ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2019

damn sorry for triggering a recanvassing

re: Jamila, HEAVN was my #1 album that year. Found it on SoundCloud and became totally enamored with its intimacy and bedroom quality, which suited her voice. The way she weaved pop culture references, her poetry, and confessional recordings together felt like a teenager's scrapbook.

Then I saw her at Pitchfork, and she'd brought in her band and transformed these songs into south side church tunes. It was fun for a summer show in Chicago, but I was really disappointed when they properly released the album and had switched out some of the back tracks with live drums and bass.

Continuing with the trend, I had a hard time connecting with the size of Legacy! Legacy! but admittedly seem to be the only person on the planet who prefers HEAVN.

heavn didn't move me, i think she leaned a little too hard on those cute-sy nursery rhyme flows, and the samples felt like they were pandering directly to the internet. legacy legacy was much more self-assured and detail-rich.

I connected with LEGACY in late July on a road trip for a beach vacation and it sounded great with windows down and a slight buzz.

certainly the consensus, voodoo, I think HEAVN just hit me in the right place at the right time

https://i.imgur.com/V1NkIhW.jpg
#10 - Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (524 points, 18 votes)
billie eilish
https://www.nme.com/reviews/billie-eilish-album-review-when-we-all-fall-asleep-where-do-we-go-2467653

DUH

to bed

I should not like her, but I liked the tracks that placed in that poll, so I may actually give this a listen later.

i'm going to assume i accidentally didn't submit an albums ballot i guess lol

RECOUNT

she's p great, i had it at #12. it's a good one throughout.

this is a perfectly decent album but I fear she is something of a long-term musical foe in the making, pending future directions and such

Brad lol the poll has kind of bent to your will either way :p

yeah overall it doesn't matter

a foe

what are the warning signs

how many placements you got so far

Maybe one of you or Alfred accidentally put in an unweighted ballot?

possible

tbc it definitely deserves top 10 placement here on importance

foe = just a vague sense of message-over-music flippancy, being like so dark ya know, that damn DUH, this is completely a hunch obv and I hope unfounded. good luck to her

I have 13 placements. Seems high and yet... not

i can't believe tinashe made it this high so... i'm not believing it

Tinashe will def make it imo

foe = just a vague sense of message-over-music flippancy

I'm sorry but it seems like you're saying she will eventually became your favorite artist of all time

i don't want to do a whole billie eilish convo/argument here bc i suspect the answer is "you old" but we tried a few of her songs last night. she has some real expressiveness in her voice and i can see what ppl find compelling about her but so much of the music and production feels tepid and boring and there's not enough going on in the songs really keep my attention. i'd be interested in seeing what she does in a few albums maybe experimenting with more adventurous styles? not sure if that nails my issue with it but more or less etc

def tin

well put mordy

I find it extremely compelling that a teenager got a song that repeats the line "I wanna end me" into the top 40

nb I also love "The Hills" by The Weeknd

lol DJP, gecs r all about the music ^_^

the music and her voice are both so strong, i don't get any sense of message being the prominent thing, and the darkness is sincere but so is the humor, and the humor to her darkness is the crucial thing both in image and in performance.

tepid and boring

can't apply this to "ilomilo" no matter how hard i try

it's pop music, why ask for "adventurous"

too pop for this rockist

I'm now imagining an Alec Empire remix of "Bad Guy" and that would be pretty choice

I find it extremely compelling that a teenager got a song that repeats the line "I wanna end me" into the top 40

ha, if anything that's the bit that feels like cynical audience pandering to me

So when’s that perfectly beige Burna x Billie duet gonna drop?

congrats to billie on winning the grammy for ilm's 10th best album of the year

i am definitely a fan of hers in general, but this felt very much like a first album to me. an incredibly promising first album, but still a first album. glad that the folks 10 years younger than me have a milestone album recorded by someone their age.

that's otm to me. it's a little loose, and "wish you were gay" shouldn't be a song

ha, if anything that's the bit that feels like cynical audience pandering to me

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.),

You remember being a teen?

The album defeated me, but I loved hearing every single on the rado.

https://i.imgur.com/DuGjq4S.jpg
#09 - Big Thief - Two Hands (544 points, 15 votes)
Big Thief - Two Hands
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/big_thief-two_hands

Big Thief manage to be both really good and slightly overrated. That's it. That's the post.

i'm curious to see where she goes from here, the album is good all the way thru imo but there's more she's capable of in the future, and she has a rare level of total confidence + being seemingly vv relatable (compared to most if not all other major pop stars).

just how big a thief are we talking here

they stole our hearts

The album defeated me, but I loved hearing every single on the rado.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 6, 2020 2:26 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh yeah, whatever misgivings i had about the album, the songs did really stand out from the crowd on z100

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JG9Y9rk52sY/maxresdefault.jpg

Big Thief manage to be both really good and slightly overrated. That's it. That's the post.

― TOO LOW, the Curator (imago), Thursday, February 6, 2020 7:29 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Really?!

I can't lie, I laughed a bit when I saw that Billie Eilish album title and cover (hadn't seen them before), but finding out she's a teenager (I did know that either), I feel bad know. People are allowed to be young.