Year-End Critics' Polls 2013

I'm checking some of the stuff I hadn't heard on the Juno list and quite enjoying Stellar Om Source and Karen Gwyer, for starters. But like factoring in Tim Hecker, Julia Holter, Laurel Halo, pretty strong year for the more experimental end of electronic music.

yeah al sums up what i was vaguely trying to grasp at. i feel ennui when i read these lists.

with maybe two exceptions the Spin metal list kind of... conforms to type tho

xp I see your point in most cases somedude - I don't think Kanye, Arctics, Bowie, QOTSA, the National or Arcade Fire are at their peak - but a ton of critics, including me, think this is Vampire Weekend's best album by a long chalk, and RAM is a law unto itself.

Weak year for debuts though. The balance is off.

I consciously avoided most of the RAM discourse. Glad I did, as it resonates with me in a very personal way.

with maybe two exceptions the Spin metal list kind of... conforms to type tho

you'll probably have to unpack that for me

Pop Matters The Best Metal of 2013
http://www.popmatters.com/feature/176995-the-best-metal-of-2013/P1/

20 Dark Tranquility - Construct
19 Heaven Shall Burn - Veto
18 Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess
17 Exhumed - Necrocracy
16 Shooting Guns - Brotherhood of the Ram
15 Lycus - Tempest
14 Kataklysm - Waiting for the End to Come
13 Deafheaven - Sunbather
12 Russian Circles - Memorial
11 Clutch - Earth Rocker
10 Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed
09 Kvelertak - Meir
08 Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
07 Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
06 Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
05 Gorguts - Colored Sands
04 Shining - One One One
03 Carcass - Surgical Steel
02 SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods
01 In Solitude - Sister

I can understand being bored but no way are this year's consensus albums worse than the GAPDYX tyranny.

fixed

Weak year for debuts though.

kacey musgraves, ariana grande, brandy clark, k. michelle, creep, sky ferreira, maya jane coles, om'mas keith...eight debuts in my top 20 isn't a bad strike rate

I didn't mean your favourites, or even mine. I meant the records that are impacting on list after list. Not many debuts punching through.

That list of metal band names reminds me to post this thing I saw yesterday, which contains some of the best fake names of all time:

http://ow.ly/rthKj

I would have expected SPIN to be all over In Solitude and Russian Circles, and to a lesser extent Shining and Oranssi Pazuzu. Nice to see Atlantean Kodex made a list

sad thing is i recognise half those band photos eg. klaxons @ 19

that was an xp btw

Spin metal list kinda reads to me like a compendium of the most praised stuff of the year from the bigger of the 'thinking person's' metal blogs/webzines, with no real surprises save for Wrekmeister Harmonies and maybe Locrian. not sure how they put their poll together so idk if it's the perils of voting by committee or one person being unimaginative or something else

guys can we go back to that AV Club inessential album list and this terrifying Nick Lachey album cover for a second:

http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2013126/560.lachey.cm.22613.jpg

Spin metal list kinda reads to me like a compendium of the most praised stuff of the year from the bigger of the 'thinking person's' metal blogs/webzines, with no real surprises save for Wrekmeister Harmonies and maybe Locrian. not sure how they put their poll together so idk if it's the perils of voting by committee or one person being unimaginative or something else
--screaming lord, such opinion (DJ Mencap)

If someone could point me to a "thinking person's metal blog" I'd really appreciate it thanx

"SPIN's metal list looks like its run by professionals who know how to write for an audience"

lol @ how ilm will never get over gapdy

^^^^^ this

The best was when Scott kool-aid manned in here and tried to take credit for the notoriously weaksauce middlebrow tastes of america's alt-weekly writers.

Has there been anything like 40 Watt Sun released this year? It was my ultimate discovery from the 2011 lists (I believe from SPIN) and the sole reason I keep scanning the EOY metal lists, hoping for something remotely like that record.

I was kind of "this is okay, whatever" about the Pusha T album until I hit "40 Acres", which is just great

should probably be more annoyed by the consensus among metal lists but man those carcass, gorguts, and subrosa records are unbelievable

i like the darkthrone album. quite different to what i expected, but it's rollicking fun.

Dummy - Best albums #20-11
http://www.dummymag.com/lists/the-20-best-albums-of-2013

a few good records in there but i'm not really down with their thing on the whole

first time I've seen Mount Kimbie on one of these things. not sure I ever heard the album

that horrible deptford goth record

needs to be a sleaford mods vs deptford goth fite

xpost you're giving me inverse nostalgia for 2009 guys.

If anyones interested ~~~ End Of Year ILM Metal - Albums & Tracks Poll- Nominations 2013~~~

Cool, be sure to remind us once or 500 times as it gets closer to deadline

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/blurred-lines-the-worst-song-of-this-or-any-other-year-20131206

disagree with basically all of that

Has there been anything like 40 Watt Sun released this year? It was my ultimate discovery from the 2011 lists (I believe from SPIN) and the sole reason I keep scanning the EOY metal lists, hoping for something remotely like that record.
― ArchCarrier

Pallbearer's album last year maybe. Metal Archives also lists Warning, The River, Summit, The Human Condition, SubRosa and Woods of Ypres as "similar artists" but probably you just have to wait for another 40 Watt Sun album.

Warning was Pat's band before 40 Watt Sun and were fucking amazing. Esp Watching From a Distance

haha i like 'blurred lines' but i will always have time for rob sheffield on the warpath, esp since he always takes out some other targets on the way. maybe my fave piece from the chuck eddy crony era of the village voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-12-30/music/nobody-can-touch-him/

pallbearer album is a decent call tho there is really no one like pat walker

in what world was lady marmalade a hit for 2 weeks

However if you just mean as good as but different doom related, I'd say the SubRosa, In Solitude, Seidr, Jex Thoth, Brimstone Coven, Mountain Witch, Black Capricorn, Avatarium, Obelyskkh, Argus and Magic Circle.

in what world was lady marmalade a hit for 2 weeks

probably the world of hilarious hyperbole

"hilarious"

Flavorwire - The 10 Most Overrated Albums of 2013
http://flavorwire.com/428360/the-10-most-overrated-albums-of-2013/

^ bit of a feeble effort

does the world really need three sisters who sound like Belinda Carlisle?

uh yes

Also, none of them actually sound much like Belinda Carlisle.

Arcade Fire used to make you feel something, sure

if you're a lame maybe

i'm sick of bitches lyin i'm sick of tom hawking, matter fact i'm sick of talkin

*blam*

Only time Arcade Fire ever made me feel something was a few laughs when the Who The Fuck Is Arcade Fire? meme rolled on for a week after they won their Grammy.

Some bizarre page layout on this one...

Washington Post - Best (& worst) albums
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2013/12/06/best-music-of-2013/