Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

feel like i should check out the haxan cloak at some point

i liked the stellar om source album when i listened but i couldn't hear what really made it special

nice to see a list headed by two female artists btw, even if one of them is laurel halo

haxan cloak is good. bit more straightforward than any of the demdike stuff iirc, kind of dark ambient dub in the same sort of vein as errr.... help me out here?

haxan cloak is basically getting all the attention that deaf center should have had in previous years

That RP Boo album is winning a lot of cool points but i'd argue it's not the most exciting footwork release of recent days. many of the tracks are reprised from other places and while he might be footwork's originator i find his stuff a bit too random and scattered to really enjoy much in 2013. 'double cup' is a much better example of where it's at right now. can't remember if there were many other footwork albums released this year?

i liked the stellar om source album when i listened but i couldn't hear what really made it special

It's just really good bleepy techno. Mind you I was similarly nonplussed by the Maximilion Dunbar album.

the last track on the haxan cloak album, "the drop", is really incredible. the rest kind of pales in comparison to it imo.

Yeah I think the Haxan Cloak is good screwfacing ambiance but not much more but that final track is fantastic./

Thinking about it, I wouldn't be all that surprised if Stellar Om Source won the Wire poll

assuming I don't hear anything else that supersedes it RP Boo is my #2 album of the year. just completely love his whole deal. didn't really get the impression it made a big splash tho 'communities' like Juno are p much totally unknown to me (much as their list is lookin good)

haxan cloak is basically getting all the attention that deaf center should have had in previous years

ah now i'm interested. those deaf centre records are incredible. only discovered them this year.

yeah, as far as creepy slowburn horror-movie-in-yr-head ambience goes, those guys are pretty untouchable

yeah, i love all that kind of thing. i think spotify actually recommended them to me after listening to bohren und der club of gore.

useful spotify recommendations? sounds a bit far-fetched

i know!

if guardian commenters ever got hold of that juno list, my god their servers would surely crash under the deluge of emails saying "better than jon hopkins? i think not"

The Boombox - 10 Best R&B Albums of 2013
http://theboombox.com/best-rb-albums-of-2013/

don't think those are ordered, but typed out -

John Legend, Love In The Future
K. Michelle, Rebellious Soul
Ciara, Ciara
Robert Glasper Experiment, Black Radio 2
Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience
Tamar Braxton, Love And War
Janelle Monáe, The Electric Lady
Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines
Fantasia, Side Effects Of Me
The Weeknd, Kiss Land

fantastic to see k michelle and fantasia show up

xp I think you misunderstand Guardian commenters Nick. It's not that they love Jon Hopkins - the real grouches probably prefer Haxan Cloak - it's that they HATE mainstream pop made by young women.

ha well i don't disbelieve that tbh, certain strains of mainstream pop made by young men FOR young women too most likely

The worst people last year were the Swans fans. Really put me off that album by framing it as the weapon of choice for misogynists with a superiority complex.

some of the most enthusiasm i've seen for bangerz has come from vatican shadow, really need a remix to happen

it is interesting how myopic these people are, like they act like they're the only person in the universe capable of critical thought or discernment.

xpost to DL

xpost to DL, shame cos it's a great album.

it surprises me a little how narrow-minded Guardian music readers are, considering the paper's supposed progressive stance and the general remit of its editorial.

Liberals tend to as bad if not worse than conservatives about this sort of thing, i.e. "Why do you listen to such corporate crap, man? It's bought and sold to you and you accept it!"

In my experience, I progressive world view doesn't extend to a broad appreciation of music genres.

*I=A

i guess there is that.

Also, Alfred otm

it's just that most of the time only bored and/or angry people with an axe to grind bother to get involve. same in most places online.

xposts

of course it's not like that here

tbh this is a stance that's been drummed into the public by decades of rockist music journalism. we're not that many years removed from those attitudes coming from the critics themselves

xposts but also it's like, FFS grow up and realise that everything's bought and sold to you.

it's a relief to be different from them

Finally giving the Fantasia album a spin at present, and it's wholly satisfying!

AV Club

If I was A Bird off that Fantasia album is one of my fave tracks this year.

tbh this is a stance that's been drummed into the public by decades of rockist music journalism

It's a perennial attitude, it precedes rock journalism AND rock music. Precedes jazz even.

left liberalism is riddled with concerns about authenticity tbh

false consciousness etc

I have been playing "Without Me" incessantly

fantasia album is good but i like k. michelle's more

has anyone heard the john legend album? i think one of his singles is going to be #1 in australia this week.

I love them both and would give them big hugs if those albums were real people

fantasia more likely to hug you back, k michelle more likely to punch you in the face

(which is why both are great)

it surprises me a little how narrow-minded Guardian music readers are, considering the paper's supposed progressive stance and the general remit of its editorial.

― a beef supreme (dog latin), Thursday, December 5, 2013 4:16 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it just gathers a bunch of bad-tempered torch wavers and rap-more-like-crap dullards in one place by virtue of being one of the more visible, swiftly turned over outlets for music writing that also has a comment box. rarely get the impression that ppl posting under music articles are esp invested in the 'image' of the Guardian, in the same way that commenters on say food articles might be

I feel like people regard Fantasia as something of a joke when she's (IMO) one of the best singers to appear on the scene in the past decade.

but also yeah if Guardian readers had been able to comment at will in the 1950s it would probably be full of junior Ewan McColls decrying the idea of singing over instruments

I feel like people regard Fantasia as something of a joke

It's possible that's true. To me, she'll always be that last really interesting winner of American Idol (no offense Carrie Underwood).