ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

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#59: Burna Boy – Outside - 240 points – 9 votes - 1 first place vote

Burna Boy – OUTSIDE (2018)

Claire Lobenfeld: "Where WizKid softens some of the edges of Afrobeats, making the genre more familiar to newcomers, Burna’s output is more kaleidoscopic. It makes Outside a fine lesson in mixing genres without making mud."

a pretty cool album that i didn't vote for. "Calm Down" was the highlight for me and cements jae5 as one of the best producers around these days

ufo otm about now only, which is really too tender and personal a record for this bantersome thread but!: seeing the sparse devastation of a crow looked at me thaw into this, which eases in some elements of older mount eerie/microphones but still has the clear-eyed directness of the last album, and seeing the care with which he has held himself throughout, has filled me with a humbled gratitude and a deep, real hope. "two paintings by nikolai astrup" is the standout.

ooo this is great. fantastic list so far this year kudos ilm. i was loving kero kero last night.

None of my favourites have made it so far but it's all been quite good overall, barring a record or two.

burna! first of my votes to place. record ruled my life in december

iirc I was the #1 for this, so obligatory TOO LOW but also yay!

Hailu Mergia is sounding pretty great.

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#58: Jon Hopkins – Singularity - 240 points – 10 votes

Landon Macdonald: "Singularity is the follow up every fan would hope for. It's larger; it's denser; it's quicker. It’s a 63-minute microhouse masterpiece. It rebroadcasts Hopkins’ sound as a more atmospheric, clearer vision. Whether its an improvement upon Immunity isn’t important — it’s a definite refinement."

Ben Hogwood: "Building on the innovations of previous album Immunity, it invests more emotionally and retains the primal physical stimulus behind Hopkins’ best music. He remains a wholly individual voice in a congested field, a single phrase played from his piano speaking volumes. And Singularity is his best album yet."

Yeah, at least it placed!

xp
I wonder if the exact same nine people voted in the Outside poll thread

Burna that is

that emerald pulse song was good enough but i dunno if i could take a whole album of that stuff

i think the hailu is my only vote that placed. (i say think bc i didn't save my ballot and now i don't really remember what i voted for)

[so far]

jon hopkins places: I sleep

like jon hopkins though this record doesn't really do anything that the previous one didn't do and this one doesn't have 'sun harmonics' on it so it's the lesser

burna boy is sounding spirited rn

Yeah, I thought the extremely low placing of “Ye” especially meant that all these people had put Outside extra high on their album ballot, so this placing is quite disappointing —- but yay, at least it did place (I think I had it as my #2).

(xps to rob)

Charlie Puth.

How credible.

Curious about the Jon Hopkins. I loved the track that placed in the Tracks 77.

Enjoying Outside after two or three listens although 'Ye' is still very much the highlight for me.

didn't really discover Outside until around the time of the voting thread, would've voted for it if I had started listening earlier

I thought the Jon Hopkins album as good as it was didn’t reach the heights of the Skee Mask

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Yeah I thought Outside had escaped the rolling thread bubble, but it's ok. Maybe there's no connection between them, but I wonder if this means Popcaan won't be appearing at all, or Simmy?

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#57: Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs - 243 points – 8 votes

Wye Oak

Evan Lilly: "It’s hard not to fully engulf yourself in what they’re producing at this point. Far too many bands have been faced with panic in the face of progression, and under the pressure hurry themselves into something forgettable. Not Wye Oak: they gracefully ride the crest of change, and the confidence it affords them is apparent – they execute a particular mood that evokes and generates presence."

A.V. Club: "This is Wye Oak drawing as much from the looping, hypnotic compositions of Terry Riley as it is Beach House and Björk, and while some of the headier experiments fail to rise above their inherent monotony, the results are usually singularly beautiful and beautifully dense."

I really need to give this album a proper listen, enjoyed the previous two a lot

Seeing Wye Oak on here makes me hopeful a related album shows up too.

the last 3 songs are my favorite part of this one

I'm not really familiar with Wye Oak (I'd heard If Children but that's it) but yeah, this was a nice record.

starting to breathe a sigh of relief that i won’t place in this poll

Civilian is still my favorite indie record of the decade

can't rly place what this is, which might be a good thing

Can’t imagine Popcaan placing higher than Burna tbh

Also fear that Simmy might have missed the 77 boat...

All hopes resting on Sun-El now!

xps

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#56: Foxing - Nearer My God - 247 points – 9 votes

thread of foxing on the occasion of their 2018 extremely warped and fragmented emo album nearer my god

Holly Hazelwood: "Nearer My God is 2018’s bravest record, and despite the sonic risks taken, Foxing have emerged with the best reward possible: an actual, honest-to-God classic."

HELL YES BUT ALSO TOO LOW

shock collared at the gates of heaven

Lich Prince is the one for me off this. Fun record all around though

hmmm haven't heard this one

can’t remember if i voted for this. it still sounds like my depressive episode in august which is why i might not have

Great album too low

I've never been even heard of the last two bands(?) to place. :)

two straight that i voted for

lich prince is the highlight among highlights tho, agreed

Now I need to hear 'Lich Prince' based on its title alone.

Also, have not heard any of the albums so far. Skee Mask sounds like it could be up my alley, I guess I'll give it a try.

I didn't even notice there was another Wye Oak album last year!

wye oak alb is so good, my favorite track is lifer, the way it creeps along until exploding with the guitar solo and final verse

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#55: The Armed - Only Love - 251 points – 9 votes - 1 first place vote

Brandon Stosuy: "The Armed started in 2009, ages ago in punk rock years. A new band wouldn’t have the arsenal or know-how to create something as anti-everything and complete in all aspects as Only Love; from the packaging to the storyline to the print publication to the “vibe,” it feels like the apotheosis of years of experiments. It’s a lesson in never settling."

Steve Lampiris: "So can you call Only Love a (hardcore) punk record? In the literal sense, no. There aren’t three chord sprints, simple song structures or anything of the sort. The aim isn’t simply to conquer through sheer blunt force. It is, however, in the metaphorical sense. After all, what’s more punk than smashing your own sound and gluing the pieces back together to discover something new?"