Critics' Choice: Top Albums of 2012

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

The music on radio tends to be highly melodic and catchy. Melodic and catchy songs tend to be lower in lyrical value and depth and be in the simpler side of other areas like production and storyline. The music in critics lists likely take a bigger picture into account as they look for music that is more of a complete package rather than focusing only on being ear pleasing. Certainly doesn't make the music that isn't on these lists bad no matter how much the music snobs and elitists like to think so.

[Pink Pvssy]

Dec 4, 2012 11:20:45 GMT -5 JamaicaFunk² said:

I feel like these lists are mostly just music reviewers/critics' way of trying to prove how much cooler they are than the general public.

Sometimes, being different is not cool.

[Rurry]

Dec 4, 2012 11:49:10 GMT -5 JamaicaFunk² said:

I know. But there's no need to discount an artist because people buy their records and radio plays their music.

Who says they are? But there's a massive amount of music out there. To think that the dozen or so artists that pop radio plays over and over should be the only ones that make up these lists is crazy.

[Deleted]

I always find it amusing that some people judge music snobs for recognizing mostly non-commercial music, while they themselves recognize mostly commercial music. You're both doing the same thing, on opposite ends of the spectrum.

[bat1990]

I use some of these lists to find new artists, because I probably wouldn't otherwise.

[JamaicaFunk²]

Nov 29, 2012 4:34:16 GMT -5 Enigma. said:

NME:

10 Jack White – Blunderbuss
09 Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
08 The Cribs – In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull
07 Pond – Beard Wives Denim
06 The Maccabees – Given To The Wild
05 Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
04 Crystal Castles – (iii)
03 Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
02 Grimes – Visions
01 Tame Impala – Lonerism

www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=147&p=13018&title=50_best_albums_of_2012&more=1&c=1

7 alternative
2 electronic
and Frank Ocean.

Please.
(and I'm sure that's likely to be the breakdown of most of these types of lists)

[when the pawn...]

Here's metacritic doing a composite list for year-end charts. It'll keep updating as lists come out.

www.metacritic.com/feature/top-ten-lists-best-albums-of-2012

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Here's a few more. These two are my two favourites so far:

www.spin.com/articles/best-albums-2012
Spin's is slightly more mainstream oriented than a lot of the ones posted so far.

www.americansongwriter.com/2012/12/american-songwriters-top-50-albums-of-2012/
American Songwriter's list is probably my favourite so far as well as I think I own 7 or 8 of the albums in this list.

[Kurt]

As someone whose year-end list will span multiple genres and include both mainstream and "cool" (lol) albums, I can tell you that critics and journalists don't pick albums just to avoid the mainstream, radio-friendly releases. Rather, they're picking the albums that they've heard and liked throughout the year. It's the same thing you'd do if you were making a list, except for the fact that since they're willing to venture outside of what CHR radio is feeding them, they find what they consider to be better music. It's totally possible that they could do that and still list ten popular CHR artists on a top-ten list and very likely that the best CHR releases (Red, for example) will make critics' lists even without any other mainstream artists' albums, but the fact that these critics are employed to find good new music means that a lot of their choices fall outside the mainstream.

For reference: a tentative estimation of my top five includes two British females without chart success here (yet ), one band with a #1 on AAA radio, one American Idol, and one urban artist who's sure to be a critical darling this year. While some of those are mainstream, their status among my favorite albums of the year has absolutely nothing to do with their mainstream success (or lack thereof) and everything to do with the quality of their albums.

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2009 11:45:35 GMT -5 SPRΞΞ said:

i don't even know half those songs.

The more things change...

---

Dec 4, 2012 11:49:10 GMT -5 JamaicaFunk² said:

I know. But there's no need to discount an artist because people buy their records and radio plays their music.

Isn't it annoying when people are closed-minded?!

Dec 4, 2012 16:54:44 GMT -5 JamaicaFunk² said:

Please.

NME is largely targeted towards young, rock/alternative-listening British males. It's like complaining that Popjustice's album of the year isn't by Radiohead. If you want to see more pop-leaning lists in this thread then post them.

[Mic Technique]

Different year, same disagreements in this thread. Don't take the bait. Nevermind.

Dec 4, 2012 13:57:11 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

Melodic and catchy songs tend to be lower in lyrical value and depth and be in the simpler side of other areas like production and storyline. The music in critics lists likely take a bigger picture into account as they look for music that is more of a complete package rather than focusing only on being ear pleasing.

Even if it's not explicitly what you intend, and I don't think it is, you run the risk of distinguishing what is mass-marketed as low-brow and acts covered in these comprehensive critics' lists as high-brow when you give voice to sentiments like these. Moreover, I'm surprised more don't respect or even share that Will & Grace fan's grievances; which, yeah, are increasingly out of step but not quite out of the picture.

Dec 5, 2012 0:43:25 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

www.spin.com/articles/best-albums-2012
Spin's is slightly more mainstream oriented than a lot of the ones posted so far.

Here for DJ Rashad and Future; to some extent, Mala, Nicki Minaj and Daphni, too.

Dec 4, 2012 14:44:19 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

You're both doing the same thing, on opposite ends of the spectrum.

You're not wrong (#whatsnew <3) but for as long the wholesale cast away of what many self-defeating pop music fans call "guilty pleasures" persists, so will this discord.

[#LisaRinna]

I liked Spin's list. Love that they included R. Kelly for example :)

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Dec 5, 2012 15:38:56 GMT -5 Mic Technique said:

Different year, same disagreements in this thread. Don't take the bait. Nevermind.

Dec 4, 2012 13:57:11 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

Melodic and catchy songs tend to be lower in lyrical value and depth and be in the simpler side of other areas like production and storyline. The music in critics lists likely take a bigger picture into account as they look for music that is more of a complete package rather than focusing only on being ear pleasing.

Even if it's not explicitly what you intend, and I don't think it is, you run the risk of distinguishing what is mass-marketed as low-brow and acts covered in these comprehensive critics' lists as high-brow when you give voice to sentiments like these. Moreover, I'm surprised more don't respect or even share that Will & Grace fan's grievances; which, yeah, are increasingly out of step but not quite out of the picture.

That's if you intend the meaning of low-brow here to be a bad thing.

I think pop music, mainly what's on the radio, in general is specifically made to be simpler and easier to digest and easier to like because it's more melody focused rather than having some deeper meaning. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. I don't consider it a bad thing.
I think when critics make lists like the ones posted, they (hopefully) try to include music that covers more of the bases that pop music isn't normally able to do. They also go for innovation a lot, which, again, radio hits don't go for because radio follows trends rather than make them.
Another thing I didn't mention or take into account which is pretty obvious that BILLY SHEARS mentioned was the target audience. Most of these publications have reputations to upkeep and while many of them can get away with including the occasional popular title in their lists if they're able to explain themselves, they do have to please their audience unfortunately. We aren't the target for most of these. I expect Rolling Stone's list, for example, to be more pop centric.

Lucky for most of us, when we make a list (and I think we should compile a list based on the Pulse members), we don't have to please anyone but ourselves.

[when the pawn...]

Rolling Stone: 50 Best Albums
www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2012-20121205/dirty-projectors-swing-lo-magellan-19691231

Rolling Stone: 50 Best Songs
www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-songs-of-2012-20121205/alabama-shakes-hold-on-19691231

[Mic Technique]

Dec 5, 2012 20:06:29 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

I think you're allotting too much credit to critics who like to invoke philosophers in order to buttress their own individual tastes. You undercut music, namely chart music, me and you both enjoy in order to accommodate their tastes and work to preserve the distinctions these critics have drawn to impose on their readership. Does that Grimes record actually express "deeper meaning" than Rihanna's latest? Is Kendrick Lamar's major label debut really any more "innovative" than Future's first outing? And with just a pair of open-ended questions, I present to you "the bigger picture."

Dec 5, 2012 20:06:29 GMT -5 Devil Marlena Nylund said:

Most of these publications have reputations to upkeep

So true.

[Jack]

I don't know...I think "Never heard of most of them, rubbish list" is always such a weird reaction. My reaction is always far closer to "Never heard of most of them, oops, better see what all the fuss is about". Or does that just make me easily led? Hmm.

[Deleted]

What does it say about me that I don't know which one's meant to be mainstream, Kendrick or Future?

Dec 5, 2012 21:08:16 GMT -5 Mic Technique said:

And with just a pair of open-ended questions, I present to you "the bigger picture."

So wise. You should be a critic!

[Mic Technique]

FACT's 50 Best Albums of 2012

50. Bigg Jus — Machines That Make Civilization Fun
49. Helm — Impossible Symmetry
48. Haleek Maul — Oxyconteen
47. The xx — Coexist
46. Purity Ring — Shrine
45. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe — Timon Irnok Manta
44. Triad God — NXB
43. Carter Tutti Void — Transverse
42. Schoolboy Q — Habits And Contradictions
41. Cocaine 80s — Express 0G EP
40. Bat For Lashes — The Haunted Man
39. Black Breath — Sentenced To Life
38. Miguel — Kaleidoscope Dream
37. Le1f — Dark York
36. Gunplay — Bogota Rich: The Prequel
35. Young Smoke — Space Zone
34. Lorenzo Senni — Quantum Jelly
33. Altered Natives — Tenement Yard Vol.3
32. d'Eon — Music For Keyboards, Vol.1
31. Nas — Life Is Good
30. Supreme Cuts — Whispers In The Dark
29. Ricardo Villalobos — Dependent And Happy
28. Ariel Pink & R. Stevie Moore — Ku Klux Glam
27. Scott Walker — Bish Bosch
26. Grimes — Visions
25. Main Attrakionz – Bossalinis and Fooliyones
24. The Internet — Purple Naked Ladies
23. Heroin In Tahiti — Death Surf
22. Future — Pluto
21. Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland: Black Is Beautiful
20. Silent Servant — Negative Fascination
19. Lana Del Rey — Born To Die
18. Wiley — Step Freestyles
17. I:Cube — "M" Megamix
16. Frank Ocean — Channel Orange
15. Sand Circles — Motor City
14. Julia Holter — Ekstasis
13. Madteo — Noi No
12. Jeremih — Late Nights With Jeremih
11. Actress — R.I.P

The remainder will be published tomorrow so I'll edit then as long as I'm not dead I'm alive.

10. Wolfgang Voigt — Rückverzauberung 6
09. Swans — The Seer
08. Terrence Dixon — From The Far Future, Pt. 2
07. Jam City— Classical Curves
06. How To Dress Well — Total Loss
05. SpaceGhostPurrp — God Of Black
04. Horrid Red — Celestial Joy
03. Cooly G — Playin' Me
02. Lee Gamble — Diversions 1994-1996 / Dutch Tvashar Plumes
01. Kendrick Lamar — Good Kid, M.A.A.D City

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Most of these lists do have something that's mainstream on them, though. Is the issue that there's not enough mainstream music? If so, I think it just goes to show just how much music is out there that pop radio doesn't play.

[Mic Technique]

Nitsuh Abebe's Top Ten Albums of 2012 for Vulture

10. Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory
9. Elle Varner, Perfectly Imperfect
8. Evans the Death, Evans the Death
7. Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music
6. Mount Eerie, Clear Moon and Ocean Roar
5. Jessie Ware, Devotion
4. Death Grips, The Money Store
3. Miguel, Kaleidoscope Dream
2. Chairlift, Something
1. Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid, m.A.A.d City

And the Song of the Year:
Sky Ferreira, “Everything Is Embarrassing”*

The Good:
Most Enduring Pop Phenomenon — Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Most Deserving Pop Blockbuster — Taylor Swift

The Bad:
Least Enduring Pop Phenomenon — Lana Del Rey
Least Deserving Pop Blockbuster — Mumford & Sons

*Nitsuh Abebe knocks "Everything Is Embarrassing" down a peg in favor of some Grimes song I can't seem to recall on his Favorite Songs of 2012 list. Perhaps he's one of the ever so conflicted folks who prefer to imagine a contrast between "best song of the year" and "favorite song of the year"; i.e., a concept I refuse to wrap my head around. Oh well.

[ListenToItTwice]

Time Magazine:

10. Killer Mike, R.A.P. Music
9. Azealia Banks, 1991 EP
8. The Mountain Goats, Transcendental Youth
7. Various Artists, Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1967–74
6. Swans, The Seer
5. Getatchew Mekuria & the Ex & Friends, Y’Anbessaw Tezeta
4. Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan
3. Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
2. Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d city
1. Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do

[esoteric76]

Nice seeing Elle Varner on somebody's list! Great debut, I'm still annoyed that it didn't get more Grammy love.
Jessie Ware is great, she deserves the Top 10 love she's getting.

[Ballroom Blitzed]

This isn't a list of albums, but I thought it might be interesting to share the favourite radio singles chosen by the AV Club's This Was Pop feature.