ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2012

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?

yay

also lol

Did you mean that the other way? Inspector Norse is a massively polite track.

Okay, I have no idea what this is. Thoughts from fans?

xp I thought he meant it was less polite than Norse? But I don't know...

DJP loves it. When I listened to it, it sounded like they have trouble finding the beat (for which I was promptly chastised). Whatevs, but I did not like it very much.

i tried with this, but it didn't grab me as much as the last album

basically it's a dude in 2012 making sparkly rave music with lots of gorgeous synths and samba syncopation

Did you mean that the other way? Inspector Norse is a massively polite track.

― Andrew Farrell, Monday, January 28, 2013 9:41 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no it was explained to me in the other thread that it's a rowdy upending of good taste to emphasize all the fun embarrassing elements of disco, apparently

lone falls under the "uk bass"/"FACT music" umbrella i guess? i listened to this album and thought it was better than the singles i'd heard previously, but there's something about the synths he uses that i find slightly...off, and i didn't return to it much.

i also didn't return to nite jewel much, i feel like i'm basically on board with her and what she's going for, but still waiting for that one song that'll blow me away

Liked the track 'Crystal Caverns 1991' but wasn't feeling the album.

basically Lone strikes me as what 808 State would be doing now if they were still a going concern, there's that same type of metallic reverb sheen across his tracks and a similar love of syncopation

i also didn't return to nite jewel much, i feel like i'm basically on board with her and what she's going for, but still waiting for that one song that'll blow me away

Yeah, I definitely feel like this with NJ. Though probably what we're waiting for is in completely opposite directions. ^__^

Crystal Caverns 1991 is probably the best track on it

btw this was like #18 on my ballot, I do like this album a ton but a bunch of better stuff came out this year

I never got round to Galaxy Garden although I liked the previous Lone album, is he still doing Black Dog-ish throwback techno?

The Vatican Shadow album is amazing and my first vote to place I think. Intrigued by Nite Jewel as well.

oh yeah, Black Dog is another good reference point, I always forget about them

haha actually "Black Dog meets 808 State" is probably the best description of what dude is doing

i also didn't return to nite jewel much, i feel like i'm basically on board with her and what she's going for, but still waiting for that one song that'll blow me away

Yeah, I definitely feel like this with NJ. Though probably what we're waiting for is in completely opposite directions. ^__^

― emil.y, Monday, January 28, 2013 2:47 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha well surely she has to please at least one of us at some point then!

So glad the Professor Norse controversy hasn't petered out yet. Is it wild? Is it crazy? Is it a dance party sensation?

Lone's take Radiohead's "Feral" was one of my favorites on the King of Limbs remix album. I'd never bothered to check out his own stuff, but this album is sounding really nice so far.

that Lone album is great. Like Zomby doing his old skool rave thing with Rustie's gleaming synths. Crystal Caverns 1991 definitely the stand-out, but the whole record is excellent.

didn't notice this had started! yes to BIGBANG... justice after missing out on the tracks poll.

kept meaning to check out the Daphni and Vatican Shadow records but never got around to it.

man I just went back and played a few seconds of "Inspector Norse" after playing a few seconds of Lone/Machinedrum's "As A Child" and afaic the controversy should roll long and hard through all of 2013

The Lone album sounded pretty good on first listen, love the cover too.

http://i.imgur.com/T6Sgful.png

69. NINA KRAVIZ Nina Kraviz (218 Points, 7 Votes, 1 First Place Vote) Spotify

what is this

wow really surprising. i'm very pro-nina kraviz in general - her 2009 single "i'm gonna get you" is an ALL-TIME CLASSIC imo - but i didn't think this album was much more than your typical three-star fine-enough dance lp

xp I thought he meant it was less polite than Norse? But I don't know...

― emil.y, Monday, 28 January 2013 14:43 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, that's what I mean. I love Inspector Norse (my #1 track), but DJP is OTM here. I think Lone's mission is to pick up where early-90s aardkore left off.

pretty pleased to see kraviz place though, she's such an awesome dj. oddest place i saw her pop up in 2012 - midway through the khodorkovsky documentary about russian corruption

That spotify link is actually not for the right thing (the album doesn't appear to be available there). Here's a sampler on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rekids/rekids010cd-promo-nina-kraviz