ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

this feels quite a low placement. what are you doing here on Rock Day, Ariana

Good album

closing track of the Pa Salieu is v great

mordy ruined this album for lj

I have a friend who is obsessive about Ariana so I've sort of got a soft spot for her now through association, still don't care to listen to her much though, ha.

I actually like Sawayama more than Poppy, even though I like them both. She's more varied, she can do the noisy bangers but also something like "Bad Friend."

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 1:19 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i feel the opposite. songwriting is stronger on the poppy, and the vision feels more artist driven to me vs the sawayama where i feel like 50% of the enthusiasm is coming from retro aughts pop pastiche

going back to pa salieu it's a pretty fantastic fusion of uk, afro, and u.s. black music styles and it's so stylish and shiny and heavy-hitting. idk i just love the shit out of the album.

― tiwa-nty one savage (voodoo chili), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 12:21 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it is exactly this and i am so taken with it!!!!

going back in time and putting this on my ballot, sorry if we coexist with dinosaurs in the present as a result of my actions

my #1 (anyone surprised? lol)

*is stomped by apatosaurus* BRAD.

weirdly enough, that's actually what "No Warnin'" is about

hard to say why exactly but Pa Salieu saying "Kitties dey follow king, the Pa piper" was the pinnacle of music in 2020

https://i.imgur.com/QclxXCD.jpg
#31: The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers - 354 points - 10 votes - 1 Nº1 vote

The Beths

https://thebethsnz.bandcamp.com/album/jump-rope-gazers-2

“Marrying killer pop chops with an honesty and sincerity makes resistance to their charms futile.”
https://www.upsetmagazine.com/reviews/the-beths-jump-rope-gazers

#77: Selena Gomez - “Rare (Deluxe)” - 184 points - 8 votes
#76: Jeff Parker - “Suite for Max Brown” - 184 points - 10 votes
#75: Poppy - “I Disagree” - 187 points - 6 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#74: Kairon; IRSE! - “Polysomn” - 188 points - 5 votes
#73: Deftones - “Ohms” - 188 points - 6 votes
#72: Nubya García - “Source” - 190 points - 5 votes
#71: Charles Webster - “Decision Time” - 190 points - 6 votes
#70: Ulla - “Tumbling Towards a Wall” - 190 points - 7 votes
#69: Ana Roxanne - “Because of a Flower” - 190 points - 7 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#68: Moodymann - “Taken Away” - 192 points - 10 votes
#67: Perfume Genius - “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately” - 199 points - 8 votes
#66: Autechre - “Plus” - 200 points - 8 votes
#65: Adrianne Lenker - “Songs” - 200 points - 9 votes
#64: Run The Jewels - “RTJ4” - 204 points - 8 votes
#63: Lido Pimienta - “Miss Colombia” - 210 points - 6 votes
#62: DJ Python - “Mas Amable” - - 216 points - 7 votes
#61: Brandy Clark - “Your Life Is a Record” - 230 points - 10 votes
#60: Pharaoh Overlord - “6” - 232 points - 7 votes
#59: Brandy - “B7” - 239 points - 12 votes
#58: Victoria Monét - JAGUAR - 240 points - 9 votes
#57: Annie - Dark Hearts - 246 points - 8 votes
#56: K-LONE - Cape Cira - 247 points - 8 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#55: Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders - 248 points - 11 votes
#54: Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan - 249 points - 8 votes
#53: Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud - 250 points - 7 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#52: Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways - 251 points - 8 votes
#51: Westerman - Your Hero is Not Dead - 254 points - 8 votes
#50: Theo Parrish - Wuddaji - 255 points - 12 votes
#49: Julianna Barwick - Healing Is a Miracle - 262 points - 8 votes
#48: Soccer Mommy - Color Theory - 267 points - 11 votes
#47: Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark - 280 points - 10 votes
#46: KeiyaA - Forever, Ya Girl - 285 points - 14 votes
#45: Simmy - Tugela Fairy (Made Of Stars) - 291 points - 13 votes
#44: Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind - 297 points - 10 votes
#43: Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques - 298 points - 10 votes
#42: Actress - Karma & Desire - 299 points - 14 votes
#41: Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor - 300 points - 14 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#40: Vladislav Delay - Rakka - 302 points - 10 votes- 1 Nº1 vote
#39: clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned - 314 points - 12 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#38: Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi - 317 points - 9 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#37: Slum of Legs - Slum of Legs - 321 points - 14 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#36: Hum - Inlet - 324 points - 11 votes - 2 Nº1 votes
#35: Grimes - Miss Anthropocene - 329 points - 15 votes
#34: Pa Salieu - Send Them to Coventry - 330 points - 10 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#33: Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA - 342 points - 9 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#32: Ariana Grande - Positions - 353 points - 14 votes- 1 Nº1 vote
#31: The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers - 354 points - 10 votes - 1 Nº1 vote

That’s it for today!

and i thought this would be top ten stuff. probably the best nand around these days. the title song is sublime.

band

I'm glad this did so well though it didn't quite make my ballot

goddammit there are so many albums i need to hear in full now

I'd not heard Pa Salieu. I've spent a fair bit of time in The Gambia and this is making me me miss the old place. Great record.

not to rub it in or anything, but Grimes with the highest vote count so far and no #1s (unlike the rest of the last 10 in a row) is notable, enthusiasm-wise.

Not surprised to see The Beths this much lower than the first album. It's not quite the instant classic that Future Me Hates Me was. It did grow on me so much and ended up high on my list after initially being disappointed it didn't have the energy of the debut. Their sadder and more mellow side really suited my mood a lot last year. I'm so glad to have them around.

boy am I surprised that the album I'm most excited to check out from today is... Stephen Malkmus

goin back to those gold soundz

Whoa, missed a hell of a run! Sooo happy for you Emily, well deserved!

I’m the number one vote for Rakka btw! Pre-rona but it got me through the year, an aural cleansing of the mind. Never expected it to place this high!

xp
is it a crisis or a boring change?

#35: Grimes - Miss Anthropocene - 329 points - 15 votes
#34: Pa Salieu - Send Them to Coventry - 330 points - 10 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#33: Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA - 342 points - 9 votes - 1 Nº1 vote
#32: Ariana Grande - Positions - 353 points - 14 votes- 1 Nº1 vote
#31: The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers - 354 points - 10 votes - 1 Nº1 vote

just sayin

And Oranssi, and Hum, and Actress! Brilliant run.

looool Nick

I didn't hear the SoL album in full until after voting (sorry Emily) but it is completely glorious and I'm glad it placed so high - probably my favourite of today's batch. and the artwork makes my brain really happy

i didn't really connect with Future Me Hates Me but loved Jump Rope Gazers immediately. i think i find their sweetness more palatable balanced out by some sadness

LBI, Rakka is next when I tire of Pa, but that isn't happening yet for some reason

ok y'all have persuaded me that i might have been unnecessarily dismissive of jump rope gazers (i did have "dying to believe" in my top 5 traxx)

great day of placements holy cow

Definitely getting that sinking “my favourite album isn’t going to make it” feeling now...

Did relisten to the Actress album and it sounded much better than I remembered.

doubled back to the ana roxanne record, which i'd only heard a track from before, it is very gorgeous

i've known for a while that my #1 wasn't gonna make it, but i am now official #concerned about a whole lack of red

*officially

the first album from the top half of my ballot to place, after Brandy, Victoria Monét, Theo Parrish, Simmy and Pa Salieu from the bottom half (even if the ranking of everything outside of the top 5 was kind of random). the *other* big album with an overall lockdown vibe to drop on 30 October (hint to follow).
it features two very good duets with guys that don't necessarily always bring it, "Off The Table" with The Weeknd and especially "Safety Net" with Ty Dolla $ign (who is on some of my least favourite Wizkid tracks).

I missed SoL but listening now and it's making me homesick for pubs and gigs and the reek of beer and bodies.

re Carti: yeah highly divisive album that came out super later, def not a lock

ehhh i kinda think carti is a lock

hope i'm not wrong!!!

me too!

Slum of Legs record is great, the strings sound ripped up in an awesome way

Nice to see the beths place this high! I guess once you're in the ILM canon you get graded on a curve (this wasn't a noteworthy as the first one, but was still one of my personal favorites of the year)

breastcrawl, ty dolla $ign almost always brings it, tho i can definitely hear him sounding bland when trying to creep into starboy territory

Was too busy to post yesterday but have been checking in on things on & off.
From yesterday's results, I had Theo Parrish & KeiyaA on my ballot. From today's, I voted for Yves Tumor, Actress, clipping & Pa Salieu.
Pa Salieu was my #1, definitely the album that had the biggest impact on me on a first listen this year. I remember messaging Paolo and basically saying "If you haven't heard this yet, you need to listen to it right now!".

I'm way waaay behind on listening to things that I hadn't heard before but enjoying working through them. Charles Webster album had lots of cool things going on, and the Ana Roxanne album clicked nicely with me at the end of a long day yesterday. Got Perfume Genius on now, wasn't sure at first but I think I'm into it.

Ty Dolla $ign (who is on some of my least favourite Wizkid tracks).

― Long Tall Arsetee & the Shaker Intros (breastcrawl), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 3:03 PM (eight minutes ago)

But they're also on Kranium's Can't Believe together!

just two more days and 2020 is over

Pa Salieu has persuaded me into a second full listen even though I have like 10 things I need to check out this second, very inconsiderate of him