ILM's Top 77 ALBUMS of 2011

there are still a bunch of not v good songs but stuff like 'peripheral visionaries' marries the indie sing-along vocals w/the icy beach vibe really well

Love that track.

v happy to see the low album here. "'especially me" is my favourite low song since the 'curtain' LP

i haven't fallen for the veronica falls album like some have. it sounds like something i should love, and i don't mind it, but yeah. probably the 5th best album released on slumberland this year.

probably the 5th best album released on slumberland this year.

out of curiosity what are your top 4?

1. art museums - dancing with a hole in my heart 7"
2 - 5. ???

lol lamp

girls names, crystal stilts, big troubles, brilliant colors

had art museums put out a full length this year it would have totes been my #1

last year obv

haha that art museums 7" totally belongs on grady's list of awesome songs not nominated for ilm eoy poll

i think that and the devon williams 7" are the only things on slumberland i bought this year

rev you should def check out when saints go machine

― ⚓ (gr8080), Monday, January 30, 2012 7:41 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Tried listening to a couple songs. I really don't like that dude's voice. The music was nice and all but not compelling enough to make up for the singer.

missed the countdown as usual, today stuff:

as far as post-Silent Shout stuff goes, I couldn't get very excited about Austra/Emika/Barbara Panther/Planningtorock. Did vote for Gazelle Twin, love that one.

I voted for WTT, admittedly because the highs were pretty towering for me this year. only thing i voted for that wasn't really solid all the way through.

Toro Y Moi: That cover is amazing, especially for a dude who looks like the ultimate safe boring hipster. he puts on a great live show too.

Joy Formidable: this is okay, but I still like Ostrich the best, and considering it's the rawest track on their debut e.p. (and didn't get re-released on the Big Roar) I don't think I have much of a future with these guys. Like Crystal Antlers - loved em till they cleaned up

I really like the When Saints Go Machine album, "Church & Law" is the standout track for me. For such an unusual album its resonance feel very precise - Black Celebration X I Am A Bird Now X Silent Shout x Comicopera.

Toro Y Moi: That cover is amazing

OTM, surprises me that so many seem to hate it. one of the strongest, most beautiful, distinctive and memorable pieces of album art i saw last year.

sure

http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

come on guys, i voted for that album and have no problem admitting the cover is terrible

i bet someone worked really hard to make it http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

contenderizer otm

ill take that bet (xp)

i've never heard the album but love the image. could maybe do w/out the white box and title text (?), but the photo and band logo are grate.

its a painting iirc?

now that would be impressive, but

the photo-- a self-portrait taken by the one-time graphic design student in a hotel bathroom

^ from the intro to a p4k "take cover" interview w chaz bundick

the toro y moi cover freaks me out a little. is that a flower coming out of his mouth or seafood extender?

anyway, happy to see a bunch of my faves placing. yay for psychic paramount, liturgy, austra, robag wruhme and lykke li. also, well done ilm for preventing drake and kanye/jay-z from placing higher.

so contemptuous of drake and anyone who thinks that album is either emotionally moving or beautiful-sounding

lol it has sure emotionally moved a lot of yall to FURIOUS ANGER

lol pwn

77. When Saints Go Machine — Konkylie

What an awful name for a band. Would never consider listening to them if not for their placement in the poll. Turns out I've listened to a few of this songs throughout the year without knowing who they were. It's ok for hipster party music. Sounds to me like the Delays and I'd much rather listen to them.

76. Robag Wruhme — Thora Vukk

I nommed and voted for this. Ot’s always a treat to hear a producer who is proficient and well known around the techno community turning away from the dancefloor to release music that borders outside of their usual field of expertise. Thora Vukk is Wruhme’s exploration of his music’s more melancholic, contemplative side, while keeping the sense of tension and attention to detail that he has perfected as a techno producer. The result is warm, gorgeous album that is fascinating, at least on an aesthetic level. Nothing new but very pleasant to the ears.

75. Liturgy — Aesthethica

I'm sorry... I tried but Metal music wears me off after a couple of tracks. Didn't care enough to listen through half of it. Either way I'll admit that if I listened to metal the sort of structures I heard in some of the songs would probably be my kind of thing so not completely hating on this one.

74. The Joy Formidable — The Big Roar

So I've heard the songs and watched the videos and they definitely nail the alt.rock look. Somehow though I find it perhaps too carefully constructed and planned and lacking in attitude as if in reality they'd rather be a folk band or something. I also have trouble remembering the songs after a while.

73. Jay-Z & Kanye West — Watch the Throne

Was expecting this to place much higher. It's not a bad album but I'm not particulary excited about it either. I was probably too burnt out on both of them and their personas this year. I don't really have anything to say on this one.

72. Barbara Panther — Barbara Panther

This sounds so much better on paper: Rwandan refugee doing electro produced by Matthew Herbert. Turns out it's a bit boring safe for a couple of songs.

71. Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine

I could love this but it feels like that sort of seasonal music that only gets to you on a certain mood and weather and then you never listen to it after two years when you once again think it's the best thing ever before shelving it back. I actually think the artwork is the best one in the countdown so far, next to Thora Vukk.

69. Wild Flag — Wild Flag

I kind of like what I heard on first listen but I should probably give it more time. Awful artwork.

69. Low — C'Mon

Had no idea Low had released something this year. Same thing as Toro y Moi. I know I could appreciate this in the right setting but not really feeling it atm.

68. ILX Presents Lulu

I would have actually cashed money if the real album was half as good as this one.

67. Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

This is cool. Never heard of them before but I'm loving this. Simple and to the point. There's some interesting twists in short spans, apt for ADD people.

Ok I'm off to sleep. I'll keep listening to the rest tomorrow.

continuing on the Toro Y Moi cover, it's initially repulsive duh but it's a pretty bold interpretation of sexual fears, especially for a guy who was linked to a genre that never even gently rocked any boats. 2011 saw thousands of tasteful and "pretty" covers, then bam! glistening tentacle pube mouth right in your face. love love love it.

i forgot the young galaxy album existed. ugh that's still to come i guess :(

Veronica Falls appear, on the basis of the first few songs, to inhabit a world in which there are two rhythms - blankly strummed eighth notes, and the opening to 'Be My Baby'. So generic, so boring.

OTM BOMB

i like veronica falls
on record, as well as live.
maybe they need more laser noises

Veronica Falls appear, on the basis of the first few songs, to inhabit a world in which there are two rhythms - blankly strummed eighth notes, and the opening to 'Be My Baby'. So generic, so boring.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 08:49 (42 minutes ago) Permalink

Funny, I was listening to a bit of this this morning and remarking on how interesting their approach to rhythm was (at least in the song I heard). Something about the way the snare and guitar work together... Adding these guys to the list of Yuck-style Alt-'90s revival bands. I wouldn't blink if someone were to tell me Veronica Falls are from a long-lost Volume compilation from early-94. It happens I nearly joined a band who now sound very similar to these guys. Gonna have to investigate further.

I'd say that Veronica Falls are more 80s than 90s, that sound harks back to the days when Bobby Gillespie still played the drums.

As for Yuck and the Joy Formidtable and their critical success - UK indie landfill finally cracks the US??

Landfill was the big post-Libertines Top 40 stuff like the Kooks, View, Fratellis, etc - stuff the US never warmed to. But Yuck & Joy Formidable fit right in to P4k world.

As for Yuck and the Joy Formidtable and their critical success - UK indie landfill finally cracks the US??

If anything these bands are taking 90% of their cues from US alt-rock and have nothing to do with indie landfill stuff xpost

Doglatin I think you're kinda overblowing the significance of these 90s revivalist bands, I doubt Yuck exactly have a stellar career ahead of them.

Where did I say they did?

I dunno, it's all very Evening Sessions-esque, it's like landfill with the britpop influenced bits taken out. I like 'A Heavy Abacus' off that JF album, it's got a nice yearning quality to it, but the prospect of listening to the whole thing is about as enticing as digging through the crates of marked-down CDs in a provincial HMV circa 2003.

Really, I'm quite on the fence about Yuck - "Get Away"'s a good single, and the album's okayish. W/R/T popularity, they were positioned at about 6:45pm on a medium-sized stage at Primavera festival earlier this year - a very very early start for that festival - but when I got there to check em out it was so packed I could barely see the stage and had to climb up a hillside just to get a peak. Seems the organisers had underestimated how popular they would get between booking and album release. I wouldn't underestimate the power of nostalgia to sell units.

I took "indie landfill" to mean the same as DL said upthread - all those mid-2000s Brit-garage bands in pointy shoes and tight trousers who (to these ears) sounded exactly the same as each other. But I guess this is getting semantic. Yuck/Joy Formidable are like the NWOAlt-Rock or something. I can't tell if it's positive or negative or just inbetween. Probably just in between - if it's not hurting anyone and people like it, fair enough. Just not up for hundreds of Dinosaur Jr-ripoff bands suddenly blowing up off the back of a fad.

how come it's always the placement of indie rock bands in an ILM poll that causes the most handwringing?

I was thinking earlier that the difference in overall attitude/approach on this poll compared to the tracks poll is pretty big - almost like two different boards.

It is every year, though, from what I can remember. And bear in mind we're in the lower reaches still - a lot of the big hitters in tracks who have released album will appear later.

*albumS. I need to proof-read my posts more.

was there a nyan cat album?

Oh I was referring more to the overall mood of the thread. Everyone seemed more energised and enthusiastic on tracks, but people seem more considerate and open minded over here. Maybe that'll all change as we reach the upper regions of the countdown.

Is it alright to speculate over the chances of Diamond Mine placing? I know KC has a small but strong contingent lurking around ILX, but will it be enough to push him into the 77?

Well I voted for Veronica Falls, Drake, and Joy F. The K.R.I.T album just missed my ballot. So out of the stuff I hadn't heard found the When Saints... hella boring. Lykke and Low were okay. Really dug Psychic Paramount though.

was there a nyan cat album?

― Derartu Cthulhu (NickB), Tuesday, 31 January 2012 11:32 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Am now imagining a "riddim" style compilation made up of different people toasting over Nyan Cat.

Album lists attract a slightly different crowd - there are people posting prolifically here who didn't post on the tracks thread at all, and I'm willing to guess there are people who only voted in the albums list (and to a lesser extent vice-versa). Also you see different types of music appearing - this list so far is a lot indier, with more consensus picks appearing.