ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

13 people voted for it because it's good and they liked it

lol i think i voted for this yw lj

I totally called this as placing 20th! It is about as infectious and kitsch as it could be and there are a thousand wonderful synth hooks. A.L.T.O, Taking Notes and Somg to a Succulent are highlights.

I realised this would place when I looked at the track ballots. A euphoric feeling

Song...phone posting

Maybe I'll write-in Simmy in the metal poll...

i didnt expect this makaya mccraven to be so post rocky and tortoise/chicago underground duo-ish

― Oor Neechy, Thursday, February 7, 2019 9:50 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Jeff Parker plays on it!

She’ll win it hands down

xp

https://i.imgur.com/VfeDmtG.jpg
#19: Tracey Thorn - Record - 482 points – 13 votes - 3 first place votes

Tracey Thorn

Dave Simpson: "The lyrical mix of emotion and wisdom is matched by the elegant dignity of the soundtrack, and producer Ewan Pearson places Thorn in the lineage of classy electronic torch singers from Alison Moyet to Marc Almond."

Rob Sheffield: "In her excellent new solo album, with the droll title Record, the Everything But the Girl chanteuse tells tales of mid-life angst with the same wry wit she's had in her voice since she was a sullen Brit-punk kid."

I would def buy Tracy Thorn Saves The World

Yay for Tracey in the top 20!

a delightful, proper album that gathers detail and momentum as it goes. also one of the ilmiest albums i've ever heard

i have been putting off listening to the daphne and celeste all year and i'm sorry!!!

Totally deserved placement for Tracey Thorn. Record is one the best albums of her career for me. Up there with Walking Wounded, A Distant Shore and Out Of The Woods.

I never got round to the D&C album. I liked the first Max Tundra single but wasn't blown away, is there a notable step up? (I also liked their early bratty stuff if that has any bearing on matters.)

https://i.imgur.com/15EtQFH.jpg
#18: Yves Tumor - Safe In The Hands Of Love - 483 points – 13 votes - 3 first place votes

Yves Tumor

Jayson Greene: "Yves Tumor’s latest album is a benchmark in experimental music. It is searing and borderless, music that is aware of oppressive confinement, and music with an intoxicating urge to be free."

Spyros Stasis: "What pushes Safe in the Hands of Love beyond the producer's previous works is the emotion that the record transmits. No matter if the synths are harsh, or the rhythm section arrives with the perfect groove, this is a work filled with an emotive purpose, and it is that core that makes it such a wonderful listen."

^^^ this album is fucking awesome

ok so... this daphne & celeste record is basically uk perfume so far

10/10

lol why did i write uk

us perfume*

love the Yves Tumor

Be sure to vote in this year's metal poll. It's the 10th anniversary and we just extended voting out til the end of next week.

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! NEW EXTENDED DEADLINE! Ballots due by Friday, February 15th 11.59pm PST

(Brad! Don't act like you don't know us xp! We also just added your AOTY to the noms list)

you ruining Brad's ilm cred? may as well out Simon too!

lol i have neither time nor interest in participating in the metal poll this year sorry y'all

emil.y - I loved that first single, but I still think it’s a step up. It’s much more varied than can be portrayed without hearing the whole thing though. It has a Captain Beefheart cover!

Yay Brad, glad you’re loving it

tried to engage with the yves tumor record several times but it kept pushing me away.

uk perfume

The UK Perfume were a shitty indie band iirc

D&C is more a UK thing than a US thing tbf - even discounting Max Tundra being British, the duo were way more of a thing here, we've adopted them haha

Also thanks tt, I'll give it a listen. Not doing the intense listen-along thing with the rollout but am marking potentially cool things to check out later.

https://i.imgur.com/LSmXeSd.jpg
#17: MGMT - Little Dark Age - 486 points – 16 votes - 1 first place vote

MGMT - Little Dark Age
Congratulation to MGMT for their upcoming album

Landon Macdonald: "The true follow up to Congratulations, the record that is doomed to enjoy the benefit of the regret of the music writers who panned Congratulations and also to enjoy the inevitable backlash against the backlash. The record is more than good enough to earn these accolades."

Robert Ham: "Working again with Dave Fridmann and with some key assists from likeminded popster Ariel Pink and MGMT touring member James Robinson, the album feels like it’s alternately melting and lifting, warming and woozy."

wow

dece album but really?

Good stuff emil.y!

The Yves Tumor track that placed in the tracks poll was great. I wasn't so hot on the album but maybe the sequencing threw me? I'll revisit it

Oh look what's this. Very psychedelic start to the day

That is inordinately high.

Maybe I'll write-in Simmy in the metal poll...

teh

I called this placing. Such a surprisingly great return after the disaster of the last album. My favourite record of theirs by a long way.

Not sure why people are surprised by this placing? They scored two in the tracks poll so obviously there's a lot of ILx love. I mean, it's almost certainly not good enough to be this high, but I'm going to feel that way about most of the rollout, so eh...

I gotta say, bits of the MGMT impressed me somewhat but I couldn't imagine voting for it. Maybe it's a grower

They do have amazing videos though

Yup (this was somewhere in my top 5)

too low

D&C is more a UK thing than a US thing tbf - even discounting Max Tundra being British, the duo were way more of a thing here, we've adopted them haha

― imago, Thursday, February 7, 2019 10:30 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was what i thought and then i fact-checked myself too hard!

lj are you a perfume fan

https://i.imgur.com/qcHzvem.jpg
#16: Mr Twin Sister - Salt - 492 points – 16 votes - 1 first place vote

Mr Twin Sister

Landon Macdonald: "But over-scrutinizing Mr Twin Sister’s capacity for vibe-setting feels like witnessing a rare bird in its natural habitat: attempting to examine them any closer risks disrupting the simple joy of watching them exist."

Larry Fitzmaurice: "With genre far in their dust, Mr. Twin Sister are crafting pop that begs to be heard. In an album every bit as dance-driven as it is jazz-infused, Mr. Twin Sister deliver something that challenges norms while thriving in their power. "

too low

god this album is so good

my #3

my no. 2