Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

SPIN 50 Best Albums of 2014

50 ScHoolboy Q, Oxymoron
49 Tacocat, NVM
48 Ben Frost, A U R O R A
47 TV on the Radio, Seeds
46 Hundred Waters, The Moon Rang Like a Bell
45 Eric Church, The Outsiders
44 Shabazz Palaces, Lese Majesty
43 Charli XCX, Sucker
42 Mac DeMarco, Salad Days
41 Lana Del Rey, Ultraviolence
40 Real Estate, Atlas
39 Afghan Whigs, Do to the Beast
38 Azealia Banks, Broke With Expensive Taste
37 Cymbals Eat Guitars, LOSE
36 Young Thug & Bloody Jay, Black Portland
35 Homeboy Sandman, Hallways
34 Taylor Swift, 1989
33 Andy Stott, Faith in Strangers
32 Joyce Manor, Never Hungover Agai
31 Sylvan Esso, Sylvan Esso
30 Ariel Pink, pom pom
29 Flight Facilities, Down to Earth
28 Ryan Adams, Ryan Adams
27 Pallbearer, Foundations of Burden
26 St. Vincent, St. Vincent
25 Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Piñata
24 Protomartyr, Under Color of Official Right
23 Aphex Twin, Syro
22 Cloud Nothings, Here and Nowhere Else
21 FKA Twigs, LP1
20 ASTR, Varsity EP
19 Miranda Lambert, Platinum
18 YG, My Krazy Life
17 Swans, To Be Kind
16 Todd Terje, It's Album Time
15 Sia, 1000 Forms of Fear
14 Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues
13 How to Dress Well, "What Is This Heart?"
12 Spoon, They Want My Soul (
11 Betty Who, Take Me When You Go
10 The New Pornographers, Brill Bruisers
9 tUnE-yArDs, Nikki Nack
8 Tinashe, Aquarius
7 Future Islands, Singles
6 Sun Kil Moon, Benji
5 Caribou, Our Love
4 Jenny Lewis, The Voyager
3 Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2
2 Parquet Courts, Sunbathing Animal
1 The War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream

tacocat

Has anyone played a track/album from these end of year lists that they hadn't otherwise heard and found something amazing?
--djh

Yes, Goat's album Commune is absolutely fantastic, as well as their earlier work.

at least YG keeps continually popping up in the top 20 of multiple lists

I feel like Richard Dawson, Swans, Scott Walker/Sunn O))), Einsturzende Neubauten, Godflesh, could fit into a new sub-genre, Difficult Listening for Old Men. We need a more succinct/affectionate name though.

wrinkle rock.

Difficult Listening For Old Men is better and more accurate than most new genre names

Ha ha ha

I forgot to vote in The Wire's poll. I'm not saying it would have changed much, but you never know. At least one of the records I reviewed for them (Pharmakon) made the list.

And thanks for the tip on new Nação Zumbi! I had no idea!

avant fogey

slippergaze

richard dawson gets a pass though, he's a young 'un. and it's a mistake to think these people's audience that is solely either old or male, but you know that anyway right?

"spin"

avant aliedown

alien avant farm

lex must be getting close to aging out of desireable advertising demos by now

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

not understanding that youth is only a mentality means yr old, cmon everyone

50. CHARLES BARABÉ
Insultes (hommage à John Cage)
(La Cohu)

started listening to this and lolololol, fact magazine.

DiLiFOM

speaking of olden tymes wierdos, Chrome - Half Machine from the Sun (Lost Tapes 79-80) is worthy of your consideration

oh my yes, didn't think about that in terms of EOY stuff

it's newly released though right?

I had been thinking for a while about starting a sort of avant-rock Uncut called "No Country For Old Men".

09. SICKO MOBB - Super Saiyan Vol. 1

im wuts real

yes, correct xxp

(definitely voting for it in ILM EOY poll)

I would buy that mag! Rock=A-Rolla kinda covers that, along with brighteyed bushytailed young noise and avant rockers aged 30s-40s.

how dare anyone over 40 make or like music damn dinosaurs

Yeah, I'll def vote for Sicko Mobb as well. Amazingly consistent tape. Fact had it on their top 100 2010-14 list as well.

the FACT list is really horrible despite having some absolute gems on it just because it feels like such a dated way of thinking abt music

there was one list that was really excellent but then it had perfect pussy as the last one listed and it kinda bummed me out. probably the best non-cosmo list posted so far

why dated

this, though....

Gangster Gibbs is as old school as they come, in the sense that his realness is verified (with the proverbial battle scars to prove it)

To be clear, I like all those artists, though they hover more in the lower half of my top hundred. It's just an interesting new-ish pattern of older artists making some of the most challenging, least commercial music in their careers, and topping a lot of the polls.

And yes, I read my poststructuralist theory way back when, and know not to essentialize and oversimplify anything. At last week's Opeth show, I did see some women there who were into the band, not just there with friends and dates. However, men still made up about 98% of the audience.

i like a couple of these, but this list is kind of poopy:

Wire Magazine: Avant Rock 10

1 Earth - Primitive And Deadly
2 St Vincent - St Vincent
3 Beck - Morning Phase
4 The Lowland Hundred - The Lowland Hundred
5 Owen Pallett - In Conflict
6 Scott Walker and Sunn O))) - Soused
7 D Charles Speer And The Helix - Double Exposure
8 Marissa Nadler - July
9 Grumbling Fur - Preternaturals
10 Obituary - Inked In Blood

this, though....

Gangster Gibbs is as old school as they come, in the sense that his realness is verified (with the proverbial battle scars to prove it)

― نكبة (nakhchivan), Tuesday, December 9, 2014 4:48 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

love the gibbs album but why the bloodclot is it necessary for a critic to bring that up, it'd be good even if those things weren't true

god i feel i should try at least a couple of thi year's 'avant rock' albums not by olds but nothing is really looking inviting

this is better:

Wire Magazine: Electronica 10

1 AyeGeeTee - Imminent Orphan
2 Brood Ma - Populous
3 Lee Gamble - KOCH
4 Karen Gwyer - New Roof
5 Hieroglyphic Being - The Seer Of Cosmic Visions
6 Logos - Cold Mission
7 FKA Twigs - LP1
8 Kangding Ray - Solens Arc
9 Nochexxx - Thrusters
10 Vessel - Punish, Honey

xp a pretty dull selection with the exception of Obituary

oh i dont mean on that shit little list but in general

3 Beck - Morning Phase

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK IS AVANT ABOUT THIS ARE THEY TROLLING

haha wtf

oh i dont mean on that shit little list but in general

if you don't want to know the score look away now, but the swans album trumped all afaict (boring answer i know)

4 The Lowland Hundred - The Lowland Hundred

this is well worth highlighting ftr, cartographically-fixated duo from west Wales in the Talk Talk/Wyatt tradition

the 'avant-rock' column has always been meaninglessly named, it's just a repository for anything which features a guitar in some form and didn't get picked for the main section

Wire Magazine: Hip Hop 10

1 Young Thug & Rich Homie Quan - Rich Gang The Tour Part 1
2 YG - My Krazy Life
3 Vince Staples - Shyne Coldchain 2
4 Chief Keef - Back From The Dead 2
5 Lil Boosie - Life After Death Row
6 Rae Sremmurd - No Type
7 Kevin Gates - Posed To Be In Love
8 Common - Nobody's Smiling
9 Future - Honest
10 Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty

uhhhh, the most recent kevin gates release aside from the one that hasn't dropped yet is called By Any Means. "posed to be in love" is a song on it

I am currently listening to Fader's top song ("Wishin You Well" by Makonnen) and lollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll gtfo

wishin you well is pretty dire

The backing track is really nice, but those verses have issues.