ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

you know what I mean! that very specific dramatic disco violin thing. it's a very comprehensive homage, they really have thought of everything

At least it's melancholy.

glad they remembered to push the Ultra Violins button

If it's a piece of pure pastiche/homage, it's not an especially convincing one. (It clearly isn't a piece of pure pastiche)

No, it's not pure disco, but there are lots of references to it

Anyway I didn't mind it at all, maybe even liked it a bit, let's be chill

Reminded me of the Kylie songs I like, so it must be doing something right.

i hear this song a fair amount now that i have a kid old enough to demand the pop station when we're in the car. i'd rather hear it than like 90% of the other songs the pop station plays but it does feel a bit manufactured, in that the parts of the song don't seem connected, more just smushed up next to each other.

if I ever have to raise kids I'm gonna convince them my mp3 player is "the pop station" tbh

I knew you were going to ruin trap and house for them, but pop as well?

https://youtu.be/JlkPChcoHOg

ok yeah this performance is fuckin sick

as much as you guys talked here for a single entry, you're making me think we should stretch this out over two days maybe?
let me know. Meantime, let's all go over the falls together with #14.

http://i.imgur.com/slnSZsX.jpg
14: Aldous Harding – “The Barrel” - 359 points – 13 votes

YouTube Video

Thread of Aldous Harding - eccentric 'gothic folk' NZ singer songwriter

well lj will be furious about this

i've never knowingly heard aldous harding

this is a nice song! a little surprised it's this high tho

btw i think we should finish today forks. we're close enough

I agree fwiw

plus fridays are ghost towns on the general internet including here

gotta say at the very least i love the video for "the barrel"

I like Aldous Harding, and I like this song, however my wife cannot stand her voice which I can kind of understand.

Standout track from a great album that I discovered during EOY list season in early December. Music video is indelible - a lesson in doing more with less.

agree bring us home home fork

Weird. I voted for this, but I agree that it is too high. Anybody else get kind of a Marc Bolan vibe from this?

new zealand's lame & annoying answer to weyes blood. this is one of her less bad songs, at least

okay, the alternate to stretching it out is TURBO MODE so I'm gonna drop 14 to 4 about every ten minutes

God I cannot stand the way she enunciates her t's

More nick drake tbh. Bit mimsy innit?

here 4 turbo time

Xps

xxp It's totally mimsy, in a way that splits the diff between charming & creepy. Which is why I like it.

OH COOL! I didn't think this would place. This song would have faded into the background if it weren't for the strange lyrics and absolutely exceptional production values. It's rare I appreciate a song for how well it's mixed and mastered

i was sure i hated it when i saw the first five secs of the video, but turns out it's genuinely creepy in a subtle way that i find really appealing. the first indie thing with guitar in it i've voted for in years probably

I wish the song were as creepy as the video

This is pleasant, but surprised it generated so much heat

what's wrong with her voice (on this song)? On some tracks she does a weird vampy contralto which I kinda like but can see people not liking.

i gets better when the singing starts, but the opening guitar riff sounds like an upbeat optimistic indie car commercial

Yay for bassoon (I think?)

the new hyundai 890 series - you're going places

Nick Drake comparison only because of use of the word 'ferret'.

3:09 to 3:20 of The Barrel is massively weird and i think not in a good way

i did vote for it though

I feel we are getting close to Old Town Road appearing to help save face from the embarrassing lack of rap (3?) and country (0?!) this year

i prefered this trashy edm remix that i assume i was introduced to on ilm https://youtu.be/EjB2RWF_jFg🕸

i prefered this trashy edm remix that i assume i was introduced to on ilm https://youtu.be/EjB2RWF_jFg🕸

fwiw after multiple listens i still don't get this and i also don't get our lucky #13

Yeah I do like when the (I also thought it was a bassoon) popped in. 3:09-3:20 is like "a mid-period Belle and Sebastian EP dropped in for 11 seconds to see what was up with this song and then backed away"

http://i.imgur.com/XOLK3uo.jpg
13: Big Thief – “UFOF” – 363 points – 13 votes

YouTube Video

Big Thief - U.F.O.F

well i didn't account for big thief placing twice more

this song is pretty mystical

Damn we like breathy vocals this year

i am amused that the respective Harding and Big Thief tracks can segue so neatly into one another you might not even notice one had stopped and the other had begun

clearly I picked the wrong year to test-bubble the hypothetical multiple entries rule lol

i think 'The Barrel' evokes a similarly 'unheimlich' vibe as, say, the first Boards of Canada album in that it's quite innocuous-sounding (car commercial) on the surface but there's definitely something a little sinister bubbling away underneath. 'Show the ferret to the egg' is some strange witchy imagery