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Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2014

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Corpsepyre

Corpsepyre

Banned
Wow. I haven't heard a single album from that list. I don't even know the bands except for Aphex Twin. WTF? But then again, I mostly listen to metal and rock.
 
D

Danielsan

Member
Lost in a Dream isn't a better album than Benji as far as I'm concerned, but Mark Kozelek is an asshat and absolutely terrible live (had the misfortune of seeing him live earlier this month), so it's all kind of whatever to me.

More importantly, happy to see my favorite album of the year (Caribou's Our Love) take a top 10 spot.
 
Jackben

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
Majestad said:
Just read this shit:

"This is volume for the voiceless, a silver bullet for the wolves, and a redistribution of sovereignty. It’s venom to immobilize cheaply uniformed imposters, flatulent greedheads, and cynical buffoons perverting the truth on cable news"

Who the motherfuck writes this pretentious garbage?
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Someone gets paid to write this. Oh yeah, feel the burn.
 
F

Futureman

Member
I don't even read the reviews. Typically just find stuff that is scoring high and has buzz on GAF as well and check it out on Spotify.
 
B

beato_angelico

Member
the list is worse than I expected (also, what the hell is going on with taylor swift, first they don't review it then they put in the best of the year list? if you want to be taken seriously don't do this shit please).
also, the amount of ignorance in this thread is embarassing. servbot being called out as "pretentious" for saying something insightful is the low point.
 
K

kitchenmotors

Banned
beato_angelico said:
the list is worse than I expected (also, what the hell is going on with taylor swift, first they don't review it then they put in the best of the year list? if you want to be taken seriously don't do this shit please).
also, the amount of ignorance in this thread is embarassing. servbot being called out as "pretentious" for saying something insightful is the low point.
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To be honest, Servbot's attitude is kinda toxic.
 
D

Dicer

Banned
animlboogy said:
How is it possible to hold this opinion of that album of all things? Its an intentionally old school hip hop album.

The direction of the genre has little to do with what RTJ2 sounds like...
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It doesn't come off that way, there is a certain ebb and flow which old hip-hop has this does not, it feels forced.

Again just my thoughts and I seem to be the minority, so there we go.

Die Antwoord and La Roux def should have placed on that list somewhere, that absence is unforgivable...

But I digress, again musical opinions and all that.
 
E

equippedwithtowel

Member
beato_angelico said:
the list is worse than I expected (also, what the hell is going on with taylor swift, first they don't review it then they put in the best of the year list? if you want to be taken seriously don't do this shit please).
also, the amount of ignorance in this thread is embarassing. servbot being called out as "pretentious" for saying something insightful is the low point.
Click to expand...

I'm as okay with a well timed FKA twigs burn as the next guy. But sometimes Serv played straight comes off as oddly confrontational considering it's over fucking indie music.

#freenicholasjaar
 
E

EulaCapra

Member
What is Pitchfork? Who are 44 of these singers/bands? Why do the blurbs read like some graduate school thesis on capuchin monkeys?

Different strokes for different folks... but this went way over my head.
 
H

hidys

Member
EulaCapra said:
What is Pitchfork? Who are 44 of these singers/bands? Why do the blurbs read like some graduate school thesis on capuchin monkeys?

Different strokes for different folks... but this went way over my head.
Click to expand...

Probably the most influential publication in the indie scene.
 
H

hidys

Member
For those of you who think the writing is awful in this piece need to read their review of Kid A though that is one of the greatest albums of all time this is just too much.

Seriously:
The experience and emotions tied to listening to Kid A are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax.
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R

Remark

Banned
KTT won tbh.

P obvious they looked at KTT and was like "This what the young kids likin' just sprinkle some niche shit in there and post it"
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
hidys said:
For those of you who think the writing is awful in this piece need to read their review of Kid A though that is one of the greatest albums of all time this is just too much.

Seriously:
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inVAGKCJhnwwx.gif
 
B

BravesCountry

Banned
Azula said:
Safe list, is safe.

Maybe it's just me, but I found this year underwhelming. I spent a lot of time in the Indie/Alt scene from 2000-2010 ish. And I've kind of found since post 2010, things have been starting to slow down. And this year, was just alright to me.

Maybe I'm just burnt out.

EDIT: This isn't to say, there hasn't been some incredible releases in the past 4 years. I'm just saying the overall landscape for me, has been a lot more slow. When I compare the 2000-2004 landscape, to 2010-2014, it just feels like this decade is off to a slower start. But again, maybe I'm just burnt out.
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Nah, I think you're right. This year has been slow for me as well..definitely one of my least favorite years in a while. Still a lot of good music to be had though.

I would have had War on Drugs #1 though.
 
T

terrene

Banned
I wasn't into a lot of these picks.

RTJ2 was probably the most energetic and the biggest hit, but I didn't find it as fun to listen to or creative as some of the stuff by former Odd Future guys, Shabazz Palaces, Flylo, Kevin Gates, or Young Fathers, none of whom made the top 10. :/

Aphex Twin and Caribou both disappointed the hell out of me. There wasn't a lot of meat on the bones of their new stuff, which got quite repetitive. I'm saying that as huge fans of both. And I'm freakin' sick of Ariel Pink and his schticky bullshit.

Grouper's album was pleasant but quite slight; I wouldn't necessarily heap a ton of praise on it.

I'm still working on it but here's my YouTube list for best track o' 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe1o0Y8oSo_DSnBVCsQnnQlXwHcEjvrP-
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
dhonk said:
?!

Are you even into the genre?
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Tbh the people who are into the genre tend to be the ones who don't care for it

Hope that's not too pretentious guys sorry :(



kitchenmotors said:
To be honest, Servbot's attitude is kinda toxic.
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Some of my posts itt were intentionally a bit cheeky but didn't play well in GAF context. That said I'll stand behind the content of most of them (except for the pitchfork readers are lazy one which was a self deprecating joke) :p

Also the one where I said I only liked 2 of their top 10, I forgot I also like RTJ2
 
Z

Zen_Arcade

Banned
EulaCapra said:
What is Pitchfork? Who are 44 of these singers/bands? Why do the blurbs read like some graduate school thesis on capuchin monkeys?

Different strokes for different folks... but this went way over my head.
Click to expand...
The writing sucks but if you like the genres of music they cover there are good bands to discover. I just look at the band/album names, try and get a feel of what genre the band is, and then look them up on Spotify. I just finished listening to the Ought album on that list and I like it a lot. I had no idea the band even existed before today.
 
K

K.Sabot

Member
War on Drugs and Grouper are big no-nos for me.

RTJ2 is a good set of songs, makes sense that it's riding the current political circumstances in NA and Pitchfork is trying to make it more than something more than it might have intended to be. It sits somewhere in the 15-10 for my personal list.

I was somewhat entertained by FKA Twigs, but not enough.

Loved Todd Terje, especially the singles. Was pretty meh on Syro.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
C

Chance Hale

Member
People making a big deal about knowing one artist from the list should try listening to some of the bands. You're not getting old, just boring :p
 
H

Helmholtz

Member
Wow, honestly kind of surprised RTJ2 took top spot. I wanted to like that album but it just underwhelms me every time. As far as rap goes Pinata was my favorite of this year (that I've listened to), I mean goddam. I think it's too low on the list.
ricochetguro said:
People making a big deal about knowing one artist from the list should try listening to some of the bands. You're not getting old, just boring :p
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Pretty much. Not hard to give them a try. And if the only genres you like are rock/metal of course you won't be familiar with a lot of these artists.
 
M

Mogwai

Member
EulaCapra said:
What is Pitchfork? Who are 44 of these singers/bands? Why do the blurbs read like some graduate school thesis on capuchin monkeys?

Different strokes for different folks... but this went way over my head.
Click to expand...

Pitchfork has been like this since... forever. If you can't conform, then confuse.

Their reviews are bloated pieces of gibberish. If I should give an estimate I would say that about 20% of each review makes sense. The rest is just the reviewers floating around in the attempt to be a "serious music critic". This leads to another interesting point about Pitchfork. Among all the obscure bands they review, they also include uber-mainstream artists like Beyonce, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, etc. What the fuck is up with that? For instance, where is Bahamas? That dude made an awesome album this year and isn't even mentioned on Pitchfork at all.

Integrity vs. revenue streams. Seems like Pitchfork has realized that they need to say what the record labels what them to say. After all, you can't make that sweet cash from reviewing indie artists.
 
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