ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2021

Also, yeah, I feel like today was interesting. More of a variety in styles and approaches. Good day.

im wondering if Lingua Ignota, Deafheaven and Circle will be the closest we get to metal on here. still have hope for Rhododendron but also not really metal.

New to Ran Cap - sounds great here now. Voted for Wau Wau and HTRK. This is a handsome list but so few voters are making stuff place. That's a little sad.

there's a metal album that was my #1, but I have no idea if anyone else is voting for it

i'm excited that chvrches haven't placed yet :)

This Deafheaven record is confusing. I think I like it a lot but by turn it reminds me of different bands. There's a big Morrissey / Marr sounds in some songs. Bits sound like Mogwai. There's also some twee sounds. Is it The Posies. Odd. I'll need to spend more time with this.

I'm guessing that's top 10

xp

Moka, was the image in that recap intentional or do you want me to take it out for you?

― emil.y

An accident! Yes please remove em

Lol the way the Deafheaven album has been described so far is hyping me up.

Deafheaven guy uses his indoor voice!

Fixed for u, Moka

Ty

Yay Halsey placed this high. Also happy for Dawson, Circle & the Bug but they've all done better albums before.

Some things I voted for

45. Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective - Ngủ Ngày Ngay Ngày Tận Thế

Discovered this on the nominations list, it's awesome but I still don't really know what it is tbh

39.(TIE) Wild Up - Julius Eastman Vol.1: Femenine

I mostly knew Julius Eastman as the guy who sings "LIGHT...IN THE LIGHT". Femenine is my first encounter with his music, this version is immediate and generous and it's deep and layered, I keep listening over and over.

35. Wau Wau Collectif - Yaral Sa Doom

I first heard the track "Salamaleikoum" in my Discover Weekly and I started levitating at my desk. Perfection.

Allow me to share their spotify description:

Rắn Cạp Đuôi - một tập thể những cá nhân không bó hẹp hay lệ thuộc trường lớp âm nhạc nào, với họ, sự khiếm khuyết kỹ năng có thể bù đắp bởi sự cởi mở phóng khoáng. Cởi mở tứ phía và chẳng bao giờ ngừng nghỉ ở một trường âm thanh nào.
Rắn Cạp Đuôi-vẫy-vùng trong những trường âm thanh vô luật dữ dội và chìm đắm kì khôi.

Hope it helps

Lol the translation doesn’t really clear things up:

Rắn Cạp Đuôi is a Saigon-based collective of autodidacts for whom the relative absence of virtuosity might or might not have been made up for with an abundance of goforit open-mindedness. Schizophrenically hopscotching between but never comfortably resting.
The group channels the un-neat ruleless strangely ferocious world of quantum mechanics.

a lot of good stuff today, voted for rochelle jordan, tyler, & deafheaven and there's a lot of other stuff i like here. think i heard everything that placed

deafheaven turned out to be much better as a regular shoegaze band than a metal band. it's funny though because existing deafheaven fans seemed to largely not like it but it's an absolutely excellent shoegaze album. great dynamics, huge soaring guitars, incredible drumming.

snail mail album was a nice surprise after not really being into her debut or the single from this one, going full sophisti-pop on "forever (sailing)" was so good.

i had high hopes for the weather station album because the singles were excellent but it didn't really live up to those, it was just fine overall

a bit surprised jazmine sullivan placed so low considering all the hype around her this year + her being an existing favourite here but it was indeed a pretty slight release, nowhere near reality show

Have never heard of Rắn Cạp Đuôi, even though we're in the same city. But from the sound of it, probably not the type of group to be touring locally

I am having a reaction of both "I love or at least really like this album but it didn't make my top 25" (Deafheaven, Richard Dawson & Circle, Jazmine, Weather Station, Insides, Flock of Dimes, Jane Weaver, Spellling, the Kabza de Small / DJ Maphirosa / TRESOR album, Saint Etienne, Yu Su, Bicep, Howie Lee, Doja Cat, Eris Drew) and "I was not aware that this existed" more frequently than usual - not sure what this means in terms of fragmentation tbh. It's like the more frantically I try to stay across things the more unrealistic that aspiration becomes.

I voted for Manchester Orchestra, Rochelle Jordan, Emeka Ogboh, Halsey and Snail Mail. Really pleased to see Emeka make it in particular - a lovely album that could easily have flown under the radar.

Bicep was an interesting one for me. I think it's probably the equal of the debut and certainly is not a case of them simply repeating past glories - it's more syncopated than the debut, or at least more consistently focused on exploring ideas of syncopation - but their arrangements sound so certain of themselves, so clear on the targets they want to hit and then so effective in hitting them, that I found myself not returning to the album very much, as if there was nothing much that I could conclude about how the music operated that the artists don't already know full well themselves. Which is perhaps a bit revealing to me about some of the things I get out of listening to music in the first place.

Emily's line about the music evoking a sense of nostalgia for something you never actually experienced is spot on though.

Really like that way of thinking about the Bicep album.

I like how you think and write about music, shame there was no 2021 thread of your favorite songs. Always lifted a couple of votes for songs that you hyped me to vote for.

Doja Cat is adequate at best and her pickme routine for racist edgelords is fully disqualifying for me

the halsey album was decent and had some pretty cool moments in places but really just made me want a new nin album

Another day of interesting results that make me realise I didn't do as well at keeping up with new music last year as I originally thought.

Jane Weaver was my only vote to place. Nice to see her make her first appearance on any of our lists. Probably her best album yet and Solarised is a career highlight.

I need to go back to the Snail Mail album. I ended up loving the title track. Her first album didn't do a lot for me. Halsey is another one I need to revisit.

I tried so hard with The Weather Station album. I heard a couple of songs and bought it immediately (Robber in particular stood out). I found myself getting kinda bored with it as the songs went by. It starts so strong. The exact same thing happened with the Dry Cleaning album. Neither live up to their opening songs and wore off very quickly.

Yay! for Deafheaven and Lingua Ignota, two albums I voted for. Since it doesn't seem like there's going to be a metal poll this year, these 2 placements may have to do. The Deafheaven in particular was one of my most-played albums from the year.

For those interested in Ran Cap, there is a very thorough explanation of who they are and their constellations on their Resident Advisor page.

It's like the more frantically I try to stay across things the more unrealistic that aspiration becomes.
― Tim F, Thursday, February 10, 2022 1:36 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Really sharing this sentiment. The Top 77 had a very different year than mine, not in terms of appreciation, just in terms of exposure. But that's the true original definition of hivemind - little bees completely unaware of what they are building.

The Deafheaven is indeed their best by miles. Really enjoyed that, and I wouldn't have imagined saying that before.

Plenty to check out from yesterday. Let's start by resuming a very promising first contact with Wau Wau Collectif...

Really love how the tracks are segued in WWC. Little touches like that really elevate albums

God I sound so gauche there lol. I just mean that for an album that's a grab-bag of local Senegalese music, segueing it together is an inspired move

Julius Eastman/Wild Up in the top 40! good work folks.

Whoa, Rochelle Jordan has started GREAT

Charli XCX's recent (and directly thieving) take on UK garage becomes even more embarrassing in light of this having come out last year (not to mention Pinkpantheress)

All Along is like an avalanche of r&b

the rochelle jordan album ruled, r&b leaning so heavily into uk dance sounds worked so well. like, a lot of stuff has toyed around with r&d&b before but this really consistently went for it. my favourite r&b of the year

Yeah this is fresh

Not sure this needs tracks 8-10 (probably revealing the limits of my attention-span more than anything else lol), but otherwise very grand!

(the last two tracks are a lovely ending)

The vocal melodies on the Halsey track honey remind me unavoidably of Panic at the Disco.

Echoing all the praise for Rochelle Jordan. I hadn't heard this at all before, but it's way cool.

Forgot to say anything about The Bug. Voted for Pressure in tracks as I just didn't have enough time with the album, but it would have made my ballot. Such grimy, basement-dwelling grooves. Extremely weird and unsettling throughout.

I was the #1 for Rochelle Jordan; I love that she wasn't afraid to display the full gamut of emotional states, from fearless club sovereign ("Got 'Em", "Already") to vulnerable and reflective ("Lay", "Broken Steel"), and everything in between. Shout outs also to the ode to the fuck-off fund ("Count It") and "Dancing Elephants", possibly the best Disclosure track somehow not actually made by Disclosure

HTRK making me wish I was listening to Pygmalion instead tbh

Ah 'Heartlow' is a gorgeous return to waking life

sorry for liveblogging all this but in lieu of other people listening and responding...

wasn't super interested in htrk based on the example track, but if it sounds like pygmalion, i'm gonna queue it up

If I squint my ears I sort of hear the Pygmalion comparison. There's no ethereality to HTRK though, at their heart there's this feeling of being shackled to this life and a sort of quiet resistance to the gnawing emptiness of it all. Sonically I'd say this record is closer to Grouper than anything else. Best songs are 'Real Headfuck' and 'Reverse Deja Vu'

Do keep up th liveblogging though plz imago

First half of the Weaver was stellar. Second half wasn't so much until Solarised. First five (maybe six) plus that would have been a brilliant mini-album

HTRK reminded me of ilx favourites The XX.

quiet resistance to the gnawing emptiness of it all

ooh, when I go to a new record store I head straight for this section

The HTRK album is one of my few votes to place so far. It takes me back to highschool. Yeah I guess I’d RIYL: Slowdive, Grouper, Mazzy Star that sort of sulky, sad, nocturnal dream pop