ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

I was fairly indifferent to PQ until this year, I've come around to really liking both Wide Awake and Human Performance.

I didn't vote so I've already waived my right to complain but not a single one of the tracks that made it so far is conceivably among the best of 2018.

parquet courts track has brilliant intro, but goes swiftly downhill when the actual song gets going

the real indie run is usually in the 20s or teens

I only voted for one track because of how my listening was shaped last year. I like the rollout and listening to the breadth of people's interests. Except Parquet Courts. That song sucks.

Oof... This is dreadful.

it's not my usual thing aesthetically but i actually sort of like it

... um ...

I obvs know nothing. I have no clue whatsoever is even in the top 20 besides maybe "thank u, next." I was off the grid this year.

'Baby Shark'

ugh god

lol

... um ...

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, January 28, 2019 10:02 AM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no offense intended but i would prefer fewer teases about whatever terrible shit is on the way

I like PQ, love them live, like WA in May/June, lost interest in replaying it.

Same tbh xp

as an avowed hater of contemporary indie rock:
"total football" is listenable but nothing i would ever intentionally come back to.
i just played "talking straight" twice and can't remember anything about it.
"when you die" is oddly mannered and okay i guess? MGMT not my cup of tea.

love it if we made it, nobody and that kacey musgraves song about it being amazing the world has different timezones will all do p well

http://i.imgur.com/nEzArzk.jpg

67: Mr Twin Sister – “Echo Arms” – 174 points – 6 votes
video

Mr Twin Sister

the best band in the world

beautiful song, made my ballot last minute!

Great song, voted for Jaipur instead

Now this is more like it!

the ilmiest band

also true

I was just about to say. It's not bad, though.

xp

they really do look ILMy don't they

I wonder if I've been mixing that name up with Twin Shadow.

Voted for this, got really into this band this year

Johnny Fever at 5:13 28 Jan 19
Great song, voted for Jaipur instead

i voted for the album but if they appear on the tracks list twice they deserve it

I like the odd bits of the MGMT track but the song itself is nothing. RBCF is just completely nothing. Surprised myself by actually quite liking that Parquet Courts song but I'd rather listen to real punk made by women/queers/POC (props to PQ for getting Big Joanie to support them, is what I'm saying here).

Mr Twin Sister really fucking is ILM, innit?

Johnny Fever at 5:13 28 Jan 19
Great song, voted for Jaipur instead
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, January 28, 2019 12:20 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too, wonder if we're gonna see it later

i enjoyed that video of the stereotypes on the making of "bad boy" posted upthread

I expect to see one or two more MTS tracks

xps I was super excited about the Big Joanie album coming out and then when it did I didn't think it was so hot, which surprised me.

I love them, but I think people anticipate the songs being a bit more high-tempo, most of them are pretty much on the slow side and therefore don't really work as dancefloor fillers or pit-pleasers or whathaveyou, if you get what I mean?

Yeah, I do.

are Rolling Blackouts really good live or something?

do Parquet Courts give out free drugs at their gigs or something?

I was a bit disappointed with their stuff this year but thats probably because i unfairly compared it to the almost perfect self-titled. Nothing really stuck except Jaipur

are Rolling Blackouts really good live or something?

― rob, Monday, January 28, 2019 12:32 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

actually, yes

I can see that (question was only half-ironic)

Oh, I like this Parquet Courts song a lot more than "Wide Awake", the only song of theirs I heard before, and it stands out more than the RBCF for me.

Yeah, it's not quite as awful as others (imago, imago and imago) have led me to believe.

I actually gave the PQ album as much as 5/10 - the cartoonish level of my disliking for them is as much to do with the hype they get as annoying else. It isn't terrible (well, apart from that title track)

EVERYTHING else dammit lol

Listening now and virtually everything is pleasant enough without really moving beyond the level of cosy pastiche.

Of the ones I hadn't previously heard, the Red Velvet one is the only track I could imagine feeling remotely motivated to listen to again or even remember more than a couple of minutes after it was over. Actually the Kali Uchis is good too.

i quite liked the one about being stoned and hungry

http://i.imgur.com/kAx19oV.jpg

66: Ravyn Lenae – “Sticky” – 174 points – 8 votes
video

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=25268

Shimmering synth chords, slithering bass, glittering guitar and sharp, tear-shaped drums anchor the song, while Ravyn swims through the current with confidence and ease. – Nortey Dowuona

A loop of the electric organ and Steve Lacy guitar scratches that open “Sticky” would be enough to keep me beguiled for days. But it turns out they’re mere prologue: Ravyn Lenae, stonewalled by love, gives the performance of a polyglot, shifting shrewdly from whirling dreamer to jaded enquirer to hopeless devotee; meanwhile, the track rotates around her methodically, keeping her in check. Her use of multiple voices is ingenious, and never reaches the point where it becomes affectedly obtuse; she instead transports us directly to her conscience, which, based on this evidence, appears to be brimming with ideas and predisposed to the sublime. – William John

I loved this EP, dug her Pitchfork set last July.

Oh shit! I tried to get this into the 2017 poll, but it came out in mid-December which was far too late to get people onboard. Glad it lives in 2018!