ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

why are we all giving our hot takes on every song

Because who needs a blog when you've got ILM?

feeling reddening's description of the shakira track, it's def corny in a good way. i like how her ooOOOooOoOoOo's simulate a full-body shudder of the type of joy her lyrics are describing

why are we all giving our hot takes on every song
― j. winters (josh),

lol bcz it's a geeky music message board where ppl talk a lot abt music, dawg

I don't want to derail this thread with a discussion of what a "hot take" is but I'm pretty sure that phrase has lost whatever meaning it had in the first place due to the internet's tendency for overusage - what did it mean? A contrarian opinion? A disingenuous opinion? Whatever, who the fuck cares. I hate how it's used on Twitter to shut down discussion.

Okay, back to top track discussion, had to get that off my chest

At the risk of derail, i think it does capture a certain mode of internet journalism - e.g. a million thinkpieces on what Charlie Hebdo "means" published within 24 hours of the event - quite well.

To continue the longstanding tradition of providing unsolicited hot takes on each and every song -- ladies and gentlemen, my live-blogging thoughts on this 1st set:

Nicki Minaj - Lookin Ass : good track. I don't remember Anaconda being nearly this good IMO. Great production on the drums and great flow. The track as a whole seems too short and underdeveloped? Sounds like the start of something that never amounts to much. The muffled vocal sample and synth aren't particularly memorable either. 6/10

Owen Pallett - Song for Five and Six : excellent arpeggiator synth intro. Hooked immediately. Uh oh, lyrics are atrocious. Vocals are lame. Sick beat drop bro, but the snare drum is flat. Percussion effects, synth fills, and string break are a welcome addition. Why is this song still going? Outro was redeeming, but this probably could ended after the intro arpeggiator lick. 4.5/10

tune-yards - Water Fountain : right groovin' percussion -- good progression through the song, earwormy AnCo-style hook that won't age well. Bass player could probably turn their volume down. The track immediately changed to one called "Bizness" afterwards, which sounds much better than this. 6.5/10 anyway

Ninos du Brasil : Sombra du Lua : mmmhmmmm. Now we're talking. 9/10

Mister Chameleon : KING : I've heard this before, somewhere. Nice bouncy bass and synth arrangement. Songwriting is great. 7.5/10

Katie Gately - Pivot : "hungry hungry hippo?" - like randomly generated impressions of pop. Cool mid-section starting around the 7:40 mark. Some very creative parts in this. 11:00 mark opens another world. 8/10

Ana Tijoux - Somos Sur : love the verse sample hook, percussion throughout. catchy chorus. The featured artist takes this for me - great stuff. 7.5/10

Usher - Good Kisser : wohoooo damn son where'd you find this 8.5/10

Nicki Minaj - Anaconda : not so bad listening into it the context of these other tracks. It's fun, but it's not much of a dance track, and not much of a hip-hop track. Not much of a song at all, really. Not sure what it is. Loses points for Drake being in the video. 4/10

Davido - Tchelete (Goodlife) : nice rolling intensity; very catchy 7.5/10

Royksopp, Robyn - Do It Again : a song I've heard previously!, albeit once. I forgot it sounded like this. It doesn't really stand up with the other tracks here, IMO. But nice production, I guess. Needs more Robyn, and bring the old Royksopp back. Sounds like a track from a number of years ago, at a time when Royksopp did not sound like the popular music being released at the time. Surprised this is what they came up with in 2014? 5/10

Shakira - Empire : wow, beautiful. The modern chorus is on overdrive on a number of levels. 7.5/10

St. Vincent - Prince Johnny : lyrics are bad. But it's a nice song. I like it. It's kind of the same idea over and over. Can I turn it off now? 7/10

Duke Dumont - I Got U ft. Jax Jones - Fun, like a beach. Love 'dem steel drums. Boop bing bong. Sounds like the kind of song I needed to hear at 5am after one of those nights for it to mean something. I give it 7/10 for its unrealized potential in my psyche.

Caribou - Silver : the sounds here are amazing. I always avoid Caribou for some reason, but this is deep, meditative. Something about picturing that dude singing in falsetto irks me though. I saw him live circa Andorra but don't remember a thing except that every possible frequency was filled with sound. This has a nice a climax. Call me Pleasantly Surprised, and I'll call you back. 8/10

Against Me! - FUCKMYLIFE666 : Wut. 4/10

Holly Herndon - Chorus : Yeah, sounds straight from the school of oneohtrix, but not afraid to hold onto a fixed BPM it seems, with a pop progression and song structure. It's kind of like where you wish some oneohtrax would latch onto and go, but then once you hear it you realize why he maintains his tension and restraint. I'd probable be more impressed if I'd never heard R Plus Seven. The video is mesmerizing, but I'm trying not to let that factor into my decision unless Drake has a cameo. 7.5/10

why are we all giving our hot takes on every song
― j. winters (josh)

idk what else you think would be posted in this thread

i have enjoyed reading all the hot takes so far. gonna get the ninos du brasil and ana tijoux albums, and that shakira single's gonna get into rotation too

oh wow fuckmylife666 placed! an agonising late cut for me so happy to see it broke the 77 anyway :D
and chorus was my #3 - such an amazing piece of music
great list so far and echo my earlier statement of fantastic smart images

yes a+ presentation. lol, didn't realise til seeing the full imgur page that they're alternating sides

It goes without saying that one of the best things about I Got U is how DD interpolates 'Your Love Is My Love' but places the vocal so it lands at a completely different part in the beat. Rather than being 'cut-up', the male vocal sounds like it's been extended, or opened up, which is also unusual. The way the vox are contextualised like this meant it took me a while to grok on to where the vocal source came from, even though I'd been listening to YLIML just a few weeks before.

Prince Johnny was my #4. Like the Owen Pallett album, the St Vincent LP is short of bad tracks and is the kind of record where my favourite song changed regularly on the first several plays. But I eventually found myself listening to this one more than any. Whoever said it's the 'ugly' parts of her music that make it, is OTM. SV's music is very much about spiky, somewhat awkward phrases rubbing up against moments of startling beauty, and that's what's happening here. The pay off comes when she gets to the Court & Spark-style harmonies and the music starts swirling round her head. Also a fantastic musician and live performer. I could see her becoming a mega-star on the next album.

Much as I love both Katie Gately and Holly Herndon, I find myself getting confused about which tracks are which and where they appear. Both seem to have been keen on releasing a lot of split-singles and single track things it's hard top keep up. So is Chorus the one with the video of a computer desk rendered in VR graphics? I love that one.

Really enjoying that Owen Pallet track. Never crossed my radar before. What other things of his should I be checking out?

Not keen on any of the music so far but its interesting to hear different things I wouldnt otherwise hear.

i like the images

I dont usually post negative thoughts but here it feels ok to do so. An occasional hot take to clear the january air

yep chorus is the one with the computer desks
and in relation to owen pallett, personal choices but i'd recommend the riverbed off his latest, and this is the dream of win and regine way back from his first album (under the alias final fantasy)
genuinely love all four of his solo records though and would say that if you have the time to, to check them all

correction, i liked he poos clouds but never loved it :'(

Ok, cheers

Both seem to have been keen on releasing a lot of split-singles and single track things it's hard top keep up

i wish! katie gately discography is really short: 1 x cassette (Pipes), 1 x 12" EP, 1 x split 12" (includes 'Pivot'), 1 x split 7" (includes 'Far')

might be more stuff on her soundcloud, but otherwise it's just the two songs in 2014

Love love love that Ninos do Brasil track, those rotating drums sound great on headphones.

yh so far,

voted for: gately

love: pallett, herndon

like a lot: ninos, against me, MAYBE st vincent

other: the others

why are we all giving our hot takes on every song

Because a rollout without discussing what we think of the songs would be really fucking boring?

Whoever said it's the 'ugly' parts of her music that make it, is OTM. SV's music is very much about spiky, somewhat awkward phrases rubbing up against moments of startling beauty, and that's what's happening here.

See, I know this is what people like about St Vincent, and having seen clips of her live I can sort of get it, but listening to this track I don't hear "ugliness vs beauty" at all, I just hear a mid-range radio blandness.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

maybe it works better in the context of the album/rest of her work. like, Prince Johnny is a highlight on that record because it comes as a much-needed breather after a bunch of fairly fast/jerky songs. I could imagine hearing it for the first time as an individual tune and thinking it might be a bit on the sleepy side. It's def a song that reveals itself after a few plays.

My six year old daughter gives a big thumbs up to that Shakira track.

Very happy that AM! placed - I voted for this, but it was more to make up for forgetting to nominate the True Trans EP for last year's poll, I'll fill my singles ballot with AM! tracks I don't care

Here's the true trans version, I like it better than the album http://youtu.be/4q5oAY4BIcE

Because a rollout without discussing what we think of the songs would be really fucking boring?

instead of posting hot takes ppl should type out the names of the tracks and then put ::claps politely:: after each of them.

MONDAY RECAP:

Gallery of today's images

77 NICKI MINAJ "Lookin Ass"
76 OWEN PALLETT "Song for Five & Six”
75 TUNE-YARDS "Water Fountain"
74 NINOS DU BRASIL "Sombra da Lua"
73 KING "Mister Chameleon"
72 KATIE GATELY "Pivot"
71 ANA TIJOUX Ft. Shadia Mansour "Somos Sur"
70 USHER "Good Kisser"
69 NICKI MINAJ "Anaconda"
68 DAVIDO "Tchelete" Ft. Mafikizolo
67 RÖYKSOPP & ROBYN "Do It Again"
66 SHAKIRA "Empire"
65 ST. VINCENT "Prince Johnny"
64 DUKE DUMONT "I Got U" Ft. Jax Jones
63 CARIBOU "Silver"
62 AGAINST ME! "FUCKMYLIFE666"
61 HOLLY HERNDON "Chorus"

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9627011/photos/golfclap.gif

http://i.imgur.com/O98fLAn.jpg

60 MARK RONSON "Uptown Funk" Ft Bruno Mars [252 points, 7 votes]
http://youtu.be/OPf0YbXqDm0

monday was a great day
well done everybody

sure didn't take long for you guys to poop in the punchbowl today

actually can't imagine a song i'll hate more in this poll, unless "happy" is eligible, but at least we've saved the higher echelons of the 2015 poll. like if one of the organised fun assignments on an office team building day was to make a michael jackson song. brr

Feel like 2015 is going to be more of a year of impact for that song.

My id thinks Uptown Funk sounds terrific, but my ego can't help feeling slightly sceptical that this isn't just a bunch of touchstones and vamps that have been cynically smooshed together for optimum effect. Part of me says 'fuck it well that's what a large part of pop music is all about' and the other part isn't so sure whether 'Get Lucky''s fairy dust works as well the second time round.

It's amazing that I still haven't gotten tired of "Uptown Funk."

like if one of the organised fun assignments on an office team building day was to make a michael jackson song. brr

Or what lex said, p much.

I loathe Bruno Mars and love loathing Bruno Mars but this is my jam. He should sing in that cocaine-husk of a whisper forever.

This is the kind of music that a band that goes on Jonathan Ross or Letterman might play. Thankfully I dont even have a tv

My #2, prob caught up in joy from New Years Parties and all that. But I love it, much more than Get Lucky. It really is "touchstones and vamps that have been cynically smooshed together for optimum effect" which is what makes it so much better than when touchstones and vamps are cynically smooshed together to seem 'authentic' or 'tasteful'. I love the almost EDM-like dynamics of it.

his voice on this is so weak

felt that way about "fuck you"

love "uptown funk" tho

i don't care about how cynical the motivations were behind this but the end result is joyless and insipid

"fuck you", "happy", "all about that bass", all need to get in the bin

Thankfully I dont even have a tv

* * ILX SIRENS AWOOGA * *

'Happy' is definitely more irritating than this. 'Happy' is up there with Lenny Kravitz' 'Fly Away' a hit song that doubles as a hatchback commercial

"Fuck you" is the worst

I love Bruno Mars and take the hateposts about him around here a bit too personally but this song is trying too hard to please. Orgafun is a good comparison but see also Hollywood movie plots put together by committee of scriptwriters.

Yeah, Uptown Funk is the Skyfall of popmusic. But I love Skyfall as well. Sometimes it works.

'Fuck You', 'Crazy', 'Uptown Funk', 'Get Lucky', 'Happy' - dangerously close to becoming a genre in itself.

Thankfully I dont even have a tv

flagged

Happy is in a category of its own, no way is this as bad. Neither is it as bad as Fuck You, which was more in your face about its melodic gimmicks and only slightly listenable the very first time. This one is just a piece of sound pastiche with not much of a song to it and I don't particularly like it or hate it.

I never heard this before either. I guess I'm not listening to the radio anymore or something...

YouTube views:
115,699,903