Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

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.

i found the Pitchfork top-10 baffling.

Pitchfork's list is sad & embarrassing.

I was sorta surprised that Juicy J and 2Chainz didn't make it

The Chris Forsyth album reminds me a bit of Voice of the Seven Thunders.

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

― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, December 18, 2013 8:27 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm at this stage too. don't hate it just don't really get it

(ditto paramore)

Simon Reynolds' lists are up:
http://blissout.blogspot.com/

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

You're either down with his voice or you're forever on the fence. It took me a long while to get over his babytalk.

i thought noz lightweight killed it in his pitchfork blurb of the album

for their year end list

Yeah, I loved that blurb.

You're either down with his voice or you're forever on the fence. It took me a long while to get over his babytalk.

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, December 19, 2013 5:14 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's not really his voice that's the issue - don't love it but don't hate it. more like what rtc said at the time, he doesn't make me care enough about what he's saying to get build up an affinity for the voice

chance and paramore (and kelela) are certainly the 2013 albums i WISH i loved, that i've spent a lot of time trying to love, that a lot of people w/similar taste to me seem to love, and they're all stuck at the three-star "this is alright i guess?" level

Fastnbulbous, those are some great lists you have on your site! (Bit late reply, but it's a lot to take in.) Thanks to your write-up I'm really enjoying Beastmilk at the moment - for some reason I never expected a band with such a name to be post punk. Also nice to see Motorpsycho up there, although I haven't really liked anything they made in this century.

http://thequietus.com/articles/14145-best-hip-hop-albums-review-2013

That Floorplan record could well be a last minute entry into my EOY. It's always so frustrating compiling these lists because I discover probably about 20% of my annual music listening in the Dec/Jan period thanks to everyone else's recommendations and don't really have an opinion about a lot of stuff til March the following year. My 2012 top 5 contained at least two records I hadn't heard until December.

John Grant at #2 in the Guardian. Really wanted that to beat Kanye to #1 because seriously who wants to read another Yeezus thinkpiece at this stage.

lol, Yeezus is one of my least played rap albums this year.

i just need to see a yeezus thinkpiece that acknowledges the wildly diverging quality between its two halves

Good luck on that when everyone's making it AOTY.

xp ArchCarrier, thanks. Motorpsycho have such a huge catalog. I eventually heard most of their stuff, but keep returning to the most recent albums. I also belatedly finished making Spotify playlists for each of the 16 genre groups in the breakdown.

It f'd up the # in the link: http://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-13/#breakdown

Simon Reynolds still hates M.I.A.

food for puke
M.I.A. "Come Walk With Me"
Paris Hilton featuring Lil Wayne, "Good Time"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, "Ceiling Can't Hold Us"

"you fill me with... inertia"
vaporwave
nu-grime
post-step
Julia Holter
Floorplan
Hookworms

Rock-A-Rolla Top 50 Albums Of 2013

01. Jesu - Everyday I Get Closer To The Light
02. Deafheaven - Sunbather
03. Tomahawk - Oddfellow
04. Secret Chiefs 3 - Book Of Souls: Folio A
05. Corrections House - Last City Zero
06. Cult Of Luna - Vertikal
07. The Body - Christ, Redeemers
08. Carcass - Surgical Steel
09. The Ocean - Pelagial
10. Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
11. Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury
12. Tim Hecker - Virgins
13. Pelican - Forever Becoming
14. Gnaw - Horrible Chamber
15. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Mind Control
16. Nails - Abandon All Life
17. Palms - Palms
18. Ensemble Pearl - Ensemble Pearl
19. True Widow - Circumambulation
20. Russian Circles - Memorial
21. Mammifer & Circle - Enharmonic Intervals
22. Beastmilk - Climax
23. Survival - Survival
24. Melvins - Tres Cabrones
25. Black Sabbath - 13
26. Coliseum - Sister Faith
27. Vista Chino - Peace
28. Kylesa - Ultraviolet
29. Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty
30. Clutch - Earth Rocker
31. Mutation - Error 500
32. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
33. Shining - One One One
34. Wooden Shjips - Back To Land
35. Ulcerate - Vermis
36. Teeth Of The Sea - Master
37. Castevet - Obsian
38. Autechre - Exai
39. Red Fang - Whales And Leeches
40. Kawabata Mokoto's Mainliner - Revelation Space
41. Man's Gin - Rebellion Hymns
42. Melt-Banana - Fetch
43. Fire! - (Without Noticing)
44. Vaura - The Missing
45. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light
46. Cathedral - The Last Spire
47. Explosions In The Sky and David Wingo - Prince Avalanche OST
48. Celeste - Animale(s)
49. Arabrot - Arabrot
50. Bardo Pond - Peace On Venus

Always an interesting list, there's a few things I gotta check out, like Secret Chiefs 3 and Ensemble Pearl. Not sure what they see in Tomahawk. They must really miss Jesus Lizard. Would have guessed they'd have SubRosa, Pinkish Black, Author & Punisher, Domovoyd, Deveykus, Kayo Dot, Oranssi Pazuzu, Kvelertak, Vhöl, oVo, Sungod, Darkside and/or Locrian. But good list overall.

not my fave rock-a-rolla list :/

That Deafheaven album is a scorcher.

The Tomahawk album was abysmal.

Or is. Whichever.

rock a rolla is always my favorite list