ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

What??

btw Ichiko Aoba was also a late find that, had I heard it sooner, I might have placed it - but happy it's here too.

Oh wait no, it’s a single: https://ichikoaoba.bandcamp.com/track/asleep-among-endives

Just noticed because I was looking for the album in this thread to listen to it.

not getting into that Charles Webster album in 2020 was a big mistake

Westerman kind of is giving me a slight Beta Band vibe yeah

fgti,fwiw i heard of Aoba a few months ago from a friend in Kumamoto not super into music. She's reminding me Nikaido Kazumi's quieter work. Excited to hear more.

The K-Lone is awesome and i would've voted it high!

Liking the Westerman album I think! Lovely little 80s dream. No idea why Blue Comanche is seen as the standout mind, except that it's the most balearic in sound

if I was being saltier I'd say that Blue Comanche has the most boring chord-sequence on the album, and the guitar part sounds juuust like Every Breath You Take, which is why it got track props

but I'm enjoying the album so I won't

it gets away with a simple chord progression because of that gorgeous, sighing melody

lol i know i know

i am in favour! keep going westerman

my fav moment is probably “float over,” tbh

that middle run of "think i'll stay" through to "easy money" where he hits that dreamy matt johnson/durutti column guitar sound and gets hooksy with it imo

"Think I'll Stay" is the one! Elegant padding. The title track is my other favourite.

yeah that one's really nice too

I'm not sure I understand Autechre so I'm listening to Xenakis.

What's up with artists on Bandcamp asking like physical record prices if you buy their album in digital format? I was thinking of getting the Ichiko Aoba and KeiyaA albums, but they both cost 15 bucks as downloads? 😶

I would rather buy digi albums from Bandcamp, cos I know the site takes a lower share of the profits and the artist gets a higher share than with most other digital stores. But you'd think this would mean albums bought on Bandcamp would be cheaper than on sites like Qobuz, not more expensive?

what's a reasonable price in your opinion?

Seems like $9-$10 (especially $9.99) seems to the most common price for a full-length digital album.

I am of the opinion that artists should make money and, therefore, should charge as much as people are willing to pay for their music.

It really seems to depend on the artist/label/genre.

The range I’ve seen for digi on Bandcamp is typically anywhere from $5-$10 US.

Most of the time I’m more likely to buy a release if I can get it as a tape or CD, but I understand the reasons why that’s not realistic for everyone.

(And naturally, the physical versions are priced up somewhat.)

I get the reaction -- I was thinking of getting some Chris Crack albums and they're all $15 and pretty short so I balked. But $10 for an album would have been an absolute steal in 1998! and I don't know if the physical/digital distinction means much to the artists, especially on BC where you can download FLACs and AIFFs, etc. Frankly, I suppose this is my class privilege, but the diff between 10 and 15 dollars for an album of music is small imo

Manufacturing and transporting physical products involves more overhead than uploading digital files of any quality.

I am of the opinion that artists should make money and, therefore, should charge as much as people are willing to pay for their music.

I don't disagree, but if you can buy the same album in lossless format for less in Qobuz, which I presume takes a larger share of the profits than Bandcamp, it doesn't seem very smart. This is the case with the KeiyaA album: its 15 bucks on BC, 11 bucks on Qobuz. And it's not the first time I've come across such a discrepancy.

I ended up buying the album KeiyaA album from BC to support the artist, but if you buy a lot of digital music like I do, these price difference are not insignificant.

Yeah, a 50% difference is not minor.

https://i.imgur.com/1k0JqQ6.jpg
#45: Simmy - Tugela Fairy (Made Of Stars) - 291 points - 13 votes

THE HOUSE OF SUN-EL: Sun-El Musician, Simmy, Mlindo The Vocalist, and other related artists

“From the off-kilter jazz inflections of her Ami Faku collab “Hamba Ngifike”, through the lo-fi hints of “Konke” on which S-Tone joins her, to the rhythm driven multi-lingual “Mabhungu” – there’s a whole lot to uncover throughout the hour-long extent of this album.
Simmy is pushing the envelope of neo-soul into her very own territory – revolutionizing Afro-pop one beat-driven anthem at a time.”
https://texxandthecity.com/2020/11/simmys-new-album-tugela-fairy-made-of-stars-is-a-star-studded-neo-soul-journey-of-empowerment/

The most extreme example I've come across is Ellen Allien: her albums are something like 18 bucks in digi format on BC and half as much on Qobuz.

Xpost

I am of the opinion that artists should make money and, therefore, should charge as much as people are willing to pay for their music.

Oh absolutely, I don't disagree with this in the least and a big reason why I still try to order even physical stuff from bandcamp when I have the chance. That said, this is the second time on this thread that someone has balked at paying 1998 CD retail price for a digital download in 2021, so maybe this is where the second half of your post kicks in.

Wow, Simmy is way lower than I would've thought! Didn't her debut place at #2 or something? IMO this one was just as good... Maybe people were disappointed how similar it is to the first one, right down to the album name?

debut was in the 20s or 30s here i think

I am of the opinion that artists should make money and, therefore, should charge as much as people are willing to pay for their music.

Hi Marissa

xp anyway, this album is great, probs prefer the first one
but my first vote to place so woohoo

Yeah, a 50% difference is not minor.

― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 9:57 AM (eleven minutes ago)

Well that depends doesn't it lol. I assume you don't freak out when something costs 75 cents that you you'd prefer to pay 50 cents for.

Anyway, not sure why I couldn't get into the Simmy album this year. I'm a little worried I've kind of saturated on this sound/vibe (though I loved the Azana album so that doesn't seem quite right)

fwiw on the price of the Aoba, music costs more in Japan. It's cheaper to buy imported versions (often side by side in shops), which is why the Japanese versions of foreign stuff often has bonus tracks.

sorry to inform you that the debut (one of the best albums of the 2010s and my number one that year) didn’t place at all, just two of its singles - released too late in the year probably.

much as I wanted to love this as much as the original Tugela Fairy, it didn’t work. lots of beautiful tracks of course, but it lacked the coherence of the debut. too long basically, and lots of it just floated by.

I hope others will provide counterpoints for my relative lack of enthusiasm.

this discussion about album prices seems like a good candidate for its own thread, which i won't ever open or read

Wow, Simmy is way lower than I would've thought! Didn't her debut place at #2 or something? IMO this one was just as good... Maybe people were disappointed how similar it is to the first one, right down to the album name?

― Tuomas

I seem to remember it just missed out. One of those albums that some people discovered as the results were already rolling out.

this from rob and breastcrawl is worse than when Johnny Fever murdered shambhala last week

I like Simmy in single format, a whole album was just a little too much of a good thing

(ftr I don't disagree with DJP, I just wanted to make a Marissa joke)

lol NA good call

hey it's just cool to see Japanese music with no outside distribution able to place in this poll!

xps breastcrawl i had simmy number 1 that year too, so surprised it didn't place!?
maybe i'm confusing placement with a single

this from rob and breastcrawl is worse than when Johnny Fever murdered shambhala last week

― imago, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 10:21 AM (thirty-six seconds ago)

XD

gotta stay one step ahead of the hivemind at any cost

don't sell your Simmy stock NOW fgs lol

man, a lot of the albums in this rollout basically read to me like people really miss hugs

lol emily

man, a lot of the albums in this rollout basically read to me like people really miss hugs

yep