Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

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.