You could have it so much better.....with the ILM albums of 2005

i don't understand the cross section of people who voted

i don't understand why some of ILM's most vocal personalities didn't vote, and i think that's what might give the list a rather skewed feel. still, i am thoroughly enjoying it, odd though it might be. top work, billy.

50. Smog - A river ain't too much to love
49. Franz Ferdinand - You could have it so much better...
48. Maximo Park - A certain trigger
47. Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
46. Annie - Anniemal
45. Juan Maclean - Less than Human
44. Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask
43. Daft Punk - Human after all
42. Bright Eyes - I'm wide awake it's morning
41. My Morning Jacket - Z
40. Tom Vek – We have sound
39. Alan Braxe & Friends – The Upper cut
38. Konono no.1 – Congotronics
37. Stephen Malkmus – Face the truth
36. Ellen Allien – Thrills
35. The White Stripes - Get behind me Satan
34. Missy Elliot – The Cookbook
33. Fiona Apple =- Extraordinary machine
32. Patrick Wolf – Wind in the wires
31. Madonna – Confessions on a dancefloor
30. Low - The Great Destroyer
29. Sigur Ros - Takk
28. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
27. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
26. Kelley Polar - Love songs of the Hanging Gardens
25. The Clientele - Strange Geometry
24. Ladytron - The Witching Hour
23. Saint Etienne - Tales from Turnpike House
22. Out Hud - Let us never speak of it again
21. Sleater Kinney - The Woods

Top 20 TBA

- predictions?

(only two that I voted for made the list so far)

Others yet to make an appearance that'll probrably be in the top 20: Robyn, Gorillaz, New Pornographers, Rachel Stevens, Girls Aloud, Spoon.

i'm assuming "funeral" will be in there too.

i'd love to think that the meshuggah album will roar into the top ten, but i fear that's wishful thinking. bastards. still, it was terrorizer's #1, so at least someone somewhere is hailing the awesome power of riffular prog-metal magic \m/

I listened to Francis the Mute today for the first time since it came out. It's a very funny album.

Shortwave Set an outside bet? Everyone who heard it seemed to like it.

ILM TOP ALBUMS OF 2004

I didn't want to jinx it by saying so, and I didn't want to be wrong, but yes, I think so. There is a strong Kate Bush cult around here, though it might not be visible to people who don't click on the relevant threads.

first up the 10 most likely to show up in the top 20:

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
M.I.A. - Arular
Kate Bush - Aerial
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
Vitalic - Ok Cowboy
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Animal Collective - Feels
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem

the next 10 IS difficult to judge, so here are some candidates with comments:

Common - Be [Is rap still popular asks Geir?]
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene [Is this too generic indie rawk to show up in the top 20?]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah [Have enough ILM types voted for Pitchfork approved Talking Heads karaoke?]
Gorillaz - Demon Days [Does ILM like fun? OR NOT ]
Isolée - Wearemonster [Have the dance types voted in enough numbers?]
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain [Where are the Noise dudes?]
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema [Canadian Indie on a zillion blog / webzine lists]
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow [Will enough people vote this into the top 20?]
Robyn - Robyn [A long thread on ILM suggests this is popular]
Kanye West - Late Registration [Is rap still popular asks Geir?]

Some other candidates/ Outsiders: [remember there were over 500 albums voted for] will any of these be in the top 20:

The Shortwave Set - The Debt Collection [have a cult following on ILM]
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute [is this too prog to be popular for ILM ?]
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree [has a cult following on ILM]
The Decemberists - Picaresque [tuneless tripe that is popular with indie types]
Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites [Can these Danish art-rockers gatecrash the top 20? unlikely ]
Dälek - Absence [Did enough people remember this?]
Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs [Seems to be on a zillion indie rock lists]
Jesu - Jesu [too obscure for the ILM Top 20?]
Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations [Never understood the appeal of this lot]
Spoon - Gimme Fiction [North American Indie rockers seem to rate them]
Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die [Twee bollox]
The Books - Lost and Safe [Popular on some other polls]
Elbow - Leaders of the Free World [Do Elbow have enough followers on ILM?]
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us [Lacked substance, and too early in 2005 - faded away]
Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft [Another band with a cult following on ILM]
Colleen - The Golden Morning Breaks [Has a following on ILM, but not enough for the top 20?]
New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call [I don't think this will be the top 20 as it got a mixed response on ILM]
Goldfrapp - Supernature [this album had a mixed response on ILM]
Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue [Wine bar Muzak]
Black Mountain - Black Mountain [Have some following on ILM, but NOT enough for top 20]
Röyksopp - The Understanding [Unlikely to be in the top 20]
CocoRosie - Noah's Ark [Unlikely]
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures [I don't think this will make it]
Clor - Clor [Not enough support to make it]
Mu - Out Of Breach (Manchester's Revenge) [Did the dance types vote for this?]
Jan Jelinek - Kosmischer Pitch [A slow burner, gradually picking up kudos towards the end of the year]
Field Music - Field Music [Not enough support to make it in the top 20]
Opeth - Ghost Reveries [On other polls this is the most popular metal release of 2005. Metal has never done well on ILM polls, the same dozen or so people stick to the Rolling metal thread throughout the year in their own special world, so unlikely to dent the top 20]
Ulver - Blood Inside [No chance - too obscure for ILM]
The National - Alligator [Has done well on other polls]
Jaga Jazzist - What We Must [Superb album but highly unlikely]
Rachel Stevens - Come And Get It [Will the pop-ists vote gatecrash this into the the top 20?]
Girls Aloud - Chemistry [Will the pop-ists vote gatecrash this into the the top 20?]

Billy, are there any albums in the top 20 ? NOT listed on this post.

sovietpanda OTM re:Clientele. I feel like one could not approximate a closer feel to the most absolute boring side of indie pop. A friend told me listening to Death Cab for Cutie is like watching paint dry to him. That's what the Clientele is like to me. I only saw them open for Spoon, which is an unfair comparison to make, but I didn't want to hear their shit again.

Also, Simon... I too think Okkervil is a stretch, but if it doesn't make it here, I propose starting a thread devoted to its greatness and revelling in the imagery/world as if we were Trekkies or Star Wars geeks. I propose calling ourselves Okkies.

I expect certain people on ILM to be still listening to rap by the time anyone outside Bronx or Compton has long since abandonded the genre. :)

My prediction: 389

yup. and it didn't come out in the UK until 2005, which means it's eminently eligible. indeed, billy singled it out in his original blurb as one such example. i'd be very surprised if it doesn't make the cut. i mean: LCD soundsystem was in last year's poll too, remember?

spoon will chart highly, i'm betting. and i think that bloody new order record will get in there too, although it really doesn't deserve to at all.

i did put "waiting for the sirens' call" itself in my "tracks" list, but it's got no chance. like, er ... [counts on fingers] ... at least 85% of my track choices ;)

I find them unlistenable.

Yes! Watch this space.

20. Antony and the Johnsons - I am a bird now
(116 points, 12 votes)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/anthonybird.jpg

Comment:

I seriously think this record shares DNA with W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk. Both take me out of myself by provoking thought, empathy, and a kind of spritual meditativeness. Each is the work of a man fully inhabiting his current situation and transcending it in the process of documenting it. The complexity of feeling in "For Today I Am A Boy," as well as its rousing chorus (if you can call it that), makes it my personal favorite song on the album. Of course DuBois never had a piece devoted to the act of fisting. And holy shit, does Antony actually make it sound sweet? Yes, yes he does.

David Maher

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/twincinema.jpg

Comment:

other ilxors said:

The melodies on Electric Version still sound much more difficult to me, more complicated and tangled, and not as immediate. My second time through Mass Romantic (and The Slow Wonder), I already felt a strong familiarity with every track; some tracks on Electric Version took three listens just to gain perspective on where they were about to go after each measure. I personally didn't feel as familiar with it until maybe the fourth or fifth listen, and I was never as taken with it as I was by the first album. The new one seems like a pleasant middle-ground. Not as much power-pop throttle as MR, not as many twists/turns as EV.
Ryan Pitchfork June 19th, 2005 5:01 AM.

It's my favorite New Pornographers album, which is saying quite a lot since I really love Mass Romantic and Electric Version. I am quite confident in my opinion that Twin Cinema is a full-on masterpiece. It took me a few months to arrive at that opinion, though.
Matthew C Perpetua December 7th, 2005 8:08 PM.

Yes! Watch this space.

My prediction for the one not listed = Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit, given the indie-centric-ness of this list so far (it leaked early enough to get in, right?)

18. M83 - Before the dawn heals us
(141 points, 11 votes, 2 number ones)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/m83.jpg

Comment:

When M83 became Anthony Gonzalez's solo project, his band's life as a synthtastic "Loveless" clone came crashing to a halt. Setting the controls to "epic" for nearly every track, they broadened their template to include heart-crushing ballads ("Safe" might have been the saddest song I heard in 2005), sweeping, cinematic instrumentals ("Moonchild"); as well as surging, pseudo-shoegazer rock ("Don't Save Us From the Flames", "Teen Angst"). What's more, "A Guitar and a Heart" is the best song Loverboy ever made.
Barry Bruner

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c23/unterwasser/demondays.jpg

Comment:

other ilxors said:

an album made for summer dusk and heat and noise. driving around playing this in my honda- some tracks even sound better with the windows down and all the street noise
kephm August 8th, 2005 10:15 PM.

I'm enjoying it way more than I ever thought I would. That irritating voice-over by.....is it Dennis Hopper?, though, bugs the shit out of me.
Alex in NYC August 9th, 2005 1:12 AM.

useful memory jogger

stefan's 2005 albums metalist [NOW INCLUDING 150 LISTS)
http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/3172289350/show/580641

I'd say Jeezy & maybe Wayne are the only ones that have a chance.....maybe Run The Road. I wouldn't be sure there will be any considering the strong indie slant of this list.