ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

kassem mosse! another of my votes. immaculately produced headrush techno, platonic ideal of what i want to stay up all night dancing to. yeah it's anonymous and has no use for you if you're not a clubber but this is not my or his problem

― lex pretend, Tuesday, January 27, 2015 8:54 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haha, I tried to get into this album late in December by listening to it with headphones on while falling asleep, and ... no.

I say 'heavy' - it is - but it is not crushing - rather, monumental

Haha I think it was #16 on my ballot as well

re Botanist

foliage for the spirit.

between this and the name and cover I risked a quick play.

oh no, a trojan horse:(

Ah, so it's lush dulcimer, not lush guitar?

im enjoying this freddie gibbs and madlib, havent listened to anything madlib in so long but he is still good, his productions always have such a nice sound

xVI

this album rules. I had it high up. I think FOOD just crept on to my ballot too.

saer ive played botanist in plug.dj before when you were in

I've heard some of it and it's quite interesting as a curiosity, but how does this differ from his other work?

― diss strychnine (dog latin), Tuesday, January 27, 2015 7:31 AM (2 minutes ago)

black metal harshness dialed back on flora relative to past efforts. i'm glad to see it show up, though it wasn't one of the year's standout metal albums for me. prefer installments III and IV tbh.

I was similarly misled, this cover is completely incorrect and should be changed by trading standards. it's true about madlib though

ogmor you're a plug regular too you have no excuse

oh no, a trojan horse:(

― saer, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 15:35 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sorry, I should have qualified that this foliage was less that of deepest woodland and more heathered clearing... I'm sure there'll be something on here for you. Maybe.

yessssz

Found some footage of saer
http://youtu.be/u8pZkDTKTNw

Almost got distracted thinking about this album, but have sprung free from the foliage and just about made my train

Kew Gardens metal also a description I will borrow

i prefer botanist when less about the astral blissout, more some creepy little wrigglers in the underbrush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IrJb2YMlV8

this is another album with a number, sadly.

I reckon VI is all about the astral creepy wrigglers blissing out in the undergrowth tbh

Latin numbers, too!

this album had better be triffic!

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=67116

'astral blissout' is really one of the highest modes music can achieve

xp i think you might want to expand to those of us that can't see board 77

I probably wouldn't think to associate this with botany without the many cues, but I like the idea of black metal devoted to small organic forms rather than, what seems to be more typical, the sublime on a grander scale.

it's a cool concept. like swamp thing meets hammered dulcimer meets black metal. i will def check this new album out.

kind of want him to team up with Konono No1 or something and have an electrified tuned percussion face-off

Kassem Mosse and Botanist are both albums I've listened to once and enjoyed but not revisited yet. Hoping for some more metal to place but I don't think any of my atmospheric/prog-BM picks will make it.

it would be quite a strange year if lots of metal placed, but it's not beyond the realms or reality. lots of high-profile releases as Cosmic Slop mentioned, but I don't know why it would happen this year necessarily and not previous years.

I could see it happening due to there being fewer niche-consensus releases in other genres (if that's the case)

The Wizard may show. Ruine is a glorious outside shot. Fever's given Botanist nearly an hour. Very mice of him.

while we're still on botanist, less blissfuly still:

deathcap, track II from botanist III

still probably more discernable as emotive post rock than black metal, even with "experimental" tag enhancement, but i love the bright, spiky tone of the (clearly) hammered dulcimer. much less fuzz besotted than on later albums. puts my mind to pinhead, or the final act of audition maybe.

I could see Earth or Yob placing. ScottO))) and Swans are dead certs, although I don't think of them as bona fide metal records.

tbh i only expect scott 0))) now dog latin

These are great contendo, will check later :)

swans yeah tho not metal (despite being in metal poll)

Maybe Fever has given us this long coz it's the only metal :D

totally enjoying having time to listen to this album in its entirety right now

http://i.imgur.com/e54S2gh.jpg

56 STEVE GUNN Way Out Weather [286 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]

would be nuts if none of the metal poll top ten didn't make it but possible

10 Jute Gyte - Ressentiment 697 Points, 18 votes
9 Earth - Primitive and Deadly 738 Points, 21 votes , ONE #1
8 Scott Walker & SunnO))) - Soused 799 Points, 21 votes, TWO #1s
7 Darkspace - Dark Space III I 813 Points, 22 votes , ONE #1
6 Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire 876 Points, 23 votes, THREE #1s
5 Triptykon - Melana Chasmata 1078 Points, 27 votes FIVE #1's
4 Electric Wizard - Time to Die 1130 Points, 27 votes THREE #1's
3 Agalloch - The Serpent & the Sphere 1165 Points, 31 votes, Three #1s
2 Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden 1233 Points, 33 votes, One #1

xp

nice!
1 YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend 1240 Points, 32 votes , THREE #1s

oops the nice shoulda been for the steve gunn

this is a post-Fahey guitar guy, right?

xxxp Soft Pink Truth still a possibility (FALSE I know but still), there are plenty of Matmos/ ILM's very own D Daniel fans around aren't thera?

that'll def place, Neil.

nice, enjoy thiks record a lot

Never heard of Steve Gunn before but I like the album cover.

SPT not really a metal album but will place quite high. Also incredible. Wonder if I'd like Steve Gunn...

I'd prob be more stoked about Godflesh placing than any of the top 5. Though tbh I only voted for Earth and J Gyte. (Xp to CS)

I'm loving a lot of this bottom third though

I dont expect any to place bar scott 0)))

this is a post-Fahey guitar guy, right?

it has elements of that but it's expansive guitar-based singer songwriter stuff - richard thompson or eleventh dream day are probably good points of comparison. excellent record, which has grown on me more with every listen. try Tommy's Congo