ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

Feels Like Only We Go Backwards and Elephant were the only songs on Lonerism that really stood out to me. Mostly I kept thinking I'd rather be listening to Grandaddy. I found that style of production they use was much more effective on the Melody's Echo Chamber album.

The Chromatics album loses steam half through but there are some great moments, the title track rivals In The City for my favourite thing they've done. I saw them supporting Hot Chip last year and they were amazing. They played a short and perfectly picked set, they will have one hell of a Best of one day.

That Pulp song is an odd one, they've been one of my favourite bands for almost 20 years but that new song just leaves me cold. Agree that Jarvis on the radio is quite annoying. Kind of hope they don't make an album or anything.

The Javiera Mena song is great, her last album was the best thing I discovered from the 2010 list.

The AlunaGeorge song is cool. I hadn't heard anything by them until I went through the Spotify nominations playlist. I think I ended up voting for Your Drums, Your Love instead.

Really good list so far. I have a feeling I know how the top three will look but it's probably a little too early to start predicting.

House and dance rivals only metal for having the most inane subgenres

What statements like this translate as is "I don't understand why the distinctions are relevant and instead of making an effort I'm just going to sit here and act like I'm above it all" and should be treated with the attention and respect they deserve ie NONE.

3. AEROSMITH "LUV XXX" [1007 points, 6 votes]
2. LUMINEERS "Hoo Ha (ft. Mumford's Smiley Hat Banjo Band)" [2316 points, 87 votes]
1. FAKE R&B "the Entire Genre of False/Fradulent R&B" [6969 points, 96 votes]

what's with all the "british make up the stupidest dance music subgenres" talk in this thread.....'trap' anyone?

"EDM"

johnny fever is otm more often than not itt

(I know the discussion moved on but I felt deprived of my cathartic eyeroll and decided to go ahead anyway).

Incidentally I am delighted this morning to discover that Lapaz Toyota is on Spotify and that Abrantee comp it's on is a great entry point for anyone interested. Loads of awesome shit on there.

Working slowly through tracks. Most of these I've only heard once, but fwiw:

77. DAWN RICHARD "Pretty Wicked Things" [188 points, 6 votes]
I hadn't heard this before although I liked Armor On. PWT is interesting because it's constantly fakeying and wrongsiding, changing up into different forms. One minute it's an loveworn ballad but then it switches to a sort of avant-dance exercise before breaking into little bits and reassembling itself before doing it all over again.

75. CHROMATICS "Kill For Love" [188 points, 7 votes]
Never really got into Chromatics' whole Sunset Strip on mogadon schtick - I generally like it for about a minute and then get bored. But I guess if I were to get into them, this track has enough blood flowing through it to catch my interest.

75. ALUNAGEORGE "You Know You Like It" [188 points, 7 votes]
I really liked Alunageorge's old band My Toys Like Me. This is slightly more accessible and works well for it. Not sure I have my head wrapped round it yet, but I'll give her a better listen soon.

74. ANDRÉS "New For U" [190 points, 6 votes]
This reminds me of Theo Parrish's 'Solitary Flight' in that it uses a really nice loop to great effect. Yeah, could do with more going on, but I'm not sure that's the idea really. Like SF it's more a thing to put on and get absent-mindedly wrapped up in for a few minutes than anything else.

73. JAVIERA MENA "Luz de Piedra de Luna" [190 points, 7 votes]
Just awesome pop with some interesting sonic anachronisms flicking around it. Somehow on first listen it didn't quite elicit the 'woah amazing!' response I'd hoped from reading the comments, but I'm sure I'll be a big fan after a few goes.

71. PULP "After You" [192 points, 6 votes]
Still unclear as to whether this is a new or an old song. It's Pulp doing what they do and had it come out around the time of This Is Hardcore it might have changed their commercial fortunes maybe. It's got a pretty good groove, but lacks the classic Pulp choruses of their peak period. Still, listening to a 'new' Pulp song with a self-parodic 'disco/Tesco' whispered rhyme scheme in 2013 feels a bit weird.

Working slowly through tracks. Most of these I've only heard once, but fwiw:

77. DAWN RICHARD "Pretty Wicked Things" [188 points, 6 votes]
I hadn't heard this before although I liked Armor On. PWT is interesting because it's constantly fakeying and wrongsiding, changing up into different forms. One minute it's a loveworn ballad then it a sort of avant-dance doodle before breaking into little bits and reassembling itself and doing it all over again.

75. CHROMATICS "Kill For Love" [188 points, 7 votes]
Never really got into Chromatics' whole Sunset Strip on mogadon schtick - I generally like it for about a minute and then get bored. But I guess if I were to get into them, this track has enough blood flowing through it to catch my interest.

75. ALUNAGEORGE "You Know You Like It" [188 points, 7 votes]
I really liked Alunageorge's old band My Toys Like Me. This is slightly more accessible and works well for it. Not sure I have my head wrapped round it yet, but I'll give her a better listen soon.

74. ANDRÉS "New For U" [190 points, 6 votes]
This reminds me of Theo Parrish's 'Solitary Flight' in that it uses a really nice extended loop to great effect. Yeah, could do with more going on, but I'm not sure that's the idea really. Like SF it's more a thing to put on and get absent-mindedly wrapped up in for a few minutes than anything else.

73. JAVIERA MENA "Luz de Piedra de Luna" [190 points, 7 votes]
Just awesome pop with some interesting sonic anachronisms flicking around it. Somehow on first listen it didn't quite elicit the 'woah amazing!' response I'd hoped from reading the comments, but I'm sure I'll be a big fan after a few goes.

71. PULP "After You" [192 points, 6 votes]
Still unclear as to whether this is a new or an old song. It's Pulp doing what they do and had it come out around the time of This Is Hardcore it might have changed their commercial fortunes maybe. It's got a pretty good groove, but lacks the classic Pulp choruses of their peak period. Still, listening to a 'new' Pulp song with a self-parodic 'disco/Tesco' whispered rhyme scheme in 2013 feels a bit weird.

Still, listening to a 'new' Pulp song with a self-parodic 'disco/Tesco' whispered rhyme scheme in 2013 feels a bit weird.

― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin)

Yeah I totally agree with this.

Oh balls. Sorry about the double post

Say what one will about the Pulp song - it's a veritable delight compared to the aching shitpipe that was Blur's 'Under The Westway', which I sincerely hope doesn't place for the sake of all our sanities.

hahaha these get better every year

I think this might be my favorite 77-61 yet, just loads of great stuff. I thought about writing a recap but didnt want to lest I shit up the thread, but it looks like that's already taken care of. Still not gonna do it though, but I really liked almost everything on here.

re: Tame Impala, I didn't vote for that song--I voted for the album--but I like it lots, though I have reservations. Same with the album. Elucidating these probably wouldn't be a real worthwhile contribution to this thread but I will say this: for all the crap TI got for being 'trad' I don't really think Lonerism is really a 'song' album, and I think trying to sculpt the central hook in 'Backwards' into an actual single kind of plays that up. Esp in this company it def feels overlong and meandering, esp the verses, but it was an early favorite of mine when I was first getting into the album.

xp Hey, I like that shitpipe

I was very sceptical about Tame Impala, having heard them on their first album and finding the similarity to Dungen just a little too uncanny. I'm also feeling very polarised about the pervading reverb-smothered aesthetic that permeates so much music, especially alt/indie music, at the moment. I just find it a cop out, as if the artist has something to hide and does this by obscuring their sound with lashings of digital fx.

But my bandmates <3 Lonerism loads and after a few listens I eventually came round to 'Elephant' and later 'Backwards'. 'Elephant', for all its Canned Heat / glam rock pastiching trumps 'Backwards', but this is a nice little tune with a neat bass motif and a dreamy backwater feel. Beatles comparisons are extremely lazy IMO. There's a retro-psychedelic vibe, sure, but I hear very little Beatles.

Not Beatles per se but his vocals are *very* Lennon.

Pulp have always seemed to have a bigger and more committed ILM following than Blur, I wouldn't be surprised if Under The Westway missed out altogether. Also if any Britpop-era band is particularly likely to crop up later it'll be Saint Etienne.

xpost I guess... Falsettos + psych rock is always going to draw comparisons to Lennon, Wilson or one of that lot. Still not sure Lennon's exactly who is being emulated here, but it's not worth arguing over.

77. DAWN RICHARD "Pretty Wicked Things" [188 points, 6 votes]

Don't think this is in heer top 10 songs, really.

75. CHROMATICS "Kill For Love" [188 points, 7 votes]

This is just OK. I couldn't really get into the album, either.

75. ALUNAGEORGE "You Know You Like It" [188 points, 7 votes]

Sounded fine, didn't make me want to go back to it.

74. ANDRÉS "New For U" [190 points, 6 votes]

My #6. I know this gets a lot of stick around here, but... those strings! It sounds amazing in a mix, and it sounds amazing out, and that's enough for me.

73. JAVIERA MENA "Luz de Piedra de Luna" [190 points, 7 votes]

This is probably the best thing on here I hadn't heard before.

71. PULP "After You" [192 points, 6 votes]

This is utterly dreadful. Yuck.

71. G-DRAGON "Crayon" [192 points, 6 votes]

Good, can imagine getting gripped by it with a few more listens.

70. TY DOLLA $IGN "My Cabana" [193 points, 8 votes]

Like the chorus here. Actually, thinking about it has made me go back for a second listen, so I suspect this is a grower.

69. FUTURE "Same Damn Time" [194 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]

Seemed OK but not something I'd go back to - comments about his other songs made me think I should check them out, though.

68. NICKI MINAJ FT. 2 CHAINZ "Beez in the Trap" [198 points, 9 votes]

Didn't vote for this but certainly could have done. Still haven't actually listened to the album, just isolated tracks, but I need to remedy this.

67. NICKI MINAJ "Starships" [200 points, 8 votes]

My #21, perhaps should have been higher. Like several other people here, I wasn't initially a big fan, but hearing it a lot on the car radio every time I was in the US won me over, and finally towards the end of the year hearing the non-radio edit version tipped me over to loving it.

66. DAWN RICHARD "Faith" [202 points, 7 votes]

Love this, voted for the album instead.

65. JAPANDROIDS "The House That Heaven Built" [203 points, 7 votes]

Sounds like a weak immitation of Bruce Springsteen to me.

64. GURU "Lapaz Toyota" [204 points, 6 votes]

Love this, probably should have voted for it.

63. DONKIE PUNCH & LORENZO "Snapbacks n Tattoos" [206 points, 6 votes]

My #11. Jackin was my big discovery of (very) late 2012, this is amazing.

62. NICK HANNAM & TOM GARNETT FT. TOM ZANETTI "You Want Me" [214 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]

My #8, I can happily listen to this again and again and again.

61. TAME IMPALA "Feels Like Only We Go Backwards" [214 points, 8 votes]

Ugh, no. Sounds utterly bland and pointless to me.

British vocalists, enough with the fucking mockney though.

Yeah, they're rubbish at it too. I reckon Mockney of the Year award goes Nicki Minaj for Roman Holiday, needs to be some sort of official ceremony where Whiney passes over his pearly king's flat cap to her.

talking of Nicki, both of her songs to have placed so far are 10/10 flawless and amazing, yet neither were in the top 5 Nicki 2012 tracks I considered voting for (The Boys/Come On A Cone/Gun Shot/Pound The Alarm/Stupid Hoe). Her entire commercial strategy is so all-over-the-place and she's so happy to alienate various demographics at any given moment that she hasn't had enough credit for the impressive quantity of excellent songs she's made.

No personal interest in genre names, totally malleable anyway - the way anything and everything has become 'deep'. I get that people like to tag things but prefer "lady if you have to ask"

The day after and My Cabana is just something above all the tracks so far...can't get that hook out of my head, both its strength (the blankness as ppl pointed on the thread which I had a skim through) and weakness (bcz it can come off as funny). Not sure how puritan I want to go but I'll be chasing that mix tape.

omg it's toby!
that has to be the same toby right? hi!

looks like a great first day, dudes. awesome images and tons of stuff for me to listen to. only one thing i voted for placed "faith" but hey this is the first time i even did a trax ballot so

it's odd to me that the house that heaven built became the token japandroids song, i think adrenaline nightshift is the jam from that album, and really that album is only for ppl who slept on their first album.

Onwards and downwards:

(tie) 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]

of my year ;-/

68. NICKI MINAJ FT. 2 CHAINZ "Beez in the Trap" [198 points, 9 votes]
67. NICKI MINAJ "Starships" [200 points, 8 votes]

It's Nicki. She can do little wrong in my eyes. 'Beez In The Trap' is a down'n'gritty, syllabically precise roller that's really satisfying to my ears. Maybe one of my faves of the poll so far. I've heard 'Starships' loads of times before, but I don't like this kind of production - it's just way too Saturday night lightbulbs for me and that ruins a lot of the better bits, like Nicki's delivery and the bit where it all kicks off in the last quarter.

65. JAPANDROIDS "The House That Heaven Built" [203 points, 7 votes]

I guess, no matter what the technological advances, there'll always be a place in the world for straight-down-the-line fuzzy guitars and drums and Japandroids do it fairly well. Whether they're ever likely to blow my mind would probably depend on how much I listen to the album, which isn't likely cos life's frankly too short. Whoever compared it to Bruce Springsteen wasn't wrong.

64. GURU "Lapaz Toyota" [204 points, 6 votes]

How did I not know about this? Fantastic!

back to work now - great list so far, or at least there's been nothing i've outright hated and loads of stuff that makes me think i need to pay more attention to it in the new year.

'samn damn time' fans, fyi: check out the remix for diddy's verse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMAKYu7NJM0

revelation of the thread for me has been that british people still say "tune"

choon innit

CHOOOON!

will be saying choon til i die.

OTM. My kids will laugh, but I'll be too busy pissing in my pants to care.

choonhouse

afrohouse of the august choon

We gonna get more tracks today? I gotta go to the bank and take a dump at some point today so I just want to plan out my schedule...

So it appears I've been completely ignorant of the term "afrobeats" (thinking people were talking about "afrobeat"), while really craving loads of African dance music and starting a thread on it. Duuuuh... So does afrobeats refer to all dance music from out of Africa? Does it include people like Sdunkero, the Aboyaness! sound etc... or is it more specific?

we actually have a canadian presenter on radio 1 these days (b traits of 'fever' fame) and she's always going on about "ahsome toons"

Afrobeats = Ghana (where they dance the Azonto) & Nigeria. Aboyaness ain't included. This was my introduction: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/19/the-rise-of-afrobeats

The Javiera Mena song is great, her last album was the best thing I discovered from the 2010 list.

Apparently, it's on that album. It's still not clear to me whether there was any sort of significant release of this song (as a single in the U.S., say?) last year.

x-post

Thanks for the afrobeats clarification. I didn't know where that came from.

2012 rolling Afrobeats thread
2013 thread

Should probably mention it's an umbrella term rather than a genre tag per se - azonto is a genre that fits within that, but not all afrobeats is azonto. Generally speaking its African pop music (mostly Ghana/Nigeria but maybe not entirely) that's influenced by modern US and UK urban pop.

Javiera Mena's song is listed on the Spanish language wikipedia as a 2012 single: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javiera_Mena#Sencillos

Plus a few UK artists of African origin who are part of an ongoing discourse with the Ghana/Nigeria scenes. There might be US afrobeats artists as well by this point but I'm not aware of any.

And peaking at 77, no less.

xp

Afrobeats = Ghana (where they dance the Azonto) & Nigeria. Aboyaness ain't included. This was my introduction: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/19/the-rise-of-afrobeats

― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:01 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thanks Mike t-Diva, will check.