ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

Aha! A second from my ballot. Took me a while to get into this YT//ST record, the amount of love I had for the second one made it have a tall hill to climb, but I really like it now. I also think they moved from being an art-rock band with metal touches to being a metal band with art-rock touches, which means way more huuuge guitar solos, which is not particularly a thing I am into.

Going to have to look into a few that have placed that I don't know at all, so far I feel like this is a really cool and varied list.

yeah almost no way this doesn't end up being the coolest day of the rollout

This Wednesday Campanella album is way more atmospheric than the last one.

I feel like I only need to listen to each of their albums once, like going on a rollercoaster or something, but that one time is a real blast.

I feel like I should I enjoy this band more. Go Canada!! anyway.

Voted for OOT in tracks, some reservations about how well the whole album hangs together. Maybe I should follow emil.y and persevere.

I try to keep on top of techno* but I don't think I caught the Skee Mask?

Hailu Mergia definitely too low but glad it placed. an absolute joy from start to finish. the title track was my tune of the year

YT//ST was the last thing on my ballot. Like emil.y, my love for their second album kept me from falling as hard for this one. It's good, but my least favorite of their records.

Hooray Hailu Mergia! My first to place

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

#63: Mariah Carey – Caution - 228 points – 11 votes

Mariah Carey's many Moments

Leah Greenblatt: “Carey is no longer at the white-hot center of the zeitgeist, but on her 15th studio album, she finds a freshness that’s been missing from her recent material.”

Andrew Unterberger: “The album likely won't spin off a breakout hit, or reintroduce Mariah to the Spotify generation, or change the course of her career in any dramatic way. But it's a new Mariah Carey album, and it feels like exactly what she and her fans wanted it to be.”

amazingly, no one started a thread for this last year. I voted for it i think.

key tracks: GTFO, Caution, A No No, Giving Me Life, Stay Long Love You

Caution is probably my favourite Mariah album.

Yes! This is easily my favourite YT/ST album. Some almost Judas Priest moments in there.

Hi everyone! Thank you so much ulysses for covering me today I’m away from home and will be arriving late.

I’ll probably do 60-41 tomorrow, 40-? on wednesday and the rest on thursday. Wednesday is gonna be a tricky one as I have a tight schedule and wont be around my computer but I might post the initial run in the morning and the rest in the evening... I’ll have to improvise as I don’t want to leave you hanging for hours to get the next results... maybe tomorrow I’ll go all the way to 60-35 to avoid the gaps on tuesday.

I think the full results are very good and they have the variety that some of you thought was missing on the singles poll. Today has been amazing, and there’s a couple of albums I had no idea existed and which have been great companions this morning for me. thank you again ulysses for all the help with the rollout and seandalai of course for making this happen.

I'm glad Yamantaka exist but please don't make me listen to it again.

Images great agin, btw!

http://i.imgur.com/n5nM6dt.jpg

#62: Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy - 230 points – 10 votes

Bodak Yellow is:

Carrie Battan: “Not since Lana Del Rey has an artist triumphed over such low expectations and landed as a bona-fide pop star.”

Rob Harvilla: “What makes Invasion of Privacy even more impressive is that at 13 tracks and 48 minutes, it has the Spotify-stats-conscious heft expected of a top-tier rap album nowadays, but never drags, never settles, never dilutes Cardi’s delirious absurdity. It feels like a throwback to an idealized album-oriented past—a tribute to the way that hip-hop of a certain vintage would like to remember itself, anyway.”

wow that's low!

Great stuff. Hailu Mergia was on my list also. This last run of albums has reminded me why I love ILM. Hee.

This was my guess for 78'ing tbqh

this alb was good but i only listened to it once

Liking the more compositional side of the Kamasi album. Prefer that to jam mode.

I'm weirdly excited that nothing I've voted for has placed yet. I guess it's equally a good sign (for the ones which will) as bad (for the ones that won't).

Same. I'm holding out hope for three, five at the most. The rest will walk in saer's footsteps.

“Not since Lana Del Rey has an artist triumphed over such low expectations and landed as a bona-fide pop star.”

reality tv stars can be Kardashian-esque near-billionaires or the President of the United States ... but a pop star ... no way!

last one for the day

http://i.imgur.com/DU5661a.jpg

#61: Andrew WK – You’re Not Alone - 233 points – 8 votes – 1 first place vote

Andrew WK: C/D?

Josh Modell: “As always, Andrew W.K. builds anthems brick by brick, reinforcing huge choruses with multi-tracked vocals and earworm piano lines, all the better to make you feel like a participant as much as a listener. ”

Mark Beaumont: “Andrew WK’s enormous, and enormously stirring, maximal synth-metal soundtrack to the struggle, and were it any bigger it’d develop its own moon.”

oh HELL yeah

voted for the title track instead but this album is incredible

lol boom. my #17. very large and positive album of party wisdom

voted for this beast

it takes a LOT for me to connect with a good-natured, positive album but AWK pulled it off through sheer force of will

Worth living for

the devil's on your side -> break the curse = one of the most epic track pairs of the year

hahahah my #1 vote put this over the top

yeah, very tight points grouping so far

I'm proud to say I received zero excitement from I Get Wet back then. This American thing / shtick is alien to me.

as weirdly complex and contradictory as AWK's persona is I think this album really does capture it all. awesome set of songs to boot - I voted "Music is Worth Living For" in the tracks poll just because it was the single, there's at least 6-7 songs here worthy of rating

Wooo! Second album voted for. Ever Again was my pick, but it’s an inspiration start to finish

This Jean Grae/Quelle Chris album is good but the ironic "Shabazz Palaces for Adult Swim viewers" vibe permeating it is keeping me at a remove.

The Hailu Mergia album is very lively, the expanded band and improved sonics really add a lot of punch and freewheeling energy.

I thought they were from Montreal?
― pomenitul, Monday, February 4, 2019 1:20 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Both I think now, originally Montreal though.
― Will (kruezer2), Monday, February 4, 2019 1:23 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't think anyone still lives in mtl anymore, was two-city for a while (collaborators still live in mtl iirc but all full timers in to)

also sorry i just got here

also great record hoo boy i got a lot of reading to catch up on

I liked I Get Wet, it was a lot of fun but this sounds like a metal remix of the Greatest Showman soundtrack

And I say that as someone who likes Ghost quite a lot

Nice to see the Skee Mask album place - it was my favorite electronic release of the year along with NTS Sessions.

I thought UZU was a huge letdown from YT//ST so I ignored Dirt. I presume it's an epic return to the form of their debut?

Cardi B is too low. Kamasi about right. A few others (Kero Kero Bonito, Mariah Carey) shouldn't be here and are stealing spots from better albums.

yea it definitely has a sort of musical vibe to it, in the Meatloaf sense

Hey don't forget--you you still have a week to vote in metal poll. Ballots are five-alb minimum, so even a ballot with just Senyawa, Ghost, YOB, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, and Andrew W.K. would be enough to participate, but plenty of albums getting promoted within the thread, so anybody with a curious temperament is invited to come sample:

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! Ballots due Saturday, Feb. 9th!

the only album of the first batch which does something for me is the hailu mergia. nothing outstanding really and quite easy listening but it is nice life-affirming fusion stuff.