ILM's TOP 77 TRACKS of 2015

traditionally, the joke result is #1 or #2

As much as possible I avoid voting for singles whose albums will appear on my list, but I can't fuck with "Mascara," which I reviewed exactly a year ago and heralded 2015's best album.

Love Mascara but Stanley has always been the standout for me.

traditionally, the joke result is #1 or #2

Yeah, imo, this succeeds neither as a Bond theme nor as an even halfway decent Radiohead song, but ¯\(ツ)/¯

take a POLL to dinner

2015 was my "year of keeping up". Listened to more new releases than ever before. Still, I expect that to pay off more in the albums rollout; I'm sure I'll still be going 'WTF is that? Never heard of it' as the tracks results appear. :)

Anyway, voted for Jazmine. Would have been a travesty had "Mascara" not made it.

I'm on holiday ftr, so my responses shall be unusually sunny. Right now we are taking high tea.

http://i.imgur.com/fGrRf44.jpg

75 THUNDERCAT FT. FLYING LOTUS AND KAMASI WASHINGTON "Them Changes" (184 points, 6 votes, 1 first-place vote)
Pitchfork - 27 / P&J - 47 / Youtube

Drums sound a LOT like Dilla.

Them Changes being the 75th best track of the year seems about right.

Didn't vote for it but that whole thundercat album was great imo

i think i avoided the thundercat album mistaking him for someone else i dislike whoops
will check it out

Not heard any of the songs yet but I gave 'Mascara' a quick listen. Strangely the first thing that came to mind was 'All Woman'-era Lisa Stansfield. I like the almost stream-of-conscious lyrics and the way I can't tell if this is supposed to be a happy or sad song (it's def bittersweet I'll give it that).

I had a Thundercats album from a few years ago and kind of dismissed him, but the more recent stuff I've heard is wonderful,

Drums sound a LOT like Dilla.

Well they are sampled from an often sampled Isley Brothers track:
https://youtu.be/etwIu8-FlGU

Radiohead are still releasing music?!

And ILM is still voting for them?

5 people out of 137, so that seems about right. I think there is an album rumored for 2016 though.

Not being a fan of Bond, I thought I'd give this Radiohead song a miss. Hmmm, nothing special. Sounds like a retread of Pyramid Song but not as interesting. Feels like someone trying to sound like Radiohead and Thom's voice is thin on this one.

Well they are sampled from an often sampled Isley Brothers track

Ah, that would definitely explain it.

Oh, sorry, I missed the post about it being a Bond theme. I guess I'm totally out of loop, I did notice there was a new Bond in the cinemas, but I didn't know they did the theme. Sounds like an awful choice for that particular franchise.

Yeah, that Radiohead track is clearly getting points for simply being Radiohead, and hopefully not also for being a rejected Bond theme.

It's not the official Bond theme. It was rejected.

Radiohead didn't do the official theme. That was Sam Smith. His version is 100000x more terrible.

^ this might be true, actually.

Seems bizarre that Radiohead would have even been considered for this, and that they would have also agreed to it, but whatever.

dog latin - fact that it's from a concept album called 'Reality Show' should clue you in a bit

i forgot this was starting, so pleased to see "mascara" made it. i voted for the superlative album but this fucking song...the nuances of the songwriting and the performance and the melodies blow me away every time.

yeah my hair and my ass fake,
but so what? i get my rent paid with it,
and my tits get me trips to places i can't pronounce right
he said he'd keep it coming if i keep my body tight

is probably up there with the best opening verses i've ever heard? i love the run-on lines throughout the whole song, every statement has a caveat or qualification or something that adds a different angle to it. and jazmine is so empathetic, she reminds me of brandy clark on this album. is the accordion line running behind it meant to be reminiscent of the-dream's "fancy"? it's retelling that story from the girl's perspective in some ways. "you're coach class and i'm in that g5" is really terius-like melodically as well, actually the entire middle 8 sceptically nodding to kendrick, terius and beyoncé in three consecutive lines works so well.

i wanted to read a million thinkpieces about this song & race & gender & economic inequality & the labour of beauty last year, it's all in there, this is just phenomenal and timely songwriting, she's the fucking best

and the one bit where she lets her voice crack, gets out of the character's psychic armour of defiance and just crumbles with "DON'T I DESERVE TO BE PRIVILEGED, DON'T I DESERVE TO GET THE VERY BEST" and strikes right at the heart of every one of those themes

http://i.imgur.com/Rdw3TUj.jpg]

74 FLOATING POINTS "Silhouettes (I, II, III)" (186 points, 5 votes, 1 first-place vote)
Pitchfork - DNP / P&J - 233 / Youtube

(yawn)

(sorry)

I can't listen to the #74 tune right now, but the combination of the band name, track name, and the image in the post makes it seem like the most boring thing ever.

the way I can't tell if this is supposed to be a happy or sad song (it's def bittersweet I'll give it that)

i think the narrator is trapped - by the conditions her men impose on her, by the poverty she came from, by the sheer work that goes into maintaining her beauty - but jazmine also makes it clear, imo, that her defiance should win out; we're not meant to feel sorry for her, the injustice is systemic, she's doing her best with what she has available to her and even if there's a weariness to her, the narrator is content with her choices and rejects any pity offered to her

great post Lex, I'll def be revisiting the song (and the album if I can get hold of it).

it's a really smart song.

Yeah, the character in the song is like, "You mean I follow the rules you created and you STILL won't love me?"

Floating Points always seem to sound different on every track I hear by them. I'll give this a go. I really love 'Wires' from a few years ago.

lex totally tom

otm

That Floating Points track with Katy B is good.

That Floating Points track with Katy B is good.

yeah it's really brilliant, had i voted a week later i'd probably have included it

"silhouettes" is lovely too, definitely what i wanted from floating pts on an album that was perhaps a bit too low-key for me to really love

I can't listen to the #74 tune right now, but the combination of the band name, track name, and the image in the post makes it seem like the most boring thing ever.

he is also a neuroscientist!

I'm not often fond of long, ambient music, but I've returned to this one Floating Points track a lot this year. It's very pretty and way less boring than you'd imagine. (Still didn't vote for it though)

i think the narrator is trapped - by the conditions her men impose on her, by the poverty she came from, by the sheer work that goes into maintaining her beauty - but jazmine also makes it clear, imo, that her defiance should win out; we're not meant to feel sorry for her, the injustice is systemic, she's doing her best with what she has available to her and even if there's a weariness to her, the narrator is content with her choices and rejects any pity offered to her

― cher guevara (lex pretend), Monday, January 18, 2016 2:24 PM (5 minutes ago)

The little Jazmine Sullivan I've heard has done nothing for me musically, but I did get this from the song, and I completely respect the sentiment. Great summation, lex.

Lex on Mascara <3

lol i just realized the first time i heard this track was at the top of an Uhh Yeah Dude episode

i had the album high on my ballot

(floating points)

http://i.imgur.com/UySYOMc.jpg

73 JME FT. SKEPTA, SHORTY AND FRISCO "Don't @ Me" (187 points, 9 votes)
Pitchfork - DNP / P&J - DNP / Youtube

Henceforth today, forks will be steering the ship. Enjoy!

put it all in the bin don't at me

I ALREADY SAID DON'T WASTE MY TIME
NOW I GOTTA TELL EM DON'T WASTE MY DATA

the state of twitter in 2015 made me play this song so much

was this track inspired by this famous twitter exchange?

https://twitter.com/itsyourboytadi/status/587973127205953536

well I doubt it will happen but *technically* there can be multiple artists there too

I must read posts all the way through I guess

Yeah I think the whole "floats past you on first listen" thing seems to be a common experience (has anyone been instantly bowled over?)

i think i was, actually; in the moment i thought "oh this is obviously grimes' best song and i have to listen to it five more times." something about the fractured drums that open it, the way the chorus literally climbs and descends, and the kind of amniotic, embracing quality of the synths; a lot of her earlier work feels skeletal, which is often where it thrills, the hooks don't have to travel very far to be visible in the mix, they sort of pulse brightly through shattering frameworks. everything on "realiti" pulses, contains depth, is enveloping. even as a demo it's an environment

again despite the above i completely get why people would listen to it and hear nothing

OTM

ego is really a jam imma have to check out the rest of that album

2shy also i def like, but truly the last like minute is all i need and fire af

everything on "realiti" pulses

Yeah the album version (which is a binus track on AA, correct?)--don't get me wring, it's really good imo as well--there is enough space and clarity to hear every word and every synth squiggle, and a lot of the song's mystique us lost. Part of why I think the demo's thjn sound suits it so well is because you really can't hear everything that goes on and so all the different effects and even some of the vocals all become indistinct, overlapping and competing obfuscations which de-center the track and allow the focus to be re-aligned on that insistent throbbing synth which is the track's rhythmic backbone and its biggest hook*. Certainly its that sturdy pulse rhythm running throughout the track, even through the drop that you can't necessarily tell is there on the first couple listens, that allows you to move through the track without necessarily realizing that you are only half-hearing everything that is going on..

(*my dn is an attempt to describe this pulsating synth bed from an earlier discarded attempt at a defense of the track)

^^good post! it really puts into words the experience of this for me

don't get me wring

unintentional genius

I've never had a problem with "Realiti" in any form because it sounds like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-PYqUHfTMA

^^^ hell yeah

lol!
take these dogs away from me

take these dogs away from me
welcome to realiti

btw here's the missing BBHMM Joey LaBeija remix I voted for

https://www.mediafire.com/?umhhwenec9nbw20

― The Reverend, Saturday, 23 January 2016 19:48 (2 days ago)

*jigglepanda.gif*

yeah good lookin' rev. couldn't find that anywhere!

I mostly played the Shoes edit, for extra dissapointment as it has a more approximate tempo to the sample and sounds like a hotline bling remix.

Moka, how have I lived all my life without knowing about Shoes? Found a compilation online. What the heck? Who are these guys?

Oh god, guys. This is terrible so far. Going to give Project Pablo a try but, really. What a mess.

Err, somehow posted this in the wrong thread. Oh well.

Lol otm

I was reminded yesterday while at an outside afternoon party in very hot weather that I was a total chump for noting for "Lean On".

for not voting for, even.

fyi forks re:spotify playlist - #89 is now available

on it, thanks.

I was reminded yesterday while at an outside afternoon party in very hot weather that I was a total chump for noting for "Lean On".

― Tim F, Wednesday, January 27, 2016 5:14 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

smh

I'm sorry. I forget how good it is in that context b/w exposure events.

deej is just mad u get to go to outdoor parties in warm weather in january

I'm mad I've ever had to hear "Lean On"

I haven't taken the plunge on the new Gesu No Kiwami Otome album yet, since it looks to be about $30, but their Dress No Nugikata EP from 2013 is available at a reasonable price, and is a lot of fun too.

KING added to playlist.
btw, the KING album is out!

Goddammit, I can't stop listening to Cool for the Summer tonight. WHY??

'cause i'm your body type

Don't tell your mother, JF.

added "spectre" and "awoo" to the playlist.

i'm still doing that 8k track playlist but i feel like i should zip through this list once or twice to see what i missed.