there are certain artist/band names that preclude me from checking out the music unless I put in a lot of effort and both "U.S girls" and "marriages"are in that category
― marcos, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:16 (eight years ago) link
How have I never played To Pimp a Butterfly through headphones until now? It's like a brand new album.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:23 (eight years ago) link
yeah vv essential
― Spottie, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:24 (eight years ago) link
"For Sale?" through headphones = omg
― The Reverend, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:24 (eight years ago) link
This Floating Points album sounds superb too.
― Spottie, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:25 (eight years ago) link
Thanks gr8080, JF, ulysses, seandelai and anyone else involved. Great work as ever.
― Jeff W, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:31 (eight years ago) link
Also if you have a worthy system then you have to listen to Safe Sex Pay Checks really loud. That sub-bass wobble during the pre chorus is so fun
― Spottie, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:34 (eight years ago) link
I propose this poll be retabulated to include voted of people who said they forgot to vote for Sons Of Kemet.
― The Reverend, Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:24 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
if i'd heard it before EOY season i prob would've made room for it
― marcos, Thursday, January 28, 2016 11:16 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this was basically where i stood but
The Marriages record is my favorite Tori Amos record since From the Choirgirl Hotel.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, January 28, 2016 10:55 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this has me extremely intrigued!
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:35 (eight years ago) link
Emma Ruth Rundle's phrasing occasionally is Tori-esque, but there is something about their approach to song structure that hits me as even more like Amos's work. Also, Marriages have a very, very good drummer.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:37 (eight years ago) link
But it's definitely a rock record, with lots of 80s Cure and 90s Lush and other stuff in there, too.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:38 (eight years ago) link
also i'm prob one of the ilm pop fans most suspicious of scandopop over the years and susanne sundfør just...isn't remotely like any of that. i mean, the tracks that placed were the most pop-leaning moments but i don't even know if i'd foremost class the album (much less her career) as pop - to me she has the same relationship to it as dawn richard does to r&b right now, and a top 3 of dawn/angel haze/susanne made a lot of sense in terms of my own personal aesthetic
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:38 (eight years ago) link
no ballots thread this year?
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:39 (eight years ago) link
Waiting on seandalai.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:40 (eight years ago) link
marriages was a little bit of a disappointment for me after the fantastic emma ruth rundle solo album from 2014, which was more of a straight-up singer-songwriter deal but one i found really affecting
― François Pitchforkian (NickB), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:45 (eight years ago) link
he's doublechecking the gaz coombes stats iirc, think there might be a shock in the pipeline
― François Pitchforkian (NickB), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:47 (eight years ago) link
I'm back! Give me a few minutes.
― conditional random jepsen (seandalai), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:49 (eight years ago) link
Having crusaded for N Jaar's Nymphs (despite the four EPs/singles not being released in conventional album format), feel a bit guilty about bumping the cycle down to #16 on my weighted ballot.
that thing is goddamn amazing, one of my favorite late-year discoveries
― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:50 (eight years ago) link
ILM 2015 Albums Poll: Thread of Stats, Ballots and the Gaz Coombes Nation
― conditional random jepsen (seandalai), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:55 (eight years ago) link
Just catching up now...
Ten Love Songs is going to have like 12 first place votes, there were a few people here who considered it one of their favourite albums of all time, let alone of the year.― Matt DC, Thursday, January 28, 2016 8:08 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Matt DC, Thursday, January 28, 2016 8:08 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
!!!!!!
Why do so many of them have no enthusiasm rating? Is it uncalculated for things with fewer than three voters?― emil.y, Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:44 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― emil.y, Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:44 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
That's right - below that it's barely an average and you'd end up with the single-#1-vote albums getting maximal enthusiasm.
― conditional random jepsen (seandalai), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:15 (eight years ago) link
Anyway: one of my two favourite kinds of ILM threads are the ones where someone posts about a hitherto low-profile artist and slowly other posters catch on and every month or so someone new bumps the thread to say OMG THIS IS THE BEST MUSIC EVER THANK YOU. Usually I don't notice until the artist in question hits the EOY poll but this year with Ten Love Songs I was there at the beginning and it's been a beautiful ride.
― conditional random jepsen (seandalai), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:18 (eight years ago) link
you'd end up with the single-#1-vote albums getting maximal enthusiasm
B-b-but they *do* have maximal enthusiasm. Sure, only one person knows or cares the record exists, but that one person loves it dearly.
― emil.y, Friday, 29 January 2016 00:27 (eight years ago) link
Also, Marriages have a very, very good drummer.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, January 28, 2016 6:37 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah he's a beast. i cast my marriages vote but late 90s epic guitar rock isn't coming back anytime soon i don't think.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:41 (eight years ago) link
weird. My #1 doesn't even show up on the results spreadsheet. Guess my ballot wasn't counted for some reason.
― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Friday, 29 January 2016 02:18 (eight years ago) link
This is like Ohio 2004
― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Friday, 29 January 2016 02:33 (eight years ago) link
Wow, this Jlin is great. I downloaded that one immediately.
― o. nate, Friday, 29 January 2016 03:53 (eight years ago) link
weird. My #1 doesn't even show up on the results spreadsheet. Guess my ballot wasn't counted for some reason.― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkThis is like Ohio 2004― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Blowout Coombes (President Keyes), Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Hmm, that is odd. I don't know what all seandalai does on the back end exactly, but if you saw the "thank you for voting" screen after submitting your ballot it means the data went through.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:56 (eight years ago) link
Glad for the people being put onto Jlin and Algiers.
― The Reverend, Friday, 29 January 2016 04:11 (eight years ago) link
I voted for Marriages too, albeit in the lower reaches. The Emma Ruth Rundle album from the year before is divine.
― boxedjoy, Friday, 29 January 2016 08:03 (eight years ago) link
President Keyes, I don't see any ballot from you in the system :( As JF said, if you got to the "Thank you for voting" screen it really should be there.
― conditional random jepsen (seandalai), Friday, 29 January 2016 09:30 (eight years ago) link
Day off work today (office more or less non-operational due to some big system upgrade going on) means I can spend some quality time with the spotify playlist.JLin album definitely my fave discovery so far.
― RA the Rugged Advisor (Mr Andy M), Friday, 29 January 2016 10:13 (eight years ago) link
art angels is really as uhhh, duhhhh an album title as artpop isn't it. IT'S ART ART ART DO U SEE
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 29 January 2016 10:18 (eight years ago) link
Dawn Richard is brill + addictive, just in terms of backing tracks + sound. Not paying attention to the words as yet.
So what's the deal with Herndon? On a couple of tracks this is possibly more abstract than Autechre (whom I don't care for, so good) but not as much as all of those computer series etc etc. people you'd see in these compilations from whatever I was looking at about ten years ago. A political angle was talked about - does that manifest itself anywhere or is it just saved for interviews or the live shows?
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:25 (eight years ago) link
tbh i never got round to reading any interviews with herndon - i'm sure they're interesting, just didn't have time - so i have only the vaguest idea of what her political points are (surveillance, internet blah blah blah). the live show didn't bring them any further into focus and i pretty much enjoy the album without thinking about them.
sort of similar to fatima yamaha's migration-themed album, aside from the song with actual lyrics, there's nothing in the music to suggest its political nature beyond the titles. instrumental electronic music's politics reside in the act and experience of clubbing/dancing imo.
i missed the miguel/role-playing debate upthread, i agree that the first three songs are all about role-playing and would argue that the entire journey of the album is from role-playing to ~being your true self. (not entirely sequenced like this with "coffee" and "waves" in the first half and "hollywood dreams" in the back half but w/v.) idk why you'd expect or want "deal" and "the valley" to be as straightforwardly beautiful as "coffee" or "face the sun" when they're all about archetypes of sexuality - power/politics, porn - and the tension between turn-on/sleazy turn-off.
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 29 January 2016 10:38 (eight years ago) link
I don't care for Autechre either, but Herndon (on this album) is clearly more poppy and warm than them.
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:41 (eight years ago) link
And I didn't notice the political angle either before it was mentioned here, but since I mostly listen to instrumental music, I don't really pay attention to lyrics (except in rap). To me Platform was just a nice marriage of glitchy experimentalism with poppy sensibilities.
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:44 (eight years ago) link
I don't care for Autechre either, but Herndon (on this album) is clearly more poppy and warm than them.― Tuomas, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:41 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:41 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
oh now you've done it...
― canoon fooder (dog latin), Friday, 29 January 2016 10:45 (eight years ago) link
Done what? I don't think even Autechre's fans would deny that they have a cold sound, or at least colder than Herndon's.
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:46 (eight years ago) link
More into the politics of sitting in a corner with loud speakers blaring noise @ me.
I don't like Autechre because it isn't as abstract as it thinks it is. I started listening to them and then the academic stuff was so much better I left others to deal with them as I was bored. Herndon reminds me of a couple of amazing obscure academic composers -- whose names I forget -- that were really packing layer upon layer of sound and noise in.
I don't want Herndon to copy those people, looks like she is working an intersection: making those noise more poppy? But I think its closer to glitch circa 2005. Just need to listen in some more.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:53 (eight years ago) link
I don't like Autechre because it isn't as abstract as it thinks it is.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, January 29, 2016 10:53 AM
this is a really stupid post generally but autechre do not purport to be abstract or to appeal to the set of sensibilities you purport to favour
you're probably talking about people like curtis roads
― smoothy doles it (nakhchivan), Friday, 29 January 2016 10:56 (eight years ago) link
I don't think Autechre think they are making statements about abstraction as much as many of their worst champions do
― Chikan wa akan de. Zettai akan de. (Noodle Vague), Friday, 29 January 2016 10:57 (eight years ago) link
whoops, sorry for repeated sentiment
Holly H wrote 'FUCK THERESA MAY' up on a big projector screen during her London gig. That went down well.
idk why you'd expect or want "deal" and "the valley" to be as straightforwardly beautiful as "coffee" or "face the sun" when they're all about archetypes of sexuality - power/politics, porn - and the tension between turn-on/sleazy turn-off.
It's not about being "straightforwardly beautiful" it's about not wanting them to sound like shit. 'A Beautiful Exit' and 'Deal' in particular are good songs produced and arranged badly - the whole sound of Deal is so thin and flimsy, and that lumpy guitar drags the opening song down completely.
― Matt DC, Friday, 29 January 2016 10:58 (eight years ago) link
I don't like Autechre because it isn't as abstract as it thinks it is. ― xyzzzz__, Friday, January 29, 2016 10:53 AMthis is a really stupid post
this is a really stupid post
You like 'em then.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 January 2016 11:00 (eight years ago) link
herndon was at mills i think? she clearly has had more direct inculcation in abstract electronic music and its theory than autechre do, while tuomas is also correct to note that in some sense her music is warm and in some sense her music is pop music
her album is really excellent and better than her previous recordings
― smoothy doles it (nakhchivan), Friday, 29 January 2016 11:02 (eight years ago) link
I checked her wiki page - she has had a couple of teachers whose music I've heard, she's not trying to copy all of that stuff. No point.
Her album does sound good, just asking as to what might mark it out to see her on this list.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 January 2016 11:06 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, the change from Movement to Platform is pretty radical, the former is much more in the stereotypical academic/abstract electronics camp than the new album.
(xpost)
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 January 2016 11:06 (eight years ago) link
She mostly reminds me of people like Matmos, that whole exploration of texture melded with pop sensibilities and entertaining high concept flimflam, except the density of her textural work is a lot greater than Matmos (who I also really like).
The only Autechre album that Platform particularly evokes is parts of Confield, and that record is much more sensual than it's generally given credit for.
― Matt DC, Friday, 29 January 2016 11:07 (eight years ago) link
yeah for sure, confield/gantz graf was where autechre did sort of edge further into abstraction
there's a lot of precedent for her sound/sensbility in people like kevin blechdom etc and all of that stuff, some people on ilx know this scene quite well.....
― smoothy doles it (nakhchivan), Friday, 29 January 2016 11:11 (eight years ago) link
> So what's the deal with Herndon?
A Tennessee girl from the Blue Ridge Mountains, who happened to spend a few years frequenting Berghain in Berlin before starting a PhD in electronic music at Mills College in Oakland.
― Lurkers of the world, unite! (Sanpaku), Friday, 29 January 2016 11:14 (eight years ago) link
Where's milton when you him?
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 29 January 2016 11:14 (eight years ago) link