ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

Opening track of this has some cool 90s triphop vibes. Morcheeba recast as folk

Such a great album. She has really been cranking it out without ever faltering in quality.

Didn't vote for albums, but Laura Marling placing higher than Taylor is heartwarming.

is it true she's a tory?

enjoying the Clientele album - what should I check out by them next? Suburban Light or Strange Geometry?

depends on yr interests - SL is more lo-fi and hazy/mysterious while SG is crystalline and bright

This is beautifully produced and sounds fantastic but I find her music less enjoyable with every passing album.

enjoying the Clientele album - what should I check out by them next? Suburban Light or Strange Geometry?

― ufo

Strange Geometry is probably the next one to go for. It's the perfect balance of all the things that make them so great and is probably the closest in sound to the latest album. The Violet Hour is my favourite overall, but it's definitely their least instant release.

it's so un-instant that even after dozens of attempts I still can't seem to find a way in!

Yeah, Strange Geometry for sure is the logical next step.

Suburban Light is extremely wonderful, plus it was reissued recently-ish with a bonus disc that rounds up missing bsides/one-offs/split sides/etc

thanks, will check them out

it's so un-instant that even after dozens of attempts I still can't seem to find a way in!

― Simon H

It took me a long time to get there. I just remember when I first moved to Minnesota in the autumn I kept playing it when I was out walking and it all just fell into place. The perfect soundtrack.

i had no idea how to listen to the taylor swift album so i didn't

God Save The Clientele is also easy to love if you like their brighter vibes. None of their albums should be dismissed.

Reputation did eventually end up on Spotify

https://i.imgur.com/2Z7BaLC.jpg

30 SAINT ETIENNE "Home Counties" (330 points, 13 votes)
spotify

by that time my curiously had long since waned xp

Welcome to ILM.

ilm is insane

Here they are!

looool xp

haha

beautiful record, if not as powerful as its immediate predecessor

Love this one though I think it's a slight step below Words and Music. They really are achieving some kind of remarkable second wind though.

Alfred

http://www.nutritionxpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/new-years.jpg

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.

This is definitely an album that matches the position its ended up at. Not quite as brilliant as Words & Music and Tales From Turnpike House, but still a beautiful record that I went back to a lot over the summer. It's a very comforting record.

the album cover for this reminds me driving past our old family home - it's nice to see it's still standing and well cared for but i really wouldn't want to move back in there again. so p much how i feel about st etienne in general tbh

Dive and Magpie Eyes are both particularly top-notch.

the album feels like sort of a halfway point between Turnpike House and Words & Music, musically speaking it takes a bit from both.

I was happily surprised by how much I liked a couple of the St. Etienne tracks (from the nominations playlist, I guess), but then I couldn't get past the beginning of the album. I've never cared for them, but maybe should give it another try.

Lots of sad computer music sounds meditative and content if you imagine a serene snapshot of nature, but crushingly sad if you instead picture a happy family smiling together at the dinner table or something. I blame cinema.

~slumber~

Oh hey cool, Blanck Mass, my second one to show.

(Going into the poll, I would've thought that I had about 6 dead certs show up--Ex Eye being a seventh when it appeared--but I feel like it's time to scale that number down to 3...)

https://i.imgur.com/434tOPI.jpg

29 CHARLI XCX "Pop 2" (332 points, 12 votes)
spotify

love this record and yes her first album is the best

Saint Etienne my #3. I've said this before on ILM but this was the album I always hoped they'd make, the potential of bits and pieces from the earlier records fully realised at last. Sarah's never sounded better, certainly. At the same time, some tracks came perilously close to self-parody.

i don't get this record and i feel like every time i say that i end up in an argument. more power to charli though

I couldn't get into either Charli mixtape :(

Really didn't realise this was so popular on here. I preferred Number 1 Angel (which I'm guessing has missed out?) Neither of the mixtapes came close to how much I love True Romance or Sucker.

you are all terrible people

every song is a tuuuuune

was really shocked how great this was, was not expecting Charli + PC Music to finally deliver after one dreadful EP and one merely ok mixtape together and years of mediocrity from PC Music. it's pretty easily her best release. the p4k review describing it as "My Teenage Dream Ended except good" is completely otm about its appeal (except MTDE rules too of course)

so many great moments - the cut up second half of Backseat, the screams on the chorus of Tears & the dreamy outro, "if you want my love, try to unlock it!", all of Track 10

Have been listening to little but this album the last week. Absolutely amazing. Wish I had voted for it, happy to see it place

Oh is this PC Music? :)

ufo with some nice takes in both threads

Oh is this PC Music? :)

A. G. Cook executive produced and there are a bunch of PC Music production credits on individual tracks, but as a whole it's very much a Charli album.

Sounds cool!

I like Gaussian Curve's basic sound on this album so far but I keep wanting something more to happen, either melodically, rhythmically, or texturally.

https://i.imgur.com/86SncGA.jpg

28 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "American Dream" (336 points, 12 votes)
spotify