Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

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!

Camaraderie at Arms Length is OTM. Cosmo isn't a music magazine, it's a lifestyle magazine aimed at a particular audience of women and that's why it initiated a bit of a LOL. It's wrong to assume this is the music that 'women' like. It's also wrong to assume that this is the music that 'Ilxors' like.

Itemizing a list of 20 records with reasons I like or dislike them is now mansplaining? jeezus.

mordy reacting with some shit about how lol rote and superficial it was (not a complaint directed at any other list so far)

"preset values", "boring", "embarrassing" (you), "all these lists are the same, ehhh", "music for conservative dads" (paraphrasing myself)

I would say those things are reasonably similar to "lol rote and superficial", and that's just us two. What Mordy actually said was it's funny that Cosmo is the list most aligned with the ilx hivemind. It is at least mildly noteworthy if true that a dedicated music site shares the most taste with a publication more known for sex tips and beauty advertising than its music coverage. When you equate that with "oh no we're like GIRLS", it certainly LOOKS like you're saying girls = love sex tips and beauty advertising, conform entirely to this construction of gender normativity, must ringfence this forever because this is what girls are like. It is frustrating.

Itemizing a list of 20 records with reasons I like or dislike them is now mansplaining? jeezus.

Ignoring the main point of a post in order to provide a carefully constructed argument for why the irrelevant part of a post is wrong is kind of mansplainy, yeah.

Tbh, I didn't even see your post, emil.y, I just wandered in this thread last night and saw Johnny Fever's post and was inspired to do the same. Apologies for any offense caused.

You blazed in and the first words of your first post on the subject were "That Cosmo list is shit..." I can't IMAGINE why that might put anyone on the defensive and possibly overlook the second half of your post!

I do regret going "but it's shit", to be honest. I think pretty much all of these lists are shit so it's not noteworthy that I also think this one is shit. But that was a reaction against other people going "noooo must defend the Cosmo list it's amaaazing".

the reaction to most of these lists has been that they're shit. if you think a list's shit, it's fair enough to say.

Juno Plus Re-issues. Some over with the Fact chart.
http://www.junodownload.com/plus/2014/12/03/best-of-2014-reissues-and-archival-releases/

1. Gigi Masin – Talk to the Sea (Music From Memory)
2. Vangelis Katsoulis – The Sleeping Beauties: A Collection of Early and Unreleased Works (Into The Light)
3. Lewis – L’amour/Romantic Times (Light In The Attic)
4. Roland Young – Hearsay I-Land (Palto Flats)
5. Donato Dozzy and Nuel – The Aquaplano Sessions (Spectrum Spools)
6. Psyche - Re-Membering Dwayne (Dark Entries)
7. Z AKA Bernard Szajner – Visions of Dune (InFiné)
8. K. Leimer – A Period of Review (Original Recordings: 1975 – 1983) (RVNG Intl)
9. Tom Ellard – ’80s Cheesecake (Dark Entries)
10. Dat Oven – Icy Lake (Fade To Mind/Night Slugs)

Some *overlap with the Fact chart.

Gorilla vs Bear
http://www.gorillavsbear.net/2014/12/02/gorilla-vs-bears-albums-of-2014/

1. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty
2. Grouper - Ruins
3. Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
4. Tops - Picture You Staring
5. Burial - Rival Dealer
6. Doss - Doss + remixes
7. Lewis - L'Amour/Romantic Times
8. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Pinata
9. Fear of Men - Loom
10. Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
11. Andy Stott - Faith in Strangers
12. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
13. Mark Barrott - Sketches from an Island
14. Yumi Zouma - Yumi Zouma
15. Leon Vynehall - Music for the Uninvited
16. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
17. Ana Caprix - For Seven Nights This Island Is Ours
18. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
19. DJ Dodger Stadium - Friend of Mine
20. Panda Bear - Mr Noah
21. Recycle Culture - Drown Me Up
22. Jessie Ware - Tough Love
23. Johnny Jewel - Rarities & Unreleased
24. Tinashe - Aquarius
25. Beverly - Careers
26. Mica Levi - Under the Skin
27. Alvvays - Alvvays
28. Sales - Sales
29. Viet Cong - Cassette
30. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
31. Vesuvio Solo - Favors
32. Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron
33. Mr Twin Sister - Mr Twin Sister
34. Korallreven - Second Comin'
35. You'll Never Get to Heaven - Adorn

xps It was just a timing issue. We've all been picking apart all these lists, and then one comes along that resembles something we'd actually make (at least in part) and there was cause for celebration. Then Mordy, then slothroprhymes' tongue-in-cheek reaction to Mordy, then lex...then I don't know. It's tough now to remember what I was thinking last night when this unfolded.

GvsB still reliably digs a little deeper than all the other big indie bloggers. Big props for capping it off with You'll Never Get to Heaven's Adorn, which is a wonderful little EP.

I'm actually quite surprised the Kelis album hasn't figured in more lists, even lurking around the 30s somewhere.

The Guardian continues the slow roll: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/nov/26/-sp-the-best-albums-of-2014

8 Beck - Morning Phase
9 Flying Lotus - You're Dead
10 Sleaford Mods - Divide And Exit

Nothing too exciting though the FlyLo is growing on me. I was a fan of earlier ones, just hadn't been in the mood for a while. Beck and Sleaford Mods can suckit though.

I just remembered that it was the NPR list, not the Guardian's, that I thought was pretty good last year.

did Rival Dealer really come out this year...? Damn.

Anyway, Ariel Pink notwithstanding the GvsB isn't too bad.

there are evidently more profound consonances between ilm ideology and cosmo ideology, nevermind the apparent gender polarity

rival dealer was late last year but mighta missed some 2013 lists

wasn't it on the ilx list or am i imagining it?

maybe on both lists

deff on one at least

ah yes so it seems (74th for the title track and 30th on the album chart)

If they were sensible and did these charts at the end of the year, they wouldn't need to pick up these late 2013 releases in the first place.

p much any given publication has a lot more to lose from waiting until the end of the year to do all this crap than they do from possibly missing out on one or two releases

uh oh:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-songs-of-2014-20141203

No Depression - Top 10 albums:
http://nodepression.com/top-10-albums-list/2014-0

1. Sunny Sweeney - Provoked
2. Carolina Story - Chapter Two
3. Marcia Ball - The Tattooed Lady and the Alligator Man
4. Cowboy Jack Clement - For Once and For All
5. The Levon Helm Band - The Midnight Ramble Session 3
6. The Hayden Triplets - The Hayden Triplets
7. The Levon Helm Band - The Midnight Ramble Session 3
8. Paul Thorn - Too Blessed to Be Stressed
9. Justin Townes Earle - Single Mothers
10. Lee Ann Womack - The Way I'm Livin'

I like #7, #5 is shit

bout the same for me,

so far only one (1) point in the RS songs list favor - it includes 0 to 100

oh shit, that's just some dumb forum post xps

i thought it looked a bit low-key

xxxp to myself ok its actually not too terrible overall, certainly runs circles around the albums list

I'm tight with the Juno Plus list of best reissues. Also agreeing with their comment re Gigi Masin's Talk To The Sea

wasn’t just the best reissue project of the year – it was better than most albums of new music released in 2014

i posted this in the sleater kinney thread by mistake but:

Trapt - The Acoustic Collection is a real doozy from that AV Club least essential list

I'm tight with the Juno Plus list of best reissues. Also agreeing with their comment re Gigi Masin's Talk To The Sea

― doug watson

It's been sitting in my Bandcamp wishlist for a few months. Just ordered.

Listening to this now. Love it! Thanks for bringing it up.

I completely missed Masin's reissue this year! Awesome.

Complex - 30 best album covers of 2014
http://uk.complex.com/style/2014/12/the-best-album-covers-of-2014/

gtfo are they serious?

It's like "hmm, let's look through this pile of review copies...ok that one looks alright...this one too...do we have 30 yet?"

Even as I was disappointed by the Shabazz Palaces album I knew some people would consider it an "OMG future of hip hop" masterpiece. I hoped I'd be one of those people but it reminded me of Divine Styler's Spiral Walls… The best tracks were the ones closest to hip hop, the more supposedly far-out stuff just sounded blah.

AV Club's "Least Essential Albums of 2014" List
http://www.avclub.com/article/least-essential-albums-2014-212075
only one of these i listened to is the country tribute to motley crue and it is indeed utterly unnecessary