ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

right, sorry. here's a somewhat streamlined breakdown in case folks want to run their itemized responses.

61: Andrew WK – You’re Not Alone
62: Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy
63: Mariah Carey - Caution
64: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan - Dirt
65: Skee Mask - Compro
66: Hailu Mergia – Lala Belu
67: Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth
68: YOB – Our Raw Heart
69: Ghost - Prequelle
70: Kadhja Bonet - Childqueen
71: Kero Kero Bonito – Time ‘n’ Place
72: Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos
73: Senyawa - Sujud
74: Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine
75: Charlie Puth - Voicenotes
76: Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
77: Amen Dunes – Freedom

damn we're already seeing stuff with 10+ votes. how many ballots did we get in total?

Yeah I’m not a huge Mariah fan, but I do think this is a pleasant/enjoyable album.

this was such a good year for albums that i'm really enjoying the rollout this time

also moka's images continue to stun

the WK one is so good I almost want to listen to it

I got 3 in today, but no idea how many others I'll see (some I'm certain of, others I'd be really surprised).

of my ballot only the low and the julia holter will place, i think. big question, will they hit the top ten? i hope so.

I only got 1 in but I'm expecting as many as 12 to place based on these results

i forgot the beths, they will make it too, maybe even the breeders.

sometimes i forget just how long mariah has been mariah. She's got a duet with Gunna on Caution. When Gunna was two months old, Mariah was releasing her third album.

i didn't vote for anything so far but it's mostly good stuff

Nicely varied results so far, three of my votes placed, happy to see Hailu Mergia especially.

Really keen to hear these three:

72: Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos
73: Senyawa - Sujud
74: Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine

i forgot the beths, they will make it too, maybe even the breeders.

― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Monday, February 4, 2019 2:03 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ilm's gonna have the good sense to include the breeders imo

their absence from year-end lists last year still inexplicable 2 me

I like the Mariah a lot, but hadn’t listened to it enough to vote for it. The conciseness def works in its favour.

For those of you who are enjoying the Andrew WK album, can I recommend Adebisi Shank?
https://adebisishank.bandcamp.com/track/big-unit
https://adebisishank.bandcamp.com/track/turnaround

Adebisi Shank

do do do do do

wonder if anyone else voted for the Amnesia Scanner album

xp lol!

hah I can hear why you recommended that

I might actually check 'em out, sounds dope so far

wonder if anyone else voted for the Amnesia Scanner album

― mh, Monday, February 4, 2019 4:24 PM (fifteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

o/

my man

I can see Low, Julia Holter and The Beths all making the top 10.

I heard one of Mariah’s new songs on Spotify shuffle; before I looked up the artist, I was sitting there aghast wondering what the hell had happened to Dawn Richard’s voice and hoping she was seeing a good ENT.

I don’t think I’m going to check out the album.

First time listener to Hailu Mergia. This is great! Sampling some of the older stuff and pretty amazed at the regeneration/update. Title track in particular is phenomenal.

The accordions were an unexpected delight on the new album

very surprised Cardi B was so low, would have probably expected her to make top 10 here? it didn't quite make my ballot but it was very solid and even made me enjoy "Bodak Yellow" in context

Cardi B was a case of "this is not for me, but I fully get why other people dig it".

solid pop record that gradually unsticks from your attention imo

i haven't heard any andrew w.k. but the one adebisi shank song i've heard is anamanaguchi-style chiptune? is that what andrew w.k. does?

andrew w.k. is an approach to life

oh damn I would probably have tossed Cardi a #1 sorry for not ilxing

Ha, I played Andrew WK right after you played REO Speedwagon in plug one time, rushomancy, and you said it was a ditting segue.

*fitting

i don't think i'll ever understand the love post-i get wet andrew wk gets here

mariah was another one i thought might do a fair bit better here based on the general love for it, took me a while to get into but certainly one of her best albums. might have voted for it if i'd gotten into it sooner and spent more time with it. "the distance"/"giving me life" was a really nice section in the middle

i haven't heard anything from andrew w.k. other than i get wet, btw

talk about not living life to the fullest

i'm more of a glass half full guy, something to aspire to you know? that's what 'glass half full' means iirc

wait a second, that is what glass half full means. goddammit, joeks

yay @ Kadhja Bonet, such a good album

I was surprised and very happy to see Kadhja Bonet, make the list. I've been going back to it a lot. Gives me strong Rotary Connection/early Minnie Riperton vibes.

Just checking out the Wednesday Campanella album for the first time. Really gorgeous stuff, especially that dreamy song at the end.

Ha, I played Andrew WK right after you played REO Speedwagon in plug one time, rushomancy, and you said it was a fitting segue.

― silent as a seashell Julia (Sund4r)

most surprising thing about this is that i was apparently playing REO Speedwagon, i must have been in a right mood that day

I loved hearing the crowd cheer so loudly for the accordion when Hailu Mergia played here, that gig just got better and better as he warmed up

When I Get Wet arrived with full media fanfare and his fkn gooning face everywhere I hated it, it was 55 Cadillac that got me on board. The Greatest Showman wld be a good title for his next album

The previous Quelle Chris record is leaner and with higher highs imo but there's still a gently-handled weight to this record

I like the Cardi album a lot and voted for it but it still spends too much time in the generic Migos zone and is much better when it doesn't. If Rico Nasty places then justice is done.

Skee Mask: listened to it again, same result as before: I quite like it, except when it gets boringly drum’n’bassey (not Shirley) and most definitely when it veers dangerously close to big beat territory, and all I can smell is watery beer.

i don't have any strong feelings towards the Skee Mask album but i liked it best when it reminded me of the Metroid Prime soundtrack

Only voted for Kamasi Washington so far, have also listened to Skee Mask, Senjawa and Cardi B. Cardi B was one of the last records I cut. So far I feel a bit more represented than on the track-list, but I also suggest my hivemind score is so high most of my votes will turn up higher on the list...

I don't really get the Skee Mask record, I have to admit. From what I read it was supposed to be drum'n'bass with good ambient pieces in-between, but that combination sorta just turned out to be too much like the too pretty d'n'b that killed the genre in the first place.

LTJ Bukem did no such thing.

Was gonna say, it wasn't atmospheric d'n'b that killed off d'n'b. It was the technocrats that stole the genre from the dreamers and sucked the soul out of it.

Peter Mandelheadz.

:D