ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2015

I loved Person Pitch so much but just never felt the desire to listen to this one. Anybody want to tell me why I should?

― emil.y

I actually don't get people who don't get Person Pitch. Obviously there's just something in that sound he gets that resonates with me and not others (I have a whole poorly-thought-through thesis on 'individual tone resonance'), but it works for me so well that it just seems self-evident.

― emil.y

It didn't do much for me at first but I think in retrospective Person Pitch might be one of the 10 albums I like the most of the 00's. Not based on favorite songs but because it works as a whole for me, there's not a single moment I dislike in that album and it's one of the few from the past decade I still listen to without skipping anything.

Regarding the Grim Reaper album, it's still a great listen and there's some highlights in there but suffers from diminishing returns for me. I would have loved it if some of these songs had been released as a follow-up to Person Pitch but it's been 8 years and unfortunately the surprise factor is missing for me... when Person Pitch came out the layers upon layers of vocals and the fractured pop sound didn't sound overused, neither did the 'tropical' influence which in the past years is to be found all over indie-pop and even the mainstream. It's difficult for me to shut down context when listening to a new album... maybe if I play Person Pitch to someone who has never heard it before it will sound like the same old at this point, but back then it felt like it was using a sound that hadn't been revisited in decades.

Xp

Oh god... Should have seen this coming...

haha

hmm dumblonde hitting my hi-nrg spot

anyway the dumblonde is awesome. didn't vote for it, hadn't really played it enough to commit but glad its here.

The best friends are the ones you can surprise with Jute Gyte.

http://images1.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED19/4fd01e7f16aa1.jpeg

Hahahaha

every track on the dumblonde record does something different which sounds like a very boilerplate description but like really every track is doing something very distinct yet still within the realm of pop. it rules, i voted for it

yeah hard to pick a fav cos of that

LOL

I don't see why this is more necessary for 24tet music than for 12tet music tbh. A more trad classical music snob could surely say the same thing about a regular rock album with distorted guitars (and some do).

― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Tuesday, 26 January 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sure I mean a set of attitudes could be carried across to other things and it wouldn't look so good, but you know that can be ok sometimes.

I don't like half of the albums so far but it's a great poll so far. Lots of variation, the singles poll felt too homogenic for me this year.

As penance for making all of you think about Jute Gyte, I solemnly swear that we shall listen to the entire Dumblonde album tonight

This Dumblonde album is amazing and too much fun. Only discovered it when going through the Spotify playlist a few weeks ago. The production is just incredible.

well i'm very excited for that, lj

say what you want about ILX's "diversity for the sake of being diverse" schizophrenia but any forum with roughly equal love in their heart for f(x), Mbongwana Star, Tame Impala, Future, Tove Styrke, Jute Gyte, Stara Rzeka and Dumblonde is my kinda people.

dumblonde album is several fire emoji, the kind of thing you're not sure you like until you realize you like all of it

http://i.imgur.com/tOzhU0D.jpg

43 LOW "Ones and Sixes" (346 points, 13 votes)
Pitchfork - DNP / P&J - 46

this is a great run. imo this is the best low record since drums and guns

personal fav is 'waiting on you,' i think 'tender green life' is most representative, 'remember me' i found to be a v zeitgeist-adjacent entry point, 'you got me' for the more traditionalist dahnce heads

hey, something I voted for!

i'm not ready to listen to low again, too close to a certain period in my life, won't be able to help wondering if alan and mimi wear garments.

great, great album

so far Beast Mode is the only thing i've voted for (which is fine, really, it just means the 9 or so albums i know will make it are placing pretty high). it's nice to see it do this well, i've always felt kind of alone in preferring Beast Mode to 56 Nights and Monster.

something wrong with the scores maybe?

45 - 388 pts
44 - 388 pts
43 - 346 pts

gave up on stara rzeka after hearing the first song just now. it's not for me maybe.

trying dumblonde now... this is sounding cute so far. hey i should give this low record a chance too. they're classified as, what, slowcore iirc?

i've always felt kind of alone in preferring Beast Mode to 56 Nights and Monster.

yea i'm in the same boat

This Low album is fucking incredible

yeah i just caught that myself.
#45 stara rzeka should have 338 points, not 388.
Which means it tied with dumblonde for points but they get the nod with more votes

I know this is not a very good attitude but I can't even imagine something called Dumblonde being anything but crap

Low: most underrated album of the year IMO

this is probably the most stark and desolate Low album imo

say what you want about ILX's "diversity for the sake of being diverse" schizophrenia but any forum with roughly equal love in their heart for f(x), Mbongwana Star, Tame Impala, Future, Tove Styrke, Jute Gyte, Stara Rzeka and Dumblonde is my kinda people.

― ulysses

Yes, we might all disagree constantly unless you're hiding in the genre-specific threads but this is why I keep coming back here.

I don't see why this is more necessary for 24tet music than for 12tet music tbh. A more trad classical music snob could surely say the same thing about a regular rock album with distorted guitars (and some do).

Yeah I mean distorted guitar chords have a tendency to turn into indistinct mush anyway, you often can't hear harmony in a conventional sense, and they often sound fantastic in the process, but it's also why the 'but it's microtonal' chin-stroking comes across as a bit silly here, even before you get to the comedy goblin vocals.

(xpost) Now Low are the sort of Pitchfork-friendly indie perennials I actually approve of.

AAAAHHHH i never expected dumblonde to make it! it was a v last-min rise up into ballot territory for me but my initial "wow this is way weirder and more interesting than the non-dawn danity kane remnant had any right to make" reaction ended up in real love for its strange glitchy synthworld

"you got me" was always my #1 favourite, feels like a lost uk garage/house classic that would be right at home in a dj q set
"tender green life" what are the textures like on this song
"carry on" - what a closer. björkvoice: ALL FEAR IS BROKEN NOW / WE STAND AT THE DAWN OF REVOLUTION NOW [martial drums]

I know this is not a very good attitude but I can't even imagine something called Dumblonde being anything but crap

― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Tuesday, January 26, 2016 8:33 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why?

Xp I love the first song on Stara Rzeka but its a bit of a red herring per the rest of the album. Try these, davey:

https://youtu.be/PV6_OQb8zhA

https://youtu.be/bEhCARwK1Tg

Carry On is a stunner for sure

xp to lex

The Low was excellent but I didn't have it in my 25. Agreed best since D&G.

That Dumblonde album is fucking superb!

http://i.imgur.com/plsLjgV.jpg

42 DJ RICHARD "Grind" (350 points, 13 votes)
Pitchfork - DNP / P&J - 635

ok i'm just going to put my personal feelings about low here fwiw and i'm no stranger to liking the music of an artist whose beliefs i disagree with and i'm aware that this would elicit shrugs from almost anyone but... afaict they are half-in and half-out of mormonism which is total bullshit and unconscionable imo.

because it's just so dumb, idk? and dumb in way that makes it very unlikely the music on it is even remotely close to what I'm into

like, I'm sure that's how people react to a name like Pissgrave too

(to lex)

dj richard juuuuust missed my ballot but i really loved it, even more when learning how a lot of it was inspired by the effects of coastal erosion near his home

"savage coast" really evokes coastal walks in howling gales for me

because it's just so dumb, idk? and dumb in way that makes it very unlikely the music on it is even remotely close to what I'm into

like, I'm sure that's how people react to a name like Pissgrave too

― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Tuesday, January 26, 2016 2:40 PM (55 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is fine but also useless as a contribution

whereas something like Astrorgasm from the Inner Space is also dumb but in a different way and that wouldn't put me off checking it out

because it's just so dumb, idk? and dumb in way that makes it very unlikely the music on it is even remotely close to what I'm into

like, I'm sure that's how people react to a name like Pissgrave too

― moans and feedback (Dinsdale), Tuesday, January 26, 2016 8:40 PM (48 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'd assume anyone calling themselves dumblonde is pretty self-aware and not actually dumb tbh

omg this dj richard album RULES

dj richard is such a talented producer but this album never really took off for me.