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

terje should have been higher. and the lack of omar-s is totally baffling to me!

no lex, i hadn't

i think it's interesting how much more personalized 'tastes' seem to be getting, to the point that this list actually represents a lot of tastes that reach a certain group of people on ilx & when the right ppl cosign it, they sort of pick up steam. i'm think of, like, the love for 'drums' of course, and 'sure thing,' probably some others here; i guess this has happened for awhile, you could say the early interest in gucci was fairly ilx-centric, at least as far as critics go. Because I haven't seen much critic / blog love for "sure thing" or "drums" outside of ilx

anyway, i like 'drums' but think 'sure thing' is just ok, so this isn't a diss or w/e, just ~thinkin baout things~

seems like critic taste is more fragmented & localized on this new internets, moreso this year than in year's past, or maybe that's just more my perception this year than in years past, but anyway thought it was interesting

― guilt is a useless emoticon (D-40), Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:38 PM (4 hours ago)

how does it make any sense to lump 'sure thing' in together with 'drums'? the former was a huge hit! i mean i'm laughing as much as you are at ppl who know every note of the weeknd and all the other fake r&b blog songs but are just now discovering shit that dominated r&b charts like 'sure thing' and 'motivation', but 'sure thing' placing this well seems like a small victory to me

im talking about critics

sure thing & drums, from a critical perspective, are ILX-only phenomenons, as far as I'm aware

unless i missed like a stereogum piece on miguel or something

i mean, i'm not complaining about that, just observing that we can have our own little niche favorites from the pop charts or from the obscure reaches, it doesn't matter -- that i feel like that's happening more now, where small communities will pursue their own aesthetic preferences right into the wormhole so to speak

very glad I removed Video Games from my ballot at the last minute, there is no way that was the best song of 2011.

2nd best.

Yeah, I thought about including "Video Games," said to myself "Nah, it doesn't need my help," and left it off.

my invaluable perspective

Selena Gomez & The Scene – Love You Like A Love Song

YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE 1/10

Gang Gang Dance – Glass Jar

STARTS AWESOME ALL WOBBLY SYNTHS THEN THE BEAT BRINGS US BACK TO PLANET POP 7/10

Pistol Annies – Hell On Heels

NO TAYLOR SWIFT OR LADY ANTEBELLUM TO THRESH CORN TO THIS YEAR, AT LEAST THE ‘NIES DON’T HAVE A SHITTY NUPOP BEAT ON TOP 7/10

tUnE-yArDS – Bizness

PITTED AGAINST MICACHU, DIFFERENCE IS DISSONANCE (AND LACK OF COD-AFRICAN BLATHER) 3/10

Mogwai – Music For A Forgotten Future (The Singing Mountain)

ABSOLUTELY FUCKING BEAUTIFUL, THEIR GREATEST WORK, MY #4 10/10

The Joy Formidable – Whirring

NOT BAD, WOULD BE DULL BUT FOR THE FINAL ACT, SOUNDS LIKE AN ENGINEERS B-SIDE UNTIL THEN 7/10

Junior Boys – Banana Ripple

OK, ROUTINE, LONG 6/10

Big Sean ft Nicki Minaj – Dance (A$$) Remix

IT SEEMS ILM SKEWS ASS 2/10

Invisible Conga People – In A Hole

IF I SMAEKED MORE WID I MIGHT ‘VIBE’ 2 THIS, DIG THE LO-FI PRODUCTION, GETS AN EXTRA POINT FOR ECHOTASTIC OUTRO 8/10

Barbara Panther – Moonlightpeople

DECENT SYNTHESIS OF CLASSICAL POP VOX + CUTTING-EDGE HERBERTZ, I WAS DIVERTED 7/10

3BallMTY ft. El Bebeto & America Sierra – Inténtalo

UNREPENTANTLY GARISH 4/10

Tuccillo – Disco En Paradiso

ILM! ILM! ILM! ILM! ILM! ILM! ILM! ILM! *set to four-on-the-floor beat* AH FINE YOU CAN HAVE THIS ONE 8/10

John Talabot ft Glasser – Families

I’VE COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT THAT 5/6 OF THIS LIST WILL BE TRENDY ELECTROPOP BUT CAN IT AT LEAST BE EXCITING 3/10

Diddy – Dirty Money ft Skylar Grey – Coming Home

DON’T YOU LOVE HOW CHART RAPPERS DEMONSTRATE THEIR ECLECTIC RANGE OF TASTES AND INFLUENCES BY EXPRESSING A DEEP AND ABIDING LOVE OF COLDPLAY 2/10

Steffi ft Virginia – Yours

CAN IT AT LEAST BE EXCITING 3/10

Locussolus – I Want It (Lindstrom & Prins Thomas Remix)

ENOUGH ALREADY (GETS BETTER BUT ONLY AFTER I’D HAVE TURNED IT OFF IN LESS EXHAUSTIVE CIRCUMSTANCES) 5/10

St Vincent – Surgeon

NOT UP THERE WITH ACTOR’S FINEST 7/10

DJ Quik ft Sugar Free & TYS – Nobody

CATCHY, NEAT PRODUCTION TOUCHES, SUITS HEADPHONES 7/10

Yuck – Get Away

ISN’T EVEN ILM-BAIT, LIKED THE FIRST 15 SECONDS THO 2/10

The Go! Team ft Bethany Consantino – Buy Nothing Day

EXACTLY THREE AND A HALF TIMES BETTER THAN YUCK 7/10

Battles ft Matias Aguero – Ice Cream

WASN’T FULLY INTO THIS UNTIL THAT COUNTERPOINT GUITAR LICK 8/10

Wild Flag – Romance

REDEEMED BY THE ORGAN 6/10

Gang Gang Dance – MindKilla

FLITTED BY WITHOUT LEAVING ANY SORT OF IMPRESSION, SADLY 5/10

Danny Daze ft Louisahhh! – Your Everything

SCORE ONE FOR THE LEX 8/10

Kate Bush – Snowflake

MISTY WAS MY #7, CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO VOTE FOR THE ALBUM 10/10

Beyonce – 1+1

TRIES SO HARD AND IS REWARDED BY BEING SUPERIOR CHINTZ 5/10

Konshens – Nuh Pull It Up

FOR A SONG WITH SO MANY SONIC LAYERS IT DOES LITTLE FOR ME 6/10

Confounded – Little Dog

LO-FI FIELD-RECORDING AMBIENCES NEVER HURT ANYONE 5/10

Frank Ocean – Swim Good

GULLS! NOW I GET IT! 3/10

Teengirl Fantasy – Cheaters (John Talabot Remix)

HAD TO DELETE MY ORIGINAL REVIEW, COMPLIMENT INTENDED 8/10

Katy B – Easy Please Me

I HOPE THE POOL SOUNDS ARE IN THE ACTUAL SONG TOO 5/10

Creep ft Nina Sky – You

ATTACK OF THE BREATHY VOCALS 5/10

Benoit & Sergio – Walk And Talk

INDISTINGUISHABLE 3/10

Waka Flocka Flame ft Kebo Gotti – Grove Street Party

THIS & I FUCK NOT 2/10

Nadia Oh – Taking Over The Dancefloor

WEIRDLY LUMBERING 5/10

John Maus – Hey Moon

OH THIS IS MAKING A FUCKING BIG EFFORT TO SWEET-TALK MY INNER TEN YEAR-OLD 8/10

The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love?

I’M BEGINNING TO THINK THAT THE RAPTURE & I SHOULD HAVE PARTIED MORE OFTEN, THIS REMINDS ME IF ANYTHING OF ‘HOW TO OPERATE WITH A BLOWN MIND’ SANS MR TRAIN 9/10

Beyonce – Schoolin’ Life

PLENTY O’ SURFACE, NO HEART 4/10

Gotye ft Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know

CATCHY CHORUS FAILS TO OFFSET UNFORTUNATELY AUDIBLE LYRICS 3/10

2NE1 – I Am The Best

WHY AM I GRINNING 8/10

Wilco – One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)

ABSOLUTELY FUCKING BEAUTIFUL, THEIR GREATEST WORK (ESPECIALLY THE LAST 3 MINUTES), MY #5 10/10

Pitbull ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer – Give Me Everything

FUCK OFF. FUCK OFF NOW. FUCK OFF WITH YOUR VOCAL HARMONIES AND YOUR CATCHY CHORUS 5/10

Jay-Z and Kanye West – Niggas In Paris

MY FAVOURITE TRACK OFF MBDTF IS NOW ‘HELL OF A LIFE’ BTW 5/10

Rebecca Friday – Black

IT’S FRIDAY (IT IS! IT REALLY IS! SHE HAS COPYRIGHTED 1/7 OF MY LIFE!) 11/10

Fucked Up – Queen Of Hearts

HOLY FUCKING SHIT I’M STICKING THIS ON AGAIN 9/10

Terror Danjah ft Ruby Lee Ryder – Full Attention

MORE AUTECHRE 5/10

Seany Mac – One Of Those Days (Organ Mix)

THE SWEET SUMMER SISTER OF ‘FULL ATTENTION’ 5/10

Big K.R.I.T. ft 2 Chainz, 8Ball & MJG – Money On The Floor

NOW YOU NEED A BANDNAME 2/10

Destroyer – Kaputt

AS I WRITE THERE REMAIN FOUR MINUTES 2/10

PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder

VERY INTERESTING, DOESN’T STICK THE LANDING 7/10

Robyn – Call Your Girlfriend

MY WIFE POINTED OUT ROBYN TO ME ON THE TUBE RECENTLY, I DID NOT GET IT AND I STILL DO NOT (EDIT: 2.5 MINUTES IN THIS SUDDENLY CLICKS INTO POSITION) 7/10

Katy B – Broken Record

HOWEVER GOOD THIS IS, THERE ARE TWO KATY BS AND ONE KATE BUSH SO FAR 7/10

Joe Goddard ft Valentina – Gabriel

HER WAILING IS KINDA PERSUASIVE HUH 7/10

Nyan Cat – Nyan Cat Theme

4CHAN IS A BOMB OF LOVE 8/10

Jacques Greene – Another Girl

DOES MORE THAN A LITTLE WITH VERY, VERY LITTLE 6/10

Rihanna – We Found Love

EXTRA POINT FOR THE AGYNESS DEYN BIT 3/10

Diddy – Dirty Money – Sade

EXACTLY FOUR AND A HALF TIMES BETTER THAN THE OTHER DDM SONG, DUDE’S ON A SONG WITH THESE FUCKING SONICS? 9/10

Tyler, The Creator – Yonkers

LISTENING TO THIS WITHOUT WATCHING THE VIDEO FOR THE FIRST TIME, IT IS PROBABLY WORTHY OF 7/10 IN THIS CONTEXT, WHICH IS THE CONTEXT I HAVE CHOSEN

Destroyer – The Laziest River

HAD BETTER NOT BE 20 MINUTES OF WHATEVER THAT LAST DESTROYER TRACK WAS. *20 MINUTES PASS* OK SEVERAL THINGS. 1) BRING BACK LANSING-DREIDEN FFS 2) EXACTLY FOUR TI…ETC 3) I HAVE NO INTEREST IN LISTENING TO DESTROYER AFTER TONIGHT BUT 4) THIS IS SOME GORGEOUS ACCIDENCE OF SOUND DESPITE BEING 5) MARRED WHEN THE VOX COME IN JUST AFTER THE 10-MINUTE MARK, CAN’T IT JUST HAVE CARRIED ON LIKE THAT OK 6) I THINK YOU GET THE POINT NOW 8/10

EMA – California

DOESN’T QUITE REACH THE SKITTISH HALCYON IT SEEKS 6/10

Frank Ocean – Novacane

HIT THE ROAD! EXPRESSWAY! EXPLODE! 6/10

Benoit & Sergio – What I’ve Lost

MUSIC FOR BESPOKE CLUBWEAR 5/10

Emeli Sande – Heaven

MUSIC FOR BESPOKE CLUBWEAR IN 1996 5/10

Kelly Rowland ft Little Wayne – Motivation

I CANNOT VIBE 2 ANYTHING WHEN THERE IS A WEAPONS-GRADE TERRIBLE RAP OCCURRING 3/10

JoJo – Marvin’s Room (Can’t Do Better)

I PREFERRED IT WHEN SHE SLOWED BIEBER DOWN 8X 4/10

Cass McCombs – County Line

SET LASERS TO ‘DEAFEN’ 2/10

Blawan – Getting Me Down

JUDGE JUSTICE TOONVOICE RETROHOUSE WOULD BE A PASSABLE NAME FOR A LAWGIVER 6/10

Kreayshawn – Gucci Gucci

BITCHES EVERYONE, BITCHES. BITCHES. 5/10

M83 – Midnight City

NEXT YEAR, PLZ DO ME A FAVOUR AND EXCLUDE PITCHFORK PLACEMENT FROM THE TRACKS’ WRITE-UPS 3/10

Desloc Piccalo ft Adiah – Drumz

IT’S COOL WHEN SHE SINGS INTO YR EAR HALFWAY THROUGH AND I’M REAL HAPPY FOR U ILM BUT I MUST GRACEFULLY DECLINE, I HAVE NO SOUL THOUGH AS YOU’RE AWARE 5/10

Britney Spears – Till The World Ends

AS RECOMPENSE TO JORDY S AFTER THE ABOVE ATROCITY I WILL SIMPLY QUOTE HIM WHOLESALE: idk i just think she falls into the category of pop stars who ppl pretend are much better than they are out of a desire to have BIG POP STARS... and i think a lot of it has to do w/ the cult of her celebrity going back a few years 3/10

Miguel – Sure Thing

THIS TOP 20 IS PRETTY ME-RESISTANT EVEN BY USUAL STANDARDS, YET ONWARDS I WRIGGLE 3/10

Todd Terje – Snooze 4 Love

CAN GET W/ THIS DESPITE ITS ODIOUS PERFECTION 7/10

Beyonce – Countdown

DRUMS IN THE CHORUS ARE OFF. THE. CRAY. 8/10

Nicki Minaj – Super Bass

I JUST REALISED THAT ILM IS NEVER GOING TO BE ANY OTHER WAY NOW, NOT NOW – AN EMPOWERING AND LIBERATING THOUGHT, AND THIS AIN’T SO BAD ANYHOW 6/10

Lana Del Ray – Video Games

THE HARP THAT MAKETH PROFUNDITY 8/10

Azealia Banks ft Lazy Jay – 212

IF STUPID HOE WINS TRAXPOLL ’12 THEN I AM SUGGEST BANNING EVERY SINGLE POSTER ON ILX, TWICE 8/10

<3

i chose not to vote so i have no particular stake but i was happy to see nyan and 'what i've lost'. also GGD are the worst band in existence imo

sure thing & drums, from a critical perspective, are ILX-only phenomenons, as far as I'm aware

― guilt is a useless emoticon (D-40), Thursday, January 26, 2012 8:35 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but the difference is one song was THE BIGGEST SONG ON URBAN RADIO FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR and shit. plus pretty much every critic that voted in the ilx poll voted in p&j, where "sure thing" placed #68, which suggests that most of the ilx voters for the song were not critics.

Lol at "little Wayne"

plus pretty much every critic that voted in the ilx poll voted in p&j, where "sure thing" placed #68, which suggests that most of the ilx voters for the song were not critics.

Maybe I should rename myself "I Love Pedantry 2" but doesn't this comparison only really suggest that P&J has more voters to dilute the effect of ilx critics?

I mean you may be right but the above link doesn't hold for me.

btw if anyone's interested and, like me, can't access spotify here's a youtube playlist of the top 77 (minus confounded's song and diddy dirty money - sade) :

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0CFEB9BF2C7D6204

thanks Jibe!

heh is "once a week is enough" LJ? at times in that amusing rundown i was sure it was, and at other times was like "nah it can't be"

y

NEXT YEAR, PLZ DO ME A FAVOUR AND EXCLUDE PITCHFORK PLACEMENT FROM THE TRACKS’ WRITE-UPS 3/10

otm! (res adv rankings could've been pertinent to this list)

Lana Del Ray – Video Games

THE HARP THAT MAKETH PROFUNDITY 8/10

irl lol

sure thing & drums, from a critical perspective, are ILX-only phenomenons, as far as I'm aware

the problem is not "us" going into our "wormhole", the problem is other critics as far as i'm concerned

b/c both of those songs should have been ubiquitous and universally lauded

woohoo
great list
wonderful to see britney and todd terje in the top ten

" heh is "once a week is enough" LJ?"

Took you long enough to notice!

I think the very ILMness of this list reflects how songs work in real-world social spheres rather than critical ones, one of the most fun things about music is having group anthems that feel like they're personal to your circle of friends. That's what Drumz in particular feels like.

Thanks for all the work JF, especially the jpegs. A great finish too.

Makes me want to change the way I use ILX a bit. I tend to get locked into posting a lot on certain debate-heavy threads and bypassing the individual song ones, hence my "wha?" face in response to tunes that Tim, Matt, Lex, etc have been raving about for months.

I think my favourite new thing from this list has to be the Cass McCoombs song, I'm getting Wichita Lineman rather than Wicked Game but it's not really hugely like either. It totally nails that whole blue-eyed country soul vibe though because he's a good enough singer to pull it off, in a way that someone like Kurt Wagner isn't no matter how great the songwriting may be.

seany mac, 3ball mty, cass mccombs and 2ne1 were the new-to-me tracks that are keepers for me. seany mac would certainly have got a vote from me if i'd heard it last year.

breakdown by nationality of lead artist (i counted nyan cat as japan and assumed "confounded" is american):

USA (22): Selena Gomez & The Scene, Gang Gang Dance (2), Pistol Annies, Tune-Yards, Big Sean, Invisible Conga People, Diddy Dirty Money (2), St Vincent, DJ Quik, Battles, Wild Flag, Danny Daze, Beyoncé (3), Confounded, Frank Ocean (2), Teengirl Fantasy, Creep, Benoit & Sergio (2), Waka Flocka Flame, John Maus, The Rapture, Wilco, Pitbull, Jay-Z & Kanye West, Rebecca Black, Big K.R.I.T., Tyler The Creator, EMA, Kelly Rowland, JoJo, Cass McCombs, Kreayshawn, Desloc Piccalo, Britney Spears, Lana Del Rey, Azealia Banks
GBR (15): Mogwai, The Joy Formidable, Locussolus, Yuck, The Go Team, Kate Bush, Katy B (2), Nadia Oh, Terror Danjah, Seany Mac, PJ Harvey, Joe Goddard, Emeli Sandé, Blawan
CAN (5): Junior Boys, Fucked Up, Destroyer (2), Jacques Greene
AUS: Gotye
BAR: Rihanna
ESP: John Talabot
FRA: M83
GER: Barbara Panther
ITA: Tuccillo
JAM: Konshens
JPN: Nyan Cat
KOR: 2NE1
MEX: 3BallMTY
NED: Steffi
NOR: Todd Terje
SWE: Robyn
TRI: Nicki Minaj

Germany and Jamaica can be a bit disappointed with their performance - the tabloids at home are photoshopping the manager's face onto a turnip.

really thought meek mill would place somewhere

Little disappointed that there wasn't enough of an Ill Blu bandwagon to get them in.

Also WTF Nadia Oh is British?!

i think there were almost too many great dancehall tracks of roughly equivalent quality and little consensus around which ones were the best.

nadia oh's real name is nadia oates

Germany and Jamaica can be a bit disappointed with their performance - the tabloids at home are photoshopping the manager's face onto a turnip.

and GER's one representative was born in Rwanda! (moved to GER as a child though)

Barbara Panther isn't German, she's Belgian (of Rwandan descent). Her English accent most definitely isn't German, though I think she lives in Berlin now.

It was an interesting rundown, just kind of a shame I didn't really like very many of them all that much (still around 15 I haven't played yet though). That being said, I'm not sure this is the best way to hear new things, at work, one after the other, forming an opinion right then and there

xxp in that case, shouldn't Nicki count as an American?

But yeah, was surprised that there are no (if you don't count Panther) German artists in the poll this year... Bad year for German electronic music, or doesn't ILM love it anymore?

maybe, like the metallers, that faction just didn't vote.

Number of tracks in this year's list that I'd never heard of before (not(not just "never heard" - "never heard OF"): 31.

I'm getting old. :-(

I had assumed Steffi was German because she's so associated with Berlin. Generally it does feel a bit like the focus has shifted a bit away from Germany and towards Scandinavia and Britain over the last few years, if only because Germany was so dominant for so long.

Germany still feels like a hub, it just happens that this year's dance anthems were by people who don't actually *come from* Germany, though Steffi lives and works there and Talabot has released his album on a German label

one of the most fun things about music is having group anthems that feel like they're personal to your circle of friends.

Huh. I don't think I have ever had this experience.

Less and less so for me I think - maybe when I was a teenager. I really need to get some IRL friends who like decent music.

Huh. I don't think I have ever had this experience
butter rolls!!!

Ha, I don't know if that counts, but maybe.

that Blawan track is amazing! cant remember a track poll with so many songs i wasnt familiar with!

that Blawan track is amazing!

Yes, totally. Hadn't bothered checking it out cos I wasn't really into his other stuff that I heard this year but damn. Has been totally lodged in my brain for the last 24 hrs w/ no sign of leaving any day soon.

Blawan is the guy who makes big clonky drum-led post-dubstep, right? Don't know if I've heard this track yet.

Yeah that's right. This is just a liiiittle bit catchier though.

Bass is still pretty aggro though.