ILM's 2020 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD

Let's go!

The procedure is simple: enter your tracks and album ballots (up to 25 items on each), one item per line, in the appropriate fields. Use the form located here: https://forms.gle/5FEXdcBsXZu2tpLMAM. Please copy each line directly from the nominations list; do not number your ballot.

You can choose one of three ballot types, which determine how points are allocated to each item you vote for:

(1) Weighted: The first item on your ballot receives 50 points, the second receives 48 points, and so on, until the 25th item receives 2 points.

(2) Unweighted: Each item on your ballot receives 26 points.

(3) Mixed: To submit a mixed ballot, you must divide your ballot in two with an extra blank line. The upper portion of the ballot will be treated as weighted, with the first item receiving 50 points, and so on. The lower portion will be treated as unweighted, in that all items will receive the same number of points. The score allocated to items in the unweighted portion is calculated as 26 minus the number of items in the weighted portion (this is so that any weighted, unweighted or mixed ballot consisting of 25 items will allocate a total of exactly 650 points).

TRACK NOMINATIONS
On Google Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XAB83zR9T_vM63JWk-BL59MbFaD_l_UIliAhQUuF4T8/

ALBUM NOMINATIONS
On Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/JBkv6jCR
On Google Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mBgjDtpVECv9Hvd9B0kgXm_KlQlgx0otkI0OROLQAvk/

PLAYLISTS
Tracks: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3pvB14oQVKaNUwNViZAv00
Albums: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2bgWh3JqBlruDUwip7zp3S

Voting ends at MIDNIGHT PST on Friday, January 22nd, 2021.

(Pastebin wouldn't allow me to add the track noms as a public document because the track titles are too offensive)

Am I being dense or are you missing the link to the voting form?

we vote with our cyber implants now

anyway i had to nominate my favorite song of the year (grimes "delete forever") on the last day of nominations, so i'm hoping last year's silent "violence" majority are gonna help carry it through

i was also annoyed about having to nominate a great usher single ("bad habits")

I felt this way about no nominations for Kesha until yesterday.

"End of Daze" by Spillage Village is on the nominations list twice.

I made a thread for Keleketla!, you can check it out.
Rose Rouge is a song that keeps climbing on my ballot, gorgeous cause it's Jorja Smith, full of relaxed vibes because of the jazz bass - horns, grand because of the broad sound and all those flourishes.

Since it was nominated, I'm thinking of claiming year of impact going for Where I'm Coming From instead of I Spy / Stars Align. I might joint the person who said Mango for Sevana. Finally, I nominated 24K because it's a-ma-zing but Shook is clearly the hit. In the songs discovered through the nomination process, I'm tempted most by Damn Daniel, that's how you do a fun novelty pop hit. Spots are expensive but I might have Wizkid up to three times on my tracks ballot.

Still no idea what Jessie Ware or Dua Lipa track I'm voting for, just not Remember where you are (slow and lush and melancholic and crescendos with choirs no thank you).

For albums, I'll just say please include EPs and some jazz in your votes my good people ! And check that Keleketla! thread.

Oops! Can a mod add the voting link to the first post? https://forms.gle/5FEXdcBsXZu2tpLMA

Thanks emil.y!

Hope that edit's okay, let me know if you want anything changing.

lol I missed the entire noms thread, oh well

At this point I mostly just want Pharaoh Overlord to make it.

I've already done a big tracks booster post, which you might want to consider: The Pre-Poll Lobby - Tracks You Want People to Consider for ILM's Top 77 of 2020

There's a duplicate on the TRACKS spreadsheet
Disclosure - Mali Mali
Disclosure ft. Fatoumata Diawara - Douha (Mali Mali)
are exactly the same and not different versions.

Please dont forget 2020 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock Poll: NOMINATIONS Thread (open until the 8th of January 2021)

Sleeve you haven't missed those nominations.... yet ')

There's a duplicate on the TRACKS spreadsheet
Disclosure - Mali Mali
Disclosure ft. Fatoumata Diawara - Douha (Mali Mali)
are exactly the same and not different versions.

fixed

^^^ please do call out any duplicates you spot - I've removed all the easy ones but when the titles are different I can't catch them automatically

Okay, the track playlist is as complete as I can make it and closed. Let me know if there's something available that I missed?

1280 tracks seems actually LOW for any given year but maybe we went harder on albums this go round. I'm personally about 1/4 of the way through listening to the whole thing; hoping I can make it at least to the halfway mark before voting ends.

I was wondering how the numbers stacked up against other years, I kind of assumed they would be lower. I am hoping for some good enthusiastic participation, I need a bit of fun to counteract the bleak hellscape.

There were 1,260 track nominations and 1,070 album nominations last year, about the same #'s as this year. I've no doubt those numbers were much higher back when the board was more active though.

Just like last year, I made two Spotify playlists for all the (*very* broadly defined) African “pop” that has been nominated:

one for all the South African stuff: first the 47+1 nominated tracks and after that the 16 albums that were nominated (I counted the Keleketla! album Nabozo is championing as South African), 273 tracks in total, a lot more than last year. that’s 25 (!) hours of music to get lost in: lots of amapiano, some Limpopo house, a bit of gqom and of course several representatives of the House of Sun-El.

link: ILM 2020 EOY🇿🇦SOUTH AFRICAN NOMS

...and one for all the non-SA African stuff, 62 tracks and 18 albums, 279 tracks in total, about 16 hours of music, similar to last year.
I stretched “pop” to include Nyege Nyege, Tony Allen & Masekela (counted this one towards the non-SA side) and “African” to include Afro-Portuguese (by way of the UK and France) batida-makers DJ Danifox and Nídia. Oh, and Moroccan-French band Bab L’Bluz is there as well, because I like ‘em.

link: ILM 2020 EOY🔷AFROPOP NOMS

Please let me know if you think I forgot or overlooked something!

forks, looks like a batch of tracks were added twice on the playlist from CRJ's Stay Away to Kesha's High Road.

Also the entire Canshaker Pi album is on there (but don't know if that's because someone nominated every track)

voted

what good will do all of our campaigning do now?

Albums ballot submitted. I'll get working on tracks later this week.

I dunno, but I had no idea until I looked at the albums master list that Mimi Goese released a new album this year and decided to vote for it AS I was listening to it for the first time lol

xp

i pay attention to campaigning and tend to discover numerous things i like thru it but frankly nothing introduced to me this late in the game is likely to displace the songs i've been enjoying for a large portion of the year already from my ballot xp

forks, looks like a batch of tracks were added twice on the playlist from CRJ's Stay Away to Kesha's High Road.

Also the entire Canshaker Pi album is on there (but don't know if that's because someone nominated every track)

― groovypanda, Sunday, 3 January 2021 19:55 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk they sound like some pretty good duplicates to me

like, there's already an entire ballot-sized collection of songs that i thought would be shoo-ins that i'm sad about having to exclude b/c 25 songs is not a lot, it's highly doubtful something i learned about after new year's day is making its way in

albums would be another story b/c i'm not sure if i've even enjoyed as many albums as a lot of ppl here nominate every single year and consequently tend to leave my albums ballot blank, as i did again this year

I'm also about a 1/4 through listening to the playlist (phenomenal work as always, forks) and wanted to mention that silverfish's noms have been a high point so far. I saved like four tracks of those I didn't know (which was most).

silverfish is an Established Ally

Voting now.

Wow - no one was into that Jeff Tweedy record, huh?

There were 1,260 track nominations and 1,070 album nominations last year, about the same #'s as this year. I've no doubt those numbers were much higher back when the board was more active though.

― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Sunday, 3 January 2021 19:35 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Looking back, the nomination counts are pretty stable over time. Even in "big" years like 2013 - where the number of voters was (conservatively) 50% more than we'll get this year - the number of nominations wasn't that much higher (1510 tracks, 1060 albums). Though in 2013 the limit per person was 30, the "surprise" extra 10 towards the end of nominating was introduced by JF the following year.

Ballot submitted!

wow am I glad I have 2+ weeks for this, I haven't even started to engage w/the ILX noms after putting my own list together (40 new, 20 archival/reissue)

I can't believe "Delete Forever" wasn't nominated until the final day. There goes my prediction that it would win the poll.

I'll cross-reference my post in the Aya Nakamura / French rap thread and encourage people to listen to and vote for Lous and the Yakuza - Gore, which is the debut album by the Belgian-Congolese rapper, produced by El Guincho (known for his own work, as well as that with Rosalía). Dour and heavy, but inventive and thrilling at the same time, and the accompanying videos are wonderful.

Also on the album front, Carla J Easton - WEIRDO is more or less Carly Rae Jepsen (even the names have a similar cadence!) x CHVRCHES with the faintest traces of the Charly Bliss debut, so I'm surprised there isn't a 1000 page thread for it on here. A delightful record.

Without getting carried away and posting my whole ballot, I'll also gently encourage users to vote for:

Princesa Alba - Ya No Quieres Querereme, which is fabulous Chilean discopop that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Future Nostalgia;

Javiera Mena - Corazón astral, which, well, speaking of fabulous Chilean discopop...;

Pauline Chagne - Orange Sanguine, which is frothy fun in a Vendredi Sur Mer-vein;

NIKI - Switchblade, which is poised R&B from Indonesia;

RAYE - Love Of Your Life, which is, in a long string of singles from her over several years, perhaps the most faultless; and

Jayda G - Both Of Us, which I could see as a surprise winner in the vein of "Itgehane", so if that happens I just want to be on the record as being in the "it's a fucking banger" camp.

I can't believe "Delete Forever" wasn't nominated until the final day. There goes my prediction that it would win the poll.

It's safe to say I no longer have my finger on the ilm pulse, but does the larger ilm populace even fuck with Grimes anymore?

"violence" placed in the top twenty last year and a few of us liked her record this year yeah

i don't really check for her but i didn't know she put anything out this year

don't worry i'm sure she'll place, i had no idea about her music last year either

"violence" did quite well last year despite being a complete nothing of a song and there was still some decent enthusiasm for miss anthropocene as an album despite all her antics overshadowing it, though nowhere near that for art angels and visions. i was one of the ones who was very disappointed by it

the album will surely place but probably like in the 20s?

I was totally out of the loop this year, and it will be the first time in as long as I've been around here that I have no idea what anyone likes, where anything will place, and how many people are likely to vote and who they are. lol

she sucks but the record is good

I don’t fuck with Grimes anymore. I think Elon Musk is disgusting and she has become unpalatable by association.

Even if I separate art from artist I don’t hear too much I like in this album in particular. The mixing sounds off for me. Delete Forever is probably my favorite of the album but I just can’t get into it.

ok let's not repeat the grims discourse in the campaign thread, some ppl do not like it when their records sound like the inside of a vacuum cleaner, i get it, however i do

lol that really does sum it up

I love Miss Anthropocene but can’t really see voting for any of the tracks as singles; it’s a very “album-album” for me.

(or as “tracks,” whatever)

I'm also about a 1/4 through listening to the playlist (phenomenal work as always, forks) and wanted to mention that silverfish's noms have been a high point so far. I saved like four tracks of those I didn't know (which was most).

― tangenttangent, Sunday, January 3, 2021 5:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Thank you! I doubt that much of the stuff I nominated is going to place so I'm very happy some people are checking it out and enjoying it.

some ppl do not like it when their records sound like the inside of a vacuum cleaner

the "i accidentally washed my earbuds in my jeans pocket" mix

I don't know if I'll get anybody voting for it, but I still highly recommend watching this video of 'Firefly' by Hey String. It's so so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrBT4fR-81g

I'm going to be very boring and say "listen to and vote for clipping."

I'd say the same about Nate Wooley's 17 years in the making "ecstatic music" symphony featuring a wall of magnificently controlled noise and a 21-woman choir, it's really quite something.

This song was written pre-COVID but released in April and is 100 percent a 2020 mood. Waltz-time cynicism from a bunch of aging New Orleans garage rockers.

https://lukespurrallen.bandcamp.com/track/other-than-everything-everythings-great

For fans of the industrial batucada of Ninos du Brasil and Cut Hands, consider Kampala percussion ensemble Nihiloxica's Kaloli. The album's been mostly slept on in year end polling, but I think its held up. The video for Black Kaveera isn't a terrible entry point.

yeah, I only heard it for the first time a couple of days ago, but that Nihiloxica album is really good

Yes! I put that on my long-list just last night after isolated tracks had me all "nice, must listen to the album properly" for months.

want to give a shoutout to

Tafi & Green Door Allstars - Ghana Glasgow Fellowship

great African/electronic blend/collaboration

https://optimomusic.bandcamp.com/album/ghana-glasgow-friendship

Been playing Kate NV's album since it came out in June. Finally checked out a video, pretty great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NQIwVk4MQ

Going to check out lots of noms and vote last minute. Cheers

forks, looks like a batch of tracks were added twice on the playlist...Also the entire Canshaker Pi album

rummaged through and cleaned up the playlist, let me know if anyone finds twins on there?

To return to an earlier point: there are 1,25X songs on spotify from the nominations but actually 1,328 total nominations... so we've got more than last year apparently!

Tracks I didn't nominate and enjoyed hearing (mostly) for the first time in the playlist (so far, still working through it)

070 Shake - Guilty Conscience
Allie X, Mitski - Susie Save Your Love
Ana Roxanne - Suite Pour L'Invisible
Ana Tijoux - Antifa Dance
Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour

CLIPZ, Ms Banks, Ms Dynamite & Jaykae - Again
C Natty - Ojah
Coco Bryce - Ma Bae Be Luv
Crooked Man - This Time
Darkstar, John Talabot - Wolf (Euphoric mix)

Hayley Williams - Watch Me While I Bloom
India Jordan - For You
Jahvillani - Lizzad Pon Limb
Jazmine Sullivan - Lost One
Jorja Smith - Rose Rouge

Kairon, IRSE! - An Bat None
Katie Dey - Happiness
Keleketla!, Coldcut, Tony Allen etc. - Shepherd Song
Maeta, Buddy - Teen Scene
Masego, Don Toliver - Mystery Lady

I nominated the Allie X and Hayley Williams tracks and have also been impressed by the 070 Shake one and Jorja Smith cover.

Is the India Jordan track the one with the Chime sample? If so, quite like that one too

Favourite discovery for me so far is that Mildlfe track which is a massive Balearic psych jam and almost certainly going on my ballot

yeah, i liked that song too but i would say my "holy shit where has this been all year" finds are Viagra Boys "Ain't Nice" and Real Lies "Boss Trick"

Damn, I really messed up by not nominating 'Holy Mackarel' as a Dirty Projectors track, that was the domestically agreed upon song of the year in my house.

Didn't know there was a new DakhaBrakha album, cool.

Maeta, Buddy - Teen Scene

whooo (would love if more ppl take a listen to this!)

Although for some reason I couldn't get excited about putting together a tracks ballot so I didn't, it was all about albums and mixes this year.

I think I put the Nihiloxica up— it really is a stunning record.

i nommed black kaveera on the tracks i think. it's good running music!

Thanks nxd for nominating Op by Vic Bang - gorgeous bubblewrap! If I'd heard this before noms closed, I'd have found space for the album too

Shocked Eris Drew - Fluids of Emotion not nominated as a distinct track

Shocked I tell ya

'Transcendental Access Point' got nommed instead iirc

Exactly! I like both but would've voted for Fluids, thought that was the standout

likely voting for the ep

Started randomly browsing through the tracks playlist, so far the Weather Station is the one that I really need to check out.

Only a still image video, but just seen that this track I nominated is on youtube. Again, I don't think I'll get enough people voting for it to stand a chance of getting it in, but seriously, this track slaps so you should at least listen to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD9YHzvjZgY

heavy Muslimgauze vibes, cool

Also just spotted that Holodrum's 'No Dither' is on the nominations list, and was released on a comp this year, but I voted for it last year! Great track, though, whoever nominated it.

"End of Daze" by Spillage Village is on there twice. I don't believe there are two different versions of the song (I voted for Spillage Village ft. Earthgang & JID - End of Daze)

likely voting for the ep

― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 6 January 2021 17:53 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd love to but I think it's too strong a year to vote for a 3 track EP on my album ballot

'Transcendental Access Point' got nommed instead iirc

I knew someone would say that. I do like it, has a nice Fresh Fruit/Movin Melodies kind of sound

But Fluids is not remotely paint-by-numbers

I'm also going to advocate for Duma's self-titled, which is one of the most stunning experimental records of the year— black metal, power electronics, African club music. It's an unbelievable record, start to finish.

Thanks nxd for nominating Op by Vic Bang - gorgeous bubblewrap! If I'd heard this before noms closed, I'd have found space for the album too

I had a similar thought! I've listened to the album a ridiculous number of times since that nom. And put it in a text file of further album nominations which... ultimately went unsubmitted.

Anyone wants to recommend "bobbins" ? ILM's recs are usually very good and I only discover them during countdown

Sure, I can recommend a few of my favourite ones, just a moment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfOvx_10bDA
Park Hye Jin - No

I actually forgot to nominate this track specifically, but the EP it's from is on the album list and should be voted for. She has such a unique, energetic approach to house music, and the EP proved "I Don't Care" from a couple of years ago wasn't just a flash in the pan.

Sorry, I didn't mean to embed that, I'll try to put other recommendations as links only.

https://naivetrax.bandcamp.com/track/ilana-bryne-give-me-strength
Ilyna Bryne - Give Me Strength

This is my favourite straightforward house tune of the year, a funky, timelessly beautiful organ groove that keeps on growing throughout the track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13F_IS1AMqE
Nicole - Inside

This was the best debut bobbin I heard last year. Nicole is a 22-old producer from Georgia (the country, not the US state), this is from her first official release, and she already sounds quite assured. Some nice techno bleeps and whines with a banging beat, what's not to like?

Jeez, how do you link to a Youtube without embedding it? I tried both using the shorter youtu.be link and URL tags, I guess neither works?

I use "hxxp"

We should have a separate poll/countdown for tracks that saer has posted.

Anyway, speaking of debuts, Jasmine Infiniti's debut album Bxtch Släp is on the album list (nothing by her on the track list), and IMO it's a stunning maelstrom of classic Detroit techno synths and heavy, almost industrial beats. Here's a sample track (I should've probably nominated it separately).

on a bobbins-adjacent tip, i'd definitely recommend the K-Lone album 'Cape Cira'. it's very light, sunny-feeling, quasi-ambient music full of nature sounds (water, bird chirps) and organic percusion elements (the dense chime of wooden blocks, metal tinging on metal, the ringing of struck glass), and all carried along by evolving, dancing rhythms. if you've liked e.g. any of the records that music from memory have put out (gaussian curve, suso saiz) or any of the recent wave of japanese ambient reissues (say hiroshi yoshimura's 'green'), it's in that sort of dreamy zone. amazing record (from quite a young producer i think?). have listened to it a hell of a lot this year, it's been good company round the house

https://wisdomteethuk.bandcamp.com/album/k-lone-cape-cira-lp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PBxNklA8bY

on a much more sombre, sobering note, Pale Blue's 'I Walk Alone With Acid' is quite a harrowing portrait of female fear in a culture dominated by toxic masculinity, like a long stare into perpetual darkness. don't know if it's been discussed at all on ilm, but i'd definitely like to hear other people's opinions. it is pretty disturbing though imo, so trigger warning for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhf7_oXnIZU

sorry i should have hidden that video (mods plz?)

I want to mention that Tkay Maidza has been spitting fire for several years now and lies in this sweet spot between M.I.A., Santigold, and Azealia Banks while retaining her own voice/style and everyone should get up on that

vote for the true song of the year, you cowards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcyk7k5E4Rw

ahaha I might, o Jon <3

his hearts in the right place but his guitar should be impounded

Another vote for tkay, very weird that she has never quite gotten that next step boost but i am a fan since brontosaurus

on a bobbins-adjacent tip, i'd definitely recommend the K-Lone album 'Cape Cira'. it's very light, sunny-feeling, quasi-ambient music full of nature sounds (water, bird chirps) and organic percusion elements (the dense chime of wooden blocks, metal tinging on metal, the ringing of struck glass), and all carried along by evolving, dancing rhythms. if you've liked e.g. any of the records that music from memory have put out (gaussian curve, suso saiz) or any of the recent wave of japanese ambient reissues (say hiroshi yoshimura's 'green'), it's in that sort of dreamy zone. amazing record (from quite a young producer i think?). have listened to it a hell of a lot this year, it's been good company round the house

https://wisdomteethuk.bandcamp.com/album/k-lone-cape-cira-lp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PBxNklA8bY

― kites aren't fun (NickB)

Top 10 album of the year for me. The Yoshimura comparison is otm and also a great album!

re: tkay her major label debut album back in 2016 wasn't really her best work and didn't seem to get much of a push from the label either and it seems like that really killed her momentum so now she's building it back again

More laid back bobbins, this time from Bartosz Kruczyński who was behind the excellent Baltic Beat album a few years back and also records as The Phantom and Pejzaż as well as being one half of Ptaki.

He released two excellent albums as Earth Trax this year although only the second one, LP2, is nominated along with a couple of tracks

Earth Trax - The Complete Trance Induction

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61lLtH-v4LL._SY355_.jpg

CAM - The Otherside

The kind of album you feel in your guts should be huge. 'Diane' could've been a one-off miracle but instead this all killer no filler album makes so many cases for her pop meets country style, her amazing pop sensibilities and great voice. Big ass beautiful ballads, bangers and ABBA-likes (listen to What Beauty Means) blend together beautifully.

The perfect lockdown album, an uneasy mix of (according to the thread below) trip hop, Coil, a more ambient Sylvian/Eno take on the last These New Puritans, absolutely perfect self-isolation music, vague crespuscular labradford vibes crossed with a sort of deadpan dead c.-esque vocal delivery, Legendary Pink Dots, Pan American:

CS + Kreme - Snoopy

oh man how did i never listen to the cam album this year

I can't believe "Pig Feet" by Terrace Martin is not in the nomination list

Well, actually I can but that's a whole other thing

Listen to it anyway even if you can't vote for it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OMirbGvn8o

^amazing song that I've only managed to listen to a few times (my partner immediately made me turn it off when I tried to play it in the apt)

It is definitely weird that there's like 100 taylor swift songs nominated and not this...

haha!

the funny thing is that DJP actually nominated most of those!

don’t believe me just watch

nominating every taylor song was someone's idea of a gag

totally assumed someone else nominated "pig feet" whoops

Well, I do know the poll's audience

TRACKS
Tkay Maidza - Shook
Taylor Swift - The 1
Taylor Swift - Cardigan
Taylor Swift - The Last Great American Dynasty
Taylor Swift - My Tears Ricochet
Taylor Swift - Seven
Taylor Swift - This Is Me Trying
Taylor Swift - Illicit Affairs
Taylor Swift - Mad Woman
Taylor Swift - Epiphany
Taylor Swift - Betty
Taylor Swift - Peace
Taylor Swift - Hoax
Taylor Swift - The Lakes
Taylor Swift - Willow
Taylor Swift - Champagne Problems
Taylor Swift - Gold Rush
Taylor Swift - 'Tis the Damn Season
Taylor Swift - Tolerate It
Taylor Swift feat HAIM - No Body, No Crime
Taylor Swift - Happiness
Taylor Swift - Dorothea
Taylor Swift feat The National - Coney Island
Taylor Swift - Ivy
Taylor Swift - Cowboy Like Me
Taylor Swift - Long Story Short
Taylor Swift - Marjorie
Taylor Swift - Closure

ALBUMS
Jessie Reyez - BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US
IDLES - Ultra Mono

(30/30)

let the vote-splitting commence

― DJP, donderdag 24 december 2020 19:59

tbc, it was a brilliant move (however, if it actually results in one third of the 77 being Taylor songs I will retract this statement)

complaining that no one nominated something (which I, too, assumed had already been nominated tbh) when you used up all yr nominations Doing A Bit is a bit rich tbh

(much as I appreciate efforts to kneecap the Swift vote)

lol I guess my post was too subtle

Like I said, I know the poll's audience

(and no, your post wasn't subtle at all)

lol I guess my post was too subtle

it's a very good song

lol wtf no "Invisible String", no credibility on those TS noms

I love that so many artists got nominated who I'm very familiar with but had no idea they released music this year. like Blue Oyster Cult? who knew.

US Girls' "Overtime" got nominated but my vote will be going to Alex Frankel's disco remix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y8mBRKMhTA

Is it okay to send the album and track ballot separately?

I've done that in years past, so I hope so

Listening to the playlist and noticed Georgia's Started Out is on there which was also nominated in 2018 and again last year via the Tuff City Kids remix

Apparently it was released as an album track in 2020, though it came out as a single in 2018. But I agree it's pretty silly to have the same song on the nomination list for three year in a row.

Wouldn't have nominated it if I'd known it was that old and nominated before.

Would be cool to see Toni Braxton on the countdown again. This was the highlight of Disco '20 imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgA6hdK0gq4

Viagra Boys' "Ain't right" is a hell of an earworm

Ain’t nice, you mean?

a post that could be quoted out of context

with just a bit of tweaking

lol yes that is what I meant

9pm is my brain's bedtime

they just came out with an album this past friday

yeah it rules, discussion on their thread

I really screwed myself by not nomination more stuff this year (I know I CAN vote for them but....enh)

Have been enjoying going through the playlist over the last few days. My main discoveries are the Victoria Monét album. The whole thing is great, but Experience is quite something. Not sure how I slept on that one.

Also I've got a bit obsessed with The Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas remix of Apex by Jaga Jazzist. Probably my favourite Lindstrøm related track since Home Again. That switch-up half way through is incredible.

Monotony nominated a bunch of tracks that are all contenders that were new to me (I was terrible at keeping up this year). Love Of Your Life by RAYE, Promises by COY and Orange Sanguine by Pauline Chagne. Camera Flash by Jones is likely to be in my top five. Such a gorgeous funky track.

It's nice to find a bunch of new things to consider as at one point my list would have just been all the Jessie Ware and Charli XCX songs nominated.

As for things I nominated that probably won't get much traction, I'd like to give a shout out to the Better Person album which is a charming little sophisti-pop record that's insanely catchy. It kind of sounds like Rhye if they'd been more obsessed with China Crisis and Black instead of Sade.

A friend sent me the title track a few months ago and I keep getting it stuck in my head. It comes with this wonderfully low budget video. I could watch him awkwardly emoting all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl_7Tekeu4Q

Listening to Princess Nokia's Everything is Beautiful record and it's beautiful.

Not sure if I mentioned ITT but I counted down my 50 favourite tracks as a bedroom-based radio show, archived in the top three streams here: https://www.mixcloud.com/cframe/

Food for thought if anyone needs inspiration

I'd really like to see a few votes go to these:

Sarkodie - Oofeets
MC Waraba - Djoro (Bertha Vs. Sheitan Brothers Remix)
Saronde ft. Idd Aziz - Firewood

As for things I nominated that probably won't get much traction, I'd like to give a shout out to the Better Person album which is a charming little sophisti-pop record that's insanely catchy. It kind of sounds like Rhye if they'd been more obsessed with China Crisis and Black instead of Sade.

He reminds me a bit of Mark Hollis too, at least on this track. 'Dotknij Mnie' my pick from the album.

Also in anyone's not aware, the Alabaster dePlume record was an ambient-jazz-folk ILM sensation during early COVID:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I68NJaBkLs0

Dagny - Somebody: when you thought you didn't need any more Robyn/Jepsen-style synth epics and then one comes out with all the pieces in just the right places to still take you up high

I can state categorically that there will be at least one DePlume album on my ballot

Producer Park Moonchi's sound references layers of Korean pop history, moving between directly retro constellations (she's also part of a 90's styled girl group she produces), novelty leaning hits (like one produced for a leading Korean variety show this summer), 'serious' ballads and pop productions for idols that still reveal an infatuation with the 90s and.. the stuff released under her own name, which is retro, modern, silly, sentimental and everything at once, often featuring a regular clan of vocalist collaborators now known as 'Park Moonchi Universe' - most of them featuring on this delightful and irresistably catchy summer thing. Clumsy English subs available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIeahm_gz4M

(Called 'We're Cool' in the nominations list)

here are some k-pop tracks that surely have no chance of placing but i'll highlight anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ6ytIcJ-k4
XUM - "DDALALA" - a high intensity track with a heavy jersey club influence, has a pretty distinctive feel even in comparison to the few other recentish jersey club/pop crossovers like ciara's "level up"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8YW1tlsmE8
Sunmi - "pporappippam" - yet another 80s-esque shimmering synthpop/disco track but one that just gets everything right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P416UUerDVs
A.C.E. - "Goblin (Favorite Boys)" - a swaggering boy band track with intense synths, vaguely nu-metal guitars, and so many hooks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHikmx0eVXM
Weki Meki - "Cool" - exactly what its name suggests. i still haven't tired of this particular 'cool' girl-group sound in k-pop when it's done this well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD06B-5SsSE
Solar - "Spit it out" - apparently influenced by latin pop but to me it sounds like a pretty distinctive (and superior!) take on that country/folk/edm wave of ~2013 - it de-emphasises the acoustic guitar largely leaving dreamy synths to carry the country-esque melody

right after i typed my alexander deplume post, i went in for an MRI and they offered to play ported-in youtube music during the scan for me and i asked if they could play cy and lee and it made the whole experience almost enjoyable.

ugh i just realised i forgot to nominate the beths - "out of sight". must have seen that "dying to believe" was nominated and got mixed up somehow

I'd assumed that one had been nominated too - it's even on my draft ballot

If you're going to listen to one thing from my ballot, please listen to Dijf Sanders - Ravana.

Not really sure how to describe this track, it's pretty amazing and I more people should listen to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxthoCTcfDk

Also just noticed that in the nominations it says Djif Sanders instead of Dijf Sanders (my fault for making a typo in the nominations). Could somebody correct that please?

I've said it in few prior threads but the track i would beg everyone to listen to before they vote is "Yaz Abantu" by Gwamba and Mlindo the Vocalist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4afXKoaNIvA

If you're going to listen to one thing from my ballot, please listen to Dijf Sanders - Ravana.

This is wonderful. Fuck, I'm definitely making room for this. I've been trying to keep up the idea that this poll is going to be a big fun escape from everything but the world is so shit and I am so depressed and tired I was tempted to just throw a ballot containing nothing but my band and Scooter at it, but discoveries like this really help get my energy back up.

(I'm not actually voting for my band btw, it's Not The Done Thing, even though I'm so proud of that record and I'll be bummed out to not make any EoY lists at all)

I think my favorite discovery off the noms list so far is Hen Ogledd, "Trouble"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWghsLiZL5k

Strangely, the rest of the album leaves me cold! But this song, wow.

fwiw em, Slum of Legs is on my short list; I think you have enough hometown fans here to crack a 77... and if not, you're top 77 in my heart

Aww <3

Yeah I quite like that Hen Ogledd track too. Had just assumed they were some Welsh band in the mould of Melys so was surprised to find out Richard Dawson is a member. Haven't heard anything else by them though xps

I really like the Slum of Legs track on the playlist and will probably be making room for it on my ballot

SOL gonna be on my tracks ballot for sure

That Hen Ogledd track is a clear highlight of their album too yes

it's very difficult for me to pay attention to any of this but I will try to vote.

“Problem Child” by Hen Ogledd from their previous album was also #2 or 3 on my ballot a couple years ago.

lol ok so somebody added some christian audio book track to the Spotify playlist, "our healthily body conditions" from abraham's teachings - an introduction

lol, okay i am leaving that

that is nothing like what i expected hen ogledd to sound

Beatrice Dillon was not slept on by ILX but I want to put a good word in for "Workaround" anyway, in case anyone missed it: https://beatricedillon.bandcamp.com/album/workaround

Another lesson learned to pay more attention to nominations: how did one Kate NV track get in and not be Sayonara, Marafon 15 or Plans?

I reckon most people will just vote for the album instead

ballot submitted i think, computer glitch halfway thru' so fingers crossed it worked

cheers to silverfish for Jockstrap tip, not just that track but the whole record is great

I never actually got around to listening to the album, I guess I'll do that now

it is dead good

cuz the whole album ruuuules !

Wish i had nominated some though. I probably won't even vote in tracks unless i get to spend most of the weekend going through noms. Here's hoping.

it is good, it is weird

if anyone else is interested in hearing some intricate & elegiac fringe indie that almost nobody has heard of, i am obsessing over this today, the incredible spin-off sequel to a merely decent record that came out to greater notice earlier in the year

https://surfacetoairmissive.bandcamp.com/album/shellys-secret

i meant Kate NV. but i got to check more of these albums getting talked up

gonna vote soon, but first i wanted to rep for some rap songs i'm putting on my ballot

king von - "took her to the o": one of my fav story raps in a long while. it's hard not to hang on every word--von had a kind of controlled intensity on the mic not seen since dmx. it's harder to listen to now, since von's murder, but it's a remarkably well-crafted narrative, and chopsquad dj's whirling dervish of a beat gives the song a sense of paranoid intensity. and the story pays off, ending on a bleak bit of gallows humor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzt31eJTGxo

sada baby - "aktivated": effective, propulsive sample with a bug-eyed vocal. an anthem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q_a6gCou0E

rio da yung og & louie ray - "movie": quintessential michigan rap, two guys competing with one another to see who can be the most disrespectful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1ToRW0ip8

los & nutty - "i'm jus fuckin around": more tag-team michigan rap, this time both guys take an instrumental funky enough for '90s dj quik and fight so hard against the beat they prob got calls from vince mcmahon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtmK4owlW3Q

pg ra & jetsonmade - "keeping time": beautiful, subdued, street wisdom with booming 808s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PxRBDsCejU

42 dugg - "one of one" ft. babyface ray: sensing a theme here, another detroit duo. helluva is one of the smoothest producers around, combining detroit's propulsiveness with high-def west coast sheen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd5Qe5eW12s

brian brown - "runnin" ft. reaux marquez: soulful southern rap in the isaiah rashad mold with an understated earworm hook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05AxIXk1GCY

yg teck - "what you know": lyrics are poignant and reflective, but what i really love about this song is the bouncy piano and teck's prominent baltimore accent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLEPAI2-yFc

sorry didn't mean to embed, used to be that posting the short code would post as a url, not an embed

Another lesson learned to pay more attention to nominations: how did one Kate NV track get in and not be Sayonara, Marafon 15 or Plans?

― or something.

Would’ve voted for those. The one nommed isn’t a highlight for me.

sometimes you just need a song to get louder as it goes on. this just hits all my pleasure spots. apology if this is the wrong thread to campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE7vLPSfw6Q

2020 was obviously a great year for disco/post-disco and whilst ilx heavyweights Jessie, Dua, Roisin et al will be getting lots of love, the Horse Meat Disco album is also worthy of your attention, with this track featuring legend Kathy Sledge being one of the many highlights

Horse Meat Disco feat Kathy Sledge - Falling Deep In Love

just got to a slew of rob nominations on the playlist, all new to me, an excellent run. especially like govana,aidonia 'yeah man'.

*i only vote for stuff i heard pre nom period so i can't help these trax but they all seem like keepers to me.

(*I made an exception for the Slum of Legs album.)

cheers, oscar!
I basically follow the same not-new-to-me policy, as much to make ballot finalizing less of a nightmare as to reflect what *my* 2020 was actually like. tbh: with regret, I just couldn't muster the energy to comb the playlist this year

same tbh, I'll be doing well if I even get a ballot in

holy shit that Pet Shop Boys was 2020? god damn this year went slow

I voted. note to self: nominate more tracks next year!!!!!

Horse Meat Disco

holy shit

I really didn't spend any time here all year and am debating whether or not I will submit a ballot, but I hope Komplicerad by Miss Li gets some attention. To my ears it is basically 2020 Call Me Maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbsKcqVUd8w

I'm now on the good side of those who have voted ! Join us !

Voted last week but have since fallen heavily for the Mary Halvorson album: please give this love! It has a brace of impossibly cosy Robert Wyatt contributions! Top 10 in my heart.

Regrettably didn't get around to the Bug+Dis Fig or CS+Kreme albums until now either but both are really satisfying gloom.

Would love to see Echos by Beatriz Ferreyra place in the tracks list - no idea whether it got much attention here but it is crushing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0b-u69xdws

Voted! I have a feeling my tracks ballot is going to look deranged when I look at it after the rollout—what a year...

Voted... and have just realised I made a mistake on my albums ballot (put the wrong album by an artist with more than one on the noms list).

When's the deadline again?

Week today

just voted!

I hope Komplicerad by Miss Li gets some attention

There won't be space on my ballot, but I found this on the nominations playlist and saved it! Kind of reminds me of Every Night by Hannah Diamond.

37 ballots in, good job everyone, keep voting!

Voted last night! Felt less stressful than other years for some reason.

I Voted™

c+p from the earlier lobbying thread:
I am listening through to as many of the track nominations as I can until voting, organized alphabetically by song name. Lots of good stuff but here's the key new discoveries I'm loving

• 10K - Obongjayar (stompin')
• 12 Problems - Rapsody (missed this coming out, great track!)
• 150 - Porij (does the rest of their music sound like this? feels like it's in the Rhye/Bibio camp which is up my alley)
• 4 American Dollars - US Girls (first thing I've heard from her that won me over)
• 8 Melodies - Arthur (messy and nerdy)
• Ain't Nice - Viagra Boys (this is an anthem! might make my ballot!)
• Aktivated - Sada Baby (very effective sample)
• April Fools Day and Bugged - CS+ Kreme (i need to check this album out)
• Avaa hiukset, Medusa - Tienhaara (i'm always a sucker for folks playing in the diamanda galas kiddie pool)
• Avalanche - Aimee Mann (dang, so good)
• Back to It - Josie Dunne (total Meghan Trainor novelty vibes and yet this is really enjoyable)
• Bad Boy Tenor - Kiko Bun (never heard of this guy, very nice)
• Best Of - Hyroglifics (twitchy twitchy)
• Betty - Pa Salieu (i think i tried this once before some time ago but damn it landed now)
• Black Dog - Arlo Park (i think i heard 'Eugene' earlier this year and liked the sadgirl vibe; this follows suit)
• Body Bag - Ivorian Doll (slaps)
• Boris Johnson is a Fucking Cunt - The Kunts (does what it says on the label and doesn't overstay its welcome)
• Boss Trick - Real Lies (i've been obsessively replaying this and am more than a little embarrassed how much this got me in the >*f33lz*<)
• Box in My Head - Blue Oyster Cult (lol, very fun)
• Brand New Drop (Thys Remix) - Addison Groove (my beat, she is broken)
• Can't Hang - Suzanne (complex, full-bodied, spicy like a shiraz)
• Can You Do - The Aces (second song I fell for off this album in the past week; these guys deserve HAIM attention)
• Care - beabadoobee (i kinda hate her whole thing based on everything i've ever heard but this has a very Liz Phair vibe to it and afforded surprising access)
• Chaila - Denise Chaila (a fresh and enjoyable approach to the question of naming but i still wish she told me how to say hers!)
• Chambers Secrets - Julian Winding (orbital-esque, specifically "The Saint")
• Chicken with Waffles - Boof (woulda liked to have had this on deck over the summer but i imagine it will keep)
• Citations - Mildlife (i'll admit that I audibly groaned when the vocals started, but it was okay after all)
• The City - Jockstrap (hated this on my first two listens and then did a complete u-turn)
• Comme des Garcons - Rina Sawayama (never quite cracked this album but this is dope... indicative of the whole LP?)
• Concrete - Poppy (my gf stopped by and told me to turn this shit off and then it dropped into a different mode and she said 'well this part is okay' and then it switched back again and she just seemed confused)
• Confusion - Ellen Allien (you can put Madonna's Vogue over this, which is fun)
• Crash Pad - George Clanton and Nick Hexum (i had avoided this guy because of his terrible terrible name but this is a pleasant little trip down deep mood lane)
• Crazy - Kelly Rowland (damn, in full-on Beyonce voice huh)
• Dance II - Discovery Zone (don't mind me, I'm just gonna put on my reeboks and a pair of new jams and skip down this light-up sidewalk)
• Dawn Patol - Brothertiger (another one for the mellower days of that lost summer)
• Debbie Take Control of the Stereo - Helen Love (this is absolutely terrible, i love it)
• Decades - Wilma Archer (i keep wobbling about whether this is good or not which means it probably is)
• Dicked Down in Dallas - Trey Lewis (objectively terrible but I can't help but be impressed by which it says the quiet part loud; feels like I have THEY LIVE hearing aids in)
• Disco Man - Remi Wolf (this is ALSO absolutely terrible and i love it)
• Doves - Facta (burble, wurble, gurble, gerbil)
• Dreams of U and Me Above the Mezcal Moon - DJ Seinfeld (i had avoided this guy because of his terrible terrible name but this is a pleasant little trip into a patrick nagel painting)
• Drunk or Lonely - Maddie and Tae (i prefer Die from a Broken Heart, but this is solid)
• Dumelang - Malome Vector and Blaq Diamond (pretty sure I played once at one point in this year and then mislaid it stupidly, this is fire)

• Earth Note - Kush Jones (zip zop zip zop)
• Echos - Beatriz Ferreyra (gauzy mindfuck soundscape romp through the subconscious)
• Emcees - MC Yallah (frenetic old school throwback quadruple-tongued flow)-*
• End of Days - Spillage Village (shades of Stankonia and Trinity; i am now officially old enough where the throwback rap i dug in my twenties is getting thrownback to)
• End of the Nite - Elles (praise the DJ and pass the OJ)
• Essence and Eve Bounce (Remix) - Wizkid (never finished the album and this certainly makes me think i should have)
• Exist On - FIT Siegel (MORTAL KOMBAT dunnuhduhnuhduhnuhDUH)
• Exo, Get Outta Ma House - HENGE (Reminds me a bit of Adebisi Shank, all proggy and compressed and nerdy. lovely)
• Fall Again - Duval Timothy with Lil Silva and Melanie Faye (I got heavy into Duval this year after hearing Ball but the album I listened to was Brown Loop and not Help so this was a very pleasant surprise.
• Falling Deep in Love ("12 extended) - Horse Meat Disco with Kathy Sledge (a worthwhile addition to the avalanche of this year's disco revival tracks)
• Fantasy Baseball at the End of the World - John K Samson (good sad white guy music)
• Feel Right - Biig Piig (more disco joy, possibly the most outrageous "best song to worst band name ratio" on this list)
• Firefly - Hey String (one for the percussion noise nerds)
• Firewood - Saronde and Idd Aziz (perhaps a little mannered and "whirled music" for my taste but proof is very much in the pudding and this is good pudding)
• Flood - Material Girl (other tracks from the album left me cold but I like the dense vaporwave via Dilla vibe of this one a lot)
• Floodgates: Minimal Dub - Gage (better than a metronome in a pinch)
• Forgive Me - Scuba (lush retro neon dance)
• For Props - Yves Jarvis (like fennel this adds meaningful and unique flavor in measured dosage to a mix, the extended weird backmasky outro is a vibe)
• Fortune Teller - J Hus (have not cracked the album, clearly should)
• For Want of Gelt - Minor Science (SCIENCE!)
• For You - India Jordan (good call and response in one handy package)
• Fresh Laundry - Allie X (amazing shambala paean to simpler domesticity, definitely a major find!)
• Future Power Sourcers - Marlowe et al (great flow, great production)
• Going Down to Sing in Texas and How Long - Iris DeMent (good sad white lady music)
• Guinnevere - Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (dude's prolificity means I can't keep up with all the good music he makes so it's nice to bump into it in the wild)
• Hard to Forget - Sam Hunt (i wrote off Sam Hunt after "Body Like a Back Road" but this is absolutely demanding painful repeat listening right now and might make my ballot. Shane Mcanally is a god)
• Harvest Time - Charlotte Dos Santos (this is great, did I miss discussion of it on ILX in the past? Is the rest of the EP as good?)
• Highlander - TeeZandos (great flow, effective production)
• The Hive - Erik Griswold (buzzy buzzy)
• Hoes at Trader Joe's - Chris Crack (i appreciate its inclination to aim for pleasant)
• how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?// - KennyHoopla (interesting mix of modern sadboi and 80's sadboi)

i'm about 500 tracks into the list and getting a 57% hit rate. Will likely drift away in the next week or two but I'd like to do at least another 250 or so.

Essence and Eve Bounce (Remix) - Wizkid (never finished the album and this certainly makes me think i should have)

Fortune Teller - J Hus (have not cracked the album, clearly should)

Got about halfway into the wizkid before i got pulled a different direction and the J Hus is in the long term listen pile. i know it may not seem like it but i'm only human.

just do it and be a legend, forks!

lol, i'll get there

seandalai, can I re-submit my albums ballot? No worries if that causes too much hassle - just want to swap out an album near the bottom of my list for the one I meant to put down.

great discovery today: nauticult/signor benedick the moor - TOE T@G, a really fucked rap banger

also this talabot remix of pye corner audio bangs so hard, i swear if all bobbins banged this hard i would be a bobbins guy

you'd all best be voting for that Pantayo song too

seandalai, can I re-submit my albums ballot? No worries if that causes too much hassle - just want to swap out an album near the bottom of my list for the one I meant to put down.

― Gavin, Leeds, Sunday, 17 January 2021 21:12 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yep, just submit again

I really can't get over how beautiful that Shadow Community song is that's the third song on the playlist. Already regretting not putting it higher on my list as I keep going back to it.

I really can't get over how beautiful that Shadow Community song is that's the third song on the playlist

Seconded. Hadn't come across it before but it ended up in my top 10

shadow community is another alias of mid-air thief, whose 2018 album crumbling i really recommend if you want more in that vein

Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling (Korean prog/psych-folk)

yep, just submit again

― timber euros (seandalai), Monday, January 18, 2021 2:05 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Cool, thanks, have re-sent my ballots.

Thanks to oscar bravo for nominating the Yerin Baek album, I've been enjoying that one a lot. And glad to see you liked some of the tracks I nominated kitchen person!

glad to hear it! only stumbled across it myself because it was in the 'up next' box of smthg I was playing on YouTube and I thought the thumbnail looked interesting.

I can't remember who nominated it, but the Craven Faults record (Enclosures) is really doing it for me today.

Sort of a minimal techno take on the Berlin School? It's hypnotic. https://cravenfaults.bandcamp.com/album/enclosures

shadow community is another alias of mid-air thief, whose 2018 album crumbling i really recommend if you want more in that vein

Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling (Korean prog/psych-folk)

― ufo

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out today.

Really glad people are enjoying the Shadow Community track. :) And yeah, ufo otm - the Mid-Air Thief album is beautiful.

what's it called? I don't do spotify

lol I am only just now seeing this after months of neglecting ILM but I am legit surprised no one nominated the Lady Gaga or India Jordan albums!

India Jordan hasn't released an album, have they?

the Shadow Community song is called Restless Song btw!

India Jordan hasn't released an album, have they?

No, I think the 6-track EP from 2020 is the longest thing

The Gaga album was barely mentioned here, iirc

VOTED

three days left - keep voting!

I voted a couple weeks ago because I am an inveterate tinkerer and I don't have time for that this year.

Just sent an albums ballot.

i should probably start actually working on my ballot huh

lol same

it gonna be an 11th hour thing for me probably lol

same

Motion to up tracks votes to 50 for next year. No idea how I'm going to whittle my shortlist down to 25

expand ballots to 100 and make it the top 777 imo

i listened to so little new stuff this year and honestly forget what i even listened to and liked that i sadly will not be casting a ballot this year but i am very excited to follow the rollout and end up making a playlist of all of your great picks and listen to that for half of the year instead of music actually from 2021 so i can find myself in the same situation next january!

Motion to up tracks votes to 50 for next year. No idea how I'm going to whittle my shortlist down to 25

― groovypanda, Wednesday, 20 January 2021 18:43 (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's albums for me this year, I'm having to make swingeing cuts to genuine 5/5 records to narrow it down

lol xp

I listened to loads of new stuff last year and am still discovering a treasure trove of amazing music on that Spotify playlist.

i tend to just pick a time to do this and then my ballot reflect whatever i'm feeling in that moment rather than being some definitive scripture of WHAT I LIKED BEST. I dunno what I liked best! I liked lot of things best! I really need a top 50 albums and top 100 singles to feel even close to being comprehensive.

I’m discovering so much good stuff via the spotify tracks playlist so thank you all for that <3

Ultros, you should do a tracks ballot so you can vote for Vermin Mangle! Which, along with the rest of the Cardiacs discography, goes on Spotify TONIGHT, just in time for the last two days of voting :D

I too am thinking of only doing an albums ballot. I've no idea what to vote tracks wise.

On the other hand I found the impossibility of narrowing down the tracks ballot freeing. I knew there was no way to come up with an honest assessment so I just chucked 25 songs I love on there and called it a day

yeah, like every year I try to overthink this and try to come up with the perfect ballot, get frustrated because it is actually impossible to rank music so just semi-randomly list the songs I think I like most on that day. At least this year I gave up pretty early and wasted less of my time.

Imago that's a good point, I never even looked at the track noms. I'll get on it

just semi-randomly list the songs I think I like most on that day

ha otm. this was easily my least strategic, most fruitlessly partisan tracks ballot ever

I did adopt the old Lex rule of not voting for tracks off of albums I voted for (with one exception). That freed up a good bit of space.

I usually abide by that but ended up breaking it a couple times this year

i'm straight up angry that i didn't discover dadi freyr's "think about things" until today, i love this ridiculous shit

forks, noticing that the young dolph song on the spotify playlist is by something called "dj lil rubin." should be this one: https://open.spotify.com/album/6A0oDDWAJwFxzD2YQwmp0U?si=4dQyUuVORy-_tDVnvdW93w

got it

~36 hours left hop hop hop!

I fucked up my album ballot a bit by mixing it but then forgetting to rank the top half properly tho really I had no particular standout favourite last year (not for the first time but still pretty rare) so will be interested to see if my #1 is uniquely so (would expect it to place in the lower half of the 77 either way).

Omg just realised the deadline for this is approaching fast. I still have a fifth of the tracks playlist left to hear...implementing the 'five second rule'.

All right my tracks ballot's been sent. Must admit that I didn't do any extra listening and there's a huge amount of stuff I didn't get to this year.

okay, voted! Gonna keep listening though, up to "J" in the song names!

dang, i forgot to nominate stuff this year so there were so many tracks i couldn't vote for. now I've gotta vote for a track called Now That's What I Jack Off About! instead

i will note that I'm annoyed no one nominated Cookie Kawaii's "Vibe" as a track because I wanted to vote for it!

Voted! Couldn't face a tracks ballot in the end.

xp what? that was my track of the year, not that I heard many tbh

not that I'm voting this year anyway

Vermin Mangle isn't on Spotify - only Cardiacs' full albums are, alas. But you should all still vote for it!!!!

Think I've made all my decisions. Gonna marinate over them and then send later

Voted! I missed the nomination period this year so I had to gut my personal list down. Still excited to see the results.

Albums done

Tracks have a shortlist of about 100 with over 40 definites so cutting it to 25 is going to be absolutely brutal - might have to go the strategic hivemind route and leave in the ones I think have the best chances of placing

one track per artist rule usually helps

Fuck it. Voted

If you're only going to vote for two records titled La vita nuova in the albums poll this year, please consider making them the ones by Maria McKee and Christine & the Queens!

Voted.

i hit a point in submitting my ballot where it was more or less the things i listened to chronologically first on the albums list that made the cut and vice versa for tracks. Anyways! No one is going to be angry if you change your mind tomorrow; the world will little note nor long remember what we say here.

Aye. Semi-random is pretty much inevitable in both inclusion and ranking within individual ballots, the best remedy is wide representation of ballots.

My albums ballot was fairly well considered, and then I half assed my tracks list and still couldn't manage to pick 25 that I actually liked.

had the genius idea of sorting the tracks nominations playlist by length so that it was easy to isolate the bobbins stuff i missed last year, having a great time

okay, i just hit carl stone and imago did you nominate this?
No shade, i'm liking it.

i did not! don't even know what it is...

oh, well listen to it then! it made me think of you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPm5OPVKarw

ohhhhhh wait i do know this, tangenttangent saved it to a playlist of finds, yeah it's pretty cool

n.b. for all you worried collusion-counters out there: we are no longer collaborating ballots at least, having last year transcended the plane of mere 'relationship' to become 'ilxor chums', the highest state. still expecting some overlap mind

Carl Stone is excellent fwiw

tracks I liked:

Janelle Monae
that "Weedman" track
Plone
Blackpink "Pretty Savage"

Carl stone’s radio show changed my life in high school

I have “bugsnax” caught in my head this morning <3

I’ve got 26 tracks and not sure which one to cut, man my life sucks lol

voted!

sorry if any special characters have been smudged, have to send via my work computer to my phone and back again due to firewalls x

i had 27 and extremely brutally got rid of two that would a) never place and b) were from albums i'm also voting for

Yeah I cut a few of my favourite tracks from the year because I was also voting for the album.

neither were cut from my top ten though. i wouldn't do that

Ah god. I'm getting there, just about. I am scrapping the "don't vote for the same artist in both polls" thing I've been doing for the past few years as there are a few things I want to rep for in both places. But it's doing me bloody nut in m8s.

oh yeah there are a few unavoidable ones, that's never been a rule for me

ohhhhhh wait i do know this, tangenttangent saved it to a playlist of finds, yeah it's pretty cool

― imago, Friday, 22 January 2021 17:40 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

It was like the top of that playlist! The Carl Stone is p much one of the best things I've found.

Last minute rep for the Jean Dawson album! It's half hour long and extremely infectious if you are inclined to enjoy top tier glitchy emo rap.

This has to be done tonight? 10 is looking a stretch at this point anything friendly records out there?

Last minute rep for that one Klô Pelgag track, which is like a giant swirling dream of French classic pop, indie folk and new romantic synths that a certain ilxor happens to feature on quite prominently

voted

Feeling very sad about bumping off of some of my own nominations right now. They definitely needed to be options but it feels like a waste.

oh yeah the two I bumped last-minute were my own nominations. you need to be able to kill yr babies. so sad

Voted! Tracks only, I just ran out of time to listen to the album noms and my album listening has been sparse enough this year that I think I could only put 4 or 5 on there I was really excited about.

That was tough, but I was able to whittle it up to 7 in the end!

I mean 8. I think it was 8 the screen was far away

I nominated the Carl Stone track. Have been going through some of his earlier stuff this last week. This guy has been putting out some amazing stuff for a while.

I liked the album a lot, just didn't vote for it since I didn't listen to it in 2020.

ok voted. early for me!

so glad the deadline here is midnight PST, I can do this

I really regret not nominating this year, lotta stuff I dug didn't make it

e.g. where the fuck is the Alex Dowling album

I would have broken my "don't vote for things you didn't actually hear in 2020" rule for this had it been nominated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFqhJyvly1g

this year I just voted for the 25 traxs I nommed so it went v smoothly. and I listened to less than 15 whole albums during the entire year so that went well too.

Ballots submitted. Predictably feel happier with my albums choices than with tracks. Thanks to everyone who nominated and campaigned though, have ended up with loads of fun new finds which I'll be going back to even if they didn't make my final ballot.

Broke my one song per artist rule with Taylor but I kept it to one per album!

voted. lotsa tracks i was counting on y’all to nominate that didn’t make it. first year I do mixed ballots—fun! excited for results, thx to poll runners

Argh, okay, I voted. Not entirely happy with the ordering but I ended up fiddling too much and needed to just send. It is done.

I, too, have also voted

So I was listening to the nominations playlist and a track came on by a band called ROAM with very strong emo-American accents. I thought 'I bet they're from Southampton' (I loved the track ofc) and looked them up to discover they are in fact from my hometown! But then I checked the nominations thread and no one had nominated it. ARG trailhead?

voted!

just looking at this for the first time and this is uh, quirky?

CS + Kreme - Snoopy/howwouldyoufeelwithoutthatthought

two totally different releases with two totally different catalogue numbers. they've got nothing to do with each other afaict? have a feeling this one will make the 77 too, so this probably needs sorting imo

howwouldyoufeelwithoutthatthought is referred to as an "epilogue" to snoopy on bandcamp, but yeah, it did strike me as a little odd

if enough ilxors vote for literally two songs in a big trenchcoat to get them into the 77 it's time to shut this place down

it's an album and an EP grouped together

it's an album and an EP (in a big trenchcoat)

lol xp

oh!! haha well let's scale the trenchcoat up a bit yes

also slightly worried that tangent will be reduced to wandering the streets of her hometown looking for a fictional emo band, sort it out forks/seandalai lol

tbh grouping an album and an ep is more forgivable and if the artist regards them as of a piece then idk

yeah i feel marginally better knowing that but it's still making me oc cranky

would any fellow stragglers appreciate some last minute campaigning

Can’t wait to see eMcimbini win Song of the year. Good going, ilm!

Brad, you know which track I need you to vote for

Voted!

- "jazzidisciples (zlele)" is the amapiano track that totally deserves to top the 77 and i hope it gets close
- yone-ko's "strip down to e" is the best opening to a workshop release i've ever heard, great ghostly house, the piano is like an eroded layer of paint on a weatherbeaten building
- tiana major9's "same space" and jenevieve's "baby powder were two songs that took my breath away on impact, the former for being a babyface-quality acoustic quiet storm sigh and the latter for feeling like the air in the middle of the summer as you're lifting yourself through the window of a moving car
- more essential r&b, one a nimbus of synths, the other arriving in a time machine from 1997: justine sky "million days", jayla darden "demonstration"
- my favorite rap songs of the year were popp hunna's "adderall (corvette corvette)" (glowing and melodic) and rio da yung og x louie ray "movie" (blown-out and relentless)

lj i have no idea what that track is and i guarantee you i don't have room for it

major co-sign on "movie," which i voted for.

Eek, I'm sorry - I fucked up my albums ballot. Resubmitting now - hope that's okay seandalai.

YAZ ABANTU goddammit

Actually, I resubmitted tracks and albums both to be on the safe side. Apologies.

i have registered my preferences

- *"jazzidisciples (zlele)"🕸* is the amapiano track that totally deserves to top the 77 and i hope it gets close

I think LJ is thinking of "badlands"

Can’t wait to see eMcimbini win Song of the year. Good going, ilm!

YAZ ABANTU goddammit

there’s also this little song called “Jerusalema” by Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode that everyone should vote for

I think LJ is thinking of "badlands"

― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Saturday, 23 January 2021 00:30 (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

u think correctly

voted

oh shit i actually really should vote for "badlands"

there’s also this little song called “Jerusalema” by Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode that everyone should vote for

― partyin' maskless with Rudy G. and Vanilla Ice, it's a gas gas gas (breastcrawl), Friday, January 22, 2021 5:32 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

heard this today and it's fantastique

my favorite discovery from today however was daliwonga's "my boo". i'm starting to become a purist who's like "if i didn't have a moment with this song in 2020 should it really be on my ballot????" but... in this case....

let's say 12 hours to go now

there’s also this little song called “Jerusalema” by Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode that everyone should vote for

― partyin' maskless with Rudy G. and Vanilla Ice, it's a gas gas gas (breastcrawl), Friday, January 22, 2021 5:32 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

heard this today and it's fantastique

i'm about to submit my ballots and i feel pretty good about them!!!! doesn't happen every time

Voted! So many good tracks nommed this year, well done all.

Voted! My tracks album is awesome

track ballot lol. it’s been a week.

voted!!!!!!!!!!

https://cms-static.wehaacdn.com/hoards-com/images/vote-sticker.14891.jpg

I voted!

Springsteen album title is wrong on the list, but I used what was there.

voted, what a weird year

This is the first year, maybe ever, I didn't max out my tracks ballot. Only did 20 out of 25. Surprised my albums ballot got all the way to 25 tbh.

Anyway, they're both in now. EOY team gonna roll out the best music poll on the internet as usual. Thanks in advance!

(p.s. seandalai, can you email me my albums ballot? I forgot to save a copy when I submitted it.)

scratch that request...I found it!

I voted

I had a hard time cutting albums from 50-70 down to 25. Let's just say no album out of South Africa made my list and that's insane given the releases.

Heck, I typically missed voting, so I’m gonna pour one out for Sleaford Mods’ Mork and Mindy and cross my fingers for We Live Here to go all the way

voting is open until seandalai says it's shut iirc. think you still have time

I've just submitted my ballot :)

yep, still a bit of time to vote

any stragglers should get a move on though

Will have mine in before 11gmt

Done!

I'm weighing up a last-minute tracks ballot change-up...

Oh but it would involve dropping one thing 6 points though and if that takes it out of the 77 I can never forgive myself

going to shut it down in about 10 minutes - anyone who still wants to submit speak now

I have resubmitted with one change. If that change (and removal of 6 points from my erstwhile #1) results in said song departing the 77, PLEASE DISREGARD lol

lmao

I'm serious :D

ok we're done here - tracks results will roll out next week

Awesome. Can't wait.

And many thanks

Yeah super work as ever seandalai!

Got a late request from gaudio - I've reopened the voting form but make it quick!

gaudete more like

thanks seandalai!!! voted

Hey seandalai I forgot to vote too! will csat my ballot very quickly!!

voted.

ballots received - proceedings are closed for real now

ah okay! dang

ok ok go ahead

:)

i also forgot to nominate anything so i put all my write-ins on the bottom half of a mixed ballot -- if it's easier just to chop em off that's totally fine. so sorry about inconvenience !!

got it and counted (except for the write-ins, sorry - too late for that)

thanks so much seandalai - i owe you one

Phew, crut et al, under the wire!

I feel like I've got a fair idea of what will be high in albums but no clue about tracks (unless it's all the Tyl0r Sw4ft tracks DJP nominated). Hmm hmm.

ty seandalai!

kicking myself for totally spacing on this. been a rough week.

Okay, we're live!
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2020

whaatt?

thought we’d be starting on Monday?

we are. clearing the runway.

...easing back into Sunday afternoon mood...