ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2017

I also voted for Spirit instead, though it was a tough call. Results have been odd this year imo, so who knows

35 MONDO GROSSO "Labyrinth" [231 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote]
This is fantastic - is there a whole album of this??

To answer my own question, he has five other noms from the album. Wouldn't be surprised to see the title track (which I think I voted for)

i voted for 'common sense'

this was p charming

one thing i love about Did You See is the way the main riff is constantly shifting around.

xps i definitely recommend checking out Mondo Grosso's album from last year 何度でも新しく生まれる (Reborn Again and Always Starting New) if you like Labyrinth though it's a bit more varied in sound (but not mood) than you might expect

Voted for Plottin, which had the best beat imo

I voted for the title track as well but this was the massive ubiquitous hit so I guess that's it for Hus until we get to the albums poll.

for any confused spotify-ers (like me until a bit ago), "Labyrinth" is track 3 on the MG album

as a non-Briton I never have a concept of what "the hit" is lol

Really wish I'd voted for the Mondo Grosso song. I only heard it for the first time a couple of days before voting closed. If I'd had more time with it, it would have definitely made my list.

as a non-Briton I never have a concept of what "the hit" is lol

It was one of the ten most streamed tracks on UK Spotify and I guess blew up in a few other countries as well.

wtf is that "Ogre" song? :/

It's like somebody hacked my brain and then combined everything that I find annoying into one song.

― daavid,

This is my favourite post of the poll so far. A low point of my year was my brother telling me he'd got the Richard Dawson album.

I really love J Hus but I'm already feeling a bit worn down by his flow and that's weird because his album was so so diverse and so is his rapping. Maybe it's because whenever I hear an afrobeats rapper I immediately think 'that's J Hus', although I'll have to admit I'm not an expert on the genre or anything. Anyway, the highlight of the album was the title track and its weird time signature and disco-funk vibe. Wasn't so mad on 'Did You See' and 'Bouff Daddy' (although the Popcaan and Dre Skull remix is really good)

https://i.imgur.com/GvAKgfL.jpg

33 S.A.M. "Pour Aisha" [236 points, 6 votes]
https://youtu.be/14wuPHEzDQQ

my no. 2

I have absolutely no idea what this is but the six people who voted for it must absolutely love it for it to be this high.

great image

woah, never heard of this!

aw is Aisha his dog?

woah this is gorgeous
pachanga boys vibes

I'm going to sound like a square if I say the percussion is too loud and the synths+vox are too quiet, aren't I

reminds me of thomas melchior

This is the kind of sound I used to go for when I fucked around in Fruity Loops 3. Creeping, repeating strings over driving beat with interesting hi-hat stuff at work. S.A.M. is about 1000x better at it than I was.

i really wanted to like the Richard Dawson album a lot more seeing as the previous one 'Nothing Important' was so so great. I actually thought 'Peasant' was a little too polished. I like Dawson at his spikiest and the 4 x long format songs on the previous albums seemed somehow more palatable than the 12 x shorter songs on Peasant. Shame. Anyway, people should stop waaambulancing about him cos he's a treasure really and emil.y OTM

Also every time someone bangs on about how terrible Richard Dawson is a section of his fanbase gets that little bit smugger about how you just don't get it man.

(I think I like RD more in theory than in practise, on paper he's great I just never have use for his music in my life)

smugger more perplexed

RD hate doesn't make me smug, it makes me sad! anyway i'm sitting through giant bobbins here save us johnny fever

I voted for the title track as well but this was the massive ubiquitous hit so I guess that's it for Hus until we get to the albums poll.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, January 24, 2018 9:52 AM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

switched my vote from the title track to Did You See at the last minute--the early '00s Roc-a-Fella beat is better on the title track, but the rhyming and flow is a lot more interesting on Did You See, so that won out for me. Plus, I'm a sucker for a good kazoo solo (or whatever that is)

https://i.imgur.com/GWcVH9X.jpg

32 ALGIERS "The Underside Of Power" [238 points, 11 votes]
https://youtu.be/lGZXzmM1smM

FUCK YEAH

slaps

the album really grew off of me if that makes sense but the title track is still amazing

fuck yeah, what a beast of a track. the best song on a stacked album--just as a title track should, it synthesizes all the project's themes and musical ideas into a whirlwind 3.5 minutes

the term makes sense but the sentiment makes me sad, the album just cohered more for me over time. (helped that they were v good live and pulled off things I wouldn't have predicted) xp

YES! My number 2. I agree with Brad - the album was great on first couple of listens but the impact faded. This song though is a perfect distillation of what they do and never fails to hit me in the windpipe when I play it. The tension of the verse rubbing up against the elation of the chorus really works for me

idk i think i wanted more songs to be hook after hook like this one and many of them try to get by on mood/sound

thought the first algiers album was heavy-handed but this and its album were a big leap forward

The Underside Of Power is sounding great this morning. That's how you do a chorus. I probably need to go back and give the album another listen.

will need to give this a listen
just hitting up this SAM track for third time in a row

it takes a powerhouse band to pull off this song without it turning into a mishmash--from the feverish post-punk intro, to the stomping verses that crib the bassline from The Tramps' "Disco Inferno," opening up into a chorus that could have felt at home on a classic Stax record.

Pour Aisha :) gorgeous, 31!

many xps, but I voted for "Magnolia" in my top ten. It is literally impossible to not move your body when that song comes on.

That Mondo Grosso / Shinichi Osawa song is amazing and didn’t see it on the noms list :/ thanks for the voters!

First time looking at the video and I love it.

Wow, I like this Algiers song a lot. Will listen to more of this band.

I'm still really surprised that the Algiers album wasn't more of a hit with the critics. It sounds like the kind of thing they'd get behind.

it got a lot of positive notes outside of that weird P4k pan

one of the little things i love about algiers is the way that the richard hammond-looking dude on bass holds his instrument like it's a machine gun that he just ripped off a tank turret

think they got geoff barrow involved for this record and it shows. third-era portishead being one of the touchstones for the album's sound