ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

Swipe Story was my vote, yeah. Didn't give it much so hoping others have made up the difference

i also voted for "ballin" and i'm hoping to see it but not holding my breath

voted for 8 rap tracks or so.

but ballin and teejay just missed for me.

y'all should've voted for shootergang kony

I do regret not voting for "Meet Again"

Overjoyed to see Charlotte Adigery place, although I voted for Okashi.

The Rosalia that's placed so far is my favourite of the three big ones this year, but I expect all of them to show up.

^ mine, too

Okashi is amazing too. Followed a strict one-song-per-artist policy tho alas

Jamila Woods sounds to me closer to beatnik jam poetry than rap.

okashi my pick too, guess we'll see it

xp Jamila Woods comes out of the same Chicago poetry scene as Noname and Chance the Rapper.

certainly a bit of an odd assortment today. did people just fill the empty slots in their ballots with random selections from their local organic noncommercial community station after switching over from npr? jk that was mean and the results were not that bad.

Jenny Lewis - “Red Bull & Hennessy”
i'm sure i would have completely forgotten this already if it didn't have a nice + energetic arrangement but it does and i therefore kinda like it

Anna Caragnano & Donnato Dozzy - “Parola (Rework)”
my interest starts to dissipate as it continues to chug forward for its xth minute but it's quite an immediately gripping track

Blanck Mass - “House vs House”
kind of a mess? i understand how it can be appealing tho

Cate Le Bon - “Daylight Matters”
i like the last 15 seconds but could do without the rest

Tayla Parx - “Me vs. Us”
i love this one; it appeared high on my ballot. i guess i'm glad if questioning its eligibility in the voting thread helped spur additional votes? :) anyway, it's such a tight, well-rendered portrait of the anxiety that comes with the onset of infatuation, the worry that you're suddenly losing a hold on your own sense of self and autonomy. once she accepts that she's already given in, express permission be damned, she has no choice but to beg for at least a little empathy. i appreciate the robotic delivery on some of the backing vox + the timbre of the skittering percussion resembling that of interlocking mechanical parts, as the song's concept very well mirrors my own anxiety about how our lives and experiences continue to become even more inextricably intertwined with technological systems that take more from us than we can even notice. i always appreciate an artist who can skillfully cast a neon-colored sheen over robo-unease (cf sky ferreira's first classic single, "one"). slight but appreciable side-eye at the song being described as "this kind of music" -- what kind? kindly direct me to more.

Jamila Woods feat. Saba - “Basquiat”
the saba verse definitely kicks it to the next level. i'd never heard of him before!

Vampire Weekend - “This Life”
shockingly dull even for them. can you imagine this band having become famous if this is what they were serving up on their first record?

Burna Boy feat. Zlatan- “Killin Dem”
the grit in his voice is excellent

Rosalía- “Aute Cuture”
i'll expose myself as a lamestream churl by saying now that the only rosalía single i even want to see placing is "con altura", lmao

Weyes Blood- “Wild Time”
someone should get an award for that album cover. no particular thoughts on the song, tho

Shura - “BKLYNLDN"
this act is still at it huh. the first 15 seconds, with the little swells that instantaneously evaporate, are by far the best part of the song

Raphael Saadiq feat. Rob Bacon - “Something Keeps Calling”
really gorgeous and moving song; also high on my ballot. i love what you wrote about it voodoo chili. my favorite hit on adult r&b radio this year.

Holly Herndon - “Eternal”
i respect this more than i can actually appreciate it

Normani - “Motivation”
i imagine this would have been much higher had it become the smash that her label were probably hoping it would be. wonderful video -- it seemed to catch a lot of people's attention when i saw it at a bar -- but the song itself is just competent

Erika de Casier - “Intimate (Club Mix)”
this is quite striking, so ethereal and propulsive

also new to me + quite enjoyable:
Kasper Marott - “Drømmen om Ø (Forever mix '19)”
Peggy Gou- “Starry Night”
Charlotte Adigéry - “High Lights”
Big Thief - “Cattails”

so yeah, actually the results have been pretty good so far! some of those snoozers just had me a little nervous :X and thanks to the pollrunners for starting a great rollout!

what is the other rosalía single that's going to place? (besides "con altura" obv)

can you imagine this band having become famous if this is what they were serving up on their first record?

Yeah! Super-adult, super-catchy, with more high life-inflected guitar, excellent harmonies -- what about it?

"yo x ti, tu x mi" has a solid chance i assume xp

FUCKING MONEY MAN.

also yes

i voted for 7 rap tracks (not including urbano), of which i expect the vast majority not to place. seems like there's little enthusiasm for rap hits specifically here in recent years, like everyone tacitly agreed it was all downhill after "black beatles" or something

i love what you wrote about it voodoo chili

<3

seems like there's little enthusiasm for rap hits specifically here in recent years, like everyone tacitly agreed it was all downhill after "black beatles" or something

― dyl, 27. januar 2020 22:58 (thirty-four seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

It... kinda was, though?

"fucking money man" (or whatever its actual title is) placing would be some of the strongest evidence that people need to listen to more music that is not by hyped artists

street rap is flourishing, not always ilx's cuppa tho

don't get me wrong, i love "black beatles", but there are still plenty of quality rap songs breaking these days

"fucking money man" (or whatever its actual title is) placing would be some of the strongest evidence that people need to listen to more music that is not by hyped artists

― dyl, Monday, January 27, 2020 3:00 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

she a genius though

like rosalía is more than a "hyped artist" at this point imo

x-post: Sure! It's just that trap reached such euphoric heights a few years back, it's really not unusual for that to be followed by a cool down period. It's like sitting in 1993 and saying that rock went downhill after Smells Like Teen Spirit. I mean, there were a lot of good things going on in rock in 93, but still.

^ that's fair

rosalía is a genius but that particular song is just... cute? (the 'fucking money man' single technically consists of two tracks, one of which i'm referring to as gimmicky/'cute'. the other is quite good.)

Four rap tracks made my ballot, I just checked, one in my top #2.

my #1 is a rap track and while it's not unusual for my #1 vote to miss the countdown entirely i will be a little sad (and judgmental) if this one doesn't make it

I didn't end up voting for any Rosalía in the end, mostly I think because despite the fact that everything she put out last year was very high quality it still didn't have the same impact for me as did the big singles from El mal querer. I've also found her insistence on treating herself as a "Latin" artist for awards show purposes somewhat confounding - I'm not sure whether it leaves her totally "cancelled" or whatever but it does blot the copybook somewhat.

Thoughts

77: Mount Eerie feat. Julie Doiron - “Love Without Possession” - This is good, but also something I don't know how to use in my life, like everything else Mount Eerie (but Doiron softens a bit, in a good way)
76: Ariana Grande - “NASA” Slightly embarrassed to say this is new to me as might be my favourite Ariana so far
75: Jenny Lewis - “Red Bull & Hennessy” - I really have a blind spot for this stuff, it's not bad though
74:Purple Mountains - “Margaritas at the Mall” - Good, but, really think voting for 3 or 4 tracks from same artist is a bit odd and a bit off, sorry. I actually voted for one PM track, not this one.
72 (TIE):Anna Caragnano & Donnato Dozzy - “Parola (Rework)” - Despite doing a considerable amount of lurking on bobbins, somehow missed this, a shame as it's brilliant, can just picture an Eyes Wide Shut themed rave playing this sort of thing.
72 (TIE):Blanck Mass - “House vs House” - the blanck mass song sounds a lot better in isolation than when I need to sit through 50 minutes of his thing - you should really try only listening to tracks and never albums, works ok for me. This is very good, bit of a step down from World Eater for me though.
71: Cate Le Bon - “Daylight Matters” - I wanted to like this but it's not a subgenre where generic cuts it for me. - I have exactly the opposite reaction, this sort of thing usually leaves me cold, but the orchestration here really just gets me.
70: Purple Mountains - “Darkness & Cold” - See #74
69: Mark Ronson feat. Angel Olsen - “True Blue” - Liked this more than most of the Angel Olsen LP, however...
68: Tayla Parx - “Me vs. Us” - This is the kind of stuff I come here to find out about.
67: Jamila Woods feat. Saba - “Basquiat” - As is this!
66: Kasper Marott - “Drømmen om Ø (Forever mix '19)” - As is this! Fucking hell this is a good run.
65: KH - “Only Human” - Almost voted for this, even though I'm tired of it by this point.
64: Vampire Weekend - “This Life” - A pleasant-enough pastiche, can't imagine working up the enthusiasm to actually vote for it, but w/e
63: Burna Boy feat. Zlatan- “Killin Dem” - Something else really good which I somehow overlooked, damn.
62: Rosalía- “Aute Cuture” - Still not getting Rosalía as much as I feel like I should be, feeling like she will sneak up on me sooner or later though, like this all feels like buildup to something that doesn't happen.
61: Weyes Blood- “Wild Time” - Ok, finally I get to disagree with something. Feel like the fact that I'm not down with the upmarket 70s AOR she's riffing on means that I'm never really going to appreciate this. <-- wrote this while listening and actually you know what, it's much better than I remembered now I'm listening on my good headphones.
60: Peggy Gou- “Starry Night” - Like this more than the one that won last year
59: Charlotte Adigéry - “High Lights” - YES! My #1! But also Too low! But also glad I relentlessly stanned for it throughout the process. Ah shit, where were people talking about High Lights this year? Never heard of it before, and I'm really into it. Love those synthy lines. - I heard it on Lauren Laverne every few days while I was eating my breakfast, switching from R4 to that was my best decision of 2019. BTW, unfairly slept-on Charlotte track = Cursed And Cussed.
58: Shura - “BKLYNLDN - So much love for Shura, best cut from Forevher
57: Big Thief - “Cattails” - Not interested, sorry.
56: Raphael Saadiq feat. Rob Bacon - “Something Keeps Calling” - New to me. Pleasant enough but bassline makes it 200% more special.
55: Holly Herndon - “Eternal” - This sounded a bit dull on my crap earphones, on decent headphones.... fucking hell.
54: Normani - “Motivation” - I like this, a lot, but feel like it's going to be one of those tracks we get excited about then forget completely within the year.
53: Erika de Casier - “Intimate (Club. Mix)” - D&B in the 77?! And has some of the annoying 4Hero stuff which ruined it (IMO) in the late 90s? But actually seems to be pretty good anyway? Um, need some time to process this. The sub-bass is def brilliant though.

really think voting for 3 or 4 tracks from same artist is a bit odd and a bit off, sorry.

This is a side effect of nominating a bunch of tracks from the same album. I'd have been happy to vote for a consensus PM track, but I have no idea which one that is, so end up hedging.

I've also found her insistence on treating herself as a "Latin" artist for awards show purposes somewhat confounding

Does she "insist" on that, or is she nominated for those awards (and accepts them)?

i guess the counterargument to that generally is just "well vote for the album instead!" but at the same time if those really are four of your favourite songs from a particular year it's hard to begrudge giving them votes

RE: Purple Mountains, there were no David Berman songs at all for like a decade, and there will never be any again, so everyone can deal.

^^^ yeah this is why i feel bad complaining

I guess if you see placement as important above "this is a list of songs that people like" then strategic voting gets the job done to raise a particular work up the list

my main strategy was to vote for a bunch of stuff I listened to and liked :)

xps she's certainly nominated for those awards and accepts them but she's had plenty of opportunities to rescind them and/or to say "hey, actually i'm not latina, and shouldn't be involved in this"

Uh, they're not the "Latinx Grammys"...

Which product can participate in the Latin GRAMMY?

Any product that has been released in the eligibility period (see the AWARDS section) and which is recorded in Spanish or Portuguese. The committees, formed by volunteers from the Latin Recording Academy® and by majority vote, may accept a product that has been recorded in languages and dialects such as Catalan, Nahuatl, Quechua, Galician, Valencian, Mayan, etc. As for instrumental music, any recording containing works by Ibero American authors and composers (no matter who plays) or it is interpreted by Ibero American artists, even though the work is authored by someone other than an Ibero American, can be entered.

right, but maybe they should be, because I think it's generally accepted these days that "Latin" isn't a term that applies to people from the Iberian peninsula and refers instead to the people from the lands they colonised.

So glad you’ve enjoyed the Charlotte Adigéry! For those of you discovering her for the first time I highly recommend you to listen to the full EP. Every song in there is great.

xp Tell it to the Latin Recording Academy, not her.

The Latin Recording Academy® recognizes recordings released anywhere in the world with the only condition being that they were recorded in Spanish or Portuguese. Besides, the members of the Latin Recording Academy® are located in more than 30 countries.

Yeah, Alejandro Sanz (also from Spain) has a ton of Latin Grammys. It makes more sense when you think of it as an industry award. These are artists that are marketed to the Spanish-language market in North America and getting played on Spanish-language radio, regardless of their country of origin.

Concerning the amount of Purple Mountains songs:

Yes this happens every year and I think at one moment I suggested that only the most voted 3 songs per artist inside the top 77 gets featured and the rest gets cut off to make place for other things. The counterpoint is that then it isn’t a “real top 77” and if people want to see what’s below they can at any given time when the full results get posted.

Maybe if the limitation was made in the noms thread it could work but then if someone nominates the 3 least liked songs it sort of effs up the process.

I guess self-control could work but it depends, this year I wanted to nominate like 5 different SAULT songs since they released 2 really good albums this year but I decided against it as to avoid vote splitting. In the end there were 4 tracks to vote for iirc and I just voted for two of them.

I think the results every year seem perfect just as they are

D&B in the 77?!

this placing made me wonder if the CFCF album will show next week. It was too successful at doing what it was setting out to do for my taste (if that makes sense), but there's a growing enthusiasm/lack of shame around D&B

yeah that album should place, even though naughty flopson forgot to vote

Anna Caragnano & Donnato Dozzy - “Parola (Rework)
Blanck Mass - “House vs House
Kasper Marott - “Drømmen om Ø (Forever mix '19)
Charlotte Adigéry - “High Lights”
Erika de Casier - “Intimate (Club. Mix)

really like all these that i havent heard before good job folks

i haven't listened to the CFCF but would be super into wallpaper dnb making a comeback

then you definitely should!