ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

brad, was that "on the floor"? i liked that one too while the rest of the album left me cold. it's hard for me to resist a 12/8 shuffle, to be fair.

I voted for "Describe" in the tracks poll and honestly thought it had an outside chance of placing high, but I was way off. I like the rest of the record too, but didn't vote for it.

this album and the last one are both pretty unique projects, ymmv on whether they're your cup of tea but i think its hard to say they're run of the mill

Tbc I didn't mean that Jeff Parker is some BMus playing "Autumn Leaves" in a bar (which I often enjoy!) but that I just didn't see what was so exciting or impressive about what he does with the guitar, in the context of the major modern players working today. But it makes sense to listen to this primarily as an electronic composition (on headphones because my wife said the sustained tone in "Fusion Swirl" was making her want to strangle someone). The layers on "After the Rain" are nice, actually.

if I want Queer Radiohead, I'll just listen to Radiohead

First single was “describe”, second single “on the floor”

"describe" was the one i loved

Also, there's nothing even remotely Radiohead about PG, queer or not.

first thing from him i ever really enjoyed tbh xp

Blake mills had a year huh

dark art-pop with economical construction and surprising arrangements

his best since Put Your Back N 2 It, imo

I fully agree with that

Perfume Genius strikes me like a slightly less irritating version of ANHONI

took the charles webster with me on my evening run, up and down the main road out of town in the dark and cold, just a constant stream of headlights for company, pretty perfect soundtrack so thank you voters. and I only stopped five times to check the rollout on my phone! wish I'd heard it before, i think he was erroneously filed under charles bradley in my mental rolodex (don't worry, I've already fired the clerk)

oof xp

took the charles webster with me on my evening run, up and down the main road out of town in the dark and cold, just a constant stream of headlights for company, pretty perfect soundtrack so thank you voters. and I only stopped five times to check the rollout on my phone! wish I'd heard it before, i think he was erroneously filed under charles bradley in my mental rolodex (don't worry, I've already fired the clerk)

― would a nit be nice? (NickB), Monday, February 1, 2021 6:30 PM (thirty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

awesome!

I accept the craft of Perfume Genius' work while recoiling from his rather miserabilist outlook.

First Perfume Genius track to click for me was "Fool" - haven't been that into the stuff of his that gets into end of year lists on the whole.

that's the exact opposite of how I'd, uh, describe the outlook

actually that's not entirely accurate; more like a slightly less irritating ANHONI being supported by Interpol pretending to be Low

so, I appreciate the nods towards something I like and enjoy but all of the actual components make me want to punch a wall

that's the exact opposite of how I'd, uh, describe the outlook

― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Monday, 1 February 2021 18:34 (nineteen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

if this^ plum had managed to complete a simple ballot submission I'm guessing this album would have been much, much higher

https://i.imgur.com/EEq3qRE.jpg
#66: Autechre - “Plus” - 200 points - 8 votes

Autechre - PLUS

https://autechre.bandcamp.com/album/plus

“PLUS seems to meander as much as its predecessor, but its greater focus on rhythm helps it appear to hold together more strongly, and rapt concentration reveals that these pieces are as intricate and thoughtfully crafted as the duo's best work.”
https://www.allmusic.com/album/plus-mw0003443787

Glad it's this low. Autechre stanning is one of the things I hate most about this place.

lol nobody tell JF

lol

i thought this was a poll of music, not sound design

(Yay both autechres placing!)

i cannot imagine getting irritated by autechre stanning but it takes all kinds

aw shit, I forgot there were two

hehehe

xps wow i'd never even heard "describe" haha. not bad, but kinda interminable.

"ecole4" is the masterpiece on this one (after a fantastic first side) imo but it doesn't hang together as well as sign which is coming up.

lol if this actually placed SIGN might be top 10

"fuck those people who listen to crunchy abstract dance music, how dare they"

I hate being bombarded by autechre at the supermarket

lol

hadn't heard this but it's sounding way fresher sound-design-wise than loads of their recent stuff (I found the NTS sessions to be a slog), which is v promising

Nah, it's more that every morsel they put out is worshipped like it fell from God's hand. There's not much critical give and take. If Autechre releases anything, they'll be ranked in the poll.

like, a good-ish slog, but

Also, it sounds like farting mice behind the wall trying to build a nest.

Finally

66 is probably fine knowing another one will surely be coming up

Also, it sounds like farting mice behind the wall trying to build a nest.

tbf this description justifies the ranking over Perfume Genius

xp they're a weird band where some of the songs you might hate are someone else's favorites. They seem to have a unique combination of style and variation that makes it hard to debate the subjective qualitative merits of their tunes and gain a semblance of collective agreement

i think pom is right to characterize this record as hanging together less well than sign which is an unusually unified experience, but plus also feels more exploratory and dance-oriented (especially on tracks like "X4") and that is the autechre music i crave

I preferred Plus a bit more to Sign. It's a little meatier, and I had aural experiences while stoned and listening on headphones the likes of which I hadn't had since I first heard them in the late 90s. It's a really enjoyable Ae album

I had to check, but PLUS was a last minute cut from my ballot. It was a pretty tough cut to make, I really like it, but I wanted to give room for other stuff.

and i thought demurring about the moodymann album was going to be an unnecessary downer

when they release bad music i'll let you know jf

didn't know Johnny Fever disliked Ae. Thought there was a rule that if you liked Pavement, you liked Ae but apparently not.