Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

T.I. ain't gonna win with critics this time around either way

state vs radric davis was released dec 2009 iirc, i'd say it hurt gucci's hipster buzz. also, chief keef's album is coming out dec 18th

Last Train To Paris took more than a year to grow to its current critical stature, don't think it would've mattered that much if it dropped in June (although i voted for it at the time ha)

― RIP Gramp C (some dude), Wednesday, December 5, 2012 6:09 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

among who? what is its current critical stature? all i know is a bunch of ilxors love it, haven't heard much else. if anything it was hurt by being released same time as mbdtf

I listened to that Heatsick EP again on my way out tonight and I'd forgotten about the terrible sub-Calvin Harris singing on the second track. Still enjoyed it though. Steve!

There's singing? Somehow I blocked that out too...

lol it's true: loving Last Train to Paris has drawn more wtf reactions from non-ILX friends than any record I've championed in the last few years.

Unfortunately it's not sub-Clifford Harris singing.

xpost

i'm not saying LTTP's rep has grown tons -- but i think the Dawn Richard EP will appear (or maybe already has) on more lists this year than it ever did, and that speaks volumes

mmm yeah ok i feel you

If Last Train To Paris had been released earlier it would have been number 2 on my albums of 2010 list rather than number 3.

I dopn't know that its general critical stature has grown, maybe more a case of people who loved it at the time now shifting the dialogue towards it being a "lost" classic. That shift will definitely help its longterm rep.

What Dawn has done since definitely feeds into that, but has she appeared on any lists other than Guardian and Gorilla vs Bear?

Okay, let's do some of this thing:

Wire Magazine - Avant Rock A-Z

Aluk Todolo - Occult Rock
Oren Ambarchi - Raga Ooty/Nilgiri Plateau
Oren Ambarchi - Sagittarian Domain
Jessica Bailiff - At The Turned-Down Jagged Rim Of The Sky
Crazy Spirit - s/t
Richard Dawson - Magic Bridge
Fushitsusha - Mabushii Itazura Na Inori
Howling Hex - Wilson Semiconductors
the One Ensemble - Oriole
People of the North - Steep Formations
Swans - The Seer
Alexander Tucker - Third Mouth
Alexander Turnquist - Like Sunburned Snowflakes
Two Wings - Love's Spring
Richard Youngs - Amaranthine

Have no idea who half of those artists are. Anyone know what the Richard Youngs is like?

Wire Magazine - Critical Beats A-Z

Blacksmif - And The Sun Rose Out
Boddika - Acid Jackson
Chunky - Rugged
Coki - Onboard
Funkystepz - Jigga
JME - 96 Fuckries
Lorca - Love Like This (Lorca Refix)
Mr Mitch - Super Freak
Psychemagik - Valley of Paradise (Time & Space Machine Remix)
Randomer - We Laugh, We Scream
Myth Rychards - Rock Rock The Spot
SBTRKT - Hold On (Sisi Bakbak Remix)
Shy One - Aztec Bwoy
Silkie & Swindle - Unlimited
Visionist - Control This

I heard that One Ensemble album is ace but can't verify that for myself.

^ all Joe Muggs picks btw xp

Oren Ambarchi ones are great if you like Ben Frost-style tense and menacing guitar soundscapes

Richard Youngs releases have confused me this year cos there's been a few of them. I've heard both Core To The Brave and Rurtain which are both excellent and very much on the noisier side of things. Think I missed Amaranthine. Is it vinyl only or something?

Yeah I'd heard CttB and Rurtain as well, Amaranthine completely passed me by...turns out it even got a Pitchfork review, and there's a couple of tracks streaming here: https://soundcloud.com/miemusic/sets/richard-youngs-amaranthine

Wire Magazine - Electronica A-Z

Bee Mask - Unripe Pears
Carter Tutti Void - Transverse
Vladislav Delay - Espoo
Diamond Version - EP1
Fay - Din
Mark Fell - Sentielle Objectif Actualité
Russell Haswell - Factual
Heatsick - Deviation
Robert Hood - Motor: Nighttime World 3
Khan Kurra - World View EP
Konx-Om-Pax - Regional Surrealism
Lukid - Lonely At The Top
Monolake - Ghosts
NHK'Koyxen - Dance Classics Vol 1
Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

Wire Magazine - Hiphop A-Z

Chief Keef - Back From The Dead
Future - Pluto
Gucci Mane - Trap Back
Gunplay - Bogota Rich: The Prequel
Ka - Grief Pedigree
King Louie - Val Venis
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, mAAd city
Starlito - Post Traumatic Stress
Ty Dolla $ign & Joe Moses - WHOOP!
Shy Glizzy - Law

Have been enjoying that Bee Mask album today.

emil.y will be chuffed to know that the Telescopes made Byron's Size Matters list

Wire - Outer Limits A-Z

Stephen Cornford - Binatone Galaxy
Angharad Davies/Tisha Mukarji/Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga - Outwash
Aaron Dillaway - Modern Jester
Kevin Drumm - Relief
Helm - Impossible Symmetry
Eli Keszler - Catching Net
Thomas Koner - Novaya Zemlya
Jason Lescalleet - Songs About Nothing
Perispirit - Spiritual Church Movement
Michael Pisaro & Toshiya Tsunoda - Crosshatches
Vanessa Rossetto - Exotic Exit
Floris Vanhoof - Cycles of Confusion
Ben Vida - esstends-esstends-esstends
John Wall & Mark Durgan - John Wall & Mark Durgan
Nate Young - Regression Vol 3: Other Days

Dusted have started their EOY features (they don't have a big best-of list, just individual writers' lists): http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/category/38

Aluk Todolo album is great, Sean

who did the hip-hop list for the Wire, Noz?

I like "Modern Jester," but I wish I liked it MORE. Nothing compares to "Chain Shot," basically.

I need to scope out those Nate Young regression discs

Seriously if I get an iTunes GC for Xmas it's gone in a blink

that looks like a Noz list alright. Never heard of Shy Glizzy tho

The Wire hip-hop list is by Noz and Jack Law.

i'd like to see a lot more of Ka's Grief Pedigree on these lists

Glad to see that Aluk Todolo showing up, its a fantastic record. Black metal krautrock.

not that anyone will be around to fact check this but i get the sense that LTTP will pop up on many more "half-decade" or w/e lists than it did on EOY lists. i think it's starting to get its due as people start to pay more attention to dawn and realize that diddy was doing dark r&b obsessed w/ sade years before any of these clowns

by people you mean "us" right

nah it has resonated beyond ilx

well, I also included critics but if artists have noticed then awesome.

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

― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Wednesday, 5 December 2012 13:16 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Was this confirmed as a prankpost?

what is a "prankpost" smh

"springsteen" is such a great song though, it's basically like a male version of t-swift's "tim mcgraw" (which as we all know is the finest song ever written by anyone, like, ever)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gGXlW6wSY

sucker for any song with the lyric "funny how a melody sounds like a memory" in the chorus

THANK YOU FOR POSTING THAT! I heard it once earlier this year on...Paul Gambaccccccccini's Radio 2 Saturday night US chart show, had been trying to remember it ever since. Boss tune.

not that anyone will be around to fact check this but i get the sense that LTTP will pop up on many more "half-decade" or w/e lists than it did on EOY lists. i think it's starting to get its due as people start to pay more attention to dawn and realize that diddy was doing dark r&b obsessed w/ sade years before any of these clowns

idk sadly i don't really see anyone on the LTTP train who didn't love it at the time - diddy is STILL treated as a joke by the critical consensus, you rarely even see LTTP discussed or referred to (glaring in an era when its concerns and sounds should make it far more of a thing than it is). in a weird way i think what (again, relatively little) praise dawn has garnered is almost despite her diddy connections.

Damn, I just realized that the Compilation for a Cat bandcamp is empty :(

Yeah I'd agree with Lex really, I think Dawn is gaining a rep as people forget that she was in that diddy girl group.

Clash magazine
http://www.clashmusic.com/features/the-top-40-albums-of-2012

1. BOBBY WOMACK The Bravest Man In The Universe (XL Recordings)
2. ALT-J An Awesome Wave (INFECTIOUS MUSIC)
3. FRANK OCEAN ‘Channel ORANGE’ (MERCURY)
4. DEATH GRIPS ‘The Money Store’ (EPIC)
5. GRIMES ‘Visions’ (4AD)
6. EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS ‘Here’ (VAGRANT/ROUGH TRADE)
7. FLYING LOTUS ‘Until The Quiet Comes’ (WARP)
8. DJANGO DJANGO ‘Django Django’ (BECAUSE MUSIC)
9. BETH JEANS HOUGHTON AND THE HOOVES OF DESTINY ‘Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose’ (MUTE)
10. GRIZZLY BEAR ‘Shields’ (WARP)
11. JACK WHITE ‘Blunderbuss’ (XL Records)
12. GANG COLOURS ‘The Keychain Collection’ (BROWNSWOOD)
13. TAME IMPALA ‘Lonerism’ (MODULAR)
14. KENDRICK LAMAR ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ (AFTERMATH / INTERSCOPE)
15. KINDNESS ‘World, You Need A Change Of Mind’ (FEMALE ENERGY/POLYDOR)
16. NENEH CHERRY AND THE THING ‘The Cherry Thing’ (SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND)
17. THE XX ‘Coexist’ (XL)
18. THE WEEKND ‘Trilogy’ (ISLAND)
19. THE MACCABEES ‘Given To The Wild’ (POLYDOR)
20. EFTERKLANG ‘Piramida’ (4AD)
21. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE ‘Centipede Hz’ (DOMINO)
22. SWANS ‘The Seer’ (YOUNG GOD)
23. LIARS ‘WIXIX’ (MUTE)
24. POLIÇA ‘Give You The Ghost’ (MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES)
25. JIMMY CLIFF ‘Rebirth’ (ISLAND)
26. SHACKLETON ‘Music For the Quiet Hour’ (WOE TO THE SEPTIC HEART)
27. PERFUME GENIUS ‘Put Ur Back N 2 It’ (MATADOR)
28. MATTHEW DEAR ‘Beams’ (GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL)
29. CHROMATICS ‘Kill For Love’ (ITALIANS DO IT BETTER)
30. MICACHU AND THE SHAPES ‘Never’ (Rough Trade)
31. ACTRESS ‘R.I.P.’ (HONEST JONS)
32. DZ DEATHRAYS ‘Bloodstreams’ (HASSLE)
33. JAKE BUGG ‘Jake Bugg’ (MERCURY)
34. MARCONI UNION ‘Different Colours’ (JUST MUSIC)
35. THE VACCINES ‘Come Of Age’ (COLUMBIA)
36. JULIA HOLTER ‘Ekstasis’ (IGetRVNG)
37. BRETON ‘Other People’s Problems’ (FATCAT)
38. YEASAYER ‘Fragrant World’ (MUTE)
39. THE SHINS ‘Port Of Morrow’ (Columbia)
40. Willis Earl Beal ‘Acoustmatic Sorcery’ (XL)

How many lists have both Death Grips albums?

Yeah I'd agree with Lex really, I think Dawn is gaining a rep as people forget that she was in that diddy girl group.

tbh i think most people steadfastly refuse to believe dawn and kalenna had any agency in it to begin with

Exactly - glorified back-up singers.

That Clash list has the worst case of one album too late that I've ever seen.

i haven't seen any Dawn press that has downplayed or sneak dissed D-DM -- Danity Kane on the other hand

it's an odd situation because on the one hand it's the peg for covering her at all, on the other it's a peg that affords her attention but not necessarily respect

also a lot of this is skewed by so much of her coverage coming from US