ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2016

that twinkling synth melody bursting in one-and-a-half mins into "Crybaby" is everything, it's so shapeshifting

Princess is a great EP - "Vegas" was actually my favourite song on it but "Crybaby" seemed to be the consensus pick

I like Chance The Rapper okay, but the song is vastly improved if you imagine he's singing 'All night I'm a chicken all night / All night I'm a chicken'

nice, Nylon Strung was my #1! beautiful tune imo, the whole album is easily Underworld's best since beaucoup fish. i like a hundred days off and oblivion with bells, but i think after a couple years of listening that barking is half pretty good, half complete trash.

Atomic Number was my #6, Nighttime Girl was my #7. good list so far!!

was surprised people ITT didn't seem to dig "Nylon Strung" a lot. it's totally gorgeous. though I did vote "Ova Nova" over it - hopefully that one places

Nylon Strung not too bad on earphones just earlier. Not my thing so much but I get how it hits home

Never really managed to get into post-beaucoup fish underworld. I keep trying.

the new one is the first one that has the feel of a peak-era Underworld album to me. i think it helps that it's pretty concise. maybe the work Hyde did with Eno helped too.

"crybaby" is like nu-freestyle. it's perf

"Crybaby" is the only thing on this list so far that i want to spend time with.

oh, sorry, Chance too

i missed the memo on Underworld getting Avicii onboard

wow – I wish The Jukebox had covered it.

haven't felt any of these really except, bizarrely, the psych/prog thing. might listen to full album.

(i like "starboy" enough as radio candy but not nearly enough to have voted for it)

my first impression of abra is that there's something interesting about it (other than the repurposing of 80s freestyle-type instrumentation) but that something about it, maybe the vocals, seem a little too slight?

the emotional obviousness of "nylon strung" is a feature not a flaw

http://i.imgur.com/o7QlVQg.jpg

66 BRANDY CLARK "Girl Next Door" [177 points, 8 votes]
https://youtu.be/HvtzVc--4Y4

xp

i don't hate Avicii! just an observation on first listen

"nylon string" doesn't go far enough though, feels like it wants to be the jacques lu cont remix of "mr brightside" but it doesn't go big or epic enough and also feels super-dated, and doesn't convince me that paying attention to underworld in 2016 was more worthwhile than paying attention to non-heritage dance acts in 2016

LOVE "girl next door"! voted for the album though

two choruses, so generous melodically

Surprised you're not feeling 'Oh Yay', NV.

i like brandy clark a lot but have never liked this song :(

Olatunji track is nice obv, but i wanted it to get bigger, more anthemic

sorry i missed it in the middle numbers for a minute

it's going on my personal playlist anyway

"nylon string" doesn't go far enough though, feels like it wants to be the jacques lu cont remix of "mr brightside" but it doesn't go big or epic enough and also feels super-dated, and doesn't convince me that paying attention to underworld in 2016 was more worthwhile than paying attention to non-heritage dance acts in 2016

hm well i think that it doesn't go far enough is the interesting part, it's just blushing (although they sure do pile on the layers of cheese in the 6 minute version, the abbreviated single version feels kinda lopsided). for me it's a really generous, open-hearted melody with all these bright digressions hanging around it

ofc "super-dated" is, like, whatever to me

I love disco-country.

i think i LIKE it because it reminds me a bit of some '90s faves, while being i think updated just enough to sound current. aside from the quality i like that their daughters are doing the backing vocals.

most of the tracks on that UW album don't build in a traditional way, which is sort of what makes it interesting to me. they definitely approached it with a "lets do something different" mindset.

Underworld music sounds like youtube highlights video of a footballer

if it was made by the BBC

lol

thrilled that saer is here

Never heard of Brandy Clark, but the tune is ok. (Except for the corny hair metal guitars, of course.) It's like Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" for the next generation, right? Would love to hear a dance/disco remix of this that'd ditch the cliched hard rock backing.

Would've voted "Crybaby" but now getting a little too self conscious about how many Resident Advisor tracks end up on my ballot.

thrilled that saer is here

yes

It's like Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" for the next generation, right

wat

Never heard of Brandy Clark, but the tune is ok. (Except for the corny hair metal guitars, of course.) It's like Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" for the next generation, right? Would love to hear a dance/disco remix of this that'd ditch the cliched hard rock backing.

So far, this is my favorite post of 2017.

Tuomas dude everything with a guitar is not "hard rock backing", especially not this Brandy Clark record, which I've never heard before but is terrific.

saer, i see u

http://i.imgur.com/IW49X9i.jpg

65 UNDERWORLD "I Exhale" [178 points, 7 votes]
https://youtu.be/4izZYfo58-E

Lol what.

nice

i had no idea underworld had so many fans here! lol

you know what, i like a number of their tracks but the stuff that has placed here so far is just okay to my ears

gonna lol if 3 Underworld tracks place

gonna be really mad if "If Rah" doesn't

i'm not sure i have voted for any underworld tracks on any polls before ('always loved a film', maybe.) this album just hit the sweet spot for me, i guess the last three albums are decent-to-very good, but they didn't get me thrilled by the idea of another underworld album til i actually heard this one.

couldn't participate this year :(

but super happy to see the results!

i voted for 3 underworld tracks but not If Rah, as great as it is.

lmao at how well the underworld record is doing. i didn't vote for any of it and i thought approximately four people liked it here

One thing that happens when you wait until after midnight on deadline day to send in a list is that you forget obvious things -- like "Girl Next Door," which totally should have been on my ballot. Glad it ranked anyway.