ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2017

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

<3333333333

I'm not sure I love the Tornado Wallace song much either saer. You had the guts to come out and say it though

I don't hear moontalk as warm or, heaven forfend, playful, it's blunt & jarring. always appreciated the distance laurel halo injected into her tracks, the oblique ways at which she'd position things towards each other, the coldness in the confrontation, but on top of something slick and tight and liquid. liked most of dust but moontalk's hollow brightness feels like sitting in the doctor's waiting room first thing in the morning head hurting from the stark lighting and ambient television, feeling like i need to go back to bed

Omg you're not wrong pic.twitter.com/YO4NhQRSLh

— Yung El Paso (@MitchWadeCole) January 12, 2018

ogmor OTM. Not heard the new album but I did really like Quarantine for reasons you mention (even though lots of ILMers consider it bad and hated)

I liked Quarantine too - I've only listened to Dust once and there's some good stuff on it but I've got to admit I found that phone noise on Moontalk really really irritating.

Surprised that Halo's work has attracted the P word that much. Still not got much at all out of anything she's done since Quarantine frustratingly, but Moontalk is alright.

my tolerance for indistinct fuzzy freeformness seems to drop year by year so I'm a bit sceptical about trying this third album but I'm still gonna give it a go

the guitar in blue pedro isn't an actual mike oldfield sample is it? it is v fine and much more deft than the rest of the track

It sounds like a sort-of interpolation of the Blue Peter theme, but not quite the same.

To be fair I only said the Laurel Halo track was playful compared the rest of the stuff I've heard by her, which is anything but.

The Blue Pedro sample is from Barnacle Bill by Herbert Ashworth-Hope, which the Blue Peter theme is based on but it's not a direct sample or an interpolation.

as it's the only thing i voted for that's appeared so far, and fyi for one brief (drunken) moment on friday night it was as high a first place on place on my ballot, i suppose i ought to say a bit more about blue pedro

have actually really enjoyed people mocking it tbh and it hasn't shaken my love of it at all - it's something that revels in its own absurdity in the tradition of lieutenant pigeon or penguin cafe or leyland kirby in his v/vm guise or even aphex twin (is it just me or does that grinning guy in the video not have the same sinister edge as afx on the cover of the richard d james album?)

dog latin mentioned dreadzone yesterday and i think you'd really have to squint your ears for a whiff of their ciderdelic skank, but you could perhaps argue that it's maybe coming from the same place as a track like 'little britain', which also plays with ideas of british heritage by fucking about with traditional military-associated music. and although i think it might be taking it too far to see blue pedro as some sort of lampooning of the ukip mindset, literally every other thing that my eldest boy sees when he's watching 'the inbetweeners' or whatever on All 4 catch-up is a fucking recruitment advert for the royal navy, so I definitely welcome our daft hornpiping around the kitchen table together to blue pedro as an accidental corrective to that.

also i genuinely carry an enduring (crum)horn for pretty english folk music be it john renborn or indeed mike oldfield in blue peter/portsmouth/moonlight shadow mode (and let's not forget mike's own cosmic disco credentials with foreign affair), and this hits exactly the same bit of my brain and i don't really care if it's ironic or not (i'm not sue it is?)

ogmor, i don't know if it's bullion himself, but this is someome playing the guitar line, it's def not a sample:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcKplEIhi__/?taken-by=bullionness

xp that's been bugging me, cheers. i've now read a whole wikipedia entry about Blue Peter trying to work it out

Nice writing NickB. 'Dreadzone' wasn't my comparison (Maybe Tom E's?), although despite loving it to bits it does skirt dangerously close to the pip-pip chappiness of electro-swing, albeit with its tongue firmly in cheek.

sometimes the diddle-diddle is grandiosely presented in a way which makes it hard not to cringe, but the embarrassment has gone too far, sometimes it's tight and syncopated and nutritious, gurning optional

gr8 post nick

Indeed.

I don't think its tongue is in its cheek, I think it's sincere in its appreciation. It'd be insufferable otherwise.

Obviously there only needs to be one record like this ever.

could be a banner year for the english pastoral, with stuff getting in on 5 votes i almost wonder if there's an outside chance dbh's funny might slip in, but I don't think brigadiers vote

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

― saer, Tuesday, January 23, 2018

are you sure this is true about "Despacito"?

That's closer to "Dick in a Box."