ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

burned myself out on climax relatively early in the year and it never seemed to get radio momentum around where I was, still a great song but no desire to revisit it atm

yay psy!

love this one to pieces

did refill place (yet)?

NOW we're talking. LOVE this.

i had my moments with "climax" this year but it's just a very good song to me, nothing more

will say that i think usher's the only singer in pop or r&b right now who could've pulled it off

i think we can confidently say that refill is now a contender for #1 xp

yeah prev posts otm tbh, i have enjoyed the shit out of this song but it is perhaps not an everlasting classic i will always treasure

i was going to claim to be the first to post gangnam style on ILX, but a quick search reveals frogbs beat me by a few hours

Climax is just nothing but monstrous hooks stacked on top of each other. Hooks on hooks, if you will.

Hooks on hooks on hooks, even.

^

otoh

i gave my best
it wasn't enough
you get upset, we argue too much
we made a mess of what used to be love
so why do i care, i care
AT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

and you always feel exactly why

Glad G-Dragon turned up in the top 77 so this wasn't the only k-pop represented (sorry BIGBANG voters, I was w/f(x) and BlockB), but still a way better breakout/crossover hit than I thought k-pop would ever get.

i should've campaigned for sistar's "alone" oh well

perfect icy disco song should y'all feel the need to check it out http://youtu.be/E0ZHXVp_wUE

found myself listening to 'climax' right through, it derives power from subtlety and a number of effective shifts. approve, as these things go!

did refill place (yet)?

:'(

xxp yeah voted for G-Dragon and Fantastic Baby on the basis these would get most votes, and not any others because I had no idea which k-pop had good chances.

refill is 78 i bet

I was terrifically enamored with the Chairlift album when it came out, but a recent relisten revealed three great songs (Amanaemonesia, I Belong, and Sidewalk Safari), and a bunch of undercooked filler.

― Pauper Management Improved (Sanpaku)

I still like the album a good amount but you're right that these are easily the standouts.

clearly we need to cabal before next year's poll, k-pop people

I admire "Climax" rather than love it (fear/suspicion of Diplo?), but hard to argue w/it placing here.

SISTAR's "Alone" was in a top 50 EOY list I put together, Brad, but cut it from my ILx ballot for a mix of cold-blooded strategic votes and hopeless "sole voter" choices.

somehow you just know usher will still have been the first to hear that new timberlake, and he will have smirked

i was going to claim to be the first to post gangnam style on ILX, but a quick search reveals frogbs beat me by a few hours

When was it? I posted it on twitter on July 25th.

Although it definitely had a video at that point, so I think if has me beat.

I think this is the lowest rock content we've ever had in a poll (I'm even using rock broadly). Just an observation.

http://i.imgur.com/apXUG3Z.png

4. KATY B FT. JESSIE WARE "Aaliyah" [866 points, 27 votes]

Soundcloud

Gotsta Get Paid really should be in this list. xp

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

wth with you guys liking this "Springsteen" song??

AALIYAH PLEASE
THIS IS GREEN ENVY
WHY MUST YOU TAUNT ME, GIRL

When was it? I posted it on twitter on July 25th.

Although it definitely had a video at that point, so I think if has me beat.

Aug 1st

PS- Chaki hipped me to it ;)

woah points jump!

crazy this placed so high when it came out only a few weeks ago, not that i'm complaining

*patiently waits for amen to show up*

― 乒乓,

Can't remember if I voted for this, really hope I did as I've had it in my head almost constantly since I heard it on the Spotify playlist.

Whoa, 27 votes, awesome! Still need to hear this played out at 4am etc.

"aaliyah" surely the latest-released song ever to place in an ILM EOY poll? december release and it went straight on to everyone's ballots

K-pop

first ilx post I could find but I'm almost positive it was posted earlier in the k-pop thread, k-pop thread crashes my browser tho

Top three predictions earlier in the thread were otm: Terje, Carly Rae and Miguel. Not certain of the order yet.

I think this is the lowest rock content we've ever had in a poll (I'm even using rock broadly). Just an observation.

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, January 24, 2013 10:39 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Mm, but I'm not missing the rock entries so much (tbh ilx quite frequently has terrible taste in rock). But I am feeling like... I dunno, where are the oddities and curveballs and discoveries this year?

glad aaliyah showed up this high

avoided listening to this because i'm still traumatised from that drake aaliyah tribute thing. it's really good though

"Aaliyah" made this clear by giving me exactly what I wanted: a tune so hypnotic it verges on meditative, a weightless mass of constant swell and involution without any edges whatsoever, its gently scraping synth-riffs so insubstantial and yet so tangible, that even the intermingled envy and jealousy of Katy's words lose their bite, become enamoured of their own sparkling intensity. And of course if you want tangible insubstantiality then there's no better idea than to rope in Jessie Ware as guest singer: Katy and Jessie's traded lines on the billowing double middle eight slash breakdown make for perhaps 2012 pop's most entrancing moment, two sirens beckoning you down into an endless haze of uneasy fever dreams.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 1 January 2013 05:38 (3 weeks ago)

Way way higher than any of Jessie Ware's solo efforts, yikes.

Aaliyah!!

Tim F said just today on the Katy B thread that "it's like she's stageblocking social situations", you really recognise the physical space, the movements people are making in it, in her songs. And this always, always makes me think of dancing by the DJ booth and the weird social politics that form there.

was feeling down about lack of Katy B (i liked Got Paid too) so this is joyous!

woah points jump!

You ain't seen nothing yet.

I love inspector Norse but had no idea it would place so high

I dunno, where are the oddities and curveballs and discoveries this year?

There have been a few, at least for me. But I suspect we may have been paying attention too closely to too much this year to be thrown (?).

hurrah

quite shocked actually!

Terje #1!

http://www.rocketsmusik.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/TerjeHoneySm.jpg

this is jessie ware's best ever vocal imo. "that contrast between her holy beseeching mournful prayer and katy/geeneus' determined secular lightness" as rtc put it last month

casting aaliyah as jolene is the most perfect tribute

jessie ware kills that song yeah

Never heard "Aaliyah" before. 3 minutes in and I never want to hear it again.