Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

Like last year, Rough Trade seems to be the first list out of the gate. There's 100 in the list, top 10 here:

1. Temples - Sun Structures
2. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
3. Todd Terje - It's Album Time
4. Metronomy - Love Letters
5. Little Dragon - Nabuma Rubberband
6. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
7. Liars - Mess
8. Millie and Andrea - Drop the Vowels
9. The Delines - Colfax
10. Sun Kil Moon - Benji

(*FKA twigs watch: #37)

Ha, you beat me to it. I totally forgot there was a Metronomy album.

11. Total Control - Typical System
12. Caribou - Our Love
13. Goat - Commune
14. Wildest Dreams - Wildest Dreams
15. Alvvays - Alvvays
16. Royal Blood - Royal Blood
17. Honeyblood - Honeyblood
18. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want
19. Ty Segall - Manipulator
20. Jack White - Lazaretto
21. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
22. Neneh Cherry - Blank Project
23. Warpaint - Warpaint
24. Tom the Lion - Sleep
25. Fredie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
26. Arca - Xen
27. Avi Buffalo - At Best Cuckold
28. Ultimate Painting - Ultimate Painting
29. Jungle - Jungle
30. The Wytches - Annabel Dream Reader
31. Hookworms - The Hum
32. Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker
33. Future Islands - Singles
34. The Amazing Snakeheads - Amphetamine Ballads
35. Aphex Twin - Syro
36. Swans - To Be Kind
37. FKA twigs - LP1
38. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
39. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
40. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
41. The Rails - Fair Warning
42. Allah-Las - Worship the Sun
43. Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right
44. Beck - Morning Phase
45. Real Estate - Atlas
46. Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
47. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
48. We Are Shining - Kara
49. Gruff Rhys - American Interior
50. Eno and Hyde - Someday World
51. A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Atomos
52. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
53. Lucinda Williams - Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
54. Ratking - So It Goes
55. Allo Darlin' - We Come From the Same Place
56. Childhood - Lacuna
57. Adult Jazz - Gist Is
58. Keaton Henson - Romantic Works
59. Lone - Reality Testing
60. Jamie T - Carry on the Grudge
61. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
62. Happyness - Weird Little Birthday
63. Diamond Version - CI
64. Owen Pallett - In Conflict
65. Alex G - DSU
66. Scott Walker and Sunn 0))) - Soused
67. Haley Bonar - Last War
68. Badbadnotgood - III
69. Smoke Fairies - Smoke Fairies
70. Vikesh Kapoor - The Ballad of Willy Robbins
71. Lyla Foy - Mirrors the Sky
72. The Bug - Angels and Devils
73. Withered Hand - New Gods
74. Asgeir - In the Silence
75. Actress - Ghettoville
76. Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
77. Fugazi - First Demo
78. Andy Stott - Faith In Strangers
79. Captain Beefheart - Sun Zoom Spark
80. Lost on the River - The New Basement Tapes
81. Girlpool - Girlpool
82. Ty Segall - Singles 2
83. Bo Ningen and Savages - Words to the Blind
84. Mark Kozelek - Sings Christmas Carols
85. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Give Us a Kiss
86. Dans Dans - III
87. TV on the Radio - Seeds
88. Thompson - Family
89. David J Roch - A Cynic, A Realist, An Undertaker
90. Robert Wyatt - Different Every Time - Ex Machina - Benign Dictatorships
91. Bryan Ferry - Avonmore
92. David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed
93. Einsturzende Neubauten - Lament
94. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Cellophane
95. Machinedrum - Vapor City Archives
96. David Bowie - "Sue (Or In A Season of Crime)" single
97. Various Artists - Slowly Exploding 10 Years of Perc Trax
98. Jason McNiff and the Lone Malones - God Knows Why We Dream
99. Shit - Feeding Time
100. Adrian Younge - Black Dynamite OST

Bowie and Ferry albums and no 1989 suggests camp tri-a-tue-hard is still in session

I love lists and list season, but 100 is too many. Should be a global rule to stop at like 50 or less.

the fucking kozelek Christmas album is on there, instantly invalidated

that metronomy album was so so boring

you should switch names with them!

that is a terrible list, but I do love that angel olsen record

94. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Cellophane

^ the fuck is this bollocks?

Psychedelic rock

ban it

why? cuz of the dumb name?

geelong pride for king gizzard

Wow is it already that time??!

gentlemen are we are ready to receive some of the most important lists of this quarter? i can't wait to see how the professional buffs can basically just "tell it like it is" and knock it out of the park with some real best lists of the final quarter

this is a great opportunity to honor the buffs without which are making us hear so much new music, especially with social media making it so much faster, and streaming. we need to let them know "hey, we're listening"

but lets be honest, the real highlight of this season is what we we can't wait for, is how the pitchfork boys will basically take the list season to new heights. it doesnt get more better than this my liege - go get 'em boys

I too remember being young, when sarcasm was like a new shiny toy.

Weird Top 10. I normally like Metronomy, Little Dragon and Todd Terje but thought all those albums missed the mark.

I don't listen to the Terje as much as I thought I would, but it's fine. I tried the others once each and never went back to them. I used to actually like both of those bands too.

It's also odd to see a list from record store employees that's nearly 100% free of metal and heavy rock.

Leave Turkington alone.. let him do his thing.

Rough Trade doing their best to discourage new releases during the last two months of the year. Also, rating Someday World instead of High Life is messed up.

They should call it "best releases since November 2013."

Never heard of Temples before but I like the record on first listen. Very derivative of 60s psych but still fun to listen to.

Just based on a sampling, the Delines record sounds really nice

Albums I rate from the RT list: War On Drugs, Todd Terje (in parts), The Delines, Caribou, Goat, Avi Buffalo, Hookworms, Future Islands, Aphex Twin, Swans, FKA Twigs, Sleaford Mods, The Rails, First Aid Kit, Lone, Actress.

Top picks: War On Drugs, Hookworms, Future Islands, Swans, Sleaford Mods, The Rails.

I wish that War on Drugs album was more tightly crafted. I don't need 3-4 minutes of extra outro on everything.

Songlines list came out at the end of October(!): http://www.songlines.co.uk/world-music-news/2014/10/songlines-best-albums-of-2014-announced

Only album I know off it is The Gloaming, which seems to be the breakout Irish traditional album of the decade (and is very good).

The Gloaming's album is fantastic.

i d/l'd that Robert Plant album but never unzipped ... is it "world music" ?

Revolver, Classic Rock and Decibel lists might come out later this week.

My old codger faves this year are Bryan Ferry, Rodney Crowell and Daniel Lanois and maybe Neneh Cherry and Meshell Ndegeocello if they count as old codgers at this point.

Decibel list:

1. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
2. At The Gates - At War With Reality
3. Horrendous - Ecdysis
4. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
5. Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
6. Thou - Heathen
7. YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend
8. Vallenfyre - Splinters
9. Panopticon - Roads to the North
10. Morbus Chron - Sweven
11. Dead Congregation - Promulgation of the Fall
12. Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds
13. Woods of Desolation - As The Stars
14. Tombs - Savage Gold
15. Krieg - Transient
16. Iron Reagan - The Tyranny of Will
17. Cult of Fire - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान
18. Gridlink - Longhenna
19. The Oath - The Oath
20. Behemoth - The Satanist
21. Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere
22. Autopsy - Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves
23. Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen
24. Beyond Creation - Earthborn Evolution
25. Wreck & Reference - Want
26. Teitanblood - Death
27. Trap Them - Blissfucker
28. Young and in the Way - When Life Comes to Death
29. Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
30. Eyehategod - Eyehategod
31. Cretin - Stranger
32. Midnight - No Mercy for Mayhem
33. Thantifaxath - Sacred White Noise
34. Lord Mantis - Death Mask
35. Mayhem - Esoteric Warfare
36. Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
37. Solstafir - Otta
38. Execration - Morbid Dimensions
39. Incantation - Dirges of Elysium
40. Floor - Oblation

Amazed how low St Vincent is in that Rough Trade list. I think that'll be the big winner in magazine lists.

Funny, Decibel is dismissive of many top doom releases in reviews, but they go nuts over Pallbearer, which doesn't fit their extreme m.o. at all (though I like it, just under the Electric Wiz & Witch Mtn, which they ignored). Their list in the new Doom special issue is, as expected, completely whackadoo.

don't claim to know how the RT list is worked out but it's the aggregate of a relatively small no. of people right? so some big hitter or other getting short shrift isn't necc. that meaningful

what's noteworthy abt the Decibel doom list? semi-intrigued but no-one's uh leaked it online yet afaict

genuinely thought you were talking the Racoon Tanuki list and began to get excited

glad to see Thou that high on the Decibel list!

Sister Ray store list

1.Goat Commune

2.Mac DeMarco Salad Days

3.Soundcarriers Entropicalia

4.Moire Shelter

5.The War On Drugs Lost In A Dream

6.Caribou Our Love

7.Mogwai Rave Tapes

8.NehruvianDOOM S/T

9.Temples Sun Structures

10.Freddie Gibbs and Madlib Pinata

11.Andy Stott Faith In Strangers

12.Paul White Shaker Notes

13. Mike Dehnert Lichtbedingt

14. Ratking So It Goes

15. East India Youth Total Strife Forever

16.Ital Endgame

17.Fatima Al Qadiri Asiatisch

18.Alvvays S/T

19.Cheatahs S/T

20.Dean Blunt Black Metal

(And their best sellers)

1. Jack White Lazaretto

2. War On Drugs Lost In The Dream

3. Beck Morning Phase

4. Aphex Twin Syro

5. Warpaint Warpaint

6. Temples Sun Structures

7. Mogwai Rave Tapes

8. Sun Kil Moon Benji

9. Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey Going Back home

10. Wild Beasts Present Tense

11. Todd Terje Its Album Time

12. Swans To Be Kind

13. Black Keys Turn Blue

14. St Vincent St Vincent

15. Metronomy Love Letters

16. Horrors Luminous

17. Future Islands Singles

18. Mac De Marco Salad Days

19. Alt J This Is All Yours

20. First Aid Kit Stay Gold

Interesting that War on Drugs, Mac De Marco and Temples are the only albums where the staff overlap with their customers. It's not as if the customers are buying One Direction and Coldplay.

Wait, there's Mogwai too.

that soundcarriers album was very nice

Yeah, love Entropicalia. Haven't seen much talk about it or the band. They Lways impress me.

Yeah there's some good underdiscussed stuff on that Sister Ray list - Soundcarriers, Paul White, the Mogwai album was surprisingly decent too iirc.

from the rough trade list, id assume they dont stock anything that isnt indie rock, and if they do, they dont like them much. the sister ray list at least demonstrates that they do stock other genres, and that staff may actually even like those genes.

Rough Trade's stock is a lot broader than that list suggests.

Here's a Spotify playlist of what's available from the Decibel list (missing are Woods of Desolation, Cult of Fire, Primordial, Teitanblood, Cretin and Midnight):

http://open.spotify.com/user/glennpmcdonald/playlist/6r9SerBKJpRR9XDbTKjmS6

and the entire Woods of Desolation record is streaming here:

http://www.stereogum.com/1626052/stream-woods-of-desolation-as-the-stars-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/album-stream/

top 3 metal release of 2014 for me

i didn't listen to a ton of metal this year, barely any in fact - wow this is so dope

i DID listen to the pallbearer record, tho, and that band does not really impress me much.

That Floor album was disappointing. No room for Crowbar or Nunslaughter. I see how it is, Decibel.

Oh, I thought the Floor record was tremendous, too. Also Triptykon, Godflesh and Solstafir, and I'm still pondering Beyond Creation.

Revolver Magazine:

01 – Slipknot – “.5: The Gray Chapter“
02 – At The Gates – “At War With Reality“
03 – Of Mice & Men – “Restoring Force“
04 – Linkin Park – “The Hunting Party“
05 – Motionless In White – “Reincarnate“
06 – Behemoth – “The Satanist“
07 – Mastodon – “Once More ‘Round The Sun“
08 – Judas Priest – “Redeemer Of Souls“
09 – Machine Head – “Bloodstone & Diamonds“
10 – Every Time I Die – “From Parts Unknown“
11 – Godflesh – “A World Lit Only By Fire“
12 – The Pretty Reckless – “Going To Hell“
13 – Killer Be Killed – “Killer Be Killed“
14 – ††† (Crosses) – “†††“
15 – Black Label Society – “Catacombs Of The Black Vatican“
16 – Black Veil Brides – “Black Veil Brides“
17 – Body Count – “Manslaughter“
18 – Suicide Silence – “You Can’t Stop Me“
19 – Godsmack – “1000hp“
20 – Triptykon – “Melana Chasmata“

hahahaha wow look at that thing

..............revolver knows that like, nu-metal died, right?

i listened to that linkin park record, it's pretty all right. guess i'll check out their metalcore picks

At least Godflesh beat Godsmack.

i listened to the slipknot one, fwiw, it was alright just not my bag anymore. a fair chunk of those bands have legit never been good tho

slipknot record is way too long and corey taylor's lyrics are way too intelligibly terrible. though iowa has the same problems and it totally rules

I like a higher percentage of albums from the Revolver list (6/20) than the Decibel list (10/40).

"intelligibly terrible" is a great way to put it.

I'm a huge Deftones fan but that Crosses record was so boring, Team Sleep mk II

oh fuck, i just noticed the every time i die record is on the revolver list, that record kiiiicks

i tried with that behemoth record, but it was just too theatrical/gothy i guess

That's a good album. I feel like Bölzer are doing something in the same ballpark (brawny melodic ritualistic spiritualistic) and doing it fresher.

Piccadilly Records
http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/counter/feature.php?feature=735

1 Jane Weaver - The Silver Globe
2 BE (Garth Be) - The Seven Movements
3 Horsebeach - Horsebeach
4 The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
5 Ibibio Sound Machine - Ibibio Sound Machine
6 Real Estate - Atlas
7 Hookworms - The Hum
8 Goat - Commune
9 Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
10 Warpaint - Warpaint

Lots of things I like on the big Piccadilly list. Jane Weaver is a fun choice for #1, even if it's not one I'd go for myself.

That Piccadilly list is pretty interesting. Gulp's album is in the top 20 and Gruff Rhys's is nowhere to be seen (Gulp is SFA's bass player).

Horsebeach - Horsebeach

I thought this would have been a much bigger record on ILX than it turned out to be.

i don't get the horsebeach album, i wanted to, a lot of people whose taste i like were into it, but it just sounds like generic jangle indie guitar pop stufff to me.

Piccadilly always comes out with one of the more useful lists imo...

Q magazine Top 50.

1. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
2. Alt-J - This Is All Yours
3. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
4. Manic Street Preachers - Futurology
5. Beck - Morning Phase
6. St Vincent - St Vincent
7. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
8. FKA twigs - LP1
9. Future Islands - Singles
10. Aphex Twin - Syro
11. Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
12. Interpol - El Pintor
13. Sam Smith - The Loneliest Hour
14. Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours
15. The Horrors - Luminous
16. Royal Blood - Royal Blood
17. Mac De Marco - Salad Days
18. Paolo Nutini - Caustic Love
19. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
20. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
21. East India Youth - Total Strife Forever
22. Caribou - Our Love
23. Jack White - Lazaretto
24. Kate Tempest - Everybody Down
25. Ed Sheeran - X
26. Neneh Cherry - Blank Project
27. Morrissey - World Peace Is None Of Your Business
28. Kasabian - 48:13
29. Jamie T - Carry on the Grudge
30. Gruff Rhys - American Interior
31. Mogwai - The Rave Tapes
32. The Bug - Angels & Devils
33. Sky Ferreira Night Time, My Time
34. Wild Beasts - Present Tense
35. Real Estate - Atlas
36. Temples - Sun Structures
37. Baxter Dury - It's a Pleasure
38. Johnny Marr - Playland
39. Ty Segall - Manipulator
40. Grumbling Fur - Preternaturals
41. The Black Keys - Turn Blue
42. Robert Plant - Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
43. Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
44. U2 - Songs of Innocence
45. Warpaint - Warpaint
46. Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
47. Spoon - They Want My Soul
48. La Roux - Trouble in Paradise
49. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty
50. Jungle - Jungle

lol @ the top 5

jesus christ...

lol @ the top 50

haha

Mojo:

1. Beck - Morning Phase
2. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
3. Sleaford Mods - Divide And Exit
4. Jack White - Lazaretto
5. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
6. Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather
7. Julie Byrne - Rooms With Walls And Windows
8. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
9. FKA Twigs - LP1
10. The Bug - Angels & Devils
11. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
12. Caribou - Our Love
13. Ty Segall - Manipulator
14. Elbow - The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
15. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
16. Wild Beasts - Present Tense
17. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
18. Kate Tempest - Everybody Down
19. Robert Plant - Lullaby And... The Ceaseless Roar
20. Manic Street Preachers - Futurology
21. Aphex Twin - Syro
22. Future Islands - Singles
23. Scott Walker & Sun O))) - Soused
24. Mirel Wagner - When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day
25. Pharrell Williams - GIRL
26. Sun Kil Moon - Benji
27. East India Youth - Total Strife Forever
28. Real Estate - Atlas
29. Kasai All Stars - Beware The Fetish
30. Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
31. Morrissey - World Peace Is None Of Your Business
32. Temples - Sun Structures
33. U2 - Songs Of Innocence
34. The Black Keys - Turn Blue
35. Nick Mulvey - First Mind
36. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
37. Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens - Cold World
38. Ian William Craig - A Turn Of Breath
39. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
40. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
41. Lee Gamble - KOCH
42. Swans - To Be Kind
43. David Kilgour & The Heavy 8s - End Times Undone
44. Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey - Going Back Home
45. Neil Young - A Letter Home
46. J Mascis - Tied To A Star
47. Young Fathers - Dead
48. Pixies - Indie Cindy
49. King Creosote - From Scotland With Love
50. Dr. John - Ske-Dat-De-Dat... The Spirit Of Satch

NB: 27 of the Mojo 50 are also in the Q 50.

in what world is the Mojo top 50 more interesting than the Q one? (not that there's much in it. must be an extremely lousy year for guitar music if War on Drugs are top 2)

24. Mirel Wagner - When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day

whoop whoop!

must be an extremely lousy year for guitar music if War on Drugs are top 2

It isn't, but since when have Mojo and Q stood for 'guitar music' as opposed to 'music that your elderly conservative dad might like'?

i think half my own top 10, as it currently stands, is comprised of guitar music this year

xpost I know, I know. Just didn't want to miss an opportunity to dig my elbow into WoD. Still, cool to imagine Mojo readers getting into Lee Gamble. And Sleaford Mods at 3 is pretty surprising.

they had karen gwyer in their list last year - there's always one or two things you wouldn't necessarily expect

and 48 or 49 you totally would tbf

i think i'm gonna feel disconnected from a lot of critics polls this year. again.

"Disconnected" is a few steps better than what musicians call this time of year ("Suicidal Ideation Month")

Seems a lot of people really love that snoozy Beck album

i think the height of hilarity is that mojo managed to squeeze the dogshit pixies album on there - not that one expects anything from them other than "real" guitar music with "integrity," but, that record was actively bad. smacks of desperation.

War on Drugs will win P&J, won't they?

good lord

so... many... dudes

so... many... dudes

― maura, Monday, November 24, 2014 9:58 AM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It'll be interesting to see how much love, say, Ex Hex gets on these lists.

could it win the ilx poll though? xp

hell. no.

:(

War on Drugs? I'll leave ilx if that happens.

that'd eclipse kaputt

already pretty sure what the top 3 will be for ILM but i'm never right, so i'm probably wrong.

not even comparable with kaputt, which may have been indie but was also total ilx catnip.

However, I do hope that War on Drugs makes the top 77 and Sun Kil Moon does not, because fuck Mark Kozelek.

this is going to be a year where I'm disconnected from all critics' lists but only because I don't exactly have albums to substitute

part of me hopes War on Drugs tops Pazz & Jop albums and "War on Drugs: Suck my Cock" tops the singles.

lol

Right now this year seems reminscent of 2011 in that there isn't really a strong a consensus pick for AOTY, and that year Tune-Yards managed to win Pazz & Jop. War on Drugs seems like the closest thing to one, with St. Vincent maybe being a runner up.

Meanwhile on ILX, I'm half expecting Taylor Swift to win the year end poll.

not even comparable with kaputt, which may have been indie but was also total ilx catnip.

― Tim F, Monday, November 24, 2014 4:13 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I meant in terms of divisiveness. I wasn't taken with it at first but I've definitely warmed to it over time.

FKA twigs seemed like a sure-fire favorite a few months ago, but its profile has diminished a lot in just a short time based on polls I've seen so far (though the polls I've seen so far are more rock-oriented/specialized).

FKA Twigs, St Vincent and OP are ILM locks for sure.

not sure what the consensus is with TSwift. I'm not a follower, but I liked 'Shake It Off' quite a bit and I'm surprised ILM fans weren't so keen on it.

we've got other T-Swift singles to think about.

War on Drugs will win P&J, won't they?

― Frederik B, Monday, November 24, 2014 10:47 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

St. Vincent, albums
Taylor, singles

book it.

The thing I can imagine War on Drugs doing the best in is Readers Polls.

st vincent seems about as consensus an album as there's been

taylor, surely not? so many critics hate that single

Yeah I think Whiney's right. War on Drugs and FKA twigs for the Top 5.

I don't much like Shake It Off but there hasn't been a Get Lucky/Call Me Maybe this year so I don't know what else would be #1.

https://soundcloud.com/thequietus/girl-band-why-they-hide-their

there hasn't been a Get Lucky/Call Me Maybe this year

For a while it seemed like Pharrell's "Happy" would never go the fuck away, so I'm glad it finally did.

"happy" hasn't gone the fuck away nearly enough, but it's 2013 (and it's not like it only exploded this year, it was huge on release and just never fucked off)

in terms of ubiquitous commercial success the song of 2014 is obviously "fancy" but no one really reps for it among critics. oh and that fucking meghan trainor atrocity as well

also "rude"

Oh god

Meanwhile on ILX, I'm half expecting Taylor Swift to win the year end poll.

this not being on Spotify might knock it out of the top spot (kind of like Beyonce last year--though that came out way late in the year too)

i have still managed to avoid hearing the entirety of "rude" :)

"hideaway" maybe? not in any other year but it was pretty ubiquitous and people seemed weirdly invested in kiesza as an artist rather than one hit wonder

huh, I thought it was the opposite in just about every way (only ubiquitous among critic/indie-types, no one giving a shit about kiesza as an artist)

Anybody other than me voting for Lana this year?

i feel like if t-swift's previous couple of albums didn't come near topping the ilx poll, this won't either. sure she's increased her mainstream fanbase but i think in ilx terms it's pretty much the same

huh, I thought it was the opposite in just about every way (only ubiquitous among critic/indie-types, no one giving a shit about kiesza as an artist)

oh yeah i meant "critics" when i said people! the actual public see her for the natural one hit wonder she is

By a Get Lucky/Call Me Maybe I mean a massive hit with critical love. I didn't see writers going crazy for Fancy, Problem or Happy on that level. Feels like 1989 came along just in time to allow critics to overlap with the general public. No idea what will be the ILX #1.

There's still time for Alex from Target to cut a single.

Someone who knows more about this feel free to correct me but my sense is that of the dad mags mojo has always covered more weird/interesting stuff than q? Obv both lists are kind of lol but mostly males you didn't know had an album out this year, but I'm surprised at anyone being "I never thought I'd see the day" about q being the more boring of the two, I mean it's q

Of the UK polls, Q's always carries the most pronounced whiff of Editorial Adjustment.

Anybody other than me voting for Lana this year?

That's definitely one of my favorite records of the year

I imagine a situation where every Mojo writer is stuck for new albums somewhere between #15-20 and just going "ah fuck it, Jack White and Beck". Sleaford Mods winning would have been hilarious just to imagine their reaction.

also "rude"

― katherine, Monday, November 24, 2014 11:41 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Anyone who votes for "Rude" should lose their right to ever have opinions about music ever again.

thought for sure Sia would top critics singles polls

I always forget sleaford mods are an actual thing, I think of them as that comedy band who had that album a couple of years ago that I listened to twice but then apparently they have like 20 albums and people are really into them and I'm like... ok

I bet they are well caustic in interviews

wonder if they have an opinion on band aid

xxxpost it should be chandelier is amazing

(so is much of that sia record imo)

is there a consensus beyonce single

i presume it's drunk in love but should be flawless obvs

flawless or partition would be personal choice but drunk in love prob still has legs

What about Rather Be for singles?

the 2014 hot 100 #1 chart looks pretty dire

I've been keeping a shortlist of my fave singles that needs cleaning up, but what's in there now:
20syl / Oddisee - Ongoing Thing
Alpoko Don / Scarface - Set the Record Straight
Aphex - minipops 67
Basement Jaxx- Mermaid of Salinas
Big Von / Keak the Sneak / Jacka - Windows
Chronixx - Here Comes Trouble
Clean Bandit / Jess Glynne - Rather Be (The Magician Remix)
Danity Kane - Lemonade
DJ Quik - Bacon's Groove
DJ Quik - Fuck All Night
DJ Rashad - Somethin' Bout the Things You Do
Dolly Parton - Don't Think Twice
E-40 - Choices
FKA Twigs - Pendulum
IamSu - Hipster Girls
Jazmine Sullivan - Dumb
Jazmine Sullivan - Forever Don't Last
Justin Bieber - All That Matters
MO / K Koke - For a Minute
Mary J - Whole Damn Year
Michael J - Xscape
Nenad Markovic - Weather Vibes
Owen Pallett - Song for Five and Six
Popcaan - Everything Nice
Prince - U Know
PSY / Snoop - Hangover
Royksopp / Robynn - Do It Again
Royksopp / Robynn - Monument
Run the Jewels - Close Your Eyes and Count to Fuck
Run the Jewels - Crown
Schoolboy / Kendrick - Collard Greens
Sevyn Streeter (album version, solo) - nEXT
Snootie Wild - Made Me
T-Pain / BOB - Up Down
Tinashe and Blood Orange - Bet
Tove Lo - My Gun
Trey and Biebs - Foreign Remix
tune yards - Water Fountain
Yemi Marie - Love Bop
YG / Kendrick - Really Be Smokin n' Drinkin
Young Thug - Stoner

There's a thread for that: Rolling fave tracks + albums 2014

ah, sorry.

Also the Robyn who sings with röyksopp only has one n!

i'm surprised i got royskskskskopp right

American Songwriter

1. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sound in Country Music
2. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
3. Strand of Oaks - Heal
4. Taylor Swift - 1989
5. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
6. Hurray for the Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes
7. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
8. Hiss Golden Messenger - Lateness of Dancers
9. John Fullbright - Songs
10. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
11. Marianne Faithful - Give My Love to London
12. Ty Segall - Manipulator
13. Robert Ellis - The Lights from the Chemical Plant
14. Lera Lynn - The Avenues
15. Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain
16. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
17. The Felice Brothers - Favorite Waitress
18. Lee Ann Womack - The Way I'm Livin'
19. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
20. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
21. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
22. Ex Hex - Rips
23. Matthew Ryan - Boxers
24. Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
25. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
26. Rosanne Cash - The River & the Thread
27. Tweedy - Sukierae
28. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Wig Out at Jagbags
29. Justin Townes Earle - Single Mothers
30. Angeleena Presley - American Middle Class
31. Spoon - They Want My Soul
32. Miranda Lambert - Platinum
33. Jack White - Lazaretto
34. Adam Faucett - Blind Water Finds Blind Water
35. Eric Church - The Outsiders
36. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye
37. Bahamas - Bahamas Is Afie
38. Old 97s - Most Messed Up
39. Warpaint - Warpaint
40. Hozier - Hozier
41. Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings
42. Real Estate - Atlas
43. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy
44. Rodney Crowell - Tarpaper Sky
45. Jesse Winchester - A Reasonable Amount of Trouble
46. Beck - Morning Phase
47. The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
48. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Make My Head Sing
49. Drive By Truckers - English Oceans
50. Sharon van Etten – Are We There?

Sturgill Simpson! Best list so far.

how is SVE only 50 only a list that is (presumably) mostly contingent on "integrity" and "songcraft" and all that

do appreciate the love for sturgill tho

Yeah, I find the ordering of that list kinda inexplicable but w/e

Remake/Remodel - I remember a couple of years ago you were asking "where's this year's 212/Video Games?" at a point when 'Call Me Maybe' had been out for months. Sometimes these things only crystallise at the point at which they become ubiquitous near the top of end-of-year lists. Although it was obvious 'Get Lucky' would be one of those from day one.

'Rather Be' is probably the closest in British chart terms but it doesn't quite feel like it has either the colossal globe-straddling megahit status or the critical traction to qualify.

As it stands, 2014 feels more like 2008, when pop-oriented critics were asking where was that year's 'Umbrella' while willfully ignoring Katy Perry becoming massive in the background. Except for 'I Kissed A Girl' it's probably 'Happy' or 'All About That Bass'. Taylor could have trumped both but she bungled her first single. And the comeback single is usually the one people care about, give or take a 'Super Bass' here or there.

Also I don't really feel like the Sharon van Etten album is particularly noteworthy if you're judging it on 'old fashioned songcraft' as that list presumably is, but then there are shonkier records higher up the list.

Did that Warpaint album really come out this year?

Yeah, in January.

still fucking love that Warpaint album

Justin Townes Earle

lol did someone just make up a singer songwriter

Nope, he is Steve Earle's progeny.

Steve's son, named after the obvious influence.

oops xpost

thx guys I did guess but thx

:-)

idk what's going to win on ILX this year, never mind in places I don't pay attention to. The main thing I think about when reading these lists is how much music gets released every year and what a small proportion I ever hear - 2 of the American Songwriter picks, maybe 8 from the Mojo list?

The American Songwriter list looks like it should have Steve Gunn on it.

I bet the readership isn't pleased by #4.

Nah, AS has covered a lot of pop/crossover in the past.

also I thought "good songwriter" has been the least controversial line item on the TSwift resume for years now

eoy seems p ripe for bloc voting ententes this year. i suggest a dej loaf coalition, turn ilx to some macaroni

rtc I will donate £2/mo to your cause

Did that Warpaint album really come out this year?

― Matt DC, Monday, 24 November 2014 20:36 Bookmark

idk what it is but singles-wise i am rly feeling this about everything... big hits from six months ago seem irrelevant by a couple of years

xp argh i once did telephone fundraising over xmas one year dont give me flashbacks

I had this thought about "crying for no reason" today! xp

yeah totes. basically like anything off the duke dumont thread is dead

lol shame u xp'd there cos 'crying for no reason' is actually a perfect analogy to telephone fundraising now u mention it, just the right coercive cocktail of disposibility and portent

dgmw I don't care overmuch, my playlist of ~15 songs shifts at a tectonic rate these last few years (the rush of last year was a blip in this regard)

Honestly, wrt to that American Songwriter list, I don't know how Strand of Oaks is #3 because he spends half of the album singing out of tune.

I mean, I'm not talking about subjective tastes, because I understand that, but I just finished listening to it. Some tracks are really good, but his singing is quite off on a number of them.

maybe he writes good songs?

(idk who Strand of Oaks is)

Actually, that's the only reason it's on my list, but it is really low on it. #3 just seems suspiciously high?

Honestly, wrt to that American Songwriter list, I don't know how Strand of Oaks is #3 because he spends half of the album singing out of tune.

It's not the American Singer-Songwriter list.

some of those ppl aren't even american

There aren't enough American songwriters anymore to fill the list. "We used to write shit in this country" iirc

they just don't get coverage anywhere

Hiss Golden Mssngr is definitely the best record I'm gonna under-rate when I make my list

it's always bizarre to me that these lists come out in november/early december rather than, i dunno, march , by which point at least people might legitimately claim to have digested some if not most of the designated "major" releases of the previous year. myself, i'm still absorbing a lot of high-profile stuff from 2012 (if not 1972).

i guess people want these lists out in time for Xmas shopping?

has FACT mag released any lists yet? those tend to be worthwhile imo.

I had not listened to Strand of Oaks because the name and the appearance of the singer made me think it would be some Bon Iver shit. I'm pleasantly surprised it's absolutely NOT that.

there are some genres for which i just wait until some of the more insider-y year-end lists to even bother searching for stuff, since i don't have enough time to scour around otherwise. i tend to discover a lot of great hip=hop when the lists come out, for example.

ILX poll respects the (Gregorian) calendar year.

"I remember a couple of years ago you were asking "where's this year's 212/Video Games?" at a point when 'Call Me Maybe' had been out for months."

Ha, I'm an idiot then, Matt DC, because I loved Call Me Maybe. I don't remember saying that at all.

oof, the american songwriter list might be the closest to my own so far (and maybe at all this year) - t-swift, angaleena presley, miranda lambert, lee ann womack, and more than a few that i'd like to hear but haven't yet (is the leonard cohen good?)

As it stands, 2014 feels more like 2008, when pop-oriented critics were asking where was that year's 'Umbrella' while willfully ignoring Katy Perry becoming massive in the background.

i think it's probably a mistake to always assume that the most popular song of the year are going to be the best, or even good, as "i kissed a girl" and "all about that bass" amply demonstrate. let us wilfully ignore them!

The deep-house end of pop / pop end of deep house shouldn't be ignored either. not sure how popular things like Zhu, Gorgon City, Wankelmut and all them lot are in the US but the UK mainstream is loving that AFAIK

The Leonard Cohen album is good but feels a bit like a lesser Old Ideas, although its best moments are very good indeed.

(Old Ideas is one of my favourite records of the past five years so that possibly reads as more negative than it actually is)

Have there been many other 'institutional artist returns/still has it' albums this year? Soused obviously, but it's not really a return for Walker. I recall the last couple of years have been marked by a number of surprise excellent albums by older artists returning to the fray.

I should really check out more recent Cohen.

lee ann womack!

and there have been a ton of less institutional but certainly veteran artists who "still have it" (or got back to it) - miranda lambert, gangsta boo, meshell ndegeocello, even tori amos

kate bush live bootleg ftw

That's quite a broad definition of veteran there.

Neneh cherry! Tbf I think every year this is remarked upon tho, it's a lil patronising & ageist

pink floyd and aphex have been the headline comebacks i guess

That Pink Floyd album must be shit not to make either the Q or Mojo list. I know it only came out like a week ago but you'd expect Q in particular to just hold a slot open for it.

I heard a little on spotify, it was hilarious for a minute then just dulllllllllll

ultimate classic rock webzine are still to play their hand fyi xp

u2 ought to put their album back into everyone's itunes all over again, just to remind all the voters they're still out there

Robert Plant's album is very good. I like Bryan Ferry's as well but that's basically just another Bryan Ferry album. The Pink Floyd album was never meant to be a comeback.

I got curious about how many uncontested critic/Top 40 unifiers there have been in the past 10 years, ie Top 3 Billboard and Top 3 Pazz & Jop, and it's not as many as I thought: Gold Digger, Since U Been Gone, Umbrella, What You Know, Single Ladies, Empire State of Mind, Fuck You, Rolling in the Deep, Call Me Maybe, Get Lucky and Royals.

The Judas Priest album was well-received as well.

Sonic (Sweden)

1. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
2. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
3. FKA Twigs - LP1
4. Caribou - Our Love
5. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
6. Kindness - Otherness
7. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
8. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
9. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
10. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
11. Sun Kil Moon - Benji
12. Aphex Twin - Syro
13. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2
14. Ison & Fille - Länge leve vi
15. Hollie Cook - Twice
16. Lorentz - Kärlekslåtar
17. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
18. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
19. Hurray For The Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes
20. Jessie Ware - Tough Love
21. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
22. Kevin Gates - By Any Means
23. Rosanne Cash - The River & The Thread
24. Tinashe - Aquarius
25. Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings

That War On Drugs album had better sound like chocolate ice cream...

More like flat Michelob.

war on drugs is like a scene in an 80s teen movie where a half-size springsteen-bot goes out of control on the dancefloor and vigorously starts dry humping everyone's legs

your 80s was markedly different from mine

I'm not sure about the whole War on Drugs album but Red Eyes is one the songs of the year no doubt. I guess a lot of people are desperately craving non-shitty anthemic rock.

Yeah I love it and its one of my favourites of the year but it does hit several comfort-food bases at once. Given how little rock music I have time for these days that's probably the main reason.

the sum total of my knowledge about war on drugs (and sun kil moon) is that absolutely laughably pathetic diss track. rock is dead, i don't care

FWIW i really like the Benji album, despite never having knowingly heard anything else by Kozelek

the sum total of my knowledge about war on drugs (and sun kil moon) is that absolutely laughably pathetic diss track. rock is dead, i don't care

― lex pretend, Tuesday, November 25, 2014 4:15 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The diss track was by SKM wasn't it? Unless did WoD do a response song? Anyway, lol at saying 'rock is dead' based on a single phoned-in joke song by an egomaniac with a bee in his bonnet about stage sound issues.

has FACT mag released any lists yet? those tend to be worthwhile imo.

― I dunno. (amateurist), Monday, November 24, 2014 10:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they got ahead of everyone and did their best Albums/Tracks of the decade so far a couple of weeks ago

wut won

ha

There was so much parochial bullshit in that Fact list.

less institutional but certainly veteran artists who "still have it"

they're not Cohen or Judas Priest, but I think the new Old 97s album falls into this category. I loved their output from '96-'01, didn't care for anything after that. but their new one sounds like it could be a lost record from their heyday. i can't even believe how good it is; it's truly shocking. if shuffling Texas roots-rock songs about becoming a creepy old man with a thing for recreational drug use is your thing, then "Most Messed Up" is your thing.

lol it's so sad that fact followed p4k's lead on that one ;_;

I feel like I'm actually gonna have to listen to at least some of that War on Drugs album now, even though I don't give a shit about it at all.

And why has everyone seemed to have forgotten about Against Me!?

The first of Lex's EOTY "I know nothing about this but I know it's awful" posts is like the first window on an advent calendar.

The War on Drugs album isn't terrible, but half the songs go on extended tangential outros for whatever the fucking reason and it ruins it for me. Chop the tails off those songs and the whole album would be better for it.

i bet i'll prob end up loving bloody War on Drugs now if I listen to it.

The first of Lex's EOTY "I know nothing about this but I know it's awful" posts is like the first window on an advent calendar.

I feel like that about every record on here

war on drugs album is good - but it is also p overrated and most of the criticisms against it thus far (sounds too much like boomer/80s rock, various songs are overlong) are completely understandable.

The Fact half-decade list was at least interesting

The War on Drugs seems to be a very big deal with all of these publications. I wouldn't have thought it would be likely to top P&J but now I'm beginning to wonder

huh War on Drugs doesn't sound anything like I thought it would

I guess ppl in 2014 really missed David Gray?

that is theeeee weirdest comparison i've heard so far! the biggest ref point/complaint seems to be like, dire straits & shit of that nature

yeah i don't really care what the #1 slot is or if some of the choices are a little challopsy. i just like to have some decent recommendations and i can sort it out myself.

xpost

I mostly going off of the dude's voice

referring to FACT mag list

xpost

decent recommendations = not the same shit that everybody puts in their lists/stuff everyone has already heard

DJP sort of nailed it there with the David Gray voice comparison.

xp Yeah, FACT's contrarianism can be comical but it leads me to new things in a way that a more conventional list wouldn't.

Relistening to this TWoD album again for the first time in a while, I find it's a very timid record. They're scared to go the full Don Henley or the full Dire Straits or the full Daniel Lanois or whatever other styles they're trying to bite and in the end it just sounds like a little bit of each of those things but in a bad way.

Not a *bad way, but an *unsatisfying way.

tbh i have less and less interest each passing year in what albums might be "best"/"better" and i've always been skeptical of critics' attempts to render coherent narratives of the chaos of a year's worth of music. those narratives can be important but the first drafts are not usually very compelling (i.e. we probably need some distance before we can make sense of it all). i'm happy just to kind of dip my toe in the stream and find some things that appeal to me.

It's probably because they're mixing all that with the ambient/spacerock/droney elements which prevent them going full on AOR, but I've gone into this on their own thread.

, FACT's contrarianism can be comical but it leads me to new things in a way that a more conventional list wouldn't.

what makes it contrarian or non-conventional? its not really my thing, but it just seems like a list of the records they feature on their site as far as i can tell

what makes it contrarian

"I Miss You" being the Beyonce pick

that's a great song tho

every time I see "Dire Straits" as a referent in the same sentence as War on Drugs I wonder if the writer means "the synthy parts of late eighties Cure + Billy Idol echo"

no, there's a definite twangy thing going on, but obviously it's at a bit of a lower skill level

I tended to hear it as much in the wheedling of dude's 'Why can't I be Dylan' voice.

^^^otm - dylan vocal bites, where would indie duderock be without them

where would indie duderock be without them

where it is now: dead, like all rock music.

I tended to hear it as much in the wheedling of dude's 'Why can't I be Dylan' voice.

you're so folksy, I'd do anything
ape you from the scoops to where the pitch begins
you're so precious, you're so right as rain
you make me make me revisit the highway again

War of Drugs > Bob Dylan

:mic drop:

xxpost thought it was p clear that was not a serious statement or one meant to laud indie duderock

where would indie duderock be without them
where it is now: dead, like all rock music.

― Daniel, Esq 2, Tuesday, November 25, 2014 12:16 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao i love the inherent patting of self on back whenever someone says "rock is dead"

so hip now with it and wow

The reason why I like WOTD is the same reason it's hard to say anything new about them. It's such a simple idea - blue-collar space-rock, aka what if Tom Petty and Bruce Horsby dug krautrock? It appeals to the same part of me that likes dance re-edits of Springsteen or Spiders (Kidsmoke) by Wilco or Balearic. I'm not sure I've discovered any great depths beyond that simple idea so it feels slightly lacking as an album of the year but for me the pleasure's instant.

it has certain combinations of sounds that remind me of certain FM rock radio memories while placing them in a slightly skewed context

there's a definite twangy thing going on, but obviously it's at a bit of a lower skill level

Yeah, TWoD owes a lot more to Knopfler's rhythm playing than his lead playing.

War On The Drugs?

i don't think anyone's saying war on drugs dude is notting hillbillies material! big knopf is a monster

lmao i love the inherent patting of self on back whenever someone says "rock is dead"

so hip now with it and wow

i mean, it kinda is, or at least on life support...i don't really have any positive or negative opinions on that fact tho, and good bands that play rock music are still good bands obvs, i do believe war on drugs is one of them

it really isn't.

I don't know what "rock is dead" even means but it sure sounds cool to say.

I saw an "ART IS DEAD" sign in someones window. I don't know what that means either, though I bet that person is pretty edgy.

yeah i'm not sure either. "rock" has become many things; i feel like a lot of the music i listen to wouldn't exist without "rock" but some people here might not consider it "rock."

the whole notion of relevance seems really boring to me and less and less important when everything's just a big mess on the internet and spotify now

if there are good bands then it's not dead or if it is dead and there are still good bands then who cares if it's "dead"? i don't care about big outsized bono/woodstock notions about rock having to be big or an important cultural force

this is likely the only time I will say this but for the love of all that is good and holy, won't someone post another list

xxxpost all around boston someone has been spraypainting NOT ART on things lately, throughout somerville & cambridge, both v edgy places in the minds of many residents, as anyone who lives here will know. to be fair, i loled

shakedown otm

Top 10 Cool Rock Bands Of 2014

1 The War on Drugs
2 Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black
3 The Pizza Underground
4 Pallbearer
5 Blue Oyster Cult
6 ESPN 30 For 30 - Rand University
7 Mr. Pibb
8 Sleaford Mods
9 Ricky Rubio
10 Old Fashioned Minnesota Grape Salad

Now would be the perfect moment to drop the Classic Rock list but tragically it isn't out yet.

xxxpost all around boston someone has been spraypainting NOT ART on things lately, throughout somerville & cambridge, both v edgy places in the minds of many residents, as anyone who lives here will know. to be fair, i loled

^^^ ha ditto

RICKY RUBIO DROPPED AN ALBUM??? WHY WASN'T I TOLD i figured he'd put his time on the t-wolves injury list to good use

if you only hear one release this year, make sure it's Old Fashioned Minnesota Grape Salad

Isn't that pop?

more like neo-slowsaladcore

pop is dead.

Oh never mind I misread that as "grape soda"

And Mr. Pibb was right there.

pop is dead.

the truck just came out of nowhere

rip pop you had a good run but austerlitz was bound to win in the end

it'll be back around, say, 2025.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/27865379/Pop+Is+Dead+Pop.jpg

looolllllllllll

rock is dead has been said since before anyone on ilx was born. Unless anyone was born before buddy holly died

where did Aimless go

to create the happy days stageshow

I saw an "ART IS DEAD" sign in someones window. I don't know what that means either, though I bet that person is pretty edgy.

― Evan, Tuesday, November 25, 2014 1:56 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0691002991/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/191-3869359-1421625

6 ESPN 30 For 30 - Rand University

Not Art guy sounds like a complete tool. He was doing this to people's houses? http://wgbhnews.org/post/meet-man-behind-not-art

I'd be in favor of it if he started spraypainting that on people.

"We're so sick of seeing Picassos sell for millions of dollars just because they say Picasso. You know, people aren't looking at the art any more, they're looking at the signature. And "Not Art" in itself is a signature."
- bob marley

This sounds like a neutered version of yellowism

If he posted "not art" on a famous work, say starry night or even better the mona lisa he would be on to something (something = footnote mention in art history books)

NME

50 | Julian Casablancas + The Voidz | Tyranny
49 | Interpol | El Pintor
48 | Temples | Sun Structure
47 | Gruff Rhys | American Interior
46 | Twin Peaks | Wild Onion
45 | Honeyblood | Honeyblood
44 | Perfect Pussy | Say Yes To Love
43 | Freddie Gibbs and Madlib | Pinata
42 | Hookworms | The Hum
41 | Manic Street Preachers | Futurology
40 | Bombay Bicylce Club | So Long, See You Tomorrow
39 | Protomartyr | Under Color of Offical Right
38 | Alt-J | This Is All Yours
37 | Thom Yorke | Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
36 | Goat | Commune
35 | Parquet Courts | Sunbathing Animal
34 | Sun Kil Moon | Benji
33 | Wild Beasts | Present Tense
32 | Childhood | Lacuna
31 | Sharon Van Etten | Are We There
30 | Warpaint | Warpaint
29 | Alvvays | Alvvays
28 | Morrissey | World Peace Is None Of Your Beeswax
27 | Jungle | Jungle
26 | Perfume Genuis | Too Bright
25 | Lana Del Ray | Ultraviolence
24 | Angel Olsen | Burn Your Fire For No Witness
23 | Kasabian | 48:13
22 | Swans | To be Kind
21 | FKA Twigs | LP1
20 | Jack White | Lazaretto
19 | Royal Blood | Royal Blood
18 | Kate Tempest | Everybody Down
17 | Todd Terje | It's Album Time
16 | Iceage | Plowing Into The Field Of Love
15 | Eagulls | Eagulls
14 | Run The Jewels | RTJ2
13 | Damon Albarn | Everyday Robots
12 | DFA 1979 | The Physical World
11 | Future Islands | Singles
10 | Ex Hex | Rips
09 | Sleaford Mods | Divide and Exit
08 | Jamie T | Carry On The Grudge
07 | Merchandise | After The End
06 | La Roux | Trouble In Paradise
05 | Caribou | Our Love
04 | Aphex Twin | Syro
03 | The War On Drugs | Lost In the Dream
02 | Mac DeMarco | Salad Days
01 | St. Vincent | St. Vincent

Uncut

75 RICHARD THOMPSON : Acoustic Classics
74 TEMPLES : Sun Structures
73 DAVE & PHIL ALVIN : Common Ground
72 DAN MICHAELSON : Distance
71 BOB MOULD : Beauty & Ruin
70 FIRST AID KIT : Stay Gold
69 GULP : Season Sun
68 LYDIA LOVELESS : Somewhere Else
67 PERFUME GENIUS : Too Bright
66 THURSTON MOORE : The Best Day
65 THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS : Brill Bruisers
64 KING CREOSOTE : From Scotland With Love
63 GAZELLE TWIN : Unflesh
62 PAOLO NUTINI : Caustic Love
61 AFGHAN WHIGS : Do To The Beast
60 FRAZEY FORD : Indian Ocean
59 RODDY FRAME : Seven Dials
58 JAMIE T : Carry On The Grudge
57 THE DELINES : Colfax
56 ANGEL OLSEN : Burn Your Fire For No Witness
55 SCOTT WALKER AND SUNN O))) : Soused
54 TOM PETTY : Hypnotic Eye
53 GOAT : Commune
52 LIARS : Mess
51 JENNY LEWIS : The Voyager
50 WILD BEASTS : Present Tense
49 ROBYN HITCHCOCK : The Man Upstairs
48 MORRISSEY : World Peace Is None Of Your Business
47 ALLAH-LAS : Worship The Sun
46 WILLIE WATSON : Folk Singer, Vol. 1
45 KATE TEMPEST : Everybody Down
44 THOM YORKE : Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes
43 EAST INDIA YOUTH : Total Strife Forever
42 MOGWAI : Rave Tapes
41 MARK LANEGAN BAND : Phantom Radio
40 LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES : Dereconstructed
39 FUTURE ISLANDS : Singles
38 FENNESZ : Bécs
37 WILLIE NELSON : Band Of Brothers
36 LA ROUX : Trouble In Paradise
35 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS : English Oceans
34 CHRIS FORSYTH & THE SOLAR MOTEL BAND : Intensity Ghost
33 STURGILL SIMPSON : Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
32 MERCHANDISE : After The End
31 TUNE-YARDS : Nikki Nack
30 SPOON : They Want My Soul
29 JACK WHITE : Lazaretto
28 THE BLACK KEYS : Turn Blue
27 BEN WATT : Hendra
26 STEVE GUNN : Way Out Weather
25 SLEAFORD MODS : Divide And Exit
24 TWEEDY : Sukierae
23 ARIEL PINK : Pom Pom
22 BECK : Morning Phase
21 EARTH : Primitive And Deadly
20 STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS : Wig Out At Jagbags
19 HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF : Small Town Heroes
18 SWANS : To Be Kind
17 LUCINDA WILLIAMS : Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone
16 GRUFF RHYS : American Interior
15 ROSANNE CASH : The River & The Thread
14 REAL ESTATE : Atlas
13 TY SEGALL : Manipulator
12 CARIBOU : Our Love
11 TOUMANI DIABATÉ & SIDIKI DIABATÉ : Toumani & Sidiki
10 SUN KIL MOON : Benji
09 ST VINCENT : St Vincent
08 DAMON ALBARN : Everyday Robots
07 HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER : Lateness Of Dancers
06 ROBERT PLANT lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
05 SHARON VAN ETTEN : Are We There
04 FKA TWIGS : LP1
03 APHEX TWIN : Syro
02 LEONARD COHEN : Popular Problems
01 THE WAR ON DRUGS : Lost In The Dream

I always enjoy the obligatory, core-pandering placements at the tail-end of the NME list - Interpol and Casablancas this year.

like the tail-end splatters of a comet of shit

Also Thom Yorke at #37 with an album precisely no one was enthusiastic about.

'Syro' has been near the top of virtually every list.

at least the NME picked a decent number 1, I'll give them credit for that.

i don't know who Mac Demarco is. Think there was a guy who used to work in my office called M4tt Demarco so maybe that's why?

Can we now have the obligatory bit where people complain about the lack of hip-hop and R&B in the Uncut list?

Actually, Twigs at 4 in he Uncut list is pretty jaw dropping. Related to the departure of Allan Jones?

Only one mention of Mercury Award winners Young Fathers in this whole thread.

It's because no one cares about them.

NME Tracks

50 | Alt-J | Hunger Of The Pine
49 | David Bowie | Sue (Or In A Season of Crime)
48 | Ariel Pink | Put Your Number In My Phone
47 | Gruff Rhys | American Interior
46 | Flying Lotus | Never Catch Me (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
45 | Sun Kil Moon | Ben's My Friend
44 | Juce | Call You Out
43 | SBTRKT | New Dorp New York (feat. Erza Koenig)
42 | Ex Hex | Hot and Cold
41 | La Roux | Uptight Downtown
40 | Sleater-Kinney | Bury Our Friends
39 | Protomartyr | Scum, Rise!
38 | Morrissey | Kiss Me A Lot
37 | Sharon Van Etten | Every Time The Sun Comes Up
36 | Noel Gallagher's Flying Birds | In The Heat of The Moment
35 | Manic Street Preachers | Futurology
34 | The War On Drugs | Under The Pressure
33 | Death From Above 1979 | White Is Red
32 | Lana Del Ray | Ultraviolence
31 | Cherry Glazerr | Had Ten Dollaz
30 | Perfume Genuis | Queen
29 | Slaves | Where's Your Car Debbie?
28 | Interpol | All The Rage Back Home
27 | Taylor Swift | Shake It Off
26 | Mac DeMarco | Passing Out Pieces
25 | Warpaint | Disco//Very
24 | St. Vincent | Prince Johnny
23 | Damon Albarn | The Selfish Giant
22 | Run The Jewels | Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)
21 | Jamie T | Love Is Only A Heartbeat Away
20 | Honeyblood | Super Rat
19 | Alvvays | Archie, Marry Me
18 | Aphex Twin | minipops 67 (Source field remix)
17 | Iceage | The Lord's Favourite
16 | Shamir | I Know It's A Good Thing
15 | Kate Tempest | Marshall Law
14 | Jack White | Lazaretto
13 | Jungle | Busy Earnin'
12 | Merchandise | Little Killer
11 | Lana Del Ray | West Coast
10 | Mac DeMarco | Chamber of Reflection
09 | Royal Blood | Little Monster
08 | Jamie T | Zombie
07 | St. Vincent | Digital Witness
06 | Kasabian | Eez-eh
05 | Run The Jewels | Blockbuster Night Pt. 1
04 | The War On Drugs | Red Eyes
03 | Fat White Family | Touch The Leather
02 | Caribou | Can't Do Without You
01 | Future Islands | Seasons (Waiting On You)

^^^ Rock is dead.

And they come good with their number one single too.

11 | Lana Del Ray | West Coast

how is it that even now no professional publication seems able to spell this woman's name right

the new missy elliott

no Horrors album in the NME list? baffling.

boy am i missing something re that Caribou album/ band.

no horrors - that is weird... it's a good album!

11 | Lana Del Ray | West Coast

how is it that even now no professional publication seems able to spell this woman's name right

I think this is probably just one spelling mistake that is being replicated by the autofill of my spreadsheet.

Erza Koenig
Perfume Genuis

I think you do it on purpose.

so much empty music AARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGhhhhhhhhhh

UK consensus picks - there are 12 albums which appear in the Q, Mojo, Uncut and NME Top 50s:
Aphex Twin, Caribou, FKA Twigs, Future Islands, Jack White, Kate Tempest, Morrissey, Sharon Van Etten, Sleaford Mods, St. Vincent, The War On Drugs, Wild Beasts.

When people look back in 20 years time at these lists they will have the same reaction for Sleaford Mods as we do now at 90s lists with Carter USM.

Carter USM had a number one album and headlined Glastonbury, that's the bit that makes them baffling. Sleaford Mods is more like some random Fall album placing.

In the absence of a consensus rap pick, Aphex Twin easily wins the genre tokenism award this year

what genre is that?

EDM

feel like the gibbs/madlib album is the consensus rap pick thus far as it's def on the lists that historically have paid lip service at best to the genre, so it'll prob be on the more wide-ranging lists as well

I'm with NehruvianDOOM all the way as rap album of the year.

the guardian list begins...
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/nov/26/-sp-the-best-albums-of-2014

40. Tricky - Adrian Thaws
39. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
38. Toumani Diabate and Sidiki Diabate - Toumani & Sidiki
37. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
36. Ex Hex - Rips
35. Peggy Seeger - Everything Changes
34. Jamie T - Carry on the Grudge
33. Scott Walker and Sunn O))) - Soused
32. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty
31. Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems

kinda promising but they should learn how to spell sunn though for real

When is THE WIRE playlist coming out?

Amazed at the NME having such great number ones on both their lists.

Agree that it's pretty shocking they didn't find room for The Horrors. Especially when they got Interpol and Julian Casablancas in there.

I know it's too easy to mock the NME these days but they really should be ashamed for having that Kasabian single so high. I saw them dong it on Jools Holland and it reminded me of something from Nathan Barley.

Always annoys me how these lists come out earlier and earlier every year. Each publication wants their list to be the first one, so that readers/clickers won't bother reading any others. But there's a whole month to go.

Any major lists left to declare?

Kasabian sound and look like what would happen if Noel Fielding and Robbie Williams formed a band.

well, didn't noel f join kasabian on stage at glastonbury ?

i wouldn't know

wtf with this War On Drugs garbage

Right? Legalize it.

how many of the publications that failed to put beyoncé on their lists last yr due to timing are going to ignore it this year too

man I love that Shabazz Palaces album

it's really good, I should jam that on our Thanksgiving road trip tonight

beyonce - validated commercially, slagged critically because RELEASING IN LATE DECEMBER WTF

What's so vital in January and February that all the mags and websites have to publish lists in November and December before everything's even been released/digested? I sort of get it. No one wants to kick off a new year thinking about the last one, but Beyonce is getting snubbed and it ain't right.

(Personally speaking the album would've had a better shot on a Top Ten list of mine had she released in October or November.)

As I wrote above, imo it's less about not wanting to think about the old year in Jan/Feb, and more about the websites all wanting to get their clickbait in as early as possible.

xp

beyoncé is not getting "snubbed" as though she needs the validation of an EOY list

beyoncé is showing up EOY lists and the clickbaity desperation of their timing

i mean EOY lists are meant to be historical artefacts more than anything else. EOY lists from way back in the day like the 90s still get pulled up whereas individual reviews don't. in 20 years if anyone pulls up the 2013 lists and sees no beyoncé it'll just render that list a little more meaningless

Beyoncé don't need EOY, EOY needs Beyoncé. And anyway, she'll show them EOD.

i don't think beyoncé really cares about eoy critics lists (she's not solange), her eyes have always been on the long game of scooping the grammy aoty award. that's the reason she's releasing the otherwise pointless platinum edition now and putting the album on spotify and videos on youtube so as to give the album momentum before votes are cast. whether nme or p4k have it on a list is pretty small fry.

Putting Beyonce in a 2015 list would be so so lame.

Err, I mean 2014.

I think Beyonce should release a slightly different version of that album every year just so it can be put on EOY lists

Collab with Annie

bEOYncé

Also Caribou is a way more tokenistic pick than Aphex. RDJ is at least extraordinary at what he does.

When people look back in 20 years time at these lists they will have the same reaction for Sleaford Mods as we do now at 90s lists with Carter USM.

― strychnine, Wednesday, November 26, 2014 6:17 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Carter USM had a number one album and headlined Glastonbury, that's the bit that makes them baffling. Sleaford Mods is more like some random Fall album placing.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, November 26, 2014 6:21 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i mean...like who cares? who the hell knows what we'll think about anything in 20 years! the sleaford mods might have short shelf life but i love it right now, it's just real ragged and raw and different, feels fresh right now. it's just a drag way to look at music and life, like trying to be this remote "objective" opinion based on how something will hypothetically age or not age well...like some music is meant to be right now and immediate and some doesn't last but a lot of thrown together "trash" music that seemed like a gimmick lasted forever too! so who knows? but anyway better the mods than another dumb haircut band from england imo

i still kinda rep for 30-something actually too

*applause* (xp)

mods dont have haircuts?

xxp the jay-z song??

who the hell knows what we'll think about anything in 20 years!

This x 1000.

One guy has a England guy haircut, the other wears hats all the time probably bald, either way my point stands

I was pretty sure 20 years ago that in 20 years that Primus would still be central to my interests. Projections are worthless.

One guy has a England guy haircut, the other wears hats all the time probably bald, either way my point stands

― i did it all for the 'nuki (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, November 26, 2014 1:34 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not so fast, I think there might be something to this mod haircut counterpoint that you can't handle.

Goddammit, I just pulled up Sailing the Seas of Cheese on Spotify and now I'm getting into it. Primus no longer central to my interests, but I can't use them as a punchline either.

Johnny I think it's finally time to step up to Frog Brigade

Frizzle Fry is the Primus Sweet spot IMO

i don't know if it's 'clickbait' as much as it is 'vestigial adherence to the structures of print media, which required lead times'

Primus? dear god

do they even still exist?

like strychnine

as long as gathering of the vibes & related festivals still exist (so, neo-hippies), les claypool will at least make a living idk about the other dudes

Maura OTM. As this thread shows, print mag EOY lists still come out late November so that's the season for it.

Primus' audience is a Venn diagram of jam band fans, '90s alt rock radio stalwarts, and guitar magazine tech heads, a literal perfect storm of dude loyalty

they will play sold out mid-sized theater gigs until God shuts the lights out the Earth

on tour now, see them Decemeber 6 at Rockfest in Santiago, Chile!

part of the reason beyonce's album got so much press about OMG NEW MODEL IS MUSIC CHANGING is because no one had early copies and they needed immediate articles. iirc there was a rush to immediate judgement on most of the tracks and tempest in a teapot responses galore; I remember 99 thinkpieces on eat the cake anna mae alone. some of the subtext, to my eyes, was a bit of panic on the part of press that recognized the stealth release as an open declaration of the method of negotiation and scheduling with press for cover pieces and review as unnecessary for artists of a certain level. that there's only a score of artists at that level is sort of beside the point; that score provide the biggest reason to buy the magazine/click the article/buy the paper. it would not surprise me if the eoy round ups focus more on the method of release for Bey than the release itself.

BTW, the decision on her part to put the re-release and new material on spotify suggests that she and her team get that, at $26, the platinum edition is selling for the packaging/DVD/calendar as much as anything and that in this case (unlike the initial release), the music is NOT the commodity... it's pack-in.

Not a lot of Katy B and Jessie Ware so far, I would agree their new albums are not as good as their debuts but good enough to place higher than freakin Kasabian or Damon Albarn.

as of next week on the charts bey's streams will count toward album sales too lol, so i guess that helps?

I saw Primus this year and it was p good

Always annoys me how these lists come out earlier and earlier every year.

― rising stones cross (anagram)

It's really silly. There'll be a load of decent releases in December no doubt.

eyes peeled for my "best of 2015" list, coming this March

let's just vote on the best of the 2020s right now. that arbre mort comeback album is surprisingly consistent don't you think?

I know it's gauche but I have to remind everyone that my madrigal re-imaginings of Nickelback songs is on its fifth reprinting before we start voting

I have a song I haven't even done the vocals for, so.

I remember 99 thinkpieces on eat the cake anna mae alone.

not to mention the 50 or so on eat the cake "anime"

Not a lot of Katy B and Jessie Ware so far, I would agree their new albums are not as good as their debuts but good enough to place higher than freakin Kasabian or Damon Albarn.

Would've thought katy and jessie would be high up on the Graun's list but who really knows.

I know it's gauche but I have to remind everyone that my madrigal re-imaginings of Nickelback songs is on its fifth reprinting before we start voting

― the farakhan of gg (DJP

how much did it cost to book Sting to imagine them onstage?

Damn I had forgot about Sting's lute phase

I'm still disappointed he never started a band called Lutepack.

I've come around to the Jessie Ware album in a big way (minus two tracks) but tbrr I think that "Champagne Kisses" is going to slay in the ILM trax poll.

I'm fond of the album, but if there were a fire and I could only save one track it would be "Sweetest Song".

Couple of points to make regarding year end lists, It's not even December yet, and ok that was too obvious , second that Decibel left off the fantastic Judas Priest album Redeemer of Souls!!

Does December not count any more or does it just get rolled into next year? Last year, one of my favorite Hip Hop albums, Because the Internet, got short shrift due to it's december release.

I've got at least one track on my personal 2014 faves that came out in mid-December last year. I don't write for any publications so don't have deadline problems but in any case there's no way I could sufficiently process the record in that short amount of time to et a realistic feel for how it stacks up to songs or albums I'd lived with for months.

As this thread shows, print mag EOY lists still come out late November so that's the season for it.

But this isn't because of print deadlines, it's because the publication (whether mag, website or whatever) wants theirs to be the only one that people read/talk about/care about. If they get their EOY list in first then (or so the thinking goes) punters won't bother with any others. Same reason why shops start selling Christmas stuff earlier every year - you buy your Christmas crackers from the first place you see them.

But nobody only pays attention to one publication these days - it's an aggregate thing. Nobody on the publications thinks that theirs is the only list that people will talk about. Weirdly, the increasing earliness is because the likes of the Guardian and NME have moved to coincide with the monthlies in late November. They used to wait till a fortnight before Christmas but now there's a scrum.

Although the Guardian's different because it rolls out so slowly - it took two weeks last year.

the list i filed to the guardian weeks ago looks hilariously out of date already

Same here. I don't know why we had to file a full month before the rollout. I don't think I'd have added many new releases but I've changed my mind plenty.

a full month starting before a rollout that itself starts in NOVEMBER, in an era when big releases are more slanted towards Q4 than ever

the album that's belatedly gaining steam to be my AOTY had been out a couple of weeks at that point but isn't even in the top 10 i filed!

I'd be all in favour of the Guardian's list staying in late Dec. But we do roll out gradually - starting this week means the No 1 gets revealed on Dec 12. I had to argue against a Dec 5 finish date this year: the thing is we're not just competing against the other music lists, but against all the other end of year stuff that will appear in the Guardian. If we leave till the week before Christmas, we won't get any play on the main website.

The weird thing is how much it has changed. I did the first Guardian end of year list in 2007, in the old Film&Music section, and no one gave a shit. Within three years it had started to become the two-week behemoth you see now.

Oh, and you had to file early because we needed to consult with the department that has overseen every department's end of year lists this year. They wanted a unified look, which meant getting the copy in early so they could start deciding the formats and sorting it all out.

But Dorian, Lex, you want to moan about it? Moan to me.

the album that's belatedly gaining steam to be my AOTY had been out a couple of weeks at that point but isn't even in the top 10 i filed

Kind of interested in what this is.

tinashe (didn't even think it was that special for weeks after first hearing)

Yes!

Poll running earlier this year so it finishes before xmas
All welcome to nominate/vote etc
~~~ End Of Year ILM Metal - Albums & Tracks Poll- Nominations 2014 (Ends friday11.59pm UK time Dec 5th) ~~~

Norman Records Top 50

1. Bracken - Exist/resist
2. Ian William Craig - A Turn of Breath
3. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Revelation
4. Last Ex - Last Ex
5. Swans - To Be Kind
6. Virginia Wing - Measures of Joy
7. Morgan Delt - Morgan Delt
8. Kate Tempest - Everybody Down
9. Ought - More Than Any Other Day
10. Memory Drawings - There Is No Perfect Place
11. Neneh Cherry - Blank Project
12. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
13. Scott Walker and Sunn O))) - Soused
14. Tape - Casino
15. Grouper - Ruins
16. Ty Segall - Manipulator
17. Mohammad - Lamnè Gastama
18. Aphex Twin - Syro
19. Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams
20. Goat - Commune
21. Fennesz - Bécs
22. Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love
23. EIAFUAWN - Birds In The Ground
24. Shellac - Dude Incredible
25. A New Line (Related) - S/T

https://www.normanrecords.com/features/top-fifty-2014.php

Nice to see shoutouts for Tape, Ex-Easter Island Head, Soundcarriers, Jon Mueller's Death Blues on the full Norman Records list.

The absence of Owen Pallett's In Conflict in these lists (#64 on Rough Trade, thats it) is baffling. It was my #1 any time I was asked to vote and I thought I was going to be in good company but no.

Yeah, no OP, no Sunny Day in Glasgow, no YG (though it's not that kind of lists yet). I am out of touch with consensus, more than I think I am. But I realize that every year.

i keep waiting for the uk music press to have a country epiphany. when it comes 3 years late i'll probably be extremely annoyed

no doubt.

10. Memory Drawings - There Is No Perfect Place

Woah I went to a Timberwolves game with a guy in this band w a mutual friend

That's the band with someone from Hood in them right?

yes I guess: "Memory Drawings is the project of Minneapolis hammered dulcimer player Joel Hanson, Hood co-founder Richard Adams and former Lanterns on the Lake violinist Sarah Kemp"

Unsurprising but love seeing Norman Recs sticking with the Hood shout outs. Both the Bracken and Memory Drawings albums are great.

The absence of Owen Pallett's In Conflict in these lists (#64 on Rough Trade, thats it) is baffling.

― Re-Make/Re-Model, donderdag 27 november 2014 14:43 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^ Can only co-sign this. Truly baffling.

To be fair Lex, Uncut writes about a lot of country. Just not the country that you're interested in.

Kacey Musgraves was in a few lists last year but not as many as I'd hoped. Most country artists you like, Lex, don't play very big venues and even then the crowd is mostly expats. I think most Brits can't get past the sound of modern country so I really don't think there's going to be, say, a Miranda Lambert epiphany but maybe Kacey's next record could do it.

Great to see Kogumaza sneak into the Norman list. I'd actually forgotten that album came out this year, it will now be in mine.

Oh wow I didn't know the Hood guy was in that! It was just my friend Joel plays in a band

Well, modern country (not alt!) is what I meant. Brits can get past trad country sounds when it's old established stars but not the relatively less heavy country signifiers of Angaleena Presley or Miranda Lambert? Or Lee Ann Womack if we're talking established names even. When Dolly played Glastonbury there was so much love for her which was great but zero interest in who her current equivalents might be

Well if you knew the sales numbers on that OP record you'd know that basically nobody bought and/or listened to it *wipes away single tear* *accepts another film score gig*

Whaaaaa, really? Boo everybody.

Damn, I just can't understand that! Reviews were good, too right? People suck :(

ya rly.

It's high in my top ten eyol, will campaign more.

Rock was first declared dead on May 26, 1957, by a trio of 'experts' who mainly were just trying to wish it away. Someone's always trying to kill rock, but it's probably more accurate to say it's undead, hanging out in your basement, smoking bowls, eating your food and watching Italian horror movies (Truckfighters, Spiders, Electric Wizard, Witch Mountain, Slough Feg, Pallbearer, Blues Pills, Castle, The Oath, Wo Fat, The Skull, Earth, Serpent Venom, Brimstone Coven, Satyress, Mansion, Purson, Goat, etc.)

Lots of interesting things to check out on Norman list. Guardian list was good last year, will have to see in next couple days.

Random thought, tUnE-yArDs totally dominated lists in 2011, while her second album was ignored. Personally I think both aren't bad, but gradually become more irritating. I guess the total absence of Nikki Nack this year shows, what? Does it confirm they were all fickle bandwagon-jumping lemming MFers?

I actually think that front-to-back Nikki Nack is probably a better album than the last one, but the standout tracks on Whokill elevated it into the mainstream/critical consciousness.

i tried listening to nicki nack and it was grating. i think i forgave her first album as 'grating but clever' and so is this one, but there's only so much grating i can take. a bit like fiery furnaces when they were popular - okay for one or two albums, kind of tiresome when the initial interest wanes.

People are stupid, fgti. It's not too late to start a newsworthy beef with The War on Drugs though.

xp to Lex. Dolly's a special case and I don't think most of the people who adored her at Glastonbury had bought her latest record.

Whokill was actually the second album, but I'm a pedant.

Hopefully when Owen lands in the ILM end of year top 10 that will help undo the wrong of him missing out in these critic's lists.

Another one that I'm shocked hasn't appeared in one single list yet is The Juan Maclean album. Knowing that will also do well in our list makes me really love this place.

DFA had quite a few disappointing years, so the fact they were absolutely killin' it in 2014 might have been overlooked by a lot of people.

Yeah the Juan album is terrific. More consistent than the Todd Terje one, which seems to have placed highly on the basis of the singles.

In a year where for the first time in eons I feel like one of the "everything sucked" crew, "In Conflict" is one of the few albums that does not leave me remotely conflicted. It's great, and inexplicable to be left off any list.

I feel like lists that stretch out to 100 or even 50 hedge so many bets they are useless. But hats off, I guess, to anyone who can find more than 25 albums each year they actively love. I'd love to get a follow-up list of how many listed albums writers still regularly listen to in 2015.

i don't get the love for the todd terje record at all. juan maclean was really solid.

I thought The Future Will Come did quite well in the critic's lists but could be remembering that wrong. It's a shame as This is Happening did so well a few years ago and as much as I like that album, In a Dream is such a better record.

Really interested to see how Todd Terje does in our end of year list. Think it could be like Daft Punk last year when the thread had quite a lot of people saying how disappointed they were with the album but it still manages to make the top three.

I don't think that still listening to an album the following year has any bearing on how good it is. eg Let England Shake was my favourite album of 2011 and probably in my Top 10 since 2000 but I haven't heard it in ages because I played it to death and there's so much new music to listen to.

Every year I have maybe five albums I'm obsessed with, another half a dozen I deeply love and then the rest of my Top 25 is stuff that's somehow flawed or incomplete.

josh otm with the bit about regular listening of albums ppl (critics or otherwise) put on their end of year lists - of the stuff that made mine last year I find myself coming back to a bunch of rap albums (yeezus, OLD, a$ap ferg) p often and not a whole lot else w much regularity aside from Beyoncé and, as a huge/odd contrast, deafheaven.

Terje album places are mostly willfulness off the back of Norse, and the convenience of it for 'representing' that kind of thing.

The last Juan Maclean was largely ignored too so no reason why this wouldn't be either in that respect. Not much interest out there in DFA disco unless Murphy (remembering Nancy saying how amazing that last Holy Ghost album was but still struggling to hear that here too tbh).

xpost I always think I do well if my top 25 is full of albums I'd rate as 8/10 or higher. Think I manage it but this year I seem to have heard a lot of things that are solid 7/10s. I'll probably go back to some of them close to voting and see if anything go up in my estimation. That happened with the Charli XCX album last year and it ended up in my top five.

at the same time I stand by all the things I put on said list, including having the latest arctic monkeys album & lorde's debut record in my top 10

ha! funny that you mention charli bc I didn't place true romance on my top 25 or whatever but I listened to it a ton both last year and throughout this year

It's a real shame Ian Crause's solo album is getting ignored. If you don't trust my judgement you can trust Ned's!

The last Juan Maclean was largely ignored too so no reason why this wouldn't be either in that respect. Not much interest out there in DFA disco unless Murphy (remembering Nancy saying how amazing that last Holy Ghost album was but still struggling to hear that here too tbh).

― nashwan, Thursday, November 27

It just seems so odd that magazines like the NME wouldn't be desperate for music like that considering how much they pushed The Rapture and Friendly Fires back in the day. The Young Galaxy album from last year is another one that seems like it was ignored despite being something that would be right up their street.

Most DFA stuff feels like the bands in question going through the motions somewhat and the last Juan Maclean and Holy Ghost records are particular examples of that. Neither are exactly bad but just not exciting either.

I mean most new DFA stuff, it just feels like the wrong time for music like that now.

less of a barrier for Metronomy and Caribou somehow

Noted Johnny Fever, I forgot about BiRd-BrAiNs, which is similar to the other two. It must be the strength of just a couple tracks that caught peoples' attention who thought, this is weird and different, to the top o' the list it goes!

The Juan Maclean, Shit Robot, Sinkane and Museum of Love albums are all hovering around my end-of-year list. That's the most DFA content that I've liked in a single year since...well, a long time ago.

The Dedication's "I Ain't Gonna Tell You" was the secret best DFA disco jam of 2014 imo

Caribou isn't really like the DFA bands at all. The continued love for Metronomy makes no sense to me though.

less of a barrier for Metronomy and Caribou somehow

― nashwan, Thursday, November 27

Surprised the NME left out Metronomy this year. Along with The Horrors it's most surprising omission on their list considering how much they loved their last two albums (Last one was number two on their 2011 list) It was a really crap album but when does that ever make a difference to the NME.

The Dedication's "I Ain't Gonna Tell You" was the secret best DFA disco jam of 2014 imo

Oooh, this is dope.

Horrors and Metronomy were both big duds after career highs. Just when they needed to nail it they didn't have the songs. The Wild Beasts record was great though - I thought it would make more of a splash.

Re: DFA, bear in mind the simple fact of changing staff at magazines. Maybe the NME just doesn't have a dance cheerleader in the office at the moment. Weak year for crossover electronic albums anyway - there wasn't a Glass Swords or Immunity this year so only Caribou, Terje and Aphex are getting on to these lists.

Rustie's new one just died didn't it?

Both Temples and Hookworms appear to be the go-to token psych albums, on at least six lists so far. I really thought Les Big Byrd - They Worshipped Cats would have been that album, but just wasn't that easily available I guess.

The light psychedelic freakout on Sturgill Simpson's "It Ain't All Flowers" seems to have people slavoring. The Dec 6 show at Thalia sold out and people are paying $175 on up for scalped tix on Craigslist. A friend looking for tix was a bit offended when I teased that this new meta-alt country has struck gold with the dad rock audience. I like the idea of reviving some psychedelic country, and Simpson seems skilled enough, but can't quite get on board.

Horrors and Metronomy were both big duds after career highs. Just when they needed to nail it they didn't have the songs. The Wild Beasts record was great though - I thought it would make more of a splash.

― Re-Make/Re-Model

I thought The Horrors album was great the first time I heard but after about three plays I realised like you say that the songs just weren't there. Nice production but not a lot else. Funny you mention Wild Beasts. This was the first album of theirs I didn't completely fall in love with. They did an interview before it came out saying how they wanted to do something really different and it got my hopes up. Sadly it just sounded like more of the same to me and this was the time they really needed to take some big risks. Still think the first three albums are close to being perfect.

checking out clips of that Ian William Craig records - just voice and tape. Very cool.

I really liked the Horrors album, and I wasn't a huge fan of anything other than Sea Within A Sea before then. It definitely bears repeat listens. It made me go to their debut album and I'm surprised at firstly how different it sounds, and secondly how much better it sounds compared to a lot of UK landfill indie from that era.

I adore the new Juan Maclean but I can't think why anyone who didn't have any emotional connection to prime dfa era having a reason to care. It's executed brilliantly but it's v much comfort food rather than doing anything new. That's not a criticism but I never expected it to get traction

Though it's more bloody exciting than bloody caribou that's for sure

"Pleasant" is one of the most backhanded compliments there is in music, but that's what the Caribou album is. I've only listened to it a handful of times, tbh, but I put it on when I want wallpaper with a beat.

wow – sort of relieved to see that. everyone on the Caribou thread was fawning over the new release and i just didn't get it.

- i think whokill is WAY preferable to nikki nakk, not a fan of the latter. Water Fountain deserves love on singles lists.
- Owen P's new album deserves a spot on most eoy lists; I'm afraid its long past release date tarnishes it for those who should show it the most love. it'll be on mine.
- surprised no one is pointing out the biggest reason publications print best of lists in early december: it's to help sell product, which helps sell advertising

Rustie's new one just died didn't it?
--Re-Make/Re-Model

I actually liked the new rustie a lot - to be fair a good amount of my initial attention came from the danny brown connection but I dug the whole thing.

I'll be perfectly content with DFA fading into critical irrelevance but still popping out a Juan Maclean album and a couple of singles on the regular.

But hats off, I guess, to anyone who can find more than 25 albums each year they actively love. I'd love to get a follow-up list of how many listed albums writers still regularly listen to in 2015.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, November 27, 2014 4:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree w/remake re: listening to albums the following year. my albums list tends to come to a natural close at 25-30, from the ones i obsess over to the ones i really enjoy to the ones that i feel have something about them that makes them worthwhile listening despite being either patchy or lacking in popthrill highlights

xpost It's the same for me with that Caribou album. I thought it was a pretty big step down from the last two. Can't really remember much about it now.

for me this year has been about trying to listen predominantly to the contemporary in as wide an array as I come in contact with. it's drinking out or a fire hydrant.

it's been as solid a year as ever for dance/electronic albums - francis harris/frank & tony, call super, kassem mosse, leon vynehall, mark barrott, young marco also in/around my final list - though zero of those are crossover-friendly AND BETTER FOR IT

lex pretend how about rock?

i don't care about rock

did you hear/like the Swans album this year, lex?

what - no Kiasmos?!

I didn't even know (or, tbh, care) that Caribou were still putting out records until they started showing up on these lists.

lol lex would hate swans so much

or not
ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

he liked the last album iirc