ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

Only liked The Mother We Share off Chvrches, the rest was pretty mediocre post-Knife by numbers music. Kind of pissed off it placed so high actually, and I haven't been actively pissed off about a placing so far this year. If this places and not TNP (or Floorplan for that matter) I'm going to be very disappointed.

In truth my mind is still so utterly blown by DJ Rashad that I will find it hard to view much else with feelings beyond pleasant disappointment

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

16 DISCLOSURE Settle (691 points, 27 votes, 1 first place vote)

Spotify

The Warwick-Flack school of R&B singing is under-represented because everyone now thinks that "black vocalist" = "gospel holler 24/7" or "tiny-voiced sex kitten" with no actual space in between.

― SHAUN (DJP),

that's true and one of the reasons I miss Aaliyah

This means the Rudimental album will chart higher then?? Yesssss

pfffft

yawwwn

Brad!!

That better not be directed at me!!

all of my boredom directed at disclosure

I pretty much only liked the tracks that placed on the other poll from the Disclosure, otherwise I pretty much don't get them. They feel so ersatz to me.

oh, this

surprisingly (in a good way) low i guess. i don't really hate this album but i didn't come back to it after the week it came out at all. apart from "white noise" obv.

doubt the rudimental album will place, higher highs but still hella patchy.

I didn't try to listen to many albums at all this year but I tried to get into this one & it was just so hollow

The Warwick-Flack school of R&B singing is under-represented because everyone now thinks that "black vocalist" = "gospel holler 24/7" or "tiny-voiced sex kitten" with no actual space in between.

― SHAUN (DJP),

that's true and one of the reasons I miss Aaliyah

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, January 30, 2014 8:28 AM Bookmark

Kinda feel like Bey is leaning more strongly in this direction? Contrast with the hollerfest that was B'Day.

ersatz is right but it turned out their tunes didn't even stick enough to justify the ersatzness

love this album but i get why it leaves people feeling cold

I didn't vote for them, but I'd totally be happy if Rudimental beat Disclosure.

I loved a bunch of tracks from Settle but still didn't vote for the album, which has too many moments that bug me. And I know this is lame, but they are good enough that DJ Q includes them in his sets a lot. (Not that I don't sometimes hate individual tracks he works with.)

I appreciate all of these albums I don't care about getting out of the way at the bottom of the top 20

i really have none of the a priori/visceral objections to disclosure and their fauxness/realness that so many do, but i didn't find the album up to much on even a surface level and i'm mystified at what anyone finds to really really love in it

Kinda feel like Bey is leaning more strongly in this direction? Contrast with the hollerfest that was B'Day.

This is the main reason I started really falling in love with Beyonce; it's the first time since Dreamgirls that I've felt like she hasn't sounded like she's trying (and failing) to outsing Jennifer Hudson.

I appreciated all the parody pictures this album cover generated in my Tumblr feed tho

I don't absolutely hate them and have no objection to a good DJ working their tracks into a set (nb most DJs aren't DJ Q and use them in bog-standard house sets), but I definitely don't feel some type of way about them either.

what anyone finds to really really love in it

― lex pretend, Thursday, January 30, 2014 11:35 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

easy album to get lost in. it's actually barely a dance album imo, functionally.

This is the main reason I started really falling in love with Beyonce; it's the first time since Dreamgirls that I've felt like she hasn't sounded like she's trying (and failing) to outsing Jennifer Hudson.

― SHAUN (DJP), Thursday, January 30, 2014 8:35 AM Bookmark

Did you not like 4? o_O

Also B'Day is awesome precisely because she commits so fully to the soul shouter thing. I was just using it for a point of stylistic comparison, not to slate the older album in any way.

most DJs aren't DJ Q

That's for sure.

"I Miss You" is in the Warwick-Knight vein def

http://i.imgur.com/B1EAHXv.jpg

15 THESE NEW PURITANS Field of Reeds (701 points, 24 votes, 1 first place vote)

Spotify

after playing the front half of Settle into oblivion, I eventually found myself growing a small obsession with "Grab Her!"

voted this just under Depeche Mode's Delta Machin, which was really good and no one actually cared about

Did you not like 4? o_O

I loved 4! She does holler on it like 94/7 tho

Oh, imago will be happy. Phew.

r.i.p. My Dick

here it comes

wait for it

Don't think anyone in particular cares about this, maybe we should just move on to the next album?

TNP also too low

Good news guys, I'm not leaving ILX.

What's the matter, ain't ya happy for me?

Don't think I've ever heard These New Puritans. What's a good place to start?

i respect this record more than enjoy it

Although Disclosure, FFS!

really enjoyed field or reeds, musta placed it in my top 10
think 'organ eternal' is a personal standout but i really see the album as a collective rather than the songs individually

Okay let's give this Puritans thing a whirl.

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

i haven't been a fan of her work before, but this new janelle monae album is good.

fuck yes TNP!
so good!

Yeah this is stunning. Glad it placed so high, pretty sure it's a ridiculous thing to say but kinda feels like the instrumental to Late Nite Tip stretched out over 50 minutes.

pretty sure it's a ridiculous thing to say but kinda feels like the instrumental to Late Nite Tip stretched out over 50 minutes

the tnp record is not nearly this amazing but now i know if i ever make a record what i want it to sound like

best place to start for TNS is probably chronologically!
numbers, colours, elvis off the debut (beat pyramid)
we want war, white chords, attack music off hidden...

me on Facebook talking Field of Reeds:

I'm not sure where to begin when describing These New Puritans or their third album Field of Reeds.

This is a band that started out as a better-than-average British indie rock outfit with some hints of hip-hop (lead vocalist and primary songwriter Jack Barnett cited Wu-Tang Clan as an inspiration) and morphed over the course of three albums into... this. A largely atmospheric ensemble, interested in pieces that introduce several meandering, disconnected musical ideas that indulge their own internal themes before converging into a more coherent groove. It's a trick that could get old really quickly, or be alienating, particularly when paired with Barnett's adenoidal, untrained vocals, but the underpinning musical ideas carry through every single time. The result is largely ambient and contemplative; only on "Fragment Two" and the second half of "V (The Island Song)" do you find something that one could reasonably call a rock/pop song, and those are heavily informed by the orchestral scoring leading into them. This album is a soundtrack to a nonexistent film, scored for rock band, string ensemble, wind ensemble, jazz singer, indie vocalist and a dude who was hired to come in and intone C#2 on the title track. There are a ton of fantastic ideas swirling around on this album, from the musical convergence point about one and half minutes into "V (The Island Song)" to the slow creeping crescendo into the drum fills on "The Light in Your Name" to the droning title track. This is one of the most musically ambitious albums I listened to last year and I invite you all to dive into its placidly unsettling world.

So a few people were acting like the world would end if this didn't place yet it only has one first place vote... interesting.

it was my #2 (my #1 was Savages)

xp Too late, I've started with track 1 of Field of Reeds. Literally the only thing I know about this band is that I always confuse them with Thee Oh Sees.