ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

let's do this

btw i made some jpgs for the results -- i will be linking to youtubes instead of embedding them

for those that missed the other thread, i'll be revealing 17 spots today, then 20 over the next three days

And there's a Grooveshark playlist too

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5244/5309189462_cee00fb897_o.gif

The new phonebooks are here!

"btw i made some jpgs for the results"

in before The Rev complains about this

TOO LOW

btw i made some jpgs for the results -- i will be linking to youtubes instead of embedding them

Both of these sound like good things to me.

woop!

http://i56.tinypic.com/jsoi1j.png
77. DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY "Ass on the Floor" [222 points, 7 votes]
Youtube

SO EXCITED! And to think I was starting to wonder how to kill my last hour at work.

I was starting to think about getting some work done :(

as you can see i'm off to a rousing start here -- the 222 points is the correct number

^^ great reason to expand results to 77 places imo

Exciting!

so is 7 votes, lol

i shouldn't have done this during the nfc title game

multitasking is a bitch

222 points, 7 votes, #77 - amazing

amazing song too!

good song imo

good start, great song

I "Ass on the Floor" one of the songs they did on SNL? I like this.

Wait are you gonna just be posting jpgs or doing text too? Coz for those on zing it's gonna be v inconvenient

all downhill from here guys

i love that synth arpeggio that comes in the last time through after diddy's little rap buildup bit

Wait nvm

i like "ass on the floor" because it tells people to get their ass on the floor

^^^

how many points was #1 place again?

they did "ass on the floor" on snl but it sounded kinda terrible

listening to aotf for the first time and wow, it turns out swiss beatz shouldnt have been written off years ago?

#1 had nearly 1,000 points

that jpg is a bit witch house

dawn and kalenna really shine here imo, one of their best vocals on the album - love the way their verses pivot around various uses of the word "motherfucker". i said this in the album thread but the switch up from "now i'm drunker than a motherfucker, tryna find my way back to your heart you motherfucker" in the first to "got me madder than a motherfucker, tryna fight my way back to your heart you motherfucker" in the second SLAYS

great tune, prob my fav production job from 2010

rofl @ whiney's first post itt

'ass on the floor' music video really appropriate song for today. it's like 8 degrees outside.

Jordan, sorry I meant the individual ballot vote #1, not the collective #1

listening to aotf for the first time and wow, it turns out swiss beatz shouldnt have been written off years ago?

― supply 'n d-man (a hoy hoy), Monday, January 24, 2011 11:34 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

swizz beatz has been like consistently amazing for like the last 8 years, u goof

i will be linking to youtubes instead of embedding them

maybe a cool thing would be to set up a youtube playlist linked at the top of the thread, just add each track to it after they're posted here. but otoh anyone could do this (inc me) so no big deal.

xp - 50 points for a #1 vote.

not expecting to like this track but it's pretty damn good.

Since Touch It, On To The Next One, Gucci Time - dude has been lames for more than a minute

http://i53.tinypic.com/fnh3x0.jpg
76. VAMPIRE WEEKEND "Giving Up the Gun" [222 points, 10 votes, one first place vote]
Youtube

lol

and those are the breaks i can remember - so many things i listened to and forgot while they were still playing

most straightforward song on that album; it's dece but that's as far as i would go

How many points per track for an unranked ballot Sean?

26

I had successfully managed to fool myself into pretending that VW album doesn't exist, thanks ILM

whose #1?

'Ass on the Floor' really does not impel me to get my ass on the floor. Similarly, 'Giving Up the Gun' does not impel me to lay down my firearms.

lol @ tennis photo. Great job w. the jpeg formatting!

You know what does suck about this poll though? Nothing off of Heartlands

dj dropped 'wut' in the club last night was awesome - all my smart ppl went ham

mixed into "i'm fly" doooooope

You know what does suck about this poll though? Nothing off of Heartlands

― sammy bagels (a hoy hoy), Saturday, January 29, 2011 4:16 PM (1 hour ago)

the owen p? i'm sure it'll do fine in the albums poll, no need to be sad a rando album cut didn't make the singles list

well actually i'm not so sure it'll do well, because i didn't vote

I'm sure it will to well in the albums poll. My original tracks ballot would have pushed 'Lewis' into the top 77, but I tried to avoid double-counting tracks/albums. If it does place well in albums, ILX be crazy.

Beating a flogged dead gifthorse into the ground here, I guess, but: the Waka vote from me was partially me not able to stop thinking "Ooh! 90s Laibach!" bcz of the beat. SHOUTY DUDE on top is an obvious plus, so I'm happy to see it at #2! ^_^

haha that's a weird-ass comp for lex luger beats but i hear it

Been a mainstay in hiphop since crunk was invented imho I guess haha.

Only on ILM could dubstep be considered to have died or stopped existing as a scene or whatever. But it's probably had its drum and bass 1995 moment by now, where half the scene is content to be generic and play to the crowds and the other half is off doing more interesting things.

Breakbeat has been written out of dance music history somewhat now, but when you think about its relationships of proximity with 2-step, hip hop, techno and house and the way it drew on all of those things circa 2001-2003 (esp. via bootlegs), it's not a bad historical comparison point for uk bass.

No actually I think there's a fair bit of similarity in the audience for the more generic/lairy end of dustep and that of breaks (and drum and bass in the 00s too). Fabric still does these hugely popular dnb nights on a Friday night and at some point in the last few years Skream/Benga/Caspa/Rusko/whoever increasingly started to replace people like the Plump DJs and Adam Freeland in the second room. Obviously Skream and Benga are big enough to headline the whole thing now but that was definitely the situation pre-that tipping point.

Night Slugs and affiliates remind me aesthetically of the more open-eared side of that breakbeat scene, Stanton Warriors and the like. Also some of the rhythms aren't entirely dissimilar. Wut is a total outlier here because most other NS stuff doesn't actually sound like it, including his other single IRL (which I hate). And a magazine like Jockey Slut would have been all over Night Slugs.

But it's probably had its drum and bass 1995 moment by now, where half the scene is content to be generic and play to the crowds and the other half is off doing more interesting things.

tb

oh right i'm still not done listening to these yet here's part 3:

40. GUCCI MANE "Lemonade" [300 points, 10 votes]
i have yet to dive into gucci's back catalog but i do like this song a lot, it's so singularly focused line by line on the titular theme where most rappers would indulge in going off on tangents.

39. LIL B "The Age of Information" [302 points, 11 votes]
my favorite discovery on this list, and one that has me completely reappraising lil b and finding that he's a much better rapper than i gave him credit for. the second verse might be one of the most beautiful raps ever put to tape, like he's having an epiphany right in front of us and is stumbling over his words trying to get it all out in one piece. i used to listen to a lot of the backpacker rap that this song is channeling and none of it ever hit me as hard as this.

38. KATY B "Katy on a Mission" [322 points, 13 votes]
for some reason i find myself listening to the drum programming and particularly how the second half of each bar comes out rapidly in a glob instead of playing out like a normal break. also i like the bit where everything but the drums+bass drop out for the 2nd chorus, inverting the traditional soft/loud structure isn't done enough these days.

37. JAMIE WOON "Night Air" [324 points, 13 votes]
this is just a real pretty song, i don't give a shit about MOR signifiers or anything. i didn't realize burial was involved but now that i know it seems so obvious. the bass is massive and his call and response with the burial-ized versions of his lines are what makes the song for me.

36. CARIBOU "Sun" [330 points, 11 votes]
it's easy to forget this guy used to be an IDM dude but it comes through a bit on tracks like this, in how even when he locks into a dance groove the track doesn't sit still. the weirdest thing about the beat here is that there's snares on the 2, 3, and 4 instead of the usual 2 and 4.

35. WIZ KHALIFA "Black & Yellow" [330 points, 13 votes]
ok i definitely underestimated this song, it didn't seem special the first time i heard it but now it's sounding like a instant classic. it's the best case i've heard for siding w/ the steelers in the superbowl. people who are saying wiz doesnt have any presence as a rapper are way off, he more than carries the track here. and it has a middle eight! more rap songs should.

34. M.I.A. "Born Free" [340 points, 13 votes]
is this MIA's take on thrash metal or something? this...doesn't really have any of the musical elements of the MIA tracks that i like.

33. THESE NEW PURITANS "We Want War" [342 points, 10 votes]
this is pretty cool though i kinda feel like i voted for it just to get some variety on my ballot. the singer sounds way too unassuming britpoppy for the music and i can't decide if i like that cognitive dissonance approach.

32. TENSNAKE "Coma Cat" [342 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote]
i wish i could figure out which ILM thread stuff like this gets discussed on since there's always a few great dance tracks that place in the yearend lists that i haven't heard of at all. this sounds pretty unassuming until the B section when the synth bells drop (are they supposed to be steel drums? they don't have quite the right timbre) and then it's a jam.

31. EARL SWEATSHIRT "Earl" [344 points, 10 votes]
i think the main appeal of a lot of the odd future stuff is that tyler and earl use those super complex rhyme structures that harken back to 90s rap and make even the nagl-est lyrics sound fun and inviting, but unlike most of the underground/backpacker rappers still working in that style, their beats sound fresh and not like old dj premier outtakes.

30. ROBYN "Hang With Me" [346 points, 14 votes]
i love me some synth arpeggios so i enjoy the production on robyn's tracks but a lot of the time her vocals leave me cold. this song's alright though, mainly on the strength of the bridge, i don't like the chorus much.

29. GYPTIAN "Hold Yuh" / "Hold Yuh (Funkystepz remix)" [380 points, 12 votes]
hmm i don't think i'd heard this before. always nice to hear a song that preserves its momentum with only minimal percussion, in this case just a snare drum. i don't really like the piano sound, it's a bit too piercing and muffled.

28. CIARA ft. LUDACRIS "Ride" [394 points, 12 votes]
the video is kinda fascinating but without it i don't think there's nearly as much to be impressed by without it. not my favorite ciara track at all.

27. LINDSTRØM & CHRISTABELLE "Lovesick" [394 points, 18 votes]
this one's got a good groove and i love the little piano figure at the end of some bars, but i don't really like the sung bit in the second half and in general this doesn't stand up to 'baby don't stop' or 'music in my mind' for me, mainly due to the lack of a good sung hook.

26. KANYE WEST ft. PUSHA T "Runaway" [396 points, 13 votes]
i really like the way pusha's voice sounds over kanye's beats here and on 'so appalled' even if he's not bringing his best verses to the table. here he's the unapologetic foil to kanye's endless apologizing

25. TINIE TEMPAH "Pass Out" [398 points, 14 votes]
wow this is fun! i have friends who are into oldschool video game music and such and claim to have no interest in mainstream pop stuff but i wonder if they realize just how close the two approach each other these days.

24. KANYE WEST ft. DWELE "Power" [410 points, 15 votes]
this is one of the points on the kanye record where the album rock undertones break through to the surface for a bit. though listening to this makes me wonder if we don't give kanye enough credit as a rapper anymore, he goes hard for the first 2 verses, but then the asshole line and the obama line are such a stinkers that they're all you remember.

23. SADE "Soldier of Love" [410 points, 16 votes]
ok i'd be lying if i said i listened to Sade at all before 2010, but if this song's any indication then i fucked up big time. i love that the track gets away with using that distorted muted guitar sample. when i was a kid i used to make shitty corny rock 'songs' on my computer using an identical one, and there seemed to be no possible way to make it sound good.

22. KE$HA "TiK ToK" [424 points, 14 votes, 3 first place votes]
i feel like this song violates some primal, unspoken rule of club music where you're not supposed to remind the listener about the passage of time. nevertheless, it's the best ke$ha song to date on the strength of that infectious chorus which makes you forget all about the verses each time it hits.

21. JOANNA NEWSOM "Good Intentions Paving Company" [428 points, 13 votes]
everything about this song feels awkward to me. the moment when the drums drop into the mix is awkward, the transition into and out of those little bits with the banjo is awkwardly done, that trumpet line in the last part awkwardly clashes with her vocals. there's still stuff to like here, but this isn't one of her songs that justifies its length, i don't think. the parts don't work together naturally in my mind.

24. KANYE WEST ft. DWELE "Power" [410 points, 15 votes]
this is one of the points on the kanye record where the album rock undertones break through to the surface for a bit. though listening to this makes me wonder if we don't give kanye enough credit as a rapper anymore, he goes hard for the first 2 verses, but then the asshole line and the obama line are such a stinkers that they're all you remember.

the brilliant thing abt the single version is that u don't hear those terrible lines or despair at the song going on for too long coz it beats you up and leaves like an awesome thing

the age of information is unbelievably stellar. would have been on my ballot. just a transcendentally perfect musical moment, yall

think all the lyrics to that song are pretty great.

It's been interesting reading these rundowns and guessing at their author before you get to the bottom.

and it has a middle eight! more rap songs should.

ha yeah man when this first popped up i was like 'damn i love the bridge!'

ciderpress v often otm in that rundown

Night Slugs and affiliates remind me aesthetically of the more open-eared side of that breakbeat scene, Stanton Warriors and the like. Also some of the rhythms aren't entirely dissimilar. Wut is a total outlier here because most other NS stuff doesn't actually sound like it, including his other single IRL (which I hate). And a magazine like Jockey Slut would have been all over Night Slugs.

Well Stanton Warriors was who I was thinking of. Pretty sure I'm on record somewhere comparing Night Slugs to early Stanton Warriors (which is very complimentary in my book) about 2 years ago.

Though I don't think there's much of a binary b/w Stanton Warriors and Plump DJs.

Also does this make James Blake the new Hybrid?

Who is the BT of dubstep/uk bass?

the single edit of "Power" has all the same verses and is roughly the same length as the album version iirc?

40. GUCCI MANE "Lemonade" [300 points, 10 votes]
i have yet to dive into gucci's back catalog but i do like this song a lot, it's so singularly focused line by line on the titular theme where most rappers would indulge in going off on tangents.

lol welcome to gucci land, it's so icey

"i wish i could figure out which ILM thread stuff like this gets discussed on since there's always a few great dance tracks that place in the yearend lists that i haven't heard of at all. "

^^^this. feel like we should almost have a directory of whats going on in threads but it would just end up in some lame conversation of whether a description of a thread was 100% accurate or 95% accurate that lasts 600 posts, has ilxor pick up 4 sb and deej and whiney go further down a rabbit hole

Official ILM thread of mad TENSNAKE love for 2010 and beyond

Who is the BT of dubstep/uk bass?

Hmmm? Rusko? Or is he the dubstep Tiesto?

Also does this make James Blake the new Hybrid?

Joking I hope. Bits of the Magnetic Man album reminded me of Hybrid though - Flying into Tokyo recalled every not-quite-convincing self-conscious crossover dance album since 1995.

No joke, first Layo & Bushwacka album was the bomb.

Holy shit, that is exactly what Magnetic Man reminds me of! Thanks for putting that into words.

Official ILM thread of mad TENSNAKE love for 2010 and beyond

Not that that was one of the dance tracks I particularly liked, but I think I assumed Tensnake was metal or something.

Official ILM thread of mad WHITESNAKE love for 2010 and beyond

xpost I mean that Hybrid = big, bombastic, straining for epic sweep, box-ticking guest-vox eclecticism whereas Blake = restrained, intimate, trying to do one thing well. Whether you like Blake or not, they seem like opposites to me.

I like L&B though.

Sorry Dorian, i agree with you, I just wanted to throw some love to a breakbeat album lest the whole conversation get a bit nu skool lolz.

I spoke too soon, onto the fourth track of the TEF album and it is really great.

dang, wrong thread.

Ha, yeah, sorry. Far too earnest of me there. I did not expect to have had two exchanges with you about breakbeat garage in 2011 I must say.

ok, i had been ignoring this entire ilm poll thing but i just read the bottom chunk of this thread. deej, what was that other thread where people gave you a bunch of dubstep etc tracks to listen to?

I think it was mainly lex who listed some suggestions further upthread:

ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010

oh, i remember:

chicago juke: dj nate, dj rashad, leatherface aka kaptain cadillac, dj roc &c &c

Oh, sorry- I misunderstood.

i feel kinda torn between the tim/lex camp and deej in these threads, because on one hand i like this music, but on the other i don't care about its danceability at all. it's not that i don't care about dancing or don't go to clubs - i just don't hear this music in u.s. clubs (and honestly, i'm not sure i'd want to).

but whatever, i've always gravitated to music that has a serious body component but also works (or more likely is designed for) off the dancefloor. i like "wut" a lot, but not as a club tune, and not as much as some other 2010 uk stuff. a lot of the other night slugs stuff is pretty boring to me (aside from one or two cool elements in every track), but it's also obvious that it's geared for the club (not in that it's danceable, just in the structures, sounds, production). maybe i'm representing deej's idm-nerd strawman, but i'm good with that.

btw i am curious what the actual dancing looks like in uk clubs, especially with some of the more syncopated tracks.

fwiw i dont have a problem w/ 'idm nerd' / easy listening electronica (and thats not a pejorative use of easy listening) its the way its interpreted in dance music that i have trouble w

it does feel like the gap between club music and what might have been considered idm 10 or 15 years ago is getting smaller all the time, which i find exciting but i totally understand why it bothers you.

I think the issue is that a lot of "idm" stuff was done by people who played raves or dancefloors in europe/uk, but we never had that in the US and it was mostly consumed by nerdbeards.

So as an american, I might hear something and think "ohh this is nerdbeard music" but to someone in the UK it just sounds like someone riffing on dancefloor styles.

We're perceiving a further level of disconnect

that sounds otm

My experience with IDM in the US during the 90s and early 2000s was that it was largely beatless and abstract and didn't inspire a whole lot of dancing. It didn't really find its way into too many well-attended clubs or raves.

I know I kind of hated on "Wut" earlier but now I can't stop listening to it.

"Wut" has terrible vocals

smh no dissing k michelle's voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-CA1Mx5Kk

Heard Mine in Appleby's just now: still sounds great.

if you like "need you now", you should check out sunny sweeney's "from a table away", which i doubt will place (but might next year, lol)

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 12:50 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark

"from a table away" is one of the songs of the year for me tbh. as i have mentioned on other threads, i have a good amount of 'involuntary' exposure to mainstream country radio, and in that context, this song absolutely glows...

wiki says that it peaked in the charts in Jan...that means it's fair game, right?

It is imo.