ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

I think I voted for this? I hope I voted for this? It rules.

I've never heard synths+horns mixed quite like this.

love this, didn't vote for it cause 25 is just too small of a number :(

i didn't keep my albums ballot but i'm pretty sure this didn't fit on mine either :(

Hey, my #1! The moment around ~3:45 on opener "Goodbye Earth" where the colliery band joins the kosmiche synths is my second favourite musical moment of 2017 after the guitar coming in on "Akrakabo". Great album, wonderful followup to the completely different Awake but Always Dreaming.

love this, didn't vote for it cause 25 is just too small of a number
^this - but I did buy it with actual money

Had this top 10, she's fantastic

Only 9 voters for Kesha is a surprise, I thought there was more across the board appeal for the LP than that. The most thoroughly fun record I heard in 2018.

it bears restating that that moment in akrakabo was so blindsidingly wondrous that I don't think my jaw position has recovered yet

I think Spotify is having a bug because I have been streaming some of these picks for the last 20 minutes and I haven't had a single ad. I'm not complaining though.

last one for today:

https://i.imgur.com/mtaD7Nb.jpg

61 VISIBLE CLOAKS "Reassemblage" (244 points, 8 votes)
spotify

i think i voted for this but i actually kind of liked the EP better

ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017 - MONDAY RECAP

77 AIMEE MANN "Mental Illness"
76 L'RAIN "L'rain"
75 ELDER "Reflections of a Floating World"
74 PLAYBOI CARTI "Playboi Carti"
73 THE WEATHER STATION "The Weather Station"
72 YOUNG MARCO / VARIOUS ARTISTS "Welcome To Paradise (Italian Dream House 89-93)"
71 LOUISE BURNS "Young Mopes"
70 HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF "The Navigator"
69 THE NATIONAL "Sleep Well Beast"
68 SPOON "Hot Thoughts"
67 BJÖRK "Utopia"
66 WAXAHATCHEE "Out in the Storm"
65 TORNADO WALLACE "Lonely Planet"
64 EX EYE "Ex Eye"
63 KESHA "Rainbow"
62 HANNAH PEEL "Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia"
61 VISIBLE CLOAKS "Reassemblage"

visible cloaks album rules

i enjoyed the hannah peel record last year, found ex eye in the songs longlist, great stuff too

no huge surprises but also nothing terrible! well done everyone.

First one of my votes to place! And if I revoted today, it'd probably fall off in favor of something I learned about through this poll :) But still, I like it.

amazed visible cloaks made it but very glad it did

The Hannah Peel + the video to Bicep's "Glue" had me dig out the Jeremy Deller/Williams Fairey Brass Band Acid Brass for the first time in ages. Keen to check out the Ex Eye & the Young Marco comp!

I may have voted for up to four of these (Ex Eye, Elder, Aimee Mann, Hannah Peel) but I may be tricking myself

I started an Italian house thread over here

Hannah Peel was top 10 for me as well, it feels like she distilled the feeling you get midway through Kate Bush's 'Hello Earth' with the monks' chorus from outer space and made a whole album out of it, I love the sense that it's spinning out into the galaxy while simultaneously feeling completely warm and homely. It's beautiful.

Visible Cloaks:) great one-two to finish the day off

Never heard Visible Cloaks but if it's the person behind the Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo- Fourth-world Japan, years 1980-1986 mix from nearly a decade ago, I should check it out.

xpost w/Matt DC: Yes, it's very The Ninth Wave!

Acid Brass is a fun time!

tornado wallace album is a++++

feel kinda bummed no one said "hey man this record is very gr8080, you should listen" to me at all last year

― gr8080, Monday, January 29, 2018 1:32 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dude should change his name to like Cool Breeze Wallace or something

― gr8080, Monday, January 29, 2018 1:36 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol :)

carti way too low. room-enveloping ear candy.

― hoooyaaargh it's me satan (voodoo chili), Monday, January 29, 2018 10:22 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I knew Magnolia, but I'm just listening to this for the first time. "ear candy" is otm

Hannah Peel was my main discovery from last year's poll, but I could not get into this one. Sounds like she's jamming with a high school band

visible cloaks placing at the end of today feels like a refreshing warm face cloth after a strange and sometimes stodgy 16 course meal

glad hannah peel made it, archid orange dwarf reminds me of arthur russell's instrumentals

Yay, Ex Eye! First of my votes to place.

Best discovery of the day is Louise Burns.

So, although I apparently hyped Ex Eye early on, I ended up forgetting about it and never buying it. Listening now, though, it's great and I don't know why.

like a refreshing warm face cloth after a strange and sometimes stodgy 16 course meal

But then you realize the cloth is as starchy as the dim sum meal was. (I know stodgy is not a synonym for starchy, but I couldn't help mentally substituting the latter in place of what you wrote.) Mostly good stuff so far, just nothing I'm that excited by.

nuh, visible cloaks is just water, light and vapours, it’s basically music for breatharians

digging visible cloaks

this is a really nice track off it, actually a bonus track but it’s maybe the most accessible thing

visible cloaks with miyako koda - valve (revisited)

x-posts

I have no chance of evolving to that level in this lifetime.

i can't keep up w/ the rollout in real time, checking in during lunch and just have to ask: is there a different Hold Steady than the one i know? because i don't know how you get to the Hold Steady i know from Hurray for the Riff Raff

i can def hear craig finn yelling "HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF" but yeah otherwise no

Fuck I posted a bad link - let’s try again:

visible cloaks with miyako koda - valve revisited

This one completely passed me by and I like Colin Stetson

― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Monday, January 29, 2018 12:55 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same. Good stuff.

A couple thoughts after tonight's listening session

Aimee Mann is undoubtedly closer to my own personal taste than I suspect most of these picks will be yet it doesn't really grab me.

L'Rain sounded interesting based on the first few tracks. Saving this one for later.

Not feeling Louise Burns or Hurray for the Riff Raff at all.

I don't think I've listened to any Spoon before. First few tracks were not bad. Might revisit.

The popularity of Waxahatchee still escapes me.

Tornado Wallace sounded okay. Maybe a bit too background-ish for me to care.

Hannah Peel is the one I listened to all the way through. Nothing spectacular but enjoyable enough.

Just put Visible Cloaks on. This sounds very nice so far. Might be a keeper.

Got one of my picks in (Ex Eye). Most likely the only one I'll get even though I have unreasonable hopes for my 2# due to this board's passion for women-made indie rock and I'll end up being sad.

Ex Eye is awesome

Visible Cloaks are cool

nuh, visible cloaks is just water, light and vapours, it’s basically music for breatharians

I tried the L'Rain album after she appeared in the tracks poll; it was a little bit shapeless for me to truly love straight off the bat but I'll persevere with it.

Enjoying Louise Burns!

weather station record is great, sad i slept on this.

i like the swearing in it.

My picks already faring much better than on the tracks list -- L'Rain, Waxahatchee, Aimee Mann. Happy about the latter's Grammy win, though I don't hear it at all as a folk album.