ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2019

Enjoying 'Sult'. Something about it reminds me of that King Creosote/Jon Hopkins album from a few years back

lol, now next year's track list will be chocka with obscure drone organ stuff and we'll be all 'why is the rest of the world not paying attention??'

ILM is a pop messageboard primarily

Pom seems to be doing his modest best to bring some more classical music into ILM and I for one am here for those recommendations!

Yeah, me too. That Eva-Maria Houben album is right up my alley, so I ordered it, thanks for recommending it, Pom!

My pleasure!

I'm enjoying the Barker and Tyler The Creator albums

I'm not sure about clipping.

Last but not least (and maybe I'm picking on Kali Malone because I suspect this one won't place despite being infinitely more compelling), Maja S. K. Ratkje's Sult, for voice and pump organ, is one of the most gorgeous things I heard last year.

Oh I voted for this!

there's a whole heterogenous but alligned set of sparse, slightly numbed music that i've had trouble really connecting with this year, stuff like andy stott and carla dal forno, that whole blackest ever black aesthetic, greyscale gloom. don't know if my inner goth is dying but i used to live for that stuff. the one exception has been htrk, still spellbound by what they do

"grayscale gloom" is a dead-on descriptor for a *lot* of stuff.

There's a line between a sort of empty sonic nothingness and music that moves the listener. (in the same way that harsh noise wall is generic and a pose generally but certain artists can elevate it.) I'd put K. Malone on the enjoyable side of that line, but a lot of music in this realm is dead; certain labels traffic in it and when I hear about releases from some of them I just shrug.

clearly some of this grayscale stuff DOES move enough ilxors to vote for it - not me obv but i do think we should have some respect for the process here

maybe i just got burnt by boomkat sales pitches too many times

Does anyone know whether the following, from the Lambchop record, was meant to be taken as a David Berman reference?

I am breathing actual air / Sorry dude, that just kind of slipped out

It's been catching my ear for months, but I've no evidence either way. I do like the idea of Berman haunting this poll via OTHER FOLKS' SONGS too. :)

my guess is it probably is

i don't think wagner would be unaware of a phrase he was borrowing from somebody else in his field who was acclaimed for their lyrics etc.

I think there are a few quasi-genres I used to love and now I'm a bit done with. Yeah the post-industrial gloom thing only works a few times in ten for me, but back in my Quietus-reading days it was my bread and butter.

And as I said on the tracks thread, all the 'mid-tempo artsy pop-not-pop solo female singer' gang are starting to blend into one to the point where I can't tell my Angel Olsons from my Shuras from my Hatchies from my Clairos etc... I used to lap that up, and obvs someone's going to come along and slap my wrists to tell me these acts are NOTHING ALIKE, and of course there are some real standouts (I still love a bit of Susanne Sundfor and Christine & the Queens), just feeling oversaturated as this whole thing has been a staple on ILM since at least the mid-2000s.

I always thought listening to classics was more indulgent than wading through contemporary stuff.

Why?

Sult was my #1 vote obv.

those records really do sound nothing alike dl lol

if yr ears flatten Sundfor and CatQ into anything near the same genre then yes it might be time to give yr ears a break

think i only listened to 2 albums more than once last year but it's now 3 thanks to checking out the caterini barbieri. good job voters!

the sacred paws record was acceptable too.

dl I'm sure you don't mean it to come across as such but grouping those acts together is leaning on "women all make the same music" territory

I mean the Hatchie is a noisy post-shoegaze album and the Clairo is a hushed intimate bedroom pop affair and I can't imagine hearing them as being that similar at all?

'Indulgent' might mean 'something to luxuriate in' tbf but I struggled to parse that comment as well.

there's something to dl's criticism (which boils down to 'y'all vote for too much basic melancholy art-pop') but it needs to be both much more careful and less gender-specific. also lol Hatchie is noisy post-shoegaze in no universe whatsoever, this is just synthy 80's art-pop with gauzy production

also angel olson isn't nearly as basic as you might think!!

*olsen ffs

lol speaking of not-basic, what on earth is this Kim Gordon album doing :D

did you know there is actually a german verb 'angelolsen' which roughly translated means 'to get on with announcing the next batch of mid-tempo artsy pop-not-pop'?

well yes, I am being very base by smooshing all these acts together but 'melancholy synthy eighties art pop' is the spectrum I'm talking about. There's obvs so much to love, but it's a genre in itself however wide-ranging and I feel exhausted by it

lol xp

lol Nick

As I slowly catch up, I enjoyed Caterina Barberi a lot and currently liking the Fontaines DC. No shock of the new with the latter but it's the kind of postpunk/indie rock I enjoy and it's solid.

#60 – Andy Stott – It Should Be Us (214 points, 9 votes)
#59 – Moodymann – Sinner (216 points, 6 votes, 1 number 1 vote)

never cared much about his previous two records, so, It Should Be Us was completely unexpected. in my ballot, and it would be top ten if i voted today. i'm aware he's still doin' it for modern love. this is total werkdiscscore, though, which when done maze-like, i'm a sucker for.

was the #1 voter for Sinner. just pull the MF trigger, let's get this shit over with. (note: he's not really tired, no)
lately have been listening to this (yeah it's a proper album) with Det.riot 67 and Another Black Sunday and man, what a boost. the three pieces segue-fit so damn well. i'll head now to the who has the best discography thread

Many, many xposts, but from tt: This Kali Malone would sound so amazing over some crunchy lo-if black metal. It manages to evoke the forest nonetheless -- not black metal but did you hear/like Anna von Hausswolf's stuff? If you want big organs and doomy wailing you could do worse than check it out...

i really don't think people would lump those particular artists together if they were men. the clairo album is a mix of indie rock and alt r&b and isn't drawing on 80s synth pop very much. hatchie is way more 90s dream pop than 80s. this angel olsen album is a mix of John cale-esque orchestration with 80s goth synths and the shura album exists somewhere between neo-soul and the sophisti end of synthpop

let's not leave carla del forno out here shall we ;)

i really don't think people would lump those particular artists together if they were men. the clairo album is a mix of indie rock and alt r&b and isn't drawing on 80s synth pop very much. hatchie is way more 90s dream pop than 80s. this angel olsen album is a mix of John cale-esque orchestration with 80s goth synths and the shura album exists somewhere between neo-soul and the sophisti end of synthpop

― ufo, Wednesday, February 5, 2020 2:31 PM (forty-three seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

sexism call-out is justified and I'm aware at how generalising I'm being. (that said, of course there are loads of women on these lists making music that is nothing like this, and I can't think of that many men making it?).

Reading this back though, it's a lot of words to describe varying shades of 'synthy solo-pop', which granted is a very wide field.

also very aware that I only really know these acts through what's placed on EOY over the years, so I'm not super-familiar with their catalogues and what they do, so I should just shut up.

I have tried to resist doing this but I can take it no longer: it is CARLA DAL FORNO, guys.

force of habit :(

Lana Dal Ray, goddit

(that said, of course there are loads of women on these lists making music that is nothing like this, and I can't think of that many men making it?).

kindness and dev hynes spring to mind - wonder if we'll see either of those albums? really liked the kindness one tbh

I voted for it but doubt it's in the top 200

i do understand the point about ilm really liking 80s synth poppy stuff in general and i agree about that as a trend but those particular records and artists are disparate enough that together they're not really the best representation of that trend

I tried AVH, emil.y, but only fleetingly. I liked the sounds but suspect it would take longer to really sink in. Anywhere I should start?

I'm a first time album poll voter. I voted for 15 albums.

Three have already placed, and I'm pretty sure eight more will. One definitely won't place (Charly Bliss' Young Enough), and three are doubtful (Nilufer Yanya, Mdou Moctar, and The Highwomen).

― aphoristical, Tuesday, February 4, 2020 6:40 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

oh hey I voted for Charly Bliss in both polls! (I was more disappointed to not see "Capacity" in the tracks poll than I will be if the album doesn't make it.)

xp her most recent record, dead magic, was particularly good

Ty, I will give it a try when next out walking

I liked The Miraculous but I'm not familiar enough w/ her whole discography to give a proper run-down.

Will try that too! The more organ, the better.

reckon charly bliss will place (deservingly)

I’m expecting Charly Bliss to be the only one of my votes to place.

Charly Bliss will place. I think Louise Burns is destined to end up with three top-five votes and nothing else.