Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

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).