ILM's 2019 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD

We're all voting for Jogging, yes? OK yes good. That'll do for now

I know you will all vote for Go for the Top by Girl Ray so this post is totally superfluous. Anyways. Here the three North London girls flirt a little with the jazz flute and create a pop song with a melancholic melody that adds a little sunshine to these dark winter days.

https://girlray.bandcamp.com/track/go-to-the-top

Of course I meant Go to the Top.

"But imago, what's Jogging?"

"It is the veritable spirit of the age, my friend"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGiQ_-Ktpvc

Hey, I'm interested in voting for the first time. Just curious, is there a minimum number of albums for a ballot?

I should be able to fill it up anyhow. I might've only had around a dozen 2019 albums I was excited about before, but I've already discovered a bunch more from dipping into all this.

There’s no minimum. You could, for example, cast a single vote for Taylor Swift

oooooo. Though I couldn't give the album any more than 50 points, could I?

There’s no minimum. You could, for example, cast a single vote for Taylor Swift

― rob, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 01:12 (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

RIP fondly remembered voter taytayfan

oooooo. Though I couldn't give the album any more than 50 points, could I?

― maffew12, Tuesday, 7 January 2020 01:17 (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

nope

sean- would you kindly confirm that I chose “Weighted” for my albums ballot, which I submitted yesterday? That was my intention; but then I second-guessed whether I had done it right or not, after submitting.

(sorry, I’m really being a pain this cycle...!)

lol taytayfan was classic

Sam Sparro ft. We Are KING - Out of the Blue

Going on Spotify only here: should the title of this track be "Outside the Blue"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa35jTdSbAM

En Avant de Guingamp Côtes-d'Armor (Breton: War-raok Gwengamp, English: Forward Guingamp), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (French: [ɡɛ̃ɡɑ̃]), is a French association football club in the commune of Guingamp. The club was founded in 1912 and play in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football, having won promotion from Ligue 2 following the 2012–13 season, the club was relegated back to Ligue 2 at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season finishing in 20th. Guingamp plays its home matches at the Stade de Roudourou in the city. It is unusual for a commune of 7,280 inhabitants to have a professional football club, let alone one that plays in the first tier. Also the stadium has a capacity of 18,000 spectators, roughly 2.5 times the commune's population.

Damn... That's the second year in a row I missed the nominations thread... How do I manage it??

I take it it's too late to submit some faves?

there is this thread which usually takes care of that but unfortunately it wasn't updated this time...

ILM Ballot Polls for 2014 and beyond -- order, timing, "I would have voted if I'd known about it," etc

there are some SERIOUS soca mega-hits missing from the tracks list and while I know it's largely my fault, it's unacceptable.

I think they accepted write-ins last year, but that's the poll-runners' discretion. It really is entirely your fault if you don't check ILM threads during December/early Jan, though, not just "largely" your fault.

alright, it's all my fault. although I'm surprised some of the other soca thread regulars didn't submit 'Run Wid It' and 'Famalay'

ah what the hell, I've submited my ballot anyway. Good to see an embarrassment of riches when it comes to afrobeats on there to make up for a lack of soca

lol dog latin, on the Afropop thread I reminded everyone to nominate their faves, specifically with you in mind, and yet here we are.

i missed ALL the polling threads last year. I think my eyes are so used to seeing these types of threads from previous years now, they skip past them while scrolling.

There was a very short thread on Stella Donnelly early last year. I really feel like her wonderful album Beware of the Dogs deserves more attention, especially the opening song Old Man which was one of my most played tracks last year.

https://youtu.be/b5rug_Z5BWA

the stella donnelly song im gonna vote for is 'tricks,' which was the single and deservedly so. a lot peppier than most of the stuff on the album, it takes aim at a very particular kind of jerkass. and the guitar is great.

might do some proper campaigning later but just wanted to mention that this year's Battles album is a fuckin blast, as I am only just now discovering

yeah it's good!

the pop-like song structures and density of vocal guests kinda makes them sound like a nerdier Chemical Brothers, which I am not mad about!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VH5miuMXNY

In the modern times, there is even a restaurant named after the club's name. Such example is the national dish Ćevapi restaurant at the heart of Sarajevo called Ćevabdžinica "Željo".

is that the same. Metamatics who was on Neo Ouija and did Spook Tinsel Shoal?

the pop-like song structures and density of vocal guests kinda makes them sound like a nerdier Chemical Brothers, which I am not mad about!

good way of putting it though the Chems aren't cool enough to score Jon Anderson

sean- would you kindly confirm that I chose “Weighted” for my albums ballot, which I submitted yesterday?

― BeerAdvocate in the streets, Wookiepedia in the sheets (morrisp), Tuesday, 7 January 2020 02:20 (twenty hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

You did indeed

I'll recommend a couple of thematically-linked things:

Over the last few years there has been a boom in Ukrainian artists combining folk elements with electro / R&B / rap - most prominently Onuka, who did the interval show at Eurovision in Kyiv. There's a bunch of great stuff in this vein from 2019.

Zventa Sventana ft Ivan Dorn - Muzha Doma Netu (Husband's Not At Home).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tY4OK-Dg_s

Alina Pash's Bosorkanya (Witch) plays up the occult / folk magic element:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFFCbN49jG0

Pash also appears on Padlo by Alyona Alyona, who started out as a primary school teacher in rural Ukraine making viral videos and within about a year was one of the country's top rappers. Her album, Pushka, is excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8hiIhJNc8o

I'd like to big up 'Shuga' by Sefa. The 'shug-AH, shug-AH, gimme that - shug-AH' refrain has been going round my head for months

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPcT0fhSpG0

Stuff I want to boost:

This one has gone down well on the Shambhala thread, two women from Toronto

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

Got this one from the UK grime/rap thread, this man is suuuuuper quick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLlskM33v18

And yeah this has to be in there, surely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCkTyEsCNL4

Oh and this too, if it really counts as a song, idk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waiwJ5rW4xw

Adigery's Paténipat is also very good.

Yeah that's been on regular rotation at my house

gonna give this a bump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2j4jD2kDA0

I've no barometer of what's popular in the wider sphere, nor on ILM but I hope everyone's voting for these:

Rema - Dumebi (one of the year's absolutely monster afrobeats hits)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thIH-e2pWQM

Beyonce - Before I Let Go (excuse if this is really obvious... I take it we're all over this? It only hit 77 in the UK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVLsVj7BebE

XXP: I was just contemplating which Charlotte Adigéry nom(s) to choose/jettison earlier. Couldn't decide. I hadn't heard her before the playlist!

I love the Dizzee/Ocean Wisdom tune. Definitely voting for that.

Here’s my CD-80 distillation of the Tracks playlist, consisting mainly of stuff I had previously missed. Will probably vote for most of these. https://open.spotify.com/user/neutralst8s/playlist/1hkQ1rRIgwpazmusZTnz0B?si=-LYbd-HlQ1yY_o78Lmm_6g

Filmmaker is almost certainly the artist I've listened to the most this year. I nominated this album but could have easily nominated any other one of his, I just love this stuff. Dark, crunchy, reverby electronic. It all kind of sounds similar so it's hard to pick a standout track but at the same time I can't get enough of this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip0rOXlwut4

ballot submitted

the one item I want to share with everyone is Chanctonbury Rings, which is a great collaboration between Justin Hopper, Sharon Kraus and Belbury Poly. It's mostly spoken word with mystical electronics, exploring the occult history of the English countryside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgExKIpy4ZA

ooh thanks

shoulda coulda woulda - it escapes me that my favourite single for the year Danny brown dirty laundry wasn't nommed - oh well

I should've nommed juneunit's s/t but I discovered it too late (thanks to the 'Fork, incidentally – gotta give credit where credit is due).

High Lights is one of my best discoveries of poll season, will be bunging it plenty of points. It's so weird and assured and cool

Given the noms thread is locked I'll use this thread to give a shout-out to or something, breastcrawl and rob for some excellent nominations.

some local (or somewhat local) tracks ballot suggestions from me:

Sampa The Great - Final Form
Sampa's album The Return (also worth a listen and/or vote) sees her examining her personal relationship with Africa, and more particularly with Zambia, her nation of birth, and Botswana, where she was raised. This is honking braggadocio built around the Sylvers’ “Stay Away From Me" - it's probably not my favourite of her songs but it's her most forthright and packs a punch.

Ngaiire - Shiver
I've done plenty of talking to myself in the Ngaiire thread over the past half-decade or so and it still baffles me that she hasn't crossed over beyond Triple/Double J circles given the quality of her voice, which she here employs to literally bellow demons out of haunted corners and cobwebs. Allegedly her new album is coming this year.

Chela - Losing Belief
This is the sort of track that, you know, I'd hoped might turn up in the Popjustice end of year list or something just to give it a bit more of a boost. Chela's a Kitsuné alumna who came storming back this year with a new EP, entitled Delivery. This single was its highlight - in the face of adversity and winding synth patterns, Chela decides the best course is to spit out affirmations in a militaristic fashion.

J-E-T-S ft. Tkay Maidza - Real Truth
A collaboration between Jimmy Edgar, Machinedrum and the "U-Huh" should-be-superstar was always going to slap.

Thandi Phoenix - Cleopatra
"Say It", covered by the Singles Jukebox, is probably the more obvious hit, but I liked the kinetic nature of "Cleopatra", which feels like it has about three different choruses.

I really like that Ice Cream track! Saw the Alina Pash track on another thread and will definitely be voting for that one.

I guess I should rep for some stuff before everyone gets their ballots in, I'll do a couple of tracks first:

* Tóc Tiên - Không Ai Hơn Em Đâu Anh (KAHEDA)
Mentioned this a few times before, but this is my big pop banger of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU4s65RAAKQ

* Porridge Radio - Lilac
Intense emotional indie/DIY shout-along from B-town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3BrQzmBF1w

Some recommendations from me:

Jenny Hval - High Alice clear highlight on The Practice of Love imo
Kelsey Lu - Poor Fake See also Kelsey Lu - Blood
Richard Youngs & Raül Refree - Time Is An Avalanche spirals
Oren Ambarchi, Mark Fell, Will Guthrie & Sam Shalabi - Oglon Day 1 pitter-patter

Lankum - The Livelong Day
There's a thread called rfi-traditional irish music that sounds a bit like drone rock that only I seem to post to these days. If you like the sound of that, you may like the sound of this.
The Wild Rover
The Dark Eyed Gypsy

Fire! Orchestra - Arrival
Lush, deep, beautiful chamber jazz.

Blue Crystal Fire
(I Am A) Horizon

Campaign in the metal thread, it will increase your life expectancy.

without blood I shrivel

how was this range forgotten:

78-whatever: I guess this really is my shit and only my shit

hm peering into the highwomen album trying to discover the pistol annies album within seems to be missing the point to me. also i could say that no pistol annies album has a song as devastating as "cocktail and a song" but that would also be meaningless

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, January 27, 2020 9:20 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Comparing the relative strengths and weaknesses of contemporary, popular, all-female country acts doesn't seem like a stretch to me. The Highwomen are a much more capital-s Serious group that demanded the industry take them Seriously, much like Carlile (who's very talented, but makes mostly boring music). Like many supergroups, it was a calculated idea--they'd never met or worked together (Wikipedia history below), and I hear that in the music.

"In 2016, when Shires was finishing her record, My Piece of Land, in music producer Dave Cobb's studio, Shires had an idea to create a female country supergroup in homage to the legendary Highwaymen country supergroup (consisting of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson). At the same time, the lack of representation of women artists on country music radio and at country music festivals had been publicly discussed by many, influenced by the Me Too movement and journalists like Marissa Moss. While on tour in her van, while listening to country radio, Shires kept a running list of artists and noticed that there were few women. When she called to request they play more women artists, she was directed to a Facebook page lottery system. Cobb recommended Shires call Carlile, whom she didn't know. Carlile thought it would be fun, and would be an interesting creative project."

the circumstances under which the supergroup was formed only makes the coherence of the album more impressive to me