Hype and Slander: What are you voting for in ILM's 2021 End of Year Tracks and Albums Poll?

whoever nom'd this in the tracks RONDÉ - Hard To Say Goodbye ...

thank you? it's been ringing in my head for weeks

― blue6ave, vrijdag 7 januari 2022 7:21 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

let’s get back to jehovah’s witnesses

wrong thread lol

dang i guess nobody nominated “american tterroristt”

They did actually!

you're right haha, i searched in the playlist for "rxk" and "nephew," but his name is listed on spotify as one word.

Whiney (and anyone else interested),I'll probably be getting mine together over the next week or so, need to listen to more tracks, tho I know where I stand with albums.

As for my AOTY, I've noted it before, but it's Anne Bourne's wave, which you can listen to and download here. You can read more about her music and life here.

Simply put, I'd often leave it on continuous replay for hours while working, reading, or doing any number of other activities. Bourne's looped cello drones encourage both active and passive listening, though Bourne was a student of Oliveros' and is very much in the Deep Listening tradition. The record's timbres have emotional heft without sounding cheesy or over-wrought, and it is an expansive record— affectively, it feels like calmly scanning a vast horizon. I played it a lot during our week on an island off the Maine coast, and all of us in the house became completely transfixed by it at one time or another, staring out at the sea as the reverberations of the cello sank into us. Sometimes I'll be listening and something will surprise me, even now, after more than half a year of listening to it. Not everyone's cuppa, sure, but I really think it's the most beautiful record to be released in 2021.

^that album isn't my usual thing, but I listened to it the other day after you posted about it table, and it is really lovely

I don't expect it to pick up any votes here, but since it's not on Spotify, I'll rep for Maestro Don & Jahvillani's "Dutty Money" produced by Teetimus, which is dancehall but also really lovely with surprisingly delicately arranged production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehV1q4IWpMs

Speaking of dancehall, African division, I love (and nommed) this Ugandan track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjPv94LOWo

sund4r, are you guitar friends with Bilal Nasser? I'm really taken with that album - hype description would be emotive, spacious classical guitar playing with just the right amount of production touches and occasional spoken (usually layed over screamed) vocals that actually work. I put it on my ballot in the spirit of this thread.

Yeah, kind of. We were both students of William Beauvais (albeit decades apart) and have been part of Beauvais Alumni video concerts during the pandemic. It's a nice album, with a pretty distinctive personal vision.

Cool!

Btw Aldous Harding became the official home listening choice in my household this year, we wore out Designer. But that's 2020, so I had to vote for 'Old Peel' on the singles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7rHcvqDyY

Designer grew on me in a big way in the past year.

hype hype

Temperance - Diamanti - symphonic pop metal with co-ed co-lead vocals, energetic hard rockers with rowsing sing-along choruses and some massive power ballads that would make the Scorpions green with envy

Rosali - No Medium - strong contender for my aoty, an astounding collection of songs, emotionally vulnerable and rich, the fuzzed-out country-folk-rock accompaniment suits the mood perfectly, think Neko Case, Drive-By Truckers, Laura Marling

Have saved like 80% of fffv's noms. Especially 8485 and Eartheater - great stuff.

Another nom, Martha Wainwright, Love Will Be Reborn--thought I'd said more than this! She's learned from the great French balladeers, as well as her own life, incl. in American and Canadian music:

New album is wild, thematic and gooooing with the floooow, theme as raft, well-lashed, only comparable contemporary sonic experience coming to mynd is Maria McKee's Pre-Raphaelite shout out to Beatrice, La Vita Nuova.

good interview:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/aug/07/this-much-i-know-martha-wainwright-my-divorce-has-given-me-wisdom
and concert review, w more quotes:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/04/first-live-concert-masks-martha-wainwright-pandemic

― dow, Monday, October 4, 2021

First 25 tracks, alphabetically by artist. Faves in bold

10,000 Russos - Mexicali/Calexico: I like when this meanders and dubs out into a chasm and the later sections where it drops into a complete psych pit... but at fifteen minutes long and multiple listens later, I am wearing out before it does. I appreciate the intro to these guys though; could see this being a fun band to see live while properly dosed.

3YE - Stalker: Somehow missed 3ye's album last year but clearly I should remedy that mistake. This is a banger, loads of build to that absolutely killer anthemic HIGH HIGH HIGH chorus. Just a really nicely constructed bit of k-pop, sharp and well aimed.

42 Dugg - Maybach with Future, Free Merey: I gave this guy a try when it became clear I needed to be in the loop with him and just didn't connect with his heavily accented nasal voice, flat slurring flow and nihilistic lyrics. Maybach cements my sense he's just not for me but the moment Future steps on the track, I am all in. Good production there! The lament Free Merey missed me completely.

4s4ki - Sugar Junky: Happy-go-lucky hyper jpop of the Katamari b-side variety with an old-school ending; what's not to like?

8485 - hangar: That intersection between 80's retro desire and burbling overproduction, just a soupçon of "Jack and Diane" wistfulness and falling asleep in the back of the Greyhound when you really shouldn't. Nice confessional, surprisingly open given the heavy armor of nostalgia and desire for a flying car future.

A1xJ1 - Latest Trends: Shocked to see how young and raw these kids are, there's clearly a lot of longer term opportunity for growth creatively here. At the moment, this isn't setting the world on fire but there's an effortlessness to the rapping and a clarity of purpose throughout that is plenty positively astringent.

ABBA - I Still Have Faith in You, Don't Shut Me Down, Just a Notion: Hey I Don't Think I Like ABBA. I mean, I never really listened to them except when I've had to and with a few exceptions - Gimme Gimme Gimme and _maybe_ Take a Chance? - I've never really liked when we got stuck in the same room together. All three of these new songs are the flattest of sodas on my palate; I got through one listen and then haven't been able to get through them again. Just a Notion is likely the least of objectionable of the bunch for its sheer over-the-top razzamatazz but it's hardly anything I would seek out ever again.

Abi Ocia - LTWYLM: This was a slow burner: a bit too synthetic, androgyne and radio smooth to be taken without wariness... I note that it's a key track on the "Massage Erotique" playlist as Exhibit D. Even so, the third or fourth listen clicked as a 1988 junior high slow dance and I'm no longer mad at it.

ABISHA - If You Were Mine (DJ Paulette Remix): This remix definitely saves a fairly middle-of-the-road bit of pop house from insipidness with clanks, echos, glitches and Badalamenti atmospherics. The sugary climax becomes more of an intriguing message of longing in these grey shabby rags.

ABRA - Unlock It with Playboy Carti: I'm an avowed sucker for Aaliyah-core and this track was already on my very long list of faves for the year, though likely more in the top 250 than the top 40. Carti is kind of perfectly placed as an utterly unneeded guest rapper but the telephone tones and ABRA's voice are the real special effects.

Ada Lea - damn, my love 4 u is real: I have a limited amount of patience for the lofi monotone sad indie girl's weirdly scansioned monologue over moody guitars schtick but damn is sort of about as good an example of that niche as you could hope for. Once I've gotten through that though, I definitely don't need anything more of the same so the second track can tell its story walking.

Adana Twins - 1983: Talk about stating your intent in the title! Definite "take on me" vibes with the opening drums, leading into solid Outrun-style bass and synths. It's a fun drive and I look forward to taking this with me on a jog in the near future.

Adele - Easy On Me: This is Better Than Fine. Adele's singles have the hard to define quality of sounding instantly timeless and effortlessly crossoverable. Difficult for me to get excited about but I imagine I could hear this in 20 years and still think "oh yeah, she was good at this."

Ado - 踊: Overstuffed, Latin-inflected hyper-ish j-pop that would fit in on a video game or a spy movie. Can somebody tell me what this translates as? It's pretty solid stuff and I like her Bjork-y scream.

aespa - Savage: Enjoyably schizophrenic k-pop that might benefit from a bit more fishhook and less velvet. Still a fun and repeatable listen.

AG Cook - Xcxoplex with Charli XCX: Given what they're capable of this feels like a pretty minor entry from both parties... but not bad?

Agnes - 24 Hours, Here Comes the Night: Dua does the pastiche vibe better but that doesn't mean there aren't things to enjoy within the deeply ersatz. Frankly if you're going to take so much time coordinating and calibrating this sort of OTT disco, it would be a bit snotty to not appreciate the effort. Not sure it's anything I'd seek out but fine as filler. The fact that one is as good as the next speaks more to its status as product.

Aisha Noel - One Dance: Solid dancehall pop that I plucked as a fave off the ILX thread some months ago. Entirely enjoyable if maybe not exemplary.

Aldous Harding - Old Peel: Oooof, this is emphatically Not My Thing. Kept waiting for it to become anything and it mostly sat in its petri dish and gnawed on its flagella.

Alec Troniq - Dwight: Delightful oontz oontz of the techno albums that are doing it wrong variety. Another one that I'm looking forward to joining me on a trail jog.

Ola Kvernberg - Arpystarts off like a fairly typical although particularly lovely Norwegian post-jazz-prog exercise, then suddenly someone flicks a switch and we are RIDING A HORSE THROUGH SPACE

Lmao

The entire Ola Kvernberg album is super enjoyable btw. After Arpy & another slight neo-prog fantasia called The Vault, it switches gears almost entirely, into what I might call Geir Hongro's Platonic Ideal if a Fela Kuti album, riding interesting and surprising chords over afrobeat rhythms for much of the remainder of the album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvBOejHbmP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMeDr5jzOBI

Controversial (and vmic) opinion: as extended compositions featuring a jazz soloist vs traditional classical ensemble go, Douglas Cuomo's Seven Limbs for Nels Cline and Azari Quartet is a much greater achievement than Floating Points's Promises for Pharoah Sanders and LSO.

*Aizuri Quartet

I never cared for the torch song stylings of his solo work but last year's Cathal Coughlan album "Song of Co-Aklan" is up there with his Microdisney/Fatima Mansions output. I think hes one of the great lyricists and he really shines here. Music is a mix of Sparksian theatricality, post-punk and world-weary balladry.

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

putting in a good word for 'skater's world', the poppiest track off parris's album, some sort of bass music-meets-cheerleader chant thing, just supercute and catchy imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBsl_N6pazY

Ok I lied before, I also want to rep for the HTRK album. It’s beautiful and melancholic and it’s giving me the best kind of Mazzy Star vibes.

Voted for both the album and this song:

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

It has a surprisingly loud sub-bass going on, in case you’re playing from your home setup.

Faves in bold

Alessia Cara - Shapeshifter: It feels cynical and unkind to adversely compare this slinky Winehouse-y track to the kind of work Lovato or Angie Stone or Katy B or any of a dozen other pop R&B types pull off so much better than Cara does but I guess I just did. This is nice enough but I wish it didn't sound like she was working so hard.

Alewya - Play: Nice and sinewy dance music that didn’t leave much of a mark. This was one of those tracks where I play it five times over before I realize that I’ve heard it already. Pleasant enough nonetheless.

Alexa Rose - Clearwater Park: Sad to say I have no time for this kind of Joni Mitchell pastiche. Hits me in a space where I simply don’t want to stay.

Alexis Taylor - Dying in Heaven: I like Hot Chip well enough but this underlines that it’s less the vocals that hold me than their production. This wafer of AM rock ain’t doing it for me.

Alicai Harley - Put It On You: Solid enough pop dancehall but maybe a bit too overprocessed for me to get passionate about.

Alice Cooper - Shut Up and Rock: Okay, this is objectively terrible and corny as all get out and I have such a soft spot for Alice, so I don’t care. Total old man waves fist at social media batshittery of the first degree and, I’m afraid, easily weaponizable as conservative talking points, but the edges are all nerf and the song is over in just over two minutes so let’s let grampa have his moment. Perhaps we should shut up and rock?

Ali Sethi and Nicolas Jaar - Yakjehti Mein: Here’s one of those songs that makes this sort of listening exercise worthwhile: spaced out psych ghazal segueing into full electronic head trip and then boomeranging back. Sethi’s vocals are lovely and Jaar’s production is remarkably balanced. Just a great planet to orbit and visit.

Allie X - Limited Love: This is what the kids call Shambhala, no? For my money, the Allie X track of the year was ‘Fresh Laundry’, a meditation on the encroaching middle age desire for domesticity that runs somewhat diametrically opposed to Limited Love’s desire for connected passion. Both are a very good time!

Allison Russell - Persephone: I like Russell’s cornpone songwriting a bit better than her bird warble voice but not so much more that I didn’t get a great deal of enjoyment from her country album Outside Child. Persephone isn’t likely my fave track from Outside, I’d maybe lean into the single Nightflyer, which does much the same work but shakes a bit harder. Even so, this is nice.

Altin Gün - Ordunun Dereleri: Turkish New Order-influenced psych? Yes please! Dominated by the heavy footsteps of bass, twinkly synths and atmospheric keys, the vocals really elevate this into something special. This is good enough to merit consideration for a top 30 had I found it earlier in the year. Strongly recommended!

Aly and AJ - Symptom of Your Touch: Am I alone in finding these two a bit less interesting in each successive project? Maybe I’m just a crank. This is okay but difficult for me to get excited about.

Amaarae with Kali Uchis - SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY: Oily gross capitalist land grab, like a rethinking of a Drake bachata hit that he stole from someone else. I like Uchis’ verse well enough but not enough to keep putting money in the meter here.

Amalia Zehin - Çek: I’m not going to front like I know anything about Turkmen pop but this has the snap and pop of solid K-pop so I don’t mind latching on. Willing to bet that my lack of comprehension of the lyrics is a feature not a bug tho.

Amber Mark - What It Is: Having just heard this four days ago, I’m going to have to really think about issues of recency bias when voting but I think this track might well make my ballot. If it doesn’t it really should. Have we been talking about Amber Mark in the R&B thread? She was new to me and this song sent me on a fruitful search for more. Who woulda thunk she’d be doing solid covers of Nirvana and Sisquo? Mark’s other ’21 singles are solid too but this one is crisp and just shy of perfect… I dunno if that guitar solo at the end was entirely necessary? Eh, I can cope.

Amberoom with Blakkat - Radio Slave 'New Age of Love' Remix: I’m a sucker for moody deep house so I am a sucker for this.

Amyl and the Sniffers - Guided by Angels, Hertz: I’m late to this band though their names had cropped up often enough that I had some sense of what the mouthfeel was. First listens reminded me of Viagra Boys, so I was pleased to see that there’s been some crossover there and that I’m not too desperately seeking analogs. Both tracks are indistinguishably good fun punk; if these are representative and not exemplary, I should likely give the album a shot as this is a perfectly good time.

Amythyst Kiah - Tender Organs: This is my nomination and will definitely be making my ballot. Amethyst has gotten zero traction on this board (a quick look suggests no one but me has ever mentioned her name) but that’s clearly my fault as I should be a louder proselytizer. I though her album Wary and Strange was one of the best of the year, solid country and folk pop with an honest twang and remarkable songwriting throughout. Tender Organs is maybe the best of the bunch, a frightened meditation on fragility and fallibility that showcases Kiah’s blazing voice, careful phrasing and emotional drive. She’s a powerhouse and I wish you’d give this a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fL1KS9y-iU

Analog Tara - Undecagon: Wonderful EDM of the trance out with your pants off variety. Is the rest of the EP this good? I’ll be finding out shortly.

The Anchoress - The Art of Losing: A big sloppy slice of prog that curdled on contact for me.

Andrew WK - Babalon: Abundant, badly spelled, goofy, thoroughly enjoyable art metal with filaments of something more carefully thought out in spite of itself. Desires you to throw up the horns unironically and I suppose I might as well.

Andronicus - Make You Whole (Coco Bryce Remix): Stepping onto the dance floor with an earful of pop rocks and coke with a mentos chaser. ZING ZANG ZUNG

Andy Shauf - Green Glass Took a few listens but this has ear wormed into my just awake brain as the first thing I thought about today. I was unfamiliar with Shauf and could use some recommendations of other singles by him worth exploring? This reminded me of early AC Newman solo work, all whiteboy ennui and Matthew Sweet melodies. I appreciate being handed this as a gift as there is zero chance I would’ve stumbled into it on my own.

Andy Stott and Alison Skidmore - The beginning: Inventive and curious EDM that holds the attention and the imagination longer than you might figure its fairly restrained palette could manage. Genuinely pretty, which is a hard pickup for this sort of knobtwiddling.

Angèle - Bruxelles je t'aime: The one singing French from the Dua Lipa track, eh? I wasn’t aware she was such a big deal but on the strength of this, I could see it. Inarguably sharp pop with good crossover appeal.

Not a misspelling!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babalon

i stand corrected

Loving your work here forks

Think I nominated Limited Love. Fresh Laundry was a 2019 track forks xps

(The other new tracks on the Deluxe edition of Cape God that came out this year are worth a listen too)

Very busy day at work but I just want to say it's been a particularly good year for soca - especially the first half of the year which seemed to be frontloaded with iconic tunes.

Many of the songs reflected the Covid pandemic, either directly or tangentially referencing lockdown, and perhaps a glimmer of optimism about the prospect of 2021 being a bit easier than the previous year.

It's sometimes hard to remember what my mindset was like in those early months of the year. Fraught, lonely, perhaps a little frightened. My Dad intimated to me around this time that a cashier had said "Have a nice day" to him. He left the shop ambushed by unexpected emotion at this humble gesture. Similarly, there's a line in Machel Montano's 'High Life' where he sings "Hope you have a good day and everything is o... kay" that leaves a tabanca-shaped lump in my throat despite the otherwise relentless cheeriness of the song.

Similarly upbeat, and all the more rowdy we have System32 & Shal Marshall's All Day (24 Hour Riddim), notable for its clever reference to Jack Bauer and aggressive, repetitive synth horns. The antidote to Covid blues? "Play more soca fi dem".

But it wasn't all sunshine and good vibes. Teddy Johnson and Kerwin Du Bois' cynical take on false friendships nevertheless sounds weightless and airy, with very little in the way of drums and percussion. Any heads know if they ever made a road version of this? A peculiar song to release during a time when we were all missing our friends, but nevertheless an irresistible tune.

You want it darker? Olatunji's calypso-style 'Drunk History' doesn't pull any punches: "I wouldn't lie to you / I'm talking the truth... Last year alcohol nearly killed me". It's the most aggressively upbeat song about drinking yourself to an early grave, I sometimes worry if it's even in good taste to put these in my DJ sets. Depending on who you are, you're either going to find it brazenly amusing or depressingly relatable.

Bringing things back into sunnier territory, Aisha Noel's 'One Dance' succeeds on the way it bobs along on a warm breeze, then dives deep into tropical waters on the "You-oooo-ooooou" refrain on the chorus.

But if there's one soca tune that addresses this year's lockdown (indeed to the point many soca fans were absolutely tired of it by mid-summer), was Farmer Nappy's Backyard Jam, which as the title suggests is about removing Carnival to the back garden. It's a big celebratory sound with a really fun breakdown in the middle and I still get a bg kick about the "ting-a-licky, ting-a-licky, ting-a-licky" part.

Favourite discovery of the second half of the tracks playlist (which I am finally done with! albeit with a lot of unforkslike skimming and skipping) probably the cutely bonkers hyperindiepop of audiobooks - LaLaLa It's The Good Life, with shout-outs to the aforementioned Taraka, Spellling's menacing, glowering haunted art-pop soul number Boys At School, Pigeon's Afro-fusion banger Yagana, Sewerslvt's looming sorrow descent Looming.Sorrow.Descent and Melodien's, um, highly melodic techno workout Telos Oxygono. Plus, I may not be a secret hairdresser, but ILX Comps legend snoball surely is, given certain similarities...

audiobooks - Lalala It's The Good Life deserves a link actually, both for the song and the video

groovypanda: my bad, didn't realize that was all one album spread over multiple years. time is a flat circle

dog latin: glad anyone cares! your soca collection has been a real source of joy for me this year and Backyard Jam, Drunk History, See Dem, All Day and One Dance (roughly in that order) are all strong contenders for my ballot.

imago: i am listening to audiobooks now! sounds like crazy frog's graduate thesis

I'm glad you care Forks!

I was really pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the Spellling tune I heard when shuffling the other day - Little Dear? Wasn't sure about the voice at first but it grew on me and the instrumentation is wonderful

That one's good too yeah. The album wasn't quite consistent enough for me to absolutely love but I'd say it's worth hearing for sure. Boys At School the clear standout tho imo

Still on the Brazilian pop side and because I'm relistening: Meu Pisêro is effortlessly bright, groovy and creative (as opposed to all the stuff that is creative but feels forced to me). That's only available to vote for as an album though.

I have no idea what this is but I absolutely love it; or at least the first half of it before the cheap keyboard chorus notes come in. They don't ruin it though.

Anadol ‎– Ay Çürüdü

Song for the closing credits of an imaginary 70s romantic comedy with the lovers strolling through Central Park hand in hand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MafKP-__5pI

backyard jam is super fun, def perked up when that came on the playlist

I'll also put in a word for Ieva Jokubaviciute's Northscapes - a solo piano album of recent Nordic compositions, with a good balance of approachability and compositional depth. Avataar's Worldview is a beautiful album of modern original jazz/rock/world fusion. Thumbscrew's Never Is Enough is possibly my album of the year: Mary Halvorson-led jazz guitar trio doing knotty tunes with a lot of Halvorson's pitch-bending effects. And, like Jordan, I'm honoured to have been nominated (thanks Michael B) so check out Electric Currents for solo proggy/jazzy/fingerpicked/processed electric guitar.

Aldous Harding - Old Peel: Oooof, this is emphatically Not My Thing. Kept waiting for it to become anything and it mostly sat in its petri dish and gnawed on its flagella

I didn't like it at first either, but it's not representative Aldous, you have to at least watch the video for 'The Barrel' (or just listen to Designer, or Party).

So far my biggest discovery from the poll is that Maxine Funke album, another New Zealander. Singer/songwriter solo album w/electric guitar that's hushed and intimate in a way that's near-ASMR.

it's likely to place so doesn't need more hype really but koffee's "west indies" is a minor miracle imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvOABOa3IrU

yeah, banger

Not sure I was as fussed about that one as the initial string of singles froma couple of years back like 'Toast'. I was pretty excited by her particular voice and style, but I don't really hear anything raising the bar here. Maybe needs to grow on me

I wouldn't rank West Indies as highly as Toast or Lockdown personally—it's a bit too mellow/wavey in comparison—but in terms of what's changed, her singing skill has levelled up impressively to my ears. Her range on WI is much wider than I would have expected based on the Toast-era stuff

Funny how “LaLaLa It’s The Good Life” has so much in common with “Chaise Longue”: spoken verses + earworm choruses + videos that feel like TikTok with a budget.

the thing i love about "west indies" is that it takes the concept of partying and applies it to all of life - the video especially makes it clear. i feel like it makes this argument that partying is a spiritual state (c.f.prince's line that life is just a party). the softness of the song is such a tender counterpoint to the pride in the chorus and some of the material brags. i feel like it's asking, "why can't everything i do be joyful?" and sort of presenting s thesis about how that might look.

it's trying to do this trick of total escapism and spiritual rootedness that i feel like we should all know is impossible to pull off, but then it succeeds somehow. what i mean by it being a minor miracle.

andrew wkoffee