ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

why is forks' playlist in ascending order rather than descending

Maybe this isn't typical SV fare - I shouldn't assume everything Russian is one of his picks!

The acid bassline on this is hype

why is forks' playlist in ascending order rather than descending

― totally unnecessary bewbz of exploitation (DJP)

He always does it this way and cannot be swayed.

"SV finally infiltrates the West"

I actually didn't vote for this! However, the original Akula song it's based around is an all-time banger.

Xp 2 Dan: should be most recent song up top so that if you take some time between songs you can listen to new music first? If it’s not reading that way I blame phone interface and will fix when I am at a desk

I think the current playlist order is the best because when the poll is over the hordes of ILX fans viewing the playlist will know what our top songs were.

https://i.imgur.com/pGQHRYg.jpg
36 (TIE): Koffee - “Toast” - 254 points - 9 votes
video

gratitude is a must: the Koffee thread

“Listening to this, the first thing that came to mind upon hearing the lyrics was “God’s Plan”, so it’s amazing how much I enjoy this compared to that snooze. I think the difference between the two lies in the videos. While I appreciate Drake for giving to those less fortunate, it feels like a performative kind of goodness: he had to broadcast it to the world. Koffee’s music video is simple: just shots of Jamaican kids playing soccer and her hanging around them, and yet it feels like so much more. This is what true gratitude looks like — Koffee sounds almost in disbelief saying the lyrics about how she rose, but she’s never forgotten where she’s coming from. Sometimes a song surprises you and knocks you out — this is definitely one of those for me.” -Tobi Tella

“ You know those moments where you are enjoying a day with your friends, and, after lots of activity, spontaneity, and silly things that occur, it then drifts down to a single, quiet moment where everyone looks at each other, and then there are only smiles and nods in acknowledgment? That’s because there’s nothing more to say, the existing reality is so perfect — that’s what “Toast” is. The jovial confidence, the dynamic phrasing and the elastic rhythms all give a sense of rooted elation, of someone who is secure in their love and connection with the environment around them while syncing with endless, almost imperceptible changes. At around 2:29, there’s a beautiful interpolation of a gentle harp sound that was preceded by a rushing house synth, that is replaced again by drumming and claps, before being suddenly interrupted and being echoed out in half-rhythms. Deeply self-assured in making daring but subtle changes.” -Iris Xie

https://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=27216

lol xp

also here you go

happy that rob doesn't have to permanently roll his eyes. also this song rules

I reverse the playlist over here because I want to hear songs in the order they were added and not have to backtrack or get repeats.

Xp 2 Dan: should be most recent song up top so that if you take some time between songs you can listen to new music first? If it’s not reading that way I blame phone interface and will fix when I am at a desk

It is that way and it doesn't make sense to me to display an in-process rollout in that order considering that people listening to it will miss the new songs added to it without stopping it and starting it over from the beginning, going back into the songs they've already played.

Once the rollout is over, 1-77 order makes sense.

xp: Moodles OTM, good thing Spotify stores the time things were added in addition to the date

Not my thing for the most part, fun nonetheless.

Such a great song.

Oh, I've heard this track before! It's a good song.

I like Toast well enough but I don't really understand the hype about either it or Koffee more generally, it just sounds like another good dancehall track.

Like I suppose I'm waiting for someone to explain its elevated status (although evidently not as elevated as, say, a balloon).

My thinking is that if the playlist is meant to accompany the thread for anyone reading it, the songs should play in the order they appear in the thread (77-1), like an audio component of the thread itself.

I understand the argument for doing it the opposite way, but that totally takes away the option of reading the thread with an accompanying soundtrack.

Yes!

Koffee rules

prefer throne, but toast is indelibly breezy

I like the Jamila Woods song a lot, btw

*shrug* it’s actually easier to drop them in so that they’re in descending order; if there’s general consensus on this, I can flip it around

I swear tho, you guys would complain about the color of the strap on yer being fucked with

go purple or go home IMO

i want you in my room rules
kisloty people rules
toast rules

didn't vote for them but happy to see them

Toast my first track to place so far! The joy just doesn’t let up at any point.

If you turn your phone upside down, that reverses the order of the playlist got you #spotifyhack

All the writing is upside down though

https://i.imgur.com/1LF1VzS.jpg
36 (TIE): Hatchie - “Stay With Me” - 254 points - 9 votes
video

Hatchie

“ I don’t care what the lyrics say when you look them up, in the moment of listening I cannot decide each time whether “Stay With Me” starts with “it’s all better, now you’re gone” or “it’s no better”. I don’t think the song can decide either. It’s far from the first song to have that sort of power, just like the drum machine-and-synth, loop-and-swoop approach, while beautiful here, isn’t exactly new. But I’ve heard dozens of songs like this (some even by Hatchie) since the last time one made me feel the way “Stay With Me” is making me feel right now. And isn’t that maybe the only true miracle of pop music: that mere human beings can make “just another song,” one that on the surface isn’t that different than a bunch of others we merely like, and yet it can hit us just as profoundly, as heartwrenchingly bittersweet, as hopefully, as this one is hitting me right now? I could write an essay about the things in my life “Stay With Me” connects up to, people and times and places and songs, but it wouldn’t make much sense to anyone else even if it wasn’t incredibly, tiresomely self indulgent. But the experience I’ve been having with “Stay With Me” is among other things a reminder of the worth of staying connected and engaged with the world, in art as in all things, and not just going back to listen to all the things I already love instead. The chances of any other given human being having this reaction to this particular song today (“if I met you in a different moment/if I met you would I be this broken?“) are small, sure, maybe even tiny. But god, I hope we all get to keep having those moments, and that we recognize the wonder of them in each other.” - Ian Mathers

“ I know this was written as a deliberate experiment in writing a pop song (or so they say; I too have claimed my paychecks as experiments), and thus I know the exact places the mechanics are there to get you (unending wistful chords, the yearning “Everything Is Embarrassing” vocal, with an octave jump exactly where it needs to happen), and the places the mechanics clank a bit too loud (the ending sags before the - perfect - bridge; “I’m not done / I’ve come undone” is kind of circular, kind of on its own nose). It’s also been out for months. But the second time I heard this song it just happened to catch me at the exact moment of flood of memory, of accreted stupid unrequited crushes and breakups and failures and regrets, until I was in tears in a cab, which is really the ideal setting to hear this song.” -k4th3rin3 st. 4s4ph

https://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=27766

I listened to the whole album for some reason (2019 was probably my worst year for compulsive listening) and it had completely slipped my mind but this is a lovely little song.

is this the new order rip-off? can't stand it tbh

Perfect song! Gets extra points for reminding me so much of School Of Seven Bells.

i couldn't fit this on my ballot either but i'm glad underworld placed a second time

It's better than most New Order songs tbh.

I'm still at zero placements. I've definitely got two that will make it (including the imago necessity), but I'm not sure I'll get any more than that.

Xp well if it’s purple I assume I -AM- at home

hatchie's new order homage is "obsessed", this one's more slowdive x "born slippy"

I don't hear New Order at all wtf

this one's more slowdive x "born slippy"

― ufo, Tuesday, January 28, 2020 10:13 AM (nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

true, and why it's so awesome

I don't hear New Order at all wtf

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

I was thinking that but at about three minutes in it does get New Orderish.

I'm way behind in this thread, but "Parola (Rework)" is pretty mesmerizing. The standout so far.

Ohhh sorry, this is the Born Slippy one, yeah

forgot to vote hatchie but would have gone for the album

https://i.imgur.com/zbbVvh0.jpg
35: Stormzy - “Vossi Bop” - 255 points - 7 votes - 2 number 1 votes
video

Stormzy - Big For Your Boots

“Gleeful, warped synth work floats in the back, plying its trade in the kindergarten music room as popping, dribbling drums slide in. Stormzy surfs over it with an easy grace, a big, warm smile as he raps each word.” - Nortey Dowuona

“Maybe this is a cultural thing, but why are British (male) rappers so weird about sex? To be fair, I’m both American and a huge virgin, but body shots and facials sound like a horny teenager’s idea of adult intimacy. Yet you almost don’t notice, because Stormzy sounds so smooth, so self-assured, so fucking cool on this song. I appreciate the intensity of Gang Signs & Prayer in small doses, but it’s nice to hear him ease off the throttle and settle into the beat. There’s more space for his bars to breathe, but the Möbius strip they loop around the beat makes it clear he’s in full control. This is the quickest I’ve ever cottoned to a Stormzy song, Chuck Norris line be damned.” - Julian Axelrod

https://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=27552

I wish the Hatchie love had come a couple years ago when the songs were better.

Enjoyed this video for some reason. Love those fluid camera moves.

not the Stormzy track that got my vote but an undeniable banger

his videos are great

Sweet.

the recent koffee single w/ gunna is excellent

oh good, "Vossi Bop" was a late cut so glad it's made a decent showing without my help.