ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

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.

Mariah and Cardi B my only votes to show today. I wouldn’t change a single thing about the Mariah album - concise, well-produced and alternately gorgeous and affecting / playful and silly. Deserved to be a lot higher I reckon.

damn, wish I had voted now, Cardi was my #1, I really coulda helped a girl out.

Awesome. Voted for the Senyawa album and the YOB. I hadn't heard Senyawa before this one and it opened me up to a whole world of their music. The YOB concept is great but I also love the album as a whole, has more of a life affirming feel to it than the rest.

I'm pretty sure I voted for the Jean Grae/Quelle Chris too. She's got to be the most underrated rapper out there.

Love that the Ghost, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan and Andrew WK albums all made it. Had I had more voted to give they would have made it. Great representation of hard rock/metal all around so far.

The Wednesday Campanella is lovely too, had not heard this before.

Glad to see Wednesday Campanella, but I haven't heard this one as I'm always one or two releases behind... I voted for YT//ST though so it's good to know at least one thing I like placed

I suspect 95% of the hard rock/metal that's gonna place just did, but it's been nice to see nonetheless

mariah carey too low
cardi b too high

lol nothing i voted for has placed yet

i failed to vote for the mariah record AGAIN and i'm appropriately disappointed in myself

people really should give the mariah a chance - it's so concise and perfect

starting to agree with the people who think it's her best

(my faves have always been glitter and mimi (and, mostly bc of ilx lol, memoirs) and it stacks up with any of them)

it's as good as memoirs for me

Here's the day's results in case you're as bad as me as keeping it in yr memory:

77: Amen Dunes – Freedom - 189 points – 7 votes
76: Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel - 190 points – 7 votes – 1 first place vote
75: Charlie Puth – Voicenotes - 192 points – 6 votes – 1 first place vote
74: Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine - 202 points – 11 votes
73: Senyawa – Sujud - 204 points – 6 votes
72: Wednesday Campanella – Galapagos - 206 points – 7 votes
71: Kero Kero Bonito – Time ‘n’ Place - 208 points – 8 votes
70: Kadhja Bonet – Childqueen - 208 points – 9 votes
69: Ghost – Prequelle - 214 points – 6 votes
68: YOB – Our Raw Heart – 214 points – 8 votes – 1 first place vote
67: Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth - 216 points – 10 votes
66: Hailu Mergia – Lala Belu - 221 points – 10 votes
65: Skee Mask – Compro - 225 points – 9 votes
64: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – Dirt - 227 points – 8 votes
63: Mariah Carey – Caution - 228 points – 11 votes
62: Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy - 230 points – 10 votes
61: Andrew WK – You’re Not Alone - 233 points – 8 votes – 1 first place vote

That Mariah Carey album is her best in twenty. I heard it this morning, and, man, its brevity and sharpness and her use of polysyllables never stops impressing me.

do we have enough Koenjihyakkei fans on here for that album to place

right, sorry. here's a somewhat streamlined breakdown in case folks want to run their itemized responses.

61: Andrew WK – You’re Not Alone
62: Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy
63: Mariah Carey - Caution
64: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan - Dirt
65: Skee Mask - Compro
66: Hailu Mergia – Lala Belu
67: Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth
68: YOB – Our Raw Heart
69: Ghost - Prequelle
70: Kadhja Bonet - Childqueen
71: Kero Kero Bonito – Time ‘n’ Place
72: Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos
73: Senyawa - Sujud
74: Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine
75: Charlie Puth - Voicenotes
76: Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
77: Amen Dunes – Freedom

damn we're already seeing stuff with 10+ votes. how many ballots did we get in total?

Yeah I’m not a huge Mariah fan, but I do think this is a pleasant/enjoyable album.

this was such a good year for albums that i'm really enjoying the rollout this time

also moka's images continue to stun

the WK one is so good I almost want to listen to it

I got 3 in today, but no idea how many others I'll see (some I'm certain of, others I'd be really surprised).

of my ballot only the low and the julia holter will place, i think. big question, will they hit the top ten? i hope so.

I only got 1 in but I'm expecting as many as 12 to place based on these results

i forgot the beths, they will make it too, maybe even the breeders.

sometimes i forget just how long mariah has been mariah. She's got a duet with Gunna on Caution. When Gunna was two months old, Mariah was releasing her third album.

i didn't vote for anything so far but it's mostly good stuff

Nicely varied results so far, three of my votes placed, happy to see Hailu Mergia especially.

Really keen to hear these three:

72: Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos
73: Senyawa - Sujud
74: Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine

i forgot the beths, they will make it too, maybe even the breeders.

― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Monday, February 4, 2019 2:03 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ilm's gonna have the good sense to include the breeders imo

their absence from year-end lists last year still inexplicable 2 me

I like the Mariah a lot, but hadn’t listened to it enough to vote for it. The conciseness def works in its favour.

For those of you who are enjoying the Andrew WK album, can I recommend Adebisi Shank?
https://adebisishank.bandcamp.com/track/big-unit
https://adebisishank.bandcamp.com/track/turnaround

Adebisi Shank

do do do do do

wonder if anyone else voted for the Amnesia Scanner album