EOY predictions

Nick
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Nick »

Rolling Stone's list this year is pretty good. The old rockers that they usually champion actually released some bona fide great albums this year too, so RS doesn't look out of place giving them so much praise (see Bowie, Cohen, Cave, etc.).

I agree with Pierre, "Lemonade" will probably top the US critics lists but under-perform on the UK and international lists. Bowie should place ridiculously high on all 3.
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Pierre
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Pierre »

I'm starting to think I might have been wrong with my prediction for Nick Cave, as "Skeleton Tree"'s last rankings have been disappointing. Since it's now firmly my AOTY, that's a shame.

The few songs lists we got so far (that is, one and a half, if I'm not mistaken) are weird. I believed that Radiohead's "Burn the Witch" would smash its way to the top with little opposition, but I haven't even seen it yet. Anyway, not enough songs lists yet to make solid predictions.
Harold
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Harold »

So far, the biggest surprise as the album spreadsheet begins to take shape is Wilco's Schmilco. On Mega-Critic, it's way down in the lower reaches of the top 200; on the EOY spreadsheet, right now it's in the top 20. I know it's extremely early in the process, but patterns tend to emerge early (e.g., the top two albums are exactly the ones you'd guess, and they're already way ahead of the pack, and the rest of the top ten is pretty much following suit) and I don't expect it to fall too far.
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Rob
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Rob »

One oddity I note is the many lists that include the album I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It by The 1975. I hadn't heard of it before and it is not include on the MetaCritic list. Not only on the top 100, but not even in the 99 albums that are listed below it. Yet it seems to have had enough reviews. What's up with that? An album that has grown on critics as the year went on?
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Pierre
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Pierre »

I've already seen M83's Junk at least twice in the lists posted so far and as much as I like to promote French music here, I'm frankly baffled. This album's a disaster...
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PlasticRam
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by PlasticRam »

Pierre wrote:I've already seen M83's Junk at least twice in the lists posted so far and as much as I like to promote French music here, I'm frankly baffled. This album's a disaster...
For me I really like the album cos it goes so over the top with the synthesizers and everything, so it's like an artistic statement. Ballad fillers are quite average though.
I feel like that
Harold
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Harold »

Rob wrote:One oddity I note is the many lists that include the album I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It by The 1975. I hadn't heard of it before and it is not include on the MetaCritic list. Not only on the top 100, but not even in the 99 albums that are listed below it. Yet it seems to have had enough reviews. What's up with that? An album that has grown on critics as the year went on?
On Metacritic.com, it has a Metascore of 75, based on 24 reviews - not terrible, but certainly not an EOY-list type of score. Every year there are a few albums that were only moderately-acclaimed at best at time of release but which seem to come out of nowhere when the EOY lists start appearing, and this is one of them. ("Nowhere" is a bit extreme, though - this album was a huge commercial hit in the U.K.)
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Pierre
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Pierre »

PlasticRam wrote:
Pierre wrote:I've already seen M83's Junk at least twice in the lists posted so far and as much as I like to promote French music here, I'm frankly baffled. This album's a disaster...
For me I really like the album cos it goes so over the top with the synthesizers and everything, so it's like an artistic statement. Ballad fillers are quite average though.
Well, to me it's not so much an artistic statement as an artist trying a somewhat different sound and failing completely. For me, a dud's a dud, no matter how much heart the artist put in it. Heart is not always art.

Well, cheese is France's specialty so it may not be that surprising that Gonzalez tried to create his own brand.

All this coming from someone who is a HUGE fan of Saturdays = Youth and Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.
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Sweepstakes Ron
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Sweepstakes Ron »

On an unrelated note, I feel like all the lists so far have opened with a statement along the lines of "2016 sucked, except for the music."
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spiritualized
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by spiritualized »

This may be a killjoy for some, but what do you think of AOTY ?

http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2016/

Looking at that list, apart from the obvious, very pleased about a few names on there :

Thee Oh Sees
Cavern of Anti-Matter

Really surprised by Iggy Pop strong showing, I found Gardenia passable so did not listen to the full album. Lambchop's newest is horrible (God that auto-tune), except for the 18 minute track.
Future Critic
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Future Critic »

Does anyone have an idea of when the Pazz & Jop poll results will be released? Last year, they were released on the second Tuesday of January, so my guess is any day.

It should be interested to see who wins - I think Blackstar has the advantage, but Blonde and Lemonade are definitely in the running.

Best song should be Formation unless Ultralight Beam beats it out.
Harold
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Harold »

Future Critic wrote:Does anyone have an idea of when the Pazz & Jop poll results will be released? Last year, they were released on the second Tuesday of January, so my guess is any day.
I've been obsessively checking the Village Voice website since late Monday. No idea when the results are coming but hopefully soon. By the way, they've decided to retire the Pazz & Jop title - from now on it's simply going to be known as the Village Voice Music Critics Poll.
Harold
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Harold »

I just posted this to the EOY forum itself:

Village Voice update: according to a post on the ILXOR boards by the P&J stats guy, Glenn MacDonald, the Music Critics Poll isn't going to be published for another two weeks (the January 25th issue). Well, that's two days wasted for me!
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whuntva
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by whuntva »

Sweepstakes Ron wrote:On an unrelated note, I feel like all the lists so far have opened with a statement along the lines of "2016 sucked, except for the music."
Nope. That sucked too. It all sounded more or less the same and even the stuff I liked won't finish high at the end of the decade. Even on the EOY, I expect a lot of vote splitting from our ongoing poll, because there was no one definitive song for the year as there has been in the past few years.
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Pierre
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Re: EOY predictions

Post by Pierre »

whuntva wrote:
Sweepstakes Ron wrote:On an unrelated note, I feel like all the lists so far have opened with a statement along the lines of "2016 sucked, except for the music."
Nope. That sucked too. It all sounded more or less the same and even the stuff I liked won't finish high at the end of the decade. Even on the EOY, I expect a lot of vote splitting from our ongoing poll, because there was no one definitive song for the year as there has been in the past few years.
As far as EOY lists are considered, I see your point. However, concerning the music itself, I feel like it's one of those 1980s years, where there are some great high-profile releases, but where you also have to dig into the alternative and world music scenes if you want to find gems and make the year look great. Like back then, the Latin and African scenes are good places to start.
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