ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2020

TS: Antiga font vs. Antifa front

I've never listened to Thundercat before, this sounds like Pharrell Williams was hired as the frontman for George Duke's early-80s band, wtf?

That's two songs in a row that could easily be from 40 years ago if it wasn't for the lyrics, is this sound in vogue again? I guess I shouldn't complain, I like it.

'Time (You And I)' became a real favourite of mine last Summer.

I'm told Khruangbin in Thai means 'killfile'.

I hadn't heard this one before but I'm enjoying it. Goofy but sounds good enough to not be annoying.

I'm told Khruangbin in Thai means 'killfile'.

They're from Thailand? I wouldn't have guessed.

The Khurangbin album was one of the biggest releases of the year for us at work. We took a risk picking up Con Todo El Mundo when it first came out and it has been our biggest selling album of the last three years maybe even ever. We must have gone through at least 200 copies already (which is a ton for us). It's one of those albums that if we put it on, people will ask who it is amost immediately (Beta Band style). I'm amazed how much they seem to have connected with people here. Feels like they're set up to become quite big now. The album is good but not as strong as Con Todo. Time is a standout.

i enjoyed that thundercat song that made me feel i was wading through a swamp

I never listen to thundercat, but I always enjoy the way all his songs sound like your radio is drunk

Thoroughly enjoying the little font details in the graphics this year, like how the R in Khruangbin extends under the U and the A inside the C in Thundercat. Amazing work as always!

xp yeah, it's of a woozy piece with Moodymann.
what the hell: i'm gonna throw the Smino remix of Dragonball Durag into the playlist for shits and giggles.

Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?
The kind of blandly pleasant disco-pop which sounds committee-designed to make the ILM Top 77. I don't have a problem with this style, but EOY has been crammed with songs like this for at least a decade with no signs of stopping.

Destroyer - Cue Synthesizer
This guy's waggish mid-Atlantic delivery really worked on me when he was doing Pet Shop Boys-style sophisto-pop. It's a bit grating here.

BENEE - Supalonely
I had actually heard this before. Can't work out if I like it or not. I guess it's a lockdown anthem for some, but just doesn't push my buttons.

Westerman - Blue Comanche
God, what does this remind me of? Is it "Wonderful Life" by Black? This is quite pleasant I guess.

Headie One - Ain't It Different
This is okay. Not sure I'd play it for fun.

Susanne Sundfor - When The Lord
Considering how much I like the song with the microwave ping in it, she's an artist I have only half paid attention to over the years. I know I should delve a bit deeper, but right now the only thing her admittedly remarkable voice makes me think of is ILM EOY lists which is part of the problem of experiencing music at a desk I guess.

Taylor Swift - cardigan
Not the stylistic side-step I'd expected froma much lauded "Gasp she's gone all folky!" album. Just not for me, Taylor's talent and individuality continues to evade me.

Disclosure - Douha
If we have to give it a name then "global beats" has been a massive thing this year, with an incredible amount of amazing pan-international dance music coming out. Not impressed by this kind of watered-down generic club-house backdrop though. We can do better, ILM, and I am betting we will.

Trying to listen along but I'm a bit too down to really get into anything so far. V ILMy choices, ha.

They're from Thailand? I wouldn't have guessed.

― Tuomas

They're from Texas. Drummer and producer Donald Johnson is actually a half of "Beanz & Kornbread" who have produced pretty much every hip hop act in Houston.

Is there a reason "Rotting Hills" is missing from the spotify playlist?

lol n/m just saw it

I wish Rotting Hills sounded more like its cover art suggests it would.

haven't vibed with thundercat stuff since that one ep with "them changes" on it. his lyrics have grown so so cringeworthy, and silly songs like this one clash with his more serious, grief-laden ones.

there used to be a line separating funk devotees like thundercat with pastiche acts like vulfpeck, but that line is thinning by the year.

This guy's waggish mid-Atlantic delivery

His voice did sound p idiosyncratic but is it mid-Atlantic affectation or is it just a Canadian accent + very careful enunciation?

For anyone who is discovering Fatoumata Diawara for the first time via that Disclosure track, i am absolutely BEGGING you to check out her back catalogue as both of her prior albums (Fatou and Fenfo) are about as good as singer/songwriter gets for me. She's pure joy, pure talent, a singular live artist, a fantastic dancer and a humanitarian to boot.

Start with Nterini and Bissa then tell me you don't agree.

She's also one of the subjects of the excellent documentary Mali Blues: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/mali-blues

I'm told Khruangbin in Thai means 'killfile'.

When asked to play their first gig, Lee, who was learning to speak Thai at the time, decided they should use her favorite Thai word "khruangbin" (Thai: เครื่องบิน; RTGS: khrueang bin, lit. Flying thing), which means "flying engine", literally, or "aeroplane," as their name.

His voice did sound p idiosyncratic but is it mid-Atlantic affectation or is it just a Canadian accent + very careful enunciation?

― Inside there's a box and that box has another box within (Sund4r), Monday, January 25, 2021 5:42 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not sure, but to me it always sounds like he's constantly doing a pantomime, or an impression of a swooning, pearl-clutching dame in a period drama "This is a song for Americahhhh"

Yeah there's definitely something odd about it.

I gave up on trying to like Dan Bejar/Destroyer many years ago, but each time he appears in our EOY rollout I try again and the disappointment is consistent.

He also makes me think of Neil Tennant, but when I hear Neil Tennant they're nothing like each other

Thanks to the ongoing contributions of a few key ILXors, ILM has transformed over the past three years into one of the most diverse, comprehensive and enthusiastic English language discovery hubs for contemporary African popular music on the internet. That there’s no reasonable way for anyone to keep up with the literally hundreds of white-hot tracks that have been emerging monthly from our numerous ILM Afropop / Amapiano / Afrobeat genre threads doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop by to listen; those spaces welcome dilettantes. Pop in on the right day and you might discover a year-end jam like this one from South African artists Reece Madlisa and Zuma.

https://i.imgur.com/25AlWHb.png
#65: Reece Madlisa and Zuma with Mr JazziQ and Busta 929 - “Jazzidisciples (Zlele)” - 150 points - 5 votes
video

Thread for the AmaPiano awesomeness that is “Baby Are You Coming?” by Zero12finest feat. ThaMagnificent2

breastcrawl, would you like to take a moment to drop a list of the ILM threads in question and maybe your ongoing African playlists as well?

Please sign my petition to ban Tuomas for saying Thundercat sounds like Pharrell

lol

hmmm not heard this! breastcrawl will be disappointed with me when I say I'm pretty cool on amapiano. the great tracks (emcimbini) really stand out, but i don't have time to listen to loads of 7.5min songs of roughly the same formula. it's nice chilled music, and i do like it, but i could also do with a bit more OOMPH on occasion

Hey, finally song I like and voted for. Thanks, fellowship of the five.

Appreciate always finding super catchy african pop tunes on these lists

xp dog latin: There is OOMPH, on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NHpLvs2xU

Thanks to the ongoing contributions of a few key ILXors, ILM has transformed over the past three years into one of the most diverse, comprehensive and enthusiastic English language discovery hubs for contemporary African popular music on the internet. That there’s no reasonable way for anyone to keep up with the literally hundreds of white-hot tracks that have been emerging monthly from our numerous ILM Afropop / Amapiano / Afrobeat genre threads doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop by to listen; those spaces welcome dilettantes. Pop in on the right day and you might discover a year-end banger like this one from South African artists Reece Madlisa and Zuma.

― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, January 25, 2021 5:49 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

QFT though. We have some serious heads on those threads and it inspired me just before lockdown to start a Facebook group for discussing this kind of stuff, which is now several hundred strong with many posters from around the various scenes contributing

love john vuli gate and the attendant memes

oof, that John Vuli Gate tune! Banger!!

I wouldn't go as far as dog latin -- I like amapiano's sustained tension thing a lot and I wouldn't really call this "chilled" -- but this (very good) song does encapsulate why I threw my hands up at sorting out all the SA tracks this year: like 90% of the songs on the amapiano thread are good but they all merged into a single tasty soup as the year went on.

I could live on that soup. In fact, I have.

Was going to quote that forks post myself, it is very true. I can't keep up with the threads but I always appreciate hearing this stuff in the EoY rollout.

a vibe in search of a song imo

wow, just wow at “Jazzidisciples (Zlele)” placing! brilliant track, one of my top 10 tracks, and I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: South Africa is the world’s House Nation. this track was an actual South African top 10 pop hit.

and thanks for your wonderful introduction there, forks!

(will say tho, with all of the credit I and the rest of the afro crew might take for this, I doubt it would have placed without Tim F’s recent subtle endorsement in his EOY thread)

will give the links and playlist later, as requested!

a vibe in search of a song imo

thanks, Geir

xp
to be fair, if I'd been allowed to go outside this year, I think I would have enjoyed the soup a lot more I think -- ime amapiano is not ideal sitting in my apt with headphones on music :(

xp to rob. yes, i think that's it. i like the sustained tension too, but without being able to listen to all these tracks in some sort of context, they can all blend into one and the lack of release has a similar effect of hearing a lot of 4/4 techno: Brilliant if you're there in the moment and it's being mixed together or performed, but I'm not going to sit at my desk listening to all these shaker-fill intros. It's definitely cool music and a vibrant, exciting scene though.

love john vuli gate and the attendant memes

― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, January 25, 2021 12:58 PM (seven minutes ago)

ysi?

I had "Ain't It Different" on my ballot but dropped it when I realized I actually just like the riff from "Butterfly," which, I now learn, is actually from Red Hot Chili Peppers? Sorry not sorry.

xp search #johnvuligatechallenge

Victoria Monét’s Jaguar EP packs a lot of disco and R&B punch into a sub-25 minute runtime. I’m partial to "Dive," her ode to cunnilingus, but the title track is also a banger.

https://i.imgur.com/vVrveJ4.png
#64: Victoria Monét - “Jaguar” - 150 points - 6 votes - 1 #1 Track Vote
video

rolling r&b 2020