ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

basically I'm sitting here thinking "have none of you ever heard Train"

― SHAUN (DJP), Wednesday, January 29, 2014 3:33 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao totally

what if the dude with the hat from new radicals joined sister hazel???

the dude with the hat from new radicals is the god tho

http://cache.vevo.com/Content/VevoImages/video/C8B828BE1C51B6B81371B72764DA1043.jpg

Faves

40 FANTASIA Side Effects of You - I would've avoided this album entirely were it not for heavy canvassing on ILM, thank you ILM, this album rules
38 PET SHOP BOYS Electric - yay I love this record, tho I never know where to place PSB in my listening-life except DJing at weddings
35 DJ RASHAD Double Cup - this music is always playing around my house and I am always sending fan mail to that crew, this is the only forward-looking music I knew in 2013
32 ARIANA GRANDE Yours Truly - one of my favourite memories of this past year is getting drunk w MTL Alex and having him tour me through this record like an excited 5th-grader
28 TEGAN & SARA Heartthrob - prefer this record as singles but what singles!
27 AMEL LARRIEUX Ice Cream Everyday - again: thank you ILM this is the best
26 TIM HECKER Virgins - Tim is a friend so hooray for Tim, but I bet 90% of people stanning for this record would fail an Invisible Jukebox btw this and his previous records (save Ravedeath)
23 JULIA HOLTER Loud City Song - she's some kind of superhuman, I can't 100% love her music because it's always got this oompah-oompah thing going on-- and I feel a little competitive-- but I am so impressed by her technically that I'd take a bullet any day

Nope

37 LAURA MARLING Once I Was an Eagle - her lyrics are functional instead of revelatory
34 MILEY CYRUS Bangerz - her VMA performance was ugly, this album has terrible vocal production, choruses where nothing happen, just an [insert a chorus here] place card, whole songs where nothing happens. Remember when she sang a duet with Taylor and ILM said "get the FUCK off the stage"? That's still where I live, she is the duddest.
21 THE 1975 The 1975 - yikes. I saw the videos and thought I hated Hot Hot Heat the first time around but then I went to see them live, just slipped in, wanted to form a definitive opinion, and they started covering "All My Friends" (barf) except! it wasn't a cover, the guy had made up a new ""lyric"" that was basically him repeating "she's got a boyfriend anyway" a thousand times. Absolute worst. I don't feel violence thoughts toward bad musicians, but I will not call for help when these guys are inevitably mauled to death by dogs

40 FANTASIA Side Effects of You (421 points, 15 votes): Haven't heard. The single didn't do much for me, so I never bothered with the album.
39 GOLDFRAPP Tales of Us (438 points, 13 votes, 3 first place votes): Voted for this. Beautiful, low-key, moody.
38 PET SHOP BOYS Electric (440 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote): Haven't heard. Not my bag, I don't think.
37 LAURA MARLING Once I Was an Eagle (440 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote): Voted for this, too. Never heard Marling's earlier recordings and not really into singer-songwritery stuff in general, but the album's wide scope, musical unpredictability, and lyricism clicked with me like Joni Mitchell and Joanna Newsom records have.
36 DJ KOZE Amygdala (462 points, 18 votes): Listened once, didn't do much for me.
35 DJ RASHAD Double Cup (463 points, 17 votes): I recall liking some of the textures on this album but not enough to listen more than once.
34 MILEY CYRUS Bangerz (465 points, 16 votes): There's a few good songs on this, but it ultimately didn't rise above "better than expected!" for me.
33 DARKSIDE Pyschic (467 points, 16 votes): Decent, but I want to like it more than I do. Seems too restrained or something.
32 ARIANA GRANDE Yours Truly (467 points, 18 votes): Didn't make my ballot, but it was probably in the next 10 or 20. She's got great pipes, and the '90s-style R&B hits such a sweet spot. ("The Way" was on my tracks ballot.) I did lol @ Ronan Farrow's #Grammys tweet that was like, "Pretty sure Ariana Grande is a Microsoft Word font."
31 DEAFHEAVEN Sunbather (512 points, 18 votes, 1 first place vote): Not a metal guy but thought I might have a chance of liking this album, since I saw words like "ambient" and "post-rock" being slung in reference to it. (Also, I liked the most recent Pelican album.) But after "Dream House" didn't grab me, I figured the rest of the album didn't stand much chance of doing so.
30 BURIAL Rival Dealer EP (526 points, 20 votes): Eh, I like "Archangel" as much as anyone, but I never even loved Untrue, and I find it kind of hard to care about the dude now.
29 HOLDEN The Inheritors (551 points, 20 votes): Thought some of this sounded cool but also relentless in a not particularly enjoyable way.
28 TEGAN & SARA Heartthrob (559 points, 18 votes, 1 first place vote): Pretty sure I listened to this when it came out, but I think I just grabbed onto "Closer" and so I don't even remember what the rest of it is like.
27 AMEL LARRIEUX Ice Cream Everyday (563 points, 19 votes): Haven't heard, though it seems like I might enjoy it.
26 TIM HECKER Virgins (565 points, 20 votes): Meant to listen to this album for the longest time, and I was just never in the mood for it.
25 CLASSIXX Hanging Gardens (572 points, 19 votes, 1 first place vote): Voted for this! Nothing particularly new or surprising about it, but just really solid breezy electro-pop in my wheelhouse.
23 JULIA HOLTER Loud City Song (615 points, 21 votes): I like moments on this album (the last minute or so of "In the Green Wild" is beautiful), but I can't quite connect with the whole thing. I'd like to spend more time with it, though.
22 BRANDY CLARK 12 Stories (617 points, 18 votes, 1 first place vote): I admire the songcraft on this album, even if it's not totally my thing. Voted for "Stripes" (a classic) in the tracks poll, though.
21 THE 1975 The 1975 (623 points, 16 votes, 2 first place votes): Don't love it, but I'm mostly on their side. Voted for "Chocolate" in the tracks poll.
24 BOARDS OF CANADA Tomorrow's Harvest (605 points, 19 votes): I'm with LJ in preferring Campfire Headphase. This felt very much like a "Boards of Canada album," which is great in its own way but left me underwhelmed.

i've got my fingers crossed for MBV to win the whole thing

honestly, most of my picks were DOA in this poll as soon as i cast my ballot.

drake, kanye, MBV, pusha t, vampire weekend, and grouper are the only things on my list that haven't made it so far that still might

pharmakon? honestly, just no.

<q>
27 AMEL LARRIEUX Ice Cream Everyday (563 points, 19 votes) - i was asked to help make a 'soundtrack' for a trendy new restaurant and put a couple of tracks from this on it

― Lamp</q>

I really like this one Lamp! Would you mind sharing a couple of highlight tracks from this soundtrack you created? I'm very interested about it.

i don't see it for Drake in the albums poll. thankfully.

From these threads it seems like a lot of people here have a problem with heavily rhythmic pop-rock? (ie 1975, Paramore, Haim) That's pretty much the only strain of current rock I have any use for whatsoever.

Well Rev, if imma get hard into R&B as a result of this poll (and would you know I'm really enjoying Fantasia rn) I ask that you listen in to some groovy sorta-rock shit I think you'll dig*. Just need to find the right thread...

*that Sunn O))) song 'Alice' I recall you liking quite a lot, even if it was rly a smooth jazz song disguised as experimental metal

In a Silent Way knockoff /= smooth jazz!

lex, do you like scritti politti?

i love "the boom boom bap", not into anything else i've heard by them (scattered tracks from the 80s that i can't remember). don't really ~care about them despite reading oodles of stuff about them

just realised the 1975 remind me of placebo a bit ie even more NOPE

heavily rhythmic pop-rock? (ie 1975, Paramore, Haim)

I don't hear Paramore as having much in common with the other two, though I don't have much use for any of them.

lol maybe 'sweet jazz' then, def not too crazed tho

paramore are a bit of an outlier there but "ain't it fun" is kinda the paramore version of a 1975 song

i don't see it for Drake in the albums poll. thankfully.

ilm's grand tradition of mostly snubbing drake continues :)

god let's hope so

btw this one poll is basically completely descaling my eyes to R&B, ty based ilx

can't be bothered to check but iirc his second album didn't place and his first album wasn't even nominated

and was "hold on we're going home" the first drake track to place ever? and it didn't even make the top 50 despite being called track of the year elsewhere

Did anybody else vote for bilal?

i voted for Bilal. gave up on expecting to see it here a while ago, though, must've gotten 78'd.

Did the dream land anything in singles?

One thing I'll definitely pursuing in earnest is the Robert glasper experience

Did the dream land anything in singles?

LOL

Did anybody else vote for bilal?

― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, January 29, 2014 10:42 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, it ain't happening :-(

"Chocolate" could have been a really nice track without all the vocal affectations. I guess this is what you get from the generation that grew up with Panic at the Disco in the background...

*that Sunn O))) song 'Alice' I recall you liking quite a lot, even if it was rly a smooth jazz song disguised as experimental metal

now come on. this is "ascension" levels of reaching here.

Gonna experiment with a different response format tonite: 1 album at a time

FANTASIA Side Effects of You - wow, opening track is kinda spectacular! Hi-tech rhythm'n'prog grandstanding, like this already. I think the track in the traxpoll was a bit bland for my tastes (bland isn't the right word - maybe 'calculated' - I think I described it as a song laboratory-designed to appeal to ILX) but this is a great improvement. Track 2 is fun as well. I don't think I'll ever lose my freak to this shit but I'll sit through a fine deal of it. WTF why is this a dub song all of a sudden :D ok fine, this is pretty enterprising stuff. Relentless, maybe. I like Without Me a lot more this time, actually. Think you need to take your time with this album. So Much To Prove is GREAT! Really funky. I think I like my R&B either really floaty, spectral and psychedelic or really mad & uptempo. Album is retaining high quality thruout, v impressed. I think the only thing it lacks for me to really think about calling it a potential high ballot-placer for myself is a sense of musical *wonder* and *astonishment* but it's so damn fun that this doesn't matter - it's an absolute success and it does what it sets out to do superbly. It might even stand a chance of reaching the lower end of my ballot, although I've discovered so much great music in this poll that it's hard to say now. Let's just call it broad approval and nothing bad whatsoever to say.The sentiment feels hard-won, too - this isn't just an obligatorily commercial record - it feels like Fantasia has needed to write this for a while.

I actually will be very surprised if M.I.A. places

― SHAUN (DJP)

She will definitely make it. Her last album made the top 30 in 2010 and this one has had a way better reaction. It might even sneak into the top ten.

imago plz don't

i'm into it

haha gr80 why not? i haven't even finished the Fantasia album yet :D

From these threads it seems like a lot of people here have a problem with heavily rhythmic pop-rock?

I don't hear heavily rhythmic when I listen to The 1975. I hear mush. Possibly to put off by the vocals to notice the rhythm. I do like HAIM.

Admittedly, my taste in recent rock is very narrow and leans toward an art/prog./psychedelic mode, but my few favorite bands also often have a pop side and can be heavily rhythmic (my top five of the last fifteen years are: Tokyo Jihen, Boris, Company of Thieves, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, and Lansing-Dreiden).

surprising and pleasing co-writing credits on the fantasia album:

tiwa savage (nigerian afrobeats singer) on "supernatural love"
druski (dawn richard's producer) on "ain't all bad"
sevyn streeter on "get it right"

I don't hear heavily rhythmic when I listen to The 1975. I hear mush.

All those skipping and interlocking guitar lines and post-dubstep drum machine beats!

i havent heard anyone talk about MIA all year

I am disappointed Laura marling is so high, blood sausage contingent who don't really care vote:P

I really should have voted for the 1975 instead of like, Classixx or something that I wore out on. I ended up giving it short shrift.

Well I didn't really listen to that much by the 1975. Maybe I will try a few more tracks.

i havent heard anyone talk about MIA all year

Yeah, maybe there was a lot of talk on ILM or something, but in general, Matangi seems to have had a much lower profile than MAYA.

The Matangi thread felt like 5 enthusiastic people in a sea of ennui to me

This was just on my site new answers:

ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013 [Started by le goon (J0rdan S.) in January 2014, last updated 1 minute ago by jaymc on I Love Music] 1975 new answers

I think a lot of people assumed in advance Matangi was going to be underwhelming and didn't bother with it. It's a shame as it's mostly great.

Chvrches in with a good shot of still placing, I guess.

21 THE 1975 The 1975 - yikes. I saw the videos and thought I hated Hot Hot Heat the first time around but then I went to see them live, just slipped in, wanted to form a definitive opinion, and they started covering "All My Friends" (barf) except! it wasn't a cover, the guy had made up a new ""lyric"" that was basically him repeating "she's got a boyfriend anyway" a thousand times. Absolute worst. I don't feel violence thoughts toward bad musicians, but I will not call for help when these guys are inevitably mauled to death by dogs

yah i tried listening to this band because of the controversy itt and its just mirthless pseud wave for teenage rapists. pastiche of every unpleasant band guy scumbbag over ugly guitar blends, fuck these horrible people. video casting director has p good eye for models though, ill give them that

its just mirthless pseud wave for teenage rapists.

Wow, can you not?

I'm really actually pretty fucking angry now.

wtf Lamp!

Calling people who are fans of a band you don't like rapists is pretty fucking low.