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irreduciblekoan wrote:Reception for Andy Stott is disappointing. Luxury Problems did very well on the spreadsheet (and AM update), and if not AS great, Faith In Strangers was close and certainly one of the year's best electronic releases.

It made quite a lot of appearances on the lists published on the last 2 weeks. Issue is lots of lists have been published or most likely compiled before the album release, but that's an issue we see every years (top of mind Undun has been one of the biggest losers of a late year release).
Lots of sites and magazines included Beyonce this year despite its 2013 release but usually albums from December or even end of November are completely forgotten in the following year. I know a few magazines state that they include albums "from November 2013 to October 2014" or something like that, but most of them just include albums from Jan of the current year to whenever they compile their ballots.

Jackson wrote:Is it just me or is this the weirdest consensus for EOY albums in recent memory?

Coming into this year, who had The War on Drugs, St. Vincent, FKA Twigs, Run the Jewels, and Sun Kil Moon as the top 5?? Maybe there haven't been as many high-profile releases this year as usual, but seems like a strange bunch. Like, why is this the St. Vincent album to really threaten for album of the year, and not her previous two? And I like the Sun Kil Moon album, but they've been going for a long time without nearly as much mainstream acclaim.

I guess I'm not sure what I really expected heading into EOY season. I thought Todd Terje might be more of a favorite than has been the case. For the record, I don't dislike these albums, just think it's kind of a funny group.

That's hard to tell after the facts but I guess if you had given me a full list of albums to be released in 2014 at the beginning of the year I'd have bet on Saint Vincent (people were already praising Birth in Reverse in end of December), FKA Twigs (her 2 EP were quite acclaimed and she had a solid buzz going on for her), Todd Terje, Swans and a wild spot for a surprise album by a band I don't know.
I'm surprised Todd Terje is only #20, I'm not really surprised it appears in less than half of the lists but I expected it to get more top 10 votes.

As for Run the Jewels 2, I really love the album (I loved the first one too and Cancer 4 Cure is one of my favorite hip-hop album ever) and consider it my album of the year, but I still think it benefits a lot from a fairly poor year in hip-hop, most websites will want at least a hip-hop album in their top 10 and it's not like there really is another contender for the spot.

2013 was a year full of high profile releases (Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Vampire Weekend, Deerhunter, M.I.A., My Bloody Valentine, The National, Nick Cave, The Knife, Janelle Monáe, James Blake, Queens Of The Stone Age, Boards Of Canada, Kurt Vile), so it's only sorta natural that 2014 would be scraping for safe picks, meaning that critics will scavenge the releases of momentarily and previously acclaimed artists for 'best album' (St. Vincent, Swans, Flying Lotus, Caribou). It's also convenient that previously slightly acclaimed artists (The War On Drugs, Run The Jewels) releases sophomore albums to high acclaim. At least it's very apparent. Sun Kil Moon has probably been the most obvious indicator of critic-consensus: all of a sudden, this non-mainstream name gets hailed sky high by collective critics. It's not in any way to say that these albums aren't good, nor any of the other critics' picks, but I think it becomes increasingly obvious that critics go for consensus more than reflection over actual quality. If anything, 2014 has been the year in which, following a strong critic-year, I have gone for lesser releases. In my opinion, Withered Hand released the (by far) strongest, most consistent work og song writing of the year, and no one seems to care, and if they do, they nod at it at best, because none of the other critics (except Christgau) took notice of it. It's sort of a bad circle.

Updated with:

USA/Canada: Under the Radar; Treble; Exclaim! (Canada)
UK: fRoots
Rest of the World: New Noise (France); Rumba (Finland); Les Inrockuptibles (France); Laut (Germany); MusikExpress (Germany); Recorder (Hungary); Rip It Up (Australia); Muzikalia [Intl & Natl] (Spain); Hipersonica [Intl] (Spain); Jenesaispop (Spain); The Music (Australia); Numerocero [Intl] (Spain)

Next update will probably be at the end of the week, when a number of these gradually-rolled-out lists should be complete.

I don't know how to feel with the inclusion of so many publications from the rest of the world, I sometimes feel that these lists are not as well thought (or focused) as the ones from UK, Canada and USA. This affects the position of many artists (St. Vincent should be #2, Are We There, Syro and The Voyager should be higher, and many other albums should go down).

Mecano wrote:I don't know how to feel with the inclusion of so many publications from the rest of the world, I sometimes feel that these lists are not as well thought (or focused) as the ones from UK, Canada and USA. This affects the position of many artists (St. Vincent should be #2, Are We There, Syro and The Voyager should be higher, and many other albums should go down).

They make the list more geographic however. Otherwise the list would be based on what the Anglo world thinks and likes, rather than the massive percentage of the world that doesn't live in these countries. I absolutely love this approach, not just for the EOY lists, but also for decade and all-time as well. Better to make a canon that is global in scope, in terms of both the canon-makers and the entries themselves, as far as I'm concerned.

BTW, Harold, totally off topic, but are you going to submit a ballot for the director poll that's ongoing on the film board? The deadline is the 23rd and we have 15 ballots so far.

Mecano wrote:I don't know how to feel with the inclusion of so many publications from the rest of the world, I sometimes feel that these lists are not as well thought (or focused) as the ones from UK, Canada and USA. This affects the position of many artists (St. Vincent should be #2, Are We There, Syro and The Voyager should be higher, and many other albums should go down).

Mecano, you are free to have your opinion, but saying that lists from UK, Canada and USA are more well-thought is quite offensive to the rest of the world! What makes their opinions more valid? I'm not sure what you mean by focus, but if it is a more concentrated scope (language, genre, etc.) that is not a positive thing IMO. I think the problem is rather that music sung in other languages than English is usually not considered outside their home countries, and therefore underrated.

Mecano wrote:I don't know how to feel with the inclusion of so many publications from the rest of the world, I sometimes feel that these lists are not as well thought (or focused) as the ones from UK, Canada and USA. This affects the position of many artists (St. Vincent should be #2, Are We There, Syro and The Voyager should be higher, and many other albums should go down).

You can always manipulate and re-sort the spreadsheet on your own after you download it. Also, as you no doubt know, there are columns on the left-hand side of the spreadsheet with every album's rank in all three of the geographical breakdown categories (USA/Canada, UK/Ireland, Rest of the World). You can personally organize the data any way you prefer. (Just don't post any "personal versions" of the spreadsheet here! That would be very confusing.)

JimmyJazz wrote:BTW, Harold, totally off topic, but are you going to submit a ballot for the director poll that's ongoing on the film board? The deadline is the 23rd and we have 15 ballots so far.

Since the deadline is the 23rd, that gives me another week, correct? I definitely plan to submit a ballot.

Harold wrote:

JimmyJazz wrote:BTW, Harold, totally off topic, but are you going to submit a ballot for the director poll that's ongoing on the film board? The deadline is the 23rd and we have 15 ballots so far.

Since the deadline is the 23rd, that gives me another week, correct? I definitely plan to submit a ballot.

Okay, just checking. I didn't mean to pester you about it or anything. Just wanting as many ballots for this thing as possible

Okay, can I just say that I GUARANTEE you Alvvays is going to be one of those albums that ten/fifteen years down the line will be regarded as having ascended to one of the best of the decade, rising to the 5th, 4th or 3rd best album of the year. It just has that "cult following" vibe. Future classic to me.

Current predictions for LPs to make it into the top 400 next updates:

Lost in the Dream
Run the Jewels 2
LP1

Speaking of me asking about Harold and his director ballot, Irreduciblekoan, you frequently check this section of the forum, so I am just curious how your director ballot is coming along as well? We have 16 ballots currently.

Updated with:

USA/Canada: Pitchfork; Tiny Mix Tapes; SputnikMusic; Flavorwire
UK/Ireland: God is in the TV; Resident Advisor; Kerrang!; State (Ireland)
Rest of the World: Numerocero [Intl - #5-20] (Spain); Mowno (France); WATM (France); De Morgen (Belgium)

Shocking to see Pink Floyd's last opus symbolically at the very end of the masterlist n°1117 !!!!! C'mon it's not thaaaat bad!

Amazon is still in the list?

Romain wrote:Amazon is still in the list?

From last year's discussion of the issue of whether record store lists should be included:

***********************************************************
[Quote from Henrik:] There seem to be an increasing amount of lists from record stores. It's really difficult to say that one would be eligible and another one not, and since they are not "the core of music criticism" maybe we should exclude them all (except maybe really big ones like amazon).
***********************************************************

The idea that Amazon goes far beyond being a "record store" and should still be included went unchallenged, so its list remained. Henrik, did you want to revisit the question?

Updated with:

USA/Canada: Passion of the Weiss; XLR8R
Rest of the World: MusikExpress [complete list] (Germany); Numerocero [Intl, #2-20] (Spain); Nojesguiden [Intl & Natl] (Sweden); Rolling Stone-Germany (Germany); Spex (Germany); Telerama (France); Double J (Australia); Blitz [Intl & Natl] (Portugal); Kalporz (Italy)

I'm sad to see Damian Jurado so low at 268

Updated with:

USA/Canada: Agit Reader; Pigeons & Planes; CokeMachineGlow (Canada); CMJ; Time Magazine
UK/Ireland: Terrorizer; No Ripcord
Rest of the World: Liberation (France); Mondosonoro [Natl] (Spain); Hipersonica [Natl] (Spain); PopNews (France); Humo (Belgium); ChronicArt (France)

I added Time after seeing that Henrik had added its singles list to the songs spreadsheet. For other sources that haven't been included in previous years (and which have both an albums and songs list), I will probably defer to Henrik's judgment.

The gap between "LP1" and "Lost in the Dream" narrows. I do not like this at all...

At least 'To Be Kind' is closing down on the top five. Keeping my fingers crossed that it pushes aside 'Our Love' in a last minute snatch-and-grab.

Harold !
I fell to be "pain in the ass" if I ask you but can you rank in the order the countries in "Rest of the world" for the next Excel files (if it's not too difficult)?

It would be a nice Christmas gift

Romain wrote:Harold !
I fell to be "pain in the ass" if I ask you but can you rank in the order the countries in "Rest of the world" for the next Excel files (if it's not too difficult)?

It would be a nice Christmas gift

It would actually take a lot of work to create one column for each country. However, you could do this yourself by removing all lists from all other countries from the rest of the world. I hope this sounds like a feasible solution.

Hi Henrik,

Are you making any allowance for the fact that Black Messiah by D'Angelo and the Vanguard came out after most of these lists were printed?

Also note the absence of the following list, which might bump that album a little higher than its current place at #262!

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/year-end ... 014.html/2

chet_baker wrote:Hi Henrik,

Are you making any allowance for the fact that Black Messiah by D'Angelo and the Vanguard came out after most of these lists were printed?

Also note the absence of the following list, which might bump that album a little higher than its current place at #262!

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/year-end ... 014.html/2

You mean the list from a website actually created by ?estlove himself?

(I realize the site has morphed into an all-purpose music/culture site, but I would guess that its list is still ineligible - and in any case it still bears the name of ?estlove's brand.)

I would love to see Black Messiah bumped higher, but unless it pops up (and ranks highly) on a multitude of the eligible lists that haven't been posted yet, it's not likely to happen. Once this many lists have been added to the spreadsheet it's very, very difficult for the rankings to shift in any significant way.

Henrik wrote:

Romain wrote:Harold !
I fell to be "pain in the ass" if I ask you but can you rank in the order the countries in "Rest of the world" for the next Excel files (if it's not too difficult)?

It would be a nice Christmas gift

It would actually take a lot of work to create one column for each country. However, you could do this yourself by removing all lists from all other countries from the rest of the world. I hope this sounds like a feasible solution.

I'm sorry, my poor english brought to a misunderstanding. I don't want a specific column for each country, "just" to put the lists by a same country side by side, like what it done in the Song list.

But if it's too hard or too long, no problemo.

Romain wrote: I'm sorry, my poor english brought to a misunderstanding. I don't want a specific column for each country, "just" to put the lists by a same country side by side, like what it done in the Song list.

But if it's too hard or too long, no problemo.

I see how that could be a helpful way to arrange the list, but because I simply add each new list in the next available column, I don't trust myself to rearrange them without screwing everything up. I'm sure Henrik probably has a way to do this, and perhaps once the albums spreadsheet is done such a reconfiguration might be possible.

Updated predictions for 2014 LPs to make the top 400:

Lost in the Dream
Run the Jewels 2
LP1
St. Vincent

I am stunned at the EOY reception for 1989

Harold wrote:

Romain wrote:Amazon is still in the list?

From last year's discussion of the issue of whether record store lists should be included:

***********************************************************
[Quote from Henrik:] There seem to be an increasing amount of lists from record stores. It's really difficult to say that one would be eligible and another one not, and since they are not "the core of music criticism" maybe we should exclude them all (except maybe really big ones like amazon).
***********************************************************

The idea that Amazon goes far beyond being a "record store" and should still be included went unchallenged, so its list remained. Henrik, did you want to revisit the question?

Sorry for the late reply on this one. It's probably best to be consistent and exclude Amazon as well, isn't it?

Henrik wrote:Sorry for the late reply on this one. It's probably best to be consistent and exclude Amazon as well, isn't it?

Probably. I'll delete Amazon and move Time Magazine's list into that column.

We are very close to having a new #1 album on the spreadsheet. It's probably going to be a tight race for the top spot right to the end.

Updated with:

UK/Ireland: The Sun; Mixmag; SoundsXP
Rest of the World: Goute mes disques (France); Indiepoprock (France); Dagsavisen (Norway); Dagbladet [Intl & Natl] (Norway)

Also, Amazon has been deleted from the USA/Canada section for consistency re: the non-inclusion of retail outlets.

Happy New Year!

I feel sad for D'Angelo's "Black Messiah" because that album got such great reviews and didn't end up on critics lists because it was released too late in the year. Some lists might include it next year but others won't want to because it didn't exactly get released on the calendar year just like "Beyonce." I'm sure if "Black Messiah" was released earlier in the year then it would have been one of the top albums on critics list but now who knows if it'll even end up on any critics lists next year.

TVFan365 wrote:I feel sad for D'Angelo's "Black Messiah" because that album got such great reviews and didn't end up on critics lists because it was released too late in the year. Some lists might include it next year but others won't want to because it didn't exactly get released on the calendar year just like "Beyonce." I'm sure if "Black Messiah" was released earlier in the year then it would have been one of the top albums on critics list but now who knows if it'll even end up on any critics lists next year.

I have a very strong feeling that - unlike Beyonce - a lot of sources will in fact remember to put Black Messiah on their 2015 lists, simply because it's being so stratospherically praised (it debuted all the way up at #1 on Otisredding's final Mega-Critic list for the year) that it's almost impossible right now to imagine that they'll forget how unfair it was that the album didn't come out in time for the 2014 EOY round-up.

Unfortunately, unless there are a lot of half-decade lists in the first half of 2015 or new all-time lists that make a point of including Black Messiah, it seems highly unlikely that it will make the top 3000 in the next AM update.

thanks for the update
wish a lot of great music in 2015

Updated with:

USA/Canada: La Presse (Canada); Antiquiet; HipHopDX; A Closer Listen
Rest of the World: Playground [Intl] (Spain); Kindamuzik (Netherlands); Rock De Lux [Intl & Natl] (Spain); Ondarock (Italy); Visions (Germany); Rolling Stone-Spain [Intl & Natl] (Spain)

Thanks Harold. Can you explain, for a beotian like me, the difference betwwen the column P and Q ?

Thanks.

Romain wrote:Thanks Harold. Can you explain, for a beotian like me, the difference betwwen the column P and Q ?

Thanks.

I have nothing whatsoever to do with the formulas - I've never even looked at those hidden columns. Henrik?

Thanks Harold.

These albums appear twice in the spreadsheet:

Answer Code Request - Code
Fink - Hard Believer
Glass Animals - Zaba
Lee Ann Womack - The Way I'm Livin'

great ! thanks for the update

Harold wrote:

Romain wrote:Thanks Harold. Can you explain, for a beotian like me, the difference betwwen the column P and Q ?

Thanks.

I have nothing whatsoever to do with the formulas - I've never even looked at those hidden columns. Henrik?

The formula for the rest of the world is so long that I have had to split it up into two columns, and then sum it up in column K.

Updated with:

USA/Canada: Death & Taxes; The Owl; The L
UK/Ireland: BBC Music; Thrash Hits
Rest of the World: SWQW (France); Plattentests (Germany); Sentire Ascoltare (Italy); Storia Della Musica (Italy)

Heading into the homestretch, I think. Besides Pazz & Jop, the only remaining lists I expect to see are the two from Poland (Porcys and Screenagers), which are always late arrivals, and possibly Club Fonograma from Mexico and Super 45 from Chile.

LP1's challenge for the top spot turned out to be a false alarm - Lost in the Dream is over 30 points ahead. I believe we have a winner. Looks like we have four sure bets for the all-time top 500, with two more potential additions very close behind.

Updated (maybe for the last time?) with:

USA/Canada: Village Voice Pazz & Jop
Rest of the World: Super 45 (Chile)

Here are the top 100 albums on the EOY spreadsheet:

1 / The War on Drugs / Lost in the Dream
2 / FKA twigs / LP1
3 / St. Vincent / St. Vincent
4 / Run the Jewels / Run the Jewels 2
5 / Sun Kil Moon / Benji
6 / Caribou / Our Love
7 / Swans / To Be Kind
8 / Aphex Twin / Syro
9 / Flying Lotus / You're Dead!
10 / Sharon Van Etten / Are We There
11 / Damon Albarn / Everyday Robots
12 / Future Islands / Singles
13 / Beck / Morning Phase
14 / Angel Olsen / Burn Your Fire for No Witness
15 / Mac DeMarco / Salad Days
16 / Spoon / They Want My Soul
17 / Perfume Genius / Too Bright
18 / Todd Terje / It's Album Time
19 / Lana Del Rey / Ultraviolence
20 / Freddie Gibbs & Madlib / Pinata
21 / Wild Beasts / Present Tense
22 / Taylor Swift / 1989
23 / alt-J / This is All Yours
24 / Ty Segall / Manipulator
25 / Cloud Nothings / Here and Nowhere Else
26 / Real Estate / Atlas
27 / Ariel Pink / pom pom
28 / Scott Walker & Sunn O))) / Soused
29 / Grouper / Ruins
30 / Shabazz Palaces / Lese Majesty
31 / Lykke Li / I Never Learn
32 / Sleaford Mods / Divide and Exit
33 / Jack White / Lazaretto
34 / Metronomy / Love Letters
35 / Parquet Courts / Sunbathing Animal
36 / Andy Stott / Faith in Strangers
37 / The Bug / Angels & Devils
38 / Against Me! / Transgender Dysphoria Blues
39 / Jenny Lewis / The Voyager
40 / Owen Pallett / In Conflict
41 / Temples / Sun Structures
42 / Sturgill Simpson / Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
43 / Arca / Xen
44 / East India Youth / Total Strife Forever
45 / Warpaint / Warpaint
46 / Ought / More Than Any Other Day
47 / First Aid Kit / Stay Gold
48 / Ben Frost / A U R O R A
49 / Alvvays / Alvvays
50 / tUnE-yArDs / Nikki Nack
51 / Neneh Cherry / Blank Project
52 / La Roux / Trouble in Paradise
53 / YG / My Krazy Life
54 / Azealia Banks / Broke With Expensive Taste
55 / The Black Keys / Turn Blue
56 / Interpol / El Pintor
57 / Royal Blood / Royal Blood
58 / Ryan Adams / Ryan Adams
59 / Jungle / Jungle
60 / Kate Tempest / Everybody Down
61 / Jessie Ware / Tough Love
62 / Leonard Cohen / Popular Problems
63 / Robert Plant / lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
64 / How to Dress Well / "What is This Heart?"
65 / Young Fathers / Dead
66 / Mogwai / The Rave Tapes
67 / Actress / Ghettoville
68 / Mastodon / Once More 'Round the Sun
69 / Liars / Mess
70 / SBTRKT / Wonder Where We Land
71 / Banks / Goddess
72 / Dean Blunt / Black Metal
73 / YOB / Clearing the Path to Ascend
74 / EMA / The Future's Void
75 / Manic Street Preachers / Futurology
76 / Pallbearer / Foundations of Burden
77 / Chet Faker / Built on Glass
78 / The New Pornographers / Brill Bruisers
79 / Strand of Oaks / Heal
80 / Goat / Commune
81 / Ex Hex / Rips
82 / Behemoth / The Satanist
83 / Avi Buffalo / At Best Cuckold
84 / Protomartyr / Under Color of Official Right
85 / Kindness / Otherness
86 / Morrissey / World Peace is None of Your Business
87 / Elbow / The Take Off and Landing of Everything
88 / The Antlers / Familiars
89 / Afghan Whigs / Do to the Beast
90 / Kelis / Food
91 / Sylvan Esso / Sylvan Esso
92 / Clark / Clark
93 / S O H N / Tremors
94 / TV on the Radio / Seeds
95 / Merchandise / After the End
96 / White Lung / Deep Fantasy
97 / Timber Timbre / Hot Dreams
98 / D'Angelo and The Vanguard / Black Messiah
99 / Shellac / Dude Incredible
100 / Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers / Hypnotic Eye

Thanks for the great work Harold!

One final update:

USA/Canada: XXL
Rest of the World: Porcys (Poland); Screenagers (Poland)

Thanks to the Poles, it looks like Black Messiah should definitely crack the top 3000, at least.

Harold wrote:One final update:

USA/Canada: XXL
Rest of the World: Porcys (Poland); Screenagers (Poland)

Thanks to the Poles, it looks like Black Messiah should definitely crack the top 3000, at least.

Thanks Harold. But for what I see : AlbumRock, RollingStone France (paperMag) and TRAX (paperMag) are not include yet.

And for Black Messiah, it's cool, I'm so happy to see a Princelike album have success

P.S. : I see AlbumRock.net are not eligible this year with the AlexaRanking changing position.

Top work Harold. Really looking forward to spending today pouring over this spreadsheet.

And Romain - completely agree with your sentiments on Black Messiah. Hopefully this is just the start and that there will be many half-decade lists published this year that will help propel it further upwards.