ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

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

Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:08 (nine years ago) link

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

Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:09 (nine years ago) link

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

Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:10 (nine years ago) link

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

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

Matt DC, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:10 (nine years ago) link

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

LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:12 (nine years ago) link

ahhhh just googled the lyrics to water fountain, got it

flopson, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:14 (nine years ago) link

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.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:16 (nine years ago) link

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.

Stig of the sanctimonious uncontextualized linkdump (Michael B), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:17 (nine years ago) link

i found the asshole public persona stuff hilarious

flopson, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:18 (nine years ago) link

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

sleeve, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:19 (nine years ago) link

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.

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:19 (nine years ago) link

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

"Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:19 (nine years ago) link

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

groovypanda, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:20 (nine years ago) link

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.

call all destroyer, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:21 (nine years ago) link

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

Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:23 (nine years ago) link

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

Simon H., Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:24 (nine years ago) link

Yeah but lol scrabble tho right?

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:24 (nine years ago) link

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

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

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:25 (nine years ago) link

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

"Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:25 (nine years ago) link

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?

Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:27 (nine years ago) link

alvvays! great album.

LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:28 (nine years ago) link

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

"Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:29 (nine years ago) link

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

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:29 (nine years ago) link

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

Simon H., Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:29 (nine years ago) link

More like Nevver, right guys?

Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:30 (nine years ago) link

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

― Simon H.

Agree with this. Lovely album.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:30 (nine years ago) link

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)

Simon H., Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:31 (nine years ago) link

Will definitely check that one out. Hadn't heard of them until they popped up on the tracks poll.

groovypanda, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:32 (nine years ago) link

Still haven't heard alvvays because their name screams 'you will not like this at all' to me

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:32 (nine years ago) link

I love that just for a split second when I'm playing "Party Police" it sounds like it's going to be "One of Us" by Joan Osborne.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:33 (nine years ago) link

Thee Ahs was the indiepop record of the year for me by a mile.

All The Craigers Gonna Craig Craig Craig Craig Craig (Craigo Boingo), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:33 (nine years ago) link

i was down with the Literature LP too as far as indie but I don't think I voted for it, it was a few steps below this.

LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:34 (nine years ago) link

Still haven't heard alvvays because their name screams 'you will not like this at all' to me

― UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, January 27, 2015 1:32 PM (2 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Exactly! The slightly misspelled band name thing (Wavves, Chvrches, etc.) is so over

Lee626, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:35 (nine years ago) link

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)

― Simon H., Tuesday, January 27, 2015 12:31 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool thank you will check it out. i go back & forth w/his vocal approach on benji it works about half the time IMO. sometimes it's very affecting other times it just feels like he's reading a short story or something. but overall i like his playing, very pared down - l like the tone too which i bet is because it's nylon string, different from most players i listen to

or in other words i look forward i look forward to listening to another completely bankrupt piece of shit that i won't be able to even defend to forward thinking music philosphers like imago :)

Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:35 (nine years ago) link

*makes noose and stands on chair waiting for war on drugs to place*

strychnine, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:35 (nine years ago) link

I didn't bother because people kept comparing them to Best Coast and that Boyfriend song is the worst I've heard this decade.

Matt DC, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:36 (nine years ago) link

*makes noose and stands on chair waiting for war on drugs to place*

― strychnine, Tuesday, January 27, 2015 1:35 PM (55 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink


might be a long wait, we still have 48 other albums to get through first

ciderpress, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:37 (nine years ago) link

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

it's terrible in comparison to his earlier records is the problem for me

maybe check out Admiral Fell Promises - all nylong-string guitar, no stream-of-consciousness aspect to the vocals

lots of folks didn't like it, but that's a pretty record imo

why you gotta be so rmde (NickB), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:37 (nine years ago) link

what is a winged victory for the sullen, please?

lex pretend, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:37 (nine years ago) link

It's like the brown M&Ms thing. it might be the best music in the world but if you're going to call yourselves alvvays then who knows what else you're stumbling around making a rash bollock of?

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:37 (nine years ago) link

Alvvays >>>>> Best Coast by so much

Simon H., Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:37 (nine years ago) link

lex, ambient music

Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:38 (nine years ago) link

what is a winged victory for the sullen, please?

nu-classical/ambient biz with a Stars of the Lid member

Simon H., Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:38 (nine years ago) link

Nothing Important is confessional solo-guitar music maybe, but the comparison ends there. Dawson is maximalist literature, complexity, philosophy, poetry. SKM...diary notes by a confirmed narcissist imo

Ban Kil Moon (imago), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:39 (nine years ago) link

idk who stars of the lid are but this sounds like something i'll investigate

lex pretend, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:39 (nine years ago) link

Alvvays >>>>> Best Coast by so much

This is true. Still not something I'd reach for all the time, but I don't want to turn it off while it's playing either.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:39 (nine years ago) link

First Best Coast album was great the second one was one of the most boring records I've heard in recent years.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:40 (nine years ago) link

Diary notes though? Weird diary.

UK Horseshit Cru (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:40 (nine years ago) link

Every time the name Alvvays comes up, Bon Jovi's "Always" pops into my head but with him singing "alvays" instead of "always"

Also, that Bon Jovi song >>>>>> Alvvays

Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 18:40 (nine years ago) link


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