ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

I love all of Field of Reeds but Organ Eternal is so amazing in particular.

i do really like the music though, that hypnotic melody and those washes and drones going on, like it IS ambient and vaporous but there's something to actually hook you in as well

will not investigate further til he shuts up for good tho

Long DJP post otm. What a brilliant and baffling record, took me ages to get into it and I still feel like I'm trying to really understand it properly. If you've not heard it I guess the closest thing to compare it to is late period Talk Talk, but with more of a nervy modern classical feel to it than a serene In A Silent Way jazz one - it's somewhat less at ease with itself, it wriggles like an frigging eel when you try and grasp it. Maybe reminiscent of Scott Walker too, but his later albums, I do not mean that they sound a bit like the Divine fucking Comedy. They're willing to take risks with form, structure and orchestration and introducing odd sonic elements into mix. Has been so good to watch this band develop and at lightspeed too.

Hidden is better overall, I think, but this is still a beautiful and strange record, any of the songs with the swelling horns just do it for me. The problem that won't go away is the singer's voice but the rest of the music is often so gorgeous I'm prepared to overlook that. It's probably the one element that holds them back from being a genuinely incredible band though.

Should just let the fado singer do everything next time round.

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

14 M.I.A. Matangi (724 points, 24 votes, 2 first place votes)

Spotify

hey NickB thanks for the Holter recommendation, will investigate further

oh hey look it's MIA

At his best he sounds like 3D on latter Massive Attack records but that is a really low ceiling.

holy shit I am genuinely surprised re: M.I.A.

her best record

A few bangers on Matangi but a complete mess and so so patchy compared to the first two. She's into her Return To Form phase by now, sadly.

does every song on the MIA album have cuss words?

xp Barnett's a musical visionary imo but if he could sing as well as, say, Mark Hollis I'd like this a lot more. Less of an issue on Hidden because that was a more abrasive record. Still grateful that someone this talented and ambitious is around.

Hey MIA

i really enjoyed matangi on the first three listens but i haven't had the urge to listen to it since

her best album since MAYA

That record is phenomenal

what happened to mýa

Facebook babble re: Matangi:

I tried very hard to lower my expectations for M.I.A.'s fourth album Matangi. While I eventually grew to embrace most of MAYA, the middle section is really, really dull and the second half is not packed with immediacy. I had really been digging the singles released in the run-up to the album, particularly "Bad Girls" and "Bring the Noise", but my lingering disappointment in MAYA compared to the previous two albums and the protracted delay in the album's release, combined with the domestic drama surrounding her ex and her child, made me concerned that time would blunt her edge and the external distractions would push her in the wrong, sleepier direction.

I really shouldn't have worried.

As soon as the title track kicked in, I began to swoon. Explosions, filtered vocals and slamming triplet rhythms build into a jump-up frenzy reminiscent of "Boys" only much, much tougher. Every time M.I.A. spells her name in Tamil then spits a list of countries, I feel a gigantic grin spread across my face and my entire body wants to leap out of whatever chair I'm sitting in and dance like a fiend. This is what the best M.I.A. songs do to me and it happens with practically every single song on this album. When she counts down in orders of magnitude on "Only 1 U", I lose my mind. When the slowed-down sample from "Así Me Gusta A Mí (X-Ta Sí, X-Ta No)" by Chimo Bayo kicks in on "Warriors", I lose my mind. When the accelerando kicks in with those weird synth squeals on "Come Walk With Me", I lose my mind. When the octave drops and leaps happen on "atTENTion", I lose my mind. Basically, every time I play this album, by the time I get to the end I am a gibbering crazy person who only wants to dance, set things on fire and change the world.

I don't really like much of anything TNP did before Field of Reeds but by god do I like Field of Reeds. The TAlk Talk comparisons are entirely justified, including the career trajectory.

this band should ditch him and make instrumentals imo

He's totally the creative force of the band though, does all the arrangements, learned to read music solely to do that, it's weird how hyper-obsessive he is about every other element of the music and then sings like that. FWIW I think he hates his voice.

i voted for matangi!

i'd been so put off by the last album, the rhetoric around her and her persona that i pretty much considered myself off the m.i.a. wagon. gave this a listen out of duty and it was actually good! bit sad that it got ignored, just goes to show how hype and musical quality don't correlate. i enjoyed reviewing it: http://thequietus.com/articles/13952-m-i-a-matangi-review

"bring the noize" - my nan was a stan for imported liquor brands
"y.a.l.a." - BANKING OFFSHORE / TAKE A TRIP TO SINGAPORE / I NEED TO EARN LIKE / I'M JULIANNE MOORE

happy this made it!

Beats, rhymes, and life. That's what this album is.

Main thing for me about Field of Reeds is that it feels very evocative of certain landscapes, and Jack's voice is very important in both anchoring it to this place and giving it uh local colour.

The only album I never reviewed because the beats were so powerful and surprising that all I wanted to say was repeat the thought.

Can't believe people didn't think this would place. She's in the Lindstrom, Hot Chip and Junior Boys league on ILM. Also this is a great album that was a total shock to a lot of people who'd given up on her (myself included) Very happy to see it so high.

uh... did Spotify nuke over half of Matangi or am I having weird connection issues?

A few bangers on Matangi but a complete mess and so so patchy compared to the first two.

nah it's just poorly sequenced imo, like the fantasia album. there are only two outright terrible songs (bun "come walk with me" ughhhh) and i guess the inessential "bad girls" but everything else is good to amazing

(it didn't intrude too much on this particular track but i find the sound of his voice unenjoyable on a v fundamental level, and i suspect it's more prominent on the album)

this band should ditch him and make instrumentals imo

― lex pretend, Thursday, January 30, 2014 4:53 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IT's all or nothing I'm afraid, as I think he's the 'mastermind' behind the music. But yeah it's his singing that is the only weak factor in this. I generally ignore it.

not seen the M.I.A. cov before, must be a hommage to this, musn't it?

http://images.cdbaby.name/a/p/apeacock4.jpg

"Matangi" the song is face-melting and wonderful

looks all there to me, dan

It amazes me that MIA's debut is now her weakest imo, and only because she was figuring out how she wanted to sound

this album is cool. good beats.

It amazes me that MIA's debut is now her weakest imo, and only because she was figuring out how she wanted to sound

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, January 30, 2014 12:02 PM (4 seconds ago) Bookmark

i think it's prob 'kala' depending on how you feel about the third album

Kala > Matangi = Arular >> MAYA

i love how m.i.a. described this album as a reaction to living in the time of the bros

Kala still my favorite

ha kala is probably my favourite, i can understand the dislike tho

the first half of Kala is my favorite MIA music

So 13 places left. These are the 12 I think will definitely make it.

Daft Punk
Vampire Weekend
Sky Ferreira
Paramore
My Bloody Valentine
Chance the Rapper
Haim
Kanye West
Beyoncé
Kacey Musgraves
The Knife
Dawn Richard

No idea what will take the 13th place.

Kala > Matangi = Arular >> MAYA

― SHAUN (DJP)

This is spot on.

"i sleep on my talent and i stand by it too" might be the most crucial line on matangi. i think she needs to feel like she's the underdog to make great music; in retrospect it's no surprise that she made this album after suffering a huge critical backlash, the superbowl incident, going through divorce and a custody battle etc

Run The Jewels xps

+ bye bye bowie bye bye

Haaaa I just had to take a Tube ride right then

I like Arular best, though I haven't heard the new one.

next one is our final album to not get a first place vote

DJP OTM. Kala the weakest? gtfo Jordan

Matangi is awesome because it's like an entire album of "Bamboo Banga"

You can't go wrong with MIA'S catalog so far

Matangi is awesome because it's like an entire album of "Bamboo Banga" and "Bird Flu" and "The Turn"