ILM's 2016 End of Year Albums & Tracks Poll / VOTING THREAD

I have to rep for Mogwai - Atomic. Their last few albums have been lackluster IMO, but this one is amazing. It runs the gamut from old school post-rock to dark synth prog. Very much worth a vote!

Another album I gotta stan for is Comet Control - Center of the Maze... It's kind of hard to describe. I'd say that it's upbeat psych-pop pretending to be heavy metal. The last track of the album, Artificial Light is especially good and was nominated.

As far as pop music goes, most of the stuff I liked this year is already well known to ILM ppl (Angel Olsen, Mitski, Tegan & Sara), but I never see Amason talked about much and they released one of my favorite tracks of the year, Airport. It has great female-fronted vocals and is extremely catchy. I've listened to it probably almost 100 times this year and it still hasn't gotten old.

Another cool track that I think is a bit obscure is Black Marble - Iron Lung. Really solid indie pop that has a New Order vibe. Another track I should mention is The Ravonettes - Where Are You Wild Horses. They did this thing where they released a new track every month in 2016, and that one is easily the best of them. I really like it.

I'll let imago evangelize for Mesarthim but they are also great: they're very much metal that people who aren't into metal will like.

OK that's my big campaigning post. I might mention more stuff later, but I really wanted to makes sure the above mentioned got some attention.

xp Love that Baltic Beat album.

There's a great live set on Soundcloud

http://testpressing.org/2015/12/the-phantom-baltic-beat-live-at-unsound/

people that like Baltic Beat should also check out the Wolf Mueller & Cass. album

voted.

you know what, I just realized I forgot to nominate that Vince Clarke/Paul Hartnoll album 2Square - probably not something you'd put at the top of the list, but it was a good one!!

I would encourage people to listen to Tkay Maidza's album Tkay and particular "Simulation", which is the biggest and most joyous of her singles yet. She placed previously at #38 in the 2014 tracks poll and it would be wonderful to see her in the chart once again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQgnttisUc

Please no embeds.

I don't know if it's been heavily discussed elsewhere on ILX where I'm missing it but I didn't hear the Battle Trance album Blade of Love until the end of November and it is likely in my top 15 albums
https://battletrance.bandcamp.com/album/blade-of-love

Outside of everything i like that everybody likes, i would strongly urge an open minded listen to the Wang Li (Jaw harp)/Wu Wei (Sheng) album Overtones “Les harmoniques du ciel” which was certainly one of the best live shows I saw in 2016
https://open.spotify.com/album/7kyhXgMlqL9J7nOWFWgoCu

I also very much dig Kaoru Watanabe's album of wooden flute and taiko... jazz? "new music"? "classical"? "world", if you were being particularly lazy (dude is from St. Louis)? I think it's just great and occasionally piercing; try "Iki" and "Bloodlines"
https://open.spotify.com/album/5GwdCguatKaHlkVPXa2IYx

Also "Prism" (off the Kaoru Watanabe album)

my favourite rapper of 2016 and the only artist i feel like making an effort to rep for itt is CARDI B, that east coast lit thot. i love her and she gives the best life advice

rule number one: if you ain't payin that's a no
rule number two: tricks wait at the door
rule number three: don't you tell me bout your kids
cuz i don't give a fuck, n*gga, i'll tell you how it is
rule number four: you ain't never fuckin raw
no matter how much money is involved, fuck you thought?
rule number five: i need unlimited supply
whatever i want - you buy
rule number six: when we in the club, don't be takin no pics
pay for the liqs, you ain't gettin no kiss, n*gga
i ain't your bitch, n*gga - you ain't shit, n*gga
no hugs, no love, you's a trick

rule number seven: when you take me out to eat
after that day, you can't see me for the week
rule number eight: you can't call me babe
boy, we don't relate, let's get that shit straight
rule number nine: i ain't tryna wine and dine
i'm just tryna shop, bust a nut then goodbye
rule number ten: when that bank account ends
i find a new trick, let the new games begiiiiiiiin

TRICK
WASHPOPPIN

two songs dramatically enhanced in their remixes by synth strings:

- kda feat. tinashe - just say (ashley beedle remix) https://youtu.be/Ws31m5JVIb4
- classixx feat. t-pain - whatever i want (young john da wicked producer remix) https://youtu.be/Ir2nF3K4nhw

(h/t ||||||| who i think repped for both of these)

also:

- dedication - let me rock you: drums sampled from heaven 17's "let me go," house piano stretched over the skeleton, basically every sound i love all in one beautifully organized slow motion ecosystem
- avalon emerson - the frontier: idk track of the year prob. dense interlocking percussion over which a synth floats and shimmers. a landscape imo
- bucie feat. black motion - rejoice: should prob be included with the songs enhanced by synth strings i posted above. my fav pop house thing
- oliver heldens & throttle - waiting: h/t deej, my other favorite pop house thing though in a totally different dimension from bucie
- flava d & miss fire - happy: from one of my fav mixes this year. super crisp garage. ohh. happyyy
- omar-s - heard'chew single: supermassive

Sorry about the youtube embed earlier. I don't read the board with pictures or videos showing (much better this way ime) and thus always I forget to remove the "s" so that those don't embed. I'll second the "Waiting" shoutout.

lil peep - kiss is gonna be hi on my list fyi

ARE WE DOING THIS

WE'RE DOING THIS

I don't know if it's been heavily discussed elsewhere on ILX where I'm missing it but I didn't hear the Battle Trance album Blade of Love until the end of November and it is likely in my top 15 albums
https://battletrance.bandcamp.com/album/blade-of-love

It's really good! I mentioned it on the classical thread but idk if it's been discussed much elsewhere. It only came out at the end of August so you're doing OK, btw!

voted

I don't read the board with pictures or videos showing

I hope you turn the feature back on for the rollouts, because gr80 makes dope graphics! (I'm on albums rollout this year, so it's just covers themselves, prolly.)

It's Saturday! Vote Vote Vote Vote.

wait i thought we had 100 years to vote

anyway i should rep for my favorite track of the year:

dj sotofett - "current 82 (12 mix)": 13 minutes of being folded into the sea

that dj sotofett is one of my favorites too

fans of that track might also enjoy dj python - sunset drive, which also churns beautifully

btw deej was right, the tink tape is awesome and it's all i've been listening to for the past month

oh whoops, it wasn't nominated lol

i don't have the energy to stump hard for these albums but here are 3 that will almost certainly top my list that ilxors in general maybe least likely to know?

Dori Freeman - Dori Freeman: beautiful appalachian americana about longing (youtube video of opener 'you say'
A-WA - Habib Galbi: 3 israeli sisters (incidentally w/ the last name haim) mix heritage yemenite music w/ electronic + hip-hop influences (youtube music video for 'habib galbi' first Arabic song to go #1 on israeli pop charts)
Noura Mint Seymali - Arbina: amazing singer from Mauritania does Moorish pop w/ her husband on guitars and it's blissful psych desert-blues ('Na Sane' music video)

First read the Dori Freeman blurb as "beautiful appalachian americana about logging" and thought that sounds pretty cool. Longing is a bit played out as a theme but I'll give it a listen.

Cosign the Noura Mint Seymali tip.

cosign on the Noura Mint Seymali record, great stuff

lol xp

noura mint seymali is amazing yes. also microtonal!

If I'm going to campaign for one underheard thing this year, it will be Sidibe's mini-LP 'You Got the Luck'. 7 tracks of glorious 80s/90s style pop/r&b from a singer whose voice reminds me at times of Carly Rae and whose musical inclinations draw from Janet and Sade.

I just nominated the whole thing in Albums because I couldn't settle on a single track.

mad at myself for not nominating thao, flock of dimes, 'good as hell' by lizzo, or the title track from the dierks record

Oh shit! Is Good As Hell not on the list?!

We have failed, ILM.

nxd bringing it with his/her track nominations. I particularly liked the ones by EATQS and Euglossine.

Barli is another find (so far) from the playlist.

I have a theory about Barli, and it's that she previously recorded under the name Ruby Goe, but there are a couple reasons I don't want to state that as fact...

All of Ruby Goe's previous internet presence has been wiped (except for tracks on streaming services).
I don't want to be accused of some "all black women singers look the same to you?!" shit.

But for real, I'm 99.95% sure Barli = Ruby Goe.

cosign on the Noura Mint Seymali record, great stuff

lol xp

― sleeve, Saturday, 7 January 2017 20:53 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

one of the best for def

I hope you turn the feature back on for the rollouts, because gr80 makes dope graphics! (I'm on albums rollout this year, so it's just covers themselves, prolly.)

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, January 7, 2017 12:10 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

best of both worlds pro tip: comtinue to read ilx with images off but open said dope graphics in a new tab

i always enjoy the imgur page of all the graphics in one place

Not that it matters much but I'm pretty sure C. Diab's No Perfect Wave first came out in 2015. Actually yeah I even nominated it back then.

http://i.imgur.com/iiSlwjD.png

Finally finished going through the tracks playlist this morning, lots of great discoveries all the way through, good work everyone! I'm definitely finding it harder to get my ballot down to 25 than in the last couple of years, even with a self-imposed ban on overlaps with my albums list.

I'll the the one to rep for:

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Suzanne Ciani - Sunergy (she worships synthesisers by the sea shore)

Wednesday Campanella - Aladdin (Thriller x Freestyle x J-Pop)
Poli Genova - If Love Was a Crime (Bulgaria's Eurovision Entry, Europop with BIG FLUTE BREAK)
The Gloaming - The Pilgrim's Song (the closest that traditional Irish music has got to a new Planxty ("it's basically Irish jazz, isn't it?") in years; felt this year's album was a bit too reverent but this is beautiful)
MJ Guider - Evencycle (dream techno that takes you up into MIND CONTROL MIND CONTROL MIND CONTROL)
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Kids (this is the Stranger Things track I keep coming back to)

another vote for sotofett here

Definitely co-sign Poli Genova.

A couple of things i'd highlight:

Eefje de Visser - Nachtlicht: Beautiful, spartan Dutch electro-folk album
Serebro - Slomana: This year's model from Russia's masters of melancholy pop
King Bubba FM - Calling In Sick: Shirking anthem from one of Barbados' top soca producer-turned-singers
Ne Tvoe Delo - Best Hits Debut album of emotive synth pop
Pharaoh - Fosfor: Russian trap with black metal vibes
Vremya I Steklo - Navernopotomuchto Hugely catchy Ukrainian europop
Mujuice - Amore E Morte Wonderful Casiotone/Magnetic Fields/Postal Service-style lo-fi bedroom pop
L'One - Yakutyanochka Endearing tropical house rap from the coldest city on earth

calling in sick is fucking great; I found myself whistling the chorus for more or less the whole last week of the year

My tracks ballot (minus "Sorry") in Spotify Playlist form.

I have a new project (maybe the phrase 'life-consuming folly' would be better) in which I'm making a mix for every year since 1860. The rough 2016 mix I just put up works well-enough here as it contains 47 tracks which are nearly all nominated here, either on their own or on an LP.

https://www.mixcloud.com/centuries_of_sound/centuries-of-sound-2016/

whew I got my tracks and albums down to 25 each but I like doing weighted ballots so getting a good sense of ranking will take some re-listening and thinking bout stuff.

also wanted to mention:
Hazel English - Never Going Home -- very pretty indie pop, kinda like Beach House imo.

shout-out to Brigid Mae Power, outstanding folk artist from Galway. voting for that LP for certain.

some good discoveries for me from the spotify list:

Elka
36
Lake Ruth
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard

Quttinirpaaq - Dead September
I nominated this but someone in the other thread correctly pointed out it's actually 2015 and was in the running for votes last year.

Also the Sky Girl comp is on Spotify and it rules.

The Martha album is super catchy pop-punk/indie-pop and needs your vote.
https://marthadiy.bandcamp.com/album/blisters-in-the-pit-of-my-heart