ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

a lot of perfect pop songs on this

You can't knock L.E.G. based solely on their band name. It's like knocking out Ice Cream.

Chris was the biggest grower of the year for me. I ended up getting quite obsessed with it in December.

the chris record is objectively very good but something about it keeps it at a distance for me

next record prob gonna sweep me off my feet

^^^I had the same feeling

surprised this wasn't higher tbh though it didn't make my list. this seems like a very ILM top 10 type record

this one came very close to sweeping me off my feet after i did not care at all about her debut

I’ve come to love a few of the Chris songs but I remember thinking the full thing was kind of boring.. maybe I’d like it more if I revisited it

Voted for a Let's Eat Grandma track instead of the album. I like their shorter pop songs, not sold on the epics.

I like Christine but the beats don't go as frantic as I'd like.

I guess I just find her stuff a little too tidy, over-poised

Well, that's it for today for me. See you tomorrow with the top 20!

Full self-own disclosure: Chris made me feel like more dumb as a listener than any other record this year.

Searched it up on Spotify, saw the description "23 songs, 1 hr 32 mins", went "urgh this one as well", and probably listened less closely than I should as a result, as the thought that my attention might stray over that duration became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was actually nearly through the second full 92-minute play when it dawned on me it was a bilingual edition.

to speculate, these 15 feel like a lock for top 20:
julia holter
kacey musgraves
sun-el musician
janelle monae
mitski
low
mr twin sister
the beths
robyn
tracey thorn
the 1975
rosalia
autechre
yves tumor
pistol annies

and these all feel reasonably possible to me to fill some of the remaining spots but i'm probably missing some:
simmy
us girls
sons of kemet
idris ackamoor & the pyramids
dj healer
anna von hausswolff
emma ruth rundle
beach house
grouper

not sure though because this would be pretty high for beach house, that grouper album was rather slight etc. really hope simmy does make it though

stoked that 0/25 of my votes have placed, go me!

I don't think AVH or ERR are gonna make it :(

for some reason i'm enjoying how much this black dresses record is annoying me

I'm still holding out hope for ILM, its mama too, and its daddy, being stuck, but it feels like a faint one now

Idris Ackamoor? That would be awesome. Does he have a better chance than something like Die Wilde Jagd though?

still holding out hope for dacus but it's rapidly diminishing

expecting Marie Davidson to place tbh

i think sons of kemet might crack the top 10

I don't think anyone has mentioned MGMT as contenders yet. I think they're going to make it.

I'm expecting it to be very, very close to the Pazz and Jop top 20

I feel most guilty abt forgetting to vote for don toliver, which now looks unlikely to place

xps I woulda voted for Sons Of Kemet so I hope you're right

If Ashley Monroe placed so low I wouldn't expect Pistol Annies to turn up at all.

I think these are all certain to place

The Beths
Beach House
Sun-El Musician
MGMT
Simmy
Julia Holter
U.S Girls
Janelle Monae
Mr Twin Sister
Low
Rosalia
The 1975
Robyn
Autechre
Mitski
Kacey Musgraves

And some possible contenders

Yves Tumor
Sons Of Kemet
Daphne and Celeste
Tierra Whack
Hatchie
Tracey Thorn
Gas

Had hoped that Neko Case or Johan Johannsson would make it, but suspect too late now. Only one of my picks not mentioned which may have a chance is Young Fathers, but not seeing much discussion about them here.

I was thinking this AAL was fine but sort of boilerplate and badly produced and then I found out it was by Nicolas Jaar and the weird critical hosannas suddenly made sense. The cult of the pompously revered dance producer is so boring at this stage.

(Speaking of which if the DJ Healer album has missed the 77 I will be so happy).

Wow @ McCraven so far. This is like four mini-albums!

the band w the worst name in the world will place top 10

mr twin sister

surprised this wasn't higher tbh though it didn't make my list. this seems like a very ILM top 10 type record

― octobeard, Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:39 PM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same here, was sure it would be up there.

A few of my votes in this last run - SOPHIE, RBCF, Kali Uchis and Hop Along. The SOPHIE record in particular was a nice surprise as I hadn't previously been a fan (although I liked 'Nothing More to Say').

Friendly reminder to vote in this year's Metal poll:

https://www.popmatters.com/yves-tumor-safe-hands-love-2607254603.html

the Pistol Annies record has been finishing higher in music polls across the board, it's the most common #2 album I see on country polls as well (Kacey's is almost always #1.)

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

that's a spoiler isn't it

the mccraven is a top 5 for me for sure; so pissed i missed his set last month

The results have been compromised!!

maybeee... I'm very distracted today hahaha

mccraven record is cool, one of the (few) nice discoveries so far.

we're thinking of allowing a weeks extension for metal poll incase more of you are interested in taking part after hearing albums here.

Imago & TT will be the deciders haha

McCraven is sounding good. There's stuff going on. Much less noodly than expected. I guess that's where the editing aspect came in

I am not a decider but I would appreciate one more week

I propose that it runs tomorrow and only my ballot is counted

just spent the past 15 minutes getting irritated by the sophie album.

Yeah it seems a lot to ask for us to formulate a ballot while following albums poll with bated breath. Maybe extending it out to the next Friday would be the shrewd move...xp

(Haha Moka thanks for the help btw but are you saying that YT won't be placing so we'd better vote for it in the metal poll?) (bcz it's not nominated...)

I'd somehow semi-consciously been assuming that Against All Logic was a punk band. Weird.