ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

drawing generalizations about a genre from a single track just seems a pointless thing to do, most of the records today have been horrible but that has no bearing on other records, even by the same artist, they might be good who knows!

so much good country music out there right now tbh. esp on the ladies' side. there are a few legends or soon-to-be-legends operating at peak power right now.

saer otm

"Move That Dope" also totally notable for being the first big rap song in a long time to use one of those huge, deep Masta Ace jeep beat basslines that are like my favorite thing ever. (Mike Will Made It also used this to great effect on "No Flex Zone" too.)

Tonight may be the night when I put together my long-put-off screed about why what Nashville calls country music now is terrible, and why it's not like arguments of the past, but I'm still at work right now.

Hasn't Nashville been pilfering rock styles of 20 years ago for ages?

I don't like Billy Sherrill productions at all, as a result I can only abstractly appreciate "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and some other obvious classics.

"move that dope" is great but i never considered voting for it, and would be surprised if it was to come - if any future gets in it'd be "i be u" surely? slightly surprised there wasn't goodwill residue for a past ilm fave

The influence of Fleetwood Mac on country radio after 1990 is sort of amazing....unless you take the demographic seriously, and songs like "She's Gone Country" that work like user's guides. Hey, alienated from today's weird rock scene? Go country! It sounds just like the stuff you liked in the 70s, well, at least the soft rock stuff!

i guess one surprising takeaway post-"quarterback" showing up is that while i knew some people paid less attention to lyrics than i do, i didn't know some people were averse to paying them any attention at all, even in a genre where songwriting and storytelling take precedence over production by a long way

Just called "Gone Country", title mistake reveals my level of involvement.

honest should have been the future track to place highly but no one even nominated it

T.I. feat. Young Thug – "About the Money" – Yeah, see, this is some Thug I can use, in long enough to get things all weird, but out before the charm wears off. T.I. sounding great, too. Love it.

Owen Pallett – "The Riverbed" – Lazer guided and covering ground, I guess this is everyone's favorite OP track. I can see why, but for me, it doesn't cut half so deep as "Song for Five and Six". Not a complaint, I'm thrilled to see anything from the album place so high.

Taylor Swift – "Out of the Woods" – A million times better than "Shake It Off". I'm not generally speaking a fan, but this is an astounding song, fusing Swift's country-bred storytelling & songwriting gifts with a titanic, goosebump-worthy pop production. Biggest surprise is that the approach suits her as well as (or better!) than the countrified sound that made her a star. First time I've felt inclined to play the "too low" card.

Young Thug – "Danny Glover" – This thread is doing a fine job of killing my tiny, carefully tender ember of Young Thug enthusiasm.

Charli XCX – "Boom Clap" – Fun! Boring! Sounds like denoizified Sleigh Bells.

also find the ensuing discussion about country production being bigger than any ensuing discussion about the song quite sad

Thx for these, new to me and great from today:

40 GURU "Pooley"
38 TKAY MAIDZA "U-Huh"
36 YOUNG THUG "Stoner"
30 RÖYKSOPP & ROBYN "Monument"
29 DEJ LOAF "Try Me"
28 HODGSON "Babylon System

<3 <3 <3

Hey, alienated from today's weird rock scene? Go country! It sounds just like the stuff you liked in the 70s, well, at least the soft rock stuff!

the dude from staind went modern country, lol.

and I've read complaints that the lyrics are far better than the song; it's getting credit for its politics. That's not what I've read in its defenses.

I still like lots of '90s & '80s country but stuff like "Drunk On A Plane" is an abomination & an insult to its audience

honest should have been the future track to place highly but no one even nominated it

it's like a million years old tbf

naw, "Move That Dope" is great. Amazing beat, fun verses, even Pusha's T's stupid terrible puns. If you don't want to SPEND THAT MONEY WITH CAAAASIIIIINO you can get out imo.

― The Reverend, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 2:29 PM (12 minutes ago)

OTM! Would have voted for it (and "Honest") if, you know, I had bothered to read the nominations thread or put together a ballot or vote or anything :/

the dude from staind went modern country, lol.

And I just learned from TSJ that the guy from Default did too.

I still like lots of '90s & '80s country but stuff like "Drunk On A Plane" is an abomination & an insult to its audience

― example (crüt),

the musical details are funny. Love the strings.

I still like lots of '90s & '80s country but stuff like "Drunk On A Plane" is an abomination & an insult to its audience

imo "drunk on a plane" is a perfect song about getting drunk on a plane

the musical details are funny AND the lyric hints at tremendously sad things

I still like lots of '90s & '80s country but stuff like "Drunk On A Plane" is an abomination & an insult to its audience

imo "drunk on a plane" is a perfect song about getting drunk on a plane

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, January 21, 2015 4:47 PM (41 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yep, though (while I actually bought this on iTunes) I still haven't figured out whether I like it sincerely or not

when i went to maryland deathfest this year i stayed with a bunch of friends on a boat and one of the two channels we clearly received was zeus country, which played the same playlist of 20-30 country music videos every few hours. needless to say we thrilled every time they played "drunk on a plane"

again, it's on the verge of being fucking ridiculous (it IS fucking ridiculous); that's why I love country.

we also saw this video at least three or four times on the boat and it is my ghost no. 1 on my ilx tracks poll

HEY! WHAT DO I POLL (Stevie Lee Woods on Life in these United States)

(this song is actually terrible)

I love the idea of Brad Paisley and his co-writers deciding what inanimate object or abstraction to write about. Toothbrush? Water? Camouflage? Ticks? It's like Talking Heads' Fear of Music without the heeby jeebies.

So this is an ILM tracks poll huh-nearly universal praise for Taylor Swift, chased with what's wrong with Nashville sentiments.
I'm in.

hope there's as much great country in the albums poll this year as there was last. my only regret abt the 2013 poll was not hearing ashley monroe in time to vote her #1.

Night before 20-1 rollout always the best

drugs, partying, playing back 77-21, fights, strip clubs.

I'm in

drunk on a plane

So this is an ILM tracks poll huh-nearly universal praise for Taylor Swift, chased with what's wrong with Nashville sentiments.
I'm in.

― campreverb, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 2:53 PM (1 minute ago)

Nothing whatsoever wrong with Nashville, IMO. I'm not personally a fan of the dominant sounds of contemporary country-pop (the the limited extent I actually hear any of it), but that's not a criticism, simply an admission that my tastes are limited.

Catching up on today's batch, everything so far is good-to-great except for maybe TWOD and R&R and I don't expect to be into the Young Thug track.

I'm sympathetic to the suggestion that 41-60 is often the stretch with the most filler, even if I'm not sure it holds for every year or why it would be the case.

oh and on a plane is the worst place to be drunk

feel like the song acknowledges this in a way

https://soliloqueue.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/bad.gif?w=614

I don't read ILM as much as I maybe should, but is Kiesza expected to place? Hideaway or Giant in my Heart?

I have ctrl-f's the latter precisely once and the former zero

has a good shot at #1

(Kiesza)

Nah, not #1, but Hideway could possibly be top 20 (or it may miss altogether). Hard to say tbh.

if the hideaway places i already know how bad that is so i dont need to play it, one less affront to personal welfare

lol i would personally enjoy kiesza being 78'd

Since I wasn't expecting Out of the Woods to place (for whatever reason), I still think there are two Swifty songs coming ahead.

Hideaway is dece, didn't vote for it

Since I wasn't expecting Out of the Woods to place (for whatever reason), I still think there are two Swifty songs coming ahead.

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, January 22, 2015 12:17 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Style is the ILM-hive choice of Swift songs this hear I think.