ILM Tracks Bonus Poll 2019: Ballot-topping tracks with no other votes

Enjoyed that 96 Back album every time i played it, not sure which one that song is though. Kind of bleepy techy electro stuff?

very surprised that "go to the top" only received my vote. a perfect song from start to finish. a gorgeous melody plus a phantastic female lead singer plus great harmonies plus a jazz flute plus lots of variation. what is there not to like?

That song by The Scary Jokes would have been in my own top ten if I hadn't put a different song by them in there instead. They're...hypermelodic, ultrasweet indiepop with many different synth textures going on at once. Standard obsession fare in this house

Obviously my posting of Joy Crookes on the campaigning thread was a spectacular failure, nevertheless think it’s something rights in ILM’s wheelhouse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZUu9g6rYs

my feel-good track of the summer, def has the best vocals ever spontaneously generated from connecting too many broken synths

lol @ "God Control" every time I hear it, tbh

(to be clear, I like the song but it's crazy)

Here's a Spotify playlist of these, minus B-Ball Joints and Phil Merrall, who don't seem to be on Spotify

that's why it was my #1! xp

Got imago to insta-save ‘Begin Again’. Nice work emil.y - I love it!

I would have insta-saved it anyway lol, it's great

The Stage was my #1 being one of my most listened to songs (as opposed to trackier/instrumental stuff) last year. I liked her previous stuff without really loving it whereas it turned out forevher exceeded my expectations instantly. I played it and the album a lot due to the combination of their basic beauty, thematic 'easiness' but crucially an emotional tug the lightness and no doubt obvious-to-many limitations of shura's voice tend to belie but despite this imo being the best thing on it (I wasn't half as fond of BKLYNLDN fwiw but I think she did release that first, for some reason, and only 'Religion...' has a video so far (tho a good one) I didn't expect this to linger in the mind quite so much but as there is nothing much to 'get' here and certainly nothing new going on in it (tho there is more I could say about the album in a wider context and perhaps will on the albums results thread) you're either instantly on the side of this sort of thing (see also the often similar Natalie Prass and the under-rated but also indie-r Tennis) or forev(h)er not s(h)urely.

Oops, made a dupe poll, but here's some handy links:

Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2AEGBkXw7r50xwCMMlbmju

Missing from Spotify:
https://mindrecordsjapan.bandcamp.com/album/glass
https://youtu.be/4LZG1lrDBBQ

well, dupe playlist too - but hey enjoy the missing song links.

Is it bad form to vote for your own lonely #1 in these polls? I'd already discovered and liked the Identified Patient and Scary Jokes ones from the campaigning threads so they're in with a shout too, giving the others a play now.

I'm glad you two like 'Begin Again', tt & imago - if it had been an actual single release I feel like it could've fit nicely into the ilx electropop ethos, maybe? The game it's from is a pretty basic action-packed rhythm/driving game but its story is a big queer heartbreak musical and it came damn close to making me cry.

The Girl Ray song got stuck in my head each time it came up in a playlist. I believe it was in my top, er, several hundred! So...that, I think.

oh shit, "begin again" is from sayonara wild hearts? i didn't make the connection. that game is SO AMAZING

b-ball joints' 'glass' is my kinda wild obnoxiousness. 'begin again' makes me wanna play the game. most of these songs are pretty good. happy to have contributed to the playlist of the lonely and enthused

"The Stage" is incredible. It would not have got a solitary vote if I didn't have a "don't vote for songs if you're voting for the album" policy. The only other song I know is "God Control" but will investigate a few of the others.

great playlist!
gotta vote for my contribution to the list tho, 'glass'

i couldn't find the b-ball joints track, some words about the other lonely voter songs:

Phil Merrall - The Planet Bong
pleasant dance house track with an hypnotic groove. very repetitive. not my cup of tea, had to switch off after 2 minutes.

96 Back - celsius loss
electronic track with dance vibes, synthesizer heavy. tuneful, quite varied. i like it, probably in my top 200.

Cass McCombs - Estrella
moody, pretty, airy guitar song. there is something haunting about it. it was in my top 50.

Daniel Olsén, Jonathan Eng & Linnea Olsson - Begin Again
quite bombastic, unmemorable female voice. i hate those computer beats. two minutes and i am off. not my thing.

Identified Patient - Geen Syndrom
okayish slightly spooky dance track with heavy beats. when that monster voice comes in i have to smile. i doubt i will listen to this again.

James Blake - I'll Come Too
what happened to him? like everybody i was totally in love with his early stuff, he seemed to open doors to new rooms. but this is so boring and conventional. and i hear a self-pity there. which i am hopefully imagining. there are even strings on this, disposable stuff.

Joy Crookes - Early
all right hip-hop track which almost sounds like r&b but nothing special.

Madonna - God Control
she is still around? i have never been into her music and this track will not change it. besides that an okayish slight, bouncy dance ballad which is not saved by the voice pitch shifting.

Now, Now - Enda
somehow reminds me of sigur ros. too histrionic. not my thing.

Sasami - Not The Time
my 1st listen. it sounds like an indie rock ballad to me. quite good stuff. top 150?

Shura - The Stage
i quite like this widescreen r&b ballad. nice late night chill out music. would probably be in my top 150 as well.

The Scary Jokes - Death, Thrice Drawn
this starts like a piece by pascal comelade and then turns into an indie ballad. lovely female singer. another top 150 candidate.

The Girl Ray song got stuck in my head each time

i couldn't find the b-ball joints track, some words about the other lonely voter songs:

I linked it above.

its on bandcamp and soundcloud x

sorry, i missed that.

B-Ball Joints - Glass
sounds like an experimental post-punk track. i am happy that there are still courageous people making this kind of music but i won't listen to it again.

aight the gloves are off then your song sucks go back to mainhattan bub

omg this Glass song!!!

awesome. too late for the >2m poll as well alas (like money machine)

uhhh <2m, even

so does that disqualify a song to get into your top list?

In the context of the nominations playlist a month ago it was generally a good thing for a track to leave some sort of memory trace. Vast numbers didn't. I'm not completely sold on the vocal style, but the chord progression and vocal melody (plus woodwind interjections?!) my brain has just conjured all over again remain appealing.

Girl Ray album was (spoiler) high on my albums. I was the "Enda" voter, I'm not familiar beyond a surface level with Sigur Ros and that comparison is wild to me and I would love to hear more about it?

I just realised I saw Sasami on TV maybe two weeks ago introducing the "Not the Time" video, where it (apparently) made more of an impression than in the noms playlist. I guess she toured the antipodes recently. Anyway, I would totally have dug that as a yoof in, like, 1992. Maybe I'll let the synthetic nostalgia sway me here...

I'm not familiar beyond a surface level with Sigur Ros and that comparison is wild to me

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

very nice palindromic results

Seems I forgot to vote for mine, but now I find out it was released late 2018 so perhaps it's for the best. Still rad though, shades of Broadcast, Barbara Manning + an instrumental bit that pairs off all my fave string sounds :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Z3NRFuUaE