Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

yeah if i ever went to clubs anymore (as opposed to going to clubs v. rarely) this record would sound unbelievable.

Damn, this Ka album. Thanks Spin and Jody Rosen.

the floorplan album captures very accurately a certain period of time on the dancefloor when you're high but not so high that you're totally out of yourself, and you feel totally mechanistic - the music's like a suit and you have to move in certain ways to put it on. and "never grow old" is that moment when you come to, not necessarily to sobriety at all but that moment when you see your friends' faces around you and it turns out you were all feeling the same way and now it's time to come together

the Floorplan single "Phobia" is also face-melting

Alright, so far Ka and Floorplan have jumped up to the top of my "must hears" from list gathering.

Esp after what lex wrote about it. Setting aside all the shit I've ever given lex, that last sentence is, no lie, one of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read about music. Just, bam, I know exactly the feeling and now I want to hear what it sounds like.

I made it three tracks into the Ka album before I got bored.

Pro tip for metal bands: If you want critical love, clean vocals, melodies, and memorable choruses are right fucking out.

Although I approve of 90% of Stereogum's list, this is totally, painfully true. North American critics are really turning a blind eye to the melodic side of heavy metal, which contrary to what they might cover, is just as strong and vital as ever.

ka album seemed cool and vibey if not particularly original, i'll go back to it for sure

xp Yeah that line of Lex's made me wish I still went clubbing.

I think Ka is for people who love Mobb Deep and Liquid Swords and want that same mood but without imitating the sound. It has the same moral murk and shady reportage.

yeah that seems right on

Pro tip for metal bands: If you want critical love, clean vocals, melodies, and memorable choruses are right fucking out.

Although I approve of 90% of Stereogum's list, this is totally, painfully true. North American critics are really turning a blind eye to the melodic side of heavy metal, which contrary to what they might cover, is just as strong and vital as ever.

― A. Begrand, Tuesday, December 10, 2013 4:20 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Dude, Revolver has A Pale Horse Named Death, ASG, Black Sabbath, Volbeat, and STONE SOUR

You guys are looking at indie hipster websites and then complianing they have indie hipster tastes!

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

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 13:02 (8 hours ago) Permalink

they used to just repost the same exact thing every year iirc

the daft punk one is OTM

despite me effing with Robert Hood in general the Floorplan album disappeared into a void of technoish CD promos. I've fished it out bc of the enthusiasm upthread. IT'S ON (literally)

Erik Rohman isunkes • 2 hours ago −
Agreed. Any list omiting these two projects raises some doubt in my mind as to any common tastes with the writer of the article. Everyone has an opinion for sure, but for someone to sell this as an eclectic list and leave off both Reflector and Trouble Will Find Me is a bit confusing.

loooooooooooooooooooooooool

i mean, come on

oh I just got that, smh

"How can you claim to be "eclectic" and ignore these boring-ass white people bands?"

even the prose is a set of terrible Berninger lyrics.

I can't get a read on Pitchfork's indie debt to its readership anymore, but I hope neither of those albums land in their to 20.

Arcade Fire will be top ten for sure (I mean, it got 9.2 come on), the other one I have no idea.

Pro tip for metal bands: If you want critical love, clean vocals, melodies, and memorable choruses are right fucking out.

you guys sound like a cross between johnny fever & geir (no offence to jf intended)

lol, when I get paired with Geir there is offense, intended or not.

the trilogy (Daft Punk, National, Arcade Fire) will be in PFM's top fifteen.

hahaha

I just meant you do state that kinda thing about metal a lot and its why you went off it years ago

Kinda why im doing a rock/metal tracks poll for the 1st time. To prove it does still encompass that and it doesnt have to be just the Revolver type um 'mainstream' metal that does it.

Clean vox and singing have come back into the underground the past few years and got critical love. Uncle Acid/Ghost/In Solitude/Cauldron/The Devils Blood/Blood Ceremony and so on. Even Electric Wizard and Moss do it now! (and are still sounding great)

if anyones interested here's a playlist http://open.spotify.com/user/pfunkboy/playlist/5h0uxOzYvaafpBbe6Sve2J

Plenty there non-metal fans would like I think.

give it a go jf and do let us know what you think (on the poll thread so not to annoy people here)

Texan-British Brooklyn transplant Devonté Hynes hasn't made the richest sounding R&B album of the year working under his new moniker Blood Orange — that accolade might go to the multi-million dollar, sonically-intimidating Random Access Memories by Daft Punk.

hahaha what

Clean vox and singing have come back into the underground the past few years and got critical love.

My own list has quite a bit of that, fwiw (culled from albums actually streamable on Rhapsody; I just posted a list on the metal thread of non-Rhapsodyable albums that would've also been in the running):

http://www.rhapsody.com/blog/post/top-25-metal-of-2013

xp you heard it here first!

hey chuck please nominate that stuff on the eoy metal poll!

and um what? re daft punk

Stupid end of year accolade comments make me want to cry, but I would prefer if it was over the dead bodies of all these idiots.

Texan-British Brooklyn transplant Devonté Hynes hasn't made the richest sounding R&B album of the year working under his new moniker Blood Orange

if the sentence had ended there it would've been ok

metal and emo people who refer to singing-not-screaming as "clean vocals" are the funniest thing in the world to me. there are some screamo bands that put "unclean vocals" in the liner notes.

the ka album is extremely admirable, extremely well-crafted and smart etc, i think if you were into that kind of rap you'd adore it but it's mostly "admire" for me, and i can see why some would get bored

That a former member of Test Icicles is almost inevitably going to end up on one genuine A-List pop star's next album, despite being manifestly untalented, is one of the more unbelievable musical trajectories I've ever seen.

Man I'm not a big fan at all of Dev Hynes, but I feel like "manifestly untalented" is a little bit incorrect.

Yeah, he has a "thing" he does and it's an identifiable thing and some people like it and some people (very much) don't like it, but that doesn't mean he's manifestly untalented.

metal and emo people who refer to singing-not-screaming as "clean vocals" are the funniest thing in the world to me. there are some screamo bands that put "unclean vocals" in the liner notes.

― some dude,

havent seen any of the latter re 'unclean vocals'(mainly as i dont listen to metalcore) but I do not remember when this 'clean vocals' thing started to get used. Is it a recent as in past 10 years thing? I dont remember it being used in the 90s.

Considering half of the bands who do 'clean vox' to sell more records CANNOT ACTUALLY SING maybe its a better term than just 'singing'

lex so good on floorplan upthread -

the music's like a suit and you have to move in certain ways to put it on

this is one of the most pleasingly accurate & memorable descriptions of dancing i can recall

xp I think Hynes' songwriting is lazy verging on inert - everything's on one level - but he has a distinctive production style and he's rebooted the careers of two singers who were stuck in major-label limbo so that's talent of sorts.

his production style is basically romanticisation of inertia and torpor as well, barf

whose careers has he rebooted? mutya keisha siobhan didn't exactly do well out of him, solange was less commercially successful than before and has now split with him (YAY maybe she can be great again), sky ferreira admittedly finally broke through with his song but her album abandons both him and his style completely...?

and when i say sky ferreira broke through obv none of that involved selling records

Dude, Revolver has A Pale Horse Named Death, ASG, Black Sabbath, Volbeat, and STONE SOUR

Not too shabby. Decibel's list has surprising range this year too.

havent seen any of the latter re 'unclean vocals'(mainly as i dont listen to metalcore) but I do not remember when this 'clean vocals' thing started to get used. Is it a recent as in past 10 years thing? I dont remember it being used in the 90s.

Considering half of the bands who do 'clean vox' to sell more records CANNOT ACTUALLY SING maybe its a better term than just 'singing'

― pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Tuesday, December 10, 2013 5:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

honestly i'm not sure -- i feel like i've seen it more and more online the last few years, but i should be able to remember anecdotally if i've heard it (i played drums in a band circa 1999 with guys who were super into screamo and the frontman alternated singing and screaming) but i really don't remember if that terminology was thrown around back then.

A Pale Horse Named Death

you would never know dude was in type o negative
lol