ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

what a run. i didn't expect to say this but i wish ingoma were higher.

ready for top 15 predictions!

So, apparently anything Autechre ever release will make it to them ILM top 77? I wish I could understand why people like them so much, but anytime I try them I end up immensely bored. There's so much better music within their genre.

great great list of albums this year. have a strong suspicion that the top 15 will be my least fav section of the rollout ha

taylor (x2?), haim, charli, fiona, 75, sault (x2?)
thats 8 right there. still holding out for Sweven but not too sure how big that was outside of rolling metal

Every album Autechre makes really is great though, nobody’s in their league

Kelly Lee Owens is the only thing on my ballot to place today, but it's also one of only three of today's albums I've even listened to. ILM is definitely being more adventurous in this range than in years past.

expect three more of mine to place, four if something crazy happens

Jessie Ware will definitely be in there

I'm thinking a lot of albums I voted for might place in the top 15
- Wizkid
- A.A.L.
- Fiona Apple
- Roisin Murphy
- Dua Lipa
- Jessie Ware
- Shabaka and the Ancestors
- Lianne la Havas

I'm worried that Omah Lay's EP did not make it. And Keleketla.

ahhh I hadn't thought about neither Sault placing yet

the "guess the #78" prize remains unclaimed.

and thanks for the kind words in response to my shitty 2020 sojourn into oncology. it started with my orthopedist's secretary calling to tell me to come in early after a test because "they found cancer" which is not a good (or responsible) call to get first thing in the morning. ultimate guess was that the MRI tech may have been overly cautious with their scan reading; subsequent tests didn't reveal the same markers of fmystery bubbles next to the vertebrae that set off the initial freak-out. Best case scenario I suppose but it led to sleepless nights and months of worry at a time when i didn't really have the emotional bank to spend. music helped!

if owen pallett doesn't place I'm FPing every single person on this site including them

Wizkid is my only personal lock.

Surprising (to me) omissions: Moses Boyd and the Makaya McCraven/Gil-Scott Heron project.

This feels awfully high for the Shabaka album but maybe.

for predix, gonna add dua, jessie ware, roisin and wizkid to gman's 8 to make 12

digging the Ulla record, fascinating stuff, not even sure what to call it... fidgety ambient?

oh right this is where we have 500 posts of guessing, see y'all tomorrow

good call. Murphy, Ware, Lipa for absolute sure.

oh yeah, i think owen pallett has a good shot.

my left-field prediction (and my possible fourth vote) is shackleton & zimpel

anyway I had 7 place today so will strive to not be churlish about the rest

i voted for that Makaya/Heron project and recommend it highly

boy am I gonna have a heckuva time recalling CS + Kreme vs. Cy & Lee properly.

the "guess the #78" prize remains unclaimed

Katie Gately made a fine showing a few years back but she's not going to be top 15 alas

If Kate nv doesn't place then ILX is dead to me

Rather than depths that require exploring I wd contend it’s an artful juxtaposition of surfaces that require exploring :) which is equally difficult to intuit from a cursory skim as unexplored depths

Lol that makes perfect sense, well put.

Also where is Eddie Chacon ;_;

i voted for that Makaya/Heron project and recommend it highly

― That's not really my scene (I'm 41) (forksclovetofu), Thursday, February 4, 2021 3:39 PM (two minutes ago)

It's so great, though I have to concede I never listened to the first iteration so it's a lot "newer" to me than to others. Hopefully McCraven puts out a fully brand new album in 2021 (and we can start a dedicated thread).

colour me surprised that Celia and Ingoma placed more or less equal (just 9 points between them, with one more vote for Tiwa even!). would have expected Azana quite a bit higher, defintely higher than Wizkid, in the top 10. Made in Lagos is now set to be our top African album (unless Nihiloxica... it couldn't be, right?). Amaarae and Sun-El failed to make it.

so Wizkid, J Ware, Dua L, T Swift, Taylor S, F Apple, Sault, Sault, '75, that's 9.
what else? C x H? Cleo S?
(I'm sure others will have filled in the blanks by now)

Ok wow, catching up, big things. Alabaster dePlume & Beatrice Dillon were both huge records for me this year, in the heaviest rotation for periods and I kept going back to them.

Horse Lords was new to me from the track poll, and I'm really into it but maybe surprised that something so math-y placed so highly? But they do it really well, there's a sense of fun and accessibility that sets it apart from a lot of music that deals with similar concepts, which can be insular or show-off-ish.

I knew that after yesterday's imagothon that the top 30 would be counter to my interests, but kinda brutal to have it spelled out so emphatically, and now I have to go and check everything out again lol

Universal Beings E&F Sides was basically a fully brand new album even if it was drawn from the same project

Cleo Sol already placed breastcrawl. But that's a good point about Tiwa and Azana being so close, not what I would have expected either, Azana seems much more ILM-bait to me but maybe my conception of that is out of date

I'm worried that Omah Lay's EP did not make it.
Omah Lay barely received any votes for his singles.

I don't really agree Moodles, but not vehemently or anything, he's one of my favourite current musicians

Wizkid
Fiona Apple
Roisin Murphy
Dua Lipa
Jessie Ware
Sault x2
Taylor x2
Charli
....and five other things idk lol

jessie ware is going to win so if you hate her be ready for that

I look at it like, it's not really a new direction, it's more of the same, but it's also all really good.

xxp

I just realised that I forgot to vote for Mourning A BLKstar. I mustve missed it on the noms list as it was in my own top 10 albums of the year list.
I guess it's not going to place now either

the continued life of that final weird GSH album continues to perplex me... give me this instead https://www.discogs.com/Charenee-Wade-Offering-The-Music-Of-Gil-Scott-Heron-And-Brian-Jackson/master/918297

I'm just being greedy really. Universal Beings was my intro to him so getting an amazing double album and then exploring his earlier releases was such a treat, and now I want more treats.

it's something to do with it being the XL label head's idea and production (on the original)... anyway Makaya's version is fantastic, the definitive take for me and i voted for it. Not hard to believe it didn't place since it's sort of a remix album... and splitting attention with Makaya's other sort of, not quite, exactly all new thing

xp

Soccer Mommy sounds like... Liz Phair?

not digging that Theo Parrish, too jagged or something

that Ulla thing is bewitching

Thought Georgia would've placed by now but above 15 seems too high

if the 78 is on my ballot, it's ulcerate

Ulla is maybe favorite discovery / most upset about overlooking

of what I've taken any time with so far... same

Chloe X Halle seems like a reasonable shot at the top 15.

my guess for 78 is OPN - Magic

I was cool with this Malkmus album until vocals came in

amaarae
dua lipa
haim
charli
chloe x halle
roisin
the 1975
fiona apple
wizkid
taylor swift x2
jessie ware
sault x2

which is 14

wildcard: boof

oh actually no. 15 is owen, obviously