Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

DY i think your attempt at an insouciant posting style would work better with either the lol at the start or the lmao at the end but not both, bc that's a bit try-hard tbh

Pretty scary to see how irrelevant most of the 2012 names sound today: Django Django? Peaking Lights? Mac DeMarco?

wow you're easily scared

like to mix it up, shows much much im laughing innit

Vice list is pretty funny but loses marks for recycling several of its jokes from last year.

25: Miley Cyrus. Clearly no one actually listened to this sludge, but the staff must pretend they’ve been devouring it to justify a) the large photo of Cyrus fingering herself with a hammer / foam finger and b) a thinkpiece boxout called "Was 2013 The Year Pop Went Punk?" or "The Return Of The Spectacle" or some other such contrived horseshit.

this is basically on the level of the guardian commenters we've been correctly mocking

45: The A$AP Ferg album strategically listed a few places higher than the A$AP Rocky record ('cus we know our shit).

or because it's better?

29: Rapper who does things to girls that Robin Thicke wouldn't in a million years, yet has surfed the wave towards acclaim because all the nakedness in his videos is so haphazardly vulgar and genuinely worrying that no one could possibly cobble together a cogent and newspaper-friendly piece of thumbsuck op-ed about it.

everyone knows those scary, bad rappers are the most misogynistic scum of all yet somehow they avoid any criticism for it, oh wait // oh wait

26: At least one person in the office is dating a minor-league pop player. This is her / his album.

would be a better zing if it was "mates with" not "dating" but that might be a lil too on the nose

11: Ominous point in human history where people voting for Drake as a joke meets people voting for Drake because they are deadly serious. This is basically how the Nazis got power.

did anyone vote drake as a joke ever?

I know humour isn't your thing Lex but it's meant to be funny.

49: Act who would be several places higher had their heroic refusal to sell out to the Spotify bloodsuckers meant that practically no one got round to listening to their record.

Was this Future of the Left? Their album is GREAT and the story behind them having to pretty much fund and produce the other thing entirely themselves is something I keep meaning to read up about more.

I know humour isn't your thing Lex but it's meant to be funny.

but it's cliché after cliché! about three of them are funny.

I trust your opinion on many things but you're always saying how much you hate comedy so you're not my go-to guy when it comes to funny. 80% of it worked for me. Agree that the Miley Cyrus entry is lazy though.

Pretty scary to see how irrelevant most of the 2012 names sound today: Django Django? Peaking Lights? Mac DeMarco?

― ArchCarrier, Tuesday, December 10, 2013 12:56 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not sure what this is referring to but I think it says more about you than the '2012 names'

to take the one act of those three I care about as an example, why are Peaking Lights (a once fairly prolific duo who now have a baby together) obliged to release music within a 12-month window for the sole purpose of staying "relevant"

In fairness, it is mostly zings at indie bands.

48. Rapper who has done things that would make Chris Brown cut off his dick in shame, but because they're not to anyone famous, they still count towards his grizzled street cred with Pitchfork readers who are too scared and confused by WSHH to get their news from source.

From last year's list. SMDH @ Vice.

Many of them are very similar to last year's, and the year before. Which is kind of the point about these lists, in some ways.

xps the new FOTL album seems to be on Spotify and had a press officer and all that jazz so doesn't really fit the bill

DY i think your attempt at an insouciant posting style would work better with either the lol at the start or the lmao at the end but not both, bc that's a bit try-hard tbh

― lex pretend, Tuesday, December 10, 2013 12:58 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha

Bleep Top 50 Albums

Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven
Special Request - Soul Music
Tim Hecker - Virgins
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
These New Puritans - Field of Reeds
Holden - The Inheritors
Forest Swords - Engravings
Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
Karen Gwyer - Needs Continuum
Four Tet - Beautiful Rewind
Autechre - Exai
Mount Kimbie - Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
Factory Floor - Factory Floor
John Roberts - Fences
Machinedrum - Vapor City
Kanye West - Yeezus
The Haxan Cloak - Excavation
Darkside (Nicolas Jaar + Dave Harrington) - Psychic
Jessy Lanza - Pull My Hair Back
Omar Souleyman - Wenu Wenu
Laurel Halo - Chance of Rain
Ron Morelli - Spit
Young Echo - Nexus
Zomby - With Love
Moderat - II
Recondite - Hinterland
Floorplan (Robert Hood) - Paradise
The Knife - Shaking The Habitual
Thundercat - Apocalypse
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Wolf Eyes - No Answer: Lower Floors
Atom TM - HD
Tropic Of Cancer - Restless Idylls
KMFH (Kyle Hall) - The Boat Party
Connan Mockasin - Caramel
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Falty DL - Hardcourage
Mika Vainio - Kilo
Beautiful Swimmers - Son
senking - Capsize Recovery
Sano - Sano
Rabih Beaini - Albidaya
Roly Porter - Life Cycle Of A Massive Star
Function - Incubation
Julia Holter - Loud City Song
Atoms For Peace - AMOK
Zed Bias - Boss
Rene Hell - Vanilla Call Option
John Wizards - John Wizards

NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2013
http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/10/249243871/npr-musics-50-favorite-albums-of-2013

Kyle Hall - The Boat Party

^ been meaning to buy this all year long

The National in that top five is just bizarre.

They just can't resist a bit of morose adult contemporary. I'd think Weekend - Jinx or Pop. 1280, Chelsea Wolfe or TV Ghost would fit their tastes better.

Floorplan (Robert Hood) - Paradise

yasssss first appearance of this that i've seen

absolutely banging techno, this goes so hard

yeah that album's great, it's got a nice soul/gospel thing going on as well.

yeah "never grow old" was a huge anthem this year

I listened to that Recondite album solidly around the house for about a week, that's a good backgroundy techno album for autumn/winter

okay the first track on this Floorplan album is A+

Ah, that Vice list was alright. I lol'd.

And yup, thanks to Lex for point out the awesomeness of that Floorplan release.

Stereogum - Best metal albums
http://www.stereogum.com/1561822/the-50-best-metal-albums-of-2013/list/

you'd never guess what was number one

Spin - Best pop albums
http://www.spin.com/articles/spin-20-best-pop-albums-2013/

WHINEY this isn't an attempt to zing u over clicks but your arrows don't work on any of your lists (i'm on chrome) and tbh they very rarely do in general

pretty surprised Jagwar Ma isn't getting more love.

And is it true that no one has mentioned Polvo?

even allowing for homogeneity taking hold in the top 10, Stereogum have by a fucking mile the best/most interesting metal list I've seen so far

no-one else seems to give a shit about the Cultes Des Ghoules album that's roughly in the middle of it but it is some killer weirdo black metal

Jagwar Ma suffer from the 'name so terrible I can't bring myself to check them out' syndrome.

huh. name never bothered me - maybe because i heard the music before i got my hands on their name.
either way it's my hands down, no doubt, fav album of the year.

lots of good stuff on the Stereogum metal list, despite the predictable #1.

Wire list comes out tomorrow iirc, any guesses for what's won that?

Cultes Des Ghoules album that's roughly in the middle of it but it is some killer weirdo black metal

otm

Wire list comes out tomorrow iirc, any guesses for what's won that?

― rp boo bryson (NickB), Tuesday, December 10, 2013 4:35 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hasn't it been someone from the Lopatin/Ferraro/Halo axis the last few years?

Rashad Becker maybe? Or the Knife?

Kinda hope it's Bangerz though.

Oh I hope so too, if only for the inevitable shitstorm.

FACT, part II:

31. HUERCO S - Colonial Patterns
32. FKA TWIGS - EP2
33. ROLY PORTER - Life Cycle of a Massive Star
34. ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - R Plus Seven
35. MR MUTHAFUCKIN' EXQUIRE - Kismet
36. LAUREL HALO - Chance of Rain
37. TREE - Sunday School II: When Church Lets Out
38. DONATO DOZZY - Donato Dozzy Plays Bee Mask
39. KING LOUIE - Jeep Music
40. SUICIDEYEAR - Japan

Here's the complete Stereogum list, for archival purposes:

01. Deafheaven - Sunbather
02. Gorguts - Colored Sands
03. Inquisition - Obscure Verses For The Multiverse
04. Oranssi Pazuzu - Velonielu
05. Carcass - Surgical Steel
06. In Solitude - Sister
07. Windhand - Soma
08. SubRosa - More Constant Than The Gods
09. Inter Arma - Sky Burial
10. Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum
11. Power Trip - Manifest Decimation
12. Bölzer - Aura
13. Castevet - Obsian
14. A Pregnant Light - Domination Harmony
15. Aosoth - IV: An Arrow In Heart
16. Lycus - Tempest
17. Nails - Abandon All Life
18. Various Artists - SVN OKKLT Compilation
19. Anagnorisis - Beyond All Light
20. Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury
21. Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
22. Kvelertak - Meir
23. Satan - Life Sentence
24. Vattnet Viskar - Sky Swallower
25. Wolvserpent - Perigaea Antahkarana
26. Imperium Dekadenz - Meadows Of Nostalgia
27. Agrimonia - Rites Of Separation
28. Cultes Des Ghoules - Henbane
29. Ruins Of Beverast - Blood Vaults: The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer
30. TOAD - Endless Night
31. Noisem - Agony Defined
32. Fyrnask - Eldir Nótt
33. Gris - À L'âme Enflammée, L'âme Constellée...
34. Sadgiqacea - False Prism
35. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Mind Control
36. Cult of Fire — मृत्युकावीभत्सनृत्य
37. Woe - Withdrawal
38. VHOL - VHOL
39. Aksumite - Return
40. Hail Of Bullets - III: The Rommel Chronicles
41. Dressed In Streams - ST/Azad Hind
42. Vuyvr - Eiskalt
43. Yellow Eyes - Hammer Of Night
44. KEN Mode - Entrench
45. Cara Neir - Portals To A Better, Dead World
46. Svart Crown - Profane
47. Wormed - Exodromos
48. Pinkish Black - Razed To The Ground
49. Vastum - Patricidal Lust
50. Raspberry Bulbs - Deformed Worship

That's actually a pretty solid list, glad to see Inter Arma get a high placing.

Stereogum seems to have higher black metal representation than other lists. That's a big gap in my listening this year.

Really enjoyed NPR's list.

They seemed to carefully pick representatives from nearly every metal sub-genre which is fine. Just goes to show how much damn metal there is, given they only scratch the surface of each. While Windhand sort of checks the box, stoner-doom is kind of neglected.

The NPR list is really good, and it reads like they're actually fans of music.

yeah, NPR was good, the only one of these lists with the John Legend album on it, which got pretty roundly ignored despite being full of Kanye co-productions and interesting songwriting choices.