Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

'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.

7. Kellie Pickler, “100 Proof”

On her third album, this “American Idol” survivor finally uses that big voice to sing big songs about no-good men, absentee parents, the ghost of Tammy Wynette and her own backbone, which suddenly sounds as if it were made of aerospace-grade titanium.

aaagh i must remember to go back to this - i remember playing it once and really enjoying it but it totally got lost in the shuffle of a hectic life

props for putting popcaan in his top 10 as well

"bandz a make her dance" too

it's interesting to see acts that were top 10 in every EOY list with their last album (or last few albums) drop off this year -- Animal Collective the most obvious example but it also looks like Grizzly Bear, The xx, Beach House, Dirty Projecters etc. taking a hit.

xp his #1 completely & utterly nukes any props earned subsequently

Hahaha wow that is bad.

i didn't even know any Americans ever heard that guy's music anymore. CR is a good dude but i disagree with him as often as i agree with him, kind of respect when he comes out of left field with something like that.

xp his #1 completely & utterly nukes any props earned subsequently

his #1 in tracks too

xxxpost yeah, and those aren't (necessarily) worse albums. the beach house one is quite significantly better than the other stuff they've done. still not fussed about it though.

Yeah the Beach House was the first of theirs that I found myself paying any attention to - I suppose b/c even if lots of stuff around does sound rather like Heaven or Las Vegas this is the first thing I've heard from modern types that really really really sounds like it.

80s retro-nostalgia vs 90s retro-nostalgia FITE

My problem with the 90s nostalgia stuff (Beach House etc) is that it's always the same 3-4 bands (Cocteaus, Slowdive) who seem to be being referenced by so many new bands. It also seems a lot less inspired than the 80s retro craze of last decade. Rather than, as before, saying "we're inspired by new wave (or) electro (or) synth-pop, but we try and put a modern take on that sound", it feels more like bands like Beach House et al just want to sound like one or two specific acts. My entire problem with BH is that they just make me want to hear Heaven Or Las Vegas to the point I can't get through more than a song or two without this happening.