haven't music journalists always stayed up past their bedtimes slaving over a hot laptop/computer monitor/typewriter though? what's changed? (serious q)
― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Friday, 7 December 2012 12:20 (eleven years ago) link
probably harvest my best crops in the 2am zone tbh
got my laptop connected to a monitor though, no flies on me
― r|t|c, Friday, 7 December 2012 12:21 (eleven years ago) link
I dug the first Angel Haze mixtape that Lex raved about in 2010 maybe? But haven't liked this year's stuff bar one or two tracks.
Glad to see First Aid Kit make a couple of lists.
― pandemic, Friday, 7 December 2012 12:24 (eleven years ago) link
night time is a nice time for listening to music, never up till 2am though unless i'm out of the house.
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Friday, 7 December 2012 12:28 (eleven years ago) link
i generally eat a banana for breakfast, if you wanted any more banal routine facts.
have to say i'm also getting increasingly frustrated with this pervasive hazy indistinct shoegazery sound that's become so ubiquitous across the music spectrum in recent times. i love heaven or las vegas and loveless as much as anyone, but i also like SOLID sounds damnit. so often these reverby washy effects sound like they've just been thrown on in post-production to cover up sub-par musicianship. kevin shields spent a hell of a long time perfecting his sound, toying with feedback and guitar effects to achieve it. somehow i feel that shoving everything through a distortion module on your laptop is missing the point.
― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Friday, 7 December 2012 12:35 (eleven years ago) link
i'm struggling to think of many examples of things that came out this year that weren't swathed in some excessive amounts of reverb, flange, delay, chorus etc... something cleanly-produced, clipped even, like (just for example) an early Talking Heads number. i don't mean back to basics - i'm not a production luddite at all; but applying these fx in such a haphazard way until they "sound cool" is such a tiring and trying way to produce music.
― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Friday, 7 December 2012 12:38 (eleven years ago) link
Lex, it's funny hearing you talk about "important" music because perceived "importance" is precisely why Frank Ocean and Kendrick are getting all the attention that strikes you as annoyingly disproportionate and I wouldn't be surprised if Angel's first official album benefits critically in exactly the same way next year.
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 7 December 2012 12:47 (eleven years ago) link
Bleep albums of the yearLegowelt - The Paranormal Soul Robert Hood - Motor: Nighttime World 3 Daphni - JIAOLONG Nathan Fake - Steam Days Lukid - Lonely At The Top Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes Grizzly Bear - Shields Tame Impala - Lonerism Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin - Instrumental TouristActress - R.I.P.
Bleep reissues of the yearVarious Artists - Personal Space Various Artists - Filtered Various Artists - The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume Two Various Artists - TREVOR JACKSON presents METAL DANCE Ike Yard - S/T Various Artists - Only 4 U: The Sound Of Cajmere & Cajual Records 1992-2012 Can - The Lost Tapes Nite Jewel - Good Evening Cults Percussion Ensemble - Cults Percussion Ensemble
― Neil S, Friday, 7 December 2012 12:55 (eleven years ago) link
Holy crap, "Ocear Roar" is MASSIVE
― Raymond Cummings, Friday, 7 December 2012 13:19 (eleven years ago) link
FACT Magazine - Albums 2012
1. KENDRICK LAMAR - GOOD KID, M.A.A.D. CITY2. LEE GAMBLE - DIVERSIONS 1994-1996 / DUTCH TVASHAR PLUMES3. COOLY G - PLAYIN’ ME4. HORRID RED - CELESTIAL JOY5. SPACEGHOSTPURRP - GOD OF BLACK6. HOW TO DRESS WELL - TOTAL LOSS7. JAM CITY - CLASSICAL CURVES8. TERRENCE DIXON - FROM THE FAR FUTURE PT.29. SWANS - THE SEER10. WOLFGANG VOIGT - RÜCKVERZAUBERUNG 611. Actress - R.I.P.12. Jeremih - Late Nights with Jeremih13. Madteo - Noi No14. Julia Holter - Ekstasis15. Sand Circles - Motor City16. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange17. I:Cube - "M" Megamix18. Wiley - It's All Fun & Games19. Lana Del Rey - Born to Die20. Silent Servant - Negative Fascination21. Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful22. Future - Pluto23. Heroin in Tahiti - Death Surf24. The Internet - Purple Naked Ladies25. Main Attrakionz - Bossalinis & Fooliyones26. Grimes - Visions27. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch28. Ariel Pink & R. Stevie Moore - Ku Klux Glam29. Ricardo Villalobos - Dependent and Happy30. Supreme Cuts - Whispers in the Dark31. Nas - Life is Good32. D'eon - Music for Keyboards vol.133. Altered Natives - Tenement Yard vol.334. Lorenzo Senni - Quantum Jelly35. Young Smoke - Space Zone36. Gunplay - Bogota Rich: The Prequel37. Le1f - Dark York38. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream39. Black Breath - Sentenced to Life40. Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man41. Cocaine 80s - Express 0G EP42. Schoolboy Q - Habits and Contradictions43. Carter Tutti Void - Transverse44. Triad God - NXB45. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Timon Irnok Manta46. Purity Ring - Shrine47. The XX - Coexist48. Haleek Maul - Oxyconteen49. Helm - Impossible Symmetry50. Bigg Jus - Machines That Make Civilization Fun
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:44 (eleven years ago) link
i feel like i need to clarify that i had NO INPUT WHATSOEVER into that fucking dreadful list
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:44 (eleven years ago) link
5. SPACEGHOSTPURRP - GOD OF BLACK6. HOW TO DRESS WELL - TOTAL LOSS11. Actress - R.I.P.12. Jeremih - Late Nights with Jeremih14. Julia Holter - Ekstasis16. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange21. Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful22. Future - Pluto24. The Internet - Purple Naked Ladies25. Main Attrakionz - Bossalinis & Fooliyones26. Grimes - Visions28. Ariel Pink & R. Stevie Moore - Ku Klux Glam46. Purity Ring - Shrine
^^these albums in particular need to go fuck themselves
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:46 (eleven years ago) link
still at least no laurel halo eh
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:48 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, that was a little surprising really
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:50 (eleven years ago) link
At this point, I don't think I will ever understand the fascination with Lana Del Rey
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:51 (eleven years ago) link
LDR is getting mid-table positions everywhere, if anything that's a falling-off from the early-year hype (and a reflection that the album is only half good even by its own standards)
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:53 (eleven years ago) link
"Half good" is super charitable
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:55 (eleven years ago) link
if I hadn't opened this thread I might never have learned that Ariel Pink made a record called "Ku Klux Glam" in 2012 so while that's on A.P. I'm still kinda cheesed at this thread
xp peace out Lana Del Ray I look forward to answering questions about you at my local trivia night in 2017
― too many encores (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:58 (eleven years ago) link
I agree Born to Die's only half-good but it's getting deserved props for being a big-selling (in Europe anyway) pop record that offers an alternative to an increasingly homogenous and self-parodying norm. She has at least done it her way.
The Lee Gamble album is such FACT-bait it's hilarious. It's good but melancholy hypnagogic renderings of old drum'n'bass rave cassettes is just too perfect a concept for FACT.
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 7 December 2012 13:58 (eleven years ago) link
well, obviously you had to be the sort of person who was into "video games" in the first place
as someone who did, i thought the album was a failure in that it showed up the rickety shtickiness of the entire project but even so there are 5-6 keepers that i tend to listen to when i'm ill or hungover.
xps
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:00 (eleven years ago) link
I might never have learned that Ariel Pink made a record called "Ku Klux Glam"
Ha aero, wait till you see the cover of it o_O
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:00 (eleven years ago) link
linking cos NSFW:
http://pitchfork-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/content/pink%20moore.jpg
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:01 (eleven years ago) link
the people who treat LDR as someone sort of joke or punchline are reaching just as hard as the people pretending she's some sort of lynchian genius (are there even any of the latter left?)
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:01 (eleven years ago) link
Ariel Pink is a joke, right? I mean no one actually likes him?
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:04 (eleven years ago) link
Simon Reynolds album of the year iirc
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:04 (eleven years ago) link
As an entertainer, being different is meaningless without also being entertaining. Obviously what is entertaining varies between people but it still hits my incredulity threshold that "theatre kid with no vocal control braying over a harp and timpani" met that need for so many people.
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:04 (eleven years ago) link
There's something a bit sad about Bleep.com plumping for Grizzly Bear and Tame Impala as well.
― Matt DC, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:05 (eleven years ago) link
xp On a really basic level I think Video Games is about the chord changes. The same guy co-wrote Bat for Lashes' Laura. He's good with the chords.
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:09 (eleven years ago) link
Actually, if "Video Games" was done in a higher key with a singer more sensitive to nuance and dynamic shading, I might enjoy it.
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:12 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sexPTYJ4fbo
― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:13 (eleven years ago) link
kinda starting to think the bbc's list might somehow end up being the least irritating of all
it has a nondeclarative randomness i suppose
― r|t|c, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:19 (eleven years ago) link
Haha nope DL, there is just something about the way this song is put together that fundamentally irks me.
I think the phrasing is awkward, particularly how the verse melody is built almost entirely on successive leaps between vocal registers that make most singers sound labored and disjointed; compare this to "Laura" where the interval leaps are mostly within the same register and movement between them is done with stepwise motion. This isn't to say that there aren't contexts where a lurching, queasy melody isn't desirable, but I'm not convinced that "Video Games" sells it well enough.
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:24 (eleven years ago) link
i've said this elsewhere but everything to do with writing/production on the ldr album was totally fucking lazy and halfassed
― call all destroyer, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:32 (eleven years ago) link
like regardless of whether i thought she was a joke or not, most of the ppl who worked on that record clearly did
― call all destroyer, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:33 (eleven years ago) link
eg?
― #YOLO ONO (lex pretend), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:34 (eleven years ago) link
i think the production is too much, actually - very little is as sparse as "video games", too often the songs are sort of slathered in unnecessary strings and get corny vaguely hip-hop beats and samples tacked on to them.
― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Wednesday, February 1, 2012 10:52 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
...
well then.
first thing: everyone on the production side of this should be ashamed of themselves--it's a terrible sounding record. portishead by way of a st vincent depaul thrift store with no polish, no cohesion, no ideas. it seriously sounds like it was put together by a bunch of old guys who have no idea what is cool and what might actually sound good. after it was over i immediately put on the precedent for what this record should have sounded like: mono - "life in mono" c. 1997 which at least had some *style* not a bunch of dorky mashed together beats and strings.
second thing: ldr herself. i think we all agree that she's talented but she is either not comfortable with singing, or not comfortable with singing this music, or she just doesn't have much of a natural ear. i heard so much odd phrasing and timing, when she would slip into and out of different voices it was just awkward. she's best doing the deep droll-y voice but they also try to make her sing high and breathy and then like a big pop singer and then doing some weird pseudo-rap thing that i don't even understand. like the production, this all could have been fixed with time and effort but no one seemed to really care.
last thing: there were times where i could close my eyes and try really hard and see the trashy/kitschy fun of some of this (and that's an aesthetic i strongly dislike to be fair) but the album just vacillates too much between that and moments of legitimately embarrassing material and moments that are just so joyless and po-faced that i can't imagine how someone would enjoy this as a pop record. oddly my fav track is "this is what makes us girls" which is kind of awful but is at least *about something* and seems to wink a bit unlike most of the other songs which seem to be the lyrical embodiment of that video where ldr doesn't do anything except embrace the guy with tats.
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, February 1, 2012 11:57 AM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― call all destroyer, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:37 (eleven years ago) link
this sun araw thing is pretty cool.
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:38 (eleven years ago) link
were you thinking of beach house throughout this post?
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:39 (eleven years ago) link
haha CAD I think I said this on the original thread but thanks again for reminding me of Mono
― I loves you, PORGI (DJP), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
no prob :)
― call all destroyer, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:42 (eleven years ago) link
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:39 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark
i'd assumed he was just trying to create something more banal than your breakfast 'nana
― r|t|c, Friday, 7 December 2012 14:50 (eleven years ago) link
haha
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Friday, 7 December 2012 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
hey ship, not sure whether you're a dude who thought dashboard confessional was an elaborate joke or not, but the new further seems forever record seems in your emo/modern rock wheelhouse? it might end up in my list
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 7 December 2012 15:30 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35DonBT4vQ
some pensive scarf-wearing in the video
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 7 December 2012 15:31 (eleven years ago) link
Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of 2012
50 Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan49 Amadou And Mariam - Folila48 The Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania47 Todd Snider - Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables46 Muse - The 2nd Law45 Rick Ross - Rich Forever44 Garbage - Not Your Kind of People43 fun. - Some Nights42 Allo Darlin' - Europe41 The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter40 Escort - Escort39 Passion Pit - Gossamer38 Titus Andronicus - Local Business37 Justin Townes Earle - Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now36 Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe35 Grizzly Bear - Shields34 Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls33 Grimes - Visions32 Hospitality - Hospitality31 Taylor Swift - Red30 Azealia Banks - 199129 Dave Matthews Band - Away From the World28 Beach House - Bloom27 Gary Clark Jr. - Blak and Blu26 Django Django - Django Django25 Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos24 G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer23 Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits22 Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream21 Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory20 Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music19 Band Of Horses - Mirage Rock18 Nas - Life is Good17 John Mayer - Born and Raised16 Cat Power - Sun15 Dr. John - Locked Down14 Best Coast - The Only Place13 Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas12 Jimmy Cliff - Rebirth11 Mumford & Sons - Babel10 Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill09 Japandroids - Celebration Rock08 Green Day - !Uno!07 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Here06 Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city05 Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...04 Bob Dylan - Tempest03 Jack White - Blunderbuss02 Frank Ocean - Channel Orange01 Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 7 December 2012 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
Funny that it took RS to remind me there was a new Amadou & Mariam album. However as compelled I am to check out way too many albums I hadn't heard yet than is probably good for me, I don't think I'm motivated to subject myself to the John Mayer, DMB and Donald Fagen.
Finally heard Solange's True EP and was slightly disappointed. It's pretty good, but too samey mid-tempo groove. The Orchid Heretic EP, however, f-yeah! Having a tough time with Laurel Halo's voice so far but haven't finished it. What do you all think the Wire staff liked about it so much?
― Fastnbulbous, Friday, 7 December 2012 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
I for one tune out the moment I see Mumford on any of these lists.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Friday, 7 December 2012 17:19 (eleven years ago) link
Drowned in Soundhttp://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4145840-drowned-in-sounds-favourite-albums-of-2012--5-1
=1) Blondes - Blondes=1) Chromatics - Kill for Love=1) Liars - WIXIW=1) Swans - The Seer=1) Sharon Van Etten - Tramp6) Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser ...7) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!8) School of Seven Bells - Ghostory9) Aesop - Rock Skelethon10) Julia Holter - Ekstasis11) Frank - Ocean Channel Orange12) Chairlift - Something13) Twilight - Sad No One Will Ever Know14) Polica - Give You the Ghost15) Perfume Genius - Put Your Back In 2 It16) Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d City17) Jessie Ware - Devotion18) Killer Mike RAP - Music19) LHF - Keepers Of the Light20) FOE - Bad Dream Hotline21) Twin Shadow - Confess22) Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Motion Sickness of Time Travel23) Django - Django Django Django24) Cat - Power Sun25) Deftones - Koi No Yokan26) Yppah - Eighty One27) Errors - Have Some Faith in Magic28) John Talabot - Fin29) Melody’s Echo Chamber - Melody’s Echo Chamber30) Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory31) Efterklang - Pirimada32) Actress - R.I.P.33) Metric - Synthetica34) The Lost Rivers - Sin & Lostness35) Crystal Castles - iii36) Field Music - Plumb37) Grimes - Visions38) LV - Sebenza39) Blood Red Shoes - In Time To Voices40) Lana Del Rey - Born to Die41) Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan42) Japandroids - Celebration Rock43) The Maccabees - Given to the Wild44) Grizzly - Bear Shields45) Muse - The 2nd Law46) Scott Walker - Bish Bosch47) Yeasayer - Fragrant World48) Echo Lake - Wild Peace49) How to Dress Well - Total Loss50) Bloc Party - Four51) Shearwater - Animal Joy52) And You Will Know Us By The Trail of The Dead Lost Songs53) Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II54) Sigur Ros - Valtari55) Death - Grips The Money Store56) Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself57) Bat for Lashes - The Haunted Man58) Tindersticks - The Something Rain59) Eight and a Half - Eight and a Half60) Leonard Cohen - Old61) The Cribs - In the Belly of the Brazen Bull62) Future of the Left - The Plot Against Common Sense63) Purity Ring - Shrines64) The xx - Coexist65) First Aid Kit - The Lions’s Roar66) The Shins - Port of Morrow67) Orbital - Wonky68) Neil Young - Psychedelic Pill69) Tame Impala - Lonerism70) Stumbleine - Spiderwebbed71) Exitmusic - Passage72) Diiv - Oshin73) El-P _ Cancer 4 Cure74) Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge75) Lower Dens - Nootropics76) Halls - Ark77) Dirty Three - Toward the Low Sun78) Magnetic Fields - Love at the Bottom of the Sea79) Nils Frahm - Screws80) The Walkmen - Heaven81) BATS - The Sleep of Reason82) Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes83) Ghosting Season - The Very Last of the Saints84) dEUS - Following Sea Guide85) Dan Deacon - America86) Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament - The Violence87) why? - Sod the Seed88) Lee Ronaldo - Between The Times and the Tide89) Passion Pit - - Gossamer90) Beach House Bloom91) I Like Trains - The Shallows92) Anais Mitchell - Young Man in America93) Spiritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light94) Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball95) Alt-J - An Awesome Wave96) John Cale - Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood97) CFCF - Exercises98) Hot Chip - In Our Heads99) Hey - Sholay ((o))100) Cursive - I Am Gemini
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Friday, 7 December 2012 17:31 (eleven years ago) link
Appropriate that that sad Cursive album finally made a list, in the saddest way possible
― Evan R, Friday, 7 December 2012 17:32 (eleven years ago) link