ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2016

'Koffi Annan' a very late cut from my ballot as I knew it had a good chance of placing.

Ghana has the best song/dance names. Alkayida. Lapaz Toyota.

http://i.imgur.com/dOUv9LY.jpg

59 BRUNO MARS “24K Magic” [189 points, 7 votes]
https://youtu.be/UqyT8IEBkvY

what

I have such a deep loathing of Bruno Mars' corny mugging and horrible ersatz disco, fuck off to your office parties

shrewd move Bruno. if it ain't broke..

lex what happened at the office party

Always amazed that Bruno Mars is a person that ILM takes seriously. This is mostly because he has the worst look of any major pop star that isn't Robin Thicke.

i didn't even know we took him seriously no one gave me the memo

haha yeh don't get this at all but saw his album crop up on a surprising number of end year lists

this song did not do well to be posted during the UK shift

'24km' and 'crybaby' are when predispositions become personal prisons imo

lmk if i succeed in making brad cry

http://image.blingee.com/images18/content/output/000/000/000/6f6/675706329_1631528.gif

For a long time I thought Bruno Mars was some Dutch trance DJ, because his name sounds like that. Not sure if he'd be any better of worse if it was true.

'24km' and 'crybaby' are when predispositions become personal prisons imo

lmk if i succeed in making brad cry

― r|t|c, Tuesday, January 24, 2017 6:12 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

;_;

not like i disagree tbh

Anyway, I guess there are worse building blocks to make pastichey pop hits from than '80s post-disco/boogie. And this one at least doesn't sound like such a blatant Kool & the Gang copy as "Uptown Funk".

u only have to listen to like 10 seconds of snoop dogg 'signs' or whatever again to see this bruno for the thin gruel it is

Uptown Funk is the best office party track ever. 24 k magic is a bad copy. Which is still ok.

not like i disagree tbh

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 13:17 Bookmark

i'm kinda fronting on crybaby it is transcendentally well executed

I looove original '80s boogie, even more than '70s disco, so I've nothing in theory against someone doing it in 2016. But this sounds a bit too clean & polished, seamless, committee-designed. I can see it working on a drunken disco night in my working class neighbourhood, but wouldn't probably listen to it just for fun on the headphones.

the only Bruno Mars I've remotely enjoyed was when he was ripping off the Police.

u only have to listen to like 10 seconds of snoop dogg 'signs' or whatever again to see this bruno for the thin gruel it is

― r|t|c, Tuesday, January 24, 2017 1:17 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TUNE

the only Bruno Mars I've remotely enjoyed was when he was ripping off the Police.

― crawling in (sic) (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, January 24, 2017 7:25 AM (one minute ago)

tune

the best things about "crybaby" are when it stops nodding so obviously at freestyle/jam & lewis and goes down its own unexpected detours, and "vegas" is the better track anyway

http://i.imgur.com/5Mb4Cah.jpg

58 GROUPER “Headache” [191 points, 7 votes]
https://youtu.be/Jh8ahc_YDeY

i just put 'signs' on and it turns out i was deeply mistaken... u only need three seconds

nice! xp

I'd never have expected a Grouper song to make the tracks poll so I'm intrigued by this. (Albums poll perennial obviously).

seems p nice
i remember really enjoying the first track to dragging a dead deer up the hill when it came out

Hmm, I guess this sort of weeded, sireny indie... stuff has to be included on every ILM list. Feels like it could've been released anytime in the past 25 years? Why putting a formless ditty through an echo filter would make it any better is beyond me, but seems like there's always an audience for it.

dreampop... wow... nice... kevin shields moobs feel like bags of sand

This track is 40 minutes too short or something. I'll check out the album.

five minutes that i could have spent listening to my boiler

headache is pretty as always for her but doesn't really compare to something like heavy water/i'd rather be sleeping

This track is 40 minutes too short or something. I'll check out the album.

This isn't on an album (yet) but Ruins is worth yr time.

This sort of music always sounds to me like someone took the first Cranberries album and slowed it down 50%, but without turning Dolores O'Riordan's voice into a goofy baritone. It's called "dreampop" then? I guess it could have a proper function in putting me to sleep, but OTOH a white noise generator would do just as well.

Tuomas, for us insomniacs, this kind of music is very important :) Not really in five minute chunks, though, at least not for me.

I think this single was a standalone so if you want an album length version listen to Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill

always nice to remember how much of a monster jam "signs" is

GROUUUPERRRRR

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

57 DANNY L HARLE FT. CARLY RAE JEPSEN “Super Natural” [194 points, 7 votes]
https://youtu.be/CrFcxR4Y6C0

really don't get this one at all, i hate the deliberately awkward pc music syncopation

i don't mind super natural
even if it's probably the worst thing either two have done in the past couple of years

this is a fantastic track

Yes!! This was #22 on my ballot. Danny L Harle's latest stuff feels to me like a shrewd sidestep away from PC music by its best producer. I can't not enjoy something this cute and over the top.

love zapp & squealing talk box goodness and have always had an odd affection for bruno mars (short&sweet? his grin? zoot suit?) but this only even tries to be p standard

Yesterday was a war of attrition. Today is already putting that into perspective with two records which are two career ending tackles on inner peace

That last one is literally an advert for anxiety

Ever since the first records I've found Grouper doesn't put enough echo on the songs. They're supposed to be hard to reach, that's part of the attraction. It's a formal move toward an only semi-lucid mimesis.