Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/2014-best-jazz-reissues?int-cid=mod-latest

best jazz reissues

xp cool to see (for the first time on this thread i think) deers, nmesh, saint pepsi & trust on that list

Slant Magazine - The 25 Best Singles of 2014
http://www.slantmagazine.com/features/article/the-25-best-singles-of-2014

25 Spoon - Inside Out
24 London Grammar - Hey Now
23 Beyonce - ***Flawless
22 Mac DeMarco - Passing Out Pieces
21 Cloud Nothings - I'm Not Part of Me
20 Röyksopp & Robyn - Monument
19 Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires - The Company Man
18 Caribou - Can't Do Without You
17 Jack White - Lazaretto
16 Disclosure ft. Mary J. Blige - F For You
15 alt-J - Left Hand Free
14 Sia - Chandelier
13 Sturgill Simpson - Turtles All the Way Down
12 Perfume Genius - Queen
11 Indiana - Solo Dancing
10 St. Vincent - Digital Witness
9 Jenny Lewis - Just One of the Guys
8 Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You)
7 Sam Smith - Stay With Me
6 FKA twigs - Two Weeks
5 Hozier - Take Me to Church
4 Vic Mensa - Down on My Luck
3 Jessie Ware - Say You Love Me
2 The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
1 Jessie Ware - Tough Love

Guardian top 10 albums:

10. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
9. Flying Lotus - You're Dead
8. Beck - Morning Phase
7. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
6. La Roux - Trouble in Paradise
5. Caribou - Our Love
4. Aphex Twin - Syro
3. FKA Twigs - LP1
2. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
1. ??. ??????? - ??. ???????

Has to be St Vincent.

Sorry, Mike, it's Catfish and the Bottlemen.

no its Lost in the Dream again. they love it so much it gets the top 2 spots.

Oh cool two Ware placements in top five

Two Ware Nos. Here

Clearly U2 has won the guardian poll

I quite like that gorilla vs bear list, if for nor other reason it included Leon Vynehall's House of Dupree, which is missing from far too much

Dummy - The 20 best albums of 2014
http://www.dummymag.com/lists/the-20-best-albums-of-2014

20 Young Fathers - Dead
19 Todd Terje - It's Album Time
18 Caribou - Our Love
17 Call Super - Suzi Ecto
16 The Bug - Angels & Devils
15 Fatima Al Qadiri - Asiatisch
14 Metronomy - Love Letters
13 Lone - Reality Testing
12 Fatima - Yellow Memories
11 How to Dress Well - What is this Heart?
10 Arca - Xen
9 Dan Bodan - Soft
8 Copeland - Because I'm Worth It
7 TOPS - Picture You Staring
6 Mica Levi - Under the Skin OST
5 18+ - Trust
4 Dean Blunt - Black Metal
3 Aphex Twin - Syro
2 Kindness - Otherness
1 FKA Twigs - LP1

Drowned In Sound - Our 50 Favourite Albums of 2014
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4148558-drowned-in-sounds-50-favourite-albums-of-2014

1) The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave
2) Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
3) Taylor Swift - 1989
4) Marissa Nadler - July
5) ††† - Crosses
6) Alvvays - Alvvays
7) Eagulls - Eagulls
8) Ought - More Than Any Other Day
9) The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream
10) Swans - To Be Kind
11) Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
12) Mogwai - Rave Tapes
13) Interpol - El Pintor
14) Sun Kil Moon - Benji
15) FKA twigs - LP1
16) Keaton Henson - Romantic Works
17) A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Atomos
18) Hookworms - The Hum
19) East India Youth - Total Strife Forever
20) EMA - The Future’s Void
21) Future Islands - Singles
22) Todd Terje - It's Album Time
23) Lykke Li - I Never Learn
24) Grouper - Ruins
25) Vessel - Punish, Honey
26) Blood Red Shoes - Blood Red Shoes
27) Prince - Art Official Age / Plectrumelectrum
28) I Break Horses - Chiaroscuro
29) Eels - The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
30) Pulled Apart by Horses - Blood
31) Owen Pallett - In Conflict
32) Wild Beasts - Present Tense
33) Kiasmos - Kiasmos
34) Manic Street Preachers - Futurology
35) Ben Frost - Aurora
36) Liars - Mess
37) Perfume Genius - Too Bright
38) The Antlers - Familiars
39) The Phantom Band - Strange Friend
40) Inventions - Inventions
41) Spoon - They Want My Soul
42) Young Fathers - DEAD
43) Raveonettes - Pe’ahi
44) The Bug - Angels & Devils
45) Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Gone Girl OST
46) ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - IX
47) Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again
48) Aphex Twin - Syro
49) Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
50) Owls - II

unfortunate graphic for their number one album, i know they liked it but tmi guys

http://dis.images.s3.amazonaws.com/98646.jpeg

damn a lot of people loved that crosses album for some reason

I participated in this: http://www.spin.com/articles/40-best-country-songs-2014/

Consensus Watch Update - FKA Twigs steams ahead.
Number of Top 50 polls in brackets.

FKA Twigs - LP1 (42)
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream (35)
St Vincent - St Vincent (33)
Caribou - Our Love (33)

Aphex Twin - Syro (28)
Future Islands - Singles (27)
Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness (26)
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There (26)
Swans - To Be Kind (26)
Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2 (25)
Beck - Morning Phase (24)
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days (23)
Perfume Genius - Too Bright (23)
Flying Lotus - You're Dead! (22)
Sun Kil Moon - Benji (22)
Taylor Swift - 1989 (21)
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Pinata (20)
Todd Terje - It's Album Time (20)

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence (19)
Spoon - They Want My Soul (18)
Jack White - Lazaretto (17)
Alvvays - Alvvays (17)
East India Youth - Total Strife Forever (17)
Real Estate - Atlas (16)
Ty Segall - Manipulator (15)
Wild Beasts - Present Tense (15)

Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit (14)
The Bug - Angels & Devils (14)
Grouper: Ruins (14)
Goat - Commune (13)
Scott Walker & Sun O))) - Soused (13)
Jenny Lewis - Voyager (13)
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (12)
Royal Blood - Royal Blood (12)
Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty (12)
First Aid Kit - Stay Gold (12)
Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else (12)
Hookworms - The Hum (12)
Temples - Sun Structures (11)
The Black Keys - Turn Blue (11)
Alt-J - This Is All Yours (11)
Andy Stott - Faith in Strangers (11)
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music (11)
Kate Tempest - Everybody Down (10)
Ex Hex - Rips (10)
Azealia Banks, Broke With Expensive Taste (10)
Jessie Ware - Tough Love (10)
Tinashe - Aquarius (10)
Dean Blunt – Black Metal (10)
Young Fathers - Dead (10)

The most polled metal albums are both on 9:
Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend
Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden

wonder what the highest placing one of those is that will not make the ilx 77?

Beck?

Yeah definitely Beck

Very surprised that the Guardian list will end up omitting Todd Terje, Lana Del Rey, Perfume Genius and Sun Kil Moon.

possibly WoD given the *shrug* and "really??" type reactions it's getting

although that could just be thinking it's overrated despite not being necessarily bad, which i'd agree with

Plenty of people here like the WoD album, I'm just not sure anyone was really behind it being so high on almost every list that would include it.

everyone should have omitted Lana Del Rey because that album is terrible aside from 2-3 songs, and one of the not-terrible songs is titled "Fucked My Way To The Top"

^^^^^^^

even being charitable the LDR album was basically more of the same, i can't imagine any fence-sitters or sceptics especially caring about it

terje did lose a lot of steam, which was entirely predictable even during the hosannas in the week it came out imo - that album had no stickability at all

this whole sun kil moon/war on drugs consensus is baffling to me bc i had literally never heard of either terrible act before about a month ago. where did they come from??? can we banish everyone responsible for bringing them in?

oh shush evan you did not listen to the LDR album you are not allowed to cosign negative opinions on it

(...that said its pretty fucking uneven despite being a p big step up for her)

Sun Kil Moon is the new act of a legacy dude, I think War on Drugs have been around for a little while without any great shakes, they had some sort of beef this year (?) and now people are rating their albums highly. I dunno, I like plenty of schmindie bollocks so maybe I would like one or the other record but it just seems so very very unappealing.

Yeah sometimes with these albums I have no idea whether I'd like them or not but the the overall feeling is "can't be arsed". That feeling was entirely vindicated when I heard the Sun Kil Moon album fwiw.

I can see Angel Olsen missing out on any ILX list as well, not detected much in the way of buzz around her here.

The Terje album really is a good EP's worth of material obviously left half-finished and padded out with old stuff. I'm pretty sure I read an interview where he said it was actually unfinished due to family stuff.

sun kil moon's been going over a decade iirc and he got a shiny 'best new music' badge from pitchfork about half a decade ago

Sun Kil Moon has been around since 2003. Though his new approach is distinct enough it's almost as if this version of Sun Kil Moon is a new act that debuted in 2012.

Yeah, I realised after I posted "new act" is a bit of a misnomer, was more trying to emphasise the 'elder statesman' bit. Didn't realise it was *quite* that old, though.

Minor correction: Sun Kil Moon actually never got BNM until Benji.

i love how fact readers are in open revolt btl. the top comment kills me:

Damn Sun Kil Moon is the whitest, whiniest shit I ever heard. That's the best album of the year for what, getting over your dog's death? No fucking thanks.

i can't imagine any fence-sitters or sceptics especially caring about it

No, Born to Die got a pasting in most US publications (it was only #54 on Pazz & Jop) and this one, which has entirely different production, didn't. It's been in 19 EOY lists and has made the early backlash look like old news. So clearly a bunch of sceptics have come around. And Terje is in 20 lists. So I'm still surprised the Guardian skipped them both.

Would love to hear DJP's argument for the three not-terrible LDR, because it's all of a piece. I figured people would either like all of it (ie me) or none of it.

xp haaaahahahahahahaha

xp cheers evan, memory failed me there thought he got one for 'april' - cheers!

clickers at the ready, it's the FACT top 50 tracks list:
http://www.factmag.com/2014/12/11/the-50-best-tracks-of-2014/

they're really trying to make pc music a thing huh

"1 of 51"

xp them and gorilla vs. bear are super bout-it bout-it for PC music, idgi

like that stuff isn't all bad but i fail to see what's remarkable about it

TAYLOR SWIFT – Wildest Dreams (Recycle Culture Hyper Bubble Pop remix)

its hilarious to me that someone could think this improves on the song itself

That's a surprisingly good top five from FACT and their number one is predictable but unfuckable-with. Mystifying Popcaan choice though considering the rest of the album.

'Slug Christ' is sort of moniker a FACT-friendly automatic name generator would come up with though.

I tried listening to War On Drugs just now; why do people keep falling for shit like this???

PC Music isn't nearly as lazy or cowardly as witch house or chillwave was but ughhhh

it was a very cold winter, crüt

FKA Twigs still doesn't click with me but it's exciting that such a weird album is the frontrunner in all these lists