ILM's 2018 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING THREAD

^ Hopefully there won't be catastrophic vote-splitting on the TFS front. I think I'll vote this year, very likely for "You Let My Tires Down."

I don't expect them to make a dent in the tracks poll tbh. I'm putting my chips on the album poll.

i'm now thinking i should have nominated their Stayin' Alive cover

I had that exact same thought.

'Rubber Bullies' was my nomination but yeah between that and 'You Let My Tires Down' is a tough call for me - the album has really grown on me but I'm not sure it'll make my ballot, there are definitely far too many things I want to vote for album-wise this year...

I second the campaigning for Tropical Fuck Storm, although I'll certainly be adding to the track votesplit effect

I add to it a campaign for Trust Fund, who bowed out with one of the (all-time imo) great British indie records, with a bit of help from Mitski's producer. The standout track is probably Abundant, which will also be high up my ballot

added context for that song/video/album: it was all made knowing they'd break up the band afterwards ;_;

here's a bunch of global pop favourites i want to highlight

albums:

Wednesday Campanella - Galapagos: one of the most consistently exciting pop groups in the world at the moment headed in a more mellow and somewhat balearic direction for their latest album without losing anything. single The Bamboo Princess is a modern take on Homogenic-esque orchestration + beats while last year's single Melos is jazzy guitar + dnb breaks + a gamelan breakdown, reminiscent of Tortoise of all things. they also have consistently excellent music videos!

Busiswa - Highly Flavoured: a terrific gqom album that's exciting and varied the whole way through. about as good as pop music gets

Mlindo the Vocalist - Emakhaya: gorgeous and extremely chill afropop ballads perfect for a summer night. single Macala is a highlight and closes the album on a more energetic note

tracks:

Koutei Camera Girl Drei - Toronto Lot: a 6 minute pop-techno mini-epic, sort of like if Silent Shout had a soaring jpop chorus. parent mini-album New Way Of Lovin' is certainly worth a listen too

BTS - Idol: after successfully breaking into the US market and at the height of their career so far, BTS made a somewhat radical departure from their usual sound with Idol, which heavily (and successfully) incorporates south african gqom, which isn't a sound that has much presence at all in either korean or western pop so far and the resulting fusion doesn't quite sound like anything else in pop at the moment

NCT U - Baby Don't Stop: this is maybe the best rnbass song i've ever heard? all the vocal layering rules so much

LOONA/Olivia Hye ft. JinSoul - Egoist: 2017 kpop mvps LOONA didn't have anywhere near as strong a 2018 but Egoist was still a standout with its off-kilter production and sudden shifts

Hyolyn - See Sea: all tropical house should be this good! effortlessly catchy and i love all the dynamic shifts, especially with the vocals

Oh My Girl - Remember Me: combines a soaring romantic strings kpop girl group chorus with an energetic rap over electro beats in the verse - almost feels like two songs stitched together in the kpop tradition but it flows excellently

Simmy ft. Sun-El Musician - Ubala: sublime afrohouse and my favourite track from Sun-El's various projects this year, highly recommended if you loved Akanamali last year

Burna Boy - On the Low: there's probably going to be major vote splitting for Burna Boy tracks but this non-album single was my favourite

I'm sure a lot of this stuff is amazing but I'm going to give the lobbying a miss and I don't really see the point of voting for anything I didn't hear in 2018. Like there's enough stuff I *did* play to death and I'd rather my ballot was a reflection of why my 2018 was actually like, rather than a lot of stuff hastily crammed in January 2019.

i love the lobbying and hate reality

I screwed up thinking the deadline for nominations was today meaning my tracks ballot will be even more meaningless than usual :(

Bobbins crew a man down

the hasty cramming is the most fun part of this whole thing

for me at least. anyway enthusiastically seconding the simmy and burna boy tracks though i'm voting for "ye" from the latter

I've never voted in this before partly because I'm always so burnt out on keeping up with new music by Dec/Jan that I can't be bothered to do any exploring come polling time. Will probably make an album ballot just to see if anything I like places though.

eris drew: "hold me (t4t embrace mix)": as featured in the recent sprinkles-esque techno thread, debuted on a split with octa octa, would seem almost too eager to please (or rather i loved it so immediately that i'm a little suspicious of it) with the "mardis gras" sample and yet it's this perfectly balanced patch of weather

talaboman: "dins et llit (superpitcher remix)": this is exactly what you'd expect a superpitcher remix of talaboman to sound like, slow motion raving on the forest floor, thank god

four tet remixes from the edge of the universe sidebar: bicep, "opal" / daniel avery, "quick eternity". i prefer and am voting for the latter

tessela: glisten: b-side to a lanark artefax remix, sharply bladed techno

keysha: stop it!: don't even know if i'm going to vote for this bc it's old but i think more ppl should hear it :D

toni braxton: long as i live: i'm still impressed that toni braxton put out an immortal single that stands with her best work in 2018

forgot this one: peach: "silky": love the way this track moves, how it keeps blinking and whirring through several atmospheric changes

also, when the vocals come in >>>>>>>>>>

mewithoutyou: "julia (or, holy to the lord on the bells of horses)": this is the lead single for my favorite album of the year so i'm a little split on whether i'm gonna vote for it in the tracks poll, but before i even heard the album i thought this was so massive and their best song yet, just a total bath of guitars

That Peach track is wonderful it's true.

i'll be honest i never manage to narrow down the songs into a ballot i can actually submit, i love the lobbying thread because it gets me even farther from actually submitting a ballot

it sounded awful, but this was just a first response!

wrong thread!

Anyone with an interest in Richard Youngs should check out his new Arthur Russell-esque AMOR album. It's a December release and as with most of Youngs' stuff now it hasn't got much attention. It's really lovely.
spotify:album:1K3rgeE3jhJzeNZ8q56YzU

^^^ yep it's good

talking about youngs, i liked "red and blue bear" from last year a lot but i don't think i nommed it

put together a rough version of my ballot tonight. altho it's not likely that anything that i hear this late in the game will make it onto my final list, especially given how many tough cuts i already made up to this point, i still look forward to checking out ppl's lobbying selections :)

Noticed one error on the album list, the artist name "Jaakko Eino Kalevi" is misspelled as "Jaakko Eino Kaveli".

waka jaakko flame

Also, there are two albums there by "Johnny Greenwood" and "Jonny Greenwood", I presume it's the same guy?

"Jaakko", "Eino", and "Kalevi" are all popular male names in here, you racist. :)

Jaakko homo

A few of my favourites from this year:

ЛУНА - Спящая красавица - hypnotic Ukrainian electro-pop

Nego do Borel - Me Solta - hyperactive funk carioca. The video is divisive for a variety of reasons but the song bangs

Clement Froissart - Peupleraie melancholy French synthpop. All done a million times before but still strangely affecting

Talisto - Te Llamé ft. Diego Adrián & Ms Nina Woozy neoperreo reggaeton from Argentina via Stockholm

Musya Totibadze - Останусь с тобой Simple, charming Russian indie-electro-pop. I think Totibadze releases songs at a rate of about one a year but, when she gets around to it, they tend to be good.

For albums, my favourite by a mile was Monetochka's:

Monetochka / монеточка

I also really enjoyed Angele's oddly calming Belgian pop-reggae despite the Trenchant Social Commentary and Nicole Dollanganger's Tumblr-goth folk

I'm definitely into that first one you posted. I'll rep for a little bit of stuff soon!

The Makaya McCraven album (Universal Beings) has sounded better and better to me the more time I've spent with it. I'd start a thread but I don't think I have anything very smart to say about it. Anyone even a little jazz-curious should check it out though. It's very approachable and the production approach of mixing and looping live recordings is super effective.

I never know what dancehall might appeal to non-partisans, but two newcomers, Koffee - Toast and Rygin King - Tuff, are battling it out for my top slot.

Vote for Nyan Cat!

some percys

Man Power - Barranquilla Trifle (Ruf Dug Zouk Remix) - everyone said "Neutron Dance" was a sucessor to "Inspector Norse" but it is actually horrific and chintzy and this is so much better - just totally gleeful, shamelessly buoyant dance music that sounds properly tropical

Farao - Marry Me - the album didn't quite match the heights of this but if you're looking for a substitute for Susanne Sundfor circa "Ten Love Songs" then this is definitely for you

Bo'vel - Check 4 U - this is old but it was reissued this year and it's everything I like in music - r&b vocals, a slow groove and thick humid bass - 2018 feels like a big year for a streetsoul revival thanks to certain NTS Radio shows and this is possibly the pinnacle of the sound

Feeling like a personal failure for forgetting to get "Gold Purple Orange" on the tracks list.

had the nominations on shuffle for a few days now, heard some great tunes

highlight of all those that i hadnt heard before; 'hera in the valley' - listened to it about three times in a row now top stuff

home sick, should finally finish the singles playlist.

the first year I actually think "yeah, I'll nominate/vote!" and I miss the nomination deadline

good thing there's so much great stuff already there ;)

latest v cool discovery: the jean grae/quelle chris album

Jean Grae/Quelle Chris is so much fun, definitely voting for it

thirded; it's a killer album and maybe the first time i really fully embraced Jean Grae

Okay, I'm done with the singles playlist. Here's everything that's available on US Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/user/forksclovetofu/playlist/5An136hLul4w2N80GQ92rA?si=2vJObQ-4SrGLniMFddMGqg

66 songs that are not on Spotify but that are on YouTube are available here and I recommend you give them a listen... some hidden gems!
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcqiswAZfVPo7ukF0c4p8B55JCRt0jEA3

Here's links to all the nominated songs that are not available on either Spotify or YouTube:
? “November Air” - https://touched.bandcamp.com/track/november-air
Army Of Moths “So Long” - https://armyofmoths.bandcamp.com/track/so-long-3
Child's Pose “Feral” - https://childspose.bandcamp.com/track/feral
Dazion “Dragon Wave” - https://soundcloud.com/safe-trip/sets/st013-dazion
Flowers “Long Song” - https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/long-song
Nick Omiccioli “The Field Well” - https://soundcloud.com/nicholas-omiccioli/the-field-well-2017-for-chamber-winds
Nick Omicciol and newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble “Haunted Seas” - https://soundcloud.com/nicholas-omiccioli/haunted-seas-2018-for-amplified-soprano-string-quartet
Barbara Panther “Feminine” - http://barbarapanther.com/
Caroline Park “Imagining Entering (but will leave you to it)” - https://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/track/imagining-entering-but-will-leave-you-to-it
SARANA “Rodan” - https://noisebombing.bandcamp.com/track/rodan
Seahawks “Tears of the Deep” - https://oceanmoon.bandcamp.com/album/tears-of-the-deep
Star Period Star “The Pragmatist” - https://starperiodstar.bandcamp.com/track/the-pragmatist
Sterbus “Mate In 4/4” - https://sterbus.bandcamp.com/track/mate-in-4-4
Sunwatchers “Loop #2” - https://sunwatchers.bandcamp.com/track/loop-2
Tomoe Tazikawa “うすいいのり” - https://soundcloud.com/headzpromo/amphora
Terre Thaemlitz “Names Have Been Changed (Sprinkles' House Arrest)” - https://boomkat.com/products/deproduction-ep-1 (clip)
Total Mom “Uncomfortable” - https://norentrecords.bandcamp.com/track/uncomfortable
They Might Be Giants “Last Wave” - https://vimeo.com/253025437
Keith Fullerton Whitman “Albatross (Blend)” - https://soundcloud.com/kfw/fleetwood-mac-albatross-blend
Peter J. Woods “Feral Leather” - https://peterjwoods.bandcamp.com/track/another-form-of-feral-leather

Cavern of Anti-Matter's “Mannequin Metric” is the only nominated song that's nowhere to be found to stream; I recommend everyone vote for it just to see what happens.
https://www.discogs.com/Cavern-Of-Anti-Matter-Play-In-Fabric/release/12680815

If anything you have nominated (or something you saw someone else nominated) isn’t included anywhere above, please drop me a note via ILXmail and I’ll fix it.

THANK YOU! for this, this is the first year i am trying to at least give everything a phantom of a shot and this makes it 100000% easier <3

(been doing the singles in alphabetical order since the spotify list first went up; gonna do a second pass on everything added in the past week or so that i may have missed; halfway through "T" now)

also i am very out of the loop so some of these "discoveries" may be well-trod but Negative Gemini, Otha, Pillow Queens, Saloli, and SOPHIE have been very pleasant surprises that might make my ballot(s)!

(also The Beths, Black Dresses, Camp Cope, Carla Del Forno, Kristin Hersh, MNEK, and Perfume and a few others, it's actually a very long list)

and to think i haven't even gotten to the beloved upthread Tropical Fuck Storm yet!

i'm gonna rep hard for George Clanton itt

glad it's helpful Will! I'm finding lots to enjoy myself.

It wasn't nominated! I was reminded of it last night during a youtube binge, kicking myself b/c this is top 5 material for me, for sure.

The track in question is 'Thou' by White Boy Scream

xp to imago, obv

Any chance I could still submit my ballot?? I’ve had it basically ready for over a week but got caught up working really late last night and forgot to send it in

just joshing with you johnny fever; i'm happy to maintain the naming for searchability and legacy use.

any thoughts about including the embedded official youtube with each song? Is that gonna slow down thread loading too much? What do people think?

forgot to vote for albums. top 6 woulda been parquet courts, arctic monkeys, amen dunes, kacey musgraves, blood orange in some order

any thoughts about including the embedded official youtube with each song? Is that gonna slow down thread loading too much? What do people think?

no embeds pls

beautiful images and commentary only

could we get a ruling about no shit music?

Non-embedded YT links would be fine I think?

Yeah, YouTube mini links still don't embed on ilx, so that's what I've used for years.

I submitted my ballot hours ago and already I have massive regrets!!

No-one will give a shit what I think, but I wish we'd do this year-end poll in March/April.

man 2013 was regrettable

and with that I declare the great EOY beef open

― imago, Saturday, January 26, 2019 6:18 AM (eleven hours ago)

I still like listening to Days Are Gone!

I wish we'd do the end of year poll on January first. Also wish we voted for what we listened to in that year instead of what other people listened to and told us about after the year ended. But that ship has sailed many years ago.

Voting for metal poll is now live:

The 2018 ILX Metal n' Heavy Rock Poll VOTING + CAMPAIGNING thread! Ballots due Saturday, Feb. 2nd!

the closest thing to a good new order single last year was krystal klear - neutron dance

― ufo, Friday, January 11, 2019 10:54 AM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NOT TRUE. i know i am responding to a two-week-old post, the nominations are over and no one cares, but neutron dance is boring af and the lauer track "power" is an actually fun and engaging new order knock-off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xshp5xPEMY

surprised that album didn't get nommed

Any chance I could still submit my ballot?? I’ve had it basically ready for over a week but got caught up working really late last night and forgot to send it in

― ƒ©˙∆˚¬ (Whitey on the Moon), Saturday, January 26, 2019 7:07 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sorry bout this, but Moka only got the weekend to get all the images in shape for Monday so we had to close up when we did.

you forgot to send me the template for the comedy placements

they're en route pigeon post

the Lauer album is indeed very good and i probably would have voted for it if i'd heard it in time

So, when does the result rollout start?

After they agree on presentation and YT links. Clearly they're just enjoying the fact they know the results and we don't :P

the rollout usually starts a few hours from now, when the americans have woken up

How about the albums rollout?

Next Monday I presume

I'll start a thread around 9 for singles.

so uh is it too late to vote

kinda
ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

I forgot to vote too so yet again I will have a little pity party as I read the results

arrrgh I can't believe I completely missed this thrrreeeeaaad

your votes are with us in spirit, unless they're bad

Especially if they're bad, surely?

arrrgh I can't believe I completely missed this thrrreeeeaaad

― frame casual (dog latin), Monday, January 28, 2019 8:31 PM

Jeez dude, voting was even extended by a week this year.