ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

It took me a fair while to fully appreciate this although I always thought the production and arrangements were top-drawer, now I love the whole thing.

I had problems connecting to Heartland but this is such a complete album, from the surprise Joe Hisaishi interlude in the opening track I was hooked

<3 that weirdly cute cover art for some reason

#bless

Tinashe - Aquarius (out October 7 2014)

This thread has like 3 posts in it

― 龜, Thursday, January 29, 2015 3:28 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This thread is a funny read as people slowly change their minds.

damn, was hoping this would win

Yes! My #1. In the two magazine critics' polls I voted in I was the only voter.

I don't know how many times I've played "The Riverbed" this year (my last.fm stats appear to be broken)

My #3, a truly brilliant & emotionally consuming work - in a really good year, one of the standouts - amazing from start to finish. Great live too. NYC in for a treat this evening.

And yeah, too low :P

This thread is a funny read as people slowly change their minds.

― rob, Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:57 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i didn't realise it was one of my favourite albums of the year until after it had become one of my favourite albums of the year; you called it lived-in, which is otm and crucial, but it felt like you could live in it too. cocoon-like. and have a little dance every so often

tinashe record is sounding fantastic, def living up to the hype (which a few things from today did not at all)

predicting the order of the top 3 to go

3. t-swift
2. f-twigs
1. d-angelo

This thread is a funny read as people slowly change their minds.

― rob, Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:57 PM (12 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i didn't realise it was one of my favourite albums of the year until after it had become one of my favourite albums of the year; you called it lived-in, which is otm and crucial, but it felt like you could live in it too. cocoon-like. and have a little dance every so often

― lex pretend, Thursday, January 29, 2015 3:59 PM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally agreed, it's quite a deep album and needs exploring. I just found it funny how literally it enacts the idea of the album as a "slow burner" as the start of the thread is quite negative. I do wonder if D-40 ever came around on it?

3. D'Angelo
2. T-Swift
1. Twigs

Is my guess.

I want Twigs to win but I don't see it happening

I have to listen to this album. I've gotten very into "The Riverbed" (and fantastic video) since last week.

lex's order looks right

swift will win i think

Yes! OWEN!

http://i.imgur.com/0CwAvMr.jpg

3 FKA TWIGS LP1 [1,509 points, 43 votes, 2 first place votes]

1989 for the top spot

XP

did tay tay fan vote in the albums poll? lol

this was my no. 1 for so long, until another album got released last month.

"Two Weeks" is amazing but I didn't find myself revisiting the album very often.

i think more ILMers *love* d'angelo than really like taylor swift. could be wrong.

good for fucka twigs.

fka twigs just barely made my ballot but it's rare that these sorts of records appeal to me at all so i consider it one of the year's big pleasant surprises.

The tentpole tracks on LP1 are perfectly spaced out to keep the lesser ones from becoming a real drag on its greatness imo.

okay where do i sign up for team d'angelo?

love that cover so much, almost made me buy a physical album for the first time in 5 years

i have no dog in the top 3 race - all are albums i love, but with reservations, and not as much as their biggest fans love them

xp haha my order's already out of the window. good album! her middle eights and her icicle beats really elevate it. "two weeks" perhaps unfairly overshadows the rest of it; i found myself wanting more vocal chorales and less trembling sensuousness, but it could be pretty good to luxuriate in anyway. think it just fell off the edge of my ballot tho

can't see Tay beating D'Angelo but I am almost always wrong about everything so

I waited so long before checking out what the hype was all about. I don't have anything clever to say about it yet but one of my favorites.

The T-Swift record is so strong though, I hadn't listened to a full record of hers before and I still can't stop blasting it daily

If Taylor wins idek

I'm surprised Taylor's going to finish so high with my fourth-favorite Taylor Swift album. But I guess the crossover worked. No complaints, I like the record. Probably would have been in the low end of the top 10 for me.

Does not in any way deserve to beat D'Angelo tho.

I don't usually feel "Fuck out of here you all have atrocious taste" about artists I don't like but...

i have no feelings toward the top three finishers ilx u hav forsaken me gon go meet me old cunt down the pub

im rooting for beck

the FKA twigs album is great but "two weeks" does tower over the rest of it for sure

im rooting for dire straits feat young thug

If other people dare like something I don't like, why, I'll just have to deal with it like an adult.

Yeah, I'm kidding myself. That doesn't happen here.

i don't like this record at all beyond the singles and i've listened to it so much

oh well

If other people dare like something I don't like, why, I'll just have to deal with it like an adult.

Yeah, I'm kidding myself. That doesn't happen here.

― EZ Snappin, Thursday, January 29, 2015 1:11 PM Bookmark

Rae Sremmub

I don't remember the last time I had such a violent, abrupt 180 on an artist like I had with FKA twigs. When "Water Me" placed last year, I basically rolled my eyes and went "eh whatever" and when people were going gaga over the "Two Weeks" video my initial thoughts were "wait, isn't this the really boring static whisper girl that three ppl were into last year" up until I played it, at which point my eyes got wider and wider until they took up about 80% of my face and I kept muttering "holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, WHAT IS THIS OH MY GOD"

The album is the best use of space in musical arrangement that I've heard since the first XX album and is a master class in crescendo. Once you get past "Two Weeks" and "Pendulum", spend some time really studying "Give Up", "Lights On", "Closer" and "Video Girl". Putting this at #1 on my ballot was the easiest decision I've ever made in an ILX poll.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Bono_U2_360_Tour_2011.jpg

"DID YOU PEOPLE NOT READ THE ROLLING STONE LIST???"

The battle for the top spot was hard-fought, and amazingly ended in a tie...

http://i.imgur.com/STg5Qq2.jpg?1

TIE-1 CANNONBALL ADDERLEY The Black Messiah [7,498 points, 142 votes, 141 first place votes]
TIE-1 VARIOUS ARTISTS Billboard Top Hits 1989 [7,498 points, 142 votes, 141 first place votes]

black messiah #1