ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

is the necks part head and shoulders above the underworld

― nxd, Tuesday, January 28, 2020 1:53 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's a continuum

well you completely missed the necks, so great job

are they still repeating the same patterns over and over or have they actually developed?

“Up All Night” is a good representation of the SAULT sound but my pick would be “Let Me Go”. It has a very krautrock + gospel groove which is perfectly aligned with the sort of sounds that I fall instantly for. It was the first song I heard from them and it made me buy the album before repeating it. I can see why they have a sound perfectly fit for “advertising” but it’s just too fun for me to care.

In general they tick too many boxes of things I love: minimal ESG-styled basslines + Jaki Liebezeit-styled drums + Northern Soul-styled vocals + afrobeat-styled guitars.

brb, making alex in mainhattan a mixtape that is 95 minutes of "Pullover" by Speedy J

nothing wrong with having a short attention span i guess

My favorite SAULT is "Don't Waste My Time", but I didn't think we needed another one of their tracks nominated when there were already so many to choose from.

are they still repeating the same patterns over and over or have they actually developed?

completely missed The Necks’ entire career, it seems.

Koffee is too low. Like way too low. wtf ilm

― doorstep jetski (dog latin), dinsdag 28 januari 2020 18:47

It was my quite in my top tier of African house tracks this year but great to see Rema place. “Akulaleki” is flat out brilliant though - hopefully more to come!

yeah iirc i voted for "toast" last year which is why i didn't put it on my ballot this year

Just looked at my ballot again and I’m fairly confident that 3 of my top 5 are locks.

I'm late to all this as usual now listening to those Donato Dozzy and Kasper Marott singles, and I really love the DD B-side 12H.5 (Remix), probably more so than the A-side. It is kind of annoying that 90s-style trance nowadays is retconned as "techno", but I'm just happy that people are making this stuff again.

Maybe 4 if everyone appropriately appreciates polo g

I can't wait for Octo Octa to crash into the top 10

Would like to note that the beat for "Boasty" was made by a Dutch guy:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2nOI2oN6_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

oo a contender for aoty here right

i am 32 minutes into "appleshine continuum" and

https://i.imgur.com/T9pnT5A.gif

"Boasty" is more enoyable now than via playlist a month ago. And "Toast" lingered on my longlist for weeks but was ultimately cut. Glad that wiser heads knew better.

Is there any prospect of more Stormzy? I believe I voted for "Wiley Flow" but it's probably less popular than "VB". What about Little Simz?

little simz is too real for ilm

(real answer: she probably got votesplit, unfortunately)

gtfo

I'm hopeful for more Stormz. Pleasantly surprised to see Boasty charting.

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i am 32 minutes into "appleshine continuum" and

i avoided it until today tbh - i like/love both bands to some extent but seemingly every other techno*/jazz crossover is just a crushing waste of talent. think it's a tribute to the necks' skill as improvisers that this turned out quite so well

I somehow missed Boasty this year. Definitely a video of the year contender.

only one Simz track nommed (Offence). She's high on my album ballot.

"Boasty" is one of the few things I caught out of shuffling the nominations and voted for

Loving everyone listening to Appleshine Continuum!

also check out "Altitude Dub Continuum" :) (not much to "A Very Silent Way", the third of the three released collaborations, however)

little simz is too real for ilm

I hope not! She's on my ballot

only one Simz track nommed (Offence). She's high on my album ballot.

there's three! Hope she didn't get too much of a vote split.

lol sorry i just now had the 2018 list open

Some opinions in an easily skippable block

52: DaBaby - “Suge” - Not sure about it overall, like those chiptune bass sounds though, remind me of a game on the PC from the mid-90s I can't put my finger on which one, but it was a good game.
51: SAULT - “Up All Night” - First exposure to SAULT and hm, it's ok, kind of want something more here, not objectionable.
50: Purple Mountains - “Nights That Won’t Happen” - My PV vote, have to confess that I had never listened to him before, this was the clear standout from the tracks I heard, it just fucking floored me, and better than the one which is surely going to place higher.
49: Clairo - “Bags” - NTM, doesn't really grab me either.
48: Lana Del Rey - “Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have - But I Have It” - I am on record as being pro-LDR, but if I'm honest with myself, everything I really like is a remix. Let me know when this track has one.
47: Angel Olsen - “All Mirrors” - Best track from a strong LP, I can imagine her as an 80s electro-goth singer, the melodies are so wrong in just the right way.
46: Charlotte Adigéry - “Paténipat” - So unfair to say this is the worst track on the EP, whoever that was, it's at least the 4th best (still brilliant of course)
45: HAIM- “Summer Girl” - Can never get over how mannered her voice is, might be my problem, track is still a bit of a shrug though.
44: FKA Twigs - “Sad Day” - Love FKA, voted for the obvious track instead.
43: Weyes Blood - “Movies” - Unmoved by the first 3.5 minutes, Peter Greenaway soundtrack with Moloko remix outro is good though
42: Samthing Soweto- “Akulaleki” - NTM, bit too subtle for me maybe, will give it another couple of goes to see if it clicks.
41: Rema - “Dumebi” - NTM, don't really get this one either, sorry.
40: Underworld & The Necks - “Appleshine Continuum” - Love Underworld, do not currently have 47 minutes to spare.
39: Carly Rae Jepsen - “Want You In My Room” - Hm, do I regret passing over this, maybe?
38: Schacke - “Kisloty People” - nearly voted for this, brings back some good memories of going to Czech raves in early 2000s.
36 (TIE): Koffee - “Toast” - Ok, this is very nice, those cascading beats, will check out some more.
36 (TIE): Hatchie - “Stay With Me” - I gave this one a vote from my unweighted section, lovely piece of music but the main hook / chord sequence is exactly the same as in another song and I cannot for the life of me work out what it is (NOT Born Slippy)
35: Stormzy - “Vossi Bop” - Not best grime this year, but deserves to be here anyway, yes fuck boris.
34: Caroline Polachek - “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” - Pleasant
33: Lizzo - “Juice” - Undeniable, couldn't not vote for this
32: Wiley, Stefflon Don, Sean Paul & Idris Elba - “Boasty” - How did I not hear this before? Love it! Even the Sean Paul bit.
31: Billie Eilish - Bad Guy - Not sure if I actually really like this or just like the idea of it, so funny that the chorus beat is a pedestrian crossing in Australia from her phone.

Voted for Little Simz on my albums list. Kind of wish I'd put her higher now as the album has grown on me a lot. Not sure which tracks were nominated, but Selfish, 101 FM and Flowers are the highlights for me.

Really catching up now and after a quiet start (which isn't often the case I find 60-77 can reach a few peaks you sometimes don't get as high till the top 20), just crumb besides Parola and Basquiat it then jumped right up in intensity (with a break for Weyes' turgid John Lennon-isms, totally left me cold), from about Killin Dem right onto Erika de Casier's Intimate, one of the best end of day tracks! One of this countdown's greatest ever runs imo (also loved how Normani and Herndon were side-by-side liked that).

Now onto the 2nd day.

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― opden gnash (imago), Tuesday, 28 January 2020 21:42 (eleven minutes ago) link

i know it was a joke but come on, there's already a dearth of hip-hop on here, we don't need to be lamenting the loss for crit-bait brit-hop (which is also 100% certain to place in the albums poll)

For the record: the correct artist info for “Akulaleki” is:
Samthing Soweto feat. Sha Sha, DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small

I’m aware pollrunners are going by the info provided during the nomination process, but I’d appreciate if the caption could be adjusted somehow.

It’s not just that it’s the official track ID, all of these four people played a major role in making 2019 such an amazing year for South African music, so I’d like to have all of them on the record.

These things matter, to me anyway. (I’m still a bit miffed the “Soco” mistagging in the 2018 tracks rollout was never corrected).

(And Moka, I’m not talking about the image obviously. It’s picture perfect as it is, just like all the others. Fabulous work!)

i mean, simz is fine and selfish is a good song, but there was plenty of great rap that didn't get attention this year or get nominated for the mercury prize

Oh and updated - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgY-EgZm23_JMleMrv5Pq42eYRaWrPeVK - please let me know if anything is missing

Little Simz is good, but probably lp poll stuff. I'm sad not to see Ocean Wisdom, but was a bit optimistic to expect him to make it tbh.

shoved him 4 points lol

(it's an awesome track but yeah never any hope)

Maybe it's that surprise #1

i will also say that today's Purple Mountains track, when i got around to hearing it, was indeed much, much better than yesterday's

My 5-year-old asks for 'Blessed' in the car, it's "the fast song". He calls 'Breathin' "the godzilla song." UK drill probably not suitable for 5-year-olds but luckily OW raps so fast you can't catch any words.

here's to fast songs and godzilla songs

i voted for one LDR track. i still haven't heard her debut, came late to Ultraviolence but really like it a ton, enjoyed Honeymoon, skipped LFL since i didn't like what i heard, really love the new one, enough to buy it. I never thought i would have an LDR LP in my collection - but i have it. on a whole though i think it's more of an album experience vs a singles experience.

Voted for Little Simz on my albums list. Kind of wish I'd put her higher now as the album has grown on me a lot. Not sure which tracks were nominated, but Selfish, 101 FM and Flowers are the highlights for me.

Selfish, 101 PM and Boss were nommed. Selfish was my highlight among those and is on my tracks ballot, but I also have it on my albums ballot pretty high. I'll be genuinely bummed if she's snubbed from either list. Hers was one of the best records of the year.

oops 101 FM

Yeah sorry about that! I double-checked quite a few of these features before posting but I mostly went with the nomination data.

I’m not very well versed in current afrobeat/afropop so this was the first time for me hearing these ones and by the time I realized Akulaleki had 3 feats I was already on mobile and it was too late to modify it.

I also made the “Soco” mistake last year I’m sorry :(

i'm skimming the playlist and man does ilx as a collective love tasteful mid-tempo pop with sonically retro signifiers or what

They keep being the discovery highlights for me every year in this polls so I should probably stary visiting the rolling thread often.