ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

I think the thing with The Beths is the obvious insane chops of the musicians, but being put in the service of music that's very pop, which is obviously a thing we've seen before but maybe not so much in the indie-rock milieu? I might be talking nonsense tbf

What it also boils down to is songwriting, which is a much harder thing to analyse, but it seems clear the writers in Soccer Mommy and The Beths have good and interesting instincts

Circle The Drain is very catchy, but it's Teenage Dirtbag really innit?

You should think of it as indie rock pastiche.

I'm joking of course, but I don't see "the nostalgia loop/comfort food rock" being that much different from much of the disco revival and bobbins we've seen so far here or in the tracks poll. They aren't really breaking new sonic ground, but why should they?

All about how the sonics mesh though. Also there are better tracks on the album, the opener, Royal Screw Up and Lucy in particular imo

Not necessarily breaking new sonic ground in any major way, but incrementally doing things in the corners, maybe. I wouldn't call either SM or Beths straight-down-the-line meat-and-potatoes indie, just as I wouldn't call yer Murphies and yer Dua Lipas straight disco/discopop pastiche. (Ware otoh...we'll deal with that hurdle when we reach it lol)

Aw, I was getting into the opening track of Hayley Williams but I have to teach now ;_; later!

Hoping at least a few of you have blundered across Finland's finest in the playlist and found enough to keep going btw. If it helps, track 5 is kind of psych metal x Portishead

Is that the Pharoah Overlord record? Struggling to get past the vocals tbh but did enjoy track 5. Would probably listen to an instrumental version of the album.

Loving the Hum album though

Imago means the Oranssi Pazuzu though he loves the PO (and Kairon; IRSE!)

Yeah my ballot was a Finland 1-2 but PO only their second finest; OP > PO lol. Glad you loved Blue Light Hum though, that one's a slow-burn banger of the highest order

(posting from a lesson, v professional)

what the beths are doing (jangly powerpop) isn't anything new but they're extremely good at it, genuinely all-time greats in that sound already. i didn't even vote for them and i can't think of a band that does that sort of sound that i'd rather listen to more.

i don't think "circle the drain" is quite going for "teenage dirtbag", it's aiming a few years earlier - it doesn't have the gratuitous scratching (i wonder if that will ever make its way into indie rock?)

I'm joking of course, but I don't see "the nostalgia loop/comfort food rock" being that much different from much of the disco revival and bobbins we've seen so far here or in the tracks poll. They aren't really breaking new sonic ground, but why should they?

― braised cod, Thursday, February 4, 2021 11:34 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

counterpoint: why shouldn't they?
or at least, if it's not comfort food, why should we pay attention?

i feel the same way about the "disco pastiche" stuff btw: it's not that i don't get that some of these are good songs, but a lot of this stuff is no different to things that made the poll in 2012, 2009, 2004, 2001 etc. i like indie rock and i like disco pastiche, indeed some of my all-time favourite songs would fall under these banners, but find it hard to get truly excited about this kind of thing in 2020 beyond "this song is catchy".

is it simple retromania? not quite, because these styles never went away. is it a new twist on an old favourite? not really. is it comfort food? maybe. is it a stagnation of appetite? well... possibly. there is still a lot of thrilling new sounds in these polls, but also a hell of a lot of music that sounds like it could have come out five or ten years ago. I can't think of another time in pop history where stuff that sounds the same as ten years before is still critically viable.

Soccer Mommy I'd say are 'post-Mitski', i.e. directly influenced by (if not directly aping) the particular sonic brew of that by-now iconic artist, and I'm glad there's a wave of that, because really, stan Mitski lol

Don't get me wrong though, my main focus is on finding the Mitskis of this world - the genius pioneers - more than their hangers-on, and I think it's fair to say that I can like and enjoy Soccer Mommy without, like, adoring them or voting for them. That said I am now going to scour my ballot for genuine pastiche lol

I mean, Pharaoh Overlord are maybe if you dropped a Moroder pastiche in acid, blackened it, sent it to Conny Plank for a touch-up and then fired it into space

btw regardless of how pastichey it is, I think I am enjoying yerlass Hayley's efforts

but this comes back to songwriting as a distinct (albeit interrelated) concern to sonics - Williams isn't doing much new here in turns of sound, but she's an accomplished and thoughtful songwriter as we know already, which means that she'll always find arresting ways of presenting the sound

someone else post ffs lol

we're all busy listening to dylan

I have seen the word pastiche more times over these poll rollouts than in the entire rest of my life put together.

well pastiche is a spectrum really, some things are more derivative than others but everything's derivative, everything is doing a bit to an extent

Hayley Williams has even launched into a disco pastiche as I type! It's quite good fun lol

i think some of the disco things were homage rather than pastiche

while some were fromage

educating myself: https://hirix.co.uk/rajasthan-mla-yoev/viewtopic.php?32e503=pastiche-vs-homage

barely any the wiser haha

Well that's about as clear as cheese

i got quiche but i'm not a pastiche

Rina Sawayama album was doing pretty well until 'Bad Friend' which is genuinely teeth-clenchingly dreadful, and the second half of the album has kind of lost its way

those first 4 tracks would make an excellent EP

yeah rina's ballads are really not good

o god 'chosen family' is even worse haha

that horrible owl city synth is really a choice

yep :(

enjoyed the ichiko aoba album last night just before bed. part of me wanted her to go full Disney/Ghibli-meets-Balearic ambient, which is kind of her remit anyway, but it's nice and pretty and i'll definitely go back to it

Spotify started playing an album called "Green" by Hiroshi Yoshimura straight afterwards, and that too was excellent

oo..top night

I checked out the Aoba when it went atop the RYM rankings and my response to it is comparable to ogmor's response to Mary Lattimore so I'll just let you guys enjoy it, but hopefully u have an inner imago scolding u as you do lol

kindly step this way dog latin:

Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村弘)

that yoshimura is a definitely an influence on the k-lone record too imo

didn't get ML either. Thought i would by all descriptions.

Green is amazing. I tried the Aoba twice and both times had the exact same thing happen: at first I'm blown away, totally loving it, then by track 6 I am bored and maybe even irritated by it

the aoba album is ridiculously beautiful but also completely impenetrable to me

that yoshimura is a definitely an influence on the k-lone record too imo

― would a nit be nice? (NickB), Thursday, February 4, 2021 2:39 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

ah yeah i hear that! i was impressed the K-Lone got so much love. thought it was just me, Evan and a few other Balearic revival threadheads who were into it

I put Green on the other day while it was gently snowing and I felt like a cornball but it was really beautiful

ufo: that's a kinder way of putting it, something about the wandering melodies starts to cloud my brain

the wandering and yet utterly uninteresting melodies

sorry, too negative, let's be positive: ariana grande album had me v interested for 2 tracks with all the orchestration

Circling back to earlier in the list, I've used that Ulla album as my late-night before-bed listening the last few nights and it's almost hypnotic, really enjoyed it.

Pharaoh Overlord sound like the type of band you only ever hear on Cleopatra Records' "A Tribute To ______" compilations, usually after Razed In Black

*closes hands, bows sagely* if u dish it u must also take, namaste

Yeah I really want to love the Ichiko album a lot more but it was missing a little something I couldn't put my finger on. You could be right imago, there just isn't enough there when it comes to melody, and I think I'd prefer this as gently orchestrated instrumental music. As it stands, it pushes ever so slightly into off putting Sigur Ros style territory

Okay as someone who mostly tolerates Paramore and feels most of their stuff is meant for someone in the room next door, the first song on Hayley Williams album is fucking great

isn't it!

"simmer" is an amazing song