ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

"espada" was basically my #1 of this year b/c i didn't hear it until last january when it placed on the 2013 poll lol

this song and album are good :) expect "la joya" prob did well too

i love how this song briefly flirts with moombahton at its conclusion

really no hope for young "corbin" is there :(

you're doing yeoman's work this week gr80

Think Javiera missed out in 2011 but she's placed every other year this decade. Couldn't pick between the two songs nominated so just made sure to put her album high.

Quick note re: the Spotify playlist: 61 HOLLY HERNDON "Chorus" is missing.

not available iirc

imo shamir song resembles css

xpost

ahh

thank you for your A+ service to date Mr. 80

i voted for rita, shamir, jessie ware and j-lo but i'm oddly less impressed with this batch - "hey qt" is a charmless "nyan cat", the katy perry song is ghastly and even though i love the haim song to death it feels like a 12-months-ago thing

girl I texted you back in aug and also p sure I sent u a dropbox link and also e-mailed and sent you LinkedIn messages and flew a banner over your house with a tiny airplane and had Shamir go knock on yr door 2 sing @ u but u weren't home

― Jennifer 8.-( (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, January 20, 2015 1:48 PM Bookmark

Pffft, I'm not even on LinkedIn.

Also, this Javiera Mena song is really good.

Starting to wonder if Los Awesome or Collard Greens is going to place.

one of the most intriguing things about shamir to me is his interest in country music - he's done covers for youtube of miranda lambert and brandy clark

yes, the job just landed in gr80's lap late last week and he obviously is killin' it like veteran.

(xpS) and ty everyone else for ilming. no snark, genuinely enjoy this thread & your arguments w/ each other & wish i had something more to contribute

@ nxd: who's yr fave? tijoux?

grady u shd release all the songs now

Another reasonable one, overall better than yesterday with 5 or 6 that were passable, if this rate of improvement improves I'm sure I will like one of them soon enough

fredi michel this year, probs listened to oye poh! more than any other 2k14

will check out tijoux thanks!

i am the keeper of the spotify btw.
Here's what's not available there (in the US at least; let me know if there's EU/otherwise access on any of these)

61 HOLLY HERNDON "Chorus"
57 NICKI MINAJ "Boss Ass Bitch" ft. PTAF
50 QT "Hey QT"

NB: PTAF's original (and imo far superior) version of Boss Ass Bitch is up on spotify; I have not added out of respect to the electorate.

best is yet to come my friends

literally the best performing tracks

best is yet to come my friends

― gr8080,

I knew it!

afaict those aren't on spotify in any region. xps

2 in a row I know & love: on the regular and otra era. I'm so out of it, it comforts me that they would place together.

grady u shd release all the songs now

― lag∞n, Tuesday, January 20, 2015 1:57 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

PTAF's original (and imo far superior) version of Boss Ass Bitch

yes i'm glad someone else actually thinks this, i voted for it lol (i know it's old but i hadn't heard it until nicki remixed it and it got some radio play this year)

Javiera was that "this album is so good I'm not gonna vote for any of the songs" for me, I think, without looking at my ballott

gr8080 what's #1?

"Rude"

"All About That Bass."

this katy b track is the quintessential tepid pop ilx goes in for

^^ crying for no reason

Catching up now:

Uptown Funk: I need to let the ubiquity of this one to settle down before I really judge this, but it seems to fit in with the rest of Bruno Mars' singles, as that it attempts to channel the spirit of a past sensation (Michael Jackson on "Treasure," The Police on "Locked Out of Heaven," etc.) but merely comes off as pastiche. "Uptown Funk" is considerably more fun than the others, though it's a shade of the Morris Day/Parliament/Kool & the Gang stuff that it's imitating. That's the real issue: why listen to "Uptown Funk" when you can listen to "Jungle Love" or "Jungle Boogie" or various great songs with "Jungle" in the title. Still eternally grateful to Mark Ronson for helping bring "Ooh Wee" into the world.

I Luh Ya Papi: The hook is ear candy, but I'm gonna file this one under "Not My Thing."

Transgender Dysphoria Blues: Another track that makes me regret not checking out the Against Me! album. Much more melodic than I expected and the snare drum intro is killer. I've never heard a song like this before. A pissed-off anthem raging against society and her body, but also a love song.

Boss Ass Bitch: I HEEEEAR YOU...WHEN I'M BACK ON THE PROWL...fuck why didn't I vote for this.

If I Could Change Your Mind: Prob just my third or fourth favorite on the album, but there's no shame there. Feels like a very 2013 song for me.

YRN: I voted for three songs with Young Thug on the track and I somehow forgot this one. Such a strangely structured song, with some of my favorite Thugger deliveries/exhortations ("Imma fucker Imma fucker Imma fucker Imma fucker") and Quavo's verse is an all-timer. I love how it seems like the rappers are ignoring the beat entirely when they're rapping their verses. The only reason I can think of why I didn't vote for this is because it's filtered in my iTunes as a 2013 track and I forgot to fix it.

Marry Me, Archie A few people mentioned Best Coast and it's an accurate comparison, albeit Best Coast if she could actually write a song. The chord progression is very pretty and simple, it (and the melody) reminds me a lot of The Cure at their poppiest. Of course, the final product sounds nothing like The Cure. Almost voted for this.

Inside Out: I can't listen to this song without thinking I'm about to hear the Simpsons theme song at the beginning. It settles into a low-key Spoon-like groove, but without Spoon-like instruments, save for Jim Eno's massive drums. I voted for a different Spoon song that has no chance of making the poll.

Sugah Daddy: I didn't vote for anything off Black Messiah cause I was too busy trying to dissect it as a whole. It's one of my favorite songs off the album, but I would've voted for "The Charade" or "1000 Deaths" or "The Door." I've said it before, but "Sugah Daddy" sounds to me like D'Angelo took the "Just because the record's got the groove" part of "Sir Duke," stripped it down and expanded it into a full song.

Pendulum: Oh wow, a song I actually voted for (I think). Twigs' stuff transforms every room in which it's played. Mood music, but intensely emotional and detail-oriented mood music.

Hey QT: From the YouTube comments: "I hate white boys and how they think their opinions about music are important lmao." As a white boy, I'll do Youtube commenter val p a favor and not have an opinion on this song.

Dark Horse: Juicy J now finally has a number one hit to go with his academy award. I can't wait until the Three 6 Musical cleans up at the Tonys. As for Dark Horse, Juicy J's verse is boilerplate though his flow is awesome as always, the breakdown/verse is pretty cool and the chorus is the same bleaty nonsense that I expect from Katy Perry. Still, I've heard it probably close to 100 times and it doesn't make me want to die, so that's something. That Dawn Richard cover that someone posted is brilliant.

Champagne Kisses: Tough Love was slightly underwhelming, but only in comparison to the incredible Devotion. Champagne Kisses is assuredly one of the album's highlights. When she reaches for those high notes on the chorus...

Tuesday: Oh it's Tuesday and I haven't even listened to this song yet. I understand the complaints about Makonnen's voice, but I think he brings a unique energy to this type of airy Sonny Digital beat, and his brand of melancholy party animal is a lot more appealing than the bleak grossness of The Weeknd. Voted for this near the bottom of my ballot.

I Will Never Let You Down: Haven't heard this one. The intro reminds me of "Under the Bridge." Is there anything distinctive or original about Rita Ora? This is a Kelly Clarkson song, but she's off cycle.

Minipops 67: Bleep bloop. (Ok I actually sort of enjoy this but I have to leave soon and I don't know what to say).

Delorean Dynamite: One of the several peaks of Terje's awesome album. Terje can be a little pastiche-y at times but he can really work a groove.

That's all I have time for now, perhaps I'll do more later.

yes, the job just landed in gr80's lap late last week and he obviously is killin' it like veteran.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, January 20, 2015 3:54 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

good job sir

yeeeeeeeah, otra era! my first vote to make it :D

forks not sure exactly what you asked upthread but if I'm reading it right btw the migos track isn't available over here in the uk

also gr8 job and thanks gr80!
nothing compères to you

nxd: yah, just asking if i'm missing those tracks somehow or if they're available in any other neckuvdawoodz

APHEX TWIN - I have spent my entire life Not Listening to Aphex Twin; I'm sure I wouldn't hate it but I just cannot be remotely arsed to start scaling such an immense discography, of an artist I associate with two decades ago, and I doubt that this new album is the ideal place to start. If I ever listen to him it'll be chronologically from the beginning. Right now I'm listening on crappy portable speakers and it is definitely not the place for my first Aphex Twin experience

TODD TERJE - bouncy, kind of parodically Terje. Realised of late that the Terje album is roughly equivalent to Lindstrøm's Smalhans - very immediate in its unashamed corniness but really rapid diminishing returns. He's been coasting on name alone for a couple of years now.

KATY B - I was underwhelmed when I first heard it but it really sunk its claws into me over the year - both album and this single. I don't think it's as MOR/Radio 2 as some claim, I feel like she stamps herself on it as distinctly and subtly as ever, and most crucially she nails the emotion. It really builds to a great climax. If she's always had a Sugababes-ness about her I think this is her "Too Lost In You" - winter ballad to hug you close when you're walking home alone. btw, I discovered after the album had been out for a while that Katy had been through some shit before its release and I suspect the album campaign sputtering out might have been to do with that. I cosign the Shorterz remix but it was the original I ended up connecting to more; having said all this, I think I tossed my vote to the album but voted in trax for her incredible live cover of "Vulnerable/Drunk In Love", which is revelatory about both songs and her.

SHAMIR - absolutely dire, like an amateur Youtube fan cover of "212". Reminds me of terrible mid-00s parties where Uffie would get played. I had no idea this had any sort of ILM fanbase

JAVIERA MENA - heartening to see the annual Javiera Mena track here, predictably I like it like I like her every year. I never did play last year's Javiera track post-poll though.

EMO RAP STUFF - so, first, I am not against displays of sadness in rap, and am a fan of Z-Ro and many other emotional rap songs over the years. I don't get on with post-Drake feelings because it seems so performative in its approach to male sensitivity; very little I've heard along those lines gets really deep or dark (like Z-Ro and Scarface did!) or risks the narrator's reputation. Sort of separate and sort of connected, I just dislike singsong autotune warbles and tinny production, like it's a really viscerally unpleasant sound to me, and it's not a blanket thing by any means but a song's going to need something extra to overcome it. Also autotune-as-melancholy-signifier is really boring to me, even if the lyrics aren't actually sad it's like they're still intent on making it a downer to listen to. When I listen to Rich Gang or Makonnen do their warbly thing I feel like I'm listening to mopey boy indie, all this sensitivity being sloshed around by people with horrible singing voices. I really don't care about male feelings in art tbh.

johnny fever calling migos "The Haim of trap." was todays hilight imo

Katy B- was pretty good too

also lmao i just noticed the juxtaposition of qt and kt perry images

also, trax with single-figure votes are still placing, whoa

it's a non-consensus year? or the top thirty are overwhelming consensus? What's in that top thirty?

i feel like all about that base sneaks in.

there hasn't been any country yet, has there?

nope

i would guess country will be more of an albums thing this year except, i really hope and sort of expect, one particular song