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I reckon that, Chromatics and Swans will be the contenders.

Chromatics might have it though, so far.

Really haven't got any time for Cloud Nothings though and that's had a fair few votes so far...

...I mean, why not just listen to a (post) hardcore album?

Thought the Walkmen album was complete pish though.

Mine is the best

but that Perfume Genius album genuinely makes me a little bit nauseous.

Why not just wait?

there have been evenings when I've felt like it was my album of the year, and afternoons where I've wondered why he's lost it a bit since his debut. It's a peculiar album, and I really want to work out what I really think about it, but I've only played it about 20 times and I'm still unsure, which is kinda a good thing, in a way.

- Swans, Roc Marciano, Titus Andronicus, Andy Stott, Hecker/Lopatin, Converge, Darren Hayman, Goat etc. etc.

as it stands, mine probably has Julia Hecker and Kendrick Lamar highest. maybe, I dunno

I don't really like that Motion Sickness of Time Travel album as much as most people seem to. it's ok. probably need to listen to it more.

also I've only heard a few bits of Chromatics, but it seemed pretty terrible. whatsthedeal

Julia Hecker, a Holter and Hecker collaboration, just imagine.

Instrumental Tourist has its moments, but it's not as strong as either of their finer efforts. I prefer Ekstasis but even that isn't going to make my top 5...

Both Black Swan and Azusa Plane beat that and Becker/Lopatin for my drone album of the year.

That would be rubbish

at first, only really liked two tracks. then five. then most. now all.

and each listen gets better

can't fault it

DiScuss.

But they're both excellent EPs and are up there with IABPOITC and Slow Riot for Zero Kanada.

Isn't the distinction between them arbitrary?

Should probably go off length rather than whether the artist has chosen to call it an EP/LP. Don't think it's fair to compare something like the YYYs EP which was about 14 minutes long with a 60 minute album. And on the other side of the coin Sufjan's All Delighted People 'EP' was longer than most normal albums...

Anything over 30/35 minutes, idk?

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah!
Mala - Mala In Cuba
Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras & The Congos - Icon Give Thank ** this one in particular...probably my album of the year.

the last Om one was decent as well.

Motion Sickness of Time Travel is 4 songs long...but is twice the length of most LPs. And even then overall length doesn't help, there are several under-30 minute releases that most people consider albums. These days, I don't see why the distinction should be made.

so i just listened to the krallice record while playing super hexagon, i've got a headache. great though.

http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4421077

Going to have to hold off on the list for a bit now cos it sounds like this might be really ace.

Having been out of the country for the majority of the last three months, am playing catch up with a lot of recent releases... though impressed by many - Kendrick, Deftones, Metz, etc - the earlier releases I've had on constant rotation are bound to win out.

Excited to make a list of stuff I've missed too, always discover so much that slipped by at this time of the year.

both sound like they beat quite a lot of what I'd have had in my top 10, back to the old drawing board

whilst an LP could have several?

But it really went down in my estimation after a few listens - it feels hollow...
I can't believe the people who've included the Why? record, it is shocking.

I've enjoyed/loved pretty much everything he/they've done before, but this left me really disappointed. Such a shame.

Might go and put Elephant Eyelash on to relive the glory days.

I'm so happy for your ears.

Their best yet I reckon, which is saying something. Probably deserves more love.

13 songs, no fillers.
But then again...i,m pretty alone on this it seems.....blast!

https://soundcloud.com/fervid-how

It would've been in my top 10. I don't get the hatred of it from fans; I think it sounds like a solid WHY? album.

Interesting list. Still ages to go, of course, so everything could change.

1. Errors - Have Some Faith in Magic
Probably my most played, most loved, and most important album of the year. It's the soundtrack to my year, you know? The album that I'll listen to forever now and it'll remind me of getting my puppy, moving to Glasgow, etc etc. Pretty amazing.
2. Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Blew me away this. Quite astonishing how good it sounds. I have been risning it and I am still picking out new bass flourishes, sonic elements and other things. It's fucking fabulous.
3. Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton
The deepest and darkest album I've listened to this year. I can't get past how dense it sounds on my headphones. It soundtracked a hillwalk in the dusk and good christ it was incredible.
4. Arrange - New Memory
Yeah, I am a sucker for anything by Arrange, but this might be my favourite of his. It's so solid - really has improved how he sings on the tracks and the depth of the recoridng makes it seem widescreen somehow. Feels like a 21st Century Blue Nile album.
5. The Walkmen - Heaven
The most heartfelt record of the year - a true sunshine moment when i first heard it too, and it never fails to drop a big grin on my face everytime I listen to it. Probably my favourite album of theirs after You and Me now, all things considered.

Comments on the poll:
Not sure why Errors aren't featured a lot, there was a lot more buzz about them when the album came out. I am mostly confused by the inclusion of Chromatics - totally don't get it. Boring and over long.

Other albums that didn't make the list:
RM Hubbert - Thirteen Lost and Found
Grizzly Bear - Shields
Liars - WIXIW
Beach House - Bloom
Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin - Instrumental Tourist
The Invisible - Rispah
The Mars Volta - Noctourniquet

if an artist says its an EP its an EP its the only way you can tell really. Dunno if I'd put them in an album list, prob wouldn't with the Burial one since its so short. I mean electronic albums are usualy way longer than 35 mins and three tracks, thats more of a single in electronic terms. I dunno if I'd put Pangaea's new release in the album list and thats 8 tracks on 2x12"s. They're both ace tho, but then it doesn't really matter if they're on any kinda list, I mean if you stick it on an album list or an EP list whats the diffrence, why does the album list have more stock? Burial's made an EP thats so good it could be in the album list? doesn't make sense. Why is an album better? You may as well go all out and say Kindred is the comic book of the year or something haha.

It's in my top 5, but when I was first thinking about it, I had in my mind it was 2011. Wonder if it is suffering for that?

but then the Twilight Sad's album was out before it, and it's appearing a lot.

I mean Alopecia and Elephant Eyelash feel utterly essential, but Mumps, etc just feels... annoyingly inconsequential.

realised that of every album voted for, i've consciously listened to THREE of the things that have been voted for (why?, deftones, animal collective) and the latter two only once each, and the first is no great shakes.

my actual favourite album of the year is Birthmark - Antibodies, then my next two favourites are probably by my bands. no idea what i'd use to fill up the next two places.

waiting on the new Madteo album and I've not even dived into Flying Lotus or Mala yet for some reason. I know a few that are defo up there tho LV Sebenza and DJ Rashad Teklife Vol.1. Actress, LHF, Shackleton, Bass Clef, Mix Mup & Kassem Mosse, Henny Moan, Ekoplekz, Vessel.... all prob need a look somewhere. No idea.

Pleasure Palace blitzes the rest of it so much that I can never really be bothered to listen to the whole thing. It has been the year of disappointing hyped records for me, especially Beach House but not overwhelmed by Grizzly Bear, Twilight Sad, Animal Collective or Walkmen either. Loads of stuff I wasn't expecting that has made up for it though

to be fair I think the best songs on Mines are untouchable, but Moms is definitely more consistent, only one track I half wanted to skip

It hasn't got anywhere near the musical invention of the other albums - I think that it really misses the input of Andrew Broder. Its like a bad parody of the older stuff. The lyrics are godawful - everything about it is embarrassing.
I'll listen to Elephant Eyelash all day long though.

but I really think it's solid. I also didn't get the gripe with the lyrics. To each his own, though, as they say.

but I don't think it's as good Tragedy

I share your enthusiasm for the The Invisible, arrange and Loscil. I'm still not completely sure about New Memory however...perhaps it is more nuanced than Plantation but it hasn't quite hit the same spot yet.

Dd you vote for Balam Acab last year?

my list last year was a bit shit. not listened to most on it actually, maybe except for Tycho. but yeah, this year was a good year.

I love New Memory. It's just so heartfelt, I think. Something about it makes me really happy to listen to it, like it's a secret he's telling me or something.

interested in whether the people who love the latest Chromatics album had heard Night Drive before hand? Because it seems like they've just made the same album to me - right down to the classic cover near the beginning and the one that sounds a lot like 'Tick of the clock'.

Not saying it's bad, like, just that it is very very similar.

Where are all the Tame Impala fans? It'll be one of my picks and I expected many others to agree.

describing 'Kill for Love' as "boring" and "dull" or anything similar, care to explain? Nobody seems to have developed their argument much further than this. In terms of it being "overlong", well, the more poppy cuts stuck with me instantly, but it was only after a couple of months that I realised how satisfying the record is as a whole. Massive cliche by now, but really needs to be listened to in the dead of night, preferably with rain drumming down the windows.

I think its brilliance is still only just starting to emerge - enough to place at #5 in my list, but I could see it climbing even further if there were a few more months left in the year.

Probably due to not listening to it fully often enough. But the "whole night-listening with rain" thing sounds appealing, will try that as soon as I can.

Not enough people have listened to the BATS album.

"Lonerism" is BY FAR my favorite album of the year ... if not my most favorite album in the last decade! I'm sure i'm exaggerating. Yesterday I described it to my friend as "electric wizard riffs mixed with let-it-be eras Beatles harmonies and simple guitars, churned up with animal collective style found sound pastiche, and tons of Close Encounters of the Third Kind UFO-style synth washes...." seriously UNREAL AMAZING. "Keep on Lying" is one of my most favorite tracks ever.

I like that.

Couldn't get press if they dug up Jimmy Savile's corpse & sodomised it on the roof of Buckingham Palace, so I'm depressed but not surprised that the magnificent Something Rain isn't making any end of year lists.

Surprising lack of love for Claro Intelecto's Reform Club too.

when you say ' electric wizard riffs mixed with let-it-be eras Beatles harmonies', this is exactly why I'm not too fond of it. The influences are really overpowering, I much preferred Innerspeaker where they were more subded.

but I agree with you. This is definitely a keeper. Great 'rock' album of 2012.

it is worse than bland, it's totally faked (musically) for me. After reading your post I started playing Into the Black, just to remind myself why I could not listen to the whole album first time round.
First guitar strokes and I knew how I felt a few months back.

I can hear straight away some imported mock interference to make the song sound 'as if' it is a real vinyl - you know to add sincerity to the whole business.
The guitar melody is nice but the sound is clean, hollow (some kind of reverb -y effect on it). I suppose once again to shout at people, look how dreamy this all sound!
Then his voice comes in, nice enough .. but affected and I can't believe him when he sings about love.

This is repeated to much worse effect throughout the album and I am not listening to it again just to prove my point! It is one of those rare albums that make me actually physically sick in the soul when listening to it.
I can see all the wrong intents behind it.

echo, echo, echo :D

5. Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Easily their best album since the fabled ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’, ‘Sweet Heart Sweet Light’ takes everything that was good about the second half of their career output; the overindulgence, the choirs, the 10 minute guitar jams, the uprising symphonies, and throws it all against a wall whilst seeing what sticks. It’s what you’d expect from Spiritualized, and if the end result is good, then there’s nothing wrong with a bit of predictability sometimes.

4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

I imagine the announcement of a new Godspeed record and tour was the drone equivalent of a new My Bloody Valentine record. The words “indefinite hiatus” are always a bit worrisome, but GY!BE didn’t falter on their promise to return. And boy have they returned. While a few of these movements have been toured live previously (see: basically the entirety of Mladic in particular) the material sounds as fresh and as relevant as ever. As you’d expect from a GY!BE album, each of its individual parts build and grow over a long period until unleashing scores worthy (likely far outstrip to be honest) of the greatest of Hollywood soundtracks.

3. Actress - R.I.P.

Dense. Really really fucking dense. Like, a rave in a narrow back-alley that you have to walk down steps to get into with a low ceiling. In a black-hole.

2. Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes

Flying Lotus is the kind of musician whose sound is instantly recognizable amongst the electronic discharge. Despite being inherently electronic, his music is distinctly human, and there are times during this album where you forget you’re actually listening to something that isn’t organic. The album slowly cruises along, occasionally throwing in a slightly nosier number, but the steady bass-lines hold the whole daisy-chain together. If you were a fan of ‘Cosmogramma’, you might want to sit down. This is an entirely different breed of animal. While ‘Cosmogramma’ threw you from one side of the room to the other, ‘Until the Quiet Comes’ rewards you with repeated listens, sounds not initially obvious below the surface. As the title suggests, this album’s a lot less bombastic, but it has the kind of flow and replayability that Cosmogramma struggled with, especially in the latter-half of the album. It might take a few spins to really appreciate the charm of ‘Until the Quiet Comes’, but once you sink in you won’t want to resurface.

1. Burial - Kindred EP

Am I allowed to pick an EP as Album of the Year? Probably not. Oh well, call the cops, because nothing came close to this Burial juggernaut at the beginning of the year. The best release from an artist with an already impressive library of dub-step classics to his name, the ‘Kindred EP’ steers more towards the layered and ambient sound he pulled off so effortlessly in tracks like Raver in his most recent album ‘Untrue’. While ‘Untrue’ made you want to dance on your feet [citation needed], tracks like Ashtray Wasp are more dance music for the head, sampled howling wolves and distant voices fade in and out of your consciousness. If there’s one thing that’s instantly noticeable about the album, it’s the incredible production values, quirks such as the crackle and pop adding to the eerie world of ‘Kindred’ instead of pulling you out of it. While only a little over half an hour, the albums seems to rush past you, despite each track being made up of only a few movements. While Burial’s contemporaries seem to be trying new ways to sound louder and louder, it’s refreshing, and probably a somewhat logical move, to hear someone try and broaden the scope of subtle movements and challenging rhythms. Much like Autechre tried stripping back on the noise in the early 90’s after the late 80’s rave movement, Burial has taken the post-2007 dub-step sound and given it the good rinse-through it deserves. If this is what Burial can give us whilst restricted to the two sides of a 7”, imagine what he’ll be capable of on an album next year.

Had a few belated reviews here and there this month and DiS is doing one more thing about it before year end all being well.

It's great.

after reading ."electric wizard riffs mixed with beatles harmonies"

it's kinda vaguely pleasant though.

Agree with you on Mount Eerie, Wild Nothing and Lotus Plaza...but Cloud Nothings has a similar effect on me as the one you just described.

I loved Friend and Foe, and I love this one, but I think Mines passed me by a little. I'm sure I remember listening to it and thinking it was decent, but I really need to go back to it now...

1. Go for a drive at night time. A night drive, if you will.

OR

2. Pop some co-codamol or morphine or your floaty drug of choice. Go to your room. Make sure, again, it is night time and that the curtains are open, ideally front-facing so that the only light coming in is from streetlamps outside. Lie on bed, put on best headphones, enjoy.

it's a load of drivel. but the albums are good, okay, trust me

i hate to say an album is a "grower" but really what happened is that i listened to it through some bangin headphones and it took on a whole new life. "be above it" has this amazing bass sound throughout. By the time I got to "Keep on Lying" i was thoroughly impressed by how deep and warm (yet simple) the bass walked all over the thing. I know they're not fully reinventing any wheels or anything, but putting this on at full decibel on the Bose speakers in my car has turned it into the best of the year. I loved Innerspeaker, too. This is definitely way over the top, but it works (for me!)

I might if/when I have time

I thought I was going to have to give it a few more listens to see if it would displace The Twilight Sad at number 5. But then I realised I'd completely forgot about the Jogging album, which is acer.

Queen Black Acide and Tithe are my favourites, the kind of songs where every single element is interesting - great bass, drums, lyrics, guitars, angular but melodic ... man, I need to hear them again now

Are part of the reason why it all sounds so dreamy, rather than simply being an empty signifier.

Currently I rate R.I.P much above UTQC, but I will persevere.

1. Aesop Rock - Skelethon

I've loved this guy for years and I think he's had some issues overcoming people loving his early work and sorta forgetting about him. But this is one of those records you only make once in your lifetime, which deals with break ups, death and more importantly how you deal with those. He also dealt with leaving labels and having to produce his own work on a budget and it's a great record because of, not despite of, that. Lyrically dense as ever but musically warm, humorous, continually rewarding and the kind of album you could never write in your 20s, it's just glorious. I find something new every time I put it on.

2. BATS - The sleep of reason

I found this band because of these boards and bloody love them. It's been a pretty good year for rock but this is just great fun. All over the shop, energetic, frantic, inventive, danceable, loud, quiet, intricate, brash... I honestly don't know how it crams so much in. Lesser bands would have made this into an entire career. Basically, it's the fucking nuts.

3. Hot Chip - In our heads

I hated Hot Chip at first. Like, really hated them, presuming them to be utter frauds. Now, I think they're one of my favourite bands ever and they just get older and wiser. There is so much to love here and they're now regularly nailing ballads, chucking out brilliance such as 'Flutes' as an aside and crafting whole albums instead of great singles populated with vaguely fleshed out ideas. The best British electro pop band since New Order.

4. El-P - Cancer for cure

It's easy to overlook this one as it's not his grand opus maybe, BUT it's so much fucking fun. Samples every few seconds, deafening, relentless and so, so slickly produced. Putting on an El-P record is always a joy but it's great to hear him having fun and being more direct. I come back to it every few weeks.

5. Swans - The Seer

You know what, in hindsight I should have had FOTL here as I've spun it every other week all year long. BUT The Seer is one of those albums. It's like Scott Walker's Drift or that double operatic Knife album about nature. When it does click, it's amazing. I got stuck on a train the other day and got to listen to the whole thing solidly from start to finish and it was absolutely brilliant. Taken as a whole in the right frame of mind, for me it's a 10/10 for it's breadth and sheer 'fuck you' length. When not in that frame of mind however, it's a 7/10, could do with being a disc shorter and most songs being cut down to 4 minutes - which is actually more often than not. But because it is sometimes just so amazing, it deserves the love it gets, even if I personally rate the studio record beforehand FAR higher on an average day.

I genuinely feel a bit wrong leaving out Orbital (one of the best comeback records ever), FOTL (really brave record striving to do something different and 75% of the time succeeding), Four Tet (I know it's a bunch of singles, but they're FUCKING GREAT singles), but hey. Been a good year in my book...

in every way.

well, it's just riffs and guitars and I like that - unpretentious at least.

it makes it cold and empty, but of course it's IMO.

Maybe the NME loving it put people off?

numpties.

haven't listened since the hot bit of summer because it sounded so good then and I didn't want to spoil it in the rubbish weather.

also: why is everyone forgetting 'Oaklandazulasylum'?

because their dreamy Italo-house evocations emanated as if from the grain of a noirish cityscape, a romanticised vision of the metropolitan night.

it feels like the city have had the cleaners in, scoured the dregs of seediness, whitewashed the imperfections and any emotion with them.

1 to 20:
Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Jack White – Blunderbuss
Bob Dylan – Tempest
Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Here
Green Day – !Uno!
Japandroids – Celebration Rock
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
Mumford & Sons – Babel
Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth
Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
Best Coast – The Only Place
Dr. John – Locked Down
Cat Power – Sun
John Mayer – Born and Raised
Nas – Life is Good
Band of Heroes – Mirage Rock
Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music

but I can see what wonton is getting at - just as we think the reverb has been used to hype up the dreaminess of one, so could the dirt and fuzzyness of CN be seen as an attempt to seem more gritty and serious and weighty

I finally gave it a listen and it's pretty great.

but I think that in the case of CN the 'dirt and fuzzyness' appear quite easy going and flowing - there's no pretence in the simple riffs and guitar licks. I always felt Attack was a straightforward, immediate record and I like it for this.

With Chromatics ... the effects jar, that's as simple as that.

I could name 5 if forced...but I haven't give some of these as much time as others

Mount Eerie (Clear Moon) Actress (R.I.P.)
Tame Impala (Lonersim) Flying Lotus (UTQC)
Beach House (Bloom) Purity Ring (Visions)
Port St. Willow (Holiday) Holy Other (Held)
How To Dress Well (Total Loss) GY!BE (Allulujah)
The xx (Coexist) Twin Shadow (Confess)

Visions was cast off due to inconsistency

and played around with it in gaps at work. Can't be bothered to format, ignore the numbers on the left, the numbers on the right are total score.

Top 50:

5. Chromatics ´Kill for love´ Kill For Love 88
1. Swans The Seer 80
5. Japandroids, Celebration Rock Celebration Rock 70
4. Sharon Van Etten Tramp 64
2) Cloud Nothings Attack On Memory 62
1.Frank Ocean: Channel ORANGE Channel ORANGE 62
2. Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city 62
3) Liars WIXIW 59
5. Grizzly Bear: Shields Shields 50
2. Grimes ´Vision´ Visions 43
1) Beach House: Bloom Bloom 40
3. Deftones Koi No Yokan 39
4. Django Django Django Django 38
5. Purity Ring Shrines 34
1. Death Grips The Money Store 34
1) Godspee: 'Allalujah! etc.... Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! 33
4. Have Some Faith In Magic, Errors Have Some Faith In Magic 31
2. Tindersticks The Something Rain 29
4/ Flying Lotus Until The Quiet Comes 29
1. Perfume Genius Put Your Back N 2 It 28
1. Future Of The Left the plot against common sense 28
5) Hot Chip In Our Heads 26
1. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel The Idler Wheel 26
3. The Walkmen Heaven 24
4. Killer Mike R.A.P. Music 24
2. John Talabot ƒin 23
5. Polica Give You The Ghost 22
1. The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know 22
2/ Burial Kindred 21
2. Diiv Oshin 21
3. Firt Aid Kit The Lion's Roar 21
1. Alt-J An Awesome Wave 20
2. The Men Open Your Heart 20
2. Jessie Ware Devotion 18
5. Tall Ships Everything Touching 18
3. Metz Metz 18
2.Shearwater Animal Joy 17
4. Twin Shadow Confess 17
3. Laurel Halo Quarantine 17
1. BATS The Sleep of Reason 17
5. How To Dress Well Total Loss 17
4. School of Seven Bells Ghostory 16
1. Piramida, Efterklang Piramida 16
1 Lotus Plaza Spooky Action at a Distance 16
4. Converge All We Love We Leave Behind 15
5. Julia Holter Ekstasis 15
3. Title Fight Floral Green 15
1. Vessel Order of Noise 13
4. Dirty Projectors Swing Lo Magellan 13
2. Goat World Music 13

It's like "Pitchfork Reader's Poll..."

it's quite good but it's hardly reinventing the wheel

1.Title Fight - Floral Green: not actually a particularly spectacular album, but it's been a weak year and it's the one that stuck with me the most. What I love about this band is that they keep progressing with each record, and while they're hardly a revolutionary band sonically, they do what they do with such passion and aplomb that I can't help love it. Also every single track is a banger.

Converge - All Our Love etc: Because it's Converge, and they're one of my favourite bands on all time, they automatically get in

grizzly bear - cuz it's good and better than the overrated and top-heavy Veckatimest

El-p - cuz he finally taught himself to self-edit and not make a record 20 minutes too long.

The Men - considered putting Cloud Nothings here, but noticed no one really voting for them/it's a way more consistent record.

JUST MISSED:
Cloud Nothings - it's mostly great, couple of average tunes.
Mac DeMarco - actually really like this record (2)
SWANS - haven't given enough time, probably will end up being my favourite record or something

yeah that's it

It works pretty damn fine

'Veckatimest' is so much better.

didn't someone mention that 'Shields' was compromised? 'made to appease fans'...not even the same band, to me. the band that made the first two never budged from their vision.

I’m confused that you think ‘perfect execution’ requires wheel reinvention.

Darla <3

I think it's kinda like people forgetting that someone like Flaming Lips had released plenty of stuff before The Soft Bulletin. OR maybe not idk.

I really liked Eskimo Skin tbf.

thought that record was made for DiS loving

the very height of style over substance

...people use this phrase like a weapon, like it affords them some sort of pious plinth on which to stand and wield their worthiness.

sorry, not interested.

with regards to the Chromatics, of course its style over substance... somebody going to tell me Swans are any different? Fiona Apple, Sharon Van Etten, Frank Ocean? please... don't be so naive... its all varying degrees of affectation... (and for the record, i like all these records).

fortunately for me however, i often find there to be more truth in artifice, than in the bare truth itself...

art is artifice, let's face it.
There's no truth in it, just what the creator wants you to see.
What matters is, can they make you believe in it?

It's like a work of fiction, a good novel. Can you believe in the characters, the story?
This is where style and substance matters - it's always about style but can it match/meet the substance?
For my part, I think/feel (because let's face it, it's all about if you can feel it or not) Chromatics doesn't.
Not sure about Fiona, Frank certainly does and with some ease.
We could talk all night about this and not agree. :)

they're both shit compared to Yellow House

it's not perfectly executed. But it's mostly quite good.

...there's certainly truth in art... all art... just that each individual involved chooses (in some form) their own truth... but to argue over the concept of 'substance' feels hypocritical and absurd.

that said, Fapple kicks Focean's anus when it comes to feelings, man...

hold on a minute... did i just negate my entire argument?

I think there’s more to it than that, but hey ho. You heard this? Might be up your street. http://sswampzz.bandcamp.com/album/sleeper

they'll ever write a track as good as Colorado ever again.

i did it for my own benefit cos i fancied listening to some of the albums that were getting lots of votes, posted it here cos sean had asked. I reckon you can blame Evil Sean Adams for this.

Nobody has any damn patience anymore

...is how you exactly define what counts as 'substance' and whether or not the 'style' IS the substance anyway - the artist's attempt to utilise a particular style in order to create mood or generate a certain atmosphere.

In other words, there' an implicit assumption here that a song is bit like an egg with a wholesome thing called a 'substance' in the middle and a 'shell' of some style that covers it but that's incredibly simplistic. In truth, style and substance are incredibly interwoven to be indistinguishable.

disappointed we did this before the Truant EP
It's absolutely glorious

Though I'm not much surer of it than I was when I started this thread. In that time, Tame Impala, FlyLo, Beach House, Goat, Grimes have all been considered at some point, among others.

Total Loss is top because it seemingly continues to improve. I seem to discover a new shade to it each listen, it has many emotional complexities. I just hope when it is finally "solved" it isn't in any way disappointing. Equally one of the saddest and funkiest records this year.

Clear Moon is a brilliant, shorter, synthesis of all Phil Elverum's previous great work. Feels as natural as always even with added synth.

And everyone should check out Held by Holy Other, beautiful Burial-esque night music. Got me stoked for the Mister Lies debut in Feb, which is very much cut from the same cloth.

Merry Christmas.

but don't think any of my top five have/will be mentioned, other than Efterklang, who will likely be my favourite album. Pleased to see that four other people have put it as their number one also.

It's ace, if I'd heard it earlier it would most likely have made my list!

the lack of love for the Field Music, Trouble Books and Emerald albums.

saying that only Field Music is in my top 5.

out of those three

Unranked top 5, plus an unranked 7-12:

Bloc Party — Four
Now, Now — Threads
Moonface — Heartbreaking Recovery
A Place to Bury Strangers — Worship
Internet Forever — Internet Forever

Sleigh Bells — Reign of Terror
The Soft Moon — Zeros
Tamaryn — Tender New Signs
Cloud Nothings — Attack on Memory
Foe — Bad Dream Hotline
Cast of Cheers — Family
Japandroids — Celebration Rock

Thing about this year for me is that there's been a stack of 7.5-8.5 albums, but no real knock-your-socks-off, can't-stop-playing-it albums.

BP's latest is the closest, and possibly deserves an outright No.1 placing but after that, there's barely anything separating 2 through 8. I felt pretty bad cutting Sleigh Bells, Soft Moon and Tamaryn for the sake of drawing up a top 5.

1. Django Django - Django Django, 2. Sleigh Bells - Reign Of Terror, 3. Death Grips - The Money Store, 4. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Meat + Bone, 5. Future Of The Left - The Plot Against Common Sense

Mix: DJ Hazard - Fabriclive.65
Remix: Battles - Dross Glop
Compilation: Andrew Weatherall - Masterpiece
Collaboration: The Orb featuring Lee Scratch Perry - The Orbserver In The Star House
Comeback: Orbital - Wonky

B team: Liars - WIXIW, The Raveonettes - Observator, Clinic - Free Reign, Chain & The Gang - In Cool Blood, Errors - Have Some Faith In Magic, Peaking Lights - Lucifer

It really is a great shoegaze record...

It's amongst my top 20 (if I have such a thing). It's good, but I don't rate it as highly as the debut.

It's really strong around the middle, with Drag and Fifteen as the stand-out tracks.