Tim F's write-up for 'Turn On The Lights' on th pfk countdown is great! This bit in particular "His lyrics simultaneously raised and lowered the bar for spur of the moment profundity as his hook-laden yet tone-deaf emphysemic mutterings nestled into the cracks between rap and R&B, while Auto-Tune choruses left him sounding like gloriously damaged goods." kinda nails a big part of why I love Future so much.
― pandemic, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 12:37 (eleven years ago) link
ha i barely posted in the shanell thread, and only obnoxiously half the time, and then left it alone compared to the several people openly trolling it
― some dude, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 12:40 (eleven years ago) link
xpost yeah i loved that write up
― just sayin, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 12:41 (eleven years ago) link
noz on keef is fire also
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 12:53 (eleven years ago) link
Asking here cuz somebody should know: will there even be a Best Muscle Writing 2012 ?
― Raymond Cummings, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 13:12 (eleven years ago) link
here it is, ray:
https://www.christianwritersguild.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/writing-muscle-slider1.jpg
comparing "I Don't Like" to "The Message" was a little over the top, i thought
reassuring that PF can still be relied on to say 'Call Me Maybe was nice, yes, but Grizzly Bear definitely wrote a better song this year'
― some dude, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 13:20 (eleven years ago) link
i just really fucking hate "bitch don't kill my vibe" --lex pretend
--lex pretend
Go on.
― epic album: the pluto (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 13:33 (eleven years ago) link
i'm with lex here, might be my least favorite track on the record
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:30 (eleven years ago) link
My only point upthread was that, even if you're not fond of it, would you concede that it's probably the most obvious track on the album to be a consensus favorite?
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:36 (eleven years ago) link
I'd say "The Art of Peer Pressure" or "Poetic Justice."
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:37 (eleven years ago) link
no! none of those! all of those are deep cuts and sound like them. either "swimming pools" or "the recipe" as the singles, "cartoon & cereal" as a much-hyped (with good reason) stand-alone non-album cut, or possibly "money trees" as a track that seems to encapsulate a lot of the album's themes
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:38 (eleven years ago) link
would you concede that it's probably the most obvious track on the album to be a consensus favorite
I do actually like it, but I don't see how this is true at all really, other than it appears early on in the album.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:41 (eleven years ago) link
For a tracks poll, the Pitchfork list looks awfully like a singles list, to be expected I guess near the top but I think the entire top 30 are singles or lead off downloads from the record.
― Mitchell Stirling, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
Oh good! No consensus then
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
― some dude, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 13:20 (1 hour ago) Bookmark
maybe, but after a year of endless surrounding grumbling and murmuring and whatnot about the track it was effective just this once to bang a fist on the table with a historical juxtaposition and clear the fug for a sec. besides it wasnt "this is as good as" or "the 2012 version of", he used the comparison (and well i thought)
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:47 (eleven years ago) link
did anyone mention the jacob korn record yet? have come back to it a few times over the course of the year. #faintpraise.
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:48 (eleven years ago) link
meant that for the dance thread actually, but it's here forever now. i'll let history judge me.
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link
I spoke to Tony Blair and he said he preferred the Petar Dundov album.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:52 (eleven years ago) link
the ruth saxelby bit for alunageorge is quite good just for placing them in about the right critical spot ("1980s UK electro pop duos, from Yazoo to Eurythmics") where it's been so easy to tip too far either side of the dance/r&b question. felt like a sensible clarification for me anyway.
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:53 (eleven years ago) link
"this isn't the time for soundbytes. but today i truly feel the hand of house on my shoulder." xpost sorry carry on
― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:53 (eleven years ago) link
I've heard of Jacob Korn without ever having bothered to look into him but having realised he had a hand in Philipp Dolphia I'm going to check him out immediately.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
the "hook so pop it hurts" is a bit "uhhhh really?" though
liked katherine st asaph on angel haze a lot
in general the p4k lists crystallises this sense across most EOY lists i've seen that it's even more about ring-fencing and aesthetic branding than ever this year. on a related note, i was really happy to see rich juzwiak pick keyshia cole for this:
http://www.thefader.com/2012/12/17/20-musicians-tastemakers-and-other-weirdos-pick-their-favorite-music-of-2012/
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
If I had to listen to only one song from 2012 for the rest of my life, it would be the second single from Keyshia Cole’s Woman to Woman album, “Trust and Believe.” No commercial track I’ve heard this year understands where R&B is and was quite as well. Seething with sound, its snapped beats reverberate into hisses, its snare fills throw tantrums while Cole sings furiously, balancing heartbreak and righteous indignation. This should be the ballad that defines the 31-year-old’s career.
Four tracks in, “Trust and Believe” is Woman’s showstopper. It’s almost bizarre, then, how consistently entertaining the album goes on to be. Its backbone is old-school hip-hop soul, the kind of minimal, breakbeat-based R&B that Mary J. Blige (without whom Keyshia would not be possible) used to sing over. Cole’s endless supply of hooks keep midtempo from sounding mundane, but it is the album’s eventual sense of adventure that makes its 15 tracks fly by. Darkchild’s “Stubborn,” (which Cole pronounces “stub-bron,” lest you think she’s become entirely refined by Album No. 5) bridges the gap from trap to house more convincingly than even “Mercy.” “Hey Sexy” is to Mtume’s “Juicy Fruit” what Miguel’s “Adorn” is to Gregory Abbott’s “Shake You Down” (Cole previously sampled “Fruit” in “Let It Go,” here she just invokes its spirit in a more sophisticated tribute). She samples “Theme from Shaft,” duets with Ashanti on the title track (not a remake of the Shirley Brown Stax classic) and enters the canon of great R&B first lines on the airily modern “Forever”: I’m not easily impressed, but you got me fucked up.
The story of R&B’s phenomenal year centers on the heady, atmospheric turn it has taken and the men who have popularized it. Woman to Woman acknowledges the sound of Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and Miguel, but it offers a much wider palate—there’s a sense of grounded soul tradition here guided by Cole’s still-feral pipes. Woman to Woman is the alternative to the alternative, a commercial R&B record delivered with so little hype, it was easy to miss. It’s destined to be an underrated gem, just like they used to make.
Fuckin Rich will send me scurrying back to the Cole.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:05 (eleven years ago) link
i like that grimes's "oblivion" is getting a lot of praise now, not only b/c it is the only track on the album that i ever felt compelled to revisit much but also b/c it seemed like hardly anyone ever mentioned it in reviews of the album (even tho the music video was out and everything)
― teledyldonix, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:08 (eleven years ago) link
if hearing keyshia cole as anything more than passable/tedious and schlocky is to be the real r&b rubicon then ima hand in my gun & badge right now
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:17 (eleven years ago) link
Or 1990s UK electro pop groups like Sneaker Pimps.
― Andy K, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
well, i liked them too
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
Sneaker Pimps implies a level of dead-eyed monitor lizardity that I'd be loath to apply to AlunaGeorge. Morcheeba, maybe.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
I thought "Nightmusic" was gonna be the runaway song from Visions, but I don't think the album version (or video) storms the keep the way it does in a live setting
― you, your max is on fire (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
XLR8R's Best of 2012: Tracks #25-#1http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2012/12/xlr8rs-best-2012-tracks-part-two
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:51 (eleven years ago) link
The RA #1 track by Andres reminds me of Roule/Cryadamoure output circa 1998. So, I quite like it.
― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 15:52 (eleven years ago) link
(Crydamoure, even)
― r|t|c, Tuesday, December 18, 2012 7:17 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
word. and I realize she's not as bad about it as she used to be, but I can't take the way she sings.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:18 (eleven years ago) link
i would probably have been with you before i heard her latest - when i listened it was so refreshing both because she'd unexpectedly improved and because only hearing that emo MJB style done so sincerely and unashamedly did you realise just how far out of the critical discourse it's got
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
I've got Elle Varner for that (although not really emo).
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:26 (eleven years ago) link
yeah elle varner is more...theatre kid? there's something kinda cutesy about her even on the heartbreakers, you don't feel like she's ever on the edge of a meltdown, which is where keyshia kinda lives.
there's melanie fiona, though i think her album is actually better when she's playful rather than overwrought, apart from "4am" obv. keyshia's entire thing is to be overwrought and it's whether she can sweep you along or not. she rarely did, until this album.
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:29 (eleven years ago) link
I couldn't really get into the Melanie Fiona album too much faux-Motown retread I'm too bored to even finish this sen-
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:31 (eleven years ago) link
"4AM" is dope and "6AM" is cute on some I see what you did there tho.
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
this is such a "c'mon son" moment smh
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
Tiny Mix Tapes albums list for all your vaporwave needs:http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/2012-favorite-50-albums-of-2012
1. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch2. Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful3. Swans - The Seer4. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon / Ocean Roar5. Laurel Halo - Quarantine6. Macintosh Plus - Floral Shoppe7. Actress - R.I.P.8. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems9. YYU - TIMETIMETIME&TIME10. Dean Blunt - The Narcissist II11. Grimes - Visions12. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange13. Holly Herndon - Movement14. BEBETUNE$ - inhale c-4 $$$$$15. DJ Rashad - TEKLIFE Vol. 1: Welcome to the Chi16. Death Grips - The Money Store17. Daughn Gibson - All Hell18. The Caretaker - Patience (after Sebald)19. Traxman - Da Mind of Traxman20. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.D. city21. Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester22. Demdike Stare - Elemental23. Angel Olsen - Half Way Home24. Graham Lambkin - Amateur Doubles25. Mediafired - The Pathway Through Whatever26. Sun Araw/M. Geddes Gengras/The Congos - FRKWYS Vol. 9: Icon Give Thank27. White Suns - Sinews28. Tim Hecker / Daniel Lopatin - Instrumental Tourist29. 情報デスクVIRTUAL - 札幌コンテンポラリー30. Dolphins Into The Future - Canto Arquipélago31. Jason Lescalleet - Songs About Nothing32. Motion Sickness of Time Travel - Motion Sickness of Time Travel33. Farrah Abraham - My Teenage Dream Ended34. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II35. Burial - Kindred EP36. The Men - Open Your Heart37. Tame Impala - Lonerism38. Ian Martin - Mechanical Rain39. Ahnnu - Pro Habitat40. Lil B - White Flame41. Heat Wave - Fukd In Tha Game42. Death Grapes - No Love Deep Web43. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music44. Apple, Fiona - The Idler Wheel is Wiser...45. Arca - Stretch 246. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind47. Internet Club - Vanishing Vision48. Belbury Poly - The Belbury Tales49. Raime - Quarter Turns Over a Living Line50. Mykki Blanco - Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss
― Albert Crampus (NickB), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:42 (eleven years ago) link
Glad to see Mount Eerie that high.
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:22 (eleven years ago) link
"Grimes" next to "Frank Ocean" on all these lists never fails to make me think of Frank Grimes
― some dude, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:24 (eleven years ago) link
DEATH GRAPES
― Raymond Cummings, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:35 (eleven years ago) link
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:31 (40 minutes ago) Bookmark
haha
i can't disagree
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:35 (eleven years ago) link
[...] a rear-guard action, a fight to preserve a space for R&B rather than demand or even anticipate anything of it. [...]
― Tim F, Sunday, 26 December 2010 03:50 (1 year ago) Bookmark
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:38 (eleven years ago) link
my most-delayed eoy chore is giving The MF Life one more front-to-back listen to honestly assess whether i'm being too kind to it
― some dude, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 17:38 (eleven years ago) link
I really like both the Lando Kal and Tom Demac tracks from the XLR8R poll, but in whose warped mind are they topped by that George Fitzgerald schlock? The RA poll this year seemed significantly more conservative than previous years. Pretty much strictly house for the top 10 and otherwise just safe bets for a few token non-house genres.
― viborg, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 18:03 (eleven years ago) link
tbh i am kinda glad that RA didn't feel the need to make token non-dance gestures in their eoy lists this year, and i'm not seeing pachanga boys or anthony naples on any other lists so it's weird to call it conservative. maybe i just like more focused genre lists though?
the juno list is also really good and pretty stylistically similar to the ra list
― akadarbarijava (psychgawsple), Tuesday, 18 December 2012 18:24 (eleven years ago) link
non-house /= non-dance!
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 18:27 (eleven years ago) link