ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

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.

holden album rules, narrowly missed my ballot

https://i.imgur.com/w8wZxoC.jpg

35 ST VINCENT "Masseduction" (306 points, 14 votes)
spotify

see you all in half an hour

that seems low

I agree

was hoping that St Vincent 'going pop' would help me to like her more but it was the opposite

too high

ufo otm

My #3

I was expecting St Vincent in the top 10 tbh. Mind you, I am completely terrible at the prediction game.

i enjoyed this the first time i heard it but never felt the urge to go back to it after that

I liked this more than the other St Vincent albums I've heard but I'm not totally won over. A lot of the things that have been placing yesterday and today are things I've listened to once and thought 'yeah, this is alright'.

I'm giving the Holden album another try, thought it was totally unremarkable on first go.

Oh, I'm liking the Holden quite a bit.

holden/snaith comparisons are otm

never got in to holden before and this is absolutely my bailiwick

I liked him better when he made dance music

eww dance music

^^^

This has been a great start to the day. Gaussian Curve is another one I discovered from the overlooked albums of the year thread. Such a beautiful album.

Delighted to see The Clientele make it, I'd given up hope of them placing. Some days I think it's the best thing they've ever done. The best reunion album this year by some distance.

I had a feeling St Vincent wasn't going to be as high as previous years. Her backlash seems to be in full swing now. I preferred the S/T album, but really not by much. Ignoring the David Byrne album, she's one of the most consistent artists going.

Glad to see Blanck Mass and James Holden.

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

34 THE WAR ON DRUGS "A Deeper Understanding" (312 points, 9 votes, 3 first place votes)
spotify

:(

As I said on the Holden thread, I think he's pretty much the only 00s dance producer who stepped away from the dancefloor and became more rather than less interesting.

Destroyer also likely to appear, then, I guess.

see you in another half hour

3 first place votes!