ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

But I already own the Dukes of the Stratosphear record.

The video is really cool, actually, and almost puts the song into a context where you can forget it is a sub-par Beatles-obsessed nonentity. Almost.

Hadn't heard Tame Impala before - is this what Modular sounds like these days? As a Kiwi I think I'm passively exposed to enough Unknown Mortal Orchestra/Opossum for me to relish engaging w/the Aussie equivalent.

Very very cool video, decent song

How many guest spots did 2 Chainz do last year? Seems like he is everywhere.

that gif posted upthread is great for the reversed gender dynamics that lex noted, but it also captures why he works so well on Beez: he's like the pixie-stick snorting younger brother buzzing around his deadpan calm older sister. It's a classic comic strip/cartoon kind of combination.

yeah tame impala is very "oh ok that's nice but i won't remember it in 5 minutes and will never want to listen again"

lots of good-but-not-great for me in today's results, still excited to hear the rest tho. "lapaz toyota" is my pick of the day easily

what's up with the bragging about how little you made it through a song? listen!

it's less bragging and more an exclamation of disgust

for the record i lasted five seconds into it so i have xyzzzz beat

That Tame Impala has exactly enough awesome to fit into a car-commercial. And then nothing happens. Hate it.

You could make sure no-one one-ups you by just not listening at all.

everyone discovering Lapaz Toyota might want to bookmark Afrobeats 2013

tame impala are really good but i have no idea how anyone can tell one song from the other

I think "Feels Like..." got traction on EOY lists and such just b/c it was a single and has a cool video. But the other single, "Elephant," stands out from the album a bit more, IMO.

ILM poll is the time each year where I'm confronted with things I ordinarily wouldn't hear (even with the Spotify noms playlist, I can't devote attention to everything). I'm with J0rdan in that giving everything a shot is the best way to experience these rollouts. You're not going to like everything, but boastful hating is lame imo.

I really want japandroids to go on tour with japanther and japancakes. also, for bands to stop with the japainful japunny japandnames.

― Frederik B, Monday, January 21, 2013 4:17 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is otm, will never listen to any of these bands

Stood through an hour of Marcus Nasty mixing jackin last Thursday (expertly, must be said) and was left pretty unmoved. "You Want Me" is making a lot more sense tho. Perhaps these things really need an MC over them to be interesting to me. Same with "Au Seve" actually, only makes sense with Maxwell D being super dorky over it.

recap:

77. DAWN RICHARD "Pretty Wicked Things" [188 points, 6 votes]
75. CHROMATICS "Kill For Love" [188 points, 7 votes]
75. ALUNAGEORGE "You Know You Like It" [188 points, 7 votes]
74. ANDRÉS "New For U" [190 points, 6 votes]
73. JAVIERA MENA "Luz de Piedra de Luna" [190 points, 7 votes]
71. PULP "After You" [192 points, 6 votes]
71. G-DRAGON "Crayon" [192 points, 6 votes]
70. TY DOLLA $IGN "My Cabana" [193 points, 8 votes]
69. FUTURE "Same Damn Time" [194 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
68. NICKI MINAJ FT. 2 CHAINZ "Beez in the Trap" [198 points, 9 votes]
67. NICKI MINAJ "Starships" [200 points, 8 votes]
66. DAWN RICHARD "Faith" [202 points, 7 votes]
65. JAPANDROIDS "The House That Heaven Built" [203 points, 7 votes]
64. GURU "Lapaz Toyota" [204 points, 6 votes]
63. DONKIE PUNCH & LORENZO "Snapbacks n Tattoos" [206 points, 6 votes]
62. NICK HANNAM & TOM GARNETT FT. TOM ZANETTI "You Want Me" [214 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
61. TAME IMPALA "Feels Like Only We Go Backwards" [214 points, 8 votes]

I haven't heard most of these but I'm waiting for the spotify playlist to be done so I can listen to all of them at once.

Thanks so far Jordan. Bit underwhelmed at the beginning but there are five killer tunes in here.

As for the rock tracks we should all stop this and go back to our Sun City Girls stash.

rmde

even though i agree re: rock

only one of mine to show up so far is "Same Damn Time," which was my #1. pretty lame that it actually did better on P&J than on ilx.

Tame Impala was more fun in 2010 when the band was just the Aussie equivalent of Dungen and not such a critics' darling. But I still like 'em.

Which ones are the rock tracks? Tame Impala and Japandroids? Maybe Pulp and Chromatics could slip in under that designation, but barely.

people probably vote-split between 'same damn time' and 'turn on the lights,' obv the latter's gonna do much better xp

I actually think TA is fine but I don't get what's special about them

"Same Damn Time" easily my fav so far

Japandroids straight up suck though

i voted for both, problem solved :)

Not my favourite day ever in an ILM pollout; just one of my votes placed (Javiera Mena) and just one new discovery I really loved (Lapaz Toyota). Roll on tomorrow!

Nicki Minaj - Starships. Is this a fucking joke? Rhyming "fly" with "sky" and THEN "high"? And the terrible Guetta breakdown. Awful awful awful.

Japandroids - soooo boring.

"Lapaz Toyota" - decent. Wish the drumrolls and "lapaz toyota" bits weren't there. When is this "Barbara Streisand" shit gonna end? Although it's interesting how it's pretty restrained here and is just another element among the mountain of hooks in this song.

"Snapbacks n Tattoos" - sounds so reserved after the previous track. Whoa...how did this become a hip-hop track?

to return to the chromatics, I agree that prob not as good as their earlier neon ice palace work, but still good, and it helps to watch the music vids, they probably have my favorite aesthetic out of any band in music rite now, warm fuzzed out 8mm revivalism

http://i.imgur.com/Yk0NblH.jpg

Wait...there's a difference between "Funky" and "Jackin'" house? Hair-splitting, IMO.

digitaldjigit you ought to listen to the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BayLotJJeXE

of all the aussie stuff to take off i never would have expected lame impala to be the biggest. also worst production, fridmann must die

x-post

Those jackin house tracks (and others I've heard) don't sound like funky to me at all, and I'm not remotely a specialist in this stuff.

I do like how restrained those two jackin tracks are, with just the right placement of sounds and vocals

Anyone care to tumblr these? the way they did with the electronic poll?

http://ilxpolls.tumblr.com/

only one of mine to show up so far is "Same Damn Time," which was my #1. pretty lame that it actually did better on P&J than on ilx.

― the legend of bigger yansh (some dude), Monday, January 21, 2013 2:43 PM Bookmark

As much as I love "Same Damn Time", voting for Pluto and "Turn on the Lights" and "Loveeeeeee Song" felt like enough.

I bet loads have voted for their (TI) album as well. This shit is even more unbearable than Jarvis Cocker.

voted for 'my cabana' and 'you want me' so far. love 'luz de piedra de luna', but think of it as a 2010 song.

Wait...there's a difference between "Funky" and "Jackin'" house? Hair-splitting, IMO.

― DigitalDjigit, Monday, January 21, 2013 2:47 PM Bookmark

Funky is more syncopated in a rigid 16th-note grid, more prone to dotted-note cross-rhythms and usually abandons 4x4. Whereas jackin' (correct me if wrong) is based more on a 4x4 triplet-feel garage shuffle. I suspect jackin' doesn't have much truck with funky's r&b-isms and funky never really was sample-based like jackin' seems to be.

Which ones are the rock tracks? Tame Impala and Japandroids? Maybe Pulp and Chromatics could slip in under that designation, but barely.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 21 January 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

those four yeah not being genre tight or anything.

(I say this while not knowing jack about jackin', but bear with me)

Enjoyed almost everything so far but these are standouts:

ALUNAGEORGE "You Know You Like It"
FUTURE "Same Damn Time" (especially this)

I was thinking of mentioning syncopation, but glad I left it for The Rev to explain better. Actually, funky makes me want to dance more than most house (not that I've ever heard it out, and not that I am able to get out much any more), but it's closer to the more "organic" feel of the Latin dance music I like, so that makes sense.

love 'luz de piedra de luna', but think of it as a 2010 song.

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, January 21, 2013 5:57 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like I was gonna see 'javiera mena' on a list and not vote for her

Yeah, I definitely notice the snares in funky doing that Caribbean thing. But that seemed like a pretty small difference to hang a genre division on. I wouldn't say "Snapbacks & Tattoos" is free of r'n'b-isms. I know how British people love to categorize everything especially as it seems that there's a geographical north/south divide going on between funky & jackin.

There are some attempts to lay a def in the rolling 2012 UKG interzone bubblers thread, but its an evolving thing, UK garagey based.

genrefication is an essential part of how dance music works in general tho. fairly minor tweaks in genre logic completely change how a track fits in with others (or doesn't) in a set.

I don't hear the r&b-isms you hear in "Snapbacks and Tattoos" but at any rate, it's not the kind of melodic vocal tune funky frequently trades in.