Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

my most-delayed eoy chore is giving The MF Life one more front-to-back listen to honestly assess whether i'm being too kind to it

I really like both the Lando Kal and Tom Demac tracks from the XLR8R poll, but in whose warped mind are they topped by that George Fitzgerald schlock? The RA poll this year seemed significantly more conservative than previous years. Pretty much strictly house for the top 10 and otherwise just safe bets for a few token non-house genres.

tbh i am kinda glad that RA didn't feel the need to make token non-dance gestures in their eoy lists this year, and i'm not seeing pachanga boys or anthony naples on any other lists so it's weird to call it conservative. maybe i just like more focused genre lists though?

the juno list is also really good and pretty stylistically similar to the ra list

non-house /= non-dance!

Thanks for the tip on the Juno list.

one of the best UK techno records in a generation

Wow, really? I don't listen to that much UK techno specifically, but I'd think that would apply more to Getting Me Down. Maybe that's not technically techno?

pachanga boys

And yeah by "conservative" I meant leaning heavily towards dad techno.

non-house /= non-dance!

well yeah, but in the past ra hasn't exactly included much outside of the techno/house/post-dubstep world, but they would throw in a few more token indie picks than they did this year

idk half of the ra list hasn't really shown up elsewhere, dad techno or no

Christianity Today - Top Albums of 2012
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/december-web-only/2012-ct-music-awards.html?

1. Phil Madeira (et al.), Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us (Tone Tree Music)
2. Bonnie Raitt, Slipstream (Redwing Records)
3. Punch Brothers, Who's Feeling Young Now?(Nonesuch)
4. Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball(Columbia)
5. Andrew Peterson, Light for the Lost Boy (Centricity Music)
6. Anais Mitchell, Young Man in America (Thirty Tigers)
7. Carolina Chocolate Drops, Leaving Eden(Nonesuch)
8. Bob Dylan, Tempest (Columbia)
9. Andrew Osenga, Leonard the Lonely Astronaut(101 Distribution)
10. Julie Lee, Julie Lee & the Baby-Daddies (Still House Road Music)
11. Rosie Thomas, With Love (101 Distribution)
12. Lecrae, Gravity (Reach Records)

So,they're broad-minded about some/most of those Tempest lyrics?

or Tempestlyrics even?

mercy on the near-sighted typists

I'm glad TRAXMAN and Rashad are appearing on these lists, but Young Smoke isn't getting a lot of love and that was my favourite footwork LP of the year, certainly better than Traxman's effort.

Speaking of which:

http://www.spin.com/articles/best-dance-electronic-EDM-albums-2012

fairly sure only someone who believes they know what "dad-techno" is would use the term "dad-techno"

adult contechnorary

It's true, I'm actually a big fan of dad techno. But still.

What's some good dad techno?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwqZ48XZoNg

http://rlv.zcache.co.uk/official_my_dad_loves_techno_trucker_hat-p148086321445607244en7ly_216.jpg

Got zero time for bands wanting to revive Slowdive unless it's the first track on Pygmalion.

was casually trying to pick up this thread and passed by this tim f post. totally OTM. 'rutti' is stunning and the only track i can listen from slowdive nowadays - even tho i don't really need to.

(in a way, labradford kinda did that sometimes. albeit in a less "underwater romance" way)

Complex's top 50 albums:

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/12/2012-year-in-review-the-50-best-albums-of-2012/

well, d-40 throwing shade at spin's list is FINALLY RICH

though all kidding aside, Ka in the top 10 is a dope move

why is there no love for taylor swift?

didn't seem like this one got as much enthusiasm as in the past? her last album hit #26 on Pazz & Jop, that's prob as high as she'll get anytime soon

also "i knew you were trouble" is really only the second single to get a major push and it came out after most YE list deadlines

I thought WANEGBT would place in a few lists considering it was released around the third quarter of 2012

"You Belong With Me" was #10 on P&J, again I don't see the new one getting that kind of traction.

also "i knew you were trouble" is really only the second single to get a major push and it came out after most YE list deadlines

It came out before the album as a standalone single

RA didn't feel the need to make token non-dance gestures in their eoy lists this year

They voted for Jeremih and fucking Jai Paul, which is surely this year's most bewildering critical pick.

Like there's the merest whiff of greatness somewhere in 'Jasmine' but unless there's a version out there that doesn't sound like a tossed off demo I don't really get it.

I finally listened to the Andres track last night and it's pretty great, it's nothing revolutionary but I can see perfectly well how those strings would sound amazing at the right point in a set.

been listening to pitchfork track picks and came across lotus plaza's monolith. has indie declined this low or what...

Jai Paul, which is surely this year's most bewildering critical pick.

Yup

I think that record is pretty great actually. Though it's just Jasmine, there isn't really anything else to get excited about.

Going through the tracks I haven't heard on the RA list has been a bit hit and miss so far but that Factory Floor remix is massive.

Agreed

the ra list is very ineffectual as a case for the year in music.

and i don't think it's been a bad year for house/techno of the ra variety.

Like that Barnt track is a bit of serviceable if unexciting dancefloor filler but I'm not sure why anyone would vote it one of the tracks of the year or how it could end up so high in any list.

that track is HUGE. i agree with you, it sounds v unexciting to the laptop listener, but i think it's one of those "symbol" records a bit, plus i reckon at very loud volumes it takes on a new life.

all the big djs apparently played it incessantly all year. i only know this based on being in berlin in the summer. to me it sounds like a m_nus record from a few years back or something.

gah really want to read these spin lists but the website just doesn't work on my firefox. i click next but nothing happens

I was listening to it pretty loudly on decent headphones but it didn't do much for me, maybe it does work in a club setting but it also feels like you could slot it into almost any kind of set which explains why it's so big.

http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/3477/the-20-best-club-songs-of-2012

^^^ Kinda schizophrenic Time Out Clubbing list, chiefly notable because one of these lists has finally acknowledged that 'Oliver Twist' a) exists and b) is one of the best tracks of the year.

otm re: oliver twist

http://www.splicetoday.com/music/the-2012-splice-today-albums-poll

WE IN THIS BREH

It came out before the album as a standalone single

― lex pretend, Wednesday, December 19, 2012 4:21 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

welllll they released like handful of other songs as well. that's not really my point.

re: oliver twist, i saw it on the guardian top 40 tracks playlist but yeah it hasnt shown up in enough places

Xp you said it came out too late for EOY lists but it obv didn't

http://www.flavorwire.com/357103/stereotyping-you-by-your-favorite-album-of-2012

dozens of swings, a few hits, lots of misses