ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

I keep meaning to listen to that Ben Frost album, but then again I had no idea Fennesz even released anything this year.

i remember feeling very nonplussed when i heard endless summer, which was an ilm fave back in the day. nothing happened in it!

things are happening in "liminality" but i'm not sure i like the fuzzy wash of guitars in general, i prefer my contemplative instrumental music a bit sharper than this. i wonder if the francis harris album will place.

i listened to the fennesz back catalog the other day in anticipation of hearing this but i just wasn't feeling it tbh, there's something a little kitschy in a bland way about some of the tracks on black sea.

lee gamble - koch probably won't place but it hits so much harder and better in my own "weird ambient with teeth" category.

Also enjoyed Fennesz but didn't longlist it for my ballot. Partly because I think I just had less of a drone year this year. Gutted that the one time I saw him live (with Grouper AND Natural Snow Buildings supporting, omg) he got the plug pulled on him when he was bossing the damn church.

just got here but wanted to cheer for BOTANIST yay@!

Given some of the albums that have placed I'd say there's a decent chance of Lee Gamble showing up.

Is it worth a bet though? /sorry

a cunning punt right there

did roll the dice release an album this year?

Endless Summer was one of the most important records for me in my teenage years, and is still a very emotional and rewarding listen. This album sounds good but hasn't really hooked me.

yes xp

Venice was the one that was important to me in my teenage years, remember listening to it on repeat in high school with my Minidisc player also lol Minidisc

Also enjoyed Fennesz but didn't longlist it for my ballot. Partly because I think I just had less of a drone year this year. Gutted that the one time I saw him live (with Grouper AND Natural Snow Buildings supporting, omg) he got the plug pulled on him when he was bossing the damn church.

― All The Craigers Gonna Craig Craig Craig Craig Craig (Craigo Boingo), Tuesday, January 27, 2015 5:50 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was at this, it was a really good gig

yeah this year's roll the dice was pretty good i thought, though it sort of fell out of regular listening by the end

I voted for it, not holding out much hope for it placing

lee gamble will i think

I like Benji

http://i.imgur.com/6B6VEO2.jpg

51 A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN Atomos [309 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]

Very gorgeous album, as expected, but didn't really think to place it on my list :(

Only discovered that this month, but I love it.

oh nice didn't realize this had an ilx following

oh hey this is in my review pile, have not heard yet

Matt DC what did you like about tune-yards lyrics? or did i misread you here

From the moment I clicked 'submit' on that post I knew exactly what some of those lyrics were going to end up being about and reading some of them confirms that - zing revoked.

Her image and aesthetic are still terrible though.

Pleasant background music, an easier listen than, for example, fellow Kranky artist Grouper. I like it, even though it barely made my top 500 :)

wow this winged victory band is good
like stars of the lid meets max richter

That's because it's one of the members of SOTL with another guy

Matt DC what did you like about tune-yards lyrics?

I realised that 'infantilised' was inappropriate given some of the subject matter.

winged victory are fantastic. didn't get my vote, but only because i hadn't given it enough time.

ahhhh just googled the lyrics to water fountain, got it

Fennesz was the last thing I cut from my ballot. Didn't like Black Sea that much but for some reason this one clicked with me a lot. It's one of my favourite album covers of the year too.

I voted Sun Kil Moon my #2 pick. I was floored by the excruciating confessionals and found quite affecting (and at times disturbing, e.g. his handwaving of parental beatings in "I love my dad") and its one of the most gut-wrenching depictions of working class American childhood/adolescence. I think people are writing this album off due to Kozelek's (admittedly assholish) public persona.

i found the asshole public persona stuff hilarious

xp no, I genuinely hated it with a passion just from listening to whatever came up on shuffle, and have not been following the media circus

xp yeah for this reason I've avoided any news stories about kozelek this year. Doubt I'll check anything else out by him but I like Benji as a single thing.

I voted Sun Kil Moon my #2 pick. I was floored by the excruciating confessionals and found quite affecting (and at times disturbing, e.g. his handwaving of parental beatings in "I love my dad") and its one of the most gut-wrenching depictions of working class American childhood/adolescence. I think people are writing this album off due to Kozelek's (admittedly assholish) public persona.

^^^^ This is the first thing I've read that has made me interested in hearing Sun Kil Moon

Love Atomos. First of mine to place but I forgot to vote for Steve Gunn & Real Estate.

it's fine if ppl don't want to hear a middle-aged dude work through his shit but lol @ everyone being like "my ears! my ears!" it was a unique, affecting record for me and i'm glad to see it place.

the song about thinking about his mom dying really got me, it was so painful and raw and the feelings weren't masked with any kind of poetry, just thinking about my own mom what i would do if she died

yeah "I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love" is the clear standout to me

Yeah but lol scrabble tho right?

http://i.imgur.com/Q4cK8hC.jpg

50 ALVVAYS Alvvays [314 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]

I'm thinking the new Marilyn Manson is not the correct lead-in to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate Sun Kil Moon based on the agonizing minute of "Carissa" I just sat through

I think it's likely there is something worth exploring here but oh man, not now

Feel bad for dismissing it so violently and denying the agency of its voters :/ it is just the sort of art that gets me riled purely by existing. 'Not for me' doesn't quite cover it when it (easily) wins Drowned In Sound's year-end equivalent poll (lol I know, I haven't been there much of late, worry not) - feels like the UK indie consensus is heading down some paths I absolutely cannot follow. But fuck the consensus, really :P

...I mean,

(also i shouldn't say no poetry but very plainspokens style. also i find his fingerstyle playing though simple very hypnotic at times)

what's wrong w/scrabble?

alvvays! great album.

huh Alvvays a) sounds nothing like what I imagined them to be; and b) sounds really fun on first blush

Xpost Imago, Benji's not really million miles away from Nothing Important of you squint. Not exactly as arcane or experimental, very straight-up and confessional instead but I don't see the ire unless one happens to have a problem with Kozelek as a personality, or just acoustic guitar music of this sort in general

Probably the only indie-pop record I needed this year, filler-free

More like Nevver, right guys?

Probably the only indie-pop record I needed this year, filler-free

― Simon H.

Agree with this. Lovely album.

sh@akedown if you like his playing but not the singing style, maybe check out Admiral Fell Promises - all nylong-string guitar, no stream-of-consciousness aspect to the vocals (iirc)