Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

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.

i will say one thing for the RS list - it's the first to include YG lol

49 Tinariwen - Emmaar

^^wish this was getting more love :-\

otm, amazing album

remove the top 3 of the Rolling Stone list and I don't think it's that bad, as good as lot of lists....

The Tinariwen is great, but I think their consistency works against them. Easy to take for granted, too hard for most to differentiate one from the other, imo.

If you give the new U2 album five stars, it better top your list. That's commitment.

I forgot the Bruce came out this year or even existed, honestly. In fact, I was about to say it was good, since it popped up on shuffle the other day, but as I type this I realize it was actually "Wrecking Ball" that popped up. "Wrecking Ball" is great. "High Hopes" - the non covers titles barely ring a bell. Def. down there with "Working on a Dream" for a why-bother release.

49 Tinariwen - Emmaar
^^wish this was getting more love :-\

― ✓ out this insane nakh yall (gr8080), Monday, December 1, 2014 4:48 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes! Saw them live over the summer and it was transcendental.

Magnet magazine
Best Of 2014: Hip Hop
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/category/best-of-2014/

1 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata (Madlib Invazion)
2 Flying Lotus - You’re Dead! (Warp)
3 FKA Twigs - LP1 (XL)
4 Childish Gambino - STN MTN/Kauai (self-released)
5 Staik Selektah - What Goes Around (Duck Down Music)
6 Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty (Sub Pop)
7 Busdriver - Perfect Hair (Big Dada)
8 Militia - Deluxe Cigars (self-released)
9 Rapsody - Beauty And The Beast (JAMLA, Empire)
10 Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait (Def Jam)

That Magnet top four is quite something.

ONE OF THOSE (FOUR) THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERSSSSSSSSSSS

"High Hopes" is OK for an odds and ends album but not more than that, really.

Oh, RollingStones paws

When I see that U2 album at the top of the page I don't even wanna look at the rest

Popmatters Top 75 Songs:
http://www.popmatters.com/feature/188623-the-75-best-songs-of-2014/

The Tinariwen is great, but I think their consistency works against them. Easy to take for granted, too hard for most to differentiate one from the other, imo.

Yup, Tassili was the first Tinariwen album I heard, and I was like, "Wow, where has this been all my life?" Emmaar is definitely good, but there's nothing surprising about it.

it's still better than most music released this year, being "surprising" is irrelevant

#2 placing is hilarious but I really like half of High Hopes: Down in the Hole, The Wall, Dream Baby Dream, Hunter of Invisible Game and the new versions of American Skin and Tom Joad. I like eerie Springsteen.

i'm absolutely not on board with everything on the list but the popmatters singles seems closest to my sensibilities thus far

its good some good picks thus far (on like page 3) and i will try not to consider it blasphemous that "move that dope" is only #75

*got some

For whatever reason I decided to read the blurb for "Water Fountain" and this:

Merrill Garbus’ opening hook sets the tone for the playful jungle bass

um