The Top 10 Most Overrated Albums of 2009

Every year there is superfluous value added to the critics' darling whether they release an actual good album or not. Critics are not above favoring some musicians over others and, sadly, some can't see the error in their ways. Here are 10 average records that have benefited from this strange denial:



10. Fever Ray ST: like most critics, I love Karin Dreijer Andersson especially as one-half of The Knife but this debut suffers from the same vitality she channels in that band. Sure, When I Grow Up is groovy but too much brooding atmospherics here go nowhere and, I suspect, wouldn't even make the cut whenever the next Knife album emerges.


9. Neko Case "Middle Cyclone": fascinating artist yes but Case's work here pales in comparison to her previous work so I do not see why Amazon bolted through the gate branding it the best of the year. Please.



8. Raekwon "Only Built 4 Cuban Link II": lazy critics---black and white alike---have gone out of their way to hype the Wu-tan member's latest. Even metacritic has an aggregated rating of 88/100. It has some good jams but nothing earth-shattering and you know it. It's not even in the top three of best hip/hop albums of the year.



7. Bat for Lashes "Two Suns": I've never quite warmed to Natasha Khan but I love 'Glass'...just don't see the hype around 'Daniel' nor the rest of the album.



6. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart ST: I think people just love the nice cover art but just afraid to admit it.



5. The Antlers "Hospice": um, this is really just noise.



4. Girls ST: um, this is just really boring, uneventful noise.



3. The Flaming Lips "Embryonic": the one band I have no idea as to their influences but Wayne Coyne has gone out on such a tangent here that I'm sure amid all the praise not one critic can understand a word of it.



2. The Dirty Projectors "Bitte Orca": if I hear one more critic on the merits of 'Stillness in a Move' then I'll puke....this noise was not even regulated in any way.



1. The XX ST: a really boring album that sounds bored and with no other aim than to bore everyone else...and they say Bernie Madoff is a great scam-master!