Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

The Obelisk Presents: The Top 30 of 2014
http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2014/12/22/the-obelisk-presents-the-top-30-of-2014/

Does anyone know a (good) Best Black Metal list of the year? I didn't follow it closely enough this year but would like to know what I missed and catch up.

Irish Times/Jim O'Carroll 50 Best Albums of 2014

(1) The Gloaming - The Gloaming (Real World)
(2) D'Angelo - Black Messiah (RCA)
(3) Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty (Sub Pop)
(4) Odesza - In Return (Counter)
(5) Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (Parlophone)
(6) Neneh Cherry - Blank Project (Smalltown Supersound)
(7) Run the Jewels - RTJ2 (Mass Appeal)
(8) Call Super - Suzi Ecto (Houndstooth)
(9) Caoimhín O Raghallaigh/Dan Trueman - Laghdu (Self release)
(10) Godknows + MynameisjOhn - Rusangano Family (Self release)
(11) FKA Twigs - LP1 (XL)
(12) The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream (Secretly Canadian)
(13) Hurray for the Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes (ATO)
(14) Arca - Xen (Mute)
(15) Beck - Morning Phase (Capitol)
(16) Caribou - Our Love (City Slang)
(17) Perfume Genius - Too Bright (Matador)
(18) Valentin Stip - Sigh (Other People)
(19) Francis Harris - Minutes of Sleep (Scissor & Thread)
(20) Moire - Shelter (Werkdiscs)
(21) Chet Faker - Built On Glass (Future Classic)
(22) Clipping - Clppng (Sub Pop)
(23) Linda Perhacs - The Soul Of All Natural Things (Asthmatic Kitty)
(24) Lucius - Wildewoman (PIAS)
(25) Mirel Wagner - When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day (Sub Pop)
(26) Jungle - Jungle (XL)
(27) Lykke Li - I Never Learn (Atlantic)
(28) Sinkane - Mean Love (City Slang)
(29) Future Islands - Singles (4AD)
(30) Caoimhín O Raghallaigh - Music For An Elliptical Orbit (Diatribe)
(31) Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso (Partisan)
(32) Dorian Concept - Joined Ends (Ninja Tune)
(33) St Paul & The Broken Bones - Half the City (Single Lock)
(34) Toumani Diabaté & Sidiki Diabaté - Toumani & Sidiki (Nonesuch)
(35) Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems (Columbia)
(36) St Vincent - St Vincent (Republic)
(37) Kelis - Food (Ninja Tune)
(38) Jessie Ware - Tough Love (PMR/Universal/Island)
(39) Flying Lotus - You’re Dead (Warp)
(40) Perfect Pussy - Say Yes to Love (Captured Tracks)
(41) Little Dragon - Nabuma Rubberband (Because)
(42) Jennifer Evans - Works From the Dip & Foul (Delphi)
(43) Lethal Dialect - 1988 (Self release)
(44) GOAT - Commune (Sub Pop)
(45) Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste (Prospect Park)
(46) Tune-Yards - Nikki Nack (4AD)
(47) Daithi - In Flight (Sony)
(48) Dan Bodan - Soft (DFA)
(49) Fatima - Yellow Memories (Eglo)
(50) Hundred Waters - The Moon Rang Like A Bell (OWSLA)

shout out B'more City Paper for being on the right side of YG/RTJ

yeah i have to say i'm pretty proud of us being pretty much the only publication that voted My Krazy Life the album of the year (not even just hip hop album of the year, album of the year)

i assume it will show up well in ilx poll

Resident Advisor top tracks:

01. Objekt – Ganzfeld
02. Traumprinz – All The Things
03. Floating Points – King Bromeliad
04. Gesloten Cirkel – Submit X
05. Mumdance – Take Time feat. Novelist
06. Marco Shuttle – Sing Like A Bird
07. SOPHIE – LEMONADE
08. Barnt – Chappell
09. Caribou – Can’t Do Without You
10. Moderat – Bad Kingdom (DJ Koze Remix)
11. Leon Vynehall – It’s Just (House of Dupree)
12. Herbert – One Two Three feat. Rahel
13. Jack J – Something On My Mind
14. Floorplan – Never Grow Old (Re-Plant)
15. DVS1 – Black Russian
16. Telephones – Blaff
17. Efdemin – Parallaxis (Traumprinz’s Over 2 The End Version)
18. Bruce – Not Stochastic
19. Moodymann – Lyk You Use 2 feat. Andrés
20. Leon Vynehall – Butterflies
21. Frank & Tony – Companion
22. Recondite – Caldera
23. QT – Hey QT
24. Aphex Twin – Minipops 67 (Source Field Mix)
25. Floating Points – Nuits Sonores
26. Theo Parrish – Footwork
27. Ten Walls – Walking With Elephants
28. Dopplereffekt – Delta Wave
29. FKA twigs – Two Weeks
30. Tessela – Rough 2
31. Daniël Jacques – End Of My World
32. Sailor & I – Turn Around (Âme remix)
33. Percussions – KHLHI
34. Donato Dozzy & Tin Man – Test 7
35. Daniel Avery – All I Need (Roman Flügel Remix)
36. Randomer – Huh
37. Andrew Ashong – Special
38. Edward – Skating Beats
39. Lnrdcroy – Sunrise Market (Extended Version)
40. Head High – Megatrap (Real Mix)
41. C.P.I. – Proceso (Barnt Remix)
42. Holly Herndon – Chorus
43. Shackleton – Freezing Opening Thawing
44. Kyle Hall – Our Love
45. Genius of Time – Juno Jam
46. Voices From The Lake – Velo Di Maya
47. The Bug – Function. feat Manga
48. 2 Bitches From Queens – Delkab Ave (Beat Mix)
49. Josh Wink – Are You There (Ben Klock Remix)
50. Omar-S – Frogs

i'm having a very nice time going through the ones i haven't heard in that right now, "juno jam" is a banger

You must have heard that one before? It was on the Talabot DJ Kicks mix last year.

I like that Mumdance & Novelist track a lot but there's something profoundly lame about it appearing so far up this particular list.

ok every track i hadn't heard before/didn't remember on this RA list is properly awesome - daniel jacques!!!!!!

(admittedly i am skipping everything related to l.i.e.s. and every incidence of the phrase "four tet alias" obv)

and i hadn't got to "hey qt" which is my cue to abandon the list entirely

randomer 'huh' is actually a lies banger, i was shocked to discover this year (thank q for sifting thru even idm toss)

horrible list

The monthly Top 50 is the accumulation of all the charts listed on RA in the selected month.

This Top 50 tracks of 2014 poll is decided by the votes of RA staff members and current contributors.

¯\(°_o)/¯

its a horrible way to listen to things, sifting through a list, but I'm finding this RA chart hard work

There's a Youtube playlist of some of it, I might just leave it on in the background and see what catches my ear, a lot of this hasn't registered much with me this year.

I think I hate that Sailor & I/Ame remix - have they ever remixed anything with a decent vocal?

My problem with curated lists is that with each passing bad record, the next one is tainted, and the cumulative effect is pretty strong. Add in the 'best records of the year" baggage and its not doing any of them any favours

^ I get this. Suddenly 'this artist' or 'that track' becomes 'a Pitchfork band' or 'a Fact track', and I don't really like thinking about music in this way at all.

Nah I think it's more that when you're dutifully slogging through a lot of uninspiring music it puts you in the wrong frame of mind for the good stuff, give or take the occasional wow moment.

I'll play 10 bad records on discogs and I think ok well they were just some random records on discogs, an 11th isnt tainted by the others

Play 10 bad records in a best of the year chart and i'm just waiting to get to the end of the exercise, and I dont need to hear the others enough to have that feeling

well you have to be in the right frame of mind, i'm multitasking and busy so it's ideal list-slogging time tbh

also judicious skipping of shit you know you'll hate

also i felt out of the loop with this sort of music this year so there isn't much annoyance that x/y/z isn't here instead as there is with the non-dance lists

apart from deep tech but i didn't exactly expect it anyway

Irish Times Tracks
(1) Caribou - Can’t Do Without You (City Slang)
(2) Kiesza - Hideaway (Lokal Legend)
(3) Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) (4AD)
(4) Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk (Columbia)
(5) Sheppard - Geronimo (Republic)
(6) Charli XCX - Break the Rules (Asylum)
(7) Perfume Genius - Queen (Matador)
(8) Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass (Epic)
(9) CuckooLander - Dumb Dee Diddy Dumb (Self release)
(10) Juce - Call You Out (Babeology)
(11) Shamir - If It Wasn't True (Godmode)
(12) Grimes - Go (4AD)
(13) Deers - Between Cans (Lucky Number)
(14) Jessie J - Bang Bang (Lava/Republic)
(15) Yumi Zouma - The Brae (Cascine)
(16) The Gloaming - Samhradh Samhradh (Real World)
(17) Fifth Harmony - Boss (Epic/Syco)
(18) Jessie Ware - Tough Love (PMR)
(19) Taylor Swift - Shake It Off (Big Machine)
(20) Jamie XX - All Under One Roof Raving (XL)
(21) Talos - Tethered Bones (Feel Good Lost)
(22) Nicki Minaj - Anaconda (Young Money)
(23) Clipping - Work Work (Sub Pop)
(24) Dej Loaf - Try Me (IBGM)
(25) D'Angelo - The Charade (RCA)
(26) The Juan Maclean - A Place Called Space (DFA)
(27) Ibeyi - Mama Says (XL)
(28) The Do - Trustful Hands (Siamese Squids)
(29) Honne - Warm On A Cold Night (Super)
(30) King - Mr Chameleon (King Creative)
(31) Royal Blood - Figure It Out (Warner Bros)
(32) Route 94 - My Love (Rinse)
(33) Jungle - Busy Earnin' (XL)
(34) Sia - Chandelier (Monkey Puzzle)
(35) QT - Hey QT (XL)
(36) Bobby Shmurda - Hot Nigga (GS9)
(37) iLoveMakonnen - Club Goin Up on a Tuesday (Self release)
(38) Sharon Van Etten - Your Love Is Killing Me (Jagjaguwar)
(39) Percussions - KHLHI (Text)
(40) Rae Sremmurd - No Flex Zone (Eardrummers)
(41) Roisin Murphy - Ancora Tu (Vinyl Factory)
(42) Röyksopp & Robyn - Do It Again (Dog Triumph/Wall Of Sound)
(43) Leon Vynehall - Goodthing (3024)
(44) Kendrick Lamar - i (Top Dawg)
(45) Sleater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends (Sub Pop)
(46) Andy Stott: - Faith in Strangers (Modern Love)
(47) FKA Twigs - Two Weeks (XL)
(48) Sinkane - Hold Tight (DFA)
(49) Swans - A Little God In My Hands (Young God)
(50) Beyonce - 7/11 (Columbia)

A Closer Listen's Global Top 20

1) A Winged Victory for the Sullen ~ Atomos (Erased Tapes)
2) Kate Carr ~ Lost in Doi Saket (Sound Map)
3) Erik K Skodvin ~ Flame (Sonic Pieces)
4) Valerio Tricoli ~ Miseri Lares (PAN)
5) Rumour Cubes ~ Appearances of Collections (Self-Released)
6) Christopher Tignor ~ Thunder Lay Down in the Heart (Western Vinyl)
7) This Will Destroy You ~ Another Language (Holodeck/Secretly Canadian/Suicide Squeeze)
8) Christina Vantzou ~ No. 2 (Kranky)
9) Petrels ~ Mima (Denovali)
10) Black to Comm ~ Providence (Dekorder)
11) Ian William Craig ~ A Turn of Breath (Recital)
12) Lawrence English + Stephen Vitiello ~ Fable (Dragon’s Eye Recordings)
13) Hiss Tracts ~ Shortwave Nights (Constellation)
14) Lawrence English ~ Wilderness of Mirrors (Room40)
15) Kyle Bobby Dunn ~ Kyle Bobby Dunn & the Infinite Sadness (Students of Decay)
16) Death Blues ~ Ensemble (Rhythmplex)
17) Matthew Collings ~ Silence is a Rhythm Too (Denovali)
18) Wrekmeister Harmonies ~ Then It All Came Down (Thrill Jockey)
19) P Jørgensen ~ Gold Beach (Low Point)
20) Pascal Savy ~ Adrift (Eilean Records)

More ACL lists:
http://acloserlisten.com/category/featured-articles/

am a fan of skodvin and english off that list

nick what do you think of russell haswell's recent music

hmm, good question. i like the vigour of his sound and the variety of textures he conjures up, it's got a really energetic performative and improvisatory feel to it. first section off that collab with pain jerk that came out this year is just stunning - feels like your brain is locked within an electrified wire cage and every time you try thinking, that tiny movement brings it into contact with the bars and you get these shooting pains jolting across the surface of your mind. and i read about the thing he did at aldeburgh in some classical music blog and that sounded amazing: basically it was a choral performance of a 16th century work known as the earthquake mass, but the manuscript of this piece is in a state of severe decay and haswell was filling in the missing parts of the score with earthquake-appropriate room-shaking noise.

so yeah, i like him on the level of it being a fun thing to stick in yr ears, but otoh it never really gets past the level of raw sensation for me. it's kind of this really tactile set of sounds that never quite becomes a language that communicates anything outside of itself. i suppose you could say this makes him a more honest artist as he doesn't rely on any emotional trickery - his music doesn't hold those intimations of deeper significance that you get with the likes of kevin drumm or tim hecker or lawrence english, there's no interpretation to be done on the part of the listener, it's more of a pure wyhiwyg sensory thing. and maybe that just frustrates my ego cos there's no ambiguity to project my own meaning on to, it's just sound waves that don't give a fuck about what i think of it. which is cool in its own way but doesn't really affect me beyond that. i'm sorry but this is just how i feel.

Shindig! Magazine
http://www.shindig-magazine.com/2014-awards.html

1. Temples - Sun Structures (Heavenly)
2. Foxygen - And Star Power (Jagjaguwar)
3. The Soundcarriers – Entropicalia (Ghost Box)
4. Jim Noir - Finnish Line (Dook Stereo)
5. Balduin - All In A Dream (Sunstone)
6. Ariel Pink - Pom Pom (4AD)
7. Graham Day & The Forefathers - Good Things (Own Up)
8. Big Boss Man - Last Man On Earth (Blow Up)
9. Jaki Liebezeit & Joachim Irmler – Flut (Klangbad)

i read about the thing he did at aldeburgh in some classical music blog and that sounded amazing: basically it was a choral performance of a 16th century work known as the earthquake mass, but the manuscript of this piece is in a state of severe decay and haswell was filling in the missing parts of the score with earthquake-appropriate room-shaking noise.

This must be Brumel, it's beautiful & I'd be v curious to hear that although I'd about the concept

_idk_ about the concept, rather

yep, it was brumel. and i've done it a disservice in my description, i think it was probably a bit more thought through than i made it sound

Get in here, goons

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/40-best-rap-albums-of-2014-20141223

great list, whiney. "In a year this messed up, even the idea of eating Ruffles in peace was welcome escapism," does like every year end blurb need an oblique reference to this "messed up" year? it seems like a pretty weak way of adding gravitas to a blurb. and like, for whom was eating ruffles escapism from whatever political misery this is ref'ing?

if they were utz chips it would've been so much better for escaping the sociopolitical miseries of american life imo, or goldfish

like idk ferguson, staten island, IS, crimea, malaysian flights, whew thank god for mac miller!

it's a pretty simple point about the small joys of banality in rap music, here we even have an entire thread about it rap music's memorable banalities

lol ok sure

it's an insular and closed off mixtape, that it seems unconcerned w/ much beyond its own lil world is a large part of his appeal

it's a very easy concept to understand :-/

XLR8R's Best of 2014
http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2014/12/xlr8rs-best-2014-releases-15-1

30. Lockah - Yahoo or the Highway
29. Forma Cool - Haptics
28. Anthony Naples - TTT026
27. Caribou - Our Love
26. Claude Speed - My Skeleton
25. Clark - Clark
24. Juju & Jordash - Clean-Cut
23. Teebs - E S T A R A
22. Traumprinz - All the Things
21. Aphex Twin - Syro
20. John Barera & Will Martin - Graceless
19. Jordan GCZ - Digitalis
18. Vermont - Vermont
17. Vessel - Punish, Honey
16. Suzanne Kraft - Missum
15. Session Victim - See When You Get There
14. Gunnar Haslam - Mirrors and Copulation
13. Young Marco - Biology
12. Hieroglyphic Being - The Seer of Cosmic Visions
11. Steffi - Power of Anonymity
10. Head High - Megatrip
9. Terekke - Terekke
8. Objekt - Flatland
7. Todd Terje - It's Album Time
6. Barnt - Magazine 13
5. Jack J - Looking Forward To You
4. Gesloten Cirkel - Submit X
3. Leon Vynehall - Music for the Uninvited
2. Kassem Mosse - Workshop 19
1. Call Super - Suzi Ecto

not a bad list there

That Session Victim album has some wonderful moments.

05. Mumdance – Take Time feat. Novelist

this is my kinda shit, glad to see it on some lists. i can never find much uk bass in this particular vein and ilx doesn't help either, maybe i'm not digging hard enough idk. anybody up for a collaborative spotify playlist?

Phonica Records Best of 2014

Albums: http://www.phonicarecords.com/page/best-of-2014-albums-70
Singles: http://www.phonicarecords.com/page/best-of-2014-singles-69
Compilations: http://www.phonicarecords.com/page/best-of-2014-compilations-65
Reissues: http://www.phonicarecords.com/page/best-of-2014-reissues-68

thanks nick

xp Yeah, another first place for Gigi Masin!

Afisha Volna's unranked list of the best pop singles:

Vintazh - Crisis
QT - Hey QT
Ariana Grande - Break Free
Grimes - Go
Hannah Diamond - Attachment
Taylor Swift - Blank Space
Eva Polna - Poet Lyubov
How To Dress Well - Face Again
Lana Del Rey - West Coast
Perfume Genius - Queen
Ariel Pink - Put Your Number In My Phone
Jungle - Time
Ivan Dorn - Teleport
Azealia Banks - Miss Amor
Serebro - Ya Tebya Ne Otdam
Charlie XCX - Boom Clap
Sia - Chandelier
Kiesza - Bad Thing
Nyusha - Bezotvetnaya
Röyksopp and Robin - Rong

Some good stuff, some trash. PC Music is apparently a thing in Russia.

Did we catch this one already?
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/top-15-albums-2014-ed-4837091

xps that terekke record is gorgeous, glad to see it somewhere

and somehow i had no idea there was a new juju & jordash album out this year.