Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

wonder if they have an opinion on band aid

xxxpost it should be chandelier is amazing

(so is much of that sia record imo)

is there a consensus beyonce single

i presume it's drunk in love but should be flawless obvs

flawless or partition would be personal choice but drunk in love prob still has legs

What about Rather Be for singles?

the 2014 hot 100 #1 chart looks pretty dire

I've been keeping a shortlist of my fave singles that needs cleaning up, but what's in there now:
20syl / Oddisee - Ongoing Thing
Alpoko Don / Scarface - Set the Record Straight
Aphex - minipops 67
Basement Jaxx- Mermaid of Salinas
Big Von / Keak the Sneak / Jacka - Windows
Chronixx - Here Comes Trouble
Clean Bandit / Jess Glynne - Rather Be (The Magician Remix)
Danity Kane - Lemonade
DJ Quik - Bacon's Groove
DJ Quik - Fuck All Night
DJ Rashad - Somethin' Bout the Things You Do
Dolly Parton - Don't Think Twice
E-40 - Choices
FKA Twigs - Pendulum
IamSu - Hipster Girls
Jazmine Sullivan - Dumb
Jazmine Sullivan - Forever Don't Last
Justin Bieber - All That Matters
MO / K Koke - For a Minute
Mary J - Whole Damn Year
Michael J - Xscape
Nenad Markovic - Weather Vibes
Owen Pallett - Song for Five and Six
Popcaan - Everything Nice
Prince - U Know
PSY / Snoop - Hangover
Royksopp / Robynn - Do It Again
Royksopp / Robynn - Monument
Run the Jewels - Close Your Eyes and Count to Fuck
Run the Jewels - Crown
Schoolboy / Kendrick - Collard Greens
Sevyn Streeter (album version, solo) - nEXT
Snootie Wild - Made Me
T-Pain / BOB - Up Down
Tinashe and Blood Orange - Bet
Tove Lo - My Gun
Trey and Biebs - Foreign Remix
tune yards - Water Fountain
Yemi Marie - Love Bop
YG / Kendrick - Really Be Smokin n' Drinkin
Young Thug - Stoner

There's a thread for that: Rolling fave tracks + albums 2014

ah, sorry.

Also the Robyn who sings with röyksopp only has one n!

i'm surprised i got royskskskskopp right

American Songwriter

1. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sound in Country Music
2. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
3. Strand of Oaks - Heal
4. Taylor Swift - 1989
5. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
6. Hurray for the Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes
7. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
8. Hiss Golden Messenger - Lateness of Dancers
9. John Fullbright - Songs
10. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
11. Marianne Faithful - Give My Love to London
12. Ty Segall - Manipulator
13. Robert Ellis - The Lights from the Chemical Plant
14. Lera Lynn - The Avenues
15. Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain
16. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
17. The Felice Brothers - Favorite Waitress
18. Lee Ann Womack - The Way I'm Livin'
19. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
20. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
21. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
22. Ex Hex - Rips
23. Matthew Ryan - Boxers
24. Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
25. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
26. Rosanne Cash - The River & the Thread
27. Tweedy - Sukierae
28. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Wig Out at Jagbags
29. Justin Townes Earle - Single Mothers
30. Angeleena Presley - American Middle Class
31. Spoon - They Want My Soul
32. Miranda Lambert - Platinum
33. Jack White - Lazaretto
34. Adam Faucett - Blind Water Finds Blind Water
35. Eric Church - The Outsiders
36. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye
37. Bahamas - Bahamas Is Afie
38. Old 97s - Most Messed Up
39. Warpaint - Warpaint
40. Hozier - Hozier
41. Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings
42. Real Estate - Atlas
43. Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy
44. Rodney Crowell - Tarpaper Sky
45. Jesse Winchester - A Reasonable Amount of Trouble
46. Beck - Morning Phase
47. The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
48. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Make My Head Sing
49. Drive By Truckers - English Oceans
50. Sharon van Etten – Are We There?

Sturgill Simpson! Best list so far.

how is SVE only 50 only a list that is (presumably) mostly contingent on "integrity" and "songcraft" and all that

do appreciate the love for sturgill tho

Yeah, I find the ordering of that list kinda inexplicable but w/e

Remake/Remodel - I remember a couple of years ago you were asking "where's this year's 212/Video Games?" at a point when 'Call Me Maybe' had been out for months. Sometimes these things only crystallise at the point at which they become ubiquitous near the top of end-of-year lists. Although it was obvious 'Get Lucky' would be one of those from day one.

'Rather Be' is probably the closest in British chart terms but it doesn't quite feel like it has either the colossal globe-straddling megahit status or the critical traction to qualify.

As it stands, 2014 feels more like 2008, when pop-oriented critics were asking where was that year's 'Umbrella' while willfully ignoring Katy Perry becoming massive in the background. Except for 'I Kissed A Girl' it's probably 'Happy' or 'All About That Bass'. Taylor could have trumped both but she bungled her first single. And the comeback single is usually the one people care about, give or take a 'Super Bass' here or there.

Also I don't really feel like the Sharon van Etten album is particularly noteworthy if you're judging it on 'old fashioned songcraft' as that list presumably is, but then there are shonkier records higher up the list.

Did that Warpaint album really come out this year?

Yeah, in January.

still fucking love that Warpaint album

Justin Townes Earle

lol did someone just make up a singer songwriter

Nope, he is Steve Earle's progeny.

Steve's son, named after the obvious influence.

oops xpost

thx guys I did guess but thx

:-)

idk what's going to win on ILX this year, never mind in places I don't pay attention to. The main thing I think about when reading these lists is how much music gets released every year and what a small proportion I ever hear - 2 of the American Songwriter picks, maybe 8 from the Mojo list?

The American Songwriter list looks like it should have Steve Gunn on it.

I bet the readership isn't pleased by #4.

Nah, AS has covered a lot of pop/crossover in the past.

also I thought "good songwriter" has been the least controversial line item on the TSwift resume for years now

eoy seems p ripe for bloc voting ententes this year. i suggest a dej loaf coalition, turn ilx to some macaroni

rtc I will donate £2/mo to your cause

Did that Warpaint album really come out this year?

― Matt DC, Monday, 24 November 2014 20:36 Bookmark

idk what it is but singles-wise i am rly feeling this about everything... big hits from six months ago seem irrelevant by a couple of years

xp argh i once did telephone fundraising over xmas one year dont give me flashbacks

I had this thought about "crying for no reason" today! xp

yeah totes. basically like anything off the duke dumont thread is dead

lol shame u xp'd there cos 'crying for no reason' is actually a perfect analogy to telephone fundraising now u mention it, just the right coercive cocktail of disposibility and portent

dgmw I don't care overmuch, my playlist of ~15 songs shifts at a tectonic rate these last few years (the rush of last year was a blip in this regard)

Honestly, wrt to that American Songwriter list, I don't know how Strand of Oaks is #3 because he spends half of the album singing out of tune.

I mean, I'm not talking about subjective tastes, because I understand that, but I just finished listening to it. Some tracks are really good, but his singing is quite off on a number of them.

maybe he writes good songs?

(idk who Strand of Oaks is)

Actually, that's the only reason it's on my list, but it is really low on it. #3 just seems suspiciously high?

Honestly, wrt to that American Songwriter list, I don't know how Strand of Oaks is #3 because he spends half of the album singing out of tune.

It's not the American Singer-Songwriter list.

some of those ppl aren't even american

There aren't enough American songwriters anymore to fill the list. "We used to write shit in this country" iirc

they just don't get coverage anywhere

Hiss Golden Mssngr is definitely the best record I'm gonna under-rate when I make my list

it's always bizarre to me that these lists come out in november/early december rather than, i dunno, march , by which point at least people might legitimately claim to have digested some if not most of the designated "major" releases of the previous year. myself, i'm still absorbing a lot of high-profile stuff from 2012 (if not 1972).

i guess people want these lists out in time for Xmas shopping?