ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

I'll be gutted if Narkopop doesn't show up.

It's not quite Akrakabo, but the switch 2:10 into Tiff might be a good place to start with Simi. From Celine Dion to afrobeat rave in 3 minutes. I love that album so much :)

enjoying that Simi track, will check out the album

Simi placed?

No, just mentioned, took the chance to hype her a bit more. She should have :(

Ah.

I think Monotony has nailed the top 20 with the exception of Jessie Ware and Jay-Z who won't get anywhere near. Something like the Octo Octa record or even Gas feel more likely. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is definitely in there.

Agree, i.e. OO and KAS in for JW and J-Z. I'll take a punt and say Miguel also missed out. Leaving one slot; hoping it'll be Sunny Sweeney but Jane Weaver feels more likely.

Jane Weaver would be great, but I'd be surprised if she cracks the top 20.

good morning!

fair warning about today: i’m in and out of meetings all day today so there could be some extended lags between placements. but i’ve got bbcode for the top twenty on my phone and will do my best to keep it moving via zing.

Quit ur job.

good luck gr808080!

ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017 (77 - 21)

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"
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"

60 WILEY "Godfather"
59 COLLEEN "A flame my love, a frequency"
57(tie) RYUICHI SAKAMOTO - "async"
57(tie) MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA " A Black Mile to the Surface"
56 DUA LIPA "Dua Lipa"
55 KING KRULE "The OOZ"
54 WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA "SUPERMAN"
53 LAUREL HALO "Dust"
52 FUTURE "HNDRXX"
51 WOLF ALICE "Visions Of A Life"
50 KAREN GWYER "Rembo"
49 JULIEN BAKER "Turn Out the Lights"
48 ULVER "The Assassination of Julius Caesar"
47 ALVVAYS "Antisocialites"
46 LEE ANN WOMACK "The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone"
45 VARIOUS ARTISTS "Mono No Aware"
44 CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG "Rest"
43 JAPANESE BREAKFAST "Soft Sounds from Another Planet"
42 LANA DEL REY "Lust For Life"
41 ALGIERS "The Underside of Power"

40 BLANCK MASS "World Eater"
39 GAUSSIAN CURVE "The Distance"
38 FOUR TET "New Energy"
37 THE CLIENTELE "Music From The Age Of Miracles"
36 JAMES HOLDEN & THE ANIMAL SPIRITS "The Animal Spirits"
35 ST VINCENT "Masseduction"
34 THE WAR ON DRUGS "A Deeper Understanding"
33 ALICE COLTRANE "World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda"
32 TAYLOR SWIFT "Reputation"
31 LAURA MARLING "Semper Femina"
30 SAINT ETIENNE "Home Counties"
29 CHARLI XCX "Pop 2"
28 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "American Dream"
27 MOSES SUMNEY "Aromanticism"
26 BIG THIEF "Capacity"
25 MOUNT EERIE "A Crow Looked At Me"
24 CHINO AMOBI "PARADISO"
23 JULIE BYRNE "Not Even Happiness"
22 SACRED PAWS "Strike A Match"
21 J HUS "Common Sense"

https://i.imgur.com/WXoih2T.jpg

20 BICEP "Bicep" (447 points, 18 votes, 2 first place votes)
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\m/

woo

Hi!

It's very easy to underrate this album or take it for granted or belittle its strengths or etc. but I think there's actually very few dance albums that are as strong front to back as this. It has that consistent steely elegance I associate with Beacoup Fish.

Also thank you to the people who voted for Japanese Breakfast, which has been my favourite discovery of this poll (though I haven't actually checked out much else yet) - both albums! I am easy like that.

Also also I would be ecstatic if Octo Octa makes the top 20 regardless of whether it is due to me or otherwise (I suspect otherwise).

Bicep too low. My #1

this next album is no Kaputt, but it’s a damn fine album:

https://i.imgur.com/bZ14Ibh.jpg

19 DESTROYER "ken" (485 points, 15 votes, 1 first place vote)
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i was wondering about the etymology of the word bicep and apparently it comes from 'two-headed', so it works well on that level as a name for a duo. slightly disappointing though cos my best guess was 'two mushrooms'

oh ken

I would probably take one of the (now out of print) feel my bicep hot tub jams t-shirts over any further recorded music from bicep but this is not a statement re the quality of bicep's music so much as a reflection of how much I would like one of those t-shirts.

I knew it. Y'aaaaaaaaaallllllllll

destroyer is dull at the best of times so i genuinely dread even trying to listen to this

fortunately the bicep album is really long so i can just keep that going

never knowingly heard a Destroyer song, the proud tradition continues

My #1. Indeed no Kaputt, but those New Order bass lines & Cure synths are catnip to me. Seeing them live cemented it.

this seems too high, ken is fine but unusually lacking in ambition for a destroyer album and one of his weakest. still a fair few good tracks like Rome and Tinseltown.

Wouldn't have enjoyed this album half as much had he not absolutely blown me away live.

ken took a few listens to grow on me but i love it

def exceeded my expectations live too

i predict a charli xcx Collin in 2019

collab*

so 15 ilx0rs saw him live last year I guess

I've never really listened to the sort of late 90s Sasha & Digweed style pristeen prog-house that the Bicep album is apparently referencing, but every time I listen to it I find myself thinking quite how naff and unfashionable it would have been in the mid-00s. Not that it isn't highly enjoyable, but it could probably do with pruning in the middle. That said, when you get out of the boring mid-album drift, especially the moment where the Indian film soundtrack sample kicks in during Rain, it's pure hands-in-the-air stuff right to the end.

https://i.imgur.com/o6grMfu.jpg

18 MIGOS "Culture" (491 points, 16 votes)
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yay

front to back gr8 album

I have listened to this album a lot this year it's fun I don't have an overarching theory

Fun fact I wish I'd never discovered on New Year's Eve, if you watch some godforsaken Michael McIntyre stand-up dross with the volume down while Bad & Boujee is playing it links up perfectly, Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz style.

I'm guessing this has put paid to the Future S/T appearing anywhere because no way is that record higher than this.

Surprised the destroyer album made it. I expected it to maybe place in the 40s. I voted for this. Feels less ambitious than his previous albums so more easily dismissed, but I think this is probably a top 5 destroyer album.

Too low! Way too low :( Was sure this was going to be in the top 10.

The only album this year that felt like the perfection of a musical language.

I've never really listened to the sort of late 90s Sasha & Digweed style pristeen prog-house that the Bicep album is apparently referencing, but every time I listen to it I find myself thinking quite how naff and unfashionable it would have been in the mid-00s. Not that it isn't highly enjoyable, but it could probably do with pruning in the middle. That said, when you get out of the boring mid-album drift, especially the moment where the Indian film soundtrack sample kicks in during Rain, it's pure hands-in-the-air stuff right to the end.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 1 February 2018 12:59 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh matt really? you should listen to disc one of northern exposure 2 at least.

yall

i'm listening to POP 2

^_^

:)

omg

ken is a significant step down from the previous two albums, some nice moments, but mostly feels phoned in and generally lacking spark.

It's a step down and not unpleasant – it's the smoothest nothing since an '80 Bryan Ferry album.

the pops keep coming:

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

17 GAS "Narkopop" (493 points, 16 votes)
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