ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

well german whip is hilarious

YES! FUTURE ISLANDS DIDN'T TOP THE POLL!

*punches air*

fewer country songs in the end

All in all, though, I guess the poll has confirmed that 2014 in general just wasn't the year for me.

To add to Bobby Shmurda (get well soon Bobby), I have discovered (after my gf made me listen again) that the Meridian Dan song is actually well banging, and now I want a Volkswagen too

btw listened to that Taylor Swift song some more to figure out where Starbucks comes in

In order to fit the rhythm, "list of ex-lovers" becomes lih stahvex lovers

Stahvex is kind of Starbucks right

http://significanceandcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/600full-good-will-hunting-screenshot1.jpg

This "Skating Beats" thing is dope and better than most of the dance music that placed.

I actually like this list better than last year's, but I know that's just because it better flatters things I know and/or like. Either way, I like the exercise. I think this is as good a slice of 2014 as anyone's going to find anywhere. Thanks to all involved.

I feel like these results accurately reflect what a good year it was for rap and what a bad year it was for not-rap.

otm - i voted for eleven rap songs and two not rap songs

#78 not as funny and/or poetic as in past. "digital witness" more like "digital SHITness" [not really, decent song but not really my thing as per usual w/ st. vincent]

i think the results and rollout were as fun as they've been for me in years. i discovered a few great songs i hadn't heard before, one of my votes helped a song sneak in that a lot of people seemed to have been glad to discover ("sombra da lua"), and i enjoyed the whining too lol. a smidge disappointed that some of the r&b in particular on my ballot did not do better (i foolishly thought both adrian marcel and k. michelle had better chances to place) but oh well, things could obviously have been much worse.

i also like that the system rewards enthusiasm rather than bottom-of-ballot consensus (contra what some seem to think). nicki minaj was #77 with 5 votes, presumably all high; whereas 6 votes, presumably all low, only got route 94 to #264.

― lex pretend, Thursday, January 22, 2015 2:57 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like this a lot too! pazz & jop should start weighting singles ballots tbh

also i heard "seasons" playing in the restaurant i went to tonight O_o

Tracks that got a single #1 vote and nothing else:

Affie Yusuf - Rinse & Dry
CAZZETTE - Sleepless
Girl Talk & Freeway ft. Jadakiss - I Can Hear Sweat
Hannah Diamond - Attachment
Isaiah Rashad - Heavenly Father
Jessica Pratt - Back, Baby
Lee Ann Womack - Send It On Down
Mariah Carey - Meteorite
Róisín Murphy - Ancora Ancora Ancora (Severino & Nico De Ceglia Remix)
Samantha Jade - Sweet Talk
TV On The Radio - Careful You
The Nels Cline Singers - Companion Piece
Yhdentekevää - Pyhä Lehmä Anthem

― seandalai, Thursday, January 22, 2015 1:33 PM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i love these two

forks please add the correct that's not me to the spotify.

Just noticed that Serebro got 5 votes and Dasha Charusha got 3!

<3 <3 <3 <3

To answer my own question, no one voted for all hands on deck. Actually thought that was the next best song on the tinashe album but what do i know

Also can I just say that 'get money like an invoice' has got to be one of the dreariest similes I've heard, it's like being at work or something. Did one of the payments clerks write that line?

fantastic tracks, rollout (aside from time zones) and beef ITT - many thanks to sean and gr80

Missed the top ten yeasterday, just caught up.

thx gr8080 and seandalai for the tabulations, graphics, and rollout.

*yesterday*

Thanks Sean and gr80 - as always loved the countdown. Faves were most of the Rap singles. Not as much as R&B (well almost nothing) but the no1 made up that. Elsewhere I like Herndon, Tchelete, Jessie Ware unexpectedly clicked, Somos Sur and a few others.

Never that keen on the rock & avant-garde ish stuff that places here - but it has never been the place for the latter and I hope we can keep the novelty away next year.

Sorry not much R&B placed..

Oh and re: grime. Whoever said London ilx was dead better think again :-)

It strikes me that 'indie music' (however we're meant to define it) is pretty much not a thing any more as far as the ILM hivemind is concerned. Sure we had Future Islands and in the lower regions things like Alvvays, but these are outliers now, much in the same way as metal and avant-garde crossover acts like Deafheaven, Scott Walker and Richard Dawson have made token appearances in polls. Is this indicative of ILM's current tastes and values, or is it a reflection of music as a whole? It strikes me that the only traditional rock band I've heard and been excited about in the last twelve months were Ought.

Echoing thanks to poll runners and to gr80 for the beautiful images (and animated at the end!! kudos)

Some comments on the tracks to follow, probably on Sunday when the rest of you have all moved on :/

xp ^ i know, i know, Tracks poll and everything, but maybe my memory is filling in blanks in that I can't help feeling previous polls were ever so slightly more diverse. I made a 2 and a half hour playlist of things that had passed me by on the tracks poll last night and there was a noticeable and significant amount of slow-tempo 808 rap jams and female-fronted pop-dance songs on there.

Now I like these two styles a lot, there's a wealth of great stuff out there and I always enjoy discovering new hip-hop and dance-pop through the tracks poll (since I don't really follow these styles enough the rest of the year). These are really enduring styles of music that ILM loves, and I appreciate that, but I wonder if I'm validated in feeling things are starting to ossify a little in terms of diversity? Has a consensus now been reached that these are the dominant genres and that everything else is deemed as ephemera or an exception?

One of the reasons I have continued to post on and follow ILM these last... what was it 15 years(?!) - is because there are no specialisms and that all styles are embraced and accepted (the odd genre war notwithstanding).

Could my gripes all be down to a lot of non-pop posters not voting in the tracks poll, or is this the future for ILM?

All this said, I loved the poll and very much appreciate the countdown, the UK friendly starts and especially the top-n

..otch graphics

Nope, you're wrong, only 808 rap jams and female fronted synthpop acceptable from here on.

dang

i realise my posts read as if i'm pining for more indie music in the poll - just want to say that's not true, but i was hoping for just a little more diversity.

It strikes me that 'indie music' (however we're meant to define it) is pretty much not a thing any more as far as the ILM hivemind is concerned

have a hunch that the album poll will put paid to this belief to some extent. would expect to see war on drugs, st. vincent, sun kil moon, swans, angel olsen, owen pallett and maybe future islands all place, plus whatever else i have repressed

against me!, sleaford mods, warpaint?

yeah, no doubt. the albums poll is always a bit more alt-friendly.

I don't know, I think 6 of mine made it and that's pretty good for me & ilx, so I'm feeling relatively good about the whole endeavour. Weird that there was no actual rock music in the whole poll, though (if people are going to claim Haim as indie (which they obviously aren't, but whatever) then they can't count as rock, so ner).

The main thing I'm taking away is that I should spend more time on the Afropop/Afrobeats style threads, as that's where my favourite "never heard of this before" discoveries came from.

tune yards & ariel pink too, you get the picture xps

Oh wait, Against Me! totally count as proper rock music, how did they fall out of my brain?

The main thing I'm taking away is that I should spend more time on the Afropop/Afrobeats style threads, as that's where my favourite "never heard of this before" discoveries came from.

― emil.y, Friday, January 23, 2015 12:16 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

likewise

now you lot have me worrying the albums poll will be some sort of Pitchfork redux. i'm very difficult to please

Dog latin I hope that is the future of ilm.
As for metal, they have their own poll so it should not be in this poll anyway.
Maybe there should be an avant or indie eoy poll

Great idea. And let's have a separate rap poll, too. Maybe it should be invite-only?

lol

i still wanna do a music video poll one year, even if we kept is simple, 10 vote ballot, top 20 rollout.

my video noms: theo parrish 'footwork', any of the gazelle twin ones

808 rap jams and female fronted synthpop had rolling threads devoted to them which established consensus picks before the poll. Other genres are well represented in the lower placings, but suffered from vote splitting.

So. Album rollout starts on Monday?

it never occurred to me that gazelle twin has videos. i must watch these.

808 rap jams and female fronted synthpop had rolling threads devoted to them which established consensus picks before the poll. Other genres are well represented in the lower placings, but suffered from vote splitting.

― excreting zeitgeist (Sanpaku), Friday, January 23, 2015 12:45 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

rolling threads are such a necessary evil. i can't stand them, personally.

maybe one day i'll get used to listening to music primarily through spotify/youtube and that will all change though.

it never occurred to me that gazelle twin has videos. i must watch these.

oh man, they are the best - great no budget art horror vibe

it took FIVE votes to get into the 77 in the most open year in memory, let us not pretend this is a case of poor little ~avant genres getting squashed by pop monoliths. it's sad when your personal faves don't make it but if they couldn't muster up 4-5 other voters you can't complain.

it's been noted for a while that this has been an unusually great year for rap singles (and, actually, an unusually poor one for rap albums, so i doubt the album list will be as rap-heavy)