ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2017

Surprised to enjoy the Kedr Livanskiy thing. Kelela is p interesting as well. I didn't get around to the Laurel Halo in 2017; unsurprisingly enjoyable.

Matt, the rest of the laurel album is nothing like this track

it's good but most of the rest of the tracks on it feel a lot looser, more kind of an arthur russell-ish approach to melody maybe

From what I can see, Blue Pedro has one single solitary ILM mention prior to being nominated for this poll. Is that some kind of record?

Last year, the Comet Control track that somehow got in hadn't been mentioned at all before I nominated it!

chelsea should adopt blue pedro as their club tune instead of that bubbles rubbish

More of a Pompey vibe really.

great now i have visions of steve claridge dancing the hornpipe

does anyone have much of an idea about what's going to win this poll?

I do

Cotton-Eyed Joe (Kevin Shields Remix)

The Arcana

ft. Swae Lee

Swae Lee saves that boring French Montana song. He's a fucking treasure

I specifically voted for Delicate of all the t Swift songs because I thought it had the best chances, did not expect LWYMMD to place and seriously hoping it's not the only one off the album to show up

Ha it just occurred to me that I nominated Blue Pedro

Didn't vote for it

Despacito would have made an excellent #78, for the following reason

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-viewed_YouTube_videos

i fucking KNEW that number was unusual

also, while the Avalon Emerson isn't quite my thing, the video is a strong candidate for video of the year

Minor Science making sense late at night, it's p sick in fact

missed the rollout today, prob will tomorrow too :( But I was skiing so I can't really complain.

Lots of songs that I like but did not vote for today. I fell in love with the Tornado Wallace album from the nominations list, and the Shields/Eno song was one I forgot about because it's not on Spotify. Pumped to see the Mountain Goats, the album just missed my ballot but I hope the enthusiasm for this track carries over to the other poll

That Bullion track is adorbs. Still waiting for him to best his amazing EP You Drive Me to Plastic though.
https://youtu.be/Le2FLDa27ss

I know Bullion mostly as one of the people in Nautic and also the guy who produced and released the last few Laura Groves records, so he has my eternal gratitude for that alone

On second view/listen, these are almost all p good, and I hadn't heard basically all of them before. Great stuff!

The Tornado Wallace, for all my Bateman talk upthread, is a really funny video. Blue Pedro I've decided is not only a hilarious video but a great song that I'd have probably voted for

also, while the Avalon Emerson isn't quite my thing, the video is a strong candidate for video of the year

thank you for making me watch this btw, some crucial botanicals going on there

and zoologicals!

I have no idea whether my evangelising played a part or not but either way I'm super pleased that Taylor Alxndr made the list. It's surprising how rare it has been for the drag culture that intersects with broader popular culture to be so serious (or, perhaps more precisely, so irreducible to novelty or humour value), but I think we'll look back on this period as being a kind of tipping point for that sort of thing.

off to a good start

77 LUIS FONSI ft. DADDY YANKEE "Despacito" [146 points, 8 votes]
should be higher

76 AVALON EMERSON "One More Fluorescent Rush" [149 points, 7 votes]
hadn't heard this track, but one of the best new artists of the last couple years. Tim's blurb was essential reading Emerson’s grooves frequently feel dangerous and unpredictable, complex contraptions threatening to fly apart at any moment but sustained by a commanding internal logic "It Is Happening Again": Tim writes about songs from 2017

75 MINOR SCIENCE "Volumes" [150 points, 5 votes]
take partial credit for having posted this in the bobbins thread, although someone else beat me to nomming it. a headturner for sure

74 GOLDLINK ft. BRENT FAIYAZ & SHY GLIZZY "Crew" [151 points, 5 votes]
anthem. should have been higher (although it didn't make it onto my ballot lol). both verses are killer

73 KELELA "LMK" [151 points, 7 votes]
kinda forgot to check out this album.

72 LAUREL HALO "Moontalk" [152 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote]
this was pretty high on my ballot. incredible song. the album (her best by an order of magnitude) is worth listening to imo, even though this was the only track from it i kept in rotation

71 TORNADO WALLACE ft. SUI ZHEN "Today" [153 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
this is killer. never heard it before

70 TAYLOR ALXNDR "Nightwork" [153 points, 6 votes]
heard this on Tim's thread. haven't fallen in love with it tbh

69 KEDR LIVANSKIY "Ariadna" [156 points, 5 votes]
not my thing

TIE-67 BULLION "Blue Pedro" [158 points, 5 votes]
lol this is pretty good

TIE-67 TWICE "Likey" [158 points, 5 votes]
this bangs

66 BLACKPINK "As If It's Your Last" [159 points, 6 votes]
this also bangs

65 FRENCH MONTANA ft. SWAE LEE "Unforgettable" [160 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
brad otm about swae lee hooks

TIE-63 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS "Wear Black" [160 points, 6 votes]
pretty nice. tight band

TIE-63 JESSIE WARE "Midnight" [160 points, 6 votes]
damn pretty great chorus

62 TAYLOR SWIFT "Look What You Made Me Do" [163 points, 5 votes]
worst song of the year

61 BRIAN ENO with KEVIN SHIELDS "Only Once Away My Son" [163 points, 6 votes]
only listened to it a couple of times but this album was pretty satisfying. i disagree with Votes thrown at this Eno + Shields thing feel like a lifetime achievement award. Like, "I wish I could vote for Discreet Music and Loveless in every poll, so this'll have to do." (although i didnt vote for it or any tracks off it) the album seemed more like, 'this is exactly what i expected a collab between these two to sound like, and i wouldn't have wanted them to make anything else'. having said that this is sounding pretty boring rn

re. avalon emerson/minor science: this was my favourite whities release of the year, will post because i don't think it'll place now. really good track imo, even though those cut-up vocals are suspiciously reminiscent of a holly herndon tune:

lanark artefax - touch absence

Does anyone else think the beat in the Tornado Wallace track sounds like "When Doves Cry"?

I'd also never heard it before and think it's quite good.

yes <3 flop takes

<3 flopson <3

Actually a fair amount of the first stretch made by ballot:

"Despacito": I'm sure that there were better reggaeton / latin songs last year (I even know some) but this was such a fantastically social, hammy song of the summer. I suppose that basically places it on the same level as "Uptown Funk" but, well, that was a great tune too.

"Today": I ultimately didn't listen to the Tornado Wallace album as much as I was expecting, probably because it just seems so resolutely part of the general cosmic balearic balneario disco vibes continuum that it's easy to overlook how great it is for the most part (sorta feel like TW would have done better to keep running with the rainforest house vibe of "Circadia" from a few years back) but I voted for "Today" because its low-key understated intensity is totally captivating for me - IIRC there's some delectable minimalist hi-hat action here.

"Unforgettable": Yes all about Swae Lee. I could listen to this forever. One of two songs I loved last year where the singer promises he's only "trying to do what lovers do" but Swae is by far the more believable.

Didn't vote for the Emerson (she appeared elsewhere on my ballot0 but I loved both sides of that single.

swae's part on unforgettable is truly sublime... in that very french montana way i went from thinking his verses merely didn't fuck the song up to thinking that he brings a certain goofy charm to the song in certain parts

i wish there had been a proper studio version of the og swae/wizkid demo but the moderate in me understadn why this turned out the way it did

thx guys. i wish i had pither meaner things to say but alas, the trax are good (or i'm in a good mood). now that i'm on the west coast i don't even have a chance of catching the roll-out as it happens

there's was something so alluring about swae in 2017... idk some feeling like he had tapped into a higher power, or saw the world w/ a kind of clarity that felt elusive to me in a lot of music i heard last year. his part in "unforgettable" plays w/ the conventions of the standard rapper POV... i find a certain empathy in its lucid honesty and also relate to the internal tug of war of its internal monologue. he knows the game ultimately but also attempts to view the situation outside of himself... in the way alcohol influences his thinking, the way the woman might feel about her brief relationship w/ him etc

i think this was threaded thru my fav guest spot from him... on ty dolla's "don't judge me," which is a sad but commiserative song about the addictively therapeutic elements of substances. ty's part is defensive & future's is predictably manipulative... swae sings about being sober & flushing his drugs down the toilet but he also celebrates casual hedonism as well. swae's verse kind of steps outside of the song's fucked up haze but also still exists inside it... his part is spacey but also calm, almost like the song has been briefly visited by an oracle, but it's also not quite settled. he seems to be leveling w/ himself but also finding it hard to disconnect from his lifestyle. but he's getting there! anyway i loved that the verse sits in that same sort of zone as his parts on on "unforgettable"... morally honest but without a tidy resolution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu5dMw88Ne4

he just knows how to use his voice in the best way possible. Still sounds like a teenager at 24 but sing-raps in a way that suggests he's beyond his years

I'm at home with a cold and really bored, so let's do this. Most are first impressions (I haven't heard most of the tracks before):

77 LUIS FONSI ft. DADDY YANKEE "Despacito" [146 points, 8 votes]
It has long reached it's airplay saturation point so kind of impossible to be objective about this. I'll just say it's perfect-sounding track, if a bit by the numbers. 77 is about right.

76 AVALON EMERSON "One More Fluorescent Rush" [149 points, 7 votes]
It's got some interesting sounds but it mostly bores me. Though I have to admit 'bobbins' instrumentals are generally not my thing.

75 MINOR SCIENCE "Volumes" [150 points, 5 votes]
Same thing as above. I like it slightly better.

74 GOLDLINK ft. BRENT FAIYAZ & SHY GLIZZY "Crew" [151 points, 5 votes]
It's alright.

73 KELELA "LMK" [151 points, 7 votes]
Like some here I quite like it but I don't remember if it made my ballot. If it did, it's near the bottom.

72 LAUREL HALO "Moontalk" [152 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote]
I appreciate it more than I like it, would probably never listen to it on my own.

71 TORNADO WALLACE ft. SUI ZHEN "Today" [153 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
I need a few more listens to properly digest it, but so far it sounds excellent.

70 TAYLOR ALXNDR "Nightwork" [153 points, 6 votes]
I think this is my favorite track from what has placed so far. Would've voted for it had I heard it before. :/

69 KEDR LIVANSKIY "Ariadna" [156 points, 5 votes]
I quite like it, but I suspect I'd probably get tired of it within a few listens.

TIE-67 BULLION "Blue Pedro" [158 points, 5 votes]
Godawful

TIE-67 TWICE "Likey" [158 points, 5 votes]
Usually I find this brand of K-Pop a little too hectic for my taste, but this is undeniably catchy. Bangs indeed!

66 BLACKPINK "As If It's Your Last" [159 points, 6 votes]
It's OK. A little generic.

65 FRENCH MONTANA ft. SWAE LEE "Unforgettable" [160 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
Nothing special about this, but a very pleasant listen.

TIE-63 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS "Wear Black" [160 points, 6 votes]
Not my thing at all

TIE-63 JESSIE WARE "Midnight" [160 points, 6 votes]
There's a certain quality standard to everything Jessie Ware puts out (and this is no exception) but nothing here is really grabbing me.

62 TAYLOR SWIFT "Look What You Made Me Do" [163 points, 5 votes]
It has grown on me but still not a very good song.

61 BRIAN ENO with KEVIN SHIELDS "Only Once Away My Son" [163 points, 6 votes]
Maybe bit of this it would work within a soundtrack, but as a stand alone track it's pretty meh.

Lol at "bobbins instrumentals"

So far, #61 is my first vote to place.

I do like the Goldlink single, but not quite enough to vote for it.

Lol at "bobbins instrumentals"

I sometimes lol at bobbins instrumentals. GET TO THE POINT ALREADY, JEEZUS

So far, #61 is my first vote to place.

Same

bullion track is good

lcd anna by them is also top notch

glad swae lee is getting love. his part of unforgettable is 80% of the song and yeah, Montana's goofyness adds something to it as well. I just couldn't stop playing it all year.

great writing by jordan up there

I didnt really buy into the whole Goths album concept--a little too LCD for me--but "Wear Black" has a real Warren Zevon vibe to it, so Im stoked that it placed.

Also all the rap songs that have placed so far are choice

61 BRIAN ENO with KEVIN SHIELDS "Only Once Away My Son" [163 points, 6 votes]
only listened to it a couple of times but this album was pretty satisfying. i disagree with Votes thrown at this Eno + Shields thing feel like a lifetime achievement award. Like, "I wish I could vote for Discreet Music and Loveless in every poll, so this'll have to do." (although i didnt vote for it or any tracks off it) the album seemed more like, 'this is exactly what i expected a collab between these two to sound like, and i wouldn't have wanted them to make anything else'. having said that this is sounding pretty boring rn

What album are you getting at, flopson? There wasn't a whole album of this, just this one song!

Despacito - Worst fears about this confirmed with the very first record. Unlistenable. 0
One More Fluorescent Rush - Crap film on aeroplane. 4
Volumes - Audi advert punctuated with shards of garbage. 5
Crew - They sound like they are West Bromwich Albion season ticket holders. two minutes of this dirge and I feel the same. 2
LMK - Sounds like the resignation of passengers on a boat that has run out of fuel. 2
Moontalk - Music might be ok, ruined by vocals. 5 and a half
Today feat. Sui Zhen - advert for chocolate ice cream. 3
Nightwork - sounds like it was made inside a toilet roll. 3
Ariadna - nothing here. 3
Blue Pedro - People in clown suits outside boots collecting for something except theyre not collecting for anything. 0
Likey - touch of Putin about this, 3
As If It's Your Last - Sounds like being in a market, bearable. 4
Unforgettable - no idea. 2
Wear Black - didnt mind this, needs better vocals. 5 and a half
Midnight - idk, 4?
Look what you made me do - pointless, 4
Only Once Away My Son - no, 2

I'm sorry but almost every one of these just sounds like anxiety in a box

id like to downgrade volumes from a 5 to a 3

the last two need to come down a point or two as well