ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

i constantly get mixed up between this and gazelle twin

― more like bog satin (dog latin), Monday, January 28, 2013 1:14 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

even for a dl post this is amazing to me

i don't know what either sound like TBF

i gawped a bit, didn't know how to respond.

if only more people confused them to the extent of repping for gazelle twin instead ;_;

I do like some tracks on this album, but it's not as much my thing as the debut was.

i always get Twin Shadow confused with Wild Nothing in the sense that i gave both of their albums a cursory once over earlier in the year and they were both fairly innocuous things that didn't stick.

Surprised this is so low, thought it had a lot more support. I still haven't got round to hearing his first album.

I haven't heard the Daphni album yet, but from all descriptions I thought it'd be more ilx-bait than a 74 placing.

And poor old Animal Collective.

Did "Today's Supernatural" make the singles poll? I voted for that, but the album itself? Nah.

http://i.imgur.com/lK9Q2t7.png

72. VATICAN SHADOW Ghosts of Chechnya (216 Points, 7 Votes) Spotify

Next up DJ Shadow.

The Shadows.

This was the only thing in the top 77 I'd never even heard of. Where/what thread were people stanning for it?

I think he had his own thread?

yes!!!!

first of my votes to place. spent a lot of time with it this winter. heard it too late for it to make some of my other ballots (eg guardian) but it snuck into my top 10.

despite the lolaustere titles, it's actually a rather beautiful and beguiling album, eg "snipers as a breed tend to be superstitious" - even at its doomiest, it's never just about being forbidding - love how "the hamburg cell was born in chechnya" builds, the brutal percussion set against the imperious synths. i think i could even imagine "peace rage" on a dancefloor.

Oh, and there was definitely chatter on the mutant techno thread, whatever unwieldy title that had. xp

yes

Vatican Shadow has released SO MUCH STUFF this year, it's pretty hard to know where to start, or even what's what. I'm a fan of his power-electronics alter-ego Prurient who released a fantastic album about a year or two ago called Bermuda Drain. Ghosts of Chechnya I've only given a quick listen to, but it's very good. Not quite dance, not quite industrial, not quite ambient, there's a foreign affairs concept running through all these works which I like, and the music itself is plaintive, esoteric and very much something to get lost in.

(vat shad released another album this year which was a lot more industrial, which i couldn't get into - i've been vaguely aware of him for a while but not a fan til GOC, he seems to be quite prolific, i believe ghosts of chechnya is his first overtly techno-y album?)

Oh, almost all of that took place around xmas when I was out of town and away from computers.

lol @ this from the thread:

he says he started making Vatican Shadow tracks because... he wanted more Muslimgauze albums to listen to.

― 2am chopped top (brimstead), Tuesday, 25 December 2012 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Surely the world has enough

haha

I think this guy needs to get out of his bunker and collaborate w/Diamanda Galas or something something

love that vatican shadow album!

that would be amaaaaaaazing

xp

For some reason I see him as the anti-Skrillex

this twin shadow album is real fucking drag on the first couple of tracks but five seconds is a pretty good song if you like that sort of thing - sounds like a cross between icehouse and john waite

five seconds was the track that placed in the tracks poll

lol it did sound familiar

Lol I always get Twin Shadow confused w Vatican Shadow

I get vatican shadow confused with gazelle twin

Vatican Gazelle

Vatican Gazelle will top next year's album poll.

100% Pitchfork DNP so far

http://i.imgur.com/1VSBYUC.png

71. NITE JEWEL One Second of Love (216 Points, 8 Votes) Spotify

I get them confused with Vincent Black Shadow (which featured a twin engine)

weird that Twin Shadow didn't place on pfork. didn't it get a glowing review or something?

Want to hear the last two for sure

voted for the title track off the nite jewel in the tracks poll, but a whole album of that was just a bit too much for me

I like what she's aiming for, but it's a really clumsy album.

i think i listened to Nite Jewel once through and left it at that, but its solid placing here is encouraging me to listen with fresh ears.

This is the first thing I'd heard from Nite Jewel and I haven't fully explored its many layers yet. From what I can tell it's a pretty complicated album that'll take a while to fully get to grips with. Her vocal style reminds me of early-mid 90s Madonna a little bit, and I like the production. Love the fact the album starts with the lines "I'm a broken record / You have heard this before", which I suppose is kind of brave, but it works.

whoa we got an early start today didn't we

nite jewel album was a misfire but i still have faith in her

I was the one who placed it at number one. It is probably the best thing anco has made since Here Comes the Indian (only Strawberry Jam might compete): Chaotic, weird and LOUD. And of course the whole indie-sphere recoiled and opted for safer ground. Yeah, I might have become more ardent about it because of it's response, but it is really great. They march in 7/4, shout 'monkey' at the rich, and dissapear into a mushroom forrest.

― Frederik B, Monday, January 28, 2013 12:41 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also yeah this is a good post, centipede hz is the first anco album i've liked at all and it's because they seem to be reveling in their quirks and weirdness rather than half-pretending to be a regular band.

One Second of Love was one of my votes - stripping away the hazy production was a brave move that I guess lost her some fans but it works for me. Patricia Rushen vibes are not entirely an unfashionable influence atm but at the same time the album feels quite singular. Autograph is a song I've had in my head for most of the year.

i just think too much of that album is kinda sleepy

Really didn't like the Nite Jewel record, which was a shame as I loved the previous one. The last track and the lead single are good but the rest lacked the depth of its predecessor.

Lack of hazy production = a good thing in my eyes, maybe why I like this. There's a lot of music that sounds a bit like Nite Jewel at the moment, but this is different in that even the slightly clunky bits are there bold as brass and not smothered in greasy sustain. See also the Laurel Halo album (which a lot of people, perhaps quite rightly, really hate) but could be seen as a statement against what has become the default practice of applying reverb and other fx by the spadeload.

http://i.imgur.com/g0APvrK.png

70. LONE Galaxy Garden (216 Points, 9 Votes) Spotify

For all those who found Inspector Norse too polite, may I suggest Lone's Galaxy Garden?