ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2011 (Los resultados!)

Finish it on Thursday, please. I'm really busy Friday :/

and yeah, I don't have any sort of investment in Kate Bush like some of you do, but I totally understand how that brings forth nuances in a performers work that may not be obvious to the less invested

i think in terms of how i think of them as musicians getting older, paul simon is the comparison i would make

to kate bush i mean

good job dismissing wild flag as "old people playing at being rockstars" immediately after praising dj quik

Quik & Suga are oldsters sure, but the Wild Flag song sounds like it's going for some Youth Generation Anthem thing that really rings false, whereas Quik/Suga are just goofing off and being themselves, you know?

i'm assuming he doesn't know

Konshens was very high up on my list, very pleased to see it place. Don't understand criticisms about the beat upthread - it's totally insane!

finally 2 things i voted for today:
GANG GANG DANCE "Mindkilla"
best track on Eye Contact, closest sibling to House Jam

FRANK OCEAN "Swim Good"
so so smooth. true its not his best vocal performance but doesn't really detract either. good subtle tension between relaxed and uh emo

indie's been my bread and butter for the last 18 years so thanks spotify playlists for getting me to vote for Schoolboy Q, Big K.R.I.T., Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Lucci, Niki & the Dove

zan with that lean or weed & shoes could place

did toot it & boot it place last year? i remember tpp & i both had it as #1 but can't remember if it hit 77

i have a feeling that goons will have quite an influence on the album list more. hiphop was more about really good mixtapes in 2011 and no real singles to pick from them imo. Like it would be easier just picking Return of 4EVA than just 1 KRIT song? I dunno.

maybe this is why i wasnt into much rap this year? hate mixtapes

r.i.p. the goon influence

maybe jay r - fuck'd up will place !! was on my ballot, rev made a thread about it

I voted for it, don't think that many people really picked it up.

last lot for today:

50 - CONFOUNDED "Little Dog" (235 Points, 7 Votes, 3 First-Place Votes)
Lol. I only made it two minutes in. I wonder if that's plus or minus how far I'd make it into the real version, but I'm not in a hurry to find out.

49 - FRANK OCEAN "Swim Good" (240 Points, 9 Votes)
I still think this guy is pretty much weak sauce, especially as a singer. But his biggest problem is lack of charm, rather than chops. The way he breaks up the word "funeral" bugs the fuck outta me. I can never remember how this song goes, which is fine.

48 - TEENGIRL FANTASY "Cheaters (John Talabot Remix)" (243 Points, 11 Votes)
Oh man, I love the vocals on this. This is way better than the other Talabot joint. Totally classicist, but in the best way.

47 - KATY B "Easy Please Me" (244 Points, 9 Votes)
One thing I love about Katy B is her casual touch and I feel like it comes across best in this song. She's not up in the club, she's chilling at her neighborhood regular. Even as she's wary, she's easygoing. I'm glad someone commented on my favorite line, "Now I love a bad boy mentality, but I don't want to be visiting no jail." That's real.

46 - CREEP ft. NINA SKY "You" (245 Points, 10 Votes)
This has this perfect balance of warm, intimate vocal and cold, distant track playing with, off, and against each other, the Ninas trying to seduce and envelop the track and never quite succeeding. I wish I would have had room to vote for this.

45 - BENOIT & SERGIO "Walk and Talk" (246 Points, 9 Points)
It's those fucking k-hole vocals again. This would be a lot better as an instrumental but still not that great.

44 - WAKA FLOCKA FLAME ft. KEBO GOTTI "Grove Street Party" (248 Points, 10 Votes)
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. That main synth line is soo weird and alien sounding and I love it. Voted for the album last year, didn't really need to vote for this again.

43 - NADIA OH "Taking Over the Dancefloor" (255 Points, 9 Votes, 1 First-Place Vote)
Yeah, the song is slight, but so what? The dembow beat remains total catnip to me and "up in the clubbington" always makes me smile.

42 - JOHN MAUS "Hey Moon" (257 Points, 8 Votes)
Is this supposed to be memorable?

41 - THE RAPTURE "How Deep Is Your Love?" (257 Points, 11 Votes)
This is OK, but these guys don't really feel like they have a raison d'être anymore.

tired of all these 2010 grove st. snobs, that shit was a SMASH in 2011

I don't care about ppl voting for it this year, and I always come down on the "year of impact" side of this issue, but it for me personally it made its impact last year.

yeah i guess. i voted for Flockaveli and LTTP in the albums poll last year, but was happy to vote for songs from them in the tracks poll this year.

i cant remember if i voted for 'zan wit that lean' but i dont think any of my rap pix were particularly goonish this year. mostly i was bummed that cloud skatin' didnt even got nominated so i voted for indie dance 7"s

i voted for 'walk & talk' half as a nod towards b&s oeuvre but i do think its a fantastic track but i dig that disaffected glide so much...

i have no real opinions abt any other song that placed today except the cheaters remix which is p good

Anyway, I'm glad a lot of people are enjoying "Inténtalo." I'm pretty sure this is the first commercial hit in this genre. I'm excited to see how it develops, how it unfolds in and outside of Mexico.

And the latest fauxmarc recommended (mostly) tribal mixtape:

http://soundcloud.com/panamerika/tropic-all-mixtape-por-javier

good lookin out

it is a piano house jam!

btw did that Magician solo single get nommed? forgot to look for it when I was slashing the xls down to a longlist

Stop saying the songs I like are bad. I'll kill you.

(I guess I lied and it's not really mostly tribal, but the other part is moombahton. Where is scott?)

Thanks rudipherous!

tired of all these 2010 grove st. snobs, that shit was a SMASH in 2011

yeah, it made my list because i heard it in the club all year. "thugged out ecstasy rap" so otm. i liked "round of applause" too (not quite as much) and almost nominated it, but i didn't want to split waka's votes.

rev on fire ITT! couldn't agree more re: benoit & sergio.

Unlike Steffi, this isn't doing anything to dispel my notion that house has become deeply boring in the past couple years.

thought i might like the steffi but it feels much too...plain? rev- i definitely share your sense of dissatisfaction with house lately, but i'd include "yours" with the evidence. lex right on comparing it to "the l word", which i prefer but ultimately cut from my ballot.

slept on the konshens! so far i voted for waka and creep. wondering if miguel or jojo will place. felt like those were votes of mine that might actually make it (other than the obvious ones). kinda thought something like jam city might place low. doesn't seem likely if he hasn't already.

glad to see so many tracks i voted for showing up!

66 - TUCCILLO "Disco en Paradiso" (200 Points, 8 Votes, 1 First-Place Vote) - thank u ILX for alerting me to this one, so jaunty
63 - STEFFI ft. VIRGINIA "Yours" (208 Points, 10 Votes, 1 First-Place Vote) - 2011 was a good year for accessible yet bobbins-y vocal house tunes
54 - DANNY DAZE ft. LOUISAHHH!!! "Your Everything" (228 Points, 8 Votes) - again, 2011 was a good year... this one has been showing up in all kinds of mixes and i'm never disappointed when it does
48 - TEENGIRL FANTASY "Cheaters (John Talabot Remix)" (243 Points, 11 Votes) - after i heard stirmonster play this at public works i became even more obsessed with this than i already was
45 - BENOIT & SERGIO "Walk and Talk" (246 Points, 9 Points) - one of my noms! top 5 for me for sure, tho i like p much all the b&s songs i've come across

tho i did not vote for them, i am damn pleased to see invisible conga people, john talabot, locussolus/l&pt, john maus and the rapture place. i'm also p down with the junior boys, quik, and kate bush tracks

xp: Yeah, you're right. "Yours" doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before, but it does what it does well.

"yours" isn't a track that slaps you across the face, but it grew on me in a big way and now listening to it is like sinking into a warm bath.

listened to the talabot remix of "cheaters" again and it just doesn't do it for me, i mean i love the chords right from the start, but then there isn't really anything else that kept my interest.

my favorite thing i didn't vote for is "grove st. party"

yeah I was thinking that while grove st. party sounded good in the context of the album, it sounds fantastic hearing it by itself months later

one of the things I like about walk & talk is the way the sibilance and slurring of the vocals and backwards vocal loops really add to the sadness/menace of the lyrics. the whole thing just seems suspended in another dimension

vocals on ggd - mindkilla are a little kate bushy is places

"leave it open"!

hiphop was more about really good mixtapes in 2011

i felt hiphop as more about really good youtubes in 2011.

i wouldn't write off the goon influence just yet.

i have a horrible feeling i cut "money on the floor" from my ballot at the last min

i felt hiphop as more about really good youtubes in 2011.

if you basically mean "dope individual songs that didn't really emerge with much promo or fanfare" than yeah but this has been the case for a while now. though i am always reminded of how little i share the goon crew's actual taste in rap.

i'd say if anything stymied the goon influence in this poll it's half of them not bothering to vote.

otm

Three of my list so far (Tucillo/Battles/Creep ft Nina Sky), I reckon another 7 are locks for the top 40 and another 3 or 4 are possibles. Though this listing seems more unpredictable than recent years.

good to see maus placing
saad to see no saade even on the ballot :(

that disco en paradiso riff is too sweet

rapture - how deep is your love?
this sounds like an amazing hercules & love affair song mistakenly given to the wrong vocalist. i actually do love everything about it except his voice which is way worse when he's "trying to sing" than when he just yelped in "sister saviour" or "out of the races..." (both of which i like) (well, the tiefschwarz remix of the former). aargh the "let me hear that song" bit pains me cuz i can hear how it should be SO AMAZING and then you've got fucking HIM ruining it.

john maus - hey moon
not bad but that reverb effect all over it is so done to death and was never that great in the first place. nice background music though.

i was thinking hercules & love affair all the way through that locussolus song but with dj slugo style vocals

really love the venus build up on it btw

Given what we've seen so far I'm wondering whether Snooze 4 Love has a chance of cracking the top 10.

i would bet on that

I love the Locossolus track apart from the faux-daft punk "I want it/You got it" bit which doesn't fit very well. Happily take those bits out.

Not feeling the Talabot tracks so far, sorry...

I missed some out, ones i can remember

Frank Ocean - Sad Mascara. I'm not really into middle distance starers
Benoit & Serge - Better than i thought it would be
Tucillo - this would probably be ok without the bassline
Rapture - lol I know this one, didnt notice the thong song bit before. Its ok i guess
Katy B - Hate her accent can't listen to this
John Maus - forgot what i was going to say - is he another sad mascara man?
Nina - thin production dont like
Teengirl Fantasy - Beautiful Swimmers mix is way better than Talabots!

I think I must be the only one who finds the vocals on the Teengirl Fantasy really annoying. Similarly, Glasser's vocal on Families does nothing for me - just meanders around, never really settling in. Might need to give these another spin.

def jeff agree with the point about glasser
would have been nice to hear something with a scandinavian twang there

Too many sadsack Scandinavian vocals in this scene as it is.

Guess I really need to track that Beautiful Swimmers mix down, I like their original productions.

nah