Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

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

sir(s)

Stool Pigeon:
http://www.thestoolpigeon.co.uk/features/albums-of-the-year-2012.html

The decision to run that as a series of paragraphs in essay form rather than as an actual list is super irritating

hey everyone deej has heard the chief keef album i dont know if he mentioned it

all the backpedaling in the "frank ocean coming out party" pun is like dude got a bad idea in his head and he had to like get it out and so he wrote all these loopholes and get-outs and its like maybe you just need another lede, dogg. it's like when cartman hears the first notes of "come sail away" and has to sing the whole song

lol otm

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-comedy-albums-of-2012,89649/

dying @ a/v club braggin about ilx-style point systems

Comedians tend to prepare for their albums meticulously, working out material over months and months to get every beat, every joke to where it needs to be. It’s a long, arduous process, and it may never feel finished.

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/harvey_head_big.jpg

Stereogum readers top 20 tracks:

20. Chromatics – “Kill For Love”
19. Kendrick Lamar – “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst”
18. Death Grips – “I’ve Seen Footage”
17. Jessie Ware – “Wildest Moments”
16. Purity Ring – “Fineshrine”
15. Major Lazer (Feat. Amber Coffman) – “Get Free”
14. Spiritualized – “Hey Jane”
13. Solange – “Losing You”
12. Fiona Apple – “Every Single Night”
11. Dirty Projectors – “Gun Has No Trigger”
10. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
09. Twin Shadow – “Five Seconds”
08. Cloud Nothings – “Wasted Days”
07. Bat For Lashes – “Laura”
06. Beach House – “Myth”
05. Grimes – “Oblivion”
04. Tame Impala – “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”
03. Frank Ocean – “Pyramids”
02. Grizzly Bear – “Yet Again”
01. Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Buil

Chris Richards of the Washington Post listed his top albums and tracks and talked about 'em

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/best-pop-music-of-2012-frank-ocean-leads-list-of-years-top-10-albums/2012/12/05/33bad9e2-3b04-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_story.html

Here's his album list (without his comments)

1. Frank Ocean, “Channel Orange”

2. Neil Young and Crazy Horse, “Psychedelic Pill”

3. Jessie Ware, “Devotion”

4. Future, “Pluto”

5. Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang, “En Yay Sah”

6. Fresh and Onlys, “Long Slow Dance”

7. Kellie Pickler, “100 Proof”

8. A Tribe Called Red, “A Tribe Called Red”

9. Dierks Bentley, “Home”

10. Laurel Halo, “Quarantine”

that Tribe Called Red album is dope but I kind of forgot about it. cool to see it get some props

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zH9wHWMi_k

Yeah that's one thing I picked up from these lists this year. I haven't heard the whole thing yet but plan on listening when I'm in the right mood.

Saw A Tribe Called Red Quest show and loved it...

fit well in a club context, really fun time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBCoDAbh3yM

AVC http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-2012,89711/1/

24. Pilot To Gunner - Guilty Guilty
24. Dion - Tank Full of Blues
23. Bob Dylan - Tempest
22. Cat Power - Sun
21. Sun Kil Moon - Among The Leaves
18. The Walkmen - Heaven
18. Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense
18. Field Music - Plumb
17. The Men - Open Your Heart
16. Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
15. Rush - Clockwork Angels
14. Grizzly Bear - Shields
13. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
12. Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
11. Kendrick Lamar - GKMC
10. P.O.S. - We Don't Even Live Here
8. Titus Andronicus - Local Business
8. Bob Mould - Silver Age
7. Swans - The Seer
6. Jack White - Blunderbuss
5. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
4. Sharon von Etten - Tramp
3. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory
2. Japandroids - Celebration Rock
1. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

Not enough Beak> in these things.

whenever i read an AVC music list i feel like i'm looking at the opinions of a small group of friends i don't really know on my facebook wall who all like all the same exact taste and enthusiastically love the same boring albums because every time they discover a new one they share it with each other

actually this is most collective lists but AVC is just so boring about it

It’s been a momentous year for Frank Ocean: a heart-stopping TV debut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon that couldn’t help but go viral; dropping off of a tour with Coldplay; being covered by Afghan Whigs; the revelation of an other-than-straight sexuality.

i mean i know this is the AV club but come on

I guess that would matter if Frank Ocean is an Afghan Whigs fan.

the one rap album better than kendrick: p.o.s.