Same here. I don't know why we had to file a full month before the rollout. I don't think I'd have added many new releases but I've changed my mind plenty.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:01 (nine years ago) link
a full month starting before a rollout that itself starts in NOVEMBER, in an era when big releases are more slanted towards Q4 than ever
the album that's belatedly gaining steam to be my AOTY had been out a couple of weeks at that point but isn't even in the top 10 i filed!
― lex pretend, Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:03 (nine years ago) link
I'd be all in favour of the Guardian's list staying in late Dec. But we do roll out gradually - starting this week means the No 1 gets revealed on Dec 12. I had to argue against a Dec 5 finish date this year: the thing is we're not just competing against the other music lists, but against all the other end of year stuff that will appear in the Guardian. If we leave till the week before Christmas, we won't get any play on the main website.
The weird thing is how much it has changed. I did the first Guardian end of year list in 2007, in the old Film&Music section, and no one gave a shit. Within three years it had started to become the two-week behemoth you see now.
Oh, and you had to file early because we needed to consult with the department that has overseen every department's end of year lists this year. They wanted a unified look, which meant getting the copy in early so they could start deciding the formats and sorting it all out.
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:04 (nine years ago) link
But Dorian, Lex, you want to moan about it? Moan to me.
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:05 (nine years ago) link
the album that's belatedly gaining steam to be my AOTY had been out a couple of weeks at that point but isn't even in the top 10 i filed
Kind of interested in what this is.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:44 (nine years ago) link
tinashe (didn't even think it was that special for weeks after first hearing)
― lex pretend, Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:49 (nine years ago) link
Yes!
― Frederik B, Thursday, 27 November 2014 12:57 (nine years ago) link
Poll running earlier this year so it finishes before xmasAll welcome to nominate/vote etc~~~ End Of Year ILM Metal - Albums & Tracks Poll- Nominations 2014 (Ends friday11.59pm UK time Dec 5th) ~~~
― Cosmic Slop, Thursday, 27 November 2014 13:02 (nine years ago) link
Norman Records Top 50
1. Bracken - Exist/resist2. Ian William Craig - A Turn of Breath3. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Revelation4. Last Ex - Last Ex5. Swans - To Be Kind6. Virginia Wing - Measures of Joy7. Morgan Delt - Morgan Delt8. Kate Tempest - Everybody Down9. Ought - More Than Any Other Day10. Memory Drawings - There Is No Perfect Place11. Neneh Cherry - Blank Project12. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit13. Scott Walker and Sunn O))) - Soused14. Tape - Casino15. Grouper - Ruins16. Ty Segall - Manipulator17. Mohammad - Lamnè Gastama18. Aphex Twin - Syro19. Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams20. Goat - Commune21. Fennesz - Bécs22. Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love23. EIAFUAWN - Birds In The Ground24. Shellac - Dude Incredible25. A New Line (Related) - S/T
https://www.normanrecords.com/features/top-fifty-2014.php
― death in Skegness (seandalai), Thursday, 27 November 2014 13:06 (nine years ago) link
Nice to see shoutouts for Tape, Ex-Easter Island Head, Soundcarriers, Jon Mueller's Death Blues on the full Norman Records list.
― death in Skegness (seandalai), Thursday, 27 November 2014 13:08 (nine years ago) link
The absence of Owen Pallett's In Conflict in these lists (#64 on Rough Trade, thats it) is baffling. It was my #1 any time I was asked to vote and I thought I was going to be in good company but no.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 27 November 2014 13:43 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, no OP, no Sunny Day in Glasgow, no YG (though it's not that kind of lists yet). I am out of touch with consensus, more than I think I am. But I realize that every year.
― Frederik B, Thursday, 27 November 2014 13:48 (nine years ago) link
i keep waiting for the uk music press to have a country epiphany. when it comes 3 years late i'll probably be extremely annoyed
― lex pretend, Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:14 (nine years ago) link
no doubt.
― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:18 (nine years ago) link
10. Memory Drawings - There Is No Perfect Place
Woah I went to a Timberwolves game with a guy in this band w a mutual friend
― i did it all for the 'nuki (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:25 (nine years ago) link
That's the band with someone from Hood in them right?
― sosmix klopp (NickB), Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:29 (nine years ago) link
yes I guess: "Memory Drawings is the project of Minneapolis hammered dulcimer player Joel Hanson, Hood co-founder Richard Adams and former Lanterns on the Lake violinist Sarah Kemp"
― sosmix klopp (NickB), Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:38 (nine years ago) link
Unsurprising but love seeing Norman Recs sticking with the Hood shout outs. Both the Bracken and Memory Drawings albums are great.
The absence of Owen Pallett's In Conflict in these lists (#64 on Rough Trade, thats it) is baffling. ― Re-Make/Re-Model, donderdag 27 november 2014 14:43 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Re-Make/Re-Model, donderdag 27 november 2014 14:43 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^^ Can only co-sign this. Truly baffling.
― a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine), Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:45 (nine years ago) link
To be fair Lex, Uncut writes about a lot of country. Just not the country that you're interested in.
― Unsettled defender (ithappens), Thursday, 27 November 2014 14:48 (nine years ago) link
Kacey Musgraves was in a few lists last year but not as many as I'd hoped. Most country artists you like, Lex, don't play very big venues and even then the crowd is mostly expats. I think most Brits can't get past the sound of modern country so I really don't think there's going to be, say, a Miranda Lambert epiphany but maybe Kacey's next record could do it.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:01 (nine years ago) link
Great to see Kogumaza sneak into the Norman list. I'd actually forgotten that album came out this year, it will now be in mine.
― emil.y, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:03 (nine years ago) link
Oh wow I didn't know the Hood guy was in that! It was just my friend Joel plays in a band
― i did it all for the 'nuki (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link
Well, modern country (not alt!) is what I meant. Brits can get past trad country sounds when it's old established stars but not the relatively less heavy country signifiers of Angaleena Presley or Miranda Lambert? Or Lee Ann Womack if we're talking established names even. When Dolly played Glastonbury there was so much love for her which was great but zero interest in who her current equivalents might be
― lex pretend, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:20 (nine years ago) link
Well if you knew the sales numbers on that OP record you'd know that basically nobody bought and/or listened to it *wipes away single tear* *accepts another film score gig*
― mango unchained (fgti), Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:22 (nine years ago) link
Whaaaaa, really? Boo everybody.
― emil.y, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:40 (nine years ago) link
Damn, I just can't understand that! Reviews were good, too right? People suck :(
― a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine), Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:42 (nine years ago) link
ya rly.
― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
It's high in my top ten eyol, will campaign more.
― a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine), Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:50 (nine years ago) link
Rock was first declared dead on May 26, 1957, by a trio of 'experts' who mainly were just trying to wish it away. Someone's always trying to kill rock, but it's probably more accurate to say it's undead, hanging out in your basement, smoking bowls, eating your food and watching Italian horror movies (Truckfighters, Spiders, Electric Wizard, Witch Mountain, Slough Feg, Pallbearer, Blues Pills, Castle, The Oath, Wo Fat, The Skull, Earth, Serpent Venom, Brimstone Coven, Satyress, Mansion, Purson, Goat, etc.)
Lots of interesting things to check out on Norman list. Guardian list was good last year, will have to see in next couple days.
Random thought, tUnE-yArDs totally dominated lists in 2011, while her second album was ignored. Personally I think both aren't bad, but gradually become more irritating. I guess the total absence of Nikki Nack this year shows, what? Does it confirm they were all fickle bandwagon-jumping lemming MFers?
― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:52 (nine years ago) link
I actually think that front-to-back Nikki Nack is probably a better album than the last one, but the standout tracks on Whokill elevated it into the mainstream/critical consciousness.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:54 (nine years ago) link
i tried listening to nicki nack and it was grating. i think i forgave her first album as 'grating but clever' and so is this one, but there's only so much grating i can take. a bit like fiery furnaces when they were popular - okay for one or two albums, kind of tiresome when the initial interest wanes.
― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
People are stupid, fgti. It's not too late to start a newsworthy beef with The War on Drugs though.
xp to Lex. Dolly's a special case and I don't think most of the people who adored her at Glastonbury had bought her latest record.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:58 (nine years ago) link
Whokill was actually the second album, but I'm a pedant.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 27 November 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
Hopefully when Owen lands in the ILM end of year top 10 that will help undo the wrong of him missing out in these critic's lists.
Another one that I'm shocked hasn't appeared in one single list yet is The Juan Maclean album. Knowing that will also do well in our list makes me really love this place.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:03 (nine years ago) link
DFA had quite a few disappointing years, so the fact they were absolutely killin' it in 2014 might have been overlooked by a lot of people.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:05 (nine years ago) link
Yeah the Juan album is terrific. More consistent than the Todd Terje one, which seems to have placed highly on the basis of the singles.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
In a year where for the first time in eons I feel like one of the "everything sucked" crew, "In Conflict" is one of the few albums that does not leave me remotely conflicted. It's great, and inexplicable to be left off any list.
I feel like lists that stretch out to 100 or even 50 hedge so many bets they are useless. But hats off, I guess, to anyone who can find more than 25 albums each year they actively love. I'd love to get a follow-up list of how many listed albums writers still regularly listen to in 2015.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
i don't get the love for the todd terje record at all. juan maclean was really solid.
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
I thought The Future Will Come did quite well in the critic's lists but could be remembering that wrong. It's a shame as This is Happening did so well a few years ago and as much as I like that album, In a Dream is such a better record.
Really interested to see how Todd Terje does in our end of year list. Think it could be like Daft Punk last year when the thread had quite a lot of people saying how disappointed they were with the album but it still manages to make the top three.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:13 (nine years ago) link
I don't think that still listening to an album the following year has any bearing on how good it is. eg Let England Shake was my favourite album of 2011 and probably in my Top 10 since 2000 but I haven't heard it in ages because I played it to death and there's so much new music to listen to.
Every year I have maybe five albums I'm obsessed with, another half a dozen I deeply love and then the rest of my Top 25 is stuff that's somehow flawed or incomplete.
― Re-Make/Re-Model, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
josh otm with the bit about regular listening of albums ppl (critics or otherwise) put on their end of year lists - of the stuff that made mine last year I find myself coming back to a bunch of rap albums (yeezus, OLD, a$ap ferg) p often and not a whole lot else w much regularity aside from Beyoncé and, as a huge/odd contrast, deafheaven.
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:17 (nine years ago) link
Terje album places are mostly willfulness off the back of Norse, and the convenience of it for 'representing' that kind of thing.
The last Juan Maclean was largely ignored too so no reason why this wouldn't be either in that respect. Not much interest out there in DFA disco unless Murphy (remembering Nancy saying how amazing that last Holy Ghost album was but still struggling to hear that here too tbh).
― nashwan, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:19 (nine years ago) link
xpost I always think I do well if my top 25 is full of albums I'd rate as 8/10 or higher. Think I manage it but this year I seem to have heard a lot of things that are solid 7/10s. I'll probably go back to some of them close to voting and see if anything go up in my estimation. That happened with the Charli XCX album last year and it ended up in my top five.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
at the same time I stand by all the things I put on said list, including having the latest arctic monkeys album & lorde's debut record in my top 10
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
ha! funny that you mention charli bc I didn't place true romance on my top 25 or whatever but I listened to it a ton both last year and throughout this year
― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
It's a real shame Ian Crause's solo album is getting ignored. If you don't trust my judgement you can trust Ned's!
― Cosmic Slop, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:23 (nine years ago) link
― nashwan, Thursday, November 27
It just seems so odd that magazines like the NME wouldn't be desperate for music like that considering how much they pushed The Rapture and Friendly Fires back in the day. The Young Galaxy album from last year is another one that seems like it was ignored despite being something that would be right up their street.
― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
Most DFA stuff feels like the bands in question going through the motions somewhat and the last Juan Maclean and Holy Ghost records are particular examples of that. Neither are exactly bad but just not exciting either.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) link
I mean most new DFA stuff, it just feels like the wrong time for music like that now.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:26 (nine years ago) link
less of a barrier for Metronomy and Caribou somehow
― nashwan, Thursday, 27 November 2014 16:29 (nine years ago) link