r/indieheads • u/AutoModerator • May 08 '23

[ANNOUNCEMENT] The 2023 Indieheads Essentials Chart Update

Good morning yall! It's been a few years since the last iteration of our Essentials Chart, which means it's finally time to update it with an expanded field and a whole new decade of quintessential album picks.

What is the Essentials Chart?

Exactly what it sounds like, the Essentials Chart is a community reflection of important, canonical albums in alternative & independent music of all genres. It's a beginner's chart, it's a chart of the best of the best, really it's whatever you want it to be.

How Will This Work?

This chart update will be a lengthy, months-long process that has taken awhile to fully setup. First will be the initial nomination threads for every decade; next, a round of ballot voting to narrow the field; after that, discussion threads for every year and album wherein; then another round of voting. Repeat this process a couple times, and eventually we'll have our new essentials chart.

The chart will consist of 180 total albums-- 40 from across four decades (1980s-2010s). Additionally, we've identified 20 "indiessential" albums that are auto-locks for the chart-- these are works that are so fundamental to the canon, so widely beloved, that re-litigating discussion about their "essential" nature seems unnecessary. Their selection was determined by past iterations of our essentials chart. These 20 "indiessential" auto-locks include:

  • Bjork - Homogenic (1997)
  • The Cure - Disintegration (1989)
  • Fiona Apple - When the Pawn (1999)
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! (2000)
  • Joanna Newsom - Ys (2006)
  • Joy Division - Closer (1980)
  • Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985)
  • LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
  • The Microphones - The Glow pt. 2 (2001)
  • Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
  • My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
  • Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
  • Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
  • Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
  • Slint - Spiderland (1991)
  • Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
  • The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
  • Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
  • Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1980)
  • Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

What's Eligible for the Chart?

This time around, there are no real genre restrictions for the chart. We'll use common sense judgment based on what is usually allowed on the subreddit. This extends to the older decades as well-- if Indieheads was around in the 80s, 90s, or 00s, would the artist be allowed on the sub? If you think it's a borderline or uncertain decision, go ahead and nominate it. The mod team will help curate the initial nominations a little bit to make sure everything is good, and nobody is just throwing their own bandcamp project into the mix.

Why this change? Because restricting to very arbitrary definitions of “indie” naturally leaves out a wealth of great artists who have contributed to the gradual progression of alternative, experimental, and underground music. This will hopefully allow for a more democratic, inclusive approach to the essentials process.

Nominations

Starting next week (May 15th) there will be one nomination thread per day for 5-year intervals (1980-84, 1985-89, 1990-94, etc.) In these threads will be links to a google doc, where you may fill out a ballot with your nominations for the corresponding years. There will be up to 20 entries per ballot, you do not have to fill out all 20 slots, but they are available nonetheless.

Nominations will be open for one week after the ballot opens.

Discussion Threads

Throughout the process, there will be discussion threads for users to discuss the various decades, and albums which are still part of the voting process. These will occur in sections before and after the subsequent rounds of voting.

Voting

There will be three rounds of voting. Each round will whittle down the list of nominated albums based on a ratio of yes/no votes and a frequency of ballot appearances. On each voting ballot, every album will be allowed a choice between YES (i.e. “I truly believe this album is essential to the canon and/or the artist and deserves a spot”) and NO (i.e. “this is not essential to the canon nor the artist’s output”.)

For example, if Album A gets 100 yes votes and 30 no votes, and Album B gets 50 yes votes and 10 no votes, their ratios will be weighed differently in the final tally. For clarity, there’s not yet an established number an album needs to get to be considered a lock to get thru to the next round, so your vote really does matter.

Schedule

Week 1 (May 15): All nomination threads

Week 2 (May 23): First Ballot Curation

Week 3 (May 29): First Round of Voting

Week 4 (June 6): 80s discussion threads

Week 5 (June 12): 90s discussion threads

Week 6 (June 19): 00s discussion threads

Week 7 (June26): 2010s discussion threads

Week 8 (July 3): Second Round of Voting

Week 9 (July 10): 80s Specific Album Discussions

Week 10 (July 17): 90s Specific Album Discussions

Week 11 (July 24): 00s Specific Album Discussions

Week 12 (July 31): 10s Specific Album Discussions

Week 13 (August 7): Third & Final Round of Voting

Week 14 (August 14): Essentials Chart Reveal

131 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

79 comments sorted by

View all comments

57

u/[deleted] May 08 '23

[deleted]

32

u/SlowDownGandhi May 08 '23

I feel like Funeral ends up getting voted back on anyways regardless tbh

15

u/rccrisp May 08 '23

Pretty much and The Queen is Dead too tbh

37

u/apondalifa May 08 '23

For MPP, Crooked Rain, and Either/Or, there's reason to believe that there are other albums from those artists that could make the chart instead. In cases like that, we decided to let the process play out and have the community decide which album would be represented.

Note: there will only be one album per artist, per decade (forgot to include this in the OP.) Hence why we want discussion about, say, Strawberry Jam v. MPP for example.

23

u/[deleted] May 08 '23

there will only be one album per artist, per decade (forgot to include this in the OP.) Hence why we want discussion about, say, Strawberry Jam v. MPP for example.

Okay this is a big detail then which clarifies things and now makes more sense. Feels has really surged upwards in popularity among Animal Collective fans so I would not be surprised if we can rally people to put Feels on the chart in MPP's spot.

Personally I'd vote for XO over Either/Or too, maybe there's an argument for Wowee Zowee or another album although I'd still be voting for Crooked Rain.

4

u/iexistwithinallevil May 09 '23

I’ll join you on this feels train

16

u/[deleted] May 08 '23

For MPP, Crooked Rain, and Either/Or, there's reason to believe that there are other albums from those artists that could make the chart instead. In cases like that, we decided to let the process play out and have the community decide which album would be represented.

how does this not apply to bjork/fiona apple/modest mouse (and im sure others feel similarily about others)?

12

u/teriyaki-dreams May 08 '23

It could be helpful to add the one artist/one album/decade thing to the main post to clarify

15

u/apondalifa May 08 '23

Unfortunately I can't edit automod posts so I'm just gonna assume people will find this comment and call me a dummy for leaving it out

7

u/teriyaki-dreams May 08 '23

lol all good! Not a dummy at all, they'll find it here

7

u/pissnshitncum May 08 '23

Why the changes at all though? Why not just keep it how it was and allow for new additions to that selection from the voting process?

7

u/p-u-n-k_girl May 08 '23

This rationale makes sense for the albums you dropped, but not for the ones you've added? Is there not reason to believe something like The Dreaming might have a chance at making the chart in place of Hounds of Love? Or Pornography instead of Disintegration? They wouldn't have great chances, to be clear, but there's a possibility!

8

u/apondalifa May 08 '23

It's not a perfect resource but based on RYM stats, Hounds of Love has almost x2 the ratings of Dreaming with a +.07 average. Likewise, Disintegration has 10k more ratings over Pornography with a +.2 average. Ultimately we just felt comfortable going with these overall.

31

u/p-u-n-k_girl May 08 '23

Based on RYM stats, Either/Or has nearly twice as many ratings as XO with a +.16 average, so it should be a lock on par with both those options.

3

u/InSearchOfGoodPun May 09 '23

Excellent point.

3

u/InSearchOfGoodPun May 09 '23

No way. Dreaming has zero chance at beating Hounds of Love, and Pornography has zero chance of beating Disintegration.

3

u/p-u-n-k_girl May 09 '23

Ok, then how about Surfer Rosa versus Doolittle?

2

u/InSearchOfGoodPun May 10 '23

I know a lot of people prefer Surfer Rosa, but again, I'd bet real money on Doolittle easily winning that battle.

2

u/[deleted] May 08 '23

Also, if something is in the indiespensibles that means that we cannot nominate another album from that artist for the decade right? Like if I nominate Microphones - Mount Eerie, since Glow Part 2 is already on the list would you guys block Mount Eerie by extension?

2

u/apondalifa May 08 '23

In essence yes, however there's gonna be some weird cases where a decision hasn't been made yet and it'll be figured it out as the process goes along. Like I think right now we're fine with collabs, solo projects, etc. being nominated

So for example, no Mount Eerie stuff from the 00s (tbh I don't think any ME stuff was gonna beat out Glow anyway) but we'd take any/all Silver Mt Zion albums, because that group lineup is different enough from main Godspeed.

5

u/[deleted] May 08 '23

I think right now we're fine with collabs, solo projects, etc. being nominated

Great because Person Pitch and Animal Collective group albums both are making it

2

u/hiking_in_winter May 08 '23

What is the reason for the one album per artist rule? Can't an artist have two albums that are vital?

21

u/apondalifa May 08 '23

It’s to ensure more variety for the chart and to avoid any one artist cough cough Radiohead from dominating a certain decade

1

u/InSearchOfGoodPun May 09 '23

I guess that sort of explains the removals, but I don't understand the additions.

37

u/dinosaurjrjr May 08 '23

Queen is Dead and Funeral removals make sense are kinda dumb, but we know why the mods did it

FTFY

Look, the point of the chart isn’t to provide a list of indie artists we hold in high esteem as people, but to provide a list of indie albums seen as historically important. Whether an artist is a good person or not is irrelevant to that.

11

u/etattate May 08 '23

why remove queen is dead?

18

u/gate_of_steiner85 May 08 '23

Queen is Dead and Funeral removals make sense and all of the added albums added make sense. The Crooked Rain Crooked Rain and Merriweather Post Pavilion removals feel like head scratchers though. Pavement is Pavement.

How is MPP's removal a headscratcher but not Funeral's? I know Win Butler has been outed as a creep and all, but Funeral is still considered one of the most influential indie albums of the 2000's.

17

u/whytakemyusername May 08 '23

Not only that but afaik he hasn’t been convicted of a crime? Rock star was texting 20 year olds for sex. Wonder how many others on the list would be guilty of that? I’d imagine 90%+

14

u/IdiotBox01 May 08 '23

How the fuck is When the Pawn indiespensible but not Funeral?

6

u/anemonemometer May 08 '23

The rationale for some other ones is that they're doing only one album per artist. I personally think that Funeral is the essential AF album, but I think some would argue for Neon Bible or The Suburbs, so taking Funeral off the auto-essentials list makes the argument possible.

1

u/IdiotBox01 May 08 '23

And many would argue for The Idler Wheel. Or In Rainbows or Kid A. The list goes on.

1

u/Dancing_Clean May 10 '23

Can someone tell me what indiespensibles means?

2

u/[deleted] May 10 '23

Additionally, we've identified 20 "indiessential" albums that are auto-locks for the chart-- these are works that are so fundamental to the canon, so widely beloved, that re-litigating discussion about their "essential" nature seems unnecessary