ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

Yeah, it's not quite as awful as others (imago, imago and imago) have led me to believe.

I actually gave the PQ album as much as 5/10 - the cartoonish level of my disliking for them is as much to do with the hype they get as annoying else. It isn't terrible (well, apart from that title track)

EVERYTHING else dammit lol

Listening now and virtually everything is pleasant enough without really moving beyond the level of cosy pastiche.

Of the ones I hadn't previously heard, the Red Velvet one is the only track I could imagine feeling remotely motivated to listen to again or even remember more than a couple of minutes after it was over. Actually the Kali Uchis is good too.

i quite liked the one about being stoned and hungry

http://i.imgur.com/kAx19oV.jpg

66: Ravyn Lenae – “Sticky” – 174 points – 8 votes
video

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=25268

Shimmering synth chords, slithering bass, glittering guitar and sharp, tear-shaped drums anchor the song, while Ravyn swims through the current with confidence and ease. – Nortey Dowuona

A loop of the electric organ and Steve Lacy guitar scratches that open “Sticky” would be enough to keep me beguiled for days. But it turns out they’re mere prologue: Ravyn Lenae, stonewalled by love, gives the performance of a polyglot, shifting shrewdly from whirling dreamer to jaded enquirer to hopeless devotee; meanwhile, the track rotates around her methodically, keeping her in check. Her use of multiple voices is ingenious, and never reaches the point where it becomes affectedly obtuse; she instead transports us directly to her conscience, which, based on this evidence, appears to be brimming with ideas and predisposed to the sublime. – William John

I loved this EP, dug her Pitchfork set last July.

Oh shit! I tried to get this into the 2017 poll, but it came out in mid-December which was far too late to get people onboard. Glad it lives in 2018!

This is great, but it's weirdly depressing to see a song make the Top 77 and have it supported with Singles Jukebox quotes because it has literally never been discussed on ILM before.

oh i'm glad one of hers has placed. whole ep was strong

I think I voted for Sticky in 2017. Perfect song.

Yeah I liked this one

I'm a Tom Brady fan, but I still enjoy "Total Football" and the rest of the Parquet Courts album.

xp some of those tracks were discussed here im pretty sure but probably buried in a rolling thread and hard to search for

damn didn't know we had a real-life fash on here xp

Tom Brady had awful hair even when we didn't know he supported a dumbfuck fascist

a lot of times in rolling threads the YouTube gets posted and then people discuss in reference to it and so the title/artist never actually get said so it doesn't show up in searches

Haha, can't help loving my hometown team despite their disgusting politics.

i already had patriots fatigue in 2007 despite them being 'my' team

Ravyn Lenae is not really my normal thing but I feel like something's going to make me go back to it.

It burrows deep.

I voted for the whole Lenae EP which is really strong. I get singling out Sticky but check the rest out if you like it

"sticky" is very good, glad it didn't need my help to place

tsj blurbs bum me out but it's mostly bc i straight up hate the styles of a few tsj writers, not sure anyone else will care

more Steve Lacy production

four leaf clover was the other standout imo

yeah i didn't have room for this on my ballot but i'm glad it placed

I have already expressed displeasure at the way both Drake blurbs were written tbf Brad

i have only one particularly smug TSJ writer whose writing i really actively dislike, there are likely others but i can't keep track of em.

Is it Maxwell? It's Maxwell right?

it's always him. anyway i now feel bad that there are multiple posts about this

Mr Twin Sister is the find for me so far. I had this pegged, somehow, as cold and remote. Non.

I regret not voting for 'Sticky', it's a great song (and yeah, the whole EP is good).

This is as good a time to make my futile plea for a separate EPs and mini albums category next year...

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

65: Soccer Mommy – “Your Dog” – 177 points – 6 votes
video

soccer mommy

I love the taut garage-ness of 'Your Dog', 'Last Girl', and 'Cool' (which are the best songs she's ever written imo). She’s an incredibly talented songwriter. – flopson

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=25088

When I was Sophie Allison’s age, I was just starting to overcome the trauma of my own abuse. Suddenly I couldn’t not hear the song in that light: a steely, seething statement of purpose about weaponizing weakness and fear. Befitting the subject matter, it’s also one of her strongest, most confident songs yet. Of all the emotional milestones in processing abuse, there are few more rewarding than realizing you don’t care anymore. And say what you will about Soccer Mommy, but she certainly doesn’t sound like she cares. – Julian Axelrod

Amidst the shimmering guitars and Sophie Allison’s lilting vocal, there’s a lingering sadness in “Your Dog” that even the line “I don’t want to be your fucking dog” can’t hide. It’s a sobering but important take on the breakup song format; lashing out can feel great, but it ultimately stems from being pushed to the ground and made to feel less than. – Will Adams

*as good a time as any* xp

a very good song i thought would place higher

JF - indeed

Not to harp on the TSJ thing, but I do wonder what your intention is there forks--picking apart a non-poster's (or absent poster) comments seems kind of dickish?

Your Dog is nice, and I actually re-submitted my albums ballot when I realized I mistakenly left this album off of it, but my jam on this record was Skin from day one and still is now.

The metal poll could also benefit from such visual professionalism (not throwing shade, just saying it would be awesome).

― pomenitul, Monday, 28 January 2019 15:15 (three hours ago) Permalink

you wouldn't perhaps be volunteering to make some graphics, would you pomenitul?

forks is a TSJ contributor now iirc, so he's bringing work home

i mean i'm a huge dick tbf

xp

This Soccer Mommy track was the last thing I cut from my ballot.

you wouldn't perhaps be volunteering to make some graphics, would you pomenitul?

I would if I could.

lol i think soccer mommy is an artist i never bothered to listen to based on name alone but i quite like this

oh that wasn't aimed at you Brad, I accidentally deleted the part about how nonetheless *I* want to pick apart the blurbs, even just to point out pedantic shit like organs are not synths

I like the sentiment of the Soccer Mommy song a hell of a lot but the music leaves me cold (like most of ILM's guitar-based choices tbh).

i promise not to complain when snail mail places

it wasn't nommed but it would be amazing if boygenius' "me and my dog" placed next