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

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

it's a very rich production job, which probably helps to fuse those two things

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.

― ... (Eazy), Monday, 10 January 2022 16:44 (thirty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

and yet of the two, it's unsurprisingly The Chap Gone Hyperpop that does it for me

Ok forks, you need to do a list of highlights now for the remaining 25 alphabet letters.

great posts map!

Yeah I had missed the Koffee track but found it on the playlist, it's great. More Koffee in '22 plz.

supposedly her debut album is coming out this year

that track kind of leaves me cold.

Xp I have another 28 tracks just for A!

you should skip to the bottom of the list afterward, to give those alphabetically challenged songs some love

Speaking of more tracks---for my (Album)nom (from Holy Modal Rounders, Classic or Dud?

Just listened to the first half of this on Bandcamp--take it away, Louisiana Music Factory:
Louisiana Red Hot Records release “Peter Stampfel’s 20th Century” is an epic 100 song collection. The 5 Disc box set is augmented by an impressive 30,000+ words in an 88 page booklet that outlines the history of each selection alongside tales from the singular life of the artist, with pithy production notes from producer Mark Bingham added for good measure...Features Mark Bingham, Michael Cerveris, Jonathan Frelich, Michot’s Melody Makers, Alex McMurray, Amasa Miller and Sarah Quintana
Seemed a bit too much like faded sheet music imagery, wallpaper at first (hey, he should do Statler Bros' "Flowers on the Wall," also Sahm-Dylan duet "Wallflower"--maybe next time--could happen, given the range here), with singing close to a groan, just a little slow strumming for his bed---but pretty soon he and the music perked up, in bloom when it's the right time , sprouting and shedding and grafting instruments and styles(I won't tell you where the drums and wah-wah show up), also happiness and sadness and excitement and reveries and diving and rolling and popping up again, gracefully shadowing words and bridges and intros I didn't know about (a lot of old songs have intros rarely played later on), and I never know quite what he and helpers will go and do next, though it all hangs together.
I do recall, during maybe the first 20, thinking that there might be some duplication of effort, that I might end up just liking 50 or so. But so far I like almost that many, and pretty sure will be more keepers in the second half (it's not divided up on Bandcamp, I just ran out of listening time 'til tomorrow).
https://louisianaredhotrecords.bandcamp.com/album/peter-stampfels-20th-century

― dow, Tuesday, November 23, 2021 7:31 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

diving and rolling and popping up again,, like Ishmael and Melville and RIP Dave Hickey, getting high on what they know and can still do, back in the saddle again. And again. ("Once more, with feeling.")

― dow, Tuesday, November 23, 2021 9:57 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

I knew there would be some gaps between further listening sessions, but had to jump more than expected,so right now I can't remember exactly which ones I'm likely to start skipping from last week's sessions, which sessions added up to the first 42 or so.
But right now, I'm tempted to begin again with 12. "Ragtime Cowboy Joe"----then, for continuity x momentum's sake, skip some of the good 'uns along with duds, and jump to 50. "It Isn’t Fair" and maybe
51."Jezebel"--then def. 53."Tennessee Wig Walk," and proceed from there for quite a ways---he reinvents Roundery folk-rock, with itchy warm blankets, corn cobs, corn plasters, potbellied stoves, bear breath, bear everything---eventually, in the late 70s-80s-90s-etc. material, the music becomes more like it was then, but not (when it's good) too close to original effect: he's still turning up aspects I'd forgotten about or never noticed, as in the reeely olde stuff he started with.
For inst.,(skip 74. "September Gurls" and 75."Tangled Up In Blue, " go to 76.) the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" is no longer nerf pop, it's a slowed, gathering, electric bluesy approach, trying not to scare her away---and that along with several varied but compatible reworkings soon after, overall gives me a flashback to youg weirdo romanitc Jonathan Richman---then Stampfel goes on to other things.
Skip 81. "Dancing With Myself" (voice totally inert there). Skip 86. "My Hometown" and 87. "Don’t Dream It’s Over"---then everything else is fine!!
I'm sure I'll find more keepers; this was just a single playlist.

― dow, Wednesday, December 1, 2021 8:40 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

And as xgau indicated, damn if Stampfel and "Earth To Grandma" don't seem genetically bonded, via Wussy's Chuck Cleaver, ditto "Yellow," with clouds of Chris Martin vocals cleared away--lovely compatibles also incl. "Loser," "Tubthumping," "I Will Survive," and Prine-DeMent homage "In Spite of Ourselves."A duet with Lilli Lewis on the 2nd vocal. No runny eggs on this track."

― dow, Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Now it's seeming like 70 keepers, and not your usual kinds of keepers: sweet!

very glad imago heard "LaLaLa It's The Good Life"

i presumed he nominated it!

voting for quite a few of ufo's this year

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.
All Holy Shit, forks, I just did and you're so right!Wary and Strange might come from a school report on her, but ain't sorry. Some sort-of-post-Armatrading? ballads, but/and keeps building to this folkbluestronic grind, while staying thematic (a break-up or at least can't-get-no-satisfaction album overall), like "Fancy Drones" has this doleful grunty wry lick, but is also about fancy drones of the sterile insect people, in which she includes herself, unless it's just the usuall rhetorical "we," but doesn't sound like it. Voice can delivery dark volleys of notes, short shots, never oversung. Most of the "tronica" part is in unobtrustive beats with guitar guts hanging over the balcony.Thanks again!
https://amythystkiah1.bandcamp.com/

Yay a convert! Glad you agree and can hear what i'm hearing; much of what joy i get from life these days is on the back of that sentiment.
I caught her live at the start of '19 when she was working toward a fuller voice through banjo blues and even then she was a revelation. Her first LP, Dig, is worth more than a sample spin but yes to everything you said about Wary and Strange and a bucket of mud to boot. You know who she's been making me think of is Swordfishtrombones-era Tom Waits: the same funky and weird instrumentation and world building and virtuosity.

True, though I like her voice better than his! Kind of like if Giddens continued deep in the vein of Carolina Chocolate Drops' cover of "Hit 'Em Up Style," adding electric guitar and other homewired-sounding sources.

Kiah happens to be part of a "supergroup" band with Giddens, Allison Russell and Leyla McCalla. Their album Songs of Our Native Daughters is a meditation on the Black roots of americana, minstrelsy and folk. It's recommended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Our_Native_Daughters

I feel like Giddens gets handwaved off as NPR bait by a certain sort of lazy listener which i find indefensible. She's fuckin' great and has developed into one of the most influential, curious and enjoyable artists of her generation.

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.

that analog tara track was one of mine. i love the vocal on that, it's like the grubby basement dive version of metro area's 'miura'

I feel like Giddens gets handwaved off as NPR bait by a certain sort of lazy listener which i find indefensible. She's fuckin' great and has developed into one of the most influential, curious and enjoyable artists of her generation.

Amen to this. She invites the NPR-friendly tag of course, but she's a huge talent. Amazing to see live in any context.

thanks for analog tara nick; I am listening now

some rap songs i'm voting for:

remble - "touchable": remble became a meme of sorts for his crisp enunciation ("remble raps in m.l.a. format," "remble raps like the model of a modern major general"), but he also just makes great songs, like this gleefully violent, bell-tolling slapper that reels off memorable line after memorable line

isaiah rashad - "lay wit ya" ft. duke deuce: guttural and grimy, slithering around at ground level until duke nukem blows the whole thing wide open

tisakorean - "how i walk in the club": "they say the club on capacity...ION CARE!"

yaw tog - "sore": apocalyptic drill out of ghana. idk why i nommed the uk-ified remix, but whatever, the song is massive.

bawo - "starts with a text": lackadaisical, yet technical, with a gorgeous, electric keys-driven beat.

wiardon - "stay down": the best song i heard in 2021 by anyone who was too young to vote in the 2020 election.

young dolph & key glock "aspen": long live dolph

Somebody beat me to nominating this, which is good, because I didn't hear it before nomination deadline---from What Are You Listening To in 2022?

Cliche listening choice for a rainy winter's day (3 times in a row, which never happens, and getting more into details and the overall each time)jazz-blues-r&b ballads, small group, female singer, that 60s-early 70s vibe extended even though new songs, yet the scene is now/you are there: Lady Blackbird's Black Acid Soul, which title I thought was just hype before listening, but recording set-brings out just enough hyperreal, dry edge to voice and baby grand piano, also occasional vibes, used for inst. on one track as piccolo bass-range drone, sparingly, countering the upright bass on that same and I think every other track. Eventually some variety of instruments and tempo (also the closing title track sees and raises previous sonic designs' increasingly bolder, splashier advance into the 21st Century).
Stylish singing, writing, playing, recording never affected, always and increasingly affecting---that one you might be hearing on local public radio, that you're thinking (esp. w piano) might be written by Laura Nyro? Actually Tim Fuckin Hardin, and nothing like "If I Were A Carpenter," although I could imagine Blackbird (whose opener, "Blackbird," is not the Beatles') getting away with that too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkuqQifTC_k

(Sorry, Tim---actually I heard him doing a pretty decent version of that song recently)
Have yet to hie my ass to listen to Our Native Daughters, though I'm a fan of all members.

The upright bass*, which is* on that same and I think every other track, I meant, though maybe just that once also w the vibes.

recording set*-up*, that is.