ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

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

uh oh

("Hot Pink", "It's Not Just Me", "Falling Into Me", "I Will Be Waiting", "Cool & Collected"; I exclude "Whitewater" solely on the technicality of being an instrumental and thus not a song by strict definition but that is on my list, too)

MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN/
so what do you think is definitely showing up in the top 28?
/MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Some things I don't care that much about, some things I've never heard of that a subsection of the site has been geeking out over all year, and Janelle Monae

damn, did i share the google doc with you accidentally?

there are 2 others on the album I expect to place

― resident hack (Simon H.), Wednesday, January 30, 2019 1:45 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

can a mod undelete Simon's poll

lol

lol

Lala Belu by Hailu Mergia better fucking place says the guy who forgot to vote

I feel Monáe is gonna suffer from vote splitting, but in her case it's understandable, because every song on the album is just so good. I felt really bad voting for just one tune of hers, but I did want to get other things in my ballot too.

nah "Makes Me Feel" is a shoo-in

And the album itself is most likely gonna win the other poll anyway.

No it isn't

Not that I'd resent it winning, but there are things ILX loves more

nah "Makes Me Feel" is a shoo-in

Hah, that was the first one I culled from my ballot when I started cutting down her songs, because even though it's fucking awesome, it's also a bit too blatantly a Prince pastiche.

I feel pretty sure the Mergia album will place, but a track seems doubtful

I wouldn't be surprised to see both "Makes Me Feel" and "Pynk"

Yeahhhhh, two from my ballot now! I didn't get on with the Marie Davidson album as much as her earlier stuff and it dropped off my albums list, but 'Work It' fucking bangs.

Did Octo Octa have something place another year? I have a feeling there was a track by them her that grabbed me more than this one, where I was mostly waiting for something to happen, pretty though the sounds are.

(scratch the 'them', wasn't sure if it was a group but then fact-checked for myself)

think she had a top 20 two years back

rob, Hailu's album is terrific but the title track is an ANTHEM

The Avalon Emerson remix of "Adrift" placed last year, emil.y

the 'see you later' at the end of 'Work It' feels like a THE END at the end of a book report. also, it reminds me of mu, which is cool.

yea I'm kinda surprised we didn't get a glut of Monae tracks around #40 or whatever. It doesn't really have a standout track...my favorite is probably "I Got the Juice" which I gather people don't like. "Make Me Feel" is probably gonna Top 10 though

not certain another let's eat grandma track will place but hey i was wrong about mgmt

"make me feel" is pretty definite but i don't think anything else from the janelle record will make it

there's a strong possibility everything in my top ten will place lol

How many already have?

four, but i expect the remaining six to have some impact, give or take

I think at least 1 other Beach House track will show up, and I wouldn't be surprised by a 3rd from MGMT.

(the four are "otw" "silky" "heart to break" and the "dins el llit" remix) xp

The Avalon Emerson remix of "Adrift" placed last year, emil.y

― Number None, Wednesday, January 30, 2019 7:06 PM (thirteen minutes ago)

Listening to this now and I think I prefer 'Beam Me Up'. Possibly if I did have a better reaction to this one at the time it was b/c of the surrounding tracks. Think I'd like BMU better if it was the low-key track in among different-sounding things, but it seems very much-of-a-muchness with the rest of the poll.

i didn't vote in time, and as usual i feel like a forest animal staring blankly through a window into a heated living room

but, if that Beths song placed upthread, i would assume that 'future me hates me' has yet to place, because that's one of the catchiest songs this decade has produced so far. 'great no one' too.

speaking of indie schmindie, the preoccupations album was uneven but 'disarray' is low-key one of the best songs of the year. don't think that one will place, though.

Valee Womp Womp, Donato Dozzy and Octo Octa were all pleasant enough, and i guess Simmy was alright. There was some more of that photocopier music for dead people earlier but I had to go out and now I can't remember what it was, which is ok because remembering things is for bureaucrats and cops

silky bumps

Think I'd like BMU better if it was the low-key track in among different-sounding things, but it seems very much-of-a-muchness with the rest of the poll.

octo octa is pretty consistently great for my money, album placed #15 last year.

btw, this is a useful thread to have bookmarked:
The ILX List of Lists

hahhaha i really tried not to be negative in my blurbs buti still made the negative blurb allstar list oh no

Twice!

I may be misremembering, but I think both the original version of Octo Octa's "Adrift" and the Avalon Emerson remix were on the ballot, and were counted together. I voted for the original, which is very different and which still sounds great to me