ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

wow

dece album but really?

Good stuff emil.y!

The Yves Tumor track that placed in the tracks poll was great. I wasn't so hot on the album but maybe the sequencing threw me? I'll revisit it

Oh look what's this. Very psychedelic start to the day

That is inordinately high.

Maybe I'll write-in Simmy in the metal poll...

teh

I called this placing. Such a surprisingly great return after the disaster of the last album. My favourite record of theirs by a long way.

Not sure why people are surprised by this placing? They scored two in the tracks poll so obviously there's a lot of ILx love. I mean, it's almost certainly not good enough to be this high, but I'm going to feel that way about most of the rollout, so eh...

I gotta say, bits of the MGMT impressed me somewhat but I couldn't imagine voting for it. Maybe it's a grower

They do have amazing videos though

Yup (this was somewhere in my top 5)

too low

D&C is more a UK thing than a US thing tbf - even discounting Max Tundra being British, the duo were way more of a thing here, we've adopted them haha

― imago, Thursday, February 7, 2019 10:30 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was what i thought and then i fact-checked myself too hard!

lj are you a perfume fan

https://i.imgur.com/qcHzvem.jpg
#16: Mr Twin Sister - Salt - 492 points – 16 votes - 1 first place vote

Mr Twin Sister

Landon Macdonald: "But over-scrutinizing Mr Twin Sister’s capacity for vibe-setting feels like witnessing a rare bird in its natural habitat: attempting to examine them any closer risks disrupting the simple joy of watching them exist."

Larry Fitzmaurice: "With genre far in their dust, Mr. Twin Sister are crafting pop that begs to be heard. In an album every bit as dance-driven as it is jazz-infused, Mr. Twin Sister deliver something that challenges norms while thriving in their power. "

too low

god this album is so good

my #3

my no. 2

agree w ufo that this is their best album, grew on me massively

I don't really know Perfume but they seem cool? Anyway back to your peak ILMing

lmao would have been p funny if mgmt had beat TS

nothing on this one that i like as much as the first track on the self titled but still good

great record

quintessentially ILM band (see also eg junior boys, kelley polar etc)

(Did Yves Tumor place in the tracks poll?)

you don't know me
or my taste
taste in movies

the yves tumor was no. 7 on my list. pop songs struggling through a whorl of static, ultimately succumbing to it, great

too low

13 people voted for it because it's good and they liked it

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, February 7, 2019 10:55 AM (fifty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there were only like 5 people in the thread. and I think 3 of 'em were LJ socks

don't get me wrong, the album is excellent and it's definitely held up throughout the year. it's like a throwback to an era of truly weird and intricate pop music. I just didn't know that many people on here had actually heard it. I think it was my #3 or 4, though a lot of years it could've been #1

YT track almost placed and I found it on the expanded playlist xps

frogbs, if you look at tracks results and read the D&C thread, you'll see their constituency was much bigger than one might think! no socks haha

My sixth one to place

I don't really know Perfume but they seem cool? Anyway back to your peak ILMing

― imago, Thursday, February 7, 2019 10:48 AM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a lot of the more maximalist pop stuff on the daphne and celeste record reminds me DIRECTLY of them. i think you... just might like them. check out "dream fighter"

MGMT was my last to place--#18--I was kind of embarrassed at how much I liked it, a sensation amplified when most of the songs that I'd end up skipping made the tracks poll. Most of the rest of it kinda sounded to me like OMD on shrooms though; I'm pretty sure I mentioned that during tracks poll as well

YT track almost placed and I found it on the expanded playlist xps

Oh shit, I think you mean Noid! That was a top 5 track for me. Easily the highlight of the album for me, and one of the highlights of the year!

https://i.imgur.com/VgN6yoT.jpg
#15: U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited - 515 points – 20 votes - 2 first place votes

U.S. Girls

Dave Simpson: "It’s protest music, in the guise of joyous, life-affirming pop."

Will Coma: "On the nose with invisible fingers, In a Poem Unlimited is as lush, disgusted, and dour as the previous album, but with less obscuring vaporous swirl. The tone is more one of defiant, soaring majesty and poison-laced confection, underscored with lyrics of damnation and earnest imparting."

Nice!!

Phew!

Aww, was hoping this would be higher. Twas my #2.

didn't quite make my ballot, delighted to find it didn't come close to needing my help

loved MAH and incedental boogie off this

This was slightly spoilt by the cumbersome closing track for me, but the rest was pretty great and Incidental Boogie was incendiary

Given that Woman's Work was my track of the year way back when, I probably had outsize expectations for a US Girls 7-minute closer tbf

Love this record.

The Perfume comparison is kind of apt given that their song ナチュラルに恋して felt very much inspired by Max Tundra's Which Song, which in term was very much inspired by Scritti Politti's Perfect Way. I remember Max Tundra even trying to reach out to them on Twitter to produce music for them after that song was released.

This is one of like 20 records I bought physically last year. Rosebud is my favorite song off of this one, and would've voted for it in the tracks poll if it was nominated. I think it would have ended higher in several EOY lists if it had been released later in the year.

u.s. girls record is v good but i could never get excited about it for some reason. can’t begrudge its placement though

pearly gates was by far my fav from this, mostly because it strongly reminded me of nate dogg and warren g

https://i.imgur.com/ekb85wX.jpg
#14: Rosalía - El mal querer - 532 points – 16 votes - 1 first place vote

Thom Jurek: "There is as much subtlety in both the compositions and production as there is drama, all of it imbued with restless soul via Rosalía's singular voice that marries the folk lineage of flamenco to 21st century styles and sounds, making El Mal Querer not only a provocative and original offering, but a magnificent one as well."

Julianne Escobedo: "It is one of the most exciting and passionately composed albums to appear not only in the global bass tradition but in the pop and experimental spheres this year."

TOO LOW

very excited to check out that rosalía record later today

This was growing on me a bit but will need more convincing. Maybe another listen will do it