ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

it sounded generic on first listen but it's a grower for various reasons imo

it's kind of funny that the only Saint Etienne song that ever stuck with me is "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"

I get that St Etienne is "perfect pop" and all that but I don't see why they're trying to pefect the sound of late-90s Radio 1 drivetime.

i heard it once a long time ago and was never compelled to listen again, i guess now is the time

i always found OLCBYH to be less than its reputation

'hobart paving' is the only indispensable one

really at this point all I have to say is "hey Griff... BRING IN THE KATZ!"

yep.

"hobart paving" is amazing, but saint et have a ton of indispensable songs (albeit mostly from the '90s)

this was their best album in 15 yrs or w/e but they had a lot of good singles during that period too.

didn't picture saint etienne to be the track where everyone was all "wtf how did this place here" but there's always one

okay last of the day coming up

generally an indispensable band for those w/refined tastes http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif

http://i.imgur.com/r5zAejB.png

21. KENDRICK LAMAR FT. GUNPLAY "Cartoon & Cereal" [361 points, 10 votes]

Youtube

oh this should be so much higher

generally an indispensable band for those w/refined tastes who prefer the sound of wallpaper

actual insanity

one of my votes! can't believe a song as good as this was just randomly tossed out there without an official release. better than any song on the album, which i like fine. surprised it's so low. gunplay's verse is O_O

I think that was another one with sample clearance issues. Def the most epic rap song of the year. :-/

errr my disappointed face is sample-clearance related obv

An instantly forgettable song, IMO.

Welcome to the world of Saint Etienne.

― Johnny Fever

So wrong.

i didn't listen to "cartoon & cereal" as much as i should've but every time i did i was like "god this is the banger"

i'm glad they repurposed the vocal gun sounds for "money trees" tho

Hm, Hobart Paving is sweet.

can we all make a pact to stop using the word "banger"

no

suggest banger

yesterday >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> today >>>> monday

speaking of, 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]

60. KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN "Issue Generator (for Eliane Radigue)" [216 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
59. HAIM "Forever" [218 points, 8 votes]
58. ANGEL HAZE "New York" [218 points, 9 votes]
57. MUNGOLIAN JETSET "Toccata" [220 points, 6 votes]
56. JESSIE WARE "Running" [224 points, 7 votes]
55. JESSIE WARE "Wildest Moments" [224 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
54. CHER LLOYD "Want U Back" [225 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
53. HOT CHIP "Let Me Be Him" [227 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
52. GRIMES "Genesis" [229 points, 11 votes]
51. BURIAL "Kindred" [236 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
50. TWIN SHADOW "Five Seconds" [236 points, 9 votes]
49. SANTIGOLD "Disparate Youth" [241 points, 9 votes]
48. PURITY RING "Fineshrine" [244 points, 8 votes, 2 first place votes]
47. HAIM "Don't Save Me" [244 points, 9 votes]
46. BRUNO MARS "Locked Out of Heaven" [246 points, 7 votes]
45. ALEX ANWANDTER "Como Puedes Vivir Contigo Mismo?" [250 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
44. SPIRITUALIZED "Hey Jane" [251 points, 10 votes]
43. JOHN TALABOT FT. PIONAL "Destiny" [253 points, 9 votes]
42. NICKI MINAJ "Stupid Hoe" [256 points, 9 votes]
41. NENEH CHERRY AND THE THING "Dream Baby Dream" [257 points, 9 votes]

40. MIGUEL "Use Me" [260 points, 8 votes]
39. CHERYL COLE "Call My Name (Royal-T's Back to 99 Remix)" [260 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]
38. DEATH GRIPS "I've Seen Footage" [268 votes, 8 points]
37. RIHANNA "Birthday Cake (Funkystepz Miami Bass Mix)" [271 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]
36. KALENNA "Matte Black Truck" [286 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
35. KANYE WEST FT. BIG SEAN, PUSHA T & 2 CHAINZ "Mercy" [286 points, 12 votes]
34. CHIEF KEEF FT. LIL REESE "I Don't Like" [291 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
33. JEREMIH "773 Love" [299 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
32. LE1F "Wut" [302 points, 11 votes]
31. KW GRIFF FT. PORK CHOP "Bring in the Katz" [312 points, 10 votes, 2 first place votes]
30. M.I.A. "Bad Girls" [314 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
29. TAYLOR SWIFT "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" [316 points, 14 votes]
28. ZEBRA KATZ FT. NJENA REDDD FOXXX "Ima Read" [322 points, 14 votes]
27. SCOTT WALKER "Epizootics!" [330 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]
26. ANGEL HAZE "Werkin' Girls" [335 points, 13 votes]
25. BAT FOR LASHES "Laura" [342 points, 13 votes]
24. JESSIE WARE "110%" [351 points, 12 votes]
23. FRANK OCEAN "Thinkin' Bout You" [352 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
22. SAINT ETIENNE "Tonight" [356 points, 11 votes]
21. KENDRICK LAMAR FT. GUNPLAY "Cartoon & Cereal" [361 points, 10 votes]

yesterday was totally the worst day so far

Monday >>>Today>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Yesterday

I like Gunplay usually, but there's something a bit sort of excessively emo about that chorus, breaks the mood for me.

Cartoon & Cereal is such a great song, wish it had been on the album. My favourite track overall ended up being Good Kid but it wasn't nominated.

This run has included the most songs I've never heard before. Bring In The Katz is indeed great. I don't remember hearing it on the Spotify playlist, might have voted for it if I'd heard it before.

Will that be the last Jessie Ware track to place? I've given up on Taking In Water placing now.

Saint Etienne is the only song I voted for in this stretch. The album was such a great return.

i am mystified by the outpouring of praise for "bring in the katz"

I was listening to good kid, m.A.A.d. City on the drive back from DC last night and it basically made me want to redo my ballot so that I voted for every nominated song on it; even the ones I normally gloss over like "Money Trees" and "Poetic Justice" hit like sledgehammers

i'll always remember "cartoon & cereal" as the track where i was like "wow gunplay could be a legend, straight up"

it's a legendary verse at least. i'm gonna type it out now cuz it's a masterwork.

salt all in my wounds
hear my tears all in my tunes
let my life loose in this booth
just for you
motherfucka, hope y'all amused
i did wrong
karma came
crackers gave me
ball and chain
friends, enemies
all the same
state, fed
both could hang
nobody can't mute me
but i never said nobody can't shoot me
just another stat to the white folks
still whip work to the white yolk, absolutely
everyday feel like the one befo'
hunt the money, don't hunt the ho
if you do what you always done
then you get what you always got
you nothin but fools
i ain't seen the back of my eyelids
for about the past 72 hours
hand on my heart
face to the hood
i'll pledge every word you ever heard was honest
yeah this me
no mic
no cameras
no lights
just pain
mama, how much trama can i sustain
dirty money come with lots of stains
road to riches come with lots of lanes
just another player with lots of game
never had shit got lots to gain

Well there goes my hopes of seeing one of my votes.

Still greatly enjoying the poll though. I totally loved Bring in the Katz.

xp gr8080 it's the YEAH! and particularly the OHHHH that do it for me.

Yesterday >>>> today imo. Only one of my votes to place was Scott Walker. Miguel/Jessie obv classic too. "Thinkin' Bout You" was a nice discovery given that I'd more or less written off Frank Ocean (have now listened to half the album but nothing else grabbed me). "Bring in the Katz" and "Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake" made me smile but idk if I need to revisit them.

i am mystified by the outpouring of praise for "bring in the katz"

― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Wednesday, January 23, 2013 11:31 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT IT IS

Words and Music all has this vibe of seeming kind of unremarkably well-executed at first but then growing exponentially in its insistence.

I also loved it a lot more when I started conceiving it as the album that the Kylie-persona who made Fever would make now if a Kylie-persona was a real thing rather than a marketing construct.

Today's results had my #1 (Thinkin' Bout You) and Bring in the Katz. It's the winner imo. Then Monday. Then Tuesday. I have a good idea what some of tomorrow's results will be, so I'm sticking with my opinion that Wednesday is the #1 stretch.

the other thing about "cartoon & cereal" is that when i saw kenny before good kid dropped he did "cartoon" as the final song of the encore and it blew the top off the place. really a shame that it's confined to youtube purgatory, but a fair share of classics have been.

Gunplay is a legend straight-up.

i asked him about that track when i interviewed him but i don't remember him saying anything particularly meaningful aside from that he had been listening to gunplay for a while and chose his collaborators carefully and scoped that one out

he's a cagey dude tho

yeah gunplay's closing verse is verse of the year imo

gunplay featured on two tracks in my top 10, both with show-stealing guest spots, and those guest spots are so wildly different from each other AND from his own solo work (which i slept on during 2012 itself but am making up for now)

was the other one beam?

basically everything I've heard by Gunplay rules and I'm really, really angry about the swastika tattoo

yeah this me
no mic
no cameras
no lights
just pain
mama, how much trauma can i sustain

when the beat drops out and this goes a capella *single teardrop rolls down my cheek*

I really liked noz's thing on gunplay in his year-end overview

gunplay is a ufo truther too I think he's just kinda a clown