Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

As with last year we'll start with non-crit list Rough Trade Shops.

01 John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
02 Savages - Silence Yourself
03 Matthew E White - Big Inner
04 Daniel Avery - Drone Logic
05 Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin
06 Jon Hopkins - Immunity
07 Valerie June - Pushin' Against A stone
08 Moderat - 2
09 Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
10 Jessica Pratt - Jessica Pratt
11 Jagwar Ma - Howlin
12 Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In
13 My Bloody Valentine - MBV
14 Connan Mockasin - Caramel
15 Factory Floor - Factory Floor
16 Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love
17 London Grammar - If You Wait
18 Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
19 Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
20 Mazzy Star - Seasons Of Your Day
21 Arctic Monkeys - AM
22 Public Service Broadcasting - Inform - Educate - Entertain
23 Arcade Fire - Reflektor
24 Haim - Days Are Gone
25 Daughter - If You Leave

http://www.roughtrade.com/aoty2013

Who's John Grant

who's half of this list

all lists published before the britney spears and r kelly albums are released = null and void

(rough trade list null & void anyway because look at it)

John Grant was in Czars, who I really liked, but I lost track of his solo stuff. Apparently some people really rate him still. I guess Midlake is his backing band now?

The list actually goes to a hundred this year, but I wasn't about to type it out. See link if interested. It's a unique list for sure. Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Sigur Ros, Maps, Goldfrapp, Boards of Canada, Darkside, Foals, National, Vampire Weekend, Atoms For Peace, Hookworms.

I love your keeping of the Britney fire burning like that album isn't going to blow donkeys. xp

Nothing says unique like putting The National on your year-end list.

The Savages album is great, and I like Daniel Avery one too. Went off the Jon Hopkins a bit but it's decent enough. These lists get earlier and earlier don't they?

if you've already decided it will then that's on you but great lead singles tend to heighten my anticipation, personally

xp

jon hopkins and moderat must be the most boring, polite electronic choices imaginable

I'm typically a Britney agnostic and can be swayed by good singles, but neither of the ones I've heard from this project flip any switches for me.

The last one was good!

I didn't necessarily say unique in a good way! I'd say overall it looks 'tasteful' and mature to a fault.

Haim too low. Jagwar Ma in about the right spot. The Parquet Courts album feels like it's about five years old to me at this point (because it was re-released this year).

re: rough trade list, i saw John Grant (and, incidentally, savages!) at a festival last night not knowing a thing about him. Turns out he's a gay HIV+ guy who used to front some indie band and is now doing a solo thing. The set was really weird, half plodding indie balladry (w/ very self-deprecating lyrics), some of which threatened to turn into Queen-territory. The other half were these big pop numbers with heavy synth riffs. Pretty sure Midlake weren't the backing band, though I may be wrong.

who's half of this list

Nothing says unique like putting The National on your year-end list

Usual mixture of the good, the bad and the boring. Daniel Avery and Haim probably my pick of that top 25.

That Jessica Pratt album is great but def 2012. At least in Amurica.

That John Grant album is fucking amazing and you should all listen to it immediately

^

was p disappointed by queens of the stone age, but really don't think that band's ever gonna capture what it had for me again :/

Valerie June record is super-boring in an 'aiming for the critic table' way

Caitlin Rose is good though.

Two albums in here are in my preliminary top 10.

yeah i've returned to the Caitlin Rose record here and there and it's growing on me

one or two of the songs of each album above (that i've heard) are pretty great but, as albums, nah. john grant's voice is singular and committed; psb have a nice motorik feel (but forgettable); savages - cripes, i find them so over-rated. agree with parquet courts (good clean punky fun) but juana molina, white denim and buke and gase albums have more to offer than this lot.

This really is a collection of particularly uninteresting records and Haim

is retro soulster Charles Bradley the only African-American on the Rough Trade shops list?

really looking forward to having another record store in nyc where the rap section is just madlib projects

that is a global issue tbf, probably got yesterdays new quintet lps bobbing around in the philippines right now as we speak

As usual I haven't heard half the list but the John Grant album is great.

Midlake backed him in 2010, monotony, but this tour has an Icelandic band.

always think that the rough trade list is going to be a lot more leftfield that it actually is, but this is based solely on me going there 20 years ago to buy borbetomagus albums

Jesus Christ why do people like Haim? I think I might kill myself during the EoY polls if this is consensus. FFS.

no self-haiming on my watch plz

Yeah the John Grant album is sort of flawed but also brilliant with it. Rough Trade's dance picks are almost comically indie-centric there though. Caitlin Rose is great as well.

I always assume the Rough Trade list is shaped by ahem commercial imperatives considering how early it comes out each year, but looking at it it could be genuinely representative of people who work at Rough Trade as well.

rough trade epitomises corporate indie though right? it's a shop.

i really wanted to like the john grant album given how much i loved his previous but despite trying very hard i never got over the clunkiness of the added electronics and ended up not going back to it ever.

god i almost want every other outlet to hurry up with their lists so we can discuss something other than this thuddingly safe & dull thing

i really can't get over choosing JON HOPKINS and MODERAT as your token electronic picks, i don't even hate either but it sums it up right there

I don't think commercial imperatives come into play but there are certain albums that the staff love and have pushed hard to customers this year, which explains the kind of low-key indie records that I haven't even heard of. That's not a "corporate" list in the top 15, although it suddenly becomes one when you get to the very dull London Grammar album and a handful of alt-rock heavyweights who aren't at their best.

I like the Jon Hopkins album OK but I share Lex's bemusement that it's become the consensus electronic pick when it's very similar to five-year-old Holden and Nathan Fake albums.

I think it's only really clunky on two tracks (and everyone seems united on what those are) but its high points are very high indeed. There's enough good stuff on this list that I'm at least vaguely interested in checking out the albums I don't know, despite how boring the Savages/QOTSA/Daughter records are.

Guys you forgot the Daniel Avery album, which has a couple of good tracks but mostly sounds like a 12 year old with no rhythmic sense producing My First Acid House Record.

london grammar definitely seem like this year's "guys the industry is really pushing this one" favourite repped only by our most PR arse-kissing colleagues

the funny thing about hopkins getting so much praise is that holden himself has actually released a genuinely brilliant album this year that does not sound like he did in 2005-07!

london grammar did top the album charts tho. am curious to learn how exactly but not enough to actually find out

rt list is obv a conflation of narrowing record pool and, like many ilx posters, narrowing taste as age takes its toll on the staff's mental faculties. never was much cop tbf but an increasingly pathetic sight all the same

My music teacher sister-in-law is very much into london grammar, probably about the only new thing she's bought all year?

Daniel Avery's not as bad as Matt makes out, but it is a bit weird picking that one above e.g. Factory Floor

yeah i feel like i missed where lg's in was this year - had assumed like an advert spot or some such but then the xx didnt have one either iirc

for something that gets characterised as unthinking the coffee table pull is deceptively puissant among the masses really

I've listened to it all the way through, it's not terrible but it's kind of dull and the vocalist has some dreadful stage school mannerisms. It's sort of splitting the difference between Jessie Ware (complete with appearance on the Disclosure album) and I dunno Anna Calvi or Florence's quieter moments or something. It's hit directly in the middle of a venn diagram so I'm not surprised it's doing well. I would say Dido but that's too loaded in this day and age.

I've heard maybe 5 albums on this list, only MBV is awesome, the others didn't make my own top 25.

Splice Today will have our own list once again, sometime in mid-December

feel like our american chums are missing out if we don't share a london grammar photo:

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/624x351/p01gb9nv.jpg

I went back and forth on voting for VW but won't/haven't in a top ten way (though it made my top 25 for MAGNET). It's a good album, a really good album, but not stellar on the level of what a bunch if other people got up to this year

This year I'm totally using the Wire list as a buying guide

I keep telling people I like London grammar because I keep thinking that London grammar are clean bandit

Sister Ray Staff end of year staff chart:
SAVAGES – SILENCE YOURSELF
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – PUSH THE SKY AWAY
HOOKWORMS – PEARL MYSTIC
ARCTIC MONKEYS – AM
ONEOHTRIX POISANT NEVER – R PLUS SEVEN
MOGWAI – LES REVENANTS
DANIEL AVERY – DRONE LOGIC
WIRE – CHANGE BECOMES US
FUZZ – FUZZ
TIM HECKER – VIRGINS
JOHNNY MARR – THE MESSENGER
FUCK BUTTONS – SLOW FOCUS
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA – II
SPECIAL REQUEST – SOUL MUSIC
SALVIA PLATH – BARDO STORY
POND – HOBO ROCKET
TY SEGALL – SLEEPER
LAUREL HALO – CHANCE OF RAIN
KURT VILE – WAKIN' ON A PRETTY DAZE
JON HOPKINS – IMMUNITY

xp that is an unfortunate blunder. but on the plus side it does kinda correctly exalt the latter in a way - like if awkward wite well-meaning uni poshos are going to get together and make music then why are only clean bandit bright and honest and capricious enough to sound like clean bandit?

strangely disappointed that london grammar arent the naff uk raphop group i'd instinctively assumed they'd be

― r|t|c, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 16:34 (6 months ago) Bookmark

this is still the sad case fwiw btw

they're not even from london iirc

wiki says nottingham, must be heady days there w/ those guys and jake bugg

if there's one thing i know from my record buying days it's that everyone associated with sister ray is a complete anus, fuck their opinions imo

wiki says nottingham, must be heady days there w/ those guys and jake bugg

― but my heart is full of woah (NickB), Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:41 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So fucking glad I left. Though I fear maybe it was the lack of my musical discipline that led them to this sorry state.

:)

does make me wonder why you're saving your last grenade for haim when you've got these folks living next door to your mum

Maybe because I now can't say 'home' in a Scottish accent without inadvertently referencing a shitty band. THIS CANNOT STAND.

feel like our american chums are missing out if we don't share a london grammar photo:

That hair is 'shopped, right

yeah you're just jealous

Revolver Magazine - Best Albums of 2013

1. Black Sabbath – 13
2. Deafheaven – Sunbather
3. Avenged Sevenfold – Hail to the King
4. Kvelertak – Meir
5. Nails – Abandon All Life
6. Carcass – Surgical Steel
7. Ghost – Infestissumam
8. Windhand – Soma
9. Alice in Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
10. Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork
11. The Dillinger Escape Plan – One of Us Is the Killer
12. Volbeat – Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies
13. Korn – The Paradigm Shift
14. Stone Sour – House of Gold and Bones pt. 2
15. Five Finger Death Punch – The Wrong Side of Heaven…
16. ASG – Blood Drive
17. Watain – The Wild Hunt
18. A Pale Horse Named Death – Lay My Soul to Waste
19. Rob Zombie – Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor
20. Gorguts – Colored Sand

huh

UltimateClassicRock.com - Best Albums of 2013
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/top-rock-albums-of-2013/

1. David Bowie - The Next Day
2. Bob Dylan - Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)
3. Paul McCartney - New
4. Elvis Costello and the Roots - Wise Up Ghost
5. Elton John - The Diving Board
6. Gov't Mule - Shout!
7. Motorhead - Aftershock
8. Jimi Hendrix - People, Hell & Angels
9. Various Artists - Sound City: Real to Reel
10. John Fogerty - Wrote a Song for Everyone

good stuff

TheBoot.com - Best Albums of 2013
http://theboot.com/best-albums-of-2013/

01 Keith Urban 'Fuse'
02 Kacey Musgraves 'Same Trailer Different Park'
03 Luke Bryan 'Crash My Party'
04 Brad Paisley 'Wheelhouse'
05 Ashley Monroe 'Like a Rose'
06 Patty Griffin 'Silver Bell'
07 Kenny Rogers 'You Can't Make Old Friends'
08 Sheryl Crow 'Feels Like Home'
09 Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell 'Old Yellow Moon'
10 Joe Nichols 'Crickets'

god i almost want every other outlet to hurry up with their lists so we can discuss something other than this thuddingly safe & dull thing

― lex pretend,

40. Batillus- Concrete Stain
Dark Tranquility - Construct
Corrections House - Last City Zero
Watain - The Wild Hunt
Aevangelist - Omen Ex Simulacra
Noctum - Final Sacrifice
Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed
Cathedral - The Last Spire
Coliseum - Sister Faith
Portal - Vexovoid
Iron Reagan - Worse Than Dead
Craven Idol - Towards Eschaton
Anciients - Heart Of Oak
Ulcerate - Vermis
Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Mind Control
Exhumed -Necrocracy
Immolation - Kigdom of Conspiracy
Kylesa - Ultraviolet
Antigama - Meteor
The Ruins of Beverast - Blood Vaults: The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer
Ihsahn - Das Seelenbrechen
Lycus- Tempest
Purson - The Circle and the Blue Door
Secrets of the Sky - To Sail Black Waters
Autopsy - The Headless Ritual
Inter Arma - Sky Burial
Nails - Abandon AllLife
Toxic Holocaust - Chemistry Of Consciousness
Deafheaven - Sunbather
10. Tribulation - The Formulas of Death
9. Noisem - Agonies Defined
8. Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
7. Melt-Banana - Fetch
6. Cult of Luna - Vertikal
5. Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse
4. SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods
3. Gorguts - Colored Sands
2. In Solitude - Sister
1. Carcass - Surgical Steel

^ Decibel Magazine end of year

Renowned For Sound - Best Albums of 2013
http://renownedforsound.com/index.php/best-albums-of-2013/

A Day to Remember - Common Courtesy
Alison Moyet - the minutes
AlunaGeorge - Body Music
Amos Lee - Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Charli XCX - True Romance
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
David Bowie - The Next Day
Dido - Girl Who Got Away
Ellie Goulding - Halycon Days
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP 2
Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll
Forest Fire - Screens
Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
Goldfrapp - Tales of Us
Haim - Days are Gone
Icona Pop - This is Icona Pop
Jimmy Eat World - Damage
John Newman - Tribute
Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience Part 2
Kanye West - Yeezus
Katy Perry - Prism
Lady Antebellum - Golden
Lady Gaga - ARTPOP
Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle
Lisa Loeb - No Fairy Tale
Little Scout - Are You Life
Lorde - Pure Heroine
Luscious Jackson - Magic Hour
Miley Cyrus - Bangerz
Moby - Innocents
Moderat - II
Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
Newton Faulkner - Studio Zoo
Paul McCartney - New
Paula Cole - Raven
Phoenix - Bankrupt
Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines
Shane Filan - You and Me
St Lucia - When the Night
Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob
Texas - The Conversation
The Fratellis - We Need Medicine
Tina Arena - Reset
Tonight Alive - The Other Side
TRAAMS - Grin
Turin Brakes - We Were Here
VV Brown - Samson & Delilah

Dido ahoy!

what the fuck is reknowned for sound

if you're going to post parody lists at least use semiplausible publication names

Best of Rock
(Read the reviews)

NOTE: I haven't even started listening to 2013 albums. I'm still reviewing 2012. So the list below is wildly incomplete.

8/10
7.5/10
1 Haxan Cloak: Excavation (Tri Angle)
7/10

EPs and minis:

1 Pharmakon: Abandon (Sacred Bones), 7.5/10 (EP)

http://www.scaruffi.com/ratings/2013.html

You'd be really embarrassed not to get your album on that Renowned In Sound list. It's about as indiscriminate as humanly possible.

texas, paula cole and luscious jackson albums all life-changing antidotes to this year of morose 80s revivals

For some reason I thought Tina Arena was actually dead. Who am I thinking of?

UltimateClassicRock.com - Best Albums of 2013
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/top-rock-albums-of-2013/

― but my heart is full of woah (NickB), Tuesday, 19 November 2013 14:56 (35 minutes ago) Bookmark

As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites, with a few welcome returns and at least one totally surprising comeback that nobody knew was coming. We also got another posthumous Jimi Hendrix album — but at least it’s a good one. From metal marathoners to cozy piano ballads, here are the Top Rock Albums of 2013.

This really is a collection of particularly uninteresting records and Haim

and caitlin rose!

decibel top three otm

As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites As far as classic-rock albums go, 2013 was all about familiar sounds by old favorites

in a complete turnaround from the classic rock albums of 2012

I think they've been running that '20 Hottest Rock Daughters' list since last November, unless it's been brought back for #InternationalMensDay

Thanks for the Decibel list. EZ Snappin put it in Rolling Metal yesterday, but has it actually been published anywhere? Happy to see Noctum, Anciients, Oranssi Pazuzu, Purson and SubRosa. A little surprised not to see Russian Circles, Windhand, Kvelertak, Palms, Pelican and Sahg. Also missing tons of great doom, but did not expect them to pay mind to that stuff. Corrections House is interesting in a similar way to Pinkish Black, need to listen more.

I still don't get how you can write a best of year list in November. Mid November, even.

if anything a lot of the ones being printed now were likely submitted before the end of last month

Theoretically the print mags already had access to promos of albums due out this and next month. Still, they are working at a disadvantage. That's why the ILM poll is way better ;)

Fnb he did post it but i added the album names. Got it from my digital sub for my ipad.

The Boombox - Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2013
http://theboombox.com/10-best-hip-hop-albums-of-2013/

Kanye West - Yeezus
Danny Brown - Old
Drake - Nothing Was the Same
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
Jay Z - Magna Carta Holy Grail
Pusha T - My Name Is My Name
Mac Miller - Watching Movies with the Sound Off
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels
A$AP Ferg - Trap Lord
French Montana - Excuse My French

Classic Rock sure knows what it's there for. You're a 60s/70s dude, alive or dead, with a new album out? Step this way sir!

*Ultimate* Classic Rock if you please

to be fair to them, it has been a pretty good year for sexegenarians and septuagenarian, half that list is better albums than i expected those guys to make at this late date

Great Decibel list. In Solitude and SubRosa, pretty much my two favourites of the year, in the top 5. :)

Any rap list with Magna Carta Holy Grail on it makes me just think "here's a list of rap albums that came out in 2013".

I didn't realise only 10 hip hop albums had been released this year

Listening To Albums With The Sound Off

lol DL I had the same reaction

is retro soulster Charles Bradley the only African-American on the Rough Trade shops list?

― curmudgeon, Monday, November 18, 2013 11:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

aw i mean i could see having problems with the list, but i saw bradley and was just completely and utterly charmed by him...also he's not really "retro" so much as "old guy doing the same stuff he always did"

he has some good songs and can really sing.

it was pretty touching how grateful he was that people were interested in seeing him and having fun listening to him

yeah, that charles bradley record is really good, and i can't wait to see him live. (also, valerie june is african-american)

I don't think curmudgeon is having a go at Charles.

There's a tune on the album I absolutely love - "Confusion"? I cannot remember the name but it's something like that.

I like a few off the boombox list but it is still one dry-arse list. What no Juicy J, Vic Mensa, le$, Ka in there ? just to name some from memory that shined very brightly.

Saw Charles Bradley at a festival in Bilbao this summer and was blown away by his mic-stand humping and his strained wail. He was great. Went to the VIP section after and saw him sat alone, drinking a small beer and smoking a rollie, looking utterly depressed. Bit of a bummer really.

I was not criticizing Bradley. I like him too. I was just being less than clear in pointing out that Bradley prefers to sing old-school '60s style soul rather than the slightly more contemporary feeling Southern soul/chitlin circuit soul that XChuckx and I talk about on the Chitlin Circuit soul thread (that uses synths and such)

Another shop one:

Resident Records / Brighton - top 100 albums of 2013
http://www.resident-music.com/

01 Matthew E. White - Big Inner
02 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
03 Savages - Silence Yourself
04 Daughter - If You Leave
05 Valerie June - Pushin' Against A Stone
06 Jon Hopkins - Immunity
07 John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
08 Laura Mvula - Sing to the Moon
09 Hookworms - Pearl Mystic
10 Melt Yourself Down - Melt Yourself Down
11 Follakzoid - ii
12 Mazzy Star - Seasons of Your Day
13 Forest Swords - Engravings
14 Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love
15 Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
16 Public Service Broadcasting - Inform - Educate - Entertain
17 Dirty Beaches - Drifters / Love is the Devil
18 Rokia Traore - Beautiful Africa
19 Ghostpoet -Some Say I So I Say Light
20 Devendra Banhart - Mala

Good shop, kinda boring list

I guess Mojo and Uncut will be out shortly, wonder what they'll do about the Roy Harper situation?

That Melt Yourself Down Album bangs. I have no idea what people are seeing in Daughter though.

x-post to me --I think Charles Bradley fans would like Southern soul singer Mel Waiters 2013 album "Poor Side of Town" but since its on a small label, uses programmed rhythms and was not marketed to indie, NPR, and such related outlets, they'll likely never hear it.

Need to give it another go, but I couldn't get along with the sax playing on that Melt Yrself Down. Bit too much Pigbag and not enough unrestrained skronk for me.

That's wareham, right? I meant to check that out & never got round to it.

Yes, Brit sax player Pete Wareham. Never heard it either, but I liked Pigbag back in the day.

daughter literally the boringest album i heard all year. their cover of "get lucky" was soul destroying

They cover Loverboy?! That shoulda been awesome.

I was not criticizing Bradley. I like him too. I was just being less than clear in pointing out that Bradley prefers to sing old-school '60s style soul rather than the slightly more contemporary feeling Southern soul/chitlin circuit soul that XChuckx and I talk about on the Chitlin Circuit soul thread (that uses synths and such)

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 6:52 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Valerie June also Af-Am but she makes bluegrass or something. Definitely capturing the zeitgeist of black America.

I should make clear that's a shot at Rough Trade, not at June, who I have no beef with.

Damn, I'm listening to the title track from the Mel Waiters and it's a total jam. I feel like ILM's R. Kelly fans would dig this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XXSlH8Y-wM

17 Dirty Beaches - Drifters / Love is the Devil

standout album, but probably will be largely overlooked in year-end polls.

Haha so I've been listening to melt yourself down for the last 30 seconds and the sax is immediately recognisable as wareham, can see where the pigbag comparison comes in kinda (not a prob for me tho), also I basically love this already

Popmatters' Best Mainstream Pop Singles of 2013
http://www.popmatters.com/post/176599-the-best-pop-singles-of-2013/

1. One Direction - “One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)”
2. Paul McCartney - “Queenie Eye”
3. Hanson - “Get the Girl Back”
4. Kelly Clarkson - “Tie It Up”
5. Hunter Hayes ft. Jason Mraz - “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me”
6. Backstreet Boys - “In a World Like This”
7. Keith Urban - “A Little Bit of Everything”
8. Ariana Grande ft. Mika - “Popular Song”
9. Yvlus - “The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)”
10. Justin Timberlake - “Mirrors”

You can’t deny the effervescent charm of its performers. It sounds like the boy band had a blast recording it. And for all those who dismiss this as mere bubblegum teen pop: remember that “One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)” was a Red Nose Day charity single, raising funds to help poverty-stricken people all over the world.

Watertight case.

jesus christ what in the fuck?

that mel waiters track is sick!!

normally I hate it when people do this but jesus christ there is no way that list isn't trolling

Hey it's Pop Matters, they know what they're talking about

From Manchester's finest indie record store: the Piccadilly Records Top 100 Albums of 2013

1. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
2. Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
3. Steve Mason - Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time
4. Factory Floor - Factory Floor
5. Bill Callahan - Dream River
6. Gramme - Fascination
7. Föllakzoid - II
8. Ducktails - The Flower Lane
9. Fuzz - Fuzz
10. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II
11. Hookworms - Pearl Mystic
12. Matthew E. White - Big Inner
13. Crocodiles - Crimes of Passion
14. Jon Hopkins - Immunity
15. Jim James - Regions of Sound and Light of God
16. The Oh Sees - Floating Coffin
17. Quasimoto - Yessir Whatever
18. Mazzy Star - Seasons of your Day
19. Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze
20. Dirty Beaches- Drifters/Love is the Devil

(British) people are way overrating that Public Service Broadcasting album imo, btw.

yeah, i didn't like that record at all. it's a clunky concept played in a really clunky way

The Piccadilly Top 20 is a symphony of overrating.

gramme is kinda cool

Pretty much. They're a good shop but I could never rep for that list. xp

Never heard (of) Gramme - qu'est-ce que c'est?

idk this track is nice tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP_Ro3OiCq8

kinda like esg sounding slow disco

That's cool, kind of Escort-y I guess. xp

Amazon's "Best Albums of 2013"
1. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
2. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
3. Chvrches - Bones of What You Believe
4. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
5. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob
6. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
7. Lorde - Pure Heroine
8. Bastille - Bad Blood
9. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
10. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
11. Drake - Nothing Was The Same
12. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
13. Haim - Days Are Gone
14. The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars
15. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get...
16. Deafheaven - Sunbather
17. Foals - Holy Fire
18. Miley Cyrus - Bangerz
19. Fitz & The Tantrums - More Than Just A Dream
20. Icona Pop - This Is... Icona Pop

drake, huh

How did Chvurches happen? Seriously people.

Glad to see it!

These are Picadilly's Top Compilations of 2013. There's some really good ones there and it's nice to see Psychemagik and Originals placing so highly

http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/shop/feature.php?feature=721

that popmatters list proves why its embarrassing to be an adult into pop music really doesn't it

actually i didnt even read the list properly but im still happy to maintain that poptimists are the worst people

It's all pop music ya big dummy

Rate Your Music Top Albums of 2013

1 Gorguts  - Colored Sands
2 Boards of Canada  - Tomorrow's Harvest
3 Run the Jewels  - Run the Jewels
4 Sigur Rós  - Kveikur
5 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds  - Push the Sky Away
6 Tim Hecker  - Virgins
7 My Bloody Valentine  - m b v
8 Steven Wilson  - The Raven That Refused to Sing
9 Kurt Vile  - Wakin on a Pretty Daze
10 Jon Hopkins  - Immunity
11 Haken  - The Mountain
12 Dennis Johnson  - November (R. Andrew Lee)
13 Queens of the Stone Age  - ...Like Clockwork
14 Vampire Weekend  - Modern Vampires of the City
15 Inquisition  - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse
16 Julia Holter  - Loud City Song
17 The National  - Trouble Will Find Me
18 Bill Callahan  - Dream River
19 Summoning  - Old Mornings Dawn
20 Anathema  - Universal
21 Deafheaven  - Sunbather
22 Danny Brown  - Old
23 Gris  - À l'âme enflammée, l'äme constellée...
24 Carcass  - Surgical Steel
25 Blood Ceremony  - The Eldritch Dark
26 The Drones  - I See Seaweed
27 Peter Brötzmann  - Long Story Short
28 Satan  - Life Sentence
29 Earthless  - From the Ages
30 Cult of Luna  - Vertikal
31 Arcade Fire  - Reflektor
32 DARKSIDE  - Psychic
33 Prefab Sprout  - Crimson/Red
34 Leprous  - Coal
35 David Bowie  - The Next Day
36 Riverside  - Shrine of New Generation Slaves
37 Clutch  - Earth Rocker
38 The Dillinger Escape Plan  - One of Us Is the Killer
39 Fire! Orchestra  - Exit!
40 The Ocean  - Pelagial
41 Kanye West  - Yeezus
42 The Kniφe  - Shaking the Habitual
43 Ulver With Tromsø Chamber Orchestra  - Messe I.X–VI.X
44 Neko Case  - The Worse Things Get…
45 Chelsea Wolfe  - Pain Is Beauty
46 Grateful Dead  - Sunshine Daydream: Veneta Oregon 8/27/72
47 Kayo Dot  - Hubardo
48 Roy Harper  - Man and Myth
49 The Field  - Cupid's Head
50 Orphaned Land  - All Is One
51 Nails  - Abandon All Life
52 Ulcerate  - Vermis
53 Janelle Monáe  - The Electric Lady
54 Soilwork  - The Living Infinite
55 Laura Marling  - Once I Was an Eagle
56 Alter Bridge  - Fortress
57 Persefone  - Spiritual Migration
58 Oranssi Pazuzu  - Valonielu
59 Forest Swords  - Engravings
60 Fuck Buttons  - Slow Focus
61 Omnium Gatherum  - Beyond
62 James Blake  - Overgrown
63 Eluvium  - Nightmare Ending
64 Stara Rzeka  - Cień chmury nad ukrytym polem
65 Alameda 3  - Późne królestwo
66 Enforcer  - Death by Fire
67 Wardruna  - Runaljod – Yggdrasil
68 Vàli  - Skogslandskap
69 Big Big Train  - English Electric (Part Two)
70 Primal Scream  - More Light
71 Goldfrapp  - Tales of Us
72 Matana Roberts  - Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
73 James Holden  - The Inheritors
74 The World Is a Beautiful Place… - Whenever, If Ever
75 In Vain  - Ænigma
76 Blindead  - Absence
77 Amorphis  - Circle
78 Oneohtrix Point Never  - R Plus Seven
79 Windhand  - Soma
80 Mazzy Star  - Seasons of Your Day
81 Scale the Summit  - The Migration
82 Melt-Banana  - Fetch
83 Thee Oh Sees  - Floating Coffin
84 Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge  - Twelve Reasons to Die
85 Altar of Plagues  - Teethed Glory and Injury
86 Fates Warning  - Darkness in a Different Light
87 Fuzz  - Fuzz
88 Enshine  - Origin
89 Àrsaidh  - Roots
90 Black Sabbath  - 13
91 Shade Empire  - Omega Arcane
92 Cass McCombs  - Big Wheel and Others
93 Tribulation  - The Formulas of Death
94 Progenie Terrestre Pura  - U.M.A.
95 Immolation  - Kingdom of Conspiracy
96 Touché Amoré  - Is Survived By
97 Richard Thompson  - Electric
98 Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle  - Perils From the Sea
99 Altars  - Paramnesia
100 Motörhead  - Aftershock

i think that popmatters list is surely trying to shade poptimism but fails completely because who cares

the ariana grande choice is the giveaway really

Where's the love for Dream River in these? Kinda thought it might be a consensus choice for top 10s.

Not a single mention for These New Puritans yet, which makes me sad. Likewise the low number of Holden mentions.

The Hopkins record is pleasant but I'm baffled that it's been picked-up as this crossover critical consensus.

London and Brighton indie shop staff not picking much hip hop or pop isn't really a surprise, is it? It's called demographics. Went in Sister Ray the other day and reminded myself why I don't like it. Rise in Bristol is my favourite indie shop by far.

I've not heard Dream River but I bet it's suffering from 3-in-a-row fatigue as far as Callahan's discography goes; he's just consistently good at what he does so another new album isn't going to make any waves.

The John Grant record is both really good and really awkward; something about his lyrics and phrasing occasionally puts me off but by and large I really like it.

Nice to see Matthew E White getting lots of props; it's a lovely record, really beautifully arranged and recorded.

Melt Yourself Down is awesome. Sons Of Kemet might be a little bit better, though.

Agree with everything Sick says here. I'm still waiting for my local to get me in a vinyl copy of the TNP album but they're taking ages. Is it out of print?

Hopkins album is unremarkable, 'nice', but a lot of the more piano-y bits were employed better on his collab with King Creosote and the rest, as mentioned before, does sound awfully reminiscent of mid-2000s minimal/micro house.

John Grant one has some awesome moments and I think the awkardness is part of it. That last song, Glacier, kills me whenever I hear it. Prob EOY songs for me that one.

Checked out Sons of Kemet on your recommendation and I think I like it. although part of me hears it as a sort of analogue of 'gypsy-punk' but for a hipster crowd.

My lack of enthusiasm for the Melt Yourself Down record is possibly due to having experienced the Ex with Brass Unbound absolutely burn the venue down with their fierce version of the post-punk grooves + jazz thing, which tbh most bands would pale in comparison to.

i think that popmatters list is surely trying to shade poptimism but fails completely because who cares

other thing about that popmatters list is that people were bitching about the lack of african-american artists on the rough trade list and well um

xpost Completely agree on Public Service Broadcasting. Went to see them the other night, and my companion said it was like a Mike Myers parody of hauntology.

although part of me hears it as a sort of analogue of 'gypsy-punk' but for a hipster crowd.

When you type things like this I honestly fear for you sometimes, dude.

I enjoy the Public Service Broadcasting record but in an entirely non-committal way. It sounds nice and I enjoy the tunes, but I'd never make any claims for it.

wtf is 'hauntology'?

It's the terrible corniness of the samples that really sinks Public Service Broadcasting for me. Gosh it's a Spitfire! This is the night mail crossing the border! I can't believe it's not butter! Keep calm and sound a bit like Delphic!

Oh god they don't sound like Delphic, don't be mean!

The Drift Record Shop's top 100 list. (They're in Totnes.)

http://thedriftrecordshop.net/collections/record-of-the-year

Jon Hopkins @#1! Some decent choices further down the list.

Good metal rankings on the RYM list, save for the absence of In Solitude. The usual Steven Wilson fetishism is, as always, present and accounted for. (And I'm willing to bet that Anathema live record does not deserve to be at #20.)

That Matthew E. White is good, but it came out August 2012. I wanted to love the These New Puritans but I just can't.

Uncut and MOJO lists snaked out Nov 23 last year so more tasteful lists for the elderly soon! Then Mojo Jr/Paste, The Fly, NME, Q, PopMatters metal (they do that better than pop), Magnet, FACT, Gorilla vs. Bear, SPIN, Filter, The Wire, Classic Rock, Clash, Drowned In Sound, Rolling Stone, Pop Matters 75, Stereogum, That's How Kids Die, AV Club, Crack, Quietus, The Guardian, Juno, Resident Advisor, Kerrang!, Terrorizer, Consequence Of Sound, Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, The Liminal, Rock-A-Rolla, XLR8R, Louder Than War.

...ILX

Rate Your Music Top Albums of 2013
seems a bit premature to pull this in november when its in constant flux. also these RYM lists are always kind of weird looking because like half the userbase are metal/prog-heads and half are indie dudes

When you type things like this I honestly fear for you sometimes, dude.

?

Meaning the two references within - gypsy punk and hipster - don't sound, to me, to be anything at all to do with the music Sons of Kemet make and I've not seen them used in any other discourse about it at all. It's jazz with a Caribbean melodic flavour and interesting textures courtesy of two drummers and a tuba. There are vaguely rock / dance rhythms going on at times but that's it.

yeah, cool i get that i was prob being pretty reductive there and they're not the same thing. i think what i meant was i could see this kind of music being not far from the kind of stuff you'd see at a festival like boomtown fair, but it's removed enough from the hippier trappings of that scene to make it amenable to "ILX-world" discourse. It's not too different from, say, Youngblood Brass Band or what have you (yes,yes YBB aren't gypsy punk but they , but its references and touchstones are a lot trendier. don't get me wrong, i rather like SOK and i don't really even have a prob with Boomtown-y music so i shouldn't be picking holes.

The usual Steven Wilson fetishism is, as always, present and accounted for.

Except this Steven Wilson album really is that great, it's fantastic.

that Rate Your Music list is horrible as always, Haim, who will probaly win the ILM poll, can't even make the Top 100.

so i had to click on that link to see where Haim does place in 2013, was about to give up but finally found it at 659 place.

Haim are shite though

Except they aren't.

Rate Your Music is useful as a research and resource tool, but as a community it's the fucking worst.

Dont know about it's users or community or why its the fucking worst and its only really a useful guide but I expect its users go there as it seems to cover music ignored by critics elsewhere (ie metal and prog)

<i>music ignored by critics elsewhere (ie metal and prog)</i>

And all remains right with the world.

Except my ability to remember to convert to BBcode.

excellent discussion

surprised people maintained any goodwill toward that soggy nick cave record

The Matthew E White album got a January or February release over here, which is why it's making a lot of lists. Good album, gorgeous arrangements, shame about his lack of vocal presence.

The John Grant record stands or falls on how successful is he in fitting the rhythm of his lyrics around the electronic arrangements. The difference between the astonishing first song and the ponderous second lays this bare really. It would be merely a very good album were it not for the incredible two songs that bookend it, although there's good stuff throughout. You ha r to have a high tolerance for monomanaical breakup albums but it's sad for some significant other reasons as well.

New board description: "Haim are shite though. Except they aren't."

I find Matthew E White underwhelming as a singer too, even though the album's arranged and produced to perfection and presses all my 70s country-soul buttons. It slid from my Top 10 as the year wore on.

Nick Cave has delivered two of my favourite shows of the year but I still can't love that album. Three amazing songs - Jubilee Street, Higgs Boson Blues and the title track - along with too much midtempo solemnity and a couple of duds that would barely have been B-sides in the Dig Lazarus Dig phase.

If Haim win the ILM poll then every ilxor who votes for it needs to take a long hard look at themselves followed by this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellation

i don't particularly love the Haim record but people who seem really offended by it are weird, what's the big deal

I was thinking of putting something else at #1 just because while I think the HAIM album is good, I don't think it's quite album of the year material; but if people keep bitching about HAIM I might give them the #1 spot merely out of spite.

Sounding better to me this morning than it has lately, actually.

I hope there's a sketch about all this HAIM handwringing on SNL tonight.

haha one person comments and its ilm handwringing?

I meant in general, outside ILM but hey, I do find that the more specific and esoteric an SNL sketch is, the funnier it is.

I got the impression they were universally loved outside in the real world.

That Matthew E White album is nice but I'm surprised to see it ranking so high.

yeah there was a lot of corny indie fuxxor angst over it a couple of months ago but not much on ilx. until now. it's a pretty great album but i'll admit it strikes me as an odd choice for any individual's #1. totally makes sense as a consensus pick though.

re: hy-um

I thought it was corny indie fuxxors who liked it?

Plenty of people seem to love them but I just dont get it.

rate your music is like rockism central

arent most of these sites?

ilm is rate your rockism central

the RYM alltime chart is pretty metal free though is it not? Last time I saw it it was all beatles bowie radiohead etc. the same as everywhere else.

Last time I saw it it was all beatles bowie radiohead etc.

rate your music is like rockism central

― dyl, Saturday, November 23, 2013 12:13 PM (8 minutes ago)

some dude otm about haim, it's not for me at all but i can totally see why other people would love it and it's far from hateable

The Singles Jukebox' Top 25 of 2013 is better than RYM's Top 25 Singles of 2013

that melt-banana song is the shit.

oh good, that thread was a lot easier to read than I was expecting

Jazzwise Top 20 New Releases 2013
http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/news-ma ... itics-poll

01 Wayne Shorter Quartet – Without A Net (Blue Note)
02 Kenny Garrett – Pushing The World Away (Mack Avenue)
03 Stan Tracey – The Flying Pig (ReSteamed)
04 Sons Of Kemet – Burn (Naim)
05 Terri Lyne Carrington – Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue (Concord)
06 Rudresh Mahanthappa – Gamack (ACT)
07 Geri Allen – Grand River Crossings (Motema)
08 Kairos 4Tet – Everything We Hold (Naim)
09 Kenny Wheeker/Norma Winstone – Mirrors (Edition)
10= Cecile McLorin Salvant – WomanChild (Mack Avenue)
10= Ralph Alessi – Baida (ECM)
10= Jaimeo Brown – Transcedence (Motema)
13= Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow – Trios (ECM)
13= Liane Carroll - Ballads (Quiet Money)
15= Quercus - Quercus (ECM)
15= Dave Holland’s Prism - Prism (Dare2/Okeh)
17 Gregory Porter – Liquid Spirit (Blue Note)
18= Craig Taborn – Chants (ECM)
18= Wallace Roney – Understanding (High Note)

TSJ selection is still reliably great. Nevospitannyy, Pata Pata and Damaso in particular.

The Haim album is possibly my favourite of the year but I agree that it doesn't seem quite like AOTY material. Then again I don't think I've heard an album this year that immediately struck me as a legit classic like Kaleidoscope Dream or Let England Shake.

It occurred to me the other day that the ILM Top 10 albums could end up being almost entirely comprised of shiny pop-rock and pop-country.

I think it will be fascinating this year because there's so little consensus in the lists and the ones that are cropping up a lot so far aren't ILX favourites. From my own top 10 I can see Vampire Weekend, John Grant, Haim and Kacey doing well but I'm not sure what else will place.

I thought people liked that Disclosure album

I figure Haim, Kanye, Daft Punk are tpp 5 shoo ins

i'd've thought MBV would do well but coming out so early in the year probably hurts its chances.

i thought i liked the disclosure album but it didn't stick at all. "white noise" is in my hundred-strong trax of 2013 longlist though

Pretty sure the ILM list is going to be terrible this year. No consensus among the outliers that I can see, and another disappointing year from Finland.

I'm sorta shocked that no one's mentioned Paramore yet. That record was such a 2013 jam.

another disappointing year from Finland.

Stalin's words exactly iirc

I'm sorta shocked that no one's mentioned Paramore yet. That record was such a 2013 jam.

― peace on earth and mercy mild (how's life),

I listened to it for the 400th time yesterday afternoon after my local station played "Still Into You," finally a hit, at least here. I'm tempted to make it my #1 album, flaws and all.

I dunno, I've stopped using EOY as any sort of barometer of 'what's best' because I know this year won't jibe with my listening but it's always a great way for me to check out what I've missed, discover a few hidden gems and generally find out what's been happening in the curious world of music I don't listen to much.

Outlier consensus will probably be the Knife album or something.

I don't think you understand the outlier demographic. The Knife are not outliers. They're fucking massive.

pretty proud of our TSJ list – our best ever imo.

xpost yeah but they alienated a lot of people this year.

i guess it's the outlier stuff i'm most interested in. i've been on top of things quite a bit these last few years and i'm always amazed at how much i've missed come EOY time.

Singles Jukebox list looks pretty good, actually. Certainly some things I'll check out.

I'm hoping that I'm wrong about the weirdo stuff getting no traction this year, maybe I've just not been paying adequate attention, but I do have a feeling that ILM is going to be very shiny and well-produced and, uh, Haimly.

some of the weirdo stuff is shiny and well-produced!

That can be true, yeah. I'm kind of grasping around to find a way of describing 'the usual suspects', but's it is not so easy...

any good non-shiny stuff this year?

Nng, ignore errors in that post please. xp

Tim Hecker ftw

among the unHaimlich crew anyhow

Norman Records (Leeds): http://www.normanrecords.com/top-fifty-2013.php

1. Austerity Dogs - Sleaford Mods
2. Pearl Mystic - Hookworms
3. The Inheritors - Holden
4. Light Up Gold - Parquet Courts
5. Field of Reeds - These New Puritans
6. Floating Coffin - Thee Oh Sees
7. Excavation - The Haxan Cloak
8. Engravings - Forest Swords
9. Restless Idylls - Tropic of Cancer
10. Still Smiling - Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld
11. Fuzz - Fuzz
12. Tomorrow's Harvest - Boards Of Canada
13. Weird Sister - Joanna Gruesome
14. Slow Focus - Fuck Buttons
15. Factory Floor - Factory Floor
16. m b v - My Bloody Valentine
17. UHF - Hacker Farm
18. Chance Of Rain - Laurel Halo
19. The Man Who Died In His Boat - Grouper
20. Push The Sky Away - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
21. Wakin On A Pretty Daze - Kurt Vile
22. R Plus Seven - Oneohtrix Point Never
23. Shaking The Habitual - The Knife
24. Berberian Sound Studio - Broadcast
25. Anthroprophh - Anthroprophh
26. Exai - Autechre
27. II - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
28. Rock 'N' Roll Rorschach - Lantern
29. Mas Fiestas con el Grupo Vision Fortune - Vision Fortune
30. Vapor City - Machinedrum
31. Seasons of Your Day - Mazzy Star
32. With Love - Zomby
33. New History Warfare Vol. 3 : To See More Light - Colin Stetson
34. Nepenthe - Julianna Barwick
35. Music For Smalls Lighthouse - Plinth
36. Drifters / Love Is The Devil - Dirty Beaches
37. Fugitive - Sommet
38. Life Cycle Of A Massive Star - Roly Porter
39. Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. I - Rashad Becker
40. Cold Spring Fault Less Youth - Mount Kimbie
41. Slow Summits - The Pastels
42. Remember Your Black Day - Vatican Shadow
43. From Tomorrow - The Oscillation
44. Phases & Repetition - LA Machine
45. Incubation - Function
46. Collected Works Vol. 1, The Moog Years - M. Geddes Gengras
47. Shadows - Maston
48. Films & Windows - Lawrence
49. The House at Sea - Amor De Dias
50. Popular People Do Popular People - The Prophet Hens

oh there are some great records in there

Yeah, I think there are quite a few consensus outlier picks in there. Depends on how outliery people are talking about here. I mean, once something gets a consensus it stops being an outlier. Although there's no 'The Seer' or 'Bish Bosch' this year. TNP and the Knife maybe the closest to that sort of thing. Great to see that Hacker Farm album making a few lists. Will def be in my list.

Delighted to see Sleaford Mods getting some Norman love.

i think people would like the new bardo pond if they bothered to listen to it

i wanna hear both of those!

'Jobseeker' will be making an appearance in my tracks list, but I haven't heard the album all the way through (xpost re: Sleaford Mods).

Hookworms haven't really had much ilx love, which is a shame. They're not doing anything completely crazy, but certainly one of the best live bands I've seen. Also nice to see the J-Grü album in the Norman list, but that is not an ilxy record.

Is Dustin Wong making any lists? His album is really interesting and good and not tooooooo weird. What about Earthless?

Was gonna say Bardo Pond

The Earthless record rules.

I'd say more people should hear the Frankie Rose and Wax Idols albums but, based on the reaction to Savages, the number of people who really dig post-punk/gothy female musicians in 2013 is pretty low.

(reaction HERE, I should clarify)

I like what I've heard from that Hookworms album a lot. Like you say, it's nothing too different, psychedelic rock for the most part but it's done particularly well.

I prefer the Veronica Falls album to the Joanna Gruesome, even if it is a bit shinier. Have VF appeared anywhere yet?

just couldn't love that Savages album, couldn't work out what was supposed to be good about it and its influences were just a little too obviously marked out.

You can hear the Sleaford Mods album here: http://sleafordmods.bandcamp.com/album/austerity-dogs

Half the tracks were first released on 2011's Wank, but tracks 1-5 & 7 are new this year.

Bardo Pond, Autechre, Rashad Becker, Grumbling Fur, Carcass, Matmos, Joanna Gruesome, Haxan Cloak

Filed Hookworms under "decent" iirc but haven't returned to it.

Norman Records list is obv refreshing but it's still pretty homogeneous and comfortable in its indie/drone furrow. The great thing about the ILM poll is how it's truly all over the shop and you're likely to come out having discovered a new genre you never knew about before.

that's all true, but even ilm has its own brand element of homogeneity.

Really? What is it?

Sure, there are definitely things that ILM likes/dislikes more than the rest of the world does, but the top 77 albums and singles lists still cover an awful lot of ground.

I prefer the Veronica Falls album to the Joanna Gruesome, even if it is a bit shinier. Have VF appeared anywhere yet?

― famous for hits! (seandalai), Monday, November 25, 2013 2:43 PM (5 minutes ago)

Not as far as I'm aware. They don't sound anything like Joanna Gruesome, though!

Half the tracks were first released on 2011's Wank, but tracks 1-5 & 7 are new this year.

― mike t-diva, Monday, November 25, 2013 2:44 PM (4 minutes ago)

Ah, okay, so I probably have heard most of it. How come they're selling it as a new album if it's mostly old stuff, then?

I thought people would be more into Windhand too, speaking of dark/heavy female vocals.

Off that Norman list...

Underrated: Rashad Becker, M. Geddes Gengras, Vision Fortune
Overrated: Tropic of Cancer, Forest Swords, Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Not as far as I'm aware. They don't sound anything like Joanna Gruesome, though!

They do a bit imo! Ok, a cross between VF and 90s altrock or something.

I think the main motivation behind the Sleaford Mods LP from this year was to have some of their stuff put on vinyl

that parquet courts... was that this year? was Lescop this year? I would consider voting / nomming these but i'm unsure as to whether they really are 2013 albums.

Joanna Gruesome is the worst band name since the Dandy Warhols, good album or not.

Like to bring your attention to "Salvia Plath" upthread

I thought people would be more into Windhand too, speaking of dark/heavy female vocals.

― sweat pea (La Lechera)

I like the debut more. They tried to stretch out a bit on Soma and it didn't work for me at all.

Speaking of female vocals and an odd heaviness, the new SubRosa is a stunner. More people should check them out.

xpost Kurt Vile... oh wait, that's actually his name I think?

I'd say more people should hear the Frankie Rose and Wax Idols albums but, based on the reaction to Savages, the number of people who really dig post-punk/gothy female musicians in 2013 is pretty low.

I saw Frankie Rose live once at a Chickfactor zine event and at least then, she sounded more twee pop than post-punk or gothy. Not that she wowed me enough anyway to wanna check out her latest album. Savages seemed to quickly draw an audience of US supporters here but also, as implied, drew a sizeable amount of folks not interested in their postpunk 2013 sound

A bunch of us here think very highly of Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, though I have to admit I don't love it as much as I had hoped, based on their debut. It is, frankly, a prog rock concept album; and I wish it were less of one. But there's a lot of great music packed into it. And it tends toward prog metal.

But as far as outliers, at least on ILM's list, I think it could take people by surprise.

I like the YT//ST more than their debut, but it's got a bit too much filler. The high points though? Wow.

I caught some of the Bardo Pond Pharoah Sanders cover and I need to check that album out some evening.

curmudgeon, this is where the new Frankie Rose album kicks into high gear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iztk0ajEq00

This weekend I picked up Musgrave, Paramore, and Carcass albums. My listening is getting very ILMy.

i like the new frankie rose but liked interstellar quite a bit more tbh

ha I'm the exact opposite; I appreciated Interstellar but never really got into whereas the new one was almost an instant "OKAY YES MORE MORE MORE MORE THX"

DJP otm, that was my same experience

Bassekou Kouyaté isn't getting any love yet. He did the best song this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qs7L0VF7KY

I caught some of the Bardo Pond Pharoah Sanders cover and I need to check that album out some evening.

― _Rudipherous_, Monday, November 25, 2013 3:44 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah man - i'd only heard them on some ancient matador comp before but that track is all kinds

Joanna Gruesome is the worst band name since the Dandy Warhols, good album or not.

― a beef supreme (dog latin), Monday, November 25, 2013 3:12 PM (2 hours ago)

Ha, yeah, punning band names are often rubbish. I've got to the stage with these guys that I've almost forgotten it's a reference, though. The album is really good, but it's totally a proper indie record, so why bother trying to rep for something that ilx has its ears completely closed to?

I like the YT//ST more than their debut, but it's got a bit too much filler. The high points though? Wow.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, November 25, 2013 3:43 PM (2 hours ago)

This actually has a chance at being my #1, even though I'm not a massive fan of the slow songs. They work in context, though, and I like its prog conceptness (of course I do). And yeah, the high points are amaaaaazing.

that parquet courts... was that this year?

the full-length was last year. they also put out an EP this year.

and i'm not feeling the new yt // st as much as the last one, but it's still in my personal top 40 of the year.

Parquet Courts' UK release was this year. Hence UK polls featuring it.

x-post- re : Bassekou Kouyaté isn't getting any love yet.

Some of us here on the "world" music thread like him; the afropop worldwide website folks like him, and Pareles and Ratliff at the NY Times seem to like him. But on the other hand, Rokia Traore seemed to be the only African choice so far from some others; and afrobeatz and Singles Jukebox folks prefer African music with programmed beats.

Oh yeah, I know that he's liked on the world thread. I just meant that Jama Ko's been absent so far on published EOY lists. Christgau loves it too.

the full-length was last year. they also put out an EP this year.

The full-length was also reissued on What's Your Rupture in 2013. (It was originally on the lead singer's own label.)

MOJO’s Top 50 Albums Of 2013
http://www.mojo4music.com/9206/mojo-top-50-albums-2013/

1. Bill Callahan – Dream River
2. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
3. David Bowie – The Next Day
4. Arctic Monkeys – AM
5. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
6. Deerhunter - Monomania
7. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
8. Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - Perils From The Sea
9. Nick Cave & The Badd Seeds - Push The Sky Away
10. John Murry - The Graceless Age

OH WOW, fantastic to see this in there:

34. Karen Gwyer - Needs Continuum

Amazing amazing album, like some sort of post-techno version of the drifting fogscapes of Motion Sickness of Time Travel or Grouper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O-8FVm6EvA

^ so good

11. Phosphorescent - Muchacho
12. Prefab Sprout - Crimson/Red
13. My Bloody Valentine - m b v
14. Holden - The Inheritors
15. Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
16. Factory Floor - Factory Floor
17. Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love
18. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
19. Laura Mvula - Sing To The Moon
20. Pet Shop Boys - Electric
21. Mavis Staples - One True Vine
22. Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle
23. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
24. Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record
25. James Blake - Overgrown
26. Villagers - AwayLand
27. Disclosure - Settle
28. Manic Street Preachers - Rewind The Film
29. Jon Hopkins - Immunity
30. Primal Scream - More Light
31. Elvis Costello And The Roots - Wise Up Ghost And Other Songs
32. Glenn Jones - My Garden State
33. Billy Bragg - Tooth & Nail
34. Karen Gwyer - Needs Continuum
35. Midlake - Antiphon
36. Low - The Invisible Way
37. Cate Le Bon - Mug Museum
38. Kanye West - Yeezus
39. Roy Harper - Man & Myth
40. Black Sabbath - 13
41. Goldfrapp - Tales Of Us
42. Paul McCartney - New
43. Haim - Days Are Gone
44. Johnny Marr - The Messenger
45. These New Puritans - Fields Of Reeds
46. Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic
47. Julia Holter - Loud City Song
48. The Flaming Lips - The Terror
49. Tim Hecker - Virgins
50. Time Is A Mountain - Time Is A Mountain

That's surprisingly OK, bar all the old duffers.

Both Phosphorescent and Foxygen in the Mojo 50, eh? It's fair to say I can ignore that list, then!

xpost Yeah, very surprising.

first rate ignoring by Turrican there

wonder what other lists roy harper will end up on this year

kenny wheeker

That's surprisingly OK, bar all the old duffers.

― I can still taste the Taboo in my mouth when I hear those songs (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, November 26, 2013 2:01 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Mojo list is ok for rock, as long as you're not into r'n'b, rap, reggae, k-pop, Afropop, edm, country, etc. etc.

Not surprised by most of those omissions: there is dance music in there, they're never good on hip hop and R&B, and I'm not even sure what the big K-pop and Afropop albums are, but I am disappointed that Kacey Musgraves hasn't had any impact on the world of Mojo/Uncut/Q.

Laura Mvula is basically riding that one (admittedly awesome) song to acclaim, right? I remember the rest of the album as being monochromatic and dull.

i like that album a lot actually but never feel a need to return to it

The Harvard Crimson Top 10 Albums of 2013
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/11/26/best-2013-albums-yeezus-arctic-timberlake-daft/?page=single

^ one write-up contains the phrase "smooth, seductive underbelly"

3. "Pure Heroine," Lorde

As an American, I understand the harsh reality of never being able to be royal, but that’s not the only reason why I love Lorde. She is not just a one-hit wonder; Lorde’s debut "Pure Heroine" is the album that just keeps on givin’. Her voice is angelic and chilling all at the same time: the hypnotic beat against the backdrop of her soulful hymns feel like a rallying cry in "Glory and Gore" as she challenges, "You could try and take us / But we’re the gladiators." From her disdain for the vacuousness of modern pop in "Team" ("I’m kind of over gettin’ told to throw my hands up in the air / So there") to her soft and smoky runs in ¨Tennis Court," Lorde is only that much more impressive considering that she’s only 17. She is wise beyond her years, with an album that is so self-aware and sultry that it knocks on the doors of pop powerhouses like Ellie Goulding while teaching a good lesson to pop stars who grind for dollars like Miley Cyrus.

As an American, I understand the harsh reality of never being able to be royal
As an American, I understand the harsh reality of never being able to be royal,
As an American, I understand the harsh reality of never being able to be royal,
As an American, I understand the harsh reality of never being able to be royal,
As an American, I understand the harsh reality of never being able to be royal,

One might even call Chvrches’ instrumentation minimalist

what the fuck has happened to my school

they're grinding for dollars like Miley Cyrus

she works at the coffee shop too?

self-aware and sultry

One of my old singing buddies used to be a photographer for the Crimson, I should forward this to him and get his opinion

Kinda shocked to see Bill Callahan at #1 on the Mojo list, tbh, surprised he's gained that much traction with the older rock dudes. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic album and I'm happy to see that placement, just unexpected.

The prose is at least more readable than what my paper publishes.

It's too bad that the readability didn't translate into sensible points. Like, this is a very boring, few-chances-taken list, so it should be pretty easy to make a case for each of these albums, yet instead they range from completely incoherent (was the person writing about CHVRCHES high?) to paraphrasing Wikipedia (thank you for Janelle Monae's release chronology, I'm glad you've done your research) to come the fuck on (the byline for the Lorde blurb might as well be "ILX Strawman")

this is classic college radio picks: no R&B, all indie, swipe at obvious target (Cyrus).

famous indie album Yeezus

(not to mention Random Access Memories and The 20/20 Experience)

also good to know that The Electric Lady isn't R&B, I was confused

(I think there are enough stupid things about the writing in that list to make fun of; we don't need to invent shit)

the byline for the Lorde blurb might as well be "ILX Strawman"

Ha ha. My reaction too.

From my experience here there's a frightening number of college students for whom Monae is awesome because she's not R&B. For them JT is the acceptable face of pop; Daft Punk gets in on a pass for earlier work.

If I were to ask the kids at the radio station next door to come up with their favorite albums I'm pretty sure Arctic Monkeys, JT, Daft Punk, and Monae would figure (although lol I don't know about Lorde).

here's what Harvard rock radio looks like:

http://recordhospital.org/new/?cat=4

Top 20 Songs Played 09/17/12 – 09/24/12

Artist – “Song”

Foreign Objects – “Mammonism”
Holograms – “ABC City”
Carnivores – “Sense of Dread”
Obnox III – “Home”
June Paik – “Grenzwert”
Grass Widow – “Disappearing Industries”
Troubled Sleep – “Bald Spot”
Nude Beach – “Love Can’t Wait”
Moe Meguro – “School”
Trophy Wife – “Four Five”
Hop Along – “Tibetan Pop Stars”
Stripmines – “Reversal of Fortune”
Walls – “In Disguise”
Severance Package – “Miseducated”
Street Eaters – “Frigid Digits”
Opposite Sex – “Mary Lu”
Exusamwa – “Vulcan Formed Them”
Alaskas – “Walk on the Walls”
Potty Mouth – “Kids”
Dry Hump – “I am the Doorway”

ok lol

Are we letting ignorant college students define what is and isn't R&B now? Because Monae's album sure sounds like R&B to me.

Arctic Monkeys album of the year in Q mag. can't find the full list online.

Most of the huge Monae fans I know are.......black women who love r&b.

In fact, I'd say it's the people I know who like R&B but are outside of the genre's core demographic who tend to be most disdainful of her and reject her as "not real" (although I realize that's a separate group than the straw indie kids you guys are talking about).

Q Top 20:

1. Arctic Monkeys - AM
2. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
3. David Bowie - The Next Day
4. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
5. Jon Hopkins - Immunity
6. Manic Street Preachers - Rewind the Film
7. Cass McCombs - Big Wheel and Others
8. Bill Ryder-Jones - A Bad Wind Blows
9. John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
10. Haim - Days Are Gone
11. Jagwar Ma - Howlin'
12. My Bloody Valentine - mbv
13. Steve Mason - Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time
14. Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork
15. Foals - Holy Fire
16. Laura Mvula - Sing to the Moon
17. Matthew E White - Big Inner
18. Laura Marling - Once I Was an Eagle
19. Factory Floor - Factory Floor
20. Biffy Clyro - Opposites

here's what Harvard rock radio looks like:

Top 20 Songs Played 09/17/12 – 09/24/12

Dry Hump – “I am the Doorway”

― deX! (DJP), Tuesday, November 26, 2013

____________________________

ok lol

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, November 26, 2013

don't scoff. dry hump's i am the doorway has replaced ten thousand men of harvard as the most-frequently performed harvard university fight song.

Lol @ the horror, the horror, people like a good artist... but for the WRONG reason. Mein gott.

for an album i don't hate, it's jon hopkins repeatedly inducing the most rage. really really demonstrates how little handle most rock critics have on dance music

A Bad Wind Blows <- who calls an album this?

I'm holding my breath for the follow-up anyway

holding out for the Wire/misc egghead lists, and the dance lists.

It's the follow-up to He Poos Clouds.

xp

Btw, the hip hop/R&B entries in the Q 50 (which I can't be arsed to type out in full) are Kanye, Janelle and Run the Jewels. The other dance/electronic albums are Disclosure, Boards of Canada, Pet Shop Boys, James Blake and Daniel Avery.

Who is Daniel Avery?

Finally, it's here!!!
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/26/zane-lowe-lists-100-favourite-records-2013-radio-1

lol emil.y

Avery makes solidly enjoyable, diverse, somewhat retro techno - shades of Underworld, Chemical Brothers and Orbital. It totally makes sense that it's a a crossover record.

Yeah, there's a definite Underworld feel to some of the tracks on the Daniel Avery, it's like very smudgy greyscale house music.

Who is Daniel Avery?

― old homophobic boom bap rap traditionalist (The Reverend), Tuesday, November 26, 2013 11:35 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

crappy nu indie dance

solidly enjoyable, diverse, somewhat retro crappy nu indie techno, u mean

i kinda dug some of the 12s i heard before the album, which was an emperor's new clothes moment for me

xp haha yes

did you get a vote in the q mag poll DL?

Surprised mags are rating that Manics album - I'm a pretty huge stan and even I think there are only 3-4 keepers on that one, tops.

Q list most boring so far.

i have no idea about 85% of that zane lowe list, but at least now i can say i have heard *of* Catfish & the Bottlemen.

I thought the KKK was racist, but they have nothing on these list makers!!!!!!!

Lists that put titles first don't even deserve to be read.

damn straight

especially when it's in alphabetical order by artist. What a strange decision

i understand the acclaim the jon hopkins record is getting - its got a really immersive & alien sound to it that anyone who wasn't paying attention to electronic music back in the late 90s would probably find new and exciting. i listen to a ton of similar music to it and i still think it's great, and pretty masterful in terms of sound design.

i will fully admit to being a dance music dilettante (i would consider myself a dilettante of most genres, really -- mp3 generation etc) yet really liking the hopkins record. i have trouble seeing why "this record isn't very different from other records that came out 5-10 yrs ago and were better" is actually that valid of a criticism when none of us seems to have a problem w/ loving, say, the ariana grande album.

i mean yes i do get frustrated sometimes when the music press finally picks up on something and starts talking about it like it was only now beginning to be worth paying attention to, but if i like the music i like the music *shrug*

I think the people voting for Hopkins are voting for it as swoony bedroom music rather than dance music, but there have been better examples of that this year.

the ambient side of it is better than the 'dancier' part

would agree with that but as an album it is partly about the journey from the one to the other and i can't think of much else this year that takes quite the same route as hopkins does

that said, there are probably a hundred albums i like better than it this year

there have been better examples of that most things this every year

fixed.

listening to it again, there's something quite radioheady about it, that same sort of sombre mood. maybe that's what rock music audiences are responding to?

yeah its very smoothed out and polished in a nigel godrich-y way that most dance records are not these days

Except for relentless PR push, who knows why some things draw a crowd at list time and other (better?) things don't. It's the same every year, though. I've given up trying to understand it.

huh thank you thread for getting me to look into Jon Hopkins, it is very The Erasery on the first track

its also inherently more accessible in content than, say, the holden record. its got grooves, its got pretty washes of sound, rather than claustrophobic noisiness. i think the latter is a bit more exciting but ymmv

okay gonna check out Holden next

though tracks 2 & 4 on the hopkins are pretty claustrophobic themselves i guess

well my first impression of both Hopkins and Holden is FUCK YES

Re other artists doing Jon Hopkins' thing but better - can we get some names or should that just be obvious to everyone?

Anyone on Dial? I'm by no means a techno aficionado but that label seems to have the sound Hopkins is aiming for, I think.

xp how about brian eno

speaking of sounding alien, I hope the laurel halo album gets some love from ILM. that album is incredible

I also thought for sure that the Sungod album would find a wider audience. Has that been on any lists? May I recommend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuMHswWOn88

yeah I liked the Sungod album, haven't listened to it in a while though

it's been a good year for space rock imo (or maybe I was just paying more attention), I think the (very good) Föllakzoid album has been the representative on a lot of these lists

I really need to check that Laurel Halo record out

Lightning Dust made a great album, but what does it get from the critics? Bupkis.

And I'm as rockist as they come, but no music gave me more pleasure this year than After Dark 2. How come the critics don't like that? Do they have ears? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

that James Holden record should really by the "consensus" electronic pick, if there really must be one.

damn yo. no consensus albs. what in god's name are we gonna do?

xp how about brian eno

― mums go off when i enter the building (monotony), Tuesday, November 26, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought the implication was albums released in 2013.

Lightning Dust made a great album

YES! Thanks for turning me on to that in the Mac worship thread.

no consensus albs. what in god's name are we gonna do?

It's so refreshing!

The Lightning dust album has a few serious jams, but it strikes me as being roughly half as good as Infinite Light overall.

Re other artists doing Jon Hopkins' thing but better - can we get some names or should that just be obvious to everyone?

holden is the obvious example - hopkins does what holden did in the mid-00s to an embarrassingly derivative extent. holden himself released the terrific the inheritors this year which was a lot more than a retread of his prime years - incredible headphones album. as far as dance/electronic albums more generally go, i'll rep hard for maya jane coles, floorplan, maxmillion dunbar, blondes, mr beatnick, omar-s, dj sprinkles, vatican shadow/prurient and ikonika above hopkins

listening to it again, there's something quite radioheady about it, that same sort of sombre mood. maybe that's what rock music audiences are responding to?

― space bl00ps (NickB), Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah its very smoothed out and polished in a nigel godrich-y way that most dance records are not these days

― ciderpress, Tuesday, November 26, 2013 9:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

these are in no way positives!!!

ha, i was just describing there and not advocating btw

my most listened to dance album this year has been by far and away the secret circuit one. would totally recommend it if you like the blondes album or the holden one.

hadn't heard of it! will check it out

this awesome song is on it, you might not dig the guy's voice on this one track though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M_R25FMx8c

Follakzoid and Sungod are two of my big ones year

The Holden record will be right up there for me. Checking out Sungod, sounds up my street...

The Holden record is a real piece of work. Too much to take in first time around. I'm not surprised that Hopkins crossed over and this didn't. It's so strange and dense whereas Immunity is just real purdy.

i would've thought strange-sounding records to which one's first reaction is "whoa" would get more critical traction! and it's not like the holden record doesn't have a LOT of prettiness on it - "renata", the gorgeous last two tracks

but even so if you just want purdy dance why not go for something with a bit more connection to where dance music's at this year (maya jane coles and maxmillion dunbar in particular) than something which brings nothing to the table than stuff from 2005

I think you're being harsh on the Hopkins there. Some of the sound palette is certainly Border Community circa 2005, but not all of it. Friends of mine who like it but don't know BC stuff have been comparing it to Four Tet and Eno too. I think the way he uses pianos and space on the second half of the record is something quite substantially different to Holden et al. I like the Holden record more than the Hopkins one - it feels more alive, more epic, more dangerous, more weird - but the Hopkins record is still very good.

xp Boards of Canada perhaps taking up the limited critical attention for that kind of record? In any case the Holden LP is way better.

Because some albums gather momentum and some don't. I've been hearing people talk about Immunity since it came out and then it was Mercury nominated. Whereas the Maya Jane album, which I love, seemed to disappear. Plus Immunity is pretty and emotive so it's easy to like after you've heard it once. People who aren't expert in a certain genre are drawn to albums with buzz, just like they'll vote for Yeezus as their favourite hip hop album. It's annoying for people who are deep into those genres but there's no mystery to it.

Exactly.

probably played the mjc album more than any other this year, it seems to be the one I default to in a number of circumstances

how has machinedrum done on these lists?

People who aren't expert in a certain genre are drawn to albums with buzz, just like they'll vote for Yeezus as their favourite hip hop album.

haha this sentence concisely sums up basically every complaint i've ever had about EOY lists (apart from the usual gender/race issues). i feel like this is ok for casual listeners but i should expect more of professional critics

dance music is never going to be represented in any real way in end of year album polls.

Lex, there are vast tracts of music about which you know very little. Why should every critic be expected to go deep into every genre?

Suspect the main reason the Hopkins album got so much traction is that it was released by Domino and therefore was listened to a load of people who otherwise wouldn't bothered. It also got a sizeable market push, "new Eno" type interviews in the Guardian etc, plus I saw it advertised in Tube stations even before the Mercury nomination.

he was mentored by eno or something wasn't he?

OTM. Domino did a good job on it, plus Hopkins already had rock-mag recognition because of Coldplay, Eno and King Creosote. Holden hasn't out out an album in seven years and he doesn't have the cult status of Boards of Canada. It might not be fair - as if EOTY polls are about fairness - but it's no mystery.

nobody here even expected the holden record to be good.

That's OTM but I'm not sure how it's relevant. FWIW the Holden record placed in the top 20 in the fucking Mojo list so it's hardly being overlooked.

it does suggest less chance of publicity. anyway if it's holden v hopkins in the authenticity race... lol.

james holden, keeper of the electronic music flame v jon hopkins, white british pretender.

Well, if nothing else this squabbling has made me listen to 'Renata'. It's pretty. Not earth-shattering, but pretty. I was kind of hoping it'd be some sort of tribute to 'Rheinita' by La Düsseldorf, though. Not sure why I thought that was likely.

I think of the Holden album as being even less grounded in dance music than the Hopkins one. I don't get the sense that either are particularly concerned with dancing at all.

don't think holden or any of border community ever has been really... despite some accidental hits.

well, bit more than accidental hits but they're p comfortably indie imo.

Beginning last night and going through this morning, I've listened to the James Holden, Jon Hopkins, Daniel Avery and Laurel Halo albums that have been mentioned a bit over the last chunk of this thread. Into Holden and Avery, not into Hopkins and Laurel Halo at all.

x-post
Album-wise maybe not but I saw/danced to Holden twice last summer and the Inheritors material (supplemented with, eh, beats. and tweaked considerably, I'll give you that) went down really well on both occasions

The Holden doesn't seem to be on Spotify (in the U.S.), does it?

Oh wait, never mind: it's under "Holden," not "James Holden."

was 'DJing' at a house party in dalston on saturday, someone commandeered the set up begging me to play a tune (it was the birthday girl so I couldn't say no). she played the 2nd track of the Hopkins record and people went nuts for it.

yp, can a mod ban me? i have literally nothing to offer any thread ever

it's really popular alright. anecdotally i feel like people i know who are generally more into indie are into it.

i bought one of his old records for my parents a few years ago, the v global communication chilled thing he did. i was trying to get them into music so i got them that and the gotan project album. not altogether negative response.

xpost

the 2nd track of the Hopkins record

its a good track though!

Yeah Open Eye Signal's great. Good choice birthday girl.

Didn't really follow 'Don't Fight the Feeling' by Master Force but you've got to be a man of the people at these things really haven't you.

People who aren't expert in a certain genre are drawn to albums with buzz, just like they'll vote for Yeezus as their favourite hip hop album.

haha this sentence concisely sums up basically every complaint i've ever had about EOY lists (apart from the usual gender/race issues). i feel like this is ok for casual listeners but i should expect more of professional critics

― lex pretend, Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Haven't you in the past noted on ilx threads how you have not heard certain 60s rock records, and certain late 70s/early 80s punk and postpunk records, yet you still offer your take on rock.

I think you're being harsh on the Hopkins there. Some of the sound palette is certainly Border Community circa 2005, but not all of it. Friends of mine who like it but don't know BC stuff have been comparing it to Four Tet and Eno too. I think the way he uses pianos and space on the second half of the record is something quite substantially different to Holden et al. I like the Holden record more than the Hopkins one - it feels more alive, more epic, more dangerous, more weird - but the Hopkins record is still very good.

enjoying this secret circuit album nickb! moroderesque bassline on "parascopic rope", nice

glad you like it!

the black deer album is another good one along similar lines, maybe a bit closer to holden though

Listening to James Holden now and baffled about what's so strange and challenging about it. Maybe this will become obvious when I've heard more of it.

Still no love for After Dark 2? People that is a doozy. Even though there is no roots rock influence, I find myself playing it constantly.

"Caterpillar's Intervention" is the best new RIO track I've heard in ages.

Still sounds like Atlas by Battles to me when it starts up

I had no idea there was a Secret Circuit album, their tracks have been popping up on Balearic/disco mixes for years and I've always enjoyed them.

What is RIO? I love Caterpillar's Intervention and keep meaning to search out more stuff like it.

the black deer album is another good one along similar lines, maybe a bit closer to holden though

i have a few of the 12s, must check it out.

RIO = Rock in Opposition. Half joking, but only half. Could definitely imagine this being made by a Fred Frith associate.

I had no idea there was a Secret Circuit album, their tracks have been popping up on Balearic/disco mixes for years and I've always enjoyed them

i did search on ilm for mention of them and yes, it was bringing up all sorts of blueski results from 2003 or 04 or something

I feel so out of touch bc as a dance music person, I have no idea what the fuck most of these records you guys are talking about are.

it's mostly death metal.

Listening to Holden for the first time right now. It's good.

I have no idea what the fuck most of these records you guys are talking about are.

Some of this stuff is sounding like dance music you don't actually dance too anyway.

I had no idea there was a Secret Circuit album, their tracks have been popping up on Balearic/disco mixes for years and I've always enjoyed them.

two albums in the last two years, i think? haven't heard the one from this year but i liked last year's (tropical psychedelics? or smthg)

that black deer album is one of my favorites too, not sure i'd compare it to holden tho

the first track on that black deer album is a real stunner, 16 minutes veering all over the synth spectrum from crunchy drone to kraut to cosmic to acid

black deer is willie burns, right? I think I need to hear that.

sure is. here you go:
http://open.spotify.com/album/0WcTTrJW4N5rrka5CnQKbO

Laut - Die Metal-Alben des Jahres
http://www.laut.de/News/Best-Of-2013-Die-Metal-Alben-des-Jahres-22-11-2013-9985

Im Jahr eins nach der Apokalypse bekommt Edele Gesellschaft: Erstmals richten mehrere Redakteure die Hartwurst-Schlachtplatte an. Evil!

01 Motörhead – Aftershock
02 Black Sabbath - 13
03 Carcass – Surgical Steel
04 DevilDriver – Winter Kills
05 Ghost B.C. – Infestissumam
06 Immolation – Kingdom Of Conspiracy
07 Purify – Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
08 Watain – The Wild Hunt
09 Suicidal Tendencies – 13
10 Korn – The Paradigm Shift
11 Amon Amarth – Deceiver Of The Gods
12 Haken – The Mountain
13 Fates Warning – Darkness In A Different Light
14 Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Descent
15 TesseracT – Altered State
16 Dark Tranquillity – Construct
17 Hacride – Back To Where You've Never Been
18 Ancient VVisdom – Deathlike
19 Heaven Shall Burn – Veto
20 Leprous – Coal
21 Hybris – Heavy Machinery
22 Sparzanza – Death Is Certain, Life Is Not
23 Nero Di Marte - Nero Di Marte
24 Buckcherry - Confessions
25 Shining - One One One

I called you after midnight
Then ran until my Hartwurst

I had no idea there was a Secret Circuit album, their tracks have been popping up on Balearic/disco mixes for years and I've always enjoyed them.

two albums in the last two years, i think? haven't heard the one from this year but i liked last year's (tropical psychedelics? or smthg)

that black deer album is one of my favorites too, not sure i'd compare it to holden tho

― akadarbarijava (psychgawsple), Wednesday, November 27, 2013 12:53 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

really surprised you haven't heard the secret circuit album yet! there was mention of it on the balearic revival thread, it's fantastic, kinda odd to see discussion of it here, though. two other great nu-balearic-ish albums (though in very different styles) that might have some "crossover potential" are pharoahs' replicant moods and almunia's pulsar.

i've been lazy lately and haven't been able to find it through the usual channels, i should probably just suck it up and buy the thing

pharoahs' replicant moods

This is really good FYI

So I'm guessing The Wire will go in heavily on The Knife and Laurel Halo and Oneohtrix. The first two are incredible and gorgeous and wonderful and will be in my own picks. The Oneohtrix is kinda clever but sterile, in the same way that Ferraro LP was last year. Was that last year?

I'm finding myself not wanting to listen to the Oneohtrix Point Never album, even though I like parts of it quite a bit. I like the previous two best of what I've heard.

It's - okay. I'm having much more fun with the last Laurel Halo cd. It's really really good.

Ferraro was the year before last - Laurel Halo was their #1 in 2012.

Apparently this is Uncut's top ten?

10. Tomorrow's Harvest - Boards of Canada
9. AM - Arctic Monkeys
8. Wakin On A Pretty Daze - Kurt Vile
7. Dream River - Bill Callahan
6. Man & Myth - Roy Harper
5. Once I Was An Eagle - Laura Marling
4. Pale Green Ghosts - John Grant
3. Push The Sky Away - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2. The Next Day - David Bowie
1. MBV - My Bloody Valentine

some kind of mythtake

yeah it's an awkward situation that

bad puns aside, I suppose kudos for taking the "innocent until proven guilty" line- or at least not gaming the results to re-write history.

agree with that but also perhaps the news came out too close to the deadline?

I like the new Halo, but I was introduced to her stuff via Quarantine (which I know a lot of people hate but I really really like) and I miss the vocal presence. Always had trouble giving much of a hoot about Oneohtrix for some reason (outside of Ford & Lopatin/Games), I never found this style of electronic music very exciting and yeah, this new album sounds a lot like a retread of Far Side Virtual). I should go back to the Holden album - was disappointed by The Idiots Are Winning all those years back but I heard it's much better. The Hopkins record is just okay but nothing new and the nice piano bits are practically a reprise from his collab with King Creosote.

Not making much headway with the Laurel Halo here, thought it would grow on me like Quarantine did, but nope. Also kind of disappointed that it wasn't more like the two 12"s that came before it, those had some of the most beautiful music of the last year or so on them imo.

I found it instantly appealing, tho it isn't really anything too original, just... techno.

The Black Deer record is good. Worth seeking out the 12s if you like that one. He's been so prolific this year with all the Willie Burns stuff too.

I gave it a go this morning but had to turn it off because at that time of day my brain just wasn't ready for techno that austere. Only made it three tracks it but I can see it working for me at night. Am I right in assuming there are no vocals this time round? If so, yes!

but her vocals are often really lovely :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPz-LPbIbQE

"Throw" from behind the green door was good seems to have been disappeared from the internet

that was the fabulous wonky piano house one right?

yep. Best thing she's done this year for def

still trying to make nyman house happen

Is ilx the only music forum whose posteurs regularly boast about not having heard most of the music on year-end critics' lists?

No.

In fact I would imagine that's pretty much every music forum going.

Love the vocals on Quarantine etc.

avoided the latest halo because quarantine was so laughably bad but lack of vox might be a good sign?

I like the new Halo, but I was introduced to her stuff via Quarantine (which I know a lot of people hate but I really really like) and I miss the vocal presence.

I loved Quarantine but found the new one kind of a letdown on first listen, I think the lack of vocals is a large part of it.

The James Holden album is perhaps a bit too long but there's some really great stuff on there.

As far as that sort of late-night electronica stuff goes, anyone a fan of Natasha Kmeto's Crisis? Not seen it mentioned on ilx, parts of it are really good.

I gave it a go this morning but had to turn it off because at that time of day my brain just wasn't ready for techno that austere. Only made it three tracks it but I can see it working for me at night. Am I right in assuming there are no vocals this time round? If so, yes!

lol I enjoyed this at 0745 this morning on my commute. I like the final piano track too, like a nice little "that's all folks".

xpost it's basically just techno, I can't imagine there's anything to hate, at least.

xpost It's really strange 'deep' techno-y stuff. I say 'deep' in the way that it reminds me (like a lot of her stuff) of that moment when you're just about to conk out on the train but the movement of the carriage keeps you from quite falling asleep. There's something very tangible about it. No vocals so Quarantinophobes should check.

Crisis is good and I'm sure it's been mentioned here

crisis was alright but it never really clicked with me

Crisis is in my top 5 this year. I keep meaning to make a Kmeto thread.

Kmeto album is dece, it is more appealing to me than Devotion

I really like the new NYPC album, as well but I think I'm just a superfan at this point

Supajam - Best Albums of 2013
http://www.supajam.com/news/story/The-Best-Albums-of-2013-5---1
http://www.supajam.com/news/story/The-Best-Albums-of-2013-10--6

1. The Revolution Is Never Coming by The Red Paintings
2. The Lost Art of Living The Doppler Shift
3. Trouble Will Find Me by The National
4. AM by Arctic Monkeys
5. In Love by Peace
6. …Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age
7. The Little We Know by Yossarian
8. The 1975 - The 1975
9. Holy Fire by Foals
10. Smile That Won’t Go Down by Filthy Boy

7. The Little We Know by Yossarian
The band raised over £15K to make their first album, and when they delivered it even we were taken by surprise. From the anthemic opener of Arrow Part 1 to the introduction of a second vocal style, it was superbly programmed and grew from repeated listening.

Sounds of the Universe top 10 albums of 2013:

Dean Blunt - The Redeemer
Hailu Mergia - Hailu Mergia and his Classical Instrument
Psychemagik - Magik Sunrise
Eglo Records - Volume 1
Bea Benjamin with Dollar Brand - African Songbird
Theo Parrish - Black Jazz Signature
Four Tet - Beautiful Rewind
Horror Inc - Briefly Eternal
Rodriguez - Searching for Sugarman
William Onyeabor - World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor?

http://www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/releases/?id=34928

I hope memory of the Bowie album falls into a deep abyss

Lots of good stuff on that Sounds of the Universe list.

Was Searching for Sugarman OST really this year? Do like his songs.

The Eglo comp's got some really nice stuff. I don't understand Dean Blunt's music at all.

shuanise's "mercy" off the eglo comp might be the most underrated song of 2013, it's just so immense

Really intrigued by Parrish's Black Jazz comp.

xpost I would imagine Uncut went to press before the Harper story broke – their poll was in a separate booklet, which would almost certainly have to be have been printed before the actual mag. And when I worked on glossies, it was 10 days from going to press to mag coming out, even leaving aside specials with earlier print deadlines.

Really like the Onyeabor and Hailu Mergia albums.

Really like the Onyeabor and Hailu Mergia albums.

Just heard the Hailu Mergia record for the first time tonight, really loved it.

I've been intrigued by that Mergia since it came out ... is it a new release of his material or a reissue of an old record? Haven't bothered reading up

avoided the latest halo because quarantine was so laughably bad but lack of vox might be a good sign?

get back on the bus lex

The Mergia is a reissue, from 1985. Details here: http://www.awesometapes.com/2013/05/hailu-mergia-and-his-classcal-instrument.html.

It's not much like the Walias Band, or much like anything else either.