Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

andy stott - now he did one last year which i thought was okay if a bit one-trick-poneyish - like a study in sidechain compression. I reckon it would have sounded amazing on a big rig, but it didn't suit my morning commute so much. Is this album much different?

Same basic sound (a great one too imo) but the vocals totally give it another dimension

Think the thing about those albums, except Blondes/Lindstrom (and maybe Andy Stott, dunno haven't heard it), is that they aren't really going to hook in people who aren't particularly into dance music. I'd expect them to place in the RA and maybe FACT polls.

with say, michael mayer, most people i know seem way more excited about the RA mix than the album. i'm not talking about some cabal of hardcore dance heads or whatever either, just that i don't even know anyone who has mentioned mantasy or talked about it, whereas the RA mix had a huge buzz going from loads of people. and hardly surprising, a mayer mix is better than most albums.

similarly the dixon/ame boiler room is one of the things people have talked about most this year, in my anecdotal experience.

There's a pretty long history of Kompakt artist albums being a bit underwhelming that feeds into this a bit. The Mayer album is nice but it doesn't feel essential (or particularly danceable for most of it). I haven't actually heard the RA mix, I should rectify that immediately. The barely-listened to 12hr Mayer mix is still sitting on my desktop from the beginning of the year, chastening me.

I'm assuming anything called 'Ghosts of Chechnya' is going to be at the bleak and austere end of the spectrum?

that Voices From The Lake album is pretty terrific and I would cheerfully recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in techno, but I'm not kidding myself that that equals real-world crossover appeal

the Sigha album also, although that's only been out about a fortnight

I'm assuming anything called 'Ghosts of Chechnya' is going to be at the bleak and austere end of the spectrum?

― Matt DC, Thursday, 29 November 2012 13:12 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's actually a banging set of hi-nrg turbo folk pop trash, arkan gave it four stars in the observer iirc

That guy is pretty big on bleak panicky terror in general - as dog latin said, he's also the guy behind Prurient who were a harsh noise meets coldwave synth thing. Don't know what the Ghosts of Chechnya is like exactly, but he's had a whole pile of releases over the last year or so in that series, all with record covers featuring portraits of soldiers etc from recent zones of conflict and track titles like Bin Laden's Corpse. Good times.

this Vatican Shadow album is incredible

I've been in a cave for a while, when did industrial lounge music start happening?

andy stott - now he did one last year which i thought was okay if a bit one-trick-poneyish - like a study in sidechain compression. I reckon it would have sounded amazing on a big rig, but it didn't suit my morning commute so much. Is this album much different?

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Thursday, November 29, 2012 5:00 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same basic sound (a great one too imo) but the vocals totally give it another dimension

― Albert Crampus (NickB), Thursday, November 29, 2012 5:03 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd go a bit further than this and say that Luxury Problems could really appeal to people who weren't bothered with the two from last year (like lex). The vocals add a lot, but the whole album sprawls less and has more variety--it's a lot less relentless sonically.

it's actually a banging set of hi-nrg turbo folk pop trash, arkan gave it four stars in the observer iirc

― r|t|c, Thursday, November 29, 2012 7:28 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this sounds like the best thing ever

Mixtarum Metallum IV: The 20 Best of 2012
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/tools/full/165770

Neurosis - Honor Found in Decay
Liberteer - Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees
Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
Black Breath - Sentenced to Life
God Seed - I Begin
Royal Thunder - CVI
The Secret - Agnus Dei
High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis
Evoken - Atra Mors
Martyrdöd - Paranoia
Conan - Monnos
Titan - Burn
Napalm Death - Utilitarian
Dordeduh - Dar de Duh
Witch Mountain - Cauldron of the Wild
Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine
Nihill - Verdonkermaan
Gaza - No Absolutes in Human Suffering
Ufomammut - Oro: Opus Primum & Opus Alter
AMENRA - Mass V

They won't rank them (even though they obviously have the numbers to have pulled out the top 20 as voted by staff) as if they love all 20 equally. Please.

this is exactly how communist Russia started

o do tell, dj mencap!

this Vatican Shadow album is incredible

I've been in a cave for a while, when did industrial lounge music start happening?

From the equivalent thread last year:

... Are they kidding with this Vatican Shadow track?

― OH NOES, Tuesday, December 6, 2011 3:09 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean, I am not opposed to ambient but 10 minutes of unimaginative stasis as one of the best tracks of the year is just silly

― OH NOES, Tuesday, December 6, 2011 3:11 PM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha

(Apologies if I have usernames muddled up. Not sure why that stuck in my mind from last year, I think because that FACT end of year round up was when I got into him.)

Going back to that to see if I've changed my mind or not

ha yeah, it was the fact that this track starts with 4 and a half minutes of undifferentiated synth washes that made me cranky, not so much about the track itself but holding it up in isolation as one of the best tracks of 2011

the tracks on Ghosts of Chechnya get to the point much, much faster, with sound textures I find more appealing, than the homogenously pretty wash going through the beginning of "Whitewashed Compound Stealth Helicopter Crash"

I wasn't that sold on him but 'Tehran Oil Pipeline Destruction Plot' was a total party rock anthem.

Jazz critic Ted Gioia's top 100:
http://tedgioia.com/bestalbumsof2012.html

I do like that Zita Swoon Group album though the concept (Belgian indie fuxxors jam with musicians from Burkina Faso) might not inspire confidence around these parts. Also good to see the Vijay Iyer and Eyvind Kang albums turn up on a list.

I still need to check that one out. Lots of non-jazz on his list--he's got Mickey Hart, David Byrne and others there.

Ugh, John Mayer, Galactic

There will be a P&J, by the way. Who will or won't vote in it, I don't know, but I'll be tabulating. I'm going to vote, myself, and my tabulation process will definitely be simpler if I don't have to reconcile my votes with anybody else's.

A Village Voice-run P&J, or can't you say?

Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to be mysterious. The Voice will be running P&J. I think ballots are probably going out fairly soon. I don't have anything to do with the editorial side, just the tabulation. (Since the demise of my previous work project I've rebuild the P&J stats for the last few years here: http://furia.com/pjs/. 2012 will be added after the results are published.)

Who would one talk to about getting back in the ballot loop at P&J? A few years ago I got dropped from the list when the procedure changed, and never bothered to get back on it. It's not life or death, but I wouldn't hate being a voter again.

i ain't doing no fucking pazz & jop. though i do love glenn mcdonald. if glenn owned the village voice i would totally do one.

I'm sure I'll get the invite soon enough. No idea if I'll participate in it or not.

We need more metal critics voting in P&J. Do it for the bands!

xp Much respect to anyone who listens to 817 new albums in a year, let alone 600 or 400, but I disagree with his statement on the left sidebar, "I believe
that the system of music discovery is broken in the current day." Compared to what, pre-internet when we only had a few print publications to recommend stuff? Gimme a break, man.

Johnny, you can reach Brian McManus via http://blogs.villagevoice.com/email.php?to=3716&author_name=Brian+McManus.

As for music discovery, yeah. Music "discovery" when I was a kid was my parents' car-radio, plus my friend who had more records than me, plus the statistical possibility that an 8-track from France might accidentally fall out of an airplane and land in my yard.

I was hit by a Charles Aznavour 8-track from the sky once. It's not a joking matter.

if p&j were widely snubbed by critics do u think there would be any widespread recognition in the wider press? generally the best thing is not just the results but the essays & analysis, which, if they are handled by the current staff...

grimes best p4k album of the year easy bet, so maybe she won't

Easy bet? Granted, it's harder to predict P4K results than it once was, but I'd be more comfortable saying it's Frank Ocean or Tame Impala.

It'll be Frank Ocean

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.

It's always weird seeing people who are invested in dance music have a completely different take on what happened in a year than me. The only one of those I've heard is Lindstrom, which was just alright, but I don't really do techno (especially the drier end), and I'm bored of most house and disco. For me, the dance albums I've loved have been Young Smoke, LOL Boys, Mala, Nina Kraviz, Lone, Silkie & Quest, Terror Danjah, DJ Rashad. Yeah, I know a couple of those fall into the genres I mentioned before, but they seem like pretty different takes on them than what was listed. I'll just never understand what people get out of stuff like Andy Stott or Voices from the Lake.

I was hit by a Charles Aznavour 8-track from the sky once. It's not a joking matter.

― Johnny Fever,

yes it fucking is .. and you know it ..

lol

i don't see grimes topping the p4k list yet would be surprised if it weren't at least top 5. my pet theory is that it'll either be kendrick or frank ocean to counterbalance bon iver last year. same reason why i don't think tame impala have a shot (also because their music is pretty bad)

rev, by "stuff like andy stott..." do you mean like specifically four-on-the-floor music that would never get played in a club, or spacey headphone electronic music in general?

(also because their music is pretty bad)

Well that's, like, your opinion, man.

And bad music has never been known to top P4k's poll.

yeah yeah i know but i have a p good feeling about this

it's all part of my larger pet theory about how the site is trying to position itself in the new decade, based on editorial & staff choices in the past 2 years

just checked out voices from the lake, it was very boring.

i find it spellbinding when it's late at night or very early on a grey morning or when i'm hungover or ill

dance music wise, i think i returned to techno in a big way this year, a lot of what i was into 2009-11 began to really bore me