Year-End Critics' Polls 2014

garbage island is endlessly fascinating tbh

OK, I've loaded up the NME, Paste, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, and TIME song/track lists onto a single Spotify playlist (deleting duplicates):
http://open.spotify.com/user/seaworthyset/playlist/6gv4ng5XkJQQrTSkr7OzEH

Will add others as they come out.

Sloth there are 2 songs from the album, one is really long, they are both standouts and give you a good idea of what Intensity Ghost is like

x-post

MAGNET’s j. poet picks the best world-music releases of the year.

1 Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 A Long Way To The Beginning (Knitting Factory)
2 Toumani & Sidiki Diabate Toumani & Sidiki (World Circuit)
3 Jamie Dubberly & Orquesta Dharma La Clave Del Gumbo (Dubberly)
4 Zongo Junction No Discount (Electric Cowbell)
5 Anansy Cissé Mali Overdrive (Riverboat)
6 Lo’Jo 310 Lunes (World Village)
7 Boris Kovač & La Campanella Eastern Moon Rising (Riverboat)
8 Da Cruz Disco E Progresso (Boom Jah)
9 Banda Magda Yerakina (Ground UP)
10 Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca La Rumba SoYo (Cumbancha

Oh, forgot Ricardo Lemvo had a new release out. Have liked his Congolese meets Cuban grooves in the past.

Alvvays at 11 on the RS tracks list makes me happy

xxp they are "the ballad of freer hollow" and "i aint waiting" correct?

Yep

33. Jackson Browne - The Birds of St. Marks

lol

And I like War on Drugs fine but see Solar Motel live and they would eat their fucking lunch

― you say tomato/i say imago (upper mississippi sh@kedown),

WOD lunch = moldy kale + sprouts iirc

bc of brooklyn and beer commercial rock amirite???????? TRUTH 2 POWER

btw evan & shakedown i very much like these chris forsyth/solar motel songs

Nice! Yeah it's goof stuff sloth

good...

goof stuff also sounds interesting imo but forsyth is def not goofy

toumani & sidiki is probably my #1 album from this year

i'm a sucker for the stereo thing

Sidmani & Tanooki

Don't say it three times or he'll appear.

toumani & sidiki is probably my #1 album from this year

Listening to this atm. I realize the incredible amount of talent on display here, but I also feel like it's restaurant music?

i've admittedly been in easy listening mode this year

Sorry, that was mean. They're probably amazing to see perform.

ha, i thought it was apt

:)

I like "The Birds of St. Marks" a lot. One of those songs he wrote when he was like 18.

I probably wouldn't have been as in to the Toumani&Sidiki record if I hadn't seen them first & gotten a sense of the interplay between them, the way the rhythms shift especially. The album with Ali Farka Toure often felt structured around & anchored down by the guitar but the pieces on this really take off, with those bouncy basslines underneath & they generate a lot of space, it's probably the airiest album I've ever heard. the tunes from the album were significantly expanded & perhaps just a little more patiently paced when I saw them played, which I absolutely recommend if you've got the faintest interest

MAGNET’s j. poet picks the best world-music releases of the year.

1 Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 A Long Way To The Beginning (Knitting Factory)

I haven't heard the album, but they put on a good show at Bonnaroo. Having seen both Femi and Seun, I'd say Seun got the charisma gene.

Fasterlouder

1 Kimbra - The Golden Echo
2 St. Vincent - St. Vincent
3 The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
4 Remi - Raw x Infinity
5 Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
6 Chet Faker - Built On Glass
7 FKA Twigs - LP1
8 Run The Jewels - RTJ2
9 Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
10 The Smith Street Band - Throw Me In The River
11 Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
12 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
13 Fishing - Shy Glow
14 Sun Kil Moon - Benji
15 Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
16 Total Control - Typical System
17 Royal Blood - Royal Blood
18 Taylor Swift - 1989
19 Perfume Genius - Too Bright
20 Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else
21 Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
22 Caribou - Our Love
23 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizzard - I'm In Your Mind Fuzz
24 Glass Animals - ZABA
25 Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
26 Kelis - Food
27 Blank Realm - Grassed In
28 Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
29 Beck - Morning Phase
30 Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
31 #1 Dads - About Face
32 Alt-J - This Is All Yours
33 DZ Deathrays - Black Rat
34 TV On The Radio - Seeds
35 Flight Facilities - Down To Earth
36 Caitlin Park - The Sleeper
37 Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
38 Angus and Julia Stone - Angus and Julia Stone
39 The Black Keys - Turn Blue
40 Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
41 The Preatures - Blue Planet Eyes
42 Augie March - Havens Dumb
43 Alvvays - Alvvays
44 First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
45 Shihad - Fvey
46 Hozier - Hozier
47 Jack White - Lazaretto
48 Ball Park Music - Puddinghead
49 Peep Tempel - Tales
50 Dan Sultan - Blackbird

MAGNET’s Bill Meyer picks the best jazz/improv releases of the year

1 Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack …Awaits Silent Tristero’s Empire (Singlespeed)
2 Brötzmann Adasiewicz Edwards Noble Mental Shake (Otoroku)
3 AMM Place Sub. V. (Matchless)
4 Matt Bauder And Day In Pictures Nightshades (Clean Feed)
5 Rob Mazurek Mother Ode (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)
6 Russ Johnson Meeting Point (Relay)
7 Cymerman Wooley Parker World Of Objects (5049)
8 Steve Lehman Octet Mise En Abîme (Pi)
9 Keir Neuringer Ceremonies Of The Air (New Atlantis)
10 Travis Laplante’s Battle Trance Palace Of Wind (New Amsterdam)

Posted in BEST OF 2014 |

Next batch of Guardian best albums:

10. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
9. Flying Lotus - You're Dead
8. Beck - Morning Phase
7. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
6. Trouble in Paradise - La Roux

is that la roux album any good? i've seen it on a few polls and don't feel too keen on them on the basis of the few older tracks i've heard

That La Roux album's surprisingly good and very different from the debut but I'm astonished that it's that high. Presumably it's St Vincent, TWOD, FKA, Aphex and Caribou in the Top 5.

yet again only one of these lists has anything from my top 20 records and i assure all and sundry that this is not intentional but wtf. perhaps only liking stuff that everyone else hates is some sort of talent i dunno

Predicted Guardian top 5: Aphex Twin, Caribou, St. Vincent, Beyonce, FKA Twigs

on course for my votes to have zero impact on the guardian list apart from t-swift! literally not even listening to the same music as everyone else there.

The La Roux album is much less harsh than their debut. Her voice is still quite shrill but it's not presented in such a harsh, confrontational way and the music is much more disco than synth-pop this time around. It's certainly more listenable than the debut but I'm bewildered to see it so high on any list.

no bad thing, lex.

37. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
25. Actress - Ghettoville
24. Banks - Goddess
20. Owen Pallett - In Conflict
19. Jhene Aiko - Souled Out
15. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
7. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2

^^guardian albums i have heard and was varying shades of lukewarm-to-unenthusiastic about

40. Tricky - Adrian Thaws
14. Future Islands - Singles
13. Kate Tempest - Everybody Down
10. Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
9. Flying Lotus - You're Dead

^^guardian albums i was uninterested in hearing based on the lead single(s)

34. Jamie T - Carry on the Grudge
29. Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
28. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
27. Kindness - Otherness
18. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
8. Beck - Morning Phase
6. La Roux - Trouble in Paradise

^^guardian albums i was uninterested in hearing based on these being terrible fucking artists whose past form is absolutely hideous and life is too short

my only thumbs up are for taylor and tinashe

if RMRM is right about the top 5, fka twigs is the only possible further thumbs up even though it's like my #25 album of the year and st vincent/caribou will join the heard-and-was-unenthusiastic-about pile

i'm sure EOY will align a lot more with your tastes though.

meanwhile on the next planet across...

Loudwire - 20 Best Rock Songs of 2014
http://loudwire.com/best-rock-songs-of-2014/

20. Three Days Grace 'Painkiller'
19. Linkin Park featuring Daron Malakian 'Rebellion'
18. Bring Me the Horizon 'Drown'
17. Body Count 'Talk S--t, Get Shot'
16. Against Me! 'True Trans Soul Rebel'
15. Slash 'World on Fire'
14. Emigrate featuring Frank Delle 'Eat You Alive'
13. A Day to Remember 'End of Me'
12. Kyng 'Electric Halo'
11. Black Label Society 'My Dying Time'
10. Starset 'Telescope'
9. The Pretty Reckless 'Heaven Knows'
8. The Virginmarys 'Just a Ride'
7. Sixx: A.M. 'Stars'
6. Royal Blood 'Figure It Out'
5. Nothing More 'This Is the Time (Ballast)'
4. Hellyeah 'Moth'
3. Foo Fighters 'Something From Nothing'
2. Islander 'Coconut Dracula'
1. Chevelle 'Take Out the Gunman'

of the many albums on my list that haven't cropped up in this thread at all yet, the one i'm most shocked by is toni braxton & babyface.

sexist garbage from the standard:
http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/the-best-albums-of-2014-a-christmas-shopping-guide-for-musiclovers-9905463.html

One thing I like about the ILX poll Lex is that it's the only place where you get to be consensus guy.

can't wait to buy the alt-j album for all my rocking intellectual family members

love the way it's divided up into 'rap fans', 'indie kids', 'intellectuals' and 'girls'

DJ Mag Singles: http://djmag.com/node/51427

1. Ten Walls - Walking With Elephants
2. Patrick Topping - Forget
3. Caribou - Can't Do Without You (Tale of Us & Mano Le Tough Remix)
4. Sailor & I - Turn Around (Âme Remix)
5. Floating Points - King Bromeliad
6. Josh Wink - Are You There? (Ben Klock Remix)
7. Seven Davis Jnr - One (Live Edit)
8. Lauer - Hershel
9. Leon Vynehall - Butterflies
10. Oliver $ & Jimi Jules - Pushing On

"The next 20"
Fracture - Loving Touch
Patricia - Drip Dawn (JTC's I-94 Lick)
Marquis Hawkes - Can't Find A Reason
Tito Wun - The Way U Do It (Jacques Renault Remix)
Josh Wink - Talking To You
Jimmy Chambers - You Can't Fight It
Bicep - Lyk Lyk
Rockwell - IneedU
Trumpet & Badman - Str8 Jugglin'
Point G - The Alarm
Damiano Von Erckert - Diamonds & Girls
Noir & Hayze - Angel (Ripperton Remix)
Wayne Snow - Red Runner
Hotel Lauer - QD
Sebo K - Avalanche
Djrum - DAM (Akkord Remix)
Jitterbug - Sweet Tooth
Caribou - Our Love
Genius of Time - Juno Jam
Midland - Duster

Everything I've heard in that DJ Mag top ten has been banging (Ten Walls, Patrick Topping, Wink/Klock/Lauer/Oliver $) except the Tale of Us Caribou mix which somehow manages to be even drippier than the original.

Boggling at that Standard article. Nothing says intellectualism like Alt-J.

Juno Plus -- Top 30 Albums of 2014

30. Vaghe Stelle – Sweet Sixteen (Astro: Dynamics)
29. Kassem Mosse – Workshop 19 (Workshop)
28. Lorenzo Senni – Superimpositions (Boomkat Editions)
27. Population One – Theater Of A Confused Mind (Rush Hour Music)
26. Perc – The Power And The Glory (Perc Trax)
25. Shit & Shine – Powder Horn (Diagonal)
24. Beau Wanzer – Untitled (Self Released)
23. Function & Vatican Shadow - Games Have Rules (Hospital Productions)
22. Jo Johnson – Weaving (Further Records)
21. Eric Holm - Andøya (Subtext)
20. Alessandro Cortini – Sonno (Hospital Productions)
19. Slackk – Palm Tree Fire (Local Action)
18. Mr Mitch – Parallel Memories (Planet Mu)
17. Ena – Binaural (Samurai Horo)
16. Vessel – Punish, Honey (Tri Angle Records)
15. Objekt - Flatland (PAN)
14. Yamaneko – Pixel Wave Embrace (Local Action)
13. Low Jack – Garifuna Versions (L.I.E.S.)
12. Vril – Torus (Forum)
11. Klara Lewis – Ett (Editions Mego)
10. Millie & Andrea - Drop The Vowels (Modern Love)
9. Arca – Xen (Mute)
8. Bing & Ruth – Tomorrow Was The Golden Age (RVNG Intl)
7. Ital – Endgame (Planet Mu)
6. Neel – Phobos (Spectrum Spools)
5. Mo Kolours - Mo Kolours (One Handed Music)
4. Gesloten Cirkel – Submit X (Murder Capital)
3. Shinichi Atobe – Butterfly Effect (DDS)
2. Andy Stott - Faith In Strangers (Modern Love)
1. Call Super – Suzi Ecto (Houndstooth)

It's cos Alt-J wear glasses and their name is a keyboard shortcut.

oh, i like a bunch of those! totally recommend the vessel record to anyone who liked the holden album from last year xp