ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

I'd prefer it if it wasn't for the Channel 4 youth drama samples.

i feel this way about Channel 4

I'm p much the same xp

burial is terrible, that is my opinion

ha. didn't vote for this but like i said on the trax poll, the first burial music that i've properly loved or that has moved me at all. it's the moment when the cheesy xmas piano straight out of "stay another day" comes in that i realised it was going to be good. a heartwarming christmas coming out story! actual ideas and emotion from someone who could have made the same EP over and over again to be lapped up by his fanboys, instead he puts out something that seemed to cause real consternation among them. glad he finally justified himself.

We already more or less talked about this in the tracks poll. I'd prefer it if it wasn't for the Channel 4 youth drama samples.

dude these are integral to the narrative

perhaps could've done without the entire lana wachowski speech at the end i guess

Earlier this year I was trying to make some more inroads on black metal (via the rolling metal thread - thanks again guys!). One day I was walking around with some metal in my head and thinking to myself that maybe what black metal needed was some more upbeat, positive vibes and colorful album covers. Aaaaand I guess somebody beat me to it.

Great EP that I didn't vote for because I limited my list to LPs. Surprised that the title track was the one people voted for in the other pill when to me the second two are more exciting / interesting.

The other poll*, I should say.

I like all types of metal vocals in limited doses, cookie monster, growling, gargling nails and lighter fluid sludge, hardcore shouty, including the having-limbs-torn-from-body shrieking, but mainly with black metal that goes with it better, and in limited doses. I think in general screaming is more effective when it's reserved for select moments, not all the time. Just like if someone screamed at you all day, you would just want to tune them out. Or murder them. Certainly doesn't go well with shoegaze.

Love this Burial record, did not vote for it because it's not long enough, I prefer giving votes to full lengths for some reasons.

Also did it really cause consternation amongst burial fanboys? Seemed to be well received everywhere I was aware of.

When I bought the Deafheaven album this summer, the registerperson asked for a two-word description of it, and I said "dreamy deathmetal." "Shoegaze black metal" would've been more accurate, but that's three words.

Voted for both of these, really enjoyed Sunbather as a post-rock album and Rival Dealer is beautiful, my favourite thing he's done.

Just reread what I wrote and it makes no sense.

Screaming is great. I just wish The Body would've been the 'not metal' choice instead.

xp: loool

agree with monotony that the second/third tracks on the burial ep were most interesting

http://i.imgur.com/XOqwd4w.jpg

29 HOLDEN The Inheritors (551 points, 20 votes)

Spotify

same, as an avowed fan of her first three albums and being really interested in where she'd go next i was surprised that hardly anyone else thought this was a let-down. i guess the lyrics might be there but the arrangements and especially her delivery were just so monotonous throughout and it just all blurred into gigantically overlong boring strumming for me

― lex pretend, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 11:34 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sorry to come back to Marling but that was my very first impression of the album, my key to um, unlocking the 'entertainment value' was really paying full attention to the lyrics and how the words worked with the melodies and structures of the songs. Once I did that, it made much more sense, especially when it comes to her voice and I can appreciate as much (ore more!) than the last three (which I find fantastic as well). Not saying you didn't give it enough of a chance but I think there is reward if you are okay with softer voices.

Burial has released nearly a dozen EPs since their last full-length Untrue in 2007. I tried catching up, but haven't made it through all of them yet, too much at once. I like Street Halo (2011), Truant + Rough Sleeper (2012) and Rival Dealer though.

i really urge everyone to listen to the holden album on headphones. i liked it beforehand anyway but when i did that it completely blew me away, esp on the clattery, percussive tracks like "the caterpillar's intervention".

the melodies in "blackpool late eighties" and "renata" are some of the str8-up prettiest things he's done but this album contains a vast range of stuff - unlike certain copyists, ahem jon hopkins ahem, holden actually seemed interested in pushing outwards and onwards from where he was when he first made his name

It's a post-rock album with screaming really.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 1:05 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And better drumming.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 1:05 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

usually i supply my own screaming

― Squidward Ka-Spel (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, January 29, 2014 1:06 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol :)

Miley Cyrus on this list; on any list. Seriously?

So i loaded it up on Grooveshark to see what I was missing...... listening to it now...... Autotune/Protools to the nth power, token urbanisms, urgent poser pop...... does this bookend in with the Jersey Shore crowd?

puke.

Cleansing my palette with Run The Jewels, still, I think i just got too old for ILM.

Not saying you didn't give it enough of a chance but I think there is reward if you are okay with softer voices.

i probably didn't give it as much of a chance as i could have - pretty sure you're right but there was also a lack of really interesting melodies/arrangements to hook me in

Voted for a Holden track (Blackpool Late Eighties, absolutely stunning) - the album was forbiddingly long though and after an amazing start petered a little...needs more listening, probably

bodacious ignoramus, so it's not just a clever name then

Yay a few good albums in a row. Think I voted Rival Dealer. Holden was a late, but very fun, discovery for me

I didnt get the Holden album when I listened to it (yes on headphones). im not too familiar with the guy although i was expecting something dancefloor-friendly (like his remixes). so i was thrown by the oddness and disjointedness of the album

"Blackpool Late Eighties" is such obvious me-bait on every level

Pet Shop Boys album is way too low, the Deafheaven album is incredible (the transition from 'Dream House' to the beauty of the second track is just a wonderful moment).

Anyone else hoping the Suede album pops up next?

― Kitchen Person, Wednesday, 29 January 2014 16:13 (1 hour ago) Permalink

I'm hoping it pops up soon, because I voted for it, but I'm not holding my breath.

I take back my point about Deafhaven being the most vacuous and insubstantial album on the list.

holden is pretty interesting. electronics + acoustic instruments is a hard sell for me so i skipped of the songs with sax solos but had a couple interesting times listening to it. definitely think it's a masterpiece of promotion, just reading about how he made it made me so curious

too many vocal tracks on the dj koze album

i don't think the Holden is quite on a par with his best work, but i rate his best work pretty highly

Just tried out the caterpillar thing and blackpool late eighties. Can't hang with this.

definitely think it's a masterpiece of promotion, just reading about how he made it made me so curious

i haven't read anything about this! (got into it late after the promo cycle was done as assumed he'd be stuck in a holding pattern from the mid-00s. a holden pattern.) got a link?

http://i.imgur.com/95mFTjS.jpg?1

28 TEGAN & SARA Heartthrob (559 points, 18 votes, 1 first place vote)

Spotify

the holden album seemed disjointed to me, too, but I'm going to give it another chance

That was a Burial zing, didn't notice Holden creep in here. The really amazing thing about the Holden rec is that the tracks were reportedly played live on modular synths with no overdubs. Do do that and produce this album is nothing short of incredible.

woah didn't know that. made my ballot which was unweighted but would've been pretty high on it if i had weighted.

so, tegan and sara!

haven't heard

really surprised to see Goldfrapp made it. got v little love on the singles poll and aside from "Thea" I wasn't all that into any of the tracks.

http://i.imgur.com/hOuCGCC.jpg

AMEL LARRIEUX - Ice Cream Everyday (563 points, 19 votes)

Spotify

27 AMEL LARRIEUX - Ice Cream Everyday (563 points, 19 votes)

haha ONE MORE TIME

27 AMEL LARRIEUX Ice Cream Everyday (563 points, 19 votes)

Every Larrieux song str8 kills it, stoked to hear this when home

I can't help but sing that title to the tune of 'Satori' by Flower Travellin' Band. I suspect that is the first and last time the two acts are mentioned in the same breath.

That I've heard, I mean. Maybe best left as is tho

i know this is "rockist" of me, but to be clear, the new dj sprinkles is a compilation of-sorts, with dj sprinkles applying his touch to the songs. midtown 120 blues is all-original material from dj sprinkles, and it is breathtaking.

― Daniel, Esq 2, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 10:42 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry, this is going way back but i'm just catching up now. dj sprinkles' does not just add her "touch" to remixes, these are reconfigured so completely as to be effectively the same as original sprinkles tracks. if anything the remixes are taken further and to stranger, more uniquely thaemlitz-esque places than even the album goes. if the remixes and her original tracks were all mixed up in a dj set (which they are if you were to see sprinkles dj) you wouldn't be able to tell the difference without just being familiar enough with the music to recognize specific tracks. also, for the people who are having difficulty tracking down the music from this comp, i assure you it is worth the effort, because it is some of the most beautiful house music ever made, it's perfect for home-listening and very accessible to people who are used to listening to stuff not geared towards the dancefloor. i'm certain that imago, for example, would find a lot to enjoy in it.

before "i do take" stormed the trax top 10 i didn't even have much hope for this album placing; i'm so glad ilm took to amel this year. in my top 10 obv. some of the other highlights -

"a million sapphires", so much swirling drama and the central metaphor is whoa. not on youtube, this was the only web stream i could find
"orange glow", woozy funk that should appeal to fans of erykah badu circa mama's gun and sa-ra
"danger", intricate and wending and full of complex details