microcosmic literary stature prior to the last RR, I did nominate two of the anthologies in which I featured last year for the Overwrite award (and if the third had come out a week earlier, Haruki Murakami would've got bumped). In my defence, however, I'm a lazy bastard who doesn't read very much outside of work obligations or the toilet, so there wasn't a huge 2008 bookpile from which to choose.
Great job Snadfrod!
If anyone is interested: here's my list:
1. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
2. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real emotional trash
3. Elbow - The seldom seen kid
4. Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
5. Lambchop - OH (Ohio)
6. the Whipsaws – 60 Watt Avenue
7. My Morning Jacket - Evil urges
8. Nada Surf – Lucky
9. the Notwist - The Devil, you + me
10. dEUS - Vantage Point
Overtime Award:
Rachel Unthank & the Winterset – The Bairns
Excellent work Snadfrod, very entertaining!
Sorry I didn't get my lists in.....there's always next year....
....I may have to finally get round to getting the Sigor Ros album after indie elitist snobbery has prevented me from buying anything past their first album and that must have been 7 or 8 years ago now!
Morning all, thanks for the kind words. It wasn't that hard, really, it was just that I didn't end up with as much time as I thought I might what with families and Chritmas and stuff.
I was dead pleased with how it worked out, even if a couple of categories didn't really work. Next year...
@Blimpy - calm down, Blackout Crew was my little joke. But as for Titus, I nominated it as I've had it on import for about 6 months, didn't realise it wasn't out proper yet. Oops.
@Abahachi - go on, do some new awards for us. Please.
@Shoey - I'm doing expressive dances to all nominees between 7 and 9 tonight, GMT. It was just going to be for myself, but I could get a link...
@Shane - Delia's seconds? Eugh. Wayne Bridge. Any better?
@Toffee - two very fine Overtime choices, especially Decemberists. I love every inch of that album. If you wanted to post a list you still could and I can see how it changes things ;-)...
@DsD - I thought putting in all the nominees would be intresting - can you guess who's chunk is who's? And I was pleased that 10 points was joint 20th place as it meant that at least everyone's top choice made it in. Still, though, a bit of low compatibility is what makes the world go round, eh?
Oh and for them as is interested, my ten goes like this:
1. The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
2. The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow
3. Conor Oberst by Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Happy Band
4. Alopecia by Why?
5. Rook by Shearwater
6. Saturdays = Youth by M83
7. Evil Urges by My Morning Jacket
8. At Mount Zoomer by Wolf Parade
9. For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
10. The Airing of Small Grievances by Titus Andronicus
Overtime:
Apologies to the Queen Mary by Wolf Parade.
That's huge Snadfrod, in the end I never did find an order, but these were in the bag:
Bon Iver
TV On The Radio
Hot Chip
Vampire Weekend
Wale
@snad - I'm just jealous of the Titus Andronicus, as I don't have it yet and didn't even think it was there for the having. I'm assuming that it's very good?
@May. Oh. Right. So actually I've missed another trick by not nominating my own book as well...
@ Snadfrod - I've seen two reviews for the Shearwater that compare it to late-period Talk Talk. That's seriously high praise - does it merit it?
re Shearwater: my back hurt too much to contribute to the overs but it would have been in my top ten as well. Fantastic band live too.
Just back from osteopath who was very reassuring, should be back to normal within 10 days.
My overtime award would be "Come On Feel The Illinoise". Now the whole family are "Shaking" Stephens fans, as it was on rotation in the car for the 20 hour Christmas road trip. Thanks to Toffee & Mnemonic for pointing me at this gateway drug.
@EJD - cheers mate, but just think - your vote could have sent TVOTR to number one. By such margins...
@Blimpo - VERY good, in a get-used-to-the-voice-and-you'll-be-fine kinda way.
@Abahachi - go on, plug it. You won't get an award, but it'll be cathartic, no?
@DsD - I don't know enough Talk Talk to comment, but its seriously good, as is Palo Santo, the album prior. He has an amazingly good voice.
@Mnemonic - you have my sympathy on the back trouble, get well soon.
@Shoey - I can't think of a better repeat album for the car. Although now I really want to hear him cover 'This Ole House'...
@ snad - my music buying this year (or rather last year) has been (was) pathetic. I certainly don't have ten albums to nom - Death Cab For Cuties' Narrow Stairs would top my (very) short list.
I've just bought my first album of 2009 - sadly, though, it won't count for the end-of-year list as it's from 2003. Searchin' by the Coasters: a very reasonable £1.99 (at the Co-Op) for all their hits.
Maybe the Coasters could be the band that everyone on the 'Spill likes - or at least doesn't dislike. What do you think?
I can put a poll in the sidebar if you like?
Album of 2009 has a winner already.
"Merriweather Post Pavillion" by Animal Collective is sounding just stunning on the first listen I must say.
Wowsers.
treefrogdemon - good call on The Coasters. They're perfectly positioned in this regard as well, their music being old enough to have seeped into the public subconscious, anonymous enough for the songs to be loved on their own terms and not in relation to the egregious personality or overinflated celebrity of their creators, and quirky enough so that the songs even stand apart from their generic context (and this could explain why other quirky, storytelling doo-wop tracks like Love Potion Number 9 or Get A Job sometimes get attributed to the Coasters).
Looking at the Overs, it's possible we might in time be able to say the same thing about Elbow. I'm more a not-disliker than a lover in their case but, as with The Coasters, it'd be interesting to hear from a hater's perspective, should one exist.
Well, the Coasters did record 'Love Potion No 9' (proof: it's on my new CD) although the Clovers' was the original.
Yes, a poll please, Blimpy!
I'm pretty sure my tastes are even more out on a limb that Abahachi.
Unlike some, I did manage to buy 12 2008 albums in 2008, but I don't think any of my top 10 got votes from anyone else. The Mars Volta was one of the two that didn't make the 10 - can't even remember what the other one was now.
I really ought to try and get into Sigur Ros - there I band I ought to like on paper, but they just don't end up doing much for me.
I voted for Panic Room too!
Blimpy, could you rephrase that Coasters question please? I can't work out what my answer is.
Stirling work Snadfrod - more of the same next year please!!!
@tfd - i know, it's confused the heck outta me. i had to vote "no idea".
It's yes for yes.
Abahachi - Now if I'd put it higher on my list....
Anyway, congrats to Panic Room for winning the Classic Rock Society's "New Band of the Year".
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