ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018

my sound engineer friend wouldn't stfu about how good the production on this album was this year. i don't really have an ear for that, but it really does sound incredible

the whole Kacey Musgraves album sounded extremely good this past summer, it soundtracked a lot of sunset drives around L.A. for me.

xp
well what confused me was what emil.y pointed out: it's quite old at this point so I didn't get why it would be under contention for this year

"love is a wild thing" would have been my musgraves track vote

Feel like the whole TIA thing is going to be like when we were predicting Gangnam Style would miss the 77 altogether and then it went straight into the top 10.

Love to see gr80 back for this! \m/

Lol at the 1975 double whammy

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

20: Empress Of – “When I’m With Him” – 282 points – 10 votes
video

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=26271

Los Angeles is an inherently isolating city, with every neighborhood splattered across its sprawl and a commute culture consisting of personal transportation boxes. Even natives can’t help but feel disconnected from the city that birthed them, one that can’t help but push its people away. “When I’m With Him” is, by itself, a masterful exploration of loneliness in love; the panic attack toms and prom-ready synth glaze make your heart feel like it’s trapped in amber, while Lorely Rodriguez’s weathered wail reaches out through the darkness. But watching Rodriguez smolder through the streets where I grew up in the song’s video only deepens “With Him”’s resonance, especially after several years away. You can live inside L.A. your whole life and still feel like an outsider. Watching it through that lens, Empress Of’s pointed Spanish asides cut even deeper: “I distance myself more and you can’t see it.” There’s nothing more crushing than giving all of yourself to something that doesn’t need you. – Julian Axelrod

Since long before I was old enough to understand it, September has filled me with a penetrating, intangible malaise — the watery sun, receding daylight hours, florid leaves (magnificent, but undeniably terminal). “When I’m With Him” captures this soft decay exquisitely. Set against a fuzzy, sepia-hued drift, Rodriguez sings of the autumn of a relationship; the inexplicable, irreversible atrophy of romantic feelings. It’s a close cousin of Solange’s “Losing You,” and like Solange, Rodriguez’s timbre is one of resignation, undercut with a profound sadness; listen for the beautiful, poignant waver on “trying but don’t know why-y-y” in the middle eight. She’s submitting to the change of season, but still reluctant to let go of the vestiges of the one that’s already disappearing into the rearview. – Vikram Joseph

hmm, too high

yeah

perfectly fine shambhala but i wish it did something more with the bridge? but yeah this feels too high

kind of a nothing chorus imo but nice enough

It’s a close cousin of Solange’s “Losing You,”

accounts somewhat for my weird indifference to it despite it containing a lot of stylistic flourishes i love

Is this a Dev Hynes production? Kind of sounds like it.

Best part of "Slow Burn" is obv. when it opens up in the 2nd verse

no, but hynes does contribute to the album it's from xp

it's a better version of the one song Dev Hynes wrote a lot of times, mostly because the drums are a little better, but he's not involved here

Is this drippy Instagram filter shit? On paper it certainly sounds like it.

it reminds me of Haim's Falling, but without a chorus

actually i still probably wouldn't rate it over "Losing You" or "Everything is Embarrassing" but i do like that it doesn't have Dev's One Drum Loop Forever thing

After listening to the Song Exploder episode on this song, I realized that most of the stuff I like about this song comes from the beat/loop that it's based on, which was written by some dude named Jim-E Stack.

we're all glad I don't have earphones rn

All the good Empress Of songs over the last 6 years and this is the one that finally places? You guys.

There's a good Song Exploder episode about "When I'm With Him":
http://songexploder.net/empress-of

Even though it feels a little cookie-cutter, I still like it a lot.

(oops, x-post!)

I voted for this one but now even I agree it’s too high. I love it though

It’s a close cousin of Solange’s “Losing You,”

accounts somewhat for my weird indifference to it despite it containing a lot of stylistic flourishes i love

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, January 31, 2019 5:54 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's a distant cousin at best, and also nowhere near as brilliant as Losing You.

It's funny to have Slow Burn followed up by this dross.

I like not knowing what Baby Shark is. I do even own a smart TV.

"losing you" p easily the critically beloved song of the past decade that i dislike the most, we don't have to talk about it

good tune

why would ppl vote for baby shark tho, is ilm for babies now

are you all babies?????????? i'm gonna cyberbully fuckin all of you if that song is in the top 10

JF otm, i was really let down by Empress Of last year and even though this was the only good song on the album it's the least interesting she's ever been

i would vote for boban shark

xp

Still got time for Empress Of - preferred the previous album but the part-Spanish 'Trust Me Baby' has been stuck in my head a lot.

we're all glad I don't have earphones rn

Jelly.

this is dope... it sounds like solange's EP

boban shark would be an entirely different situation, that sounds sick and cool and for adults

so, about that...

http://i.imgur.com/0WVlkZt.jpg

19: Pinkfong – “Baby Shark” - 282 points – 10 votes – 1 first place vote
video

Pray to your chosen gods that your child never finds the Pinkfong channel on YouTube. Do it with all your heart. – jjjusten

Yesssss

ahahahaha awesome

If this is real then I am so mad

Perfect visual design on top of it.

weird time to introduce the fake out forks

"1 first place vote"

IT'S THE END

finally some actual music

though I ride for the "Bounce Patrol" version

easily my most listened to song of the year. you think you guys get hung up on a track, wait till you have a 4 year old

it was pretty annoying when i heard someone play this on bagpipes in public