2011 Albums Poll: Stats and Ballots Hoedown of Truth

Full results are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AumbddEHET5xdFhmbzd5UnBfUHo2Rnc5RjMzVVZnYkE

User stats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AumbddEHET5xdDJ6eDhmTEdZaEFVUl83TEZPc3V0QUE

Some explanation of the user stats (copied from the tracks thread as I'm in a hurry):

Hivemind score: this is the average points total for the tracks on your ballot; how your ballot was ordered doesn't change the score.

Fuxxor Quotient: the proportion of tracks on your ballot that were in Pitchfork's top 100

Antifuxxor Ratio = Hivemind divided by Fuxxor Quotient. A high ratio means your taste is much closer to that of ILM than to that of Pitchfork. Respect to those with infinite antifuxxority!

Populism: the average Spotify popularity of the tracks on your ballot that are also on Spotify.

Loneliness: the proportion of your tracks that nobody else voted for.

Top neighbour: essentially the voter whose ballot intersects most with yours.

Post your ballots below!

Would mind a email with my ballot.

Wouldn't.

My ballot:

Metal Mountains - Golden Trees
Peaking Lights - 936
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Fabric - A Sort of Radiance
Nicolas Jaar - Space is only Noise
Floating Points - Shadows
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Ch. 1: Gens de Couleur Libres
Perfume - JPN
Julia Holter - Tragedy

The Advisory Circle - As the Crow Flies
Panda Bear - Tomboy
John Zorn - A Dreamers Christmas
Out of City - Galactica
Escort - Escort
Clams Casino - Instrumentals
Kangding Ray - OR
Vijay Iyer - Tirtha
Trembling Bells - The Constant Pageant
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Zomby - Dedication
Pedro Magina - 1985
Zombi - Escape Velocity
Tune-Yards - w h o k i l l
Demdike Stare - Tryptych

In retrospect I might have replaced Tune-Yards with Hatchback or Phaedra, but hey.

Poor Fountains of Wayne :(

Weighted:

Fountains of Wayne - Sky Full of Holes
Destroyer - Kaputt
The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts
Kurt Vile - smoke ring for my halo
Cut Copy - Zonoscope
Yuck - Yuck
Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure
Moon Duo - Mazes
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Twin Sister - In Heaven
Mikal Cronin - Mikal Cronin

Unweighted:

Low - C'Mon
Miracle Fortress - Was I the Wave?
Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings
Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion
St Vincent - Strange Mercy
Hercules and Love Affair - Blue Songs
Rival Schools - Pedals
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams
Various Artists - Horse Meat Disco 3
Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
Junior Boys - It's All True
The Feelies - Here Before
Sloan - The Double Cross

My weighted list.

Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
St Vincent - Strange Mercy
Wild Beasts - Smother
Art Brut - Brilliant Tragic!
The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Barbara Panther - Barbara Panther
Björk - Biophilia
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
Cut Copy - Zonoscope
Nikkiya - Speakher
Junior Boys - It's All True
Goapele - break of dawn
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale
DJ Quik - Book of David
The Horrors - Skying
Will Young - Echoes
Cults - Cults
TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Lamb - 5
Egyptrixx - Bible Eyes

Yes, I'd like my ballot sent, too, thanks!

Grouper - Alien Observer/Dream Loss
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Leyland Kirby - Eager to Tear the Stars Apart
Donato Dozzy - K
Gazelle Twin - The Entire City
Mist - House
Subrosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Zombi - Escape Velocity
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Corrupted - Garten der Unbewusstheit
Metronomy - The English Riviera
Wild Flag - Wild Flag
Mirror to Mirror - Here You Leave Today
Austra - Feel It Break
Andy Stott - Passed Me By/We Stay Together
Date Palms - Honey Devash
The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
East River Pipe - We Live In Rented Rooms
Julia Holter - Tragedy
Low - C'Mon
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Holy Other - With U
Korallreven - An Album By Korallreven

Weighted. Britney would have been top ten, had i not forgotten about her.

Iza Lach - Krzyk
Tove Styrke - Tove Styrke
Nadia Oh - Colours
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
Yelle - Safari Disco Club
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Katy B - On A Mission
Atiye Deniz - Budur
Girls' Generation - Japan 1st Album
Big K.R.I.T - Return of 4EVA
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Zomby - Dedication
Lil B - Illusions of Grandeur
Das Racist - Relax
Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Justice - Audio Video Disco
Oh Land - Oh Land
Curren$y - Weekend at Burnie's
Sky Ferreira - As If!
Death Grips - Ex-Military
SBTRKT - SBTRKT
Nguzunguzu - Timesup EP

weighted

Destroyer - Kaputt
Kurt Vile - smoke ring for my halo
Andy Stott - Passed Me By/We Stay Together
The War on Drugs - slave ambient
Blanck Mass - Blanck Mass
Moon Duo - Mazes
Low - C'Mon
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure
Liturgy - Aesthetica
Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
Pinch & Shackleton - pinch & shackleton
Omar-S - high school graffiti
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
Sun Araw - Ancient Romans
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
CAVE - Neverendless
The Field - Looping State of Mind
Zombi - Escape Velocity

i don't have my ballot but iirc the top 3 were
1) Wye Oak - Civilian
2) ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead
3) Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure

followed by Nicolas Jaar, Destroyer, and Girls in some order, then a bunch of other random indie crap

Weighted:

Emika - Emika
Gazelle Twin - The Entire City
Austra - Feel It Break
Lamb - 5
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
Dan Warren - Son of Strelka, Son of God
Gus Gus - Arabian Horse
Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting
Katy B - On A Mission
Robag Wruhme - Thora Vukk
Oh Land - Oh Land
New Look - New Look
Sussan Deyhim - City of Leaves
The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble - Mr. Machine
Cut Hands - Afro Noise I
Grimes - Geidi Prime
Tycho – Dive
M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming
St Vincent - Strange Mercy
Blanck Mass - Blanck Mass
Dominik Eulberg - Diorama
Escort - Escort
Barbara Panther - Barbara Panther
Zola Jesus – Conatus
Boris - Attention Please

I'd like to call attention to the Dan Warren - Son of Strelka, Son of God, as a few of you might like a free DL of a spoken word album that cuts up Barack Obama's audiobooks into a Gilgamesh-like myth.

1. Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
2. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
3. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
4. John Maus – We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
5. Destroyer – Kaputt
6. Atlas Sound - Parallax
7. Hatchback - Zeus and Apollo
8. Demdike Stare - Tryptych
9. Grouper - Alien Observer/Dream Loss
10. Jon Hopkins & King Creosote - Diamond Mine
11. Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces
12. Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972
13. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges
14. Sleepingdog – With Our Heads in the Clouds and Our Hearts in the Fields
15. Junior Boys - It's All True
16. James Blake - james blake
17. Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise
18. Julia Holter - Tragedy
19. Belong - Common Era
20. Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
21. The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
22. The Advisory Circle - As the Crow Flies
23. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
24. The Unthanks - Last
25. Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Luminaries & Synastry

High five to Omar Little, howdy neighbour!

weighted (albums that didnt place in bold)

1. Destroyer - Kaputt
2. Lou Reed and Metallica - Lulu
3. King Krule - King Krule EP
4. ILX Presents - LULU
5. Junior Boys - It's All True
6. Various Artists - Horse Meat Disco 3
7. Action Bronson - Dr. Lecter
8. Hatchback - Zeus and Apollo
9. NGUZUNGUZU - The Perfect Lullaby
10. Future Islands - On The Water
11. Tiger & Woods - wiki & leaks
12. Tiger & Woods - through the green
13. Big K.R.I.T - Return of 4EVA
14. DJ Quik - Book of David
15. E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
16. Eddie C - Parts Unknown
17. Lil B - Angel's Exodus
18. Lil B - I'm Gay
19. Liturgy - Aesthetica
20. M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming
21. The Weeknd - House of Baloons
22. Washed Out - Within and Without
23. Wolf + Lamb vs Soul Clap - DJ Kicks
24. Wolfram - Wolfram
25. Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting

http://karamcmanus.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/gorilla_shark_nice_high_five.jpg

Mixed ballot.

WEIGHTED
Destroyer - Kaputt
Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Bibio - Mind Bokeh
Real Estate - Days
Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale
tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure
DJ Quik - Book of David
Radiohead - King of Limbs
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

UNWEIGHTED
Friendly Fires - Pala
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - We're New Here
Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me
Junior Boys - It's All True
M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming
Memory Tapes - Player Piano
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
Yuck - Yuck

Bolded = did not place, bolded & underlined = I was the only voter.

John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Eleanoora Rosenholm - Hyväile Minua Pimeä Tähti
Julia Holter - Tragedy
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Kogumaza - Kogumaza
Ga'an - Black Equus
Chain & the Gang - Music's Not for Everyone
Call Back the Giants - The Rising
Comet Gain - the Howl of the Lonely Crowd
Moon Duo - Mazes
Clams Casino - Instrumentals
Zun Zun Egui - Katang
ILX Presents - LULU
Heatsick - Intersex
English Heretic - Plan for the Kidnap of Princess Anne
Perfume - JPN
Kemper Norton - Libraries Act EP
Peepholes - Caligula
The Advisory Circle - As the Crow Flies
James Ferraro - Far Side Virtual
Hong Kong in the '60s - My Fantoms
Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania
Sun Araw - Ancient Romans
Maria Minerva - Cabaret Cixous
Various Artists - Colombia 45

I am 6th least hivemindy.
I am 8th least fuxxory, with the 9th best anti-fuxxor quotient.
I am 6th least popular on spotify.
I am 33rd most lonely.

I knew that last one would be a lot lower than the tracks one, as Craigo Boingo bothered to vote in this one. Unsurprisingly, he is my closest neighbour.

It goes to show what a good year for me and albums 2011 was, as although I am pretty un-hivemindy, and my highest placer was #33, I still felt like I did really well. There were probably another ten albums that made it that only just missed my ballot.

weighted

Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
Diddy-Dirty Money - Love Love vs. Hate Love
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream
DJ Quik - Book of David
Beyonce - 4
Wolf + Lamb vs Soul Clap - DJ Kicks
Drake - Take Care
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Steffi - yours & mine
Maybach Music Group - self made vol. 1
Lloyd - King of Hearts
Katy B - On A Mission
Meek Mill - Dreamchasers
Max B - vigilante season
French Montana - Coke Boys 2
Maceo Plex - life index
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Don Trip & Starlito - step brothers
Gunplay - inglorius bastards
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Denis Kurtel - music watching over me
Goapele - break of dawn
Tity Boi aka 2 Chainz - Codeine Cowboy
Schoolboy Q - setbacks
Lil B - I'm Gay

Weighted

01. The Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions
02. Rustie - Glass Swords
03. tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
04. Modular - Sinfonías Para Terrícolas
05. Katy B - On A Mission
06. Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
07. Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
08. The High Llamas - Talahomi Way
09. Azari & III - Azari & III
10. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
11. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne
12. Yes - Fly From Here
13. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
14. Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
15. Bruno Mars - Doo Wops & Hooligans
16. The Advisory Circle - As The Crow Flies
17. Opeth - Heritage
18. Rush - Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland
19. Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse
20. Various Artists - Horse Meat Disco III
21. Wolf + Lamb vs Soul Clap - DJ Kicks
22. Beyoncé - 4
23. Nicola Roberts - Cinderella's Eyes
24. Hong Kong in the 60s - My Fantoms
25. Various Artists - ILX Presents: LULU

In the normal run of things, I wouldn't have put The Smile Sessions at the head of my ballot. But as my real album of 2011 (Last Train To Paris) was not eligible for this poll, but the Beach Boys were, I just swapped them in for DDM.

Hi, sorry may I have my ballot please. Many thanks for all your hard work guys.

I'm kinda surprised Smile didn't do better, but I guess it's sort of a reissue and not a lot of people have the full box.

weighted
1-Frank Ocean - Nostalgia/Ultra
2-Metronomy - The English Riviera
3-Tyler, The Creator - Goblin
4-French Montana - Coke Boys 2
5-Girls - Father, Son...
6-Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
7-Veronica Falls - S/T
8-White Denim - D
9-Joy Formidable - Big Roar
10-Killer Mike - Pl3dge

Unweighted
DJ Quik - Book Of David
Drake - Take Care
Elzhi - Elmatic
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
Gucci Mane - Writings On The Wall 2
Gucci Mane/Future - Free Bricks
Kool G Rap - Riches, Royalty & Respect
Meek Mill - Dreamchasers
Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
Pusha T - Fear Of God II
Rapture - In The Grace Of Your Love
Tuneyards - Whokill
Wiz Khalifa - Rolling Papers
Young Bleed - Preserved
Young Dro - Equestrian Dro

Is 'Lair' on that Peepholes record emil.y? Not the easiest band to google search for. The only thing I've heard is the erock remix of lair and I liked that a lot.

i felt very smug about having saved a copy of my ballot and not having to ask "could you e-mail my ballot?" on the singles poll thread, but then the computer i saved my ballot on is acting weird or is possibly dead :(

will have to check the things on tpp's ballot i haven't heard judging by how much i like the stuff on it i have heard.

Weighted.

Julia Holter - Tragedy
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Hype Williams - One Nation
The Andersen Tapes - As I Write 'Today' Ten Times
Heatsick - Intersex
James Ferraro - far side virtual
Call Back the Giants - The Rising
Pheromoans - It Still Rankles
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Kogumaza - Kogumaza
Clams Casino - Instrumentals
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia/Ultra
Humousexual - Grenzenlos
Borden, Ferraro, Godin, Halo & Lopatin - FRKWYS 7
Comet Gain - the Howl of the Lonely Crowd
Niggas With Guitars - Ethnic Frenzy
Andy Stott - Passed Me By/We Stay Together
Cut Hands - Afro Noise I
Lil B - Angel's Exodus
The Advisory Circle - As the Crow Flies
Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma
Zomby - Dedication
Grouper - Alien Observer/Dream Loss

Nominations for the 2012 eoy poll start on Monday, btw. ;)

mixed ballot - Bold did not place in 77

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Corrupted - Garten der Unbewusstheit
Eleanoora Rosenholm – Hyväile Minua Pimeä Tähti
Mastodon - The Hunter
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Ulver - Wars of the Roses
Yob - Atma
Hammers Of Misfortune - 17th Street
The Cosmic Dead - The Cosmic Dead
Zombi - Escape Velocity
Peaking Lights - 936
Rene Hell - The Terminal Symphony

Boris - Heavy Rocks
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Pedro Magina - 1985
Subrosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones
Sun Araw - Ancient Romans
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
Boris - Attention Please
Xander Harris - Urban Gothic
Woods - Sun And Shade
Wolves in the Throne Room - celestial lineage
Grayceon - All We Destroy
Grouper - Alien Observer/Dream Loss
Liturgy - Aesthetica

7/25

Deaf Center - Owl Splinters
Teams vs. Star Slinger - Teams vs. Star Slinger
Hatchback - Zeus and Apollo
Philip Marshall - Casse-tête
Ken Seeno - Invisible Surfer on an Invisible Wave
Dawn Richard - A Prelude To A Tell Tale Heart
Time Wharp - later.
Death Grips - Ex-Military
Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma
Borden, Ferraro, Godin, Halo & Lopatin - FRKWYS 7
Julia Kent - Green + Grey
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Pedro Magina - 1985
Ben Fleury-Steiner - The Places That Find You
Spaceghostpurrp - blackland radio 66.6 (1991)
Peaking Lights - 936
Zodiac Free Arts Club - Floating World

I am 16th least hivemindy.
I am 7th most lonely.

Only voted for 15 albums, bold missed the top 77:

Lamb - 5
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials
Austra - Feel It Break
Beyonce - 4
Emika - Emika
When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming
Planningtorock - W
Schoolboy Q - setbacks
Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne
Gus Gus - arabian horse
ILX Presents - LULU

how do people vote for less than the max albums, does not compute

at the time I voted, there were only 15 albums on the nomination list that I actually cared about

I voted for my full 25, but really everything below 15 or so was just filler I half-liked.

(of course, i can't look at my ballot right now—it's at home—so that's probably not true.)

Mixed (the ones in bold were the ones that placed):

Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Pinch & Shackleton - pinch & shackleton
Roman Flügel - Fatty Folders

Bill Orcutt - How The Thing Sings
Charalambides - Exile
Container - LP
Deaf Center - Owl Splinters
Ellen Fullman - Through Glass Panes
Implodes - Black Earth
Laurel Halo - Hour Logic
Legowelt - the teac life
Martyn - Ghost People
Master Musicians of Bukkake - Totem Three***
Morphosis - What have we learned
Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Luminaries & Synastry
Natural Snow Buildings - Waves of the Random Sea***
Nils Frahm - Felt***
Patten - GLAQJO XAACSSO***
Pete Swanson - Man With Potential***
Richard Youngs - Amplifying Host
Rustie - glass swords
Stephan Mathieu - A Static Place
Surgeon - Breaking The Frame
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Wild Beasts - Smother

*** = I was the only voter for these

Is 'Lair' on that Peepholes record emil.y? Not the easiest band to google search for. The only thing I've heard is the erock remix of lair and I liked that a lot.

― pandemic, Thursday, February 2, 2012 9:32 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, it's not on the album. Not heard that remix but I see it's on soundcloud. As are a bunch of other tracks, for anyone who's interested.

how do people vote for less than the max albums, does not compute

a lot of the albums that i really liked werent even nominated so i just voted for the things in my top 30 that i could

ordered:

Prurient - bermuda drain
Moon Duo - Mazes
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Pink Lady Lemonade ~ You're From Inner Space
Xeno & Oaklander - Sets & Lights
Hills - Master Sleeps
Wooden Shjips - West
Tity Boi aka 2 Chainz - Codeine Cowboy
The Cosmic Dead - The Cosmic Dead
DJ Quik - Book of David
Lil B - I'm Gay
Staccato Du Mal - Sin Destino
Martial Canterel - You Today
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - We're New Here
Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine
Rene Hell - The Terminal Symphony
Com Truise - Galactic Melt
Lou Reed and Metallica - Lulu

Natural Snow Buildings - Waves of the Random Sea***

although i should have voted for this, i missed it on the noms list

We could have got it in the top 600 u fule!

yeah i mean i didn't participate in the nomination thread then i might not have had 25 albums i wanted to vote for, it kind of helps to do both

lol I did participate in nominations, how do you think the Lamb album got on there in the first place

I also only voted for 15, because that was how many I heard last year that I felt strongly about. I didn't want to toss votes to stuff I half-liked to pad out my ballot. Pretty much everything I wanted to vote for was nominated (by me or others).

Weighted, bold missed top 77:

Argus - Boldly Strode The Doomed
Primordial - Redemption At The Puritan's Hand
Hammers Of Misfortune - 17th Street
40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
The Feelies - Here Before
Witch Mountain - South Of Salem
Blood Ceremony - Living With The Ancients
Metal Mountains - Golden Trees
Opeth - Heritage
Turisas - Stand Up And Fight
In Solitude - The World, The Flesh, The Devil
Subrosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones
Lamb - 5
Real Estate - Days
Death Grips - Ex-Military
Shooting Guns - Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976
The Original 7ven - Condensate
The Psychic Paramount - II
Yob - Atma
Sungrazer - Mirador
Joe Henry - Reverie
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Ufesas - Ufesas
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

ultimately I spent most of the year listening to singles and focusing on a few artists rather than exploring a bunch of new albums by new people; also, a good 60% of the stuff I investigated this year ended up really, really sucking so it's not like I was going to put it on my ballot just because I heard it (looking at you, new Skinny Puppy album)

I nominated the majority of things I voted for. As I said upthread, I think this year was great for me and albums, I could have voted for more without invoking the filler. But usually at least my bottom five are just things I think are okay and I should throw a few points, not things I'm passionate about at all.

i'm an annoying non-saver too, emailed ballot would be much appreciated (singles too, actually. i requested on the singles thread but you'd prob had enough by then). thanks in advance!

yeah i mean i didn't participate in the nomination thread then i might not have had 25 albums i wanted to vote for, it kind of helps to do both

i did but i also nominated a bunch of tracks. some of the stuff that i didnt nominate like main attrakionz i was sure someone else would have but obv not. i mean in the end i figure if no one but me cares enough about the album not to nominate it then its never going to place so who cares. but im not going to vote for stuff i dont really like either

Everyone who asked for a ballot should have got ILXmails, shout if I missed you.

lamp would you agree with me that the "nominate 25 albums OR singles" thing is a totally stupid arbitrary policy that should be abandoned in future polls?

i do

my man

there's probably a rational explanation

How many albums/tracks do you think the maximum should be? This year we allowed 50 for metal poll and about 75% of ballots did all 50.

for voting not nominating (no limits on nominations for metal poll)

had no idea there was a metal poll this year.

if no one but me cares enough about the album not to nominate it then its never going to place so who cares.

I use the ilx albums ballot to sort through in my own mind what my favourite albums of the year were. So I like to be able to vote for anything I've liked. Also, people might notice the names in the nominations period or even afterwards, and a bit of exposure for some of the more esoteric stuff is always good.

For some reason I don't care so much about any of this with tracks. I might nominate a couple, but for the most part I just throw some points at stuff I kinda like that other people have nominated.

We had over a thousand tracks noms and just under a thousand album noms with people using the 25-for-both limit. In the past, it's been 15-for-both, and those polls produced satisfactory results as well. I know the metal poll favors unlimited nominations, but that's because a thousand albums are never going to be nominated. Placing a cap, like we do, on the general eoy poll is the only real restriction that exists. Reissues and comps generally count. We even let in tracks from albums one or two years old if the track itself had some significance in the year of polling.

Trust others to account for the things you missed or, if you don't trust them to, wait until the end of the nominations period nears and plug in obscurities or overlooked things as necessary.

I'm open to expanding the cap on nominations. I also thought it might save hassle to "preload" the noms list with e.g. the Pitchfork/FACT/Resident Advisor/Wire/whatever EOY lists.

What won't happen is (a) getting rid of nominations (b) unlimited nominations. The former just isn't feasible with the vote-counting setup we have. The latter is technically possible but I think it's important that the nominations list be compact enough to read through and shortlist from. I did at one point think we could in principle download a list of every album released in 2011 from RYM or Musicbrainz, but the resulting list would be a nightmare for voters to work with.

wait until the end of the nominations period nears and plug in obscurities or overlooked things as necessary.

what i did, then forgot to vote for some of them

Weighted, though next time will definitely do a mixed ballot. the order looks weird as hell to me just a month later:

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Peaking Lights - 936
The Advisory Circle - As the Crow Flies
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream
Walls - Coracle
Kuedo - Severant
Pinch & Shackleton - pinch & shackleton
BNJMN - Black Square
NGUZUNGUZU - The Perfect Lullaby
Laurel Halo - Hour Logic
Nikkiya - Speakher
Andy Stott - Passed Me By/We Stay Together
Legowelt - the teac life
Morphosis - What have we learned
Grouper - Alien Observer/Dream Loss
Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience
Boy Better Know - Tropical 2
Jon Brooks - Music For Thomas Carnacki (Radiophonic Themes & Abstracts)
Sandwell District - Feed-Forward
Sidi Toure - Sahel Folk
Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal - Chamber Music
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Various Artists - Bangs & Works Vol.II
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972

Mixed ballot. Bold = outside 77

Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia - 129
Braids - Native Speaker - 92
Beyonce - 4 - 4
NGUZUNGUZU - The Perfect Lullaby
Katy B - On A Mission - 3
Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting - 200
Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness - 170
Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting - 78
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong - 133
Patrick Stump - Soul Punk - 82
Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones - 92
tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
Nikkiya - Speakher - 121

Beth Ditto - EP - 348
Diddy-Dirty Money - Love Love vs. Hate Love - 79
Destroyer - Kaputt - 1
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Grimes - Geidi Prime - 261
Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams - 299
Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion – Routes Not Roots - 334
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie - 77

hi-fiving you on your ballot rob

thanks dude, i like your display name. apparently lou is my nearest neighbor...?

I nominated stuff late in the piece for a variety of reasons, which meant I got to choose anything that somehow others had missed (I still missed stuff, like the Wesseltoft Schwarz album I discovered the next day, but that wouldn't have garned any votes anyway).

I think with the noms there's always a tension between being more of an influencer and getting the chance to turn people onto stuff by nom'ing and campaigning earlier, or being a completist and nominating later. People can choose whichever strategy they prefer.

rob, apropos of nothing, are you the poster fka elephant rob?

My weighted ballot, which I stupidly forgot to put 50 Words For Snow on (could have gotten it over 900!):

To Arms Etc - To Arms Etc
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Half Man Half Biscuit - 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
Van Der Graaf Generator - A Grounding In Numbers
Connan Mockasin - Forever Dolphin Love
Radiohead - King of Limbs
Wire - Red Barked Tree
Ulver - Wars of the Roses
The Fall - Ersatz G.B.
British Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall

My #1 is not only a fantastic album but they played my wedding, so I'm allowing bias to cloud my vision. This said, only Colin Stetson really stood a chance of beating it. If enough people heard that record it'd have been top 10, surely. King Of Limbs might be my second-favourite RH album behind HTTT these days - it's short, subtle and exquisite, doesn't have any of the lumbering melodrama which drags their other records down in places. And obviously HMHB are saints. Kate Bush would've been 4th, probably.

I listened to some albums in the countdown. Some fucking amazing albums. Here are the records I wish I'd discovered sooner:

LITURGY - AESTHETICA

I really, really dig the manifesto, and I think it makes an eloquent and salient case for why they're making this kind of music in this particular way. As for the songs...they're strong, damn strong (Generation, especially, is every bit the orgiastic mathfest its fans claim it to be). But the sonics are what sells it. Xasthur on uppers with a pyroclastic trainwreck on drums and a hellbent adherence to the Way Of Treble - it's both crushing and energising, the summer phase of a wintry genre.

FUCKED UP - DAVID COMES TO LIFE

I thought I'd get bored of this halfway through. I didn't. How on earth it managed to keep me thrilled for 18 near-identical songs of pop hardcore, I do not know, nor do I suspect I'll ever know. All I can remember of it is Queen Of Hearts and the fact that I never once thought 'this is dragging'. Put it down to cosmic mystery, and a serious tightening of purpose after the promising-but-patchy Chemistry Of Common Life.

THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT - II

Fuck me. Couldn't one of you have taken one listen and emailed me a link? This music is absolutely, totally, joyfully the sort of shit I want ILX to be introducing me to. Would have been in my top 3. I don't have much more to add. Except that I want more. MORE.

DEATH GRIPS - EX MILITARY

If The Psychic Paramount is my new #3, this is pushing it HARD. Completely electrifying, some of the most engaging and intelligent hip-hop sonics I've ever heard, the whole thing's an uproarious and noisy jam with a great taste in samples and the kind of righteous vitriol in rap delivery that I (strongly) tend to favour. The only fault I can find is that the Interstellar Overdrive one either goes on too long or repeats the riff too much (the verses are great but the chorus starts dragging) - apart from that, it's fucking sweet right-through. And 'Culture Shock' into '5D' practically made me cheer. Best rap album since Dälek dialled it down, and shows up OFWGKTA as the little shits they are.

---

I'll get around to Demdike Stare, John Maus, Oneohtrix Point Never and a few others I suspect might be up my street...but is there anything else from the top 77 people think I might love? Hell, anything from OUTSIDE the top 77? Thanking you profusely in advance, and signing off for the week, moi. MWAH.

P.S. While the 19-minute thing had its moments, what I've heard of the Destroyer album proper, coupled with its placement here, has put me in a mood I didn't think I could reattain in the wake of LCD Soundsystem's disbanding. You guys slay me!

sup rob :)

this was weighted:

NGUZUNGUZU - The Perfect Lullaby
Beyonce - 4
Kingdom - Dreama EP
Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience
The Claw - The Claw
Nguzunguzu - Timesup EP
Dawn Richard - A Prelude To A Tell Tale Heart
MikeQ - Let It All Out EP
Luomo - plus
Various Artists - Bangs & Works Vol.II
Venus X & $hayne - The Cruelest Intentions
Jhene Aiko - Sailing Soul(s)
Boy Better Know - Tropical 2
Goapele - break of dawn
DJ Rashad - Just A Taste
Dubbel Dutch - Jersey Slow Club
Dj Diamond - Flight Muzik
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream
Diddy-Dirty Money - Love Love vs. Hate Love
Katy B - On A Mission
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Lloyd - King of Hearts
Denis Kurtel - music watching over me

LJ, listen to anything on my ballot you haven't heard. It's all good, obviously, but I think there are a lot of things you'd like in there too.

rob, apropos of nothing, are you the poster fka elephant rob?

yes! [insert spreadsheet joek]

hi, lou, i almost voted for that Kingdom ep

I am astonished that my loneliness factor was so high (#5), I had the impression I was pciking the obvious albums

My neighbour was ciderpress, it must be the indie overlap or something...

Mixed ballot:

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Mirror Traffic
Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells - Everything's Getting Older
Low – C’Mon
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
Howe Gelb & the Band of Gypsies – Alegrias
Sonic Youth - Simon Werner a Disparu
PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
Ulrike Haage - in:finitum
Wilco - The Whole Love
Stepkids – Stepkids
Deerhoof – Deerhoof Vs. Evil

Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
Attwenger - Flux
Brad Mehldau - Live at Birdland
Butcher Boy - Helping Hands
Destroyer - Kaputt
Enrico Rava Quintet - Tribe
Joan As Police Woman - The Deep Field
Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Teufelskamin
Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
Keith Jarrett – Rio
Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise If You Can See
Richard Buckner - Our Blood
Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts

LJ listen to the Pantheist album. prog doom

Probably the LJest of my ballot:

Eleanoora Rosenholm - Hyväile Minua Pimeä Tähti
Kogumaza - Kogumaza
Ga'an - Black Equus
Zun Zun Egui - Katang
English Heretic - Plan for the Kidnap of Princess Anne
Peepholes - Caligula

lamp would you agree with me that the "nominate 25 albums OR singles" thing is a totally stupid arbitrary policy that should be abandoned in future polls?

its arbitrary but i dont mind it and im not sure i like the idea of getting rid of hard noms altogether. like its sorta annoying not to be able to vote for the soft metals album but i dont mind sacrificing something in order to have a more cohesive/directed eoy poll. there seems to me to be a p clear tradeoff the wider the pool of nominees becomes, and i kinda like the idea of having to modulate my taste to the rest of ilxs, at least just for this poll

would really like to see kingdom place next time. he's got something forthcoming that should be good bait for the 2012 trax poll.

i remember spending a lot more time on my tracks ballot, then having to throw together my albums. def didn't put much thought into the order of the bottom half and felt a lot less enthusiastic about everything after dubbel dutch.

LJ I don't know what your interest in jazz is, but the Matana Roberts album is probably the most powerful thing I heard all year and I think you'd at least respect it.

if anyone wants to listen to records that are really good then they should just listen to the ones on my ballot

what's the forthcoming Kingdom thing, lou?

lamp would you agree with me that the "nominate 25 albums OR singles" thing is a totally stupid arbitrary policy that should be abandoned in future polls?

― lana del rey: everythang's workin' (some dude), Thursday, February 2, 2012 4:58 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not sure why you harp on this every year -- if something doesn't get nominated under the "25 albums OR singles" structure... it had no chance of placing in the first place. i think this keeps the list to the point where you can scroll thru it in one sitting.

check 15 mins into this nguzu mix: http://www.wowmagazine.fr/2011/11/nguzunguzu-transmusicales-mix/

new kingdom track with naomi allen (or maybe all of electrik red? not positive). i can send you the mp3 of the mix if you need it.

Cool. I'll give it as listen, even though i thought the previous track with Naomi Allen was a massive disappointment

yeah, i was def a fan, but i could see where others were disappointed. think this new one is an upgrade.

yeah i didn't think it was a massive disappointment but it was def not all that

what i outright love is the b-side to "take me"! hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSf92SyI79E

really snuck up on me over the course of the year and became a favorite.

cheers seandalai:

Active Child - You Are All I See
Bvdub - resistance is beautiful
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Dominik Eulberg - diorama
Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure
Gus Gus - arabian horse
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Laurel Halo - Hour Logic
Morphosis - What have we learned
M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming
NGUZUNGUZU - The Perfect Lullaby
Omar-S - high school graffiti
Omar-S - It Can Be Done But Only I Can Do It
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Roman Flügel - Fatty Folders
The Field - Looping State of Mind
Walls - Coracle
Washed Out - Within and Without

Unweighted:

40 Watt Sun - The Inside Room
Amebix - Sonic Mass
Corrupted - Garten der Unbewusstheit
Craig Wedren - Wand
Current 93 - fact mix
Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance
Grails - Deep Politics
Krux - III: He Who Sleeps Amongst The Stars
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Lamb - 5
Mastodon - The Hunter
Obake - Obake
Pantheïst - Pantheist
Richard Buckner - Our Blood
SÓLSTAFIR - Svartir Sandar
The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Third Eye Foundation - The Dark
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Tyler The Creator - Goblin
Ulver - Wars of the Roses
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Wolves in the Throne Room - celestial lineage
Yob - Atma
Zombi - Escape Velocity

I could bold the ones that didn't place but it's easier to just say most of them

howdy neighbour

thx for that soundcloud link to 'peepholes' emil.y

I finally listened to the Psychic Paramount, and La Lechera predicted correctly that it would be too aimless for me, though the intimations of jazz in places warmed me to it somewhat. Didn't feel particularly abrasive.

the fact that the today is the day album from this year never got nommed is probably my stupid fault a terrible fucking tragedy, thats one you should listen to for sure lj, also amebix and 40 watt sun. and zebulon pike which i also didnt nom. dumb me.

My albums ballot

Lady Gaga - Born This Way*
Barbara Panther - Barbara Panther*
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes*
Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting
Parallel Dance Ensemble - Possessions and Obsessions
When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie*
Eleanoora Rosenholm – Hyväile Minua Pimeä Tähti
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
Planningtorock - W
Gazelle Twin - The Entire City
Death Grips - Ex-Military*
Maria Minerva - talinn at dawn
tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l*
Peaking Lights - 936*
Beyonce - 4*
Dirty Beaches - Badlands
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust*
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place*
Cults - Cults
Julia Holter - Tragedy*
Moon Duo - Mazes*
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls*
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact*
Oh Land - Oh Land
Dutch Uncles - Cadenza

Weighted:

Destroyer - Kaputt
DJ Quik - Book of David
Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
Big K.R.I.T - Return of 4EVA
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia/Ultra
Teams vs. Star Slinger - Teams vs. Star Slinger
Elzhi - Elmatic
Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming
The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love
Lil B - Illusions of Grandeur
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Curren$y - Weekend at Burnie's
Das Racist - Relax
Rustie - glass swords
J Stalin - The Real World Volume 3
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Toro y Moi - Freaking Out
Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Tycho - Dive
Danny Brown - XXX
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
The Roots - Undun

stats list calls you whiney on the moon

Ordered (unfashionable choices in bold):

1. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
2. Jon Hopkins & King Creosote - Diamond Mine
3. Console - Herself
4. The Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions
5. Panda Bear - Tomboy
6. Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
7. Sully - Carrier
8. Various Artists - Bangs & Works Vol. II
9. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
10. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
11. John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
12. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
13. The Art Department - Drawing Board
14. Rustie - glass swords
15. Tyler The Creator - Goblin
16. Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
17. Toddla T - Watch Me Dance
18. Goapele - break of dawn
19. Death Grips - Ex-Military
20. Plaid - Scintilli
21. Africa Hitech - 93 Million Miles
22. Katy B - On A Mission
23. St Vincent - Strange Mercy
24. Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
25. Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure

It didn't even register that Goblin didn't place until now

YAY

stats list calls you whiney on the moon

― Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker, Thursday, February 2, 2012 1:52 PM (38 minutes ago)

lol otm

where did dirty beaches place on the long list?

#220

damn--maybe next year, homie

Can't remember my ballot beyond the top ten (same as my P&J). Is it possible o retrieve them somewhere.

*to

I decided from the outset that Born This Way was the 25th-best album I heard last year and worked my way up from there. ;)

King - The Story EP
Beyonce - 4
DJ Quik - Book of David
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
Boy Better Know - Tropical 2
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Diddy-Dirty Money - Love Love vs. Hate Love
Katy B - On a Mission

Kingdom - Dreama EP
Na'Tee - Guess Who's Coming 2 Dinner
Nguzunguzu - Timesup EP
The Dirtbombs - Party Store
New Look - New Look
Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience
Young L - Praktica
Danny Brown - XXX
Nikkiya - Speakher
MikeQ - Let It All Out EP
Thundercat - Golden Age of Apocalypse
DJ Diamond - Flight Muzik
Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine
Various Artists - Dave Nada Presents Blow Your Head Vol. 2
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream
Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Lou and I have 11 (!) votes in common.

lamp would you agree with me that the "nominate 25 albums OR singles" thing is a totally stupid arbitrary policy that should be abandoned in future polls?

― lana del rey: everythang's workin' (some dude), Thursday, February 2, 2012 4:58 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not sure why you harp on this every year -- if something doesn't get nominated under the "25 albums OR singles" structure... it had no chance of placing in the first place. i think this keeps the list to the point where you can scroll thru it in one sitting.

― J0rdan S., Thursday, February 2, 2012 5:47 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

FOR THE RECORD i don't think that not enough stuff is getting nominated because of this policy. i just think there should be a set number for each category, like each person gets 15 (or even just 10! i don't care) album nominations and an equal number of single nominations. having that extra little dilemma of having to figure out if it's more important to use more on albums or singles is just annoying and seriously, i see no point in the "or" thing, it's stupid as fuck, seriously, defend it.

And I like everything else on his ballot except the two I don't know, which I guess I should find out about. xp

I like the flexibility of it.

xp

Here's another fun visualisation, this time it's spherical!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6809651743_47a4459fcb_z.jpg

If you can't find yourself, try the bigger size.

seriously, defend it.

― lana del rey: everythang's workin' (some dude), Thursday, February 2, 2012 8:50 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i'm not gonna defend it, i just think that it's never ever had an impact on the poll

also always lean towards nomming more singles, since there's obv less total albums

i never said it changes the results, jesus. i'm saying during the actual nominations process, it's a totally unnecessary headache.

Proud to be completely opposite fastnbulbous.

Why is it a headache? It's more liberating than constricting?

oops, second sentence should end with a period, not a question mark.

i just think there should be a set number for each category, like each person gets 15 (or even just 10! i don't care) album nominations and an equal number of single nominations.

fwiw i agree with this - i think 10/10 is better than 25 of either.

And I like everything else on his ballot except the two I don't know, which I guess I should find out about. xp

:) yah copying your ballot so i can check out what i don't have. why haven't i heard of your #1?! any discussion of it on ILM?

hmu if you don't already have the claw. love that!

I like the work that goes into choosing whether you like "x" track more than "x" album and vice versa on the way to putting up your (formerly 15, now 25) nominations. Self-editing makes for a better final list imo.

Why is it a headache? It's more liberating than constricting?

― lag∞n affiliated (The Reverend), Thursday, February 2, 2012 8:56 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

because if it was just 10/10 or whatever i could just take five minutes and figure out my top 10 of each that haven't been nominated yet or might not be w/o me nomming it, instead every year i agonize over whether to squeeze in a 13th album or a 13th single or do a 10/15 split, and so on. obviously this doesn't matter that much and the only reason i'm saying anything is i care a little too much, but i really don't see much of any benefit to keeping things as is, when things can be simpler they SHOULD be simpler in matters like these. and tbh i wouldn't feel bad about a policy change that would 'deprive' anyone who's used to throwing 20-25 of their nominations into one poll or the other.

I downloaded The Claw but it's not showing up in my music player, bad tags or something, so I haven't gotten around to it. The two I don't know are Demdike Stare and Denis Kurtel.

King are gorgeous girl-group neo-soul. They've been talked about a bit on ILM but I kept forgetting to make a thread for them. I'd start with "Hey".

I just nominate what I like that I don't see has been nommed and don't worry about whether they are albums or tracks. I usually end up nomming more tracks, anyway.

ah ok. the demdike and kurtel i just kinda tacked on. can't say i really recommend them. wish i'd had more time to check out stuff i was curious about like danny brown and dj quik before i voted.

will def track down king.

unweighted

Almunia - New Moon
*Andy Stott - Passed Me By/We Stay Together
Biosphere - N-Plants
BNJMN - Black Square
Cosmin TRG - Simulat
*Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Donato Dozzy - K
Eddie C - Parts Unknown
Floating Points - Shadows
*Hatchback - Zeus and Apollo
Luomo - plus
Roman Flügel - Fatty Folders
Steffi - yours & mine
Wolf + Lamb vs Soul Clap - DJ Kicks

i wasn't very enthusiastic about many albums this year. if i'd weighted it, Roman Fluegel, Hathcback, W+L/SC, and Eddie C would've been at the top

prob should've put Tropical 2 on there, too, because i did enjoy it a lot, i just wasn't as completely in love with it as many were.

some dude, you could just pretend the rule is 12 of each and allow the flexibility for the people who like having it...?

nah son

musically never did it this way. be more like musically.

weighted

Destroyer - Kaputt
DJ Quik - Book of David
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Real Estate - Days
tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Hedvig Mollestad Trio - Shoot!
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Black Francis - The Golem
Ulver - Wars of the Roses
Action Bronson - Dr. Lecter
The Advisory Circle - As the Crow Flies
Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair
Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Win Win - Win Win

our polls are much better tbh

xp

you guys do everything else great. i just don't know why you had to bring in that one little goofy policy.

i agree with al but i also don't care

i'll take it

musically never did it this way. be more like musically.

bull. where do you think we got the idea from?

haha ok maybe i misremembered that. forget musically then.

lou, this Kingdom/Naomi Allen track on the nguzunguzu mix is fantastic

thank you kindly neighbor

musically never did it this way. be more like musically. be more... ♫ ♪ M U S I C A L ♫ ♪

:D glad you like it. i am psyched to hear more. wanted to alert the ER stans on here when that mix came out but ILX was down.

yeah this sounds great

Is that "Girlfriends"?

yup

Can't wait for that to come out

King are gorgeous girl-group neo-soul

!!!

Anyways

my ballot = weighted, outliers in bold

Belong - Common Era
Obake - Obake
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Windhand - Windhand
Peaking Lights - 936
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Pink Lady Lemonade ~ You're From Inner Space
The Psychic Paramount - II
The Cosmic Dead - The Cosmic Dead
Katy B - On A Mission
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Brute Heart - Lonely Hunter
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
La Big Vic - Actually
Blanck Mass - Blanck Mass
Subrosa - No Help For The Mighty Ones
Various Artists - Colombia 45
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Hills - Master Sleeps
Blood Ceremony - Living With The Ancients
David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights - Left by Soft
Weedeater - Jason...the Dragon
Las Kellies - Kellies

King are dope. "Hey" almost made my tracks ballot.

thanks 2 rev for posting abt them

Boy Better Know – Tropical 2
Maria Rita – Elo
Kimbra – Vows
Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
Various – Pakistan Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966-76
The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World

Your grandchildren will listen to Maria Rita.

this is why i was all the way to the left (what does this mean btw?)

(bold = did not place)

Weighted, and for the love of all that is good in the world, PLEASE try to take time to check out the Hebden/Gustafsson/Reid album. Everyone who hears it likes it. It's really good!! (I mean of course I think all of these are good or else I would not have voted for them but that is #1 and I am the only person who voted for it. The person who nommed it didn't even vote for it!)

Kieran Hebden, Steve Reid & Mats Gustafsson - Live at the South Bank
Mark McGuire - A Young Person's Guide
Bitchin Bajas - Water Wrackets
Various Artists - Colombia 45
The Cosmic Dead - The Cosmic Dead
Austra - Feel It Break
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Barn Owl - Lost in the Glare
Richard Youngs - Amplifying Host
The Psychic Paramount - II
CAVE - Neverendless
Circle - Infektio
David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights - Left by Soft
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Pink Lady Lemonade ~ You're From Inner Space
ILX Presents - LULU
Julia Holter - Tragedy
Obake - Obake
Richard Pinhas and Merzbow -Rhizome
The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls
Wooden Shjips - West
Hills - Master Sleeps
Feelies - Here Before
June Tabor - Ashore

LJ if I were you, I would check out most of the albums on ^this ballot

Seriously. Great list La Lechera.

Moka’s Top 12 Albums 2011

1. EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions)
2. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (Constellation)
3. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up (Sub Pop)
4. Braids – Native Speaker (Flemish Eye)
5. Robag Wruhme – Thora Bukk (Pampa)
6. Thee Oh Sees – Castlemania (In the Red)
7. Vinicius Cantuária & Bill Frisell – Lágrimas Mexicanas (E1)
8. Chain & the Gang – Music’s not for Everyone (K)
9. Crystal Stilts – In Love with Oblivion (Slumberland)
10. The Go! Team – Rolling Blackouts (Memphis Industries)
11. Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
12. Owiny Sigoma Band - s/t

I think this was my list... not sure if the order was altered to favor less popular albums at the top... maybe some of the albums werent even in the nom sheets so there were actually less votes. But that would be my actual ranking.

My poll, mixed list, bold placed. Ones with asterisks I alone voted for.

Jon Hopkins & King Creosote - Diamond Mine
Future Islands - On The Water
Giorgio Tuma - In the Morning We'll Meet
Alex Turner - Submarine OST
Thomas Dolby - A Map of the Floating City*
Atlas Sound - Parallax
Blue Daisy - The Sunday Gift
Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Morris Cowan - Circa

When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
Active Child - You Are All I See
Phaedra - The Sea
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
The Roots - Undun
Mara Carlyle - Floreat*
J Mascis - Several Shades of Why*
The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
Paul Simon - So beautiful or So what
Fautomata Diawara - Fatou*
Me'Shell Ndeogeocello - Weather
June Tabor & Oysterband - Ragged Kingdom*
Low - C'Mon
Mark McGuire - A Young Person's Guide

Ghost - Opus Eponymous
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
Hammers Of Misfortune - 17th Street
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia ULTRA
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Angel Haze - Altered Ego
Zola Jesus - Conatus
Boris - New Album
Moon Duo - Mazes
Curren$y - Covert Coup
Battles - Gloss Drop
Death Grips - Ex-Military
Metal Mountains - Golden Trees
Troubling Bandname - Ethnic Frenzy
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
Boris - Attention Please
Mark McGuire - A Young Person's Guide
CAVE - Neverendless
Tyler The Creator - Goblin (yeah, really)
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
dunno what the fuck #25 was, i deleted it by mistake...

Seandalai, could you please email me my ballot? I forgot to save it.

Email it to tuomast {dot} alho {at} gma1l {dot} c0m, my ILX webmail address doesn't work anymore. Thanks!

My votes:
1 Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
2 Origamibiro - Shakkei
3 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
4 Souvaris - Souvaris Souvaris
5 James Blake - james blake
6 Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest
7 Paul Simon - So beautiful or So what
8 Robag Wruhme - Thora Vukk
9 SBTRKT - SBTRKT
10 Lou Reed and Metallica - Lulu
11 Ron Sexsmith - Long Player Late Bloomer
12 Radiohead - King of Limbs
13 Gallery 47 - Fate Is The Law
14 Katy B - On A Mission
15 Little Dragon - Ritual Union
16 White Denim - D
17 tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
18 Wolf + Lamb vs Soul Clap - DJ Kicks
19 Panda Bear - Tomboy
20 Tom Waits - Bad As Me

and
21 June Tabor - Ashore
22 Owiny Sigoma Band - Owiny Sigoma Band
23 Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
24 Zun Zun Egui - Katang
25 Hhymn - In The Depths

Cheers Mike, you've reminded me to pick up the Souvaris LP next time I'm in Nottingham. Gutted to be missing their final show.

Me too - if it had been on any day other than my fiftieth birthday, I'd have been there for definite!

seandalai could u webmail me my ballot please? cheers!

Tuomas/Lex, sent your ballots.

cheers! weighted:

Beyonce - 4
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Katy B - On A Mission
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Dawn Richard - A Prelude To A Tell Tale Heart
Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
Angel Haze - Altered Ego
Nikkiya - Speakher
Boy Better Know - Tropical 2
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
Young Bleed - Preserved
Rustie - glass swords
DJ Quik - Book of David
Frivolous - Meteorology
Sunny Sweeney - Concrete
Phaedra - The Sea
Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Wiley - 100% Publishing
Sandwell District - Feed-Forward
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Hyetal - Broadcast

this is why i was all the way to the left (what does this mean btw?)

Being on the left doesn't mean anything per se, the algorithm just tries to put you as close as possible to voters who are similar.

most disappointed not to see as had been half-hoping that my repping for these would've had some traction:

Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones
Angel Haze - Altered Ego
Nikkiya - Speakher
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
Young Bleed - Preserved
Frivolous - Meteorology
Phaedra - The Sea
Sandwell District - Feed-Forward
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'

Ok, really must check out Dawn Richard and Fatima Al Quadiri from Lex's list. Phaedra was my big new discovery from hislist. Lex, did you hear the Mara Carlyle album? I think you might like it.

Sandwell District presumably suffered from the whole 2010 vs 2011 thing here as elsewhere? Although I haven't seen so many people repping for it on ILM, I imagine it has enough fans.

i've checked out mara carlyle in the past though not the latest album - kinda liked it but not enthusiastically enough to pursue further

there were a lot of avant-garde electronics on the list but not much str8-up dance - sandwell district is just amazingly no-nonsense austere techno. on a similar note i'm kinda surprised omar-s didn't make either poll given his rep in dance

Sandwell District got pushed out of my ballot when I decided I liked the Morphosis album much better - good to see that one do quite well.

Morphosis was @ 98th btw which is a great result.

yeah i liked the morphosis too

Phaedra was a very late cut from mine fwiw

Here's my weighed ballot:

1) Barbara Panther - Barbara Panther
2) Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
3) Various Artists - Grand 12-Inches 8 [compiled by Ben Liebrand]
4) Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion – Routes Not Roots
5) Asa Masa - Jou Jou
6) Eevil Stö - S.O.D. (Stöö of Destruction)
7) Biosphere - N-Plants
8) DJ Quik - Book of David
9) Various Artists - Horse Meat Disco 3
10) Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Teufelskamin

Was kinda surprised the Meshell Ndegeocello album placed outside the top 100, especially since it got such positive comments on ILM... Also, I was suprised that only one person besides me voted for Kami-Sakunobe House Explosion, considering how much love the DJ Sprinkles album got in 2009, and this is basically more of the same thing by the same person. Though maybe the sameyness was exactly the reason people didn't vote for it (even though Routes not Roots is really good too), or maybe it was just too obscure?

i think its reissue status may have worked against it? it was just outside my ballot, on another day would have made it in (i think i was quite cold when i submitted, hence sandwell district appearing intead)

Weighted

1. Chris Watson
2. A Winged Victory for the Sullen
3. can't remember...Prosumer?
4. James Ferraro

I dunno, since basically no one ILM heard Routes Not Roots in 2006 (or at least no one was talking about it back then), it being a limited Japan-only release, I don't see why the reissue statue would have stopped anyone from voting for it.

(x-post)

La Lech & Moka's lists are great, unsurprisingly.

The visualisation seems to suggest that o.nate is my nemesis, but we share an album in common. There are a bunch of people who I share nothing with.

oh, maybe I voted for the k-s.h.e? there's a few things in the noms i have half heard i might have voted for. roman flugel, omar-s, floating points

"statue" = "status"

Being on the left doesn't mean anything per se, the algorithm just tries to put you as close as possible to voters who are similar.
Thanks! The edge of town is where it's at.

really? of course I'm breaking off for the centre :/

haha I in the middle of the sphere

as I suspected, ILM revolves around ME

aw i'm on the outskirts of a little cluster w/ j0rdan and lex and tim

My super fuxxor ballot, weighted:

tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
Katy B - On A Mission
Rustie - glass swords
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream
Danny Brown - XXX
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place
Clams Casino - Instrumentals

Weighted:

DJ Quik - Book of David
Beyonce - 4
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
Goapele - break of dawn
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
Danny Brown - XXX
Curren$y - Covert Coup
Big K.R.I.T - Return of 4EVA
Meek Mill - Dreamchasers
Kool G Rap - Riches, Royalty & Respect
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
French Montana - Coke Boys 2
Katy B - On A Mission
Z-Ro - Meth
Schoolboy Q - setbacks
Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse
Don Trip & Starlito - step brothers
Fiend (International Jones) - Tennis Shoes & Tuxedos
Gunplay - inglorius bastards
Lloyd - King of Hearts
Max B - vigilante season
G-Side - the ONE... cohesive
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Young Bleed - Preserved

good ballot

just caught up with both polls - good work, all! lots of things I need to check out it seems. And just wish I could remember which ones I actually voted for... seandalai, could you email me both of my ballots please? Much appreciated. :)

Hey could I get you to email me my albums ballot? That'd be sweet. (I promise next year I will keep a copy)

I regrettably didn't participate in the poll, but I listened to lots of dance records this year, and my favorites list was littered with them... I was surprised not to have seen much talk about the following artists on here, who I thought put out tremendous full-lengths:

> Rick Wilhite
> Massimiliano Pagliara
> Moomin
> Hyetal (cool to see Lex rep for it, the track "Beach Scene" is fantastic)
> Kuedo
> Omar-S
> Kangding Ray

ive posted about the kuedo record a fair bit, i really really liked it but i dont think its v 'ilm'??

Haha, how do you mean?

just too girly and fashionable, i guess

im closest to lamp when i think we agreed we were sort of but not all that similar

i dont recall the specifics of my ballot but merzbow/pinhas lp was #1

I totally don't get that, although I wish I did because I think the idea is really funny (especially on a board that loves some of this stuff this board loves!)... I'm loving this thread, though--if I see someone's list with a handful of things I love on it, it gives me a bunch of other stuff to investigate (it's more helpful than the big list in that regard; I think the little things in our list that very few people know or talk about are sometimes the most special records).

im closest to lamp when i think we agreed we were sort of but not all that similar

were our ballots similar? i often think we end up liking the same things for different reasons

with kuedo i dont know if talking abt 'ilm' cuz there are enuff contradictory voices its hard to generalize for the whole board but like the record just feels like its in the wrong genre or too niche to get the people who wld vibe and the bobbins guys seem sorta hostile to whats basically a more refined 'far side virtual'

other strong possibility is i have no idea what im talking about

proud to say spottie was my top neighbor XD

Kuedo record is great, it was on my ballot, but I think if juke/footwork + vangelis' blade runner soundtrack isn't something you like there's not a lot to talk about. that's also an easy, if reductive, description to lol at.

I voted for Kangding Ray, I think there was a bit of discussion but I suppose it's not a particularly zeitgeisty album.

Roz and irrational, you have ILXmail.

proud to say spottie was my top neighbor XD

― some dude, Saturday, February 4, 2012 10:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sup, fam. High 5.

cheers, seandalai!

"Danny Brown - XXX
EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia/Ultra
Death Grips - Ex-Military
Gunplay - inglorius bastards
Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming
Fucked Up - David Comes To Life
Clams Casino - Instrumentals
Liturgy - Aesthetica
Action Bronson - Dr. Lecter
Wolves in the Throne Room - celestial lineage
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
Destroyer - Kaputt
Killer Mike - Pl3dge
Schoolboy Q - setbacks
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
Andy Stott - Passed Me By/We Stay Together
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Angel Haze - Altered Ego
Big K.R.I.T - Return of 4EVA
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream
Austra - Feel It Break
Blue Sky Black Death - NOIR

17 placed. Not to shabby.

Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming

I still want to check this.

Couldn't get into the record, but his single-only cover of "heart of gold" was pretty great.

Love it. I think it might rise as time goes on.

Clarke B, thanks for recommending the Moomin album! I checked it out online mainly because of the funny choice for an artist name, but it sounded awesome, so I ended up ordering it. Would have voted for it if I'd heard the album in time.

: )

I don't really remember my ballot now but it would have been something like:

1. Boy Better Know - Tropical 2
2. Dawn Richard - A Prelude to a Tell-Tale Heart
3. Destroyer - Kaputt
4. Blue Sky Black Death - Noir
5. Meek Mill - Dreamchasers
6. Braids - Native Speaker
7. Wesseltoft Schwarz - Duo (actually this wasn't nommed but this is about where it goes)
8. Beyonce - 4
9. Luomo - Plus
10. Hatchback - Zeus & Apollo
11. Patrick Stump - Soul Punk
12. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
13. ScHoolboy Q - Setbacks
14. Sussan Deyhim - City of Leaves (I can't remember if I voted for this though?)
15. BLRNRB - Welcome to the Madhouse
16. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
17. Pistol Annies - Hell On Heels
18. Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow
19. High Wolf - Atlas Nation
20. Maria Minerva - Tallin at Dawn
21. Various Artists: Dave Nada - Blow Your Head 2
22. Various Artists - Ines
23. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
24. DJ Quik - The Book of David

something like that

no Ms. Kathleen Brien?

Katy B is somewhere in my high twenties.

I just don't listen to it enough to give it a higher position even though I approve of it in principle.

is wesseltoft schwarz something to do with henrik? i interviewed him early last year re: black rose and he mentioned all these projects he had in the pipeline, i completely forgot about them all but this rings a bell.

destroyer would be easier to take if so many people whose taste overlaps with mine didn't inexplicably like them.

Yeah, a duet album with Bugge Wesseltoft, a norwegian jazz pianist.

It's exactly what you'd expect, and that's precisely why it's great.

i am going to do better at keeping up with dance music in 2012 but it would also help if PRs told me about these things. and yet 95% of what they do tell me about is total shit.

I had a quick listen to Metronomy's English Riviera this morning - is this the UK Kaputt?

xp actually, this is something i did a couple of years ago, but it's often quite instructive to think about where you first heard about the things you voted for (possibly works better for trax)

Beyonce - 4 - like everyone else, when "run the world" dropped
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake - like everyone else, when she put "written on the forehead" on soundcloud
Katy B - On A Mission - first heard about the album in an interview with fact
Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels - frank kogan emailed me the title track
Dawn Richard - A Prelude To A Tell Tale Heart - general diddy dirty money talk iirc? i guess someone on ilx gave the first heads up for this
Cher Lloyd - Sticks + Stones - various PRs as i was pursuing her for an interview
Angel Haze - Altered Ego - friend tweeted about her, quoted "bitches on my dick cuz i look like pocahontas", obv was sold on that
Nikkiya - Speakher - first heard about her on the yelawolf mixtape, someone gave the heads up for her own mixtape in the ilx r&b thread
Boy Better Know - Tropical 2 - ilx thread
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather - i think ilx just beat her PR when "dirty world" dropped
Young Bleed - Preserved - "holla at uh dog" was recommended in the ilx rap thread
Rustie - glass swords - sent by PR, obv had heard of him already
DJ Quik - Book of David - ilx talk i guess
Frivolous - Meteorology - sent by PR, listened because it was in the same package as the nico jaar album
Sunny Sweeney - Concrete - i think the singles jukebox turned me on to "from a table away" first
Phaedra - The Sea - PR took me to oslo to interview lindstrøm/terje/diskjokke and while we were there we saw this girl live as well
Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience - knew about her from the internet but i think it was rev who first mentioned this EP
Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know - like everyone else, when "sophia" dropped
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow - like everyone else, when "wild man" dropped
Wiley - 100% Publishing - like everyone else, when "numbers in action" dropped
Sandwell District - Feed-Forward - ha, i'd known about them for a while but didn't actually own much by them - discovered this after deciding to rectify that one day and going on discogs
Britney Spears - Femme Fatale - like everyone else, when "hold it against me" dropped
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin' - think someone mentioned "good man" on the ilx r&b thread, or perhaps his own
Hyetal - Broadcast - PR sent it to me, was already hyped due to his work with velour

metronomy are certainly as boring and pointless as destroyer

not heard either but they can't be worse than 2 bears

Okay, here's mine in the style of Lex's post:

When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie - Think it was a cross between Ned and Dan mentioning it on ILX and then noticing something on the Quietus. At first I conflated them with Factory Floor (who I still haven't got round to hearing), so I like the idea of Konkylie as an industrial album for naptime.

Jon Hopkins & King Creosote - Diamond Mine - Must've been when the Mercury nominees were announced. I read an interview where they explained a lot about the concept and production processes, listened, fell in love with it. Went to see them play it live and the next day spent a late-summer weekend in Margate - not exactly Fife, but as close to a derelict coastal experience as it gets.

Console - Herself - One of my first reviews for the Quietus. Always quite liked the Notwist, but as this was my first long-form review I ended up playing the shit out of it and finding that it never got dull.

The Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions - Bootlegs about 10 years ago. Was bought the Smile Sessions for Christmas <3

Panda Bear - Tomboy - Well, shoot me for saying so but while it has waned this year my Animal Collective fandom was still fairly high post Merriweather Post Pavilion. Maybe I'd convinced myself they'd make another album as fantastic as Sung Tongs. This record comes very very close.

Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean - Big big fan of The Shepherd's Dog and I was psyched for this. First listen was disappointing. It seemed to lack that heady groove-based vibe - too much cheesy sax and backing vocals etc. But it ended up soundtracking our time in Barcelona in May, with certain songs like Rabbits Will Run and Half Moon really sinking in. Now it's a highlight.

Sully - Carrier - The way I came to this is fairly well documented. I was sent a copy for review, enjoyed it a lot, and after an initial draft of what I wanted to write I discovered Sully's actually an old pal from quite a few years ago, which of course endeared me more to the record but also connected a lot of dots.

Various Artists - Bangs & Works Vol. II - Been investing a fair bit of time in footwork of late. Think this was sparked by wanting to know more after hearing the Africa Hitech record.

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake - Found it all a bit dour and serious when it first came out. Never a big Polly Jean fan, and reading things like Doran's (albeit excellent) review online made me think I'd need some specialist political/historical knowledge to appreciate the record properly. Even saw her play it live, and was left really cold. Then just before Christmas I thought I'd give it another spin and suddenly it all made sense. So many amazing moments on this album - don't know how I could have not noticed them before.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust - No idea exactly how I came across it, but must've been crosstalk between ILX and the Quietus's EOY list. I pretty much knew it would be great before I even listened to it. It's called Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats FFS!

John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves - That Pitchfork interview was perhaps the greatest indie PR stunt of all time.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me - Been following him for about 10 years or possibly more, so..

The Art Department - Drawing Board - 'Without You' placed in Mixmag's top tracks for 2010, announced around Christmas time. The night of our works' Christmas party, a colleague and good friend received a phonecall to say his Dad had contracted an asbestos-related illness. He died on Boxing Day. From what I understand my friend's mother was so racked with grief that she walked into the sea not long after and was never seen again. So among the party popping and Auld Lang Synes, there was this little song thumping away in the back of my mind, so to me it's one of the strangest, saddest, most incongruous dance records I've ever heard.

Rustie - Glass Swords - No idea. Almost certainly ILX.

Tyler The Creator - Goblin - Held off listening to this for ages because from what I'd understood it was nothing but adolescent rape jokes and other such bullshit. Then I saw the Yonkers video and honestly, I was impressed. It wasn't so much the "woah he eats a cockroach and then hangs himself" thing, more the whole composition and execution and the expression on Tyler's face. He looks conflicted, tortured, almost possessed to do the things he does, which I guess is something a lot of teenagers (and ex-teenagers) can relate to. Not being a big lyrics guy I tend to glaze over the words, which is a stumbling block when it comes to a lot of rap music especially; so I couldn't really tell you whether wanting to stab Bruno Mars in his goddamn oesophagus is any better or worse a lyric than anything else I've heard by Jay-Z, Necro, ODB, NWA or anyone else... All I know is I listened to this album once, and that felt like enough. Not that it's a bad album, but it's like some films which can be enjoyed fully and never rewatched.

Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise - Heard El Bandido a wee while ago quite randomly, so I was on board from the get go when the ILX thread started.

Toddla T - Watch Me Dance - Oh I dunno. It's a big ridiculous fun record though.

Goapele - break of dawn - Very very recently heard it. Not usually my sort of thing, but she does it really well. I particularly like 'Right Here', which ought to be a single really.

Death Grips - Ex-Military - YouTube video of GUILLLOTTTTIIIINEE! - This sounds like brain damaged hiphop. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys were once a crack troop of army commandos who'd been exposed to some sort of experimental chemical weapon and then decided to start a hiphop group.

Plaid - Scintilli - Not the best thing they've ever done I must say, but not without its moments. Fan since '98, so I keep an eye on them.

Africa Hitech - 93 Million Miles - Heard Blen because it was on Warp Records and I was interested in the name as I wanted to hear more African-influenced electronica. This album was important for me, but turns out it was more of an influence/springboard into new territories such as footwork and township house than something I actually enjoyed as a piece.

Katy B - On A Mission - God I really don't know where I first heard of her. I know I played a d'n'b remix of On A Mission at NYE 2010, but I must've heard of her before then. A good album, few weak moments, but not something I really come back to all that much. Think I respect this more than gain personal enjoyment from it.

St Vincent - Strange Mercy - Actor turned out to be one of my favourite albums of 2009 and I still go back to it a lot. Strange Mercy's just a little too disjointed and lacking in comfy padding for me to truly love, but Cruel is absolutely fantastic. Annie has so much pop potential, but I guess the appeal is how she skirts around pop's periphery, never really letting herself fully break into that territory. Of course this is a dividing factor for many people.

Fucked Up - David Comes To Life - Been interested to know more about the band, so this was as good an entry point as any.

Ford & Lopatin - Channel Pressure - Someone posted a vid of Games' 'Planet Party' and I immediately sought out the EPs. This album is fine, very detailed, but maybe not the masterpiece I was expecting.

this is a rough recreation of my (weighted) ballot, might have one album wrong and another a couple spots off from where it was:

The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Patrick Stump - Soul Punk
Lloyd - King of Hearts
The Disciplines - Virgins Of Menace
Meek Mill – Dreamchasers
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin'
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Lou Reed & Metallica – Lulu
Tity Boi (2 Chainz) - Codeine Cowboy
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
DJ Quik - The Book of David
The Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Robin Thicke - Love After War
Wye Oak - Civilian
Butch Walker And The Black Widows - The Spade
Fiend (International Jones) - Tennis Shoes & Tuxedos
They Might Be Giants - Join Us
Beyonce – 4
Mouse On Tha Track - Swagga Fresh Freddie
Sloan - The Double Cross
Sonic Youth - simon werner a disparu
Craig Wedren - Wand
Dawn Richard - A Prelude To A Tell Tale Heart
Marsha Ambrosuis - Late Nights & Early Mornings
Yellowbirds - The Color

man that foo fighters album?

There are two albums that I regret not nominating because I enjoyed them quite a bit and I think others would have enjoyed them too: (my apologies if this is not the place to do this, I just didn't know where else to put it except the postmortem thread since it's obvs too late for these babies)

(1) Book of Sand -- Bees and the Butterflies
MN black metal band gives a noisy drony black metal treatment to trad folk ballads, like Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime, which is my favorite. Hard to choose a real favorite though, they're all really good if this is your kind of thing and it is totally my kind of thing. I just forgot it came out in 2011 ;_; http://bookofsand.bandcamp.com/album/the-bees-and-the-butterflies

(2) Steve Hauschildt - Tragedy & Geometry
I forgot about this because I have the LP and it's not on my computer, but this is the Emerald who is not Mark McGuire (who didn't get enough attn for A Young Person's Guide, which would appeal to anyone who voted for M83, I believe) If you like 80s new age synths (soundtracks in partic, think Vangelis or Tangerine Dream during the soundtrack era) without much cheez (and people seemed to like that kind of thing this year), this is your album. Some people may find it dull, but I find it warm and pleasant. http://open.spotify.com/album/7JVc3UgVZxgYXNbimO6k9v

Maybe those were nominated and I just accidentally didn't see them, but I don't think so? I guess I could have checked before I posted that, but well I didn't.

man that foo fighters album?

― Lamp, Monday, February 6, 2012 10:35 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha what, is there any way that ISN'T 'votes very much in character'?

yeah fair enough

I'd do a rundown of where I heard stuf like Lex/dog latin but most of my votes are from people on outloud, whether it be Kerr, Rev, La Lechera, emil.y, or crut, or whoever...

I like the Hauschildt album too, though I guess my critical opinion of it is affected by the feeling that it doesn't really stand out (for me) in the midst of all the synth revivalism that preceded and succeeded it. It was on an early draft of my ballot fwiw.

And the answer to "where did you hear (of) X first?" is going to be something like 1/3 ILM, 1/3 Boomkat mailouts, 1/3 Spotify Related Artists. No interesting stories to tell.

I like it because it sounds exactly how I want it to sound, with no extra clutter like, gasp, SINGING ;)

First heard (of), in my case: about half via ILM, then a broad mixture of other sources. Stumbled across the Thundercat album in Sounds Of The Universe, heard tune-yards on Resonance FM. Modular emailed me direct.

About half of mine were albums by artists I already liked. The other half were discovered through either ILM or the Stylus Staff Message Board.

#humblebrag

xp Oh, and my brother specifically recommended Real Estate. Saw the name all over the place, but I probably wouldn't have given the band a listen (at least not until they showed up in the P4K tracks list) if he hadn't suggested I do so.

#humblebrag

Is this directed at me?

Haha it wasn't meant as any sort of dig, I just didn't even realize a Stylus staff message board would even still exist!

i got my msg board membership revoked for not contributing enough reviews like 4 months before the mag folded :(

xp It exists. I don't really hang out there much, but I do take notice when people enthuse about certain albums.

For completeness: I guess I probably read about a couple of things in The Wire or on Dusted, but I can't remember what/where/when (maybe Escort? And Matana Roberts?).

dog latin you first heard uncle acid and the deadbeats when i played them in outloud and you flipped

That's right mang - don't remember where I first heard of them though.

Something I wish I'd nominated/voted for was some of the Ekoplekz / Bass Clef releases, but those fuckers released so many albums and eps last year I couldn't really pick just one.

Weighted ballot:

Zomby - Dedication
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Björk - Biophilia
Egyptrixx - Bible Eyes
Robag Wruhme - Thora Vukk
Fen - Epoch
John Maus - We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise
Diddy-Dirty Money - Love Love vs. Hate Love
Panda Bear - Tomboy
Container - LP
Meshell Ndegeocello - Weather
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Wolf + Lamb vs Soul Clap - DJ Kicks
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift
DJ Quik - Book of David
Kuedo - Severant
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Kingdom - Dreama EP
Schoolboy Q - setbacks
Walls - Coracle
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Tinariwen - Tassili
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

yeah I decided to do a rundown anyways so heres your warning

list breakdown:

stuff outloud cru got me into:

Algerian Goalie:
2. Obake - s/t (along with it making Rockarolla & Quietus lists)
3. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Blood Lust (during his self-ban; he was trying to get me to post about it in the doom/stoner/space metal thread so that it could keep going)
4. Windhand - s/t
18. Subrosa - No Help for the Mighty Ones (actually this is more from the aforementioned doom/stoner/space metal thread)

La Lechera:
19. v/a - Colombia 45

The Reverend:
12. Thundercat - The Golden Age of Apocalypse (snuck in my ballot on the last minute; night before I voted he played it, describing it as awesome fusion record by Suicidal Tendencies/Erykah Badu bass player. It totally was what I wanted this year's Me'shell album to sound like)
13. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

crut:
6. Acid Mothers Temple - Pink Lady Lemonade - You're From Inner Space (actually this was from crut's EoY album nominations in the sandbox; o.g. Pink Lady Lemonade is one of my favorite songs of the 90s)
8. The Cosmic Dead - s/t (or Cozmik Tape I) (crut was there for the Uncle Acid/space metal thread, recommended these guys' bandcamp page)

emil.y:

20. John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (a confluence of emil.y playing it in outloud, it making the Quietus half-year list, and Le Bateau Ivre posting "Hey Moon" in Whiney's thread iirc)

the other albums
1. Belong - Common Era (ilxor recommendation from one of the several "what's good in 2011?" threads)
5. Peaking Lights - 936 (mostly from the rolling psych/drone/freak thread, though part of it was def realizing that Not Not Fun released a couple of my favorite albums from last year too. It took me a long time to realize that it wasn't supposed to be like the last Pocahaunted album, and when I did, its shoegazer dub awesomeness opened up to me)
7. The Psychic Paramount - II (also from the psych/drone/freak thread, along with the crazy psychedelia thread which I thought was implying that PP's first album sounded like somewhere between the first Comets on Fire album and Electric Heavyland...not quite...)
9. Katy B - On a Mission (first learned about her from "Katy on a Mission" placing in tracks last year; really liked everything I heard and just followed her thread)
10. Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels (one of my facebook friends was into this album, but it wasn't until hearing about it on ILX and realizing that none of their songs were being played on my local country station that I decided to check it out)
11. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact (from ILX)
14. Brute Heart - Lonely Hunter (from Ned's response when he saw me enthusing about the Kellies album)
15. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (recommendation from ilxor, same time that he recommended Belong)
16. La Big Vic - Actually (from Johnny Fever posting about it in the album covers thread; chalk that up to another Outloud cru find)
17. Blanck Mass - s/t (Last.fm recommendation when they noticed how much I was listening to Belong and Peaking Lights)
21. Hills - Master Sleeps (from fastnbulbous's year-end Psych Rock list)
22. Blood Ceremony - Living With the Ancients (from a Quietus review)
23. David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights - Left by Soft (from some thread about The Clean; Ned's high recommendation helped a lot)
24. Weedeater - Jason...the Dragon (another ilxor recommendation)
25. Kellies - Las Kellies (DJ Mencap recommendation about Argetinian all-girl post punk band sounding like ESG, Slits, B-52's, etc & produced by Dennis Bovell. TOTAL Drugs-bait)

Cosmic Dead blurb supposed to say: crut was there for the Uncle Acid/space metal thread conversation fwiw

Saw The Cosmic Dead play live in 2011 to about 6 ppl and a dog. Very strange experience.

Sounds like a pretty great experience to me!

That sounds like an A+ experience.

King - The Story EP - Erykah Badu's twitter ^__________________^
Beyonce - 4 - when everyone else did
DJ Quik - Book of David - when the original version of "Nobody" dropped a couple years back
Kendrick Lamar - Section.80 - Fader or Tumblin' Erb or something. Didn't check it out for a while after it dropped.
Boy Better Know - Tropical 2 - ILX, although I was familiar with BBK before
E-40 - Revenue Retrievin: Overtime Shift/Graveyard Shift - Tumblin Erb, I think? when "My Lil Grimey Nigga" dropped
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up - local buzz
Diddy-Dirty Money - Love Love vs. Hate Love - ILX? might have seen it on a blog. obv was checking out anything out of that camp after LTTP
Katy B - On a Mission - first heard about her from the funky house thread when "As I" and "Tell Me" came out a few years back. Was stoked for the album when "On a Mission" and "Lights On" came out.

Kingdom - Dreama EP - from the Fade to Mind website, I think? I'd already heard "Stalker Ha" and maybe other tracks in mixes tho
Na'Tee - Guess Who's Coming 2 Dinner - gun sounds thread
Nguzunguzu - Timesup EP - heard tracks in mixes
The Dirtbombs - Party Store - P4k?
New Look - New Look - ILX
Fatima Al Qadiri - Genre-Specific Xperience - DIS? Fader?
Young L - Praktica - his twitter
Danny Brown - XXX - found out about his last album from ILX, checked this one out on the strength of that
Nikkiya - Speakher - ILX r&b thread, new her from the Yelawolf album
MikeQ - Let It All Out EP - Fade to Mind website
Thundercat - Golden Age of Apocalypse - Fader, but I already knew him as E. Badu's bassist
DJ Diamond - Flight Muzik - Fader (kind of embarrassed how often that's the answer)
Toro y Moi - Underneath the Pine - from Tyler, the Creator u_u
Various Artists - Dave Nada Presents Blow Your Head Vol. 2 - looking for moombahton comps
Araabmuzik - Electronic Dream - FACT or something
Lady Gaga - Born This Way - when everyone else did

i got into destroyer cuz my gf put 'bay of pigs' on her first mix cd she made when we were courting cuz i 'liked synths'

one thing i wrestle with when i vote for these polls is whether or not i should vote for records in the context of their contribution to furthering of the art of music or w/e lofty goal vs. their emotional impact on my life that year. since im not a writer or music critic, ive decided to go the emotional voting route.

my #1 of the year was a toss-up between destroyer and kurt vile; both of them having a significant emotional impact on me in 2011. i ended up going with destroyer cuz kv's record mostly served as a gateway drug to his previous albums whereas kaputt ended up being more self-contained

their contribution to furthering of the art of music or w/e lofty goal

Even if you are a music writer, I think this is kind of a bullshit criterion. I voted based on what records I was drawn to most, listened to most, and/or felt most strongly about.

Huge props to Tim F for being the other vote for Sussan Deyhim's City of Leaves (Iranian expat vocalist extraordinaire). She has yet to release anything less than great in 23 years of recordings, and is highly recommended to fans of Diamanda Galas (her earlier work) and Lisa Gerrard or Azam Ali (more recent material).

I don't think it was me actually, I strongly suspect I forgot to include it (though it's fantastic). Doesn't Tuomas really like her?