ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

The Vessel album is great, it took me a while to get into it. It's got a nice balance of abrasive/blissed out sounds and I love dubby techno. I really loved the Luke Hess album as well, both of these I preferred to Actress. But I voted for The Lord's Grafitti in the tracks poll, just wished there was more of that on his album.

If anything's pointing the way then it's those Skrillex tracks that sound like Burial mixed with 90s coffee dance.

there's always been a coldplay element to much dance music

That would make Burial the Geneva of dance music.

Xpost

Who are the Pigeon Detectives of dance music?

For signposting purposes Burial can be the Radiohead of dance music which doesn't quite work for profile or range reasons but will have to do.

By the way if anyone with production skills wants to go out there and make fuckloads of money combining stadium EDM with blubstep then I will accept 30% of earnings for the idea so I can just sit about on a beach for the rest of my life.

I'm frightened of this.

Were Sunship the House of Love of dance music?

aren't people like C&S and Nero already close enough to this concept? it's all stadium blubstep at least...i guess they just need to incorporate that crucial 4-4 Alice Deejay element ugh

Not *sensitive* enough dude.

'Finale' by Madeon is totally Coldplaystep - it's not whiny or anything but the singer does sound a lot like Martin at times. I only heard it because it's on FIFA13 honest.

I think the sound I'm getting at would be equal parts Deadmau5, M83 and I dunno Jacques Greene or someone.

Maybe throw some post-Digital Love sad robots in there as well.

I've enjoyed most of the new things that this thread has made me check out, but jesus christ that wild nothing alb is unforgivable

great to see the cherry thing place, hopes of also seeing bill fay and fushitsusha are fading fast

Didn't James Blake have a pop at this a while back? Too leftfield I guess. He missed a trick.

James Blake had the mopeyness and sensitivity down but not the bombast.

<i>but jesus christ that wild nothing alb is unforgivable</i>

No way, that's one of my favorites! :(

Pull up a seat...starting up in 10

blubstep

^ gold star

Gribowitz (Lynskey) wrote this on thread what are all the subgenres/offshoots etc of UK garage? and how do you ID them? on board I Love Music on Oct 22, 2004

Shudderstep - bars of usual 4/4 garage are 'shuddered' every 4th bar using Pro Tools. No vocals, became popular in Croydon between March and April last year

Gitstep - Mainly a dance (done in clubs), wherein people tread randomly on each others feet (occasionally the shin)

Flange - Not very well known, this is native to It Will Grow Back hairdressers in Hackney wherein fast-paced MC's throw upwards of 60 flangers at varying speeds and depths onto "da mic" in order to confuse and excite the listenener.

Blubstep - Emo 2 step

Skwish - Particularly hard and nasty and made exclusively by people who spent most of their childhood shooting people for coins. Only white labels exist and you have to shoot people to get them, occasionally even the artists themselves.

Here's a class example if you don't believe me
http://www.coastaltown.nildram.co.uk/porl/Skwish%20Skwadz%20-%20Our%20Way%20of%20Life.mp3

Ssslllooowwwwstep - Timestretched student drolery

MintyStep - Shuffle controls on max and lots of bells and frogs and shit.

Pigstep - Wiley dressed as a pig

Swinestep - Wileys mates dressed like pigs

Orgioswineystep - Sex-based Wiley pig nonsense

Beast - Basically brickstep with a live drummer, lots of people called things like Beast, MC Beast, The Beasters. It's very beast-based.

Nostep - hipster slang for what's going on "outside"

Big Step - Big Star tribute band from Hull. Nice lads.

Step by Step - IMDB tells us that it was a Patrick Duffy sitcom, a 1948 Laurence Tierney film and an animated short

i need it in my life

77. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Centipede Hz (204 Points, 8 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
76. JEREMIH Late Nights With Jeremih (206 Points, 10 Votes)
75. BIGBANG Alive EP (210 Points, 6 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
74. DAPHNI Jiaolong (213 Points, 9 Votes)
73. TWIN SHADOW Confess (214 Points, 8 Votes)
72. VATICAN SHADOW Ghosts of Chechnya (216 Points, 7 Votes)
71. NITE JEWEL One Second of Love (216 Points, 8 Votes)
70. LONE Galaxy Garden (216 Points, 9 Votes)
69. NINA KRAVIZ Nina Kraviz (218 Points, 7 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
68. METZ Metz (219 Points, 10 Votes)
67. GUNPLAY Bogota Rich: The Prequel (220 Points, 9 Votes)
66. KATY B Danger EP (223 Points, 8 Votes)
65. LOWER DENS Nootropics (227 Points, 7 Votes)
64. ACTION BRONSON & PARTY SUPPLIES Blue Chips (230 Points, 7 Votes)
63. CHRISTIAN MISTRESS Possession (232 Points, 8 Votes)
62. GRIZZLY BEAR Shields (233 Points, 8 Votes)
61. LAUREL HALO Quarantine (246 Points, 8 Votes)

60. DIRTY PROJECTORS Swing Lo Magellan (254 Points, 8 Votes)
59. SHACKLETON Music for the Quiet Hour/The Drawbar Organ EPs (258 Points, 7 Votes, 3 First Place Votes)
58. CHIEF KEEF Finally Rich (262 Points, 10 Votes)
57. SILENT SERVANT Negative Fascination (277 Points, 11 Votes)
56. RICARDO VILLALOBOS Dependent and Happy (278 Points, 8 Votes)
55. ORBITAL Wonky (278 Points, 11 Votes)
54. COOLY G Playin' Me (282 Points, 11 Votes)
53. JAPANDROIDS Celebration Rock (290 Points, 11 Votes)
52. CONVERGE All We Love We Leave Behind (296 Points, 10 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
51. SUN ARAW & M. GEDDES GENGRAS MEET THE CONGOS Icon Give Thank (298 Points, 12 Votes)
50. NIKI & THE DOVE Instinct (306 Points, 9 Votes, 2 First Place Votes)
49. DEATH GRIPS The Money Store (307 Points, 12 Votes)
48. CLOUD NOTHINGS Attack on Memory (314 Points, 13 Votes)
47. FRANKIE ROSE Interstellar (316 Points, 12 Votes)
46. PURITY RING Shrines (320 Points, 11 Votes, 2 First Place Votes)
45. BAT FOR LASHES The Haunted Man (329 Points, 13 Votes)
44. BEAK> ">>" (332 Points, 13 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
43. ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI Mature Themes (334 Points, 12 Votes)
42. KILLER MIKE R.A.P. Music (345 Points, 14 Votes)
41. THE XX Coexist (352 Points, 14 Votes)

40. WILD NOTHING Nocturne (357 Points, 12 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
39. NICKI MINAJ Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (362 Points, 13 Votes)
38. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Transcendental Youth (368 Points, 13 Votes)
37. ANGEL HAZE Reservation (381 Points, 14 Votes)
36. CHAIRLIFT Something (382 Points, 14 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
35. LANA DEL REY Born to Die (392 Points, 11 Votes)
34. LE1F Dark York (396 Points, 12 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
33. NENEH CHERRY & THE THING The Cherry Thing (396 Points, 13 Votes)
32. VOICES FROM THE LAKE Voices From the Lake (419 Points, 17 Votes, 2 First Place Votes)
31. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Ghostory (422 Points, 14 Votes)
30. TAME IMPALA Lonerism (426 Points, 15 Votes, 2 First Place Votes)
29. MUNGOLIAN JETSET Mungodelics (428 Points, 15 Votes)
28. IAMAMIWHOAMI Kin (430 Points, 13 Votes, 2 First Place Votes)
27. SAINT ETIENNE Words & Music By Saint Etienne (434 Points, 12 Votes, 4 First Place Votes)
26. HOT CHIP In Our Heads (457 Points, 14 Votes)
25. BEACH HOUSE Bloom (470 Points, 20 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
24. ACTRESS R.I.P (473 Points, 17 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
23. BURIAL Kindred EP (479 Points, 16 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
22. JULIA HOLTER Ekstasis (503 Points, 18 Votes, 1 First Place Vote)
21. GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (510 Points, 19 Votes)

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

20. TODD TERJE It's the Arps EP (530 Points, 15 Votes, 1 First Place Vote) Spotify

Are we finishing today jf?

We are.

why are there so many more EPs this year?

[insert bullshit doglatin-esque theory about our diminishing attention spans]

good stuff jf

also it seems there are many people voting for the same bloody things in trax and albums polls

like why would you vote for a burial cut off a three-track ep AND the ep itself?

ditto katy b, terje

do they still do that in P&J?

disgusting savages imo

my personal bullshit theory: there are so many EPs on the list this year in the same way there are so many mixtapes this year, because they are a lower-risk release. So more artists are doing them and they've got more traction as a format - and maybe are more willing to do interesting things on them? so it's mostly 1. there are just more of them this year (and they are cheaper/free) and the list reflects that; and maybe a little 2. the EP as a format can itself be interesting bcz certain artistic choices are made and not-made.

that said, none of the EPs i got this year were particularly ~thematic~

I've been saying for years that people should vote for eps in album polls, and this was the year it stuck I guess. I'm still grumpy about that Burial SINGLE.

EPs also allow for faster release cycles?

we don't know it's the same people voting tbf

like there is only one person in the world who can release an album every single year and her name is Rihanna

Only EP I voted for was G-Dragon I think, but then again EP/Mini-Album seems to be the order of the day for k-pop.

igi it's 30+ mins of music, but...maybe I just don't like Burial. (Well, no...there's no maybe about it. Burial is lame.)

yeah i think there are definitely more EPs around that are more like mini-albums (and that's not even counting the r&b/hip-hop tendency to call something an EP which is obviously an album). i voted for one of each of those - dawn richard's "EP" is just not an EP in anything except name; ikonika's EP was nearly 40 minutes long, 6 tracks, as cohesive/coherent in its exploration of a particular aesthetic as any album, the quality consistent enough that there was no one standout track to vote for (and also because i voted for the EP i didn't vote for the track!!)

literally no excuse at all for katy b voters, that EP wasn't even a ~cohesive statement~ it was a grab-bag of 4 random songs

great to see the cherry thing place, hopes of also seeing bill fay and fushitsusha are fading fast

I know the rock stuff has been complete utter garbage so far and any Fushitsusha is better but feeling kinda underwhelmed by what I've heard - like there's more blues not enough no wave to them these days.

My impression from a couple of tracks tho'.

I'm glad for the rise of the EP again, the 'album' has always felt like a cludgy format to me

EP is a great format

Tracks poll has nearly 4000 posts, the albs poll may struggle to get up to 2500 => CLEAREST PROOF OF 'DEATH OF THE ALBUM' EVERYONE!

tracks poll was 4 days of clusterfuck

why are there so many more EPs this year?

[insert bullshit doglatin-esque theory about our diminishing attention spans]

― lex pretend, Thursday, 31 January 2013 13:17 (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I know this is pure trolling, but if I never said this and you don't believe it, why say it?

Clearly albums fans are more civilised and tracks fans are savages.

haha I don't mean to get on a THE ALBUM IS DEAD LONG LIVE THE EP tip, just sayin ~how I feel~

i love EPs, my point is more that it feels silly to compare some of them to albums