ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

Wut winning this year makes me wonder if "Windowlicker" could have won an ILM poll in the year it came out.

It was in the top 10 in that 1990s singles poll we had a few years ago, so probably.

Hadn't heard 'Wut' before, it's nice and I feel the vibe, but after a couple of listens I can only deem it a completely forgettable number one. Which is a shame.

Especially considering that in 1999 there hadn't yet (as far as I can remember) been a big backlash against IDM.

(x-post)

You're saying this from a comfortable position of 11 years' hindsight. Britney and Xtina would have been considerably more divisive in 1999.

yeah i know britney and xtina were mocked by many who just didn't have time for the idea or sound of manufactured pop at all, but katy and ke$ha seem to get significant hate from actual pop fans too.

I'm thinking about making this an excelsior:

Wut winning this year makes me wonder if "Windowlicker" could have won an ILM poll in the year it came out.

It was in the top 10 in that 1990s singles poll we had a few years ago, so probably.

― Tuomas, Friday, January 28, 2011 8:47 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hadn't heard 'Wut' before, it's nice and I feel the vibe, but after a couple of listens I can only deem it a completely forgettable number one. Which is a shame.

― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, January 28, 2011 8:49 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Especially considering that in 1999 there hadn't yet (as far as I can remember) been a big backlash against IDM.

― Tuomas, Friday, January 28, 2011 8:50 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

im a pop fan who thinks that genie in a bottle is abject trash

Genie on tap or gtfo

Excellent work Nick.

I'm thinking about making this an excelsior:

Wut winning this year makes me wonder if "Windowlicker" could have won an ILM poll in the year it came out.

It was in the top 10 in that 1990s singles poll we had a few years ago, so probably.

― Tuomas, Friday, January 28, 2011 8:47 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hadn't heard 'Wut' before, it's nice and I feel the vibe, but after a couple of listens I can only deem it a completely forgettable number one. Which is a shame.

― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, January 28, 2011 8:49 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Especially considering that in 1999 there hadn't yet (as far as I can remember) been a big backlash against IDM.

― Tuomas, Friday, January 28, 2011 8:50 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

I don't get it?

Where's the excelsior?

btw if plaxico hadn't waited until irl before telling me abt it I'd have put 'get naked (i got a plan)' rly high in my 08 traxballot

also lol

/wiki/Bills,_Bills,_Bills#Peak_positions they weren't huge but bills, bills, bills was p big, think it was top 20 here

the way LBI comes in kind of hating on Wut, and then you deadpanning about IDM backlash...it's an almost classic comedy exchange.

two things:

1) is Wut IDM?
2) does the whole thing need context?

Intelligent Dream Music

Intelligent Design Music

ILMbait Dream Music

"the way LBI comes in kind of hating on Wut"

Nah, I ain't hating on the song. I like it, but like I said, it seems completely forgettable a song in every way.

I do see the A+ excelsior in the exchange tho :)

i don't get any of the recent jokes?

"wut" is not idm

while the countdown ended in Lex's ultimate musical fantasy, the thread is ending in his worst nightmare...comedy

well if wut isn't IDM then there's no joke

Yes it is, I lolled.

it there

every generation gets the Hyphy Mango it deserves

whoops guess I shouldn't have excelsior'd it...

Hyphy Mango >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

arcane hieroglyphics for future generations

the way LBI comes in kind of hating on Wut, and then you deadpanning about IDM backlash...it's an almost classic comedy exchange.

Okay, but my comment was about Windowlicker and "Wut" is not IDM, so whatever joke there was was lost to me.

well presuming that Wut is IDM, then the joke is how deadpan-seamless you seem to respond* to LBI's complaint about Wut, which, when juxtaposed with what you're saying, makes the complaint seem like an archetypal instance of IDM-backlash

*I know that that was unintentional, you were not responding to LBI at all, just finishing yr thought. When I saw it like that, though, I immediately thought it was a classic instance of deadpan comedy...

But I'm starting to think the whole thing was egregious...

xp did the Groovehark playlist break overnight?

82 alicia keys try sleeping with a broken heart
89 Underworld Always Loved a Film
104 The Chemical Brothers Swoon
124 Yelawolf Pop the Trunk
128 Curren$y King Kong
153 Ciara Speechless (ft. The-Dream)
179 Zola Jesus Sea Talk
185 Four Tet Angel Echoes

^^ voted for these tunes

threw my glasser vote behind the album

What happened to the grooveshark playlist? Did someone get a cease and desist order for most of the tracks? I suddenly only see three.

I should have stumped for Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend" somewhere. Her best song of the year imo.

btw I missed 40-21, so here goes

gucci mane - lemonade: good production! the flow doesn't grab me much (guess it's meant to be drawly n lazy tho) but all this talk of yellow things is nice n hypnotic. gd bass. piano sounds crisp n unprocessed. luriqua otm

lil b - the age of information: goddamn fucking great. may well have voted for. young starstruck naive but engaged dude seeks the holistic truth, stumbles across the chillest of beats and the prettiest of synths (LOVE how these develop), net result: something not just more than the sum of its parts but completely riveting, relevant and *important*. after all, he's aware of his youth and naivety; he's like so many of us, he wants to find out more :) ^^^btw would have not minded if this song had won the whole thing

also btw I had a listening sesh w/ my gf and I played her Window Seat, TAOI, Yamaha and Tightrope. Yamaha wasn't her thing but we sat and listened to the other 3 in utterly rapt and mutual wonder. :)

katy b - katy on a mission: oooooh wait this sample, I know it ;) except the tune seems to have been adjusted somewhat, given new harmonies! LUSHHHHHH! and here the dubsteppy but skittish-rather-than-plodding beat fucking WORKS! like like like!!! HAIL TO ENGLAND (and ireland). yeah deep down this is basically a house rmx dbstp xrcs w/o mch sphstctn but it's got great production and a really dramatic, LJ-baiting tune. very good. ok tho now I'm listening to it again and it's losing its charm a little - better hurry on before I start treating it as something other than what it is: a great song to hear in a club :P

jamie woon - best beloved plaxico: LOVE his voice, there's something really naked and honest about it!! Rest of the song is yr average 'steppy nocturne but WOON is the star attrxn, in more ways than one amirite. if I wasn't accounted for, wps.

*takes a break 2 post*

excelsiors gettin' subtle in here. voted for these:

78. Glasser - Mirrorage
85. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Can't Hear My Eyes
86. Mark McGuire - Brothers (for Matt)
94. Zola Jesus - Night
127. Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars
134. Earl Sweatshirt - epaR*
160. Hallogallo 2010 - Drone Schlager
175. Demdike Stare - Forest of Evil (dawn)
180. Tyler, The Creator - AssMilk (ft. Earl)
195. Kurt Vile - Invisibility: Nonexistent**

84. YG - Toot It & Boot It***
197. Zinja Hlungwani - N'wagezani My Love***

* meant to switch this out for "earl", but forgot. love "epar", definitely one of my favorites of the year, but i didn't want to be the guy who voted for the rapey track. :/

** had such high hopes for this. guess it's just a slacker version of mark mcguire's "brothers", but man, so beautiful & vast.

*** okay, so i didn't vote for these. no idea why, as i love both to death, easy top 10s. must have missed them while hastily assembling my last-minute crap ballot. pissed, as i might have gotten "toot it and boot it" at least a little closer to placing.

i think something that puts me off from 'wut' and nightslugs / that scene's music in general is that there is no comparable club scene in the states that it could fit in w/ and as a result the only way it ends up coming here is gonna be thru the idm nerd/critic /stoner super-male circle jerk -- the kind of joints ill only hear at clubs when DJs think everyone is too drunk to care & they can sneak in the 'good shit' at the end of the night, and they'll mix it w/ dubstep or burial or w/e for 2-3 songs. unearned condescension from dj amateurs who think they have better taste than the girls requesting 'black & yellow'. i know this is about the us/uk divide but at least w/ uk funky i could easily see many of those traxx fitting into a house set here (+ they have a more jugular-grabbing trashy pop instinct than the night slugs ish). one of the reasons i love that jamie woon track is that it feels like a pop song that would actually hit here in the states at some level -- its like timbo's 'u cant resist' w/ queered vocals replacing b.g. guntalk

don't blame WUT coz america is shit

we prefer our rhythms danceable :O

(i havent listened to lex's list yet)

as a result the only way it ends up coming here is gonna be thru the idm nerd/critic /stoner super-male circle jerk

otm post in general, but why cloud the issue w/ concerns about the kind of people who presumably promote and/or like the track and whether or not they're the right kind of people doing it the right way? understand that club music has a functional aspect, but isn't it okay to approach tunes as tunes, social politics aside, even if you're all indie or whatever?

^^^ all indie

we prefer our rhythms danceable :O

Hah, complete lack of danceability is one reason I don't like Hard In Da Paint.

american posters never really got mnml techno either, did they?

i know what you mean tho; i get the impression that the clubs in AUS and the USA where this might be played are not as banging as those here, can totally imagine the snobby unfun mentality too. it's pretty frustrating to see those outliers being used as a stick to beat night slugs with when it, and similar nights here, are as banging as you obviously want dance music to be - really heavy on ghettotech, chicago house, bits of mainstream hip-hop and r&b as well as juke/grime/uk bass. night slugs' first ever tagline back in 08 was "gutter house".

i think NYC and LA might have nights like that? like the one kingdom puts on. it's telling that the productions by US affiliates of this sound - kingdom, brenmar, nguzunguzu - are much more overtly uptempo and jacking (check kingdom's "fogs" and "mind reader", brenmar's "taking it down" and his "what's my name" rihanna remix, nguzunguzu's "caresss$" and "mirage"...and yeah listen to my list!)

find it weird when ppl get to arguing about what is 'danceable' or not. everything is danceable in the right context imo.

otm post in general, but why cloud the issue w/ concerns about the kind of people who presumably promote and/or like the track and whether or not they're the right kind of people doing it the right way? understand that club music has a functional aspect, but isn't it okay to approach tunes as tunes, social politics aside, even if you're all indie or whatever?

― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Friday, January 28, 2011 9:55 AM (30 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

my approach involves looking at the intersection of aesthetics and to what degree aesthetics are coded for their audience -- the audience interests me insofar as it helps i.d. what values are place on certain aesthetic moves by that audience -- doesnt mean there's something wrong w/ these choices, until u start constructing heirarchies that privilege certain values over others. i find that certain *types* of uk dance music that do make it over here seem to crossover w/ idm nerds but not 'people who like to go out & dance,' and that the reason for this isnt a simple matter of exposure but is based in intrinsic aesthetic characteristics of the music itself (or at least, how populations relate to that)

i think "hard in da paint" is super danceable. the objections are for the same reason though? neither "wut" nor "paint" have a particularly high bpm so you do have to slow things down a bit. def think that an entire night without anything at a higher bpm would bore me but that's not really the point with consciously BIG ANTHEMS like those two.

yeah i dance to hard in the the paint most mornings before work

find it weird when ppl get to arguing about what is 'danceable' or not. everything is danceable in the right context imo.

― whitney from mtv's the city (tpp), Friday, January 28, 2011 10:02 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

im 100% on board w/ this as a dj but it requires contextualizing of 'obviously-danceable' to play 'is it danceable?' tracks. for the purposes of discussion here, im suggesting that 'wut' would never be contextual-'obviously danceable' music in the states

Wut has considerably more bounce than Hard In Da Paint. It's weird that the only rap songs in this poll I wasn't 100% down with were that and the Rick Ross song so maybe I just can't 'get' this very particular aesthetic.

i think something that puts me off from 'wut' and nightslugs / that scene's music in general is that there is no comparable club scene in the states that it could fit in w/ and as a result the only way it ends up coming here is gonna be thru the idm nerd/critic /stoner super-male circle jerk

Actually there is, Kingdom has (or at least had) a couple of regular nights in New York. As a "scene" Night Slugs is pretty small, it and stuff like it don't really exist outside a handful of nights in London either.