ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

Inspector Norse, Call Me Maybe and Adorn is still the strongest top three we've ever had.

still fw w/all the winners except DP, grimes, and XCX. 2 on is the best tho

Boys was such a great winner, along the lines of Balloon. Half a novelty song, but also just undeniably good pop writing, and endlessly fun

boys was probably the most underwhelming winner there's been, not even the best charli xcx song that year. it's not a bad song just baffling that it ended up winning

I think what happened with boys is that a majority of people put it in mid-ballot and it just defaulted its way to the top

Perhaps, but I think it was my #2 iirc

Also, Charli XCX had a great year, and Pop 2 especially was loaded with good songs, and some probably put that on the album ballot, then put the non-album single on the track ballot

Balloon is the only song there that I really like

Realiti (Demo)>212>Inspector Norse>Balloon>It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)>Wut>2 On>Boys>Get Lucky>Black Beatles

Glad you said it. Rae Sremmurd winning was some nadir-of-ILM shit

im now endorsing every nonsensical unfair criticism of "jogging" and dawson more broadly

:D

Made worse by iirc Mitski being beaten out into second

I kinda still hate American Girl

Lol I just checked, Mitski did come 2nd with 844 points, but RS won with 1276, probably the biggest blowout in ILM history

Get Lucky is one of the reasons I stopped going to Greggs. I make coffee at home now and just write 'Greggs' on the side of the cup

biggest blowout in ilm history was realiti i thought

I had (mostly) forgotten all about Get Lucky but its all flooding back now, what a dispiriting record. I can recall a couple of the other winners but most are blanks. Not necessarily a bad thing, memory is over-rated

<3

As to the 77 records I think the best was probably Basquiat, edging out Vossi Bop. Can't remember any of the others, maybe Jenny Lewis, was pleasant enough

Samthin Soweto and Sun-El Musician for me - really slept on that stuff for too long despite the big visible regularly bumped thread

still wading thru the nominations playlist tho

Get Lucky plays about 4 times a day on the work radio so it no longer sounds like music to me

I kinda like the Blanck Mass but doubt it will get many repeat plays.

Balloon is alright, I like the vocoded way he says it tho I realise that effect has been everywhere over the last ten years. As soon as I saw the reactions to it on its own thread I figured it would walk this.

Black Beatles still owns.

the ones I don't really get are Charli XCX, Peggy Gou and I guess Miguel (he has much better songs than Adorn)

Going in with fresh ears y'all

don't really get that Grimes tune either. it's okay

Wut - remember when the lex used to run this place huh. I mean this isn't terrible but it's not much of anything and hasn't aged so well imo

212 - will admit this still kind of bangs, does the rap song with hard-house dynamics thing p well

Inspector Norse - I just feel hideously embarrassed for us all as soon as that lumbering eurosynth beat comes in, the remaining 6 and a half minutes are like a lap of dishonour. ok something happens 3 and a half minutes in but that horrible beat is still going

Get Lucky - skipped. you dreadful bastards

2 On - there's little that really makes this stand out and I still don't get why it won. another that hasn't aged so well. weirdly unpleasant Q verse too

Realiti (Demo) - prefer the album version, m8s. wonder why it won by so much - was it the delighted shock that niche ILM favourite Grimes had pulled off a power move into sophistipop? I guess purely as a box-ticking exercise it was fated to win but I need more than ticked boxes

Black Beatles - can't view this with any kind of equanimity as I hate their personae and lyrics so very much. the production isn't so bad initially but doesn't go anywhere for 5 minutes. the least I can say is that it hasn't dated so badly as some of the others, but as I say, I got hate for these guys and that isn't changing

Boys - tbf it was amazing when a PC Music song basically won the tracks poll the year after the lex left the boards, for that alone I love it. also it's not actually too bad, maybe I've gone soft in my old age but this is sounding pretty good rn, production is on point

It Makes You Forget (Itgehane) - tt reckons it's ripping off Fleetwood Mac at the start haha. all I can hear is some mid-tier bobbins. not my field of expertise tbf, you do you ILM. nice use of...marimba? at one point, guess that's why it won

Balloon - according to this extremely scientific process, song of the decade

Lol @ all this hate on the lex years after you have run him out of the boards. Cunt.

i don't think anyone would call realiti sophistipop. near perfect track in both versions though

i don't think boys had anyone from pc music involved either

lex needs to come back to counter balance imago's over the top distaste with his own

i thought he just took a break from here to write a book or something and never felt like coming back

Yes and you're next mate

I think I might just preemptively ban you both from the albums rollout.

(I obviously didn't run him off the boards. He left for whatever reason but I don't recall it having much to do with me or my influence. Others fought him more bitterly)

Lumbering eurosynth beat?

it just sounds like a fat German man is about to start singing about beer over the top of it

Huh

I came late in the lex years, but I loved his passion for music I hadn't previously appreciated enough but also thought it was a bit silly how much energy he put into hating music that wasn't for him.

The same goes for quite a few other people here.

it was a bit silly how much energy he put into hating music that wasn't for him.

This amused me as well. ILM was better off with Lex here, but I'm glad for him he left (as it must have exhausted him at times!).

I think I might just preemptively ban you both from the albums rollout.

This 'both sides' shit is even more tiresome than the feud itself.

(I'm not actually going to do it but this isn't especially edifying for anyone concerned at this point)

There's only one poster who's relentlessly baiting, trolling and annoying a handful of posters at this stage.

xp Pom otm

Correct me if I'm wrong but the total of ballots received hasn't really declined much in ten years has it? Feels like it's always been around a hundred. This has always been a relatively small enough number for the results to be just whimsical and idiosyncratic enough while still roughly in step with broader critical consensus. But this is mostly just me re-assuring myself that it's OK to not like most of the top tracks perhaps - other times I've felt envious of how many tracks place for some voters (and so many tracks placing that appear early in the nominations thread makes perfect sense is these are the obvious important tracks by those most excited by the whole process year after year) but I don't do any lobbying so can't really protest.

The big change over that time is I guess more to do with who the loudest and most frequent voices belong to when it comes to lobbying. Matt's right about the importance of threads devoted to specific tracks and albums too though. I would prefer if it were there less "do the results make us look good?" ruminating although questions like why there is less hip-hop are usually worth exploring.

I decided I would stop making personal EOY lists after 2019 and instead just maintain and update playlists of things I stumble upon. ILM is most important in that process at this time of year when there is a huge playlist of peoples favourites to sample. Maybe I will make more effort with the rolling threads throughout the year but the time and energy required to not only hear the music but want to champion it is usually beyond me.

Yep xp

I threadbanned xyzz, definitely stepped over the line there.

the number of ballots declined a little in 2017 but has remained steady enough since

The results probably reflect the average age of the people voting more than anything else.

Test

Emily?

I'm not actually going to do it but this isn't especially edifying for anyone concerned at this point)

― Matt DC, Sunday, 2 February 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Ftr, not going to post on the album's one btw, I only engaged with the tracks countdown.