77: Mount Eerie feat. Julie Doiron - “Love Without Possession” - 157 points - 4 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Never really got into Mount Eerie - this is the guy who wrote those extremely sad autobiographical albums about the loss of his wife...?
This is going for a similarly profound, if more cathartic, vibe. But I'm not sure the deliberately ornate songlines quite work for me – reminds me of when Mark Kozelek tries a similar trick, and the rousing lift at the end flickers only too briefly.
76: Ariana Grande - “NASA” - 157 points - 5 votes - 1 number 1 vote
This is a light, slight piece of pop but I think the streamlined approach works. Hardly on the same scale of pomp as 'thank u next' or God Is A Woman' and I think it works? Might need to hear it a couple more times.
75: Jenny Lewis - “Red Bull & Hennessy” - 158 points - 5 votes
I can't work out if this is old fashioned or deliberately anachronistic. If someone had told me it was a Bonnie Tyler-esque joint from 1986 I wouldn't have blinked. It has hooks... but even the very obvious Kate Bushisms don't do it for me.
74: Purple Mountains - “Margaritas at the Mall” - 158 points - 5 votes - 1 number 1 vote
I've never really followed Dave Berman's work save for a few listen to American Water back in the day, but I'm into this. Still a sucker for Pavement-esque indie and Mariachi trumpets I guess.
72 (TIE): Anna Caragnano & Donnato Dozzy - “Parola (Rework)” - 160 points - 5 votes
This is kind of annoying and repetitive until about the 3.30 mark when a bass pulse comes in which (to steal an expression Brad recently used) 'shifts the track’s centre of gravity'. A nice exercise in minimalism. Not sure I’m ready to go completely gooey over it (it was fun while it lasted) but it would be interesting to try to work it into a DJ set at some point soon.
72 (TIE): Blanck Mass - “House vs House” - 160 points - 5 votes
This is what Sunday morning TV sounds like to me the morning after a night out on the eccies. Maybe that’s the idea, but this deliberately horrible over-compressed nightmare music would have done well to have stayed in 2013 where it belongs. I had to switch it off.
71: Cate Le Bon - “Daylight Matters” - 161 points - 5 votes
I’ve never knowingly heard Cate Le Bon, but I’ve heard this before somewhere. I’ve also knowingly never heard The Sundays, but this is exactly what I imagine them to sound. This really screams 1993 to me. Summer dresses and Doc Martens boots, charity shops and greasy spoon cafes. Not into songs that repeat phrases like ‘I love you, I love you’ over and over again. Too bad, next.
70: Purple Mountains - “Darkness & Cold” - 162 points - 7 votes
More Berman. I’m kinda wishing I’d paid attention and listened to the album. This is comfort-zone music for me I guess, so I can’t really hear it objectively other than it’s transporting me back to 2003 when I was listening to Pavement and Silver Jews a lot.
69: Mark Ronson feat. Angel Olsen - “True Blue” - 164 points - 6 votes
From ‘Cruel’ to ‘The Sprawl’ to ‘Fade Away’, every year has its ‘Atomic’/’Heart of Glass’ tribute and maybe this is it? Sadly this is heinously bland. Every sound is doing its job properly, and nothing more. ILM seems to be a big fan of Angel Olsen, so I’m assuming this is why it got voted for.
68: Tayla Parx - “Me vs. Us” - 168 points - 5 votes
Oh this is a bit more like it. *Listens a bit longer* Okay, I can’t judge this as a first listen. It might sink its claws a bit deeper on repeated plays but right now it sounds a bit like a lot of things I heard this year.
67: Jamila Woods feat. Saba - “Basquiat” - 168 points - 7 votes
First track on the list I recognise from the track title. I really need to spend more time with the album but this was on heavy rotation in my world this year. Would it be fair to compare her to Anderson.Paak? Anyway, it’s good to hear this kind of live-played music in soul again, and this is exceptional. The production is superb, as is Jamilla’s performance. Saba’s rap keeps it interesting. Two thumbs up from me.
66: Kasper Marott - “Drømmen om Ø (Forever mix '19)” - 169 points - 6 votes
Pretty bobbins stuff. A bit more chilled than Keflavik which made it in last year. This one’s going to need a few more listens before I can decide if this is sublime or maybe a bit wallpapery. My guess is it’s somewhere in between.
65: KH - “Only Human” - 170 points - 5 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Bit more my thing. Oh actually I love this. Four Tet has a hand in this? I don’t know what ‘s going on with this guy. For years I dismissed him as being a bit of a flimsy-sounding producer, an indie kid’s idea of techno, but lately he’s been delivering some really meaty-sounding stuff.
64: Vampire Weekend - “This Life” - 172 points - 6 votes
I’ve come to love this band for all the reasons I used to be sceptical about them. The album Is a masterpiece and this is a gem. ‘Baby I know pain is as natural as the rain / I just didn’t think it rained in California’ is a superbly-written opening line.
63: Burna Boy feat. Zlatan- “Killin Dem” - 175 points - 6 votes
Don’t really know how I missed this before. Burna Boy has been EVERYWHERE this year and I admit I haven’t taken the time to listen to his album all the way through yet. He’s clearly a huge talent although I’m slightly concerned about his voice saturating so much of what I hear these days. I would recommend the track ‘Shotan’ by Zlatan and Tiwa Savage.
62: Rosalía- “Aute Cuture” - 175 points - 7 votes
I listened to this a whole bunch over the year and it still hasn’t grabbed me. I think I prefer her more leftfield stuff to the pop qua pop stuff.
61: Weyes Blood- “Wild Time” - 177 points - 5 votes
‘Everyday’ is my takeaway cut from the album, which seems to plough a very specific Carole King-esque furrow. So I don’t really need this song, nice as it is.
60: Peggy Gou- “Starry Night” - 180 points - 6 votes
This is the most fun Peggy Gou song I’ve heard. Not sure I really understood the whole Itgehane hype. She comes across a little glossy and detached. We had a term for it in the mid-2000s ‘hairdresser house’, and that’s exactly what her music sounds like to me – house music for creative freelance execs in cropped trousers and those annoying little dustman’s beanie hats they all wear. Still, this is kind of fun so I’ll be going back to it.
59: Charlotte Adigéry - “High Lights” - 181 points - 6 votes - 1 number 1 vote
I liked Patenipat so much I forgot to check out the rest of the EP. This is fab, of course. I wasn’t expecting her to sing in English. This is great, but of course. I would love her to hit it big in 2020.
58: Shura - “BKLYNLDN - 186 points - 6 votes
I do not get the appeal of Shura and why ILM seems so besotted with her.
57: Big Thief - “Cattails” - 191 points - 7 votes
BT were a huge band for me this year but this just isn’t close to being one of my faves. The improvised piano layers at the end aside, it just lacks the oomph and warmth of the rest of the album.
56: Raphael Saadiq feat. Rob Bacon - “Something Keeps Calling” - 192 points - 5 votes
Nice enough. Need to re-listen, but not blowing my mind at this stage or anything.
55: Holly Herndon - “Eternal” - 192 points - 7 votes
Haven’t heard Holl Herndon in a long while. Good to hear her making music that’s fun as well as cerebral. The AI concept is also intriguing. I must say that, as with the Blanck Mass tune, I’ve always found this ultra-modern kind of high-complexity, super-compressed electronica more impressive than enjoyable. There’s just so much going on for my poor brain.
54: Normani - “Motivation” - 194 points - 8 votes
I take it this is a hit cos I’ve heard it before. Not really my kind of thing, but fine for what it is.
53: Erika de Casier - “Intimate (Club. Mix)” - 195 points - 6 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Liquid drum’n’bass?? Dare I say I like this?
52: DaBaby - “Suge” - 195 points - 7 votes
I recently got into ‘Bop’ and I really like it. This is very similar in vibe. Think I prefer ‘Bop’ though as it’s a bit more catchy.
51: SAULT - “Up All Night” - 197 points - 7 votes
One of these bands who I know I’m going to love but am not ready to take the leap in case they end up either taking over my life or wholly disappointing me. As such I only listened to ‘Don’t waste My Time’ so far. Listening to this I think they may just have it in them to take over my life.
50: Purple Mountains - “Nights That Won’t Happen” - 204 points - 6 votes
Okay more Purple Mountains… Fine but we could have kept this to the albums poll.
49: Clairo - “Bags” - 206 points - 8 votes - 1 number 1 vote
If someone were to train an AI to come up with a bit of music that sounds like number 49 in an ILM EOY chart, this is what it would sound like. Just no idea what makes this special in any way.
48: Lana Del Rey - “Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have - But I Have It” - 210 points - 6 votes
I still like ‘Video Games’ but my understanding was that LDR had quickly faded into dull balladeering with little follow-through on her promised vision of hip Lynchian mysteriousness. But after I don’t know how many albums, this one seemed to get huge huge plaudits. I’m starting to wonder if this was simply the product of the album cover and the forced overuse of the word ‘fucking’. I had to skip it. At 5.30 minutes it’s a thousand years long.
47: Angel Olsen - “All Mirrors” - 210 points - 7 votes
Default ILM EOY music pt. 231,412. Would’ve been okay in 2013 but I just don’t see what’s special about this.
46: Charlotte Adigéry - “Paténipat” - 210 points - 8 votes
Fantastic. My only gripe is that it’s about a minute and a half too long.
45: HAIM- “Summer Girl” - 214 points - 8 votes
I’d been wondering if we’d ever hear from HAIM again. Really love the saxophone breaks on this one.
44: FKA Twigs - “Sad Day” - 222 points - 6 votes - 1 number 1 vote
*Checks calendar* nope, it’s definitely 2019 and not 2014 as the last two entries suggest. I’ve never really got to grips with Twigs’ gaseous avant-r’n’b. Love how leftfield the music is, and appreciate it’s trying to do something a bit different but I could just do with a few more hooks. This has a bit more bite than anything I’ve previously heard though so it may grow on me.
43: Weyes Blood - “Movies” - 228 points - 8 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Weyes Blood deserves to be way bigger than Lana Del Rey.
42: Samthing Soweto feat. Sha Sha, DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small - “Akulaleki” - 237 points - 7 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Don’t know why I’d not heard this before. Sometimes I wonder if I’m SO OVER the whole SA house/House of Sun-El/Amapiano/post-Gqom sound and yet I hear this or Sondela and I realise I can’t get enough of it.
41: Rema - “Dumebi” - 243 points - 8 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Think this was the first one on the list which I voted for. It’s brilliant, obviously. ‘Another bang-a!’
40: Underworld & The Necks - “Appleshine Continuum” - 244 points - 9 votes - 1 number 1 vote
I’ll.. Haha, I’ll come back to you on this one.
39: Carly Rae Jepsen - “Want You In My Room” - 247 points - 7 votes
People who know my tastes raise their eyebrows when I start enthusing about CRJ. She’s largely considered a one-hit wonder in the UK and most people haven’t heard Emotion or Dedicated. This is fab isn’t it? Love the vocodered parts.
38: Schacke - “Kisloty People” - 250 points - 6 votes - 1 number 1 vote
Oooof what is this? I love the fact harder dance styles are creeping back onto the menu after years in some unfashionable wilderness. This isn’t exactly gabba but along with Erika De Casier referencing liquid d’n’b, 90s dance revivalism is going deeper than just rebooting old rave-pop sirens.
36 (TIE): Koffee - “Toast” - 254 points - 9 votes
Was surprised to see this so low, but as was pointed out it kinda hit in 2018 and blew up this year. I still love it.
36 (TIE): Hatchie - “Stay With Me” - 254 points - 9 votes
Bit disappointing to go back to this boilerplate shambala dream-pop after the last few entries. I don’t mind this kind of thing but it’s got to do something special to impress me in 2019, and this is stultifyingly bland. I take it people like this because it reminds them of ‘Kaputt’ a little bit?
35: Stormzy - “Vossi Bop” - 255 points - 7 votes - 2 number 1 votes
I think this is my favourite Stormzy joint so far. Has anyone written a piece about ‘creepy pop’ as a thing? I’ve noticed a lot of spooky sounds appearing in the charts lately. This, ‘bad guy’, a few others, have these great little haunted house melodies. Horrorcore blowing up in 2019.
34: Caroline Polachek - “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” - 260 points - 9 votes
Sounds very similar to the last Chairlift album. Sometimes I love her voice. Sometimes I find her yodel-goon idiosyncrasies jarring. This is okay but there is so much of this kind of thing in EOY these days it’s hard to tell it all apart sometimes.
33: Lizzo - “Juice” - 263 points - 12 votes
This was so ubiquitous this year that it feels like it’s been around a lot longer. Is it me or did it break EOY 2018 too? Anyway, you’ve gotta love Lizzo and this is one of the reasons.
32: Wiley, Stefflon Don, Sean Paul & Idris Elba - “Boasty” - 266 points - 7 votes
Right up my strasse. Just brilliant. Love everything about it.
31: Billie Eilish - Bad Guy - 308 points - 11 votes
First time I’ve been genuinely gobsmacked by something on mainstream pop radio in years. It does everything the wrong way and yet gets everything right.
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Wednesday, 29 January 2020 13:01 (six years ago)