ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2021

Interesting results today. A fair few I've never heard.

I only heard the Vanishing Twin album a few weeks ago and really liked it. Their previous album is great too. Feels like the kind of band I should have been listening to for years. Kind of like when I belatedly heard Jane Weaver a couple of years ago.

Ended up voting for Spellling low down on my list. I don't know if that album will have long term appeal. I really couldn't get past her voice and theatrics at first, but I kept coming back to it and the songs would get stuck in my head. I tried to put it on the other day and really wasn't in the mood for it. I can't remember the last time I had that kind of weird relationship with an album like that.

I didn't like the first Black Midi at all. Haven't heard anything from this one. Voodoo Chili comparing some the vocals to Larry Cameo is making me want to hear it.

That Altin Gun is good. Definitely one I need to revisit. Pleasantly surprised to see them here.

Will try and check out a few of the ones I've not heard in the next few days. Enjoying the roll-out so far.

this black midi is better than the first one (the sax helps) but i don't think it's really going to change anyone's mind about them

Voodoo Chili comparing some the vocals to Larry Cameo is making me want to hear it.

haha. nb, i literally haven’t read anyone else who made the comparison, just a weird back of the throat singing that this one guy does that larry also sometimes doss. please don’t listen to black midi and expect to hear something that sounds like cameo

haha. nb, i literally haven’t read anyone else who made the comparison, just a weird back of the throat singing that this one guy does that larry also sometimes doss. please don’t listen to black midi and expect to hear something that sounds like cameo

― roflrofl fight (voodoo chili),

I listened to the album. There was one song where I could kind of hear what you meant. Not really a reference I ever would have thought of myself, but you put it in my head and so spent the full 45 minutes listening out for it.

The album wasn't really what I expected on the whole. It did get slightly better than that first song which was a bit of a nightmare, but not really my thing at all.

am deep in the Can. Zwei was pretty cool

yeah that was a good listening experience or w/e. not that i'd vote for it or anything ;)

Something I learned last weekend: Altin Gun released a second album in 2021.

About five tracks into VT and struggling to say much about it other than 'irksomely coy Quietus audiopiffle', so I'll add 'save me Moka'

Sure, why not?

https://i.imgur.com/UtNjtZk.jpg
61. Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti
152 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video from the album: “Folie Á Deux”
rolling thread 2021 (deluxe edition)

oh shit, glad this made it

Apparently I liked something from this and then forgot to return. Thanks for the reminder!

i like this so much more than the usually oppressively grimy griselda shit, and i think that it’s more than just mach’s strength as a writer, and partly because he doesn’t try to “elevate” anything, but stays firmly in the gutter

good album

vc otm

There is a kind of hypnagogic amelodicness to the whole thing that's reminding me a little bit of Ka's Honor Killed the Samurai.

*perks up*

*becomes flaccid*

Listening to this now -- I don't quite have the vocabulary to describe why I like this so much, something about the way the vocals kind of float above all the rest of the sound

https://i.imgur.com/MOu0aCM.jpg
60. Saint Etienne - I've Been Trying To Tell You
155 points / 6 votes
Video from the album: “Pond House”
saint etienne

heh I had no idea they put out an album this year

lol same

they've been trying to tell you

wau

this is about 40 places lower than it would have been but for the great UK ILX exodus lol

big SE fan on the whole but just didn't rate much this 'nice enough' EP

I like “Pond House” but found the album a bit snoozy. Not bad! But didn’t go back to it.

This was the first St. Et album I've liked in quite a while.

I'm a fan of their last two albums -- Words and Music ranks among their best -- but I had trouble sitting still through this one.

https://i.imgur.com/VDtyoRl.jpg
59. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble - NOW
156 points / 5 votes
Video from the album: “Forever Momentary Space”
International Anthem: S/D

I don't quite have the vocabulary to describe why I like this so much, something about the way the vocals kind of float above all the rest of the sound

Vocals are super dry while the woozy Rhodes is low-passed and even the bass has reverb? I really like it.

good album
xpost

I was really really enjoying that Mach-Hommy track linked up, but I wasn't paying much attention to the lyrics and all of a sudden I get "rock with Coldplay, it was all yellow" hitting me. Kind of burst me out of the magic.

rappers love coldplay

no one knows why

I think he mentions Barry Manilow in the next few lines as well!

Love that Damon Locks album. My second vote to place.

voted for it too, really invigorating

SE album was good but didn't find myself returning to it

https://i.imgur.com/HrZv93O.jpg
58. Natural Information Society & Evan Parker - descension (Out of Our Constrictions)
158 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video from the album: “descension 1”
Rolling Jazz Thread 2021

Fuck yes, despite Parker's idiocy, this was certainly a highlight of the year for me. Amazing set.

I was the #1

Still have not listened to this, I need to.

It is an incredible set!

Ironic that an “information society” would be paired with him.

https://i.imgur.com/oIUbdiK.jpg
57. Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark
159 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video from the album: “The Turning of Our Bones”
https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=

Oops thread id missing

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid141

Arab Strap: Classic Or Dud?

There we go

Haven't felt like I need to listen to Arab Strap since the '90s but I heard one track of that somewhere (maybe DJP's radio appearance?) and it was good!

Surprised to see Saint Etienne make it today. Even though I know we're very good to them usually, I thought this one divided people too much. Based on the singles I was expecting this to be the first album that really disappointed me. Ended up growing on me like most of their more mellow albums do. They're probably the only band who've been going for a long time who haven't let me down. They haven't had their Elysium moment yet.