ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2019

{alternative}^{alternative} = alternative

Why does "overenunciated" translate to "inauthentic" and "not black enough"? To me it just means, too 90's poetry-slam digable planets.
(none of those a bad thing in my book, btw, but ymmv)

https://i.imgur.com/jH26857.jpg
#67 – Caterina Barbieri – Ecstatic Computation (200 points, 7 votes)

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=45&threadid=98991

https://thequietus.com/articles/26405-caterina-barbieri-ecstatic-computation

Thanks for the clipping write up, DJP. Will be checking them out.

Never heard of this one.

ooh this Barbieri looks like my kinda thing

voted for this too, it's really nice

Why does "overenunciated" translate to "inauthentic" and "not black enough"? To me it just means, too 90's poetry-slam digable planets.
(none of those a bad thing in my book, btw, but ymmv)

The exact words were "super-wordy and enunciated" and it was in contrast to the description of their music as "WE'RE SCARY", which is absolutely a vibe they were going for on this album but doesn't (to my ears) accurately describe their entire catalog without making a lot of assumptions about tone and intent.

The National album is like sunlight emerging during a still cloudy morning. The use of backing vocals/harmonists as complement worked beautifully. Their best in a dozen years.

Ooh I've actually heard this one. Cool stuff, though I don't quite see what is extraordinary about it.

Embarrassed to admit I only know Diggs from The Get Down and uhh Kimmy Schmidt. The horror elements aren't too enticing personally, but I'm going to check it out

wow this Berbieri record is DOPE

xp: Listen to "Run For Your Life" on headphones. The production job on that song is incredible.

I binged the shit out of 2019 releases and this remains one of the 5 or so albums I outright hated the most (sorry Brad).

― toilet-cleaning brain surgeon (pomenitul), Monday, February 3, 2020 11:36 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's fair! a lot of people hate the national!

Listened to this (Barbieri) for the first time quite recently, after I'd already voted. It's a big step up from her previous records, which were good but never surprised. This one does.

Really enjoying Sampa the Great so far. Only on track 11 though.

I really liked the one Sampa the Great song I heard but I never got to the album and the song I liked ("OMG") wasn't nominated

Ecstatic Computation made for a pleasant enough moment.

There's some alright 'left-field'-ish stuff placing in these lower reaches, but nothing I voted for so I've been looking over my ballot - sadly I'm not expecting any nice surprises for me, really. I reckon I have three definite placers and a couple of maybes, anything else would be a shock.

https://i.imgur.com/PkNho9I.jpg
#66 – Tyler, the Creator – IGOR (202 points, 8 votes)

Tyler the Creator

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/tyler-the-creator-igor-review-837811/

I didn’t like this CB album as much as ones I’d heard previously

Hm looks like we might see a lot more rap on this poll than tracks

xp: Listen to "Run For Your Life" on headphones. The production job on that song is incredible.

― totally unnecessary bewbz of exploitation (DJP), Monday, February 3, 2020 1:51 PM (one minute ago)

this was good advice, thank you!

Not as sharp as Flower Boy, and he's a better producer than rapper.

this and flower boy are just great fun records, really love where tyler's been taking his music

RYM we are not. Slightly preferred FB as well

Yay! That’s three of mine to place already (TTC, Jme and clipping.) - probably a record. Preferred Flower Boy too, but this was still lovely. GONE, GONE / THANK YOU a highlight, as is the mad final 30 seconds of the otherwise prettily chill ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?

otm

I dipped out on following Tyler a long time ago, so when I decided to check this one out, I had to move backwards and hear Flower Boy. I prefer IGOR, but maybe that'd be different if I'd heard Flower Boy first?

https://i.imgur.com/Mhc9AW8.jpg
#65 – FONTAINES D.C. – Dogrel (204 points, 7 votes)

the band that best addrsses 'Irishness' and the subject of Ireland

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/12/fontaines-dc-dogrel-album-review-irish-punks-debut

apologies but clipping always sounds very corny to my ears. it's a combo of diggs' super-wordy and enunciated rapping and the "WE'RE SCARY!" aesthetic

I can't really put into words exactly how offensive this position is to me. It comes across to me as saying Diggs can't be good at hip-hop because he's not black enough.

― totally unnecessary bewbz of exploitation (DJP), Monday, February 3, 2020 12:26 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm not saying he's not good at it, i'm saying i don't like it. i'm not mentioning the rapping style and the aesthetic as being in contrast to each other, i'm mentioning them as two separate things that i don't like. the rapping feels like it's more about technique than expression, which is not something i enjoy, and i have trouble taking "scary" music seriously. it's admittedly a reductive opinion but i've listened to them several times and didn't enjoy it and so didn't go back to give it a deep analysis.

fwiw for the curious, the aesthetic of There Existed.... isn't out-and-out horrorcore or anything, it's more "here's a sample from the score to a 70s horror film there, a droning synth there, a lyrical motif as a starting point there" etc

regret not throwing a vote to clipping (and one other which i hope will place)

https://i.imgur.com/ugNkIRX.jpg
#64 – Miranda Lambert – Wildcard (208 points, 8 votes)

miranda lambert

come anticipate Miranda Lambert's new double album The Weight of These Wings

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/miranda-lamberts-wildcard-is-a-freewheeling-country-rock-masterpiece-901904/

I voted for Fontaines too because I heard it for the first time and liked it the same weekend I was voting. Dunno if I'd do it again. It's fine, but whatever.

It's fine, but whatever.

My reaction to the Tyler record.

i always vote Miranda Lambert high up but i haven't really listened to this album yet so i didn't vote for it. she is wonderful tho.

This countdown is so much less contentious (and, I guess, less heavily trafficked) than the tracks rollout!

I liked that Fontaines DC record. Kind of a Dublin Idles it's okay to like afaic

re: Lambert, only 3-4 real outright killers on the level of the last album, but not a bad listen

I've only heard a couple of Fontaines DC songs and they reminded me of Idles so I didn't investigate any further. Didn't realise they had any kind of following on here.

Whoa, worst cover I've seen so far

That's actually an oddly cropped version of the cover I'm familiar with.

Ah ok, that would make sense.

Listened to Dogrel a lot last year and put it on my ballot.

Absolutely hated the Idles album

Has anyone completed her crossword yet?

lambert record is great, think i voted for it? not a masterpiece like the last one but they can't all be

one more and then i'm out for awhile; expect a few PM options to appear.

enjoying caterina barbieri!

I guess with Ecstatic Computation placing, at least one thing from my ballot did. Which is nice.

thank u for bringing it to my attention!

nm i did not vote for it. only thing to place from my ballot so far is cate le bon

fontaines dc didn't speak to me at all.

the national album was incredibly impressive, but i had a hard time sitting through the whole thing. not in kansas and you had your soul with you were my choice cuts.

re: tyler - count me as a flower boy-preferrer too, but igor certainly had its moments. never thought i'd describe tyler, the creator as background music, but here we are. still, i liked it enough for it to sneak in my personal top 50.