Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

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.

Stereogum: http://www.stereogum.com/1721100/the-50-best-albums-of-2014/list/

50. Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal (What's Your Rupture?)
49. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
48. TOPS - Picture You Staring
47. Thou - Heathen
46. Spoon - They Want My Soul
45. You Blew It! - Keep Doing What You're Doing
44. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
43. LVL Up - Hoodwink'd
42. Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
41. Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait
40. Tinashe - Aquarius
39. Caribou - Our Love
38. Horrendous - Ecdysis
37. Mitski - Bury Me At Makeout Creek
36. The Men - Tomorrow's Hits
35. Flying Lotus - You're Dead
34. How To Dress Well - "What Is This Heart?"
33. Aphex Twin - SYRO
32. Future Islands - Singles
31. Ty Segall - Manipulator
30. Todd Terje - It's Album Time
29. Ariel Pink - pom pom
28. Fucked Up - Glass Boys
27. Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
26. Jessie Ware - Tough Love
25. Woods Of Desolation - As The Stars
24. Chumped - Teenage Retirement
23. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
22. Taylor Swift - 1989
21. Young Thug, Birdman, & Rich Homie Quan - Rich Gang: Tha Tour Part 1
20. Strand Of Oaks - Heal
19. Real Estate - Atlas
18. Eric Church - The Outsiders
17. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
16. EMA - The Future's Void
15. YG - My Krazy Life
14. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
13. Swans - To Be Kind
12. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
11. YOB - Clearing The Path To Ascend
10. Merchandise - After The End
09. FKA Twigs - LP1
08. Nux Vomica - Nux Vomica
07. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
06. White Lung - Deep Fantasy
05. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
04. Wye Oak - Shriek
03. Sun Kil Moon - Benji
02. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
01. Run The Jewels - RTJ2

20. Strand Of Oaks - Heal

^don't really know this band but i heard one song on the radio and it really irritated me because the song COMPLETELY bit the "ah ha ha ha ha ha" end riff from "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" by Morrissey

Nice to see the Wye Oak album so high. That was in my Top 10 for a while.

also nice to see another Against Me placing, the RS list is LOL but at least they had AM at #15

noticeable dearth of britishes on that list

why does stereogum hate bloodsausage

Nux Vomica is a cool pick for the top 10.

this is the first list that i have few quibbles with throughout, def gotta check out the metal albums i overlooked & glad vince got some love

I salute them for having a top 50 list that's at least more interesting than most of the others so far.

(Thus far LDR is the only album in my Top Ten that shows up on any lists whatsoever)

LDR is 40% tolerable, 60% abominable though

stereogum list has more albums i like on it than most but it's hardly interesting, it just skews indie and indie-friendly versions of other genres. it's got a bit of pop and a bit of r&b and a bit of rap but you KNOW the sort of pop, r&b and rap that would never show up there in a million years, it's all preset values

my entire use of LDR these days is as raw material for amazing house remixes

<i>Broke With Expensive Taste</i> needs more love

lex could you give some examples? i def can see what you mean, am just curious

pop - one direction, cher lloyd (in the same way the equivalent list a few years ago would never have countenanced t-swift; the reason she's there isn't because she's magically improved but because her popularity and positioning have changed)

r&b - toni braxton, mjb, k michelle (yes i know it's only just out but it's the type of r&b not specific albums as such)

But is Eric Church appearing at 18 a typical Indie-friendly choice? I haven't been paying enough attention to his stuff to know.

basically when indie sites throw a sop to other genres it's less about quality and more how examples of those genres are positioned vis-à-vis the indie audience and as such very boring and mildly offensive

i would push back a bit on tay - red made some best-of lists that you wouldn't expect IIRC - but can def agree re: their treatment of r&b. eric church is an interesting case as well tho. i haven't listened to the whole album but listened to the singles; happened to like them but did not expect him to be the critics' darling he's become outside of nashville

that eric church album sucks. any list that includes it especially as the highest placing country record is suspect/playing catch-up imo

cool to see nux vomica in a top 10 but weird to see it place several orders higher than triptykon

Yeah, the Church album is terrible. (I admit, my experience with him is limited to that one and the one before it, but holy shit what a dropoff in quality between the two.)

Stereogum has strong feelings about Deafheaven and Marrow of the Spirit, I can see how Nux Vomica would appeal.

i don't see a connection beyond long-ass songs

I don't honestly see the difference between the stereogum list and most of the other lists in this thread.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

glad someone said it.

keepin it 100, truth 2 power

The Babyface-Braxton album hasn't left rotation in my place; I'm tempted to put it at the top thanks to overplay.

I'm way more interested in singles/tracks list. Albums lists are pretty much always going to resemble each other unless it's from a specialty publication (even our ILM list will have a ton of what's in this thread). Song lists are where you can get into some real differences.

would like to see J-Hud's album on a few lists.

preset values, imagine

I wouldn't bother reading it but the headline made me laugh:

9 albums from 2014 that blow U2's Songs of Innocence out of the water
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/2/7319253/best-music-2014

9 whole albums!

one of them is the Foo Fighters though so it's technically only 8

I would rather listen to Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever: Official Soundtrack than the new U2 album

Metacritic aggregates the EOY lists: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/critics-pick-top-10-albums-of-2014

Stereogum has strong feelings about Deafheaven and Marrow of the Spirit, I can see how Nux Vomica would appeal.

just realized you were talking about the post-rockiness of these records, so yeah, otm. haven't listened to the nux vomica in a few months and it's considerably grindier in memory

Textura Top 40
http://www.textura.org/reviews/2104top10s.htm

01. Julia Wolfe: Steel Hammer (Cantaloupe Music)
02. Maria Schneider Featuring Dawn Upshaw: Winter Morning Walks (Artistshare)
03. Lenzman: Looking At The Stars (Metalheadz)
04. Brooklyn Rider: The Brooklyn Rider Almanac (Mercury Classics)
05. CYNE: All My Angles Are Right (Hometapes)
06. Vicky Chow: Tristan Perich: Surface Image (New Amsterdam Records)
07. David Lang: Love Fail (Cantaloupe Music)
08. yMusic: Balance Problems (New Amsterdam Records)
09. Maya Beiser: Uncovered (Innova Records)
10. Wadada Leo Smith: The Great Lakes Suites (Tum Records)
11. Michael Nyman: Symphony No 11: Hillsborough Memorial (Mn Records)
12. Christopher Tignor: Thunder Lay Down In The Heart (Western Vinyl)
13. Michael Robinson: Lucknow Shimmer / Hummingbird Canyon (Azure Miles Records)
14. Alexander Turnquist: Flying Fantasy (Western Vinyl)
15. Jane Ira Bloom: Sixteen Sunsets (Outline)
16. Marvin Ayres: Ultraradian Rhythms (Wall Of Waves / Market Square)
17. Brock Van Wey: Home (Echospace Detroit)
18. Octet Ensemble: Scatter My Ashes (Belarca Records)
19. Hammock: Oblivion Hymns (Hammock Music)
20. Emilia Martensson: Ana (Babel)
21. Stein Urheim: Stein Urheim (Hubro)
22. Death Blues: Ensemble ( Rhythmplex )
23. Ken Thomson: Thaw (Cantaloupe Music)
24. Bruno Sanfilippo: ClarOscuro (Ad21)
25. Mary Halvorson: Reverse Blue (Relative Pitch Records)
26. Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Intergalactic Beings (FPE Records)
27. 36: Dream Tempest (3six Recordings)
28. Maxwell August Croy And Sean Mccann: I (Students Of Decay)
29. Robert Hood: M-Print: 20 Years Of M-Plant Music (M-Plant)
30. Ken Thomson And Slow/Fast: Settle (NCM East Records)
31. Dday One: Dialogue With Life (The Content (L)Abel)
32. Mark Lomax Trio: Isis And Osiris (Inarhyme Records)
33. P.J. Philipson: Peaks (Little Cracked Rabbit)
34. Ian William Craig: A Turn Of Breath (Recital)
35. Mark Templeton + Kyle Armstrong: Extensions (Graphical)
36. Grouper: Ruins (Kranky)
37. Neil Leonard: For Kounellis (Gasp Records)
38. Girma Yifrashewa: Love And Peace (Unseen Worlds)
39. Carl Hultgren: Tomorrow (Blue Flea)
40. David Pritchard: Among The Missing (Morphic Resonance)

...and compilations

01. VA: Platinumbreaks Vol 4 (Metalheadz)
02. VA: Emerging Organisms Vol 5 (Tympanik Audio)
03. VA: Aphelion (Token)
04. VA: Total 14 (Kompakt)
05. Maya Jane Coles: Fabric 75 (Fabric)
06. VA: Future Disco 7 (Needwant)
07. VA: 7 Years Of Outcross Records (Outcross Records)
08. VA: Anomalie3 (Gravite)
09. VA: 15 Shades Of White (Dronarivm)
10. VA: The Silence Was Warm Vol. 5 (Symbolic Interaction)

that Hammock album is great but I never listen to it