ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2021

ok yes good

this was my #5 it is sick. prog doesn't just live, it thrives, and the kids love it

Still refusing to listen to Black Midi because they're not actual black midi.

After finding the first Black Midi album a bit half-baked and not really committing enough to any of its many ideas, this one was a pleasant surprise. More measured, but just as ambitious. Didn't vote for it, but I could have.

really love the Altin Gun artwork and Yuce Dag Basinda is so infectious

I want to use Moka's images for this poll as a set of Tarot cards.

otm, classic indie bait and switch

xpppp to e.mily

what genre is Altın Gün?

― rob

Turkish psych-folk

I'm curious about this, since the tracks I've heard through the poll are much more synth pop/Italo sounding?

Their previous albums were a bit folkier, but this one blends in plenty of synthpop too, you're right.

altin gun is a band that i listen to occasionally but would prob be blown away by in a live setting

liking the Altin Gun, lotta stuff I don't know so far

I want to use Moka's images for this poll as a set of Tarot cards.

― tangenttangent

Haha, my initial idea for the design was to make a series of shapes - like the stars and circles I ended up adding in there - and use them as containers for the images. Use some 8/10 different ones either random or by genre… it would’ve looked “tarot-esque” but ditched the idea because I would’ve needed more time.

black midi amuses me because they have this one singer whose style can't help but remind me of larry blackmon from cameo

fwiw Slow is both my track and video pick from Cavalcade

Jordan, 'Yüce Dağ Başında' (which for some reason I thought placed last year, but youtube is telling me it came out this year?) is pretty synthpop yeah, but it still has that folky element to it. They're definitely a modern take on it (and not actually based in Turkey iirc) but a large amount of their output I've heard is that psychy folky thing.

I'm probably not the best person to judge this I guess, as I've only sampled the singles/tracks with vids.

I'll have to check out some of their other stuff!

I think I've listened to each Black Midi record exactly once, but I loved seeing them live.

I might have to run, sorry for rushing this last part. Posting two more albums and I’ll continue tomorrow.

https://i.imgur.com/Xt1qB5r.jpg
63. Howie Lee - Birdy Island
146 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video from the album: “Time to the Sun”
A thread for HOWIE LEE's sublime, genre-spanning Chinese folk/prog/jazz/Balearic/grime opus 'BIRDY ISLAND'

to be extremely reductive, altin gun is basically khruangbin but for turkey

love this album

my initial idea for the design was to make a series of shapes - like the stars and circles I ended up adding in there - and use them as containers for the images

That sounds rad, but they look great in any case. Kind of reminds me of that Magik Cyrkles comp from a few years back too.

https://i.imgur.com/cT7k2Ix.jpg
62. Sarah Davachi - Antiphonals
150 points / 5 votes
Video from the album: “Border of Mind”
Rolling ambient/chill out/drone/moodz thread: from 2010s 'til infinity!

and another i voted for
nxd power hour

This Sarah Davachi album is great! One of my favorite discoveries from this run.

I’d say this and the left field pop compilation are my two picks of albums I would have voted for if I had listened to them before the poll.

yeah great album, maybe my favorite of hers yet

I missed that Howie Lee thread but "Chinese folk/prog/jazz/Balearic/grime" is definitely something that would have swayed me to listen. Giving it a try now and the sample track sounds great. Fuck yeah. Wish I'd heard it earlier.

the first minute of the Davachi actually sounds more like the old Turkish psych-folk I know more than Altin did!

That Howie Lee is an actual album from 2021 that I listened to a bit and it's lush

I should give the Lee another listen. iirc dog latin's enthusiasm for it really made me want to like it

Monday Results:

62. Sarah Davachi - Antiphonals
63. Howie Lee - Birdy Island
64. Black Midi - Cavalcade
65. Vijay Iyer Trio - Uneasy
66. Altın Gün - Yol
67. Kabza de Small, DJ Maphorisa & Tresor - Rumble in the Jungle
68. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
69. Can - Live in Stuttgart 1975
70. Vanishing Twin - Ookii Gekkou
71. Eris Drew - Quivering in Time
72. Emeka Ogboh - Beyond the Yellow Haze
73. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
74. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases / Descansos
75. Doja Cat - Planet Her
76. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
77. Various Artists ‎ - Heisei No Oto- Japanese Left-Field Pop From The CD Age, 1989-1996

Oh god damn, Howie Lee is really hitting the spot for me. Even if I get intensely angry about shitty placements in the future, thank you voters of ilx for this one.

Yes! Howie Lee is the first thing I voted for, it's incredible.

Not all of today's placements are for me (still listening through) and I didn't vote for any of them, but at least it is a decisively weird start to the poll.

the only downside so far is a lot of the albums I am most curious about require patience (e.g., the Lee and Davachi ones)

oh this Howie Lee is only half an hour long! this might sound vmnic but i like it when albums are half an hour long. so far it has my interest

lol wtf I did vote for Rumble in the Jungle, sorry for liveblogging my sever cognitive decline

The Can album obviously got on the list due to the lack of a new album from The 1975.

can almost imagine a 1975 'vitamin c' cover

Ha!

xp

less so 'halleluwah'

Re: compilation albums, I do hope that La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient and Acid Exoticism 1983-1990 places

So glad to see Birdy Island place. What a strange, unique piece of work. Halfway between Chinese electronic music and I guess The Beach Boys' Friends album. Increasingly in the last year or so I'm hearing a lot more music that makes me think "What am I listening to here? How did this actually come about?" and Birdy Island definitely comes into this bracket

Wave, Wave, Wave is super beautiful. I'm so glad the poll prompted me to go back to this, thanks y'all

The Howie Lee thread is p funny: 16 days of ecstatic raving and then silence

I voted for the Davachi, her best in a minute: great chill out music

this Howie Lee is great, thanks all

Oh, the Sarah Davachi album is beautiful. Second from my ballot, which means I'm already doing better than on the tracks poll.

Iyer's trio connect so tightly and groove well even on more subdued or abstruse material.

Yeah, the Iyer made my ballot.

The Iyer album is the only thing from my ballot in today’s results. I like Iyer in a lot of modes, but his trios are my favorite and this may be his best trio.

Now that I've figured out that the 5/4 comment was in relation to Vanishing Twin, I put the album on and started giggling almost immediately because I see exactly why Jordan invoked "Take 5"

I see that as a positive rather than a negative, a bit like Stereolab covering Dave Brubeck on this first song