ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2018

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

It’s definitely a grower record. I didn’t get it at all at first

https://i.imgur.com/iGF7Vfk.jpg
#13: Beach House - 7 - 539 points – 18 votes - 1 first place vote

Beach House - 7 (2018)

Matthew Neal: "After Bloom’s widescreen production almost pushed them into stadium territory, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have continued to amp up the melodies while retaining the band’s ASMR qualities, arguably culminating with Depression Cherry. While the latter wasn’t completely adored at a critical level, to me, it felt like they’d at least hit on the blueprint for a masterpiece. On 7, the Baltimore duo presents us with the completed architecture."

Jake Cole: "Teen Dream and Bloom will likely always remain the pair’s canonical entries, but by some margin, this is their most accomplished record to date and the latest proof that Beach House will go down as the finest, boldest and most singular dream pop act since the Cocteau Twins."

speaking of growers

i go through the same cycle with every new beach house album. i think it's kind of a let down, and then on i listen again and it feels so warm and familiar, like these are very old, standard songs. already, 7 feels like an album i've known for years and years

out of respect for Karl Malone I will only roll my eyes once for this placement

I used to think there could never be too much handclaps in music, but guess I never tried to listen to a whole album of flamenco-ish songs

https://i.imgur.com/T2rzEPi.jpg
#12: Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of - 540 points – 20 votes

oneohtrix point never

Rob Hakimian: "While it undoubtedly packs in a humongous swath of influences and touchstones from today’s pop culture, the overall piece created is completely unique, unreplicable and ultimately undescribable. That, of course, is the only way that Daniel Lopatin knows how to create music, and Age Of now happily sits alongside his previous planets in Oneohtrix Point Never’s utterly individual universe."

Matt McDermott: "Flitting through soundtrack-style pieces, pop songs and dense instrumentals spanning from post-kosmische to neo-baroque, it's a dizzying trip meant to shore up Lopatin's status as an avant-garde auteur while aiding his forays into mainstream pop culture. It'd be easy to see this album-as-prospectus approach as cynical. But whatever his motives, Lopatin has successfully broadened his scope"

smell a rat here

*bathes in the respect*

hahaha

i didn't vote, btw. honestly it would probably make my top 20, but that's because i don't listen to much new music. i didn't vote because my top 20 would be a ranked list of the 20 albums from 2018 albums that i listened to. get off my lawn! (but i did enjoy this album, and my wife loves it so it's still in pretty heavy rotation in my apartment at the moment)

xposts

hmmmmm

I voted for OPN

https://s3.amazonaws.com/radiomilwaukee-wordpress-uploads/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/27133237/i_voted.jpg

Love that album art

I voted for OPN too. great album!

did his Good Time soundtrack make it last year (or whenever)? i loved that album

don't get the sentiment here that this album was "bad", although for me it took a lot of listens to sink in

Great album never doubted it would place

great album

https://i.imgur.com/6gQNZ4N.jpg
#11: Sons of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile - 586 points – 19 votes - 1 first place vote

London jazz wizard Shabaka Hutchings: Sons of Kemet / The Comet Is Coming / Shabaka & the Ancestors

Seb Law: "The richness of the source material and the deftness of interplay of each member of the band ensures that Your Queen is a Reptile leaves you with a sense of having been a part of something truly special. Predictions aren’t our thing, but Sons of Kemet, and indeed Hutchings, are names that should endure, and are truly worthy of the label’s storied history."

Madison Bloom: "For Hutchings, jazz’s cultural memory is not just something to recite, but a rich language that informs an entirely new conversation."

don't get the sentiment here that this album was "bad", although for me it took a lot of listens to sink in

I think most OPN albums get this reaction cuz they're all so different from each other. Reminds me of how every Autechre album was the one where "they really lost it" until they managed to shed the casuals altogether

Voted for both OPN and Beach House.

I agree with 7 being a grower, and I still prefer Bloom. I was psyched about 7 when it was released, but kind of lost interest. Then, late in the year suddenly realized it was amazing. Much more varied, dense, and melodic than Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars.

I was down with the OPN record as soon as it came out. His most compositionally complex and inventive album yet. I think it was a bit underrated because people were understandably let down by Garden of Delete and mostly slept on the brilliant Good Time soundtrack.

yesss to Sons Of Kemet

I voted for Sons of Kemet too. I think this may be the most albums I've voted for that has placed.

xp Garden of Delete was also awesome imo

Knew this had to place given the other jazz stuff. I like this a lot but I think the McCraven is slightly more my speed.

I can at least say it's a bit underrated, but I just don't love it the way I love his other albums.

xp

Garden of Delete was great!

Now we're talking. This album rules.

I quite like Andy Beta's review.

This is more like it, redeems the OPN snoozefest making it so high.

Garden Of Delete was amazing, the new one an unengaging mess imo but to each their own etc. I only got interested in him with R Plus Seven so I'm a noob who only likes it when he plays with actual melodies I guess

Huh, I guess Robyn is top ten after all. Never change, ilm.