Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

A slightly more user-friendly list rather than their block of cover images. Alpha order.

Q Magazine - Top 50 Albums of 2012
The 2 Bears - Be Strong
Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Paul Banks - Banks
Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
Beach House - Bloom
Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg
David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant
Cat Power - Sun
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Daphni - Jiaolong
Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
Django Django - Django Django
Bob Dylan - Tempest
EL-P - Cancer4Cure
Field Music - Plumb
Go-Kart Mozart - On The Hot Dog Streets
Grimes - Visions
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Ren Harvieu - Through The Night
Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge
Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship
Hot Chip - In Our Heads
Elton John Vs. Pnau - Good Morning To The Night
Josephine - Portrait
The Killers - Battle Born
Kindness - World, You Need A Change of Mind
Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral
The Maccabees - Given to the Wild
Mala in Cuba - Mala in Cuba
Mumford & Sons - Babel
Muse - The 2nd Law
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
Orbital - Wonky
Peaking Lights - Lucifer
Plan B - Ill Manors
Emeli Sande - Our Version of Events
Saint Etienne - Words And Music By Saint Etienne
School Of Seven Bells - Ghostory
Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Trouble
The Vaccines - Come Of Age
Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
The Walkmen - Heaven
Jessie Ware - Devotion
Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
Jack White - Blunderbuss
Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man In The Universe

tabs out podcast list:

#1 Bastian Void "Fluorescent Bells" (Field Hymns)
#2 V/A "Duets" compilation (Tranquility)
#3 Brett Naucke "Home By Now" (Field Studies)
#4 Grasshopper "The Day America Forgot" (SicSic)
#5 Crystal Palace "Spirit Quest" (Rotifer)
#6 Colored
Mushroom And The Medicine Rocks "Sunshine Units" (Wagon)
#7 V/A "Inscriptions" compilation (Sacred Phrases)
#8 Lace Bows "Pollen Futures" (Hooker Vision)
#9 J.D. Emmanuel "Peaceful Kingdom Concert 1982" (Sonic Meditations)
#10 Quiet Evenings / Former Selves split (Constellation Tatsu)
#11 Quintron "Singing House Demo Vol.1" (Spirit Candle)
#12 Voder Deth Squad "II" (SicSic)
#13 Jonathan James Carr "Well Tempered Ignorance" (Field Hymns)
#14 Tearist "Purple Video" (Nostilevo)
#15 Run DMT / Tracey Trance split (C.G.I.Friday)
#16 Aaron Dilloway "Tractor Cuts" (Robert & Leopold)
#17 The Aleph s/t (Tape Drift)
#18 Quicksails / Head Boggle split (Discriminate Bonus Series)
#19 Rambutan "Typhoon Shapes" (Cae-Sur-A)
#20 Mark Bradley / No Mind Meditation split (Goldtimers)
#21 Bil Vermette "Archives I" (Field Studies)
#22 Rust Worship "Deposit Of Despondency" (Tape Drift)
#23 Caldera Lakes "Live At Ogden Theatre" (Dokuro)
#24 Steve Kenney "Dawn Window" (Imminent Frequencies)
#25 Developer / Moth Cock split (A Soundesign Recording)

Moth Cock ftw!

So Animal Collective have only turned up in the Fly list so far (at #33)? Fallen are the heroes etc etc.

lol what the fuck is aquacrunk
― thraeds of life (The Reverend), Friday, November 23, 2012 12:44 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, good point. Centipede doesn't sound all that different from Merriweather to me. I guess they just move on looking for something shinier?

I think I like the Cooly G but it really slipped by in the background while I was workin, am giving it another go.

I haven't heard any of the Tabs Out list and for that am mad at myself

Centipede is good but not great

I like to think everyone looked back at MPP and went "wait a second, I hate this" and took it out on Centipede Hz

I think I prefer Centipede to MPP

goat album is fun but it's just krautrock

curious to see if certain favorites of mine are going to show up on anything at all (shigeto, bad plus, jon mu3ller)

NME list got me to listen to that Metz album finally and it's fucking great. Was it n/a or someone that was complaining about not finding too many good loud indie guitar records? It's not hugely original but if you're up for some Jesus Lizard-y aggro-splurgecore, it's definitely worth checking out.

Has the Josephine Foster album turned up anywhere? One of the best albums of the year imo.

i've listened to it a few times, including this morning, and can't get into it at all. it's got some nice production/arrangement touches here and there but the songs don't grab me. maybe it's just me.
xpost

Aw damn n/a.. I might be having a somewhat excitable reaction to it though tbh, cos I haven't really listened too much stuff that's as in yer face as that this year.

seandalai: J Foster will make the Wire list for sure, haven't seen it elsewhere

She'd better make the ILM list too, or I will fix the results be sad.

haha! will probably toss it a few points unless it gets edged out...

like I still haven't heard the new Lau Nau! where is it amazon you bastards

Where are the REAL MUSIC lists? I want REAL MUSIC. I do not tolerate MANUFACTURED MUSIC. REAL MUSIC is for men. We bring fire. We hunt. We listen to REAL MUSIC

Nick - if you want inyerface stuff try Divorce, for serious.

seandalai - haven't heard the Josephine Foster record, saw her live a couple of times years back and she was amazing, though, so I'll see if I can check it out before poll time.

dang the bad plus and shigeto albums both sound great, maybe i'm just turning into Jordan

As for Animal Collective... I still love MPP, but I haven't heard the new one. I do tend towards wanting breadth, though, there aren't many bands I follow for entire careers, I'd rather hear a new sound or a new idea.

I did try Divorce a while back, it's not so much in-yer-face as right-thru-yer-face-and-out-the-other-side. Thanks for the reminder!

haha

glad you like them, i love both of those records.
xp

Okay I have just listened to a bit more Divorce and it is like the second coming of the Stretchheads.

fyi: moth cock is playing with unicorn hard on this month in belchertown.

Sounds like a veritable smorgasboard of mythical wang

I think I like the Cooly G but it really slipped by in the background while I was workin, am giving it another go.

― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, November 28, 2012 1:45 PM Bookmark

Yeah, it's a record I want to like more than I can. It all sounds nice but it's really ignorable. Not horrible or anything but kind of a disappointment nonetheless.

Some days I love the Cooly G and some days it can't hold my attention. Whether I vote for it in EOY will depend on what kind of day it is, I guess.

It'll probably make the lower reaches of my ballot but it's not exactly something I'm going to evangelize about like I did when "Love Dub" dropped.

Basically you only need "It's Serious", "Landscapes" and "Playin' Me", but the whole conceit of a drum kit having an epileptic fit on a water bed with satin sheets is good/interesting/arresting enough to lift the album well above its objective "three amazing tracks plus pleasant filler" status.

finally a list w/ Dead Sara on it! my #2 of the year.

My Josephine Foster radar has alerted me to this:

Has the Josephine Foster album turned up anywhere? One of the best albums of the year imo.

― ILM Communication (seandalai), Wednesday, November 28, 2012 4:06 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

You know I'll vote for it! "Geyser" is among my top 5 songs of the year and the rest of the album is great too.

finally a list w/ Dead Sara on it! my #2 of the year.

haha i knew ship would rep for this

Centipede is discernibly different from MPP. It's noisier, less melodic, and not as varied. Not to say it's a bad album (it's good, not great), but it's certainly one of their least pleasurable albums to listen to.

I'm a little surprised that "Music For the Quiet Hour" isn't on any lists

I still really like MPP but Centipede seemed lacking in any kind of spark beyond a couple of tracks.

I gave the Cooly G album another try a couple of nights ago and it really clicked with me, even though it is kind of backgroundy it still benefitted from being played a lot louder.

Goat and Miguel have been the two great discoveries from this thread so far, have bought both.

less reverb all over Centipede, which I'd usually count as a good thing, but the songs just suck on the whole.

Has the Black Dice album shown up on any of these lists? Rashad?

I'm a little surprised that "Music For the Quiet Hour" isn't on any lists

Shackleton & Pinch got totally shafted last year too iirc. Dunno how Shackleton would work in a club at all, ought to make more of an effort to go and see him, but he's my go-to producer for creepy midnight dog-walking music. That whole set is such a sprawling, mysterious labyrinth of a record, it's definitely paid off spending a lot of time with it.

Fucking hell, the comments on that Guardian thread

Is this for real?

Music is not just the preserve of the young, the trendy and the journalists. And undoubtedly - whatever an individuals personal preferences - there are many better releases this year than those listed, that have either been ignored or not considered "with it" enough for inclusion (or even bothering to listen to in most cases, I suspect.

As for the Morrissey quote: well this has been the case for at least 20 years: where are all the albums for the white, middle-aged, middle class, who like their artists to have some integrity and life-experience, and who like their music written and performed by those who can actually write and perform?

I expect to get ridiculed for this, but 3 of the best albums produced this year by British artists - all self-penned and performed; all appreciated by fans as a high mark in each band's career, and all thoroughly independent from modern commercialism are:

Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made
Anathema - Weather Systems
Big Big Train - English Electric Part 1

I don't expect any of these to figure in this top 40 - or pretty much any "top" listing of the year. Which is a shame.

These lists are pointless - take no notice!

where are all the albums for the white, middle-aged, middle class

where oh where

Dunno how Shackleton would work in a club at all

Really well. His live set is absolutely amazing. You wouldn't htink it would work in a club but live he just kills it every time

Basically you only need "It's Serious", "Landscapes" and "Playin' Me"

i don't necessarily disagree that there's a certain element of backgroundiness to the cooly g album but i totally disagree with this - if anything i think the album is stronger the more vocal-driven it is, ie "he said i said", "come into my room" etc

I'm not actually saying the rest of the album isn't great though quoting half my post may imply that - I probably should have said "these are the 'standout' tracks but the backgroundiness of the rest (including the vocal tracks) is something I still find really enjoyable/compelling/etc."

there were several pretty great dance albums in 2012. andy stott, michael mayer, voices from the lake, lindstrøm, vatican shadow, smallpeople, blondes. dunno why people didn't rally round them, they certainly should have.

cos people who like dance music listen to singles and mixes

do they?

We don't need to do this again.