Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

Bryce Dessner's Kronos Quartet album is so much better than the National album, I can't even

i was all over idib dude's last album and invested a lot of time and energy listening to it and thinking about the lyrics and the music. but then i was convinced that it just had pretensions to seriousness and was weirdly grossly hollow, despite the music, and i couldn't bear to listen to it anymore.

so after dark 2 was a casualty of that i guess.

Kelela makes it into Time Magazine top 10?

Yeah I can't quite get a handle on how that happened.

It's Douglas W's personal list basically

yeah that made much more sense when I saw the byline

Why on earth did you ever do the first thing that you did in that post xxxp

explains the Alex Chilton inclusion too! xp

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

Neko Case is doing post-rock now?

bc 乒乓 it seemed like a very ambitious album and i wanted to understand it

Bryce Dessner's Kronos Quartet album is so much better than the National album, I can't even

these are definitely two things you can compare to each other

I don't love the KQ album, but I'm def more excited about that side of Dessner.

Hadn't listened to Marnie Stern in many months and am enjoying revisiting it. I still like the Palma Violets album, and the Mosquito seems to be underrated. Sure it's not as good as It's Blitz, but it beats the hell out of a lot of other boring indie crap I see on most these lists. Nice to see Merchandise's Totale Nite EP on NME list too.

I wasn't a fan of the first Arctic Monkeys album, but liked all their albums after. This piece actually got me finally appreciating some of the songs on the debut more - http://www.popmatters.com/post/175769-the-top-ten-arctic-monkeys-songs/. It also shows they had really strong songs on each their albums, though I do think the latest is best.

bc 乒乓 it seemed like a very ambitious album and i wanted to understand it

― j., Wednesday, December 4, 2013 2:28 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

IDIB are sort of like Revolutionary War reenactors or something where their whole goal is to completely nail this aesthetic of a very specific slice of an era

I wouldn't stress their ambitions too much

I don't think I get the Haim. It sounds like grade Z Stacy Q to me.

Stacey Q did freestyle.

Guess this wasn't posted.

NME - Top 50 Tracks of 2013
1. Daft Punk - 'Get Lucky'
2. Arcade Fire - 'Reflektor'
3. Arctic Monkeys - 'Do I Wanna Know?'
4. Disclosure feat AlunaGeorge - 'White Noise'
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Sacrilege'
6. Courtney Barnett - 'Avant Gardener'
7. Pond - 'Xanman'
8. Foals - 'My Number'
9. Lorde - 'Royals'
10. Kanye West - 'Black Skinhead'
11. Merchandise - 'Anxiety's Door'
12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - 'Jubilee Street'
13. Haim - 'Falling'
14. David Bowie - 'Where Are We Now?'
15. Drenge -'Bloodsports'
16. Queens Of The Stone Age - 'Smooth Sailin''
17. Pulp Vs Soulwax - 'After You'
18. Kanye West - 'I Am A God'
19. Queens Of The Stone Age - 'If I Had A Tail'
20. A$AP Rocky - 'Wild For The Night'
21. Savages - 'She Will'
22. Kanye West - 'Bound 2'
23. Jagwar Ma - 'The Throw'
24. Vampire Weekend - 'Ya Hey'
25. Laura Marling - 'Master Hunter'
26. Primal Scream - '2013'
27. Childhood - 'Solemn Skies'
28. Jon Hopkins - 'Open Eye Signal'
29. Arctic Monkeys - 'I Wanna Be Yours'
30. Chvrches - 'Recover'
31. Vampire Weekend - 'Diane Young'
32. Arctic Monkeys - 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?'
33. Factory Floor - 'Fall Back'
34. Phoenix - 'Entertainment'
35. Wolf Alice - 'Fluffy'
36. Kanye West - New Slaves
37. Foals - 'Bad Habit'
38. MIA - 'Bring The Noize'
39. Katy B - '5AM'
40. Kelis - 'Jerk Ribs'
41. Big Sean - 'Control'
42. King Krule - 'Easy Easy'
43. Temples - 'Colours To Life'
44. Parquet Courts - 'Stoned And Starving'
45. Chance The Rapper - 'Juice'
46. James Blake - 'Retrograde'
47. The Cribs - 'Leather Jacket Love Song'
48. Telegram - 'Follow'
49. Pixies - 'Indie Cindy'
50. Fat White Family's 'Is It Raining In Your Mouth?

i enjoyed seeing lorde at 50 on complex's list

ooh, "Jerk Ribs"

I love about half of After Dark 2, mainly "Dancing In The Dark" and the Chromatics tracks.

Had forgotten about Jerk Ribs. Went back and listened to it and I might even like it more than I did in the spring.

34 TINASHE | Black Water

Saw this on Fact's mixtape list too. It's great. Looks like ILM had some interest in her in 2012 but nothing this year. Bit of a stretch but if you found Kelela too cold or wimpy, you might like this a lot more.

That Caitlin Rose album is very nice, about the only one I have checked out on the strength of testimony from people on this this thread so far.

Not seen many classical/jazz/avante garde type lists but Zorn has been on fire this year, Gloria Coates/Kreutzer Quartet have "At Midnight" on tzadik which is great, the Aaron Parks album is sweet and percussionist Kuniko Kato did a beautiful recording of Reich/Arvo Part on Cantus.

looking at that quietus list; there is no way their no. 100 Shitfucker - Sucks Cocks In Hell (Hells Headbangers) isn't better than their no.1 Grumbling Fur - Glynnaestra (Thrill Jockey)".

and by a considerable margin

4 voters in the Quietus poll, as Doran-of-this-very-Parish is quick to point out at the top of the run-down. As he says it certainly makes for an interesting selection.

my top 5 tzadik releases if ur interested dsp:
1. Deveykus - Pillar Without Mercy
2. Barbez - Bella Ciao
3. John Zorn - Filmworks XXV—City Of Slaughter/Schmatta/Beyond The Infinite
4. Pat Metheny - Tap: The Book of Angels v.20
5. Jon Madof - Zion80

I've been wanting to check out that Pat Metheny one

The Pat Metheny/John Zorn one is excellent.

Masada Chamber Ensemble's Bar Kokhba and Eyvind Kang's Theater Of Mineral NADEs are my faves

Can someone post the FACT magazine albums in here?

bar kokhba is older right?

yeah, late 90's I think? I really love it.

So someone explain to me how Hookworms have managed to get quite so much traction this year. I don't dislike that record but it doesn't seem all that much better than loads of other psych from this year - Pinkunoizu, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Vision Fortune etc. They kind of remind me of Wooden Shjips both in their meat-and-potatoes dronerock sound and the mystifying level of approbation they get from Mojo etc. Or am I just old and deaf?

xpost

was grooving out to the Bar Kokhba Sextet recording from the 50th birthday series the other night. I think that may be my favorite of all his discs (at least the ones I've heard).

Does anyone know if this is any good?

Can someone post the FACT magazine albums

not been published yet!

oh i really want to hear that. also he has another disc coming out this month of shir hashirim related material that i am very excited to hear (the last artist to do shir hashirim stuff was ayelet rose gottleib on her fantastic mayim rabim) xp

Nick, they're way better than Wooden Shjips (they don't ruin their motorik with Doors bits, for one), and they're also an amazingly good live band.

Drawing upon traditions from plainchant, mediaeval ars nova, Renaissance madrigals, 20th century vocal techniques and minimalism, Zorn’s music for a cappella voice is some of his most personal and beloved creations. This is the definitive recording of his sublime, transcendent and radiant work inspired by the seductive lyricism of the world’s oldest known erotic verse. Recorded by The Sapphites, the same all-star quintet that recorded Zorn’s first a cappella masterwork Frammenti del Sappho in 2004, and the soon to be released Holy Visions, this is a sensual evocation of King Solomon’s poetic aphrodisiac “The Song of Songs,” bathed in a gorgeous package replete with erotic drawings by Auguste Rodin.

which sounds amazing to me but which descs in their catalog don't sound amazing tbph

Masada Chamber Ensemble's Bar Kokhba and Eyvind Kang's Theater Of Mineral NADEs are my faves

― sleeve, Wednesday, December 4, 2013 2:14 PM (9 minutes ago)

since this appears to be a tangent w legs, bar kokhba is one of my straight favorite albums

And how come nobody is raving about After Dark 2?

Because it's a comp containing material that IDIB was leaking out track by track going back to fall 2012?

― Johnny Fever, mercredi 4 décembre 2013 18:56 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Glass Candy's "Warm In The Winter" even came out in 2011.

I made a point of listening to Tap, but I wasn't into it. I guess I just don't like BoA that much, especially in its more jazz rock fusion representations. My favorite installments are by Uri Caine, Erik Friedlander, maybe Feldman/Courvoisier (in the right mood?), and to Koby Israelite (even though his is mostly in the fusion vein). The Caine recording doesn't quite sustain the same quality for the entire CD, but parts of it are fantastic.

Holy shit Mordy, Deveykus are awesome, fucking awesome.

(And I wanted to like Mycale, but didn't.)

i'm really happy u like it! i love it so much

Metacritic has started agregating various year end lists:
http://www.metacritic.com/feature/critics-pick-top-ten-albums-of-2013

for my money the Hookworms album is a solid-not-remarkable 7/10 effort but there's a lot more to latch on to, from an orthodox/rockist/etc pov, than Pinkunoizu, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Vision Fortune etc and yeah they are really good live. interviewed them a fortnight or so ago and asked them basically this question and their answer was "we had a better PR campaign"

That Metheny disc is really good - I reviewed it for Jazziz - but it's the only Book of Angels disc I've heard.

That Metheny disc is really good

Wrong.

but it's the only Book of Angels disc I've heard

Shame!

Beg to differ, heartily agree!

that metacritic list so far:

1 Yeezus by Kanye West 3 2 3 16
2 Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend 1 3 6 15
3 AM by Arctic Monkeys 2 0 6 12
4 Random Access Memories by Daft Punk 1 1 6 11
5 …Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age 1 1 4 9
6 Push the Sky Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 0 2 4 8
Silence Yourself by Savages 1 1 3 8
8 Pale Green Ghosts by John Grant 1 0 4 7
9 Immunity by Jon Hopkins 1 0 3 6
Dream River by Bill Callahan 1 0 3 6
Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts 1 0 3 6
The Next Day by David Bowie 0 1 4 6
13 Soul Music by Special Request 1 1 0 5
m b v by My Bloody Valentine 1 0 2 5
Pearl Mystic by Hookworms 0 1 3 5
Pure Heroine by Lorde 1 0 2 5
R Plus Seven by Oneohtrix Point Never 1 0 2 5
18 Field Of Reeds by These New Puritans 0 1 2 4
Wakin on a Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile 0 0 4 4
Sunbather by Deafheaven 0 2 0 4
Trouble Will Find Me by The National 0 0 4 4
Surgical Steel by Carcass 1 0 1 4
Days Are Gone by HAIM 0 0 4 4
Big Inner by Matthew E. White 1 0 1 4

So, people really like that Kanye album huh? It felt incredibly mediocre to me.

have seen some critics talk about putting Yeezus at #1 on their year-end lists as an act of 'bravery' and i'm like wow Kanye actually convinced critics he's an underdog this time, amazing