ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2020

I don't think any of the top ten is really going to be my bag, but that's fine. In contrast with the tracks poll I feel like this year's albums roll-out has really shown off ILM's varied tastes in a good way (& not just because you guys voted for meeeeeee mememememe haha), so I don't mind the very top being stuff I don't care about.

https://i.imgur.com/moaT3Ii.jpg
#06: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia - 721 points - 24 votes

Dua Lipa

“Future Nostalgia was crucial for a year when these beats were as close to the club as fans could get. It’s a rush of uptempo dance glitz, with Lipa twirling the night away in the stilettos of queens like Madonna (“Hallucinate”) or Gloria Gaynor (“Don’t Start Now”) or Olivia Newton-John (“Physical”). “Baby, keep on dancing like you ain’t got a choice,” she commands in “Physical,” and as long as Future Nostalgia keeps playing, you can’t even imagine slowing down.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-2020-1096814/dua-lipa-future-nostalgia-2-1096828/

“It’s a sheer bliss that she can deliver these hard truths to a soundtrack that’s ridiculously leotard and leg warmers. Honestly, there isn’t a duff track on here. Every beat is elastic, every note and sample bold and shiny. Future Nostalgia is 37 minutes of pure sonic spandex.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/dua-lipa-future-nostalgia-album-review-tracklist-dont-start-now-physical-a9428896.html

All their albums after the debut sound the same to me, but I connected with this one most

wall to wall bangers

wow this will have to be the highest with no #1s?

I feel like I feel abt Dua Lipa the way ppl feel abt The 1975 (except a lot less angry) where I have listened to this album several times and have made a concerted effort to connect with it and I just.... can't, I don't get it at all

Yeah this is just great fun

Love a good hoppy dual ipa

The first and last tracks are the weakest.

this is labgrown ILMbait but I'm willing to concede it might be good fun at points

I think The 1975 are brilliant, I just don't listen to them. I did really enjoy listening once or twice though.

Can't get with Dua Lipa at all though, sorry.

I'm a little surprised this album has a such a rep...a few great songs but it really has no excuse to have filler, which it does

also one of the best albums about anxiety i've ever heard

― J0rdan S., Friday, February 5, 2021 11:20 AM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Early singles, especially. "People"'s relevance (It's Monday morning and we've only got a thousand of them left... I don't like going outside, so bring me everything here) really skyrocketed post-COVID.

I will maintain to my dying day that “Pretty Please” is *it*

anyways, Future Nostalgia is a textbook example of good, not great

I feel like The 1975 always end up at this same position on our lists. Felt a bit burned out on them this year. Really hoping they stick to that plan of making a shorter Hats inspired album. It would be a smart move at this point.

Future Nostalgia definitely belongs in the top 10. I even like the last two songs now.

will Dua be the only top 10 album with no #1 votes? maybe that is the 'labgrown' effect

I hope the next 1975 album is 30 tracks long and 10 of those tracks are Matty coughing in different ways

https://i.imgur.com/WCcs4SJ.jpg
#05: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters - 830 points - 30 votes

Fiona Apple
fiona apple - fetch the bolt cutters (2020)

“Over its course, Apple trades in steely irony, glittering resentment and musical experimentation, wielding humor as she levels her gaze on friends, exes and long-lost acquaintances alike. The freedom she’s unlocked is potent—as is her rage, targeted here at the people and structures that made her life as a celebrity untenable and her experience of womanhood punishing. But no longer. “Kick me under the table all that you want, I won’t shut up,” she insists brightly on “Under the Table,” a line that’s both a refusal to be silenced and a rallying cry for any listener who needs the reminder. Apple wrote an album of love songs to strength and self-determination, sharpening her own voice in the process.”
https://time.com/5915313/best-albums-2020/

“Fiona Apple’s fifth record is unbound, a symphony of the everyday, an unyielding masterpiece. No music has ever sounded quite like it.”
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/fiona-apple-fetch-the-bolt-cutters/

lol I guess not re my last post

another good album I am never in the mood for

30 votes. woww

Always wondered what life is like for a peephole

fiona is a good egg

not a bad apple

Amazing to think her weakest album is her debut.

also 5 no.1's for evermore is a good indicator of how this might all play out. still hoping for Rise at 1

i still think idler wheel is my favorite album of hers, but this one is still a massive achievement

I think Idler Wheel is my fave too, love the production and arrangements a lot

Amazing to think her weakest album is her debut.

― meticulously crafted, socially responsible, morally upsta (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, February 5, 2021 12:42 PM bookmarkflaglink

Extraordinary Machine isn't her debut tho!

Wow, I thought this would be number one.

Yeah, agree with JF. Extraordinary Machine is easily her weakest.

Voodoo and Simon OTM

another good album I am never in the mood for

― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, February 5, 2021 10:41 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is how i thought about it for a while, as well. i think ive ended up at this is just actually not very good.

this album veers, often on the same song, between strong and affecting and irritatingly on-the-nose

30 votes but no #1s has to be close to a record

look, i always eyed 1975 with an arched modicum of distrust, but then "Jesus Christ 2005" came up on the EOY longlist and it hit me really hard. Should I check them out more? I'd be down with a UK version of Vampire Weekend?

It’s tough because I’m a big fan, and I was so thrilled when this was announced, the features, the release. But then upon returning to it the record (opener aside) was kind of a drag.

Idler Wheel on the other hand I’ve never tired of and it’s been like 8-9 years.

anyone listening to kate nv for the first time today because of this poll should be sure to check out Binasu (2016). i liked her new one, but Binasu is a fucking monster, in a good way.

ditto with people listening to the Beths - be sure to check out their debut!

dog latin bout to have another nice evening

Fiona Apple album sounds like Fiona Apple (not a bad thing, but nevertheless) I'm not sure I ken what the big deal is here.

I've played Binasu a few times and only "Kata" grabbed me but i will have to give it another go!

What? The 1975 sound nothing like Vampire Weekend.

But you know who does?

xxp

Same, tried with Fiona a couple of times with different albums over the years. Not really sure what I'm supposed to enjoy here.

anyone listening to kate nv for the first time today because of this poll should be sure to check out Binasu (2016). i liked her new one, but Binasu is a fucking monster, in a good way.

ditto with people listening to the Beths - be sure to check out their debut!

― Karl Malone, Friday, February 5, 2021 12:50 PM (fifty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

Agreed Binasu is way better imo. Для = For is a relaxing little experimental album not to be compared with these

look, i always eyed 1975 with an arched modicum of distrust, but then "Jesus Christ 2005" came up on the EOY longlist and it hit me really hard. Should I check them out more? I'd be down with a UK version of Vampire Weekend?

― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Friday, February 5, 2021 12:50 PM (two minutes ago)

yeah give it a spin

What? The 1975 sound nothing like Vampire Weekend.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, February 5, 2021 5:52 PM (thirty-four seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i've not heard much else by them. struck me as unabashedly preppy genre-dabblers with an indie-pop bent

xpost the title track "binasu", played at the right time of day, will actually transport you into an imaginary 1980s kate bush video that takes place in the woods

my word

this is the first Fiona Apple album I genuinely enjoyed and listened to on repeat. I think I kind of burned myself out on it, getting released fairly early in the year may have resulted in it getting unfairly moved down a few slots. Objectively might have deserved #1.