Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

Lorde for Complex, Blurred Lines for Rolling Stone, James Blake for NME

...Shitfucker for the Quietus

I know that was #100 but go with me on this

There was no way the Quietus could fail to mention Shitfucker, the band who defined 2013.

There was no way the Quietus could fail to mention Shitfucker, the band who defiled 2013.

xp I tried to buy/listen again to the Quadron album this week, but it's been deleted pending a 2014 re-release. Nothing on ITunes, Amazon, Spotify...

More Guardian albums:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/05/best-albums-2013-30-to-21

xp I tried to buy/listen again to the Quadron album this week, but it's been deleted pending a 2014 re-release. Nothing on ITunes, Amazon, Spotify...

!!!!

how completely bizarre

“A beautiful reminder that we’re all doomed.”

It’s writing like this that got Fulham whacked 2-1 by Spurs last night.

Well at least they reviewed that entry.

Well Jai Paul was a leak and Sky Ferreira's not out in the UK yet so there are only two omissions but yes it looks bad.

I'm sure all the Guardian readers angry about Bangerz at #34 have heard it and have informed critiques.

I'm sure they're all intelligent and interesting people.

personally i think ignoring autre ne veut was a sound decision

i don't think it looks bad, it shows critics are still listening to music beyond what they have an advance copy or foreknowledge of.

Some people's inability to understand the difference between one reviewer's opinion and a poll of dozens of writers is an annual disappointment. It's not advanced maths.

I'm sure all the Guardian readers angry about Bangerz at #34 have heard it and have informed critiques.

i always wonder whether if they knew its placing genuinely wasn't some SEO-hungry diktat from on high but genuinely just the result of critics' votes, would that make them more or less angry

tbh though i think guardian commenters' EOY list outrage is never going to top the year beyoncé was at no. 4, that kind of high is impossible to replicate

Some people's inability to understand the difference between one reviewer's opinion and a poll of dozens of writers is an annual disappointment

it's always so patiently explained every year and that doesn't seem to permeate ANYONE's brain, quite remarkable

oh yeah, it's nice to see julia holter in there. she didn't make my top 10 but after several albums that i found admirable but impenetrable, it was reassuring to genuinely get into this one. yes i need pop hooks what of it

The problem is that some people are so utterly convinced there is no value in mainstream pop that the cynical clickbait theory makes more sense to them than the mundane truth that a bunch of people voted for Bangerz. Tbh if I was tasked with whipping up some SEO good times I'd try harder than putting Miley Cyrus at #34.

WHERE OH WHERE IS JAKE BUGG

kid at work just said "god this video's boring" re: Mr Bugg

Do people really rate "black skinhead" higher than "on site"?

― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, December 5, 2013 6:34 AM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i know, nobody really seems to love "Black Skinhead" but it being a nominal 'single' i guess has made it the default year-end list pick, even over "New Slaves," which surprised me.

the snubbing of 20/20 Experience and Magna Carta Holy Grail almost across the board is pretty fun to see

SPIN's 40 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2013
http://www.spin.com/articles/best-rap-albums-2013/

Black Skinhead came on my playlist in the office yesterday, and a colleague said "how is Kanye West so big? He's rubbish". I have to agree, by and large. His continued success baffles me, both critically and commercially.

There are one or two more to come in the Guardian list that didn't get reviewed - one's a mixtape.

I'd rather we were honest and owned up to what we didn't review – because no one covers everything.

LA Weekly - The 10 Best Metal Albums of 2013
http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2013/12/best_metal_albums_2013.php

'black skinhead's been in a ton of ads plus that great scorsese trailer so it's got the highest profile (well, before the mystery of kim nipples at least). plus it has the added benefit of letting ppl think 'wow kanye's really breaking ground in new sounds for hip-hop/music/humanity' while actually giving them just another schaffel track to jam to. 20/20 snubbing is interesting since i think it's still the top selling album of the year right? then again there's fucking 'mirrors' somehow at #7 on rolling stone's list. pretty cool ciara made it though.

while actually giving them just another schaffel track to jam to.

i been sayin this while the blog narrative was "He """""sampled""""" Marilyn Manson"

the funniest thing about the Motorola ad with "Black Skinhead" in it is that 50% of the time i see it on TV they have "Little Green Bag" sync'd to the exact same visuals. so weird to think of those 2 songs being interchangeable in any context.

We should discuss the art of the grudging #50 slot: Lorde for Complex, Blurred Lines for Rolling Stone, James Blake for NME. It always feels driven by a need to recognise something significant that nobody at the mag is crazy about.

― Deafening silence (DL), Thursday, December 5, 2013 6:24 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.spin.com/articles/best-albums-2013/?slide=1

One year at Stylus we failed to review our eventual AOTY at all, never mind things that placed further down.

One year at Stylus I put a flute in my Stosuy

We did that too.

Juno Plus - Best of 2013: Top 25 Albums
http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2013/12/05/best-of-2013-top-25-albums/

25. Egyptrixx – A/B til Infinity (Night Slugs)
24. Function – Incubation (Ostgut Ton)
23. Special Request – Soul Music (Houndstooth)
22. Prince Of Denmark – The Body (Giegling)
21. Luke Wyatt – Teen Hawk (Emotional Response)
20. Felix K – Flowers Of Destruction (Hidden Hawaii)
19. Streetwalker – Future Fusion (Cititrax)
18. Karen Gwyer – Needs Continuum (No Pain In Pop)
17. Donato Dozzy – Plays Bee Mask (Spectrum Spools)
16. KWC 92 – Dreams Of The Walled City (L.I.E.S.)
15. Tropic of Cancer – Restless Idylls (Blackest Ever Black)
14. Charles Manier – Charles Manier (Nation)
13. Rashad Becker - Traditional Music Of Notional Species Vol. I (PAN)
12. Miles - Faint Hearted (Modern Love)
11. The Haxan Cloak – Excavation (Tri Angle Records)
10. DVA Damas – Nightshade (Downwards America)
9. Holden – The Inheritors (Border Community)
8. Metasplice - Infratracts (Morphine Records)
7. Logos – Cold Mission (Keysound Recordings)
6. Maxmillion Dunbar – House of Woo (RVNG Intl)
5. Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven (Warp)
4. Huerco S. – Colonial Patterns (Software)
3. RP Boo – Legacy (Planet Mu)
2. Laurel Halo – Chance Of Rain (Hyperdub)
1. Stellar OM Source – Joy One Mile (RVNG Intl)

bought that stellar om source just now, i've meant to check it out a few times and it was 4 quid on bandcamp so WHY NOT

Need to spend more time with that, does have some amazing moments though.

Out of the rest of them I love the Karen Gwyer, Rashad Becker and Holden records, think the Dozzy, Function, Miles and Haxan Cloak ones are decent enough, still haven't quite clicked with the Laurel Halo, bit disappointed with the OPN, couldn't fucking stand the Tropic Of Cancer.

Really happy to see Stellar Om Source at #1, such a great album.

what is the Miles like?

i am spotify-binging on this list, seems close to my tastes. i did a play in august and it distracted me from buying or paying any attention to new music for the last 3 months, after buying a lot of new records in the first half of the year.

that rashad becker album is off the hook. it could be its own genre.

what is the Miles like?

bit more straightforward than any of the demdike stuff iirc, kind of dark clanky techno in the same sort of vein as sandwell district

feel like i should check out the haxan cloak at some point

i liked the stellar om source album when i listened but i couldn't hear what really made it special

nice to see a list headed by two female artists btw, even if one of them is laurel halo

haxan cloak is good. bit more straightforward than any of the demdike stuff iirc, kind of dark ambient dub in the same sort of vein as errr.... help me out here?

haxan cloak is basically getting all the attention that deaf center should have had in previous years

That RP Boo album is winning a lot of cool points but i'd argue it's not the most exciting footwork release of recent days. many of the tracks are reprised from other places and while he might be footwork's originator i find his stuff a bit too random and scattered to really enjoy much in 2013. 'double cup' is a much better example of where it's at right now. can't remember if there were many other footwork albums released this year?

i liked the stellar om source album when i listened but i couldn't hear what really made it special

It's just really good bleepy techno. Mind you I was similarly nonplussed by the Maximilion Dunbar album.

the last track on the haxan cloak album, "the drop", is really incredible. the rest kind of pales in comparison to it imo.

Yeah I think the Haxan Cloak is good screwfacing ambiance but not much more but that final track is fantastic./

Thinking about it, I wouldn't be all that surprised if Stellar Om Source won the Wire poll