ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2021

Last one for the day!

So happy to see Insides make it! Such a gorgeous album that sounds like it could have come out a couple of years after Euphoria. I think it was in my top five.

https://i.imgur.com/kiDTnYh.jpg
47. aya - im hole
182 points / 5 votes
Video from the album: “Emily lights us moor”
Rolling Re-Re-Reconstructed Club Music 2021

damn how did i miss the new insides record entirely

thee. vibe. hath. placed

RESULTS

47. aya - im hole
48. Insides - Soft Bonds
49. Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over The Country Club
50. Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses
51. Nite Jewel - No Sun
52. Bicep - Isles
53. Yu Su - Yellow River Blue
54. Joy Orbison - still slipping, vol 1
55. Mogwai - As The Love Continues
56. Loraine James - Reflection
57. Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark
58. Natural Information Society & Evan Parker - descension (Out of Our Constrictions)
59. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble - NOW
60. Saint Etienne - I've Been Trying To Tell You
61. Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti
62. Sarah Davachi - Antiphonals
63. Howie Lee - Birdy Island
64. Black Midi - Cavalcade
65. Vijay Iyer Trio - Uneasy
66. Altın Gün - Yol
67. Kabza de Small, DJ Maphorisa & Tresor - Rumble in the Jungle
68. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!
69. Can - Live in Stuttgart 1975
70. Vanishing Twin - Ookii Gekkou
71. Eris Drew - Quivering in Time
72. Emeka Ogboh - Beyond the Yellow Haze
73. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
74. Hayley Williams - Flowers for Vases / Descansos
75. Doja Cat - Planet Her
76. Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks of God
77. Various Artists ‎ - Heisei No Oto- Japanese Left-Field Pop From The CD Age, 1989-1996

xp to Brad lol there's been a lotta "how did I miss this" posts like that ITT, the landscape is fragmenting

tomorrow had better be the most imago day in poll history ffs lol

This rollout so far is perpetual 2am comedown vibes

I tried Soft Bonds when it came out and wasn't moved (Euphoria is classic, have cherished since hearing it in high school), but I just put it on and am transfixed, always appreciate this poll for moments like this

This rollout so far is perpetual 2am comedown vibes

― tangenttangent, Tuesday, February 8, 2022 3:52 PM (fifty-three seconds ago)

listen to the Damon Locks album IMHO

good to see insides beating both mogwai and godspeed, death to false post-rock amirite

listen to the Damon Locks album IMHO

Will this affirm or refute? I will find out when I can wrestle free of Saint Etienne's twilight vice (it's actually quite good).

refute! though tbc I wasn't challenging your characterization of the dominant mood but suggesting NOW as an antidote

best song on the insides record is the last one btw, 'undressing'

Yessss, the aya record is very special to me.

My fave track (which has been stuck in my head all week) -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR9_YnKDVdM

nice to see pray for haiti make it, boom bap masterpiece

xps to rob, still feeling very 2am, but this is lovely. It is the aural equivalent of experimental film... Experimental music!

the title "i'm hole" feels like a doge meme or something so i haven't checked the album

xp
it does have a nocturnal atmosphere, that's true

maybe the cicadas are a nod to Brakhage*

*they are not

sometimes i might be hole

Aw, Insides! I didn't hear this but JT has produced/mixed stuff for us and he's lovely so very glad to see them.

I did, however, vote for im hole, I think it's more interesting than a lot of the vibesy stuff on the list, though it definitely is vibesy in many places. Wasn't expecting it to place, tbh, so I've still got my fingers crossed for two more off my ballot.

technically it's "im whole"

xp

the aya track Jordan just posted is NOT A VIBE

i like that both of emil.y's votes are on hyperdub, just promise you won't abandon us for dissensus okay?

I mean, it's A vibe

perhaps her next album will be called ' w. that would be a meta joke i could get behind.

once again heard most of these, i think i only haven't heard insides, mogwai and arab strap. the insides album especially seems promising.

stuff here i quite liked but didn't vote for: flock of dimes, yu su, nite jewel, ldr (chemtrails over the country club >>> norman fucking rockwell)

the aya album was one of the least enjoyable things i heard this year

People rated the Arab Strap, then?

Interesting developments! I voted for these from this batch. Certainly didn't anticipate NIS&EP making it, so w00t!

47. aya - im hole
58. Natural Information Society & Evan Parker - descension (Out of Our Constrictions)
61. Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti

I spent a fair bit of time with the Yu Su, Loraine James and Saint Etienne too.

Pretty sure I didn't know anything about Damon Locks et al or Flock of Dimes before this instant. The Locks video track certainly seems great so far. I keep meaning to listen to the Insides too, thinking "it's that Insides?!" every time I see the cover. I have a bit of homework to carry on with then...

Flock of Dimes one of those names that I loathe so can't see myself liking the music.

I'm not too big a fan of 'im hole,' it seems like something I'd love and then everytime I give it a spin I want to stop listening to it almost immediately lmfao

did anyone do this dn yet?

If this is people's first exposure to aya (which it likely is), her first EP as LOFT is still my favorite: https://astralplanerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/turbulent-dynamics

There's another really good one on Wisdom Teeth too, I think her best work is still ahead though.

i like that both of emil.y's votes are on hyperdub, just promise you won't abandon us for dissensus okay?

― o shit the sheriff (NickB)

I dunno, do you think they'll let me ban people over there?

terrible

― waka flocka dimes (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, January 5, 2012 12:40 AM (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

Why the fuck is that Lana Del Rey album higher than that fucking incredible Bicep album

Lido off the Bicep album is my favourite thing they've done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjdp9yap7L4

Shit sorry,that was meant to be a hyperlink, that never works when i actually want to do it

i was a bicep voter, they haven't steered me wrong yet

that aya record was oddly disappointing to me, ended up just listening to more of her earlier, instrumental stuff instead after throwing that on

the Bicep album was nice, but in terms of melodic head bobbins, Ross From Friends and Lone both put out better records. Betting the latter two don't place.

Liked the Bicep, Ross from Friends, LDR and yu su albums when they came out, didn’t find myself replaying them much after the initial positive impression.

Loraine James and Joy Orbison I didn’t really payed attention to but loving them atm.

Don’t really recognize any of the other albums from today’s run. I need to listen to a bunch of stuff.

Great list so far! Only two of my votes have made it this far, and I'm stoked that everything else has apparently made the top 50! Yay BackRoad Gee, drill taking over ilx! Apart from that, several albums that I left off my ballot at the last moment, and a lot of new-to-me stuff that sounds really good. A bit more:

Emeka Ogboh was my 7, I love the sound. The psychedelic cacophony reminded me a bit of recent cinema from the continent to, such as Air Conditioner which I think can be seen on MUBI. Or Felicité by Alain Gomis.

Didn't vote for Insides, but it's really good, and I have to recommend everyone checking out Clear Skin, the 38 minute track they made in 94, which is one of my favorite things ever.

Loraine James my 21. Some of it was almost IDM-drill like, which I adored.

Also, yay jazz! There's a significant amount of jazz on the list so far, no? And I'm guessing quite a lot more to come. I really liked the Damon Locks, and while I didn't love the Vijay Iyer trio, I almost voted for the album Tyshawn Sorey made with King Britt. Also, I fear Anna Webber might have been the 78 this year :(

Yeah I liked the Roass From Friends album enough, especially Life In A Mind, but like Moka I've just not felt like replaying it much (unlike the first album which I still regularly dig out). I really love his sound and his approach but there were too many long meandering bits hammocking the more meaty stuff on this one.

Flock Of Dimes album sure squanders its promising Big Thiefy opening two tracks eh

'had your fun, time for some ambient acoustic noodling'

‘Ritchie Sacramento’ on the Mogwai album is what it would be nice if Coldplay sounded like.