ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

this is already feeling like getting to the bridgers album a year late

congrats mordy, historian is amazing

i didn't vote for it either but like... my top 25 is stacked imo, it was hard

i listened to "night shift" the other day and was just extremely knocked out over what a great piece of songwriting it is

https://i.imgur.com/8B6pmLe.jpg
#50: Laurel Halo - Raw Silk Uncut Wood - 260 points – 10 votes - 1 first place vote

Nina Posner: ""What works reliably is to know the raw silk, hold the uncut wood," says Ursula Le Guin in her translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Inspired by this sentiment, as well as Halo's time scoring a film for the Dutch art collective Metahaven, the more abstract aspects of Raw Silk Uncut Wood allow her to establish moods that are at once non-prescriptive and immediately visceral."

Jordan Bassett: "There’s no vocal on the record: having defined her trademark sound on ‘Dust’, Halo has set out to confound one more – perhaps indicating that her music’s as playful as her persona after all."

great record

Really surprised to see Noname this low. Such a great album. My third vote to place.

Haven't checked out the Domenique Dumont album yet. Le Soleil Dans Le Monde was one of the standouts on the Spotify playlist. Agree with the people about how great the EP was from a couple of years ago.

I couldn't really get into Boygenius as much as I wanted to. That goes for the solo work of Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers too (beyond a couple of tracks). I really came round to the Lucy Dacus album in December. Wonder if she has a chance of making it? I thought Night Shift would be on the tracks list for sure.

voted for Noname, but if i see another fucking review mention the "my pussy wrote a thesis on colonialism" line, im gonna flip the shit

― simmy simmy ya, simmy yam simmy yay (voodoo chili), Tuesday, February 5, 2019 11:47 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol yes seeing this line quoted again and again like it was genius may have turned me on the album, which I wanted to like after Telefone

I can't imagine Dacus outranking the Boygenius EP :(

Lots of albums today I vaguely remember being released that I didn't hear much about and consequently slept on.

I can't imagine Dacus outranking the Boygenius EP :(

― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Tuesday, February 5, 2019 10:06 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i can, if only bc it appeared on 100000 year-end lists

Didn't vote for Noname in the end - it felt very slight and I didn't revisit enough. It's probably me.

The Boygenius record is fantastic; the first of mine to place.

Would I like Lucy Dacus if I like Pheobe Bridgers and one of the songs off the Boygenius ep that I heard in my dads car on 6music that one time?

Phoebe Bridgers solo album is in hindsight my favorite album of 2017. Instead I got a 2018 listening to that for the first time AND the Boygenius work.

Boygenius EP very much feels like an EP, it lacks heft and mass, but it's great, sometimes amazing. They fit together but obviously work very differently with sounds and lyrics, Bridgers blunt specificity, Baker's epic gloom, it's a potent mix and I think they can do even greater things together later on.

haha same here re hearing it a year late. I blame mordy.

wish i enjoyed that laurel halo more but it didn't really stick for me at all

why do you blame me? i'm on the same schedule as all ya'all. blame brad.

ok lj "apperception" -> "parody warning" -> "fortune's daughter" is a hell of a run

wish there was a little more space in the opening three tracks and maybe generally

i talk about all of these records in the years they come out, pay attention

https://i.imgur.com/YIk5rrs.jpg
#49: The Breeders - All Nerve - 267 points – 10 votes

Thomas Britt: "All Nerve possesses all of the mysterious tones of Title TK, and the execution is by the same group of musicians that enjoyed mainstream success with the multiple single-spawning Last Splash. One could call it the best of both worlds, but under Kim Deal's guiding vision, it's all one world. This album is another confident step into that world."

Ed Jump: "Sure, it may have been ten years, but it’s another success. It’s a reminder of why The Breeders are so highly rated, and holds its own against their previous albums and EPs. It’s an album you want to play again before it’s even finished, before revisiting their other albums."

toooooo looooooow

my #5

my favorite breeders album

so fuckin' good, I played two tracks from this on the radio yesterday

excellent!

GOOD MORNING

It's definitely an improvement over Title TK and Mountain Battles. I got a bit burned out on it when it came out after hearing it at work so many times. Probably time to revisit.

I loved the Foxing album despite the emo-y vox

"Slapstick" is a great tune

voted for this one, too low

This is my favorite Laurel Halo album by a quite a bit. I love the jazzy moods she explores. Reminds me a bit of Miles Davis stuff like "He Loved Him Madly"

ooh interest piqued

Does she sing on this one?

no

Then I'll have to check it out. I very much enjoyed Chance of Rain.

Yeah, her singing was kind of a dealbreaker for me in the past.

https://i.imgur.com/mv6YOe0.jpg
#48: Sleep - The Sciences - 270 points – 8 votes

Trystan MacDonald: "To the sober ear, the drawn-out chugging riffs, which are the foundation of the band's sound, come off as stretched and border dangerously on the verge of repetition. But stoned, those riffs are ploughing the fields of your mind, pulling you into a deep hypnotic state washing everything away with rich distortion."

Grayson Haver Currin: "The essential trick of The Sciences—and the reason it feels like more than an overdue cash-in—is these 40something dudes have managed to grow up without growing old. Their minds are still focused on weed and the escape that it offers, but that’s just the gag; these riffs, rhythms, and the mantra-like singing of Al Cisneros are a drug unto themselves, evidence of a band that’s improved upon their animating idea."

It's very different from her other stuff, sounds more organic

yes, sleep has surely nailed her colours to the folk mast here

Love Sleep, although I think Sleep's Holy Mountain will remain an early pinnacle for me.

One of the greatest 'Comeback' albums. Had no expectations for it at all but I just couldn't stop playing it all year. My #2.

I don't get these guys at all but this is the only one of theirs I've heard.

this record is fine imo

too high here

was beginning to worry it had been 78'd

This had a great sound and I think the rest is basically your dosage may vary if you smoke my drift

not sure if its her best but raw silk uncut wood is up there, the opening and closing tracks especially

as an inveterate stoner i was a bit disappointed to not vibe with a new sleep record as much as i wanted to

drugs a money wants me to post this reminder for him

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! Ballots due Saturday, Feb. 9th!

there seem to be a lot of guitars in this years 77

https://i.imgur.com/zfGktTW.jpg
#47: Neneh Cherry - Broken Politics - 275 points – 9 votes

Laura Snapes: "Cherry’s sage perspective weaves through these tender, bristling tracks, and elevates Broken Politics from being simply a beautiful record to a revelatory one."

Paul Carr: "It is a more even-paced, leaner affair with Kieran Hebden showing his ability to create subtly shaded melodic gems that allow Cherry's voice and lyrics to shine. In turn, Cherry turns out vocal hook lines emboldened by the intricate music behind her."

I just checked and there were only two genuine metal placements in the last 77. not a big year for full-lengths in many of the more popular genres I guess xp