ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

BRANDY CLARK!

my #3 in the end - bumped it ahead of kacey at the last min. just absolutely incredible songwriting from start to finish, including a few that could reduce me to a total wreck. had been worried b/c ilm seemed not to pick up on this as much as kacey...i get why kacey is the more charismatic performer, the more commercial persona, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with brandy's journalistic insistence that none of what she documents is about her, she's telling other people's stories.

"just like him" is the gutpunch of an album closer. when i played it to my housemate, she had to leave the room in tears before it had finished, and then i heard her playing it on loop all evening
"what'll keep me out of heaven" is that country realness. (as in "...will take me there tonight".) (we never find out what she decides, brandy says she doesn't know either.)
"the day she got divorced" - so much quotidian detail in a day when nothing's different. "yeah two more lies, she didn't care" - so generous with her stories that she just casually tosses a subplot in at the end that lesser writers would string out across a whole song
"take a little pill" - the best and most sympathetic look at a rural america strung out on prescription pills since the pistol annies' debut album

i love this album so much

re-virgining complete

Voted for Hecker (I have never had sex) and Holter. Put me in the "Holter is getting more accessible and I like it" camp. It's not about the singing for me, it's about the arrangements and melodies. I liked her older albums fine but the new one was a standout.

every time i think about listening to hecker my children start growing dim and vanishing before my eyes

Haha

I still can't get past the production and Clark's voice – it's the same problem I have with Rosanne Cash's latest.

sarge did you skip #24?

Gave Brandy Clark a try based on the praise round these parts, but no matter how often/hard I try, the pop end of country is just not for me.

this is hardly pop! that's the problem!

oh and this fan video of the brandy clark single "stripes" set perfectly to scenes from orange is the new black is probably a lot better than the actual video

"hold my hand" is amazing too, she has this incredible gift for telling a narrative that happens in 10 seconds over 3 minutes

first time i heard this album it had me transcribing lyrics and everything

this is not at all a pop album. It's quite adult.

lol, sorry forks
― a man with legs made of sausages - that's not real! (seandalai)

Does me not really understanding Tim Hecker reconcile K3vin K's zing about slow jams up thread?

I listened to hecker but then I listened to miley, phew

Its strength is to trying to reckon with a life that hasn't worked as planned, or perhaps was screwed from the beginning.

xxxxpost

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

21 THE 1975 The 1975 (623 points, 16 votes, 2 first place votes)

Spotify

Brad Nelson, come out come out it's here

ftr, my position on Miley Cyrus is still FUCK MILEY CILEY AND HER GODDAMNED MINSTREL SHOW

wow, I thought that was top ten for sure

I'm now worrying that Floorplan and Rashad Becker won't place. They're not gonna place are they? Fuck.

this is not at all a pop album. It's quite adult.

I mean in terms of the antiseptic vocals/production/arrangement, not like chart impact or what have you.

liked the 1975 mostly for about 36 hours, lost all interest, probly wd enjoy the odd track turning up in other contexts

wooooooooooooooo

can we take a minute here to praise shane mcanally, who co-wrote most of the kacey musgraves album, most of the brandy clark album and the best song on ashley monroe's (among other 2013 achievements)?

(he is not, however, credited on the best song on brandy's, "what'll keep me out of heaven.")

pouring one one out for Toro y Moi and Natasha Kmeto from my top ten

RIP Floorplan

it's realy sad, it was an album I voted for

sarge did you skip #24?

― k3vin k., Wednesday, 29 January 2014 19:53 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

don't see the problem with brandy clark's voice or arrangements, they're both the perfect way to frame the songwriting, which is front and centre

xp oh ugh the 1975, horrific band

can we take a minute here to praise shane mcanally, who co-wrote most of the kacey musgraves album, most of the brandy clark album and the best song on ashley monroe's (among other 2013 achievements)?

and Miranda Lambert for supplying them all with dough.

1975 album is ridiculously good of course

Oh great, Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire placing was one thing, this placing so high is just... seriously!?

I don't know what The 1975 is but it got a ridic Enthusiasm score (average of 38.94 points per ballot) so I guess I should check it out.

sarge did you skip #24?

― k3vin k., Wednesday, 29 January 2014 19:53 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― a man with legs made of sausages - that's not real! (seandalai), Wednesday, January 29, 2014 2:59 PM (53 seconds ago) Bookmark

oh yes i did whoops

i guess that was gonna happen at some point one of these years

ok so 24

don't see the problem with brandy clark's voice or arrangements

There isn't one! The plain slickness is just an instant visceral turnoff for me personally. Might pick up a copy for my folks though. (Incidentally, the closest thing to country-pop that I voted for was the Mavericks album, which I bought for them but ended up being really impressed by.)

starting to think bilal won't place :-(

I thought The 1975 released a fun, inconsequential-yet-entertaining album. I liked it but never felt like voting for it

the mavericks album is fantastic. (xp)

http://i.imgur.com/YgU0OqJ.jpg

24 BOARDS OF CANADA Tomorrow's Harvest (605 points, 19 votes)

Spotify

he plain slickness is just an instant visceral turnoff for me personally. Might pick up a copy for my folks though. (Incidentally, the closest thing to country-pop that I voted for was the Mavericks album, which I bought for them but ended up being really impressed by.)

ok this is strange, Simon. The Mavericks album is 10 times more slick than Clark's; the latter is closer to Americana stuff.

Oh wow that's lower than I thought.

*interprets numerologiclal meaning of 24 coming after 21*

where's run the jewels?! gotta be coming up right?

I'm just jumping around the Spotify playlist and my 2 favorites today are DJ Koze and DJ Rashad.

Glad I could help bump the Tim Hecker album up a notch or 2. xp and BOC!

*interprets numerologiclal meaning of 24 coming after 21*

― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Wednesday, January 29, 2014 8:03 PM (41 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah... spoooky!

Boards of Canada slipped off the end of my ballot, which I instantly regretted when I replayed "Reach for the Dead" but honestly I felt stronger about the albums I voted for

Yeah, Boards of Canada is good. Maybe a few more plays would have put it on my ballot, but it hadn't quite clicked with me as much as my other choices.

you skipped sixty-ten also

The BoC album is good. It's very much a mood piece and I'm going to be looking forward to taking long long walks once the weather improves just a little bit before I get back into it again. Love the concept, the general post-apocalyptic 'Threads'-y vibe although I couldn't tell you which tracks are the best. It's just there. And like all good BoC albums, it's the kind of thing, like a bolognese or a chili, that is best appreciated after it's been left alone for a while and reheated... errr...

i voted Floorplan just above BoC, so there's still hope.