ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2016

i still don't get the point of Tim Hecker. I've really tried with his stuff, but I just can't get my head around it. Too ambient to be noise, too noisy to be ambient. He compresses everything so much that I can barely work out what's going on. Just never works for me.

very very good record, was my #4 or so i think

I'm devastated that I totally missed the voting for this...

Guess I'll just be an observer this year :(

that's how I feel, but I actually voted ;)

didn't vote for ERR but...

"Real Big Sky" was easily the most devastating song I heard all year

that's how I feel, but I actually voted ;)

― frogbs, Monday, January 30, 2017 9:53 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You... feel like you didn't vote?

Dog latin, let me know what you think of this, if you don't know it. Otherwise, I don't always disagree with you re Hecker. I love Fennesz, who isn't worlds away, so I don't know what that's about. (I don't think it's just that Fennesz plays guitar.)

You... feel like you didn't vote?

no, but that nothing I voted for is gonna make the countdown. Except for the Underworld album which I'm sure will show its face around here!!!

I don't always disagree with you re Hecker.

I mean, it always seems pleasant.

a single house in SE London has thrown nearly 100 points at your possible number 1. probably 78'd though xp

This is neither here nor there but why does the bookmark come up as 'Album Poll Rollout' and not 'ILM's Top 77 albums of 2016'?

Wow, you guys weren't kidding about the Branca album! If ever I was imprisoned in one of those CIA black sites, they'd only need to play this once to make me rat every one of my comrades.

Because I had to give a different title to start the thread. Anything with ILM or 77 in the title seems to be prohibited or blocked now?

dog latin, there are some (comparatively) sparser pieces on this Tim Hecker album, not quite so much information assaulting yr eardrums. some really beautiful textures, it's kind of like an electronic mbv album with the rock element removed

xp haha, sund4r hits the nail on the head with his fennesz comparison

xp, how strange!

love streams is the best album that I heard live this year while I was in line waiting for a beer

kidding, I enjoy Tim Hecker's albums and one of my favorite live performances was one of his shows, but I haven't listened to the most recent album nearly as much as some others. love streams differs with the ways instruments are used and kind of drift out of the fog/fuzz, maybe more accessible? idk

"love streams is the best album that I heard live this year while I was in line waiting for a beer"

If I had a nickel

"Real Big Sky" was easily the most devastating song I heard all year

I voted for this record as more of a singular piece, but damned if this song isn't really standing out to me this morning.

'Medusa' is great as well.

yeah "Real Big Sky" is crushing

wow at Real Big Sky, will have to listen to the rest

what kind of thing is that Rundle album?

Wide-open and spacious singer/songwriter stuff with crunchy parts

somewhat gothy downbeat singer-songwriter stuff, RIYL Marissa Nadler, Chelsea Wolfe, Anna von Hausswolff etc

voted for tim hecker - not his best but its up there

perfect soundtrack for walking to the gym in sub-zero weather during the twilight of the obama years

http://i.imgur.com/2cTrqDu.jpg

73 MAREN MORRIS Hero (221 points, 7 votes)

TOO HIGH

way too low

the little album that could in terms of it climbing up my year-end list basically every time i listened to it

a remarkable, fully-formed pop country debut imo

Maren Morris <3 Never thought I'd love a country artist singing "me and Diddy dripping diamonds like Marilyn" so much, as on "Rich"

Opening run of six is unimpeachable, love the weariness of having to hear her bff complain yet again on "Drunk Girls Don't Cry" especially

I'd loved her singles and EP before the album but as a debut statement it really put me in mind of a young Taylor Swift, except worldlier and more prone to sarcasm

Emma Ruth Rundle sounds intriguing

re: maren morris, "once" is the most crushing song i listened to on repeat last year probably

Sund4r - I'm at work at the moment so probably not the best time to listen to this (I managed about 2 mins). I guess the point is it's supposed to be jarring but my main thing with him (and similarly Oneohtrix Point Never) is that with 'arty' music like this I feel like I need some sort of context to understand what is being projected conceptually, and with a lot of their music I feel I'm missing the point a lot of the time. Did like Oneohtrix's last album cos he was clearly going back to the aggressive boys-bedroom music of his youth, and that's something I can get behind.

http://i.imgur.com/aAf6tA5.jpg

72 PET SHOP BOYS Super (222 points, 7 votes)

Not the precover version?

refreshed the page and the latest entry made me physically shudder as i flashed back to the abysmal single that placed last week

Yeah, idgi

Lots of legacy artists did good work this year. PSBs are not among them.

that really was a bad song.

The first album I ever bought was the PSB Disco remix album in '87, but I haven't felt nostalgic/interested enough to listen to anything they have done in decades.

A couple of the album tracks seemed superior to the single tbf, but the album as a whole had nothing on Electric, agreed

...hence its lower placement I guess

http://i.imgur.com/E4hVifh.jpg

71 ASTRONOID Air (222 points, 8 votes)

YEAH

pop prog metal album of the year

xpost All I know of Emma Ruth Rundle is that "Living with the black dog" tune from a couple of years back, which was really good; hard-edged shoegazery blues. Is the album in a similar vein?

A couple of the album tracks seemed superior to the single tbf, but the album as a whole had nothing on Electric, agreed

― Check the BNM Pitchfork track review, it says Weezer too (imago)

Yeah, it definitely wasn't in the same league as Electric. I didn't vote for Super but I like the album fine. The Pop Kids was my favourite song by a mile. I really don't understand the hate for it.

Michael B - this Emma Ruth Rundle os more goth than shoegaze. She seems to have left the majority of her shoegaze material for her band Marriages.

it's not disimilar but that previous album (some heavy ocean) was better than the new one is as far as memorable tunes go xps

lol same here tho

Fear of Men album is a huge omission - seems like it would be an ILM favorite if it had more exposure

heres my ballot:

a tribe called quest - we got it from here...thank you for your service
david bowie - blackstar
radiohead - a moon shaped pool
dexy's - let the record show: dexys do irish and country soul
leon vynehall - rojus
dorisburg - irrbloss
glenn branca - Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City) for 100 Guitars
william tyler - modern country
goat - requiem
cass mccombs - mangy love
steve gunn - eyes on the lines
DIIV - is the is are
waveless - spirit island e.p.
happyness - tunnel vision on your part e.p.
dwight yoakam - guitar cadillacs etc etc
king - we are king
lambchop - flotus
factory floor - 25 25
fat white family - songs of our mothers
brian eno - the big ship
bombino - azel
v/a - the sound of durban vol. 1
kanye west - the life of pablo
africans with mainframes - kmt
Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland - Transport

I would add Junior Boys and Omar-S if I was compiling the list now

Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald present Borderland - Transport

Didn't know this existed!....treehouse from a couple of years ago was great, I'll have a look out for this one

it's a good record you would like it saer

I was kind of under-thrilled by the s/t "Borderland" and need to check it out

full disclosure: I own nearly every recent MvO collaboration on vinyl

I was kind of under-thrilled by the s/t "Borderland" and need to check it out

I only really play Treehouse off it, I don't really remember the rest myself!

I was incorrect, this was the one I was unthrilled by but I'm giving it another go

that logic assumes that the transitive property applies to the space of music preference
even more logic!

wasn't suggesting the argument was "true" tho, just that there was something kinda funny, absurd about the pedantic rationality of it all - it struck a chord with me

btw if you have the opportunity to see moritz von oswald do a dj set, it's fun

this recent tribe album is their best one. duh. xp