ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

it's been 17/20/20/20 in the past instead of 17/16/16/16/12 yeah

This feels like an odd and possibly deliberate breakdown of the tracks that I don't recall being done before.

we used to not do Fridays because the euros would be out during the top 10 but now everyone's old and/or has smartphones

work it = britney's work bitch but make it goth

glad to see good bobbins still placing

Let's Eat Grandma are definitely in that 'bands I refuse to check out based entirely on their name'. May as well call yourselves 'Eats Shoots and Leaves'

<3 that octo octa split EP and all the breaky stuff like it that's been coming out these past couple years

dog latin i feel that

wait do euros get fridays off? why do i live in this country again?

Still thinking Talaboman is the highlight of the poll so far. I'm liking the Simmys from today though.

They don't xp

Care to elaborate on the Montreal connotation?

― pomenitul, Wednesday, January 30, 2019 12:34 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it just reminds me of something one of my partner's (Mtl) art students might make--or to put it another way, I think the Mtl connection makes it easy to decide the lyrics are parodic. also, I was pretty sure I was correctly identifying her accent, but wasn't 100%

Gotcha. I'm always a wee bit bemused by what the ROC makes of Montreal.

Brad and I seem to agree half the time these days - today has been the other half

― imago, Wednesday, January 30, 2019 10:33 AM (fifteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if you don't like a relentless stream of good house and techno then idk man

Just not built for it -_- soz

this year's rollout has felt a bit less surprising overall, feels mostly like highlights from albums that'll certainly do well too, bobbins stuff aside

no idea what's going to do the best of what's left though

tbf the bobbins fugues are the reason i fell in love with this poll (cf. lindstrøm & prins thomas in 2009)

i love catching up with the year in bobbins since it's not something i really keep up with and this year's been more to my taste than usual

work it is cool!

"if someone w/ music theory chops beyond grade 1 cld pin down what is going on with the beat/flow interplay I wld be v curious because I am a slave to it"

This is very good - it sounds like, while the vocals are on beat, there are huge swathes of the song where everything else is offbeat, including the clicks and hi-hats. But the bass shifts between being on and off the beat every eight bars or so. It gives the whole thing a swing that's largely absent from a lot of post-Lex Luger rap.

Luv the image of a Euro ILXor sitting in an mostly empty club early on a Friday night and following the final rollout of these tracks by glow of an iPhone, nursing a vodka tonic, while sad German techno throbs in the background

yep, song has huge pockets, feels caught in a constant yet subtle ectoplasmic shapeshift xp

Listened to the Talaboman/Superpitcher thing bc of jmm's praise and it was actually what I needed rn. "Nobody" was my Mitski vote btw but I do like "Geyser" a lot. I'm sure the Autechre track is great; just waiting to have a concentrated hour when I can listen.

xps lol i used to do that but at the pub!

40: Doja Cat – “Mooo!” – 206 points – 8 votes
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:23 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me listening to “moo":

http://kafkaskoffee.com/junk/Abyss/Abyss_AlienWaterWall.gif

HOT TAKE - everything that's placed today is good. Even the Beach House song feels more interesting than they've been for a while.

"hes glued to his phone"
I JUST WANT TO SEE WHERE EVERYTHING IS EMBARRASSING CAME

xxp What movie is that gif from?

Actually fuck Ty Dolla $ign.

strong day

xxp What movie is that gif from?

― i stan corrected (morrisp), Wednesday, January 30, 2019 11:12 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the abyss iirc

I think something about the bass sound on "Smoko" bugged me a bit on first listen but I'm on board with the second listen. I like it well enough but this is just straight-up punk rock, right? It's ... interesting that it would be a 'viral hit' (acc to the Internet anyway).

I'd never heard Smoko before but if it's a viral hit, I would assume it's down to the video

Sometimes a song is more than its parts. All about the vocals/lyrics on too of garagey Fall-esque backdrop

Meanwhile I've been reduced to listening to all end. I guess it does have a few variations. Some sort of faint counterpoint has emerged 9 minutes in

I think my initial reading of the song was completely wrong. I’ll need to listen to it again now that I know what smoko means.

ok lol there's an oral history on it going viral: https://www.redbull.com/au-en/the-chats-smoko-interview

wait what did you think "smoko" meant?! xp

A red bull is the last thing I want during my smoko.

The song itself is as straightforward as a large sausage roll. Over a simple bass riff and the whiny shout of “I’m on Smoko”, it calls some of the yob factor of the Cosmic Psychos, the larrikin spirit of Dune Rats and, if you squint hard enough, some Eddy Current Suppression Ring-inspired riffs. “All of us have always loved those bands, so obviously our music is influenced by theirs," says Sandwith. “We’re also super influenced by bands such as Drunk Mums, Jurassic Nark and Mini Skirt.”

convinced they made those influencing bands up and refuse to believe otherwise

On third listen/video, "Smoko" should be #1.

"aah, what time is it?"
*from the background*
"is it SMOKO?!"

^^ excellent delivery on that part

I thought it was some kind of inhaled drug like synthetic marijuana or something. xxp

So much of this list is just different flavours of wishy-washy, like Xeroxes of the already Xeroxy bands that appeared at the end of the last season of Twin Peaks. ― Matt DC

77. Kali Uchis: like the sound but the hooks aren't hooking ― ciderpress
76. Red Velvet: Red Velvet have never been close to my favourite Kpop and again "nice" is about the maximum I can muster. ― emil.y
75. Laura Jean: isn’t my thing, but this is nicely done if not exactly thrilling. ― rob
74. Andrew WK: this one didn't do it for me like the old ones ― ciderpress
73. Helena Hauff: Gotta say i was weirdly nonplussed by the Hauff track; not getting much emotional resonance off it. ― Fuck the NRA (ulysses)
72. Drake: "comfortably ignored with an eye roll" is right ― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)
71. DJ Koze: isn't sad enough and is actually fairly boring. ― dyl
70. MGMT: This is alright. Tbh my attention drifted after the first couple minutes. ― rob
69. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: It's not unpleasant and has a hook but also doesn't seem that exceptional. ― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r)
68. Parquet Courts: "total football" is listenable but nothing i would ever intentionally come back to. ― Fuck the NRA (ulysses)
67. Mr Twin Sister: I listened to it, and can barely remember it a few minutes later. ― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles)
65. Soccer Mommy: I like the sentiment of the Soccer Mommy song a hell of a lot but the music leaves me cold ― emil.y
64. Fabiana Palladino: this also sounds like an indie song with listless vocals ― dyl
63. Toni Braxton: Toni Braxton is the sort of thing I just don't understand at all. There's nothing there for me. ― emil.y
62. Mewithoutyou: some nice guitar textures over dumb thudding drums with unremarkable vocals. ― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles)
61. Wizkid: don't hate it but wish i could say i liked it more, i'm sorry ― my name is leee john, for we are many (NickB)
58. Kim Petras: i like the splattery drum sound, but everything else is meh ― my tweet portal is whack (voodoo chili)
57. Jon Hopkins: kind of treads that line, where the music is well-constructed and has interesting qualities but overall it falls a little flat. ― mh
56. Christine & The Queens: this seems totally fine but i can't imagine ranking it as the best of anything! it is well done tho ― suggest boban (Will M.)
55. The Chats: reminds me of a bunch of local bands that'd have a song or two people could get behind, to the bewilderment of anyone who hadn't seen them before. ― mh
54. Talaboman: sadly i don't think i am as moved by superpitcher as i was ~10 years ago ― suggest boban (Will M.)
53. Mitski: i don't really "get" mitski in general (and this song in particular) but it seems to resonate with so many people whose tastes i appreciate that I kinda feel obliged to let it be. ― Fuck the NRA (ulysses)
52. Autechre: all end is fine in a monolithic way but as a lot of people said, absolutely not what I come to Autechre for. ― frame casual (dog latin)
48. The 1975: Completely inoffensive power ballad. ― Tuomas
45. MGMT: Lol, I guess ILX never stops loving sad photocopy synthpop! ― Tuomas
43. Beach House: So far most tracks strike me as adult and urbane. ― pomenitul
41. The Beths: beths album/song the epitomy of 6/10 decent indie. ― imago
40. Doja Cat: I mean it's no Nyan Cat is it? ― Matt DC
38. Simmy: like music you hear in an airport advising of the business possibilities in Shenzhen or Astana - saer
37. Hatchie: Judging by these results, most ILXors are mild-mannered, well-adjusted, reasonably content individuals whose emotional life is a flatline. ― pomenitul
35: Let's Eat Grandma: was taking too long to do anything. ― jmm
34: Tracey Thorn: obviously this song isn't bad, it just doesn't move me ― rob
33. Khalid: sounds nice but dying for some personality ― resident hack (Simon H.)
29. Marie Davidson: "Work It" just takes a bit too long to really get into things for me ― ufo

HOT TAKE - everything that's placed today is good. Even the Beach House song feels more interesting than they've been for a while. ― Matt DC

this turns the wheel

*thus

really liked some of today's tracks but man, ILX really seems to favor a particular aesthetic

pretty good post but not like astounding, best of the year or anything

On second listen, I somehow have it in my head that "Donnie Darko" is a synth-pop "N.W.R.A." Maybe that one-note organ line.

National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association?

Just dropping in to say I get why people latch onto "Donnie Darko" but for me there are at least 5 other songs on the Let's Eat Grandma album that are better.

there are 2 others on the album I expect to place