Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

there's a bunch of great records on that cosmo list!

I like 3-4 of the albums on that list; most of the others I just haven't heard (or aren't my bag).

I don't like FKA Twigs

*displays "i'm with alfred" shirt*

The problem being that it isn't even necessarily ~chick music~, as members of either gender are testifying

lol johnny fever u didn't see me say anything of the sort keep trolling :)

"10. Beyoncé, BEYONCÉ Platinum Edition - This was my #1 album from 2013. Still love it."

lol but the Cosmo list entry is definitely for the bonus EP on the new re-release that has 2 new songs and some stupid remixes

you take that back about the flawless remix sir that shit is fire

big fan of the standing on the sun remix here.
and ring off is a pretty great track!

8/8 NEVER FORGET

http://michaelceramusic.bandcamp.com/releases

Kidding! (Or am I?)

I admit with chagrin that after not connecting with Rewind the Film at all, I hadn't bothered to track down Manic Street Preachers Futurology until now. This was a judgment error.

Oh, wow, this Brooklyn Rider album! Another amazing thing I had never heard of before seeing it on one of these lists (Textura).

cosmo list is not terrible. also the miguel/chemical brothers track is great and i hope they collaborate again

lol sometimes i feel like when it comes to year-end stuff i really identify with dudes like johnny fever and forksclovetofu

1. Taylor Swift, 1989 - I need to spend more time with this. Lead singles are good, though, including "Shake It Off" -- apart from the embarrassing rap, it's pretty good!
2. Ariana Grande, My Everything - I thought her first album was Great. This is a step down, but I love all of the singles. Thought "Problem" would be my favorite -- such an iconic summer song -- but "Love Me Harder" is something I play over and over again
3. Azealia Banks, Broke With Expensive Taste - This is good, but I have to say, when "212" comes on, I immediately perk up. Like it's obviously still the standout. "Chasing Time" is really good, though. Wtf to the Ariel Pink cover/remake
4. Miranda Lambert, Platinum - Can't bring myself to listen to this, even tho I've def liked M. Lambert songs in the past
5. First Aid Kit, Stay Gold - Don't know anything about them
6. Tinashe, Aquarius - Really fucking solid. Prob unfair to compare her to Jhene Aiko, but I thought the Tinashe album was much better.
7. Lana Del Rey, Ultraviolence - Kind of confused about her critical standing.
8. Kelis, Food - Kelis seems like good people, but I haven't given this more than a single spin.
9. Lykke Li, I Never Learn - This was a bit of a disappointment, but "No Rest for the Wicked" is classic Lykke Li
10. Beyoncé, BEYONCÉ Platinum Edition - lol okay
11. One Direction, Four - Huh. Should I listen to this? I have def spent time w/One Direction in my life
12. Ex Hex, Rips - Great album. Maybe it's because I don't listen to a lot of power-pop and thus don't recognize it as fairly standard for the genre (iirc, n/a thought it sounded rote), but this album does it for me.
13. Jessie Ware, Tough Love - Man. I sincerely think that "Imagine It Was Us" is one of like the best-ever songs of the decade, which makes this one of the biggest disappointments of 2014 for me
14. Various Artists, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - Feel weird listening to soundtracks before I see the movie, so I will withhold judgment until I do ... Chvrches was my favorite album of 2013, though, so I'm eager to hear it.
15. Angel Olsen, Burn Your Fire for No Witness - This was kind of boring, iirc?
16. Dolly Parton, Blue Smoke - Good for Dolly. Don't care too much, though.
17. Jenny Lewis, The Voyager - I like Jenny Lewis best in Fleetwood Mac/soft disco mode (e.g., Rilo Kiley's "Dreamworld"), so I'm glad there's a little of that here (like the first track). "Just One of the Guys" is for sure catchy, but it's also kind of annoyingly twee.
18. FKA twigs, LP1 - Good but in this austere way that I admire more than love. That one harmonic voice in "Pendulum," though.
19. Perfume Genius, Too Bright - Need to listen to this with closer attention.
20. St. Vincent, St. Vincent - Actually, St. Vincent is the classic example of someone I admire more than love. There are songs of hers that I like a lot -- at least a couple per album -- and she was kind of amazing at Pitchfork Fest this year, maybe the highlight -- but she's never going to rank in a top 10 of mine.

sorry to get all dog latin or w/e

lol srsly but i can't wait for lex to defend the ten best ways to stick yr finger in yr boyfriend's anus

― Mordy, Tuesday, December 2, 2014 7:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

wait what's wrong with listing 10 ways of fingering your boyfriend

i'm all ears

granted i have not had sex with you mordy but i'm gonna go out on a limb and say you are prob someone who could pick up some sex tips from cosmo

1. Taylor Swift, 1989 - I need to spend more time with this...
...
4. Miranda Lambert, Platinum - Can't bring myself to listen to this, even tho I've def liked M. Lambert songs in the past
5. First Aid Kit, Stay Gold - Don't know anything about them
...
11. One Direction, Four - Huh. Should I listen to this?...
...
14. Various Artists, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - Feel weird listening to soundtracks before I see the movie, so I will withhold judgment until I do
...
19. Perfume Genius, Too Bright - Need to listen to this with closer attention...

― jaymc, Wednesday, December 3, 2014 12:59 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The point for the Cosmo list is surely that it's not a music / arts publication, it's a fashion magazine. It would be suprising to get a good list from Nuts, What Car or Viz too.

That also explains why it's fairly decent - it seems to be the work of one person rather than a committee.

the point about the cosmo list is that it lists a bunch of good pop and R&B albums where everything other list in this thread is a roster of sad men and women who play guitars

hi whiney what's up i already apologized. i am not a professional music critic. so maybe i shouldn't have made the post at all. sorry! just typing random stuff. i can take it to google docs, though. my bad.

like whoa out of 20 albums released in 2014, i have not heard six of them, what the fuck, why bother posting

the One Direction album is def EOY list-worthy

will check it out. i have researched & written about one direction.

jesus christ

if it makes u feel any better i have been listening to run the jewels nonstop for the last couple of days despite not really digging their whole aesthetic beyond an appreciation for technique.

are ppl talking about dj quik anywhere

jay, i'm not teasing you because you haven't heard records, man!

it's cool

so what was that post about then? genuinely curious

The 20 best reissues of 2014 according to FACT. As usual some interesting choices.

01. LEWIS - L’amour (Light in the Attic)
02. snd - TPlay (snd)
03. Z - Visions of Dune (InFiné)
04. STEVE ROACH - Structures from Silence (Projeckt)
05. SOULS OF MISCHIEF - 93 ’til Infinity (Get on Down)
06. MUSLIMGAUZE - Chasing the Shadow of Bryn Jones 1983-88 (Vinyl on Demand)
07. TRANSLLUSION - The Opening of the Cerebral Gate (Tresor)
08. INGRAM MARSHALL - Fog Tropes // Gradual Requiem (Arc Light Editions)
09. VARIOUS - Suburban Base Records: The History Of Hardcore, Jungle, Drum & Bass: 1991-199 (Suburban Base)
10. GRUPPO DI IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVA CONSONANZA - The Feed-Back (Schema)
11. DONATO DOZZY & NUEL - The Aquaplano Sessions (Spectrum Spools)
12. V/VM - The Death of Rave (A Partial Flashback) (History Always Favours the Winners)
13. HELM - Impasse (New Images)
14. STEPHEN DAVID HEITKOTTER - Black Orckid (Now-Again)
15. RALPH JONES - Slumber Party Massacre (Death Waltz Recording Company)
16. CHARLES HAYWARD - Smell of Metal (ΚΕΜΑΛ)
17. WILLIAM BASINSKI - Melancholia (Temporary Residence)
18. 18. BLACK ZONE MYTH CHANT - Straight Cassette (Laitdbac)
19. VARIOUS - Bombay Disco (Cultures of Soul)
20. OFFICER! - Dead Unique (Blackest Ever Black)

i always forget that reissues are a thing. i'm surprised fact didn't rep for the katie pearl album, though i guess an unreleased album finally emerging 10 years late isn't a REissue. that lewis album was a fucking bore though

yeh the lewis album was kinda dull but the whole story itself i found really fun

10. GRUPPO DI IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVA CONSONANZA - The Feed-Back (Schema)

My (and possibly no one else's) idea of fun.

Can we rank 10 ways to finger yr boyfriend, I feel that unlike everything else ITT that conversation might still be interesting/useful to me in six months time.

playing the long game, eh Tim?

Some choice writing in the Paste list:

"From the second someone turns the gain on the fuzz pedal all the way up on “Black Moon Spell,” the opening track off King Tuff’s new album, it’s pretty obvious that both speakers and minds are about to be blown."

"It’s something new. It’s music. And, it’s beautiful."

i always forget that reissues are a thing. i'm surprised fact didn't rep for the katie pearl album, though i guess an unreleased album finally emerging 10 years late isn't a REissue

It'll definitely be high up in their albums list proper

the point about the cosmo list is that it lists a bunch of good pop and R&B albums where everything other list in this thread is a roster of sad men and women who play guitars
--J0rdan S.

I MEAN, one can argue the Cosmo list is mostly sad ladies who sometimes play guitars...but obviously I know what you meant

how dare people like guitar music in this day and age

Some good stuff on that reissue list, but Luciano Cilio's Dell'universo assente is a glaring omission.

Yes, the entire point of my post was whether or not the list is bad (because I so blatantly loved all the other lists in this thread), please make lists showing me that you like the records on it, that'll disprove that claim entirely, and not whether you're a bunch of fucking sexist dickwads.

I noticed no one bothered replying to emil.y's post except jf and mordy

Well, to be honest not replying would have been fine. Replying and MISSING THE POINT ENTIRELY is a lot less fine, and a bit... mansplaining the list for me, thanks. "No no no, I think you'll find *I* like this, therefore your whole post is misguided, little miss, you just sit right there".

AV Club's Least Essential Albums of 2014

but no one actually said cosmo or its list spoke for all women. it codes female by dint of having by far the largest proportion of female artists of any list, many from genres with high proportions of female artists and fans. in light of that mordy reacting with some shit about how lol rote and superficial it was (not a complaint directed at any other list so far) seemed pretty sexist.

That Pixies album alternated between the inconsequential and the plain terrible.

So far my takeaway from these lists is that only about 3 people still care about Lamb 😞

11. One Direction, Four - Huh. Should I listen to this? I have def spent time w/One Direction in my life

yes!