ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

I suspect that Angelo Badalamenti producing just about anything would be good.

I always forget that Beach House and Best Coast are different things.

This next one marks the end of the bonus round, as these countdowns usually start at #50. I'm a little sad it didn't make it in, but at least it's the closest runner-up...

http://i52.tinypic.com/2ed1li0.png

51. GAYNGS "The Gaudy Side of Town" [266 points, 13 votes]
Youtube

i still don't think i've got beach house and best coast straight. both are inoffensively dull i guess? kind of like if wistful nostalgia was a product and you had a tv advert for it

on the other hand FUCK GAYNGS

Yeah, this is a good one. Still trying to decide if I like the rest of the Gayngs album though.

:PPPPPPPPPPPP xp to lex

I always forget that Beach House and Best Coast are different things.

i still don't think i've got beach house and best coast straight.

lol I know what this feels like...

this sounds like I expected Grizzly Bear to sound. leaving it at that. I suppose it'll turn out that a member of Grizzly Bear is in Gayngs now...

mmm yeah a bunch of indie dudes "doing" r&b like it's a fucking gimmick getting so much critical praise and attention because ACTUAL r&b artists doing r&b were obviously inadequate

#KMT #KMT #KMFT

I think that's a misconception perpetrated by lazy critics. Relayted isn't an r&b record at all...it's a mood thing.

kind of like if wistful nostalgia was a product and you had a tv advert for it

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:06 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark

as much as i like a lot of lolindie and 'chillwave' etc., this is a beautiful way of putting it.

Euurrgh Gayngs is horrid swirly backwash. Delete delete delete.

beach house is okay. slightly reminiscent of the xx, but a good deal less elegant, and absent the dance/R&B influence. not much to it, really.

Relayted isn't an r&b record at all...it's a mood thing.

it's a mood thing for me too

that mood being ANGER

gaudy side of town is sweet

Gayngs hate makes me mad. I'm going to have to step away for a few minutes in order to avoid causing a ruckus.

not feeling Gayngs so much, though I'm interested in the rest of the album...

isn't the guy from Bon Iver in Gayngs?

afaict Beach House sounds nothing like Best Coast

I think "Gaudy Side of Town" is way too spaced-out to be an R&B parody. Plus that keyboard riff starting around 1:55 is just excellent.

uh i def get why ppl hate it tho

Um...yeah. I don't love the Gayngs album, but it's not an r&b record by any measure I can think of. And did it really get that much critical praise and attention? I devour criticism and I feel like it mostly passed me by this year (i.e. i was not hearing about them very much at all).

mmm yeah a bunch of indie dudes "doing" r&b like it's a fucking gimmick getting so much critical praise and attention because ACTUAL r&b artists doing r&b were obviously inadequate

#KMT #KMT #KMFT

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 10:08 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

and maybe it's just an indie band paying tribute to music they like, which indie fans buy because they like indie music even when it draws on other traditions. possible, you think?

it's not a parody at all--whole record was made w/love

Grizzly Bear's Cheerleader (great song btw LJ; should check out) meets Sade's Smooth Operator

There's something about the song that is less... bleating than a lot of Dr Luke joints andrelies on great vocal melodies as opposed to trying to bash you over the head with the beat

still I can't help but be intrigued by this:

"Emerging blinking from Relayted you realise that this ostensible exercise in luxurious MOR by broad coalition has, along the way taken in free jazz, electropop, avant rock and deep soul while never appearing to deflect from its purpose and direction throughout. An album to sail on through the ages." - David Stubbs

hopefully there's more free jazz and avant rock to be dug up...

and maybe it's just an indie band paying tribute to music they like, which indie fans buy because they like indie music even when it draws on other traditions. possible, you think?

lolcd soundsystem

Grizzly Bear's Cheerleader (great song btw LJ; should check out) meets Sade's Smooth Operator

why would i ever want one of the most perfect songs in one of the most perfect aesthetics to be ruined by being forced to meet GRIZZLY FUCKING BEAR

Gayngs sound like music based on a verbal description of Diamond Life.

ha! Drugs A. Money beat me to it.

Ok that alongside Swans are the 'new to my ears' ones I've liked most from the list so far.

tbh, listening to Gayngs for the first time in ages it just kind of sounds like 70s/80s easy listening? or maybe something from hill street blues? i keep expecting to hear a saxophone.

this isn't a bad thing...it's kind of pretty in a drifty way but it's closer in tone and mood to the wistful nostalgia stuff you were talking about than actual r'n'b.

Knowing nothing about the critical consensus or personalities involved, this is appealing to the very same nerve ending that responded to jj's "Ecstasy" a year ago. Sounds like Sebastien Tellier produced by jj, in fact. I'd consider this if the rest of the album was up to this standard.

there's a dece amount of sax on the gayngs record

Cheerleader is a good song, Lex, though def. bedroom-y...

mmm yeah a bunch of indie dudes "doing" r&b like it's a fucking gimmick getting so much critical praise and attention because ACTUAL r&b artists doing r&b were obviously inadequate

#KMT #KMT #KMFT

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 10:08 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

but lots of ppl who like r&b also like this? it has nothing to do w/ anything being inadequate

I like the production on this, but if it were actually a lost pop song from the 80s it would have a MASSIVE HOOK somewhere.

gayngs song is cool. reminds me of AR kane or something, with the dubbed out 80s R&B (yeah, sade in particular) interrupted by noise thing. maybe not as bracing as AR kane, but the songwriting's definitely there.

definitely parts i like about that song and parts I really don't - like the vocals

The entire Gayngs album was based on the idea of stretching 10cc's "I'm Not in Love" out to the length of a full album (the whole thing, for the most part, has the exact same bpm).

why would i ever want one of the most perfect songs in one of the most perfect aesthetics to be ruined by being forced to meet GRIZZLY FUCKING BEAR

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:14 PM (2 minutes ago)

bc ppl like grizzly bear.

really this isnt hard

There are a few nice sounds in the Gayngs track but my problem with a lot of this stuff (including Games) is that they're paying tribute to a lot of the '80s ethos that I hate, so even though they're playing with it/subverting it, it still just reminds me of stuff I abhor.

gayngs had me all primed to carry on hating but actually it's not so heinous as some of the things here

just a bit uninspiring, sall

but if it were actually a lost pop song from the 80s it would have a MASSIVE HOOK somewhere.

refrain that comes in @ 4:00 is the biggest hook, but they bury it, only give it that 30 second stretch. sounds like a demo in that sense, scratch paper for a "real song."

definitely parts i like about that song and parts I really don't - like the vocals

the vox are an abomination

keyboards are kinda cute, some slightly distorted sounds I can get w/

it's just a bit boring

http://i54.tinypic.com/2lmqwjc.png

50. TAIO CRUZ "Dynamite" [270 points, 7 votes, one first place vote]
Youtube

contenderizer, I see where you're going with the AR Kane comparisons, but I think it's a bit too...studied, a bit too self-consciously historical, whereas when I hear 69 (admittedly the only AR Kane I've done any real listening to) I hear something that uses elements of many different styles for their own ends, instead of just quoting those styles...

AR Kane: Ulysses:: Gayngs: Pale Fire