Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

xp Thanks for answering my question. Makes sense, also Rangda. I'm glad Wire still has Josephine Foster's back though because she has never disappointed me from one album to the next. She always totally slays whatever she's singing.

Nas album is really good, definitely suffered in these lists from coming out the same year as the biggest NEW ILLMATIC hype in ages

― RIP Gramp C (some dude), Wednesday, December 5, 2012 9:45 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

no i'm pretty sure people just don't care that much about nas anymore

that too. but it's still better than some of the albums people overrated more in years when they needed Nas more for their genre narratives.

don't think the NPR lists have been posted yet have they? they're just in alphabetical order:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2012/2012/12/05/166230912/npr-musics-50-favorite-albums-of-2012
http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2012/166027824/100-favorite-songs

the nas album got quite a lot of hype when it came out so i'm pretty sure that "people" do "care" about nas

For those like me who don't feel like clicking, here's the NPR album list:

Ab-Soul, Control System
Alabama Shakes, Boys And Girls
Alisa Weilerstein, Cello Concertos (Elgar & Carter)
Alt-J, An Awesome Wave
Andy Stott, Luxury Problems
Astro, Astro
Berlin Philharmonic, St. Matthew Passion
Meek Mill, Dreamchasers 2
Bobby Womack, The Bravest Man In The Universe
Bomba Estereo, Elegancia Tropical
Brooklyn Rider, Seven Steps
Cafe Tacvba, El Objeto Antes Llmado Disco
Carla Morrison, Dejenme Llorar
Cat Power, Sun
Cody ChesnuTT, Landing On A Hundred
Dan Deacon, America
Death Grips, No Love Deep Web
Debo Band, Debo Band
Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan
Dwight Yoakam, 3 Pears
Exitmusic, Passage
Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel
Flying Lotus, Until The Quiet Comes
Frank Ocean, channel Orange
fun., Some Nights
Homeboy Sandman, First Of A Living Breed
Iris DeMent, Sing The Delta
Janka Nabay, En Yay Sah
Japandroids, Celebration Rock
Karriem Riggins, Alone Together
Kendrick Lamar, good kid, M.A.A.D. city
Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music
Leila Josefowicz, Violin Concerto (Salonen)
Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas
Matt Ulery, By A Little Light
Miguel, Kaleidoscope Dream
Neneh Cherry and The Thing, The Cherry Thing
Now, Now, Threads
Pallbearer, Sorrow And Extinction
Patrick Watson, Adventures In Your Own Backyard
Pink, The Truth About Love
Regina Spektor, What We Saw From The Cheap Seats
San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas, Harmonielehre/Short Ride in a Fast Machine (Adams)
Sharon Van Etten, Tramp
Swans, The Seer
The 2 Bears, Be Strong
The Very Best, MTMTMK
Ty Segall, Twins
Vijay Iyer Trio, Accelerando
Wadada Leo Smith, Ten Freedom Summers

From the video I've seen Dylan's voice is so so shot, makeing such a noise that it totally fits w/a high placing in the Wire poll.

4. Jakob Ullmann - Fremde Zeit - Addendum

This is amazingly high - I love A Catalogue of Sounds, but austere classical doesn't usually make the top 10. Haven't heard this set though.

From the video I've seen Dylan's voice is so so shot, makeing such a noise that it totally fits w/a high placing in the Wire poll.

LOL

the Pink album's dope, good to see that recognized somewhere

kudos for dreamchasers 2 and the cherry thing!

Meek mixtape is good but i'm definitely rating the album over it.

Oh boy...

Magnet - Best Of 2012: Electronic
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/category/best-of-2012/

MAGNET’s Justin Hampton picks the best electronic releases of the year.

1 Death Grips The Money Store (Epic)
2 Hundred Waters Hundred Waters (Owsla)
3 deadmau5 <Album Title Goes Here> (Ultra)
4 Rusko Songs (Mad Decent)
5 The Gaslamp Killer Breakthrough (Brainfeeder)
6 Calvin Harris 18 Months (Fly Eye/Columbia)
7 NOISIA Split The Atom (mau5trap)
8 Die Antwoord Ten$ion (Zef)
9 Mala Mala In Cuba (Brownswood)
10 Death Grips No Love Deep Web (self-released)

since the NPR site is fucked and I had to do a web safari to get to the song list, here's that:

Aluna George, "You Know You Like It"
Ana Tijoux, "Las Cosas Por Su Nombre"
Ane Brun, "Do You Remember"
Angel Olsen, "The Waiting"
Arnaldo Antunes, Edgar Scandurra & Toumani Diabate, "Ce Nao Vai Me Acompanhar"
Baauer, "Harlem Shake"
Bang On A Can (David Lang) "For Madeline"
Baroness, "Take My Bones Away"
Bat For Lashes, "Laura"
Behzod Abduraimov, "Danse Macabre"
Best Coast, "The Only Place"
Bill Fay, "The Never Ending Happening"
Bonnie Raitt, "Not Cause I Wanted To"
Bruce Springsteen, "We Take Care Of Our Own"
Carly Rae Jepsen, "Call Me Maybe"
Ceclia Bartoli, "Amami, e vederai"
Chairlift, "I Belong In Your Arms"
Cloud Nothings, "Stay Useless"
Daughn Gibson, "In The Beginning"
David Byrne & St. Vincent, "Who"
Death Grips, "I've Seen Footage"
Django Django, "Default"
Egyptian Project, "Besharis"
Ellie Goulding, "Anything Could Happen"
Father John Misty, "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"
Fatouma Diawara, "Bakonoba"
FIDLAR, "Cheap Beer"
French Montana, "Pop That"
fun., "We Are Young"
G.O.O.D. Music, "Mercy"
Gregory Porter, "Be Good"
Grimes, "Genesis"
Grizzly Bear, "A Simple Answer"
Heems, "Womyn"
High On Fire, "Fertile Green"
Hospitality, "Eighth Avenue"
Hot Chip, "Look At Where We Are"
Icona Pop, "I Love It"
Jack White, "Sixteen Saltines"
Jai Paul, "Jasmine"
Jamey Johnson & Alison Krauss, "Make The World Go Away"
JEFF the Brotherhood, "Sixpack"
Jeremih, "F—- You All The Time"
Jeremy Denk, "Ligeti: Automne e Varsovie"
Jeri-Jeri with Mbene Diatta Seck, "Mbeuguel Dafa Nekh"
Joey Bada$$, "Waves"
John Fullbright, "Gawd Above"
John K. Samson, "When I Write My Masters Thesis"
John Talabot, "Destiny"
Julia Holter, "Marienbad"
Justin Martin, "Don't Go"
Kacey Musgraves, "Merry Go Round"
Kelan Philip Cohran and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, "Spin"
Kishi Bashi, "Bright Whites"
Kristen Kelly, "Ex-Old Man"
Le1f, "Wut"
Lianne La Havas, "Is Your Love Big Enough"
Little Big Town, "Pontoon"
Loudon Wainwright III, "In C"
LV, "Nothing Like Us"
M.I.A., "Bad Girls"
Machel Montano, "Go Down"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, "Same Love"
Mala, "Mulata"
Marcel Khalife, "Oh, My Proud Wound"
Martha Wainwright, "Everything Wrong"
Metz, "Headache"
Miguel, "Adorn"
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "Walk Like A Giant"
Perfume Genius, "Hood"
Ralph Peterson, "4 in 1 (Fo'tet)"
Rick Ross feat. Andre 3000, "Sixteen"
Robert Raimon Roy, "Robert Raimon Roy"
Rufus Wainwright, "Montauk"
Ryan Truesdell, "Punjab"
Saint Etienne, "Tonight"
San Francisco Symphony (Adams), "Short Ride in a Fast Machine"
Schoolboy Q, "Blessed (feat. Kendrick Lamar)"
Scissor Sisters, "Let's Have A Kiki"
Sean Rowe, "Horses"
Shemekia Copeland, "Ain't Gonna Be Your Tattoo"
Shovels & Rope, "Birmingham"
Simone White, "Big Dreams And The Headlines"
Sinead O'Connor, "The Wolf Is Getting Married"
Sinkane, "Jeeper Creeper"
Six Organs of Admittance, "Waswasa"
Solange, "Losing You"
Spiritualized, "Hey Jane"
Tame Impala, "Elephant"
Tanlines, "All Of Me"
The Mynabirds, "Generals"
The xx, "Angels"
THEESatisfaction, "QueenS"
Titus Andronicus, "In A Big City"
Todd Terje, "Inspector Norse"
Usher, "Climax"
Waxahatchee, "Be Good"
Wiley, "I'm Skanking" (The 2 Bears Remix)"
Y.N. Rich Kids, "Hot Cheetos and Takis"

haha I was listening to that Noisia album yesterday, it was fun

That Actress album is hugely dull. I figure it's getting big props because people weren't quick enough to jump on the Splaszh-wagon.

the Die Antwoord album is hilarious. "DJ Hi-Tek will fuck you in the ASSS"

Those NPR lists have a lot of good stuff on them. Also: "Hot Cheetos and Takis"

More piks from a glance at the wire list - anyone heard these?

24. Michael Pisaro and Toshiya Tsunoda - Crosshatches
31. Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers
50. Brotzmann/Satoh/Moriyama - Yatagarasu

the Die Antwoord album is hilarious. "DJ Hi-Tek will fuck you in the ASSS"

― make like a steak and beef (dog latin), Wednesday, December 5, 2012 10:07 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

phrases that terrify Talib Kweli

from Die Antwoord's Wiki: "although the band blends reality with fantastical elements for artistic effect and they do not acknowledge whether DJ Hi-Tek is a real person or a character played by a variety of musicians and actors; the physical appearance of a person presented as DJ Hi-Tek in video material has greatly varied, including ethnicity (white in "Zef Side", "Fok Julle Naaiers" and numerous live appearances)."

my splitting sides

That Actress album is hugely dull. I figure it's getting big props because people weren't quick enough to jump on the Splaszh-wagon.

Then again, it was Wire's album of the year in 2010, so I don't think you can lay that one at their door. Agree that it is a bit boring though.

listened to the actress a record a lot more than some of the more instant dance albums this year, like talabot etc.

i listened to it a few times and it didn't do a lot for me. it was more obviously accessible than before, which you'd think would make it better but for me a lot of it sounded like interludes from a late-90s IDM album - "pleasant" but nothing special. splaszh on the other hand was trance-inducing; totally stripped back and skewed vision of dance and pop music. i loved the whole "studies on a theme" method that album evoked (the first track is a "study" on Prince's Erotic City, apparently).

Splazsh was in my '10 top ten and RIP is in my '12 top ten -- still making up for hearing Hazyville a whole week after it was released.

This is from Classic Rock magazine:

1. Rush - Clockwork Angels
2. Rival Sons - Head Down
3. ZZ Top - La Futura
4. Howlin Rain - The Russian Wilds
5. Jake White - Blunderbuss
6. Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight
7. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
8. The Darkness - Hot Cakes
9. Cory Branan - Mutt
10. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Last Of A Dyin' Breed
11. Ginger - 100%
12. Slash - Apocalyptic Love
13. The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
14. Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth
15. Walking Papers - Walking Papers
16. Europe - Bay Of Bones
17. Muse - The 2nd Law
18. Anathema - Weather Systems
19. Kiss - Monster
20. Soundgarden - King Animal
21. Phantom Lamb - The Pines
22. Tame Impala - Lonerism
23. UFO - Seven Deadly
24. Black Country Coummunion - Afterglow
25. Aerosmith - Music From Another Dimension!
26. Squackett - A Life Within A Day
27. The Cult - Choice Of Weapon
28. Band Of Skulls - Sweet Sour
29. Shooter Jennings - Family Man
30. Marillion - Sounds That Can' Be Made
31. The Jim Jones Revue - The Savage Heart
32. Brad - United We Stand
33. The Heavy - The Glorious Dead
34. Flying Colours - Flying Colours
35. Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind) The Crafty Ape
36. Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Big Moon Ritual
37. Heart - Fanatic
38. Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
39. Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
40. Tremonti - All I Was
41. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat & Bone
42. Killing Joke - MMXXII
43. Baroness - Yellow & Green
44. Alabama Shakes - Girls & Boys
45. Gravelroad - Psychedelta
46. Ian Anderson - Thick As A Brick 2
47. Bob Dylan - Tempest
48. Paul Weller - Sonic Kicks
49. Hawk Eyes - Ideas
50. Patti Smith - Banga

Squackett is Chris Squire of Yes and Steve Hackett of Genesis fyi

hello classic rock magazine, way to fill the list with ageing white males

fart rock magazine

Wait is this a different Classic Rock magazine from the other one?

Yes, that was Ultimate Classic Rock

Classic Ultimate Rock list is next week

Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight

^^^ had an argument with white dude last week about this one; said Joe is the next Jeff Beck, therefore "would have nothing to do with those fucking American Idol princesses fucking up music"

30. Marillion - Sounds That Can' Be Made

^ I love this typo

32. Brad - United We Stand

this is easily my favourite album made by a schizophrenic this year

The xx is #8 in the Guardian list so maybe DJP is right and I've mistakenly projected my own huge disappointment on to other critics.

I'm not trying to be all "xx street team" but the thread here is the only place I've seen people outright moaning about Coexist is terrible

let's have an ilx office pool on who's gonna be the first person to do the "ennngh i wish we could see what pitchfork writers INDIVIDUAL BALLOTS are" or "ennnngghh its EDITORIAL MASSAGING and not what THE WRITERS WANT" arguments this year,

Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight

^^^ had an argument with white dude last week about this one; said Joe is the next Jeff Beck, therefore "would have nothing to do with those fucking American Idol princesses fucking up music"

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, December 5, 2012 10:54 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol having seen both joe bonamassa and jeff beck i can say with certainty that joe bonamassa is not the next jeff beck

xp It wouldn't be the first time I'd mistakenly equated the prevailing wind on ILX with wider opinion. It just seemed so lacklustre to me after the debut. I couldn't see people loving it.

well, it's in my top 10 of the year pretty easily

would have been a contender solely based on "Chains", "Missing" and "Swept Away" but, as I said on the thread, an xx album based off of the blueprint of "Shelter" is exactly what I wanted from them

Wire List is always weird due to the disparate nature of the writers. The genre lists and conributers favourite albums at the end are always more interesting reading. Left my sub details at home so cant check them at the mo

and also no KTL? Boo

i saw a lot of pre-release excitement on twitter from UK critics about the xx which pretty much all turned swiftly into mild disappointment once people had heard it

it's basically the first album but...less. i don't really have any complaints about its sound or direction as such, it's a nice background album if you need it like that, but the songs are just not there apart from "angels"

you keep saying that as if it isn't a meaningless criticism

the hooks aren't there, then

a lot of things aren't there

There was so little there in the first place that all it really took was a tiny drop off in quality to feel massive.

Yes. When your sound is that minimal you can't afford to get anything wrong. It's a classic "same but worse" second album.

the only thing I think they got wrong was not giving Romy a few more takes at vocals on some songs (esp. "Tides")

dan i think you're the only one that likes the album in the entire world. all these list placements are payola.