ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

As for "real" ambient music, Eluvium's "Similes" was my #3 album (some might not call it ambient because of the vocals, I say whatever to that) and I just realized that I forgot to vote for the Infinite Body album, that was a good one too (well, at least half of the album was breathtakingly good, the rest was a bit meh).

Listening to Lovesliescrushing now - it does sound kind of similar! Pretty nice.

Is there anywhere you can download the ambient Justin Bieber song so you don't have to listen to it in parts on Youtube?

smdh at ppl assuming usmileambient is a lol novelty vote, it's a legit awes piece of process music

I know right, but I bet you a pound that Philip Jeck isn't going to place in the next 40.

Ambient(-ish) things that I liked in 2010: Loscil, Grasslung, Erik K Skodvin (the Deaf Centre guy), Clem Leek, Greg Haines, Marcus Fjellstrom, BV Dub... not really the same sonic territory as the Biebster though, so ymmv

smdh at ppl assuming usmileambient is a lol novelty vote, it's a legit awes piece of process music

the original track is pretty good too

― nakhchivan, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 4:55 AM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's not that the the votes are lol votes. tbh, i assume that they express legitimate appreciation. the fact that the track got heard in the first place, where most ambient music just doesn't, seems undeniably to have been based on its virality, and that in turn on the bieber factor. this makes is something of an internet age novelty track, regardless of what one thinks of it as music.

tuomas -

www.megaupload.com/?d=A74DRQDQ

Thanks!

As I said above, I completely agree that it wouldn't have placed if it was processed seal noises instead of Bieber. But given the top 77 isn't exactly full of experimental music, I'm very happy it placed.

NickB: thanks for the recommendations, I'll check them out.

not yet sure how to parse "uk funky," but i listened to both "lights on" and "katy on a mission" last night. hated the former (though the lyrical conceit is awes), loved the latter. not sure i'd have voted for it, as dance pop isn't really my thing, but i'm hoping it places. it's at least as good as, say, taio cruz.

this makes is something of an internet age novelty track, regardless of what one thinks of it as music.

― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer),

that is kinda obvious yeah....but that 'virality' is entirely epiphenomenal to its quality -- there are thousands of timestretched edits of pop songs on youtube but none of them are nearly so popular, because none are so successful

i rate it a lot more highly that any of the names nickb mentions, most of whom i am quite familiar with

yeah the Eluvium album was great, though it's Eno-style ambient-with-vocals which i think put a lot of people off of it. i think it works either way, as an ambient record or as an art-pop record

none of that ambient ish (with the possible exception of jeck) is 'experimental music' anyway, most of that stuff could easily have been released in the late 90s

the process element of usmileambient places it more solidly in the lineage of 'experimental music' than loscil or w/e

Yeah, you could trace that sort of manipulation back through v/vm or whoever.

I was being overly broad in my use of "experimental" there. Maybe I just meant "without immediate pop appeal" compared to most of the top 77.

there are thousands of timestretched edits of pop songs on youtube but none of them are nearly so popular, because none are so successful

for some reason this is really depressing to me. turning one uncool pop hit into mush for lols once makes sense, but a whole subculture of people doing it as some kind of hobby or practice is like jesus of all the things you could be doing with sound and music, THAT'S what you want to spend your time on?

no different to those boring mash-ups that plagued the 00s. so yeah, you're right. I still voted for the ambient bieber though as it was great.

there are thousands of timestretched edits of pop songs on youtube but none of them are nearly so popular, because none are so successful

i suspect that if we'd all grown tired of time-stretched pop when "usmileambient" showed up, it would hardly have registered on anyone's radar. it was lucky enough to be not only the track that introduced the concept to the world, but a perfectly engineered bullet of virality. i say this because while i agree that it's pretty great, it hardly seems unique in its quality. i mentioned the stretched version of paul simon's "only living boy in new york" as a comparison point upthread (though i can't find it now). owl city's "fireflies" worked pretty well, too, and in a similar way. i think it's more a matter of what some dude said: we heard it and loved it, but don't need any more of that crap.

i heard an old track katy b did called "tell me" which is REALLY good

DJ NG and Katy B's "Tell me" might still be my fav thing by her. Back when she was still baby katy!

not sure i'd have voted for it, as dance pop isn't really my thing, but i'm hoping it places. it's at least as good as, say, taio cruz.

― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Wednesday, January 26, 2011 7:31 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

arent u suddenly a big Fives fan?

p 'dance pop' to me

Saying "this isn't really my thing" doesn't actually preclude liking isolated examples of the genre.

\oO/ he seemed enthusiastic about it w/out caveat, seemed like a contradiction, which is fine, just asking if he meant it

arent u suddenly a big Fives fan?

yeah, at least of "it's what you do". i think i issued the caveat because "katy b on a mission" doesn't offer as many easy entry points, ridiculous as that may sound. the fives track has retro disco and 80s elements that make it easy to square w my usual shit, where katy b hews to a contemporary (90s-00s) club-pop tradition that i'm less familiar with.

i'm in the process of recalibrating my ideas about music lately, because a lot of what i like best these days isn't coming through my usual channels and falls pretty far outside the range of what i think i like.

sorry y'all

http://i51.tinypic.com/34exezr.png
40. GUCCI MANE "Lemonade" [300 points, 10 votes]
Youtube

It's What You Do really feels like a classic girl group song filtered through a funky blueprint, so I'm not surprised it's gaining traction among people who wouldn't normally 'get' funky. Makes it even more wrongheaded that no one has actually released it yet.

hey 2009!

what a great song though. was tempted to vote for the remix feat. trey songz, fabolous and nicki minaj that came out this year though - think all of them acquit themselves really well on it, though fabolous pitting sister against sister with "if you could have beyoncé, would you take solange" is rather unsporting

good song

Loving the bass and piano in this.

For some reason I was expecting this to have the hook "milk milk lemonade round the corner chocolate's made" but obviously pop music is not as juvenile as I am.

voted for this last year. I think it just missed out on the countdown

For some reason I was expecting this to have the hook "milk milk lemonade round the corner chocolate's made" but obviously pop music is not as juvenile as I am.

― emil.y, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 5:09 PM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark

That would improve it IMO, I find it slightly dreary.

that would be an amazing pop song. call some songwriters.

i thought emil.y was a songwriter

I tried to get into Gucci at the start of the year, including Lemonade, and just couldn't. I don't really like his flow or his voice - Jeezy excepted I tend to prefer more snap and less drawl from my MCs.

http://i51.tinypic.com/24315a8.png
39. LIL B "The Age of Information" [302 points, 11 votes]
Youtube

xp in that case nvm

I like this a lot more than the gucci track which i had to switch off halfway through.

Ah, I didn't think I had heard Lil B before but it turns out I have. I like this.

based start

had never heard this before, i kind of love it

i wrote a blog post about this song when it came out, featuring a comment from lil b himself

http://somanyshrimp.com/2010/05/26/lil-b-age-of-information/

Loving the bass and piano in this.

yeah, snare's great tho

verses are solid (love that rmx, lex), wish the chorus were a little less irritating

Prob one of my least favourite Gucci tracks tbh but I still love him.

ok yeah just finished it, wonderful track

i put it on again, really like it.

lemonade is a classic & would have ranked much higher im guessing if the year it came out vs. year it peaked were the same

it's not one of my top gucci singles even, but i think it's a classic, still -- the beat & hook are pretty unusual for him and are really cool, the hook at least is kind of a throwback w/ the kids singing -- & then sticking to the yellow theme the whole time is kind of a gucci trademark & is still v impressive to me

I had forgotten about this Lil B. Kinda track that sound wise is hard to tell when it was made. I mean that in a good way. Reminds me of Gangstarr actually.