ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

Even if I'd heard BWET before I made my ballot, it wouldn't have made it; the simple fact that I wasn't wholly revulsed and actually enjoyed most of it puts it way above the rest of her material but doesn't displace my actual favorites from the past year.

tbh this album is delightfully all over the place musically. If you don't like the song you're hearing, the next one will be along any moment and you'll probably like that one.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, January 28, 2015 10:29 AM (53 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Delightfully all over the place" / "Totally disjointed". You say potato, I say potato. It's no White Album, but again, it's better than I expected. The Araabmuzik track is a lot of fun.

http://i.imgur.com/4qZGLuL.jpg

35 TONI BRAXTON & BABYFACE Love, Marriage & Divorce [414 points, 14 votes]

This album is FANTASTIC

YESSSSS

Need to listen to this again. I only heard it once at the beginning of the year and really liked it but for some reason never went back to it.

i should've voted for this, it's really good

WOW

I still jam to this a couple times a week.

not heard this before, but this looks like an r'n'b album i could get into.

I have played "I Wish" so much this year, it's kind of ridiculous

I gushed about this album to my wife and she listened to it once and got super worried. After a ridiculous "are you trying to tell me something?" conversation she never went back to it.

I never got around to listening to this until the noms process was underway, and by the time I'd already pretty much cemented my ballot, but if I'd had more time with it I'm sure I'd have voted for it. Wonderful record.

Looool

Xp to DJP

I still need to hear this, nb I know next to nothing about either of them aside from "Un-Breaky My Heart" and a hand of Boyz II Men singles

uh, Un-Break obv

it's so good that even the extra track "Let's Do It" sounds like the greatest Ne-Yo song ever.

I gushed about this album to my wife and she listened to it once and got super worried. After a ridiculous "are you trying to tell me something?" conversation she never went back to it.

― "Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Wednesday, January 28, 2015 11:43 AM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yeah it can be a little awkward to be happily married but totally appreciate when someone makes a great breakup album

You can't break my heart
My un-breaky heart

so if you really wanna fight we can take it to the bed tonight

album is the perfect length too

my #2 P&J album

there's really nothing to say about this album except that it sounds exactly like you would want it to

glad i clicked on this thread right now - 'love, marriage & divorce' is a great, great record

from a different perspective its nice to listen to when youre going through a breakup

nice not really the word i guess - cathartic probably what i meant

btw crut, there was a period of time where Babyface was involved in almost every significant piece of black popular music; check this list of things he wrote, produced and/or performed that was nominated for or won awards:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyface_%28musician%29#Awards

o_O (this is the only Spoon album I actually listen to or give a damn about)
― Johnny Fever

A+ trolling.

also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babyface_discography

Nah, that opinion or some variation of it has been consistent in every spoon thread on ilm for the last ten years. xp

thanks DJP! I know a few of these songs, but I missed out on '90s pop and R&B radio so it's kind of a big hole in my knowledge that I need to correct

i still really like the grab bag of later non-R&B things Babyface did (Fall Out Boy, Eric Clapton, the Josie & The Pussycats soundtrack) and would like to hear him make a weird eclectic record someday. but the album with Toni is a homerun for his more familiar style.

"i wish" is so good, so much acid and a great balance between being strong and being pathetic

Kept meaning to check this out, seems as good an impetus as any

re: Toni Braxton, if you stick with her first two album you get 90% of what people know and love by her:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Braxton_discography

I Wish is fucking bitter as hell. Love it.

the angel olsen record was my no. 1 vote

secrets is a legitimately great album

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

34 ANDY STOTT Faith in Strangers [424 points, 14 votes]

secrets is a legitimately great album

so is Toni Braxton

toss in ""He Wasn't Man Enough"

I LOVED the previous Andy Stott album but had zero desire to even investigate this one

h8 that cover

your instincts were correct – i felt this one was a let down.

xpost

I LOVED the previous Andy Stott album but had zero desire to even investigate this one

aw djp - this was his goth one as well!

check out the title track for example: http://youtu.be/9BIYV3BLcno

I missed the one weird trick of prior three releases, namely overbearing sidechain compression. I'm guessing inertia and belated recognition accounts for the critical praise.

OTOH, the cover art may be the best thing about more recent Andy Stott releases.

listening to "Faith In Strangers" now

I am one who is all in favor of drawn-out intros but good god man, get on with it

much more interested in going back to the Lena Willikens album crut linked on the thread I started in Idiot Thread Repository than continuing with this, which has a slight "Squarepusher on quaaludes" vibe to it

so ponderous xp

i don't remember his last record having overbearing sidechain, it was pretty roomy. haven't heard this one yet but will check out at some point, i'm a mild admirer

I put on Scuba Death's Nitrogen Narcosis (less ambitious, and better for it) far more often when seeking soporific dub techno in 2014.