ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

i'm probably TOO happy about the fact that a random earl sweatshirt album track placed higher than pazz & jop top 10-er "bloodbuzz ohio"

ha yeah i just realised that NOTHING by the national placed! hi-fives all round.

massive thx to j0hnny and j0rdan too

I was just a stand-in for J0rdan on this poll. The albums one is my "baby" I guess (and, though I'm not accompanying the results with fancy screengrabs, I did make an effort to make the album covers all a uniform size and fine tune their coloration, quality, etc.)

who put 'like a martian' as #1! <3

how many people voted in this poll?

We got 112 tracks ballots

Final tally:

112 tracks ballots giving points to 697 tracks
121 albums ballots giving points to 580 albums

Thanks for voting everybody!

― Can your monkey do the Bot? (seandalai), Saturday, January 22, 2011 6:15 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

do you think the high rank of un"populist" tracks, as contenderizer describes, is due to people like me who didn't weigh their ballots? assuming there were a lot of us..

12 people who did rank their ballots were the only people to vote for their #1 track. Interesting - how many ballots were ranked v. unranked?

Weighted: 84, unweighted: 28

ok megacomment on its way--it's sub-twitter level brief but i have snow to shovel

^^ANTICIPATING

hooray, can't wait. I may do something similar before the weekend's over.

btw deej's comparison of "hard in da paint" to "ante up" was great

oh yeah i forgot to say my ballot was weighted

smfh @ reactions to lightweight jammin being boasting abt not listening to the rap in rap, wondering if the video is a parody, not thinking husalah's dancing is fucking dope and describing it as an "ilx meme"

ilm

ok i'm using really broad categories w/r/t "like" and "dislike" but here you go

heard, liked

77. DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY "Ass on the Floor" [222 points, 7 votes] - would've probe been my #1 if i voted tax. classic song with huge awesome production

76. VAMPIRE WEEKEND "Giving Up the Gun" [222 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote] - good tho there are like 5 others i'd pick first from contra
62. SWANS "No Words/No Thoughts" [248 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote] - not the natural tax choice from this album at all but i won't complain
52. BEACH HOUSE "Zebra" [266 points, 9 votes] - <3 this

51. GAYNGS "The Gaudy Side of Town" [266 points, 13 votes] - it's been discussed enough, i think it's good fun and i appreciate their approach
44. CARIBOU "Odessa" [278 points, 11 votes] - fantastic

43. EL GUINCHO "Bombay" [280 points, 11 votes] - not sticking with me enough to get this album but i do like it
36. CARIBOU "Sun" [330 points, 11 votes] - also fantastic

35. WIZ KHALIFA "Black & Yellow" [330 points, 13 votes] - this is a fun song that hasn't started to annoy me yet
31. EARL SWEATSHIRT "Earl" [344 points, 10 votes] - was re-listening to earl last night, you just can't fuck w/his rapping

30. ROBYN "Hang With Me" [346 points, 14 votes] - i like this ok although this is a v. high placement

29. GYPTIAN "Hold Yuh" / "Hold Yuh (Funkystepz remix)" [380 points, 12 votes] - on the low side of "like" this it's pleasantly melodic
27. LINDSTRØM & CHRISTABELLE "Lovesick" [394 points, 18 votes] - this whole alb should've gotten more love
23. SADE "Soldier of Love" [410 points, 16 votes] - v. cool track tho i don't connect emotionally with it
21. JOANNA NEWSOM "Good Intentions Paving Company" [428 points, 13 votes] - yeah whatev i love this song
20. E-40 ft. CLYDE CARSON & HUSALAH "Lightweight Jammin'" [432 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote] - goole said something really nice about this one so just re-read that

19. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "Dance Yrself Clean" [434 points, 13 votes] - one of the better songs from a disappointing album

18. ERYKAH BADU "Window Seat" [436 points, 15 votes] - <3 erykah
16. KATY PERRY "Teenage Dream" [438 points, 15 votes] - katy's gotten some good choruses in her time

15. WILLOW SMITH "Whip My Hair" [456 points, 17 votes, 1 first place vote] - i whip my hair back and forth

14. SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS "I L U" [466 points, 14 votes] - nice enough tho there are valid criticisms, v. high placement

13. SLEIGH BELLS "Rill Rill" [532 points, 19 votes, 1 first place vote] - i kind of love this more every time i hear it

10. KANYE WEST ft. RICK ROSS, JAY-Z, NICKI MINAJ & BON IVER "Monster" [596 points, 20 votes] - basically the only song from mbdtf i'm going back to regularly

9. RIHANNA "Rude Boy" [628 points, 23 votes, 2 first place votes] - wore me down
7. BIG BOI ft. CUTTY "Shutterbugg" [672 points, 26 votes] - awesome track, the key bass line gets stuck in my head all the time

6. ROBYN "Dancing on My Own" [674 points, 22 votes, 5 first place votes] - yeah i dig this
4. THE-DREAM "Yamaha" [764 points, 26 votes] - i'm not a big love king guy but props to ilm for quickly isolating the best song on it
2. WAKA FLOCKA FLAME "Hard in Da Paint" [902 points, 30 votes, 2 first place votes] - like i said, not my thing, but undeniable successful at doing its thing
1. GIRL UNIT "Wut" [996 points, 31 votes, 3 first place votes] - cool song, i suppose. maybe someone should rap over it? glad 4 lex, he suffers a lot.

hadn't heard, liked

75. AZARI & III "Reckless (With Your Love) (Tensnake remix)" [228 points, 8 votes] - i enjoyed most of the dance tax y'all picked this year
72. MARINA & THE DIAMONDS "Shampain" [234 points, 10 votes] - kinda fun, kinda fluffy
70. THE FIVES ft. VANYA TAYLOR "It's What You Do (Hottest By Far)" [236 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote] - going back to this i was into it a lot more the second time--v. cool song
69. YUNG HUMMA ft. FLYNT FLO$$Y "Lemme Smang It" [236 points, 8 votes, 2 first place votes] - the find of the poll, it's so simple and catchy
66. CASSIE "Skydiver" [242 points, 8 votes] - someone said this is a v. pretty song i think? i agree.
39. LIL B "The Age of Information" [302 points, 11 votes] - awesome--i like the rapping and even the basedness to an extent, soooo 90s sounding too!

38. KATY B "Katy on a Mission" [322 points, 13 votes] - lex's excellent contextualization def helped with this, still a little thin-sounding for my taste but i guess it wasn't produced with much of a budget?

37. JAMIE WOON "Night Air" [324 points, 13 votes] - really like this--very cool, very hard to categorize. nice outlier afaict.
(TIE) 48. ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI "Bright Lit Blue Skies" [270 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote] - minimal fucking around which is key in an a.p. song
32. TENSNAKE "Coma Cat" [342 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote] - another cool dance track imo

heard, disliked

71. RIHANNA "What's My Name" [234 points, 11 votes] - tiresome; irritating vocal quirks
60. TAYLOR SWIFT "Mine" [250 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote] - my reaction to all taylor is the same--talented if formulaic songs, awful mod-country arrangements. i've listened to too much rock music to fuck w/those.
59. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM "I Can Change" [250 points, 8 votes] - boring!

58. GIL SCOTT-HERON "Me and the Devil" [254 points, 10 votes] - eh i'm not down with like blue recontextualization or whatever this is.

(TIE) 56. KE$HA "We R Who We R" [254 points, 11 votes] - nahhh
53. LADY ANTEBELLUM "Need You Now" [262 points, 11 votes] - see "mine"
46. JANELLE MONÁE "Cold War" [272 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote] - false drama at its worst
41. LADY GAGA ft. BEYONCÉ "Telephone" [294 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote] - there are two gaga songs i like better and that's prob my limit
(TIE) 48. KANYE WEST "All of the Lights" [270 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote] - i don't even understand why ppl who like this album rate this!
34. M.I.A. "Born Free" [340 points, 13 votes] - did not change my feelings abt m.i.a.
28. CIARA ft. LUDACRIS "Ride" [394 points, 12 votes] - something i should totally like, but i'm just not into it. no idea why.
26. KANYE WEST ft. PUSHA T "Runaway" [396 points, 13 votes] - emo hip hop balladry?
24. KANYE WEST ft. DWELE "Power" [410 points, 15 votes] - kanye has done better in the past
22. KE$HA "TiK ToK" [424 points, 14 votes, 3 first place votes] - also nahhhhh; hate the "snotty" vocals

11. CEE-LO GREEN "Fuck You" [586 points, 19 votes, 2 first place votes] - been discussed at length so yeah
8. JANELLE MONÁE ft. BIG BOI "Tightrope" [642 points, 24 votes, 1 first place vote] - made my point in this thread
5. ARCADE FIRE "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" [694 points, 22 votes, 2 first place votes] - ranked too high! it's really not that bad, just v. unremarkable. i guess the lyrics are bad.
3. ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI "Round and Round" [794 points, 25 votes, 2 first place votes] - sooooo soft rockin' and dull

hadn't heard, disliked


74. CRYSTAL CASTLES "Celestica" [232 points, 8 votes] - still don't get the deal with these guys

73. TAYLOR SWIFT "Mean" [232 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote] - see "mine"

68. RICK ROSS ft. STYLES P "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" [238 points, 12 votes] - surprisingly blank to me. i've liked some of ross's other v. maximal rap but this doesn't hit the zone.

67. THE KNIFE "Colouring of Pigeons" [242 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote] - whoever said lol joek was right
63. JAVIERA MENA "Hasta La Verdad" [244 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote] - yeah i didn't like sally shapiro either
55. JUSTIN BIEBER "U Smile (Ambient Version)" [256 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote] - wack

54. DRAKE "Fireworks (Deadboy Slo Mo House Edit)" [260 points, 10 votes] - also kinda wack
47. TAYLOR SWIFT "Back to December" [270 points, 10 votes] - see "mine"
42. HOT CHIP "One Life Stand" [288 points, 11 votes] - like i said, i'm not sure what the deal with hot chip is/what they're supposed to be doing. terrible singer too
40. GUCCI MANE "Lemonade" [300 points, 10 votes] - at this point it's my fault, not gucci's
33. THESE NEW PURITANS "We Want War" [342 points, 10 votes] - a good 3.5 minute song that goes double that. too serious/too clever by half, just like this heat
17. SCISSOR SISTERS "Invisible Light" [438 points, 12 votes, 2 first place votes] - not really objectionable but nothing that i want to revisit
12. CRYSTAL CASTLES ft. ROBERT SMITH "Not in Love" [546 points, 18 votes] - eh this is nothing more than broad base ilm-bait


totally ambivalent about


(TIE) 64. KELIS "Acapella" [242 points, 9 votes] - weird--i get the criticisms of this for sure but it's kind of sticking in my head.
(TIE)
64. FOUR TET "Love Cry" [242 points, 9 votes] - this is kind of cool--just on the cusp of me wanting to check out the album. but i've had months to do that and haven't.

61. GAMES "Strawberry Skies" [250 points, 7 votes] - could be a grower? can't tell.
(TIE) 56. NICKI MINAJ ft. EMINEM "Roman's Revenge" [254 points, 11 votes] - i don't like the beat (too horror-rap!) or em but nick does have her moments for sure

50. TAIO CRUZ "Dynamite" [270 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote] - i am reconsidering on this one tbh
45. NICOLAS JAAR "WOUH" [274 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote] - i would probably need to listen to this like ten more times to decide what i thought of it.

25. TINIE TEMPAH "Pass Out" [398 points, 14 votes] - sounds more american than british rap tends to ime? maybe that's changed. ok but i don't get a high finish for it.

all in all this was an excellent poll and i really enjoyed this week's countdown.

basically every rapper on this thread has gotten 'huh, i didnt know waka/smang it/lightweight jammin was a real song, just assume it was a goon cru meme'

dammit, that second heading should be "hadn't heard, liked"

today when i was driving home, knowing obv that girl unit had been revealed as #1, i heard "roman's revenge" on the radio & nicki going "IS THIS WHAT I GET FOR PUTTING YOU BITCHES ON!!??" made me think of lex & the results of this poll

hahahahaha

oh yeah i'm sorry that the "wut" jpg wasn't more climactic but there isn't any photos of that guy on the internet

1. GIRL UNIT "Wut" [996 points, 31 votes, 3 first place votes] - cool song, i suppose. maybe someone should rap over it? glad 4 lex, he suffers a lot.

lool

xp it's ok a pic of that guy would prob just be

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQZX0d2Ab2TTeWdn6m5FgkVFW32sRmteie5bLZ_Lt3NwjClQO8CUA

a great poll! echoing the sentiments of others, I really dug the genre randomness & how even the agreed-upon obvious contenders were shuffled around enough to keep things interesting. And obv the usual pile of new songs to consider, at least ten or so of which I'm already really digging (esp. Age of Info, Shampain, Smang It, Wouh, Coma Cat, Lightweight Jammin & Wile Out).

Excepting only Cee-Lo & Katy Perry (& even those aren't a total wash), I would rate all of the tracks that made today's top-20 on a scale from 'very good' to 'fucking immaculate.' Out of all 77, there are 10-15 I don't really care for, but generally this is an outstanding tracklist - easily my favorite of the last three or four ilm year-end song polls (I think 2007/8 was the first year I observed/participated in one).

JF, JS & seandalai - u r the best w/ yr fancy flowcharts & JPEGS. thank you!

i d really g why folks are thinking the knife track is a joke but i understand that's it's a little strange for it to be the token avant garde techno classical opera w/e pick. i guess since i dig a lot of stuff like that it doesn't seem strange or lolworthy, imo.

Knife/Fever Ray are total all-stars of ILX; check the half-decade polls, both albums & tracks...

Not sure if deej was aiming at me, but anyway: I said some stuff about Lightweight Jammin having a humorous video and Waka being confined to the goon thread, but I didn't try to reduce them to "memes" rather than songs; not sure about Smang It (I mean, you guys even have a GIF thread for it). I think the rapping on Lightweight Jammin is brilliant, I love its looseness and musicality - but if you compare the video with Waka and have no idea of where these songs are coming from irl (I asked a question about Waka's popularity but nobody picked it up), then Waka looks all macho and E-40 et al. look fun and kinda goofy.

nah i know that of course, i mean this particular track xp

basically didnt like any song i didnt already know and vote for yall have p terrible taste in music dunno why i ever listen to any of u

i remember when ppl were breakin up w. joey potter over Blind placing #1 but man those seem like salad days now.

want to go to club with lex

eh idk i get why ppl like wut i guess i mean its def. put together like a banger but its (a) singleminded to the point of being like *ordered* to dance (b) incredibly sonically ugly to me, i mean i guess this sound is v pervasive in like london club music or smthng but

today when i was driving home, knowing obv that girl unit had been revealed as #1, i heard "roman's revenge" on the radio & nicki going "IS THIS WHAT I GET FOR PUTTING YOU BITCHES ON!!??" made me think of lex & the results of this poll

haha :D

fwiw when i interviewed girl unit and asked him what rapper he'd most like to hear over "wut", his answer was la chat

I don't live in London and I don't go to clubs, but thought "Wut" was pretty great (like 20-30 range great, but great nonetheless)

people can come to the club w/me any time. tactile @ horse & groom this sat.

for the record im usually like jeez stfu abt the ppl who complain abt these poll results so yeah i mean im sm own dh right now i mean feel like its barely possible to make a case for katy perry being allowed to live let alone voting her top twenty damn

Katy Perry is a controversial topic on ILM as I learned a few months ago. Opinions are divided, but they're strong on both sides.

i'm intrigued by her top 20 placing just because i didn't think she was rated that highly around here?

his answer was la chat

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Thursday, January 27, 2011

ok brownie points from me

xpost it's cuz people who admit to liking katy perry get harassed/shit for it so people voted for her in silence more than likely

i d really g why folks are thinking the knife track is a joke but i understand that's it's a little strange for it to be the token avant garde techno classical opera w/e pick. i guess since i dig a lot of stuff like that it doesn't seem strange or lolworthy, imo.

― omar little, Thursday, January 27, 2011 6:03 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well it's basically like name recognition drives the pick--would ppl have really fucked w/this if the knife were some no-names?

the weird one for me on the list is taio cruz, like man really? that's a significant song this year? i guess some peeps are so hooked on pop music that they'll do the equivalent of smoking schwag in a drought, but damn so many cool pop things on the list that seem leagues above that.

but overall, lots of cool stuff i would have never checked out otherwise! thx y'all

name recognition might lead to awareness of the track but i'm not sure if it leads to people voting for it because it's the knife. i agree with your point if it's the former one, but that could also apply to any song or album people are voting for.

yeah it's prob more awareness

as a result of this thread i just bought the Sleigh Bells album, thanks all.

think i need to lock away my credit card for a week or so then mods pls delete this thread

some mostly KIP comments on the first day's worth of stuff that i hadn't posted yet:

77. DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY "Ass on the Floor" [222 points, 7 votes]
this hadn't clicked with me yet when i sent in my votes but it's my favorite track on the diddy album now. i love how it's sonically the polar opposite of 'pon de floor' from which the snare is sampled (and i assume the title is in reference to)

76. VAMPIRE WEEKEND "Giving Up the Gun" [222 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
this is okay, i'm hearing the graceland-era paul simon thing here more than on their old songs. as with graceland, the secret strength is the bassline, which is why it's frustrating when the bass cuts out for large portions of the song

75. AZARI & III "Reckless (With Your Love) (Tensnake remix)" [228 points, 8 votes]
left me hanging for the first minute wondering if i was gonna like it, and then huge grin when the bass drops. love the house piano, that shit always seals the deal when it's done well.

74. CRYSTAL CASTLES "Celestica" [232 points, 8 votes]
this is not at all what i remember them sounding like when i first checked them out a few years back. the stuttery gazey chords are a better look for them though than the bleepy stuff. like the production a lot more than the vocals here.

73. TAYLOR SWIFT "Mean" [232 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
t-swift's not really my thing but i get why she's wildly popular here. she's a really gifted melodicist, i'm just not particularly captivated by her lyrics or arragements.

72. MARINA & THE DIAMONDS "Shampain" [234 points, 10 votes]
i'm kinda digging this halfway - it reminds me of nothing so much as Army of Lovers, which is probably a bad thing but i dunno. the lyrics are clumsy and i don't like them. i checked out 'i am not a robot' and i kinda like that too until the full band comes in and turns it more ordinary. seems like something i won't ever listen to outside of youtubes though.

71. RIHANNA "What's My Name" [234 points, 11 votes]
don't like this enough to redeem the silly drake verse

70. THE FIVES ft. VANYA TAYLOR "It's What You Do (Hottest By Far)" [236 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
this is good, i feel like those marcato string sounds have gone out of style in favor of synth stabs these days and it's nice to hear a track use them

69. YUNG HUMMA ft. FLYNT FLO$$Y "Lemme Smang It" [236 points, 8 votes, 2 first place votes]
yeah i love this a lot and it basically speaks for itself

68. RICK ROSS ft. STYLES P "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" [238 points, 12 votes]
not my favorite song on the rick ross album but still a banger. i think in general ross doesn't sound good on lex luger beats, this song being the freak exception which unfortunately is probably gonna cause him to make a lot of shitty songs trying to replicate it

67. THE KNIFE "Colouring of Pigeons" [242 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
i tend to tune out when pop music acts do soundtracks/theater projects. this sounds just enough like the knife to just make me want a new 'regular' knife record but not enough to satisfy my craving for a new knife record. what a tease.

66. CASSIE "Skydiver" [242 points, 8 votes]
i wanted to like this more than i did, the chorus hook doesn't really do it for me

(TIE) 64. KELIS "Acapella" [242 points, 9 votes]
lol did lj really call this dream-pop? it's okay, not a fan of kelis or guetta. at least it's subtle guetta.

(TIE) 64. FOUR TET "Love Cry" [242 points, 9 votes]
not as instantly ~*dreamy*~ as older four tet standouts, i kinda feel like he worked better with 5-minute tracks than 9-minute ones

63. JAVIERA MENA "Hasta La Verdad" [244 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
man i'm glad that disco is 'back'. this song starts out alright, then goes next-level at 1:40

62. SWANS "No Words/No Thoughts" [248 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote]
been meaning to check out this record, always had a passing interest in swans without ever falling in love with anything by them. this doesn't sound as engaging as my favorite tracks on their late 80s/early 90s records that i've heard though.

61. GAMES "Strawberry Skies" [250 points, 7 votes]
the way people were describing this on the thread here made me excited to hear it but in the end its just an alright chillwave track, seems like chillwave artists have produced very few undeniably great tracks even though i like the aesthetic

would like to comment on the rest, hopefully i'll get around to it

^ good read

For the albums poll results, does anyone in the uk want to be on board with posting spotify links while I reveal the albums? I can't do it from where I am, so I'll probably just link to :30 samples at Amazon or 7digital on my own.

JF, I'll send you the Spotify links at the weekend.