Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

And just by reading those you can tell things like who is the resident metal fan, and who frequents ILM.

Old at #5? Did people (and by that, I mean Pitchfork writers obv) like that album that much?

I guess Pitchfork writers did, but it's probably in my top 5 as well. At least the top 10.

Majical Cloudz album is great - that and VW are the only two of list that overlap with my own. I think Impersonator can feel simple or samey on first listen but I found it stark, compelling, and magnetic by third time around.

Fill yr boots with hum:

A Closer Listen 2013: Top Ten Drone
http://acloserlisten.com/2013/12/18/acl-2013-top-ten-drone/

Aquarelle ~ August Undone (Students of Decay)
Daniel Menche ~ Marriage of Metals (Editions MEGO)
Ennio Mazzon ~ Xuan (Nephogram)
EUS ~ Sol Levit (Contradicta)
Main ~ Ablation (Editions MEGO)
Pausal ~ Sky Margin (Own Records)
Petrels ~ Onkalo (Denovali)
Secret Pyramid ~ Movements of Night (Students of Decay)
Shoganai ~ ショウガナイ (Self-released)
Svarte Greiner ~ Black Tie (Miasmah)

Quietus - Best Metal of 2013
http://thequietus.com/articles/14102-the-quietus-end-of-year-metal-chart-2013

I'm pretty sure I prefer Old to XXX

I spent some time with Old this year, but it isn't one of my favorite records this year. Think in the end I like watching interviews with Danny Brown more than listening to his music, seems like he'd be fun to hang out with.

Although his music is pretty fun as well of course! I've got tickets to see him early next year.

the pitchfork albums list was weird this year.

Somehow I can't imagine anything called 'Magikal Cloudz' ever being good, except maybe an NES platform game, and if that was the aesthetic they were going for then God help us if there's a war.

Majical Cloudz, plz

I like Random Access Memories a little less every day, but DL makes a hell of a case for it right here:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/dec/18/best-albums-2013-daft-punk-random-access-memories

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yeesh, pitchfork top 10 is....not good.

enjoying how every time I click on a different story on the Guardian music section today that popup appears. that's sure to prove a hit with the readership

I hadn't read that comment by S/FJ before on Daft Punk - "The duo has become so good at making records that I replay parts of Random Access Memories repeatedly while simultaneously thinking it is some of the worst music I've ever heard … This record raises a radical question: does good music need to be good?" lol

sasha go hard

Blowhard morelike

Quietus Writers' Tracks: http://thequietus.com/articles/14160-quietus-writers-tracks-of-the-year-2013

It is clearly the work of two unusual individuals who love these sounds, even the desperately unfashionable ones that have so far eluded revival even in this retro-maniac era

This is kind of how I felt about the Aeroplane album which flopped a couple of years back. I wonder what that album sounds like in context of RAM.

The problem with the Aeroplane album was not the aesthetic they went for, but that the songwriting was just utter dogshit.

I like "Game of Love"!

Game of Love is nice but it's a really weird choice for second track after the big showy intro of 'Give Life Back To Music'.

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/metal-hammer-top-50-albums-of-2013-10-1/

anyone post this one already? here it is: www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2013/12/17/aquarium-drunkard-2013-year-in-review

That Aquarium Drunkard list:

Bill Callahan – Dream River
Steve Gunn – Time Off
Bob Dylan – Another Self Portrait
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away
David Bowie – The Next Day
Brigitte Fontaine – Comme a la radio
Deerhunter – Monomania
Endless Boogie – Long Island
Chris Forsyth – Solar Motel
Hiss Golden Messenger
Ty Segall – Sleeper
Marisa Anderson – Mercury
Matthew E. White – Outer Face
William Tyler – Impossible Truth
Phosphorescent – Muchacho
Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound
Who Is William Onyeabor?
Apple and the Three Oranges – Free and Easy
Chuck Johnson – Crows In The Basilica
Robbie Basho – Visions of the Country
Danny Paul Grody – Between Two Worlds
Henry Flynt – Graduation
Nathan Salsburg – Hard For To Win & Can’t Be Won
Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Born With The Caul
Daughn Gibson – Me Moan
Mikal Cronin – MCII
Darkside – Psychic
Psychic Ills – One Track Mind
John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
Arnold Dreyblatt & Megafaun – Appalachian Excitation
Howe Gelb – The Coincidentalist
Wooden Wand & the World War IV
Wooden Wand – Blood Oaths of the New Blues
Kurt Vile – Wakin On A Pretty Daze
Foxygen – We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic
Yo La Tengo – Fade
Cate Le Bon – Mug Museum
Veronica Falls – Waiting for Something to Happen
Torres – Torres
Townes Van Zandt – Sunshine Boy
Imaginational Anthem, Vol 6: Origins of American Primitive Guitar
Sorrow Come Pass Me Around: A Survey of Rural Black Religious Music
Chris Darrow – Artist Proof
Enjoy the Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992
Peter Walker – Has Anybody Seen Our Freedoms
Bombino – Nomad
Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – What The Brothers Sang
Courtney Barnett – The Double EP
Gene Clark – White Light Demos
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
Let Me Play This For You: Rare Cajun Recordings
Polvo – Siberia
Califone – Stitches
King Khan & The Shrines – Idle No More
Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
Tim Hecker – Virgins
My Bloody Valentine – mbv
Magik Markers – Surrender to the Fantasy
Twin Peaks – Sunken
Thee Oh Sees – Floating Coffin
I Am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950-1990
Songs: Ohia – Magnolia Electric Company (Tenth Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
I Heard the Angels Singing: Electrifying Black Gospel from the Nashboro Label, 1951-1983
Mavis Staples – One True Vine
Good God: Apocryphal Hymns
Lee Hazlewood Industries: There’s a Dream I’ve Been Saving
Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You
Daniel Bachman – Jesus I’m A Sinner
Jason Isbell – Southeastern

Lots of stuff I don't know/haven't heard. Some of the blurbs really make me want to - anyone heard that Chris Forsyth album?

yes! it is amazing.

*scribbles the name in his virtual pocket notebook*

it's like a droney version of television meets richard thompson-era fairport. that guy should do an album of guitar duels w/ michio kurihara

I am not fucking with your list if you put Foxygen on it

From The Guardian Daft Punk piece:

Within makes me think of a chastened Wall-E regretting his first coke binge

I'd totally watch this film

RA Poll: Top 20 albums of 2013
http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1972

20. Daniel Avery - Drone Logic [Phantasy Sound]
19. Moderat - II [Monkeytown Records]
18. Jon Hopkins - Immunity [Domino]
17. James Blake - Overgrown [Polydor]
16. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories [Columbia]
15. Axel Boman - Family Vacation [Studio Barnhus]
14. The Haxan Cloak - Excavation [Tri Angle]
13. Laurel Halo - Chance Of Rain [Hyperdub]
12. Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest [Warp Records]
11. Nils Frahm - Spaces [Erased Tapes]

10. Kyle Hall - The Boat Party [Wild Oats]
09. Special Request - Soul Music [Houndstooth]
08. Miles - Faint Hearted [Modern Love]
07. Logos - Cold Mission [Keysound Recordings]
06. DJ Rashad - Double Cup [Hyperdub]
05. Segue - Pacifica [Silent Season]
04. Jessy Lanza - Pull My Hair Back [Hyperdub]
03. Donato Dozzy - Plays Bee Mask [Spectrum Spools]
02. DJ Koze - Amygdala [Pampa]
01. James Holden - The Inheritors [Border Community]

Is that James Holden album any good?

Nils Frahm above Jon Hopkins = justice served

XLR8R's Best disappointing releases of 2013
http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2013/12/xlr8rs-best-2013-disappointing-r

i only heard the nils frahm record this week, it's amazing

I loved her song w/ Ikonika but was really kinda bored by the Jessy Lanza album. Should i go back and try again?

Is that James Holden album any good?

yes, it's amazing

I loved her song w/ Ikonika but was really kinda bored by the Jessy Lanza album. Should i go back and try again?

same, and no; plenty better r&b 2013 releases for your attention

jessy lanza is alright but there are at least three or four other albums doing the same thing this year but better. love that donato dozzy ALOT but feel weird about it being that high on a best albums list. i'd say kudos on no disclosure but i'd have it over daniel avery or jon hopkins tbh. no the knife either.

Nils frahm has been my default comedown album in December; I like it best when it sounds like the music for a 2- or 3-part drama on ITV1 or BBC1

Yeah that Nils Frahm album is lovely but I think I prefer the synthier or more abstract tracks to the straightforward piano pieces.

Glad to see that Segue album place so highly as well, so lush!

Glad to see the Dozzy/Bee Mask album there, too, that's very high for me.

Old improves the more I listen to it but I feel lame about voting for it on any level (it's nowhere close to top 10 let alone top 20) because seriously - SERIOUSLY - Danny needs to be dissuaded from making more records like this. W/ XXX it was novel , with Old it grew rote, a third time? No way.

By "this" I mean meta rap concept albums that indict the audience. XXX did this in a way that felt new, exciting, etc - Old complicated things and threw in addl sonic ideas. I mean, I bought the record, don't regret it, still am impressed with the guy, but PLEASR DONT DO THIS AGAIN

Really enjoying that James Holden record right now. Decided to check it out.

The thing with Old is that whatever it offered me, I find both Acid Rap and Doris offered it way better.

The 11-20 positions on the Pitchfork's list is a series of great albums, in my humble opinion. Probably much better than the top 10 itself.

agreed

I need to give Acid Rap a third listen and try to grasp the appeal - it's just eluding me.