Yeah, I find the ordering of that list kinda inexplicable but w/e
― Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:24 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Monday, 24 November 2014 20:33 (nine years ago) link
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?
― Matt DC, Monday, 24 November 2014 20:36 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, in January.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 November 2014 20:37 (nine years ago) link
still fucking love that Warpaint album
― the farakhan of gg (DJP), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:39 (nine years ago) link
Justin Townes Earle
lol did someone just make up a singer songwriter
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:43 (nine years ago) link
Nope, he is Steve Earle's progeny.
― Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:47 (nine years ago) link
Steve's son, named after the obvious influence.
― ƋППṍӮɨ∏ğڵșěᶉᶇдM℮ (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:47 (nine years ago) link
oops xpost
thx guys I did guess but thx
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Monday, 24 November 2014 20:48 (nine years ago) link
:-)
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?
― death in Skegness (seandalai), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:00 (nine years ago) link
The American Songwriter list looks like it should have Steve Gunn on it.
― Evan, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:04 (nine years ago) link
I bet the readership isn't pleased by #4.
― Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:06 (nine years ago) link
Nah, AS has covered a lot of pop/crossover in the past.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:07 (nine years ago) link
also I thought "good songwriter" has been the least controversial line item on the TSwift resume for years now
― the farakhan of gg (DJP), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:09 (nine years ago) link
eoy seems p ripe for bloc voting ententes this year. i suggest a dej loaf coalition, turn ilx to some macaroni
― r|t|c, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:10 (nine years ago) link
rtc I will donate £2/mo to your cause
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:12 (nine years ago) link
― 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
― r|t|c, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:13 (nine years ago) link
xp argh i once did telephone fundraising over xmas one year dont give me flashbacks
― r|t|c, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:14 (nine years ago) link
I had this thought about "crying for no reason" today! xp
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:15 (nine years ago) link
yeah totes. basically like anything off the duke dumont thread is dead
― r|t|c, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:18 (nine years ago) link
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
― r|t|c, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:22 (nine years ago) link
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)
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:23 (nine years ago) link
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.
― ∞, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:24 (nine years ago) link
maybe he writes good songs?
(idk who Strand of Oaks is)
― death in Skegness (seandalai), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:30 (nine years ago) link
Actually, that's the only reason it's on my list, but it is really low on it. #3 just seems suspiciously high?
― ∞, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:36 (nine years ago) link
It's not the American Singer-Songwriter list.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 24 November 2014 21:43 (nine years ago) link
some of those ppl aren't even american
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:45 (nine years ago) link
There aren't enough American songwriters anymore to fill the list. "We used to write shit in this country" iirc
― death in Skegness (seandalai), Monday, 24 November 2014 21:47 (nine years ago) link
they just don't get coverage anywhere
― katherine, Monday, 24 November 2014 22:30 (nine years ago) link
Hiss Golden Mssngr is definitely the best record I'm gonna under-rate when I make my list
― alpine static, Monday, 24 November 2014 22:38 (nine years ago) link
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 dunno. (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2014 22:43 (nine years ago) link
i guess people want these lists out in time for Xmas shopping?
has FACT mag released any lists yet? those tend to be worthwhile imo.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2014 22:44 (nine years ago) link
I had not listened to Strand of Oaks because the name and the appearance of the singer made me think it would be some Bon Iver shit. I'm pleasantly surprised it's absolutely NOT that.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 November 2014 22:44 (nine years ago) link
there are some genres for which i just wait until some of the more insider-y year-end lists to even bother searching for stuff, since i don't have enough time to scour around otherwise. i tend to discover a lot of great hip=hop when the lists come out, for example.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Monday, 24 November 2014 22:46 (nine years ago) link
ILX poll respects the (Gregorian) calendar year.
― death in Skegness (seandalai), Monday, 24 November 2014 22:53 (nine years ago) link
"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."
Ha, I'm an idiot then, Matt DC, because I loved Call Me Maybe. I don't remember saying that at all.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 11:32 (nine years ago) link
oof, the american songwriter list might be the closest to my own so far (and maybe at all this year) - t-swift, angaleena presley, miranda lambert, lee ann womack, and more than a few that i'd like to hear but haven't yet (is the leonard cohen good?)
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.
i think it's probably a mistake to always assume that the most popular song of the year are going to be the best, or even good, as "i kissed a girl" and "all about that bass" amply demonstrate. let us wilfully ignore them!
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 11:42 (nine years ago) link
The deep-house end of pop / pop end of deep house shouldn't be ignored either. not sure how popular things like Zhu, Gorgon City, Wankelmut and all them lot are in the US but the UK mainstream is loving that AFAIK
― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 11:49 (nine years ago) link
The Leonard Cohen album is good but feels a bit like a lesser Old Ideas, although its best moments are very good indeed.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 12:24 (nine years ago) link
(Old Ideas is one of my favourite records of the past five years so that possibly reads as more negative than it actually is)
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 12:25 (nine years ago) link
Have there been many other 'institutional artist returns/still has it' albums this year? Soused obviously, but it's not really a return for Walker. I recall the last couple of years have been marked by a number of surprise excellent albums by older artists returning to the fray.
I should really check out more recent Cohen.
― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 12:28 (nine years ago) link
lee ann womack!
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 12:31 (nine years ago) link
and there have been a ton of less institutional but certainly veteran artists who "still have it" (or got back to it) - miranda lambert, gangsta boo, meshell ndegeocello, even tori amos
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 12:32 (nine years ago) link
kate bush live bootleg ftw
― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 12:34 (nine years ago) link
That's quite a broad definition of veteran there.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 13:07 (nine years ago) link
Neneh cherry! Tbf I think every year this is remarked upon tho, it's a lil patronising & ageist
― why do I hate that thing (excluding imago, marcos) (wins), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 13:09 (nine years ago) link
pink floyd and aphex have been the headline comebacks i guess
― john wahey (NickB), Tuesday, 25 November 2014 13:14 (nine years ago) link