Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

about time In Conflict showed up

lookin good that list
i did enjoy the jhene aiko record

Surprised Taylor didn't make the Guardian Top 10. Must be St Vincent, FKA twigs, Caribou, Aphex, Lana Del Rey and War on Drugs but I can never predict the whole thing.

did aphex fans like the aphex album? (i've never heard an aphex track and saw little reason to change that)

Run The Jewels surely, which will mean there's a lot more hip hop than most of the mainstream lists so far. xp

Lex I think there's actually quite a lot of Aphex stuff that you would really like (and a proportion you would hate) - a lot of the artists you've repped for in the last few years sound like one or another aspect of his sound.

Most Aphex fans were behind the album although there was also a proportion of people who were hoping he'd drop something totally out-of-the-blue like his best 90s albums. It's him doing what he does really well (ie 'ticks every box except make a completely new box').

did aphex fans like the aphex album? (i've never heard an aphex track and saw little reason to change that)

― lex pretend, Friday, November 28, 2014 11:59 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Big fan here, but after about a week of hoping Syro would somehow reveal itself beyond my first listen I found it didn't do much else to win me over; excellent sound design notwithstanding. I know a lot of people appreciated it as a no-nonsense Aphex album, but I happen to be quite a big fan of nonsense and this crystallisation of his sound just felt a bit tired-out to me. There are a couple of tracks that stand out but on the whole I couldn't really discern much between the individual tunes and the whole thing goes by in one superficially impressive blur. YMMV of course - if you've never heard Aphex at all and champion consistency over eclecticism, I'd say it was the one to check out simply because the production sounds more up to date than the older stuff. But it's not my favourite, no.

Havent heard the Aphex Twin record, like plenty artists he has some good records and some poor ones

Problem with people like him is preconception, people hear it differently because of the name on the sleeve so the music is judged differently. Of course this happens to most artists with any longevity, but more so those with a gap (real or imagined) - probably happens less with singles than albums though

Clever of him to make such a pleasurable, accessible album that, I reckon, will charm new listeners more than it impresses old ones.

No Neneh Cherry in the Guardian list, unless she's made the top ten which is far from impossible given some of the other albums in there.

I'm surprised Everyday Robots is sowing up in so many lists. I haven't bothered to listen yet. Is the rest much better than the horrid "Mr. Tembo"?

haven't heard it either but i'm willing to bet it's little better than utter guff.

Yes. The rest is soft, pretty and a bit dull rather than jaunty and unbearable.

I'm wondering which list will be a more facile explosion of sop-to-the-boomer-readership rockist bullshit - the NME list or rolling stone

you misspelled "uncut"

lol either or the shot still basically works

NME for sure. Rolling Stone has been doing a particularly desperate version of the "we like what the kids like!" dance recently.

glad to see tinashe made the guardian list

rly bummed that YG hasn't shown up on any lists as yet. also, as expected, literally everyone forgot about oxymoron

have they? RS, I mean. I seem to remember them squeezing a complete horseshit paul mccartney solo record in the top 5 last year, and their perennial 5 star reviews of U2 albums (ty david fricke :/) are just.....wut? to me.

I'm obviously in the minority in preferring Nikki Nack to whokill, though I'm not really sure I could articulate why. More percussion and less ukelele, maybe?

― MaudAddam (cryptosicko),

I love the album, looked like a surefire top ten in May, but this is a year that I love a lot of albums and this last quarter's been terrific.

well someone liked the albarn album...

Gaffa Magasin (Denmark) - Årets album 2014

rolling stone is an unapologetically boomer magazine.

I find tuneyards to be more or less unlistenable critic-bait snake oil...but I admit water fountain is catchy as fuck (altho I know this mostly bc it showed up in a bunch of commercials & trailers recently)

Fricke looks like a really nice guy but someone should do something about those five star reviews.

I seem to remember they used to be somewhat more cautious about giving five stars. Like, 15 years ago, it was hard to see that kind of review outside of the reissues section. The first 5 star review I remember seeing and thinking "man, these guys are high as a kite" was what Jann Wenner perpetrated for Mick Jagger's Goddess in the Doorway.

I mean they still are somewhat liberal in their use of them unless it's a boomer rock record - like I can't recall anything that earned 5 stars in the past 10 yrs and didn't meet that criteria apart from two kanye albums (late registration and twisted fantasy) but correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm wondering which list will be a more facile explosion of sop-to-the-boomer-readership rockist bullshit

Making an educated guess that the boomer readership of the NME is basically zero.

I suppose a better NME stereotype would be a certain crusty segment of gen xers - the attitudes toward music in both are more or less similar tho I would think even if the bands are different

but what do I know I'm a yung millennial ijit

who does read the NME these days exactly?

It's almost entirely under 25s plus a residue of Paleolithic Oasis/Roses fans is my guess.

i honestly can't bring myself to imagine someone currently under 25 purchasing, without irony, a copy of a weekly music paper in 2014.

I cant imagine anyone over 25 buying NME

yeah but they never did.

not true

up until conor mcnicholas' reign of landfill terror plenty did then they branded the mag for teenagers

that guy.

i wonder if there's a way of quantifying exactly how much he was responsible for messing up the UK music landscape? I can imagine it's considerable.

Caribou certainly seems to appeal to a kind of listener who likes the emotional mooniness of post-Kompakt dance music but with a more organic sound palette. Personally I quite like that album but I can't imagine ever finding his drippy "I can't live without yooooooooooou" vocals emotionally moving.

― Matt DC, Friday, November 28, 2014 4:40 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Caribou isn't really a dance/electronic act anyway, audience is mostly indie even if new stuff is more dance
, he's on Merge ferchrissakes

xp now that IS overstating the inportance of critics

Surprised by the lack of Spoon on these particular lists.

Spoon have never done well on the UK lists. Think Stylus was the place I remember seeing them do well. Have no idea why the NME in particular never got behind them.

I'll try predicting the Guardian Top 10: St Vincent, The War on Drugs, FKA twigs, Aphex Twin, Sun Kil Moon, Caribou, Beck, Run the Jewels, Lana Del Rey, Sleaford Mods/YG (depending on strength of respective constituencies).

I just tried listening to sleaford mods and I'm sorry but what the stir fried fuck even is this

like did y'all in the UK really miss the streets that much that this is catching on??

Young Gods have already featured, Dorian, so they won't be in the top 10.

did aphex fans like the aphex album? (i've never heard an aphex track and saw little reason to change that)
― lex pretend, Friday, November 28, 2014 11:59 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Big fan here, but after about a week of hoping Syro would somehow reveal itself beyond my first listen I found it didn't do much else to win me over; excellent sound design notwithstanding. I know a lot of people appreciated it as a no-nonsense Aphex album, but I happen to be quite a big fan of nonsense and this crystallisation of his sound just felt a bit tired-out to me. There are a couple of tracks that stand out but on the whole I couldn't really discern much between the individual tunes and the whole thing goes by in one superficially impressive blur. YMMV of course - if you've never heard Aphex at all and champion consistency over eclecticism, I'd say it was the one to check out simply because the production sounds more up to date than the older stuff. But it's not my favourite, no.

― Piss-Up Artist (dog latin), Friday, 28 November 2014 12:34 (6 hours ago) Permalink

the album was a big treat for those anticipating a studio release of several tracks that have appeared in his live sets from the last seven years. one of the album's best attributes is its inconsistency.. it's like a hodgepodge/grab bag of styles, well-realized tracks, a couple sort of leftover-sounding (180 dB, aisatsana) tracks, and a few dense workouts with good twists and turns. there's no definite aesthetic or obvious coherence, and it takes a little time to unpack. pretty well-satisfying, imo

xxpost

It's mostly people from the middle class that think of Midlanders as some kind of strange exotic species that are singing sleaford mods' praises, I've gathered. If I want that kind of 'wit' I just listen into some drunk old fart's conversation down the pub. The backing tracks are nothing to be fussed about either.

idgi and I'm probably in their target audience or something

xpost The NME circulation is so low nowadays that I would bet an enormous tranche of its readership is industry and other media. I bet the major labels alone account for a big chunk of what remains. As to the rest, I'd be surprised if under 25s comprised a majority if those readers. I would have thought old readers who've never really considered giving it up, regardless of what's in it, still turn out for it.

SOrry Dorian, what am I thinking about? I was reading about Young Gods earlier and got them and Young Fathers mixed up in my mind. Of course the Young Gods haven't featured and won't feature in the Guardian list.

xpost Some projection there in why Sleaford Mods are getting praised, perhaps? You know there are middle class people in the East Midlands, don't you? And you know that there are working class people in the south?

r|t|c wrote this on thread Sleaford Mods on board I Love Music on 07-Mar-2014
clean bandit for ponces

very much so

from that guardian article they themselves seem to be ex office worker petit bourgeoisie types trading as minatory lumpens