ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

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!

in <3 with '1000 nights'

Sultry Americana tends to be a magic eye thing around the small details imo - either it leaps into ethereal glory or it lies there like a sunbathing sidewinder. The Weyes Blood album was the best example this year imo of something transcending mere pastoralia and finding some sort of impossibly gorgeous mesmeric power

A little late to chime in regarding Steve Gunn but I'd urge anyone willing to check out "Wildwood" from that album.

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

sleeve, just check out the guitar playing on 'drifter'

xxp

I adored the Weyes Blood too! Wishfully imagining that it might weave its splendid way into the murky middle waters of the albums poll. I like my fair share of wispy Americana too, but it has to really eat away at the brain and this just wasn't parasitic enough.

Imagine an early Madonna record produced by Nile Rodgers, entirely and very well self-produced over three years in a Nottingham bedroom. If you're into this sort of thing, the only fault is that while reprising her singles output, it omits the best one, "Automatic", from last yer.

Oh yeah the Ronika album is really good.

Love this Ronika album. It's the kind of album I wish Annie would come back with.

ronika! which i cut from my ballot

Tune-Yards way too low. My #2 and better than whokill IMO. Also "Water Fountain" is the least best track in an otherwise brilliant first half. So, if that's putting you off, try "Look Around" or "Find A New Way" instead. Love Merrill's voice though can understand why it's marmitey.

I slogged dutifully through the Ronika a few weeks back, albeit not under ideal listening conditions. I can see why ppl here like her but I wasn't convinced. I may give it another try.

imo it should be summer

Ronika sounds great so far

i never bothered with ronika bc of third-tier popjusticebait assumptions - wow this is derivative as hell BUT somehow doesn't just seem like dead-end pastiche. i think it's the backing vox that do it. idk if i need an album of it though

oh wait the song ended and i've just somehow put on actual early madonna instead of another ronika track, oh well

With lex on the "derivative as hell" except I also think it's dead-end pastiche, pass on Ronika

her enthusiasm shines through imo

Yeah she's better than a lot of that Popjustice friendly bollocks, quality of songwriting helps here. The album runs out of steam towards the end but the first third in particular is loads of fun, played it a lot in the early summer, which is when you need albums like this. 'In The City' is my favourite.

wow this is derivative as hell BUT somehow doesn't just seem like dead-end pastiche

basically its appeal. also connects early madonna explicitly to freestyle so

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

54 MOODYMANN Moodymann [291 points, 12 votes]

yeahhhhh i voted for thissss onnnne

this album is weed

Album Covers Featuring Tiny People Living In The Artist's Or Cover Model's Hair

yes! one of the albums I listened to the most this year

brad which ronika tracks have freestyle? i did not hear it in "1000 nights" but that is relevant to my interests

i love moodymann yet somehow COMPLETELY missed that he released an album last year until EOY list time; i intend to hear it but haven't had time yet

The finest Ronika tracks IMO are at the end of the album: 1000 Nights and Search Siren.

"forget yourself" imo!

Too much dicking about on this one, 27 tracks on a single album is just ridiculous, there's some terrific grooves on this one but he never allows them for settle for too long in a way that I find absolutely infuriating.

and "only only"

that's why i like this moodymann record so much actually, it's just as long as his others but keeps moving between ideas

Moodymann is one of those perennial names i see on ilm and nowhere else for years and years without having any idea what it is besides "ilm loves it"