Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2014

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I knew 5/50. I think that's good for me.

I sampled some of the albums I didn't recognize through Youtube and a majority of them just sounded incomprehensible. Run The Jewels 2 seemed alright though.
 
kitchenmotors said:
This.

Pitchfork isn't even that high on the list as far as music snobbery goes anymore. I align my tastes with Pitchfork mostly and LOVE their Music Festival they put on every year in Chicago but a lot of stuff they review is pretty accessible and covers a wide range. Maybe not as wide as metal, as some people have suggested they cover, but they put out decent lists and give promo to decent artists.

Props to Quietus though for the Clark promo. His album is excellent, dare I say better than Syro.
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I don't know about that, but Unfurla is a damn good song.
 
Servbot24 said:
Yep, me too!

There's nothing snobby about not liking a list with basic choices. It's fine if that's what p4k enjoyed, it's just that it's not a very useful tool for finding interesting music.
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Tell us what you think should be on the list and maybe you won't sound so pretentious.
 
kitchenmotors said:
This.

Pitchfork isn't even that high on the list as far as music snobbery goes anymore. I align my tastes with Pitchfork mostly and LOVE their Music Festival they put on every year in Chicago but a lot of stuff they review is pretty accessible and covers a wide range. Maybe not as wide as metal, as some people have suggested they cover, but they put out decent lists and give promo to decent artists.
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Their reputation for snobbery comes mainly from the pompous writing style which seems to be prevalent there.



see5harp said:
Tell us what you think should be on the list and maybe you won't sound so pretentious.
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I think they should list what they like. And they did. So in that regard it's fine.

My list looks like this. Sorry if you find it "pretentious" or whatever, it's just what I enjoy.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143654251&postcount=263
 
kitchenmotors said:
I think what lessened the impact Syro had on me is the fact that we've heard some of the songs before, including the best song on the album, Metz/XMAS_EVET10.
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See, I've never been the kind of person that really searches out stuff like that. Plus, I've never been a huge Aphex Twin fan and really only got into his stuff in the last 4 or 5 years, so I haven't felt like his lack of new music was a void for me like some fans clearly did who grew up with his music.
 
omgkitty said:
See, I've never been the kind of person that really searches out stuff like that. Plus, I've never been a huge Aphex Twin fan and really only got into his stuff in the last 4 or 5 years, so I haven't felt like his lack of new music was a void for me like some fans clearly did who grew up with his music.
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The thirst was real, haha. Although the stuff he did via The Tuss is great.
 
Good to see Clark and Aquarius on it although they were both way too high on the list. FKA twigs is alright but really i thought Aquarius was better than it imo.
 
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.
 
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.
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I was kind of wondering this too. Not sure if it's nostalgia but it seems like indie rock is on a real decline. Mid-00s you had albums like Z, Transatlanticism, Person Pitch, Alligator, etc which are some of my all time favorites. I feel like indie rock today frets so much over being a "throwback" that it just misses the point.
 
Servbot24 said:
I was kind of wondering this too. Not sure if it's nostalgia but it seems like indie rock is on a real decline. Mid-00s you had albums like Z, Transatlanticism, Person Pitch, Alligator, etc which are some of my all time favorites. I feel like indie rock today frets so much over being a "throwback" that it just misses the point.
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Yeah it's tough. I don't like to be that guy, that lets nostalgia bias, color their perception. To be fair, that wasn't really my childhood. Although you can still have nostalgia even as an adult.

Thing is, I still think there is a lot of great releases. I never buy into the idea that, there is like NOTHING. There will always be something if you look for it.
 
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?
 
2014 was a great year for music, but evidently Pitchfork and I run in different circles. I only know of three artists on that list and the only one I've actually listened to is Aphex Twin. I'm gonna go through it and see if anything takes my fancy, though. Hopefully I can find something I'll like.

*edit, Mr Twin Sister are pretty nice. Shellac are OK, so run of the mill indie rock though.
 
Azula said:
Yeah it's tough. I don't like to be that guy, that lets nostalgia bias, color their perception. To be fair, that wasn't really my childhood. Although you can still have nostalgia even as an adult.

Thing is, I still think there is a lot of great releases. I never buy into the idea that, there is like NOTHING. There will always be something if you look for it.
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Oh there are tons of great albums still, just fewer in that genre for me. I was pleasantly surprised by the Adult Jazz album this year for example. But for the most part I've had to turn to other genres to find the really significant works. For example I'll likely be listening to albums such as Actress - R.I.P and The Knife - Shaking the Habitual for many many years.
 
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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They've set a precedence for supporting and giving reason to their scores and lists. There is only so many ways to pinpoint what specifically is valued by fans.

It's almost like there is a law that dictates any earnest effort decays into pretentious endeavor.
 
Just like last year the top 3 will be nearly identical to gaf's.

Minus our flirtation with CHVRCHES I guess.
Grouper was the only real surprise, Ought, Iceage and Owen Pallet are to low. FKA Twigs wouldn'y make my list for anything but Two Weeks being a top 10 SOTY but whatever.

People shitting on pitchfork for being snobs over this list are only showing how low their bar is. This is as base covering as a website focused on indie (with obligatory nods to rap and electronic
but not metal
) is going to get.
 
bobawesome said:
No Hydra? Awful list.
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Hydra was suuuuper terrible. One of the worst album from a consumated band I've ever heard. Not even Tarja could save that album. Super bland. I'd just give The Unforgiven another spin instead.

Critically acclaimed music is weird, listening to singles of the firt 3 I don't understand the hype :(
 
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