ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

xp

Among the many things I love about the London scene is how much of a scene it really is, they've come up together, they play on each other's albums, just endless collaborations. Like '50s-'60s New York. (I know this is true of jazz scenes in general, but this one is just so on fire right now.)

xp to vc
tbc I love the whole album now, but likely due to my own reggae/dub biases I loved the title track the most off the bat

― rob, Monday, February 1, 2021 11:52 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

for sure, and it is fascinating to hear nubya and the band work their improvisatory brilliance in that context

amazing record, in my top five

well hello what's this

I've never heard of Webster, what's the deal?

ok this immediately sounds fucking awesome

I haven't heard this either but when I click on it and the first thing I see is "(feat. Shara Nelson)" I am interested.

yeah I read the bandcamp descrip and have saved this for later

This Deftones album isn't bad I guess, I mean, I guess it's pretty much what I expected and if somebody told me this was actually released in 2002 I would believe them.

voted for this

Very curious about that Charles Webster album, I had literally never heard or seen the name.
Voted for Nubya Garcia.

I've never heard of Webster, what's the deal?

― rob, Monday, February 1, 2021 9:57 AM (thirty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

british downtempo house producer, only had one album to his name before this, 2001's born on the fourth of july (which is one of my favorite records). lol i feel like i made this exact comment in his thread but it's really remarkable to me that this album exists and the sound it hits is so exactly my thing, the kind of murky space between trip-hop and house

Love the Charles Webster album so much

having the same instinctual "oh fuck yeah" reaction I had to the nihiloxica record, well done folks

he does have other projects doesnt he under difft name

yes lol it was a very reductive description

i also typed the name of his first album incorrectly

still he hasn't released a lot of material in the last two decades

Presence - All Systems Gone is one ive been listening to

Never heard of this but "This Is Real" is beautiful and reminds me of Burial a bit

burial has a co-production on the album. his remix of "the spell" was also released as a single and is v good imo

https://i.imgur.com/LckXu9S.jpg
#70: Ulla - “Tumbling Towards a Wall” - 190 points - 7 votes

Ambient Recommendations

https://ullastraus.bandcamp.com/album/tumbling-towards-a-wall

“Tumbling Towards A Wall is by far Ulla's most crystalized effort yet, with jolty rhythmic patterns that plop into each other like stalactite drips.”
https://ra.co/reviews/24626

just reminding our creative community that you might wanna hire moka to design YOUR next album cover...

crazy what you can still miss when browsing ilm daily

Webster album rules

Ulla!! Maybe my album of the year. Totally my vibe 100% <3

just reminding our creative community that you might wanna hire moka to design YOUR next album cover...

Umm I have been contemplating this for sure

Catching up, I had the Deftones album high on my ballot - they've made some of their best records late on in their career, one of the few acts I liked in the late '90s who are still going strong.

The last three albums to place are all new names to me but all sound very intriguing.

not gonna read inevitable “nothing is happening here” comments lol ;-;

Charles Webster was top 10 for me.

Nubya never quite caught fire for me. Everything is in the right place though, so maybe need to persevere.

Also, the designs are fucking magnificent.

we're on track for my entire ballot to place today

now I'm remembering why day 1 of the albums rollout is almost always the best one

otm

OK Webster and Ulla both very much my thing. Good job Bandcamp Friday is coming soon, huh? Well done ILM

good job Moka adopting my Bandcamp suggestion, ty

God knows why I'm awake in the middle of the night, but I may as well say that the #72-70 stretch is cool and that I even happened to vote for #70. So yay!

put it on again, that'll help

I've had this wooshy head/head cold/inner ear fucked-up weirdness most of this year and it turns out that maybe I've just somehow aurally ingested this Kairon; IRSEI album.

Ftr, this is a positive review.

I think next one missed my ballot but it’s a great album and I like how it ended up looking like an actual sleeve when mixed with the template:

https://i.imgur.com/bnE74Zd.jpg
#69: Ana Roxanne - “Because of a Flower” - 190 points - 7 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
 
Ambient Recommendations
Kranky S&D

https://anaroxanne.bandcamp.com/album/because-of-a-flower-2

“The California ambient musician’s debut LP pulls from new age, dream pop, Medieval choral music, and Hindustani singing for a hypnotic and tender meditation on gender, identity, and self-love.”
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ana-roxanne-because-of-a-flower/

TOO LOW. Only came across this in the last month or so and damn.

Really interesting results so far - as with the tracks I haven’t heard of many of these artists (other than Deftones and Parker) but will check them out eventually.

Need to investigate this, a lot of box ticking in that description.

vv nice album

Wait is Ulla half of Ulla Straus? Just thought the name was a coincidence but now see them in the same listener orbit on spotify. I loved Big Room. Not sure how I missed this... many gems today.

yeah discovered this one after I submitted but very great for late night/half-sleep

Really happy to see Ulla and Ana both place; didn't expect either to. Ulla yet another one from January 2020.

Ana: my no.3 - a total balm. Really crisp and nourishing

Yes and she's the other half too xps

Both also looking particularly exquisite here c/o Moka's fine work