ILM's 2022 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING THREAD

wow is the whole real lies album this good!??

shuffling through the albums playlist is pretty crazy, a real infinite jukebox feel (some big sonic through lines too though)

The Strings of Sao Domingos, ooh

the Real Lies album is incredible and totally underrated / untalked about.

xp Gabor’s been on a wild roll of quality the last few years, latest one was great but the preceding couple of records were even tastier (imho), would’ve killed to have heard that material in a club/live setting..

the Real Lies album is incredible and totally underrated / untalked about.

― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Monday, January 2, 2023 2:24 PM

yeah, wow. i wasn’t even going to do an albums ballot. reconsidering.

the Real Lies album is incredible and totally underrated / untalked about.

― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Monday, January 2, 2023 2:24 PM

yeah, wow. i wasn’t even going to do an albums ballot. reconsidering.

random observation: i've been shuffling the tracks playlist all day and have heard two songs so far that sample the "amen brother" break.

in 2022.

wild.

like... will it ever get old?

no. no it will not.🤘🏻

~sorry to spam this thread i will stop just tell me stfu~

biggest revelation from today's listening is that tops are fucking excellent. i saw them open for king krule years ago and they were good! i didn't have enough money to visit their merch table and subsequently forgot about them in the shuffle of my brain. but they're still around and their more recent material is great.

The Amen break is evergreen, it's never gone away, that doesn't phase me. I did note a whole lot of '90s house influence though, so many Korg M1 organs.

campaign in here. go for it. i will be.

I nearly nominated another Aquarian track that would've upped the Amen further.

It's 303s that have seemed like the biggest revival to me in recent years tho.

also nearly nominated Tops - 'Future Waits' just missed my cut.

I had heard that Tops song a while back but forgot about it; will have to vote for it now. Vaguely reminds me of some of the longer Belle & Sebastian tracks like "Your Cover's Blown."

It might be gauche to promote a jokey song from a TV show but I nominated "Rock Your Boy's Body" from Righteous Gemstones. When I heard it at the end of its episode I wondered what was this deranged, moody pop song they found and subsequently found out it was written by Edi Patterson in the voice of her unhinged character on the show. The whispered "Hungry like a monkey/pussy gonna take a bite" has been popping up in my head for about a year.

2022 probably marked the start of a new golden era of girl groups in K-pop, artistically and commercially, so I hope we finally get some K-pop back in the top 77. For one of the most popular scenes in pop it's been absent on this poll for years.

NewJeans might be the best situated with their effortless cool and earwormy soundbites -- Hype Boy was the highlight of the year for a long time for me, but the vibe-y, arresting late release Ditto may have matched it.

Another contender is Le Sserafim's playful reggaeton-inspired Antifragile . Another group debuting in 2022 to immediate popularity.

The other track I'll single out is "Love Farewell" by Jake Xerxes Fussell. My joking description of him is he's like the NYRB Classics of folk music in that he finds and revamps forgotten songs of the past in spiffy new editions. The whole album is good as usual but this one gradually revealed itself as the prettiest and most soothing tune I heard all year. Features background vocals by Will Oldham.

OK, one more: "Kraut" by Lady Aicha & Pisko Cranes Original Fulu Mziki of Kinsasha is the most slamming song I've heard in a while. You'll be fired up and sending emails like a motherfucker when you hear this.

Yah "Kraut" is the standout on that album and is incredible. Many thanks to morrisp for the Momma noms. Heavy Yuck vibes, which is very my thing.

thanks Chris, I don't think i noticed that Gemstones song at the time. But if we couldn't get "Misbehavin'" to place in 2019, well ...

My big discovery from EOY season was "Los Aparatos" by El Alfa.
The fact that they didn't do the video as an Animaniacs-style cartoon adventure is a huge missed opportunity IMO. But regardless, this one has been stuck in my head for weeks.

ty chris! paying special attention to those!

as for me, i picked up the shuffle where i left off yesterday afternoon and the first track was this george clanton remix of vitesse x's "us ephemeral" and holy fucken FUCK i just played it three times in a row! wasn't going to do a weighted ballot, but i might have to now.

(and yet _another_ amen sample!)

People should give k-pop one more chance this year. I agree on Ditto: I heard the hype about NewJeans, but the first few songs I listened to didn't do much for me. Ditto, though, is wonderful. K-pop song of the year is Red Velvet - Feel My Rhythm for me, though, which uses a classical sample absolutely amazingly.

2022 was won by Nigeria, though, and even though Naija-pop isn't traditionally thought of as album-music, there were great long-plays from Rema, Cruel Santino and (especially) Asake this year.

Also campaigning a bit for Denmark: It was on sean's list of best tracks, it's another great sample, Gilli - Baiana. Same sample was used in two British songs this year, by Nia Archive and Hazey, but I think Gilli (and Nicki Pooyandeh, the producer who produces at least 25% of Danish hip hop hits in any given year) got there first.

That Tops EP sounds like indie Steely Dan x Cyndi Lauper or something.

yep, i got 80s fleetwood mac vibes from it. really refreshing!

xp Gabor’s been on a wild roll of quality the last few years, latest one was great but the preceding couple of records were even tastier (imho), would’ve killed to have heard that material in a club/live setting..

― bingo dabber acid, Monday, January 2, 2023 4:28 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Btw if you like this, then I highly recommend you check out the Church Andrews and Matt Davies album I nominated, sonically they're two sides of the same coin in my mind (also has incredible live drumming that sounds like it can't possibly be live).

Also that Le Dom EP that I put on here

as for me, i picked up the shuffle where i left off yesterday afternoon and the first track was this george clanton remix of vitesse x's "us ephemeral" and holy fucken FUCK i just played it three times in a row! wasn't going to do a weighted ballot, but i might have to now.

ahh, that was my nom, so glad you like it! absolutely played that to death this year. really enjoyed her album too, its like an actually listenable version of grimes ;)

another breaks oriented thing i nommed is this absolute beauty from DJ Sofa, such a dreamy slice of jungle. who could not love this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2iFkyhvNQo
DJ Sofa - So Soft

Still need to listen to a bunch of noms before voting.

Best discovery today is Gabriels

cheers nick, shoulda known that was one of yours. always on point, sir!

as ever i ignore the nomination thread and so missed nominating these, so i'll put them here to assuage my guilt?

Bartees Strange - Farm To Table
Cecile McLorin Salvant - Ghost Song
Imperial Circus Dead Decadence - 殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える――。
Spiritworld - Death Western

"Objekt - Bad Apples" is listed twice in the tracks list

amazing track by the way, will be somewhere near the top of my ballot

Oh “in this world” by mondo grosso is great too! I think I’ve liked most of what I’ve heard today.

I’ve been thinking listening today at the playlist. Since plug.dj and outloud and turntable.fm are dead and I loved listening to what other ilxors were throwing: would there be interest in doing some sort of ongoing collaborative playlists? One for 2023 and one without year restrictions?

I haven't thought about tracks yet (aside from cleaning up my Bandcamp cart and remembering some that I wish I nominated), but Objekt will def be on there.

I really like the original of "Us Eternal," that remix that NickB nommed is super good. Do disagree about the album, unfortunately— other than "Us Eternal" and one other track, it's kind of dull imho.

its true it could've been better but i like am fond of its quirky old rave sounds

just remembered i forgot to nom this non-album cut which is as good as the clanton remix imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFxP-w0fr5c
Vitesse X, FM Skyline - Rash Devices (FM Skyline Remix)

no idea which asake track to vote for because the three nominated are all great. bad bunny has too many to choose between too

NewJeans - Ditto - this has already been extensively hyped up but it's so good! dreamy baltimore club-tinged r&b, riyl erika de casier's "intimate (club mix)" and janet jackson's "empty"
Red Velvet - Feel My Rhythm - k-pop's best girl group finally did it again with their best single since "red flavor"
Black K ft. Didi B & 3xdavs - Chérie Coco - ivorian trap with all the trademark energy of ivorian pop (if people remember "akrakabo")
PinkPantheress ft. WILLOW - Where you are - paramore-sampling emo/2-step fusion
Jim Legxacy - dj - another on the emo/club fusion train but from a different angle, with vaguely afrobeats & jersey-club tinged beats

enjoyed eye tell by jim legxacy & hype boy by newjeans
will check out these other recs

no idea which asake track to vote for because the three nominated are all great

I find "Organize" sounds better in the context of the album, but picking between the other two was impossible so I voted for both

hey, yeah- all this asake stuff is great!

ufo checking out your recs as well!

my album signal boosts, check out:

anything on the International Anthem label but especially that Photay record (glorious post-jazz ambient)

the Diamanda Galas album (terrifying and great)

Legendary Pink Dots - The Museum Of Human Happiness (a peak in their long weird career of electronic psychedelia)

Wau Eau Collectif - Mariage (even better than their first one, peak African style fusion)

sorry that last is "Wau Wau Collective"

COLLECTIF

I wasn't that into the album, but I've become really obsessed with Hideous by Oliver Sim and I'm contemplating having it as my number one. It feels very unexpected. Will start going through the nominations playlist over the next few days. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.

ooohhhhh hell yeah, i forgot about that oliver sim song. that's definitely getting a vote from me!

One of the tracks I nom'ed didn't seem to make it into the Spotify playlist:

Sports Team - Unstuck

(it's a great rock track, IMO!)

as for further lobbying: I did a deep dive on NIKI's Nicole album in the Rolling Pop thread (the whole thing's really good!); but if you check out just one track, make it the one I nominated:

NIKI - High School in Jakarta

It's my favorite pop track in a few years... really fresh & distinctive; not trying to be "cool," but instead almost emo-pop in its heart-on-sleeve, literate cleverness.

lol just got to the sample of swv's "rain" like hey wait just a second here

decent!

morris i really dug that niki when it popped up early - gonna relisten now.

campaigning for one of my noms, as it just came up on shuffle-

kenichiro nishihara's "only tonight" is pure pop delight. reminiscent of early 2000s chillout lounge vibes.

I like the idea of a current year listening club starting after the polls with a thread where people comment on latest additions (offhand or Tim F style). I would aim for 3-7 songs per week, either on first-come first-served basis, or people mention when they have a song they want to post and Moka adds it.

― Nabozo, Wednesday, January 25, 2023 2:01 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Cosigned. Start it, Moka!

Look forward to that even if i don't totally grasp how it's much different from youtube embeds on a Rolling page

Mostly it'll be nice because it will work on my phone.... i see now in the Flagging app thread that it's not just me who can't see YouTube embeds on that. Will have to try using browser more.

ILM 2023 Listening Club

I feel so bad about not voting for Asake's album "Mr Money With the Vibe" that I'm going to tell my friends to start calling me by its name. In its honour.

I saw that Slum Legs listing, super cool. Christgau's list overall I liked just for its Christgau-ness, he has no compunction about sticking by his old faves — Buck 65, Todd Snider and Tommy Womack all in the top 20. But also still an open ear to catch things here and there.

does Buck 65 sound like Serengeti now or do i have that backwards?

interesting record of buck 65

Psyched

Will try to set up the album poll thread tonight

aag but this Anna Butterss record is so good!

Getting into an albums state of mind, here's the list of winners since 2010:

2010: Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
2011: Destroyer - Kaputt
2012: Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
2013: Haim - Days Are Gone
2014: D’Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah
2015: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
2016: KING - We Are KING
2017: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
2018: Low - Double Negative
2019: Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
2020: Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure?
2021: Low - Hey What
2022: ???

2023: Smokey Robinson - GASMS

GASM COOMBES

is there anything else that's theoretically a serious contender for #1 apart from big thief and beyonce?

SZA

my guess as stated above was sudan archives

Real Lies could do it. Beyonce usually comes fourth in our polls and I'd like to see her keep that up.

I miss not being in the team of pollrunners so I could speculate and discover things ilm seems to love that I had no idea they existed along the way.

First time - at least since I’ve been helping behind scenes - when we’ll run albums first and then tracks.

Note regarding my end: For album images I didn’t do too much work this time. I’m using the actual album covers for the image as usualz for the tracks poll I used midjourney A.I. which I thought would save more time but it’s actually more time-consuming than picking and editing already existing images. It was still fun to make and love some of the results I got playing around with it.

If I’m around next year I’ll probably spend more time on the template and ditch a.i. completely.

Results for both polls are great imho, hope you’ll enjoy! See you tomorrow!

Thanks seandalai and forks for all the work!

Looking forward to it, thanks!

Albums then tracks is a good idea, because the tracks rollout has always been the main draw of our EOY polls for me. Albums felt like an epilogue (and, now I guess, a prologue).

Opposite for me!

Not surprising. Don't think there's ever been a year with more tracks ballots than albums ballots, but I could be wrong.

oh hey
ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2022 - 21st Anniversary Edition

JF - there was one year! Found seandalai's graph again, and it looks like it was 2019.

https://i.imgur.com/CyFj3XF.png

These are all fake imo
― rob, Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:25 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

If that's real then duck you ilm and really duck you Richard ducking Dawson
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:25 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

"not" is the fake because ilm wouldn't let a song with a killer guitar solo into the top 77
― na (NA), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:27 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is funny
― nxd, Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:28 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

one year it would be good to announce the fake entries like a month later
― Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:32 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ok this Big Thief song is very boring and I can absolutely believe its in the top three.
― Matt DC, Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:33 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is the best top three in ILM history (once corrected)
― opden gnash (imago), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:34 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

i love ilm
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:36 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

wait is it over
who won
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:44 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't really get Balloon either but I'm glad it makes everyone so happy
― may the force leave us alone (zchyrs), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:44 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Anybody shd've been higher yeah but Burna just couldn't match the sheer musicality and joy of *checks notes* some plodding clever clever dadfolk dirge
― GK Chessington's World of Adventure (Noodle Vague), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:50 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

so ILM's #1 is a tune with 10k views on YT and no entry in RYM, amazing guys
― frogbs, Thursday, January 30, 2020 9:48 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

imago comparing [redacted pile of shite] to R Wyatt last night has left me in a black hole of depression and bereft of hope for the future of humanity.
― calzino, Friday, January 31, 2020 11:58 AM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2022: 17th Anniversary Edition