ILM's Top 100 Albums of the 2010s

Let's do this! Thanks again to ufo for helping me set up this poll.

Here's the Spotify playlist I'll be updating. If someone wants to share one for another service (tidal, youtube, apple music, etc..) please do so.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6242kDTBIbwWzzbIENutuc

Here's the tracks thread:
ILM's Top 100 Tracks of the 2010s

https://i.imgur.com/QAZNgtv.jpg
100. Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place (2011)
[343 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 13 in 2011

starting with the sort of featureless arty piffle that's going to stand in for the avant-garde in this rollout, I see

best behaviour for the tracks poll, but best behaviour is OVER

Crap, I forgot to submit a ballot

A little Julianna goes a long way. I like "Bob in your gait" from this album

leggo

https://i.imgur.com/t4PKVcx.jpg
99. Owen Pallett - In Conflict (2014)
[358 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 4 in 2014

lol OK this is great, I feel bad already

The Barwick is pretty music! I didn't vote for it, but I've never been mad at the new age revival she was/is a part of

OP has gotten better with each successive album, is my controversial stance

Lol imago. There’s several albums on the countdown that I’m sure you love don’t worry.

Voted for Nepenthe but everything Barwick has done has been at least a B or B+. For the new parents out there, her stuff works wonders at getting infants to bed.

I mostly lost track of her after Nepenthe, should check those later albums out

Xpost: Ok, I’m gonna take that advice and use the Barwick today for her nap.

Her latest album (2020's Healing is a Miracle) is her most dynamic and varied -- has collaborations with Mary Lattimore, Nosaj Thing, and Jonsi

I lost my ballot but pretty sure I voted for a different Owen Pallett album. Glad this is here.

Tidal playlist: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/3bedfb88-2397-40b9-a186-6141d2381087

Thanks silverfish!

Lattimore AND Jonsi! All-action stuff

https://i.imgur.com/kppOaFV.jpg
98. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact (2011)
[361 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 6 in 2011

surprised this is this low

Her latest album (2020's Healing is a Miracle) is her most dynamic and varied -- has collaborations with Mary Lattimore, Nosaj Thing, and Jonsi

This Gang Gang Dance album is one I rediscovered while preparing my ballot, just so good, have been listening to it a lot in the last couple of weeks

Great start w/ JB. I'll have to catch up w/ her recent work.

looking at my ballot, it looks like I only put Gang Gang Dance in the unweighted portion of my ballot, I feel like it would probably be top 10 if I did my ballot today.

voted for this one, glad it's here!

i didn't realize it placed so highly in its year-end poll

https://i.imgur.com/gDXIje4.jpg
97. CFCF - Liquid Colours (2019)
[362 points / 6 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 26 in 2019

https://i.imgur.com/Kw10EfU.jpg
96. Caroline Polachek - Pang (2019)
[363 points / 5 votes]
Previous Placement: 15 in 2019

Great start. In Conflict and Eye Contact are career highlights from Owen and Gang Gang Dance. Both slipped from my ballot last minute.

Liquid Colours is an album that wasn't on my radar until in it placed on our 2019 poll. It's really gorgeous stuff.

It's everything time

CFCF yay

Caroline Polachek is one of the many artists I've discovered since stumbling across this board. Really great.

Pang is another one I cut from my list last minute. It really should have been on there, but I was rationalising my crazy decisions any way I could. I had Door and I Belong In Your Arms on my tracks list so figured those were my Polachek votes covered. Brilliant album.

I always thought Gang Gang Dance's 'It's everything time' aesthetic was better in theory than in practice, but a while back I heard Saint Dymphna again, and it was powerfully retro-futuristic. The sound of a promised future that never came, while music mostly became more minimalistic.

Except, in 2013, it went maximalist again, if you were looking in the right places. Let's see if these results reflect this...

I had assumed, based on the name, that Gang Gang Dance sounded something like Art Brut. Listening now I see I was correct.

O_o

Man, what Art Brut album have you heard?

lol wp keyes

https://i.imgur.com/4cRnrTH.jpg
95. Saint Etienne - Words and Music by Saint Etienne (2012)
[363 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 27 in 2012

Ffs how did I forget the CFCF? would've had that top 20

Here they are!

https://i.imgur.com/H7qjNoe.jpg
94. Spoon - They Want My Soul (2014)
[366 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 37 in 2014

was just thinking last night that I needed to play Liquid Colours soon

Huh, a Spoon album I didn't even remember existing.

Except, in 2013, it went maximalist again, if you were looking in the right places. Let's see if these results reflect this...

― imago, 22. august 2022 17:09 (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I checked my old ballots, and in 2014 I put Skrillex on there, so apparently I knew where to look... :/

The only essential Spoon albums since Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Transference is my fave, voted for it here (don't expect it to show up?)

JB, OP, GGD all either lowish on my ballot or just outside the cut, they're good albums!

Except, in 2013, it went maximalist again, if you were looking in the right places. Let's see if these results reflect this...

― imago, Monday, August 22, 2022 3:09 PM (twenty-three minutes ago)

lol I know

https://i.imgur.com/3254y9i.jpg
93. Burial - Rival Dealer (2013)
[368 points / 5 votes]
Previous Placement: 30 in 2013

Transference is good too and I had "The Mystery Zone" on my tracks list.

That St. Etienne album is gorgeous, up there with their '90s run.

https://i.imgur.com/cfvkpmx.jpg
92. 100 gecs - 1000 gecs (2019)
[369 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 18 in 2019

Missed my ballot by a few places, but a Significant Record imo, marks the moment the US finally made hyperpop into a thing of its own

Do they get good at 10,000 gecs?

We'll find out soon enough

Yes! Made my ballot even though it only made the lower part of my top 25 in 2019. But it has quickly grown in stature. Significant indeed.

(my fear, based on the advance singles, is that they've gone a bit too streamlined-pop, so ILX will probably indeed decide they've come good lol)

https://i.imgur.com/9CGFd98.jpg
91. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica (2011)
[369 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 26 in 2011

On the Gecs front, I almost certainly would have voted for 'Money Machine', but I couldn't see myself voting for the album. I stick to my original feeling - they're fun and funny in small doses, but it fades quickly. Definitely doesn't feel like a "significant record" to me.

Last seen doing an absolutely grotesque joint interview with Charli XCX that made me like them both about 50% less, but 0PN did some great work last decade. I voted for a different one

Speak of the devil

https://i.imgur.com/vtX2EFC.jpg
90. Charli XCX - True Romance (2013)
[372 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 17 in 2013

Here's the interview in question, you can judge for yourself: https://www.documentjournal.com/2022/01/charli-xcx-and-oneohtrix-point-never-are-rewriting-the-conditions-of-experimental-sound/

this would probably have been my #1, had I voted.

I need to listen to this properly. I remember at the time thinking her mate Marina was clearly the superior songwriter, but by 2020, things had altered for one reason or another

https://i.imgur.com/hnpo4BG.jpg
89. Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys (2015)
[373 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 22 in 2015

https://i.imgur.com/woTes0S.jpg
88. Alvvays - Antisocialites (2017)
[376 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 47 in 2017

um

https://i.imgur.com/PlfYU7i.jpg
87. Tinashe - Songs For You (2019)
[376 points / 6 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 7 in 2019

Hairless Toys and Monto didn't hold up well for me in the long run, but glad Róisín placed I guess.

I got nuthin for the other two.

the real Tinashe joint was last year's

100 gecs deserve some kind of award for rising to the top of a crowded field and recording the most annoying auto-tuned vocals ever devised.

https://i.imgur.com/rfbhqog.jpg
86. Burial - Tunes 2011-2019 (2019)
[377 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 78 in 2019

This might be the duddest first day we've ever had in a poll rollout.

Genuinely embarrassing that our #93 is entirely contained within out #86. Stop voting for compilations!

I didn't vote for this and think I've only ever listened to it all the way through as an actual album once but there's so much great stuff on it.

Well of course there's loads of great stuff on it, it's about 5 or 6 releases combined!

Sure but I think it's a better fit for an albums poll than the individual EPs.

im currently at 0 for albums placing but I like a lot of these. really glad Words and Music made it.

Rival Dealer on its own is pretty spectacular though, I'd say a vote for it is eminently understandable, even if there's other great stuff from the period. It's longer than at least one album I voted for!

love the photo design of this rollout btw.

https://i.imgur.com/NS0octF.jpg
85. Javiera Mena - MENA (2010)
[378 points / 5 votes]
Previous Placement: 52 in 2010

middle east north africa

If ever there was a comp seemingly designed for voting in a decade-end poll, it's the Burial one.

Lol, this is kinda spectacularly crashing :)

Here's hoping for another Róisín Murphy album up next!

I think today has actually been pretty good! Disagree with imago; why would anyone vote for Rival Dealer when Tunes was nominated? The Street Halo EP is nearly (just?) as good as Rival Dealer.

How many albums did Spoon release last decade

You'd vote for Rival Dealer because it was conceived of as a piece. Tunes was a post-hoc resequencing of many riches into a piece they weren't originally intended for, but...idk.

The Burial compilation is the only comp I've ever voted for in the year-end polls

How many albums did Spoon release last decade

― imago, 22. august 2022 19:07 (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Three. As did Carly Rae Jepsen, and I'm guessing we'll see them all in the top ten.

Hey ok I voted for this Javiera Mena album. It's the least I could do, having left her off my tracks ballot.

I didn't think Transference and Hot Thoughts were that loved over here.

https://i.imgur.com/4X8O2fE.jpg
84. Farrah Abraham - My Teenage Dream Ended (2012)
[378 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 15 in 2012

OK do your gecs comparisons, fire away

whoa nice

haha

whether people are mad at the rollout or not, its very representative of the boards taste

Wow- I totally forgot about this one. Definitely worth a listen, although I didn't vote for it.

https://i.imgur.com/u06hKbf.jpg
83. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (2010)
[383 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 48 in 2010

Ok, catching up on my lunch break.

Voted for Saint Etienne. As Alfred said, it's a gorgeous album that's on a similar level to their best work. Over The Border and Tonight are some of my favourite songs they've done. They've had a good last ten years.

Ga Ga Ga Ga was the last Spoon album that really stayed with me. The albums since have just existed.

Charli got my vote. She's obviously gone off in a lot of interesting directions since then (most of which have worked) but that album still stands up. Pop 2 should be higher.

Didn't vote for any Roisin but it wouldn't be one of our lists without her. Good album.

Also didn't vote for Tinashe but it's my favourite of hers.

Shame the tracks poll seems to have caused a mini Alvvays backlash. The Beths, Japanese Breakfast and Charly Bliss may have done indie pop even better, I just have room in my twee indie heart for all of them. Antisocialites is nothing but hits.

Halycon Digest has ended up being the only Deerhunter album I really care about anymore.

Oh and Mena is fantastic. Feel like I've spent the last ten years looking for a copy on vinyl with no luck.

They Want My Soul is such a great album and so happy it was able to sneak in. It will be the only Spoon to place.

https://i.imgur.com/RxLqWIB.jpg
82. Rihanna - ANTI (2016)
[389 points / 8 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 29 in 2016

https://i.imgur.com/bvY0xED.jpg
81. Kelela - Take Me Apart (2017)
[396 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 13 in 2017

Last ones for the day!

Gotta run, see you in a couple of hours!

hopefully anti is not rihanna's last album, but it is certainly a high note to go out on

Kelela!

voted for Replica
was hard to pick one 0PN but went for the one i listened to most

gang gang dance is the only one from today's slate that i voted for. i expect to be pretty hivemind-y overall, though

oh voted for true romance and the best of burial too

grins is a v underrated tune

Kelela ~80 places too low

I didn't get a ballot together, but glad to see the GGD didn't need my vote to get into the countdown. I just dug that out to listen to maybe 6 months ago, along with St. Dymphna. Both great.

yeh st dymphna is so good

Just realized the Rihanna album is only a year older than Kelela's. Where has she been?

anti is the best album of the decade

She became a billionaire selling cosmetics and I don’t think she cares about making and/or performing music anymore

I mean Kelela. No new music for 5 years, right?

“Frontline” will be one of the best opening tracks of any album here.

Last I heard someone hacked her twitter account and started selling ps5’s through it.

She has her account back and is allegedly working on a new album:

true there’s music but sorry no PS5s. now let me get back to work ♨️👩🏾‍💻♨️ love y’all!

— Kelela (@kelelam) January 2, 2022

I just listened to Anti the other day and apart from Woo, it still sounds really good. I'm still a bit annoyed about the Rihanna finally made a good album narrative that came with it though. Good Girl Gone Bad is great and Rated R is a classic.

would not be surprised to see Transference make it. i feel like it was more popular with ilxors than They Want My Soul was.
they're a band that i kept expecting to sort of age out, and become a bland imitations of themselves – but they never did. at least in the 2010-19 decade, everything they put out was solid, different enough from the last but still them. i voted for both those albums AND Hot Thoughts!

I voted for Transference but nothing else by them for this poll.

To my ears Transference was the last of their charmed run of albums in the 00s. They Want My Soul is good but signals the beginning of their long-in-the-tooth phase. Aside from a few tracks I find Hot Thoughts (and the new album) not very satisfying.

surprised anti is so low

for real

replica is peak OPN

Good rollout so far. A few things that would've made my long-list which I didn't end up voting for: Alvvays (nice enough but not as memorable as some other Toronto indie-power-poppers like Ducks Ltd and Kiwi Jr), Gang Gang Dance (I voted for a different album that features a Lizzi Bougatsis vocal), and the incomparable "My Teenage Dream Ended", which I relistened to today and it still holds up.

Javiera and Róisín are TOO LOW

summary:

100. Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place - [343 points / 6 votes]
99. Owen Pallett - In Conflict - [358 points / 7 votes]
98. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact - [361 points / 6 votes]
97. CFCF - Liquid Colours - [362 points / 6 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
96. Caroline Polachek - Pang - [363 points / 5 votes]
95. Saint Etienne - Words and Music by Saint Etienne - [363 points / 6 votes]
94. Spoon - They Want My Soul - [366 points / 6 votes]
93. Burial - Rival Dealer - [368 points / 5 votes]
92. 100 gecs - 1000 gecs - [369 points / 6 votes]
91. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica - [369 points / 7 votes]
90. Charli XCX - True Romance - [372 points / 6 votes]
89. Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys - [373 points / 6 votes]
88. Alvvays - Antisocialites - [376 points / 6 votes]
87. Tinashe - Songs For You - [376 points / 6 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
86. Burial - Tunes 2011-2019 - [377 points / 6 votes]
85. Javiera Mena - MENA - [378 points / 5 votes]
84. Farrah Abraham - My Teenage Dream Ended - [378 points / 6 votes]
83. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest - [383 points / 6 votes]
82. Rihanna - ANTI - [389 points / 8 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
81. Kelela - Take Me Apart - [396 points / 6 votes]

eye contact could easily have been my number one, an all-time favourite and a shame that it's now clearly underrated here placing this low. still sounds like nothing else

much prefer chairlift's something to pang which is a bit inconsistent in comparison despite its very high highs

rival dealer and tunes 2011-2019 getting vote-split but both managing to place was pretty funny - i voted for rival dealer which is his very best standalone work while tunes is a bit less consistent as a compilation

great that my teenage dream ended placed

really love hairless toys & songs for you as well

Tunes 2011-2019 encompasses all of his best work of the decade, so phenomenal

not sure on my exact list but v much love in conflict and liquid colours, great to see them here

xp, he chose not to release any albums during in the decade, this was his summation

What the hell is Farrah Abraham and why am I scared to even touch it? My instinct tells me to stay away.

It’s truly one of the most baffling pieces of outsider art ever made. Idk how much I can really stomach but I think there’s something to be said for music that truly doesn’t sound like anything else and for that I tossed it a vote

it is a kind of creepy and amateur witch house album featuring a junior celebrity singing about her trials, but it is also somewhat listenable. not sure about best of 2010s status, but is more interesting than some of the stuff here

I do like it the more I listen to it

It’s got that Tommy Wiseau quality to it, half the fascination is just trying to figure out why things were done that way and what conceiveable audience there is for it. I don’t think what you’re hearing is at all what the producer or singer was hearing in their head.

Does that mean Sarah Brand is a shoo-in for Best of 2020s?

I've never heard more than a song or two of the Abraham, but the thread is testament to it having a surprisingly wide fanbase on ILM: What do you think of MTV Teen Mom Farrah Abraham's first single?

xp I don’t think what you’re hearing is at all what the producer or singer was hearing in their head

not sure why you say that. it seems like exactly what they were hearing to me

I would like Eye Contact more if it wasn’t for its being the accompaniment to a prolonged visit to the ER for me. It was the music I listened to on headphones while I was being treated with an IV cardioversion drug for atrial fibrillation that required monitoring

I was kind of queasy and the music seemed dysphoric

music has always been a soundtrack to my experiences, good and bad, it's all been subjective

eye contact could easily have been my number one, an all-time favourite and a shame that it's now clearly underrated here placing this low. still sounds like nothing else

― ufo

I'm really regretting not voting for it. I had Glass Jar on my tracks list so I cut it. Like you say, it's such a unique album. A beautiful sounding album.

Ok I listened to a couple of songs from the Farrah Abraham one and I don't get it and I might be oversensitive today but I think it's a bit mean to over-intellectualize it since I don't think she was actually trying to do a piece of 'performative art'. It just made me a bit sad.

i haven't really seen anyone over-intellectualize it, it's a fascinating example of outsider art though

Reviews on rateyourmusic are mostly tongue-in-cheek from what I saw.

I mean it's entirely my fault for looking at reviews on rateyourmusic but it was the first result.

Lol I just completely forgot we were doing albums, my mind literally blanked, I was like "what's this thread, what Julianna Barwick, those are not the results from the 2010s tracks, are we redoing it with real results".

Just catching up. Voted gecs ofc - it is the most fun! Happy to see Farrah Abraham and Rihanna place too (though I voted for Consideration in tracks instead).

I can imagine voting for Farrah Abraham for the title and cover, for the chuckle and bafflement that it exists, but I wouldn't believe anyone telling me they put the record on.
But yeah sure, let's put it in front of MENA and Songs for you.

I just put it on, and something like Liar Liar is genuinely good? A lot of tracks it seems like she is singing to a different beat than what they went with in the end, but that's fascinating too! It's definitely a significant album from the decade, more significant than a lot of what has placed. And genuinely of its time.

Deerhunter and I think CFCF were my only votes from yesterday but I did also go for other albums by Javiera Mena and Róisín Murphy (and like the ones that placed). Pretty good selection overall though, Farrah Abraham was a nice reminder of ILM of yore.

Song for Five & Six is one of my favourite Owen Pallett tracks - their melodies have a way of striking you straight in the heart. The whole album is full of such searingly poignant arrangements and I'm really enjoying revisiting it.

I'm familiar with none of the artists whose albums I listened to last night. Only made it a few tracks into most of them and I definitely need to play catch-up with the rest of the list. These are just my imbecilic impressions.

The Magic Place - listened to the first two tracks. Soothing, but does it do anything beyond that?

In Conflict - I admit to never checking out OP due to He Poos Clouds album title. Sorry, it's gross. This is very good stuff and will check out more.

Eye Contact - there was one Gang Gang Dance song I really liked back in the day. Can't remember what it was, but I never got around to the whole album. I gotta say that starting off the record with an 11-minute song is a ballsy move. Ambitious and entertaining, but exhausting. Will revisit.

Liquid Colors - More digestible dance music than the GGD. I only got 3 or 4 songs in, but I still thought I was on the first one. Had some LTJ Bukem, light d'n'b sounds on one of the tracks, which is something I get nostalgic for.

Pang - Liked the opening track but the title track didn't really feel outstanding. I went back later and listened to much more of it, and while her voice is definitely amazing, I decided maybe I'm not sad enough to listen to this at the moment.

Words and Music By - I had never been properly prepared for St. Etienne when I had tried them previously. Happy to say that I'm in the right place. That opening track really drew me in. This was the easiest record to keep listening to.

They Want My Soul - Fascinated by this record because it sounds like a love letter to 2004. I can practically smell 2004 in here. Then, on track 6, dude drops a Garden State reference? 2004 Zach Braff film Garden State? I don't even know what to think about that. I don't know if I'll come back to this, but it was refreshing to hear a solid entry of capital I capital R Indie Rock.

xp Yep, that's a stunner. The last minute of The Riverbed is likewise overwhelming

Farrah Abraham is ILM canon for sure - on the thread linked above and probably also the EOY poll there’s a lot of polarised debate. The people who like it do so honestly, then and I assume now people aren’t voting for lol purposes.

Heartland remains my favourite but In Conflict is absolutely great. Antisocialites is also a v good album I listened to a lot that year.

xps house jam probs my highlight of older gang gang dance tracks

Soothing, but does it do anything beyond that?

yes

eye contact is proof that more psychedelic balearic jam albums need to put rave synths everywhere

Good morning / good evening.

Let’s begin.

https://i.imgur.com/jqPLRSu.jpg
80. Kanye West - Yeezus (2013)
[398 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 10 in 2013

His best.

I somehow forgot to vote for this. Listened to this so much when it was released. Definitely his best.

i like the arca bits

My problem is that it kinda loses steam halfway through.

Opening track of True Romance repeats the track title too much. Second track bangs very hard however. More as we get it

https://i.imgur.com/M4jjFGN.jpg
79. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (2018)
[402 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 7 in 2018

i'd say yeezus is too low but i voted for mbdtf instead

That 1975 album title could be a Kanye title.

Kanye doesn’t do brief

https://i.imgur.com/kY2g1Wu.jpg
78. SAULT - 5 (2019)
[404 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 28 in 2019

I like the albums either side of it, but this was p garbage as an album imo

That's to The 1975. I've never liked Sault

78’d

https://i.imgur.com/bug2zsq.jpg
77. Julia Holter - Aviary (2018)
[405 points / 5 votes]
Previous Placement: 4 in 2018

All my bêtes noires are coming at once, lol

Sault would soon kick it into another gear but both 5 or 7 were real bursts of excitement.

https://i.imgur.com/czhDPRh.jpg
76. Beach House - Bloom (2012)
[412 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 25 in 2012

could've also had Loud City Song or Ekstasis in my top ten but ended up limiting it to Aviary

Beach House's best imo.

they had a p strong decade

These are all albums that I liked for a while and ended up cooling on. I bought all of these albums and ended up selling them on.

Yeezus is probably the best of his 2010s output, but as most seemed to agree, it's very front-loaded. I haven't gone back to it in a long time.

With The 1975, I feel like I got swept up with how surprisingly great the second album was and the expectations for the follow-up. I still love the last three songs and the two hits, but there's some really weak songs on there that just don't work. They lost me with the following album and I Like It When You Sleep is beginning to seem like a one off.

I just don't get the love for Sault, especially those first two albums. Why Why Why Why Why Why, Masterpiece and We Are the Sun are all gorgeous songs, the rest sounds like unfinished demos that don't really go anywhere. Rise is the only time it felt like they got close to making a consistently great album.

Aviary is the first time I didn't like a Julia Holter more than the previous one. It just didn't click in the same way Have You In My Wilderness eventually did.

Bloom and Depression Cherry continue to fight it out for my favourite Beach House. I never really got into them on those earlier albums until my friend played me the Eyes Without A Face one from this and that was my way in. They haven't really put a foot wrong since Bloom.
'

True Romance update: tracks 2-4 the best run but still enjoying. So Far Away kind of invents The 1975 (yes I know they already existed lol)

yeezus's back half has three excellent songs ("blood on the leaves, "send it up," "bound 2"), one that i never need to hear again ("i'm in it"), and one that i always forget about ("guilt trip")

Sorry busy morning I’m back!

https://i.imgur.com/AkZKzZ2.jpg
75. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (2010)
[415 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 1 in 2010

From #1 to #75

wow this is really the end of an era isn't it

Good, often excellent album though.

still really love this album even though i didn't vote for it

xp of music or ILM?

Both if necessary.

alright! Big Boi is my first album to show up so far. But yeah, fall from grace. Still excellent.

Last three tracks of TR a delightful little run as well. Really good album! I guess she did always have it

I liked the Big Boi album at the time, definitely not the worst of our year-poll winners even if that's reflected here

"shutterbugg" is still delightful, "fo yo sorrows" has a special place in my heart, and i love a lot of the funkier ones on the back half

do you guys think janelle monae was like "hey mom, i'm on the big boi album!" and queued up the track only to be greeted by "when was the last time you went teabagging?"

― altered scones (J0rdan S.), Thursday, July 8, 2010 1:27 AM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

must be tea time

Surprised Big Boi made it. It was the only one of our winners I thought might miss out.

Loved it at the time, but haven't played it in years.

Shine Blockas is quite the banger, on closer inspection. I guess it doesn't really feel like a 2010s album. I wonder which album in this rundown is going to most feel like the start of the decade

I listened to this at the weekend for the first time in ages, held up really well.

Yeezus and A Brief Inquiry both TOO LOW but not terribly surprising either given comments I've seen around the board. Weird to see the "front-loaded" criticism of Yeezus -- voodoo chili spot on that the second half has at least two of its four best tracks. Took me a while but now think A Brief Inquiry to be The 1975's best; all of the four albums have incredible highs, but it's the one with the most interesting intermediary "bridge"/filler tracks and the most complete front to back.

The stretch until New Slaves is just so relentless. Once that psych-rock sample kicks in, the album could plausibly end, and still be a classic. I do like a lot of the rest, though, and Bound 2 might be the best album closer of the decade.

I'd rather be a dick than a swallower

:(

Did not expect "No More Parties in LA" to be ilm's highest rated Kanye track of the decade and thought maybe he wouldn't even show up in the albums poll.

the first time I listened to Yeezus my iPod glitched and halfway through Track 5 it cut into some Split Enz track I'd never heard before and I was like 'whoa this is pretty wild' for a minute until I realized what actually happened

history never repeats

I shared some Kane West with a friend once, he had heard about but never actually heard Kanye and was very surprised that this was what he sounded like.

lol The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a D.C.-based think tank that opposes loan forgiveness

Is that The 1975's new album title(?)

B-side comp.

Moka giving us enough time to hear Aviary

I didn't vote for Aviary but did vote for "Les Jeux To You" in the tracks poll. I don't understand why this track isn't considered a career highlight for Julia Holter. That middle section of the track is unlike anything I've heard.

I....agree! Before it starts ninnying around at the end again, that middle bit is great, easily the best thing on that album imo

Lol sorry

Here we go again

https://i.imgur.com/Xo0SVDU.jpg
74. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch (2012)
[422 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 16 in 2012

playlist updated. I'll be posting every 8 mins to compensate the lost time to get to 61. sorry about the off time.

https://i.imgur.com/diHCK0B.jpg
73. SAULT - 7 (2019)
[423 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 41 in 2019

bish bosch is great

Bish Bosch is my number 2. An amazing album.

I still need to give it a full all-the-way-through listen, somehow

Or at least, an updated one

same. i'm a massive fan of walker's 60s work but never really cottoned to his late career renaissance. just have never been in the right headspace, i guess.

Epizootics! was a fantastic lesser dose, see also Clara off the previous album

https://i.imgur.com/2EeNHby.jpg
72. Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings (2016)
[426 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 18 in 2016

This one's pretty good I think, I should go back to it.

AW YEAH.

Still her best album imo

Only 7 votes for this masterpiece? Guess I'll give up on Platinum now.

Hopefully Pistol Annies places??? Ugh.

https://i.imgur.com/sdqihSF.jpg
71. MGMT - Little Dark Age (2018)
[427 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 17 in 2018

Wow, didn't see this one making it. Good job ILM.

Get ready to have some fun!

Cover connection with 80?

https://i.imgur.com/BIcJaih.jpg
70. Mr Twin Sister - Mr Twin Sister (2014)
[430 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 14 in 2014

I know people really loved those last two Mr Twin Sister albums, but I don't think they didn't come close to this one.

Surprising to see MGMT in here. Their best album by a mile. I didn't know they had it in them.

Didn't vote for that Miranda album but agree it's her best, glad it placed.

MGMT took me awhile to listen because I thought I had grown over them and wasn't interested, gave it a chance years later and was pleasantly suprised. Their best album by a wide margin. Interested in what they do next.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to their next one. The single they put out the following year was great too. Felt like a victory lap for the Little Dark Age era.

https://i.imgur.com/gAHIxjX.jpg
69. The-Dream - Love King (2010)
[435 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 3 in 2010

I came to Mr Twin Sister late so my favorite is Salt, which is what I voted for. I should give this one more time though.

Yes! A step down from Love vs Money, but still really good. Yamaha -> Nikki -> Abyss still overwhelms me.

yeh yamaha into nikki is all time

my fav record by the-dream

Wow super surprised to see Little Dark Age. Coincidentally a track from that ("Hand It Over") came up on shuffle the other day and I thought "Oh yeah, this was a good album." I took my kids to see them on that tour, it was a good show. MGMT is a rare intersection in all three of our tastes.

https://i.imgur.com/8pWLQju.jpg
68. Todd Terje - It's Album Time (2014)
[435 points / 9 votes]
Previous Placement: 10 in 2014

Back-to-back albums I'd have voted for had I not used my album ballot for nefarious purposes.

Eric, will you check about the hors d'oeuvres? The caterer forgot them, the varnish wasn't dry or something.

voted for this in my top 20.

sure, most of the best songs on the album appeared previously, but holy crap at those songs. the original album ones weren't slouches either

surprised to see this so low, considering the tracks poll!

just learned about an hour ago via Pitchfork that Stranger Things actor Joe Keery loves It's Album Time and even got the cover artist to design one of his singles for his Djo project: https://open.spotify.com/album/3zccysa4zSZsX5h6EIxlph?si=k0P6vUpITZyuI40KoTldgQ&utm_source=copy-link

note that I have not heard this music yet. just wanted to point out the cover.

https://i.imgur.com/c6RsAmW.jpg
67. Owen Pallett - Heartland (2010)
[436 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 27 in 2010

i voted for salt instead of mr twin sister due to my one album per artist rule, but that first mr twin sister album is obviously glorious. i think it's a bit more frontloaded and less song-oriented than salt, which is why i prefer the latter one, but the first four songs still knock me out.

Ah, my intro to OP and his music.

xpost: Bendik Kaltenborn is the artist for Todd Terje's album and some singles. He is amazing, love his style.

Had no idea Joe Keery had a band. And that he likes Todd Terje! Seems like he is as suave as the series portrays him.

Voted for Todd. Wasn't sure he'd make it as a lot of people seemed to think it was disappointing after the singles. It's such a feel good album.

Happy to see double Owen in the list. Both albums deserve to be here.

https://i.imgur.com/2hR7hVe.jpg
66. Mitski - Be the Cowboy (2018)
[445 points / 7 votes]
Previous Placement: 6 in 2018

Funny how much stronger this sound compared to the new one. It has the variety of a double album but none of the sprawl.

FINALLY ONE I VOTED FOR

And voted for well. What a brilliant little album. As I said on Twitter recently,

She falls into that rare space of being both a musician's musician and a marketable popstar. Her stuff is hooks for miles and relatable aesthetics, but it's also incredibly complex, sonically imaginative and even proggy, within super-economical song-lengths; like Wire, a pop lab

— Louis Jagger (@louisjagger) August 10, 2022

All of which especially applies to this album

Mitski's best album.

https://i.imgur.com/lgQdWVX.jpg
65. Big Thief - U.F.O.F. (2019)
[451 points / 10 votes]
Previous Placement: 4 in 2019

Heartland too low, I reckon.

https://i.imgur.com/BrQZfj7.jpg
64. Tinashe - Aquarius (2014)
[454 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 5 in 2014

Back to back great picks there — UFOF was where I got on the Big Thief bandwagon, and Aquarius should be MUCH HIGHER.

I voted for both Tinashe albums and am delighted they placed, though I'm surprised we're already seeing Aquarius.

https://i.imgur.com/21HbGB2.jpg
63. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob (2013)
[458 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 28 in 2013

10 perfect pop songs
love drove me wild especially

https://i.imgur.com/DhB8yrR.jpg
62. Robyn - Body Talk (2010)
[467 points / 9 votes]
Previous Placement: 9 in 2010

Happy to see 65-67

haven't listened to body talk in ages but it was a great project

One more for the day. We're going full circle, the day ends with the same artist that it began with.

https://i.imgur.com/sqGGAWh.jpg
61. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
[468 points / 6 votes]
Previous Placement: 7 in 2010

meh album imo

kinda glad it didn't crack the top half. bits of it are still fascinating to me but my god it sounds like absolute garbage

Warms my heart to see that stall out at #61.

My Boring Dull Interminable Fantasies

Today is mostly a bunch of albums I love that I didn't vote for. I took the Tegan & Sara album off my list as I had Closer on my tracks list. Fantastic album though. Not a single weak moment as nxd says.

Body Talk was a great era, but Honey is a much stronger album overall. I doubt it'll place now as Body Talk is this low.

I can still enjoy Monster and All Of The Lights from MBDTF and that's about it. It's such a harsh unpleasant sounding album to me. Such a drag to listen to the whole thing.

Still such a crazy, brazen, maximalist album, but after Yeezus I've rarely listened to it. The last years hasn't made it any more likable too. It obviously belongs here, though.

mbdtf was mixed for earbuds lol. sounds fine if you have crappy equipment

i don't really ahve any way to be objective about mbdtf. the insane run of back-to-back good friday singles created an avalanche of hype that i couldn't help but get wrapped up in. probably the most excited i'd ever been about an album in my then-20-year-old life. i wouldn't have been satisfied by anything less than a blown-out, maximalist mess of an album, and that's what i received.

haven't returned to it in a while, but i couldn't make a list that reflected my '10s experience without voting for it and voting for it highly (my #6)

It’s such an overhyped album.

frogbs otm

I was really into MBDTF for a couple of months, but it really doesn't hold up well for me, whereas with Yeezus I play it every once in a while and it still sounds great

i was a bit surprised that mbdtf made the top 100 after the college dropout only barely scraped into the 00s poll and late registration didn't place at all. i guess people have moved on a bit from the peak of the kanye backlash?

it just really needed an editor, someone to tell kanye that not every track had to be over 6 minutes long with 4 guest verses each - the only one that really gets away with that is "monster". there's plenty of great ideas on it but most tracks go on for so much longer than necessary until you're completely exhausted by them.

i did end up voting for yeezus though, it's so dense with ideas & not even kanye trying his best to be obnoxious manages to ruin it

100. Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place - [343 points / 6 votes]
99. Owen Pallett - In Conflict - [358 points / 7 votes]
98. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact - [361 points / 6 votes]
97. CFCF - Liquid Colours - [362 points / 6 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
96. Caroline Polachek - Pang - [363 points / 5 votes]
95. Saint Etienne - Words and Music by Saint Etienne - [363 points / 6 votes]
94. Spoon - They Want My Soul - [366 points / 6 votes]
93. Burial - Rival Dealer - [368 points / 5 votes]
92. 100 gecs - 1000 gecs - [369 points / 6 votes]
91. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica - [369 points / 7 votes]
90. Charli XCX - True Romance - [372 points / 6 votes]
89. Róisín Murphy - Hairless Toys - [373 points / 6 votes]
88. Alvvays - Antisocialites - [376 points / 6 votes]
87. Tinashe - Songs For You - [376 points / 6 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
86. Burial - Tunes 2011-2019 - [377 points / 6 votes]
85. Javiera Mena - MENA - [378 points / 5 votes]
84. Farrah Abraham - My Teenage Dream Ended - [378 points / 6 votes]
83. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest - [383 points / 6 votes]
82. Rihanna - ANTI - [389 points / 8 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
81. Kelela - Take Me Apart - [396 points / 6 votes]

80. Kanye West - Yeezus - [398 points / 8 votes]
79. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships - [402 points / 7 votes]
78. SAULT - 5 - [404 points / 7 votes]
77. Julia Holter - Aviary - [405 points / 5 votes]
76. Beach House - Bloom - [412 points / 8 votes]
75. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty - [415 points / 8 votes]
74. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch - [422 points / 6 votes]
73. SAULT - 7 - [423 points / 7 votes]
72. Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings - [426 points / 7 votes]
71. MGMT - Little Dark Age - [427 points / 8 votes]
70. Mr Twin Sister - Mr Twin Sister - [430 points / 8 votes]
69. The-Dream - Love King - [435 points / 8 votes]
68. Todd Terje - It's Album Time - [435 points / 9 votes]
67. Owen Pallett - Heartland - [436 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
66. Mitski - Be the Cowboy - [445 points / 7 votes]
65. Big Thief - U.F.O.F. - [451 points / 10 votes]
64. Tinashe - Aquarius - [454 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
63. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob - [458 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
62. Robyn - Body Talk - [467 points / 9 votes]
61. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - [468 points / 6 votes]

I think Miranda and Big Thief are the two I've voted for so far...

xxxxp agree 100% with your takes on Body Talk/Honey and MBDTF, kitchen person. I listened to the 3 Body Talk EPs on endless repeat as they were released, but once combined into an album, it sadly just felt like a huge mess. Never made any sense to me why it was organized the way it was, putting "Dancing on My Own" first and moving "Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do" to the 3 slot after "Fembot." I still love many of the songs but strongly prefer listening to both Robyn and Honey, though I have a "Body Talk Reshuffle" playlist that I occasionally go back to.

From my ballot today, Yeezus (looking at my ballot, it turns out I did not forget to vote for it) and Scott Walker, yesterday was 100 gecs and Gang Gang Dance. I figure there's another 10 or so of mine that are gonna place.

I listened to the 3 Body Talk EPs on endless repeat as they were released, but once combined into an album, it sadly just felt like a huge mess.

Yeah I had Body Talk on my ballot but I meant the 21-song version that goes Pt. 1 -> Pt. 2 -> the five new songs on the album. Don't think I ever even listened to the full album the way it was released, the tracklist seemed wrong just looking at it.

also it didn't have "Cry When You Get Older"!!

xp oh, me too. Couldn't not vote for the album, but it's probably way too high on my ballot for how little I listen to the actual thing itself vs. its tracks.

Little disappointed that MBDTF has outplaced both Big Boi and The-Dream. Hopefully there are still more 2010 albums to go. I can think of at least two that should still place.

also it didn't have "Cry When You Get Older"!!

― sloop johnnin' skater (geoffreyess)

Right! Probably in my top three from the whole project. Definitely much stronger than songs like Dancehall Queen and Fembot. We Dance to the Beat and Don't Tell Me What to both don't need to be on that final track-listing too considering they're basically the same song.

And yeah, Indexed I also play Honey and the S/T (the original Swedish version) much more. The S/T seems weirdly underrated now. So many of my favourite songs are on there.

Little disappointed that MBDTF has outplaced both Big Boi and The-Dream. Hopefully there are still more 2010 albums to go. I can think of at least two that should still place.

― MarkoP

Diddy, Janelle Monae and maybe Erykah Badu are the only ones I can see making it. I suppose Beach House could be in there again too.

Here's my Reshuffle tracklist for anyone interested:
1. Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do
2. Fembot
3. Dancing on My Own
4. Cry When You Get Older
5. Hang With Me
6. Time Machine
7. Call Your Girlfriend
8. Include Me Out
9. Indestructible
10. Get Myself Together
11. Dancehall Queen
12. None of Dem
13. Love Kills
14. Criminal Intent
15. U Should Know Better
16. Stars 4-Ever
17. Hang With Me (Acoustic)

Diddy, Janelle Monae and maybe Erykah Badu are the only ones I can see making it. I suppose Beach House could be in there again too.

― kitchen person, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 5:10 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

vampire weekend!

dare i suggest flockaveli lol

Diddy, Janelle Monae and maybe Erykah Badu are the only ones I can see making it. I suppose Beach House could be in there again too.

― kitchen person

Those were the exact albums I was thinking of. Was also hoping for Swim, but that seems like more of a longshot.

should we be so lucky

I only discovered Diddy-Dirty Money last week. Would have considered it for voting. Those of you who knew it already have no such excuse!

Diddy, Janelle Monae and maybe Erykah Badu are the only ones I can see making it.

― kitchen person, Tuesday, August 23, 2022 5:10 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ha, my top two are other 2010 albums

from 2010 I voted for Have One On Me, Splazsh, New Amerykah, Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh and Teen Dream

I'm happily surprised to see the MGMT and Todd Terje albums show up. Thought the consensus here was that the Terje album was a disappointment, but I like almost everything on it, even if it doesn't quite match the highs of the singles

Diddy Dirty Money would have been my #2 if I hadn't have forgotten to submit a ballot.

vampire weekend!

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili)

Oh right yeah. Contra always feels even older than 2010 for some reason. I wonder how well they'll do here in general considering they didn't make the tracks top 100.

Here's my Reshuffle tracklist for anyone interested:
1. Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do
2. Fembot
3. Dancing on My Own
4. Cry When You Get Older
5. Hang With Me
6. Time Machine
7. Call Your Girlfriend
8. Include Me Out
9. Indestructible
10. Get Myself Together
11. Dancehall Queen
12. None of Dem
13. Love Kills
14. Criminal Intent
15. U Should Know Better
16. Stars 4-Ever
17. Hang With Me (Acoustic)

― Indexed,

This looks good. I'm going to make this playlist and give it a go.

Interesting that _7_ fared marginally better than _5_. That matches my own preference but I thought I was distinctly odd in that regard.

I was sooo close to voting for _Yeezus_. Aside from the first couple, it's basically the only Kanye longplayer I found myself returning to, back in the day. I made do with a (sole) vote for "Bound 2" in the other poll instead!

I know people really loved Contra, but the debut Vampire Weekend from 2008 is the only one I will forever love

I liked Inside Out from They Want My Soul, but not all of it

Yeezus was Kanye's one really great album imo

Bisch Bosch was good but I think that late Scott Walker peaked with Tilt and The Drift

I put a lot more time into my albums ballot than tracks, but it seems that ultimately less of what I voted for in it will show up. Only one so far, the Burial compendium, which deserves to be here. I don't expect too many more

Bisch Bosch had some excellent pieces, but it required so much listening that I burnt out on him and I still haven't gotten around to listening to Soused.

There’s one particular album in the top 20 which is pretty confusing for me to see there. I might be out of the loop but wouldn’t have pinned it as an ILM favorite, let alone a top 20 album of the decade, but we’ll see.

I can’t remember my ballot. Did it as quick as possible without overthinking it and might have to ask ufo to post it when this is done. I think only 2 or 3 albums I voted for have made it and if I did sent it ranked I think only 3 albums from my top 10 are in the overall rollout, which I guess it ain’t that bad? Idk.

your ballot was unranked & you've had 5 place so far, do you want me to email it?

There’s one particular album in the top 20 which is pretty confusing for me to see there. I might be out of the loop but wouldn’t have pinned it as an ILM favorite, let alone a top 20 album of the decade, but we’ll see.

ah this is fascinating to hear because i'm not quite sure which you mean but we'll get there in a few days

I think I broadly disagree with ILM and think many of these albums belonged in the top half (Aviary, Aquarius, MBDTF, Big Boi, MENA). Incidentally, they're all maximalist albums, albeit in different ways.

I guess there was a turn somewhere in the mid 2010s (BLM, Trump, Kanye going crazy, Brexit, who knows) and music values changed for a lot of people. At least ILM shows little consensus again, feels like the community is not so close / is spread out / has been polarized.

At the same time, I probably underestimate how much I have changed as a listener myself, I was 23 when MYBDTF and Big Boi came out.

I think it's perhaps reading too much into things to say that "ILM decided these albums belong in the bottom half of the poll" as if there was some single-minded intentionality behind the placements - especially before we see what is actually in the top half.

Already I have seen a bunch of albums place which I love but did not vote for because limiting to 50 is really fucking hard.

To use an example, Aviary was in my top 10 for 2018 (maybe number 6 or so?), but Have You In My Wilderness was my number 1 for 2015, and mathematically it was inevitable that about half of my top 10s of each year of the decade would miss out.

I'm not sure the taste of single ilx'ors has changed, as much as a lot of people has left the place. And it definitely seems like certain groups has given up on the place - like a lot of the rap fans, and in general it seems more uk users has left? - so the polls are becoming more and more samey. Someone wrote in the track poll thread that they were going to stop voting in polls, because so little they liked placed, and the fear is that we hit an inflection point, where the consensus is so claustrophobic that more and more users give up, creating a downward spiral until the same 10 artists fill up most of the list every year.

there was a big drop-off in rap representation in the polls around 2018 i think? a lot of people left or stopped voting in the polls

And just as drill became perhaps the best music in the world :(

The maximalism discussion is interesting to me because yeah a lot of things here would fit that descriptor but in very different ways, some of which work for me and some which don't. Like the two Kanye albums, both of which I think are fascinating artistic statements but only half enjoy listening to.

I only voted for 4 hip-hop albums, so I accept I'm probably part of the problem. (Two of those are going to place and the other two have probably been votesplit out of the 100, but who knows?) That said, I'm very comfortable with the broad range of genres I have voted for. It feels like people here sometimes get a bit tunnel-visioned about the types of music that exist - it feels like Main Pop, Art Pop, Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, R&B and Bobbins are the Six Tribes which contest the battle-space, and everything is reduced to some species (or combination) of these...but there's plenty of musical space beyond them.

As for maximalism...I'm always slightly confused by how the term is used. There are so many different maximalisms, and there are also ways to use minimal ingredients maximally as well as vice versa. Something like Richard Dawson is a great example of music that is largely one voice and one instrument, but with exceptional detail and melodic depth, to the extent where I would characterise it as compositionally maximalist, and on the flip side you have, say, Spiritualized, who use ten zillion instruments and a maxed-out sonic space to make extremely simple music. The different types of maximalism in hip-hop alone are headspinningly different to each other. And then there's Autechre, who you could make convincing arguments for the maximalism or the minimalism of, even regarding the same song. So I think using 'maximalism' without care can be unhelpful - imo you have to specify what sort of maximalism you mean. Not all music is as clear-cut as Billie Eilish's new-puritan minimalism (which I forecast she will abandon anyway).

i think the albums poll is much better than the tracks in terms of diversity but there's still stuff people will be disappointed is missing

that said, 200-101 is where the fun really is once again

there's one generally acclaimed & enjoyed by here album that i'm shocked got absolutely nowhere near placing though

As long as it's not African Giant :(

Ufo: yes can you please email me my ballot! I honestly have no idea what I did end up voting for. There’s several albums so far that I like and can take a wild guess at which ones I did vote for:

The two Sault albums, Owen Pallett, Todd Terje and Beach House?

xxxxp there are also very active posters -- on the board generally and in the poll results threads -- that choose not to vote in these types of polls.

Yeah, I will confess, I have been enjoying the rollout but didn't feel like compiling my own ballot.

The biggest pop perverts of all just want to watch

read that as "inverts"

Lol, let’s go. Follow me.

https://i.imgur.com/sLNRFCt.jpg
60. Grimes - Visions (2012)
[480 points / 9 votes]
Previous Placement: 5 in 2012

61-60 so far is The Valley of the Cancelled

next up: Ariel Pink?

https://i.imgur.com/izqtsmx.jpg
59. Björk - Vulnicura (2015)
[482 points / 10 votes]
Previous Placement: 17 in 2015

prefer it when artists are cancelled for artistic reasons tbh, even if they sometimes do things that necessitate it (would not say Grimes or Kanye are in this camp) (however, their recent work has been extremely substandard, sooooo)

speaking of artists whose recent work has been substandard

Has there been much talk on ILM about her new work? I heard she announced a gabber album or something?? I am definitely interested.

Oh, I meant the last few album cycles, if the new one is gabber that is an instant improvement lol

I don’t think her work has ever been substandard per se, it just gets progressively insular.

https://i.imgur.com/RJAeS0k.jpg
58. Charly Bliss - Guppy (2017)
[486 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 4 in 2017

Controversial Opinion: If Donda had been released a year or two after Yeezus, without any of the intermittent MAGA bullshit, religious histrionics, and half-assed musical projects, it would have been received much more positively.

Even more controversial opinion: the only good Kanye albums are the ones he made in the 00’s..

Everything 2010-onwards is an overwrought, badly mixed piece of trash.

Oh, I meant the last few album cycles, if the new one is gabber that is an instant improvement lol
― imago, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 4:15 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Do you laugh at farts imago ?

is it that controversial? xpost

Overwritten not overwrought lol

yeah, I don't think that opinion is as controversial as you think, Moka

Do you laugh at farts imago ?

― Nabozo, Wednesday, 24 August 2022 14:26 (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

What? I'm very much against scatological humour. The fact you think of gabber as fart music, though...

Anyway. Feels both arbitrary and wrong that ILM seized onto Charly Bliss while jettisoning, for example, Speedy Ortiz

(I mean, I didn't vote Speedy Ortiz, but this feels like a strange choice of power-pop-punk, given how much there was to choose from)

feels arbitrary and wrong to compare two very different bands just because they have a female lead singer

I was gonna mention PUP too

I slightly prefer the second Charly Bliss album but wanted to help give this one a push as I knew it would stand a better chance of making it. I love these guys.

I went back to Visions recently and was surprised how little it did for me beyond the singles and a couple of other tracks. I still love Art Angels which was high on my list. It now feels like a one off though compared to how little anything else of hers does for me.

Vulnicura ended up being my favourite Björk since Vespertine. It's one of her most emotional albums and I found it really easy to get into compared to everything else since Vespertine (still working on the last one).

Kanye like his kindred spirit Trump proved how far the combination of making lots and lots of money and constantly proclaiming yourself a genius can take you in the media's eyes. MBDTF for whatever strengths it had was clearly no masterpiece, but the media was happy to get swept up in the narrative until it crashed ashore.

@Moka, I don't see how you could call Yeezus any more overwrought than Late Registration, an album that cost millions of dollars and over a year to make with an indie film score composer and a 20-piece orchestral ensemble.

Even more controversial opinion: the only good Kanye albums are the ones he made in the 00’s..

― ✖✖✖ (Moka)

Yep. Those first three albums still stand up and feel like a different artist. I miss fun Kanye.

All the Be Here Now discourse recently reminds me that MBDTF is kind of the Be Here Now of rap lol

Well maybe on ILM it’s not that controversial but I’ve seen other parts of the internet trying to convince me MBDTF and idk crap like Life of Pablo are works of genius and top 10 albums of the decade. Even removed from all the controversial bullshit I’m not sure how I’d pick any 2010’s Kanye album above other well-known hip hop albums from the decade that are actually good and not half-baked ideas that go on for too long.

https://i.imgur.com/BukGA5p.jpg
57. Solange - A Seat at the Table (2016)
[501 points / 10 votes]
Previous Placement: 5 in 2016

Woah, way too low!

Well maybe on ILM it’s not that controversial but I’ve seen other parts of the internet trying to convince me MBDTF and idk crap like Life of Pablo are works of genius and top 10 albums of the decade. Even removed from all the controversial bullshit I’m not sure how I’d pick any 2010’s Kanye album above other well-known hip hop albums from the decade that are actually good and not half-baked ideas that go on for too long.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, August 24, 2022 9:34 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Now this I agree with!

The "Be Here Now" of rap feels like a description more suited towards a Drake album.

Agree Solange is surprisingly low but OTOH it has way too many interludes.

Voted high for Guppy, I get that indie-power-pop is a crowded field but I'd argue they have better songs than most.

There's another indie power pop band that I'm sure will place even higher.

speaking of artists whose recent work has been substandard

Meh, Biophilia and Vulnicura represent a decided upswing before the return to inscrutability that was Utopia.

https://i.imgur.com/c2a0nV1.jpg
56. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)
[501 points / 12 votes]
Previous Placement: 2 in 2013

i loved utopia and vulnicura was very cool on volta and biophilia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lol my prediction was this was gonna place in the Top 20 or not at all

I don’t know what to think of this album. Love the way it sounds for the most part and I might have been too excited for new Daft Punk but the album isn’t particularly exciting tbh

we've gone too faarrrrr

"fragments of time" ft. todd the god edwards is the secret highlight

It's a folly ... spectacularly constructed, signifying nothing.

Ah yeah “fragments of time” and “doin it right” are great imho. The actual singles are not bad but they go on for far too long and I don’t find Pharrell or Julian Casablancas as interesting enough singers to have 5+ minute songs focused on them.

Voted high for Guppy

Saw this briefly in isolation and hoped it was Gupi and Fraxiom. Wrong decade.

Indie power-pop is one of my most listened to genres, but I don't find Charly Bliss particularly outstanding in this. It's nice, sure, but Martha or Swearin' or oso oso do a similar thing with much more body imo, so I'm always curious what makes something like this rise to the top on ILX.

Haven't looked back at prior polls or thought much about this but... Are Bjork & Daft Punk the only artists that would place this high in ilm 90s, 00s, and 10s polls?

My reaction to this album was always "Oh so that's what they're doing. Neat, I guess", as opposed to being something that I would regularly want to listen to. Like I would rather put on an Earth Wind and Fire album or a Toto album than listen to this.

Are Bjork & Daft Punk the only artists that would place this high in ilm 90s, 00s, and 10s polls?

Scott Walker?

autechre maybe?

Haven't looked back at prior polls or thought much about this but... Are Bjork & Daft Punk the only artists that would place this high in ilm 90s, 00s, and 10s polls?

― Indexed

I can think of several more but I’d be spoiling if they might or might not show up later.

Haven't looked back at prior polls or thought much about this but... Are Bjork & Daft Punk the only artists that would place this high in ilm 90s, 00s, and 10s polls?

― Indexed

Radiohead probably

There's gonna be more Swearin' discourse when the worse sister places, lol

https://i.imgur.com/3SS1SDU.jpg
55. Goldfrapp - Tales of Us (2013)
[504 points / 7 votes / 1 Nº1 vote]
Previous Placement: 39 in 2013

Low is another band that I could see maybe placing in all three decades.

Listening to the Farah Abraham album again and it's so affecting - really raw and like years ahead of its time. Someone upthread said something about how it's someone making music without reference points and that particular dissonance really does make it very enjoyable. It has everything that's great about hyperpop and PC music, but it's more singular. I love so many of the production decisions.

There's gonna be more Swearin' discourse when the worse sister places, lol

Oi, they're both lovely! But still, I'd be surprised if that was remembered?

RAM is such an expertly constructed album but I can't help think of it as Daft Punk paying the piper and finally coming up with something of their own instead of just sampling those who actually had the funk. and I think it demonstrates why they don't really write songs that often. that little breakdown in "Get Lucky" is great, idk where that spirit is on the other tracks

I didn't vote for Daft Punk but I'm happy and surprised they're here. My wife and I listened to that album a lot on road trips when we were traveling around New Zealand when it came out so I'm always going to have an emotional attachment to it. It's one of those albums I enjoy even though I can 100% understand the issues people have with it.

Guppy captures a particularly scrappy energy that a lot of Charly Bliss's peers don't (and they themselves didn't the second time around). I guess from a different pov you might hear it as simple or unrefined, but I hear it as unobstructed by overthinking.

Not a big fan of RAM but it has to have some of the oddest tracks ever to appear on a Grammy winner for Best Album.

i just think it's great that they hyped up all the festival-goers and then handed them a Deodato album

I lost track of Goldfrapp back in the Seventh Tree days, will give that one a listen.

Oh nice! I didn't expect Goldfrapp to make it at all. Such a stunning album by a band who have yet to put out anything close to a weak album. Sometimes my favourite thing they've done.

we didn't have a Goldfrapp close to the top 100 iirc. pleasant surprise to see them place in albums.

^did have a Goldfrapp *track*

Was tempted to vote for Systemagic, but there was just too much other great stuff.

Spoon I guess should also be added to the 90s, 00s, 10s list

I was disappointed when Goldfrapp missed out in our 2000s poll so it's really nice to see them here.

Spoon I guess should also be added to the 90s, 00s, 10s list

I can't really imagine Spoon's 90s output making it on a 90s poll.

The Spotify playlist is out of order for me between 71 and 100...is this true for others or am I subject to rogue software caprices?

https://i.imgur.com/9PWinlG.jpg
54. Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool (2010)
[505 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 2 in 2010

man did I blast this album in 2010

Spotify playlist might be scrambled up and not yet updated give me some mins and i’ll fix on my computer.

especially the track that sounds like "Sussudio."

Oh right yeah good album. I don't think any of us predicted this when talking about other 2010 albums yesterday.

How does this compare to Lindstrom's space-prog stuff?

Spotify playlist might be scrambled up and not yet updated give me some mins and i’ll fix on my computer.

Thank you! No urgency, just keep confusing myself about what I've listened to. Really enjoying the rollout so far.

i like this album

I can't really imagine Spoon's 90s output making it on a 90s poll.

― MarkoP, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 10:16 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh yeah, was thinking Girls Can Tell was 90s.

Glad this made the albums poll. Was bummed no tracks did.

xp to imago
iirc it's still pretty space-laser-y but it's funky rather than proggy? It's been a while though...

https://i.imgur.com/gYyMzRC.jpg
53. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness (2015)
[523 points / 9 votes]
Previous Placement: 10 in 2015

https://i.imgur.com/r6v0Zyf.jpg
52. Underworld - DRIFT Series 1 (2019)
[532 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 24 in 2019

Waiting for imago to come and be mean about Julia Holter again.

lol

That meme with the two buttons, except one button is 'be mean to Julia Holter' and the other button is 'kvetch about compilations'

This compilation at least comes from a unified scheme of work, it seems

nice!! the whole Drift project was so great, though in retrospect it makes me a little misty eyed because A) this was pretty much all I was listening to before COVID hit and B) it's still the last thing we've heard from them!

just wait til autechre's nts sessions place!

xp

Wow no idea what this is and don't remember it from the 2019 poll.

voted for DRIFT. This is what got me back into Underworld after being pretty unenthused by most stuff they had done since Beaucoup Fish.

going back a bit, listening to the Linstrom and Christabelle album right now and feel like I'm liking this a lot more now than I did back then. I remember being very underwhelmed by this back then after loving pretty much everything Lindstrom did before this.

I like most of what they've done since, especially OWB and Barbara, but yeah this one very much felt like a return to the Beaucoup Fish era, in fact I'm convinced the Sampler album was constructed to mimic it

xp to imago

I don't think of Drift as a compilation, it's more like an album mini-series

https://i.imgur.com/Kg3YGq3.jpg
51. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
[532 points / 10 votes]
Previous Placement: 6 in 2016

Radiohead probably

― kitchen person, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 9:53 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Good call. Wasn't convinced this would place.

v glad to see this miss our top 50

Radiohead, the least beloved classic rock band

beautiful album, grows in my esteem everytime i listen to it

i think it wound up at #51 on my personal list, so good job everyone lol

https://i.imgur.com/QUkoWu5.jpg
50. Charli XCX - Pop 2 (2017)
[534 points / 11 votes]
Previous Placement: 29 in 2017

I didn't quite get why Pop 2 was being hailed as her masterpiece when it came out (I was still an old school Sucker fan), but it grew on me like crazy. Ended up in my top ten and probably is her best work.

Starting our top 50 with the proper stuff, excellent

https://i.imgur.com/YjlMFff.jpg
49. Paramore - After Laughter (2017)
[543 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 10 in 2017

I think there's an argument to be made that After Laughter is on par with self-titled, which we'll no doubt see higher on the list. It took a bit more getting used to for the fans, though. I think most dig it now, and Hard Times has been a tiktok hit.

it's wild to me that Radiohead is more loved than so many EOY #1 albums

After Laughter was my number three. Just a perfect album that my wife and I listened to endlessly. I even learned to love the mewithoutYou song.

It makes sense to me. Most Radiohead albums take several listens to simmer in and have more replay value in the long run. It’s been years since I listened to AMSP but I think I’d eventually go on a “radiohead phase” where I’ll play it and like it more than albums I listened to and ranked high in 2016.

hard times

https://i.imgur.com/gYrK55d.jpg
48. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains (2019)
[548 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 3 in 2019

https://i.imgur.com/82gyNVB.jpg
47. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream (2014)
[554 points / 9 votes]
Previous Placement: 8 in 2014

🤮

The War on The War on Drugs

David Berman and Woods' collaboration on Purple Mountains is a landmark in songwriting and arranging as far as I'm concerned. They managed to take material that was incisive yet self-lacerating and hopelessly stark and make it appealing to listen to. A Berman quote that stuck with me before the album's release is his castigating the press for giving easy plaudits to rock veterans like Springsteen who "go to press with bullshit." He did not go to press with bullshit here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_gBZFYXHQI

are Purple Mountains a Prince tribute band?

you're thinking of Purple Waterfalls

With respect to Berman, his work was always pretty well-received in the press, so not sure what he was complaining about with that quote(?)

For one thing I believe he blamed a bad review in Pitchfork for the failure of the last Silver Jews album and subsequent career trouble.

This verse from "Storyline Fever" typifies what I love about PM. He starts out with a funny line bemoaning his resemblance to Christian Bale in American Hustle and then offers a clear-eyed and smartly worded assessment of what it takes in his view for such a schlub to mantain relevance in the music industry.

Got a comb over cut circa Abscam sting
Make a better Larry than Lizard King
But you got to find a way to make it work
'Cause defeat is where your demons lurk
When you're seller and commodity
You gotta sell yourself immodestly
Turn your pedestal into a carving board
If that's what the audience is starving for

xp: the record didn't go aluminum?

Just glanced thru the Pfork review for Lookout Mountain; the assessment seems fair to me, but whatevs.

Granted there were other things going on, but a 6.7 is basically a pan in the readership's eyes and a band in that position would feel a hit from it.

(Springsteen's two albums released on either side of Lookout Mtn got a 6.8 and 5.8!)

Berman might have felt that he was to Pitchfork as Springsteen was to Rolling Stone, so where's the five-star/10.0 for the Silver Jews?

American Water got a (retrospective) 9.4, that's pretty close...

I found the quote, which I don't completely cosign but was indicative of the kind of thing that motivated him:

"If critics were harder on the musicians that they love, there would be better songs. But as they grow older and they lose their talent, critics refuse to let them know that and protect them, and they get to the point where they put out music that just isn’t up to the levels where they’ve already been. It must be very strange to live in the world of Willie Nelson or Bruce Springsteen or Pearl Jam. I don’t know what kind of handle they have on their own loss of talent. Obviously Willie Nelson understands that it’s been forty-five years since anyone’s really cared about any song of his, but I feel like I don’t see very much vocational unhappiness. I heard Springsteen was an unhappy person. I don’t know, I haven’t read his biography. But a lot of people in my field should be a lot more unhappy than they are. They go to press with bullshit."

Purple Mountains is too low but whatever. A landmark. Beautiful. There's nothing quite like it.

Yeah, I don't get why those artists who love touring and playing for audiences "should be unhappy" (and late-period Pearl Jam doesn't seem loved by critics or whatever anyway... they're a fan's band)

That said, the "tough love" angle seem to track with Berman's MO (Who is currently the most overrated musical performer?Lou Barlow, just because he’s a great songwriter and a great musician, but no one can be as great as his rating).

The new Pavement Edition of Uncut magazine has a story from Bob N. in which Bob, David, and Steve go to see Nirvana at an NYC club in 1990... Bob says that while they all "loved Nirvana as much as the next hipster," David thought it would be funny to loudly heckle them, and Bob joined in (Steve was reluctant at first, but eventually joined in). Apparently Krist started getting into it from the stage, called David a "jock," and the show ended early.

Sorry got distracted on a long business call I’m back!

https://i.imgur.com/3869awc.jpg
46. Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated (2019)
[555 points / 8 votes]
Previous Placement: 5 in 2019

I'm finally able to join. This is shocking low.

Or maybe not, got my albums mixed up.

After Laughter has a few great songs but really doesn't feel like Top 50 albums of the decade. Paramore was my #3 though, and I am hoping this is a bellweather for it being quite high.

Voted for Lost in the Dream. Instant classic American rock record, haters be damned.

Only remember the joyously playful "Want You In My Room" from Dedicated and will have to revisit.

After Laughter feels like a very coherent album to me, couldn't pick out "a few great songs" among all the others that make it up.

https://i.imgur.com/eDfXMiz.jpg
45. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell (2015)
[559 points / 10 votes]
Previous Placement: 11 in 2015

are Purple Mountains a Prince tribute band?

― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Wednesday, August 24, 2022 12:55 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

you're thinking of Purple Waterfalls

― President Keyes, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 12:56 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago)

prime trolling opportunity missed here

Yeah, I don't get why those artists who love touring and playing for audiences "should be unhappy" (and late-period Pearl Jam doesn't seem loved by critics or whatever anyway... they're a fan's band)

― Porcine-lina of the Pig Oceans (morrisp), Wednesday, August 24, 2022 1:35 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Berman is saying that artists like Springsteen get lazy and put out marginal late career albums and critics still treat these works as major statements on par with those artists' best works (at least if you go by ratings). I think Berman thought he would rather not put something out that was marginal.

wasn't expecting to vote for carrie & lowell, but i revisited during the voting period. it's staggering, the best songwriting of his career.

Yes, Lost In the Dream was one of my picks. That Coachella set around this time was magical.

are Purple Mountains a Prince tribute band?

― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Wednesday, August 24, 2022 12:55 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

you're thinking of Purple Waterfalls

― President Keyes, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 12:56 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago)

prime trolling opportunity missed here

ah well, the "troll" would have been prompting you to listen to that album expecting to get to the Prince part (it is very much not like Prince)

"Snow is Falling in Manhattan" could have been a Prince song title

sometimes it snows in manhattan in april