ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

Vatican Shadow has released SO MUCH STUFF this year, it's pretty hard to know where to start, or even what's what. I'm a fan of his power-electronics alter-ego Prurient who released a fantastic album about a year or two ago called Bermuda Drain. Ghosts of Chechnya I've only given a quick listen to, but it's very good. Not quite dance, not quite industrial, not quite ambient, there's a foreign affairs concept running through all these works which I like, and the music itself is plaintive, esoteric and very much something to get lost in.

(vat shad released another album this year which was a lot more industrial, which i couldn't get into - i've been vaguely aware of him for a while but not a fan til GOC, he seems to be quite prolific, i believe ghosts of chechnya is his first overtly techno-y album?)

Oh, almost all of that took place around xmas when I was out of town and away from computers.

lol @ this from the thread:

he says he started making Vatican Shadow tracks because... he wanted more Muslimgauze albums to listen to.

― 2am chopped top (brimstead), Tuesday, 25 December 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Surely the world has enough

haha

I think this guy needs to get out of his bunker and collaborate w/Diamanda Galas or something something

love that vatican shadow album!

that would be amaaaaaaazing

xp

For some reason I see him as the anti-Skrillex

this twin shadow album is real fucking drag on the first couple of tracks but five seconds is a pretty good song if you like that sort of thing - sounds like a cross between icehouse and john waite

five seconds was the track that placed in the tracks poll

lol it did sound familiar

Lol I always get Twin Shadow confused w Vatican Shadow

I get vatican shadow confused with gazelle twin

Vatican Gazelle

Vatican Gazelle will top next year's album poll.

100% Pitchfork DNP so far

http://i.imgur.com/1VSBYUC.png

71. NITE JEWEL One Second of Love (216 Points, 8 Votes) Spotify

I get them confused with Vincent Black Shadow (which featured a twin engine)

weird that Twin Shadow didn't place on pfork. didn't it get a glowing review or something?

Want to hear the last two for sure

voted for the title track off the nite jewel in the tracks poll, but a whole album of that was just a bit too much for me

I like what she's aiming for, but it's a really clumsy album.

i think i listened to Nite Jewel once through and left it at that, but its solid placing here is encouraging me to listen with fresh ears.

This is the first thing I'd heard from Nite Jewel and I haven't fully explored its many layers yet. From what I can tell it's a pretty complicated album that'll take a while to fully get to grips with. Her vocal style reminds me of early-mid 90s Madonna a little bit, and I like the production. Love the fact the album starts with the lines "I'm a broken record / You have heard this before", which I suppose is kind of brave, but it works.

whoa we got an early start today didn't we

nite jewel album was a misfire but i still have faith in her

I was the one who placed it at number one. It is probably the best thing anco has made since Here Comes the Indian (only Strawberry Jam might compete): Chaotic, weird and LOUD. And of course the whole indie-sphere recoiled and opted for safer ground. Yeah, I might have become more ardent about it because of it's response, but it is really great. They march in 7/4, shout 'monkey' at the rich, and dissapear into a mushroom forrest.

― Frederik B, Monday, January 28, 2013 12:41 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also yeah this is a good post, centipede hz is the first anco album i've liked at all and it's because they seem to be reveling in their quirks and weirdness rather than half-pretending to be a regular band.

One Second of Love was one of my votes - stripping away the hazy production was a brave move that I guess lost her some fans but it works for me. Patricia Rushen vibes are not entirely an unfashionable influence atm but at the same time the album feels quite singular. Autograph is a song I've had in my head for most of the year.

i just think too much of that album is kinda sleepy

Really didn't like the Nite Jewel record, which was a shame as I loved the previous one. The last track and the lead single are good but the rest lacked the depth of its predecessor.

Lack of hazy production = a good thing in my eyes, maybe why I like this. There's a lot of music that sounds a bit like Nite Jewel at the moment, but this is different in that even the slightly clunky bits are there bold as brass and not smothered in greasy sustain. See also the Laurel Halo album (which a lot of people, perhaps quite rightly, really hate) but could be seen as a statement against what has become the default practice of applying reverb and other fx by the spadeload.

http://i.imgur.com/g0APvrK.png

70. LONE Galaxy Garden (216 Points, 9 Votes) Spotify

For all those who found Inspector Norse too polite, may I suggest Lone's Galaxy Garden?

yay

also lol

Did you mean that the other way? Inspector Norse is a massively polite track.

Okay, I have no idea what this is. Thoughts from fans?

xp I thought he meant it was less polite than Norse? But I don't know...

DJP loves it. When I listened to it, it sounded like they have trouble finding the beat (for which I was promptly chastised). Whatevs, but I did not like it very much.

i tried with this, but it didn't grab me as much as the last album

basically it's a dude in 2012 making sparkly rave music with lots of gorgeous synths and samba syncopation

Did you mean that the other way? Inspector Norse is a massively polite track.

― Andrew Farrell, Monday, January 28, 2013 9:41 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no it was explained to me in the other thread that it's a rowdy upending of good taste to emphasize all the fun embarrassing elements of disco, apparently

lone falls under the "uk bass"/"FACT music" umbrella i guess? i listened to this album and thought it was better than the singles i'd heard previously, but there's something about the synths he uses that i find slightly...off, and i didn't return to it much.

i also didn't return to nite jewel much, i feel like i'm basically on board with her and what she's going for, but still waiting for that one song that'll blow me away

Liked the track 'Crystal Caverns 1991' but wasn't feeling the album.

basically Lone strikes me as what 808 State would be doing now if they were still a going concern, there's that same type of metallic reverb sheen across his tracks and a similar love of syncopation

i also didn't return to nite jewel much, i feel like i'm basically on board with her and what she's going for, but still waiting for that one song that'll blow me away

Yeah, I definitely feel like this with NJ. Though probably what we're waiting for is in completely opposite directions. ^__^

Crystal Caverns 1991 is probably the best track on it

btw this was like #18 on my ballot, I do like this album a ton but a bunch of better stuff came out this year

I never got round to Galaxy Garden although I liked the previous Lone album, is he still doing Black Dog-ish throwback techno?

The Vatican Shadow album is amazing and my first vote to place I think. Intrigued by Nite Jewel as well.