Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

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

realness mary queen of scots

I mean I don't buy their schtick either

encouraged by the high placing of Wild Beasts on the Guardian list, great album that I was worried would be overlooked

I'd buy the guardian if they started covering the young gods

Before ILX can confirm that they are for real Sleaford Mods must release all information about their educational background, jobs to date, parents' earnings, size of childhood homes, etc. Likewise their fans.

Their Twitter feed suggests they're pretty big with geezers btw.

It looks to me like NME have consciously re-aligned themselves towards older readers this year; their strapline is now "the past, the present and the future of music".

aka Damon Albarn

YG album should get more love

I love Sleaford Mods & fwiw I have know idea what you guys are taking about

I swear half of uk ppl talking about music is just throwing around regional/class insults

"God I'm sure this is great if you're stuck in a student disco in East Broughtingham wearing five year old Adidas trainers and the DJ is an accounting student from Yorkditch who drives a Volvo van and eats 4 packets of crisps a night while imagining he was Mark Ronson"

pip pip

reminds me of someone

You Americans have always loved turgid UK OI! type music, now the British are falling for this pub-rock crap as well. "wowsers he just fucking said jobseekers allowance! over a rumbling bassline, edgy!"

I forgot to submit a ballot for The Wire's poll this year, so it will probably have fewer metal albums buried in its lower reaches than usual.

YG album should get more love

― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Friday, November 28, 2014 12:37 PM

You Americans have always loved turgid UK OI! type music

Yeah true it does rule

I can recall being in thrall to 70's US gutterpunk bands like The Electric Eels, Crime and DMZ in my youth that are so much better.

cntl+f Tinashe uhhh wtf

i will ride for 'bet on it' as a legit singles contender.

For serious tho lex you would totally love 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92'.

Please can someone link me to a thread which is just Americans doing outlandish impressions of British people?

keep the meme alive: Pippa's Arse

That's just British people arguing about Americans doing impressions of British people though

does like an oasis or stone roses fan forum count as americans doing bad impressions of brits? I mean I know that's a different #level but still

Offering a new target for your derision:

Telegraph: Best 50 albums of 2014

50 One Direction - Four
49 Bombay Bicyle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow
48 George Ezra - Wanted On Voyage
47 Lily Allen - Sheezus
46 Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
45 Tom Hickox - War, Peace & Diplomacy
44 Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear
43 First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
42 Pharrell - Williams Girl
41 Coldplay - Ghost Stories
40 Simone Felice - Strangers
39 Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
38 Manic Street Preachers - Futurology
37 Rumer - Into Colour
36 Alt-J - This Is All Yours
35 Neneh Cherry - Blank Project
34 King Creosote - From Scotland With Love
33 Sam Smith - In the Lonely Hour
32 Teleman- Breakfast
31 Jessie Ware - Tough Love
30 Bryan Ferry - Avonmore
29 Jenny Lewis - Voyager
28 ?
27 Caribou - Our Love
26 Mary J Blige - The London Sessions
25 Kate Tempest - Everybody Down
24 Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
23 La Roux - Trouble in Paradise
22 Robert Plant - Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar
21 Lia Ices - Ices
20 Paolo Nutini - Caustic Love
19 Lucinda Williams- Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone
18 Prince Art - Official Age
17 FKA Twigs - LP1
16 St Vincent - St Vincent
15 Royal Blood - Royal Blood
14 U2 - Songs of Innocence
13 Hozier - Hozier
12 Beck - Morning Phase
11 The Black Keys - Turn Blue
10 Future Islands - Singles
09 The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
08 Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
07 Damien Rice - My Favourite Faded Fantasy
06 Jamie T - Carry the Grudge
05 Taylor Swift - 1989
04 Jack White - Lazaretto
03 Prince and 3rdeyegirl - Plectrumelectrum
02 Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
01 Ed Sheeran - X

Lots not great about that but you can't hate a list that has WoD at 9 and Prince at 3

they couldn't award just any album position no. 28

that 3rdeyegirl record is garbage so yeah i can

Prince Art at number 18 is a bold choice for a debut

lol uhhh is the ed sheeran album decent?

it has its supporters here, i found it very uneven if tolerable

is it just me or are the early return indie/pop mags disregarding hip hop even more than usual this year?

Prince! Lol Pharrell's Girl. Well, it is a fairly accurate picture of what's regarded in the mainstream pop world, with exceptions like Leonard Cohen. I'm can't get into Cohen's recent albums, but I did go see him with a friend a couple years ago, and he was pretty magnificent. He was a singin, dancin' machine for nearly four (4) hours, with only like a 10 minute break! We can only dream of having that kind of energy in our 70s.

xpost: yes

Sorry about a couple of misplaced hyphens in that Telegraph list. Shouldn't try to parse lists before caffeine kicks in.

oh don't mind me.

^^^^i was agreeing with you my bad if it seemed unclear