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

2011 was heavier on dance tracks... maybe it was a great year for dance, maybe it was just a quirk of who voted this year

i think the middle of these lists always feel pretty attuned to what has been championed on ilm but maybe not in other places, but once the top 10 or 15 rolls around, it usually falls back in line w/ maybe one or two exceptions

and there is some truth to lex's protests about comparing this list to pitchfork's... last year we had "hard in da paint" and "wut" as the top 2 tracks, which was out of line w/ the top finishers at pitchfork and pazz and jop, but not, say, fact or some rap publications

All I am saying is this:

I am someone who keeps up with music (in a dilettantish way) well enough to know most of the tracks in the top 20 of P&J and P4k each year.

In 2006 this meant that I also knew pretty much all of the tracks in the top 20 of the ILM poll. However, in 2011 I can no longer say this is true.

Since I have used objective data to determine that the ILM poll no longer resembles P&J and P4k as closely as it once did, I think it's fair to make the case that ILM has changed.

lol u old

It's certainly plausible that the Sandbox had a weird effect on the poll, but I'm not sure what that effect would be. I *was* nervous that we might not get as many voters as a result, but in the end we got more than last year.

jaymc is exactly right, and i cant even understand what it is about what he's saying that lex is so incredibly resistant to

Game's the same, just got more fierce

we're saying that over time, ILM has become less similar to a sort of larger critical consensus and has found its own particular enthusiasms & quirks of taste. I think that's fairly correct.

or i should say, that's a theory based upon the evidence jaymc has brought to the table here

Lol gr8080

No objection here to adding placings from RA for next year. I had thought about adding stats for a bunch of EOY lists for the big spreadsheet, but the first list I looked at was The Wire and I realised more than half of those albums hadn't been nominated and decided maybe it wasn't worth my time.

or i should say, that's a theory based upon the evidence jaymc has brought to the table here

― guilt is a useless emoticon (D-40), Friday, January 27, 2012 5:42 PM (50 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it might be true... it's also hard to assert as fact based on two years of data

yeah, but it also feels correct to me, and lex's counterarguments havent been very convincing

ILX has more posters/traffic than ever before, and in 2012 we'll likely see that trend play out even further

more people = more diversity?

also (speaking for myself here) there may be a conviction to use your ballot to champion certain songs... and after seeing that effect play out with one or two songs the year before, more people change their voting behavior the following year.

i know seeing "wut" in the #1 spot last year affected the way i voted this year.

and year after year, we get further away from p+j/p4k territory

but to me the 2006 and 2011 lists look pretty similar.

They don't at all to me. The 2006 list is a blend of genuine US/UK pop hits and standout singles from well-received albums. The electronic/dance tracks on the list are all indie-crossover artists: Junior Boys, the Knife, Hot Chip.

The 2011 list, while retaining some of the above, also includes a smattering of R&B and dance songs that never quite crossed over beyond their respective genres.

It's pretty obvious that some group sensibilities/obsessions are more prevalent on ILM than elsewhere. Maybe one difference compared to e.g. Pitchfork is that if you're active on ILM you are by definition interacting with the other members and therefore more likely to affect/be affected by their taste; if you're writing for Pitchfork I assume you can happily avoid chatting with other contributors. Also, new people who encounter ILM and decide to stay are presumably attracted by some sensibility that they think is cool, and hence some tastes will be reinforced over time (other tastes will of course diminish though).

Thinking about trends that I strongly associate with ILM polls, the first things that come to mind are:

- Beach jams
- 20+ minute songs
- Internet memes
- Sad electropop

ILM subcommunities also have their own idiosyncracies, e.g. the metal poll was full of chat about "ILM metal".

All this is orthogonal to the question of why particular songs get picked up while other similar songs don't (deej talked about this upthread, I think). I guess that sometimes depends on what thread a song gets posted on, it definitely depends on who posts and reps for it and some of it is just random.

ILX has more posters/traffic than ever before, and in 2012 we'll likely see that trend play out even further

more people = more diversity?

― ⚓ (gr8080), vrijdag 27 januari 2012 23:45 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I would like to believe this will be the case, but don't think it play out like that. I feel all corners of the room, all different shades are being covered already. If more people will come (I do hope so), I think they will only underline the biggest trends and tastes.

All I am saying is this:

I am someone who keeps up with music (in a dilettantish way) well enough to know most of the tracks in the top 20 of P&J and P4k each year.

In 2006 this meant that I also knew pretty much all of the tracks in the top 20 of the ILM poll. However, in 2011 I can no longer say this is true.

Since I have used objective data to determine that the ILM poll no longer resembles P&J and P4k as closely as it once did, I think it's fair to make the case that ILM has changed.

― jaymc, Friday, January 27, 2012 5:38 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

all motion is relative. perhaps it is ILM which has moved away - by standing still.

I think when ILM started in 2000, there was a distinct difference from the critical orthodoxy (poptimism, etc.). And then perhaps by mid-decade, the orthodoxy had shifted so that it was more closely aligned with the ILM sensibility.

Within the past few years, there do seem to be more discrepancies, but because the board has expanded and diversified so much, I'd argue that it's much more difficult to encapsulate an "ILM sensibility" and that any notion of such a thing is merely the inevitable influence of the board's most dominant factions.

did goons do their own invite-only thread this year? can they still?

― ⚓ (gr8080), Friday, January 27, 2012 4:34 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i don't want this to get lost--goon poll last year was great imo

I always feel like ILX broke p big with Pitchfork/P&J/"mainstream critical consensus" in 2008--based on my intuition after checking out the albums EoY poll--but when I actually try to take an analytical look at this based on evidence, it tends to fall apart...

I do feel like there is a massive difference between the 2007 albums poll and the 2008 one, but I can never be for sure whether or not that's because music changed, or criticism, or just ILX...

Yeah, there are a lot of factors, probably!

xp I think there's a lot that has to do with that: for instance the metal poll started in '08, and while only three metal albums placed in the countdown that year, there were also at least two Fonal Records albums that placed, that I suspect were voted in by the same group of people...

Also, in retrospect, 2008 was the big annus mirabilus for what I cheekily refer to as 'ILX R'n'b revisionism'--the whole (correct imo) idea that Badu/Terius/Quik are the geniuses of our time--that I think became a widely disseminated idea around these parts and helped lots of non-goon listeners take R'n'B seriously...

It's hard for me to say this with any kind of certainty: iirc in '08 I was still a goofy oddball who just wanted to post about Kim Deal and the Fall--but I've been following the polls since 07 (tracks one more since 09) and these are the vibes I was picking up on.

might some this analysis be a little premature? iirc, the albums results felt a lot different from the tracks results last year.

yeah i'm probably mistaking apples w/oranges here. my bad...

Albums results used to be mostly a rock/indie-rock affair with a little rap and pop sprinkled in. I think that's been changing over time as well. I haven't seen this year's results (I asked seandalai to keep them a secret), but I bet it will be more exciting than previous years' results.

the goon influence def felt lighter on teh poll this year. last years, it was like every three songs was from a difft crew: dance, goon, pop/critic pop.

Yeah and this ties back to lex's comment upthread that a lot of the dance tracks here weren't really ones that the bobbins crew got that excited abut (though in honesty the bobbins crew's taste can be a bit stuffy and doctrinaire at times) - I sorta feel like one of the things that make this a very ILM-ish year is the way that a lot of the songs arguably exist in the overlapping bits of venn diagrams of groups and aesthetics... Coalition choices if you will. Rather than the poll representing a kind of pro rata style electoral breakdown of distinct groups.

There really wasn't a lot of "who the hell voted for this shit?!" this year (in comparison to previous years, anyway). Mostly it was "I don't recognize this. I think I'll check it out." That's my favorite thing about these polls each year (though, in truth, I do enjoy some of the outrage from time to time).

last years, it was like every three songs was from a difft crew
-deej

Rather than the poll representing a kind of pro rata style electoral breakdown of distinct groups.
-Tim

Am I wrong in my contention, though, that there didn't used to be "crews" at all until the last few years? Or am I misremembering?

Well bobbins crew started in 2004 and had a kind of wax and wane arc of aesthetic unity and enthusiasm over the next few years. Goon crew started in 2007 I think?

So it's been a while.

There are even fossilised remains of old crews buried in dormant threads like the teenpop crew. Does Poptimism still do an end of year poll?

i don't want this to get lost--goon poll last year was great imo

― call all destroyer, Friday, January 27, 2012 6:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

deej and whiney and i were kicking around emails about this... maybe we'll actually do it for real

hella crews.

I'm just waiting for the outloud crü to gain its rightful place as the alpha and omega of all crews.

deej and whiney and i were kicking around emails about this... maybe we'll actually do it for real

― J0rdan S., Friday, January 27, 2012 7:36 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah! it gave me quite a few records to check out and i have no idea what yall have been into this year

emil.y otmfm (come on in btw e--I have something to play for you)

deej and whiney and i were kicking around emails about this... maybe we'll actually do it for real

― J0rdan S., Friday, January 27, 2012 7:36 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah! it gave me quite a few records to check out and i have no idea what yall have been into this year

― call all destroyer, Friday, January 27, 2012 7:46 PM (11 minutes ago)

drake

plus 19 other records i hope

i finally listened to that yesterday. would be a great album if it was by someone else!

I'm just waiting for the outloud crü to gain its rightful place as the alpha and omega of all crews.

If we rise to power too quickly, we'll fall as fast. Nurture it like a babby.

I can't actually seem to get in tonight, btw. My computer's being pissy about loading a few threads, even. Not sure what's going on.

Emil.y super otm. I started actually talking to people this year! It showed in my (first ever) ballot.

I've been on ilx for 6 yrs btw.

I'm glad you became more chatty. You're cool.

I've come out out of my comfort burrito just to mess w/ ilx polls. Seriously though there may be more people like me than one would imagine.

where can you buy these comfort burritos

I think I posted once or twice a week for years