ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

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.

love that Kali Uchis album.

This Laura Jean album reminds me a lot of another artist I'm hoping will place this year.

I was about to post "breastcrawl is one of the unsung mvps of ilm"

The first MVP put Soco at #25 and the second one voted for Fever. I say hang them as traitors.

The MGMT song has grown on me quite a lot on second listen. The video really is something too

Of the two bollocks indie tracks that followed it, I actually MUCH prefer the Parquet Courts, which should indicate how much I do not like RBCF

Haha, I'm listening to the RBCF album right now and enjoying it a lot. Their guitar style is very much inva sweet spot for me. But yes, the Parquet Courts is much better.

I agree. Though I voted for both. Easily my favourite track off the PQ album and one of my least favourite RBCF tracks. I much prefer RBCF's album overall though, mostly for tracks that weren't nominated. My ballot wasn't especially indieguitardude aside from these, from memory.

XD

I must have crammed pretty effectively, with the noms playlists. Almost everything so far is pretty familiar. Probably should have voted for "Sticky" though.

Yay Kali Uchis and DJ Koze! The rest, meh.

the laura jean and palladino are nice discoveries. nothing outright offensive either although i'm really, really done with parquet courts.

kali uchis - like the sound but the hooks aren't hooking
red velvet - already on board, voted for it
laura jean - this seems designed for me to like it, and i kinda do
andrew wk - i like my andrew wk faster than this
helena hauff - not seeing it, too sterile
drake - the drake meme is way better than the guy looking back at the girl one but not as good as galaxy brain
dj koze - i like house music but have no idea how to listen to something like this critically. like plot armor but for music
mgmt - this is the villain's song in some cartoon musical
rolling blackouts coastal fever - good band name, okay song
parquet courts - still don't get these guys
mr twin sister - its fun, woulda been a highlight on the record
soccer mommy - i like the main guitar riff
ravyn lenae - nice vocal performance. the offbeat verse is precarious but works
fabiana palladino - i like the rare instances of a song making a play for complete ownership of an instrument sound like this synth patch here
toni braxton - where did that guitarist come from at the end, was he hiding under the stage?
mewithoutyou - don't fear the reaper 2
starboy - some nice sounding ghosts haunting the backdrop

wait... what? how in the ever living fuck did I miss all the voting and nom threads??

they were at the top of ILM for...a month and half, or so?

I wish you were here for it! your pov is interesting to me

helena hauff - not seeing it, too sterile

are you sure you listened to the right track?

it's severity is what makes it good!

it's = its

severe yes but i don't think it's sterile at all, the griminess is one of the best things about the record

mewithoutyou - don't fear the reaper 2

hell yeah

*devil horns*

lol

i like house music but have no idea how to listen to something like this critically

This is how I feel about Afropop. It all sounds great, no idea how discerning fans figure out what’s better than what

yeah same with that but at least that's outside of my wheelhouse whereas i listen to a fair amount of dance music and still don't know what to do with it

really love that fabiana palladino track - the guitar outro especially rules.
toni braxton track is a nice discovery too.
as far as indie goes, i feel like i understand the appeal of parquet courts less than ever and the soccer mommy track is very boring. rbcf track is pleasant but not really anything more.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever remind me a little of The Go-Betweens

The momentum and jangle but not the tunes.

well I guess I agree, nothing since can really compare to The Go-Betweens

really love that fabiana palladino track - the guitar outro especially rules.
toni braxton track is a nice discovery too.
as far as indie goes, i feel like i understand the appeal of parquet courts less than ever and the soccer mommy track is very boring. rbcf track is pleasant but not really anything more.

― ufo, Monday, January 28, 2019 10:17 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed, the Palladino track reminds me vaguely of that Eugene song Living in your Love because of the outro. Not that the songs are alike, I just love how the outro sneaks up on you and suddenly you end the song just giddy and have to replay it, then spend the whole next listen trying not to fast forward to the outro again. I like the Toni Braxton one as well, it's not stuck with me the first couple times I heard it but maybe I was more open to it this time. Love me some Wizkid of course too. Kali Uchis was cool I'll need to re-listen to it.

I've not listened to Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever before, but its almost good, would be interested to hear what they do in the future.

I think I might one day like the Helena Hauff song, will have to listen to it again.

The biggest shock for me was that mewithoutYou song, a new don't fear the reaper sounds great to me, excellent track. Do they do heavier shit? Or is this basically the way they always sound?

lol if my flippant comparison stuck somehow

would be interested to hear what they do in the future

It's possible you'd be interested in what they did before this album, since this album is a minor letdown.

for some reason i thought they were new? i am way out of touch, thanks, I'll check out their older stuff.

Hm, I'm trying to work out what I think of the mewithoutyou song. I like it, and the aesthetic is up my alley, but I want it to take off more than I feel like it does; either for the guitarist to let it rip a little more in the solo or for the drummer to tap into some Jimmy Chamberlain propulsion. Tuomas's comments sort of make up for it all, though.

i can appreciate "julia" somewhat but it's not really my thing i think

kali uchs - it's ok
red velvet - funny how every in the last couple years every k-pop song has trap drums. this songs rly good
laura jean - meh
andrew wk - really sucks
helena hauff - i probably overrated this album slightly at the time, but it's fun to listen to someone make bangin rudimentary techno on some old pos hardware
nice for what - great sample. btw i was just thinking today, was scorpion drake's new jersey? i feel like there's arguments to be made for any of his last 3
koze - i kinda hated his album from this year but this one's good. i mean so simple right, how can u go wrong
mgmt - ok this poll kind of sucks lol... yall...
rolling blackouts coaster - pretty nice. this album bored me really badly, maybe i'll check out the eps... kinda lazy tho
parquet courts - great opener to the best rock album of the year, by my fav band. i've started becoming so cranky and bored by music for a lot of the last couple years and it felt improbable that i'd crush so hard on a band as i did after this album prompted me to get back into them (had checked out after the first couple albums out of laziness, despite liking them). the basslines are sooo good
twin sister - my other fav band. see them live if you can imo. she's totally transfixing as frontperson, and the rest of the band are v cute, you wish you were friends with them irl. i really regret not nominating 'tops and bottoms' from the album, which was my fav off the album. i love the sade worship stuff but i also love when they branch out into their dubbier dark techno side like 'out of the dark' off the last album. thought they should've explored that side a bit more
sticky - really great. that vocal's wild. love how the drums come in and cut against the guitar. poll's picking up steam... fingers crossed
your dog - soccer mommy >>>>>>> snail mail. sheryl crowe-core
shimmer - it's alright
tony braxton - d0pe.. controversial opinion (not rly): the mainstream r&b on these polls is better than the shimmery 80s influenced slowmo vaguely dancey indie pop that always takes up 1/3 of it
mewithoutyou - there's usually one or two brad albums per year i listen to once and it doesn't really click at first and then i go back to it a year later and realize i was wrong and it rips... not sure if this will be the case with this one. it's cool tho, kinda emo deathrock
wizkid - this guy's been killing it for like 4 years now? still not getting his due imo. afrobeats production is so much cooler and more hi-def than american pop production has been the last decade

i don't get the "soccer mommy >>> snail mail" opinions, i don't really like either but snail mail has one really nice song in "heat wave" at least which i'd guess is probably yet to show

I played these this morning bloody hell this is thin gruel

75: Laura Jean – “Girls on the TV”
71: DJ Koze – “Pick Up
70: MGMT – “When You Die”
69: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – “Talking Straight”
65: Soccer Mommy – “Your Dog”
64: Fabiana Palladino – “Shimmer”
67: Mr Twin Sister – “Echo Arms”
77: Kali Uchis – “In My Dreams”

these all sound a photocopy of a photograph of a memory of watching a tv show in a doctors waiting room. tough to even think of anything to say about this pallid schlock

73: Helena Hauff – “Hyper-Intelligent Genetically Enriched Cyborg

sounds exactly like its title. Cyborgs are joyless unfriendly dicks and the sooner people admit it the better

72: Drake – “Nice for What”

i like this fellows memes where he's wearing a coat

68: Parquet Courts – “Total Football”

great title, unlistenable garbage

66: Ravyn Lenae – “Sticky”

if it was instrumental it would be bearable

Sorry about being so negative, i will say this there weren't that many that were actively painful!

Yes but did you like the Wizkid?

Aw <3

xp

Yes but did you like the Wizkid?

― Matt DC, Tuesday,

I would quite like this as an instrumental! but the vocals are no good for me, why is he so morose. Sounds like he's wasting a sunny Saturday afternoon sat at a desk in front of a mountain of paperwork or dealing with some car insurance problems. I get it, bureaucracy is a pain, I had to transfer out Kane from my fantasy football team when he got injured but sometimes you just have to deal with these things head on