Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

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

Also the fact that the writer thinks w h o k i l l was her debut record. Where's fact checkin' cuz?

no Run the Jewels on that Magnet hip-hop list is dumber than U2 at the top of the Rolling Stone list. YG, too, but I don't expect Magnet to list YG.

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

Sure, I'm just saying that I probably underrate it for that reason.

pretty into the washington post list

EIGHT: Manic Street Preachers - Futurology (Sony)

oh yeah i got to check this out. singles were dispiriting but uh green gartside guests

yeah, washington post list also has some smart moves

there are some truly perplexing picks on the popmatters list tbh

that Rolling Stone list really reshapes what we thought we knew about whiney, doesn't it

still seems incredible to me that the washington post pay the guy from q and not u to enthuse about rae sremmurd. what a world.

Post list is good/inspiring. "Young Thug -- singles and mixtapes" at #1 makes so much more sense than putting Black Portland in at #37 or whatever.

For whatever it's worth, all the MAGNET lists are due in in mid-October. When did RTJ2 come out?

So which will be the first list with BABYMETAL?

Soon, Fastnbulbous. Very soon. ;-)

*opens Popmatters, sees "All About That Bass", closes tab*

i was thinking that suuuurely the U2 and springsteen albums this year were too shitty to warrant the usual automatic top of the list billing for RS, but apparently not.

Charli XCX - not released for 2 weeks - in its top 10 is pretty odd.

Maybe the label took out a lot of advertising?

i'm sure they have an advanced copy and liked it

It was originally supposed to be out in September, so advance copies have been out there for forever.

then why cant i find a leak of sucker :[

(i'm sure its somewhere but havent had the time for a deep dive)

Oh, I don't think it's leaked anywhere. People with copies have held on tightly it appears.

so no succour for you

ugh whatever ill wait two weeks like a normal person

I've been enjoying the Kemper Norton and Maruice Louca albums recently, glad to see them hit the big time on the (vmic) Quietus list.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/uncut-editors-diary/the-154-best-albums-of-2014-a-very-personal-list

Huge list of stuff. I usually look up a lot of the things on Mulvey's lists, but I'm noticing a fair bit of shit I know I don't like.

The only uncut is Robbie unkut

Consensus watch:

14 polls:
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

13 polls:
Caribou - Our Love
FKA Twigs - LP1

12 polls:
Mac De Marco - Salad Days

11 polls:
Future Islands - Singles
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
St Vincent - St Vincent
Aphex Twin - Syro

10 polls:
Swans - To Be Kind
Jack White - Lazaretto
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

9 polls:
Temples - Sun Structures
Real Estate - Atlas
Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Beck - Morning Phase

8 polls:
East India Youth - Total Strife Forever
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
Ty Segall - Manipulator

(poll placings below #50 are discounted, as are single-voter polls)

the consensus list is the worst of the lot!

You forgot U2... It's album of the year?

i have listened to and enjoyed three albums on the consensus list (aphex and twigs and beck) and need to get around to caribou and new swans.
i tried and disliked the jack white album.
i tried and had little interest in the van etten album.
The rest is all stuff that i haven't even cracked.

Of the ones you didn't mention, I'd probably steer you towards the St. Vincent...but even that is an "if you get around it" recommendation.

is it substantially different than her earlier work?

i'm listening to war on drugs now and it's agreeable i-am-indie-i-am-sad stuff; not entirely clear why this gets to be standard bearer but whatever

cuz it sounds like 80s stuff that hasn't been updated before.

(don't get me wrong; i like the record)

is it substantially different than her earlier work?

Substantially? Nah. There's a bigger interest in cold robotic-ness, though, which surprisingly works in her favor.

The internet was a fun place to be after her SNL performance last May. "WTF was THAT?" said people who weren't expecting it.

lol, i just found the kozelek beef for WOD

i'm unlikely to ever connect with annie's work i think

That Horse Lords track on the WaPo list is pretty great.