Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

haha, yeah that's very similar to who I imagined when I heard the name.

Father John Misty is the drummer from Fleet Foxes or something I think. Seriously.

Father John Misty - I'm Fine, Thanks

Father John Misty is Josh Tillmann - was the Fleet Foxes drummer for a while but also a solo artist before that. The album's good in that Bella Union vein - more John Grant than Fleet Foxes. He's got a nice dark sense of humour.

Might be interesting. I'm not a FF fan, but from the description it sounds like it could fit into the Josh T Pearson category maybe?

Filter is possibly the least interesting list yet. I don't know who Diamond Rugs are though, maybe they're awesome.

well, once you've seen 15 lists of pretty much the same albums in varying orders they all look pretty boring. is it right for me to moan about the marginalisation of metal/harder-edged rock and noise music on these lists? even the most supposedly eclectic publications seem to ignore the heavier end of the spectrum which is a massive shame considering the same fans of, say Liars, could easily love some of the (hate to use the term but here we go) post-metal stuff like UFOmammut and Om etc. Sometimes it feels like metal-genres are the final frontier for a lot of indie-type publications that have come round to embracing pop and r'n'b in the last few years.

I would expect to see a fair number of metal records when the Quietus does its list FWIW, but yeah the point stands.

Scott OTM in a general sort of way, the "Who needs x when you've got Paul Dolden" argument casts a wide net

Guardian number nine pick

I'm not discovering nothing from these lists.

Hot Chip released another album this year eh? They do crank em out. Maybe I'll get round to listening to Made In The Dark one day.

I do still love Gabriel from last year though.

The only way to be surprised by these lists is to actively avoid reading any and all critical discourse, including music threads here.

dog latin: a meatl album sighting - Black Breath are on Fact's list

The new Hot Chip is pretty good, probably better than One Life Stand, not quite as good as Made In The Dark.

I wouldn't exactly call it one of the best of the year though...

NickB: Black Breath are the daddy tits!

I thought I was going to love "Motion Sickness" until the intro ended

I do still love Gabriel from last year though.

definitely feel like joe goddard's come into his own over the past year production-wise - "gabriel", yes, also his remixes of delilah's "love you so" and especially jessie ware's "night light", which is just a flawless and astonishing thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZrThWeqmzs

(i give each new hot chip a dutiful listen but i'm even less interested in them now than i was back in the day, and even that was lukewarm. i'm sure his voice is getting worse.)

dog latin: a meatl album sighting - Black Breath are on Fact's list

― Albert Crampus (NickB), Tuesday, December 4, 2012 3:03 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also: Young Smoke is there. A good day for Latin dogs everywhere.

Am I the only person who dug the Project Undark Radium Girls 2011 stuff?

I guess the lack of response means that yes, yes I am.

:-) Young Smoke album is the most accessible tru-footwork record to date. I'd recommend it to anyone really, not just juke fans.

re: Hot Chip, it's his voice i can't stand and generally puts me off them.

you know who should really be on more of these lists, is Alabama Shakes

Brittany Howard is a force of nature

haha maybe I should have searched BEFORE I posted that

can anyone be arsed to write out the fact list? i'd do it but at work and stuff..

Probably not worth doing until they finish the roll out?

btw I am listening to Tame Impala right now and this is great

I also suspect that half the guitar bands out there now who bore me silly could convert me to a fan in five seconds by adding judicious amounts of flange to their guitar sounds so I guess you can call me the anti-n/a

I'm the other way round in that I think this is Hot Chip's best album, I went back and listened to The Warning fairly recently (which I suppose was their buzz album) and it's so clunky in comparison.

This is my favourite Joe Goddard production, Gabriel excluded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxHtclUAyLo

ooh, love Nneka, her song Shining Star AND Goddard, but didn't know this existed.

Brittany Howard is a force of nature

I'd love to see Alabama Shakes live, becz I hear this kind of thing about their performances. But the album, to me, seemed like an overachieving bar band. Totally fine, but not remarkable.

Co-sign on the Goddard Nneka remix, one of my most played tracks of the past few months.

this is where i admit i did not know the alabama shakes singer was a lady

this is where i admit i did not know the alabama shakes beach house singer was a lady

Ha, I only realized that with Bloom. Definitely thought that "Norway" song was sung by a dude.

I'd love to see Alabama Shakes live, becz I hear this kind of thing about their performances. But the album, to me, seemed like an overachieving bar band. Totally fine, but not remarkable.

― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 4 December 2012 15:55 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This. My missus loved the album though. I could imagine they're hella fun live.

People think Beach House girl is a guy? Really?

i know it's a woman and still sometimes absent-mindedly hear the voice as male when a record's on

I remember when people said they thought the Delays singer was a girl. idgi then, either.

This was my first exposure to Alabama Shakes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLPMAho8K-0

I don't hear Beach House as a man at all. Oh well. Reminds me of the time when (after listening to Rejoicing In The Hands for several weeks) that Devendra Banhart wasn't a septuagenarian 50-a-day Louisianan lady.

Magnet - Best Of 2012: Jazz/Improv
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2012/12/04/best-of-2012-jazzimprov/

MAGNET’s Bill Meyer picks the best jazz/improv releases of the year.

1 Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo Ancestors (TUM)
2 Keith Rowe & John Tilbury E.E. Tension And Circumstance (Potlatch)
3 Peter Brötzmann & Jason Adasiewicz Going All Fancy (Brö)
4 Joshua Abrams Represencing (Eremite)
5 Neneh Cherry & The Thing The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound)
6 Fast Citizens Gather (Delmark)
7 John Butcher, Eddie Prevost And Guillaume Vitard All But: Meetings With Remarkable Saxophonists Volume 2 (Matchless)
8 Sam Rivers/Dave Holland/Barry Altschul Reunion: Live In New York (Pi)
9 Living By Lanterns New Myth/Old Science (Cuneiform)
10 David S. Ware / Planetary Unknown Live At Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011 (Aum Fidelity)

Haven't kept up with jazz at all but that looks like an interesting list to me

I think I might be getting to the age where I start to get into jazz/improv. God help me. Is this like a genetic timebomb thingy or what?

As usual I've listened to a lot of albums on these lists the past couple weeks that I missed previously, or ignored. I'm really liking Light Asylum, reintroducing a little brutality to electro-pop. And what an interesting voice, I had no idea it was a woman the first time. OTOH, listening to too much Purity Ring, Chromatics and Chairlift makes me feel like I'm drowning in high fructose corn syrup. There's plenty to like in 'em, but maybe just once or twice a year for me. Cloud Nothings pushes about 1-1/2 of my buttons, the half being Lungfish flashbacks that are for some reason comforting! King Tuff is different than what I'd expect from a member of Witch, all scrappy twee power pop. Fun but not quite a top 100 candidate. I'm on the fence with Spoek Mathambo. Afro-dubstep, retro-futurist electro, political horror hop could be audio crack for me, but the songs aren't completely successful in tying it all together. More listening needed. Daphni, Andy Stott, Pye Corner Audio and Orbital are good, I just tend to forget to play electronic stuff as often. I made a new playlist for 'em. I've been enjoying the Cody Chesnutt album a bit more than, say, the Bobby Womack or even Frank Ocean.

The time when I was really into jazz was in my early twenties, I haven't got the time or the energy any more to listen to music as intently as I used to, and jazz really repays that sort of concentration imo. xp

I really wanted to enjoy the Spoek Mathambo album more than I did, but it was just a bit too clunky. His first one was more electronic-leaning but ultimately more satisfying.

^^

Yeah, the Spoek album is really frustrating. There are certainly some flashes of brilliance on it, but very few of the songs pull together in the ways I wish they would. I still think he is capable of dropping a mind-blowing album on us though.

Am I the only person who dug the Project Undark Radium Girls 2011 stuff?

I guess the lack of response means that yes, yes I am.

― emil.y, Tuesday, December 4, 2012 10:13 AM

It's not easily streamable, but I did find a Vimeo clip. Does it ever turn into something else, or is it continually just puttering around?

xpost yeah, he's def one to watch.

is it right for me to moan about the marginalisation of metal/harder-edged rock and noise music on these lists? even the most supposedly eclectic publications seem to ignore the heavier end of the spectrum which is a massive shame considering the same fans of, say Liars, could easily love some of the (hate to use the term but here we go) post-metal stuff like UFOmammut and Om etc. Sometimes it feels like metal-genres are the final frontier for a lot of indie-type publications that have come round to embracing pop and r'n'b in the last few years.

My theory is that a lot of folks don't realize there can be a happy medium between extreme metal/noise subgenres and Nickelback. So there's audiences/critics who can't quite get into black metal, grindcore, sludge, but think all other heavy rock, psych and metal is . . . redundant? Irrelevant? I guess I'm not the one to explain it, as that's what I like to listen to 90% of the time lately. I don't see how anyone couldn't appreciate, say, the amazing guitar tones of Colour Haze just as much as, say, the boring drones found in parts of the more highly acclaimed Swans and Godspeed! You Black Emperor albums. And yeah, I'm hoping the likes of Quietus, Rock-A-Rolla and Terrorizer at least don't sleep on the Ufomammut.

damn gorilla vs bear taking a bold stand against frank ocean

― J0rdan S., Monday, December 3, 2012 11:14 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a lot of pubs are doing this right? i.e. spin taking a brave stand against Grimes

"THIS is the thing lots of people like that we will call people SHEEP for falling for"

its probably not very good strategy, ppl are even resurrecting Salem these days