Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

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