Year-End Critics' Polls 2012

Sort of surprisingly dull: http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-2012,89711/

evan r. can't un-dull their music coverage all by himself

do any of those records mean anything to any of them? or anyone?

kyle ryan i think managed to vote folie a deux into av club's 2009 top 20 and hoo boy those comments were fun

x-post --They have Frank Ocean and the Swans and Leonard Cohen just like a bunch of polls, what more do you want said about those efforts?

well, i was just thinking, that seems like the defect in their list that shows up elsewhere. appreciation without mattering. which is not to say that none of those records matter, or could. but no one seems to have tried showing that they have a stake in any of it.

... I have no idea what you mean by that.

yeah, nobody has made any kind of case that the Frank Ocean album means something to them or matters in some larger sense.

Being on a list means the record mattered to a lot of people!

yes, to the listmakers? or blurb-writers? that's the thing that seems to have gone missing.

'but to', i meant to type.

I still don't understand what you are looking for

i don't think the biggest problem with the EOY list blurbs is a lack of passion (or hyperbole)

i mean this morning we were making fun of a list where the blurbs for albums outside the top 40 talked about the record "owning the year" or being "the best record of 2012"

Exactly. The often hysterical praise and context-setting in blurbs is what needs oversight.

I mean, if someone is out there writing "this album pulled my back from committing murder/suicide" blurbs about that Chairlift album, there are deeper issues beyond whether the album is any good or not that I'd be loathe to actually engage

xpost to some dude - that just means that the writers (or editors) are bad, or they have a distorted sense of how things matter in general versus how they matter to them. but what i'm talking about is not passion or hyperbole. the listmakers themselves are absent from the writing they do about the music that they say matters (or imply matters by putting it on year-end lists). they don't seem to be concerned to make the personal connection. (and by extension, they seem to have trouble finding anything larger than a personal connection to hang the meaningfulness of their chosen records on - for lack of good narratives at the moment, coherence of listening audiences, etc.)

But explaining why the album matters IS a personal connection.

I still have no idea what you are looking for when you use the word "meaningfulness" and I feel like you are simultaneously criticizing these lists for only going for a personal connection and not bothering to make a personal connection.

in summation: what happened, I am confused

alfred, i certainly wouldn't want to deny that it could be. but doesn't that depend to some extent on how the explanation is given, and on how it's written?

dan, i think that as presented the onion list is a good example of what one sees in many year-end lists. there are very few personal connections actually manifested in the writing accompanying the lists because the writers/editors allow the impersonality of the format to exclude those connections. so the end results come to seem universally samey and vaguely like empty exercises.

the year end blurb game is what it is -- those of us who have to write some of them try our best but "sum it up in 50 words or less" is not really conducive to establishing a personal connection

sure, and i don't want to fault you for it. i'm just thinking about what makes these lists dissatisfying - what makes people hunt for a sign (weird albums, unpopular choices, inclusions that don't fit into the overall scheme) that a list isn't just pro forma.

Isn't a sharp blurb promotion enough?

I think "personal connection" is the wrong tack in any event - IMO what is most often missing from poor year end blurbs is a sense of what the writer thinks "the best X thing" actually looks like - the why and how of the music's greatness from their perspective. I think that's still doable in 50 word blurbs, you just can't go into much detail is all.

Nice to see the Quietus repping for Land Observations - Roman Roads IV-XI. It's not amazing and #13 EOY is a bit ridiculous but as pastoral Krautrock revivalism goes it was one of the best this year.

― a Christmas .gif for you from (seandalai), Tuesday, December 11, 2012 3:17 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is lovely! Thanking u.

i think what is most often missing from year end blurbs is music reviewed in the style of adorno, or in any case someone from the frankfurt school. why don't critics explain exactly why and how an album is participating in the capitalist hegemony, reinforcing the superstructure, or stymying the dialectical resolution? the best album of the year should either be the one album valiantly (and only temporarily) resisting co-option, or the album most shamelessly implicated in the hierarchy of taste + class.

otm

you miss k-punk too huh mordy

I think that's still doable in 50 word blurbs, you just can't go into much detail is all.

depends on the album really

Popdust

100. TWIN SHADOW, “FIVE SECONDS”
99. DAVID GUETTA FEAT. SIA, “TITANIUM”
98. NELLY FURATDO, “PARKING LOT”
97. SOLANGE, “LOSING YOU”
96. BAAUER, “HARLEM SHAKE”
95. GRIMES, “OBLIVION”
94. R. KELLY, “SHARE MY LOVE”
93. MIRANDA LAMBERT, “OVER YOU”
92. CONOR MAYNARD, “CAN’T SAY NO”
91. JASON MRAZ, “I WON’T GIVE UP"
90. CHIEF KEEF FEAT. KANYE WEST, PUSHA T, BIG SEAN, JADAKISS, “DON’T LIKE.1″
89. LEE HI, “1 2 3 4″
88. NAS, “DAUGHTERS”
87. OLLY MURS, “HEART SKIPS A BEAT”
86. ERIC CHURCH, “SPRINGSTEEN”
85. M.I.A., “BAD GIRLS”
84. MUMFORD AND SONS, “I WILL WAIT”
83. CA$H OUT, “CASHIN’ OUT”
82. RIHANNA, “DIAMONDS”
81. RITA ORA, “HOW WE DO (PARTY)"
80. WOLFGANG GARTNER, “FLEXX”
79. THE BAND PERRY, “BETTER DIG TWO”
78. CHAIRLIFT, “I BELONG IN YOUR ARMS”
77. RICK ROSS FEAT. DRAKE & FRENCH MONTANA, “STAY SCHEMIN”
76. HALEY REINHART, “FREE”
75. PASSION PIT, “CONSTANT CONVERSATIONS”
74. TAYLOR SWIFT FEAT. THE CIVIL WARS, “SAFE AND SOUND”
73. CHRISTINA AGUILERA, “RED HOT KINDA LOVE”
72. USHER, “DIVE”
71. BEST COAST, “DREAMING MY LIFE AWAY"
70. NICKI MINAJ, “STUPID HOE”
69. PINK, “BLOW ME (ONE LAST KISS)”
68. OWL CITY & CARLY RAE JEPSEN, “GOOD TIME”
67. SCHOOLBOY Q, “THERE HE GO”
66. LEMONADE, “NEPTUNE”
65. ADAM LAMBERT, “KICKIN IN”
64. HUNTER HAYES, “WANTED”
63. RIHANNA FEAT. CHRIS BROWN, “NOBODY’S BUSINESS”
62. SLEIGH BELLS, “COMEBACK KID”
61. AZEALIA BANKS, “JUMANJI"
60. BIG BANG, “BAD BOY”
59. JAPANDROIDS, “THE HOUSE THAT HEAVEN BUILT”
58. THE WANTED, “I FOUND YOU”
57. JUSTIN BIEBER, “THOUGHT OF YOU”
56. KANYE WEST FT. BIG SEAN & JAY-Z, “CLIQUE”
55. ZEDD FEAT. MATTHEW KOMA, “SPECTRUM”
54. ONE DIRECTION, “ONE THING”
53. MUSE, “MADNESS”
52. JAY-Z FEAT. B.I.C., “GLORY”
51. TANLINES, “ALL OF ME”
50. TAYLOR SWIFT, “I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE”
49. CARRIE UNDERWOOD, “BLOWN AWAY”
48. RICK ROSS, “HOLD ME BACK”
47. THE-DREAM FEAT. PUSHA T, “DOPE BITCH”
46. JOEY BADA$$, “WORLD DOMINATION”
45. JUSTIN BIEBER FEAT. DRAKE, “RIGHT HERE”
44. ELLIE GOULDING, “LIGHTS”
43. MIGUEL, “PUSSY IS MINE”
42. FLORENCE & THE MACHINE, “SPECTRUM (SAY MY NAME) (CALVIN HARRIS REMIX)”
41. G-DRAGON, “CRAYON”
40. LOVERANCE FEAT. 50 CENT, T.I. & YOUNG JEEZY, “UP!”
39. PINK, “THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE”
38. JAKE OWEN, “ALONE WITH YOU”
37. KE$HA, “DIE YOUNG”
36. 2 CHAINZ FEAT. DRAKE, “NO LIE”
35. ONE DIRECTION, “I WOULD”
34. ALEX CLARE, “TOO CLOSE”
33. THE WANTED, “GLAD YOU CAME”
32. DEMI LOVATO, “GIVE YOUR HEART A BREAK”
31. CHARLI XCX, “YOU’RE THE ONE”
30. BRUNO MARS, “LOCKED OUT OF HEAVEN”
29. NICKI MINAJ, “BEEZ IN THE TRAP”
28. FIONA APPLE, “EVERY SINGLE NIGHT”
27. TYGA, “RACK CITY”
26. FUN., “SOME NIGHTS”
25. CHER LLOYD, “WANT U BACK”
24. SKY FERREIRA, “EVERYTHING IS EMBARRASSING”
23. FRANK OCEAN, “PYRAMIDS”
22. ICONA POP, “I LOVE IT”
21. KENDRICK LAMAR, “THE RECIPE”
20. FRENCH MONTANA FEAT. DRAKE, RICK ROSS & LIL WAYNE, “POP THAT”
19. LITTLE BIG TOWN, “PONTOON”
18. TAYLOR SWIFT, “WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER”
17. THE LUMINEERS, “HO HEY”
16. CARLY RAE JEPSEN, “THIS KISS”
15. MEEK MILL FEAT. DRAKE, “AMEN”
14. MIGUEL, “ADORN”
13. RIHANNA, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN”
12. NICKI MINAJ, “STARSHIPS”
11. PSY, “GANGNAM STYLE”
10. CALVIN HARRIS, "FEELS SO CLOSE"
9. BRIDGIT MENDLER, “READY OR NOT”
8. FRANK OCEAN, “THINKING ‘BOUT YOU”
7. TAYLOR SWIFT, “STATE OF GRACE”
6. JUSTIN BIEBER, “BOYFRIEND”
5. FUN. FEAT JANELLE MONAE, “WE ARE YOUNG”
4. KANYE WEST FT. BIG SEAN, PUSHA T & 2 CHAINZ, “MERCY”
3. ONE DIRECTION, “WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL”
2. USHER, “CLIMAX”
1. CARLY RAE JEPSEN, “CALL ME MAYBE”

some pretty hilarious picks in there but it's still nice to see a fairly considered list of chart singles

that list is basically x_x -> -_- -> ^_^ in an unending loop

and that's just the One Direction songs on the list

man I hate the Lumineers

my paper, the Baltimore City Paper, did our best-ofs this week

top ten albums: http://citypaper.com/news/2012-top-ten-albums-1.1414966

top ten local albums: http://citypaper.com/news/2012-top-ten-local-albums-1.1414968

a bunch of top ten lists by genre, a few of which i did: http://citypaper.com/news/2012-top-ten-releases-by-genre-1.1414970

man that Dead Sara record is impressive

yeah!! i was pretty thrilled that i got it into their top 10

a very late discovery (i.e. last week) but that's what December's for.

well then, this is new to me.

"weatherman" would have been one hell of a radio hit in 1996. you guys are telling me there's an entire good album of this?

yeah! really like that record

the whole album is not as heavy as that song but all as good

my goodness this lady can sing

yeah they were on some talk show earlier this year, i think Kimmel, and i was O_O at how she could pull off the vox live

yeah this is weird, i've been out of the mainstream rock game for well over 10 years but i'm 4 songs in and loving this.

end of year is so fun on ilm, i learn about tons of stuff.

they're in a kind of awkward no man's land, not on a major label but don't scan as 'indie,' have had some radio airplay but not enough to be a big deal, etc.

I remember giving that Dead Sara record a go in the summer, but I'm not nostalgic for that sound so I never revisited. She has a good voice but overall it made me want to listen to the Nymphs. Now that's a band I have some fond memories of.

I knew the local list would be repping that Rye Rye album, such a good time

Lol @ Insane Clown Posse making Spin's best hip-hop list. What's next, the Creed critical rehab?

I mean, I haven't heard it so maybe it isn't absolutely terrible, but the trajectory of the internet/critical fascination with ICP over the past five years is pretty lol-worthy to me.