Get Naked (I Got A POLL): ILM's Top 100 ALBUMS Of The 00's

We've all barely got our breath back from the tracks, but we go again!

As usual, here's a Spotify playlist.

I could let things stew until tomorrow...or I could post a few tonight. What do we think?

Fire away.

You know I love an early start to poll

Let's get 5-10 people here and I'll make a start

hi!

I'm sure we've already got 5-10 lurkers among us.

o/

Let's do this

TOO HIGH

Lurking eagerly

we're all NV's socks saying do it

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100. Panda Bear - Person Pitch - 556 points - 13 votes - 0 FPVs

I don't think I've ever heard this, I still like early AnCo though.

Lovely graphics btw TT

NV otm.

TOO HIGH

Person Pitchfork, eh? Terrible start.

yeah tt your work has been consistenly fab on these things

Early AnCo is indeed good, though.

And I third the tt praise!

Midtown 120 for number 1 or fuck all of youse btw

Thanks guys! I wish I could have made the images less compressed so you can actually see them. Next decade I'll just put them on Snapchat.

Nothing else?

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99. Kanye West - The College Dropout - 558 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV

Cant comment on something I haven't heard I'm afraid.

xp

Probably too low

Looks like he made it this time around. I've never understood the fuss, his flow was always wack.

I should probably listen to the whole thing again one of these days (not today).

TOO LOW

btw excellent thread title, imago

I'm listening to Panda Bear and it sounds sort of like a busy railway station. It's not as bad as I was expecting based on an aversion to Animal Collective, but the lovely, hazy reverb is not enough to make me overlook there being few changes in melody.

pomenitul otm about Kanye

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98. Basement Jaxx - Rooty - 558 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs

Glad this is out the way. This period of dance music turned me right off for a few years

Cool singles and all but I don't think it qualifies for a top 100 sub specie aeternitatis.

clearly ten people disagree enough

idk what sort of music basement jaxx even is after hearing several of their songs

I expected this to be top 10 tbh They were hugely popular here back in the day

To their credit it's all kinds of music, danceable being the lynchpin.

Wow at Kanye only just scraping into the top 100, his rep has really dropped off.

There's a few more Kanye albums to come, right?

Maybe, maybe not. How was 808 received on ILM?

I can’t say, but College Dropout won the EOY poll for 2004.

Streets were #2 that year and I don’t expect them to place.

808 rules but dropout was the only kanye i voted for

Yeah, I can't imagine many ILMers still listen to the stuff.

xp

Wild results so far! These could've passed for the top 3 prob in 2010

At least Mike Skinner taught me the British meaning of 'geezer' as early as 2002.

Huh, I must have listened to Rooty more than I remember, because some of these tracks are instantly familiar. 'Jus 1 Kiss' and 'Get Me Off' are great, and I voted for 'Where's Your Head At' in the tracks poll.

I voted for Person Pitch. That and Feels are fading for me but still like them very much.

Love the images, again.

re: Person Pitch, Mark Richardson has a nice image in his Pitchfork review about spinning samples in "wheels of sound that seem like they could go forever".

didn't vote for it, but I like Person Pitch a lot too. surprised to see it just barely make it onto this list

Great title imago!

I love all three of these albums.

Person Pitch is a very autumn album for me, too. Listened to it for the first time in ages this week.

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97. Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 560 points - 8 votes - 1 FPV

Good album, didn't vote for it.

Didn't vote for it but #97 seems about right. I wonder whether Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (my favourite) will place.

Wild results so far! These could've passed for the top 3 prob in 2010

― hexágonos sin sabor por favor (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, October 20, 2019

I think Kish Kash is the official ILM Jaxx album iirc. Things may have changed since the 00s, but I expect it place way ahead of Rooty.

i still really love kish kash

had "plug it in" been nominated for tracks it would've been my no. 1

I love all kinds of nothingy, MOR, identikit, tracky rock music from way back, and I still don't have a fucking clue what anybody hears in Spoon

Didn't vote for it but #97 seems about right. I wonder whether Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (my favourite) will place.

― pomenitul, Sunday, October 20, 2019 bookmarkflaglink

Feel like every Spoon album from this 00s will place. Maybe Girls Can Tell is on the bubble.

Then again I was shocked at the dearth of Spoon in the tracks poll.

Wow, I felt bad I wasn't around for the tracks thread so I'm glad I think I'll be around for the albums results, so far so good! Didn't vote for any yet but I almost voted for #100.

pretty sure no one under 30 has ever listened to spoon

I never really clicked with Spoon, think I might try to re-listen.

Can't imagine many of us are under 30.

Person Pitch was in my top 5, easily my favourite Animal Collective-related record these days. Surprised at the low placing for College Dropout although it's not the Kanye album I voted for.

Much as I love Spoon I've never been able to get into Gimme Fiction.

xp oh totally which is why here is the only place i've ever seen people talking about them

final 10 minutes of College Dropout kinda a harbinger of things to come from him

Congrats Kanye on making it to the top 100!

I still have a lot of time for Rooty, but Kish Kash is the one. Those first three albums are still so much fun.

I haven't been in a Kanye mood in the last year or so. The last time I listened to The College Dropout before that, I did enjoy it a lot. I slightly prefer Late Registration and Graduation.

Imma let you finish

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96. Taylor Swift - Fearless - 561 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs

great record, she's bested it several times over but fearless was my whole world in 2009

ILM gonna ILM I guess.

If ilm were ilmming, this would be #5.

Nah that's the 2010s poll.

Red would be a deserving winner of any 2010s poll

The Kanye album is admittedly so so much better than I was expecting. It's much more involved and full-sounding than his later stuff.

Red would be a deserving winner of any 2010s poll

Stuff like this makes me feel like the protagonist of Eugen Ionescu's Rhinoceros.

Yeah, I miss the days of his notoriety coming from his production rather than his weird ass eccentricities. xp

regrettably did not vote but amazing results so far

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95. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel The Illinoise - 561 points - 11 votes - 0 FPVs

Can you tack on the years of release again? My memory is turning to shit.

More mehness and blehness.

prefer seven swans as an album but some really incredible peaks on this

yep always thought seven swans was the one of sufjan's '00s work, and age of adz and carrie and lowell are worlds away from even that

Fearless was #3 on my ballot. I still think it’s her best album

_Red would be a deserving winner of any 2010s poll_


Stuff like this makes me feel like the protagonist of Eugen Ionescu's /Rhinoceros/.

Checking out the Fearless singles. 'You belong with me' is one of those 1-billion-views videos that I'd never heard before. This stuff does nothing to me.

Oof Person Pitch should’ve been a top 20 album.

You better have The Books and Paavoharju on this list to make up for it ilm.

I don’t understand this reference

It's a play. A small town's inhabitants slowly morph into rhinoceroses, until only the monstrous human protagonist is left.

lol

Paavoharju! We can do it ilx

I'd be happy to see Yhä hämärää here, even though I didn't vote for it (I probably should have).

Ah man, votesplitting? It's all about Laulu Laakson Kukista

late cut on mine

50 options just wasn't enough. My shortlist was 200 albums

glad college dropout made it, way too low

rooty is the second best jaxx album and the last good one

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94. Gillian Welch - Time (the Revelator) 568 points - 13 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+1

huh i should listen to this again its been an eternity

I feel all of the first three Jaxx albums are about equal in quality. I voted for Rooty here because it had a slightly bigger impact on me for pretty arbitrary time/age reasons.

I liked the Welch song that placed in the tracks poll, but I haven't heard the album. I'll check it out.

The Welch album is an amazing album I can no longer really listen to due to my bf playing it in the car all the time.

oh hi

voted for Person Pitch downballot a ways, placement seems about right to me

I think Fearless is the only TS record I haven't heard out of the first five, I should probably rectify that

Gillian is classic obv

huh i should listen to this again its been an eternity

Same here.

I'll always remember buying this, the guy serving me in the record shop was really put out because he decided he wanted to listen to it and they didn't have another copy in stock.

Too low

wow most of these are surprisingly low already

Person Pitch is the best Animal Collective-related release by a pretty good margin
The College Dropout is still really really good but I'm sure there'll be other Kanye much much higher. it's really quite shocking how polished those first two albums are compared to his work
Rooty is good but I was surprised by how much I preferred Kish Kash to it these days when revisiting them for this
Fearless is the most consistent TS album which alone is enough to put it in contention for her best. probably should have voted for it
Time (The Revelator) is odd to me, sometimes I really love it and other times it does nothing at all

it can now be wondered whether gyac really did not submit a ballot

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93. Girls Aloud - Chemistry 569 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+5

oh and Chicago is a little bloated but still deserves most of its acclaim. i would maybe cut "Decatur", "The Man of Metropolis", and some of the interludes, but otherwise it's incredible. that he managed to top it twice this decade is even more impressive

We should all run a hivemind compatibility test once the rollout is over.

Nice! I was worried Girls Aloud might miss out. There were a few albums from 2005 that really felt like the peak of Popjustice pop and this is one of the best. Not only do you get a few of their best singles (Whole Lotta History should have been their 2 Become 1/Never Ever) there are some incredible album tracks too. Models, Wild Horses and Swinging London Town in particular.

Fingers crossed for Rachel Stevens sneaking in too.

Great album (esp. the singles and "Wild Horses") but oddly I think my favourite Girls Aloud track from this era is b-side "Singapore".

The College Dropout is such an enlightening origin story... He's so candid about defence mechanisms that have seemingly become more rigid over time, but at this point he still seems like a totally fallible, warm person. Pretty floored by this album tbh. Even the three (?) singles that I was faintly aware of at the time sound stunning in context. I wasn't expecting this poll to make me like a Kanye West album, so thanks ILM.

Now I definitely need to hear it again.

The last track is like his Blue Gene Tyranny 'Letter From Home' moment. So good.

Now I have to hear it too!

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92. Liars - Drum's Not Dead - 575 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+6

don't think I've heard this since it came out

Top ten for me. So dumb, but still so beautiful.

I still don't understand Spoon's acclaim at all. I

Never recall having *heard* Girls Aloud before, so I'm actually having a great time right now.

I think I bought this at the time but I'm not sure I've ever listened to it, or at least I have no recollection.

on paper i like this album... but i can summon zero emotion about it and have no wish to ever hear it again

Pissed I wasn’t around earlier to defend the college dropout from you ingrates

If you need it, it can always be found. And it wants you to find it, so it'll stay by your side.

Glad you liked it TT! Kanye has been so publicly obnoxious for so long that it’s easy to forget how refreshing that album was, and as a teenager who liked rap but didn’t pour through liner notes to find producers, it really felt like it dropped out of the sky

Girls Can Tell is the spoon album I voted for, perhaps it’s still to come

prefer they were wrong so we drowned, couldn’t fit it into my top 50

kill the moonlight is the best 00s spoon imo, don't think i voted for any others

haven't listened to drums not dead in ages but suspect it'd hold up for me since i like that kind of nonsense more now than i did at the time

Chemistry is great & kitchen person, those are my favourite album tracks on this one too!

Last one for tonight coming up...

I think part of what made the 00's distinct was the amount of really ambitious but also really dumb albums that were succesful. The early internet-age, where the economy surrounding music listening was beginning to change, and everyone could afford to give a Swedish psych album a chance. So much really really weird music was indie-succesful in these years, and Drum's Not Dead is a really good example. Weird noise-postpunk hybrid with the dumbest concept of the decade, and an absolutely heartbreaking ballad to end with. I suspect some other examples are going to place on the list, like that five-song magnum opus from the harpist, etc. But they don't really make them like this anymore, do they?

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91. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out of Season - 577 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+2

fred i can't even but any reply will have to wait until tomorrow, i am done

100. Panda Bear - Person Pitch - 556 points - 13 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+7
99. Kanye West - The College Dropout - 558 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+4
98. Basement Jaxx - Rooty - 558 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+1
97. Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 560 points - 8 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+5
96. Taylor Swift - Fearless - 561 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+8
95. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel The Illinoise - 561 points - 11 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+5
94. Gillian Welch - Time (the Revelator) 568 points - 13 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+1
93. Girls Aloud - Chemistry 569 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+5
92. Liars - Drum's Not Dead - 575 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+6
91. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out of Season - 577 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+2

Oh I love this Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man album so much. It totally lives up to the level of talent involved. It's the time of year where I usually throw this on a couple of times. A perfect autumn listen.

Ones of these that I have in some format: Kanye West, Spoon, Taylor Swift, Liars. Fearless is probably the one I've listened to most recently. I can't even remember what the Spoon sounds like. College Dropout has "Through the Wire", which is by far the thing of his I like most but also has all those stupid skits. Listening to the Liars now: I haven't listened in a long time but it is coming back to me and I do really like what their doing with the pitch-bending on the wash of guitar dissonance.

Saw Liars in a tiny venue around the time of that album release. Intense af! Never actually listened to the album though.

probably a well-known fact but YYY's maps is about Angus from Liars.

The song title allegedly stands for “My Angus Please Stay.”

Ha, I didn't know that.

I didn't vote for any Liars but the self-titled album is my go-to

Gimme Fiction was my number one, after thinking that Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was their best album the recent greatest hits album sort have made me revisit that placement for me. "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" which i should have nominated for the tracks poll is what now sets it apart. i expect this won't be the last of Spoon to place.

Yeah, the Liars s/t is the only one I ever warmed to; haven't heard it in years, though. xp

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Transference are the only Spoon albums i've ever really warmed to

The last half of GF is my favorite Spoon sequence. Must be the bass lines.

Spoon are all about the hooks, they are just so catchy. no other rock band today makes songs that have hooks after hooks after hooks. they are just so much fun to listen to.

They Want My Soul has the most hooks of any of their albums and has "Inside Out" and "New York Kiss" on the same album.

transference, kill the moonlight, ga ga ga ga ga are my spoon top tier

Person Pitch, Out of Season and Drum’s not Dead are all top 10 of their respective years to me and would’ve liked to see them way higher but I guess it’s cool they made it at all.

I like Spoon too but the album I’d like to see from them is Ga x 5

in addition to Gimme Fiction, i also voted Person Pitch and Drum's Not Dead. had a very good opening.

hell, Hot Thoughts is damn good.

also, Britt Daniel's timbre matches his guitar sound. Both are sexy as hell. This despite my seeing him in cargo shorts at a Chipotle line at Pitchfork eleven years ago.

And he was eating his food with a fork, such a betrayal

"They want my (taco) bowl!"

I didn’t really dig into Spoon until this decade and those are some slick-ass records that are holding up well, imo. I ended up voting for 3 of them because I felt like it.

"no other rock band today makes songs that have hooks after hooks after hooks."

Oh c'mon now

They do have hooks, plus a singer with an awesome raspy rock voice, plus economical, textured arrangements

There's something a bit careful and restrained about Spoon that kept me from really loving them. Like I felt like I wouldn't be cool enough to be invited to their party.

wtf w/ The College Dropout so low? it was the #1 in 2004

regard for kanye is very low now though.

ill be surprised if late registration isnt very very high though

The College Dropout is the album by which I wish he'd be remembered but this won't be so.

One of the issues for kanye is that he always had a very strong performative persona, and while that persona (as well as his approach to arrangements etc.) has changed a lot on several occasions during his career, there's a certain through-line or consistency which means that it's hard to listen to his early stuff and not hear reverse-echoes of what was to come.

precisely

Time the Revelator might have been my FPV if I’d submitted a ballot. It’s a little looser than I gave it credit for at the time, and I can hardly listen to it now, but it was the soundtrack of the worst years of my depression, just a lifeline spinning out from the Harry Smith Anthology into eternity.

xp

I feel like I'm channeling him when I say this but...mine was the only #1 vote?!? Wouldn't have even placed had I not voted?!? Fucking crazy. I *hate* huge swaths of what came after and still say it stands on its own. Inspired work.

the main reason i didn't vote for TCD was i was already voting for Late Registration and figured another Kanye album probably wouldn't need my help too much

Chemistry and Out of Season both made my top 10 - really happy to see both show up.

All of the GA albums are fantastic to varying extent but Chemistry is The One; one of the best-sequenced albums I can think of - it's a journey innit. They cram so much into 45 minutes. Swinging London Town is a really thrilling lurch into darkness.

Out of Season always feels vaguely neglected next to the Portishead 3 but it's the equal of Third, pretty much. The most autumnal album ever.

I love Portishead but somehow I've always overlooked Out of Season. It does sound great on this dark rainy morning.

Beth is also great on her performance of Gorecki's third symphony that was released earlier this year.

great, right?

like, really great

I can't think of a synonym for great

One of the issues for kanye is that he always had a very strong performative persona, and while that persona (as well as his approach to arrangements etc.) has changed a lot on several occasions during his career, there's a certain through-line or consistency which means that it's hard to listen to his early stuff and not hear reverse-echoes of what was to come.

Yeah I definitely get this. Makes some stuff like Yeezus or MBDTF feel more gross, and it sucks. College Dropout is definitely too low here, but absolutely is reflecting the time and the tastes. Zoom out far enough, or remove that context and this is not the case. I'm sure in the future this will change and these songs will be appreciated again in full.

Three of mine placed; Gillian Welch, Girls Aloud and Beth Gibbons/Rustin Man. Predictably I think they're all too low, but Out of Season is all time and would even say it's better than the Portishead album. As others have said this is the perfect time of year to listen to it, you can hear the leaves falling and frost forming while listening to it.

I liked the first two Liars albums well enough but by the time Drum's Not Dead came out I wasn't really interested in indie rock anymore. I'll give it a shot.

As for Beth Gibbons/Rustin Man, I was absolutely stoked when it dropped but found the results underwhelming, even a little hokey – and I worship at the altars of Portishead and Talk Talk.

I don't think I voted for Person Pitch but it was a good companion when I got home from surgery and spent a week drifting in and out of sleep, woozy from painkillers

(as was an Oneida album that wasn't nominated or I would've voted for it)

its dizzy echoey sound made a lot more sense in that state than it had on a first few sober listens

I liked Drum's Not Dead at the time but discounted it during the early stages of poll longlisting because I hadn't heard it in years and felt no particular urge to do so again. Reading people's praise for it itt I'm thinking I should have dug it out again.

The Gillian Welch and Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man albums passed me by at the time and seem worth checking out, thanks.

Happy to supply a list of hookiest rock bands in operation if needed. I'm all about hooks (my musical attention can barely stomach anything else), but Spoon have never been one of these bands for me. That said, I am basing this almost entirely off their singles, so I may yet be proven wrong. I do also confuse them with Phoenix in that 'cool party', restrained vibe that o.nate referenced.

100. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
i like anco, but this album is boring.

99. Kanye West - The College Dropout
98. Basement Jaxx - Rooty
95. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel The Illinoise
i liked these albums but I haven't put them on recently.

94. Gillian Welch - Time (the Revelator)
happy to see this make it!

97. Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 560 points - 8 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+5
My favorite spoon album. i nominated it, but it just missed making my ballot.

96. Taylor Swift - Fearless
Her first 2 albums overdo the pitch correction on the vocals. it distracts me.

93. Girls Aloud - Chemistry
I always put on the "sound of girls aloud" collection which is all killer no filler.

I don't like Liars and I haven't listened to that album. I didn't know about the Beth Gibbons album -- will check it out.

I still don't get what the deal is with Person Pitch. Kind of see it as the end of the psychedelic acoustic noize-haze of AC's early-mid period and the start of the irritating fuzzy digital-loop era that heralded Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Gimme Fiction is a super record though isn't it? I should go back to it.

Drums Not Dead - bought it at the time, but found it lacked OOMPH. Something about production in this mid/late-2000s era seemed to favour the high-mid end. This album felt like it wanted to be a metal album, but without the drive. It wanted to be a big doomy noise album but without the whumph. It's got some cool ideas, and hints at greatness, but just doesn't feel fleshed-out enough.

already two albums of my ballot have placed, i am positively surprised.

out of season is as good as the best portishead albums, it is indeed a perfect album for this time of the year, when the leaves are falling etc. it could be a little colder outside though...

i don't listen a lot to time (the revelator) but when i do it does not cease to amaze me. it is so absolutely out of time. it reminds me a little of the wonderful first michelle shocked release, the texas campfire tapes. though it is somehow more grave and more classic. if i had to describe it in one adjective i would say it is earthen. my fave song is april the 14th (part 1). fans of joan shelley should check her out.

xpost I'm not keen on DOD either but I do love their "Sisterworld" album from 2010. Its like some demented cross between Black Flag and Radiohead.

Marcello Carlin's write-up of Time The Revelator is a great review if you can find it. I also voted for it (and "College Dropout")

xp I'm listening to Sisterworld now and you're right. It's a much more realised take on their sound. Still find the drummer's sticky style a bit strange. I wish they had a bit more heaviness or something. I feel like I'm watching a Tim Burton film sometimes when I listen to Liars - not that it's twee, I just wish the dark world it hinted at were a bit darker and deeper

I admire Liars for their approach but rarely enjoy the end results although Drums Not Dead is fine. Similarly Illinois is an OK album by an artist I don't really have any interest in.

We ready for more?

Keep the procrastination fuel coming.

100. Panda Bear - Person Pitch - 556 points - 13 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+7
99. Kanye West - The College Dropout - 558 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+4
98. Basement Jaxx - Rooty - 558 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+1
97. Spoon - Gimme Fiction - 560 points - 8 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+5
96. Taylor Swift - Fearless - 561 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+8
95. Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel The Illinoise - 561 points - 11 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+5
94. Gillian Welch - Time (the Revelator) 568 points - 13 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+1
93. Girls Aloud - Chemistry - 569 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+5
92. Liars - Drum's Not Dead - 575 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+6
91. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Out of Season - 577 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+2

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90. Annie - Anniemal - 590 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+4

On second thought, I'll get back to work.

ilm-core

a whole album of this stuff eh

It's such a bizarre choice for an album cover!

Glad it made it. Glad it's not higher.

album cover attempting to meld brash personality-driven pop with indie mumblecore aesthetic, much as the music does. however successfully it did this, ilm lapped it up

i mean johnny fever you can answer this: is annie proto-shambhala?

Yeah, I'd say so. Robyn is the more direct godmother tho.

so shambhala is basically scandipop haha

not to generalise about the music of three completely separate countries!!! but yeah

Ehh, sorta. A lot of scandipop has no new wave/synthpop hallmarks, which is one of the hallmarks of shambhala.

The Taylor Swift is sounding a little too precious for me to really get into, though I'm sure I would have loved it if it'd been released about four years earlier. That said, it's infinitely more enjoyable than Spoon.

And by infinitely, I mean slightly.

I adore the two Annie singles that placed but I think the album is extremely undercooked. Surprised to see it place honestly

i think by inference that makes 'ten love songs' the pinnacle of shambhala

One I voted for coming up :)

Ah ha (A-ha?), the enemy has a name.xp

lol

Glad it made it. Glad it's not higher.

^ this. Chewing Gum is one of my favourite records ever; aside from Me Plus One, nothing else here comes close. It's all good stuff but I massively prefer her springy splashy tracks to the tremulous ones.

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89. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein - 605 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+1

Oh cool, I didn't vote for it but I'm pleasantly surprised to see it here.

so shambhala is basically scandipop haha

― imago, 21. oktober 2019 13:56 (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

not to generalise about the music of three completely separate countries!!! but yeah

― imago, 21. oktober 2019 13:56 (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Four! Or, to be honest, two. Denmark is a shit country musically.

here are my thoughts on 'the cold vein':

IT'S LIKE REAL RAPPERS WILL KNOW WHAT THEYRE GOING TO SAY AND THEN THERE WILL BE PRISMIC, ARABIC-LIKE WORD-WEBS TO CHOOSE FROM IN RHYME 'R OUT.

― usic, Friday, May 30, 2008 5:21 AM (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

also, el motherfuckin' producto has never done his thing better

Didn't vote for Cold Vein but happy to see it here - I remember buying it and El-P's Fantastic Damage at the same time, became obsessed with both records for a while.

The Annie album isn't a classic but it is good, #90 is fair enough.

Lol omg xp

I havent felt the need to listen to it in years but "The Cold Vein" is a cool record

Okay, I didn't realise that I had been listening to five tracks that are not even on the Taylor Swift album ffs who puts their bonus material at the start of an album?! Listening to the actual thing now and it's a bit better. I had no idea her roots were so much in country.

Ooooh, the first one I actually voted for. (And nommed, IIRC.) Nice.

i think by inference that makes 'ten love songs' the pinnacle of shambhala

― imago, Monday, October 21, 2019 8:03 AM

yes, imo.

Why must we slander Buddhism?

I love Cold Vein, was the FPV. Some of El-P's best production work of that era and a really nice balance of lyrics and flow.

That they basically disappeared almost immediately afterwards (the odd Vast Aire guest spot excepted) makes me cherish it more, I guess - a one-album wonder.

good fuckin record. wrongly didn't vote for it

never heard the Cannibal Ox til now but it fits into a micro genre I call 'Space 2000' which spans everything from 10,000hz The Legend through Denton 3030 through things like 'Battle' by Blur

Crack heads stand adjacent. Anger displacement from food stamp arrangements. You were a still born baby, mother didn't want you. But you were still born

important event in their post-cold-vein career + classic ilm thread-title: yo is it true vordul got sonned by a wite kid after a aol beef??????

10,000hz The Legend through Denton 3030

lol dog latin, have yr weetabix ffs

xp god bless the martorialist

the next album is sure to rouse dog latin however. admittedly, iirc, to irritation :D

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88. Autechre - Confield - 605 points - 10 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+1

I remember buying this on CD at the time and being annoyed by it. I never paid attention to Autechre again after that.

i voted draft 7.30 instead but this -> draft -> untilted is imo the imperial phase and i love them all. it is however the music that tt and i disagree on the very most. THE SOUND IS LIKE NUMBERS FALLING APART ISN'T GENERATIVE MUSIC GREAT

anyway confield is full of bangers, w/e

I had Anniemal at #19 on my ballot but I'm really more of a singles guy and the quality of the best songs matters way more to me in assessing an album than the consistency of the quality throughout.

Ah, first one of mine to place. 'Bine' means 'good' in Romanian.

sim gishel, eidetic casein and lentic catachresis my faves but it's all bracing fare

Wow what clever song titles

It's very difficult music for very intelligent people

*maximum aspie mode* ACTUALLY, sean autechre said on an extended AMA on WATMM that the songtitles are basically always in-jokes, so THERE

It’s the pinnacle of many things, to be fair

Lol many many XP’s, this is why you refresh before posting

the best ever space hip hop band through Denton

never got Confield. hung out with lots of idm nerds (<3) online who told me it was the best thing ever and one day it would just click for me. still waiting.

I bought the poster for it and everything! at ATP, fully expecting to be very into it or just show it off and win the love of the nonexistent idm connoisseurs who might one day visit my bedroom, idk. think it's still in the tube

I'll give it another go when I get home, just to be sure

I'm just being facetious, I haven't actually listened to it, though whenever I've tried with them it's just been angular and unlistenable. I'm probably defensive because I don't get it.

I've been a bit of a dick so far itt. Hoping something I love comes up soon so I can be redemptively positive.

theres one track on Confield that sounds like an UFO engine. i like that one.

but yeah i dont get them either

Just catching up (will check the tracks list when I get a week off later).

Liars made it! And Confield! <3

here's the definitive line on Confield from someone who definitely doesn't ever post to ilx any more, let alone the poll threads:

confield sounds like a field in lincolnshire with a rusted tractor in it

― 696, Tuesday, June 12, 2007 8:47 AM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

confield made me start the thread CDs you bought but never listened to

later on i listened to it and wrote about that. it made me feel like a hungover without having been drunk before. since then i haven't bothered about it.

Oh cool, Confield was on my ballot, was worried AE might suffer from vote-splitting.

A lot of guff is written about Ae on ilm and God ban the word intelligent from the language - by Confield they're make tactile, sensuous sound that might take a few listens to get hold of in your head but is best dug by living in it, not thinking about it

Confield is maybe my least favourite Autechre LP. I mean, I still listen to it on the reg to see if it's grown on me, but I still find the sonic choices, like the kick drum on CFern and the horrible sucking sounds on Pen Expers quite horrible to listen to. Much prefer the other Ae albums from this decade and would probably vote Draft7.30 instead

Autechre is unlistenable and I resent this placement.

Rooty at 98 confirms this is no longer the ILM I once thought it was.

10,000hz The Legend through Denton 3030

lol dog latin, have yr weetabix ffs

― imago, Monday, October 21, 2019 1:31 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Walking and texting whilst shopping for lunch, exqueeze me

great post NV

first vote to place, first autechre I heard, took me quite a while to get into but nothing else ever has ever given me the quite the same sense of numb peace I feel in the midst of that vast cold chaos. find pen expers incredibly beautiful. this is really the first noise record I got into

I have no strong feelings about Confeld but Sean is completely exquisite

Blimey, two in a row for me. Not sure why this iteration of Autechreness stuck with me more firmly than others of the era but that's what happened after I *whispers* soulseek'd some mp3s.

confiels sounds v much like the landscape it came from (& I listened to it in) or in other words it's the greyest album I've heard

Confield also has one of the worst Ae album covers. We should poll those actually.

hope Denton places

I love 90s Autechre, including LP5, hence poster-buying high hopes for this one before release. haven't really cared for their career since but I do like to listen to each new one (or part of each new one, when they release several hours' worth at once) and there's usually the odd section which is amazing and spacey - sometimes I come back to that one section and try to use it as a way in next time, sometimes it hides itself away and I can't find it again next time

I haven't really even found a safe space inside Confield, but I'm glad other people love it, anyway

here's to three in a row that I personally like and enjoy, lol

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87. Max Tundra - Mastered by Guy at the Exchange - 613 points - 12 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+2

ugh

would have voted Parallax Error but this is still v good and there's no denying his monomaniacal adeptness

Mastered for maximum irksomeness.

ooh, nice! I'm more familiar with the first album but good to see this place

Don't think I've ever heard this.

Never wanted to

very LJ-friendly run of albums

ive forgotten all about this one, I remember it being alright but nothing amazing

Confield was my #1. I feel like in many ways this album fundamentally changed the way I listen to music.

great, now i have to have a tab on my browser at work that just says 'Get Naked' on it

you're going to need more tabs

Autechre are totally that band that I'm always going to get into next week, next year. Then I put them on and think, 'not this, not today' and that's that. They're the aural equivalent of Henry James.

For me, they end up being my default music for when I can't decide what to put on. Their recent output is so incredibly vast, it's more like listening to an audiobook that you can pause and come back to later than a traditional album that you'd listen to over again a few times.

the first track on confield is peerless, the rest is fine

I do not understand Max Tundra and I never will

Nothing I voted for has placed yet, but I’ve had time for a number of these albums in years gone by. Despite “Biology” being my favourite GA single, I’d reach for Tangled Up, What Will The Neighbours Say? or even Out Of Control over Chemistry.

great, now i have to have a tab on my browser at work that just says 'Get Naked' on it

― the creator has a mazda van (NickB)

Going to stop labouring through Sufjan Stevens (which I don't mind, but is definitely over-long) and listen to lovely lovely Max Tundra! Anyone low on time and looking for an entry point should try 'Lights', which is a charming and perfectly-formed little track. I voted for Parallax Error, but this whole album is so great too.

Liars and Autechre are my first to place. I don't even know the Autechre catalogue all that well, but Confield really sunk in on me. Just a lot of particular tracks that I love going back to.

this is nothing compared to the Piss & Jizm Poll title I got made to change some years back on metal poll

xp

not the most inspiring picks so far - although Fearless did sneak into my ballot at 46 tbh

<3 this thread title imago

bc of it i am asking myself w/ each album reveal itt - would i rather listen to this or blackout? so far blackout is winning

https://media.giphy.com/media/ZCkDGtSb94nItwLRvw/giphy.gif

86. Air France - No Way Down EP - 615 points - 11 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+8

i dont know this one

Well of course. I mean, I couldn't tell you what the rest of the EP sounds like but June Evenings has appeared on p much every mixtape I've made since it came out.

Surprised that this is 2000s. I think of it as fimrly in the 2010s.

Still love Max Tundra, voted both albums. They hold up well and sound pretty unique. MBGATE got more attention but I think Parallax Error is the better album and hope it is to come

I never understood why Air France was supposed to be a class above all the other blog fodder in the 00s. Pleasant, but whatever.

because June Evenings, JF

The last two have been the only ones I've voted for so far.

Are EPs albums? Discuss.

Confield, eater of threads. I think I went with Untilted for the purposes of this poll.

June Evenings getting a lot of hype for a track that wasn't even nominated in the other poll ;)

For the 'I Always Get These Two Mixed Up' thread: Air France and Phoenix.

Did you not hear of Phoenix till 2009?

I don’t remember June Evenings at all but Collapsing At Her Doorstep is a classic

top tip: Air France aren't French

June Evenings getting a lot of hype for a track that wasn't even nominated in the other poll ;)

― imago, Monday, October 21, 2019 2:38 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Alas, I can't complain as I was too busy to vote or nom at the time

Have I been mixing up Air France and Air from France?

xp - I never really bothered to listen, I guess. I've categorized both bands in my head under vaguely pleasant indie pop.

Anyways the best band with Air in the name was Air Miami!

top tip: Air France aren't French

And let me guess, Phoenix aren't from Arizona?

Air Liquide ftw

I confused Air France with Aqualung without ever hearing the former until just now. I'm quite enjoying it.

I've just noticed 'Collapsing At Your Doorstep' is called 'Collapsing Outside Your Doorstep' on Spotify. Are they different songs or is someone playing hooky with prepositions?

LBI OTM, Air Liquide is the best of the Air bands.

late to the thread but drums not dead my fpv! :)
i assume air france in my top ten, a perfect ep

FYI I've listened to almost the whole of MBGATE and it's better than I remember it! :D good job Max Tundra

Untilted got my vote. I'm actually not sure I've ever heard Confield, although I have the five albums after it and the four before it. Putting it on now. I actually do find a lot of Autechre fairly challenging and hard to really connect with/get my head around but they fascinate me all the same and I often enjoy having them on. This one is sounding particularly good and easier to connect with so far, tbh.

yeah, MBGATE was an album I rediscovered in the last year. Holds up surprisingly well. I guess in part because nobody else really tried to make music like this (as far as I know).

the first couple tracks on confield aren't very representative

Sadly I didn't really put as much thought or effort into my albums ballot as I did tracks, just because there's fewer hours in the day to catch up on stuff I'd missed/revisit stuff I'd liked.

Am I the only one who likes the first Liars album best? It's often dismissed as being standard dance-punk of the time, but it's really way weirder/better than that, and I often wonder what direction they would have gone in with that lineup.

OK, ILM. What DON'T you want to see more of right now?

Spoon lol

Animal Collective?

LCD!

We def need to talk about LCD Soundsystem some more

Kanye.

I missed my cue alas

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85. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - 616 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+7

There's going to be at least two more if these, isn't there?

Ga ga gag me with a Spoon.

I mean, I don't hate them, but still.

Also a good, solid album. I feel like Spoon are this band I check out every album and enjoy a good chunk of the songs on each but rarely listen to the whole thing through more than once.

Aren't the two that have placed so far usually regarded as their best? So maybe not xps

Air France def feels of a time with Studio. Nothing else from the Gothenburg scene or w/e really stuck with me (Tough Alliance, Boat Club, etc) but the two EPs are gorgeous. I had the CD with No Way Down and On Trade Winds combined so I couldn't tell you which songs are on which.

Still love Max Tundra, voted both albums. They hold up well and sound pretty unique. MBGATE got more attention but I think Parallax Error is the better album and hope it is to come

ditto. when people ask "what's actually *new* in prog?" I point to stuff like this. love the pop stuff but "Cabasa" is where it's at here. just wish the dude was more active!

as for Autechre - Untilted was my top album from them this decade, probably voted Confield & Quaristice as well. Confield definitely feels like a paradigm shift and I still don't think the rest of the planet has caught up to it. the downside is it makes me feel like I have the flu sometimes.

hope i'm never bored of a good band that plays good songs.

ga ga ga ga ga was my favorite when it came out, but girls can tell is eclipsed it ime. the underdog has been in just a few too many shows, i guess. don't make me a target is still one of the best rock songs of the 00s

I have little time for Spoon in general but for whatever reason I've always loved Ga x5. I voted for it at #17.

I just dont get the love for Spoon. There's some decent tunes on "Gimme Fiction" though tbf

TS: Spoon vs. The Knife

Ga x5 is usually regarded as one of their best but i thought Gimme Fiction was usually regarded as the weakest of the 2000s Spoon albums. So I'm not sure if Girls Can Tell and Kill the Moonlight will place.

the first couple tracks on confield aren't very representative

I can see that. On first listen, "Parhelic Triangle" feels more like the kind of Autechre material that I have a hard time totally 'getting'. "Bine" is pretty interesting and evocative, though. Reminds me a little of some of Ryoji Ikeda's stuff.

Another one I didn't vote for but whose placement I approve.

Easily my favourite Spoon album. I didn't manage to find room on my list for them/it though.

Nice start to the day. Very happy with the Anniemal placement. I'm still coming down from Heartbeat making the top five last week.

Didn't vote for Cannibal Ox or Air France, but they're both so great and worthy of a place.

Max Tundra is an odd one for me. When I first heard that album (about 10 years ago), I thought it was so exciting and charming. At some point that changed and I just couldn't stomach it anymore. I went back to it last year after enjoying the second Daphne & Celeste album (the best thing he's been involved with) and it did nothing for me. I put that down to preferring their voices to his. Over a whole album, his vocals really grate on me.

Preferring this Spoon album to the other one

xxxp, but on the topic of 'Air' bands: 'All Out of Love' > 'No Way Down EP'

I feel like Spoon are this band I check out every album and enjoy a good chunk of the songs on each but rarely listen to the whole thing through more than once.

Me too. I like several individual songs, can remember many of the hooks, but they lack that spark that makes me want to relisten

All of the official Spoon videos are blocked for me. Why the hell would a record company block a commercial for their own product?

Ga and Kill the Moonlight would both have been high on my ballot had I made one. I prefer the songs on Ga but the sonics on KTM. I get people who think Spoon sounds too cool for school, but I find once you get to know them, they warm up a bit. There’s a lot of heart there.

Didn't vote for this but it is my second-favourite Spoon album, really strong collection of songs but I also love the production, it's a rock record with a lot of micro-level detail.

I know I have listened to Spoon on multiple occasions but I can never remember much about them. They just seem to go in one ear and out the other for me. I wonder why.

"Eidetic Casein" has a pretty solid groove to latch onto. I think this is an Autechre album I will be coming back to. Liking the sounds and atmosphere in "Uviol".

The aughties were just all about Spoon and LCD Soundsystem. Super fun, guys.

KTM is my favorite Spoon but it's also the only one I've spent considerable time with tbh

Now...who wants to hear some METAL?

Finally!

Depends.

By far my least favorite of Spoon's last fifteen years of steady releases, but I named my blog after a phrase from one of its best songs.

I am not minding this Spoon album so much either, as it happens. But yes yes, here we go -

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84. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions - 618 points - 12 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+9

hell yeh seeing them this weekend :)

Nice. This was in my top 20 – one of the albums that helped me overcome my initial indifference towards metal.

Not my favourite metal of the decade, but 'Alice' is pretty great doom/spiritual jazz fare, worthy of Coltrane herself!

air france is the best music ever made

I was hoping for St. Anger

It's fun to listen to this and Gérard Grisey's Les espaces acoustiques back to back.

Oh yes, this is an AMAZING fucking album. I don't really understand why subsequent releases have felt less ambitious than this one. I was really hoping they'd develop their sound more rather than regress back to simple guitar/bass buzzing. Still, Monoliths is terrific in that they augment their sound just enough with choirs and brass sections and Attila's vampirific enunciations

Agree that 'Alice' is all time

Now I want to try listening to them at the same time. 2xp

ive never heard it but i am aware of them

I have a copy of this somewhere and listened to it that year but Sunn O))) just never stuck with me somehow. Maybe I just need more going on texturally (as one can get with Grisey)?

Confield gets an official thumbs up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_to_England#/media/File:ManowarHailtoengland.jpg

Rooty at 98 confirms this is no longer the ILM I once thought it was.

― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, October 21, 2019 5:53 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

what about no one knowing who air france is

ffs

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/ManowarHailtoengland.jpg

(to Sund4r)

The only Basement Jaxx I've ever liked was their remix of 'Technologic' which is really really fun. Other than that I've always found their songs incredibly obnoxious, football-chant anthems for dancefloor knobheads in shiny shirts

manowar.jpg also applies to this next one, which happens to be a certain band's BEST ALBUM

it applies extra hard because the first two words of the album titles are the saaaaame

https://media.giphy.com/media/dafZoWzp0rhfUNQ8tj/giphy.gif

83. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief - 618 points - 14 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+3

we love rock and rock-derived music here on ilm

My #50 lol. It actually rules

i knew when LJ said Best Album that it would be the worst album

no way is HttT the best Radiohead album, but it is certainly a very good one.

My #31. It does rule but it's only their third best album of the noughties.

idk why people are complaining so much about the lower reaches of this poll. these albs placing down here means more interesting stuff higher up

hail to the thief is probably the non-pablo honey radiohead album i've spent the least time with--not sure why, especially since 'there, there' is one of my very fav radiohead songs.

I assume the ratio of interesting to uninteresting will be about the same it's been so far throughout.

For me this is their most well-calibrated balance of rock and electronic, and best displays their penchant for punchy, killer songs with memorable melodies and arrangements. I think it's much more original than it's often stated and it contains many of their most successful experiments before their unfortunate turn towards a more maudlin sound

this record is fine but i like the other 00s ones better

This is the one Radiohead album that I've never been able to enjoy.

I don't disagree, it's just that it contains more relative filler compared to its illustrious predecessors.

2xp

It's not my favourite, but I definitely think Hail to the Thief is more fun than the three albums previous to it.

Let alone the three after it!

Lol well yeah of course

I really wish they'd cut this album down. There's a great 10 track album in here, but it also contains some of their worst filler. They got the balance just right on In Rainbows.

More losses than gains imho.

There's a classic 11-track album in HttT. It's up to you what those 11 tracks are!

xp kp beat me to the punch

Maybe I need to give it another shot, but it always struck me as a slog of a rock album, as opposed to the Bends which seemed more fun, relatively.

Speaking of not having any fun, this Sunn O))) album sounds wonderful, but I am not enjoying it at all. Going to skip to the last track.

none of us will remotely agree on what the best edit of HTTT is!

This is the last radiohead album I was really into, but even then about half the album seemed inessential. I think it's more me moving on to other things rather than the album not being good.

album sounds wonderful, but I am not enjoying it at all

New board description.

Hail to the Thief is such a bore. The only one I really like after Amnesiac is King of Limbs, though

38 on my ballot (and the second Radiohead album). I was actually gobsmacked and obsessed with it when it came out, possibly because it was near the peak of my really clicking with the two previous ones and I was sharing a rooming house with a bunch of people who were all listening to it. I don't listen to it nearly as much now but initial impact counts for a lot. That concert was great too. I do think a lot of it is very good and successful with the fusion that imago describes, even if I listen to Kid A and In Rainbows more now. Will always love "Backdrifts", "Myxamatosis", "Where I End and You Begin".

after httt I think I listened to In Rainbows twice and the subsequent 2(?) albums once each. This was the end of my fandom.

httt has more songs that i couldn't hum than any other peak-period radiohead record, but also massive highlights, like the aforementioned 'there there,' 'i will,' and 'a wolf at the door'

the best tracks for me are 2+2=5, sit down stand up, a punchup at a wedding, maybe the last two. see, we can't agree at all!

totally agreed, HTTT would have been a fantastic 10-track album

sit down stand up

oh yes, this one is good too

i voted for a different radiohead album, the one least likely to place lol

i would just drop that whole chunk from the middle other than there there

though i wouldn't be shocked if all 4 place

oh and backdrifts!

the album might SEEM bloated when thought about in the abstract but going through the tracklist and really there's nothing i'd remove except 'the gloaming'. yeah 'we suck young blood' i can see an argument against but i quite enjoy it

the reason the 1975's 'i like it when you sleep' album works is that it's basically a HTTT - very rambling and eclectic and it sort of all works even when it doesn't

Can we all at least agree that We Suck Young Blood is the low point of the album?

oh no when did imago get 1975'd

that is the only 1975 album i like! anyway let's stop talking about quasi-emo

I loved HTTT at the time but it feels like the most redundant of their '00s records in a way - as in, it has elements of everything the band do well but the other albums all do a specific thing better.

On second thoughts, let's START talking about quasi-emo

i voted for a different radiohead album, the one least likely to place lol

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), 21. oktober 2019 17:12 (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I Might Be Wrong? Controversial opinion!

we love rock and rock-derived music here on ilm

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, October 21, 2019 2:55 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://media.giphy.com/media/dt5U1KD5iNiV9EmW8L/giphy.gif

82. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command - 630 points - 12 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K

YEAH

Woooo!

The bassline to "Punch-Up at a Wedding"! I think it is probably the relative lack of singable lead melodies that might make it harder for HTTT to stand out in the catalogue in retrospect but I definitely want to go back to it now. xps

I've never heard this, mainly because emo leaves me cold, but if it's quasi- I'll look into it.

"punch-up" is def my favorite httt track. genuinely wouldn't cut anything from that record even though i agree it is the worst radiohead studio album of the '00s. the sprawl and confusion is the point

we love rock and rock-derived music here on ilm

If the tracks poll is any indication, there will loads of rock in the bottom third and none in the top 10.

Is LCD Soundsystem rock?

i mean, i really like what i've heard of ATDI but imo we're basically voting for the seed rather than the flower here (#tmvforeverrrr), no matter though! am hoping to develop my own 'relationship of command' with this album so its placement might help

It's very spiky, high energy and super-melodic post-hardcore/math rock! xp

relationship of command imo is the sound of post-hardcore getting so knotted and hysterical that it is like a tangled mass of sparking electrical wires

relationship of command > sparta > mars volta

braaaaad

good album that i didn't vote for.

was gonna put one-armed scissor in my top 10 tracks, but nobody nommed it :(

I should actually listen to this whole thing some time.

haven't listened to this since high school but can still play one armed scissor in my head

lj you know i love them all! though mars volta made a lot of useless music after amputechture xp

can't disagree

Voted for Pattern Against User in tracks, but not the album because two Mars Volta albums were all I could allow. God I love TMV.

i do kinda want to revisit deloused now though

anyway the tension between prog excess and punk economy is absolutely perfect on this record and that tension is way more interesting to me than anything any of the resulting bands did

I haven't listened to ATD-I in ages (when was the emo poll?) but I've got fond memories attached to this record, was one of the soundtracks to my second year of university. Was gutted when they broke up.

I was never really sold on whether the Mars Volta's compositions actually made sense but tbf I only really listened to Comatorium.

And not in 15 years or so

I was an overemoting teen who loved gheetarz above all but for whatever reason emo passed me by completely.

I assume Deloused is not going to make it? I voted for that, though I'd like it to be clear that I'm voting for this ridiculous live version primarily.

Frances The Mute is one of those properly amazing albums that even I probably underrate by not listening to every week lol. P*******k's review still a war-crime ;)

ooh ty for the link jmm!

i do kinda want to revisit deloused now though

Everyone, do this! It's such a mess of an opulent space meltdown concept album that absolutely holds up. De-loused in the Comatorium is more or less the pinnacle of a fun music-listening experience for me.

Brad otm about AtD-I excess/economy though

xp yes, thank you for the link! Will watch this later

Wow I surprisingly really like the results so far which usually indicates that I'll be bored with the #70-40 section and frustrated with at least half of the top 25. Prove me wrong please.

HTTT has great songs, some of their best, but also a bunch of forgettable songs that could have been left off. It also suffers from disjointed sequencing that makes me think of it as a bunch of suites rather than a consistent listen from start to finsh. I could imagine it working well as sides of a double-vinyl.

Wow, WHAT a vocal performance on this album!

it's cedric bixler-zavala, 'WHAT a vocal performance' is redundant, it's what he does

Guessing White Pony or Toxicity won't be placing higher than Relationship of Command but we can always dream.

i'm guessing that both white pony and toxicity will place higher

but then i voted for all three!!!!!!

same!

Listening to 'One Armed Scissor' now. Not bad, I'll need to hear the whole thing.

i need to do "arcarsenal" at karaoke again

Frances The Mute is one of those properly amazing albums that even I probably underrate by not listening to every week lol. P*******k's review still a war-crime ;)

Ah see I thought the Mars Volta were great to begin with but that album basically turned me off them completely!

>:/

Another from Y2K now...

i do kinda want to revisit deloused now though

Aw, I want this to be my karaoke experience.

Oh wait, wrong paste lol I meant xp to Brad

Oh, just got to Invalid Litter Dept., this one bangs super-hard omg I know it

But yeah

Who's ready nobody's ready

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81. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP - 631 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K

I was never able to handle Frances The Mute as a whole but "L'Via L'Viaquez" kix srs ace

Heh, it deserves to be here but I wasn't expecting it at all.

deserves to be here. the ensuing grumbling is exactly what eminem wants!

i don't think i voted for it, but it's obviously a great album. was also the first cd i bought with my own money.

Xgau's #27 of the decade.

too much of my brain space is taken up by the lyrics of this record :(

pouring one out

who stans for this one?

Omg Brad otm I have said that so many times

Oh yeah, I like 'Punch Up At A Wedding' a lot but I remember lots of people hating on it at the time

i had the clean version with ' the kids,'--honestly a huge improvement on the explicit version which has 'kim,' one of the worst songs ever recorded

I was too old for this record. Too brown and gay too. But I dug half of it at the time.

Marshall Mathers LP feels like more than 20 years ago tbh. When they say the past is a different country...

the Dre-produced tracks are all excellent, and hold up better than the more angsty tracks--'kill you,' 'real slim shady,' 'who knew,' 'bitch please 2'

ooh yeah 'remember me?' was fun too

but yes, I listened to it at the time feeling that even at 19 I was a bit old for this sort of thing.

I tricked my mum into buying this for me when I was 11 because there was a sticker over it and I told her it said 'Millennium'. Then for the next four years I wore puffy trousers and visors with the peak bent almost in half and covered my walls in graffiti. It meant so much to me at the time, but the lyrics are kind of horrifying now. It was a gateway to other, better stuff, but I still think it has some great moments (though these are admittedly perhaps the most lyrically reprehensible).

i was 10, the perfect age for this sort of thing lol

grossly overrated in 2000 but feels appropriately rated today.

who stans for this one?

― billstevejim, Monday, October 21, 2019 10:46 AM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

just caught this, but lol

yeah i was 11-12 and convinced my parents to buy both slim shady and marshall mathers for me and lmao had they only known

Was never a fan but I guess I can't begrudge this being here.

Would never have expected the word "stan" to be what lasted from this

A fpv, huh? Does Marshall post here?

The tracks poll left me optimistic that we were collectively over Eminem. Ah well.

I actually prefer the Slim Shady LP for all its raw, bouncing off the walls juvenilia mixed in with stultifying on the breadline depression. The Marshall Mathers LP is much more polished, but I agree that the Dre-produced tracks are pretty great.

I'm listening to MM now and without wanting to sound like a total 2020 snowflake, the lyrics really are horrifying. Didn't feel like anyone blinked at the time, or at least the attitude was kinda 'Yeah, he's really risque and that's the point, lol rape jokes are funny'.

That fun pet theory that the whole Eminem/Sum41/Tom Green/Limp Bizkit continuum presaged Trumpian political ire feels very real and true right now

I remember reading an interview with him once where he described his three names - Marshall Mathers being the real him, Slim Shady a mischievous alter ego, and Eminem the businessman and show person. A nice id/ego/superego split there and in those first three albums.

Haha, like that Future Hndrxx thing where he claims to have loads of alter-egos and they're all the same

I actually prefer the Slim Shady LP for all its raw, bouncing off the walls juvenilia mixed in with stultifying on the breadline depression

agree with this. even at the time i thought marshall mathers lp was a little more uneven, and of course there's also "kim" which i find impossible to evaluate

the whole Eminem/Sum41/Tom Green/Limp Bizkit continuum presaged Trumpian political ire

All of whom have spoken out against Trump to varying degrees?

There was a lot of conceited, preening 'I'm sick of being a rock-star and all the attention that comes with it' kind of stuff coming out of this era.

idk, I feel like the whole phenomena is designed for teenagers who are negotiating the second efflorescence and need to reject their parents values by all means necessary so as to distinguish themselves as autonomous people. That the lyrics are so mortifying reflects the rejection of everything that is acceptable in the adult world and why edginess is so prevalent in teenagers. Not that that's a justification...I was pretty appalled when I realised I had been loudly singing along about rape for so many years and how this definitely had an unconscious impact on my perception of women.

*parents'

Adolescence and transgression go hand in hand, duh.

em came from a horrorcore background, right? but it sucks when that horror seeps into and is indistinguishable from reality, instead of being transgressive fantasy (the emphasis on the "fantasy" part of transgressive fantasy is why i'd say a lot of that era of nu-metal holds up and is not very trumpian)

All of whom have spoken out against Trump to varying degrees?

― pomenitul, Monday, October 21, 2019 5:05 PM (thirty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

xp, they've all grown up, but a lot of the attitude exuded back then - unchecked juvenile aggression, nihilistic rebellion, shock tactics, dismissiveness of perceived authority (and red baseball caps) - seems to have been mirrored by Trump and his dunderheaded supporters. I could imagine the phrase 'Grab em by the pussy' appearing on Marshall Mathers album

Adolescence and transgression go hand in hand, duh.

― pomenitul,

like Em 'n' Elton?

Indeed!

Can never think about Em 'n' Elton without going back to this:

https://entertainment.theonion.com/eminem-releases-single-about-hugging-elton-john-at-gram-1819565951

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80. Lambchop - Nixon - 637 points - 11 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K

interesting post, dog latin

xp

nice!

I'm listening to MM now and without wanting to sound like a total 2020 snowflake, the lyrics really are horrifying. Didn't feel like anyone blinked at the time, or at least the attitude was kinda 'Yeah, he's really risque and that's the point, lol rape jokes are funny'.

― frame casual (dog latin), Monday, October 21, 2019 11:59 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

People definitely did but they were derided for being PC

it sucks when that horror seeps into and is indistinguishable from reality, instead of being transgressive fantasy

Yeah, the boundaries are very blurred in and around those first few albums. His capacity for healthy fantasy seems suspended in an anterior state at this point in his career. He did seem to get it together later on, but the music was never as good (not that the two are connected).

xp a side issue but my boy is currently in this position: 13 1/2, getting into music in a big way, finding his own particular constellation of acts. When I was his age, I got properly into metal and my parents were a bit bamboozled by the whole thing, particularly when I got into death metal. My boy comes to me to ask about hip-hop and metal and the poor bastard gets a disquisition and a 140 song playlist.

nixon is an absolutely amazing record

yeah I can think of a number of kids obsessed with this album who grew up to be obnoxious Trump supporters who whine nonstop about how PC culture has ruined everything

I'm sure it's been discussed elsewhere but maybe the popularity of this stuff has to do with living in a generally optimistic time...pre 9/11, pre recession, pre-BLM & MeToo, where stuff like this could be dismissed by reasonable people as "relax it's a joke"? idk Eminem always felt like a cartoon character to me. there was so much talk about how transgressive and offensive he was but its not like he suffered any consequences for it, MTV et al did everything they could to amplify the guy's music

not to imply that the issues raised by BLM & MeToo weren't happening then but I don't think teenagers at the time knew anything about them

I keep meaning to properly chekc out Lambchop. The one song I heard off this album (I think it's "The Distance from Her to There") was really really good

Everyone I know who was really into the MM LP at the outset of the noughties absolutely loathes Trump, but then again, I've never lived in the US.

well yeah the US is the only place where people actually like Trump

That's exactly what I meant, yeah.

Nixon was my #1, kinda arbitrarily because how can you rank etc but still, I love the album so much that I haven't really ever listened to any of their other albums lol @ me. But hearing "Up With People" live when they opened for YLT just after this album...I don't think I stopped smiling for three days. Maybe I am just voting for the three song stretch "You Masculine You"-> "Up With People" -> "Nashville Parent" but that is still worth it. We'd just had a baby. C'mon progeny.

Come on undone!
Come on undone!

i voted very highly for 'up with people' on the traxx poll, but didn't vote for this one. it's kind of a perfect salve to counter-balance eminem's artful toxicity.

C'mon progeny

pro-ge-nayyy

Nixon is 3/4 of the best album ever. God, You Masculine You is so perfect.

You and your masculine you
Forever benched
Sitting by the dirty window

those beatles arpeggios at the end of "You Masculine You", dancing with the string arrangement & the horns, and the barely wheezed "don't follow me", then the fuzzy guitar: every layer of creation at once, like a Bosch.

I'm sure it's been discussed elsewhere but maybe the popularity of this stuff has to do with living in a generally optimistic time...pre 9/11, pre recession, pre-BLM & MeToo, where stuff like this could be dismissed by reasonable people as "relax it's a joke"? idk Eminem always felt like a cartoon character to me. there was so much talk about how transgressive and offensive he was but its not like he suffered any consequences for it, MTV et al did everything they could to amplify the guy's music

― frogbs, Monday, October 21, 2019 5:19 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I agree with all of this. Maybe it's partly to do with having grown up since then and partly to do with overall internet-led 'wokeness', but at the time, for all his 'Yeah I'm offensive, so what?' schtick, I didn't think Eminem was any more shocking than other rap I had heard up til then (apart from 'Kim' which even then was a bit too much).

You're right though - with many of these acts you got a sense of the spoilt white brat whinging and kicking against... nothing really. 'I'm really angry because I'm famous'. 'I hate my nice, nurturing parents because they won't let me do what I want'. 'It's just one of those days when you don't wanna wake up - everything is fucked, everybody sucks'. It was aimless, undirected, angry for anger's sake. Shocking because of boredom. Like being cross about cotton wool. And in a strange way, I see Trump's America a bit like that: A teenager who's had it his way all his life having a tantrum because he has to do his own laundry.

the whole Eminem/Sum41/Tom Green/Limp Bizkit continuum presaged Trumpian political ire

there was a relevant ilx convo on this recently where the reference was South Park, and that seemed about right to me. not in terms of whether the show's creators explicitly support trump or whatever, but more just the tone of the show and what it says to people - "everything is dumb, nothing you do really matters" (note that the ilx convo was had by other people, was better than what i just said, and that my paraphrasing of it is not accurate)

'It's just one of those days when you don't wanna wake up - everything is fucked, everybody sucks'

relatable tbh

And sure, Eminem et al have addressed Trump and denounced him. The Beastie Boys disowned their early chauvinistic songs too - the artist matures, but maybe some of the fans don't.

'is a woman' was my lambchop pick, like nixon too but not as much

And there's a million of us just like me
Who cuss like me, who just don't give a fuck like me
Who dress like me, walk, talk and act like me
And just might be the next best thing, but not quite me

<i>the whole Eminem/Sum41/Tom Green/Limp Bizkit continuum presaged Trumpian political ire</i>

I'm somewhat confused as to how Sum 41 fit in there.

It's been 19 years and I'm still not tired of Nixon, there's nothing else that comes close to it for that very specific sound he's hit on there.

Harvested and honed, directionless nihilism can go either way – just as it can continue going nowhere. I don't think Trumpism has a monopoly on this.

In terms of his flow and rhyme schemes, Eminem is impeccable. One of the best ever.

yeah jeez he could really fuckin rap

and yeah South Park definitely the worst of this because that show seemed specifically designed to teach teenagers that participating in the political process is stupid and everything is as bad as everything else

me is a fitting rhyme for me

Lol

I love The Hustle Unlimited, that classic-disco-sounding single Lambchop did two years ago.

anything that can apply to me
could also rhyme with me
you see, i am thinking about me
and writing about me
but fuck you!
but fuck you, as well!
i want to talk about me

haha, sorry. i'm just goofin'. i agree that eminem used to be pretty good at the rhyme schemes

Folks, we have an album coming up, for which the mere words TOO LOW are not enough

"Nashville Parent" is a city song: so many sounds in the background, bells and wails and knocks of all sorts, yet the song moves through it all, stepping over what it must to get to its new position.

Saddened to think my FPV has absolutely no chance of placing at all.

it's above Nixon it's almost certainly TOO HIGH

don't worry pom I knew mine wouldn't as soon as I submitted my ballot

It's a topic for another thread by I think initially the cynicism of SP at the time was warranted. It's kind of like the first phase of disillusionment with the status quo. For a little while you might be tempted to flirt with nihilism, but then eventually you realize you can still band together with others and try to do something, and that there are values worth fighting for. The only problem is that SP has been content to wallow in that first flirtation with nihilism.

Blueberry Boat? ;_;

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79. Sheena Ringo - Karuki, Zamen, Kuri No Hana - 639 points - 9 votes - 1 FPV - Y2K+3

imago otm

i can't believe we're having another fucking conversation about south park on ilx

Oh

while this was 'only' my #9 is it probably the best album of all time by quite a few metrics

oh nice! this is a fantastic album

The only problem is that SP has been content to wallow in that first flirtation with nihilism.

― icy bike chain rain (zchyrs), Monday, October 21, 2019 9:41 AM (forty-nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

not true if you've seen anything from the last two seasons! that's all i'll hear about this thanks

anyway karuzi zamen kuri no hana is way too fuckin low

brad otm but yes let us talk of this wondrous album

and how it is TOO LOW

what is this??

I have no idea but I'm a minute into 'Meisai' and agree that this is TOO LOW.

TOO LOW

what is this??

― frame casual (dog latin), Monday, October 21, 2019 9:43 AM (six seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

the greatest j-pop (to the point where it's more j-art-pop) album of all time, made by a total genius

ufo mentioned this right at the start of the campaigning thread, people who didn't listen before submitting but are enjoying it now are on thin ice!

yesss Sheena Ringo! I voted for this, kudos top Milton Parker and others for turning me on to it, another great ILM discovery

'Yattsuke Shigoto' (track 5) was my #1 on the tracks poll, if anyone fancies hearing the best song of all time

but this album has several contenders

also, TOO LOW

I didn't have the energy to campaign for anything so to keep it fair I decided not to open that thread at all.

(xps)

It's a topic for another thread by I think initially the cynicism of SP at the time was warranted. It's kind of like the first phase of disillusionment with the status quo. For a little while you might be tempted to flirt with nihilism, but then eventually you realize you can still band together with others and try to do something, and that there are values worth fighting for. The only problem is that SP has been content to wallow in that first flirtation with nihilism.

― icy bike chain rain (zchyrs), Monday, October 21, 2019 5:41 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You know, much as I tried, I never really had too much of a problem with SP. Felt like they at least tried to find some sort of balance between Cartman's unbridled greediness and Kyle's reasonableness. And sure they took pot-shots at liberal open goals occasionally (as well as right-wing ones), but the writing was sharp and satirical and generally had a point to make

stop plz

Was disappointed ‘Up With People’ didn’t make the tracks poll so very happy ‘Nixon’ is here. Such a quiet but steely album.

<3 Sheena

Too low, for sure. Wonderfully cohesive album.

any way to listen to this without a spotify subscription?

This Deezer link might work: https://www.deezer.com/en/album/64184222

Worth getting Spotify just for this album and I am not even really exaggerating haha

i was about to suggest youtube but the youtubes of this album are locked to non-subscribers

and it looks like deezer and soundcloud are limited to 30 sec clips. it does sound intriguing

think you can buy it on apple music. you won't regret it

true story, i bought an import of it at the 2006 anime expo

(having not heard a note (but having heard tokyo jihen))

Ah shit, I forgot about Nixon! I definitely should have voted for that one

the lengths we go to lol

sheena ringo going on spotify was the best 'they're on spotify now!' ever haha

well haven't i shut down this thread nicely lol. i guess i have to post another one. on with the show

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78. The Notwist - Neon Golden - 647 points - 12 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+2

This is a band I have not thought about for 17 years.

I absolutely loved this album at the time but I can't bring myself to listen to it again.

oh I'm so glad this had placed. I remember seeing the video for 'The Pilot' on MTV2 one night and it immediately became one of my favourite songs

fun fact I didn't know till a wee while ago: dude from Notwist also releases music as Console and Acid Pauli. Also, earlier Notwist albums are heavy metal

neon golden meant everything to me when it came out - it was in constant rotation for years. i revisited recently and found myself less wowed by some of the production tricks, and especially by the vocal delivery, which can be a little samey/flat through the album. but there are still sections of it that are absolutely beautiful.

just remembered how much i love 'consequence,' such a beautiful track.

this album is very proto-shambhala I'd say. I'm not sure what makes The Pilot so great any more, but it sounded so great at the time

neon golden has really stuck with me more than anything else like it

xxxp

you mean punk,not metal

I absolutely loved this album at the time but I can't bring myself to listen to it again.

― pomenitul, Monday, October 21, 2019 10:08 AM (thirteen minutes ago)

I feel exactly the same. I couldn't even put it on my ballot. 2002 me would be appalled.

only two songs in but this sheena ringo album is the greatest

it really is

my personal favorite is the third song "meisai"

yes this one also rules

keep us updated, devvvine

spoilers: the rest of the songs will also rule

shhh don't give it away!

anyway who wants to hear some banging prog-techno

The Notwist! My #2 (and my #1 has no chance in hell of placing, I was probably the only voter). The whole album is so great, and honestly so simple. Nice loops, nice timbres, great melodies. I would have thought it would be so much more copied than it is.

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77. Lindstrøm - Where You Go I Go Too - 648 points - 10 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+8

great record

How disco-esque is this?

Incredible album. The best thing he's ever done.

So it looks like no Half Man Half Biscuit will place :(

i love how it took Lindstrom for you to realise that lol

The Lindstrom is both mint & skill but I didn't vote for it

yeah I loved this at the time and would probably love it now

This is my favorite thing by Lindstrøm. Listened to this so much back then.

notwist and this were both in my top 10

i still listen to this a ton esp the title track

I listened to it a lot and "Baby Can't Stop" made my singles ballot.

great album

I missed Real Life Is No Cool on the noms list, otherwise I would have voted for that. I like his style more with vocals.

So it looks like no Half Man Half Biscuit will place :(

― The World According To.... (Michael B), Monday, 21 October 2019 18:35 (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also thinking this, must be said that none of the albums that place are better than csi: ambleside

'trouble over bridgwater' was my (very high) vote. csi ambleside my 2nd favourite from this period though yes

WYGIGT title-track is such good music to have on while just going about your life

love this record

Oh no, forgot to vote for the Lindstrom record. Glad it made the list.

actually maybe "okonomi de" is my favorite song on that shiina ringo record. fiona apple should cover it

Both HMHB albums mentioned are wonderful but my pick was "Cammell Laird Social Club"

i think we're seeing what the problem was

lol yes

too many good albums, nigel

There's a good amount of albums so far that I've never listened to, but Sheena Ringo is the first to show up on this list that I've flat-out never even heard of before.

Notwist - really loved that album when it came out but it has cooled considerably in my estimation over the years. Feels very of its era now.

and SPEAKING of beloved, quintessentially-English wordsmiths whose lyrics struck a chord with many,

los campesinos!

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76. The Streets - Original Pirate Material - 662 points - 14 votes - 0 FPVs - Y2K+2

lol wot

Damn, I was hoping for Art Brut with that description.

love the image for this one (and all the other ones)

I don't mind seeing it here but it's TOO DAMN HIGH.

dry yr eyes mate