ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2023

Poll will begin in a couple of minutes, first I need coffee.

Here's the links for our 2023 tracks poll for future reference:
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2023
ILM 2023 Tracks Poll Ballots/Stats/Banter/Recriminations Thread

And here’s the Top 77 Albums of 2023 Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2IT0NrRXOEf8xbd24luDBo

Apple Music Playlist

Tidal Playlist

If anyone wants to build a matching YouTube / Tidal / Apple Music / Amazon Music - please share it. I'd like to request the mods if said playlists are shared please be so kind to add them to this opening post for visibility.

Your poll runners this time around are myself (posting, playlisting, graphics) and Seandalai (organization and vote tabulation).

It's a bit of busy week for me, I'll try to add small blurbs from reviews... wont promise they'll be the best ones available, I'll mostly go with top results since I wont have time to read several reviews... if there's a review from an album you voted for or that you love which you want to point us to please share.

Also going to add ilm threads that mention the album - in case I'm missing a relevant ilm thread please share.

I'll add Bancamp links too when available.

https://i.imgur.com/6zLw6dA.jpeg
77. Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada 130 points - 4 votes
Bandcamp
Mary Lattimore
Since Lattimore released her first solo album, The Withdrawing Room, in 2013, her expansive, long-form solo pieces and collaborations have become incrementally refined, growing from improvised harp expression into reflective and enveloping ambient music in the same traditions as Brian Eno, Pauline Oliveros, and Harold Budd. Across Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, she continues to craft poignant work that tints the atmosphere, transporting the listener to the remembrances and moments of imagination that float freely within the mind's eye.

Here we go!

thought i might have voted for this but must have been a late cut for me
beautiful album

hooray for moka and seandalai! please go easy on yrselves though

i will listen to this

only know lattimore's earlier stuff. looks like there are some crazy guests on this though - lol tolhurst, Rachel goswell, Roy montgomery...

consistently strong output over the years - i think i've loved each record she's released

I should give Lattimore another chance, the first album didn’t do it for me so I stopped paying attention

I liked "Silver Ladders" but I havent kept up with her stuff

listening to this a being reminded that she was doing harp + fx pedals way before a certain youtuber made it a thing

(at least I'm assuming those are pedals?)

https://i.imgur.com/hMEb09L.jpeg
76. Vanishing Twin - Afternoon X 136 points - 4 votes
Bandcamp
Valentina Magaletti
Even in its most obscure moments, Afternoon X embodies a lively sense of exploratory wonder. Drawing from a deep catalog of inspirations, Vanishing Twin have long made music for sharp-eared listeners. But with this album’s unpredictable forms, the trio moves confidently beyond its acuity for cultural synthesis, stepping into stranger, more scintillating territory where unexpected shifts and mercurial sounds are the standard. The beauty of Afternoon X lies in its unusual balance of chaos and calm.

yessss, glad to see this made it. Great band, great album. They are really digging deeper into that weird abstract Broadcast/Focus Group thing on this one. My only reservation is that this has also made me go back and spend more time with Ookii Gekkou, and now I'm obsessed with that one and think that is their pinnacle so far.

I really need to get on the Vanishing Twin love, every song I've heard of them I've liked but I haven't listened to a full album yet.

Ah, glad Vanishing Twin made it. I put at #11, which it seems was just high enough. Album is less immediate than their earlier releases, but rewards the effort. Launch gig in December was tremendous though - one of my live highlights of last year.

yeah Moka, I think they are very much something you'd like

I totally forgot this came out and haven't checked it out yet. I liked their last two albums, but they haven't quite made that one that made me properly fall for them.

https://i.imgur.com/MpHSMPU.jpeg
75. Jamila Woods - Water made us 137 points - 8 votes
Bandcamp
Jamila Woods
Water Made Us is dextrous and steady. It conjures a profound sweetness from ordinary musings and takes the guile out of relationships. Woods gives herself over to a state of ease that is neither well-earned nor hard-fought, simply possible. Life will do as life does; all we can do is continue on until we arrive where we need to be. This is Woods’ realization on Water Made Us, and throughout, she sounds like she’s skipping: like she’s meeting love, time and again in various formations, and each time meeting herself anew.

Lattimore has never quite landed for me, but I agree w/ NickB that those guests are intriguing

p sure I voted for Vanishing Twin, just a really likeable project, and that Magaletti thread is a remarkable bonanza of cool music

I was quite disappointed in the Woods album. Loved her first two but this did nothing for me.

Surprised Jamila is so low. It wasn't on the same level as her previous two, but I still really liked it.

Agreed -- too low. Her most approachable album.

https://i.imgur.com/69CEljG.jpeg
74. Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan 139 points - 5 votes - 2 º1 votes
Rolling Country 2023
In a business where we’re supposed to make artist comps, there really isn’t one for Zach Bryan. Musically, he walks the line between Americana and radio country, most similar to early Eric Church, but more heartland-ish. His prolific output rivals that of Charley Crockett, but it hews less closely to classic country. And his meteoric rise recalls Tyler Childers, but faster and with a higher ceiling – Bryan’s camp recently announced a massive stadium tour for next summer. And the crowds…I’ve never seen Red Rocks as overstuffed as it was for his June show this year, mostly with younger folks who needed something a little better than what corporate country radio has been feeding them. Bryan’s new, self-titled album, relatively sparse at “only” 16 tracks, continues what he does best – mixing the heartfelt and the anthemic to hit a sweet spot no one else in country music has been able to find.

Back to back votes for me, and I get to see them both in the next six weeks. Would not have guessed we had to voters who considered this AOTY! That's pretty cool considering I think I was the sole voter for his last album. This one is more ragged and obviously a lot tighter. He is a phenom, his rise almost inexplicable.

tidal playlist: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/0f5e0e35-dad6-48aa-acdb-51d105c9a750

ty silverfish!

lol just realized I misspelled Zach for Zack on the image... sorry bout that

catching up now, listened to a couple of Mary Lattimore tracks, her music keeps being recommended to me by Tidal lately for some reason. It's fine but not anything that particularly holds my attention. Enjoying this Vanishing Twin album now, feels like a lost Stereolab album.

this next one was a hard title to fit on the image

https://i.imgur.com/JFHqheG.jpeg
73. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation 140 points - 5 votes
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
What's perhaps most remarkable about PetroDragonic Apocalypse is how fully and authentically King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard inhabits the target aesthetic. A first-time listener might reasonably peg it as the work of a full-time metal band, studied in the teachings of Slayer and Megadeth. This ability to operate in any of its chosen lanes with maximum commitment, sincerity, and raw skill may be the exact reason the group has been able to grow its audience so steadily. Each new record works like an episode of an ongoing serial, presenting the musicians' ceaseless whims, experiments and reinventions as the elements of a grand adventure.

I respect Zach Bryan without loving his music, but I think he represents an interesting/nebulous neutral ground in the ongoing country music culture wars. He appeals both to the bro-country and Americana crowds without really being either. Apart from speaking up for trans rights last year (good for him) he mostly keeps his head down on politics.

Oh nice, love when King Gizz goes into metal mode

not a big fan of metal but this album is so much fun I kinda loved it

my discord server budz who otherwise largely share a taste with me are mad keen for this lot. i don't get it. help?

man, every time i hear some music and i go "oh what is this?" and they say "it's king gizzard and the lizard wizard" and I'm like "oh this is loads better than i expected that band to sound like but now i know this information please turn it off"

xp

maybe they are too jam band-ish for you?

Mary Lattimore is underappreciated. Glad she made it.

xp it's just the name is off putting. i do intend to properly listen

a hard title to fit on the image
lol, you'd think they'd have a little more consideration

To me, their main thing is kind of motorik garage rock jams. This particular one is them doing metal, which I like, but to me isn't exactly their signature sound.

yea King Gizzard have so many different styles and they do go all out on them which is nice, like they've made some legitimately great prog albums alongside the motorik stuff, that alone is enough to make me like them. they have a silly name and attract a lot of weird/obsessive fans but they are very good

Somehow I haven't heard Vanishing Twin yet, although I love her other trios (Moin and especially Holy Tongue, who I didn't connect was her project until the nominations and then listened to their discography obsessively for a few days). Will rectify that today!

Love Lattimore, though this one didn't really stick with me much.

https://i.imgur.com/3TH8d9x.jpeg
72. ANOHNI and the Johnsons - My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross 143 points - 5 votes
ANOHNI
There are a couple of points where the simplicity of the arrangements makes the songs feel slightly formulaic, but even then, Anohni’s voice is captivating. She seldom seems like anything other than an extraordinary artist – it’s instructive to look back at the press around I Am a Bird Now and realise how much of the current discourse about gender its songs presaged nearly 20 years ago – but My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross feels like a particularly powerful entry in her discography: surrounded by music that’s beautiful but relatively straightforward, that voice seems more extraordinary still.

this is probably the right spot for the anohni album

no votes for me so far, but i did like the jamila woods album. it was a big step down from legacy! legacy!, but still, an album with "tiny garden" on it can't be anything other than pretty good

Just played the Lattimore for the first time; quite nice with a gorgeous closer that recalls Julianna Barwick.

Felt the same about the Woods album, it's nice and "Tiny Garden" (which I voted for in tracks) is great. But didn't grab me like the last one.

https://i.imgur.com/dKZS4y6.jpeg
71. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ - Destiny 144 points - 5 votes
Bandcamp
ILM 2023 Listening Club
2023 AOTY So Far
The word “nostalgia” has often been used to pinpoint the effect of Sabrina’s evocative blends. But her varied influences—from the obvious (The Avalanches, Daft Punk, ABBA) to the less so (Bon Iver, Reba McEntire)—and surreal imagery don’t reflect a wistfulness exclusive to any particular decade or scene. Less than a sense of time, Sabrina’s nostalgia revels in the word’s emotional connotations: the ambient sense of sadness that is the grand condition of experiencing joy. She understands profoundly that sometimes the best party is just the first one in a while that’s truly fun.

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ is such a dumb but awesome name at the same time. I love it.

DJ Sabrina too low!

No jazz cracked the top 100 either (aside from the Jaimie Branch). Anyway this was fun, ty Moka & seandalai!

Chief Adjuah counts sorta as jazz . Ndgeocello is kinda jazz leaning a bit

And yes , thanks to the poll runners

Massive thanks. I was crap at listening this year, but managed to fill in a couple of semi-informed ballots not least because This Thing Must Exist.

I'd also put the Laurel Halo album in the sorta jazz column

Thanks, poll masters!

happy to see tubs in the top ten

good polling, folks

oh the tubs are mostly ex-joanna gruesome?

also happy to see The Tubs in the top 10. six spots too low, but still...

ok i definitely don't get what's special at all about the tubs, the album has some decent enough jangle pop and some more forgettable jangle pop but there's nothing particularly exciting here at all

yep

yeah i don’t get it either.

xpost to morrisp: i was slightly surprised to not see he Mahalia record myself!

Emily's comment that the tubs remind her of sugar is interesting because I know that Bob mould went on a huge Richard Thompson kick round about the time that Husker Du split and even ended up covering him, so I guess they've both ended up transmogrifying that same influence into a more um, jangle-punk thing

Have only dipped in and out of the tubs but can totally hear the sugar thing on 'round the bend'

Wretched Lie still reminds me of 74 75 by the Connells though

The Tubs reminds me even more of Mould's solo "Workbook" album. Also Royal Headache in places.

Little 7 way tie of single vote / #1 vote albums at #213 rank

I was the one that voted for the Masin / Modell split. Beautiful collab.

Best album from the 2023 ILM EOY album poll that received only ONE top 3 weighted vote

Thread for a vote here Evan if you haven't seen already

I had not heard The Tubs before this and think it's really strong all the way through. I definitely hear the appeal - the tunes are there, they go places, it stays interesting, brings energy... not sure I get why it's baffling it won lots of votes in general, though probably a bit higher than anyone's wild guess.

Oh! Thanks

xp

Thanks pollrunners!

Thanks so much to Moka & seandalai - lovely rollout and I'm another person who'd had a v.different idea of what Corrine Bailey Rae currently sounded like!

ok i definitely don't get what's special at all about the tubs, the album has some decent enough jangle pop and some more forgettable jangle pop but there's nothing particularly exciting here at all

― ufo, Friday, 2 February 2024 4:28 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yep

― imago, Friday, 2 February 2024 4:33 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i don’t get it either.

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 2 February 2024 7:06 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i don’t really like most other jangle but adored the tubs album, so it rises above “decent jangle pop” at least for me. i think it’s got some other things in the mix—bit of death rock as well as some 70s british folk elements (singer’s chesty baritone reminiscent of Richard Thompson)—but i wouldn’t argue it’s a particularly innovative album or anything. but novelty isn’t a necessary condition for me to get excited about music—and imo valuing innovation and novelty in music to the degree that you end up liking fire-toolz is not a good thing—it’s got great songwriting, the lyrics strike a perfect balance between humor and over-the-top melodrama without ever sounding cynical or tongue in cheek, the singers’ voices are beautiful and the harmonies lovely, great lead guitar. and imo the quality of songs is very consistently high across the whole album; there’s really nothing i ever skip.

otm ^^^

Water From Your Eyes has some decent tunes but I struggle with the bored-sounding vocals (same issue I have with lots of post-punk bands these days, cf. Dry Cleaning, Wet Leg).

i'm not only valuing novelty & originality, it's that the tubs to my ears just aren't really good enough to be standouts as far as indie rock goes. if i found it to be an excellent jangle pop album up with the genre's best then i'd understand the excitement but i'm not hearing anything like that

love how relentless the Tubs are, somehow makes me think of the first Exposé album (though even that had a couple ballads)

I don't really get 'bored' from Rachel Brown, more like 'risking curiosity' or something

Yeah, it’s just a different kind of “affect”… and in a song like “14,” it’s quite affecting (IMO)

just realized that Wednesday didn't make it. (at #110, I see.) thought that was the consensus indie rock album of the year. meanwhile, I've never heard of the Tubs.

Tubsday always comes before Wednesday

Wednesday was dealt a solid Tubthumping

the consensus indie rock album of the year was yo la tengo's

Indie rock album of the year was Blondshell, by consensus of myself and one other voter with ~taste~

I guess I entirely skipped over Corinne Bailey Rae amongst the noms. It's a little bit bonkers innit. Pleasingly (relatively) unbound by genre, in a fashion I hopefully would have acknowledged if I had actually listened, d'oh.

i'm not only valuing novelty & originality, it's that the tubs to my ears just aren't really good enough to be standouts as far as indie rock goes. if i found it to be an excellent jangle pop album up with the genre's best then i'd understand the excitement but i'm not hearing anything like that

― ufo, Friday, 2 February 2024 7:42 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

fwiw i think you have great taste in music and often check for stuff you recommend on ilm—and altho was more poking fun at louis with my snarky comment i will say i have a hard time imagining you liking any lofi rock record on trouble in mind; just doesn’t seem like your bag (not that there’s anything wrong with that…)—but you’re just dead wrong here

anyways i’ve said my piece. The Tubs Defender is logging off

Indie rock album of the year was Blondshell, by consensus of myself and one other voter with ~taste~

― jake morgendorffer core (morrisp), Friday, February 2, 2024 6:33 PM

I didn't vote for the album but a song did make my tracks ballot, will have to check out the album.

very key phrase here:

to my ears

i'm not hearing anything like that

see, we *are* hearing that

many of my best friends are jangle pop

(well okay, all things Scott Miller and Surface To Air Missive)

_Indie rock album of the year was Blondshell, by consensus of myself and one other voter with ~taste~

― jake morgendorffer core (morrisp), Friday, February 2, 2024 6:33 PM_


I didn't vote for the album but a song did make my tracks ballot, will have to check out the album.

The best Blondshell song is a Samia song and her album (containing her version) is far more diverse and interesting than the Blondshell.

Yeah well I disagree but the Samia cover is terrific… no one else voted for that either!

I also don’t really get “diverse” and “interesting” as judgment criteria… true it’s not an album that makes you sit stroking your chin and going, “very stylistically eclectic, how interesting….” It’s just a kickass rock album with great songs.

But this may also illustrate what doesn’t fall into the ILM taste category so much

~contemplates listening to "blondshell"~

man, i dunno

Okay, I listened to some songs, and the issue isn't that the songs are necessarily bad, but there's very little dynamic variety in them— "Joiner" gets to a peak a little before the halfway mark, and then peters out. Same with "Salad," and similarly with "Sepsis." There's just not a lot differentiating different movements in the songs, so they become amorphous and limp. Better arrangements and production would help here, because upon listening, I *do* think you're right that there are some pretty good Blondshell songs!

Well I’m glad I got you to listen!

See, something like “Sepsis” (my favorite) is just a great song with a ripping chorus… I don’t hear it petering out, I think it rules all the way thru…

Also check out “Cartoon Earthquake” and “Street Rat,” two post-album singles… they’re both awesome

(I agree their sound is kind of basic crunchy rock, but that’s the kind of band they are, it certainly doesn’t put me off… being a fan of, you know, crunchy rock bands. They were a bit “heavier” when I saw them open for Liz Phair, I thought they played really well)

See, something like “Sepsis” (my favorite)

sorry, I was thinking of “Tarmac” – that one’s my fave. They do need to work on their titles, haha