ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2019

I liked Dawn's contributions on the J-E-T-S album but seem to have completely forgotten to listen to New Breed :/

yay jenny hval! i agree that she tells and doesn't show. but that's kind of her thing. if she didn't have any instruments she'd still be making the same kind of music

nothing but respect and love for Dawn but this one was forgettable. How do the fans rank it relative to the rest of her catalog?

what is "generic R&B"

I like this DAWN album, didn't make my top ten

Stuff that sounds like New Breed.

"'dreams + converse" rules

She's too weird for conventional R&B, so when she tries writing conventional R&B it sounds even more fucked up.

Never been a big Jenny Hval fan but this album really connected with me for some reason. High Alice was my way in.

Dawn must me the most consistent artist on our album polls in the last 10 years. I find her a bit more hit and miss than most seem to, but I really liked this album. Probably my second favourite behind Blackheart.

i think practice of love is the first hval record where i find the music so gorgeous and perfectly textured that i suddenly do not mind her writing voice, in fact the music's meticulously arranged chamber-synth-pop with sudden deviations into thumping techno marries really well to the blunt affect she's always going for. though also "six red cannas" has a hejira reference that can't help but charm me (and also imo "six red cannas" sounds like a house remix of a sarah mclachlan song that doesn't exist)

This was Dawn's K Michelle album

I guess you gotta be into it to really appreciate the micro-differences.

https://i.imgur.com/aQtV0Cg.jpg
#15 - Caroline Polachek - Pang (488 points, 16 votes)
Chairlift - Bruises (This year's "Heartbeats"/"Young Folks")
https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/caroline-polachek-pang

maybe you'd be more comfortable with the R&B stylings of Santigold

damn, didn't expect pang to go so far. there's a few undistinguished songs in the middle imo, i look forward to her next solo record

Speaking of annoying

lj turning on pc music as soon as they make viable yet still credibly bizarre pop music is vmic

xp: truth bombs

Speaking of annoying

― TOO LOW, the Curator (imago), Thursday, February 6, 2020 11:47 AM (thirty-eight seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

gecs already placed, man

in fact the music's meticulously arranged chamber-synth-pop with sudden deviations into thumping techno marries really well to the blunt affect she's always going for

i know i shouldn't mention this because one of the two songs literally features hval telling a story about listening to her own music and then crying, but the Lost Girls EP (LP? it's two songs, each about 15 minutes) shares some of these musical qualities - not so much thumping techno, more just electronic

Here's a thing - is there less lettering on album covers these days? Maybe cos people are buying more vinyl and want a piece of artwork as well as the music within?

lol I knew that was coming (re truth bombs) but nuh-uh

If anything I'd argue covers with no words became more of a thing in response to the increase of streaming and the cover as small avatar

Here's a thing - is there less lettering on album covers these days? Maybe cos people are buying more vinyl and want a piece of artwork as well as the music within?

― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Thursday, February 6, 2020 11:48 AM (forty-one seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

or maybe because more people are listening on streaming services where the artist and title are listed in giant bold letters at all times.

xp, right

browsing thru the Dawn Richard. Some good, modern-funky production. But I can't get with this style of pop-rnb singing. Feel like it'd be my fav album if I was a 15 yr old girl tho.

catching up, but Hval and Gecs were my number one and two, and those plus the two Black Dresses albums fully encapsulated what 2019 felt like to me.

I'mma go out on a limb and say that Polachek and gecs are both annoying, but the latter infinitely more so.

you either get no lettering or the typography on the vampire weekend record

Pang is as wonderful as I wanted the last Chairlift album to be.

i really liked the chorus of one of the Caroline Polachek songs ("Door") that placed high in the tracks poll. not so much into the rest of the album. it seems well crafted but i don't think i like pop

The first song on Pang is very pretty

surprised to see this so high also, I thought the consensus was the album was just OK

the first few tracks and the singles are on pang are SO STRONG that i get seeing the trees for the forest

I quite like Hey Big Eyes, apart from the title, that is bad. Caroline Shut Up? That's a good title.

I liked the last Chairlift album quite a bit more than this. I don't really understand why it was so hated. I like her much better when she's being sassy and fun than when she is stuck in yelpy ballad mode.

I liked the last Chairlift album quite a bit more than this. I don't really understand why it was so hated

moodles we are in a very lonely club of two

"The first song on Pang is very pretty"

yes. the synth chords are giving me deja vu of some 90s ambient track but can't think which one.
oh no 2nd track started and I can't get with this style of singing either.

surprised too. Only "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" stuck with me (on tracks ballot)

xxp

Haha, an unexpected convergence!

Being annoying as an aesthetic decision different to unintentional annoyingness. I appreciate how people wouldn’t be on board with the former, but still. Gecs rule. My #3

https://i.imgur.com/AacI0gA.jpg
#14 - Burna Boy - African Giant (492 points, 15 votes, 4 number 1 votes)
here comes the AFRICAN GIANT / Burna Boy (2019)
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/burna-boy-african-giant/

too low

Didn't like the album as much as the singles but cool.

Thought this would be Top 5

The Dawn Richard record really grew on me after a few listens, had it just outside the top 10 on my ballot.

too low

if you told me in 1998 that auto tune would prevalent in music in 2020 I would 1st say that's kind of an odd thing to say out of the blue and then I'd say no way that'd be possible

whoa thought this was a lock for top 5 maybe top 3

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the olds will be pwnd over and over again.