ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

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

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.
― saer, Tuesday, January 29, 2019 11:57 AM (fifty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That should have been the blurb for Soco.

Wizkid's vocals are the best part! It's all about how relaxed he sounds, imo.

*is (- grrrrrrrr)

The only thing that could have made Soco even better than it is would be if the other vocalists on it sounded as relaxed and carefree as Wizkid does.

Having gone through the playlist from yesterday the only song I actively dislike is the Andrew WK one, it just has a sort of sports stadium sound/quality to it that I find really off-putting.

I have to admit, I'm not in LOVE with Soco. Wizkid's an absolute afrobeats darling but the only song I really like with him on it is Ma Lo, but that's mostly cos of Tiwa Savage.

I'm fucking gutted I missed the voting thread. Maybe not enough BIG CAPITALS in the thread title this year? It's not like I've strayed far from ILM. Anyway, I only know the Wizkid and Parquet Courts songs so far. Weird choice for PQs - a good opener and Black Flag homage but nowhere near the best track on that album.

But it was a single, and had a fun video, and fuck Tom Brady

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?

― Will (kruezer2), Monday, January 28, 2019 10:20 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

check out the most recent album imo, but the answer is: 1. yes (and lighter shit too) 2. not really, “julia” is one of their few songs that is both gentle and aggressive, but if you like it you’ll probably like their other stuff

you didn't ask for it but i'm giving it to you anyway

77: Kali Uchis – “In My Dreams”: this is cute enough, kind of a slightly more boisterous big sister to that dreamy version of 'rock your baby' that emerson kitamura put out this year
76: Red Velvet – “Bad Boy”: i like this quite a bit tbh
75: Laura Jean – “Girls on the TV”: for the sake of your own health, eat less beige food people
74: Andrew W.K. – “Music Is Worth Living For”: sounds like something from quiet riot: the musical
73: Helena Hauff – “Hyper-Intelligent Genetically Enriched Cyborg”: really nice electro that's a lot more warm and tactile than i expected - some satisfyingly moist and splashy synth sounds in there; probably should've listened to the album tbh
72: Drake – “Nice for What”: hey i didn't hate this! well not that much anyhow
71: DJ Koze – “Pick Up": i loved this when i first heard it but it only gets more boring with each subsequent play. gorgeous loop but he takes forever to go absolutely nowhere with it
70: MGMT – “When You Die”: have never heard anything else by these chuckleheads apart from that one fucking song, so i was pleasantly surprised by this. i like the music a lot more than i like the singing though
69: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – “Talking Straight”: not terrible but the chorus is really annoying. it makes me sad that blank realm got so roundly ignored while they were around, cos i think they made a better fist of this sort of fidgetty clean-ish hypno-jangle
68: Parquet Courts – “Total Football”: yeah, i'd like to see if these lads could still do it against 'theme from sparta fc' on a wet tuesday night in stoke
67: Mr Twin Sister – “Echo Arms”: i feel like a freelance food writer who's just been assigned a review of ten different off-brand porridges
66: Ravyn Lenae – “Sticky”: solid enough but could do without the comedy vocal effects
65: Soccer Mommy – “Your Dog”: don't mind the singer but this is all a bit mimsy and forgettable. needs more loud
64: Fabiana Palladino – “Shimmer”: eh, this is lame like haim. her voice just makes me wish Laura Groves would hurry up and make another album
63: Toni Braxton – “Long As I Live: haha, this sounds fucking amazing in the context of the rest of this list
62: mewithoutyou – “Julia (or, Holy to the LORD’ on the Bells of Horses)”: getting a cormac mccarthy vibe from that title, song sounds a bit like katatonia? hated the video, like the director was trying to shoot a netflix pilot for some terrible post-stranger things throwback bullshit (but maybe that's all music videos these days i dunno?)
61: Wizkid – “Soco”: don't hate it but wish i could say i liked it more, i'm sorry

i'd also recommend anyone curious about mewithout you check out the ep that accompanied the album they put out last year (both are named untitled), totally different side of them

yeah parquet courts were definitely going for a Fall thing, sans bite

Voted for: Kali Uchis, Red Velvet, Toni Braxton
Voted for the B-side instead: DJ Koze (and NIckB OTM about the A-side)
Best discovery: Mr Twin Sister (was put off by their name until now; listened to half the album last night and that was rather good too)

Love how for most of the year everyone's being nice about music they like in cosy self-contained threads, then in January we all come together to tell everyone else the music they like is boring and shit.

:D