ILM Ballot Polls for 2014 and beyond -- order, timing, "I would have voted if I'd known about it," etc

oh right yeah scratch the Bauhaus/L&R/ToT poll thx for the catch

Polls I'd be up to running mid-May onwards if the original poll runners are away or missing in action:

Can -
Jimi Hendrix -
Bjork -
Erykah Badu -
Aphex Twin -
Stooges/Iggy Pop -

i'm still on the case for Hendrix, just kinda waiting for my life to calm down before i start the whole process

I remember asking ZS/Karl about the Can poll and he didn't seem very enthused about running it, so I'd love to see what you'd fashion out of that, Moka.

I can run a poll if nobody's around, but it has to be for a band I can tolerate.

I can also move the Covers poll up. I volunteered for it back in 2013, and it's looking like it won't happen until 2 or 3 years, which is insane if you think about it.

Excellent I'll wait for Zs to chime in. What about you Eric, want me to help out on the bjork/badu polls?

Yeah my stereolab poll was in queue for 2.5 years or so. With the current system it's only 2 polls per month... maybe doing simultaneous voting could help so we run 4 polls per month.

Eric if you do want to run the bjork poll I've got some ideas for the banner graphics so maybe I can help you out with those and you do the numbers/rollout.

Because I like running polls and I'm interested in the results I'll do Oasis and Pearl Jam (if VG doesn't mind) - can't do graphics though.

I don't know enough of either bands to provide graphics but I can try.

It's hard to know any kind of theme to use with either of those bands, they don't really have a look. I'd be happy with just band photos I think, just something to brighten up the rollout a bit.

For PJ I'd suggest using flannel shirt motifs in the graphics ;-)

i was going to use the immense archive of ames bros pj tour posters for graphics

They do have a look! Google Pearl Jam singles or Oasis singles. Pearl Jam does that grunge aesthetic of saturated blurry images. Oasis does either wide shots or closeups of stuff framing everything. A quick sketch in my mind would be have a frame around the banner. Song title in their logo typography, additional ranking data in some other sans font over that kind of photos.

That's for oasis. Pearl jam would probably be inspired by grunge aesthetics. David Carson style mixed with those saturated photos.

It obviously needs some polishing but it's a quick sketch. Something that fits each artist's album/singles artwork:

http://i.imgur.com/aRqqADw.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XqLYGxY.jpg

Moka, you do really good work and it's appreciated.

Thank you!

let's pool money so that moka can work full time on the ILM polls

LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

I think we should all chip in to a stipend to hire Moka as official ILM Ballot Poll Graphic Designer.

beautiful!

Yes, brilliant. Love them.

Thank you!

I think the trick I think is to emulate the artist's artwork, it's much easier and takes less time than creating a design of your own and it'll fit each artist. There are some artists which make it hard because they don't have any significant personality in their artwork or they shift to much. David Bowie per example doesn't really have any logo/typography he used throughout the years or style of artwork that he followed which I always found odd since he was very aesthetic when it came to his 'characters', didn't seem to put much thought into his album designs, but even there you could probably pick one of his singles covers like this one: http://www.popsike.com/pix/20140118/201022411962.jpg You just need to do the hard light saturated colors (don't know if this is the actual term) in any bowie related photo you pick and a colored frame at the top with the title. It wont scream Bowie because it's just the style of a single cover that he never implemented anywhere else (although the Ziggy album cover also did that hard light thing) but hey, it'll look nice.

In the case of Bjork per example you could probably pick very different styles. Up there I'm using the Medulla/Vespertine look, but if you go back to the Homogenic days she was into digital collages and some sort anime style typography. If you want to be really ambitious you could do different artwork for each song instead of following a template but that is just to much work and noone is getting paid for this haha.

*I think twice in there and wrote to instead of too, sorry for the language.

those look beautiful moka

but if seven ilxors are expected to pick "don't go away" as their number one oasis song i think we should just cancel the poll right now

Hahahaha I don't know much Oasis songs googled oasis singles and it was there. I don't think I've heard it.

For Pearl Jam I was thinking something kind of like this... Grunge style is actually difficult to pull off... go figure.... this one needs way more work... also I should probably listen to Pearl Jam first, since I only know two or three songs by them.

http://i.imgur.com/FvCbdlw.jpg

The direction I would've gone:

http://i.imgur.com/UlOX3pU.jpg

pplains rocked the Steely Dan poll!

this for every single song imo

https://i.imgur.com/n6NNfO3.png

I'll tell you, there's something to be said about these joint efforts. I've done three now and that one was the most fun, thanks to Bee. Let one person handle the spreadsheets while the other searches the internet for just the right picture of an old van parked outside a motel.

The solo ones I did, going back and forth between left brain and right brain was more taxing, having to use my entire brain and whatnot.

That's a great one pplains!

i actually started the joint effort polls with New Order. i'm not a graphic's guy, so i had help first with New Order and then onto Steely Dan and finally Spoon. all three people who helped me blew my mind and made my polls so much better than they would have been.

http://i.imgur.com/wFqyL4Z.jpg

omg

i hope we keep some sort of order, i know i have waited years to run some of my polls. if we just start picking random one we like, it really isn't fair for people who have been waiting for years for a band to finally come around. regardless of who actually finally runs the poll.

I actually love doing images and don't love making spreadsheets so if you want me to help out send me a mail and if I'm free I'll let you know!

I'm the opposite, always happy to help out with any spreadsheet work for anyone who's not so good with them.

You don't want to go back and do The Fall ones?

(Joking, obv)

So who is next?

Nah, Tarfumes already did that poll like five years ago.

I'm the opposite, always happy to help out with any spreadsheet work for anyone who's not so good with them.

Same here!

So what's next?

yeah, someone needs to step up and run a poll. i know some dude or Johnny Fever said they can do it?

here are the next 20 or so, since they fell off:

Hard Rock/Hair Metal - gr8080
Stephin Merritt - Gukbe
Fairport Convention et al (R Thompson, S Denny) - Billy Dods
Can - Z S
Jimi Hendrix - some dude
Genesis + solo - NickB
The Burt Bacharach songbook - C. Grisso/McCain
Dead C - Raymond Cummings
Royal Trux + side projects - sleeve
John Fahey - Naive Teen Idol?
Rush - Matt #2
Oasis - pollrunner needed for this one
George Michael - Ismael Klata
Talking Heads - Bee OK
Gamble & Huff/Philly International Records - jetfan
Van Halen - Johnny Fever
Billy Joel - Doctor Casino
Low - aldo
Nine Inch Nails - chap

I can run a poll too, although I'm pretty low-frills in terms of images.

i would love to see a kornrulez poll! you can always get help with images, i do it all the time.

we almost need a system for abandoned polls.

thoughts ILM?

just start a poll of singles that peaked at #7 in leap years to tide yourself over