ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

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

prepare for lividity and disco

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

SPOILER It doesn't. I am listening to it right now for the first time and, as with his other recent albums, there are some fine songs but the recording is terrible and modern and generally displeasing to my ears.

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

^ Pretty much a dead-on description of the Chromatics album and I ended up loving that

The top three are surely going to be some configuration of Frank-Kendrick-Miguel.

there are some fine songs but the recording is terrible and modern and generally displeasing to my ears

Wait was this a deliberate Alex in Mainhattan parody?

Nah, it's troof.

So happy to see Kin place, I had given up on seeing it in the list. Well done everyone! The album is perfection, so not be put off my the name.

Hot Chip and Saint Etienne were also in my top five, this is my favourite run so far.

That was meant to say do not be put off by the name...I just woke up!

i want to run a betting pool on next year's poll

i liked the leonard cohen, no production in the world can destroy a leonard cohen album. except phil spector, maybe.

I was assuming that Dawn Richard and Taylor Swift were top 5, too, but presumably I'm overestimating the universality of their appeal.

bish bosch ftw

django django #1

I was thinking Armor On could end up #1

http://i.imgur.com/yjTdMI2.png

25. BEACH HOUSE Bloom (470 Points, 20 Votes, 1 First Place Vote) Spotify

next year i will commit ballot fraud

I expect Dawn to be top 10

I expect Taylor to beat out Kendrick just because I would find that rage-inducing, ergo that's the most likely thing that will happen in this poll

too low! (I gave it the first place vote)

"other people" is my favorite song on that beach house record because of the part right after the chorus where it goes DUN...DUN DUN...DUN DUN...DUN