ILM Top 100 2000-2004: TRACKS

Points: 123
No. of votes: 6
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: MYSTIKAL
Title: BOUNCIN' BACK
Label: JIVE
Year: 2002

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

Rasping over a standard Neptunes production but with a cool brass hook, Mystikal manages to respond to, amongst other things, the hataz holding him back as ever AND the events of 9/11...

Comments:
'Bouncin' Back' totally won me over to Mystikal. A great shame about his predicament. (read more)
Alex in NYC

Points: 124
No. of votes: 6
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: MUM
Title: THERE ARE A NUMBER OF SMALL THINGS
Label: TUGBOAT
Year: 2002

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

Whimsy melodic lullaby for baby robots, from the album Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK.

Comments: n/a

Points: 127
No. of votes: 6
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: STEREO TOTAL
Title: L'AMOUR A TROIS
Label: Analog Baroque
Year: 2001

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

Kitsch electro pop done only as a French/German girl/boy duo could possibly know how.

Comments:
The only non-English-speaking track in the top 100.
blueski

Points: 127
No. of votes: 7
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: SUGABABES
Title: RUN FOR COVER
Label: London
Year: 2001

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

Quirky trio foretelling their impending but brief spell in the pop wilderness? Hindsight a wonderful thing, as is this busy piano-led string-laden mournful ode with obligatory 'angry' bit (check that middle eight).

Comments:
It's much better than you might remember, and it atones for the omission in the nominees list of EVERY OTHER SINGLE THEY'VE RELEASED (apart from 'Shape' obv.).
blueski

Points: 136
No. of votes: 6
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: THE SILVER JEWS
Title: I REMEMBER ME
Label: Domino
Year: 2001

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

From the pictured album Bright Flight, a charming nostalgic net of an anecdote capturing the hapless butterfly of lost romance, plodding but never losing it's generally satsified perspective.

Comments: n/a

Points: 141
No. of votes: 4
No. of #1 votes: 2

Artist: BRITNEY SPEARS
Title: ANTICIPATING
Label: Jive
Year: 2002

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

Ms Spears with a vague Chic vibe and predictable sexually-orientated lyrics (albeit tame compared to her later efforts) for a lighter more pedestrian result but retaining that all important feelgood factor. Alan Braxe worked his electro-disco magic for a superior remix.

Comments: n/a

i wonder who was the other ilm'er that picked "Anticipating" for #1...

overall, nice'n'varied selection so far - hope it stays that way right til the end.

Points: 145
No. of votes: 8
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: THE WU-TANG CLAN (FT ISAAC HAYES)
Title: I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP
Label: Sony
Year: 2001

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

From the pictured album The W, a vivacious thundering epic of a song - in a fit of desperation the Clan turning to the paternal, even Godlike composure of Hayes and his version of the glorious 'Walk On By'. In the video Hayes acts as a benevolent Sandman re-assuring the RZA (practically bawling his eyes out brilliantly here) and co. as they toss and turn throughout the night, at their wits end from recollecting lifetimes of oppression. Despite it's earnest, even pompous bluster it's potential to draw lumps in the most cynical purists' throats should not be underestimated.

Points: 148
No. of votes: 5
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: QUANNUM (FEATURING LATYRX & LYRICS BORN)
Title: I CHANGED MY MIND
Label: Quannum Projects
Year: 1999/2000

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

That opening guitar lick and the bar that forms the bones of this instant classic (I'm addressing the Stereo MCs Rattlesnake mix in particular)...it almost sums it all up in the opening seconds. But then the beat drops, with the taut resilient but gentle bass...get walking son. When Lyrics Born breezes in it's as if everyone who already started dancing to this out of sheer compulsion has turned to face the intruder, but they don't stop nodding and strutting for a second. You almost expect LB to croak "I've been thinking bout what you have done to me" such is the similarity to Stretch's moody funk classic of the same name, but we get essentially an update on that with a more upbeat, defiant message. Like whatever dude, just keep nodding. And walking. And full marks to the Shadow once again.

Points: 148
No. of votes: 7
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: ARCHIGRAM
Title: CARNAVAL
Label: Crydamoure
Year: 2002

http://www.base58.com/ilx/ilm/top100/20002004/tracks/archigram.gif

The way this track shuffles in so understated - you have no idea what's it going to go and where it's going to take you. I'm not sure I've ever heard a house/disco track build in such subtle fashion, just like the carousel grinding into motion, lights glowering into life and then throbbing in perfect time to the persistent beat. When the bassline drops you feel it here (points to gut), soft but satisfying. And what then? A blast from a blaring diva? No. An electric guitar solo ala 'Aerodynamic'? No. A fanfare. A cavalry, charging from the horizon straight into your bombarded mind, and your helpless feet. And it gets clearer and clearer, until one final minute where your brain, your feet, your entire being becomes completely spaghettified. One more time...

MY ROCKIST SHAME!!! So I'm tidying up and "Carnival" by Archigram comes on and as you do I find myself bopping around the room, and then it suddenly dawns on me that I'm not just dancing, oh no, in fact I am playing air guitar to the track. You can take the boy out of the indie, etc etc. Tom Ewing

Points: 150
No. of votes: 8
No. of #1 votes: 0

Artist: AALIYAH
Title: MORE THAN A WOMAN
Label: Virgin America
Year: 2002

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

Released after her tragic young death and subsequently topping the UK charts, doing a lot better than several previous singles all just as worthy of the same success if not more so (inc. Try Again, noticeably absent from the nominees list). Timbaland takes SWV's chilled 'Can We' and adds tuffer beats, boisterous brass and bold strings to pleasant effect. Aaliyah does her usual thing, a sweet if unremarkable performance (maybe she'd weep if she wasn't just too damn cool) but the trick with this partnership was they always managed to make a product greater than the sum of it's parts.

It annoys me that I can't tell if I've been influenced by the images of her on a motorbike in making this analogy.

Points: 153
No. of votes: 10
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: TOGETHER
Title: SO MUCH LOVE TO GIVE
Label: Roule/EMI
Year: 2002

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

I want to post some comments Ronan made on this track ages ago here but ILX won't let me just yet. But basically they helped convince me this track was more than just a monotonous joke stretched too far. What's exciting is picking up on the subtle changes unconsciously while lost in this groove - the synth like a running engine sweeping and swirling in and out and in again. Do Bangalter and Falcon view photographs like static memories they want to climb into and explore? They seem to treat music this way too. SMLTG is like an audio snapshot of a revolving roller-disco - mirrors on every wall projecting infinity like a TV picture within itself, fruit machines jammed and paying out in abundance, sucking you into the memory like a vacuum, to a place so gleaming with joy and life you want to preserve and playback the moment forever.

It's beautiful

Points: 157
No. of votes: 5
No. of #1 votes: 1

Artist: GRANDADDY
Title: THE WARMING SUN
Label: V2
Year: 2003

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

From the pictured album Sumday, a glittering, sprawling recollection of a lost dream - the sadness doesn't seem to come right through (maybe he doesn't know how to let it) but the sentiment is there.

imagine having both the bootleg AND the two tracks it pilfers...actually this would just seem wrong

Sigmund to thread

yeah, but I would personally ditch the 2 originals. This is the one mash-up which IMO improves on both its sources.

OMG LOL

Poor Girls Aloud. First they get beaten by three Radiohead songs and now this...

as for Soulwax, well, diff'rent strokes... ("Dreadlock Child" is grebt too, tho', I'll happily substitute that for #87)

POLL IS OVER

ha ha - on my way back from lunch I was thinking about the possibility of a rolling poll, powered by web forms and some kind of database backend.

However, Mirah's "Cold Cold Water" was actually released as a single and thus has its own album cover:

http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/images/m/mirah/cold-cold-water.gif

nice job senor embargo.

^otm