ILM Top 100 2000-2004: TRACKS

Points: 198
No. of votes: 9
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
Title: FACE OF THE EARTH
Label: Desoto
Year: 2001

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/tracks/faceoftheearth.jpg

From the pictured album Change, more charged but staid indie fodder for those that find they like it.

Comments: (All I could find was:) Face of the Earth by the Dismemberment Plan is about your lover disappearing in front of your eyes in a sci-fi stylee...Tom Ewing

Points: 201
No. of votes: 10
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: ANDREW WK
Title: SHE IS BEAUTIFUL
Label: Mercury
Year: 2002

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/tracks/sheisbeautiful.jpg

Is she ever. The guitars nag and push more than the rock cliches they reference by being more stripped down harmonically and melodically and more beefed up sonically to the point of being this mass of pop texture. More of a 'real tune' here but not so much so that it's not still something you could beat your head inwards to. Sundar Subramanian

Points: 202
No. of votes: 14
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: UNDERWORLD
Title: TWO MONTHS OFF
Label: Junior Boys Own
Year: 2002

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/tracks/twomonthsoff.jpg

What if you listen to the full length version of this from the A Hundred Days Off album right now? What will it do, if anything? I am listening to it as I write, looking for that same feeling I got when I first heard the radio edit on Radio 1's Essential Selection (again and again a crucial source for hearing the big tunes by the big guys first) over two years ago now. Instant satisfaction. A perfect moment (and I was just kotching at home not doing anything in particular except thinking about where to go later that night). Being able to attach a memory like that to a track always seems to be a major factor in shaping your view of it's quality. On a technical level this is classic Underworld - the influence of Darren Emerson lingering - a broad, nagging, simplistic synth hook (inviting inevitable comparisons with Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You', Pete Heller's 'Big Love' and other copycat anthems) suggesting a desire for a 'hit' as much as a return to margin. But add the tumbling bells, the somewhat incongruous, observational speech extracts and a more straightforward, obvious message of love from Karl Hyde and you've got a Summer banger with mass appeal. And I can still get that feeling.

I am a Blur fan and 'Out Of Time' is merely average.

Points: 205
No. of votes: 10
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: THE STARS
Title: ELEVATOR LOVE LETTER
Label: Setanta
Year: 2003

http://base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/tracks/elevatorloveletter.jpg

Sixpence None The Richer meets Dubstar uptown.

Comments: (It made m tear up) especially the "... I'll take her home after midnight, and if she likes I'll tell her lies, of how we'll be in love by the morning" part. I'm welling up thinking about it right now. Spencer Chow

in other news, I THINK I HAVE MADE A MISTAKE! it's not catastrophic at all but it will mean I need to recount votes for one track and the eponymous album it's form. If the missing points remain missing then everything from 86 upwards will move up one place and what would've been 75 will now be 86. Argh. And sorry.

i'll mail you tho cheers

Sorry stevem, perhaps this is not the proper thread.

In respects its best defender/exponent, Mr. Ewing himself, has taken that to FT instead of here, though admittedly he made a very interesting post there today regarding reacting to music which I can sympathize with.

That Stars track is magnificent. More indie records like this please.