ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2020

I voted for Thundercat and Khruangbin. Ridiculous pastiche perhaps, but pretty durable ridiculous pastiche in my experience. Though that Khruangbin LP felt way less interesting overall than past efforts.

Seriously considered giving Headie One and Cleo Soul some points, but it appears they eventually slid off my ballot.

That Benee song is almost certainly the song I heard most via passive exposure, from this batch. Possibly a regional thing. I still kinda sorta don't mind it even though part of me objects quite strongly to the vocal affectations.

Jorja Smith - “Rose Rouge”: only heard this thanks to Tim's thread, incredible re-imagining. i want a whole album of this jazz-via-house-via-jazz sound
Dagny - “Somebody”: perfectly serviceable but this sort of shambhala needs to do much more than that to get my interest these days
YOU’LL MELT MORE - “Surpriser!”: pretty surprised that there was consensus around a jpop track i hadn't heard. i'm not that huge on this hyperactive end of jpop and while there's some interesting stuff going on, it's messy even by its scene's standards (the second verse is really disjointed from the rest, for example) so i'm a little confused that this of all things is the first of its sort to make it to the 77
Victoria Monét - “Jaguar”: this is cool (very nice horns) but not the track from her i expected to place, maybe the other will show up later?
Reece Madlisa and Zuma with Mr JazziQ and Busta 929 - “Jazzidisciples (Zlele)”: i do understand people saying that amapiano tracks can have a tendency to all blend together but this felt distinctively cool to me, deej otm about the weightless feel of it. though it didn't quite make my ballot i'm glad to see it here
Thundercat - “Dragonball Durag”: still do not really get thundercat
Khruangbin - “Time (You and I)”: hadn't heard this but it's frustrating because i think i could enjoy it if there were a bit more substance to it but it sounds way too washed out as is

pseudo-objective

I mean, I don’t like most of these songs but I don’t care if I’m right or whatever. What’s your pleasure?

Stop
Go
Fast
Slow

I voted for a different Khruangbin track

My cat died last year but this was his dying bop.

― nashwan, Monday, January 25, 2021 12:14 PM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

sorry you lost your kitty. this was the post I related to most today :'(

The “it all sounds the same” criticism vis a vis amapiano should be one of those thoughts that set us on guard when they come into our head: it’s often a sign that we’re not currently wired to be attuned to what the music is doing, to hearing the subtleties and nuances and distinctions that excite the fans.

This is not to say that the fans are always right or that amapiano doesn’t have some objective tendencies that somewhat exacerbate the issue (like albums that are too long), but if a criticism feels easy it’s often too easy.

Nice, varied start to the poll so far - nothing I voted for but a few (Cleo Sol, Avalon Emerson, Victoria Monet) were on my longlist. 

Jazzidisciples is really good! I'm frequently overwhelmed by the amapiano/afro threads and yes, I admit that I sometimes find it difficult to single out one track among others but this def feels like a standout. very hypnotic.
  
Jorja Smith track is very nice too. 

And I know this is unfair but I cannot bring myself to be enthusiastic about Dagny, simply because her name reminds me of Ayn Rand.   

I nominated + voted for Supalonely, pleasantly surprised to see it make the list. Wouldn't normally be my thing really, but my gf played it a lot during lockdown and I grew to really love it. Think the vocal delivery is really interesting from both BENEE + Gus Dapperton, and I like the little adlibs ("GRRRR!"). It was a nice piece of brightness in a dark year.

Westerman is probably my favourite new discovery of this bunch, really liked Confirmation from last year's poll too.

Rotting Hills reminds me of the theme song to the cricket coverage from an Australian TV channel lol

The “it all sounds the same” criticism vis a vis amapiano should be one of those thoughts that set us on guard when they come into our head: it’s often a sign that we’re not currently wired to be attuned to what the music is doing, to hearing the subtleties and nuances and distinctions that excite the fans.

This is not to say that the fans are always right or that amapiano doesn’t have some objective tendencies that somewhat exacerbate the issue (like albums that are too long), but if a criticism feels easy it’s often too easy.

― Tim F, Tuesday, January 26, 2021 4:33 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is OTM and I'm conscious that this was the sentiment coming across in my post. Clearly there are a TON of subtelties, nuances etc and if one were to deep-dive into the genre and scene it would no-doubt reveal so much more. It's a very exciting and vibrant genre. For me it's time and patience though: the long shaker intros, the pervading sense of inertia and potent (as opposed to kinetic) energy of the style. Not to mention how it can take a wee while for tracks to reveal themselves - I can see what Imago meant in one of his comments. Even Emcimbini took a few listens for the hooks to really dig in, but of course I love it now.

A few people were asking about the number of voters this year. We had 99 album ballots and 94 track ballots. This is indeed down a bit from last year, when we had 102 album ballots and 103 track ballots. Here's a chart:
https://imgur.com/a/CULdv1c.png

hmm https://i.imgur.com/LO6e9d1.png

However, that's not the only reason why the number of points required to make the top 77 is less than last year. This year more tracks (975) received votes than last year (925), so it looks like there was less consensus among those who did vote.

so at that rate of attrition, if i can just hang on until 2050 or so, i might have a chance of one of my tracks placing?

Never stop campaigning!

xp Thanks for this

imgur is blocked on my work computer but I'm sure the images are great as always

so at that rate of attrition, if i can just hang on until 2050 or so, i might have a chance of one of my tracks placing?

I cut I Walk Alone With Acid from my ballot at the last moment so I'll feel bad now if it doesn't place

Shocked that there were 150 ballots in 2013.

each one has a subliminal simon h. diss buried within

xps

so cool how nearly 150 of us straight up voted for Get Lucky as best track of the year

As long as it's still hovering around a hundred that's good going.

The images are of course great. I had actively been hoping for some nod to graphic design trends from a hundred years ago and these fit the bill.

ok am listening to Tomoe Shinohara...lol, this is VERY 90s, very PSB too...it does bang I think

Get Lucky is a great song

I love long shaker intros.
I also love long shaker outros.

Let’s restart today with two of the world’s most famous twentysomethings joining their creative forces. No, not Miley and Dua. No, not Doja and Ariana. No, not Megan and Cardi. These two.

https://i.imgur.com/qlA2P8U.png
#60: J Hus and Koffee - “Repeat” - 152 points - 6 votes
video

Grime and UK rap 2020
gratitude is a must: the Koffee thread

I really liked J Hus's album this year, though it slid down my listing as the year went on (mostly because it was a great year, not because I got sick of the album). I saved my vote for him for the album ballot though I do think this is the best song on the album.

I like the genre meld on this one

ah this is the uk rap track i voted for! i love j hus's sound so much

it's really carried by koffee though

i voted for a different j hus (vague feeling that he's better on tracks on his own), but this one is very beautiful too

i also wanted to drop into this thread and say that if i'd heard jazzidisciples before yesterday i would have voted for it at the top of my ballot, monumental song

Yes. It got my vote.

very very nearly voted for this but my koffee vote went elsewhere

koffee on a jae5 beat is such a great combo

the pizzicato strings play an odd chord that i like

Nice. I dig this, but I think I switched to Koffee alone in a late ballot-condensing move. :(
XP: ha, what Simon H said, basically.

so at that rate of attrition, if i can just hang on until 2050 or so, i might have a chance of one of my tracks placing?

― mage uluk (NickB)

Same, same.

Honestly, though, I'm surprised we didn't lose more this year. I wasn't sure how the pandemic would affect voting, as it could be the case that people have more time to listen and vote, but with the US elections & attempted coup, I figured even more of the Americans would find voting in a music poll low on their priority list.

the inauguration came just in time!

day 2 gets off to a promising start! great song that I didn’t vote for from a great album that I did vote for.

forks, J Hus has his own thread too!

j hus - dem boy paigon

founded in 2015!

I figured even more of the Americans would find voting in a music poll low on their priority list.

on the contrary, this poll is a Warren G. Harding-esque return to normalcy for me

good look on snagging the j hus thread; i was likely searching for "jhus"

Seeing y’all tripping out about “Jazzidisciples” as if it were the only afrohouse track that was going to chart on the 77 was fun because SPOILER ALERT fam: it ain’t just gonna be all T-Swift from here on in.

I have a "Jerusalema" earworm & this is my current favourite dance video for it. 😆 pic.twitter.com/etAEKa3CwQ

— Ottilia Anna MaSibanda (@MaS1banda) July 23, 2020

https://i.imgur.com/nBLpC4P.png
#59: Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode - “Jerusalema” - 152 points - 7 votes
video

Rolling Afropop / Afrobeats 2021
rolling afro 2020

singles jukebox

Bolobedu House

yeah that's what i wanna hear

too low although it did get shoved from my ballot at the last minute

i like the j hus + koffee one, hadn't heard that before!

not so keen on 'jerusalema' though. are those the same chords as 'you'll never walk alone'?

I prefer 'Jazzidisciples'. Not keen on the lead vocal of this (the rest of the track is cool though).