ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

...AT all, duh.

I'm gonna give K. Michelle a whirl based on this response (seriously)

As a listener who typically only digs into lyrics when they're really really good, I'm absolutely smitten with this album lyrically.

http://i.imgur.com/GamJ0dw.jpg

23 RICHARD DAWSON Nothing Important [497 points, 15 votes, 2 first place votes]

my #1 and contender for all-time great status

listen
to
the
title
track

aptly titled

& read its lyrics

seriously, read the lyrics to this album's longer tracks, especially the title track. read the lyrics while listening to the music. imagine a small, impossibly mice man howling them onstage accompanied only by a small, amplified nylon guitar.

Dawson <3 <3 <3

Didn't hear this till the tracks poll came out, good stuff

prefer the lyrics to the album's shorter tracks tbh

apt cliche: 'practically a religious experience'

#263 on PnJ. I see Whiney voted for it.

Good stuff, voted for this.

Richard Dawson is terrible and unlistenable as far as I'm concerned.

seriously, read the lyrics to this album's longer tracks, especially the title track. read the lyrics while listening to the music. imagine a small, impossibly mice man howling them onstage accompanied only by a small, amplified nylon guitar.

once and only once i can honestly say lj otm
assuming mice means nice

I like macrocosm type writing and film-making, but not in music. I will keep my criticism short before I dig myself into a hole here, cos I really like imago!

I had Dawson at #5. Was only able to listen to it via Spotify so no listening on the commute which would probably have pushed it higher.

Couldn't get through this :|

the word 'cunt'
richard dawson

so proud to be british rn lol

I couldn't connect with Richard Dawson in any way, either, and I was unable to listen to any whole Swans song, but I voted for Gazelle Twin, Scott Walker and K. Michelle, so this all seems fine. And pleasantly incoherent!

http://i.imgur.com/eb1QW10.jpg

22 SHABAZZ PALACES Lese Majesty [536 points, 17 votes, 1 first place vote]

I can see why the Richard Dawson record is niche, but by jove, if you like it you're probably going to love the chuff out of it.

less of the c word m8

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

think it's time I come to terms with the fact that Menace Ruine is not gonna show up

Oh Fuck I meant to say microcosm above

I like the "chuff" in Brit vernacular much better than the other c-word.

np xelab - compliment returned!

i'll go insane for Shabazz Palaces right

THE STREETS IS UNDEFEATED

Is "Under Cover of Official Right" not gonna place?

Thank God

Though I am thinking that we will not see Neneh Cherry or Orlando Julius now :-(

Probably no Meshell Ndegeocello nor Reagenz

either.

Nor Hollie Cook. :(

or chronixx

The first time I heard the Richard Dawson title track, I thought it was unlistenable garbage. Voted this album in my Top 10. Funny how that happens.

really dig the atmosphere of this album, had to cut it from my ballot though

I feel bad for not voting for Meshell or Neneh even tho I listened to both quite a bit.

I think we will see Neneh but not Meshell.

wish Dawson hadn't bitten quite so much of the "Lean On Me" melody for the title track, really like the album though

Shabazz Palaces rules, obv

http://i.imgur.com/Qw80FPg.jpg

21 NENEH CHERRY Blank Project [545 points, 20 votes, 1 first place vote]

But on a positive note, I'm loving the Gazelle Twin tracks on Youtube, and I just ordered the album from Amazon. This kind of stuff is often the verge of becoming too gloomy and abrasive for me, but thankfully it stays on the good side just by an inch. Love her beat programming, so hard-hitting.

(xxxpost)

haha lol

amazing album obv

Yay, thank god for Cherry! Her comeback has been one of my favourite things in music during the last couple of years.

catching up from city number three

dj quik - "life jacket" and "that getter" stood out to me but overall it felt less like a disappointment than a minor work that came and went rather than something that left its mark on your listening like his previous two

gazelle twin - yesssss, i voted for this. huge volte-face from her "thread of knife-like music" debut - have never heard any music that captures body horror so effectively, and i appreciate the way it feels like a horror film. sounds better the louder it is. she's a super-interesting person too.

[run of Difficult Old Man Music; if i was slouching on the sofa at home alone i might give any of this a go but i'm in a hotel room in france with a shitload of work to prepare so i'll just skip to the bit where i go "hmm i admire it" then never ever listen to it again]

K. MICHELLE - YASSSS BISH YASSSSSSSSSSSS my #1 my #1 she is the realest and the rawest

"judge me" - bravura opener that makes me realise i want to hear her do a bond theme at some point in her career
"build a man" - how to reconcile the depth of your feelings with the shittiness of men pt 1: frankenstein fantasies
"drake would love me" - how to reconcile the depth of your feelings with the shittiness of men pt 2: fan fiction, and musing on what exactly we use pop stars and celebrities for (see also ne-yo's "single")
"god i get it" - how to reconcile the depth of your feelings with the shittiness of men pt 3: resignation, acceptance. "god i get it / i'm a mess and i admit it"

why did shabazz palaces call their album by a french phrase but not spell it the french way? lèse-majesté. their first album was too awkward and unlovable for me

ha i knew neneh would show up despite the handwringing. i never really expected meshell to but i'm slightly gutted about mirel wagner. anyway neneh's album is good, i was very impressed on release, but it completely fell out of regular listening and i was never motivated to get it back in there

why did shabazz palaces call their album by a french phrase but not spell it the french way?

because

http://31.media.tumblr.com/db480ce9173e2053bb641b7f9c9051ee/tumblr_n949eloIYn1r4h022o1_500.jpg

This album has a really unique feel, IMO... It doesn't sound like anything's that's hip these days (AFAIK), but neither does it sound like any of her older records (which did sometimes have a bit too much of following-the-latest-trend quality). It's like she re-emerged as a whole new artist.

I have really no idea what rev dislikes about the toni/babyface production - it's one of the greatest appeals about it to me. Just really creamy and lush. I don't hear how it's any different to prime toni/babyface material either.

There's no depth to it, it's all surface. Everything is at 10 most of the record. It's so LOUD in a way that doesn't suit the material and is really wearying to me.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, January 28, 2015 7:13 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'm relistening now and i genuinely can't hear this? it doesn't strike me as unusually loud, i can hear depth...