ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

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

yes

I mean a bunch of my votes were "comfort food" picks in their own way so I get it

I miss hugs a lot tbrr

Same

not what I expect from a poll that put Low and Weyes Blood at the top

:o

https://i.imgur.com/8xipgqp.jpg
#44: Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind - 297 points - 10 votes

Yves Tumor

https://yves-tumor.bandcamp.com/album/heaven-to-a-tortured-mind

“The record, with all its idiosyncrasies, will be remembered as a definitive piece by one of our era’s most important rock icons—a pop star as transgressive and rule-breaking as the legends of the ’70s and ’80s we take for granted now.”
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/yves-tumor/heaven-for-a-tortured-mind-review/

two in a row in my top 3
incredible record, as strong as the previous

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

ah gotcha :D

if this is all as good as 'kerosene!' then i surely erred in not listening to it, think i wasn't such a huge fan of a couple of the other singles. def owe it a listen tho

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

don't sell your Simmy stock NOW fgs lol

― imago, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 10:24 AM (four minutes ago)

but I took a massive short position on amapiano and need liquidity

kerosene! is the best song on it, but it's definitely a worthy vote for me. the album gets less rocky and weirder as it goes along, and the parts that really took me in were the weird grooves in songs like "hasdallen lights" and "strawberry privelege." and there's also "super stars" whose drums never fail to remind me of ginuwine's "pony"

okay I fucking love the first song on this Yves Tumor album, why wasn't this anywhere near my radar

i know this record had its haters here, but i enjoyed it and voted for it

Opening track is a highlight for sure!

great album, would've been my #1

I don't hate the new Yves Tumor at all, I quite like it, but I don't think it's nearly as engaging and exciting as the last one. That last one pulled in so many directions, I guess I was hoping that this one didn't focus so exclusively on the rock thread.

think i really liked 'dream palette' off this, but skimming through it now there are hooks all over the place

https://i.imgur.com/ltKidEU.jpg
#43: Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques - 298 points - 10 votes

Stephen Malkmus

https://stephenmalkmus.bandcamp.com/album/traditional-techniques

“With this album, Malkmus opposes such elitism by once again showing how the language and history of popular music can serve as an effective channel for even his peculiar sentiments and worldview.”
https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review-stephen-malkmus-traditional-techniques-challenges-form-and-function/

Yves Tumor grew on me to the point it was one of my most listened-to albums, for sure.

YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

not what I expect from a poll that put Low and Weyes Blood at the top

wow I do not relate to thinking of Low albums as comforting

voted for Shadowbanned but haven't listened to this in its entirety, which is weird lol. felt like a very sick single/video moment tho, interested whether it can sustain over a whole album

This was my #4

this is him doing a Fahey kind of thing, right?

voted for Shadowbanned but haven't listened to this in its entirety, which is weird lol. felt like a very sick single/video moment tho, interested whether it can sustain over a whole album

― imago, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 10:48 AM (thirty seconds ago)

ok I'm listening to this and it rules

It’s kind of psychedelic/Eastern tonality folk.

I don’t know if it’s really Fahey inspired but I’m not as much of a Fahey listener as others, so

It's not Faheylike at all

yeah now that I've heard it it's more like acoustic Erkin Koray/Les Mogols

it = "Shadowbanned", idk about the rest but will later

I’ve been warm and cold on his solo career but this was a fantastic direction (with great collaborators) for him to go in.

yeah now that I've heard it it's more like acoustic Erkin Koray/Les Mogols

If nothing else, "Shadowbanned" is the best deployment of Malkmus' post-Pavement lyrical style, which I mostly do not like. The rest of this album is also pretty good but it didn't make my ballot.

Pavement is sort of repulsive to me and I have no background with his solo stuff, but I listened to that Malkmus a couple times and enjoyed it.

What little I heard of the Simmy album sounded amazing

One of the few albums I really listened to this year, would have voted for it if I'd made an albums ballot. But: I'm a longtime Malkmus/Pavement guy, I always like his stuff,and can't say this record particularly stands out for me from the general "lo-fi chill study Pavement" vibe of the rest of his solo career

"Amberjack" is a good song and performance.