ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

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

Nice! The Big Thief song I voted for, since Century wasn't nominated. Probably not the last one of theirs to place...

really love the drumming on this song in particular

oh another one I voted for! I'm glad the right Big Thief song made it this high. BT at their most cosmic. I'd like a whole album exploring this vibe

Perfect song, though I voted for Not in the tracks poll.

i was hoping that one japanese house song would appear. lost all my hope now.

they were such an obvious album vote to me I didn't for a moment consider them for tracks

the best kiss i ever had is the flickering
of the water so clear and bright
to leap in, my skin
and i could feel the reaction

they were such an obvious album vote to me I didn't for a moment consider them for tracks

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, January 30, 2020 10:11 AM (thirty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm but try telling that to any of these jokers

This song is amazing, I love it so much. That chorus always gets me.

I like this

Crazy that a great album might also have great individual songs

it's nice that most of the 65 songs posted so far were new to me and reassuring that now that i've heard them i mostly wasn't missing anything.

there's also a thread for this album

Big Thief - U.F.O.F. (May 3, 2019)

Crazy that a great album might also have great individual songs

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, January 30, 2020 10:14 AM (thirty-six seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

it does but i also think there's a more unified album-oriented effect to what big thief do! which makes me feel like they are out of place in a tracks poll ("not"-excepted, that song is an explosion)

This band is tapped into...something... deeply enough to compensate for quirks that might grate in other acts.

otm ^^

I didn't vote in the albums poll because I do not listen to enough full albums in a year to feel like I can have an opinion. I think I might not be the only one, which could explain the prevalence of "album" artists in the tracks poll.

Apropos of nothing, actually I guess apropos of this countdown, I was listening to the radio this morning and Phil Collins "Take Me Home" came on, and I felt a powerful certainty that if Phil Collins had never been known to the world and had suddenly released this song in 2019, it would be really beloved by ILX.

Argh, didn't realise it was going to be turbo.

I have a lot of friends who love Aldous Harding but it's another one I've failed to connect to. I do remember liking that video, though.

I agree that "not" transcends the songs' essential albumness

This band is tapped into...something... deeply enough to compensate for quirks that might grate in other acts.

― Chris L

nails it

Brad, I'm open to your argument, but I think these polls are structured in a way to create some weird incentives that we can't expect to fix via self-policing.

i mean i know i'm arguing for a losing position!

if i had the ability to explain exactly why i like 'the barrel' and have no interest in 'ufof' i'd probably post more. both have v mannered indie vocals but the particular way in which they are mannered prob makes the difference for me

the best kind xp

i even have a personal rule that i can't ever vote for a rock song in the tracks polls, which i expect no one else to adhere to

I only voted for two tracks (both of which will have placed by the end) and this thread is annoying enough that I don't wanna dig any deeper, except maybe to put on "Take Me Home".

I think your personal rules go too far for me, but there is definitely an issue with too many tracks from album artists.

the most pure vote would be a single album on the albums list joined with a tracks ballot that is an unranked list of the songs on that album

There's also the thing (for me) where a very albumy album may be good, but not quite great enough to get into an album ballot, in which case a favourite track may end up on the tracks ballot as a sort of compensation.

her voice reminds me of hem

i think i listened to an aldous song, maybe off saidthegrammophone, seemed plesent

I agree that it's boring to have lots of repeat tracks but it's not a case that anything should be done about it, it's just a thing that happens and is a bit disappointing.

I kinda like it

Chris L absolutely on the money. I hated all that 2009 wispy folk-indie Grizzly Bear/Fleet Foxes sad lumberjack type of music with a passion and had BT come out around then it would be hard not to lump the last two albums in with that vibe. But I don't think of them in that way ever ever ever

I love the string arrangement on/of this

(a brief note which will ultimately be erased when the image is updated: Moka made a slight error with the picture for #12 and didn't accurately reflect the artist's name in the image. Moka is out of pocket and unable to upload a revised image as of now, so we're just going to post the image as is. We're aware the artist here is NOT "Big Thief" and also aware that naming is important. The error isn't intended disrespectfully in any way and will be fixed when we're not plowing through the actual countdown. Apologies to the artist in the meantime.)

the above aside, i absolutely love this track.

http://i.imgur.com/Fg3WFEJ.jpg
12: Octo Octa – “I Need You” – 370 points – 10 votes – 2 #1 votes

YouTube Video

Octo Octa &c

her voice reminds me of hem

― nxd, Thursday, January 30, 2020 11:23 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

well they're both women, i guess