ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

This list seems more an aggregate of everyone's two or three favorite songs rather than an actual list of the best songs of the year. That said, I'm trying to imagine a fake British music mag that would actually publish a list like this--what are its aesthetics? its preoccupations? its various perspectives and whims?--and I find the exercise v gratifying...

reet tune is this!

this song is honestly great but i don't think i listened to it after march!

pharrell's verse is still great though

i'm really surprised "move that dope" placed so high, especially beating "hot n*gga" which felt like the way bigger rap anthem. amazing beat though, pretty good song, pharrell weirdly has the best verse

'Blood, Sweat, Tears' the Future song that meant the most to me this year, but this is cool too. Even Pusha's terrible jokes.

i almost roll my eyes out of their sockets when he's like "get it?? i nose better!"

the album sucked though

it is very weird but nice that pharrell has the best verse

there is def something grubbsian about dawson's sparse guitar playing but that's become a standard style for a lot of underground stuff, his singing is obviously the overwhelming heart of this, whatever you make of it

xpost - lagoon - there's a fair amount of crossover of weirdo 90s avant/post rock stuff and the general ilx brigade scene, like glenn jones was in cul de sac, others like wm. tyler & danny paul grody have backgrounds in that

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 22, 2015 10:59 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i saw cul de sac open for the boredoms once and bought a hand numbered 7" from them which i sold to ian a few years ago

― lag∞n, Thursday, January 22, 2015 10:02 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha that sounds like something ian would buy!

glenn jones' solo albums are legit beautiful, but so different than cul de sac

Just tuned in to find joy of actual joys at number 14! I can't even believe this happened!

There's an instrumental Karen Gwyer remix of The Vile Stuff you should check out, Contenderizer

the whole future album was the biggest disappointment to me, it had some jams but still, feel like pharell and pushas discordant rapping ruining the song was pretty indicative of the whole mess

Everyone who isn't Future sounds terrible on this.

I feel the critical position where Takoma-esque folk-prog and novelty soundcloud rap are two sides of the same coin (which I think maybe they are) is prob the mark of reaching a higher level of consciousness (for me at least)

was there actually a casino-less version of "move that dope" or are we just quietly excising him from history

this is sounding rly quite good, might be the residual dopamine, but boy is it moving

there is def something grubbsian about dawson's sparse guitar playing but that's become a standard style for a lot of underground stuff, his singing is obviously the overwhelming heart of this, whatever you make of it

― ogmor, Thursday, January 22, 2015 4:04 PM (32 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah his a capella live stuff is nothing short of electrifying. add in the guitar and it's too much really - the voice is my favourite part though

Just tuned in to find joy of actual joys at number 14! I can't even believe this happened!

― tangenttangent, Thursday, January 22, 2015 4:05 PM (8 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nor i :) had almost forgotten it was even possible by this point, a victory for high-art geordie folk and rabid campaigning alike

There's an instrumental Karen Gwyer remix of The Vile Stuff you should check out, Contenderizer

― I am using your worlds, Thursday, January 22, 2015 4:05 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's fucking amazing

his verse is better than pusha's xp

was there actually a casino-less version of "move that dope" or are we just quietly excising him from history

― lex pretend, Thursday, January 22, 2015 11:09 AM (2 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

casino-less single

There's an instrumental Karen Gwyer remix of The Vile Stuff you should check out, Contenderizer

o word? thanks!

and thanks, lj, for posting it

the radio version also has a different & worse pharrell verse, the whole thing is bizarre and i don't get it

karen gwyer needed representation in here anyway, she's had a brilliant year xp

casino-less single

― lag∞n, Thursday, January 22, 2015 11:10 AM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he didnt even get to hang out on the jeep in the video but tylor the creater did lol

listening that (wonderful!) gwyer rmx now cuz i know how "move that dope" goes. love "move that dope", btw. disagree that pharell's verse is best, but it isn't bad. "benz frenz" is where future really gets wiped by the guest verse, btw.

I can't be the only one who immediately thinks 'Nine Inch Nails' whenever they hear the Move That Dope beat, btw?

Dawson is so bad. I just hate they appear to have ripped the Dead C's sound for this..

"they"?

come to think of it some similarity with the synth bass on Depeche Mode's 'World In My Eyes' xposts

Catching up on today:

Turn Down For What: I've never voluntarily pressed play on this song, but obviously I've heard it a trillion times. It's pretty good for wilding out and Lil Jon is one of the greatest shouters in human history. Negative a million points for that terrible gross video, though.

Can't Do Without You: Still haven't listened to this album in full. CDWY has a similar underwatery vibe to Silver, though I prefer that track. It's good as headphones music, but I don't think it would work on the dancefloor.

Hot N*gga: The music video is what makes this for me, that SHMONEY DANCE. All that charisma that Shmurda flashes in the video shows up on the track too. I don't drive too much anymore, but it bangs in the car.

German Whip: Whatever happened to Dizzee Rascal? I miss that dude. Good beat, but it would sound better with a different rapper.

Habits: Noooooooope

That's Not Me: Better than that Miracle Whip track from before. The lyrical hook is thrilling, the guest verse is unnecessary.

The Vile Stuff: Whoa. I think you need to be in a specific frame of mind to listen to this, and that's definitely not where I am right now. I'm probably gonna have a nightmare about this tonight, thanks guys.

couldn't get into Move That Dope or the Honest album, which is a shame because I'd enjoyed other tracks by Future from previous polls.

"he"?

Move That Dope was thrilling on first listen, still enjoy the hell out of it but it lost some of its initial spark.

i get a sorta sun city girls feel from richard dawson, will probably check out more of him

I can't be the only one who immediately thinks 'Nine Inch Nails' whenever they hear the Move That Dope beat, btw?

― Matt DC, Thursday, January 22, 2015 11:16 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the synth line is very downward spiral-era NIN, yes

Nice job with Richard Dawson. I love his early work best, the Match Game and Family Feud. That stuff is KILLER.

perhaps that is another reason why I quite like it xp

ooh, interesting, kornrulez

intro sounds like gaster del sol

― lag∞n, Thursday, January 22, 2015 7:57 AM (19 minutes ago)

hell yeah it does! didn't occur to me at first, but now that you mention, dawson's style is very similar. the gwyer version is brilliant on its own terms, but i do wish she hadn't so completely buried the guitar. it's dawson's hesitant, almost fractured style that makes the (original) track so intriguing. would make fine grist for a cut-n-shuffled lopatin-style remix.

fwiw I do think Dawson steals a bit of Bill Orcutt's style/innovations, which is fine w/me. Don't hear any Dead C at all in the guitar, and I have been listening to those Ba Da Bing reissues a lot lately so just my 2 cents.

Heroes with Robert Hogan was my favorite Dawson work.

Dawson is so bad. I just hate they appear to have ripped the Dead C's sound for this..

― xyzzzz__, Thursday, January 22, 2015 8:18 AM (5 minutes ago)

lol, don't hear this at all. a handful of dust maybe, but even that's a stretch.

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

12 KIESZA "Hideaway" [476 points, 18 votes]
http://youtu.be/ESXgJ9-H-2U

There it is.

ooh

aah

aah

Think its sorta there in some of the 'vibes' in Harsh 70s Reality. Maybe Sun city Girls too but they have more of a sense of humour so didn't immediately think of it.

In past years we have had Scott Walker, Swans and the like place round about here I think. xps

best part is when she's like "ah", "ooh" is pretty good, too

― nap time, my time (karl...arlk...rlka...lkar...), Tuesday, July 22, 2014 4:47 AM (6 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Often think about this post xps

god I've barely even heard of most of these past 15 or 20 tracks

we almost had it