Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

*Oranshe

We spent a bunch

Rolling Stone know their demographic and goddamit they're going to pander to them.
--Deafening silence (DL)

How would this read if it was Kendrick

I mean if you read these threads, every mag is either "pandering" or "trying to be ______" or "trying to hard" with their number one choice. I think Springsteen is a fine choice for an RS list

hang on the song "springsteen" or the artist springsteen? the former is awesome, had no idea the latter was still active or alive or whatever

Springsteen actually died in 1992, this is a Tupac style remix album.

People like the Gaslight Anthem and former members of REM and Michael Franti providing backing tracks for his vocals.

Did RS release its full list?

TS: dadrock pandering vs contempt for the actual tastes/opinions of yr readers

the Eric Church song is def way better than anything Springsteen did this year, but i would never expect Rolling Stone to acknowledge that

RS top 4 is Bruce, Frank, Jack and Bob

Then there's Fiona Apple, Kendrick, Edward Sharpe, Green Day, Japandroids, Neil Young

What about Neil?

I heard his horse went crazy

standing by the Green Day shitshow is more embarrassing than all the senior citizens on that list combined

did they pick just one album for the list or all 3?

Think it's just the first one

xpost It's not picking a Springsteen album that's the problem. It's that it's not all that great a Springsteen album.

xp Depends on whether or not you think this is a great Springsteen album.

are you kidding, of course it isn't!

That's my point, though Whiney seems to think otherwise.

For me "pandering" is the difference between RS/Uncut recognising a veteran at his late-period best and just honouring him because he's a veteran.

Okay it is just ¡Uno! according to some Green Day forum

Someone had the full list there btw

1. Wrecking Ball - Bruce Springsteen
2. Channel Orange - Frank Ocean
3. Blunderbuss - Jack White
4. Tempest - Bob Dylan
5. The Idler Wheel... - Fiona Apple
6. good kid, m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar
7. Here - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
8. !Uno! - Green Day
9. Celebration Rock - Japandroids
10. Psychedelic Pill - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
11. Babel - Mumford & Sons
12. Rebirth - Jimmy Cliff
13. Old Ideas - Leonard Cohen
14. The Only Place - Best Coast
15. Locked Down - Dr. John
16. Sun - Cat Power
17. Born and Raised - John Mayer
18. Life is Good - Nas
19. Mirage Rock - Band of Heroes
20. R.A.P. Music - Killer Mike
21. Attack on Memory - Cloud Nothings
22. Slipstream - Bonnie Raitt
23. A Thing Called Divine Fits - Divine Fits
24. Cruel Summer - G.O.O.D. Music
25. Sunken Condos - Donald Fagen
26. Django Django - Django Django
27. Blak and Blu - Gary Clark Jr.
28. Bloom - Beach House
29. Away From the World - Dave Matthews Band
30. 1991 - Azealia Banks
31. Red - Taylor Swift
32. Hospitality - Hospitality
33. Visions - Grime
34. Boys & Girls - Alabama Shakes
35. Shields - Grizzly Bear
36. The Bravest Man in the Universe - Bobby Womack
37. Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now - Justin Townes Earl
38. Local Business - Titus Andronicus
39. Gossamer - Passion Pit
40. Escort - Escort
41. The Carpenter - The Avett Brothers
42. Europe - Allo Darlin'
43. Some Nights - fun.
44. Not Your Kind of People - Garbage
45. Rich Forever - Rick Ross
46. The 2nd Law - Muse
47. Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables - Todd Snider
48. Oceania - The Smashing Pumpkins
49. Folila - Amadou and Mariam
50. Swing Lo Magellan - Dirty Projectors

haha someone else gets the Cruel Summer gasface

No Lame Impala in there afaics

I like the idea of Band of Heroes. Are they some Tea Party answer to Band of Horses?

nice to see Grime on a 2012 list, didn't know if that stuff was still being made

No XX or ZZ on that list either

30. 1991 - Azealia Banks

this is a four-track EP, one song of which was her big 2011 hit. how in the world is this being classed alongside albums.

Still super curious about that Dr John album

The next installment of the Fact list is up and starts here if anyone cares:
http://www.factmag.com/2012/12/03/the-50-best-albums-of-2012/22/

eh if an EP has more than 3 songs i think it's fair game for album lists

lol i think there are maybe 3 albums in the entire fact list so far i rate, and a great deal that i hate

also finding out that the price i pay for getting excited about so many of my favs making it into the guardian's 40-11 is being underwhelmed by the top 10

i siiiiiigh

The Wire list has landed:

1. Laurel Halo - Quarantine
2. Sun Araw & M Geddes Gengras meet the Congos - Icon Give Thank
3. Actress - RIP
4. Jakob Ullmann - Fremde Zeit - Addendum
5. Jason Lescalleet - Songs About Nothing
6. CC Hennix & The Chora(s)san Time-Court Mirage - Live at the Grimm Museum 1
7. Bob Dylan - Tempest
8. Julia Holter - Ekstasis
9. Carter Tutti Void - Transverse
10. Ricardo Villalobos - Dependent and Happy
11. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
12. Josephine Foster - Blood Rushing
13. Fushitsusha - Mabushii Itazura Na Inori
14. Haino/O'Rourke/Ambarchi - Imikuzushi
15. Death Grips - The Money Store
16. Emptyset - Medium
17. Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful
18. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems
19. V/A - Wandelweiser und so Weiter
20. Morton Feldman - Crippled Symmetry: At June in Buffalo
21. Richard Skelton - Verse of Birds
22. The Bohman Brothers - Back on the Streets
23. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
24. Michael Pisaro and Toshiya Tsunoda - Crosshatches
25. Bass Clef - Reeling Skullways
26. Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester
27. Killer Mike - RAP Music
28. Shackleton - The Drawbar Organ/Music for the Quiet Hour
29. Rhodri Davies - Wound Response
30. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes
31. Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers
32. Thomas Koner - Novaya Zemlya
33. Annea Lockwood - In our Name
34. Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
35. Lee Gamble - Diversions 1994-1996
36. Heatsick - Deviation
37. Duane Pitre - Feel Free
38. Raime - Quarter Turns over a Living Line
39. Swans - The Seer
40. Mark Ernestus Presents Jeri-Jeri with Mbene Diatta Seck - Mbeuguel Dafa Nekh
41. Cooly G - Playin' Me
42. Traxman - Da Mind of Traxman
43. DJ Rashad - Teklife Vol. 1: Welcome to the Chi
44. Charles Gayle Trio - Streets
45. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
46. Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Games
47. Peter Cusack - Sounds from Dangerous Places
48. Pelt - Effigy
49. DVA - Pretty Ugly
50. Brotzmann/Satoh/Moriyama - Yatagarasu

eh if an EP has more than 3 songs i think it's fair game for album lists

16 minutes long? barely over 10 minutes of new (to this year) material? i think 6 is the minimum of (normal length) tracks i'd want before classing it alongside an album.

Hahaha that Passion Pit album is terrible

11. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

wow, review copies way in advance for the whole staff?

18. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

hurrah

i don't think it really matters if a record's lead single came out the year before either! that happens all the time!

the music being by Azealia Banks is a much bigger issue

Is Rolling Stone the only publication to have rated the Nas album so far? I'm aware I probably like it more than most people here but I thought it would placed in more publications even as a token pick.

it's in the fact list

it's alright, wouldn't be in my list but it's a lot better than a lot of stuff that is ending up in these lists

It seems both Heatsick and Helm released albums this year I knew nothing about the existence of. Bah.

The Heatsick one is an EP, I think. It's pretty good!

Re: The Wire

Surprised at the high Dylan placing. Surprised by the low Swans placing.

Guess it's not a surprise, but happy to see

14. Haino/O'Rourke/Ambarchi - Imikuzushi

getting a mention, it's killer-diller.

And does anybody know anything about this? Totally passed me by -

40. Mark Ernestus Presents Jeri-Jeri with Mbene Diatta Seck - Mbeuguel Dafa Nekh

Thanks for posting the Wire list! Top ten for Bob Dylan is the biggest surprise on there for me, but then I haven't heard it or read any reviews of it so there you go.

The Heatsick record is good fun! Have tried the Helm one a few times but it's never really stuck with me.

40. Mark Ernestus Presents Jeri-Jeri with Mbene Diatta Seck - Mbeuguel Dafa Nekh

It's just a 12" with a remix on the B-side. A-side is a pretty good Senegalese Mbalax track with relatively light production tricks.

Here we go:

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

The Wire also has a big reissues list - top 5 is Laurie Spiegel/Can/Pauline Oliveros/Don Cherry/AR Kane - and the usual genre lists, but I'll let someone else type those out...

That reminds me, it's been a bit disappointing to see no mention of the Shangaan Shake album so far. xp

Wait a second, according to my calculations, Josephine Foster and Six Organs of Admittance have both made it to exactly one list?
I have some questions regarding critical abandonment.

one list each, not the same list
Wire and some dad mag iirc?

Nice to find out Annea Lockwood released something this year, but I'm going to back to it later. Definitely not morning listening (nor would I expect it to be).

FACT's top twenty reissues (there's actually forty but i got tired)

20: LAURIE SPIEGEL - THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE (UNSEEN WORLDS)
19: PYROLATOR - AUSLAND (BUREAU B)
18: PARRIS MITCHELL - ‘ALL NIGHT LONG’ (WICKED BASS)
17: DAVID LYNCH & ALAN R. SPLET - ERASERHEAD (SACRED BONES)
16: DREXCIYA - JOURNEY OF THE DEEP SEA DWELLER II / JOURNEY OF THE DEEP SEA DWELLER III (CLONE CLASSIC CUTS)
15: VARIOUS ARTISTS - STRANGE PASSION: EXPLORATIONS IN IRISH POST-PUNK DIY AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC 1980-1983 (CACHE CACHE / FINDERS KEEPERS)
14: STERAC - SECRET LIFE OF MACHINES: REMASTERED AND REMIXED (100% PURE)
13: ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - RIFTS (SOFTWARE)
12: THE BURRELL BROTHERS - THE NU GROOVE YEARS: 1988-1992 (RUSH HOUR)
11: CODEINE - WHEN I SEE THE SUN (NUMERO GROUP)
10: RAEKWON - ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX: THE PURPLE TAPE (GET ON DOWN)
09: BOB CHANCE - IT’S BROKEN (TRUNK)
08: KW GRIFF FEAT. PORKCHOP - ‘BRING IN THE KATZ’ (NIGHT SLUGS)
07: PAPERCLIP PEOPLE / PSYCHE/BFC - THE SECRET TAPES OF DR EICH / ELEMENTS (PLANET E)
06: CLEANERS FROM VENUS - BOX SET VOL. 1 (CAPTURED TRACKS)
05: LEGO FEET - LEGO FEET (SKAM)
04: SLEEP - DOPESMOKER (SOUTHERN LORD)
03: RUFF SQWAD - WHITE LABEL CLASSICS (NO HATS NO HOODS)
02: FRANCIS BEBEY - AFRICAN ELECTRONIC MUSIC 1975-1982 (BORN BAD)
01: MONOTON - MONOTONPRODUKT07 (DESIRE)