ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

I'm kicking myself for missing the voting deadline, too. Even made a couple noms. Next year I will pull my shit together and vote, promise.

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

38 FOUR TET "New Energy" (295 points, 10 votes)
spotify

That one didn't do anything for me.

Not really a big Four Tet fan but I liked this one a lot - it was the last cut from my ballot but would definitely make it if I was voting today.

here's the title track of the gaussian curve record: The Distance

very soft, languid music, it sounds like they're just gently caressing the air molecules in the room

sounds right up my street ;)

am listening anyway

four tet is unalloyed dullsville

Is the Four Tet a collab with Tove Lo?

iirc the last track on the four tet is great and the rest is....whatever

Gaussian Curve’s debut from a few years back is even better

https://i.imgur.com/h3G4G7K.jpg

37 THE CLIENTELE "Music From The Age Of Miracles" (298 points, 11 votes)
spotify

best band since the smiths

this might not be so bad in fact, am deciding

I'm not gonna listen to the Gaussian Curve record because in my head it is an ambient electronic 1-hr cover of that Cake song.

(Note that I like this idea that is in my head and fear the reality would only be a disappointment.)

re world eater
voted rhesus negative in the songs poll but cool to see the album place

fun fact- gaussian curve is a principal in physics that solves for optimal pizza slice eating

https://youtu.be/gi-TBlh44gY

fey, reactionary dullardry with the occasional decent melody, i'm deciding

i just had a panicked vision of a 2023 albums rollout thread where it was only me and imago

:D

Initially, the Four Tet wasn't what I wanted from him - too gentle and pretty - but I came around to it in time. I liked most of his 00s stuff without loving it, but the last three or four years have seen a pronounced upswing.

had completely forgotten to listen to the Gaussian Curve album until now but it's as gorgeous as i'd expect

the Clientele record takes some small chances I wasn't expecting while also being gorgeous and cohesive and right up there with their best work

i underestimated the four tet record, some of his prettiest stuff since Rounds

Blanck Mass! Gaussian Curve! Good start today.

https://i.imgur.com/VxivoC4.jpg

36 JAMES HOLDEN & THE ANIMAL SPIRITS "The Animal Spirits" (302 points, 10 votes)
spotify

I always found rounds much too busy, liked his newer stuff lots more. I should give the latest one another chance. Or I will when I finally get through all the trax noms, God there are a lot of these.

Oh what James Holden had a new record and I missed it? Love that guy.

This is absolutely amazing, my #8. The melodies are wonderful, the sense of dynamics really brilliantly executed and it sounds like nothing else. Set the controls for the psychedelic electro-forest!

New Clientele is my least favorite record by them but it's also great

the inheritors was peak Holden imo but still love this one

The dynamics really brilliantly executed, I mean to say - got lost in my own verbiage there soz

fwiw I am 9 tracks into the Clientele album without turning it off so it's obviously done something right, although I'm not sure what

this is a neat little stretch of poll

yeah this was an excellent record, would make awesome bonfire music

Too low!

that clientele album was pretty decent

track 10 is like their attempt to write a Half Man Half Biscuit song and it's probably the best thing so far, lovely

this seems to be the ciderpress stretch

really loved this one, very immediate for how dense it is. the dynamics remind me of Can at their best in a way that most krautrock-influenced stuff doesn't usually

yes! it's not linear

imago that song is the sequel to a previous, even better track called "Losing Haringey." you should check it out.

Sonically it felt more Cluster/Harmonia to me but there's something in the synths. A lot of krautrock influenced stuff is just motorik beat + modern synths and guitar production and this is very different, it's got that warmth to it.

finally something I've heard, albeit only a couple of times. It's fun

closing track is nice too. someone on RYM made a Zombies comparison which is very unfair as it really isn't at that level, but there's something nice going on here and viewing it as London pastoralism will certainly endear it to me - I will have a look at Strange Geometry

Shit yea this is good stuff

Took a couple of listens but I ended up liking this more than The Inheritors. Had it somewhere in my top 10

yeah you're all getting your heads exploded by Spinning Forest rn eh? well, the rest of the album somehow keeps the level up, dunno how

The Clientele is a great band. I loved this album and forgot to vote for it perhaps because I apparently WASTED a vote on U2!

GR80!

daft comparison time! the james holden album is kind of where caribou should have gone after 'andorra' instead of the yawnsome bollocks they've been serving up since

"this sounds exactly like 00s Dan Snaith" is all I've been thinking through the first track

Think The Clientele album as my #2 or #3. Excellent album.

Really enjoying the James Holden one.

Full album is on youtube here for those who don't spotify.