ILM's 2022 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING THREAD

And I'm not sorry

A bit late I realise, but I thought I'd campaign for my LP nominees that aren't on Spotify (and I think are only on Bandcamp). I've added links to the albums below and also done a mini bndcmpr.co playlist, which you can find here:
https://bndcmpr.co/80941c71

The Pattern Forms - 'The Scenic Route'
This studio group is made up of Cate Brooks (The Advisory Circle), Ed and Edd from Friendly Fires, and Tom Moth. A modern day library/mood music album, focussing on pastoral and romantic themes (with a Lindstrøm-esque tune to finish). Harp, analogue synthesisers plus drums, guitar textures and orchestral elements. First released digitally in May 2021, but the year of impact was definitely last year when the vinyl edition arrived.
https://thepatternforms.bandcamp.com/album/the-scenic-route

clocolan - 'Empathy Alpha'
Part soundtrack, part audio play, the LP contains five discrete cinematic scenes with electronic backing and interludes. Structured on a 9x9x9 numerical matrix, the music is inspired by sci-fi soundtracks of the 70s and 80s. Some excellent voice acting creates some really disturbing moments.
https://clocolan.bandcamp.com/album/empathy-alpha

D. Rothon - 'East Of The Sun' EP
Recorded live at Café OTO on 15 January 2022 as part of a Clay Pipe Music showcase night. Four serene pieces that particularly glow when Rothon's pedal steel takes centre stage.
https://lonesomedepot.bandcamp.com/album/east-of-the-sun-live-at-cafe-oto

Onepointwo - 'Music For Spaces'
Electronic music from a Greek musician I really rate. This album is described as "a personal homage to our endless effort to create personal spaces in order to decompress from the madness of everyday life. Created with a lot of electronic genres in mind".
https://onepointwo.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-spaces

Henning Zinoviev & Floating Candles - 'Die Nude For Satan'
One of those imaginary soundtracks to an alleged lost exploitation/horror movie from the 70s, the master tapes for which were recently "rediscovered". Bad-trip psych heaviness and folk horror, electric sitar/tabla and sinister synths. One of the more effective stabs at this genre in my opinion.
https://libraryoftheoccult.bandcamp.com/album/die-nude-for-satan

Sinneslochen.Inc - 'P O L Y B I U S'
More of the above, only this time it's a lost video game soundtrack. The pitch: "1981. A small town arcade takes delivery of a new game, Polybius. Released onto an un-suspecting youth, the game delivers both excitement and intrigue with multiple levels of mind bending puzzles. Popularity reaches fever pitch. One month after its release, Polybius disappears without trace. Stories begin to emerge of players experiencing psychoactive side effects ranging from seizures to insomnia, night terrors to hallucinations…"
https://burningwitchesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/p-o-l-y-b-i-u-s

Sproatly Smith - 'River Wye Suite'
Eight years in the making. A tribute to the geography, lore and people who live on and by the river that shapes Herefordshire’s countryside. The completion of the album also provides a chance to protest the fact that the river is slowly dying from pollution, thanks mainly to the expansion of chicken factories in the Wye valley. Dreamy folk-rock with field recordings and poetry interwoven.
https://sproatlysmith.bandcamp.com/album/river-wye-suite

Kayla Painter - 'Planet 9'
More electronica from a talented UK musician, described by her as "a journey to the hypothetical planet on the outer reaches of our solar system". This is actually a cassette compilation of 3 new tracks and some older tracks from 2020-21 that did not previously exist in any physical state. But it's probably her most coherent statement so far.
https://kaylapainter.bandcamp.com/album/planet-9-2

Ok I thought I was really smart by being among the first to vote and now there's a few humble changes I'd like to make

Just noticed Free Mind by Tems is on the list. Is that correct as it came out on 2020?

Oh shit, I somehow completely missed/forgot about Water Gun Water Gun Sky Attack and almost left it off my ballot! Glad I did another full-list scan before settling on my list, that was a major favourite I almost ignored.

i can tell it was a good year for music cause i'm having a geniunely hard time getting it town to 25

forks can you start a thread for julian lage so i stop missing his albums during the year lol

Just noticed Free Mind by Tems is on the list. Is that correct as it came out on 2020?

― groovypanda, Sunday, January 15, 2023 10:22 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

year of impact. it was one of the biggest r&b radio hits of 2022. not sure why it took so long to catch on but catch on it did.

nb, i didn't vote for it.

Oh shit, I somehow completely missed/forgot about Water Gun Water Gun Sky Attack and almost left it off my ballot! Glad I did another full-list scan before settling on my list, that was a major favourite I almost ignored.

― emil.y, Sunday, 15 January 2023 17:36 (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

🔥

VC I will def start a late pass thread for his next album.

god that hikaru utada album sure is a masterpiece

Yep, I checked that album out at the beginning of the year and thought it was nice but for some reason never went back to it until a few weeks ago. It has been on heavy rotation along with albums by Perfume, Shabason & Kgrovich and the TOPS EP. I need to find room for them all on my lists.

Turns out I've been underrating 2022 as a good year for albums all along. Much stronger than 2021 overall.

yeah i think it was an unusually strong year

my final missive is surface to air. indie isn't dead, but you might not be looking in all the right places. this belongs in some sort of gallery imo, it is another staggeringly beautiful work by a widely-ignored master, it feels like it belongs out of time, or in all times at once

Anyone pick out a Sault record? Not sure I'll get room for any, but for me it's the Little Simz album.

I like Today & Tomorrow and Untitled (God) most (or at least I've listened to them the most) - enjoyment of the latter does depend on tolerance for God content

Earth is my favorite, followed by 11. Sault definitely going to suffer here from having too many good albums.

Untitled (God) is the one whose track grab my attention most often. Earth and 11 are also under consideration.

Kind of wish I nominated Dummy - Mandatory Enjoyment, not sure why I missed that one

tour diary of the year

“Voting in polls shouldn’t be fun”

lol

voted

even did a little tracks list too

just voted, listened to way less current stuff than usual in 2022 so about half my tracks ballot is stuff I discovered while listening to the nominated tracks the last couple of weeks. Makes an interesting ballot I think. (I briefly considered voting only for stuff I discovered in the nominations, but there's a couple of things I really wanted to vote for that I already knew about).

Voted!

Andy Catana - Wav Encore

Yaya Toure and France Gall music box stag weekend in Vienna

Last week to vote!

ugh I forgot to nominate a few tracks that made my list. oh well, y'all got some extra Kendrick Lamar votes on the tracks ballot instead, deal with it

"i vote different"

VOTE!

Agree with those who said Untitled (God) is the strongest of the SAULT releases. Second half in particular.

could potentially submit an albums ballot this year. no discipline in keeping track of tracks anymore lol

Do it Brad! I have a feeling we'll be down on numbers again this year, so personal choices may have a bigger influence. (No insider knowledge here, just a gut feeling).

I am finally very close to finishing my ballots. Will submit tomorrow.

I voted last week (received I assume?) and feel good about it. A few albums from the noms & voting threads made it on there, always my favorite part.

I’ve got my tracks sorted, should have the albums whittled down tonight

I haven’t listened to (enough of) the Voice Actor “album” enough yet to vote for it, but I will be rinsing this amazing thing for the foreseeable future

Great album, just missed my ballot

voted!

Keep em coming

okay! (voted)

Voted

Voted

Is there always so much bobbins nominated?

So many great discoveries this year

I will be submitting a ballot later today

Voted! I feel like my ballots are a bit haphazard but they probably always are. Also, poll-runners, I snuck in one tiny write-in, feel free to ignore if you have to, nobody else will vote for it anyway I just wanted to include it.

voted. Are we getting acknowledgments, I forget?

Just an albums poll. I leave the tracks to the other clever people. Looking forward to find what I've missed before...

The Most wonderful time of the year.

Way too busy to have gone through the nominees, no vote from me this year but I look forward to the rollout!

Why in the shit didn't I (or someone else) nominate Looking For Somebody (To Love)?

voted.
my tracks list is a mixed bag of recent and long-since-beloved but the album list was a sophie's choice once i got it down to 40. i doubt i'd deliver the same ballot tomorrow.