ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

Had this one high on my ballot, but started doubting that it would place. Glad it did though.

got this very late in the year and wound up voting for it, great record

Amusing fact: the original Twin Sister who claimed the name is the self-proclaimed "greatest Star Wars funk band”, performing in full costume at fancons.

love this record so much!!

missed this completely but seems like a thing I'd enjoy. going to check it out!

"Out of the Dark" still demands an extended mix. 3:20 isn't enough.

Relistening to this album, I gotta say TOO LOW (I don't think it was even on my ballot, though, so fuck me).

it's deliberate riot provocation imo xp

oh hey i don't know this but it looks promising

had never heard this til now, am immediately taken with it

nashwan otm about it being a great headphones record (so far)

http://i.imgur.com/Yh3zHBg.jpg

13 RUN THE JEWELS Run the Jewels 2 [673 points, 27 votes, 1 first place vote]

Thought this was ok but I liked the first album a lot more. Surprised this one got so much more attention.

!!!!

take that, Pitchfork and P&J.

happy this placed above rich gang

(my #11, reckon it's much better than the first one & generally just completely blistering & fucked, both of them are awesome. the SEGUES)

surprised this isn't top 5, thought ILM liked it a lot more

It's better than Rich Gang and not as good as My Krazy Life so justice prevails.

the vocals are dragging Mr Twin Sister down for me but the quality of the production is undeniable

RTJ2 works better as a whole piece than the first one, but first record def is more pure fun shit-talking rap

Yes, the simplicity and airiness of Ruins makes it a serene, reflective listening experience--far more accessible than her previous albums, which I think explains its high placement in a few lists. But I found it striking that so many critics seemed enamored with the concept of a microwave beeping.

To these ears Dead Deer is still far and away her best work, with Cover the Windows and Walls not far behind.

I have been avoiding Mr Twin Sister all year because for some reason I got them muddled up with Twin Shadow

RTJ2 works better as a whole piece than the first one, but first record def is more pure fun shit-talking rap

― indie fuxxor albums i have secretly spotified (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 29 January 2015 17:14 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah my priorities exposed here

wait there's a microwave beeping on the Grouper record? I need to give it another try

I was all enthusiastic about listening to mr twin sister despite their name bc of that tim f description but it fell very short. Pleasant enough whatevia I guess, in one ear and out the other, young galaxy without the songs?

Whoa at rtj2 placing so low!!!

xxp nothin wrong with that!

it sounds exactly like my microwave too so its fucked me up so many times

Couldn't listen to this. didn't like the first one much either. don't want to do an imago here too much but something about the brutalist production seemed to make the very explicitly misogynist lyrics on that first one felt 10 times stronger.
This record is just unrelenting bash-you-over-the-head EDM-hop that didn't agree with my ears at all.

Run the Jewels is the Killer Mike/El-P collab, right? I thought "R.A.P. Music" was okay, but Mike's one-trick flow gets tiring after while, and El-P is still 10 times worse than him as a rapper, so I had no interest for this project.

rtj2 was okay, people seem to have soured on el-p as a producer but i still like him for the most part. idk about his rapping though, that's always been mildly embarrassing

lol ciderpress

Today has not been a good run for me so far. Hope the top ten delivers

(for yr microwave post, not that new one)

I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind I+II >> R.A.P. Music >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Run The Jewels

I like El-P as a producer a lot, but I wish he was more like Flava Flav to Killer Mike's Chuck D instead of them getting equal time.

Hated the first RTJ record, but am tentatively warming up to this one. For the most part, though, these records, along with R.A.P. Music and the record that El-P released around that same time, prove for me that Mike's place is in front of the mic and El-P's is behind the mixing board.

Whatever El-P's vocal deficiencies, he writes great lyrics imo

if there's any str8-up misogyny on this album I will be deflated - let this be your challenge

whatever you think of him as a rapper, I feel like el-p has at least become indisputably better at it since teaming up with Killer Mike.

rtj is awful and if u like it ur a bad person

elp has maybe the least sense of rhythm of anyone in the world

less than a mormon dad dancing at a wedding

Never heard Grouper before, thought I might quite like it but found bit mundane/flat, wasn't very drawn in off the one track i played anyway.

Never heard run the jewels before either, I dont get this, its leaden and tiring

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

12 CHARLI XCX Sucker [688 points, 21 votes, 3 first place votes]

his lyrics are so cringely begging for someone anyone (louis) to think hes smart

lol Mr Twin Sister is sitting in that pocket of "pretty unchallenging music" that I've been bitching about for the past 3-4 years but manages to evoke enough sophistipop echoes of Swing Out Sister for me to work (with emphasis on "echoes"; this is no direct Twilight World pastiche)

what a sad end for killer mike

my fave rtj hot-take was from a non-ilx friend "man its ok but i can only listen to 40 year old men screaming about fuckboys for so long"

― gr8080, Friday, January 23, 2015 12:01 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

xp yeah being more successful than ever commercially and critically seems super shitty for michael render

Was hoping this would scrape the top 10. It was my number two. If' I'd had longer with it I would have probably put it at number one. Such a fantastic album all the way through. Loved True Romance but thought this was a big step up.