ILM’s Top 77 Albums of 2021

lol Evan

I can’t find the Coltrane in the top 200

Live albums in 101-200 we have #102 Can, #127Lee Morgan, #137 Arthur Russell

And a tie

111 75 Dollar Bill - Live Ateliers Claus
111 Les Filles de Illighadad - At Pioneer Works

Not sure if those are Live albums but the album title makes it sound like they could be

Ok found the Coltrane it’s our #540 lol

Haha ty

re: Arooj, can't think of a more ILM-friendly way that Hindustani vocal music could have been packaged; props, in a weird way. if you want to hear something from the tradition that's got a bit more going on tonally, I recommend Ustad Saami (who I voted for)

― imago, Friday, February 11, 2022 2:38 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"hey guys, i get why this lamestream artist would appeal to your shitty tastes, but how about you check out an artist you're less likely to appreciate but that i, the one true arbiter of what is and isn't interesting, like more"

it's tradition

Other Music clerk parody circa 2006

Moka - yes those are both live albums

Thank you poll runners, this was fun

Thanks so much to the poll runners for all your efforts. It has been a good distraction over the last couple tough weeks.

I'm a very casual Low fan and didn't vote for the album. It's definitely up there with the best they've done (probably only rivaled by the Christmas album) and I can see why it was so popular. It does feel like this is a rare poll where it seemed obvious who the number one would be from the very beginning. I can't think of another year where it was like this? Maybe Kendrick in 2015, but even then Ten Love Songs and Emotion put up a good fight.

I enjoyed the top ten and voted for everything from Cleo to Tinashe so I guess I'm part of the problem. I really need to finally check out the Arooj Aftab album.

do think the need to state "why would you listen to female-fronted pop music when you could listen instead to this guy farting into a tuba for 4 hours" is an impulse worth interrogating

The gender assumptions here are also worth interrogating imo.

And thx to the poll runners!

I am loving the fact that the Aftab album also had a limited edition perfume sold along with it (see Bandcamp)

i'm down with the new low sound but am apparently the only person who thought HEY WHAT was diminishing returns after double negative

Whiney and all, I'm certainly down for rolling goon or a new weird/inexplicable/time travel thread.

I mean I know my tastes in everything are "particular" so to speak, but I just really don't like a lot of what placed today...Arooj album fell flat for me, and contemporary pop is crap to my ears, so...

(As I put on the Sylvie Courvoisier/Mary Halvorson album) xps

I had a crazy week so basically had barely any time to listen to anything during the rollout, but will listen to a bunch of these in the coming weeks. Ultimately only two things I voted for ended up placing the top 77 (though they were my number 1 and 2 (Lingua Ignota and Mr Twin Sister)).

great poll, thank you forks, moka, and seandalai

thursday was the best day of the poll, good mix of faves plus discoveries for me

Big thank you to the pollrunners. I didn't really chime in on this thread because most of my comments would've been along the lines of "This album is OK" but a decent chunk of my ballot did show up at the end here. The Low album is a worthy winner, really grew on me to become one of my favourite things they've done. Nice to see the Nala Sinephro album just outside the top 10, I had that as my #1.

Lots of things to check out (and some to re-listen to maybe) as usual.

Thanks forks, moka, and seandalai!

I don't like most contemporary pop either, the glossy production always instantly makes my brain lump it in with reality-show-background.mp3 and other muzak you might hear at Walmart or the dentist. Generally it's just not for me. I guess I'd be totally pwned with the guy farting in tuba comment but instead I'm listening to for example Lea Bertucci's last album (if that's the sort of thing being parodied) and it's actually beautiful if you give that sort of thing a chance. But maybe it's not for you!

Huge appreciation to moka, forks and sean - this is always such a treat

Great list, needed more rap/hip hop though, and less alt rock *yawn* but thems my preferences I guess

"hey guys, i get why this lamestream artist would appeal to your shitty tastes, but how about you check out an artist you're less likely to appreciate but that i, the one true arbiter of what is and isn't interesting, like more"

― roflrofl fight (voodoo chili)

it's tradition

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson)

Also without this kind of stuff the thread would be mostly empty. I say we need *more* challops4u, not less.

challops are fine, fart sniffing condescension is not my favorite

fwiw, i'm def planning on checking out ustad saami

well it worked then ;)

let's not bicker tbh; there's something for everyone in the 77

god is not a terrorist was fantastic, need to recheck last years

Ustad Saami rules, though I liked this year's album a little less than prior ones. I dislike the idea of "countering" Aftab with Saami for a few reasons but don't feel much like arguing about it.

thank you to the poll runners!

Thank you all so much for this!

Also I know it was said already but holy shit @ 85 Victory Over The Sun - Nowherer
Had it at 22 on my list.

can someone say how arooj aftab gained the attention she's obviously had this year? what's the story there?

thank you forks and seandalai and moka! It's been fun two weeks

emily, table, and imago if he behaves:

rolling careerist hacks, awkward pandering, transparently manipulative thread 2022

xxp I remember she was on a few "Best of the Year So Far" lists that I saw at the midpoint (Guardian, NPR) and Pitchfork gave it a BNM when it came out.

ah okay. cool that she was featured in those, she's not exactly on a massive label

Thanks so much Moka, forks and seandadata. Superb poll running as ever.

Been following on my Phone all week, but now on laptop so finally enjoying the eye candy that is the images. Really good presentation of the cover art, and the size and resolution is allowing me in some cases to see details I'd never spotted before.

As to the results: loads of records I've never heard of, which is always the case but rarely so many or so high. Lots to check out.

can someone say how arooj aftab gained the attention she's obviously had this year? what's the story there?

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Friday, February 11, 2022 4:07 PM (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the answer is usually "she hired a publicist"

in this case, looks like she shares a publicist with flying lotus, four tet, and many other critical darlings

i voted for her at #2, no need to be cynical, i'm glad that she hired someone who got her great music out there.

Thanks pollrunners! I went unweighted because I couldn't manage anything else but on reflection, I think I'd have a Cleo Sol/Cassandra Jenkins/Anne Bourne/Deafheaven/Old Saw 1-2-3-4-5.

I only caught up with Arooj Aftab this year. I was listening to it while pruning the plum trees and our two chickens clearly enjoyed a couple of the tracks, coming right over to the speaker and listening quietly while they were playing. I've never seen them do that with anything else.

Also btw the Maxine Funke LP was one of my biggest discoveries from the noms, even though it's not in the top 100. Very intimate record that's gotten a lot of play around the house. Ambient folk??

Re Aftab, I think that part of my response is that I have a dear friend who is an Indian-American experimental musician who I think does similar things to Aftab, but much better. Yet this friend's work isn't as hyped, so y'know.

people skeptical of aftab's 2021 album might do well to check out her 2018 debut, which is much more ambient and abstract, less song oriented.

I don't know how it made its way to me (probably ILM), but Vulture Prince affected me on some profound level and I was obsessed with it for weeks after hearing it. Probably would have been my #1 if I had voted. Glad it did so well. I get how maybe it wouldn't leave an impression or isn't someone's thing, but I can't imagine wanting to talk music with some joyless fuck who can't hear anything beyond what moves she may have made to promote/commercialize her sound (sell out?) or whatever. (I'm not at all referring to you, voodoo chili).

tv poll likely gonna take another week or so for me to organize, but one more still on the way

full results coming in ~30 minutes

Re Aftab, I think that part of my response is that I have a dear friend who is an Indian-American experimental musician who I think does similar things to Aftab, but much better. Yet this friend's work isn't as hyped, so y'know.

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Friday, February 11, 2022 5:33 PM (one hour ago)

1) Aftab is from Pakistan not India

2) I don't know what you think you're getting at here, but Aftab and your friend sharing a racial identity / geographical roots isn't that compelling of a point of similarity—why does Aftab's success relate to your friend's career at all? If you're trying to imply the racist experimental music industry (?) only allows one South Asian woman to be successful at a time, you're not being very clear

how's this friend with a tuba?