Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

it's kind of funny to me to read breathless "zomg it's techno-meets-noise!" descriptions as if 80s/90s industrial dance never happened, though; this really reminds me of a quieter, dubby version of the Doubting Thomas album from 1991

Silent Servant is FANTASTIC btw, holy shit

Yay! Really goes off at about track 4.

Curious what DJP would think of Ugandan Methods, or Kareem. Check it.

Rev said this already but R&B/urban music is pretty hipsterish these days in general -- if you're listening to more than 4 R&B albums/mixtapes a year and checking for stuff like Jeremih then i'm going to class you as an R&B fan and nevermind to that other self-hating cultural anxiety horseshit.

hipsters like R&B it is tru

I was at a chicken wing sports bar last night and the jukebox had the goddamn Weeknd.

hipsters like chicken wings it is tru

they eat the wings with forks and knives

i said this earlier this mo. but i think im ok w/ going back to calling ppl 'hipsters'

the era of 'cmon who still says hipsters' is over, imo

do you credit Taylor Swift for this development

thing is even things that WERE certifiably 'hipster R&B' a year ago like Weeknd/Ocean are now topping album sales and radio airplay charts and getting Grammy noms so hanging onto that idea is pointless no matter how you use it

what up my hipsta

Noted British hipsters: Funkystepz, contributed a few Weeknd remixes this year.

basically calling anyone a hipster in earnest is just a way of calling someone a dickhead that makes you look like a bigger dickhead imo

thing is even things that WERE certifiably 'hipster R&B' a year ago like Weeknd/Ocean are now topping album sales and radio airplay charts and getting Grammy noms so hanging onto that idea is pointless no matter how you use it

― some dude, Thursday, December 6, 2012 9:24 AM (57 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

r&b fans becoming hipsters doesnt mean hipsters stop existing they are just more inclusive

basically calling anyone a hipster in earnest is just a way of calling someone a dickhead that makes you look like a bigger dickhead imo

― some dude, Thursday, December 6, 2012 9:25 AM (43 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

see thats been the prevailing logic but i think maybe its time for a retrenchment of anti hipster sentiment

it's what they DON'T rep for that's more telling. basically you can call them any synonym for dickhead you want, but if the only r&b you rep for is the slow sad dude shit (and lolbass remixes), i see u

t-swift feels me!

cosign silent servant love - DJP you should check out some sandwell district!

You make it very hard to be annoyed at you, Lex. Even if Taylor Swift is still incredibly..not..my...thing.

Wire hip hop list is p good although i think shy glizzy is not as good as noz seems to

Lex's 180 on the FACT magazine nodding-not-dancing UK bass stoner crew has been a joy to behold and I fully approve whatever the consistency of logic regarding the Birthday Sex dude.

FACT magazine nodding-not-dancing UK bass stoner crew

when i liked it you could dance to it, is the difference

or, it had hooks, and was fast

im kinda w/ lex that the new jeremih record was not all that

What you gonna hate on next, Adorn? Miguel = Hipster Music.

also i have always hated on the worst song on an otherwise amazing album

miguel is totes hipster music, his album cover looks like janelle monae's

good music tho

miguel's explicitly said he was aiming for the indie hipster audience with this album

i mean, it's really great and all, but there's still a whole swathe of r&b that doesn't fit into this faded/stoned/gentrified/vibesy aesthetic that gets flat-out ignored

In case anyone is still paying attention to the Guardian's endless rollout, their #7 is that Alt-J album. Never heard it myself.

The couple of Alt-J songs I listened to reminded me of tUNe-yaRds - or maybe I'm confusing them with Django Django.

OH MY GOD I DIDN'T REALISE UNTIL NOW WHAT THE ALT+J COMMAND ACTUALLY DID LOOOOOL, SUCH WALKING CLICHÉS

but there's still a whole swathe of r&b that doesn't fit into this faded/stoned/gentrified/vibesy aesthetic that gets flat-out ignored

This is true of basically any genre that has a mainsteam corner to it.

True, there is "hipster country" I guess, like maybe Justin Townes Earle, which gets more critical love than mainstream country, though less than pop-country like Taylor Swift.

but there's still a whole swathe of r&b that doesn't fit into this faded/stoned/gentrified/vibesy aesthetic that gets flat-out ignored

ignored by who? people like different music for whatever reason, it doesn't make them a hipster or indeed a dickhead. it's just their taste in music. you talk about rockism but my main memory of ilm railing against it was that it was about refuting the notion of received wisdom, or the idea that one piece of music was factually better than another.

people's right to personal taste is sacrosanct and above all else.

X-post Pop country rests like an oppressive smog over the rural areas of my homeland, I feel righteous in my hate.

there's still a whole swathe of r&b that doesn't fit into this faded/stoned/gentrified/vibesy aesthetic that gets flat-out ignored

Because it sounds significantly different? Surely every genre has people who like one aspect of it but not others. It's not all-or-nothing.

There's a difference between individuals liking what they like and a critical establishment pretty much ignoring a hefty swathe of a given genre that doesn't fit a particular aesthetic but that's how the vagaries of fashion work. But R&B isn't exactly unique in this regard.

disagree tbh lol

r&b fans becoming hipsters doesnt mean hipsters stop existing they are just more inclusive

ah okay i agree with this

It's not about fashion. It's about records being on the border of their genre and thus appealing to people who don't love the conventional tropes of that genre. It's the same process as any crossover record ever.

and the nature of a "critical establishment" in whatever sense those establishments matter anymore.

and the nature of a "critical establishment" in whatever sense those establishments matter anymore.

― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Thursday, December 6, 2012 10:24 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they dont disappear tho, they just become more diffuse. there are still dividing lines between acceptable & not

true, but they are definitely less influential as far as i can tell. plus you know, people can decide things for themselves. whether that's to agree with what they read or not. everyone is capable of doing this.

It's not about fashion. It's about records being on the border of their genre and thus appealing to people who don't love the conventional tropes of that genre. It's the same process as any crossover record ever.

But there are many different borders to any genre and different ones tend to cross over at any given time according to wider musical trends. The kind of R&B that was crossing over 10 and 5 years ago is totally different to the stuff that's crossing over now.

Yes, sure. I don't understand why this is a problem or down to the "critical establishment" though.

I hate the critical establishment. Sitting around in their leather easychairs like overgrown potatoes, smoking pipes and ignoring true r'n'b.

something like Elle Varner's "Refill" makes zero waves w. ~hipsters~ why is this & is it fair & etc

i mean, its not because its BAD because its not a bad song, it's a great one. but there are some choices it makes that are not coding as 'cool'

the idea that all hipsters like similar music, or even are similar people, or that there even is common ground among the vast array of people who one might brand a hipster, is pretty misguided. there's not even a need to say this surely?

Even though we can hear pretty much whatever we want to at any given time, there's still only limited listening time and a mindboggling and terrifying volume of stuff out there so it's hardly surprising that tastemakers (not just critics) are still influential and important, people still gravitate towards the things that are getting the most buzz. People can judge for themselves obviously and gratifyingly there are still instances of hype bandwagons falling flat on their faces.

Even though we can hear pretty much whatever we want to at any given time, there's still only limited listening time and a mindboggling and terrifying volume of stuff out there so it's hardly surprising that tastemakers (not just critics) are still influential and important, people still gravitate towards the things that are getting the most buzz.

but it's still their opinion as to whether they like a given thing. nobody is controlling that. and realistically if you are unhappy with what is being provided you have more freedom than ever, today, to either find music yourself, or to find other places that recommend it.

plus the consensus isn't so hard-wired anyway, it's not as if eg pitchfork dominates chart radio or mass media.