Go to the NEW FORUM
I definitely agree about Gang Gang Dance. That and Atlas Sound's low ranking both perplex me deeply. It's not like they are obscure artists. Deerhunter has gotten tons of love during other years, and GGD's Saint Dymphna was top 20 in 2008. Their albums this year were praised. What gives?
And that's a good call about the proliferation of indie rock, Bill. It's the only genre that gets equal recognition from around the world, so it will dominate the spreadsheets. I've learned to have my own sources for other genres (jazz, electronica, rap...). similarly, I'm sure we are missing out on a ton of great European music.
I wish I could get behind Gang Gang Dance, but I've tried Eye Contact about five times now, and it simply falls short of the standard they set on Saint Dympha. That album was so smooth and creative, featured less annoying vocals, and was less 80s-influenced. I like the song "Glass Jar," but not much else.
As far as the critics lists are concerned, FACT, The Wire, the Quietus, and Gorilla vs. Bear put out interesting, varied lists like they always do. I would suggest listening to albums from those lists as a reprieve from indie rock.
@Stephan
I believe if it weren't for the name 'Kanye' attached to it, it would have easily made top ten, maybe even top five, but it wouldn't have garnered that level of superlatives, or eclipsed the many other great albums of the year. It would have just been one more album in the AOTY conversation, not the one dominating it.
Back to 2011, yes, it is a pretty sad comment on the state of criticism that in order to get critical praise, you have to either have a well established name, or fit a very specific mold of vocal idiosyncratic pop. Even from four or five years ago the standards have really tightened.
New lists:
US: PopMatters, Prefix, Spin
UK: Gigwise (plus #5 in The Guardian)
Thanks Harold!
Considering all the album lists that are being rolled out by the end of the week, I won't send another spreadsheet update until sometime this weekend.
Now that more USA lists are being added - most of the UK sources are accounted for already, I think - it's fascinating to watch how the overall list is changing, with the fortunes of some albums rising (WhoKill, David Comes to Life, Watch the Throne) while others begin to sink (The English Riviera, Smother). It would not surprise me to see Bon Iver overtake Let England Shake for the #1 spot at some point.
OMG
Ry Cooder is going down #127... I can't trust critics as a whole anymore
I'm sure the vast majority of them didn't even hear his album
Or maybe as Dan said that is music for older people
Thankfully, Yuck's s/t seems to rise slowly but steadily too. I'd love to see it in the Top 20 sometime. Just sayin'...
Another big update from Harold!
New additions:
USA/Canada: Treble, Antiquiet, Billboard, Resident Advisor, Slant, Pitchfork, OneThirtyBPM, Spinner, Pretty Much Amazing, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound
UK/Ireland: The Guardian (complete), Drowned in Sound, This is Fake DIY, No Ripcord
Rest of the World: Jenesaispop, Playground, MuzikExpress, Laut, The Age, Nojesguiden (national & international)
The current top 100:
1. Harvey, PJ - Let England Shake
2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
3. Blake, James - James Blake
4. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
5. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
6. Weeknd, The - House of Balloons
7. Vile, Kurt - Smoke Ring for My Halo
8. tUnE-yArDs - WhoKill
9. Destroyer - Kaputt
10. Waits, Tom - Bad as Me
11. Radiohead - The King of Limbs
12. Metronomy - The English Riviera
13. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
14. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
15. Li, Lykke - Wounded Rhymes
16. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch the Throne
17. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life
18. Adele - 21
19. Horrors, The - Skying
20. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
21. Wilco - The Whole Love
22. Wild Beasts - Smother
23. Feist - Metals
24. Antlers, The - Burst Apart
25. Drake - Take Care
26. Welch, Gillian - The Harrow and the Harvest
27. Yuck - Yuck
28. SBTRKT - SBTRKT
29. Real Estate - Days
30. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
31. Ocean, Frank - Nostalgia, Ultra
32. Jaar, Nicolas - Space is Only Noise
33. Mastodon - The Hunter
34. Washed Out - Within and Without
35. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials
36. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
37. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
38. Hecker, Tim - Ravedeath, 1972
39. Bjork - Biophilia
40. Decemberists, The - The King is Dead
41. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
42. Wild Flag - Wild Flag
43. Calvi, Anna - Anna Calvi
44. War on Drugs, The - Slave Ambient
45. Maus, John - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
46. Beirut - The Rip Tide
47. Marling, Laura - A Creature I Don't Know
48. Beyonce - 4
49. Panda Bear - Tomboy
50. Bush, Kate - 50 Words for Snow
51. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
52. Atlas Sound - Parallax
53. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See
54. Katy B - On a Mission
55. Kills, The - Blood Pressures
56. Scott-Heron, Gil & Jamie xx - We're New Here
57. Pearson, Josh T. - Last of the Country Gentlemen
58. TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
59. Simon, Paul - So Beautiful or So What
60. Cults - Cults
61. Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Noel - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
62. Iceage - New Brigade
63. Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!
64. Zomby - Dedication
65. Rustie - Glass Swords
66. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
67. Callahan, Bill - Apocalypse
68. Battles - Gloss Drop
69. Peaking Lights - 936
70. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
71. Cut Copy - Zonoscope
72. Black Keys, The - El Camino
73. A$AP Rocky - LIVELOVEA$AP
74. Lady Gaga - Born This Way
75. Adams, Ryan - Ashes & Fire
76. Bright Eyes - The People's Key
77. WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
78. Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
79. Clams Casino - Instrumentals
80. Wye Oak - Civilian
81. White Denim - D
82. Wilson, Jonathan - Gentle Spirit
83. Stetson, Colin - New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges
84. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
85. Brown, Danny - XXX
86. Tyler, the Creator - Goblin
87. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
88. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
89. Austra - Feel It Break
90. Malkmus, Stephen and The Jicks - Mirror Traffic
91. Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
92. Barwick, Julianna - The Magic Place
93. Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams
94. Low - C'mon
95. Woon, Jamie - Mirrorwriting
96. Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
97. Field, The - Looping State of Mind
98. Moore, Thurston - Demolished Thoughts
99. Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
100. Strokes, The - Angles
indie rock and whitey rap
no Ry Cooder
well at least FF and Waits in the top 10
Thanks Harold!
Awesome, Gang Gang Dance, Kate Bush, Atlas Sound and Tim Hecker all shot up. And Coldplay dropped. I am content.
Pity that my absolutely favorite album of the year has dropped down 10 places since the first update. It was slowly rising up till this point but I'm afraid "Yuck" won't probably enter the Top 20 again. The best album on the Top 10 so far is number 12 now (haven't heard "House Of Balloons" yet though). Beyonce lies above Black Keys and Noel Gallagher And "w h o k i l l" is No.8 and rising. Oh well... At keast Adele is dropping down.
but Resident Advisor is not american (originally australian) and now British-German
Another BIG update!
USA: Under the Radar, The Owl, Complex, Little White Earbuds, The Agit Reader, Austin Town Hall, CokeMachineGlow
UK: Muso's Guide, Word, Bowlegs (plus Resident Advisor moved to correct section)
Ireland: State
France: Les Inrockuptibles, New Noise
Belgium: Humo
Spain: Muzikalia (intl)
Germany: Spex
Norway: Dagsavisen
The Netherlands: OOR
Argentina: Indie Hoy
Hungary: Quart
Thanks Harold!
New additions:
USA: XLR8R, The L, Epitonic
UK: The Line of Best Fit
France: Indiepoprock, Mowno, Chronicart
Spain: Scanner FM
Finland: Soundi (intl)
Italy: Kalporz, Sentire Ascoltare
Chile: Super 45
Germany: Rolling Stone Germany
Thanks Harold!
I think this list supports my theory about my female artists don't get critical praise.
Which female artists get critical praise? PJ Harvey and St Vincent, the noisy experimental ones.
Which don't? Laura Marling, Kate Bush.
And Ry Cooder at 193? Why he's not noisy and experimental at all, just rootsy and parody-political.
The Ry Cooder ranking is a shame and a sin and a reason why I'm very suspicious about those very indie rock oriented lists. Most of the hipsters critics didn't even hear this major album
The first update of the year, in which Liturgy moved up from #159 to #113 and Ry Cooder moved up from #193 to #180.
New lists:
USA: Altered Zones, HipHopDX, eMusic, Rhapsody
UK: Kerrang!, The Sun
France: Fluctuat
Spain: Muzikalia (natl), MondoSonoro (intl), Rock De Lux (intl)
Finland: Soundi (natl)
Germany: Visions, Zundfunk
Belgium: Digg
Netherlands: Heaven
Italy: Ondarock, Storia della Musica
Hungary: Recorder
Thanks again, Harold!
Two times in the spreadsheet:
Altar of Plagues - Mammal
Anthrax - Worship Music
Aurelio - Laru Beya
Benvegnu, Paolo - Hermann
Brutal Truth - End Time
In Solitude - The World, the Flesh, the Devil
Parlato, Gretchen - The Lost and Found
Prince Rama - Trust Now
Prurient - Bermuda Drain
Pure X - Pleasure
Skeletons - People
YOB - Atma
Zun Zun Egui - Katang
Thanks for your great work Harold!
Another update. Harold, I can't tell you how pleased I am that you are doing all this work! Thanks!!!
USA: AllMusic
Ireland: Hot Press
Spain: Intl lists from Tentaciones and Go Mag; national lists from Playground, MondoSonoro, Rock De Lux, Tentaciones and Go Mag
Additions:
USA: Rap-Up, Guitar World
UK: Boomkat
Australia: Rip It Up
Italy: Blow Up
France: Rock First
Germany: Plattentests
Worth noting: The Roots' Undun is now #83; Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down by Ry Cooder has moved up to #163.
Thanks Harold!
BTW I have a couple lists to post
Besides Cooder, the most criminally underrated album of the year is Machinedrum's Room(s). It is, imho, the best electronic album of 2012, and by extension one of the very best overall (it's in my personal top 5 of the year). It was also highly rated by the experts of the genre: #2 for Resident Advisor and #1 for Little White Earbuds. And it's further proof that serious electronica isn't yet getting the attention it deserves. The only electronic artists that make the main lists are the overly hyped (James Blake and Nicolas Jaar) or the established (Four Tet and Caribou).
I like to analyse these lists and what strikes me is the difference in perception of albums between different countries (considering countries providing enough lists). Of course sometimes its genre related and new and upcoming artists do usually better in local lists first (Metronomy?), but I would expect big institutional names in global genres to fare similarly cross the continents. Biggest separator (no pun) must be Radiohead this year. american and english critics lists combined put them at 8, whereas french and spanish at 248 and all 10 french international lists leave them out while mentioning 253 albums.
I wonder whether the writers from the same countries influence (copy :-) ) each other, or maybe there is different atmosphere surrounding some artists, or is it really matter of different tastes?
147 year-end lists in the spreadsheet- CRAZY how the Internet and the growing number of outlets has done to the boost the number of year-end lists.
Thanks for the efforts, Harold.
Updated with:
USA: SputnikMusic, Village Voice Pazz & Jop
Canada: ChartAttack
Poland: Porcys
Thanks again, Harold! Do you think there will be (many) more lists coming in now?
Henrik, if you want, you can put the three lists by "Les Chroniques Electroniques".
No more to come by this site.
And for the lists to come : PopNews and Top des Blogueurs will arrive....I hope soon.
I see Village Voice positions below the top 50 are in the spreadsheet- but only the top 50 get added to AM, correct? I'm pretty sure, just clarifying. Thanks- and thanks Harold for the continued updates. :)
Jr, that's correct.
Here's another update from Harold, including
USA: Passion of the Weiss, The Silent Ballet
Canada: La Presse
UK: Mixmag, The Milk Factory
France: PopNews, Chroniques Electroniques, AlbumRock
Poland: Screenagers
Sweden: Dagensskiva
Harold, I forgot to upload yesterday. Sorry.
I have added one new list to the spreadsheet since the last upload, a top ten from Belgium's Knack. I'm fully prepared to send Henrik this last update and call it a day, unless anyone has any last-minute additions. Thanks again to everyone who's contributed lists, links, and transcriptions. This has been exhausting (at times) but great fun.
Harold decided not to wait. There is one new list in this update:
Belgium: Knack
Here's the new (final?) top 100 from the spreadsheet:
1 / Harvey, PJ / Let England Shake
2 / Bon Iver / Bon Iver
3 / Blake, James / James Blake
4 / Fleet Foxes / Helplessness Blues
5 / Destroyer / Kaputt
6 / Waits, Tom / Bad as Me
7 / Weeknd, The / House of Balloons
8 / M83 / Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
9 / tUnE-yArDs / WhoKill
10 / St. Vincent / Strange Mercy
11 / Vile, Kurt / Smoke Ring for My Halo
12 / Girls / Father, Son, Holy Ghost
13 / Radiohead / The King of Limbs
14 / Metronomy / The English Riviera
15 / Wilco / The Whole Love
16 / Horrors, The / Skying
17 / Shabazz Palaces / Black Up
18 / Jay-Z & Kanye West / Watch the Throne
19 / Adele / 21
20 / Fucked Up / David Comes to Life
21 / Wild Beasts / Smother
22 / Li, Lykke / Wounded Rhymes
23 / Drake / Take Care
24 / Jaar, Nicolas / Space is Only Noise
25 / Oneohtrix Point Never / Replica
26 / Real Estate / Days
27 / SBTRKT / SBTRKT
28 / EMA / Past Life Martyred Saints
29 / Yuck / Yuck
30 / Antlers, The / Burst Apart
31 / Mastodon / The Hunter
32 / Hecker, Tim / Ravedeath, 1972
33 / Feist / Metals
34 / Welch, Gillian / The Harrow and the Harvest
35 / Gang Gang Dance / Eye Contact
36 / Maus, John / We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
37 / Ocean, Frank / Nostalgia, Ultra
38 / Black Keys, The / El Camino
39 / War on Drugs, The / Slave Ambient
40 / Washed Out / Within and Without
41 / Calvi, Anna / Anna Calvi
42 / Foo Fighters / Wasting Light
43 / Beirut / The Rip Tide
44 / Bush, Kate / 50 Words for Snow
45 / Callahan, Bill / Apocalypse
46 / Decemberists, The / The King is Dead
47 / Wild Flag / Wild Flag
48 / Florence + The Machine / Ceremonials
49 / Arctic Monkeys / Suck It and See
50 / Atlas Sound / Parallax
51 / Marling, Laura / A Creature I Don't Know
52 / Zomby / Dedication
53 / Battles / Gloss Drop
54 / Pearson, Josh T. / Last of the Country Gentlemen
55 / Elbow / Build a Rocket Boys!
56 / Peaking Lights / 936
57 / Bjork / Biophilia
58 / Beyonce / 4
59 / Low / C'mon
60 / Iceage / New Brigade
61 / TV on the Radio / Nine Types of Light
62 / Panda Bear / Tomboy
63 / Stetson, Colin / New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges
64 / Katy B / On a Mission
65 / Rustie / Glass Swords
66 / My Morning Jacket / Circuital
67 / Field, The / Looping State of Mind
68 / Scott-Heron, Gil & Jamie xx / We're New Here
69 / Cults / Cults
70 / Kills, The / Blood Pressures
71 / WU LYF / Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
72 / Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Noel / Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
73 / Roots, The / Undun
74 / Cut Copy / Zonoscope
75 / Toro Y Moi / Underneath the Pine
76 / Simon, Paul / So Beautiful or So What
77 / Austra / Feel It Break
78 / Tyler, the Creator / Goblin
79 / Dum Dum Girls / Only in Dreams
80 / Lamar, Kendrick / Section.80
81 / Other Lives / Tamer Animals
82 / Zola Jesus / Conatus
83 / Wye Oak / Civilian
84 / Brown, Danny / XXX
85 / Adams, Ryan / Ashes & Fire
86 / A$AP Rocky / LIVELOVEA$AP
87 / Smith Westerns / Dye It Blonde
88 / Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The / Belong
89 / Barwick, Julianna / The Magic Place
90 / Mogwai / Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
91 / King Creosote & Jon Hopkins / Diamond Mine
92 / Beastie Boys / Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
93 / Black Lips / Arabia Mountain
94 / Clams Casino / Instrumentals
95 / Iron & Wine / Kiss Each Other Clean
96 / Little Dragon / Ritual Union
97 / Balam Acab / Wander/Wonder
98 / Wilson, Jonathan / Gentle Spirit
99 / Ghostpoet / Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam
100 / Friendly Fires / Pala
Many thanks again, Harold!!!
I guess the big question after we've had our own poll is: Why wasn't PJ's album the most acclaimed in the US? (And why didn't she do better in the songs lists?)