ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

I can see how a video might suddenly make a song make sense in a way it hadn't previously, like providing a 'way in' to a record. But the idea of voting because you like a video, or worse because 'it's the video that makes it', is totally alien to me.

Has anyone actually said that was the reason they voted for it?

I dunno, a video can do that for me totally.

maybe people liked it when it popped up on the Vicki Leekx tape and continued playing it when it was released as a single this year

"artist with semi-rabid following gets ppl excited about a lesser single" isn't an unheard-of phenomenon, guys; it's basically how most pop musicians have made billions of dollars over the years

i haven't watched the video and i thought it was a good MIA song

i'll say it point blank, you voted for this you werent into music so much this year

i like how the inverse of this could also be a pompous dis - "anyone who voted for this song obviously loved the sounds of 2012"

But the idea of voting because you like a video, or worse because 'it's the video that makes it', is totally alien to me.

"Single Ladies" anyone?

i'm pretty sure Gangnam Style's success had a bit to do with its video

I am guessing MIA-haters might not be totally down with that one either.

The MIA track seemed so sluggish, gave up 3 mins in.

The Gangnam Style video is fairly obviously the sort of thing I was talking about as a "way in" to a record that may not have made sense previously.

wait, why would mia-haters not be down with gangnam style??

kind of sad no one else was as into Creep or The Presets as I was

Re-listening to "Bad Girls" right now for the first time in quite a while and it actually sounds really good to me this morning. I definitely wouldn't want it to be any more uptempo than it is, and it's not sluggish. It's got a menacing lurch to it, and the little bells and whistles in the beat are great.

Bad Girls is a decent enough record really but it doesn't have anywhere near the energy or exuberance of the best tracks from her first two albums and she sounds like she's putting the minimum effort in. There's a lot of sluggish music in this list (Chief Keef ffs) but nothing that quite gives off the same can't-really-be-arsed vibe. The fact that it's enjoyable enough nonetheless is kind of impressive but everyone involved sounds like they're on autopilot.

Someone get J0rdan out of bed.

i would have voted for either of the bad girls remixes - the missy/azealia one is the best verse azealia's had all year bar maybe esta noche and the rye rye/missy one is a hell of a lot of fun.

missy's great on both and her guest spot there is probably more 'missy' to me than either of the two singles we got from her, so

on its own, i dug bad girls but not enough to toss it a vote

Something else going w/Chief Keef. I mean he could do something with Aerosmith or AC/DC and no one would be surprised surely. Its another tactic altogether.

MIA is a complete lack of anything so yeah autopilot too. xxxp

it's not an objectionable song but as matt says it feels very rote and generic - oh here's a beat danja found on the floor somewhere, oh here's maya but she had something else to do so she wrote it in about 10 minutes. all the effort went into the video. i don't think it even succeeds on HER terms and accordingly it got a damp squib reaction (ie, the album campaign didn't start but it all got pushed back). its very adequacy (but no more than that) is why i can't understand anyone voting for it, loving it THAT much beyond a couple of spins in the week it came out.

apparently I've scrobbled it 15 times but I know I've listened to it more than that

it got played at an r&b night i was at the other week and it was the cue for pretty much everyone to check their phones, start talking to friends, go to the bar etc

then i think blu cantrell "breathe" was played and there were actual shrieks of delight

Using club reactions of whether or not a song is good is a strange barometer.

I thought that MIA song sounded no different to anything she'd ever done.

Using club reactions of whether or not a song is good is a strange barometer.

not really, it depends on your context; a good club reaction can elevate your own reaction to a song

although I am also perfectly happy to be alone on a dance floor in my own little world so it's not THAT important to me that other ppl like what I'm dancing to

1) it's not that strange for a dance-oriented song
2) it wasn't my sole barometer, obviously

xxp

That's true, and I didn't mean to diminish the personal associations with a song as heard in public, but some songs that would clear a dancefloor like a turd in a punchbowl may be completely wonderful if heard in an alternate setting (like just walking down the street piped through headphones).

there are certain songs (not from this year) that have cemented themselves in my heart via their ability to clear specific types of dancefloors (thinking mostly of the industrial dance we used to inflict on our peers in high school, although hilariously ppl really really dug Bigod 20)

i am aware of that, and recounting a personal anecdote does not exclude it

xp

xp way back - Saint Etienne's "Tonight" also snuck up on me. It's probably the least dependent on production of the successful tracks on W&M. I like "DJ" a lot but it was horrible in concert.

"clearing the dancefloor" might have been a point in favour of mia's maya-era stuff as you could argue that she was aiming to be somewhat abrasive, but that's not the case for "bad girls"

Watching Saint Etienne replace Bjork as main act at Primavera 2012 completely ruined them for me. Their sound was feeble, Crackers was acting like somebody's hip mum who'd turned up to a party after one too many G+Ts and the whole thing fell really flat. Shame because I like their records, but I can't really listen to them again after that.

Crackers was acting like somebody's hip mum who'd turned up to a party after one too many G+Ts

Don't be a dick.

Her singing was pretty crappy when I saw them. It was still a fun concert though (in a small venue).

I'm serious, Matt, she just wasn't with the crowd at all, like it was her first ever show at a local venue.

That may be true, but there are other ways to say it without going down the "lol drunken middle-aged woman" student comedy path.

there are certain songs (not from this year) that have cemented themselves in my heart via their ability to clear specific types of dancefloors (thinking mostly of the industrial dance we used to inflict on our peers in high school, although hilariously ppl really really dug Bigod 20)

― Bel-Air the Fresh Prince, sitting in a chair (DJP)

ahhh memories

That may be true, but there are other ways to say it without going down the "lol drunken middle-aged woman" student comedy path.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 24 January 2013 16:42 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sure if Bjork had played the description would not have applied.

That's nice.

As a sometimes drunken middle aged man I can get down with drunken middle aged women. I saw St Et in York in December and thought her voice was fine, though that was a more intimate venue than Primavera.

I do think it would have worked a lot better in a smaller venue. Probably being a bit unfair on poor St Ettys cos they had to fill a big outdoor headline slot at last minute and they clearly weren't prepared for it.

I'm also quite bitter cos the lack of Bjork meant loads of day-trippers got their money back and the whole place felt rather dead on the Saturday, prob didn't help the vibe much.

Bjork is a middle-aged woman, what am I not gettting?

bjork is ageless

I think this is the first time I realized Storm Queen isn't some sort of dancehall diva, totally sounds like one.

An observation re: "Cartoon and Cereal" - Gunplay is there to tell the story of Kendrick's paternal "you"

Oh man, I hadn't heard "Cartoon and Cereal" and for some dumb reason I searced for it on iTunes and it came up with one of my favorite recent examples of those namejacking musicians that sell shit on iTunes, a rapper named Kendrick Lamaar and his mixtape Cartoon Cereal. lol.

This is my favorite example:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lplnb7hyDZ1qkvtqmo1_1280.png

lol

lol