ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2014

Have at it: ILM 2014 Albums Poll: Thread of Ballots, Statistics and Survivalist Posturing

Can't begrudge D'Angelo for winning but it does make me wish I loved Black Messiah more than I did, although I'm listening now and Sugah Daddy is really doing it for me.

love the guy behind swift saying "fuckit"

congratulation dangelo! i am glad u came back

Direct link to the full results for those rationing their clicks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HzdPL-OpUWIUEAOj9aKRbzPxMPyh0-XGBwxIK9YdPBo/edit?usp=sharing

good poll JF and seandalai!

It's not Taylor's best album - that's Fearless - and it's not necessarily more interesting than her last two, but with a few sequencing edits she succeeded in making an album-album which I've listened to more start to finish than, for example, Speak Now in the same period. And it doesn't really matter if the moment she went big, not only in album sales but in general acceptance, if you will, does not sound like what she's done so well until now -- because she has the power to define that even more now, anew, and has stated she's not doing the same album again, and after being so sceptical of the 1989 she pitched us, and an ill-advised lead single statement, and yet so happy with the result, all I can say for her future ventures is I'm more giddy with excitement than ever.

damn that's a blowout, just like the tracks.

thanks jf & seandalai

Great poll, great rollout.

D'Angelo fuck yes, my number 2. Good poll, will have to check out the Juan MacLean record and Mr. Twin Sister.

http://i.imgur.com/KSXBZBd.png

she has the power to define that even more now, anew, and has stated she's not doing the same album again

I'd like an album building off of "Clean." That's the song I play on repeat the most.

gangsta boo and vince staples both suffered from having multiple albums out i guess

Yeah I'm looking forward to Tay's inevitable gothward lurch.

Yeah I'm looking forward to Tay's inevitable gothward lurch.

― Tim F, Thursday, January 29, 2015 9:35 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"haunted" or "safe & sound"?

I'm imagining something she hasn't really done yet. Heartened by her being a fan of Sky.

Thanks for these polls JF and Gr808.

also i can't believe that i can hang out on ilx and still manage to miss a new the-dream record coming out

Really pleased about D'Angelo. Course it was going to win!

Thanks poll crew

your breakdown of countries

USA (41): D'Angelo And The Vanguard, Taylor Swift, Tinashe, YG, The War On Drugs, St. Vincent, The Juan Maclean, Run The Jewels, Mr. Twin Sister, Grouper, Against Me!, Miranda Lambert, Rich Gang, Shabazz Palaces, K. Michelle, Scott Walker & Sunn 0))), Swans, DJ Quik, Future Islands, Ariel Pink, The Soft Pink Truth, Toni Braxton & Babyface, Azealia Banks, Spoon, Angel Olsen, Lana Del Rey, Ex Hex, Lee Ann Womack, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Sun Kil Moon, Moodymann, Steve Gunn, Botanist, Kelis, Tune-Yards, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Theo Parrish, Future, Warpaint, Sturgill Simpson, Real Estate
GBR (18): FKA Twigs, Aphex Twin, Charli XCX, Richard Dawson, Gazelle Twin, Jessie Ware, Andy Stott, Mark Barrott, DJ Q, One Direction, Katy B, Wild Beasts, Ronika, Dean Blunt, Leon Vynehall, Call Super, Mica Levi, Cher Lloyd
CAN (6): Owen Pallett, Caribou, Lewis, The New Pornographers, Ought, Alvvays
ITA (2): Ninos Du Brasil, Gigi Masin
NOR (1): Todd Terje
CHI (1): Javiera Mena
SWE (1): Neneh Cherry
JAM (1): Popcaan
NED (1): Young Marco
AUT (1): Fennesz
GER (1): Kassem Mosse
THA (1): Khun Narin
MTN (1): Noura Mint Seymali
JPN (1): Babymetal

Minaj moron (Re-Make/Re-Model)
Posted: January 29, 2015 at 4:39:47 PM
Thanks poll crew

ya great job lots of fun

I missed most of the rollout due to work so I'm going to have to go back and read through whatever happened today. I still don't know who Mr Twin Sister is.

dee snider iirc

oof @ nicki placing =257th

lol @ ariana getting shut out completely of both albums and trax

so glad that a person with zero posting history, who only voted for the TS album, didn't end up influencing its placing

I wonder how many people had intended to vote for The Pinkprint but didn't thinking it wasn't nominated. Show of hands?

thanks again guys!

xxxp i guess she's back to having the same number of problems

I've had more critics and normal people say they "finally " "get" Swift with this album.

Must be that Swiftamine

Great result. Happy with D'Angelo winning but even happier to see how high Owen ended up.

Thanks Johnny Fever, Seandalai and gr8080 for all your hard work.

The rest of it sounds like Tom Petty and like all generic indie it seems extremely inoffensive and super-functional, I mean, it does go well with "hen of the woods". But with all generic indie it seems that the metric in which it is measured is 'competence' instead of 'genius', like, "no no this is in fact the Most Competent album by The New Pronographers" but I cannot fathom anybody getting either super-excited or super-pissed off about it, both sides of the fence are alien to me. Sounds good when a friend is buying you a hangar steak, that's pretty much how I break WoD down to an extent.

― sonny and sber (fgti), Thursday, January 29, 2015 11:19 AM (1 hour ago)

Already been discussed by flopson et al, but this sounds like the generic dismissal that genre-bound, vibe-based music inevitably receives from those who aren't particularly interested in the style and/or atmosphere cultivated. One could say something similar about quite a few relatively understated & gimmick-free album that have appeared in the countdown so far, whether Mark Barrott, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Real Estate, Aphex Twin, Grouper, Shabazz Palaces, Fennesz, Steve Gunn, Kassem Mosse, or even the likes of Neneh Cherry and Moodymann. I don't think there's anything wrong with such dismissal when it's casual and foregrounds personal taste. I called Spoon's latest "the Ikea of rock", upthread, after all. But I get a little irritated when it extends out into the "let's be real here" suggestion that no one else could possibly find anything especially notable about the music.

The use of the world "functional" in fgti's description is, I think, key. No one gets too sneerily dismissive about purely functional dance music. Everyone accepts Music for Airports. But the suggestion that this year's sacrifical indie album is simply a noise interval well-crafted to suit certain environments is supposed to arrive as a knockout punch. A great deal more music is functionally ambient than is often supposed, and ambient music is as worthy as any other sort, imo. It seems that The War on Drugs construct a sonic environment that many find especially appealing, welcoming, chill or whatever. Wanted to say something similar in response to Lex's earlier suggestion that Mirel Lambert does Grouper better than Liz Harris. I disagree. Mirel Lambert is a traditional singer-songwriter working in a rather understated and atmospheric mode. Liz Harris is an ambient artist using what might seem to be a singer-songwriter's tools. At least that's how I hear and appreciate her music. It doesn't suffer at all by comparison by someone who might reasonably be described as a "better songwriter".

due to work being hectic i missed the end of the rollout, will catch up now

Was planning to put Pinkprint on the lower end of my ballot.

Man, I love this place -- Tinashe so high! Her album you guys love more than I do, but I'm giving it another shot (I do love "Bet" and "2 On"). My ears got tainted by having to listen to Jhene Aiko non-stop for a couple days to write an article about underrated/understated R&B (and I only picked Aiko as an excuse to write about Ledisi, K Michelle, and Marsha Ambrosius).

Wanted to say something similar in response to Lex's earlier suggestion that Mirel Lambert does Grouper better than Liz Harris.

I can't tell if you're talking about Mirel Wagner or Miranda Lambert. Leaning towards the former.

I make zero effort to hear the words in Grouper songs, partly because it was impossible for the first couple albums of hers I heard. She's very primarily ambient.

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

― ciderpress, Thursday, January 29, 2015 11:16 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, leah, meant mirel wagner. mentally subbed "lambert" due to that one bong hit back in 9th grade.

and miranda is the lambert i'd mentally subbed in

I was regretful that I left Mr Twin Sister out of the tail end of my ballot but I'm glad to see it didn't need my help.

"I am a woman / But inside I'm a man / And I want to be as gay as I can" before exploding into a storm of synths was one of the year's more thrilling pop moments.

The use of the world "functional" in fgti's description is, I think, key. No one gets too sneerily dismissive about purely functional dance music. Everyone accepts Music for Airports. But the suggestion that this year's sacrifical indie album is simply a noise interval well-crafted to suit certain environments is supposed to arrive as a knockout punch. A great deal more music is functionally ambient than is often supposed, and ambient music is as worthy as any other sort, imo. It seems that The War on Drugs construct a sonic environment that many find especially appealing, welcoming, chill or whatever. Wanted to say something similar in response to Lex's earlier suggestion that Mirel Lambert does Grouper better than Liz Harris. I disagree. Mirel Lambert is a traditional singer-songwriter working in a rather understated and atmospheric mode. Liz Harris is an ambient artist using what might seem to be a singer-songwriter's tools. At least that's how I hear and appreciate her music. It doesn't suffer at all by comparison by someone who might reasonably be described as a "better songwriter".

― A Severus of Snapes (contenderizer), Thursday, January 29, 2015 5:03 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed. I have the same problem with lumping radio pop together with its own generic setting since I'm not a fan of that style.

I liked flopson's response and liked contendo's addendum. Ftr I'm not being dismissive about generic indie in saying it's measured by competence, I like a lot of super-competent generic indie (Sloan, the first A.C. Newman record)!

@ Craigo make an effort to listen to the words in "Clearing", "Alien Observer" and "Come Softly" (esp. "Alien Observer") she is quietly a devastatingly good lyricist

OK, I only have one question for each and every one of you.

Why did you not tell me about Mr. Twin Sister?

enjoying this YG album so far, production is great. reminds me of classic gangsta rap albums like 'doggystyle'

― Stig of the sanctimonious uncontextualized linkdump (Michael B), Thursday, January 29, 2015 1:36 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this

I've had more critics and normal people say they "finally " "get" Swift with this album.

the whole 1989 rollout has been a masterclass in (re)branding - from her pointed genre shift to her new hyper-stylish single lady in nyc image to her savvy use of social media - and i think ppl's perception of tswift has changed more than their reaction to her music. i don't know whether they actually "get" her more or they just prefer that she's no longer a teenage girl singing overtly feminine country songs about ex-boyfriends. + i've noticed the fact that she writes the songs herself seems to have become a big bonus point in her favour to regular ppl. her banging on about it for 8 years (and tacking those voice memo bonus tracks onto the album) and making it the focal part of her appeal has really paid off.

i'm surprised 1989 has got the highest enthusiam score in the top 77 though tbh!

xxp when I saw it in the rotation at my radio station I assumed it was some horrible cutesy thing w/ukeleles, sorry

Yeah 'Alien Observer' is pretty clear and damn beautifully emotional tbh

@ rev: Mr Twin Sister

Thanks JF!