ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

Too much of the Gaussian Curve record sounded like unabashed muzak to my ears. Unless that's the whole point?

no, i think there's a level of emotional communication to it that you might be missing

I found it kinda muzak-y too tbh. Maybe further listens would be revealing, idk. Async by comparison struck me as a much stronger record

It's fine to hear it as muzak but there are some depths there if you feel in the mood to pay more attention, as Nick says.

the way the synth and the guitar curl around each other on the title track is just magical to me. that song actually reminds me quite a bit of small hours by john martyn, so I think I'm semi-primed to go into some sort of trance state when I hear it anyway

Nick, was it you that recommended Small Hours to me on that Music in the next room thread? so awesome.

I don't remember doing that but yes it is basically the best music ever :)

btw, I have very little idea what's going to be in the top 20 tomorrow besides, like, Kendrick, Paramore and (maybe?) Jay-Z? In this respect, tracks was easier to predict even if it seemed like it wasn't, because I've got noooooo clue what weird albums y'all were listening to in secret.

I imagine we'll likely get:

Susanne Sundfør
Kelly Lee Owens
Jay Som
Charly Bliss

I hope we get:

Rapsody (my #1)
Jamila Woods (but lots of people might just always consider this a 2016 record)

I woulda voted for jamila but i voted for her last year!

SZA probably?

Kelela too.

Oh yeah, definitely hers.

Kehlani as well?

how about Sunny Sweeney? I would've expected her to show up already

I would expect Lorde, Fever Ray, and Bicep to all show up. Jane Weaver also feels like a very ILX pick.

I'm hoping for Chelsea Wolfe, Zola Jesus and Bicep

i got 6 in the top 77 and 4 in the top 20

Lorde, Fever Ray, and Bicep

Yeah, all of those sound right, so...

Lorde
Fever Ray
Bicep
Kelela
Kehlani (?)
SZA (?)
Susanne Sundfør
Kelly Lee Owens
Jay Som
Charly Bliss
Jay-Z
Paramore
Kendrick

That still leaves seven slots

Destroyer? ILM will ILM.

six slots (Migos)

xp

Mig:(s

Migos is short for The Mountain Goats right

kaitlyn aurelia smith

I had a stab at 20 and came up with this:

Bicep
Charly Bliss
Fever Ray
Jay-Z
Jessie Ware
Jlin
Kehlani
Kelela
Kelly Lee Owens
Kendrick Lamar
Lorde
Migos
Miguel
Paramore
Richard Dawson
Slowdive
Susanne Sundfor
SZA
The xx
Vince Staples

But I'm not confident on a lot of those, and am sort of basing some of my predictions on those acts' past appearances on ILM lists rather than than whether their latest albums were embraced by posters this year.

for instance I loved the Jessie Ware album and she's a perennial ILM favourite but it seemed like the reaction was much more muted towards Glasshouse than her previous 2 albums.

Miguel's album may have also come out too late in the piece to make a real dent in the 77. But at the same time it seems crazy that he would miss out altogether.

I could wrong about Jay Som's ILM footprint. It might have been popular every place else besides here, but I don't hang out in the indie threads a lot so I don't know (I voted for it).

v. detached this year but i'm enjoying the rollout from a distance, lots of stuff that i want to go back and check out.

Yeah i think Jay Som's getting 78'ed. A shame, it's a great record that i should've voted for

mountain goats has got to make it no?

a certainty

Seems possible/probable(?)

I'm not sure about the Vince Staples and xx predictions from monotony above, and I think this particular Jessie Ware album is an extreme longshot, so three spots could be up for grabs and the Mountain Goats might lay claim to one of them.

I can't fathom a year where a Destroyer album is released and all the Bejar nerds don't push it into the poll, though, whether it's any good or not.

all of this speculation makes me think that my #1 won't make it, although I still have hope!

Tyler The Creator, Ibeyi, Phoebe Bridgers and Gas are all artists I would have expected to place somewhere in the list, but the top 20 seems a bit high.

Jessie Ware and Miguel both got mixed reactions on their threads. It would seem weird if they both missed out though.

Considering how beloved his past work is, it's incredible how tepid the response to that Gas album was (and it even got good reviews when it came out!)

Outside chances of Aldous Harding (though I wouldn't really imagine it beating Big Thief), maybe Octa Octa ... don't think Nite Jewel's going to make it. Would be nice to substitute Re-TROS for LCD Soundsystem and as much as I like Sacred Paws, it's be nice to have Simi's Simisola for contemporary Nigerian highlife rather than a Scottish indie take on the 80s stuff :/

Also Octo Octa's gotta make the top 20

It would seem weird if they both missed out though.

It would seem extremely weird if they both landed in the top 20.

I've got six from my ballot in the 21-77 range, and I expect to see between four and five in the top 20, so I really can't complain too hard about pet favorites missing out.

monotony's list looks good. not sure if there was enough enthusiasm for the miguel, vince, and jay though

How about Perfume Genius? Definitely deserves to be here. Not sure it got that much buzz unfortunately.

ILM seems less about new release buzz now and more about fighting over 30 year old albums (except for the k-pop and rap thread(s)).

Did anyone actually hear the Jay-Z album though? I hear Martin Shkreli has the only copy or something.

lol

I could see Perfume Genius happening more than I could Jay

these 14 are dead certs imo:

Bicep
Charly Bliss
Fever Ray
Jlin
Kehlani
Kelela
Kendrick Lamar
Lorde
Migos
Paramore
Slowdive
Susanne Sundfor
SZA
The xx

xp I loved Narkopop! would have been my #1, but for one other album....

I considered Perfume Genius but I don't think he's ever placed on an ILM list and I'm not sure that there was a big enough voting bloc to get him there this time.

would love octo octa in the top 20 but i don't see it placing unless it got a big tim f bump. then again it does seem like it could be a broad consensus record, i just didn't see her album mentioned much

I think "Queen" maybe made the tracks poll whatever year that was, but I could totally be wrong too. I'm old and I forget things. xp

Yeah, his previous album didn't place in 2014 and I don't think this one was much that more popular. It's my favourite album of his by a long way.