ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

this is another album with a number, sadly.

I reckon VI is all about the astral creepy wrigglers blissing out in the undergrowth tbh

Latin numbers, too!

this album had better be triffic!

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=67116

'astral blissout' is really one of the highest modes music can achieve

xp i think you might want to expand to those of us that can't see board 77

I probably wouldn't think to associate this with botany without the many cues, but I like the idea of black metal devoted to small organic forms rather than, what seems to be more typical, the sublime on a grander scale.

it's a cool concept. like swamp thing meets hammered dulcimer meets black metal. i will def check this new album out.

kind of want him to team up with Konono No1 or something and have an electrified tuned percussion face-off

Kassem Mosse and Botanist are both albums I've listened to once and enjoyed but not revisited yet. Hoping for some more metal to place but I don't think any of my atmospheric/prog-BM picks will make it.

it would be quite a strange year if lots of metal placed, but it's not beyond the realms or reality. lots of high-profile releases as Cosmic Slop mentioned, but I don't know why it would happen this year necessarily and not previous years.

I could see it happening due to there being fewer niche-consensus releases in other genres (if that's the case)

The Wizard may show. Ruine is a glorious outside shot. Fever's given Botanist nearly an hour. Very mice of him.

while we're still on botanist, less blissfuly still:

deathcap, track II from botanist III

still probably more discernable as emotive post rock than black metal, even with "experimental" tag enhancement, but i love the bright, spiky tone of the (clearly) hammered dulcimer. much less fuzz besotted than on later albums. puts my mind to pinhead, or the final act of audition maybe.

I could see Earth or Yob placing. ScottO))) and Swans are dead certs, although I don't think of them as bona fide metal records.

tbh i only expect scott 0))) now dog latin

These are great contendo, will check later :)

swans yeah tho not metal (despite being in metal poll)

Maybe Fever has given us this long coz it's the only metal :D

totally enjoying having time to listen to this album in its entirety right now

http://i.imgur.com/e54S2gh.jpg

56 STEVE GUNN Way Out Weather [286 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]

would be nuts if none of the metal poll top ten didn't make it but possible

10 Jute Gyte - Ressentiment 697 Points, 18 votes
9 Earth - Primitive and Deadly 738 Points, 21 votes , ONE #1
8 Scott Walker & SunnO))) - Soused 799 Points, 21 votes, TWO #1s
7 Darkspace - Dark Space III I 813 Points, 22 votes , ONE #1
6 Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire 876 Points, 23 votes, THREE #1s
5 Triptykon - Melana Chasmata 1078 Points, 27 votes FIVE #1's
4 Electric Wizard - Time to Die 1130 Points, 27 votes THREE #1's
3 Agalloch - The Serpent & the Sphere 1165 Points, 31 votes, Three #1s
2 Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden 1233 Points, 33 votes, One #1

xp

nice!
1 YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend 1240 Points, 32 votes , THREE #1s

oops the nice shoulda been for the steve gunn

this is a post-Fahey guitar guy, right?

xxxp Soft Pink Truth still a possibility (FALSE I know but still), there are plenty of Matmos/ ILM's very own D Daniel fans around aren't thera?

that'll def place, Neil.

nice, enjoy thiks record a lot

Never heard of Steve Gunn before but I like the album cover.

SPT not really a metal album but will place quite high. Also incredible. Wonder if I'd like Steve Gunn...

I'd prob be more stoked about Godflesh placing than any of the top 5. Though tbh I only voted for Earth and J Gyte. (Xp to CS)

I'm loving a lot of this bottom third though

I dont expect any to place bar scott 0)))

this is a post-Fahey guitar guy, right?

it has elements of that but it's expansive guitar-based singer songwriter stuff - richard thompson or eleventh dream day are probably good points of comparison. excellent record, which has grown on me more with every listen. try Tommy's Congo

xpost feel like Earth is most likely to place other than that.

sleepy americana

I think I'm the only regular on the ILX Brigade thread who was not totally into this Steve Gunn record, but I'm happy to see it place

xp hmm listening to this thru a Richard Thompson lens may increase my appreciation

love this album so much

Wonder if I'd like Steve Gunn...

― ear sirrom (imago), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 16:14 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's touring with War on Drugs if that helps...

steve gunn is nothing like war on drugs if that helps

wow, this is very, very nice. superficially maybe in real estate territory (?), but the overt raga folk & retro psych elements make it so much more relaxed, inviting & lush - richard thompson otm. i was for a while keeping tabs on things vile & violators-related, but appear to have completely missed the boat on gunn. fucking LOVE this.

- sincere thanks, a fan

Guilt by association not always foolproof :P

Yes! re Botanist. I think it was top 5 for me. Never heard of most of the rest of these but the most recent one sounds like it may be up my alley. "Singer-songwriter" tag leaves me a little antsy but I love Thompson and like Fahey.

sleepy americana

hey it has it's tense moments!

can't wait to listen to Steve Gunn in the springtime

I really dug the Gunn-Truscinski album from a couple years ago but never listened to this

http://i.imgur.com/fy22dpz.jpg

55 RONIKA Selectadisc [288 points, 10 votes]

hey it has it's tense moments!

― why you gotta be so rmde (NickB), Tuesday, January 27, 2015 8:23 AM (2 minutes ago)

i'm at the hot takes stage w gunn, but track 3 does up the energy & rock quotient, with exile-style memphis soul detailing. not sure how i feel about it, tbh. was really digging the stoned pastoral folk vibe (to which we return on track 4).

I've been trying to get Ronika in the tracks poll for 3 years, so I'm glad she finally put out an album.

just missed out on my cut
but a wonderful collection of pop songs

Guilt by association not always foolproof :P

― ear sirrom (imago), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 16:22 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But in this case...

No no, maybe I jumped the gun (not a pun). This is like War on Drugs only in the flailing, low impact of it all. It's sort of dusty, sultry Americana. It might be nice, I can't really tell just yet.

yeah Ronika!