ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

The ILX List of Lists

xp tru

Nice catch, forks!

Would that Becky G had sustained her first 8 seconds of inspiration.

started to compile every list into youtube playlists too

just listened to that myself xp - it's saccharine & irksome but the chorus sustains quite a rush w/ building strings & suddenly distant vox production. agree that the sound of dripping water probably has it beat tho (not necc. a diss, i like found sound)

hodgson was a semi-righteous discovery that didn't quite imo take off - same scene as beep dee apparently but the latter is composed far more ingeniously & less complacently imo

Yes, maybe this song is best enjoyed in its titular habitat! (Not entirely joking). It had a sweetness to it. It's something I might listen to if it came on and I was already very emotionally heightened.

Thanks a ton for the hotlinks to past Spotify lists, Forks, I'm just getting up to speed with my phone but what a relief to zap these things in like lightning. I work outdoors so the rollouts pass me by unfortunately. Like Bee OK I'm at something like 3/57 so far but I assume I'll clock at least 5 tomorrow in the top 20. Biggest disappointment is Boom Clap landing outside the top 20; what an eternal, satisfying piece of songcraft from this last year. Best discoveries were Indiana and Tkay Maidza, oh shit.

Looking forward to seeing saer's ballot

― groovypanda, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 11:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^ otm. Though I doubt he handed one in.

― a pleasant little psychedelic detour in the elevator (Amory Blaine),

I wasnt going to put one in but I did in the end! I think i voted for 7 or 8 records

In 'About The Money', Young Thug clearly sings 'my shoes are deception', Giuseppe my ass

and I'm going to remind you all of this, constantly

i feel like in another year something like "can't raise a man" would have placed, but i don't think this voter pool is really into that kind of straight r&b

― k3vin k., Thursday, January 22, 2015 3:45 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, if "Good Kisser", which I expected to place in the top 20, was only #70, K. Michelle is doomed.

― The Reverend, Thursday, January 22, 2015 3:52 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't think k michelle has haim-like traction to have the last single off a 2013 album place...i briefly thought "loyal" might have a shot as i saw a couple of other posters considering voting for it, but that would've been very low in the 77. i do expect her album to place though.

that said if amel larrieux could go top 10 last year, i imagine there's still scope for major surprises in a year when there was much less consensus. there's definitely a lot less of the "multiple entries by artists whose albums will also play", which is great.

assume the top 20 will be all mustard songs? have we even had one yet?

Yeah I meant Phantogram rather than Phosphorescent, that's what you get for typing on your phone with only the last couple of posts visible.

I really dislike 'Danny Glover' on an instant visceral level but I love the bits when Young Thug turns up on that T.I. track. This is the first Charli XCX song I've liked as well, her previous stuff felt too everything-in-your-face-all-the-time but this is the sort of song (and chorus in particular) that makes that into a virtue.

Mustard feels like the biggest omission so far but there's one song that will definitely place.

2 on must have a shot at winning, if blank space does

swift ain't winning this or even close, not with her vote-splitting. "2 on" in with a shot but it's the kind of song that winds up #3 i think.

there were surprisingly few mustard songs to rally behind, the quality of his beats has mostly outstripped the resulting songs, though obv he'll get one and maybe two albums placing

3 favourite discoveries of 40-21 were Tkay, the song Stoner (the only Young Thug I've been able to fuck w/) and weirdly enough the choruses (but NOT the verses) of the Becky G

slim, slim pickings tho, if u r me. at least the riverbed punctuated it all

"2 on" in with a shot but it's the kind of song that winds up #3 i think

sounds about right - two weeks and future frigging islands above it

please let there be a larrieux this year (a top 10 discovery i actually like)

And serves out to love. That was a good match

There's plenty of room for curveballs still I think, there are relatively few absolute bankers this year.

Also the second Royksopp & Robyn pick was a big surprise, so much better than the first one, I like the whole blankness of it, got a bit of a bargain basement Superpitcher vibe to some of it but I mean that in a good way.

yeah i came round to that one after my initial full-body shudder at seeing it appear

dej loaf my favourite of the unknowns in the last batch though

After a second listen, I think I do kind of like Hey QT for all its goofy idiocy. It really sounds like the kind of thing I could have made with a mate in an afternoon as a private joke. I don't really have a problem with this though? It's kind of DIY, it's cheap and silly. But then I like a lot of early-80s new wave-ish pop like the B-52s and stuff on Ze Records which isn't too different, aesthetically. I see why pop people fucking hate it of course.

John Talabot ft. Pional - Destiny - more like john toiletpot ft. pee on all “density”

got this far before i lost my shit completely

Dog Latin completely otm re: Hey QT's goofiness, it's on-board the ZE records devil-may-care idiocy pushing modern pop into the bits where you put the mirror up, like slap-happy stupidity thing, nothing deeper.

can't wait for the 2k15 noise pop outfit 'john toiletpot'

John Toiletpot? - more like john talabot

hope yr flu is improving saer and that the day finds you in good spirits

Its not so good, i slept badly because of it and i have a headache too now and there was supposed to be a phone interview 45 minutes ago and the person hasnt called. Im not sure today is going to be good for me, i should be listening to more cordial music, or even better, silence

I'm in silence now because listening to vibey music I will forget everything i know as i return to my natural woodland state. not good for interview. but its the wrong kind of silence, its not the silence of tranquility and leaves

maybe one year we can all vote for a moment of restful silence and quiet contemplation instead of say, fruitless islands or tailors whiffed

a moment? thats all? I was thinking more like 18 months

"from now on the ILM Tracks Poll is a place of quiet contemplation'

Also fuck you NickB Future Islands ROOL!!!!!! :-D

the only future islands rule that i would condone is that they're never allowed near recording equipment again

the future silence rule

but he does a dance

he does!

"bargain basement superpitcher"

!

btw "Quarterback" made my P&J list, although initially I had problems with Isabella's vocal inadequacies. Then I let them help the song: it made what she described more poignant because it could happen to any girl of modest talents.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, January 21, 2015 10:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a little friendly reminder that this happened yesterday

?

Some of Superpitcher's best stuff has that sort of cold, strung-out blankness to it - thinking about tracks like 'Tomorrow' rather than the poppier or more peak time material.

yeah, no, I agree. thought it was a spot on description.

I'm in silence now because listening to vibey music I will forget everything i know as i return to my natural woodland state. not good for interview. but its the wrong kind of silence, its not the silence of tranquility and leaves

― saer, Thursday, January 22, 2015 5:43 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark

satyr

Yeah, if "Good Kisser", which I expected to place in the top 20, was only #70, K. Michelle is doomed.

― The Reverend, Thursday, January 22, 2015 3:52 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Without Me" hit #23 last year but that was a fluke, I think.

VSOP never placed?? Smh

not so very special after i guess

all

Rebellious Soul was like #62 in the albums poll this year. her 2nd album might do a little better this year though?

oops RS last year obv