Album of the year?

[Guy Incognito]

When it comes to hip hops albums, RTJ2 is head and shoulders above Pinata. Pinata is good, but it's not great.

Fair enough, that's your call. I personally much prefer Pinata, I also prefer RTJ to RTJ2 but that's just me.

[Dog Burger]

Dog Burger will be pleased!

I am!

my top ten:

1. Death Grips - N***** on the Moon

2. Julie Byrne - Rooms With Walls and Windows

3. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There

4. Mac Demarco - Salad Days

5. FKA Twigs - LP1

6. Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal

7. Caribou - Our Love

8. Run The Jewels - RTJ2

9. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!

10. Alvvays - Alvvays

still yet to listen to new aphex though amongst others.

Yes!

Had to see what the fuss was about this evening.

This is a fantastic album, worthy of inclusion on any list.

Sublime

Well said!

[Bisque]

1989 & X innit.

[TomViolence]

Had to see what the fuss was about this evening.

This is a fantastic album, worthy of inclusion on any list.

Sublime

Good to hear! Her last album (Tramp) was even better IMO

[Space Shanty]

Oh man! The venue they were playing looked incredible. They're also one of the best live acts I have EVER seen - that is a missed opportunity man, I'm sorry to say.

Listening to that album now.

Quality stuff for the most part.

Some weaker bits where it's trying to be overly uplifting I think.

Probably translates well to live though

Edited November 28, 2014 by Space Shanty

[Space Shanty]

Good to hear! Her last album (Tramp) was even better IMO

Cheers, yeah so I've been told.

Serious catching up to do this weekend with stuff on this thread

[Amy Lawn]

So far I'd say Lykke Li, Kelis, Metronomy, St Vincent and Owen Pallett are my favourites, but this is the time of year I really start to listen to stuff. I'm probably only just now able to confidently say my favourite albums of 2012 (and I'm pretty sure I said the same thing in the same thread last year). Just listening to East India Youth's Total Strife Forever for the first time, heard the guy loads on the radio and intended to buy them album, and now I've properly got down to it. Also got FKA Twigs, Alvvays, Alexis Taylor, Swaans and Earth on the table beside me, ready for first full listens over the weekend, loads more that I still want to buy.

[Amy Lawn]

Worth noting that if I had never bought a Sharon Van Etten album before, Are We There would probably be a firm favourite, but Tramp is one of my all time favourite albums, so I've probably been a bit harsh on it. The woman is supremely talented, though, in all she does.

[bocumaroy]

this is the time of year I really start to listen to stuff. I'm probably only just now able to confidently say my favourite albums of 2012 (and I'm pretty sure I said the same thing in the same thread last year).

I'm the same, usually a few months behind the curve, so I expect my list could change quite a bit. There's a few I'm tempted to put right up there, but it could just be the honeymoon period of the first few listens.

I think Are We There is alright. The final track is gorgeous, but other than that none of it really sticks with me. Love her voice though. Epic is a really good album, don't know why I've never checked out anything else.

[Amy Lawn]

I'm the same, usually a few months behind the curve, so I expect my list could change quite a bit. There's a few I'm tempted to put right up there, but it could just be the honeymoon period of the first few listens.

I think Are We There is alright. The final track is gorgeous, but other than that none of it really sticks with me. Love her voice though. Epic is a really good album, don't know why I've never checked out anything else.

I've actually not listened to Epic, just Tramp, Because I Was In Love, and the new one, I feel I should rectify this post haste. I do really like all of Are We There, but I agree that Every Time The Sun Comes Up does dwarf the rest of the record a bit, it is incredible.

[CHRLY]

I only first heard of Sharon Van Etten when she popped up on Jools this year. I thought her performance of I Know was outstanding. Listened to her whole back catalogue since then and I love her now, missed her show at Manchester Cathedral a couple of weeks back because of lack of funds but I bet it was incredible.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

i think todd terje pips it for me.

other random list of albums i've enjoyed:

Kelis (I feel like i'm alone on this, but I still love it)

Clark

Slyvan Esso

Glass animals

Caribou
FlyLo

dorian concept

jessie ware

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

tbh i've lost interest in the album format somewhat this year. i'd just rather spend a couple of hours listening to mixtapes/playlists/radio shows.

[Dog Burger]

I'm the same, usually a few months behind the curve, so I expect my list could change quite a bit. There's a few I'm tempted to put right up there, but it could just be the honeymoon period of the first few listens.

I think Are We There is alright. The final track is gorgeous, but other than that none of it really sticks with me. Love her voice though. Epic is a really good album, don't know why I've never checked out anything else.

Tarifa. The vibrato on her voice, the woodwind and brass. Oh my...

[TomViolence]

Our Love is probably my favourite on the album. Your Love Is Killing Me is a close 2nd, love the way the song builds

[Dog Burger]

I was supposed to interview her this week. It fell through. i have kicked myself 1,753 times a day ever since.

[Winslow Leach]

And shame on those listing Todd Terje: his album is the weakest thing he's ever released.

Agreed, it's more than a little obvious that the best thing on the album is Inspector Norse, the track that's been around for ages.

[justanothername]

Close Your Eyes is great, the best thing Zack de la Rocha has done in years. My other highlights are probably Easy and Love Again, but to be honest the best thing about it is how well it flows as an album.

Then again he hasn't done that much in past few years

Still an awesome track and the way he is embeded with the track is great, got him saying "Run them jewels fast" stuck in my head yesterday.

Also I'm listening to Moose Blood debut now and it is great, probably not going to be AOTY but I'm still really enjoying it. When it is done I have time for one more album but I'm stuck between the releases from DFA 1979 and Eagulls. What do people recommend?

Edited November 28, 2014 by justanothername

[Winslow Leach]

Fair enough, that's your call. I personally much prefer Pinata, I also prefer RTJ to RTJ2 but that's just me.

Pinata is very well executed, but I just feel like I've heard it all before, musically and thematically. RTJ2 sounds like nothing else I can think of, it pays homage to some of the greats of hip hop but also feels incredibly modern and zeitgeisty. Easy sounds a little more horrifying every time there's a new report from Ferguson and Love Again is a brilliant subversion of hip hop's sleazily misogynistic side. I personally think it's a much smarter, angrier and more original album than Pinata.

[benscheff]

Agreed, it's more than a little obvious that the best thing on the album is Inspector Norse, the track that's been around for ages.

I disagree completley, inspector norse is good but not his best in my opinon. The highlights from Its Album time for me are Johnny and Mary, Leisure Suit Preben, Oh Joy, Strandbar and Preban Goes To Acapulco.

[Winslow Leach]

I disagree completley, inspector norse is good but not his best in my opinon. The highlights from Its Album time for me are Johnny and Mary, Leisure Suit Preben, Oh Joy, Strandbar and Preban Goes To Acapulco.

At the end of the day, Todd Terje is a dance music producer, so I judge the tracks on how likely they would be to make me totally lose my shit on a dancefloor. Inspector Norse would cause frankly devastatingly embarrassing levels of uninhibited dancing. I mean, have you heard that key change?

Edited November 28, 2014 by Winslow Leach

[bocumaroy]

Listening to Are We There again. "I can't wait until we're afraid of nothing" is a lovely little refrain, isn't it? Good opener. The next four songs (all been mentioned as favourites in this thread) plod along much like I remember the album; sort of nice to listen to but completely forgettable, and I'm quite looking forward to the end. I Love You But I'm Lost is better, I think. I enjoy it a bit more. You Know Me Well is quite nice too (upward curve!), but a lot of the songs here seem to be really stretching the ideas thin. Like, there's enough for a decent two minute song, then there's a lot of repetition in terms of vocals without the musical development to really support it. Not really a substantial criticism, because a lot of songs I like do that. This album just *feels* really long.

Anyway, this writing about actual music (with all the notes and words and stuff) is really hard. No wonder they all just make up a load of shite and give it an arbitrary rating out of 10. I'll skip to the end. Every Time The Sun Comes Up is still pretty wonderful. There's nothing that much different about it, but the vocal blows everything else away, and, like the opening track, it has a refrain which really sticks with emotional resonance. Love the "I wash your dishes but I shit in your bathroom" line. 5.674/10, on balance.

What I really like about her is that the music she makes seems to be entirely for herself; it's very personal, and impressively vulnerable. But that's also probably what makes this a bit boring at times. I think I'd prefer her if she used a wider lyrical scope in terms of imagery and perspective, and was a little less repetitive, but obviously what she's doing works.

I think I'll become a music journalist. Passes the time.

Edited November 29, 2014 by bocumaroy

[bocumaroy]

Pinata is very well executed, but I just feel like I've heard it all before, musically and thematically. RTJ2 sounds like nothing else I can think of, it pays homage to some of the greats of hip hop but also feels incredibly modern and zeitgeisty. Easy sounds a little more horrifying every time there's a new report from Ferguson and Love Again is a brilliant subversion of hip hop's sleazily misogynistic side. I personally think it's a much smarter, angrier and more original album than Pinata.

I need to give this album another go, I think. Talk like the bit in bold was what drew me to it in the first place (I'm not a big hip-hop guy, really), but when I listened to it I struggled to get past the usual misogynistic language being thrown about. I get that using that kind of thing doesn't mean advocating those ideas, and that by *most* accounts RTJ do a pretty good job of subverting those hip-hop stereotypes, but on surface listening it was pretty uncomfortable, and so I never really gave it a proper chance. This probably applies to a lot oh hip-hop, in fairness, but it's difficult to take it in the intended context, not being particularly familiar with the genre.

Edited November 29, 2014 by bocumaroy

[alexmckenzie]

The War on Drugs, The Twilight Sad and Future Islands' new albums are all in my favourites of 2014

[Badlands]

Beck

Gruff Rhys

TWOD

Deltron 3030

Jamie T