Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

Well, history is written by the winners, right? One of the better points made in Amanda Ps excellent book (if you haven't read it) Do Not Sell at any Price is that the only reason Robert Johnson became the template for so much British blues-rock is because his stuff was the best reissued and circulated. But Johnson was by no means the most popular or originally best distributed blues act.

From the metal poll thread though its not really a question about metal per se, just one of the examples along with hip hop. I'm sure there's other genres that it applies to.

I'm somewhat surprised the Mastodon album hasn't featured in non-metal EOY lists like the last one. It's good enough and got good reviews inmost places.
Maybe metal isn't as in fashion as it was the past 5 years? Noticed a lack of metal and hip-hop this year in lists.

Has critical coverage started getting narrower?

― Cosmic Slop,

mastodon's two late-aughts albums both ended up on multiple general albums lists with high rankings in several instances. skye was #3 in bloody time magazine!! and those are definitely full-stop metal albums.

flash forward to 2012 - the latest converge album was #1 on most metal/hard rock only lists and got me, before that point not a huge metal/hardcore guy aside from occasional mastodon dalliances - deep in love with that band and exploring a lot of really hard shit I wouldn't have previously explored. but it got little to no love from many general albums lists. and then the next year deafheaven is adored by tons of people who aren't traditionally into metal. it's impossible to predict

― hanley ramirez ordering a pizza (slothroprhymes),

so has critical coverage started getting narrower?

XFM: http://www.xfm.co.uk/new-music/best-2014/50-best-albums-2014

^ a tedious click-fest filled with dull albums and dismal blurb

Jimi Goodwin - Odludek

The Doves man goes solo with an appealing set of gentle songs.

thanks guys, sounds awesome

Lonely The Brave - The Day's War

Proof - if needed - that rock isn't dead.

that list is like 80% 'I didn't realise they were still going'

The Quietus Albums Of The Year 2014

ONE: Gazelle Twin - UNFLESH (Anti Ghost Moon Ray)
TWO: Scott Walker & Sunn O))) - Soused (4AD)
THREE: Swans - To Be Kind (Mute)
FOUR: East India Youth - TOTAL STRIFE FOREVER (Stolen)
FIVE: The Bug - Angels & Devils (Big Dada)
SIX: Grumbling Fur - Preternaturals (TQPC)
SEVEN: Katie Gately - Pipes (Blue Tapes)
EIGHT: Manic Street Preachers - Futurology (Sony)
NINE: Perc - The Power And The Glory (Perc Trax)
TEN: Jenny Hval & Susanna - Meshes Of Voice (SusannaSonata)
ELEVEN: FKA twigs - LP1 (Young Turks)
TWELVE: Zamilska - Untune (self-released)
THIRTEEN: Inner City Ensemble - Black/White (Instant Classic)
FOURTEEN: Cooly G - Wait ‘Til Night (Hyperdub)
FIFTEEN: Blacknecks - 006 (self-released)
SIXTEEN: English Heretic - The Underworld Service (self-released)
SEVENTEEN: Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Piñata (Madlib Invasion)
EIGHTEEN: OAKE - Auferstehung (Downwards)
NINETEEN: Grouper - Ruins (Kranky)
TWENTY: Kemper Norton - Loor (Front And Follow)
TWENTY ONE: Maurice Louca - Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Nawa)
TWENTY TWO: Andy Stott - Faith In Strangers (Modern Love)
TWENTY THREE: EEK ft. Islam Chipsy - Live At The Cairo High Cinema Institute (Nashazphone)
TWENTY FOUR: Jane Weaver - Silver Globe (Bird)
TWENTY FIVE: Daniel Patrick Quinn - Acting The Rubber Pig (self-released)
TWENTY SIX: The Body - I Shall Die Here (RVNG Intl.)
TWENTY SEVEN: Chrononautz - Public Domain Fuckover Series #1-6 (self-released)
TWENTY EIGHT: Pharmakon - Bestial Burden (Sacred Bones)
TWENTY NINE: Tweedy - Sukierae (dBpm Records)
THIRTY: Objekt - Flatland (PAN)
THIRTY ONE: Jar Moff - Financial Glam (PAN)
THIRTY TWO: Willie The Kid & Bronze Nazareth - The Living Daylights (Embassy)
THIRTY THREE: Lorenzo Senni - Superimpositions (Boomkat)
THIRTY FOUR: Electric Wizard - Time To Die (Spinefarm)
THIRTY FIVE: Klara Lewis - ETT (Editions Mego)
THIRTY SIX: Kassem Mosse - Workshop 19 (Workshop)
THIRTY SEVEN: Extreme Precautions - Precaution One (In Paradisum)
THIRTY EIGHT: Kasai Allstars - Beware The Fetish (Crammed Discs)
THRITY NINE: Arabrot - I Modi (Fysisk Format)
FORTY: Einsturzende Neubauten - Lament (BMG)
FORTY ONE: The Inward Circles - Nimrod (self-released)
FORTY TWO: Bohren & Der Club Of Gore - Piano Nights (Ipecac)
FORTY THREE: Future Islands - Singles (4AD)
FORTY FOUR: Consumer Electronics - Estuary English (Dirter)
FORTY FIVE: BONG - Stoner Rock (Ritual)
FORTY SIX: Nisennenmondai - N (BLAST First (petite))
FORTY SEVEN: Wild Beasts - Present Tense (Domino)
FORTY EIGHT: Olga Bell - Krai (One Little Indian)
FORTY NINE: Cut Hands - Festival Of The Dead (Blackest Ever Black)
FIFTY: Xiu Xiu - Angel Guts, Red Classroom (Bella Union)
FIFTY ONE: Actress - Ghettoville (Werkdiscs)
FIFTY TWO: YOB - Clearing The Path To Ascend (Neurot)
FIFTY THREE: Owen Pallett - In Conflict (Domino)
FIFTY FOUR: Puce Mary - Persona (Posh Isolation)
FIFTY FIVE: DonChristian - Renzo Piano (Camp & Street)
FIFTY SIX: Ibibio Sound Machine - Ibibio Sound Machine (Soundway)
FIFTY SEVEN: Lee Gamble - KOCH (PAN)
FIFTY EIGHT: Leyland Kirby Presents V/Vm - The Death Of Rave (A Partial Flashback) (History Always Favours The Winners)
FIFTY NINE: Laibach - Spectre (Mute)
SIXTY: Shellac - Dude Incredible (Touch And Go)
SIXTY ONE: Heterotic - Weird Drift (Planet Mu)
SIXTY TWO: Liars - Mess (Mute)
SIXTY THREE: Stein Urheim - Stein Urheim (Hubro)
SIXTY FOUR: Ekoplekz - Unfidelity (Planet Mu)
SIXTY FIVE: St. Vincent - St. Vincent (Loma Vista)
SIXTY SIX: Sunn O))) & Ulver - Terrestrials (Southern Lord)
SIXTY SEVEN: Russell Haswell - 37 Minute Workout (DIAGONAL)
SIXTY EIGHT: Noura Mint Seymali - Tzenni (Glitterbeat)
SIXTY NINE: Stephen O'Malley, Oren Ambarchi & Randall Dunn - Shade Themes From Kairos (Drag City)
SEVENTY: Apollo Brown - Blasphemy (Mello Music Group)
SEVENTY ONE: The Budos Band - Burnt Offering (Daptone)
SEVENTY TWO: Anat Ben David - MeleCh (self-released)
SEVENTY THREE: Yvette - Process (Godmode)
SEVENTY FOUR: milo - a toothpaste suburb (Hellfyre Club)
SEVENTY FIVE: Merkabah - Moloch (Instant Classic)
SEVENTY SIX: Wrangler - LA Spark (Memetune)
SEVENTY SEVEN: Ronika - Selectadisc (Record Shop)
SEVENTY EIGHT: Bing & Ruth - Tomorrow Was The Golden Age (Happy Talk)
SEVENTY NINE: Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste (Prospect)
EIGHTY: DJ Q - Ineffable (Local Action)
EIGHTY ONE: The Soft Pink Truth - Why Do The Heathen Rage? (Thrill Jockey)
EIGHTY TWO: Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait (Def Jam Recordings)
EIGHTY THREE: Tinariwen - Emmar (ANTI-)
EIGHTY FOUR: The Juan Maclean - In A Dream (DFA)
EIGHTY FIVE: Aphex Twin - Syro (WARP)
EIGHTY SIX: Toumani & Sidiki Diabate - Toumani & Sidiki Diabate (World Circuit)
EIGHTY SEVEN: Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies - Earth Air Spirit Fire Water (Van)
EIGHTY EIGHT: Behemoth - The Satanist (Nuclear Blast)
EIGHTY NINE: Wrekmeister Harmonies - Then It Came Down (Thrill Jockey)
NINETY: Fumaca Preta - Fumaca Preta (Soundway)
NINETY ONE: Scott Miller, Lee Camfield & Merzbow - No Closure (Cold Spring)
NINETY TWO: Black Rain - Dark Pool (Blackest Ever Black)
NINETY THREE: Anthroprophh - Outside The Circle (Rocket)
NINETY FOUR: Adult Jazz - Gist Is (Spare Thought)
NINETY FIVE: Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire (Avalanche)
NINETY SIX: Obake - Mutations (Rare Noise)
NINETY SEVEN: Clark - Clark (WARP)
NINETY EIGHT: Joseph Curwen - Shunned House (City)
NINETY NINE: Echoes Of Yul - Tether (Zoharum)
ONE HUNDRED: Good Throb - Fuck Off (self-released)

The Quietus Albums Of The Year 2014

Read this as:

EIGHT: Manic Street Preachers - Futurology (Sorry)

beautiful choice of number one! also love katie gately and jenny hval & susanna in the top 10 (thought the gately was 2013 though?)

Yeah, Gately was 2013. There was a massive bit of dissonance for us here as we were some of the only people to write about Pipes when it first came out but then didn't include it in the chart probably because it was a tape and only had two tracks.

But it deserves people to hear about it - you have to bear in mind it only sold something like 1-200 copies in 2013 and it has been reissued this year and still remains one of the most unique and praiseworthy pieces of music out there.

Basically I felt guilty for not including it in my ballot the year before!

Some really good choices here. Great to see Objekt, Owen P, Katie Gately, Swans and ooh, didn't realise there was an Arabrot release this year? Haven't listened to Unflesh enough to work out if it deserves AOTY but from what I've heard, it's def a good album, like a deconstructed (as in eviscerated) Cocteau Twins or something.

if anything deserves a bit of rule bending it's definitely pipes. approved! *stamps card*

Dutch mag Oor (bit like Mojo/Q):

1. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
2. Typhoon - Lobi Da Basi
3. Spoon - They Want My Soul
4. Swans - To Be Kind
5. Damien Rice - My Favorite Faded Fantasy
6. Temples - Sun Structures
7. Moodymann - Moodymann
8. Beck - Morning Phase
9. Avi Buffalo - At Best Cuckold
10. Alt-J - This Is All Yours
11. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
12. Real Estate - Atlas
13. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
14. FKA Twigs - LP1
15. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
16. Jack White - Lazaretto
17. The Acid - Liminal
18. Reigning Sound - Shattered
19. Moss – We Both Know The Rest Is Noise
20. Sun Kil Moon - Benji
21. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
22. Future Islands - Singles
23. Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
24. The Black Keys - Turn Blue
25. Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Well, history is written by the winners, right? One of the better points made in Amanda Ps excellent book (if you haven't read it) Do Not Sell at any Price is that the only reason Robert Johnson became the template for so much British blues-rock is because his stuff was the best reissued and circulated. But Johnson was by no means the most popular or originally best distributed blues act.

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, November 30, 2014 12:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hmm i haven't read her book but this is the primary thesis of elijah wald's book 'escaping the delta', which was written before hers:

The neo-ethnic movement was nourished by a spate of LP reissues that for the first time made it possible to find hillbilly and country blues recordings in white, middle-class, urban stores. The bible was Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music...Smith was specifically interested in the oldest and most-rural sounding styles, and set a pattern for any future folk-blues reissue projects by intentionally avoiding any artist who seemed consciously modern or commercial...

Far from balancing this taste, the other record collectors tended to be even more conservative. Much as they loved the music, they were driven by the same mania for rarity that drives collectors of old stamps or coins, and many turned up their noses at Jefferson or the Carters, since those records were common. To such men, the perfect blues artist was someone like Son House or Skip James, an unrecognized genius whose 78s had sold so badly that at most one or two copies survived. Since the collectors were the only people with access to the original records or any broad knowledge of the field, they functioned to a great extent as gatekeepers of the past and had a profound influence on what the broader audience heard. By emphasizing obscurity as a virtue unto itself, they essentially turned the hierarchy of blues-stardom upside-down: The more records an artist had sold in 1928, the less he or she was valued in 1958.

x-post re Quietus list-

TWENTY THREE: EEK ft. Islam Chipsy - Live At The Cairo High Cinema Institute (Nashazphone)

Not on Spotify or available from Amazon, so where do I find/get it

Line Of Best Fit - Albums
http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/articles/top-fifty-albums-2014

Lost in the Dream is without a doubt, one of the most impressive records this decade and we're proud to name it as our album of the year

http://www.steelforbrains.com/post/103989943657/rb-best-of-2014

Bleep - Top Albums of 2014
https://bleep.com/end-of-year-roundup-2014

Aphex Twin – Syro
Caribou – Our Love
Clap! Clap! – Tayi Bebba
Objekt – Flatland
Lone – Reality Testing
Slackk – Palm Tree Fire
Hieroglyphic Being And The Configurative Or Modular Me Trio – The Seer Of Cosmic Visions
Dean Blunt – Black Metal
Fatima Al Qadiri – Asiatisch
Arca – Xen

xp

i assumed that was r&b

Is War on Drugs just a snowball effect at this point? Later lists being influenced by earlier ones?

that arca album is weird, like an album of intro tracks or something.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-best-music-of-2014-young-thug-aphex-twin-charli-xcx-and-more/2014/11/25/521944f6-71d4-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html

Not strictly albums, plus multiple items for some slots

1. Young Thug-singles and mixtapes
2. Sam Hunt-Montevallo
3. Just About Everything Produced by DJ Mustard
4. Miranda Lambert-Platinum/Eric Church-The Outsiders/Sturgill Simpson-Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
5. Aphex Twin-Syro
6. Dej Loaf-"Try Me" song
7. Popcaan-Where We Come From
8. Hiss Golden Messenger-Lateness of Dancers
9. Rae Sremmurd, Bobby Shmurda- rap hits
10. Math rock-Naomi Punk-Television Man and Horse Lords-Hidden Cities

Forgot 11 & 12 of Chris Richards' Washington Post list

11. Lori McKenna-Numbered Doors

12. Charlie XCX- Sucker

I made a Spotify playlist with everything available in the US from that Quietus list:

http://open.spotify.com/user/glennpmcdonald/playlist/2pjput49RnkvbaGyBxJA8C

Paste's is up...

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/12/the-50-best-albums-of-2014.html

Thanks! Quietus usually does a good job being balanced and not TOO pretentious. But Manic Street Preachers? That's a surprise. I had no idea there was a new Einsturzende Neubauten. Apparently a sober meditation on WWI, surprised it wasn't ranked high by more publications. People love that serious shit. Gazelle Twin, hrm. It didn't do much for me last time I listened, am revisiting. I'm trying to imagine Soused on heavy rotation on anyone's playlist and I can't. They chose Electric Wizard and YOB over Pallbearer, and that makes sense with their aesthetic. A few other heavy things, The Body, Arabrot, which I thought was just a minor EP release, will have to check out. A few things I don't recognize, am hoping there's a pleasant surprise in there somewhere.

Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2014-20141201

Awesome #1.

:)

Rolling Stone full albums list:

01 U2 - Songs of Innocence
02 Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes
03 The Black Keys - Turn Blue
04 St. Vincent - St. Vincent
05 Miranda Lambert - Platinum
06 Charli XCX - Sucker
07 Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
08 Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
09 Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
10 Taylor Swift - 1989
11 Flying Lotus - Youre Dead!
12 Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
13 Ought - More Than Any Other Day
14 Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End
15 Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
16 FKA Twigs - LP1
17 Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
18 Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
19 Jackson Browne - Standing in the Breach
20 Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
21 Eric Church - The Outsiders
22 Skrillex - Recess
23 War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
24 Leonard Cohen - Popular Problems
25 YG - My Krazy Life
26 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye
27 Alt-J - This Is All Yours
28 Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
29 Spoon - They Want My Soul
30 Thom Yorke - Tomorrows Modern Boxes
31 Young Thug and Bloody Jay - Black Portland
32 Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
33 The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger - Midnight Sun
34 Prince - Art Official Age
35 Lenny Kravitz - Strut
36 Alvvays - Alvvays
37 Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker
38 Hurray for the Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes
39 Caribou - Our Love
40 Jack White - Lazaretto
41 Aphex Twin - Syro
42 Perfume Genius - Too Bright
43 Future - Honest
44 Interpol - El Pintor
45 EMA - The Futures Void
46 Tweedy - Sukierae
47 Gary Clark Jr. - Gary Clark Jr. Live
48 Coldplay - Ghost Stories
49 Tinariwen - Emmaar
50 Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend

lmaooo

are they fucking kidding

i mean, obviously what were we expecting, but i still find myself kiiiind of shocked by that

If there were such thing as a peer-reviewed license to review music, RS's would be revoked.

i hope u2 and springsteen fans check out that YOB album :)

i am a huge springsteen fan and i thought high hopes was garbage

curmudgeon that record appears to be quite rare, unfortunately:

http://www.discogs.com/EEK-Live-At-The-Cairo-High-Cinema-Institute/release/5355219

total collector-scum label (I say that with love):

http://www.discogs.com/label/72950-Nashazphone

I'm still amazed they actually went there.

That Rolling Stone list feels kind of random at times, and quite amusing to see War on Drugs a little futrther down than most at 23, behind a Skrillex album.

"You're not Dire Straits enough for us yet, boys."

Had totally forgotten Fricke had given 4.5 stars to Springsteen's "stay busy" release.

That's Fricke at his Frickest.

the rolling stone list is no more embarrassing than almost every other one posted itt so far

* opens window *

Hahaha with that top three the Quietus are really making no bones about being massive goths are they?

b-but Run The Jewels at #8! Tokenism!

xpost did they ever?

I was about to say, there's a reason I'm happily settled in there.

the rolling stone list is no more embarrassing than almost every other one posted itt so far

I suppose the Popjustice list will somehow manage to find a way to up the ante in this particular category.

xpost in all seriousness, i quite like the way the quietus have now, quite unabashedly, started to carve out their own particular niche, influencing that musical area as much as they draw from it while still covering stuff from all over the shop.