ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

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maybe you should edge out on a brit synth pop thread instead of complaining here

― languagelessness (mattresslessness), Wednesday, January 28, 2015 12:00 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fixed.

You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 00:21 (nine years ago) link

Just saw that Avi Buffalo split - wonder if anyone but me threw a vote to At Best Cuckold. (The other worthwhile indie-pop record, which I forgot about for a bit just now.) Really hit the spot for jangly self-loathing.

Simon H., Wednesday, 28 January 2015 00:35 (nine years ago) link

i think the first half of the womack is the better half! not that it tails off but the opening run until "same kind of different" is just flawless

― lex pretend, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 23:47 (Yesterday) Permalink

Suffice it to say there isn't a bad song on the album, it's more about pacing to me--the second half has a few more uptempo songs that just make it a really pleasurable listen.

I said this in the Rolling Country thread, but will add a bit more color: there were more imaginative, ambitious, and innovative country albums released this year to be sure; Sturgill Simpson and Miranda Lambert come to mind. But this was the best made by a long shot. The song choices are perfect with a cast of writers (including Natalie Hemby, Bruce Robison, Julie Miller, and yes, Neil Young) and players (among them Matt Chamberlain, Glenn Worf, and legendary steel guitarist Paul Franklin) to rival any country album in recent memory. And that just speaks to the continued success of Womack's husband/producer Frank Liddell, who imo has been behind as many quality country albums as anyone in the last decade-plus: all of Miranda Lambert's, both Pistol Annies records, the last two from Kellie Pickler, and some strong work with Eli Young Band and David Nail, to name a few.

Indexed, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 01:02 (nine years ago) link

thanks for mentioning Lidell, who's been producer of the year imo for three years.

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 01:09 (nine years ago) link

Reverend is in charge of any use of the word "ineffable" and we mistakenly tried to describe Ronika that way once. We received a cease and desist.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, January 27, 2015 11:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

feel like i've been written out of history ;_;

Tim F, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 01:23 (nine years ago) link

Aw, Tim. I actually don't know the legacy of that word as it relates to ilm, so if I left you out it was a mistake. I was just going by what happened in the Ronika thread.

Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 01:39 (nine years ago) link

ILX first mentions (kind of, anyway): The Ineffable Beauty of Tropical 2

so not gonna häpna (seandalai), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 01:42 (nine years ago) link

Catching up with today...my only vote to place was Lewis; DJ Q, Fennesz, Moodymann, Kelis were on my mental longlist; "Archie" is great but the rest of the Alvvays album didn't grab me; expected to like Young Marco much more than I did; really need to listen to Gigi Masin but I'm lazy about albums that aren't on Spotify.

so not gonna häpna (seandalai), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 01:47 (nine years ago) link

I forgive you JF, you have saved us so many times.

Tim F, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 02:48 (nine years ago) link

When there was only one set of footprints it was when JF carried ILX

kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 03:00 (nine years ago) link

Unlurking to thank the voters for turning me on to a lot of really enjoyable music in these results. (Much more so from the albums than tracks.)

WilliamC, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 03:35 (nine years ago) link

lol, i'm 2/37. one from each day. that is about to change however, i can feel it.

Bee OK, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 03:41 (nine years ago) link

Avi Buffalo

nice enough record, but not something i would have voted for

don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 04:06 (nine years ago) link

Voted for Ronika, as its arguably as good as any album from the 80's Nile Rodgers production/freestyle/Ze Records era, and there's nothing sacrosanct about any Pop graveyard. Pleased to see Kelis. DJ Q is a belated discovery.

The inscrutable savantism of (Sanpaku), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 05:00 (nine years ago) link

one thing that i know was totally overlooked and is very good / more exciting than e.g. leon vynehall was shinichi atobe's butterfly effect. i should have voted in this.

languagelessness (mattresslessness), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 05:19 (nine years ago) link

Would be eager to meet this studio tech!

Yeah, maybe that's a bit of a silly comment. Typed out after a couple of beers!

I guess my feeling is that as the glitch aesthetics and post-digital has become convention, the kitsch sentimentalism that Endless Summer was first engaging with doesn't have such an obvious foil against all the signal processing. So the whole thing unfortunately comes across as a bit trite to my ears these days. That said, I'd be curious to return to 'plus forty seven degrees 56' 37" minus sixteen degrees 51' 08"' and 'Field Recordings' maybe.

MikoMcha, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 06:22 (nine years ago) link

xp 'butterfly effect' is pretty good, idk about exciting

karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 28 January 2015 06:34 (nine years ago) link

Listening now to the one direction album and realising they're as good at this point as girls aloud were back in the day.

otm

Nourry, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 06:35 (nine years ago) link

I was a bit disappointed by Butterfly Effect...expectations might have been a bit high but it didnt particularly grab me

saer, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 06:44 (nine years ago) link

these results are not satanic enough.

billstevejim, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 06:58 (nine years ago) link

1Direction tho

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 07:55 (nine years ago) link

More like One DIMENSION, amirite?

MikoMcha, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:03 (nine years ago) link

666Direction there's 5 of them so they can stand at all 5 points in the pentagram before sacrificing a virgin for the dark lord

billstevejim, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:04 (nine years ago) link

the other singers in this countdown could take a lesson from their example

billstevejim, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:04 (nine years ago) link

I'd never heard of One Direction before this poll, are they like a boy band? They look really young in those pics.

Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:17 (nine years ago) link

Really enjoying this Ronika album

groovypanda, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:39 (nine years ago) link

Yes Tuomas they are just like a boy band except they sacrifice livestock to Azrael

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:43 (nine years ago) link

That's One Direction

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 08:44 (nine years ago) link

Classic One D!

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 09:30 (nine years ago) link

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

ledge, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 09:34 (nine years ago) link

lol

MikoMcha, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 09:38 (nine years ago) link

btw - hooray for Gigi Masin! Amazing collection of tracks, and great work by the Music From Memory guys for putting this together.

MikoMcha, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 09:41 (nine years ago) link

dj q - great album albeit one i felt like i should have gone back to a lot more than i did? like, i enjoyed it in a low-key way but it never turned into an addiction. "notice me" and the epic "through the night" are highlights

DJ Q is like Funkystepz for me in that his tunes (instrumentals especially) are like mini-Autobot components of a whole and they just don't sound right on their own. Like nearly everything on the album is good and I think I voted for it but I keep thinking about how much more thrilling they'd be pitched up in the mix and all piled on top of one another. As someone who came up through records like the Brown album and Exit Planet Dust, I like dance albums to feel like DJ sets and the album didn't capture the rushiness of his own sets, when it quite easily could have done.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 12:39 (nine years ago) link

OTM. Q's tracks have a consistent vibe and are relatively short for dance tracks, so a mixed album (possibly with a separate-track vinyl release for DJs) would have been a lot more useful.

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 12:47 (nine years ago) link

My highlight was 'Trust Again' FWIW

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 12:49 (nine years ago) link

Yeah the thing that prevented me loving Ineffable more is that it wasn't clear to me why I was listening to discrete album tracks from the best DJ in the world. It's still a great album but can't compete with one of Q's better MoS or Nocturnal sets let alone seeing him spin live (best night ever still).

Tim F, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 12:54 (nine years ago) link

Voted for Fennesz and Alvvays from yesterday's run, I liked the Katy B and Lee Ann Womack albums as well, the latter is completely out of my wheelhouse but yeah it definitely deserves to place.

Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 13:00 (nine years ago) link

Just saw that Avi Buffalo split - wonder if anyone but me threw a vote to At Best Cuckold. (The other worthwhile indie-pop record, which I forgot about for a bit just now.) Really hit the spot for jangly self-loathing.

― Simon H., woensdag 28 januari 2015 1:35 (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I threw it a vote. Loved their debut album, the second one was really good too. No way it'll pop up here though.

a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 13:42 (nine years ago) link

just struck me that unless ariana grande places in the top 40 (which i think...possible but unlikely?), she'll get shut out completely. no track, no album, not even a guest spot

lex pretend, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 13:50 (nine years ago) link

Still getting over the fact that "Bang Bang" finished higher on the tracks poll than anything on her album.

Tove Lo Tove You Baby (jaymc), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 13:53 (nine years ago) link

I'm beginning to think that nothing I voted for will actually place in the top 77. :( I guess Neheh Cherry or Mirel Wagner or Meshell Ndegeocello still might appear, though their chances feel a bit slim already.

Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 13:56 (nine years ago) link

Also, it was probably pointless to vote for two classical albums, because the only classical that has any chance of making it in these polls is indie-friendly crossover stuff like that Winged Victory album.

Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:00 (nine years ago) link

or Clean Bandit

;)

Ban Kil Moon (imago), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:01 (nine years ago) link

I think Neneh Cherry has a good shot at making it!

example (crüt), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:05 (nine years ago) link

really really hope mirel wagner does! i actually counted up everyone who loved it in her thread. it came to less than the total votes albums around this mark are getting though :///

lex pretend, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:07 (nine years ago) link

Ian William Craig?

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:07 (nine years ago) link

Fingers crossed for Gazelle Twin, Lamb, and Mr. Twin Sister. Its today or never.

The inscrutable savantism of (Sanpaku), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:10 (nine years ago) link

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

40 LANA DEL REY Ultraviolence [390 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]

Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:11 (nine years ago) link

It's a great album and it took me a while to realise it. Was top 10 for me.

Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Wednesday, 28 January 2015 14:12 (nine years ago) link


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