ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

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)

gazelle twin's videos are pretty crucial to her latest album imo

shit man. i really need to find a way to watch youtubes on my phone so they continue playing if i close the window. don't love watching youtube vids generally because a: adverts b: get a bit bored just staring at my computer screen? c: never worked out how to enqueue multiple songs or create playlists.

Ninos Du Brasil, Ana Tijoux and Vic Mensa all excellent new finds from this poll, thank you all very much.

You don't look at the screen when there is a youtube, you look out the window across the meadow

one thing i appreciated about these results contra last year's is the number of odd one-offs that weren't from consensus albums. lots of voting for tracks as tracks-in-isolation rather than just album highlights, and actually very few "are all the deep cuts off this album seriously going to place" moments

multiple artist showings

taylor swift x 4 - she's a special case and you will deal, and three of those were big singles anyway
nicki minaj x 3 - two of those were not on the album (which i doubt will place)
young thug, rae sremmurd, röyksopp & robyn x 2 - none of these acts released an album in 2014

which leaves fka twigs, owen pallett, d'angelo, against me!, jessie ware and caribou (all x 2) - i'd guess all their albums will place but it's a pretty good ratio

nickis album wasn't even nominated

a: adverts b: get a bit bored just staring at my computer screen? c: never worked out how to enqueue multiple songs or create playlists.

a: adblock
b: wtf why are you looking at the screen unless it's an actual video clip
c: even i know how to make youtube playlists, it's easy

As I say, I don't feel like it was a particularly poor year for weird stuff getting in. My comment about rock was more meant as a "demographics of ilx" musing, not really a complaint. But this place has always been poppy, it's not that unexpected.

Also I feel weird saying 'poppy' when actually it is mostly hip-hop/r&b/dance, and a lot of the placers weren't nec. in the charts over here.

one thing i appreciated about these results contra last year's is the number of odd one-offs that weren't from consensus albums. lots of voting for tracks as tracks-in-isolation rather than just album highlights, and actually very few "are all the deep cuts off this album seriously going to place" moments

multiple artist showings

taylor swift x 4 - she's a special case and you will deal, and three of those were big singles anyway
nicki minaj x 3 - two of those were not on the album (which i doubt will place)
young thug, rae sremmurd, röyksopp & robyn x 2 - none of these acts released an album in 2014

which leaves fka twigs, owen pallett, d'angelo, against me!, jessie ware and caribou (all x 2) - i'd guess all their albums will place but it's a pretty good ratio

― lex pretend, Friday, January 23, 2015 8:00 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this was nice. 7 albums placing multiple tracks (when most of them weren't chart hits and were generally heard by people in context of the albums) is still way too many though.

b: wtf why are you looking at the screen unless it's an actual video clip

Heh, no what I mean is I feel a bit strange just passively watching video after video while sat in my office chair in my room. My listening habits tend to involve me doing stuff at the same time, like reading or writing or exercising or walking somewhere. Might be a different story if I could access YouTube through my TV but I'm one of those annoying 'I don't even watch TV' types too, so it rarely occurs to me to watch videos. Guess it's a habit I need to try.

royksopp & robyn EP got nominated and will probably place

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.

― quinoa: how's it spelt? (dog latin), Friday, January 23, 2015 5:29 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Indie seems more popular then ever IRL, at least according to my friend who books at First Avenue, like the Tweedy show sold in no time, ditto for most big indie stuff

& like I said upgrade I don't vote in these, don't know if the metal crew does, like I said feels like when it does place it's perceived as a "novelty" as someone said (not that I would have voted for much of any indie rock I'm talking guitar based music)

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

― strychnine, Friday, January 23, 2015 12:34 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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

― emil.y, Friday, January 23, 2015 12:38 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I realise we're being facetious here but I would HATE this as a proposed route to go down. Prob can speak for a lot of ILMers in that I don't consider myself a fan of any genre, so genre-specific chat in rolling threads and dedicated polls really puts me off. I like metal loads, but I didn't hear enough metal albums last year to really feel involved enough to vote in a poll. Similarly, I like it when cross-genre parallels and recommendations are made (someone compared the B-52s' 'Mesopotamia' to Detroit techno on another thread, for example), but there's little scope for these kinds of derailments in genre-specific threads.

dl there are smartphone apps that allow you to stream youtube audio in the background while doing other things on your phone

Maybe there should be an avant or indie eoy poll

― strychnine, Friday, January 23, 2015 12:34 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this would obliterate the sheer joy of somehow getting richard dawson in at #14 on a pop poll

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

― quinoa: how's it spelt? (dog latin), Friday, January 23, 2015 6:22 AM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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

― strychnine, Friday, January 23, 2015 6:34 AM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lmao
Gee I wonder why people with niche interests have gone off on their own threads?

besides i LIKE that the ilx poll is an all-genre pop poll (not a total contradiction - everything is pop etc), nowadays - it's a brilliant basis from which to discover music & contextualise what you already like

agreed. the great thing about the ILM polls is that they open up realms that I don't generally pay attention to the rest of the year round.

I don't vote in these, don't know if the metal crew does

about 90% doesnt apparently. Seandalai said there's not much crossover in voters. I think last year about 5-10 out of the 60 voters in metal poll voted and it got a few things in. Might be less this year because as lex points out 5 or 6 votes would have been enough.
Bound to be a few token metal albums in album poll (Scott O))) will place, Swans aren't metal really but they get in metal poll.) Although that ,along with alcest, is metal that appeals to non metal fans. Not sure if Triptykon, Agalloch or Yob will place.
If that is all that places then we know metal poll voters didn't bother (think many feel their votes wont count here so dont bother)
Seandalai and I both kept asking on the thread for them to nominate/vote and there' not much else can be done.

as for other rock or 'indie' i dont know why the better stuff doesn't place and the crap does. maybe ilxors have terrible taste in rock music? ;)

I really like genre-based polls because they do a much better job than a global poll at not having hidden gems destroyed by high profile releases but that doesn't mean there isn't room for metal/etc. votes in the main one.

Wu tang clannad i meant im glad its a non rock/indie/metal poll.
A pitchfork style result would be the WORST

Yeah w/r/t indie/rock stuff I find the stuff that floats to the top (especially this year) is 'just fine' lowest-common denominator stuff that appears on all the other EOY lists. That or it's the poppier end of the spectrum, stuff like Against Me!, Paramore etc. This is a bit disappointing when you consider the uncommonality, quality and diversity on offer in other genres.

xxxp I think the Soft Pink Truth album might get a look in too, crossover appeal and all that. As a metal poll voter I can confirm I voted for albums, didn't have time to do tracks as well though.

Yeah w/r/t indie/rock stuff I find the stuff that floats to the top (especially this year) is 'just fine' lowest-common denominator stuff that appears on all the other EOY lists. That or it's the poppier end of the spectrum, stuff like Against Me!, Paramore etc. This is a bit disappointing when you consider the uncommonality, quality and diversity on offer in other genres.

― quinoa: how's it spelt? (dog latin), Friday, January 23, 2015 1:30 PM (4 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nah some of the very highest-quality or noteworthy indie found representation imo - richard dawson & owen pallett in particular, altho you could number pc music with them too - the poll is an incredibly harsh filtering mechanism for the less populist genres, but this is probably a good thing. besides, the albums poll as everyone says is less harsh.

the soft pink truth album has a shot at top 30

There is tons of great stuff but like nobody cares about Blind Shake or Nathan Bowles or hell ilxor global tetrahedron made a great album this year, their loss IMO, it's not like the pop oriented ppl are gonna see it as anything other than an affront

What is gt's album?

Also being honest I'm terrible at remembering stuff for lists and I hate ranking stuff and doing a ballot seems like too much work

Xpost DL, got good notices in the little ilx brigade corner of the internet
http://dyingforbadmusic.com/dfbm22-steve-palmer-unblinking-sun.phtml

Richard Dawson is a folk musician. He's 'indie' in that he's on an independent label, I guess, but not in any other way.

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 6:45 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wait, there's a rolling female fronted synth pop thread? Sign me up.

Someone up thread mentioned Sleaford Mods as indie guitar music so who knows

Maybe it's the audience, like anything that appeals to undesirables

there is an unhealthy attitude espoused to anything slightly weird, but that makes it all the more gratifying when something weird does show :D

helg, *I* care about those things, potentially - there's always the yearly rolling time travel if you want to drum up support! it's all a case of knowing where to share

emil.y my lumping of richard dawson and pc music with indie shows my somewhat cavalier approach to indie, right :P my more considered genre-description of dawson can be found in the thread-title i started for him

you're right though - i probably shouldn't play fast and loose with the word, diluting what it actually is

it's not like the pop oriented ppl are gonna see it as anything other than an affront

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown),

those reactions to anything guitar (white male esp) orientated makes me lol but if you think about it its exactly the same thing they hated rockists doing to non-rock music and not sure they realise it is the same. ILX can be just as prejudiced as anywhere else I suppose. But I cant help but laugh when it happens so at least they're entertaining with it.

there is an unhealthy attitude espoused to anything slightly weird

Not really true - the attitude is I am ok with this but there is nothing but I won't devote anymore of my time to it.

pop/rap/dance is a million times weirder than indie in 2015

the weird self congratulatory attitude while playing super conservative music is what turns a lot of ppl off to the indie

Not really true - the attitude is I am ok with this but there is nothing but I won't devote anymore of my time to it.

― xyzzzz__, Friday, January 23, 2015 2:07 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is slightly unhealthy, you know

jho i love quite a bit of pop rap and dance as can be seen on my ballot - there is weirdness and blandness in all genres. a lot of indie is great but it depends how you define indie and how deep you search. i would consider myself not a fan of bland conservative indie, but then who would?

I mean the whole idea of polls is p silly like the conceit that OK for real out of 7 billion ppl and countless cultures etc etc r of the best 77 individual songs made by humans on earth were on the new Taylor Swift album that even her supporters seem kinda lukewarm on

Lagoon - I don't think any of us are talking about indie proper & I don't think the stuff I like is weird just good

i was impressed with ilm's reaction to Dawson, I must say.