ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2019

Haven't heard Special Request but Stenny rules.

For those who were into the Skee Mask record a year back, Stenny is on the same label and the album garners a similar style/vibe albeit a bit darker

okay, i'll check back in six hours after you get a chance to listen to #24

https://i.imgur.com/EgRUgWB.jpg
#24 – Underworld – Drift Series 1 (391 points, 12 votes, 3 #1 votes)

Underworld - Drift

https://thequietus.com/articles/27470-underworld-drift-series-1-review

this is a bit from the bandcamp page for the CFCF record that rob linked to, just to put the record into some sort of context...

Liquid Colours started just like The Colours of Life*, as a simple challenge to myself to see if I could follow through on a continuous 40 minute suite in one style. Much like COL, it was a break in working on another more involved, complicated album. I was interested in ‘corporatized’ pop jungle — totally inauthentic to the genre’s roots. The jungle tracks on ‘Ray of Light’, Everything But The Girl, Towa Tei, Bahamadia, each member of YMO has respectively released some solo work exploring the genre. Bill Laswell plowing his fucking bass over a DJ Spooky remix of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion or something. TV interstitials, ads. At its most oversaturated, jungle and d’n’b was briefly the sound of capitalism. In fact once while I was in the middle of working on the album I had to make a call to some customer service line or other, my bank or something, and the on-hold music sounded exactly like this record I was making! I really knew I was onto something then.

*his previous album that iirc based its whole soundworld on one particular track ('Hand in Hand') off the first Phil Collins album

Right, so vols. 2-4 are coming up.

Spoiler: 2 is best and I hope it will be treated as such.

Nilüfer Yanya is very much Not My Thing normally but I found this record addictive, romantic, and compelling. I love the use of guitar-as-effect, and the way her dusky voice foiled it.

How so? It doesn't skimp on the poppish sophistication at all!

Spoiler: 2 is best and I hope it will be treated as such.

― toilet-cleaning brain surgeon (pomenitul), Wednesday, February 5, 2020 3:54 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

“drift series 1” is the name of the box set containing all five eps

Ohhhh nm. All are good tbf. And I'd forgotten there were 5.

I have made a great EP out of the entire Drift tbh

xp thanks for that tidbit NickB! I'll revisit it with this in mind - feels like a vaporwave motivated palette the way that is described.

the best music i heard last year all came from this project

right that's a cool summation of the CFCF album and I am on board with it.

Shares conceptual elements with James Ferraro's 'Far Side Virtual', but loses the tongue in cheek element because it actually sounds good, like he's reached into the genre and found its nucleus, worked out what makes it unique and spun a sort of fantasy DJ set out of it.

Actually it also reminds me of 'More Specials' which was partly inspired by the Muzak that would drive them mad while waiting in airport lounges and then acquiring a peculiar taste for.

haha yes i can see that

ha, never knew that about More Specials

I still think Far Side Virtual sounds pretty good fwiw. I will give CFCF a listen

damn, so much music in this roll-out I haven’t heard yet, it’s hard to keep up with it all.

I’m listening to the Ancestral Recall album for the first time, it is fantastic!

many xps

raphael saadiq was my #2, this is what i wrote about it in my personal EOY blog

Jimmy Lee tries to find the universal through the personal, taking a deep look into how drug addiction can tear a family apart. Throughout the project, Saadiq approaches his brother’s illness with radical empathy, singing from his perspective on the dangerously alluring “Something Keeps Calling,” and the zonked out “I’m Feeling Love.” He uses his personal tragedy as a springboard to talk about larger issues on the twinkling, self-explanatory “This World Is Drunk,” and the seething spiritual “Rikers Island.” The album veers from style to style--connected with a sound effect that mimics a channel changing on an analog TV--encompassing Prince-like grooves, languid quiet storm, simmering funk in the late Sly Stone mold, and taking detours into hip-hop and traditional gospel. Connecting it all is Saadiq’s raw passion, echoing the pain of everyone who’s lost someone to substance abuse, and singing as if his tenor is the only weapon powerful enough to end the epidemic.

'More Specials' - the first vaporwave album

:D

like rob said, it's worth reading the whole CFCF bandcamp thing, but this was another good bit:

Like The Colours Of Life, I’m being very sincere with the musical approach by focusing on song-craft, but there’s a lot of tongue-in-cheek, slightly satirical thinking in there too. I know I’m doing it wrong, I know it’s stupid, I just think it’s more honest when I do it this way. I’m paying homage and teasing at the same time. One track is kind of a piss-take on Boards of Canada, it’s like ouroboros’d nostalgia loop - the 60’s viewed from the 80’s viewed from the 00’s viewed from 2019. I was also thinking about Roni Size’s New Forms; it won the Mercury Prize, it was viewed as this groundbreaking, futuristic work. It’s a really great record, but it’s fascinating to think now about the status it had compared to now. You can picture some young New Labour minister spinning it on his Discman between policy meetings. Just totally failed optimism.

Heh.

https://i.imgur.com/ELSuszU.jpg
#23 – Charly Bliss – Young Enough (414 points, 16 votes, 1 #1 vote)

charly bliss: guppy

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/charly-bliss-young-enough/

CFCF *otm* :)

Could easily be a dig at BagGymp

xp

I liked this Charly Bliss when it came up on shuffle, it was on my long list iirc

i'm surprised this is this high. it seemed like people dismissed it in a similar way to the second haim album (which ended up at #177 that year after the first one won the poll).

anyway i should give this another go because i liked something to tell you (and guppy obv) a lot

Saadiq was my #2, Underworld was my #1.

loved the Saadiq so much, kept listening to it over and over.

didn't listen to Underworld over and over, i listened to it like a lot of ppl watch the Irishman. But it was my favorite music of the year. I wasn't exactly writing UW off after Barking, but it seemed like they had maybe decided to just get a little lazy and that was their worst album (albeit still pretty fun). But they've caught their second wind, between this and Hyde's solo album and the Eno collaborations and BBWFASF (which was nearly on par with their first three albums).

Charly Bliss was just outside my top ten, it's fantastic.

wait give people time to listen to all of Drift first

afraid we gotta TURBO through there frogs

anyway it was my #1, its essentially 5 or 6 new albums of Underworld material and most of it is really good. I never really thought Underworld lost it that much but yeah all the stuff they've done since 'reforming' in 2015 or whatever has been incredible and IMO on par with their best stuff

Aaah! I dig a lot of the stuff posted while I was asleep. Nice. Actually voted for *consults text file* Danny Brown, Little Simz and Richard Dawson, plus spent quite a lot time with Men I Trust, CFCF, Nilüfer Yanya and Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah. You're alright, ILM.

i loved #22 but ended up not coming back to it after i listened through three times in a row. may remedy that in the upcoming weeks.

https://i.imgur.com/lTzJl2N.jpg
#22 – Holly Herndon - Proto (420 points (nice), 15 votes, 1 #1 vote)

i want a thread for Holly Herndon

https://www.residentadvisor.net/reviews/23763

I prefer Young Enough to Guppy. Lyrically it just hit me so much harder, especially the title track and Chatroom. It felt like a natural next step for them unlike the second Haim album which felt like they'd overthought everything.

Didn't get much out of this. Still, lol @ '420 points (nice)'.

parts of this (well, frontier and SWIM) ruled, but the album didn't totally hang together for me and there were a few less convincing moments. she will do an amazing record soon i'm sure. excited to watch young spawn grow up too

re-listening to Sampa album now cause I woulda placed it much higher and wanted to see if I was overlooking negatives in it. Don't think I was! She's very engaging, production varies from outstanding to decent. Chorus on "Dare To Fly" is super annoying but overall like the album more than any other hiphop that's placed so far.

upon further reflection, Drift should have probably been my #1. The rollout of those songs soundtracked half of my year, which was a really good one. I didn’t like everything released, as can be expected with such a massive dump of material, but overall lots of great stuff that I’ve really only begun to engage with.

Saadiq was great. Got cut from my ballot to make room for stuff that won’t place.

Didn’t click with Herndon. Platform was more my thing.

This Herndon didn't do it for me. I really liked Platform but I just couldn't find a way in here.

that was an xp

Okay, here's #21 and then we're done for today! Moka will finish off the top twenty tomorrow. With Angel Olsen gone, where will the remaining PLEB F. collective place? Will they make it at all? And what about the remaining other 15 spots? Who do you think is gonna make the cut? Discuss!

But first....

https://i.imgur.com/wMsln9w.jpg
#21 – Charli XCX - Charli (423 points, 13 votes, 2 #1 votes)

Charli XCX

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/charli-xcx-lp-icona-pop-iggy-azalea-883446/

ILM’s Top Albums of 2019 Countdown

#1 to #20 - TBA
#21 – Charli XCX - Charli (423 points, 13 votes, 2 #1 votes)
#22 – Holly Herndon - Proto (420 points (nice), 15 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#23 – Charly Bliss – Young Enough (414 points, 16 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#24 – Underworld – Drift Series 1 (391 points, 12 votes, 3 #1 votes)
#25 – Nilüfer Yanya – Miss Universe (378 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#26 – CFCF – Liquid Colors (365 points, 12 votes)
#27 – Raphael Saadiq – Jimmy Lee (364 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#28 – SAULT - 5 (354 points, 17 votes)
#29 – The Comet Is Coming – Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery (354 points, 17 votes)
#30 – Richard Dawson - 2020 (352 points, 14 votes)
#31 – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah – Ancestral Recall (344 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#32 – Little Simz – Grey Area (330 points, 13 votes)
#33 – The Highwomen – s/t (326 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#34 – Arthur Russell – Iowa Dream (323 points, 10 votes)
#35 – Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿ (317 points, 13 votes)
#36 – Men I Trust - Oncle Jazz (316 points, 11 votes)
#37 – Lingua Ignota - Caligula (311 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#38 – Erika De Casier – Essentials (306 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#39 – Kelsey Lu - Blood (301 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#40 – Sunn O))) – Life Metal (293 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#41 (TIE) - Kim Gordon - No Home Record (288 points, 10 votes)
#41 (TIE) - SAULT - 7 (288 points, 10 votes)
#43 – Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (284 points, 10 votes)
#44 – Shura - Forevher (278 points, 9 votes)
#45 – Kali Malone - The Sacrificial Code (278 points, 8 votes)
#46 – Solange - When I Get Home (277 points, 12 votes)
#47 – Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q. (268 points, 9 votes)
#48 – Hatchie - Keepsake (266 points, 11 votes)
#49 – Chemical Brothers - No Geography (244 points, 7 votes)
#50 – Glass Beach - The First Glass Beach Album (242 points, 8 votes)
#51 – Lambchop - This (is what I wanted to tell you) (234 points, 8 votes)
#52 – Carla dal Forno - Look Up Sharp (228 points, 8 votes)
#53 – Koffee – Rapture (224 points, 7 votes, 1 number 1 vote)
#54 – Clairo – Immunity (223 points, 9 votes)
#55 – American Football – American Football (223 points, 7 votes, 2 number 1 votes)
#56 – Various Artists – 環境音楽 Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 (222 points, 8 votes)
#57 – Samthing Soweto – Isiphithiphithi (220 points, 7 votes)
#58 – Thom Yorke – Anima (216 points, 8 votes)
#59 – Moodymann – Sinner (216 points, 6 votes, 1 number 1 vote)
#60 – Andy Stott – It Should Be Us (214 points, 9 votes)
#61 – Sacred Paws – Run Around the Sun (212 points, 8 votes)
#62 – Rapsody – Eve (211 points, 8 votes)
#63 – Barker – Utility (210 points, 8 votes)
#64 – Miranda Lambert – Wildcard (208 points, 8 votes)
#65 – Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel (204 points, 7 votes)
#66 – Tyler, the Creator – IGOR (202 points, 8 votes)
#67 – Caterina Barbieri – Ecstatic Computation (200 points, 7 votes)
#68 – The National – I Am Easy to Find (195 points, 8 votes)
#69 – Sampa the Great – The Return (194 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#70 – Blanck Mass – Animated Violence Mild (189 points, 6 votes)
#71 – clipping. – There Existed an Addiction to Blood (188 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote)
#72 – Jme – Grime MC (187 points, 7 votes)
#73 – Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter 4: Memphis (184 points, 6 votes)
#74 – Sharon Van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow (183 points, 6 votes)
#75 – Better Oblivion Community Center – s/t (182 points, 6 votes)
#76 – Laurel Halo – DJ Kicks (182 points, 5 votes)
#77 – Cate le Bon – Reward (181 points, 6 votes)

ehhhh

charly bliss album really surprisingly high, it's not bad but not a patch on the debut.

herndon album really inconsistent, half is incredible but i never want to listen to the other half again

ok wtf is the charli xcx album doing this high? that's a higher placement and more votes than pop 2 got in 2017. really underwhelming as the follow-up to that too.

pop 2 had only just been released at the time of voting in 2017 which may have had something to do with its low placement. "boys" won the tracks poll that year also. if anything i would've expected this to place slightly higher.

yeah i guess the late release of pop 2 hurt it but this album is still largely not very good and i didn't come back to it at all