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Urban 75's Albums of the Year... The Results!

I assume Swans will win, people were banging on about their gigs as if Jesus himself had appeared on stage or something.
it was amazing. fwiw i've seen the reformed swans a couple of times, and the last tour was nowhere near as impressive, so it wasn't just childlike excitement at seeing them or something.
 
5 The XX - Coexist

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While the critics raved over the first album, Urban knew better and ignored it. This is their first real classic, more subtle, more crafted, more powerful.
 
4 Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE

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A man who wrote songs for Justin Bieber has somehow got the number 4 spot on the year’s most prestigious list. Wikipedia says Ocean's music has been characterized by music writers as idiosyncratic in style.
 
3 Scott Walker – Bish Bosch

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You can't tune out of it, but neither is there a key by which you might ultimately 'understand' what Walker's getting at on his latest, not quite weirdest, masterpiece. From the opening, strangely gabba-like rhythmic monotony of 'See You Don't Bump His Head' to the Ceaușescu number at the end, there's no yield or compromise, no room to slip the music's gaze. Not so much late style as an old practice made stiletto sharp, this is an album of a depth and ambition that should, frankly, set a standard for contemporary art music. The oldest ever artist on the Urban list. Probably.
 
2 Actress – R.I.P.

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Everything on R.I.P moves with an easy grace, and even its most abrasive and oppressive tracks are astonishingly texturally rich. You could dive headlong into 'Serpent'. On the surface it's terrifying enough - four minutes of intense and hallucinatory techno, like a pleasant dream turned very nasty indeed. But listen closer, and Darren Cunningham keeps upping the magnification across its length, stacking up additional details - new harmonies, light percussive dustings of vinyl crackle - even as its swaggering central melody remains in focus throughout.
 
Okay, so you all think you know what it is. But do you?

Do you?

Where's the Dexy's? The Public Image? The Julian Cope?

Remember, as U2 taught us, everything you know is wrong!
 
Top 50


Swans The Seer 1
Actress R.I.P. 2
Scott Walker Bish Bosch 3
Frank Ocean Channel Orange 4
The XX Coexist 5
Chromatics Kill For Love 6
Godspeed! You Black Emperor Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! 7
Grimes Visions 8
Mala Mala In Cuba 9
Robert Hood Motor Nighttime World 3 10
Beach House Bloom 11
Raime Quarter Turns Over A Living Line 12
Carter Tutti Void Transverse 13
Singing Adams Moves 14
X-TG Desertshore/The Final Report 15
Captain Beefheart Bat Chain Puller 16
Eccentronic Research Council 1612 Underture 17
Grizzly Bear Shields 18
Om Advaitic Songs 19
Richard Hawley Standing At The Sky's Edge 20
The Internet Purple Naked Ladies 21
Death Grips The Money Store 22
Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland Black is Beautiful 23
Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II 24
Goat World Music 25
Voices From The Lake Voices From The Lake 26
Andy Stott Luxury Problem 27
Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball 28
Spritualized Sweet Heart Sweet Light 29
Laurel Halo Quarantine 30
Mark Lanegan Band Blues Funeral 31
Lower Dens Nootropics 31
Holy Other Held 33
Lone Galaxy Garden 33
EL-P Cancer 4 Cure 35
Public Image Limited This Is PIL 36
Liars WIXIW 37
Blondes Blondes 38
Andrew Weatherall Masterpiece 39
Dexys One Day I'm Going To Soar 40
Future of theLeft The Plot Against Common Sense 40
Moon Duo Circles 42
Dia Antwoord Ten$ion 43
JJ Doom Key to the Kuffs 44
Dr John Locked Down 45
Julian Cope Psychedelic Revolution 45
Vatican Shadow Ghosts of Chechnya 47
Dirty Three Toward the Low Sun 48
Julia Holter Ekstasis 49
Calexico Algiers 50
Magnetic North Orkney Symphony of the Magnetic North 51
 
The Seers wiki is updated already, I see. I imagine Scott walkers will be too, soon - can he ever have received such an accolade?
 
Top 50


Swans The Seer 1
Actress R.I.P. 2
Scott Walker Bish Bosch 3
Frank Ocean Channel Orange 4
The XX Coexist 5
Chromatics Kill For Love 6
Godspeed! You Black Emperor Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! 7
Grimes Visions 8
Mala Mala In Cuba 9
Robert Hood Motor Nighttime World 3 10
Beach House Bloom 11
Raime Quarter Turns Over A Living Line 12
Carter Tutti Void Transverse 13
Singing Adams Moves 14
X-TG Desertshore/The Final Report 15
Captain Beefheart Bat Chain Puller 16
Eccentronic Research Council 1612 Underture 17
Grizzly Bear Shields 18
Om Advaitic Songs 19
Richard Hawley Standing At The Sky's Edge 20
The Internet Purple Naked Ladies 21
Death Grips The Money Store 22
Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland Black is Beautiful 23
Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II 24
Goat World Music 25
Voices From The Lake Voices From The Lake 26
Andy Stott Luxury Problem 27
Bruce Springsteen Wrecking Ball 28
Spritualized Sweet Heart Sweet Light 29
Laurel Halo Quarantine 30
Mark Lanegan Band Blues Funeral 31
Lower Dens Nootropics 31
Holy Other Held 33
Lone Galaxy Garden 33
EL-P Cancer 4 Cure 35
Public Image Limited This Is PIL 36
Liars WIXIW 37
Blondes Blondes 38
Andrew Weatherall Masterpiece 39
Dexys One Day I'm Going To Soar 40
Future of theLeft The Plot Against Common Sense 40
Moon Duo Circles 42
Dia Antwoord Ten$ion 43
JJ Doom Key to the Kuffs 44
Dr John Locked Down 45
Julian Cope Psychedelic Revolution 45
Vatican Shadow Ghosts of Chechnya 47
Dirty Three Toward the Low Sun 48
Julia Holter Ekstasis 49
Calexico Algiers 50
Magnetic North Orkney Symphony of the Magnetic North 51

All a bit mainstream for me.
 
only one vote each for Tame Impala and Ms Apple.

There were 'many' votes - a couple less than last year, I think, but a fairly consistent number.

In a tight run battle, redsquirrel just fought off killerb and danny la rouge for the prestigious 'second best list submitted' award.

I'll stick up the Number 1's that didn't make it to the final list shortly too.
 
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