ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012

everyone i've played inspector norse for has loved it, music and non music people alike. so w/e

virtually nobody at all seemed to complain when "call me maybe" won p&j

that may be because this year very few ppl here cared about P&J due to the overall horribleness of recent VVM

surprised there weren't more votes for "bandz a make her dance", "val venis" and "pop that" considering how inescapable they felt.

i was a certified kompakt fanboy until very recently, long after most people gave up, so it's a little depressing that i can't get into the pachanga boys track. it's not like it's a departure from one of the label's signature sounds so i guess it's me.

I think some dude was arguing that it got #1 by not offending anyone? ... Except some dude?
no, i'm offended too lol. can't stand "inspector norse" (and "snooze for love"), though i'll admit ILM's raging hard-on for this strand of dance music year after year adds fuel to the fire. i'm in the "adorn"-should-have-won camp but "call me maybe" would make much more sense in the #1 spot--you can probably understand its appeal even if you dislike it.

"Norse" only ever gets about 75% of where I where I wish it was going, but overtly euphoric is never going to piss me off.

Appeal of 'call me maybe' mystifies me but it's not like I'm forced to listen to it so whatever.

that may be because this year very few ppl here cared about P&J due to the overall horribleness of recent VVM

― Bel-Air the Fresh Prince, sitting in a chair (DJP), Friday, January 25, 2013 3:38 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i didn't mean just on ILM though, in general even its detractors have been especially passionate

I barely listen to dance music and all but I find Inspector Norse very appealing for some reason. Not as much as Snooze. I have to admit that some fraction of me weighs in how much I love music videos, and the Norse video is one of my favorites.

i was thinking it was "Todd Terry" who's one of the only dj type dudes whose name i recognize and i was like "aw cool that guy's still doing stuff" but this is a different dude who spells his name funny

― mh (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, January 25, 2013 11:54 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's a pun

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Friday, January 25, 2013 10:09 AM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

on the same label: http://www.discogs.com/artist/diskJokke

hope i didn't just blow your mind, m@tt

Saint Etienne - Tonight - more like taint etienne “poonight”

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Grace Helbig!

i can see ppl being mystified by inspector norse's popularity if you've ignored nu-disco/Norwegian dance music for the last 7 years, but if you've been paying any attention (and a lot of ilx has), its a logical conclusion and the actual and complete opposite of "eliminating all distasteful elements until there's nothing left"

also: sitting on a sofa drinking a cocktail is underrated you should give it a try some time #pr0tip

if anyone wants to talk about belts i have some thoughts i would be happy to share.

nu-disco in general mystifies me. "let's take some of the most anthemic and relentless music of all time and make it a bloodless screensaver!"

call me maybe is fine and the one time i listened to inspector norse it seemed fine but neither is anywhere as good as adorn

i can see ppl being mystified by inspector norse's popularity if you've ignored nu-disco/Norwegian dance music for the last 7 years, but if you've been paying any attention (and a lot of ilx has), its a logical conclusion and the actual and complete opposite of "eliminating all distasteful elements until there's nothing left"

I havent and I still dug it!

you suggesting that "relentlessness" is the only quality worth admiring in dance music!

xp

I'd hide a lot of these songs under my garage tbh.

not exaclty nu-disco but:

https://soundcloud.com/i-d-online-1/carly-rae-simpson-call-me

Gr80 don't worry u didn't blow my mind

k just checking.

there's a 3rd norwegian dance guy with a punny name but its escaping me right now

Hongroe

actual lols

i'll cop to being blindsided by "Wut" taking #1 two years ago, and i still don't care for the night slugs scene, but i get it.

you suggesting that "relentlessness" is the only quality worth admiring in dance music!

xp

― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Friday, January 25, 2013 4:15 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not at all. but to me, the word "disco" suggests a degree of rhythmic propulsion that is very lacking in the sad little drum machine plops i hear on these kinds of tracks.

i don't actually remember anything about todd terje's "snooze 4ever" or whatever it was, maybe i'm just not into what he does

xp

alright alright i could get pedantic with you but you i wont, its just weird when a guy who doesn't pay any attention to a whole scene dips his toe in to the water and starts making broad generalizations

i mean, "drum machine plops"! in 2013! gtfo

i already copped to being an idiot itt, and obnoxiously out of my depth in the exact same way i criticized people posting about "Springsteen," but you're carrying on the convo so i'm just responding in good faith at this point without trying to dig myself any deeper.

http://www.freetimelinecovers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/goodfellas-funny-guy.jpg

It seems like a funny #1 choice for a board where there have so often been complaints about things being offensively inoffensive, though I suppose I haven't see that sort of talk that much recently. I also didn't agree with it a lot of the time.

this might be of interest/ add context:

here is what is possibly Terje's most popular non-edit track pre-"snooze for love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCSyA2UQtMg

i cant find the interview now, but when he first made the track (2004-2005 iirc?) it was a joke/dare from some other friends to make the "ultimate cheesy euro dance song" but the end result was such a hit with friends that he ended up releasing it as a single in earnest.

this one at least kinda knocks, so far

i had strobe/lazer light routine totally memorized for this track circa 07-08

I think I am just going to go back to saying I hate Dance Music and I don't understand it, even if I love some of it.

i really loathe blawan and bring in the katz but i ~get~ them

y'know what, man, you don't deserve the katz. they didn't want you to bring them in anyway.

FUNK DAT

i mean do you need to be particularly steeped in mainstream country to "get" springsteen? i'd think for a song to place that high it would hold some more universal appeal but it....does not

honestly "modern country" stans are mostly just addicts of guitar-based pop songwriting going where the action is, you don't have to understand "country" to understand eric church anymore than you have to understand "country" to understand bryan adams or fastball

― da croupier, Friday, January 25, 2013 10:36 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i wasn't suggesting at all that "Springsteen" is for real country goonz only -- the poll results clearly indicate otherwise. i'm just thinking that most of the people griping about it would never like anything by Eric Church or someone who sings like him though?

― fonkytimez lemonade (some dude), Friday, January 25, 2013 9:47 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i totally got excited about eric church when i heard about him, thought he might be an update of dudes like gary allen, etc but god he's just terrible. i went through an alt country phase that gradually went out into liking alan jackson and stuff like that

it's just a bad song, and i don't think everyone who doesn't like it has an anti-country agenda

yeah not anti-country agenda per se. Church's voice actually does really annoy me on some of his other songs, but i like it on that one.

he's not very good is one problem i have

he seems pretty impressed with himself, too

i don't follow the country threads but has there been any kind of "why are you into 'springsteen' when you could be praising (...)?" argument? while i think springsteen is merely profesh nostalgia pop-rock i can't say any random country dude stuff i've caught on GAC on late seems superior

of late, i mean

re: "Springsteen" and alternapop, when I hit play on it the first words that popped into my mind were "SHAKEDOWN NINETEEN SEVEN NINE"

He's all hat & no cattle imo

Eli Young Band "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" has a Tom Petty kinda vibe. I like it a little better than "Springsteen"

77. DAWN RICHARD "Pretty Wicked Things" [188 points, 6 votes]
—I love the part of this where the synths go all berserk. Dawn is great in general, but this song is special.

75. CHROMATICS "Kill For Love" [188 points, 7 votes]
—Probably the most "single"ish track on the Chromatics album, and album that really all kind of blurs together in a smokey neon haze. Dunno if it's amazing when extracted from context, but it's plenty okay.

75. ALUNAGEORGE "You Know You Like It" [188 points, 7 votes]
—I think AlunaGeorge are doing some pretty cool things, and I think this is the coolest thing so far. Don't buy the argument that her vocals are too weak for the track. This thing is amazing all around.

74. ANDRÉS "New For U" [190 points, 6 votes]
—I half-like this. It's a good idea that overstays its welcome.

73. JAVIERA MENA "Luz de Piedra de Luna" [190 points, 7 votes]
—Mena stan here. It's not my favorite by her, but I'm glad she waited so long to make it a single just so it could appear in our poll

71. PULP "After You" [192 points, 6 votes]
—I knew Jams Murphy would get into this poll somehow. He always does.

71. G-DRAGON "Crayon" [192 points, 6 votes]
—Because of the 2NE1 surprise last year, I checked in on K-Pop now and again this past year. I guess it's just personal preference, or maybe it's full blown sexism, but I prefer woman-made K-Pop to man-made. This isn't terrible, though.

70. TY DOLLA $IGN "My Cabana" [193 points, 8 votes]
—I like this beat. That's about all.

69. FUTURE "Same Damn Time" [194 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
—crut momentarily couldn't believe I'd never heard this track before it appeared in the rollout, but I can't listen to EVERYTHING every year. Future was never high on my list of get-tos. I can dig it.

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

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

66. DAWN RICHARD "Faith" [202 points, 7 votes]
—"Faith" isn't a favorite among the things Dawn released in 2012, but she's kind of everything to everyone and even the tracks I don't love I still like.

65. JAPANDROIDS "The House That Heaven Built" [203 points, 7 votes]
—I heard this enough in 2012 that I'll be cool with taking a break from it for the next 5-10 years.

64. GURU "Lapaz Toyota" [204 points, 6 votes]
—This was my favorite track to appear on Monday. It's nuts!

63. DONKIE PUNCH & LORENZO "Snapbacks n Tattoos" [206 points, 6 votes]
—This was almost as fun to discover as "Lapaz Toyota," but not quite as fun.

62. NICK HANNAM & TOM GARNETT FT. TOM ZANETTI "You Want Me" [214 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
—After the last two, this one felt dud as fuck to me. Still kinda does.

61. TAME IMPALA "Feels Like Only We Go Backwards" [214 points, 8 votes]
—I voted for "Elephant" instead. It was the only track on the album I liked, primarily because it was the only track on the album that sounded like it sounded. This one here sounds like the rest of the album, which is no great shakes.

...more to follow

btw every time call me maybe gets discussed this gets posted so I'll post it again because I like it a lot

http://mabsonenterprises.bandcamp.com/track/call-me-maybe-acapella-147-times-exponentially-layered

i'll admit ILM's raging hard-on for this strand of dance music year after year adds fuel to the fire.

I kinda feel this but I fux with "Inspector Norse". I'm just taking the relatively high-placement of "Bring in the Katz" as a small victory for more break-based stuff, which I usually feel like has a hard time catching on beyond the same half-dozen people. Still curious as to why Grady finds it such an anathema.

Btw, everyone, if you liked "Katz", you should check out this track that I was the only person to vote for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddwp0yU1_2Q

My favorite Todd Terje is still his remix for Lindström's "Another Station".

Ugg "Vibrate" would've been on my list and "Bring in the Katz" would've been in the top 3. :(

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