ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

Little La Lechera kicking with Kenny! So awesome.

they both look so happy!

but i don't think 'alternapop' is a good description. i mean it could be an adult alternative type record

this may be your best pedantic distinction yet

― da croupier, Friday, January 25, 2013 11:37 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what i meant was that i could imagine hearing it on a station that plays lots of Wilco, but not bratty punk pop Bowling For Soup type stuff.

he looks like he's about to throw her in a roaster

lol

is bowling for soup the band with the one huge fat guy?

hey, he has a name. his name is robert paulson.

First rule of bowling for soup is do not talk about bowling for soup.

i remember that so fondly! eddie rabbitt opened and i was like zzzzzzzz til he played "i love a rainy night" and i got super excited because i loved that song. a strange opportunity!
i looooooooved kenny rogers -- "ruby, don't take your love to town" was my favorite but i remember belting the shit out of "she believes in me".

hey, he has a name. his name is robert paulson.

― fonkytimez lemonade (some dude), Friday, January 25, 2013 11:58 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

what i meant was that i could imagine hearing it on a station that plays lots of Wilco, but not bratty punk pop Bowling For Soup type stuff.

my point in reference the need to alter the pitch on "springsteen" to mistake it for bfs was to acknowledge that you wouldn't literally switch them on the radio and no one would notice. bowling for soup had their share of sentimental "hey remember your mom's car" pop-rock ballads, but it's my fault for forgetting not everyone associates them with more wry songwriterly guitar pop even though that's what they did

i couldn't tell if you meant speed up the tempo too or just Alvin & The Chipmunks it. either didn't totally make sense to me.

not much does

sorry, that was snipey, but "slow down and explain every connection to some dude" gets old

can we go back to talking about how Eric Church is the American David Gray

Its a shame you have to put on a fake accent to get radioplay as a U.S. singer/songwriter type these days.

haha totally xpost and not

not much does

― da croupier, Friday, January 25, 2013 12:08 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry, that was snipey, but "slow down and explain every connection to some dude" gets old

― da croupier, Friday, January 25, 2013 12:09 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's sooooo tedious the way i try to engage your tossed off metaphors and give you the benefit of the doubt that they can have any logic for anyone else, i'll just assume you're talking out of your ass in the future

thanks!

np

'bandz a make her dance' shouldve placed, cmon ppl

― johnny crunch, Friday, January 25, 2013 3:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fucking amen, man

― 乒乓, Friday, 25 January 2013 16:10 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^ both otm

― just sayin, Friday, January 25, 2013 11:20 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i voted for it. i only dip into the rolling rap threads to scan for tracks i think i'd really like (and tpp's mix helped me out, too,) but i never seem to agree on the huge consensus rap picks, e.g. the future track, cartoons & cereal, or any kanye ever. maybe because i really don't care about impressive rapping?

I recommend 'Finally Rich'.

lol

i liked '3hunna' but don't think i really needed anything else from chief keef after that

lol Matt

One general comment: I am getting incredibly sick of music videos in general. I don't like having so much thrown at my eyes, and even when the videos aren't awful they always seem too packed with cliches. The gap between good tracks and the videos that go along with them is usually too big for me.

I was put off by that thread title with "I like Beyonce," etc. but I just listened to "Oliver Twist" and it all falls into place and seems totally different in context than it does as some big (capitalized?) thread title I have to see in my face over and over again without knowing what it's about--which highlights something a lot of people here do: just write out some lines from a song and let them hang there, like they are going to carry any weight on their own. I'm not sure how often it's done as a shared celebration of a song, on the assumption that people reading the lyrics will have heard it, or how often it's meant to lure people into listening to the song. But anyway, I confess I had not heard "Oliver Twist" and I'm happy to say I like it, a lot actually. Also like Miguel's "Do You," though it's probably not something I'd go back to much.

The Solange track doesn't belong this high.

The Blawan track: more tiresome minimalism. Maybe he should call in the Katz to find out why they had hide their bodies under his garage. This sucks. Bring back that Solange track.

Icona Pop: fun fun fun. Hate this.

Pachanga Boys: This is not pachanga! (Actually, I think pachanga might mean party too. Latin dance music genres either refer to particular foods or they mean "party.") The biggest stumbling block for me with a lot of electronic dance music has been the set of beats used. I'm immediately put off by the beats here but I like some of the sounds moving through the track. I don't know, this beat just annoys me so much. Sorry, I'm turning this off.

I already tried listening to "Springsteen" while going through the nominations, so I'm going to skip this, except to say I don't have any desire to hear it again.

"Turn on the Lights": Eh. The production is impressive, but I don't want to listen to him.

This Grimes song is okay. I don't think I had heard it before. (I do live under a rock, so I haven't heard a lot of these.) Once again, really sick of music videos. Ultimately not motivated to hear this again.

I checked out some Chairlift in the nominations sifting process, but I like this more than what I remember hearing. Parts of this, particularly the beginning, remind me of what HAIM is doing (melodically, not nec. in terms of the sound). I can understand the appeal.

(I didn't intend to write all these responses. I just started listening to some of the results that I had missed and was inspired by wanting to say something about "Oliver Twist.")

Sky Ferreira: so people really like this a lot?

Psy: watched this once. Didn't get the fuss. Not interested.

Usher: When he appeared as a guest on Romeo Santos's album in 2011 I asked about where he is these days and the response I got (just from one person, fauxmarc) was along the lines of his probably benefiting a lot more from the guest spot than Romeo Santos would, but apparently he's made some sort of comeback. This is okay. This is just okay, but I don't have much use for this kind of music these days, with as little of a life as I have.

"Aaliyah": I've already made it clear I like this. Honestly, I'm a little surprised by how much I like it. The underlying house framework would normally leave me pretty cold (I think), but Katy B's performance, and the words themselves, immediately conjure an intense drama. Also, to go back to that underlying house framework--damn, the way Katy B's vocals interact with that framework is really powerful. I can't emphasize enough that the tension is there as soon as her vocals begin. Also, there's something refreshing about the mixture of feelings, the vulnerability as well as the confidence she's projecting (which seems as much about reassuring herself as actually expressing certainty of her own strength). The intensely physically situated quality of the lyrics here (that Tim F. was talking abut over in the Katy B thread) is also matched by an overwhelming sense of an internal world as well. This is a conversation she's having in her head. That conversation has as much weight as the physical immediacy of the club setting. I don't want to overdo praise for her lyrics, but I find myself drawn into them here and in some other songs.

"Adorn": I'm not into spoken word intros at the moment, but okay that was short. This is good. Again, I'm really not in the mood for this sort of thing these days, but can totally see the love for this.

"Call Me Maybe": This is nice. Zzzzz.

"Inspector Norse": I tried some of this EP (or album or something), coming off my excitement about liking Tropical 2 so much and wanting to try more dance music, but I was not into it. This is nice, but it kind of blows my mind that this would be anyone's favorite track of the year. No way.

You suck.

You like Blawan.

Blawan rules and Todd Terje is mannered, boring lounge music

i'm listening to "Inspector Horse" and having very non-country-guy-listens-to-"Sprinsteen" feelings

dance music people have the worst taste in dance music

I started saying that when Leftfield blew up

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Todd Terje - Inspector Norse - more like todd turd “inspector bores”
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe - more like hardly great jepsen “squall me lamely”
Miguel - Adorn - more like miguel “a-bore-n”
Katy B - Aaliyah - more like katy pee “cashing in on the memory of a dead artist way more talented than me”
Usher - Climax - more like flusher “premature ejaculation”
PSY - Gangnam Style - more like ZZZ “surely the first in a long line of k-pop songs to achieve chart success in the west”
Sky Ferreira - Everything is Embarrassing - more like why should i care-a “this song is embarrassing”
Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms - more like facelift “i belong in your trash can”
Grimes - Oblivion - more like frank grimes “noblivion”
Future - Turn on the Lights - more like poo-ture “turn off the autotune”
Eric Church - Springsteen - more like eric turds “token non-taylor swift mainstream country song because we all really really respect mainstream country music really”
Pachanga Boys - Time - more like pachinko noise “slime”
Icona Pop - I Love It - more like morona slop “i love shit”
Blawan - Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage - more like blah-wan “why they forget to write the rest of this song”
Solange - Losing You - more like beyonce’s sister “oozing poo”
D'Banj - Oliver Twist - more like d’iarrhea “all of her shits”
Miguel - Do You... - more like pig hell “no i do not”
Cassie - King Of Hearts - more like assie “king of farts”
Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble - more like wailer shits “i blew chunks because this song was so awful”
Frank Ocean - Pyramids - more like wank lotion “bore-amids”
Kendrick Lamar - Cartoons & Cereal - more like thindick lamar “too bad my best song isn’t on my boring album”
Saint Etienne - Tonight - more like taint etienne “poonight”
Frank Ocean - Thinkin Bout You - more like stank potion “stinkin bout poo”
Jessie Ware - 110% - more like messy underwear “0%”
Bat for Lashes - Laura - more like shat for asses “bore-a”
Angel Haze - Werkin' Girls - more like strangle haze “bleaurghing hurls”
Scott Walker - Epizootics! - more like flop squawker “epic poo licks!”
Zebra Katz ft. Njena Reddd Foxxx - Ima Read - more like pee bra shats ft. vagina dead cocks - “ima turn this boring song off”
Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - more like failer pissed - “i am never ever listening to this shitty song again”
M.I.A. - Bad Girls - more like D.O.A. “bad song”
KW Griff ft. Pork Chop - Bring in the Katz - more like ky jelly ft. how am i supposed to think of a derisive parody name for someone already called ‘pork chop’ “bring in the farts”
Le1f - Wut - more like queef “butt”
Jeremih - 773 Love - more like i don’t caremih “i’m sorry this number has been disconnected please hang up and try again”
Chief Keef ft. Lil Reese - I Don't Like - more like chief queef ft. lil pees “i don’t like being sentenced to jail time, it makes me cry”
Kanye West ft. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz - Mercy - more like blahnye west ft. big yawn, tusha pee & 0 brainz “literally the only listenable song on ‘cruel summer’”
Kalenna - Matte Black Truck - more like duhlenna “fat wack suck”
Rihanna - Birthday Cake (Funkystepz Miami Bass Mix) - more like riyawna “duuuh i’m rihanna duuuuh”
Death Grips - I've Seen Footage - more like meth whips “i’ve seen publicity stunts blow up in my face”
Cheryl Cole - Call My Name (Royal-T's Back to 99 Mix) - more like sterile hole - “call me lame (toiletry’s wank to 69 mix)”
Miguel - Use Me - more like oh well “lose me”
Neneh Cherry and the Thing - Dream Baby Dream - more like nono blarey and the nothing “hey you know what would make this awesome suicide song even better? four minutes of free jazz noodling and the singer of ‘buffalo stance’”
Nicki Minaj - Stupid Hoe - more like nicki minaj is a “stupid hoe”
John Talabot ft. Pional - Destiny - more like john toiletpot ft. pee on all “density”
Spiritualized - Hey Jane - more like zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...huh what? what? ok what number am i on? jesus.
Alex Anwandter - Como Puedes Vivir Contigo Mismo? - more like alex anwanker “translation: you actually voted for this shit?”
Bruno Mars - Locked Out Of Heaven - more like poono farts “this was a police b-side for a reason”
Haim - Don't Save Me - more like lame “don’t listen to me because i am a terrible song”
Purity Ring - Fineshrine - more like poority ring “whinewhine”
Santigold - Disparate Youth - more like can’t be sold “pisspoor-ate poo-th”
Twin Shadow - Five Seconds - more like a-ha jr. “five seconds until i turn this shitty song off”
Burial - Kindred - more like poo-rial “skin dread”
Grimes - Genesis - more like crimes “not as good as ‘i can’t dance’”
Hot Chip - Let Me Be Him - more like cold shit “let me pee on him”
Cher Lloyd - Want U Back - more like glare annoyed “want u back at whatever job you had before ‘professional singer’”
Jessie Ware - Wildest Moments - more like i’m just going to go with messy underwear again, that was pretty good “wildest bowel movements”
Jessie Ware - Running - more like messy underwear “running away from this terrible song”
Mungolian Jetset - Toccata - more like bungholian jetset trash & no star “tocaca”
Angel Haze - New York - more like angel malaise “poo pork”
Haim - Forever - more like shame “whatever”
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Issue Generator (for Eliane Radigue) - more like queef fullofit shitman “i’m just going to turn on these synths, hit record, take a smoke break for 20 minutes, then hit stop”
Tame Impala - Feels like we only go backwards - more like lame isuzu “feels like our ability to write songs only goes backwards”
Nick Hannam & Tom Garnett ft. Tom Zanetti - You Want Me - more like dick handjob & tom hairnet ft. another guy named tom “no i definitely do not”
Donkie Punch & Lorenzo - Snapbacks n Tattoos - more like wonky lunch & lamerenzo “lame hacks n bad booze”
Guru - Lapaz Toyota - more like pooru “halfass tuneyota”
Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built - more like chappedassdroids “the song that morons built”
Dawn Richard - Faith - more like limp bizkit “faith”
Nicki Minaj - Starships - more like sicki minaj “fartshits”
Nicki Minaj - Beez in the Trap - more like tricki minaj “peez in the trap”
Future - Same Damn Time - more like suture “lame damn rhymes”
Ty$ - My Cabana - more like why$ "my crapola”
G-Dragon - Crayon - more like pee-flagon “craisin”
Pulp - After You - more like poop “after poo”
Javiera Mena - Luz de Piedra de Luna - more like javiera pee-na “loose de pee-dra de poo-na”
Andrés - New For U - more like undress “poo for poo”
AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It - more like apoonageorge “poo know poo like shit”
Chromatics - Kill For Love - more like ugh so close to being done “kill you for loving this boring song”
Dawn Richard - Pretty Wicked Things - more like yawn richard “shitty boring songs”

post of the thread

how is the chief keef one the only one w/o the word "fart" in it

see also "Starships"

Dawn Richard - Faith - more like limp bizkit “faith”

this is where a slightly annoyed skim read turned into "wait I should go back and read these"

dance music people have the worst taste in dance music

lol people who are enthusiastic over things i'm not enthusiastic over have the worst taste in things i'm not enthusiastic over

Le1f - Wut - more like queef “butt”

i'm sure leif will be devastated if he ever sees this

'squall me lamely' is def a keeper tho

I was put off by that thread title with "I like Beyonce," etc. but I just listened to "Oliver Twist" and it all falls into place and seems totally different in context than it does as some big (capitalized?) thread title I have to see in my face over and over again without knowing what it's about--which highlights something a lot of people here do: just write out some lines from a song and let them hang there, like they are going to carry any weight on their own. I'm not sure how often it's done as a shared celebration of a song, on the assumption that people reading the lyrics will have heard it, or how often it's meant to lure people into listening to the song. But anyway, I confess I had not heard "Oliver Twist" and I'm happy to say I like it, a lot actually

I still haven't spent much time with "Oliver Twist" to know whether I like it or not, but I'll cosign the overall sentiment. I say this not to pick on Lex's thread title again, but there is something slightly forbidding about it if you're someone who, like me, has never come across the song, the artist, or the genre outside of ILM. To which some might say: Well, that's why you click on the thread to *find out* what it's about. But I already feel a mild sense of alienation from it. It already seems like something for established devotees of its genre. Or at least compared to the thread title Todd Terje: "Snooze 4 Love" (masterpiece alert).

Then again, I'm not someone who ever really gets invested in genres or scenes, and maybe it's my own issue that I'm reluctant to engage in threads that use that framework for discussion.

dance music people have the worst taste in dance music

lol people who are enthusiastic over things i'm not enthusiastic over have the worst taste in things i'm not enthusiastic over

― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Friday, January 25, 2013 1:51 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what i meant, more precisely, is that lots of people love a wide variety of music that you can dance to, but people who focus on 'dance music' as a thing seem to go down this rabbithole of eliminating all distasteful elements until there's nothing left

Dance music should come with proof ratings a la liquor. Then those who prefer beer can sip 8 or 9 while I have another whiskey neat.

ienjoyhotdogs, plz come back for the albums results.

things like "Inspector Norse" seem to rise to the top for certain groups of people in this mystifying game of aesthetic goalpost moving, a process of elimination where everything that cheesy mainstream dance music and pop music hasn't picked up on lately is studiously avoided until you have the perfect inoffensive beat and synth patch. fucking disgraceful imo.

"Norge" is kinda light rum, but the glass was rinsed with some nice bitters.

are you suggesting that inspector norse isn't cheesy dance music? because that's all it is

It's cheesy dance music that is also boring.

i love the reaction to polls