ILM Top 100 2005-2009: ALBUMS

enjoy

or if johnny f is around and wants to post the final 4 he can go ahead and do it

how did i never notice that fucking robyn is wearing a fucking keffiyah on her album cover smh smh

so glad it placed relatively low and not like top 10 or anything

xp re SVIIB: For me it's a comfort album, it's not making a grand statement or inventing new landscapes. I put in on when I want to relax and just sink into pleasure. For me it scratches a similar itch to Ashra or Steve Reich, though obviously it sounds quite different.

Are you sure that's a keffiyeh and not just, like, a bandana?

lj i know u don't listen to rap & u slag off indie and dance above so what genre are these great artistic statements being made in, prog & metal?

A lot of them are being made in rap, indie and dance! My main concern is that ILM is unfairly weighted towards certain genres, but I don't want to have the debate now.

(Metal has a lot of good'uns, yes, but not a great deal more than most other genres! Hell, I think if New Amerykah wins this poll it'll have deserved it, although I'd personally rather Third took it)

Also, there's more rap in my taste now than at any other point in my life

someone gave you a rap cd today?

Hey Johnny I know you're not a retard but if you do post the final four, make sure to subtract one from the number next to the album on the excel spreadsheet

NEUNAME BE ZINGING

this NEW SO7B track is possibly better than anything on their debut btw

and fuck - there's a rap album at 5 in my ballot! really!

School of 7 bells is my first vote to place! cant really understand anyone not being into that album tbh, for me it does all that stuff that old skool 4AD did for everyone that wasnt me (yeah im looking at you, Lush)

oh wait duh FOTL placed already. fine its my second one then

0 for me so far

Don't worry about me Jordan, watching The New World and if Terrence Malick films are anything, they are fucking long.

Just checked back here - so glad Kelley Polar made it - I think that album helped to make a bunch of things (such as a love of disco strings and claps) click for me.

I dug out the Liars album the other day and it's much better than I originally gave it credit for. I remember thinking it sounded like a poor-man's Boredoms or an Animal Collective rip off, but there's so much more going on.

I also dumped that Liars album very quickly, haven't listened to it in years. Maybe I should dig it out again.

i watched the DVD with the music videos

I'll take it down to 61 y'all. Woo hoo!

63. ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS I Am a Bird Now (2005) [235.5 points, 8 votes]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/I_Am_a_Bird_Now.jpg

Drums Not Dead opened up incredibly after I saw them play tracks from it live - saw them play it in Leicester Square and it was awesome. IF I'd voted it would be Top Ten.

That's a great cover. Still trying to make something of the music.

Such a great album! And only $13.99, the same price as his recent album "The Crying Light." Come talk to me, Jason! I'll help you find other great alternative rock music.

I never heard it but it feels like ancient history when that came out.

I am a Bird Now is one of those albums that just blew me away. I remember putting it on for the first time and just falling in love with it straight away.

62. THE FLAMING LIPS Embryonic (2009) [236 points, 11 votes]

http://expresion.metro951.com/files/2010/01/FlamingLipsEmbryonic340B72.jpg

^^opening track and Powerless are awesome, but rest hasn't really grown on me too much - what am I missing? apparently this is one of the great art-pop statements of recent years...

While quite breathtaking at various points (Hope There's Someone being an obvious pinnacle of any musical genre this past decade), I find I Am a Bird Now a little uneven and occasionally a bit over the top for my tastes . I find The Crying Light a more accessible record that I go back to more regularly. I realize I'm in a serious minority.

I haven't properly listened to this yet, but from what I have it sounds like a real hodgepodge of experiments, akin to the kind of thing the Focus Group does. Not necessarily a bad thing.

i haven't listened to embryonic much yet, since i figured the lips were at the point in their career where they're just cruising on reputation and decent pophooks, but it's actually a refreshing slide back into their psych roots

I've seen School of Seven Bells live twice now, and while not bad, they did not move me at all - not enough dynamic, not enough noise, not enough prettiness, not enough weirdness. So close to stuff I love but just not there. HOWEVER, I may sit down and try to listen to the album in full again. The only time I did before was at quite a low volume, and that's never the way to get the proper impact of a record for the first time.

I just relistened to the two tracks I named and yeah they're DAMNED good - but as I say, please sell me the rest of the album!

emil.y's criticism of SO7B is pretty much exactly my own - they seem a bit watered-down. maybe that's the point.

Don't agree with me too much, LJ, I have absolutely never got the point of Max Tundra and will proclaim it hella boring. Would listen to yr youtubes just to check (I'm right, though) but (for the 100th time on ilx) my computer makes no noise.

61. GIRL TALK Night Ripper (2006) [236 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Girl_Talk_Night_Ripper.JPG

Okay, that's 40 down. There's 60 to go:

100. LIL WAYNE Tha Carter III (2008) [181 points, 8 votes]
99. SPOON Gimme Fiction (2005) [181 points, 9 votes]
98. CAMERA OBSCURA Let's Get Out of This Country (2006) [183 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
97. RHYTHM & SOUND See Mi Yah (2005) [185 points, 9 votes]
96. CARIBOU Andorra (2007) [187.5 points, 9 votes]
95. BATTLES Mirrored (2007) [190.5 points, 11 votes]
94. BOARDS OF CANADA The Campfire Headphase (2005) [192 points, 9 votes]
93. NE-YO Year of the Gentleman (2008) [195.5 points, 10 votes]
92. NEKO CASE Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006) [196 points, 8 votes]
91. LOS CAMPESINOS! Hold On Now, Youngster... (2008) [197 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
90. SLEATER-KINNEY The Woods (2005) [198.5 points, 8 votes]
89. VITALIC OK Cowboy (2005) [200 points, 10 votes]
88. ART BRUT Bang Bang Rock & Roll (2005) [200.5 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
87. ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Strawberry Jam (2007) [203 points, 9 votes]
86. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN The Life Pursuit (2006) [204.5 points, 8 votes]
85. BAT FOR LASHES Two Suns (2009) [205 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
84. FUCK BUTTONS Tarot Sport (2009) [206 points, 12 votes]
83. SANTIGOLD Santigold (2008) [206.5 points, 10 votes]
82. HOT CHIP The Warning (2006) (206.5 points, 12 votes)
81. DJ SPRINKLES Midtown 120 Blues (2009) [208.5 points, 10 points]

80. LOW Drums and Guns (2007) [209.5 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
79. WOLF PARADE Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005) [210.5 points, 10 votes]
TIE 77. FUTURE OF THE LEFT Travels With Myself and Another (2009) [211 points, 8 votes]
TIE 77. MADONNA Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005) [211 points, 8 votes]
76. ELLEN ALLIEN & APPARAT Orchestra of Bubbles (2006) [212 points, 12 votes]
75. YOUNG JEEZY The Recession (2008) [214.5 points, 9 votes]
74. DAFT PUNK Alive 2007 (2007) [219 points, 10 votes]
73. VON SÜDENFED Tromatic Reflexxions (2007) [220.5 points, 9 votes]
72. AMY WINEHOUSE Back to Black (2006) [223 points, 9 votes]
71. RACHEL STEVENS Come and Get It (2005) [223 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
70. KANYE WEST Graduation (2007) [225 points, 11 votes]
69. KELLEY POLAR Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens (2005) [225.5 points, 11 votes]
68. LIARS Drum's Not Dead (2006) [229.5 points, 14 votes]
67. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science (2008) [233 points, 13 votes]
66. ISOLÉE We Are Monster (2005) (233.5 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
65. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Alpinisms (2008) [234 points, 15 votes]
64. ROBYN Robyn (2005) [234.5 points, 9 votes]
63. ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS I Am a Bird Now (2005) [235.5 points, 8 votes]
62. THE FLAMING LIPS Embryonic (2009) [236 points, 11 votes]
61. GIRL TALK Night Ripper (2006) [236 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]

i have no idea how girl talk made this album. was it acid or ableton?

it's like ableton on acid

Still have never heard Night Ripper, for some reason. Worth a listen or "had to be there" kind of thing?

Worth a listen!

2nd track of Embryonic is pretty good too

It's worth hearing just for its novelty, and for what he does he's pretty good at it, but there's NO WAY anyone keeps going back to this album as a favorite.

Okay, out of my three, I am astounded that Drums and Guns is so very very low, surprised that Ellen Allien even made it, never mind got so many votes (maybe because I don't do dance threads so never saw the love elsewhere) and also surprised that Von Sudenfed beat Low, but still very happy it's there.

I've four albums that I can think of that I'm certain will make it in this poll later on, but aside from those that might be it.

i'm quite surprised at the last two placing so high. Embryonic feels like it only just came out and Night Ripper is fun, but def a novelty album.

7 for 40

i don't really like girl talk at all, its got the short shelf life of a novelty album and it just makes me want to go listen to the actual songs that it has chunks of. it's just one giant ball of tease

OK LOOKS LIKE I SLEPT ON EMBRYONIC A BIT

i have no idea how girl talk made this album. was it acid or ableton?

Audiomulch. There's actually a youtube that shows him go from editing a sample to making a beat out of it in less than two minutes. I downloaded Audiomulch to see how easy it was. What do ya know? It IS easy. But I couldn't imagine how you'd put together a 60 minute set like that. THAT'S where I give him respect.

i tried to do a girl talk-style CD-R mix in Acid Pro 4 of the best of the 00's starting with 2000 and allocating 8 minutes per year. I got about as far as 2004 and then gave up - it sounded like a mess, with a few nice bits in between.

Voted for these two:

80. LOW Drums and Guns (2007) [209.5 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
65. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Alpinisms (2008) [234 points, 15 votes]

Madonna, Ellen + Apparat, Jeezy, Von Sudenfed, Kanye, Liars, TVOTR, Isolee, Antony, Flaming Lips all pretty great, also. This was a really good run of albums!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KykbPtRb0K4