ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

she was better when she was xtina

haha otm

Kin grew on me more than any other album in 2012. Ended up in my top 5 despite being really rather unimpressed by it initially.

From the name I assumed they must be some metal/indie act which has put me off checking them out.

listening to the voices from the lake that's on spotify -- the combination of artificial sounds and natural sounding sounds is pleasant. i like it -- there's a weird heartbeat effect that is making me kinda anxious though!

i can't really get into this; not sure why tbh

xxp Does have a touch of iLIKETRAINS, or w/e it was, about it. Excellent Swedish electro-pop though.

Is there a particula track to check out first?

r

I only have time to dip in and out of this during the rollout, but I just want to say that I am enjoying the grayscale debate as a sideshow to the poll. Discussions of thread aesthetics are one of the things that set ILM polls apart from the rest of the world.

I'd recommend "Play". xp

"Goods" would be another fine choice.

thx

Her best track so far (imo) came prior to the album. It is called ";John" (yes, with the semi-colon).

I like iamamiwhoami well enough, but I don't really get how this would place higher than Purity Ring, which is very similar, but better executed.

more people voted for it

lol

waaaaay too low for the chairlift and neneh cherry albums

what ended up being the deal with this shit? just some random woman?

Middling Swedish singer-songwriter. Not unknown but no profile to speak of outside of her home country.

wait was this the band/person with a series of mysterious youtube vids a year or 2 ago/

the grayscaling of the covers could be seen as a "democratic" gesture. now all albums look similar. even the coloured ones are black and white. before the black and white ones were set apart, now their aesthetic has "won" which actally destroyed their special appeal.

It's Jonna Lee. She'd released some albums under her own name of folkie/coffee shop pop before this. xps

And I'd largely given up hope. Yes, its opaque vaguely unsettling synthpop, but no, its not The Knife rip musically. This stuff has a lot of antecedents. The songs are melodically catchy (and more immediate there than The Knife) but stay well this side of saccharine.

Novel promo strategy where the albums (this is a followup to bounty, which will get a 2013 physical release) are conceived as audio-visual suites first, slowly rolled out over months of YT videos. But Kin's a grower even on earphones.

http://i.imgur.com/q5usjHC.png

27. SAINT ETIENNE Words & Music By Saint Etienne (434 Points, 12 Votes, 4 First Place Votes) Spotify

Saint Etienne fans don't fuck around. 1/3 of all votes cast were first place votes.

Hi there! 1 of 4.

I love Saint Etienne but I wasn't overwhelmed with what I heard from this. Maybe the whole meta-pop thing has got boring for me.

hadn't looked closely at it before, but that is a good album cover for playing name the artist

what is there still to come?

definitely
bob dylan
neil young
django django
frank ocean (#1?)

Because 90s handbag house invokes nostalgia just as easily as Sandie Shaw covers.

frank ocean will not be #1, miguel will

listening to "on the border" by saint etienne - why is this woman talking so much? is this an audiobook?

definitely
bob dylan
neil young
django django
frank ocean (#1?)

none of these will make it except frank ocean

django django for #1

definitely for #1

I think everything in my top 10 should place except for Richard Skelton and Four Tet (can't imagine that Skelton had more than a handful of voters). There are at least 6 albums on my list that are surely still to come, so yeah, I think Dylan is v implausible.

john talabot will be in the top 5 surely

didn't hear the richard skelton, loved landings though and voted for it in whatever year it was when it came out

You knew it was coming...

http://i.imgur.com/9NCDitX.png

26. HOT CHIP In Our Heads (457 Points, 14 Votes) Spotify

I'd been thinking Leonard Cohen would place but we're probably a bit too high for that now.

Is it just me or is this a very electrodribble kind of day?

FWIW I think this is the best Hot Chip album.

i never understood the love for saint etienne. their music is so samey and vacuous. their best song isn't even theirs. only love can break your heart.

matt dc otm

I sort of find myself agreeing with alex in mainhattan here. Ouch.

I can think of 5 albums that are surely top 5, Talabot being one of them. (Presumably it will be the highest placed bobbins as a consensus pick? Can't see Blondes/Lindstrom/Actress beating it, and starting to wonder if Actress might not even place.)

the hot chip seems to be half-interesting.

I will be mad enough when Kendrick doesn't win but if he shockingly places out of the top 3 I will be livid