ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

YES though i voted for “fever”

Back tomorrow.

77: Kali Uchis – “In My Dreams”
76: Red Velvet – “Bad Boy”
75: Laura Jean – “Girls on the TV”
74: Andrew W.K. – “Music Is Worth Living For”
73: Helena Hauff – “Hyper-Intelligent Genetically Enriched Cyborg”
72: Drake – “Nice for What”
71: DJ Koze – “Pick Up
70: MGMT – “When You Die”
69: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – “Talking Straight”
68: Parquet Courts – “Total Football”
67: Mr Twin Sister – “Echo Arms”
66: Ravyn Lenae – “Sticky”
65: Soccer Mommy – “Your Dog”
64: Fabiana Palladino – “Shimmer”
63: Toni Braxton – “Long As I Live
62: mewithoutyou – “Julia (or, Holy to the LORD’ on the Bells of Horses)”
61: Wizkid – “Soco”

"long as i live" landed in the middle of my ballot, which was also too low, wtf me

same

Yay! I had to cut this from my ballot but it's sweet!

Yes, best track so far!

I pledge to follow the afropop thread more closely this year.

great list so far, but lol @ the idea that anything post-WK was "more" metal

ty to whoever #1'd "Soco" as for some reason I put that at #25 on my ballot

was that second quote from breastcrawl, forks?

wait -- what "sort of thing" is Toni Braxton -- R&B?

Good Monday. Not any real "whoa, wtf is this???" moments as is usually the case, but I'm pleased to make Fabiana Palladino's acquaintance.

Loud metallish guitars, combined with quieter saddo vocals in the verses and shouting in the chorus - isn't that the grunge formula?
― Tuomas, Monday, January 28, 2019 12:16 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the only shouting in “julia” is buried in the mix of the third verse. not expecting you to have memorized this song tho

YES though i voted for “fever”

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, January 28, 2019 2:19 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this poll could do a lot worse than having Fever and Fake Love still show up

i think "long as i live's" aesthetic is more 90s r&b than 80s r&b, along the same vein of toni's own material from that decade. it stands up with her very best though.

a little bit that i loved reading on the song by sean of said the gramophone:

There are portions of "Long As I Live" that feel as if they could have been released in 1996, in Braxton's un-broken heyday. But listen carefully: you'll hear a voice with more years in it, a production haunted by younger sounds.

Didn’t vote for Julia as my mewithoutyou track, but I easily could have. They do weird, shifting darkness so well.

Have loathed being stuck in work/on my phone today. Can’t wait to get home and catch up on all these songs everyone hates.

ME WITHOUT YOU

Ps. Brad I didn't have the time to vote in the end so I'm sorry my missing vote will keep your 'Embrace Nothingness' from the number one spot just saying

i would’ve been so embarrassed if a faith/void track appeared in the 77

No you wouldn't u liar <3

oh "soco" is v nice :)

wow we're in brad heaven rn

― resident hack (Simon H.), Monday, January 28, 2019 2:11 PM (seventeen minutes ago)

brad's ballot will obv be required listening this weekend

Countdown took a while to warm up (even if Kali Uchis was an ok start) but its def done that after that Braxton-mewithoutyou double!

unexpectedly really like this WK track!

Fabiana Palladino - wait is that Pino’s daughter?

Soco, Shimmer and Long as I Live all passed me by on the nominations playlist but are sounding really good now.

Fabiana Palladino - wait is that Pino’s daughter?

― my name is leee john, for we are many (NickB), Monday, January 28, 2019 2:31 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

according to wiki--yes

i'm gonna be the one in the garden shouting for "shimmer" when i see the who in may

actually, idk if pino will be there, but i also won't actually shout for "shimmer"

I believe Fabiana was in Jessie Ware's touring band at one point

she does sound more influenced by jessie ware than the who tbh

was that second quote from breastcrawl, forks?
― rob

Kali Uchis - Dreamy, as advertised. I like this quite a bit and would like to hear more of them.
Red Velvet - I'm highly indifferent to this
Laura Jean - Pretty low-key, but she won me over by the end. Think I'll be returning to this one, it gets under your skin, a slow burner.
Andrew W.K. - I think this may be the first time I've ever listened to an Andrew W.K. track, yet it is pretty much exactly what I imagined. I just don't think I have place in my life for his particular brand of loud, anthemic pop rock, there's just something painfully dopey about it.
Helena Hauff - This is dope. I listened to this album a bit when it came out, but moved on quickly, not sure why. More armies of malevolent robots please.
Drake - Holy god, I hate Drake. I guess this is decent party music, but the rapping is utterly generic, no big surprise here.
DJ Koze - 10 minutes of stasis, not bad, but hardly thrilling. ILM's taste in house music is a bit too subtle for me.
MGMT - This is a great album, perhaps hurt a bit by coming out so early in the year. The fact this track placed indicates to me that at least one more is coming, maybe more. A running theme for me this year is albums I liked having lots of tracks nominated, not always my favorite ones. I was tempted to also nom the title track and "TSLAMP", but was worried it would all get vote split to hell.
Rolling Blackouts Costal Fever - I really like the guitars on this, the singing and melody wears a bit thin, but I could see liking these guys if they keep it interesting.
Mr. Twin Sister - I listened to it, and can barely remember it a few minutes later.
Parquet Courts - this is the first track I voted for. See my comments on MGMT about vote splitting. "Violence" and "Before the Water Gets Too High" were worthy of nominations, perhaps "Mardi Gras Beads" and "Freebird II" too.
Soccer Mommy - Just missed my ballot. Good tune, I like the bass tone and detuned guitar arpeggios. Would've prefered to see "Cool" or "Last Girl" on here. Some odd songwriting twists and production choices, helped Soccer Mommy standout in a fairly crowded genre.
Ravyn Lenae - Very nice. Lots of unusual, almost opreratic vocal flourishes really make this track for me.
Fabiana Palladino - This is fine. I suspect the thin demo quality was a plus for some.
Toni Braxton - Good to see her going strong, not my cup of tea, though.
mewithoutYou - some nice guitar textures over dumb thudding drums with unremarkable vocals. Kind of reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins if Jimmie Chamberlin sucked and Billy Corgan had no personality.
Wizkid - not for me.

xps

Yes, that was my quote - and I also was the one who had “Soco” at #1. It’s the first time Wizkid has placed in one of these polls; it was about time and I’m happy. Would be great if “Fake Love”, the other stone-cold classic he made last year, places as well.

And while we’re fixing things: the correct artist credit for this track would be “Starboy feat. Wizkid, Terri, Spotless & Ceeza Milli”. It’s Wizkid plus three mini-Wizzy’s (I say respectfully).

I was a bit confused about who to credit in Soco, so I went by the nominee name. Isn’t Starboy another alias for Wizkid?

Yes and no, it’s complicated. Starboy is one of his nicknames, plus the name of his label - and in this case the artist name he uses for non-RCA, Africa-only releases. Or something. But it is in fact him plus three others, and that’s how it’s officially labeled.

I also wish I had lobbied for “Soco” (and a bunch of other things for that matter) - it deserves to be so much higher on this list.

RE: DJ Koze, I think my pick would've been for Illumination or Seeing Aliens as Pick Up is great but a little same-y. the album was pretty essential for me last year tho'. And hey! Any of you Koze fans out there would do well to listen to Detroit Swindle's 2018 LP High Life as it's in the same vein and is just as necessary.

(btw thank you, rob, for your eagle eye!)

xp I was left a little cold by the Koze album, but I almost voted for "Baby (How Much I LFO You)" cause I'm a sucker for that type of fluttery, sample-based sound. It sounds like it could be a hip-hop beat by Exile or somebody.

Soco soco - soco soco...

no problem! I was about to post "breastcrawl is one of the unsung mvps of ilm" when it occurred to me you'd been literally unsung there (no shots at forks, I appreciate all the work you're doing)

Interesting to compare last year's Monday:

77 LUIS FONSI ft. DADDY YANKEE "Despacito" [146 points, 8 votes]
76 AVALON EMERSON "One More Fluorescent Rush" [149 points, 7 votes]
75 MINOR SCIENCE "Volumes" [150 points, 5 votes]
74 GOLDLINK ft. BRENT FAIYAZ & SHY GLIZZY "Crew" [151 points, 5 votes]
73 KELELA "LMK" [151 points, 7 votes]
72 LAUREL HALO "Moontalk" [152 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote]
71 TORNADO WALLACE ft. SUI ZHEN "Today" [153 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
70 TAYLOR ALXNDR "Nightwork" [153 points, 6 votes]
69 KEDR LIVANSKIY "Ariadna" [156 points, 5 votes]
TIE-67 BULLION "Blue Pedro" [158 points, 5 votes]
TIE-67 TWICE "Likey" [158 points, 5 votes]
66 BLACKPINK "As If It's Your Last" [159 points, 6 votes]
65 FRENCH MONTANA ft. SWAE LEE "Unforgettable" [160 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote]
TIE-63 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS "Wear Black" [160 points, 6 votes]
TIE-63 JESSIE WARE "Midnight" [160 points, 6 votes]
62 TAYLOR SWIFT "Look What You Made Me Do" [163 points, 5 votes]
61 BRIAN ENO with KEVIN SHIELDS "Only Once Away My Son" [163 points, 6 votes]

Only the last two would have had enough points to make it in this year's 77.

of that group, I would say i've returned to the Avalon Emerson, Minor Science, Kelela, Laurel Halo, TWICE and Mountain Goats tracks the most.

that minor science track is an ace tool for jogging up a steep hill btw

lol at "look what you made me do" placing last year. and "delicate", which failed to place last year, might not make it this year either, even after becoming a hit ;_;

I vaguely remember liking most of the bobbins tracks, but a bunch of these were more like "forgettable" for me (heyo). "Crew" is still a jam. I don't know what to make of Marko's points point since we had fewer ballots this year (no?), and I had assumed this was a very non-consensus kind of year

iirc seandalai's graph said votership was slightly up this year

nothing of my ballot placed yet. if there won't be anything in the next 20, it will be nothing at all, i guess. surprised how much i love that toni braxton song. it has got a melancholic vibe which somehow totally enchants me.

I voted for #77 and #61, I can't confirm if I'm the #1 for Soco, I think I flipped it back to second-place. If Akanamali could place top10 in its year (iirc), Soco could have been higher :) Hope another few afro-pop songs place.

So far really enjoyed Laura Jean. Also like Sticky and Twin Sister (I forgot to vote for Jaipur btw). A couple others raised my curiosity but nothing out of this world. Some are average or truly bad (Andrew WK really ?), but nothing worth arguing about either.

I'm not too sure what to make out of my point either.

Kali Uchis track was really nice. Lightweight but really good. I miss that kind of hookiness in R&B.

Laura Jean, maybe even better. Wasn't sure of it at first but really came around.

The Andrew WK track is great. Dunno what y'all are on about. It's not my favorite on the album but I def put it on my ballot b/c I wanted one of his tracks to place.

Helena Hauff...really glad someone's doing this sound in 2018. Could easily be some old Aphex Twin release.

Didn't like the Drake track, though it's better than what Kanye did this year at least. DJ Koze track was good but this really sounds like French house circa '98, dunno if I'll be listening to that one again

MGMT - totally agree with that "Rundgren energy" comment. This is one of those bands that seems really high up my alley but I've never given them the time of day yet. Jesus Christ @ that video though, definitely puts me in the "glad I've never taken LSD" camp

wasn't too interested in RBCF, nor Parquet Courts. makes me feel like its 2004 again, when "trying to be the easy song on Guitar Hero" was an entire genre

Ravyn Lenae...very nice. Will check out that EP for sure

Soccer Mommey tune was pretty boring

Fabiana Palladino...ok there's a lot of retro sounding stuff here. It's a proper pop song which is nice

Had no idea Toni Braxton was still around, I can't believe she's 50 in that video. Never really been a fan but this song was nice.

mewithoutyou was okay, liked it better than the other guitar based songs (besides AWK obviously) but wasn't really digging the vocals. I'd probably check out a full album though.

Starboy song was a lot of fun. Wish it weren't so autotuned but I really like the beat. Feel like tunes like this always place higher so I'm expecting some good stuff later in the week.

see you tomorrow

Happy to see a few of my votes place - Laura Jean, Ravyn Lenae, and Fabiana Palladino. Didn't vote for Toni but glad it placed, and sorry that everyone was subjected to a couple of my dorky TSJ blurbs.

Lots of good songs in last year’s 77-61 slot. There’s 3 I voted for in there (Laurel halo, Kedr Livanskiy, Tornado Wallace). I can’t remember my votes this year but I may have voted for Fabiana Palladino and Laura Jean... probably only the latter. I know the 80’s pastiche is way overdone at this point but this one does it particularly good I found myself coming back to it throughout the year.

As for the Palladino one I kind of like how it sounds like a demo, loved it on first listens but didn’t come back to it as much.

The Ravyn Lenae song flew under my radar and loving it, my highlight discovery of this batch.