ILM Top 100 2000-2004: ALBUMS

This was jess complaining that Low and The Microphones didn't come higher.

Points: 227
No. of votes: 10
No. of #1 votes: 2

Artist: SHELLAC
Title: 1000 HURTS
Label: Touch & Go
Year: 2003

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/1000hurts.jpg

Comments: A return to form after the disappointing 'Terraform'. Shellac experiment with other things here (there's a slightly confused jazz fusion part in 'Canaveral'), but ultimately don't deviate too much from the sound that people expect. It's very possibly their funniest album too - who could listen to 'Squirrel Song', and after hearing "And there were squirrels...real squirrels... and there were thousands... this ain't some kind of metaphor, this is real..." not wonder exactly what kind of event was behind it? Essential for all the non-rockist rockists out there. aldo cowpat

Recommended tracks: Squirrel Song, A Prayer To God, Watch Song

Points: 227
No. of votes: 11
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI
Title: HOW I LONG TO FEEL THAT SUMMER IN MY HEART
Label: Mantra
Year: 2001

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/howilongtofeel.jpg

Comments: Most of us have artists we love, and rant about, but secretly know aren't for everyone. It's all very well banging on about how terminally underrated Crispy Ambulance or whatever are, but if you live in the real world you know it will ever be thus.

BUT THEN THERE ARE THE RECORDS THAT YOU KNOW EVERYONE IN THE WORLD WOULD LOVE IF THEY'D ONLY BLOODY LISTEN.

That name, that awful underachiever's name, that's the only thing I can think of that has thwarted Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. That and maybe hearing some teenage stuff of theirs that well, isn't for everyone. On 'How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart' they shot their load.
They pissed gold. They made a perfect album. No wizards, no Welsh
language and no wacky rock outs (not that all three can't be great, but you know - they *tried* to accommodate). Just wave after wave of
classic, elegiac love songs. This isn't about some stupid indie ghetto 'perfect 60s pop' malarky - these songs live and breathe in the real world. I keep imagining Euros Childs or John Lawrence just banging their heads against a wall and screaming "Well what else can we do?"

So err yeah, basically, you are all stupid scum and deserve to die.
Alba

Recommended tracks: Honeymoon With You, These Winds..., Her Hair Hangs Long

Points: 245
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: THE FALL
Title: THE REAL NEW FALL LP
Label: Action
Year: 2003

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/therealnewfall.jpg

Comments: their best for 10 maybe 17/18 years - you know it's good when (a) the cover version is the weakest song and (b) they can use it as the basis for their current live set and we don't really mind at all... fletcher dexter

Recommended tracks: Contraflow, Open The Boxoctosis #2, Protein Protection

Points: 252
No. of votes: 11
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: GHOSTFACE (KILLAH)
Title: THE PRETTY TONEY ALBUM
Label: Def Jam
Year: 2004

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/prettytoney.jpg

Comments: If you told me 10 years ago that Ghost would be the only real Wu-survivor still puttin out quality product I would've thought you were crazy but here we are... he's really the only one consistently putting out good shit, the one who's done the most to stay "true to the game" so to speak. I thought BW was okay (Supreme Clientele is pure genius) but I'm really lookin forward to this... Ghost is one of those guys I just really want to see succeed and stick around. Shakey Mo Collier

Recommended tracks: Tooken Back, Biscuits, Holla

Points: 252
No. of votes: 13
No. of #1 votes: 2

Artist: GILLIAN WELCH
Title: TIME (THE REVELATOR)
Label: WEA
Year: 2002

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/timetherevelator.jpg

Comments: Gillian Welch

Recommended tracks: April 14th Part 1, Revelator, I Dream A Highway

Points: 254
No. of votes: 15
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: GOLDFRAPP
Title: BLACK CHERRY
Label: Mute
Year: 2003

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/blackcherry.jpg

Comments: Sticking a horse's tail on your arse turns you into a sexy hybrid of Kate Bush and Donna Summer - proven by the scientific electropopart extravaganza that is 'Black Cherry'. Avant-garde more in aspirations rather than in execution, if 'Felt Mountain' was a lonely walk in the woods, 'Black Cherry' is a more an effortless glide down a river of Alison's own vaginal juices - tho hardly as bawdy as Peaches, and a world away from the lewdness of Lil Kim. Even if that's not appealing than the tight programming and quirky hooks of Will Alexander should be. Pretentious? Mais naturellement.

Recommended tracks: Strict Machine, Crystalline Green, Black Cherry

Points: 262
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: CORNELIUS
Title: POINT
Label: Matador
Year: 2003

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/point.jpg

Comments: Every time Keigo Oyamada returns to recording, he's something different, not necessarily for dilletantism's sake, but because he's borrowed something old and learnt something new - each album (and remix collection) speaks a different language to each other, as it were. In an ever-changing yet cyclical world, he sets his own agenda and he keeps it that way. Point is Keigo at his most
lovely and most loved.

Recommended tracks: Point Of View Point, Brazil, Bird Watching At Inner Forest

Points: 263
No. of votes: 12
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: BIG & RICH
Title: HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR
Label: Warner
Year: 2004

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/albums/horseofadifferentcolour.jpg

Comments: Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

Recommended tracks: Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy, Wild West Show, Six Feet Town

ah, ok then.

My comments were heavily edited (a bit much so there, Steve, I've seen bigger on this thread than what I ended up with up there), but it was necessary as I went into a shamanic trance after Steve asked me to comment and eneded up with a fucking essay. But Drop was very well delved into and I still really like it. Point is still 3rd best Cornelius rec for me and 4th if I count CM, but it has some great moments still and I may put the original review on my blog soon.