ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2017

Wow, I like this Algiers song a lot. Will listen to more of this band.

I'm still really surprised that the Algiers album wasn't more of a hit with the critics. It sounds like the kind of thing they'd get behind.

it got a lot of positive notes outside of that weird P4k pan

one of the little things i love about algiers is the way that the richard hammond-looking dude on bass holds his instrument like it's a machine gun that he just ripped off a tank turret

think they got geoff barrow involved for this record and it shows. third-era portishead being one of the touchstones for the album's sound

Also had this at #2 (somewhat tactically, my #1 is probably at 200 in the full rundown).

Pour Aisha is pretty but a little too minimal for me to love

The Underside of Power is my favourite post-punk thing i've heard in ages, shame they didn't really get any 'buzz' despite some good reviews outside of p4k. it was Adrian Utley who produced some of it not Barrow but yeah it's clear

oh yeah that's it

'hymn for an average man' is full portishead and a recommended listen

for anyone who struggled with he album as a whole I really recommend the NPR track-by-track thing

finally listening to the lcd track and wow this guy has like three albums tops in his record collection. i guess "how do you sleep" is gonna place bc it's way better than this

yeahhh really hoping the album tops out at like 40 in the rollout but I gather that's optimistic :/

I still think having a multi-night goodbye party for your band at MSG, releasing a fucking movie of it, and then bringing your band back five years later is a fucko thing to do. Especially with shit like "Oh Baby."

https://i.imgur.com/ZXrPB3U.jpg

31 KELELA "Frontline" [244 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
https://soundcloud.com/kelelam/frontline

wonderful song

xpost I was surprised how much I enjoyed the LCD album when it came out, but I haven't gone back to it much at all. After all the ridiculously high end of year placements I've started to resent it a bit.

Sorry that soundcloud link is just a :30 clip, but the song isn't on youtube at all. xps

no one asked for an LCD Soundsystem reunion. Their 'final' album (before the comeback) was weaksauce and his big 'I'm leaving Facebook forever byenow' gesture was overinflated and self important, so reforming the band only a few years later to do this just made no sense

or what JF said

omfg frontline is so good

forget whether I voted for the album or "Frontline" but yeah great song. We had a good run of no repeats but Kelela is a good one to break the streak with

oh this is why LMK seemed low, love this

i enjoyed a fair bit of the LCD album but it was way overrated in most EOY stuff. How Do You Sleep was one of the real duds, it's such a slog

oh this is why LMK seemed low, love this

Huh, they both have 7 votes. Just ballot placement thangz, I guess.

Didn't check out the Algiers album last year but from what other ilxors had said about it I thought I'd like it a lot more than I actually do. It just seems a bit full of rock stodge.

Oh Baby - sounds like the cover looks. terrible. 1
Shadow - dreary, whenever i look in the middle distance I see a carpet warehouse. they must see something better but no idea what. 3
Ogre - this is from that episode of Star Trek Original Series where they go to a planet of ancient greeks and the one with the red shirt gets vaporized again. would be a 5 but its always good to see Spock smiling so an extra half for that. 5 and a half.
Red Flavor - the Korean version of the music they play on Norwegian airlines for three hours straight when you are delayed on the runway because Norwegian Air have the lowest priority at the gate. 1
Magnolia - Quite like the production, its even a little bit genial! 6

Mondo Grosso - first 40 seconds or so are alright, vocals are completely characterless and then it gets sappy and overdone and whatever was there disappears. 4
Did You See - no idea 2
Pour Aisha - first artist on list I own a record by (not this one), the sounds are nice but really it needs a touch of Riquelme to think about reaching bank holiday deckchair status. its growing on me though 7
The Underside Of Power truly dire. when you complain about music in a coffee shop and then in 10% of them it plays this which is much worse than the other sort (the vampire one we had from before) 0
frontline - bearable i guess 4

:D

'frontline' is a really cool trip

Mondo Grosso - first 40 seconds or so are alright, vocals are completely characterless and then it gets sappy and overdone and whatever was there disappears. 4

I'm fine with this take as long as a saer track makes top 10.

love u saer

lmao at the notion of Algiers getting coffee-shop play

Pour Aisha - first artist on list I own a record by (not this one), the sounds are nice but really it needs a touch of Riquelme to think about reaching bank holiday deckchair status. its growing on me though 7

I have to say I find this extremely disappointing.

tbf there are a few communist coffee shops out there

you guys really like kelela, huh?

it was in Blods coffee corner!

pour aisha is quite nice, goes straight into my bobbins playlist

saer has the best dawson take

https://i.imgur.com/dQmD4iX.jpg

30 ALVVAYS "In Undertow" [250 points, 8 votes]
https://youtu.be/T1n72aCdwdU

I guess this is my day huh? lovely band.

I voted for the album, but this is a nice opening track.

alvvays are pleasant i guess but there's nothing interesting about them at all

lol i was about to say alvvays are alvvays pleasant

Surprised to see this place so high. The second album didn't quite hit me in the same way the debut did. This is definitely is one of the highlights.

there are a million songs about accepting something is over and being OK alone but I like the particular formulation here, and the closing "no turning....ba-aaaack" always gets me

Second one I voted for, love this. Both albums have been completely overshadowed by their lead singles for me though.

my only strong feeling about alvvays is that I think it would be super fun to be in this band

The second album didn't quite hit me in the same way the debut did.

Me either, until one night when it just did. Now I kind of favor it over the debut.

I said this on their thread but the blossoming of the rhythm section is a big plus over the debut

The opening melody of this song immediately makes me think of "I Think We're Alone Now" on 100% of my listens.

Alvvays is pure sugar, nice in small doses, but too much can be a bit overpowering. luckily, their albums are short!

I think part of the reason I didn't connect with the second Alvvays as much is because I spent most of the year listening to the Japanese Breakfast album which is everything I love about this kind of indie music and so much more. Probably my favourite album of that style in 10 years. Antisocialites wasn't quite at that level (as lovely as it is).

my favourite of this style in recent times is the previous Japanese Breakfast album, Psychopomp. there wasn't really anything in this style that i liked much this year