ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

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

but it's not very loud its subtle

I know lots of folks on here have criticized the Beach House album for being yet another dream pop album in a year overstuffed with them, but I think their perfectionism really wins out here. Each vocal line is executed exactly the way it should be, each riff sounds great, the whole thing comes together extremely well for me.

This was right up there with Teen Dream in quality imo

I also came back to this album much more than any other this year.

beach house was good - i thought best coast was better

Big jump in votes, commensurate drop in enthusiasm. About right - if you've heard "Zebra" off Teen Dream, this album won't offer many surprises. But there's a place for comfort music, even on the tail end of my ballot.

It's definitely the same basic formula as Teen Dream, but I think they nailed it on this one where they just came close before.

i like them about the same. this one's a bit woozier

i don't see the point of beach house. cocteau twins did this so much better. more otherworldly tunes, a more hypnotic groove, a much more terrific voice.

You've put me in the odd position of defending Beach House, but I don't think they're even trying to approximate what Cocteau Twins were doing.

I was thinking Armor On could end up #1

― Dan S

Think this will be top three but Miguel has this.

i didnt discover sharon van etten until after i voted, but i really love Tramp-- anyone think it still has a chance?

General ilm consensus iirc is that her older albums are better.

I don't really get the Cocteau Twins/Beach House comparison, not that their music is completely different, but Cocteau Twins are luxurious and hedonistic, Beach House are wistful and melancholic.

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

24. ACTRESS R.I.P (473 Points, 17 Votes, 1 First Place Vote) Spotify

xp:
Cocteaus were more interested in drama. This is more a hypothetical Stevie Nicks working with Eno album.

Stevie Nicks working with Eno

If that were ever to happen, I think it would be a helluva lot more interesting than Beach House.

Actress was my #1. Love this album so much; totally grouped with SAW 85-92 for me (although it will be interesting to see if it stands up as well as that has).

Pat Benatar working with Daniel Lanois

huge amount of xposts to lex - I voted for both the Cataracs and Dev; thought there was more of an ILM buzz around the Cataracs but looking at it now it was swallowed up within the Dev thread and I think I had more IRL discussions about them after foisting that EP on people. Bah. OTOH ILx seems pretty uh suspicious of anything too trashily L.A.

Poll has gotten a bit mimsy after the Cherry Thing/VFTL, I enjoy one or two tracks by nearly all these artists but couldn't face a whole album of any of them.

too lowish

I like the Actress record a lot, but I have to confess that I don't out-and-out love it.

seems about the right placing for actress. my least favourite of his three records. surprised this is the one people suddenly seem to have got excited about - perhaps it's just a case of it being his third album and people are aware of him now.

listened to the actress record loads trying to crack it, but somehow none of it really stuck with me at all. all a bit too bitty as an album, and even the pretty tracks like jardin just felt like sketches. that said, i will give it one more go...

Controversial #23 coming up.

As in, if I'd realized it was really more a single than a proper EP, I'd have disallowed it.

http://i.imgur.com/8XGpX4I.png

23. BURIAL Kindred EP (479 Points, 16 Votes, 1 First Place Vote) Spotify

Well, it is 30 minutes or so long...

As in, if I'd realized it was really more a single than a proper EP, I'd have disallowed it.

Yeah, but it's also 30 minutes of music. (I didn't vote for it, just saying.)

It's 30+ minutes of music...

sorry, xposts

you naughty voters

Actress was my #1. Love this album so much; totally grouped with SAW 85-92 for me (although it will be interesting to see if it stands up as well as that has).

― toby, woensdag 30 januari 2013 22:38 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's good, but I doubt he'll ever make anything as good as "You Spin Me Round" or "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi".

Burial beating Actress is crazy.

The other two Actress albums are good, but this is much better, to me. Feel like The previous one actually got a lot more attention?

I didn't realize the songs on the flip were as long as they apparently are. Typically, though, if the a-side of a 12" has just one track, it's a single.

burial is in general very one-dimensional and then a three song ep in the album poll, boo. nothing against the organisers of the poll, you are doing a phantastic job.

I thought this was great. I liked that this was a significant evolution in his style from Untrue

length/number of songs is a shit determinant. If the artist calls it an EP, or a single, or an album, than go with it. I mean, this past year's OFF! album is 17 songs but only 15 minutes.

y'all are really into your grayscale dance music this year

i can understand burial being in an album list more than "danger"

that said both are EPs and deserve their own poll