ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2016

The 1975 is essentially the cool version of Maroon 5 at this point

didnt this get discussed in the 2015 poll?

― Spottie, Thursday, January 26, 2017 2:32 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and wasn't lj the engine of this discussion

yes let's not do it again please

your country breakdown

USA (38⅔): Rae Sremmurd, Mitski, Solange, Beyoncé (4), Ariana Grande, A Tribe Called Quest (2), Maxwell, Mr. Fingers, Angel Olsen (2), Avalon Emerson, Migos, Kanye West, Weyes Blood, Kevin Gates, Fifth Harmony, D.R.A.M., Chance The Rapper (2), YG, Young Thug, Britney Spears, Anderson .Paak, Grouper, Bruno Mars, King (2), Jeremih, Brandy Clark, Abra, Miguel, Cellars, Case/Lang/Veirs (⅔), The Weeknd, Chairlift
GBR (16½): Shura, David Bowie (2), The xx, Pet Shop Boys, The 1975 (3), Anohni, Radiohead (2), Låpsley, Robyn & Kindness (½), Riton, Danny L Harle, Underworld (2)
CAN (4⅓): Leonard Cohen, Jessy Lanza, Carly Rae Jepsen, Comet Control, Case/Lang/Veirs (⅓)
NOR (4): Lindstrøm, DJ Sotofett, Röyksopp, Jenny Hval
BAR (3): Rihanna (2), King Bubba FM
BEL (1): Melanie De Biasio
POR (1): DJ Marfox
CHI (1): Alex Anwandter
FIN (1): Oranssi Pazuzu
GER (1): Traumprinz
RUS (1): Kedr Livanskiy
JPN (1): Famm'in
NGR (1): Yemi Alade
TTO (1): Olatunji
FRA (1): Christine And The Queens
SWE (½): Robyn & Kindness (½)

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

the amount of low & high end that gets sucked out of Black Beatles and compression that gets added in for the radio is really apparent

― example (crüt), Thursday, January 26, 2017 1:31 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah like where it really sounds great is in the club

so mitski is like... the 2016 EMA?

is the weeknd not canadian?

there were a lot of entries that sounded like EMA to be fair.

The 1975 is essentially the cool version of Maroon 5 at this point

― ornate orchestral arrangements (DJP),

...with worse hair

anyhow congrats Ariana Grande, first time in the top 77. closest previous attempt was bang bang at 80.

Nah, Mitski actually has a past and future. EMA was a blip.

anyhow congrats Ariana Grande, first time in the top 77. closest previous attempt was bang bang at 80.

― danzig, Thursday, January 26, 2017 9:41 PM (thirty-four seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

did none of the Yours Truly singles make it?? goodness

I'm not really fussed about Rae Sremmurd generally but 'Black Beatles' was a dead cert for my #1, so many hooks.

The Mitski song doesn't grab me at all but 'Cranes in the Sky' and 'Formation' are both great.

Thanks to the pollrunners! Really enjoyed the rollout this year. Excellent images as usual.

Mitski has a future? She's picked a day when she's gonna disappeeeeeeeear

is the weeknd not canadian?

― danzig, Thursday, January 26, 2017 9:40 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol I swear I got this wrong last year as well

Huh, I never realized the Kindness guy was a British.

Mitski is the same kind of boring sniffly indie rock music we've heard on this list many times already, except with heavier guitars (eww).

Lol @ "many times already". I'm having trouble even imagining what this refers to. Like, are you including Case/Lang/Veirs, Comet Control, Weyes Blood, Radiohead, David Bowie, ... in the same category?

i wasnt trolling, i feel like the catharsis in the mitski song & underlining video comes from a place of exceptionally juvenile and self-defeating spite

ofc no one should mutilate their psyches to fit in anywhere and with anyone but the song gives you no sense of what the terms of structural submission/domination are or of any desire to examine them and find a path beyond. there is vague culture clash and the strange glory of striding away from it. v hopeless depressing song imo

didnt this get discussed in the 2015 poll?

― Spottie, Thursday, January 26, 2017 2:32 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and wasn't lj the engine of this discussion

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Thursday, January 26, 2017 2:37 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yup

your country breakdown

USA (38⅔): Rae Sremmurd, Mitski, Solange, Beyoncé (4), Ariana Grande, A Tribe Called Quest (2), Maxwell, Mr. Fingers, Angel Olsen (2), Avalon Emerson, Migos, Kanye West, Weyes Blood, Kevin Gates, Fifth Harmony, D.R.A.M., Chance The Rapper (2), YG, Young Thug, Britney Spears, Anderson .Paak, Grouper, Bruno Mars, King (2), Jeremih, Brandy Clark, Abra, Miguel, Cellars, Case/Lang/Veirs (⅔), The Weeknd, Chairlift
GBR (16½): Shura, David Bowie (2), The xx, Pet Shop Boys, The 1975 (3), Anohni, Radiohead (2), Låpsley, Robyn & Kindness (½), Riton, Danny L Harle, Underworld (2)
CAN (4⅓): Leonard Cohen, Jessy Lanza, Carly Rae Jepsen, Comet Control, Case/Lang/Veirs (⅓)
NOR (4): Lindstrøm, DJ Sotofett, Röyksopp, Jenny Hval
BAR (3): Rihanna (2), King Bubba FM
BEL (1): Melanie De Biasio
POR (1): DJ Marfox
CHI (1): Alex Anwandter
FIN (1): Oranssi Pazuzu
GER (1): Traumprinz
RUS (1): Kedr Livanskiy
JPN (1): Famm'in
NGR (1): Yemi Alade
TTO (1): Olatunji
FRA (1): Christine And The Queens
SWE (½): Robyn & Kindness (½)

― lex pretend, Thursday, January 26, 2017 4:38 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no latin american presence again huh

CHI

Don't you just hate it when a song gives you no sense of what the terms of structural submission/domination are?

oh missed that one xp

I swear this exact exchange took place last year as well lol

haha probably

I'd replace Kindness with Voigt as he doesn't really have any presence on the remix afaik. He does have Indian heritage too though (grandson of Amina Desai).

r|t|c must have wild opinions about impressionist painters.

w/e jackasses. "i incoherently hated myself but now i incoherently hate u instead, finito" is some bleak shit to me, sorry

With Ana Tijoux, I think.

Xxxpost

Thanks gr8080 and sean, fine work on the rollout and stats as ever.

I'm about to go all Marie Kondo on my record collection, pick up every record and ask "does this give me a sense of what the terms of structural submission/domination are?" If not, throw it out.

i'm sure if you have a third go at this joke you'll nail it

wading through this now, v enjoyable list this year, well done all

Mitski: The absolute ordinariness of the music combined with the 'I'm way too different to be here' sentiment in the lyrics is so paradoxically all-american it hurts...

I
I'm so unique
IV
So very different
iii
Oh how can I function here
V
When I'm so special and differeeeent...

Nailing it twice is enough for me.

I think the Låpsley / Koze track was my favorite discovery of the poll this year. I never listened to it before it appeared because every other thing I'd heard from Låpsley was garbage.

Ban Fred B

I understand Tuomas' objections to the casual sexism of "Black Beatles," but the sexism is diluted through these snotty brats' boasts about being on top and as big as Beatle Paul. They've never seemed particularly interested in women -- they prefer their own company and their bad falsettos and wack rhymes.

"kevin shields moobs feel like bags of sand"

this amusing short sentence review and King Bubba Fm were moments I enjoyed in this thread. I'll be picking over loads of these other tunes later for the young un's ipod.

Thanks to the pollrunners for all the hard work. I would have loved Solange to win but I'm happy with how high she placed. The whole top 10 is solid.

Well after playing contrarian for most of the poll a whole bunch of my faves turned up right near the top - "Into You" and its hugely camp synths, "Cranes In The Sky", the ultimate salve, and then Mitski. I don't care if that song sounds like "Teenage Dirtbag"; if anything I'd see that as a positive. I read "YBAG" as a triumphant song about self-actualisation and yeah ymmv but for a Japanese-American woman in these times I think that's an important artefact.

"All Night" was my #1. I'm sorry lex sees it as flaccid st8 boy bait. I remember the first time I heard the song properly and felt like light was emanating from my body. The bridge where she sings "with every tear came redemption" etc etc etc made me cry on like 5 different occasions last year, it's one of the most astonishing vocal performances of her entire career imo. It exudes a warmth and beauty that again, like "Cranes In The Sky", acted like balm.

I understand Tuomas' objections to the casual sexism of "Black Beatles," but the sexism is diluted through these snotty brats' boasts about being on top and as big as Beatle Paul. They've never seemed particularly interested in women -- they prefer their own company and their bad falsettos and wack rhymes.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn),

This makes them sound like Beavis & Butthead.

well aren't they

I think it makes as much sense as any other take I've seen. I can't stand to listen to them long enough to find out for myself.

It felt like there was an explicit critique in Sremmurd's early songs of traditional machismo which went a long way towards mitigating their own sexist tendencies (though I'm willing to own that that's kinda fucked on my part)

Black Beavis & Butthead feels pretty otm to me

90s nostalgia again

No ballot in there for me this year.

The interface kept failing, so I sent my votes in a Word file that must've gotten lost along the way.

Ah well.

Whoops wrong thread

Another song I was surprised to find out no one nominated was Maxwell's "Gods." That's been my favorite bSn track since it came out, but I guess I'm fringe.