Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

"1 of 51"

xp them and gorilla vs. bear are super bout-it bout-it for PC music, idgi

like that stuff isn't all bad but i fail to see what's remarkable about it

TAYLOR SWIFT – Wildest Dreams (Recycle Culture Hyper Bubble Pop remix)

its hilarious to me that someone could think this improves on the song itself

That's a surprisingly good top five from FACT and their number one is predictable but unfuckable-with. Mystifying Popcaan choice though considering the rest of the album.

'Slug Christ' is sort of moniker a FACT-friendly automatic name generator would come up with though.

I tried listening to War On Drugs just now; why do people keep falling for shit like this???

PC Music isn't nearly as lazy or cowardly as witch house or chillwave was but ughhhh

it was a very cold winter, crüt

FKA Twigs still doesn't click with me but it's exciting that such a weird album is the frontrunner in all these lists

I really liked "Slave Ambient" a couple of years ago, but I can't remember a single thing from "Lost in the dream" other than the first track reminds me of "More than this".

lex in literally never having heard standard indie-rock band shocker...

but yeah, sun kil moon is mark kozelek is red house painters who have been around since forever and ever and ever. benji is the first thing i heard by him though (before the ridiculous feud) and i do really like it (haven't heard the slag-off joke record but i can imagine it's not worth bothering with at all). he strikes me as a bit of an arsehole but the album is sweet and very touching. i love the thrumming acoustic layers and the stories he tells are really well told, especially 'micheline', 'jim wise' and 'clarissa'.

war on drugs are dull as shit shimmery post-freakfolk, post-chillwave nonsense though.

I really liked "Slave Ambient" a couple of years ago, but I can't remember a single thing from "Lost in the dream" other than the first track reminds me of "More than this".

OTM. I was a fan from Wagonwheel Blues, but after awhile his chorus-less songwriting style begins to grate.

other than the first track reminds me of "More than this".

that is a not insubstantial part of why it's being highly praised by those who are praising it

xxp

The Juan MacLean big snob goes on and still hurts me.

snub?

it's a simple design

Cool list in Decoder from the Experimedia guy if you like leftfield electronic stuff:
http://www.secretdecoder.net/blog/2014/12/10/jeremy-bibles-top-10-and-beyond-of-2014/

other than the first track reminds me of "More than this".
......why it's being highly praised by those who are praising it

Yeah, but More Than This had a chorus you could hum, instead of just random Whoooos for 8 minutes.

Yeah I enjoy Benji but his 2010 and earlier material is his peak by far. It's funny how some records resonate so much more when they're backstory/character driven. Like all the fun people had talking about Bon Iver's cabin and GIRLS's cult history probably propelled those record sales regardless of the music. So Sun Kil Moon gets musically lazy but confessional and all sorts of people suddenly learn he exists because the publications write about the stories of the musician and the record gets more exposure.

post-freakfolk, post-chillwave nonsense though

You should probably consider just taking a broom to all these convoluted tangled continuum diagrams with Animal Collective in the middle of all contemporary music dude.

that is a not insubstantial part of why it's being highly praised by those who are praising it

Most of the reviews I've read mention Springsteen, Petty and Kraftwerk but nothing is said about Avalon-era Roxy, so I had no idea that was one of the reasons for the acclaim it's getting.

Would love to hear DJP's argument for the three not-terrible LDR, because it's all of a piece. I figured people would either like all of it (ie me) or none of it.

A cogent requirement would require me to listen to it again, which I respectfully decline to do, but most of my objections are due to the way she uses her voice and the wildly inconsistent results it gives. When she lifts her soft palette and spins the tone in her mid- to upper register, she actually sounds great and it's shocking to hear, particularly when compared the pressed, flat adenoidal honking she does most of the time.

I participated in this: http://www.spin.com/articles/40-best-country-songs-2014/

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, December 11, 2014 8:39 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i checked out the top ten in this list. i guess i just do not get modern country. at all. i can tear up when hearing classic country, just a pull of the pedal steel on a buck owens record gives me goosebumps, i count a lot of older country among my favorite music ever, what am i missing here? it all just sounds like complete garbage to me. i don't want to sound dismissive even though saying it's all "complete garbage" is basically dismissive, but i am also somewhat genuinely curious as to what people here dig about it.

rock music shit the bed and this is all that's left

Modern country = generic 80s non-metal rock

Imagine it all as an ongoing love letter to John Fogerty and The Outfield

Modern country = rock

Modern rock = simpering whiteboy crybaby garbage from imagine dragons down to war on drugs

which is why I listen to Savages

u are both OTM and this modern indie crap is such an embarrassment to all concerned, I would honestly rather listen to some arena-rock "country" on steroids than another whiny white dude with a guitar

modern country doesnt have any whiny white dudes?

Modern country is just pop/rock music that plays it safer and simpler than anything else.

shouty white dudes

Modern country is just pop/rock music that plays it safer and simpler than anything else.

― Evan,

not true lyrically, like, at all

yup

xp Thanks DJP. I dig the adenoidal honking but I get the distinction. I love what she does on Shades of Cool.

I don't hear the stories told by Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley, Kira Isabella in other genres. And War on Drugs isn't writing about getting drunk on planes.

Modern country is just pop/rock music that plays it safer and simpler than anything else.

― Evan, Thursday, December 11, 2014 5:54 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

jesus christ the ignorance

Modern country is just pop/rock music that plays it safer and simpler than anything else.

― Evan, Thursday, December 11, 2014 12:54 PM (58 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i'mma have to say "lol no" on this one my guy - you won't find me stanning for tim mcgraw or luke bryan or whatever but theres been a sizable amount of really good, non-assembly-line country this year

country sounds enormous, obvious, and expensive, and beyond the gloss it's a genre that prioritizes storytelling and stealth details

what's not to like

Tim McGraw finally had a good song this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or-Lam5tPHc

this whole sun kil moon/war on drugs consensus is baffling to me bc i had literally never heard of either terrible act before about a month ago. where did they come from??? can we banish everyone responsible for bringing them in?

― lex pretend, Thursday, December 11, 2014 4:46 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Heart u Lex, but this schtick is. So. Played. If you haven't heard of War on Drugs (and yes, they are shite) until a month ago you should probably pay attention more to publications you actually write for yourself. Priding yourself for not having heard something seemingly popular is nagl imho.

I was talking about most of the radio modern country variety I've heard *shrugs*

Sorry should have been more specific.

i find it hard to talk about what i dislike about modern country. i could say it's the commercial slickness and polish but those characteristics have been around in country music for a long time. there is plenty of slick and commercial classic nashville country that i love. i don't know, maybe i'm just not looking in the right places but i suppose a magazine's top 10 list of country songs of the year would have something that would appeal to someone who loves classic country.

That's more or less what I failed to convey.

Priding yourself for not having heard something seemingly popular is nagl imho.

― a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine), Thursday, December 11, 2014 6:00 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh fuck off unless you want a list of everything i've loved in 2014 that you've never heard of (or by the looks of it many other critics)

do we have a "so you don't like country music? try listening to this" thread?

xxp well here's the thing, even some of the folks getting significant radio play are legitimately good, like miranda lambert, and i think the genre is trending a bit more towards the good shit overall. that said, i'd never not try to sell you on the luke bryans and florida georgia lines and lady antebellums of the world tho

Xxp

I would love to see that list! You've put me on some amazing music, K. Michelle being the last one.

All I mean is it's hard to believe you've only now heard of War on Drugs when they've been p much domineering music press let and right all year. And yes, I hate that band.

if you're still fussing over why the #1 song in that spin country list isn't for you then you're completely beyond help and don't deserve any music at all tbh