ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

not enough emo in the top 77

thanks guys for all the hard work. wasn't able to follow along as closely as in previous years but i'm looking forward to catching up on the playlists.

another thanks here

do u like drums

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 1 February 2018 19:21 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah? well me too

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 1 February 2018 19:21 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3 you all

Really complex feelings about Susanne this year it's a mix between TOO HIGH and THIS IS MY FAVOURITE ARTIST OF THE DECADE

haha what that gif was awesome!

thank you poll runners!

work has been very busy this week so have not been able to follow but look forward to listening through the albums I'm not familiar with

For no real reason, I had stopped keeping up with sad computer music. The Four Tet is sounding very satisfying and comforting so far. I think There Is Love in You was the last one I heard by them.

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, January 31, 2018 5:00 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think you will enjoy his Morning Side 12" immensely, masterpiece alert

btw, I'd nominate Moka as a poll partner, but she may be way too busy.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, February 2, 2018 3:13 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Would endorse.

69 THE NATIONAL "Sleep Well Beast"
Did not listen too much to this but the times I did it sounded great, Day I Die a highlight, I'm certain this will have a long afterlife, just like TWFM

60 WILEY "Godfather"
Guy's in great shape, v enjoyable

49 JULIEN BAKER "Turn Out the Lights"
Hurt Less a standout, but this whole album is so good - it's no Sprained Ankle, but why should it be? Only reason I didn't listen to it more is because... feelings ;_;

38 FOUR TET "New Energy"
Guy just keeps getting better, whoever mentioned that (at least in hindsight) Rounds can seem a bit busy otm - he seems really comfortable in his style by now, and I always have time to listen to his drums

37 THE CLIENTELE "Music From The Age Of Miracles"
A beautiful surprise, got me through the autumn

35 ST VINCENT "Masseduction"
Long time fan, for some reason I never sat down to listen to this one. Unrelated, I think the Byrne collab is p good.

19 DESTROYER "ken"
We will all be better off when we stop expecting Destroyer to recreate/top Kaputt. This was a good record indeed.

7 RICHARD DAWSON "Peasant"
I'm not sure if imago likes this

Wiley album charts but Dizzee's doesn't?

Thank you amazing poll runners g80808080 and seandalai! I enjoyed this roll-out immensely.

Tim I'm amazed you hadn't heard the Japanese Breakfast album given its such Tim catnip.

I voted for both Wiley and Dizzee but Wiley's is better. They're both comfortably into the dreaded Return To Form segment of their career now. Difference with Wiley is that this is actually his best album and the record that people had been crying out for all along. Obviously the J Hus record makes them both look like dinosaurs.

I like all the comments about blurry, low-key, indistinct saddo music. you'll all be old one day, fuckers.

I think I got 16 or 17 votes into the Top 77 (J Hus, Kendrick, Japanese Breakfast, Hannah Peel, Wiley, Sacred Paws, the Weather Station, Chino Amobi, Charly Bliss, James Holden, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Bicep, GAS, Wolf Alice, Julie Byrne, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, maybe Slowdive and Future). Probably my indiest ballot yet, which is the polar opposite of my tracks list.

btw in the U2 topped the list

in the end*

I like all the comments about blurry, low-key, indistinct saddo music. you'll all be old one day, fuckers.

― bizarrer Gandhara (Noodle Vague), Friday, February 2, 2018 8:53 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hah! I think I had more tolerance for this kind of thing in my 20s. Maybe it's a sign of my hearing declining that I'm asking for more distinct sounds that get to the GODDAMN POINT as I inch towards the 40 mark

I just want to be gently lulled into my eternal slumber

plus, y'know, life = blurry, low-key, indistinct

If you're waiting for something to get to the point you've probably missed what the point is.

NV I'd be really interested to see your ballot because I really have no idea what you like except for Gangnam Style and Schoenberg and I don't think either of them were eligible this time round.

NV should vote !

Thanks for all the hard work poll runners

xxp to Matt DC, oh sure, i agree. but increasingly i'm starting to relate to Lex's complaint from a few years ago about 'music for music journalists to listen to while staring at into the screen at 2am. Not that there isnt' a time and place for that kind of thing, there just seems to be an abundance of it. See you on the soca thread ;-)

I'm surprised Stormzy didn't place. I thought he was just as popular as J Hus round here

paolo, we are closest neighbours. great ballot, if i do say so myself.

Weirdly feels like Stormzy's time in the sun is already passing (or at least that's the impression I get) while J Hus is at peak hype. Wiley's work is impressive for a vet

xp thanks! I liked yours too

Stormzy's headlining a day at Wireless that sold out in record time, I'd say he's fine. Grime in general is old-hat compared to what J Hus and friends are doing but everyone knows that anyway.

I think I don't listen voraciously to enough new albums to be a viable music-poll voter. things I've been into this year include Wiley, GAS, Migos, Kehlani, did TQD even make it?, Kendrick...maybe the Vince Staples but I'm not half as into it as Summertime '06 at the moment, JLin. I need to hear the J Hus album but I know that would be my bag, and I was unaware of Wednesday Campanella but I'm keen to listen to that, suspect i'll be all over it.

Also Zaytoven's Trapping Made It Happen but I don't even know if that's an "album". Probably other things I can't remember at work, dancewise especially. I tend to shove the things I like into big random playlists with stuff from earlier years so I don't think much about albums as albums nowadays, and most of what I'm into is about sound and texture as much as artistic definition maybe.

anyway it's handy when these lists come up with even a few suggestions that I can be late to in 2018, it's just a bit of fun.

what i'm getting from the few times i've delved deeper is that most of J Hus's cohorts sound very very similar to J Hus, even down to the tonality of their voices. could be wrong as i've only scraped the surface. Also I'm getting very confused about the term 'Afrobeats' now.

J hus was robbed

Grime in general is old-hat compared to what J Hus and friends are doing but everyone knows that anyway.

Agreed. The old guard in grime (eg Wiley, Skepta, JME, Ghetts, P Money etc) are still good at what they do but there's very few new MCs and producers coming through to get excited about. It's going to be interesting to see if anyone else from the afro-bashment/afro-swing scene (or indeed from the drill scene) can do a J Hus this year

never heard of uk drill. need to investigate

Ghetts' 'Know My Ting' was excellent from last year

Can anyone do me a quick breakdown of the different sub-genres of the UK grime/afrobeats/bashment/swing/drill scene? If I didn't know better, I'd have lumped J Hus in with the grime scene, or a continuation of the grime scene at least, but it seems they're counted as quite separate

Grime - Wiley, Stormzy, JME, Skepta etc. You know what this sounds like
Afrobeats - catch-all term for modern pop music from Africa at this stage but especially Ghana/Nigeria
UK drill - mostly what used to be called Road Rap - Giggs, Krept & Konan etc
Afrobashment - the newer stuff that takes in elements of all three, much younger artists and listeners involved on the whole - J Hus is the standard bearer but also Mostack/Kojo Funds/AbraCadabra etc. Some of this stuff has gone mainstream very quickly (eg Not3s 'Addison Lee', Yungen & Yxng Bane 'Bestie') to the extent that J Hus could be said to have genuinely changed the sound of British pop already

Okay, makes more sense. I've heard J Hus be described as 'Afrobeats' and broke into a sweat. Afrobashment makes more sense, but yes I've heard a bit of these guys (Mostack etc) and it's definitely a THING isn't it? Looking at Spotify playlists it looks like there's a lot of crossover with afrobeats in Nigeria and dancehall in Jamaica, with collabs with Burna Boy, Alkaline etc

Yeah I mean some of those guys you mention play to like 100,000 people in Lagos and given that most of the UK artists are of African heritage they're obviously looking to get some of that exposure. Which is why I think the first international British rap superstar is likely to come from that scene rather than grime or UK rap. Someone like Hus makes a lot more sense in a market that's already used to Wizkid popping up all over the place whereas the language, slang etc of grime doesn't really translate.

yeah it's exciting and maybe one of the first examples of a true pan-national genre emerging, or at least a 360 axis between US trap/UK grime/Nigerian Afrobeats/JA Dancehall all collaborating and putting their sounds into a melting pot. I'm not super taken with the UK afrobashment sound yet. I like J Hus's album but the rest is a bit samey from what I've heard. I will keep listening.

maybe one of the first examples of a true pan-national genre emerging

I agree it's exciting but this is an insane statement to make.

well, a new one that's forged across countries as opposed to started in one place and then adopted by others. maybe just talking out my bum

the thing about all this stuff breaking now is I was going to club nights 5+ years ago that had all these elements in the mix: Afrobeats, dancehall, UKG etc and the basis of the sound was there

it's gotta start somewhere and clubs is usually where it starts.

this is a very good list and i am thrilled by the top 10. sad i didn't vote.

btw, I'd nominate Moka as a poll partner, but she may be way too busy.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, February 2, 2018 3:13 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Would endorse.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 2 February 2018 07:56 (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thirded

I never knew Moka was a she!

Thanks, poll runners! I'll do my best to vote next year.

Saturday night is when voting closes for The 2017 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! Ballots due Saturday, Feb. 3rd!

please vote!

Hello there! I would love to help you out whatever you need as a poll partner. My line of work is sometimes very busy but I have several months I’m practically on vacation.

I never knew Moka was a she!

― ArchCarrier

Yes! Feisty, spanish, girl iirc lol