ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

Instrumental hip hop as well - you got Knxwledge 1988 and The Twilite Tone's Clearing

Carti album may have been interesting and original but it put me in a powerfully terrible mood. I'm kind of curious as to why - it really was an inescapable pit of vipers, really hateful and nasty stuff. Credit to Carti for being able to generate such a reaction I guess but fuck him for ruining my day

An entire hour of being aurally chained up and beaten

ctrl f flo milli

i've tried to listen to that Low album a few times but it just reminds me of having an ear infection. I admire it more than I enjoy it.

never in my life have i appreciated bagpipes until just now when "The Radiant City" by Horse Lords came on, and then a MIDI version of the same tune played

Wow, this album is awesome. I thought it was just going to be math-guitar histrionics, but it's a total blend of sounds

I think that's why I was hesitant myself. Like I kept anticipating showy math-iness a few bars into the future, but I learned to relax.

My decades-late remedial Destroyer studies went pretty well. eg. I think I can dig why Kapputt gained a lot of support that year.

Horse Lords is like Sunn O)))'s Monoliths & Dimensions if they took out all the doom guitars and kept everything else + some mathy noodling. i like it

The Aesop Rock album from 2020 was also incredible, but it seems to be getting slept on all over the place.

I voted for Aes record and then found out about his abuse of Kimya Dawson and felt real shitty...that might be part of the reason people have slept on this record or avoided talking about him

some head-scratching rap takes given these are the albums that placed so far:

#22: J Hus - Big Conspiracy
#25: playboi carti - whole lotta red
#34: Pa Salieu - Send Them to Coventry
#39: clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned
#64: Run The Jewels - RTJ4

I wouldn't try to persuade anyone to like (or even listen to) the Carti album, but for me it was a fitting end to the year in a lot of ways.

An entire hour of being aurally chained up and beaten

― imago, Friday, February 5, 2021 3:03 AM (five hours ago)

I should have nommed it in the metal poll

come on now, you know UK artists don’t count, rob

xp

lol but tbf I don't think many ilxors seriously make that argument anymore? Even D-40 praised the Pa Salieu.

One poll-related problem for outside-the-mainstream rap last year: dropping multiple projects.

Double Negative being an ilx #1 seems in retrospect like an anomaly

― Dan S, Thursday, February 4, 2021 11:09 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

it really really was

― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Thursday, February 4, 2021 11:47 PM (yesterday)

I'm curious what you're identifying as anomalous about this? That it was a 25-year-old band's 12th album strikes me as its most singular feature.

https://i.imgur.com/wpzpvI1.jpg
#15: Kate NV - Room for the Moon - 446 points - 14 votes- 2 Nº1 votes

Kate NV

https://katenv.bandcamp.com/album/room-for-the-moon

“Contorting percussive grooves into meticulously crafted experimental pop arrangements, Room For The Moon is fluidly expressive.”
https://www.loudandquiet.com/reviews/kate-nv-room-for-the-moon/

“Alongside a cast of musicians who help bring her kaleidoscopic world to life, the Russian avant-pop artist emerges with a visionary record that offers an escape from gloom.”
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/kate-nv-room-for-the-moon/

threw my votes to telefon but what a beautiful record

daw. my #1

wow it really did make it

this was my #1 as well, amazing from start to finish

lol hi 5

anyone who only heard Telefon, give "Plans" a go. My highlight and not nearly as twee.

this is good I liked this, but as I said before, Telefon was probably my least favourite track! yeah Plans is well nice

yes i would add that telefon is a bit of a contrast to the rest of the record

Kate! <3

"Plans" blew me away last summer. Good album.

I voted for Aes record and then found out about his abuse of Kimya Dawson and felt real shitty...that might be part of the reason people have slept on this record or avoided talking about him

Shit, really? I had completely missed this one.

i did not really get this album at all but then i'm not much of a fan of the hosono solo material etc. that she's clearly heavily drawing on either

guess there's no chance of loma showing up now, oh well

i like Telefon and all. She spends the previous 9 songs earning that burst at the end!

those swirly noises on "Lu Na" really hit me in the gut

it's sort of an antidote to the wooziness of "Du Na", for sure

I got about a minute into the one that made the tracks poll, so it's a no from me.

Sayonara is the one that stuck with me, voted for this, not surprised to see it so high

*phew* Very cool. And weirdly durable. It seemed to reveal additional highlights with each listen.

I doubt anything else on my ballot fared better!

xps to jon I don't recall it being widely reported anywhere. I only found out from my buddy who is way deeper into indie hip hop than me

yep, love and voted for the record, but telefon is not a highlight for me. she's at her best when the percussion and the melody are intertwined like a shiny rube goldberg machine and the pop comes from the pull and snap of perfectly interlocked pieces

very rad record i could never completely wrap my head around, but it still rules. love "sayonara" so much

jed, a lot of it sounds like tracks off some of the comps of weird pop that music from memory have put out, if that appeals?

https://i.imgur.com/zyJ9rhC.jpg
#14: Wizkid - Made in Lagos - 448 points - 12 votes - 2 Nº1 votes

Wizkid (aka Starboy)
wizkid • made in lagos (2020)

https://wizkidmusic.bandcamp.com/album/made-in-lagos-explicit

“The Afrobeats star balances the formula to unite home and abroad with big pop songs that can compete across cultures and an underlying theme that embraces his roots. “
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/wizkid-made-in-lagos/

“These are superbly crafted songs for under the sheets, wherever you are, but as Afrobeats continues to grow, Wizkid wants the world to remember where it came from and where it’s going next.”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/18/wizkid-made-in-lagos-review-nigerians-do-it-better

I probably should have voted for the Alabaster Deplume tbqh

too low!!!

too low!!!!

xp lol

This is one I'd have voted for if I'd been familiar with it prior to the poll. Fell in love on the first play.

(re: Kate NV)

too low, top five material

too low indeed, and i'm glad you guys think so too

if there's a higher rated album than this... I don't need it, I don't want it

I listened to this like....4 times in a row after the track placed in the other rollout. good as hell album

really delightfully smooth, the stretch from "no stress" to "essence" is my favourite

brilliant album this

thank you to the poll runners for a great rollout! see you all next year :)