Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

Wire Modern Composition A-Z

William Berger/Iain Burnside - Insomnia
John Bishoff - Audio Combine
Philip Blackburn - Ghostly Palms
John Cage - Etudes Australes
John Cage - Sonatas & Interludes
Edison Denisov - Au Plus Haut Des Cieux
Barbara Monk Feldman - The Northern Shore
Michael Finnisy - Second & Third Quartets
Hans Werner Henze - In Lieblicher Blaue
Annea Lockwood - In Our Name
Anthony Pateras - Collected Works 2002-2012
Katharina Rosenberger - Texturen
Skogen - Ist Gefallen In Den Schnee
Frances White - In The Library Of Dreams
Joanna Wozny - As In A Mirror, Darkly

― Albert Crampus (NickB), Thursday, 6 December 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Appreciated Nick - checking out an interview with Rosenberger

Finnissy and a rec of Etude Australes (arguably the last great piece of his) are obvious highlights.

That Ariel Pink record's cover would make more sense (and be 10,000x more awesome) if it was called Ku Klux Clam.

points off for not being "Klam"

The KKK took my baby's vajayjay...

Klan Slam (thank you ma'am)

hey ship, not sure whether you're a dude who thought dashboard confessional was an elaborate joke or not, but the new further seems forever record seems in your emo/modern rock wheelhouse? it might end up in my list

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, December 7, 2012 10:30 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha yes dashboard stigma may be too much for me

Dummy's 20 best songs:

20. CFCF – Exercise 5 (September)
19. DELS – You Live In My Head
18. Girl Unit – Ensemble
17. Angel Haze – Cleaning Out My Closet
16. TNGHT – Higher Ground
15. Holy Other – Held
14. Disclosure – Latch (feat. Sam Smith)
13. Darkstar – Timeaway
12. d’Eon – Al-Qiyamah
11. Mykki Blanco – Wavvy
10. Evian Christ – MYD
9. Main Attrakionz – Love is Life
8. Kendrick Lamar feat. Gunplay – Cartoons and Cereal
7. Jai Paul – Jasmine
6. Jessie Ware – 110%
5. Kwes – Bashful
4. Kanye West feat. Big Sean and Jay Z – Clique
3. The xx – Fiction
2. Dean Blunt feat. Inga Copeland – The Narcissist
1. Usher – Climax

dying at this writeup from al's blog, part about "stop trippin, you can't control that freak" otm

3. Trey Songz f/ T.I. - "2 Reasons"
#7 R&B Hip-Hop Songs, #43 Hot 100
This year one of my favorite pet obsessions was to track the growing number of clappers on on urban radio, mostly because it'd been kind of an otherwise unremarked-upon phenomenon, but also because no one producer owned the sound, and pretty much every one that tackled it had their own take. And my favorite in 2012 was definitely "2 Reasons," which is just a fucking killer beat with all these squeaky turnarounds in the synth and an utterly ridiculous kick drum. I've always been kinda hot and cold on Trey Songz, but he's reliable with club bangers, and this one-ups "Bottoms Up" and even my beloved "Say Aah": "stop trippin', you can't control that freak" may be the single greatest vocal moment of his career. And unlike pretty much every other song on this list with a guest rapper, T.I.'s verse actually adds to the song. If the ignorant chorus bothers you, it's always easy to come up with replacement lyrics; my personal favorite is "I ONLY CAME HERE FOR 2 REASONS: DEEEEEEZ NUTZ!"

"stop trippin', you can't control that freak" may be the single greatest vocal moment of his career

yes

the way the drums knock on that part of the song is so sick too

I'm always distracted by T.I.'s hipster R&B outfit in the video clip.

"stop trippin', you can't control that freak" may be the single greatest vocal moment of his career

yes

― teledyldonix, Saturday, December 8, 2012 8:40 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the way the drums knock on that part of the song is so sick too

― some dude, Saturday, December 8, 2012 12:03 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

i kind of resented my first exposure to songz' 2012 material being in album form, he's such a singles artist but you can't help resent him a bit when you have to listen to 18 tracks or however many for work

Man that Dummy list is weird, not at all what I'd expect from them. It's a poll with a very small sample size though, sure to be somewhat random.

I had to stop riding for Songz as an album artist when he put out an album I could not get through this year. Ah well.

kalenna, elle varner, jade alston, keyshia cole, nikkiya, lyrica anderson, estelle, nina sky, even (relatively) dawn richard <= little to no buzz this year even though they made music that was as good or better than ocean, weeknd, miguel, jeremih

― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Thursday, December 6, 2012 12:05 PM (2 days ago)

wtf at putting miguel in the second camp

kalenna, elle varner, jade alston, keyshia cole, nikkiya, lyrica anderson, estelle, nina sky, even (relatively) dawn richard <= little to no buzz this year even though they made music that was as good or better than ocean, weeknd, miguel, jeremih

― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Thursday, December 6, 2012 12:05 PM (2 days ago)

a, bunch, of, artists, i, personally, like, a, great, deal <= better than a bunch of things most people seem to talk about

How is this not the plight of any person ever who actually digs a little deeper for music instead of just listening to the radio and buying, maybe, 6 cds a year?

http://i.imgur.com/DJGup.gif

i didn't buy any CDs this year

miguel makes perfect sense in the 2nd group. xp

i didn't buy any CDs this year

Well yeah, now the tables have turned and most of the people who still buy ANY cds are the ones not paying attention. Not so long ago, it was the 6 cds people vs. the 150 cds people. Now it's the 6 cds people vs. the 4000 mp3 albums people.

My baby's ill at the moment and I'm mega tired. I read this entire thread mistaking Cody Chesnutt for Vic Chesnutt, which was confusing on about ten different levels. I was like, I just don't understand anything any more. Why is he hipster R&B, the rules for this stuff are off the grid...

Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone, etc.

i have no prob with Miguel becoming a critical darling this year because he had literally the biggest (and imo best) R&B single of 2011 and critics fucking slept on him then, "Sure Thing" was #77 on Pazz & Jop. if it took him doing that 2 years in a row for critics to notice, good for them, better late than never!

Yeah Miguel totally feels like a mainstream artist that indie types have cottoned onto rather than a dude who started with an indier fanbase and took that into the mainstream as The Weeknd/Frank Ocean did.

I'm having trouble placing the dude who made 'Birthday Sex' in any hipster darling's equation as well.

That would've baffled me, too, had I not read this:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jeremih-late-nights-frank-ocean-weeknd-birthday-sex/Content?oid=7249509

the Jeremih mixtape is very good but i have no idea how it's 'ambitious' -- it's a mixtape that sounds like a mixtape, has some good producers/rappers of the moment.

yeah i mean i love it but i wouldn't call it ambitious in any way and truly i don't see any connection between frank ocean & the weeknd beyond "a mixtape" and it's not like the weeknd and frank ocean were the first ever r&b singers to release mixtapes. there is one song that sounds like the weeknd but that's it.

basically my least favorite critical stance is "i'm going to force together three records i like by imagining the artistic shortcomings of all the other equally similar/worthy records i haven't listened to"

that piece reminded me to listen to that mixtape after everyone on ILM was trashing it but it definitely was really straining for something that isn't there

listened to it a fair bit more since the big skirmish the other week, remains fine enough with the exception of 'feel the bass' which i'm surer than ever is up there among the best r&b cuts of the year

it's a decent mixtape i listened to it a bit. gucci's vere on 'outta control' i love and i regularly catch myself singing 'fuck you all the time' while doing the groceries. not as good as the albums but whatevs it's free music.

"doing" the groceries? gross, gudda gudda

are you guys talking about 2 different jeremih mixtapes?

'late nights'

oh you mean the piece was straining for something that isn't there nm

Pop Matters' The 75 Best Albums of 2012
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/tools/full/166270

This is going to be a bad pun, and I certainly don’t mean to make light of the situation, but Channel Orange was one big coming out party for Frank Ocean as an artist on a number of fronts.

this is why you have editors. theoretically, anyway.

can't say i've ever seen someone say that channel orange sounds like michael jackson, so that's a new one

love when editors don't think about the fact that a writer is calling the #61 album on their list "the best record of 2012"

xpost

Apparently no one explained what coming out means either

love when editors don't think about the fact that a writer is calling the #61 album on their list "the best record of 2012"

I also like how "owning the year" means 56 other albums get ranked about yours

Stereogum’s Top 40 Metal Albums Of 2012
http://stereogum.com/1215082/stereogums-top-40-metal-albums-of-2012/franchises/listomania/

THKD’s Top 20 Metal Albums of 2012
http://thatshowkidsdie.com/2012/12/10/thkds-top-20-metal-albums-of-2012/

Amanda Palmer owned the year because she raised enough money on Kickstarter to buy it

any publication that puts amanda palmer in its top 50 should be classified by the pentagon as a terrorist organization

i refuse to start on my lists in earnest until finally rich leaks

lol you gotta chill, it's an aite album

as in, wont make my top 10

do not diminish my enthusiasm deej!

i think the phrase you were looking for is "bitch don't kill my vibe"

bish

well played, sir