ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014

lex i haven't been criticising the response to weird stuff - just saying that a lack of close listening won't brook much reward sometimes. i even said that you especially gave dawson a fair crack. i've mostly been lamenting how easily i join in with the naysayers when it's something a bit more sonically generic

i said that bobby shmurda was weird & great too! haha. young thug's voice is aight but Le1f did the best pop-rap song of the year imo, now that is some off the chain shit imo

i think the important thing now ensuring the physical safety of ppl who voted for the war on drugs who are in danger of being murdered

― Wu-Tang Clannad (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, January 23, 2015 10:38 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

theres nothing u can do im like one of those gritty conflicted gloomily-lit men from the movies whos the best in the world at killing people

Cosmic Slop are you actually interested in the music that IS in this poll?

I only voted for albums, because I definitely tend to listen way more to full albums rather than individual tracks and in other years when I did vote for tracks it tended to be mostly album highlights. I suspect that this is the case for many people who tend to listen to more rock/indie/avant stuff where the focus tends to be more on albums rather than individual tracks.

In a certain sense, for some of my favourite albums, it feels weird to put one track above all the others when really it's the entire thing (or at least most of it) I like and I am sometimes tempted to vote for 2-3 tracks on a particular album because they seem inseparable and the one highlight isn't as good without the context of the album.

This wasn't my favorite year for the tracks poll ever (no reflection on any person or group of voters). Too much of what I'd already heard was stuff I didn't like and a lot of what I'd never heard really wasn't to my taste, but I love the process of the rollout and the discussion about the music. These two weeks are my favorite two weeks on ilm all year long.

Bookmark Removed

why you gotta be so rude

Have people actually stopped you from nominating tracks you want to? Otherwise its just worrying a bit too much about what people might think.

not at all. I was ill since xmas so didn't feel like nominating and by the time I was better i spent more time on my albums ballot after seandalai pm'd me with a last min reminder to vote.

Cosmic Slop are you actually interested in the music that IS in this poll?

― Matt DC

sure, i like some of it , just not as much as previous years. Usually I hear tons of 'dance' stuff ive never heard that i liked and same with the rap. I like to hear the good stuff ive not been exposed to. I dont listen to radio so its nice to catch up. You shouldn't pigeon-hole me as only liking only metal just because I only mainly post in that thread. (i didnt even post on ilm most of last year).

I havent even been negative about any songs itt bar spoon and a yawn at loads of t swift placing, have I? That is nothing compared to others.

i have a secret fondness for this stage in the proceedings, bookmarking like a motherfucker here

but I love the process of the rollout and the discussion about the music. These two weeks are my favorite two weeks on ilm all year long.

― Johnny Fever,

plus the week of the metal poll (for me, i know you hate it)

yeah i like the discussion afterwards too. 3 weeks of poll discussion is fun for me.

Cosmic - it just seems you want to perhaps see more Metal in this poll so er you might want to try and make that happen next year?

Nothing better than people posting that they really like a track/album they hadnt heard before the poll. For me that is the point if polls not the actual results.

julio i cant force the metal poll regs to vote. Lord knows seandalai and i try. But im NOT complaining about a lack of metal at all because I know they wont vote here and i do agree it has been an albums genre for a few decades now.

If anything I'd like to see LOTS of genres make it purely so I can check out more stuff I dont know. But again if the fans of those don't vote what can you do.

I discovered some great new music with the tracks rollout. I really liked the Duke Dumont & Javier Mena tracks, so I guess I like something called nu Balearic.
And that Vermillion track too, not sure what that's classified as. Reminds me of what I love about the Chromatics though.

my #1 in the albums poll isn't remotely metal and IF it places I would be over the moon.

never saw that; who was it?

― Cosmic Slop, Friday, January 23, 2015 7:31 AM (23 minutes ago)

Brad Nelson, but it's not a novel sentiment

^ was referring to not having voted for Against Me! (likes the band but excluded them on principle)

someone, can't remember who, went so far as to say that while s/he might like or listen to rock, s/he'd never vote for it on tracks -- supporting the general implication that related genres somehow ~just doesn't belong~ here.

that was me! rock is extremely album-oriented for me just in terms of listening, so isolating tracks *feels* wrong. only rock track i would've nominated/voted for this year is "cannibal" by silversun pickups

Nothing better than people posting that they really like a track/album they hadnt heard before the poll. For me that is the point if polls not the actual results.

― Cosmic Slop, Friday, January 23, 2015 11:00 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya discovery mechanism for sure, tho the new to me track i liked best wasnt from the poll someone just randomly posted it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcXzlz6C4XQ

also i had heard 2 on but didnt realize how great it was so thanks 4 that ilx

paramore album last year had two massive singles that absolutely coded as pop. think the pop/mainstream emo crossover on this board is overstated

love 2 on but i can't wait till stet gets fp working in itunes cos i wanna permaban schoolboy q from that song so much

in the end i feel bad about not voting in this but i just wasn't prepared this year, my ballot would have been lame album tracks pulled from my albums ballot. will try harder in 2015 to listen to singles too

i'm really lazy abt listening to music usually and my $100 earbuds broke a few months ago but this poll made me pull out my clunky $300 headphones and i am a better person for it, thanks all

surely 'why you gotta be sremmurd', nick

"Turn Down for What", directed by Daniels
"Big Bad Wolf", directed by Keith Schofield

Wareheim type oddities with actors thrusting about in underwear (or less) have been a zeitgeisty thing since 2008. I'm coping.

don't headphone-shame me

gonna sremmurder you anyway

i enjoy the trend of thrusting

Daniels, however, may have started the trend in their first video, for FM Belfast's "Underwear".

love 2 on but i can't wait till stet gets fp working in itunes cos i wanna permaban schoolboy q from that song so much

― why you gotta be so rmde (NickB), Friday, January 23, 2015 11:14 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tru

decided to take the imgur album and "share on gallery" for the first time ever, already got one comment, lookin good:

http://i.imgur.com/A7OhSXL.png

I havent even been negative about any songs itt bar spoon and a yawn at loads of t swift placing, have I? That is nothing compared to others.

It's more than you didn't appear to be engaging very much with the music in the poll while it was happening, and then turned up at the end to discuss the music that WASN'T in it.

I posted a few times but not much granted. I just seemed to engage with what was being written about today plus it hasn't been as fast moving.

weirdest (grossest) thing about the "turn down for what" video is that it starts off with rape and proceeds to partying

I only flipped over to it for a bit when listening and it was a woman with large breasts, which were moving of their own volition to the beat. Oh the fucking hilarity.

decided to take the imgur album and "share on gallery" for the first time ever, already got one comment, lookin good:

― gr8080, Friday, January 23, 2015 11:24 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

I'm really trying to strike up enthusiasm for the top 3. It's a big anticlimax compared to the rest of the top 10. Haven't worked out whether I find Rae Sremmurd interesting or just irritating, much in the same way I feel about Tune-Yards. Matt DC OTM about 'No Flex... ZONE' though, I like that.
I can't get my head around FKA Twigs for similar reasons I couldn't enjoy the XX or Frank Ocean in previous polls. I crave bold statements in music and this vapourised soul is about as satisfying to me as Caribou's mid-range house or all those twig-rock indie bands I mentioned above.
I tried the Tinashe track and it's not bad but I found the DJ Q mix more enjoyable. Guess I don't much like winky slow jams very much either. Have a feeling this one could grow on me a lot though.

There's plenty of great stuff too of course! I'm kind of a bit in love with Kiesza's vocal style in Hideaway. She infuses a fairly enjoyable pop-house number with tons of character. Really like that track.

what the lex said earlier about weirdness being in the majority of the placing pop and rap has stayed with me

is young thug a great innovator? 'stoner' stands out for me of his songs here - that and his bit in 'danny glover' which my current dn is taken from (lol I know)

in these songs he comes off to me like a rogue element within a fairly conventional structure - does, then, a song need to comprise a synthesis of unusual elements to count as 'weird' or 'interesting' (false equivalence obv)? I suspect not. the recontextualisation of conventional elements can be fantastically diverting (Hey QT being a personal example).

in conclusion, it is entirely possible that young thug is a great innovator, an interesting artist and maybe even a weirdo. I cannot quite see it to an especial extent myself, but I will keep listening.

stuff like Run The Jewels might not be weirder within its context, but its dramatic, shifting musicality and sonic flourish - its torrential attitude - catches my attention more immediately, which I suppose makes it my pop music, my comfort.

i don't think "weirdness" or even "innovation" is an inherent positive

maybe pop is all, yeah, but maybe weirdness is my pop

is young thug a great innovator? 'stoner' stands out for me of his songs here - that and his bit in 'danny glover' which my current dn is taken from (lol I know)

in these songs he comes off to me like a rogue element within a fairly conventional structure - does, then, a song need to comprise a synthesis of unusual elements to count as 'weird' or 'interesting' (false equivalence obv)? I suspect not. the recontextualisation of conventional elements can be fantastically diverting (Hey QT being a personal example).

Future Islands are a good example of standard, possibly even bland backing music juxtaposed with a weird performer/singer. I think it amplifies the weirdness. I've made the comparison already, but Talking Heads were the masters of this.

i don't think "weirdness" or even "innovation" is an inherent positive

I like new sounds and experiences. I see shock and awe as an important factor in music. Without it you're left listening to the National. Maybe this is a more diplomatic way of putting it?

on the other hand pursue that too hard and suddenly you're listening to mike patton side projects

Without it you're left listening to the National.

No greater case has ever been made with a single argument.

btw i really enjoy the vic mensa track (and also the video is one of the best-executed music videos i've seen in a while) so thanks for that one ilm

i like a good exclamation mark as much as anyone but constantly seeking for them and ruling out everything that doesn't provide them surely gets a bit wearying, no?

also, imago got it when he said that "weirdness" can be your comfort blanket

personally, i think becky g is by far the weirdest artist to have shown up

idk if innovation is an inherent positive more like it often correlates with greatness

an argument for a different thread but -oi!- talking heads did not have standard or bland backing music when they were at their best