ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2017

Don't think I heard this yet but would def have voted for it anyway

not a lot is better than the Earthbound soundtrack

Great album

Also enjoyed the XX whenever I heard something from it.

Octo Octa was a major find from the poll. She's incredible.

Octo octas record with la vampire is really great as well

Where Are We Going? was my #1. It has such a joyful live-sounding three-dimensional quality! it’s one of those rare hour long albums that seems too short, and it gave me a lot of happiness this year

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, The XX and Gas are all albums I enjoyed a lot last year that didn't quite make my list. Really didn't expect to like an XX album so much in 2017, but it's somehow become my favourite of theirs.

Really need to give the Bicep album a listen. I liked the songs I heard from the playlist a lot.

Need to give the Octo Octa album another go. I loved the title track from the playlist. Nothing else grabbed me quite as much.

Shocked to see Destroyer make it so high. Kaputt is a masterpiece and Poison Season was a worthy follow up. Apart from a couple of songs, Ken left me cold. Not even the Suede referencing album title could get me on-board.

Octa Octa, give me the news. Indeed a great find from these polls.

i wasn’t blown away though i liked a lot of kas’ previous projects, and i sort of think the kid is a masterpiece

voted GAS high up there, love it, agree that gapless playback is essential

I still like EARS more, but The Kid had lots of great moments. Her singing took some strides forward toward melodies that actually develop and stretch her range. It's probably time for her to try out some different efx on the voice though.

I know people revere the 90s GAS classics, but Narkopop is by far my favorite album of his

kas' songwriting isn't totally up my alley but she's great at creating and inhabiting elastic pockets of sound

The xx album is their strongest to date. They've both become more polished vocalists, and the songs finally have some pep.

The dude is still a terrible vocalist.

I recently fell in love with 'On Hold (Jamie xx Remix)', which mostly does away with his vocals

He's improved!

xp

Octo Octa album gets better as it goes along, really impressive

^it's really worth listening to with good headphones!

man i hated that xx album

yeh this octa 2 album rules

what is it about the kid that has bewitched ppl who were only moderately engaged before? I've been similarly bemused w/ ppl declaring dust to be this great leap for laurel halo; to me both fit the curve of progression they were already on

i mean it's def on the curve of her progression, it just also knocked me out

https://i.imgur.com/kLeeZ2f.jpg

13 KELELA "Take Me Apart" (630 points, 18 votes, 3 first place votes)
spotify

lower than i expected

I thought this would be top five!

(was top five for me!)

Ogmor, it may be that there are more tracks that sound recognizably like songs with verse-chorus structure. Maybe gives more people a way in as opposed to the more meditative loops and burbles plus mantras from the earlier albums.

Thought the Melanie Di Biasio album would've shown up by now.

there are some really sweet cuts on this kelela album

I really really liked Thugger's Beautiful Thugger Girls and I'm slightly surprised ILM didn't care this year

aw this was my number one, a genuine travesty that it isn't higher tbh

Kelela album is good. I had to warm up to it because her earlier stuff was so lackluster and overrated. This time she delivers the goods.

so many layers of sound to get lost in

At last. Obligatory 'too low'.

I really really liked Thugger's Beautiful Thugger Girls and I'm slightly surprised ILM didn't care this year

― Badgers (dog latin), Thursday, February 1, 2018 10:42 AM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i voted for it, but too low on my balot. i think if there's one lesson i've learned is that i should do a mixed ballot. the stuff on the bottom of my ballot is often stuff i like a lot, but in a weighted ballot, i might as well have not voted for them at all.

Had an unweighted ballot but Kelela would've def been top 5 for me.

after Octo Octa, GAS, Bicep, and Kelela, the top 10 is going to be a let down for me

took a while to get into a couple of the cuts in the middle part, but now those slow-jamz-as-ambient tracks are some of my favourite songs

Just to backtrack a little, I don't get the love for Octo Octa's LP. I found it to be mildly enjoyable, often kind of bland.

And where's Dauwd ? Or Chloé?

xps

wow today rocks, lots of good albums

dauwd was on my ballot, but i'm p sure he came in @ ~#197

where is lady blacktronicka

where's waldo

Just to backtrack a little, I don't get the love for Octo Octa's LP. I found it to be mildly enjoyable, often kind of bland.

And where's Dauwd ?

i like it but the dauwd album is way more bland than octo octa

shocked at the absence of gaz coombes and yer granny on bongos

I forgot to vote for Melanie De Biaisio so I really hope it isn't sitting at #79 or something. By all rights it should have been on my ballot.

i’m in and out of meetings all day today

"I think the Bicep proposal is a good start--oops, I mean. . ."

rounding out our trifecta of albums with cover art featuring artists posing with their heads back:

https://i.imgur.com/iSlM783.jpg

12 KEHLANI "SweetSexySavage" (632 points, 20 votes, 1 first place vote)
spotify

Nice

yeah that's another great record