ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

I heard whatever the first single was from the AM album a bunch of times when I cursed to listening to satellite indie radio this summer. I never liked it, but I did catch myself humming it from time to time.

okay what the fuck, this first Arctic Monkeys song is kind of cool

I thought I hated these guys

oh wait, I've heard "R U Mine?" before as well, it's one of the tracks on Rocksmith 2013 and it's also great

huh

Follakzoid album is nice 'not really concentrating on what's going on' music. I mean that in the nicest way. Lex is right, perfect if you want to focus your mind on something other than music, but don't like eerie silences very much. I can imagine it being pretty neat live and loud!

the only albums I outright disliked today are Ciara and Parquet Courts; haven't heard the two non-Spotify entries

i think 'arabella' is actually my favorite AM track just because of how ridiculous it is

The last track -- a cover, I think -- sports stupid lyrics but is their prettiest song, and I didn't think I'd ever care for "pretty" AM.

it's the harmonies; they're using'em a lot on this album

im surprised at the arctic monkeys album placing. i dont like the singles ive heard from it. is this an album that just sounds better as a whole? "cornerstone" is the only song of theirs i really love.

The musical arrangements are great, too; not overly fussy, not stupidly simple, but sitting in this magical pocket of filling enough enough space to define the song without over or under doing it.

I am not really enamored of the falsetto singing on "One For The Road" tho

yeah i checked i dont like me, pay my bills, and sometimes too and they all had merits but after those four i was just a lil exhausted

Sorry, I've been out and I'm hours behind but can I just say a big FUCK YOU to everyone who decided that "spazz" was going to be the term du jour for Melt-Banana type things? Because... FUCK YOU.

oh yeah shit people WERE doing that weren't they

guys.

it's fucking psychedelic noise-punk-pop from Japan and u gotta cruise that ride

Sorry Engalond

are we talking about a term that means different things in the US vs. the UK?

... it does?

No, we're talking about a term that's just offensive. Full stop. Unless you want to provide me with a detailed etymology of where the US word comes from, because I'm pretty sure all uses have the same root here.

can i use the term "annoying" for melt banana without pissing you delicate souls off?

no it means the same and is offensive in both countries

i also want to fuck melt banana

CAD, you are welcome to use the term "annoying", hell you can use the term "shit" if you want.

C'mon you guys. Remember Tiger Woods putting like a spaz and all the trouble that caused?

xp - it's more "archaic" here -- we progressed to using the term "retarded" -- if that's what we're talking about?

wut

In the U.S., it wasn't used as a derogatory term. A person dancing jerkily is spazzing out, but I've never heard of a cerebral palsy patient spazzing out.

"A BBC survey in 2003, which found that "spastic" was the second most offensive term in the UK relating to disability (retard was deemed most offensive)."

we have a new slur so the old slur is okay to use!

(Don't) Putting Spaz

GREAT derail

it's amazing that language changes, and is different in other countries!

Ugh, okay, I've registered the fact that it is quite upsetting to hear a band you like being called (especially in praise) a derogatory term. I would hope people would take note of this and not act like children about their precious word being taken away from them.

In music news, for those who are getting into Follakzoid I would recommend the first record - I didn't vote for this one as it just didn't grab me as much, but they're pretty similar.

I don't like that term being used to describe music I like (it came up in the tracks poll thread iirc), I'd be thrilled if people here stopped using it.

whenever i think of that word i think of this thread: the snorg girl looks crazy

Actually, in America, Follakzoid....

pumped to see follakzoid here

I can see where emil.y is coming from. I once heard a band's sound described as "spastic funk", and even I winced.

Huh, there's a whole Wikipedia page documenting how the term "spaz" is considered much more offensive in UK than in US:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spastic

Follakzoid album is nice 'not really concentrating on what's going on' music. I mean that in the nicest way. Lex is right, perfect if you want to focus your mind on something other than music, but don't like eerie silences very much.
he was agreeing with me! good old invisible me.

anyway, super weird that people are all into arctic monkeys?!

Just catching up on the list.

Ciara - This for me is like most of her other albums, good but not great. Think I could make a brilliant 20 track playlist of hers and be happy with that. Livin' It Up is up there with C.R.U.S.H and Echo as one of my favourite songs she's done.

K. Michelle - I only played this once when going through a bunch of the nominated albums last month. I liked it but really couldn't get past how amazing V.S.O.P. was. Need to go back to it and check out the songs mentioned on this thread.

Arctic Monkeys - I like a decent amount of British indie but this band make me feel like Lex feels about all male indie bands. I've never understood the appeal of them in the slightest. I heard them describing it as a hip hop record before it came out then I heard the singles which were the same old thing just slowed down a little. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High sounds like a poor attempt at a Pet Shop Boys song title.

anyway, super weird that people are all into arctic monkeys?!

fwiw that only really lasted 5 songs for me but I'd still go back to the first two on the album

oh dear, these Lorde bonus tracks are... something else

77 JULIANNA BARWICK Nepenthe (270 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote)
76 FALL OUT BOY Save Rock and Roll (270 points, 11 votes)
75 MELT-BANANA Fetch (272 points, 10 votes)
74 BILL CALLAHAN Dream River (273 points, 9 votes)
73 LORDE Pure Heroine (276 points, 11 votes)
72 THEE OH SEES Floating Coffin (282 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
71 FÖLLAKZOID II (284 points, 9 votes)
70 GORGUTS Colored Sands (286 points, 8 votes)
(tie) 68. KELELA Cut 4 Me (295 points, 10 votes)
(tie) 68 CUT COPY Free Your Mind (295 points, 10 votes)
67 f(x) Pink Tape (300 points, 8 votes)
66 DANNY BROWN Old (300 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)
65 FACTORY FLOOR Factory Floor (301 points, 11 votes)
64 CIARA Ciara (308 points, 13 votes)
63 PARQUET COURTS Light Up Gold (308 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote)
62 K MICHELLE Rebellious Soul
61 ARCTIC MONKEYS AM (311 points, 11 votes)

I would have voted for the Parquet Courts album but isnt it a 2012 release?

discoveries
- the föllakzoid album, which really makes me think of neu!
- the title track of the cut copy album which makes me think of the good old baggy madchester days

i didnt really discover anything new in this batch but it did get me to listen to julianna barwick again which is nice

lol "pay my bills" is something else

okay I was starting to feel a full-on groundswell of hatred for Lorde thanks to the extended version but "Biting Down" is actually really, really cool and makes up for a lot of the nonsense that preceded it

Voted for: Föllakzoid, that's it I think
Happy to see: Julianna Barwick, f(x), Kelela
Haven't heard but will investigate further: Bill Callahan, K Michelle

Parquet Courts was released in 2012 but on a very small label and was reissued in 2013 which is when most people heard it.

Hot dang! (XP, also first-listening to 'Pay My Bills')