ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

Farrah Abraham isn't old.

But with any vocal performance I'm obviously probably not getting the same thing out of it that someone like DJP does/can. Also a whole host of things that might really bother him will just fly over the top of my ears.

DJP has claimed iirc that Robert Smith is technically one of the greatest singers in rock history

really? robert smith is like my default singing voice really. kevin rowlands sounds technically better than smith.

kevin keegan sounds technically better than smith

Robert Smith is definitely a case of too much singing. Like thirty years too much imo.

does 2014 represent some sorta Cure nadir, see them dissed allova the place

Oh god I have such PINIONS here (not on Robert Smith, on "strong vocalists") but after 14 years, I know better than to air them on ILM.

Other than a handful of tracks I always found them tedious. Led to a big spat with my SO when I snuck away from a THREE HOUR live set at a festival to go and watch Mayhem on another stage.

oh that's a tough clash

not going to get into this either really. it doesn't, does that make you happy? but the context is a discourse where powerhouse virtuosos are marginalised in favour of those whose voices are more suited to being pliable tools for electronic producers to manipulate.

I would be surprised if your favourite powerhouse virtuosos are not supercharged by manipulation, wouldn't go so far as to attribute their powerhouse-status solely to their producers, but there's definitely a correlation

(Tori Amos + PJ Harvey OTM)

The acts I'm not familiar with, I have based my opinions on sampling a few tracks

JULIANA BARWICK - Boring. Sounds like that Beiber slowed down 800% thing but not as good.
FALL OUT BOY - Always had a soft spot but never been a full on fan. The singles are pretty good, will probably check out the whole thing at some point.
MELT-BANANA - Not the kind of thing I'd generally listen to, but I can definitely see what's good and interesting about this. Made more sense when I realised they are Japanese.
BILL CALAHAN - Not my kind of thing at all.
LORDE - Royals is certainly a pretty tune.
THE OH SEES - Never been a fan of the wimpy floaty vocals over hardish rock thing. There are some nice riffs in here though.
FOLLAKZOID - Don't often have the patience for this kind of slow-building shit. Sure it's good live/really stoned.
GORGUTS - nice to see here. Gives me hope that Carcass will place.
KELALA - Listened to this the other day and really enjoyed it. Solid vocals and songwriting, the real star is the production.
CUT COPY - Got no beef with the groovy acid house beats, but the singing is horrid.
f(X) - K pop huh? This first song is infectious and a bit mad, I like it.
DANNY BROWN - Seems like a laugh
FACTORY FLOOR - Feels like I'm sober, in a bad mood and have mistakenly wandered into a basement rave in Dalston.
CIARA - Liked a few of her early tunes, pretty indifferent now.
PARQUET COURTS - So out of my realm that I don't really feel qualified to comment.
K MICHELLE - Fine. Her vocals seem a bit lacking in subtlety.
ARTIC MONKEYS - I don't mind the Artic Monkeys.

So of the stuff I haven't heard before the East Asians are winning.

does 2014 represent some sorta Cure nadir, see them dissed allova the plac

people have been dissing Robert Smith's voice since forever

the trax thread featured a Wilco dis that was widely (and hilariously) misread as a Cure dis.

criticizing k michelle for lack of subtlety seems to be missing the point somewhat

Ha, probably. I only listened to two songs.

Föllakzoid sounded okay to me but modern reverent Krautrock homage is just a sound I'm bored of by this point, it's filed away under "this is good but there's no way I need another record that sounds like this".

yeah id agree with that. its good but not exactly essential.

FACTORY FLOOR - Feels like I'm sober, in a bad mood and have mistakenly wandered into a basement rave in Dalston.

A+++++++ :-D

i love the factory floor rekkid. so relentless and intense.

sleeve OTM re: Chris & Cosey namechecking

Nothing Ciara has done sounds remotely like D'Angelo

― raggett neds of your summer dress (The Reverend), Monday, January 27, 2014 9:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah not even close

― Spottie, Monday, January 27, 2014 9:35 PM (Yesterday)

you goofball pedants, this is like somebody telling me that Chris and Cosey sounds like TG (which I would, of course, vehemently refute). you're so close to your genre of choice that you can't see how people with no familiarity *at all* view it. I was impressed that my wife knew the name of any famous post-70's R&B singers at all, and slow jams are slow jams to the general public.

standby

http://i.imgur.com/wRhgSCv.jpg?1

60 DONATO DOZZY Plays Bee Mask (311 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote)

Spotify

^^^ good album

i am intrigued

1st track is very pretty, I was surprised when the album got more intense later on

Wow, surprised to see this make it. This was a very late addition to my list. Beautiful album.

So it's a set of remixes of a 12" by Bee Mask from 2012 (iirc), turning gnarly electronica into blissed-out electronica (iirc). I voted for it but haven't listened in a while...gonna go do that now.

it's okay, nothing special. kind of got the follakzoid factor in that it's good but I can't get super excited by it. Think i prefer Beemask on his own really.

*15 minute break because i'm gonna go eat breakfast*

First/only thing I've heard from Dozzy, I know people liked that Voices From the Lake album but I never got round to checking it out.

The last remix track on here is stunningly gorgeous.

i have never heard of this. i like the cover tho.

loved VFTL and some donato dozzy singles from the heyday of mnml but saw mixed reviews of this and wasn't really enthused by the concept so never checked it out...expect i'll like it fine if i do but that individual youtubes might not be the point

I havent heard this. Is Dizzy involved with Voices From The Lake? That album never did much for me tbh.

I like it more than the Voices From the Lake album. It's way more accessible, probably down to it being half an hour shorter.

http://i.imgur.com/lVXHEMw.jpg?1

59 JOHN GRANT Pale Green Ghosts (315 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)

Spotify

WAY TOO FUCKING LOW

Loving this. Just busted out some Emeralds this morning. Seems like this would fit really well with that.

by which I mean the damn bee thing, not the beardo.

my fav d. dozzy in dancefloor mode was always "gol", from...wow, 2007 :/

whoa this is way lower than i expected for john grant!!

I know we've moved on, but since everyone loves/hates these rundowns:

77 JULIANNA BARWICK Nepenthe - floaty, hazy, drifty. Nice, but not enough to hold my attention.
76 FALL OUT BOY Save Rock and Roll - is this prog emo? I appreciate their verve, but I can't say that I wholeheartedly love this
75 MELT-BANANA Fetch - this is growing on me. it may still be too insane to be enjoyable, kind of like Deerhoof minus the song craft, but I'll keep checking it out.
74 BILL CALLAHAN Dream River - I really, really need to get this
73 LORDE Pure Heroine - I kind of regret voting for this because my interest in it has waned considerably
72 THEE OH SEES Floating Coffin - a nice twist on the garage formula, just original enough to keep me listening.
71 FÖLLAKZOID II - makes good background music, I like the wobbly sense of time
70 GORGUTS Colored Sands - need to give these guys a second listen, not sure if I can get past the vocals because I'm a metal wimp
(tie) 68. KELELA Cut 4 Me - eh, not enough there for me
(tie) 68 CUT COPY Free Your Mind - haven't heard, probably will skip
67 f(x) Pink Tape - lots of nice production touches and interesting chord changes.
66 DANNY BROWN Old - haven't heard yet
65 FACTORY FLOOR Factory Floor - this is my shit
64 CIARA Ciara - haven't heard
63 PARQUET COURTS Light Up Gold - I had this on my playlist for a while and just couldn't get with it, the whole Pavement/slacker vibe is pretty far from where I'm at these days
62 K MICHELLE Rebellious Soul - I like the raunchy tracks, she knows how to get straight to the point!
61 ARCTIC MONKEYS AM - always frustrated when bands downshift into midtempo groove mode

Pale Green Ghosts - I really need to take more time over it. Wasn't sure about the swipey r'n'b pastiches, but Glacier is a track of the year for me, and the recent video is really something.

some nice chocolate lime vibes going with that album cover

EVERYONE LISTEN TO THE JOHN GRANT ALBUM RIGHT NOW, IT'S FUCKING INCREDIBLE

SHAME ON ALL OF YOU

xp: "swipey r'n'b pastiches" <--- what the hell are you talking about here

I mean, are we actually now at a point where people hear a drum beat and go "oh, r'n'b" because that's the only way that comment makes any kind of sense to me

pale green ghosts is def the album of 2013 i feel like i didn't give enough of a chance. DL got me into queen of denmark from a previous poll (when it...didn't place iirc?) and it hit me really hard; i thought pale green ghosts was awkward and inconsistent in comparison (the electro touches...nahhhh). but i think my life was overly busy and hectic when it came out and i didn't even spend enough time with its high points. will rectify!

he still has an incredible voice tho

I like the Dozzy record just fine but there was a bunch of other electronic records this year that I ended up loving a lot more. Re-listening now though and it does sound great.