ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2021

Beyond the very personal things 2021 was to you, it was almost everyone’s first start-to-finish 365-day pandemic year. For some, that meant work from home and blasting every new song the instant it was available. Some of us hunkered down and made the transition away from music and into news or podcasts or, god forbid, silence. Some of us took first steps to begin making our own art, some eked out a creative practice, some of us stopped doing much of anything. We went to the clubs masked and unmasked or didn’t go out except the once. We invited friends to zoom with their children or come by with three bottles of vodka on the patio. We lived and we listened, waiting for the sound of the all-clear. We're still waiting. In the meantime, here’s what we heard.

ILM’s population has been steadily dwindling this past decade, leading to a relatively slim (but numerically auspicious) 77 votes in this year’s top tracks poll. Discussion in our pregame thread suggests a number of reasons in addition to board recidivism: pandemic venue closings providing less opportunity to discover, the death of journalism leading to lack of critical consensus, the streaming shift allowing for more exploration of the old and the comfortable rather than hunting for the new and - of course - general plague-era weltschmerz and ennui.

Nonetheless, I’m willing to devote a great many hours to providing voice for this exercise because the rewards remain rich. Our core community, diminished though it may be, still thrives with genre specialists, performers, writers, composers, music industry professionals and committed dilettantes. We collectively voted for over 800 songs that one of us would argue was as good as anything they’d heard in 2021, which makes for at least a month of ecstatic listening. As far as end-of-year roundups go, I believe ours is still diverse and excellent enough to remain a vital recommendation engine and a portal to a continued world of audio delight and surprise. Likely a few Chunkys as well.

To that end, I feel the need to strongly recommend that you not read the following list of “winners” as some sort of frozen canon, but instead as a slice of ice-cream cake, a tasty and manageable part of a bigger and impossible-to-stomach confection that represents best and worst only within the boundaries of individual personal taste. Even the most sublime rocky road is a poor pistachio for many folks, so you might do well to prepare yourself for the inevitable rocky road ahead with good grace.

Thanks for taking the time to contribute, to read, to listen, to share and criticize, illuminate and boogie, to revel and bitch, moan and gloat. I hope something here brings you the shock of recognition that someone else hears what you hear and the knowledge that you’re very much not alone.

This is the Top 177 Tracks of 2020 Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ph4fIGFYYwb9WRJNpLYFw

This is the Top 77 Tracks of 2020 Tidal Playlist:
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/6598cb38-9849-40ce-affb-cbb8e0985e55

This is the Top 77 Tracks of 2020 YouTube Music Playlist:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMDNL_GkSTFY9hnaVvyiWGy75UVzv19XI

This is the Top 77 Tracks of 2020 Apple Music Playlist:
https://music.apple.com/dk/playlist/ilm-top-77-tracks-of-2021/pl.u-BNA6rvRTKoKgB?l=da

I am acutely aware of the ethics of artist economics with regard to streaming music and the knuckleheaded frustration of Continuing with Spotify? in particular. Ease of use, invested time and inertia mean we're routing playlisting through Doctor Ek's Death Machine as a preferred service for the current year at least. If anyone wants to build a matching Amazon Music / Utopian Celestial Jukebox Without Corporate Ownership playlist, it would absolutely be more than welcome. Feel free to post those here. No motherfucking NFTs please.

In case you’d like to listen to the talent pool, here’s the Nearly Complete Nominee Playlist, which includes 1100+ nominated songs:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6pdEOuQY93Cfg75I4NiaA8

Here’s the complete list of nominated tracks:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k30KkPuBPxuJCW-RNmabHw0mcwr9IS6GSHMFZ6VEFD4

We have been discussing those nominations here:
Hype and Slander: What are you voting for in ILM's 2021 End of Year Tracks and Albums Poll?

Your admins for this poll are myself (posting, playlisting), Moka (posting, graphics) and Seandalai (organization and vote tabulation).

With each winning song I will be posting a link to the song’s video on YouTube and, wherever possible, appropriate ILX artist/song/album/genre threads for further reading. As a courtesy to folks without a high-speed internet connection, we ask that everyone reading the thread please refrain from posting embedded YouTubes so that this can load at a manageable speed. YouTubes can (and should!) still be posted as hyperlinks. If you're unsure how that works, click the "Formatting Help" button below the Submit Post button and it will explain how to use hyperlinks on ILX.

As is tradition, we’re encouraging speculation on our just-missed-the-countdown #78 (three votes, 120 points) and you can win deeply meaningful bragging rights if you can name the artist and track before we get to the end.

While you’re waiting, here’s the prior 15 years of threads:

***Put Ya Hands Up for the 2006 ILX TRACKS POLL RESULTS***
**********Just the trax, ma'am: THE ILX 2007 POLL RESULTS, part 1**********
//////////////shawty got poll poll poll poll poll poll poll (part I: 2008 TRAX)\\\\\\\
Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)
ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2010
ILM'S TOP 77 TRACKS of 2011 (Los resultados!)
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2012
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2013
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2014
ILM's TOP 77 TRACKS of 2015
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2016
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2017
ILM’s Top 77 Tracks of 2018
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019
ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2020

That’s enough prelude. 77 beloved tracks await. We’ll get started around 9am EST on Monday, January 31st.

bookmarked and thank you poll runners!

I'm lactose intolerant so looking forward to grimacing at every result

We’ll get started around 9am EST on Monday, January 31st.

If you only post in the mornings, we can switch channels to the film poll at noon

gonna be various posting times this week, somewhat dependent on me getting back and forth to physical therapy for my shoulder and taking business meetings.

good morning!

Aw forks, that's a great intro. The fact that this thread is up already is going be terrible for my impatience, though.

Excited!

If anyone wants to build a matching YouTube / Apple Music / Amazon Music / Utopian Celestial Jukebox Without Corporate Ownership playlist, it would absolutely be more than welcome. Feel free to post those here.

I’d be happy to build a running YouTube Music version of the Top 77 playlist, if anyone is actually interested & would use it

(I guess this would mean updating it at the end of each day’s rollout, so there’d be a delay)

Oh I am so hyped. Lovely intro, forks

Great intro forks. I didn’t vote this year, as I spent remarkably little of 2021 listening to records from 2021. Excited to see the roll out though, the ilm list is usually my favourite to discover music I’ll come to love.

That is a great intro!

indeed.

i just rediscovered "Better" by Joy Orbison thru the playlist on Spot, and i regret not voting for it so that's my guess for #78.

I'll happily build an Apple Music playlist, though the time zone difference might cause some delays.

The SongShift app will autotransfer a Spotify playlist to an Apple Music playlist fwiw

Great intro

let's rock

Who is Ciara?
― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, May 2, 2007 10:52 AM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

same question here
― peepee, Wednesday, May 2, 2007 11:02 AM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

never diss me for not knowing who david byrne is again, ilm
― lex pretend, Wednesday, May 2, 2007 11:03 AM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBlg2J46cHc

oooh, naughty step for raymond

it's a bad list but this i put down to ilm's increasingly shit taste and willingness to give eg camera obscura the time of day as opposed to CASTING THEM OUT
― lex pretend, Friday, May 4, 2007 1:34 PM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is taking too long.
― billstevejim, Thursday, May 10, 2007 4:30 AM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

results = zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
― peepee, Saturday, May 12, 2007 2:41 AM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't really know what else to compare the thing to except some malodorous cross between "Flat Beat" and "Connected" except with a guy doing some sort of keening-mewling atonal crap on top.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, May 12, 2007 5:37 AM (fourteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

A beautiful day has dawned! What might accompany the sunshine in through the window?

Great introduction! Really looking forward to this, it’s the first time I have submitted a tracks poll after years of lurking. Predicting a Backyardigans / MC Boing 1/2 finish.

let’s get to rankin

Great intro forks!

Okay, we’ll be revealing 16 tracks a day on Monday through Thursday with the final 13 dropping on Friday. I am heading back and forth to any number of appointments this week so there may be some daily lag between tracks but I hope there should be plenty to talk about in-between. Today should be pretty consistent though!

Before we get started, I would like to encourage anyone who hasn’t already placed their ballot for this year’s Top 77 TV Poll to do so now, as voting will be closed as of tonight. We’ve got 36 votes so far with a break-even goal of 50. Moka and I will be running the winners sometime after the album poll next week.

Last year’s poll was a real good time and this one promises to provide an equally comprehensive watching guide for your 2022. All you need to do to vote is submit a ballot with your favorite things you watched last year (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; why not get to it?

ILX's Best Television of 2021 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 31, 2022

That’s enough of all that! Let’s get started!

With seven nominated tracks, Billie Eilish was the most nominated artist of the poll*. Though it begins with two minutes of halting, uke-accompanied crooning, “Happier Than Ever” is arguably the most bombastic track from her album of the same name, as it slowly evolves into its cataclysmic guitar fuzz Green-Day-on-Broadway apex. Will this be the last we hear of Eilish on the poll? It’s probably never wise to count her out.

https://i.imgur.com/Y9HPwmw.jpg
77: Billie Eilish - “Happier Than Ever”
120 points / 5 votes
Video

billie eilish

(* - Unless you are combining Cleo Sol and SAULT’s tracks, in which case she leads.)

Boom.

I'm one of the weirdos who prefers Eilish's second album; maybe I get her now.

Good tune. When Billie said "I don't talk shit about you on the internet"....none of us here felt that.

Albarn-approved!

lol

her second album was a gigantic improvement and this was a highlight

good song. i don’t think it makes sense without the intro, which is always removed on the radio

Second album is overall a much better album and Phineas in particular sounds like he has learned a bunch of new tricks and has matured into a rather interesting producer, that said I think the singles from the debut where stronger.

Finneas*

I'm one of the weirdos who prefers Eilish's second album; maybe I get her now.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

I really liked her debut, but I would agree that the second album is stronger overall.

Didn't consider voting for any of her individual tracks even though all the ones nominated are great. The album was high on my list.

This is the only song that gave her a real hit this year isn't it? Feels like all the per-release singles didn't stick around for long at all apart from Therefore I Am from the previous year.

“Your Power” actually charted better than “Happier than Ever”.

I still don’t understand why she didn’t release “Oxytocin” as a single, that was the one song on the album that sounds like an instant hit.

I like this, tho my favorite on the album wasn't even one of the seven nominated. (The improbably successful "Billie Bossa Nova.")

American indie rock band Ohtis’ debut album Curve of the Earth dropped just prior to COVID, following a buzzy 2008 diy release and a decade-long rehab period by lead singer Sam Swinson. “Schatze” is their first new music since 2019 and it’s a clangy, spaced out, semiautobio country-rock ballad that details the living habits of the North American Asshole. The male of the species is notable for its selfish behavior, brusque dismissal of social niceties, and month-long COD binges. Guitarist and vocalist Stef Chura guests with the band, providing a strong vocal counterpoint and a much-needed outside perspective on the Peter Pan shambles at the song’s center. For the record, ‘Schatze’ isn’t German for anything, it’s just the name of a hatefully dickish tomcat owned by a friend of Swinson’s.

https://i.imgur.com/buh2oCK.jpg
76: Ohtis feat. Stef Chura - “Schatze”
122 points / 3 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

xp "happier than ever" peaked lower than "your power" on the us charts but charted much better overall as the latter fell off the chart after only 6 weeks. "happier than ever" was indeed the only real 'hit single' from the album other than "therefore i am"

Moka you're killing it again this year, that's a really lovely red!

(I'll listen to these two in a sec)

excited to follow along, let's do this

was Cleo Sol or Sault at 78? Prediction, much less Sault this year

motion to remove any and all text alert sounds from songs

for anyone who's using tidal, I've set up a synced playlist here: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/6598cb38-9849-40ce-affb-cbb8e0985e55

the anti-Busy-Signal vote assembles xp

vc, the sound effects are only in "Schatze"s video and not in the song proper

sweet images

it's happenningggggggg

Johnny Fever may no longer run the poll but until forks posts the next one we're living in his world at least

Japanese hip hop trio Dos Monos make noisy, proggy and claustrophobic undie hip hop. They list Flying Lotus, YMO, and Dilla by way of Panda Bear as key influences, which should give you a pretty clear sense of their sound. “medieval” is driven by its rapping with drastically different flows from each of the DM members leaping on and off the constantly shifting beat. If it’s uncomfortable listening, that surely seems to be part of the point.

https://i.imgur.com/nXupUnC.jpg
75: Dos Monos - “Medieval”
124 points / 3 votes
Video

Rolling non-US rap thread 2020

Ahahaha

You know which voting bloc to blame THIS one on however :D

vc, the sound effects are only in "Schatze"s video and not in the song proper

― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Monday, January 31, 2022 9:49 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ah word. the song is fun. i believe our british friends would call it "very droll"

who are these three voters? what thread have i missed? not huge on this first listen but i'm... kinda glad it's here?

oh thread linked. very good!

Thanks to declining participation, my #1 made it in with only two other votes. Ha! I love Schatze so much.

"schatze" is charming

this last one is uh interesting and compelling in particular sections but perhaps not something i'll return to

i have a feeling quite a few of mine will place today/tomorrow. this was my #11

Schatze is far catchier than it has any right to be, lol

Hm the Eilish tune crosses a line between fuzzy and crappy for me, though her appeal has always eluded me. I'm glad forks wrote it up though, as I would have bailed during the ukulele and thought a lot less of 5 of you

she did that one on SNL didn't she? that was really good.

"fuck you very much sir!" is a great earworm (the treated one at the end is very well placed). that cascading ice clavier synth part is nice too

I think I've only ever heard the intro to that Billie Eilish track and been very "meh" about it, but it does turn into a good teen angst power ballad at the end!

'Schatze' is p charming imo, nice indie pop fuck you song. I'm good with this.

Never quite managed to get into Dos Monos despite being a Deathbomb Arc stan - it's good, particularly the music, but not quite my wheelhouse.

"Medieval": too many notes

neverrrrr

The color of the frames will change every 10 slots! (Safe from 77-71)

I confess pretty much took the lazy route this year and used Charlotte Adigery and Boris Pupul artwork as the basis for the main design because I thought they look cool and simple to arrange in 77 spots.

Singer-songwriter Hayley Williams’ recent Paramore-adjacent solo work has tacked closely with the vicissitudes of COVID as she's issued piecemeal and occasionally world-shaking missives that observe and lament newly created space. “My Limb” is the lead single from her sophomore double album, a trial of the atrophying connective tissue from an ended relationship. Is it stubbornly clinging on or is she? Williams’ meditation on the needed and terrifying final cut takes the rhythm of a swinging sword of Damocles, elevating its repeated plaint of desire and disgust into a prayer of semantic satiation.

https://i.imgur.com/WSooifG.jpg
74: Hayley Williams - “My Limb”
124 points / 4 votes
Video

Petals for Armor/Last of Paramore?

A bit of alright. I liked her debut.

Caan Ramah
11 months ago
After 15 years of a relationship, my wife left me a year after I lost my left arm in an accident. So at the risk of over-sharing, this song speaks to me on so many different levels. That is the beautiful thing about well written music. It affects more than just your ears.

:o

dos monos sounds like what i imagine it would sound like to listen to czarface or your old droog or someone if i spoke zero english

great graphics!

Not a Paramore or Hayley Williams hater by any stretch, but I'm firmly in the idgi camp.

Or more accurately, "this isn't for me" camp.

I couldn't really get into the Hayley Williams album. Her debut was much more engaging. I have high hopes for the upcoming Paramore album though.

billie eilish song is bad. idk how anyone who isn't a teenager can listen to bananas and avocados singing in the year 2021

"schatze" is very catchy

"medieval" is alright, not my thing

"my limb" is nice but not enough there to need to hear it again. looking forward to the next paramore album

I like the bit where she says "my limb"

I really liked the first Hayley Williams solo album but didn't go back to this one much - 'My Limb' is a really good track though.

I was a slow convert to the sturdily sludgy prog metal of Rhododendron but all eleven minutes of “Last of the Painted Hills,” with its apocalyptic quaalude pop, grunge motif, pennywhistle break and melodic Guitar Hero climax, finally won me over. Strap in, be patient and let it drive.

https://i.imgur.com/v5seCBN.jpg
72 (TIE): Rhododendron - “Last of the Painted Hills”
124 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

Brad Nelson emo thread compendium, Bradnelsonesque emo, and bands that if you squint your ears seem to fit

My number 1! Yaaaaaay

"Medieval" is good, discovered it in the tracks nominations, probably would have ended up on my ballot if I gave it a couple more listens

This Hayley Williams album is MUCH more my style than her big debut one, but I think My Limb is a bit of a rough entry point

Only three minutes into the Rhododendron, but is this emo shoegaze??

It's weird, like, Rhododendron is a bunch of 18 year-olds who play a strange mix of highly technical brutal prog and metallish art-indie, but this was unique on their debut album for being essentially one long (and dazzlingly well-constructed) alt-rock exercise; as I described it in my campaign write-up, a frazzled dream of a Pumpkins song that never existed. The guitarist and songwriter, Ezra Chong, is clearly some sort of musical genius, and their solo in the song's second half is truly an Event imo; also amusing (to me) is that I made a comment about how they were quite annoying on Twitter but had authored the solo of the decade and they made it their Twitter banner. Then got banned. Ah well. They've got a lot of music to make at least

(thanks also to people for not voting and ensuring this gets into the 77, lol)

let me be the Nth to say, very pretty grafx indeed

Ooh, the 6-minute-ish point is good, is that what you were talking about imago?

the rhododendron sounds like someone shredding over zombie by the cranberries

hang on, let it roll

Oh no, now it's gone all twiddly guitar solo, I bet *this* is what you were talking about. I don't like it!

Sorry for liveposting my Rhododendron reactions, btw.

The first half of the song is a gorgeous heavy alt-rock ballad with keychanges and harmonised leads to die for, but yeah, the entire second half of the song is where this leaps beyond the exosphere for me (and I'm not usually such a sucker for a solo!)

lmao CAD i'll um take that actually

more liveposted reactions to all these songs btw imo pls

Happier Than Ever = this is ok in a Phoebe Bridgers kinda way but idk its still kinda drags, even in catharsis. I feel like the only BE song Im ever gonna like is Ocean Eyes

Schatze = lol this is a wild one--like a messthetics take on Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra--but all the ingredients are top notch & Im uh tentatively making plans to check out the album somewhat soon

Medieval = this rules. The album narrowly missed my ballot

My Limb = sounds like Sia's been reading herself some Geek Love

it's rare that i do the "final fantasy XIV really gets good around the 10th hour" with music, but you kinda need to give "Last of the Painted Hills" three listens through to at least the nine minute mark for it to fully get its hooks in

like this, and the dos monos one

ty for your service forks

the Hum crowd should be all over this tbh!

From the slow burn to instantaneously incandescent: Afropop superstar Burna Boy took a year off between albums in 2021, but he still blessed us with a handful of singles, including this high-velocity BIG CHUNE of braggadocious joy that demands other MCs keep their metric distance. Burna himself says his song “doesn’t need an explanation;” why not just play the track?

https://i.imgur.com/QxjPxQI.jpg
72 (TIE): Burna Boy - “Kilometre”
124 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

here comes the AFRICAN GIANT / Burna Boy (2019)

Rolling Afropop / Afrobeats 2021

lol mine and imago's #1s tied! that is kind of sweet

Im uh tentatively making plans to check out the album somewhat soon

No hurry imo

in honour of this forced co-habitation I will attempt to listen to Rhododendron with open ears

"last of the painted hills" is great

haha high five rob

burna boy's sterling campaigning for the metric system has been noted and approved (and is also being listened to with open ears, although the appeal seems clear: it's short, sharp and boils down Nigerian pop to its absolute essence, with absolutely nothing extraneous to burna's haunting/banging incantation)

enjoy all of burna boys output and this is no exception

oh this does start very pumpkins-y, I was bracing myself but this is a pleasant start

Rhododendron song is pretty awesome.

The second half reminds me of the Prince cover of "Creep" more than anything else.

the big red numbers are so nice on the black and white background pics

The second half reminds me of the Prince cover of "Creep" more than anything else.

― jmm, Monday, 31 January 2022 16:12 (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

omg YES

I haven't heard the Prince cover, but there's definitely a Radiohead vibe to the ending.

Cool song! I should probably revise my personal definition of metal as I wouldn't have called this metal at all? It reminded me of an old roommate who loved/listened to anything you could call "space rock" in the late 90s/early 00s

i presumed when skimming the rhododendron chat in the noms thread related to dEon :'(

minute 6 of 'last of the painted hills' i kept expecting someone to start singing " look around round round"

Last year’s 77 Tracks winner, the secretive SAULT collective, released their NINE LP in typically anti-business as usual manner, removing it (ostensibly permanently) from streaming services 99 days after its premiere. Of course, the internet being the internet, NINE and its lead single “London Gangs” lives on. “London” interpolates Auld Lang Syne into a hard-hitting bouillabaisse of anthemic buzzing punk held together by gritted teeth and a relentless bass line. Like many (most? all?) of the songs on this difficult year's playlist, a breaching current of anxiety, absurdity and discomfort roils dangerously close to the surface.

https://i.imgur.com/jZPYJrk.jpg
71: SAULT - “London Gangs” - 126 points / 5 votes
Video
NB: Not Available on Spotify

Sault - What's the story?

Didn't vote for this (because I placed the album) but it's a great track, one of their best.

"fuck you very much sir" suffers from comparison to the much better and still more earwormy "fuck you I'm still alive" by Spook School

Indie/alt Britrock band Wolf Alice’s 2021 album Blue Weekend was praised (and occasionally sniffed at) for reaching and attaining the aspiration of what Pitchfork calls “contemporary big-tent” scream-along anthem rock. You know, the sort of stuff that aims to slot nicely at the second tier and rising for any big city summer music festival? Bookings aside, Wolf Alice lives and dies by Ellie Rowsell’s full-throated balladeering, so the amount of time you’re willing to make for “How Can I Make It OK?” is likely dependent on your fondness for her voice.

https://i.imgur.com/eJxIkog.jpeg
70: Wolf Alice - “How Can I Make It OK?” - 127 points / 6 votes
Video

Wolf Alice

I admired what a stylistic grab bag this album was.

i can feel a rainbow
visually
on the horizon

Sorry I'm catching up but wau at this Rhododendron, the first one to really grab me, Billie Eilish should listen to this 100 times before she writes her next "you see it builds and gets big" song

Yes yes great intro forks, thanks to all.

"Schatze" reminds me of my favorite music from Super Mario 3, is it a sample?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2GFmod0Q9c

It's gotta be, props

oh lol that was my favourite part

*coffee cup falls from hand*

you've been playing that same / goddamn video game

haha excellent work jordan, this is making me like it a lot more

itsa my pleasure

I voted for the SAULT track; not much to say other than it slams. It's what you want.

wow amazing revelation

yeah, that's a great find, kudos

Just as I promised, dyl.

Considering the song qualifies as among City Girls least filthy singles, the old-school aspirations of “Twerkulator” can very much be judged by its cover, where Quality Control have coyly placed the iconic PARENTAL ADVISORY label. Explaining the appeal of JT and Yung Miami rapping over a slightly retwerked version of “Planet Rock” that name checks and captures the energy of “The Percolator” is unnecessary if this sentence means anything to you and likely pointless if it doesn’t.

https://i.imgur.com/IWsL2j4.jpeg
69: City Girls - “Twerkulator” - 128 points / 5 votes
Video

City Girls "Twerkulator"

*obligatory "nice"*

xxp Sorry, I thought that was a snide reply to me.

I appreciate City Girls keeping the spirit of Miami bass/booty music alive.

Re::::Schatze

Dude can’t be that terrible if the game he is playing non-stop is Super Mario Bros 3.

Drugs A. Money on the erm… money. It reminds me of Hazlewood/Sinatra.

TOO LOW

SAULT: I've given up on trying to put my finger on why I think this band is good, but I cannot warm to them all that much

Wolf Alice: firmly planted in my own personal hell no zone, sorry

"Schatze" is turning out to be my surprise hooray-for-the-poll moment, reminiscent of that "I'm on smoko" (sp?) track

(not musically reminiscent tbc)

rap music! from america!

honestly barely remember what this song sounds like without the "pyt" mash up, thanks for nothing tiktok

Rhododendron track is decent in a Hum/Deafheaven sort of way on first listen. Guitar solo recalls vintage Pumpkins; may well return to this.

Dos Monos track definitely interesting.

"fuck you very much sir" suffers from comparison to the much better and still more earwormy "fuck you I'm still alive" by Spook School

― Guayaquil (eephus!)

True that the latter is better, but one is fun clowning on a dickhead and the other's about escaping abuse, I feel like the vibes are too different for a real comparison.

is this the first city girls song to place? "act up" deserved

I appreciate City Girls keeping the spirit of Miami bass/booty music alive.

same!

Lol, I completely missed hearing any City Girls last year, but I am here for Kraft-twerk.

Followed by: rap music! from britain!

“Glidin,” featuring UK it-boys Pa Salieu and slowthai rapping over a twangy dancehall beat, was enough of a relatively minor tête-à-tête that it didn’t merit inclusion on either Pa’s Afrikan Rebel EP or slowthai’s TYRON LP. Even so, their joy together sounds authentic and infectious.

https://i.imgur.com/hCxlHcG.jpeg
68: Pa Salieu with slowthai - “Glidin’” - 128 points / 7 votes
Video

Pa Salieu: Send Them to Coventry

coventry represent

also too low

Burna Boy track really enjoyable; nice upbeat melodic track to lighten the day.

this was the only non kpop track i considered voting for, altho i don't think i did in the end. it's great tho. sounds effortless.

I didn't vote for Glidin' but it's great

xpost all teachers should embrace "Kilometre" imo

yeah Glidin' is very cool

Puerto Rican pop phenom Rauw Alejandro’s heavily autotuned breakthrough single “Todo de Ti” smacks both of the immediate K-pop moment and of Daft Punk filtered through a few decades worth of reappropriation. Alejandro himself credits Bruno Mars for inspiration, which makes me feel old. “Todo” was ubiquitous in the warmer months and might have been a legit contender for song of the summer, had such a thing had been possible or appropriate in the covid years.

https://i.imgur.com/oplprEH.jpeg
67: Rauw Alejandro - “Todo de Ti” - 130 points / 4 votes
Video

Rolling Afro-Latin Music 2021: Reggaeton, Salsa, Bomba, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, Urbano and more Latinx

ha i love this

definitely one of the year's iconic songs

never heard this before, it's a nice junior high roller rink jam

Glad I'm not the only one out there who is reminded of Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry while listening to this.

are all the voices Rauw's?

Hm, I hadn't listened to anything from the new Billie Eilish. This song wasn't what I was expecting. Muted jazz-tinged ballad turning into alt-rock anthem? Surprised by how much I like this, though idk if I'll learn to love the sound of digital clipping.

Haha, I sort of hate this Ohtis song. Do people who like this also like Wet Leg?

Like This, agnostic about Wet Leg.

I thought "Chaise Longue" was cute but not worth listening to a second time

fkn spell check

*Ohtis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XPI7WkDt54

I would likely be more enamored of the hyperpop capslocked sugar rush memefuel of “We Are Next Up!” if it didn’t make me feel like I was about to have an asthma attack. With that in mind, I will be limiting all future exposure of Yes Junior 24's lolnothingmatters energy, Deee-Lite on (more) coke swag, pastel visuals and bleepity-bloopity 8-bit instrumentation to a date when I can be properly supervised by teens 15 and under.

https://i.imgur.com/XQOJ8zj.jpeg
66: Yes Junior 24 with Futuristic Swaver - “We are Next Up!” - 130 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

rolling hyperpop hyperthread 20xx

Oh sick! paging ufo

Glad I put this as high as #14, thus getting it into the poll at all. It's...I mean, forks isn't really wrong there. But if hyperk-pop (k-hyperpop?) is always gonna be this giddy then I am entirely on board. Some of the best videogame-in-song noises of the year too (I know we've already heard some, and I'd reckon we're gonna hear some more...)

Oh sick! paging ufo

this kind of works as a description of this song

lol

yeh great tune

As of now, other than the "Glidin'," I haven't heard any of the tracks, and based on some first impressions, the Rhododendron is the only one I'm likely to come back to besides "Glidin'".

i won't say this is bad because it's clearly not but i don't think it's something i will listen to again

This is cute, feels like a lot of k-hiphop kids gravitate towards this sound

voted for a different pa song and a different rauw song, but good job folks

I liked the music on Yes Junior 24 but I felt the kiddy rap didn't really break out of the kids' TV vibe, needed to add extra hyper to make my ballot.

Ricky Gervais voice: "Wank you very much! I invented that one"

A marshmallow pillow of Shambhala pop that wears its influences like a Stevie Nicks tophat, “Infinite Wisdom” warms you with pleasant pastel gels and ASMR levels of reassurance.

https://i.imgur.com/2T0Z9y1.jpeg
65: Laura Groves - “Infinite Wisdom” - 131 points / 5 votes
Video

Johnny Fever's Not Pop Not Indie Shambhala 2014

this song is from 2020?

didn’t know that. voted for it.

from December so allowable. wait until Backyardigans places lol

year of impact? "impact" not the word I would use to describe this one though

single came out in october 2020, the album it's from in december 2020. it makes sense that a lot of ppl didn't hear it until this year. several other tracks w/ similar stories have placed on prior polls

it's a really nice song tho

I like Foolish Game a lot more

i'm glad people didn't mock me for nominating backyardigans but i don't think that has any real shot at placing lol

i forgot about laura groves, need to check this one out

was a little bit underwhelmed by the EP as a whole but I unreservedly love this song

Cardi B is still probably the biggest name in hip hop, even in a year when she only released one solo track way back in February. Fuck though, what a great song: solid minimal production that puts Cardi at its center, where she absolutely raps her ass off in a barely contained whirlwind of comedic profanity, alliterative product placement and pure old school chops. On the right day, I might say “Up” was the best pop song of 2021.

https://i.imgur.com/J4Indn5.jpeg
64: Cardi B - “Up” - 131 points / 4 votes
Video

Bodak Yellow is:

https://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=77&threadid=112366

this underwhelmed at first but the charm of the alliterative prechorus eventually won me over

seeing the 'rip 2020' tombstone at the beginning of the video reminds me of that weird period when it seemed like 2021 might be not-bad

like that is a shot that may not be instantly comprehensible many years down the line

An introspective love song to the self, propelled by deeply funky production and Amber Mark’s honeyed vocals, “What It Is” uninvitedly earwormed its way into several days of repeat play to become my favorite discovery while spelunking this year's nominations. Mark’s new album dropped last week. Once you try the single out, now might be a good time to give that a spin too.

https://i.imgur.com/tgofaM1.jpeg
63: Amber Mark - “What It Is” - 132 points / 5 votes
Video

So there goes my heart - Amber Mark thread

rolling r&b 2021

I think I voted "okay song" in that Cardi poll and my opinion on her has not changed since then

the Mark album sounded pretty great on one listen

Ok time to start listening to these as I only know like 3 so far.

sorry, backing up a bit:

Last year’s 77 Tracks winner, the secretive SAULT collective, released their NINE LP in typically anti-business as usual manner, removing it (ostensibly permanently) from streaming services 99 days after its premiere. Of course, the internet being the internet, NINE and its lead single “London Gangs” lives on. “London” interpolates Auld Lang Syne into a hard-hitting bouillabaisse of anthemic buzzing punk held together by gritted teeth and a relentless bass line. Like many (most? all?) of the songs on this difficult year's playlist, a breaching current of anxiety, absurdity and discomfort roils dangerously close to the surface.

"anthemic buzzing punk"?

yes, anthemic buzzing punk.

also:

Woke #UP to a new @iamcardib song today so had to cover it!
Watch on https://t.co/bFFr7nleNw pic.twitter.com/GKSKDRpF3x

— Chloe Flower (@ChloeFlower) February 5, 2021

Ok, time to press play on this Amber Mark song and find out what it is

Okay, last one for today and also my last call for the TV poll, put in your ballot if you haven’t already!
ILX's Best Television of 2021 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 31, 2022

Another, likely more legit, contender for song of the summer, Wizkid’s “Essence” was the first Nigerian-led single to crack the Billboard Hot 100, even before Bieber hopped on and pushed it into the top twenty. We already put Wizkid’s excellent Made in Lagos album at #14 in the 2020 album poll, but if any song has transcended its year by strength of impact, it is this one.

https://i.imgur.com/a8rtemZ.jpeg
62: Wizkid with Tems - “Essence” - 134 points / 6 votes
Video

wizkid • made in lagos (2020)

Wizkid (aka Starboy)

Here's your Day One Results. We'll try again tomorrow!

62: Wizkid with Tems - “Essence” - 134 points / 6 votes
63: Amber Mark - “What It Is” - 132 points / 5 votes
64: Cardi B - “Up” - 131 points / 4 votes
65: Laura Groves - “Infinite Wisdom” - 131 points / 5 votes
66: Yes Junior 24 with Futuristic Swaver - “We are Next Up!” - 130 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
67: Rauw Alejandro - “Todo De Ti” - 130 points / 4 votes
68: Pa Salieu with slowthai - “Glidin’” - 128 points / 7 votes
69: City Girls - “Twerkulator” - 128 points / 5 votes
70: Wolf Alice - “How Can I Make It OK?” - 127 points / 6 votes
71: SAULT - “London Gangs - 126 points / 5 votes
72 (TIE): Burna Boy - “Kilometre” - 124 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
72 (TIE): Rhododendron - “Last of the Painted Hills” - 124 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
74: Hayley Williams - “My Limb” - 124 points / 4 votes
75: Dos Monos - “Medieval” - 124 points / 3 votes
76: Ohtis feat. Stef Chura - “Schatze” - 122 points / 3 votes / 1 #1 vote
77: Billie Eilish - “Happier Than Ever” - 120 points / 5 votes

<3 wizkid

this one did make my ballot, my first vote of the rollout i think. congrats to tems for carrying the song

First time hearing Glidin', love it

Quite a few great songs on the list so far.

Love the intro, graphics, and individual write-ups for each song. Thanks poll runners!

"Todo de Ti" is so fun. Reminds me of Javiera Mena.

wizkid is too low, but that's my fault, since i voted for it last year

i have to say these are pretty impressive results so far. i'm kind of indifferent to a couple but otherwise i enjoyed pretty much everything here with more than a couple being pretty undeniably excellent. and the ones i knew already i mostly had considered voting for but didn't

i'll try to temper my expectations for the next days since there always seems to be one stretch or so that leaves me cold or actively groaning

In past years I probably would have been on top of anything remotely resembling shambhala, but so much of it is just reverberating residue now that it rarely hooks me. The Laura Groves song is good, but I didn't arrive at that conclusion until the second listen.

hopefully not the last we see of Tems, though I'll settle for an album placement if the tracks got vote split

definitely a pleasingly varied list so far. also pleasing: I have few guesses for what comes next

Love this Laura Groves song. Fleetwood Mac vibes.

Haven't heard most of these, will need to fire up the playlist. "Glidin'" is the only thing from my ballot so far, love that track. I was afraid there'd be too much vote-splitting among the great Pa Salieu singles, hope to maybe still see "Style & Fashion." I think I meant to vote for the Cardi track but forgot to.

Deadpan delivery of "Schatze" is funny. Feels like a novelty song tho

3 of my votes in this day (Pa Salieu, Amber Mark, and City Girls) plus one (Alejandro Rauw) that I would have voted for but I totally forgot about it.

Twerkulator is my favourite of these so far. I wasn't so mad on the Sault album but I guess this song is good. Kilometre is fun but not amazing. Overall a fairly good run

from this run I voted for Wizkid.

Like Pa Salieu, City Girls and Sault.

Nothing I hate so far, even that hyper k-pop song is ok… I actually expected it to get crazier and was a bit disappointed it didn’t.

The Eilish track is the only thing from this list I’ve heard.

All-time best poll day

Does that guy in dos monos really say 'i... I dress like bovril bear'?

Also that Schatze song is terrible. Did you guys catch the sort of covid that stops your ears from working?

Laura Groves the only thing from my ballot to show up so far. My 2020 ballot

V unfamiliar with almost everything else

Does that guy in dos monos really say 'i... I dress like bovril bear'?

Lol that was imago’s misheard lyric too.

Yes, now we're getting spicy

xxp

It's Buffalo Bill, lol. I hear 'bovril beer' most times

Does that guy in dos monos really say 'i... I dress like bovril bear'?

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, January 31, 2022 4:12 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also that Schatze song is terrible. Did you guys catch the sort of covid that stops your ears from working?

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, January 31, 2022 4:14 PM (six minutes ago)

hmmmmm

Rhododendron track kind of sounds like a psych metal version of the Scorpions 'Wind of Change'?

Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever: Neither pop nor noisy enough for me.

Ohtis - Schatze: Heard this earlier this year, really liked it, then forgot who it was. But should have been a big college rock hit if that’s still a thing.

Dos Monos - Medieval: Okay… Is this a standout song, or is the rest of the EP about the same?

Hayley Williams - My Limb: Y’know, that’s what a really great singer can do. Just sing the same word a bunch of times, and make it sound weirdly disturbing and compelling.

Rhododendron - Last of the Painted Hills: Added the album to my library (lol, this is only the third-longest song…), sounds interesting. If the rest of the album is as good, this could make my metal ballot.

Burna Boy - Kilometre: Voted for Question. I like Burna Boy well enough, but I rarely love him, and this is no exception.

Sault - London Gangs. This is off Apple Music now, but I liked it when I was able to hear it. I always think of Sault as an album band, though.

Wolf Alice - How can I make it ok: The hype around this album was one of the biggest wtf moments for me this year. Don’t get it at all.

City Girls - Twerkulator: Lol, love this.

Pa Salieu & Slowthai - Glidin: Voted for this, but I fear this will be the highest placement for UK rap :( Love the bouncy rhythm, not quite drill, but very British in a weird way.

Rauw Alejandro - Todo de ti: I’ve heard way too many shitty Danish versions of this type of song this year, so no thanks.

Yes Junior 24 - We Are Next Up: The sequencing of Todo de ti -> We Are Next Up is absolutely perfect, btw. If you haven’t heard those two in a row, try it! Also, I love hyperpop, but I’m too old to follow along, so love to find new tunes. This is great.

Laura Groves - Infinite Wisdom: Don’t get this.

Cardi B - Up: Love Cardi B, but this is not among her best.

Amber Mark - What It Is: Never heard this. Will definitely check out the album.

Wizkid - Essence. Voted for this. Historic song, thought it would place much higher. I’m guessing there’s no hope for Peru then?

Guess for 78: Boing Beat? It's a masterpiece, but some potential voters might find it off-putting, and others (like me) might have voted for the equally masterful album?

Dos Monos - Medieval: Okay… Is this a standout song, or is the rest of the EP about the same?

Whole thing is great imo, closing track another standout

I voted for Essence but it was also on my ballot last year, so I didn't rank it very high this time. I'd guess the afropop this year will tilt South African but who knows

I had to look up whether that Amber Mark song was on Insecure, because it seems like total Insecure soundtrack fodder (in a good way). Apparently not, but she did have a Sade cover and another track on the show, so there you go.

ha I considered starting a "songs that could be on the Insecure soundtrack" thread once, it's definitely a recognizable sound

Yeah that Schatze track is abysmal, sounds like something I would have rejected for being annoying in 2005 and which I find even more annoying now.

work has been crazy today, but enjoying reading along. my thots (i mentioned my feelings about 77-75 earlier)

have heard!
72 (TIE): Burna Boy - “Kilometre”: burna in puffed-chest dancehall toast mode. it's a fucking banger and i voted for it as my #4

71: SAULT - “London Gangs": still think that 'rise' towers above everything else they've ever done, and this feels a little too much like a lesser "i just want to dance." give the drummer some, though.

70: Wolf Alice - “How Can I Make It OK?”: prob not gonna be the last wolf alice song to place, but i'm glad this one made it since it's my fav from the album. incredible vocals, and i love the "dreams"-esque two-chord groove in the verses and how it gives way to a choppier, but still groovy chorus.

69: City Girls - “Twerkulator”: honestly bummed that the pyt remix got so much traction because the minimalist original instrumental really makes the song. jt's verse is great, real missy vibes. yung miami is also there.

68: Pa Salieu with slowthai - “Glidin’”: voted for a different pa song, but this one does recapture the feeling of the darkest and hardest-hitting 'send them to coventry' hits. "self-conscious, brudda, you need to love yourself or somethin'" is a great burn.

67: Rauw Alejandro - “Todo De Ti”: voted for another rauw song (and the album), but this is a deserved smash. pure ear candy, seems tailor-made for a poll like this one.

64: Cardi B - “Up": can't help but to compare this one to "thot shit" and find it lacking, but that's not cardi's fault and she performs admirably during the verses and prechorus.

62: Wizkid with Tems - “Essence”: a watershed moment in pop history (the first *real* naija-style pop hit by actual nigerians), and the song is gorgeous and crafty enough to stand the test of time.

hadn't heard
74: Hayley Williams - “My Limb”: not a standout to me, was amused by how much the chorus reminded me of the hook from wiz khalifa's "we dem boyz"

72 (TIE): Rhododendron - “Last of the Painted Hills”: good guitar work, but worried that imago might be mellowing out. usually his picks aren't so easy to zone out to.

66: Yes Junior 24 with Futuristic Swaver - “We are Next Up!”: turns out i like hyperpop vocals more when they're singing in a language i don't understand. not mad i heard it, prob never pressing play on it again

65: Laura Groves - “Infinite Wisdom”: reminds me a lot of the lou hayter project i liked this year and the westerman album i loved last year. i have a feeling this wouldn't be my favorite track if i listened to the album.

63: Amber Mark - “What It Is”: haven't listened to anything new from her in a while, though i loved her 2018 ep (with "love me right" on it). it's very sumptuous. i can't resist these kinds of retro keyboard sounds. feels like it would be a fun song to play on keys.

65: Laura Groves - “Infinite Wisdom”: reminds me a lot of the lou hayter project i liked this year and the westerman album i loved last year

laura groves actually has the same bass player that worked on the westerman record - laura's also part of the bullion/deek records gang, so good spot

woah, I didn't know people were voting for Laura Groves. Didn't cross my mind as a 2021 thing but it's a nice track. Her Blue Roses album from 2009 (!) is an all-timer for me.

Nice to see Amber Mark appear - I expect she'll be on my 2022 album ballot. I'd've picked "Competition" over this though.

Ohtis the only vote of mine so far. Unlike last year suspect I will not have (m)any more appearing.

xxp good to know! another reason to check the record out.

laura groves actually has the same bass player that worked on the westerman record - laura's also part of the bullion/deek records gang, so good spot

― o shit the sheriff (NickB)

Had no idea. Suddenly very interested on listening to this one.

Also that Schatze song is terrible. Did you guys catch the sort of covid that stops your ears from working?

Its messthetics! This is annoying in mostly the same way as Giant Sand were in the 80s

What does messthetics mean aside from the Brendan Canty/Joe Lally band?

It was the title of a chapter in Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up & Start Again, the chapter dealing with (among others) the Raincoats. From that slight hint I inferred that it connotes an extremely loose compositional approach more often found in free jazz and improv and applying it to pop song structures. Pop Group, Flipper, Giant Sand, no wave.

(That said, I think the prime 2021 example of 'messthetics' in pop music is L'Rain but with completely different qualities--instead of the chaos within the mechanics of the song itself, I thought her album presented disconnected fragments almost strewn together in order to create a pervasive and overpowering mood of entropy

https://www.discogs.com/label/507785-Messthetics

The song did grow on me a bit on returning to it. Noticed more in Dos Monos and Rhododendron as well.

I actually really like the Wolf Alice song on first listen. Is this typical for them?

most of the latest wolf alice album sounds similar, yes.

62: Wizkid with Tems - “Essence” - voted for this, guess it's a victim of being a big hit in the year after the album came out, like surely it would have been very high if it'd been a hit last year?
63: Amber Mark - “What It Is” - lovely groove & the extended coda + solo really elevates it
64: Cardi B - “Up” - surely cardi can do better than this idk
65: Laura Groves - “Infinite Wisdom” - just fine by the standards of gorillavsbear-core
66: Yes Junior 24 with Futuristic Swaver - “We are Next Up!” - my #1, an infectious sugar rush that never left my head.
67: Rauw Alejandro - “Todo De Ti” - breezy & pleasant, it's very nice to hear someone doing something like this far more charismatically than the weeknd
68: Pa Salieu with slowthai - “Glidin’” - pa salieu is so good, everything about this track rules but especially the percussion. voted for another of his but it could easily have been this instead.
69: City Girls - “Twerkulator” - very sympathetic to electro throwback but i wish they actually did something with the "planet rock" beat
70: Wolf Alice - “How Can I Make It OK?” - approaching some kind of balearic-tinged rock ideal
71: SAULT - “London Gangs” - the buzzing bass riff is cool at first but it ends up tiring
72 (TIE): Burna Boy - “Kilometre” - just a pretty solid burna boy track
72 (TIE): Rhododendron - “Last of the Painted Hills” - solo is cool but otherwise largely plodding and the vocals are produced really badly. nowhere near any smashing pumpkins epic.
74: Hayley Williams - “My Limb” - i like paramore but this album was very boring including this track
75: Dos Monos - “Medieval” - there are ideas here but it doesn't grab me, like none of it is as bold as it wants to be
76: Ohtis feat. Stef Chura - “Schatze” - tuneless and the lyrical conceit is really dull
77: Billie Eilish - “Happier Than Ever” - best mitski song of the year

Reading about how many people hate Schatze just makes me even happier it placed.

The Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra comparison added a lot to the experience of hearing it, the guy telling us his situation and the gal undermining his telling (in both a funny and not-funny way).

i like twerkulator a lot but it's too short and slight to really love.

Voted for:
- Eilish, Cardi B - Both were initially underwhelming, but grew on me over repeated listens. 

Heard, didn't vote for: 
- Dos Monos "Medieval" - this stood out while I was going through the noms list, it's pretty fun! Might have voted for it if I'd had more time with it.
- Hayley Williams "My Limb" - I liked the record but surprised this made it, it's not a great single imo. Did "Simmer" make the 77 last year? That has a similar vibe but is much better.
- Wizkid "Essence (feat. Tems)" - I kinda forgot abt it tbh, wishing I had voted for it now. Such a smooth banger. 
- Burna Boy "Kilometre" - solid but he's got better. 
- Wolf Alice "How can I make it ok?" - This is already just ok.

New to me: 
- Ohtis "Schatze" - eh? reminds me of 2004 in a bad way.
- Rhododendron "Last of the Painted Hills" - I can see what it's going for, but it's pretty turgid imo. agree with ufo that the production on the vocals is terrible.  
- Sault "London Gangs" - one of those records I missed out on when it was released. off to bandcamp I go. 
- City Girls "Twerkulator", Pa Salieu & Slowthai "Glidin'" - these are both excellent, wish I'd discovered them earlier. 
- Rauw Alejandro "Todo de ti" - Not sure if I would have voted for it but it's nice.  
- Yes Junior 24, "We Are Next Up" - nope, not for me. 
- Laura Groves "Infinite Wisdom" - left no impression on me whatsoever
- Amber Mark "What It Is" - super smooth and groovy  

Sault "London Gangs" - one of those records I missed out on when it was released. off to bandcamp I go.

lol i just realised it's not available anymore. i went through an extended burnout around the middle of last year and missed out on a lot of things and this was one of the big ones. oops.

it's all on youtube.

I was puzzled by Ohtis's strongest Spotify stats being in Australia until remembering that an expletive-laden hook would make “Schatze” prime JJJ-core lol. Now I see JJJ listeners placed it at #52 just last week in their own 2021 poll.

I actually really like the Wolf Alice song on first listen. Is this typical for them?

Yeah this has actually been my favourite discovery thus far (tho I'm moving rather slowly)

Xp lol whats JJJ?

xps thanks, forks!

XP: JJJ is the youth-oriented radio division of the Aus national broadcaster. Perhaps a bit like... BBC Radio 1, maybe.

triple j is the australian government-owned youth radio station and focuses on 'alternative' music. what that means in practice is fairly nebulous of course, but in distinct way to american alt stations. it's kinda dire generally

bbc radio 1 has a stronger pop focus, it's not the best comparison but idk what would be.

Oh, so it was a college radio hit :) It does sound exactly like Swedish 00's indie, including a chorus where you can't really tell if they just don't know the language they're writing in.

Just catching up - Essence is a lush brew isn't it. Some subtle production touches that remind me of The 1975 weirdly

Nothing that I voted for so far on the chart but the Laura Groves one made my long list. I’d usually slate songs like that for being a lazy pastiche using a long established sound pallete but it nails the sound particularly well.

I preferred ‘Style & Fashion’ by Pa Salieu, hoping that makes it in.

Style & Fashion definitely a banger

My favourite thus far is Amber Mark, followed by Wolf Alice (which was one of 18 excluded tracks on my longlist). The only one I struggled to listen to all the way through was Yes Junior 24. Rhododendron was WAY more enjoyable than I was expecting, as I'd braced myself for a tough time!

Let's hope today is a similar experience!

I’ve just given The Rhododendron track another try on headphones at work and enjoyed it a lot more than when I was wading through the list of noms.

The big difference is that I listened to the list with my Subpac chair subwoofer cranked up - so any songs that had this kind of mixdown where there is nothing happening under say 90hz instantly sounded unfinished or hollow, especially if shuffle sandwiched them between trap bangaz. On earbuds it’s a perfectly enjoyable 10 mins, if not my bag at all.

Yeah, Rhododendron do not be bringing that low end, lol

How much low end will #61 bring though?

Enjoyed yesterday's run, Laura Groves was my only vote but quite a few songs in the "How did I miss that on the playlist?!" category - Wolf Alice, Pa Salieu, Rauw Alejandro, Amber Mark, Burna Boy... Good stuff!

I'd never heard Schatze before yesterday. It reminded of that band The Teenagers who I hadn't really thought about in a long time. I seem to remember their lyrics were more just the guy's part of Schatze without Stef Chura there to call him out. The NME were big fans of their deeply offensive song Homecoming.

Really love that Laura Groves song now. Wish I'd thrown her some points. Also checked out the Blue Roses album Monotony mentioned which is great.

How much low end will #61 bring though?

― imago

Well, actually…

Blawan channels some of the instantly accessible, goofily danceable chaos of “WIndowlicker” with “Under Belly.” It's a calliope on fire, shaking an absolute monster of an ass. “Under Belly” was enough of a hit among the Resident Advisor set that it got a bit of love in the mainstream music press, but it’s still entirely likely that a lot of folks not particularly interested in oddball EDM may have missed it until now. If that’s the case, boy, have I got a pink elephant for you!

https://i.imgur.com/ft2IJkE.jpeg
61: Blawan - “Under Belly” - 135 points / 5 votes
Video

Bobbins 2021

this sounds good
like a wriggly worm

seems to make a song i enjoy every year
i liked the one he did about bodies under his garage

How much low end will #61 bring though?

― imago

Well, actually…

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, February 1, 2022 2:49 PM

Thought this was teasing a Low appearance.

it's going very nicely to the trees in the wind out my window

this track, eh, i'm not mad at it

who's the cutie

Mm, yes, wriggly indeed.

I like it. Sounds like distorted Star Wars cantina music.

this is weirder than I expected! I'm having a hard time picturing people dancing to it though

ha! "distorted Star Wars cantina music" is otm

Nicely chunky roller with way more listenable saturation than the Billie Eilish track at the start of the poll. I didn’t vote for it but it was high up my long list.

I’m not sure how happy Blawan would be to be labelled as EDM!

Fucking lobe Under Belly, a banger of character. In my top 5

*love

As far as I can tell, all the enthusiasm on ILM for this abundant EDM “playful slice of fun” can be traced entirely to our mysterious and exacting ILXOR saer’s recommendation on the Bobbins 2021 thread. Evidently there was enough appreciation based on that one post alone to crack the 77. Love it when we get homegrown winners!

https://i.imgur.com/turhq2e.jpeg
60: Papolious Jones - “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)” - 136 points / 3 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video
NB: Not Available on Spotify

Mr. Jones, also known as Brian Topham, is back with the second installment on his label Top Rhythm Boppers, simply called Volume 2, a musical conglomeration of four different moods and therefore four different approaches to music itself.

xps i guess i take the acronym of EDM seriously, as in "if it's predominantly electronic instrumentation that people are meant to dance to, it's EDM." wot do u call it then?

wow this rules

i used my daily wiggly worm comparison too early

More wriggles! Good start to the day.

xp lol, yup

Under Belly certainly has a lot of low end, lol

was worried the Papolious Jones was gonna be another Where's Your Head At copy but it takes that bassline in a very different and yes, wiggly, direction, approve

Blawan - wow! great to see him getting some love, he's put out a ton of great stuff in the last few years

two pleasant enough bobbins but not highlights to me, blawan more interesting of the two

this sounds a bit like being on holiday

Bundling up all of Adigéry and Pupul’s 2021 nu-new wave singles (released with distinctly Moka-esque packaging, hmmmmm...), would likely result in one of my favorite albums of the year. “HAHA” isn’t the most incisive of their recent songs (cf. “Blenda”s cultural dysmorphia, “Bear With Me”s professional FOMO, “Thank You”s arch stare back at the intrusive gaze), but it is every bit as clever and fun as its title suggest. This duo are making some of today’s most exciting music.

https://i.imgur.com/5BWAL5E.jpeg
59: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul - “HAHA” - 137 points / 6 votes
Video

Charlotte Adigéry (Adigery)

Like this, prefer Bear With Me, which is (maybe) coming up later?

Too low!

really nice paranoid chugger, didn't quite make my ballot

I just heard them for the first time while browsing Bandcamp early this morning; good stuff.

fun day so far

dont think there's an adigery song i dislike
what a run of releases

Their new single (Ceci n'est pas un cliche) just came up on Youtube after Haha, it does bang. Gonna be a good album

Maybe my tastes have just gotten more extreme or something, particular when it comes to bobbins, but the Papolious Jones sounds like it was tailored to a coffee shop with expensive pour-overs. It's SO POLITE and PREDICTABLE. Love saer's enthusiasm, but I admit I am often bewildered at tunes that they choose to highlight, and this is no exception.

The demented carnival of Blawan is a bit more interesting to me.

love the little comedic melody in "we're the ogs," feels like it could come from a lost cartoon network show

The Blawan is the first of these I voted for. Behold the power of 5p0t1fy nomination playlist exposure!

I voted for different Adigéry, and did wonder about potential vote-splitting. Glad it wasn't fatal. :)

hey this Papo Jones track is cute, glad to discover it here

Maybe my tastes have just gotten more extreme or something, particular when it comes to bobbins, but the Papolious Jones sounds like it was tailored to a coffee shop with expensive pour-overs. It's SO POLITE and PREDICTABLE. Love saer's enthusiasm, but I admit I am often bewildered at tunes that they choose to highlight, and this is no exception.

lol I have been saying this about ILM's taste in dance music going back to "Wut" and "Inspector Norse"

on the same page with you there table

there's a difference between a cutely harmless polite-bobbins track placing 60 and two of them winning the whole damn thing tho

except both of those tracks are great

xxp

Ah, sometimes you just want a nice lil wiggle and that's all. It's a snack, not a feast.

inspector norse clearly had something going on that was more than polite tho, it may be gentle but its cheesy joy was in your face

"Bear With Me" roolz

XPXPXPXPXP

Don’t want to derail all the great work on the thread. I would say Blawan would I think most likely describe himself as 'techno'. EDM to most people who make dance music signifies stadium-festival subtle-as-a-sledgehammer stuff.

XPXPXPXPXP

choosing to read this as a banging beat

Haha, maybe that could be a new genre name too.

ha, i kinda remember when the EDM/techno dichotomy was the other way around! the more things change.

here's some XPXPXPXPXPXP for you

Prolific polymath Londoner Dean Blunt’s latest album, Black Metal 2 contains virtually no metal and is instead chock-full of moody, lo-fi bedroom pop. “the rot” is the final track on the LP, a capstone of gentle emo nihilism that sounds to me like somewhat blunted Phil Elverum or grumpy Mazzy Star.

https://i.imgur.com/Sd52qmq.jpeg
58: Dean Blunt - “the rot” - 140 points / 4 votes
Video

Dean Blunt

60: Papolious Jones - “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)” - 136 points / 3 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video
NB: Not Available on Spotify

Mr. Jones, also known as Brian Topham, is back with the second installment on his label Top Rhythm Boppers, simply called Volume 2, a musical conglomeration of four different moods and therefore four different approaches to music itself.

― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, February 1, 2022 3:25 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

YESSSSS! I submitted this but it was saer who posted it on the Bobbins thread. Whenever I've played it pout DJing I get people asking what it is.

oh yeh, the good stuff
voted for the album

HAHA was one of my noms. Such a simple idea but perfectly executed.

I just don't know what to make of that Blawan track. I've really enjoyed a lot of his work but I've never been a fan of the Untold/Blawan school of maxed-out ultra-hot every-band-at-the-same-time school of mega compressed techno. That said after a few listens I started getting into the Ray Bradbury night-circus vibe of this tune

Just realized after reading it a few times that the name's not Papalicious Jones.

papa johns

Love this track. Reminded me of the best bits of the Parsley Sound.

i don't think i "get" dean blunt tbh

glad that blunt made it, hopefully the album places higher

“the rot” is a terrific closer, an anthem for gently surrendering to the void

Just catching up with the countdown so far. This Billie Eilish song is legit!

Good start today, voted for both Blawan and Charlotte Adigéry. Both tracks I only discovered while listening to the nominations playlist.

The Ohtis track is annoying and super catchy at the same time. I really can't work out if I like it or not. It's awkard and ugly and there is so much I don't like about it but it gets stuck in my head all the time

i don't think i "get" dean blunt tbh

― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, February 1, 2022 11:24 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

he is pretty inscrutable, to be fair.

"the rot" loses a lot outside of the context of the album, imo

Predictably dark and filthy nightmare dub from the guys who do it as well as anyone. Flowdan and The Bug have been consistently grinding out obsidian scaffolding with deft wordplay for more than fifteen years and it still sounds as much of the immediate ugly moment as ever.

https://i.imgur.com/EC2xoZi.jpeg
57: The Bug with Flowdan - “Pressure” - 140 points / 5 votes
Video

The Bug - Pressure

rona moved in: ilx0rs with the bug report on their progress

rona moved in: ilx0rs with the bug report on their progress

lol

I voted for the Dean Blunt album, but happy to see it represented here as well. It has such a great dark, drifting vibe.

the first 30 seconds of "pressure" makes me think someone's gonna come in saying "iii aam iroonnnn mann"

Oh, nice. Pretty sure this is the first time I've nominated a track that has actually placed lol.

Our #34 in the 2020 album poll, rapper and songmaker Pa Salieu’s debut album Send Them to Coventry had all the hallmarks of an important announcement from a lasting artist. Pa's 2021 followup was an album’s worth of material split across projects, including this menacing bump and grind from the African Rebel EP. This song marks him as the first artist on the 77 with double-placement, which I am sure will never ever happen again.

https://i.imgur.com/zM1QFKe.jpeg
56: Pa Salieu with Obonjayar - “Style & Fashion” - 140 points / 6 votes
Video

Pa Salieu: Send Them to Coventry

Dean Blunt is a style of his own. I can see why people wouldn’t vibe with it. It’s not very welcoming.

I usually can’t get on his same frequency, but that one odd week of the year that I am I think I’ve even considered him a top 10 artist of the 2010’s.

*Obongjayar!

voted for this one pretty highly. pa's charisma is so all-encompassing, and obongjayar has a perfect bark for amapiano. he should do a full track in that style.

Heading out for a bit so there will be a lengthy intermission with more to follow in the afternoon after our two-way tie for #54...

Preternaturally insightful lyrics buoy up this bittersweet bonbon of Eilish's meta-examination on fame, self-responsibility and forced maturity. I am considering getting business cards made up that read “Things I Once Enjoyed / Just Keep Me Employed Now.”

https://i.imgur.com/Smk6ewO.jpeg
(TIE) 54: Billie Eilish - “Getting Older”- 148 points / 5 votes
Video

billie eilish

Cleo Sol’s lack of interest in press junkets renders interpretations of her music through the lens of presumed personal experience hazy at best, which is presumably the point. The cover art and themes of matronhood explored throughout her gently crafted 2021 album Mother surely suggest that its title comes from a relatively recent change of life. The LPs opening track, “Don’t Let Me Fall” slightly evokes Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” but the perspective is that of a child watching her mother unravel. The song feels naked and bruised, disarming in its exposure, tender and wounded and open and kindly all at once.

https://i.imgur.com/MjK4nSF.jpeg
(TIE) 54: Cleo Sol - “Don’t Let Me Fall” - 148 points / 5 votes
Video

Sault - What's the story?

Style and Fashion is such an incredible jam. One of the most impressive Afro/UK fusion tracks I've heard

I love this album -- one of my favorites of the year -- and its placidity. Reminded me of Minnie Riperton.

yess good call on the riperton, i made the same connection

Yay for Don't let me fall. I love how the album gives you the impression to walk into a room where she's playing by herself, and the atmosphere is just this intimacy but it feels so substantial and then the overdubs and drums come in to add some beautiful neo-soul texture, and that sublime oh so brief moment when she accelerates, just once.

I really like Blawan, and I like that he's a big enough name that he can make a semi-weird track and have everyone talking about calliope techno. I keep meaning to listen to the rest of the EP.

Funny, I was only listening to Soft Waahls, I didn't realize there was another one. Love the title.

I usually get a lot of votes in the first two days. This time I think it's only been Amber Mark and Cleo Sol. The second Pa Salieu I very narrowly left out. I've voted for a different song (that will likely not place) from Eillish. So I'm just assuming that all of those votes will place highly.

billie eilish gets points for using the word "ironic" correctly, but not much else. the melody is nice, but it really accentuates the worst aspects of her singing

Didn't vote for either of the last two but love them and glad to see them here.

I like Glidin' more than Style & Fashion. I find it more dynamic and I'm not wild about Obongjayar (tbf I only like Slowthai in small doses)

I'm enjoying this Sol track more than I did last summer, though if we're using polite coffeeshop music as a descriptor/detractor this is basically that, no?

Last three, I mean. Good stretch here.

I guess if any kind of contemplative pop is polite coffeeshop music then Cleo Sol qualifies, but that's just a statement about its mood, not its other qualities. She's a good songwriter, she embeds strong melodies in what feel like drifting lines.

i mean, sure, but it's exceedingly well-executed and it's aiming a lot higher than mere vibe-setting

xp, basically what tipsy said

she embeds strong melodies in what feel like drifting lines.

Just so.

I loved her previous album, this one just felt wispy to me, there's almost too much space in the production...maybe? anyway I'm giving the whole thing another listen right now, though in doing that I'm remembering I don't like the lyrics very much. I'll try to focus on the melodies

I'd say that Cleo Sol, as others before her in the soul / neo-soul tradition, bridge that political divide between the inner and outer, reflection and action, personal and public. Wildfires etc. It's tranquil, but not inconspicuous as 'coffeeshop' music entails, there's a lot of presence and experience.

Lots of good stuff today!

Yay "Under Belly" was one of my noms and LOL to the Star Wars Cantina music comment.

Liking the Papolious Jones track - never heard of them.

"Haha" was one of my favorite discoveries from the Spotify nominations playlist.

I loved her previous album, this one just felt wispy to me, there's almost too much space in the production...maybe? anyway I'm giving the whole thing another listen right now, though in doing that I'm remembering I don't like the lyrics very much. I'll try to focus on the melodies

― rob

I had the opposite experience with her albums. There were a few songs I loved on Rose In The Dark (especially Her Light), but too many of the songs didn't make much of an impression on me. I connected with Mother straight away. It's probably my second favourite Sault related album after Rise.

I'm honestly puzzled by the different reactions. I tried again and the exact same thing happened as before: I get totally bored of it halfway through Build Me Up (strongly dislike the prev track too), look at the number of tracks left and their lengths and turn it off. Oh well, I will still check out her next album for sure

Sorry, I meant I am puzzled by my own divergent reaction from the consensus

I jumped into the Cleo Sol album all excited and felt like taking a nap about halfway through, so you're not entirely alone

big fan of the pa salieu style and fashion - in my 2021 favourites definitely - tho it always entails me also having to listen to my other favourite style and fashion track, by jah batta and skatee.

As far as I can tell, all the enthusiasm on ILM for this abundant EDM “playful slice of fun” can be traced entirely to our mysterious and exacting ILXOR saer’s recommendation

saer is one of those people who is my go-to “if he recommends it i’m going to listen” people on ilx so this is correct good and true.

xxp yeah was gonna say, I like Sault just fine but don't really get the Cleo Sol record

using the phrase 'bumper to bumper' in a song will never not make me think of 'where's me jumper?', heartfelt sympathies to anyone else afflicted by this condition

i love minnie riperton and thom bell's work with the stylistics, and the cleo sol album scratches the same itch. def not meant to be invigorating–or even "cool"–in the way that sault's albums are

the cleo sol song isn't much to rouse the spirit, but it also isn't as bad as i was expecting from the chatter here; there was definitely something to it

'style & fashion' is great, pa salieu creates an almost gothic vibe

oh Fizzles prompting me to listen to Wackies while trying to be fair-minded and open-eared in this thread is no fair

people who like the production on Style & Fashion might like a whole bunch of South African house

Keep waiting for Tom Waits' vocal to come in during 'Under Belly'

yeah someone mentioned that it was an afro-uk fusion track, but to me it's just a straight amapiano track with pa salieu on it

the production is good but salieu is the main draw, i'd like amapiano a lot more if it found more vocalists with his presence

agreed, honestly, though i like the growling vocal style in small doses

With a sinewy and only slightly deracinated amapiano track like “Getting Late” from South African newcomer Tyla getting meaningful pop chart appreciation, has one of ILM’s favorite long-overlooked genres finally found a pathway to greater American and European radio exposure? Check back next year. Love that cracking-the-coke-can sound effect!

https://i.imgur.com/UolRH65.jpeg
53: Tyla with Kooldrink - “Getting Late” - 148 points / 6 votes
Video

MZANSI MUZIQ 2021 🇿🇦 Rolling South Africa thread

needs more pa salieu ;)

I can't remember if I voted for this, but this is definitely the kind of song I think of as ILM-friendly

Getting Late is still great fun but it had less replay value than I thought and I ended up leaving it out. Can't wait to go back to Joburg, fingers crossed that my boss approves me working from there for ten days. Definitely beware of ATMs there, and if anyone offers to help you, it's your time to get out fast.

wait, what?

Anyway, here's a pretty amazing doublehitter tie for #51

For the third year in a row, Koffee blesses our 77 with her immaculate toasting. “West Indies” is a celebration of celebration that reads to me as a flex of her newfound celebrity against the cold realities of a world that got fevered right around the time she got hot. As a declaration that she will luxuriate until she can tour, who could fault her? After two years of this shit, I too wanna just party.

https://i.imgur.com/krgJWL6.jpeg
(TIE)51: Koffee - “West Indies” - 148 points / 8 votes
Video

gratitude is a must: the Koffee thread

Peruvian deep house producer and DJ Sofia Kourtesis’ “La Perla” is an airily, open-hearted and loving incantation that brings to mind the globally sourced deep house sounds of DJ Koze or Project Pablo.

https://i.imgur.com/7TjbuCF.jpeg
(TIE)51: Sofia Kourtesis - “La Perla” - 148 points / 8 votes
Video

caribbean tourism boards everywhere giving thanks to koffee

I'm still not sure that West Indies isn't among her best, up there with Toast and Lockdown, and that's how I voted. Voted for the other Kourtesis. This is definitely my part of the poll.

nice writeup on West Indies there forks

I'm also having the best time of my life

Good day for quiet jams so far

Great to see "La Perla," but if you like this, check out the whole EP and her new track, too. All good.

ilm is vibing

never heard Kourtesis before, it's very pretty. Is there a longer project to check out? thanks Indexed!

Re quiet jams and vibing, now would be a good time for Ngixolele to place

"getting late" is cool, but i didn't fall in love with it

yeah I checked and I did not vote for Getting Late. tbf picking which SA tracks to vote for was kind of a chore

i haert la perla

somehow this is my first time hearing "west indies" and it's bliss.

is 'west indies' still a widely-used term outside of cricket btw?

if not then i am understanding this as a cricket anthem

I've heard it in other Caribbean songs (e.g.)

oh ok! ty!

anyway i didn't quite vote for it but i thought it would be higher

I just realized each entry has a different color grade, at first I thought the concept was blocks of ten entries and was starting to think it had been orange for too long

(Love the focus on fashion Moka)

Lot of my votes placed today. Voted for another Cleo Sol track... and the Sault album "instead" of hers. I think her album is just now clicking for me now that I'm not in catchup mode anymore. What a beaut.

We notoriously snubbed SZA in our 2017 tracks poll, though her remarkable album Ctrl placed third in the album poll. That makes “Good Days,” an ethereal but somewhat odd bit of promotion originally offered for listening via a meditation and mental health hotline, her first song ever to chart in the 77.

https://i.imgur.com/W7eoWB2.jpg
50: SZA - “Good Days” - 152 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

thread of SZA

lol I did not know about the meditation thing but I really love this song despite not connecting with really anything else she's done

everyone vibed so hard they fell asleep?

It’s lunch time on my zone.

Still vibing.

jacob collier is responsible of plenty of crimes against music but that emaj7sus-fdim7-amaj7-amin turnaround in the chorus is slick

too bad his vocal harmonies sound bad enough to nearly kill the song!

*pre-chorus, not chorus

La Perla is gorgeous - my find of the list so far. Normally love Charlotte but Haha puts me on edge. Sorry.

Zambian-born, Canadian-based rapper/producer Backxwash channels eyewatering righteous fury against colonialism, gender policing and Christianity with a bubbling swamp of rage, electronic static, throat-blistering rasps and guitar played as percussive weapon. I missed the mark in hearing this for a long time until I tried following the lyrics and letting the anger guide rather than push me, then it opened up ripe like a corpse flower.

https://i.imgur.com/8ONwiqa.jpg
49: Backxwash ft. Ada Rook - “I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses” - 153 points / 6 votes
Video

Backxwash

now *I* vibe, motherfuckers

re: SZA
https://www.nme.com/news/music/sza-fan-hotline-call-goodline-2862097

that whole Sofia Kourtesis EP is pretty sweet

vibe change alert

This is my #3. It's...stunning imo, a force of absolute red-hot hellish fury, frustration, defiance, triumph. Backxwash is as much a student of metal as of hip-hop and it shows in her massive blown-out feats of production as well as her bars. Ada Rook, finally and gloriously in the 77, absolutely kills the chorus as well. Nice write-up forks

This is why we come back. Wouldn't have heard it otherwise. May not again but I'm delighted to have heard it.

now *I* vibe, motherfuckers

― imago

Lol

I went to the convenience store the other day and I was listening to this BACKXWASH song on headphones earlier in the day, so when I turned my car on it connected to the fucking BT and played it LOUDLY.

There was a family and a group of teenagers nearby and they all stared at me as if I was doing heavy drugs on the parking lot while trying to open a portal to hell.

With five nominated tracks from their much-discussed-on-ILM album HEY WHAT, the Minnesota-based Sub Pop rock duo Low are among the most heralded artists on the poll. Their first (only?) entry in 2021’s 77 is a comfort blanket that disappears step-by-step into a stew of noise. By the time you notice you’re in the soup, it’s already boiling around you.

https://i.imgur.com/BVhArig.jpg
48: Low - “The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)” - 154 points / 5 votes
Video

Too LOW: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low - RESULTS

Do You Know How to POLLtz?: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low

lol Moka

Lowsers: better to try this song or just wait for the album to place and try the whole thing?

too low

wait for the album, the songs don't make as much sense in isolation unless you've heard them flow through the album sequence IMO

or don't wait, put the album on now because it rules

this is probably my 2nd favourite track on the album, it's great

I would argue the last artist to cleanly break onto the pop scene with a rep as universally critically beloved and commercially powerful as Olivia Rodrigo was Billie Eilish back in 2019. With it’s Swiftian storytelling and Adele-like belting, “drivers license” is an entirely reasonable Exhibit A as to why. The clever musical transition from seatbelt alert into heartbeat motif and the eventual build from near whisper to swelling strings and vocal choir give heft to what might otherwise been a hackneyed lament of first heartbreak. This work from a more veteran musician would've been impressive and is all the more so as Rodrigo’s very very big debut.

https://i.imgur.com/RehtuWR.jpg
47: Olivia Rodrigo - “drivers license” - 154 points / 6 votes
Video

olivia rodrigo sets a record

xp
thanks DJP, I will queue it up for later. right now I'm loving the Kourtesis EP, thank u ilm

backxwash song sounds like it could strip all the teflon off your frying pan, i kinda like it tbh

every time someone on ILX writes "Swiftian" I automatically think "...Jonathan?"

The clever musical transition from seatbelt alert into heartbeat motif

hey, I never thought of that!

Cannot get with this at all. Some of her other tracks are sort of okay, but the solipsism is offputting

Good song. Holds up well despite being everywhere. Funny to think back on the brief idea of it as a potential one hit wonder (or at least an impossible peak to climb twice) then she followed up with bigger songs immediately.

Rodrigo is by all markers right up my alley but somehow doesn't do a whole lot for me. I like Brutal and Good 4 U better than Drivers License, I won't mind if one/both to show up higher.

Swiftian storytelling. Eat your heart out, Damon Albarn.

I was probably more bothered than I should have been by all the lifts on the Rodrigo album but this song sounds too much like Kesha's "Praying," specifically the "you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me" line.

hard to argue with the craft here

I can’t leave us on a tie, so two more for the day. Tomorrow may be a bit disjointed as well but I'll see about dropping a few track winners by phone and updating the playlist in the evening.

As the enthusiastic ILM thread below attests, this is the year that many of us fell in love with the Los Angeles electropop duo Magdalena Bay’s via their album Mercurial World. “You Lose!” with its schussh of synths and guitar, distorted video game violence and staticky vocals is (along with the title track) among the rougher cuts on an album that otherwise traffics in the airy and glittering. It speaks well to MB’s versatility that we clearly appreciate them just as well in a noisier key.

https://i.imgur.com/IYBBkPS.jpg
(TIE) 45: Magdalena Bay - “You Lose!” - 154 points / 7 votes
Video

Magdalena Bay • A Little Rhythm And A Wicked Feeling (2020) [RIYL: future-nostalgic pop]

Our #1 pick in 2018 and #60 in 2019, the South Korean DJ and producer Peggy Gou returns after a year off from the 77 with “I Go,” a shimmery oasis of upbeat 90’s nostalgia.

https://i.imgur.com/1NpOOB6.jpg
(TIE) 45: Peggy Gou - “I Go” - 154 points / 7 votes
Video

Peggy Gou

(TIE) 45: Magdalena Bay - “You Lose!” - 154 points / 7 votes
(TIE) 45: Peggy Gou - “I Go” - 154 points / 7 votes
47: Olivia Rodrigo - “Drivers License” - 154 points / 6 votes
48: Low - “The price you pay (it must be wearing off)” - 154 points / 5 votes
49: Backxwash ft. Ada Rook - “I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses” - 153 points / 6 votes
50: SZA - “Good Days” - 152 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
(TIE)51: Koffee - “West Indies” - 148 points / 8 votes
(TIE)51: Sofia Kourtesis - “La Perla” - 148 points / 8 votes
53: Tyla with Kooldrink - “Getting Late” - 148 points / 6 votes
(TIE) 54: Billie Eilish - “Getting Older”- 148 points / 5 votes
(TIE) 54: Cleo Sol - “Don’t Let Me Fall” - 148 points / 5 votes
56: Pa Salieu with Obonjayar - “Style & Fashion” - 140 points / 6 votes
57: The Bug with Flowdan - “Pressure” - 140 points / 5 votes
58: Dean Blunt - “The Rot” - 140 points / 4 votes
59: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul - “HAHA” - 137 points / 6 votes
60: Papolious Jones - “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)” - 136 points / 3 votes / 1 #1 vote
61: Blawan - “Under Belly” - 135 points / 5 votes
62: Wizkid with Tems - “Essence” - 134 points / 6 votes
63: Amber Mark - “What It Is” - 132 points / 5 votes
64: Cardi B - “Up” - 131 points / 4 votes
65: Laura Groves - “Infinite Wisdom” - 131 points / 5 votes
66: Yes Junior 24 with Futuristic Swaver - “We are Next Up!” - 130 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
67: Rauw Alejandro - “Todo De Ti” - 130 points / 4 votes
68: Pa Salieu with slowthai - “Glidin’” - 128 points / 7 votes
69: City Girls - “Twerkulator” - 128 points / 5 votes
70: Wolf Alice - “How Can I Make It OK?” - 127 points / 6 votes
71: SAULT - “London Gangs - 126 points / 5 votes
72 (TIE): Burna Boy - “Kilometre” - 124 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
72 (TIE): Rhododendron - “Last of the Painted Hills” - 124 points / 4 votes / 1 #1 vote
74: Hayley Williams - “My Limb” - 124 points / 4 votes
75: Dos Monos - “Medieval” - 124 points / 3 votes
76: Ohtis feat. Stef Chura - “Schatze” - 122 points / 3 votes / 1 #1 vote
77: Billie Eilish - “Happier Than Ever” - 120 points / 5 votes

You Lose! was my #15. Wasn't always completely sold on what Magdalena Bay did last year, but I was completely sold on this absurd, almighty banger. Videogame effects fitted as, it seems, standard.

my #1

oh i quite like this magdalena bay song on first listen. kind of sounds like grimes 1.0 filtered through the bit-crushed guitar sounds of nu-low

I Go is great

i wanna call attention again to Moka's clever color matching to bring out border hues within the feature image. it's subtle but it works! Unless i'm making it up, in which case IGNORE ME

"you lose!" is probably the song i've grown to appreciate the most since making my 2021 lists so i'm glad it's here. can't resist the shoegaze/chiptune vibes (chipgaze? shoetune?) and there are something like 4 or 5 distinct hooks.

never got round to listening to the peggy gou before but i'm a sucker for that freestyle bass sound

peggy gou has basically one thing that she does, but she does it well

Magdalena Bay were my favourite (re*)discovery of the track poll, although I do like several tracks on the album better than this one.

* I had downloaded (and liked) a track of theirs before and then forgot to check them out further.

Xxpost:

Lol it’s 50/50 I was selecting images that fitted the placement hue as best as possible but sometimes it’s not on purpose and the image fitted naturally good in that hue.

Yellow in particular is a very easy color to match ime. It looks good against grayscale and almost every other color.

For some images I did edit subtly the colors to match the hue.

the mag bay image is brilliant, kudos moka

Yeah love that one!

Mag Bay definitely my discovery of the year so far. All four songs from the album they did videos for are superb. High probability I’ll be buying the album on Friday.

Magdalena Bay not my kind of thing overall, but "You Lose" was in my top 10. For some reason I can picture myself losing my shit to it on 120 Minutes in the 90s, even though I wouldn't say it's a throwback.

I should have voted for I Go but didn't, it's probably my favourite of the 3 Peggy Gou tracks we've placed over the years

This Low song is really amazing actually, I knew I liked it but that was only off a couple of listens

catching up on the tracks I haven't heard before (most of them tbh) and lol yes CANTINA BAND

wait imago likes low now

i mean it seems like his jam tbh

The new album was (at times) the music you were all banging on about when Double Negative dropped, imo

I still only LOVE three of the tracks but this is one of them

Really enjoyed the results today. Papolious Jones is my favourite discovery of the results so far. La Perla is really great too.

You Lose! is my first vote to make it. I had a couple of their tracks on my list and it was really hard not to vote for more. I definitely didn't stick to voting for only song by each artist this year. I liked the Magdalena Bay mini album from 2020, but I wasn't fully prepared for how much I'd fall for the album.

Nice to see Good Days here. I didn't end up voting for it as it was in my top ten the previous year. Really surprised she didn't launch the album after the slow burning success of the single. How has it almost been five years since CTRL.

I couldn't get on with Drivers License. Ended up voting for a different song of hers which I'm guessing is still to come.

Really surprised she didn't launch the album

this seems to be just label trouble, who knows what the hell they're doing

surprised at my intense dislike for Magdalena Bay

silky smooth female Peruvian DJ = total sleevebait

finally listened to Pa Salieau and yeah I see why ILM loves it, good stuff

Was sure I'd heard some Magdalena Bay I didn't like but this isn't like what I had in my head for them - I'm into it.

Pretty sure I bumped Backxwash & Rook off my ballot as it was just a bit *too* rap-metal, but I'm glad it's here.

Unless I'm remembering my ballot wrong, none of mine have shown up yet and now we're this far into it I only have hope for two.

Really surprised she didn't launch the album

this seems to be just label trouble, who knows what the hell they're doing

― ufo

Yeah, I should have referred to the label here but I've lost track. I seem to remember she'd abandoned some material and started again? I might be getting Sky Ferreira confusion though.

Still holding out for some Soca (and a particular Afrobeats song about bottoms)

I like the whole Magdalena Bay album. You Lose! is great and it's still only about my fourth favorite song on it.

i kinda think it towers over the rest of their stuff

but hey, i've been wrong before

All depends on your sweet spots. I like their yacht disco vibes best.

sorry to derail but i'm catching up and, Jesus Christ, "Schatze" from way upthread is too real... i found myself the girl narrator's role in my last relationship, and only escaped (which is to say kicked the problem person out of my house) just yesterday. which was also my 40th birthday. my 30s ended on the most miserable 6 weeks of the decade and i am going to comfort myself by listening to this song over and over. thank u ILM.

(i'm doing gr8 today btw. i have a new start, and this rollout is wonderful so far.)

holy shit! hope this rollout is the party you need (but that you also have several IRL parties planned)

I'd probably rate Chaeri over You Lose! from the Magdalena Bay singles, but You Lose! is compressed and saturated in just the perfect amount + videogame synth vibes which is a win on ILM apparently.

hello i love this yearly poll rollout!
i never listen to enough new music to vote but i always get great recs from the results

video game noises in music = not for me tbh

i love peggy gou and chloe sol, and that second Pa Salieu track is dope! i liked a few from yesterday too

as you were

oh and the wiggly CANTINA BAND song sounds like baby elephant walk <3

video game noises in music = not for me tbh

this x1000

favorites from today - Blawan, Dean Blunt, Peggy Gou

think that Low is an album experience

(TIE) 45: Magdalena Bay - “You Lose!” - just missed my ballot but it's one of the highlights from the album, chiptune-shoegaze done so well
(TIE) 45: Peggy Gou - “I Go” - peggy gou at her best, voted for this
47: Olivia Rodrigo - “Drivers License” - well-executed but ultimately a bit bland
48: Low - “The price you pay (it must be wearing off)” - low had the best & most immense guitar sounds all year and this was a standout
49: Backxwash ft. Ada Rook - “I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses” - crosses the too heavy line for me
50: SZA - “Good Days” - is this the only good thing collier has ever been involved with? i'm a little surprised this ended up being such a big hit for her, it's gorgeous but floats along going for mood over big hooks (not that that's a bad thing or anything) especially compared to the singles from ctrl
(TIE)51: Koffee - “West Indies” - just good rather than great by koffee's standards
(TIE)51: Sofia Kourtesis - “La Perla” - think this just made my ballot
53: Tyla with Kooldrink - “Getting Late” - i cut this after discovering "overdose" which is even better but probably should have kept this on my ballot just to push it higher, both tracks rule
(TIE) 54: Billie Eilish - “Getting Older” - if random album tracks like this are placing are we going to have like 3 more eilish tracks place lol? it's good though
(TIE) 54: Cleo Sol - “Don’t Let Me Fall” - sublime soul, the hushed coda takes it to the next level
56: Pa Salieu with Obonjayar - “Style & Fashion” - voted for this, pa doing amapiano works so well
57: The Bug with Flowdan - “Pressure” - i probably need a subwoofer to fully appreciate this (it's not quite immense enough on my headphones) but i like the dubby doom vibes here
58: Dean Blunt - “The Rot” - usually blunt is too inscrutable for me but this is pretty and works well on its own
59: Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul - “HAHA” - a bit disappointed this didn't push further
60: Papolious Jones - “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)” - pleasant but not anything special?
61: Blawan - “Under Belly” - sound design on this is both cool & totally not my thing at all

XPs to imago: Thank u. The panoply of covid and relationship ordeals I underwent over the last six weeks prevented me from planning any parties, but I think I will have a Super Bowl/birthday get together. Meanwhile, this rollout is a fun little party. I hope to participate a little bit more over the coming 10 or so days ٩( ᐛ )و

Small intermittent doses of Magdalena Bay are sufficient for me. "Chaeri" was the exception here. I gave that some points IIRC.

I seem to end up voting for Koffee every year now. I think I reflexively put "West Indies" on a long list before I was even sure I was feeling it. But it was still there after 467 rounds of whittling.

referencing a post way above … Papolious Jones' “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)” is nice, but Girl Unit's "Wut" and Todd Terje's "Inspector Norse" are all-time classics that are filled with intense longing and feeling

amen, brother

o yes forgot to mention that the Blawan track totally rules

Heard:
- Blawan, “Under Belly” - this rules. I can't remember if I voted for it but it was definitely one of my favourite discoveries from the noms list
- Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul, “HAHA” - I like Adigery usually but found this annoying
- Pa Salieu with Obonjayar, “Style & Fashion” - prefer "Glidin'" but this is alright
- Billie Eilish, “Getting Older” - "Things I once enjoyed, just keep me employed now" is an all-time great depressing line
- Tyla with Kooldrink, “Getting Late” - I liked this earlier in the year but got bored of it pretty quickly. still sounds really good though.
- Sofia Kourtesis, “La Perla” - voted for this, still listening to it (and the EP) regularly a whole year later. just gorgeous, might have been my no. 1 if I'd submitted a weighted ballot.
- SZA, “Good Days” - This really grew on me over the year, it's lovely. it was on my ballot longlist, but I can't remember if it made the cut or not.
- Olivia Rodrigo, “Drivers' License” - never understood the love for this song. There's something about the vocal melody that grates (relatedly, it's the same problem I have with the new Hatchie track that's produced by the same guy who did "Drivers' License")
- Peggy Gou, “I Go” - on my list of songs titled in English that also mean something else in Korean: "Aigo (아이고) is a Korean exclamation expression which is similar to the English expressions 'Oh!' 'Oh Dear!' , 'Oh My!', 'Oh My God!" 
- Magdalena Bay, “You Lose!” - fuzzy goodness. Wasn't bowled over by the whole record but this is my favourite off it, think it just made my ballot.

New to me:
- Papolious Jones, “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)” - this is pretty good but doesn't really go anywhere?
- Dean Blunt, “The Rot” - this is pleasant, I guess
- The Bug with Flowdan, “Pressure” - I need better speakers 
- Cleo Sol, “Don’t Let Me Fall” - this is supremely gorgeous, I will definitely be checking out the record (didn't love the previous one all that much, but there were some nice moments)
- Koffee, “West Indies” - it's cool and cloudy here and this is a lovely sunshine-y listen
- Backxwash ft. Ada Rook, “I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses” - love ILM for these kind of entries that I never would have heard otherwise. This is a tad heavy for me these days but I prob would've loved it when I was younger. Really striking.
- Low, “The price you pay (it must be wearing off)” - Low has always been one of those bands that I never got into and the thought of trying to get into their discography at this late stage is just way too daunting  

Low has always been one of those bands that I never got into and the thought of trying to get into their discography at this late stage is just way too daunting

The two latest albums really kind of sit apart from the rest of their discography, imo at least. It was through them that I found a way in to all the older stuff, but most of it I can still take or leave.

you can break into Low almost anywhere and don't need to hear everything to appreciate them. I'm not sure the two latest albums are the ones I would listen to first though

I think their easiest access point is in the middle - Things We Lost In the Fire, Trust, The Great Destroyer (2001-2005)

C'mon is one of my other favorites, but everyone else seems to hate that one, so what do I know

I liked it too

~narrows eyes~

waitaminute

is this poll a ploy to get ppl to listen to Low

like those timeshare conjobs where they give you a free meal at a hotel & lock you in a conference room for 9 hours

c'mon has a relatively weak reputation because it's the most conservative point in their discography, it's the one time they stopped really pushing forwards with new ideas & reverted back to an earlier sound, which was probably pretty disappointing to some people coming after drums and guns which was their biggest sonic experiment at that point. it's still very solid but just has less in the way of career highlights and feels relatively safe.

is this poll a ploy to get ppl to listen to Low

this is the purpose of every ILM poll afaict

this is the purpose of every ILM poll afaict

What a great set of results thus far. WELL DONE EVERYBODY.

Of the second batch, Peggy Gou was on my longlist, and I already knew and liked Cleo Sol, Sofia Kourtesis, Low and Olivia Rodrigo. Best discovery is Koffee, a sublime jam with a captivating vocal. I still prefer the first Billie Eilish album, but "Getting Older" is just as great. Meanwhile, having reached a time of life where I favour nice music which sounds nice over nasty music which sounds nasty, I struggled to play Backxwash all the way through, but I don't begrudge its inclusion.

Goddamn, how did I miss the voting period? I actually had strong opinions this year! Oh well, tuned in now for the results. Glad to see Wolf Alice placed.

i really liked that magdalena bay album
thought videoclub - 'euphories' would top that genre last year but think this album's better

Can I make a guess for number 78 and it will be ABBA - I Still Have Faith In You

I didn't expect to see any OGs (Original Ghosts) here, much less spark a conversation about coffee shops on holidays. I'm going to make a mug right now!

That hivemind score getting a much needed away win, relegation odds slashed

a Nobby Solano corner slung into the 77 mix

Blawan - “Under Belly”: Blawan is so good at this. He should make the big album, or the half hour dj tool version at some point, though, imo. I need more great Blawan music each year.
Papolious Jones - “We’re the OGs (Original Ghosts)”: Cool bobbins snack. Love the use of the Where’s You’re Head At bassline.
Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul - “HAHA”: Oh wow, this is great! Biggest find of the poll so far, this would have been high up on my ballot. And there's an album on the way!
Dean Blunt - “The Rot”: As with SAULT, I always think Blunt works best as an album whole, but it is obviously a very good song.
The Bug with Flowdan - “Pressure”: Always good, but I feel like they’ve made this track a couple of times before.
Pa Salieu with Obonjayar - “Style & Fashion”: Pa Salieu trying new stuff, and I’m happily following along, but again, is this the only brit rap on the list? :(
Cleo Sol - “Don’t Let Me Fall”: I like SAULT but I’ve never cared for any of the related acts. This is too pretty.
Billie Eilish - “Getting Older”: It’s not the fault of Eilish, it’s 100% the fault of the rotten music industry, but this song bums me out so much.
Tyla with Kooldrink - “Getting Late”: Didn’t follow along with amapiano this year, but it’s basically the best music in the world? Love this one, and so hyped to hear it’s charting.
Koffee - “West Indies”: This is good, but not a genre I devote a lot of time to.
Sofia Kourtesis - “La Perla”: Liked the whole ep a lot, but didn’t vote for it. The new one with the Manu Chao sample indicates she’s really going for the throne in 2022.
SZA - “Good Days”: Not bad but again, not for me.
Backxwash ft. Ada Rook - “I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses: I thought we only liked nu-nu-metal if it was mixed with hyperpop? Will have to check the album to see if I’m okay with this.
Low - “The price you pay (it must be wearing off)”: I love this, great album closer, but I only voted for the album.
Olivia Rodrigo - “Drivers License”: The kids are ok. This is obviously a really well written song, but being 35 and still not able to drive, I can’t relate at all.
Peggy Gou - “I Go”: More cool bobbins snack. I like it, but I’ll never get why ILX loves Peggy Gou so much more than other bobbin snacks.
Magdalena Bay - “You Lose!”: This is fine synthpop but I don’t need it. I thought it was supposed to be hyper or noise or hypernoise?

Also, still working on the Apple Music list if there's interest in it?

is this poll a ploy to get ppl to listen to Low

Where “The Price You Pay” starts gentle and then gets rough, “White Horses” bookends a portentous duet on the back of an ocean roar, with guitar grumbling at its beginning and a thunderstorm that quiets into a speeding metronome at its end. This works better as transition within the context of the album, but I keep coming back for the section between .36 to 3.28. Surely I can’t be the first to suggest they offer a version of this album with separately tracked interstitials?

https://i.imgur.com/ZOIie4p.jpg
44: Low - “White Horses” - 158 points / 5 votes
Video

Too LOW: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low - RESULTS

Do You Know How to POLLtz?: ILM Artist Poll #111 - Low

This is one of the other two tracks I love. (The third is the Weyes Bloodian 'All Night', which wasn't nominated I think)

Hearing this was a rapid alert to their increased confidence in the new style and the sense that they'd added a few tricks to it

I like the Low album and expect it to do well next week, but it'll be a shame if it overwhelms the tracks results too.

there's at least one more low song to come

All Night was the only song I liked on my admittedly brief foray into this album. There's something about the distortion they use on this and the prev one that is total brain poison for me

too low

Self-proclaimed “anti-pop star” Baby Queen’s mannered party anthem “Raw Thoughts” mopes while championing late night nihilism with a series of internal travelogues that sound like a nice enough time or maybe a terrible time or maybe just a vehicle for a lot of dense and decidedly pro-pop sounding production.

https://i.imgur.com/zTQsYoz.jpg
43: Baby Queen - “Raw Thoughts” - 158 points / 6 votes
Video

Is that....Southend in the video?

Oh it's Margate, lol. Close

imago, how Real England is this video?

Extremely :D

It makes me like the song so much more!

I totally get why people like this but is also makes me feel like I'm watching Euphouria

really can't stand the chorus melody here

for those of you looking for more Blawan, I highly recommend checking out Karenn - Grapefruit Regret, which is a full album he made with Pariah chock full of twisted analog synth insanity

never heard of this at all, glorious chorus. def not the most relevant touchstone but somehow the soaring melancholic triumph vibe brought to mind 'you are the generation that bought more shoes...'

Magdalena Bay’s second placing track on the 77 interpolates Michael McDonald’s “I Gotta Try” or maybe the Bosom Buddies’ take on Billy Joel or maybe just any of a dozen jaunty 80’s love songs. As far as capturing that wistfully upbeat retro spirit goes, you gotta admit, it’s super effective!

https://i.imgur.com/dR5r3ME.jpg
42: Magdalena Bay - “Hysterical Us” - 160 points / 4 votes
Video

Magdalena Bay • A Little Rhythm And A Wicked Feeling (2020) [RIYL: future-nostalgic pop]

It's What A Fool Believes and it isn't subtle

Simon H to thread(/borad)

oh yeah that piano is totally what a fool believes

Hysterical Us is my second song to place (You Lose being the other). It was my immediate favourite on the album and still is. I totally get all the 70s/80s comparisons (my friend said it was their ABBA moment) but I really love that it reminds me of that wonderful and very underrated second Niki & The Dove album.

The way she sings, "I'd give it away" was one of my favourite musical moments of last year.

Um, yeah, that's a pretty apparent rip

Kero Kero Bonito’s “Well Rested” literally chugs up to speed while it blows the bubble in the gum, shifting gears and hooks multiple times over the course of its seven minute runtime. KKB were doing epic boss battle music since before Charli XCX was legal drinking age, so while its hardly any surprise that they have this particular interstellar video game vibe down pat, it doesn’t make their execution any less enjoyable.

https://i.imgur.com/BdmhESn.jpg
41: Kero Kero Bonito - “Well Rested” - 160 points / 6 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

KERO KERO BONITO

Oh nice! Wasn't expecting this to place. Low on my ballot but it's brilliance, as much PSB as it is hyper-anything, and also prog as hell

Also can someone explain to me this sort of return to 2000s-era aesthetics, either sonic or visual? The video for the Magdalena Bay steals Doobie Brothers riff track looks so much like something that would have come out in the mid-aughts, it's a little unnerving and embarrassing, too.

Why do they look like they're in a soft-play art-car going to the Burn? Why are they dressed like extras from an MGMT video?

hey! one of my votes made it

The Kero Kero Bonito track is great, a late cut from my ballot - I didn't even know they'd released anything in 2021 before going through the playlist.

I didn't vote for any individual Magdalena Bay songs but Hysterical Us is their best one I think (am fine with it sounding like What a Fool Believes to be honest).

wrt "hysterical us", it it wasn't clear: my point in noting McDonald's less popular track and a theme song rendition of "My Life" was that this isn't exactly a copy of its more obvious precedents, it's more of a copy of a copy (of a copy). That Magdalena Bay makes the song palatable without smudging the carbon copy makes it more impressive to me.

Also can someone explain to me this sort of return to 2000s-era aesthetics, either sonic or visual?

oh sweet
kkb rule

consistent bangers

I realized during the voting period that I don't really like the Magdalena Bay vocals, which compare unfavorably to Japanese Breakfast, and that I had a hard time singling out a song. I still voted for the album. Pretty much the contrary of what I did for Low.

Also can someone explain to me this sort of return to 2000s-era aesthetics, either sonic or visual?

Always a safe bet when appealing to 18-to-25ers to have fun with things they experienced when they were toddlers. Vampire Weekend being for college kids at the time who heard Graceland in the backseat of their parents' car, and so on.

I never really rated Halsey as much more of a popstar than, say, Alessia Cara or Zara Larsson; good enough if it’s an emergency and you need someone for the chorus, but not much of a draw in and of herself. As such, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why “I am not a woman, I’m a god” hit so hard until I looked up the production credits. It is a truth universally acknowledged that most anyone sounds better over Nine Inch Nails.

https://i.imgur.com/nEmX6nY.jpg
40: Halsey - “I am not a woman, I'm a God” - 166 points / 5 votes
Video

Halsey

Yeah, this is the absolute standout from this album, well done ILM

Best pop thing Reznor's done to date.

liked the album, loved this track

the kkb song is great! did they release a body of work last year, or just singles?

Why do they look like they're in a soft-play art-car going to the Burn? Why are they dressed like extras from an MGMT video?

wait was that about MB? i had not seen the video haha

i think i voted Chaeri? we may see them again

vc: 4 track EP and then put it out with the previous one as a mini album. Civilisation. Love all of it.

That's the one jam on the album that clicked for me on first listen. I should go back to that record and see if i warm up to it after another spin or two

(The Halsey tune, I mean. Sorry, what/who is MB?)

xxp thanks. i'm pretty sure i heard that mini-album from a couple years ago. i'll check out.

i was non-plussed by the halsey track for a while, but then i heard it on the actual radio and it, uh, stood out.

C'mon is one of my other favorites, but everyone else seems to hate that one, so what do I know

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, February 1, 2022 11:38 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I love it too

Actress, rapper and singer-songwriter Little Simz saw a personal career peak year in 2021 with her cameo appearance in the Marvel movie Venom: Let There be Carnage. Also her fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert broke into the top five on the UK charts, made legit headway on the American market and broke the algorithm to become the consensus critical favorite LP of the year. So she’s got that going for her. The SAULT-produced afrobeat single “Point and Kill” features a guest spot from Obongjayar, who we've heard previously on "Style & Fashion" with Pa Salieu.

https://i.imgur.com/U0expbs.jpg
39: Little Simz - “Point and Kill” - 168 points / 6 votes
Video

Thread of Little Simz

the MCU of rap

Curious to see how Simz will do on albums. i
I didn't get into this as much as Grey Area but she's better known now. And of course i still rate it

This just made me think to search..... Top Boy season 4,out March 18!!

Fuck, this Kero Kero Bonito track is fantastic

nxd and i think a few others ITT have been say'n this is all bangers. the rollout so far is shaping up to be my favorite in on ILM since gr80 brought me here, idk, like 9 years ago?

not a single one of my votes has placed yet, and i don't even care. many wonderful discoveries for me, here. thank u ILM.

and holy fucking shit yes this KKB is great! just hearing it now tryna catch up

I'll be away from keyboard for the next several hours but may try to post more tracks in this thread from the road. Playlist will be bumped tonight. One more before I go though.

Lucy Dacus is part of a fresh wave of young, sorta sad, indie-rock guitarist/vocalists that includes her sometime bandmates Phoebe Bridger and Julien Baker. Dacus’ standout strength is her clarion voice, just the instrument to narrate a bittersweet nostalgia bomb like “Hot and Heavy.” It’s her first ever placement in our tracks poll.

https://i.imgur.com/OohhDH0.jpg
38: Lucy Dacus - “Hot and Heavy” - 170 points / 6 votes
Video

lucy dacus

I totally get why people like this but is also makes me feel like I'm watching Euphouria

― rob, Wednesday, February 2, 2022 8:14 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

savage

Never even heard of KKB. Thanks ILM!

Voted for the Halsey track after it wormed its way into my brain for a solid two-week stretch in December. Think the chorus would work better with a more muscular vocal but the tune is undeniable.

the MCU of rap

― imago, Wednesday, February 2, 2022 11:56 AM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

expand please!

i usually think of the mcu as the biggest of budgets and dominant distribution, which as acclaimed as she is, doesn't seem to apply to simz

@ forks, btw, i just want to let you know that i greatly appreciate your writing here. It beautifully situates the music presented into various interesting contexts, and packs a lot of meaning into not a lot of text. You're very good at this.

KKB track sounds like drone footage of big wave surfing

expansion: I loved Little Simz' Grey Area project, it was gritty and evocative and sharp and exactly the right level of dramatic. however her new stuff has been Disneyfied bombastic orchestral pandering imo, diaristic, on-the-nose, arch and crushingly literal, a bid for ubiquity that has absolutely worked; her profile is now probably the highest of any UK rapper, and all she had to sacrifice was any sort of artistic edge whatsoever. every time someone makes a Kendrick comparison a sparrow dies

'point and kill' is perhaps respite from the worst of those tendencies mind

Point and Kill: love the video, love the accent, love the ways she softens her vocals to be closer to Obongjayar (wrote it without looking it up, boom), love the highlife - Kuti homage. Brandish that machete.

that said it is toooootally 'let's do an Afrobeat single, that will expand your portfolio'

I’m a little unclear whether ex-No Plan idol Kanano Senritsu’s frenzied high-BPM J-Pop track is better classified as fodder for a breaking competition or a step aerobics class. The video argues for the latter but a judicious cut from the right DJ could set a dance battle on fire. In the meantime, it’s a cheap coffee substitute.

https://i.imgur.com/OZWP9G6.jpg
37: 戦慄かなの (Kanano Senritsu) - “Drop” - 172 points / 5 votes
Video
The J-Pop Thread

Xp thanks davey!

What's with the cynicism. Good songs expand your portfolio. Also she's of Nigerian descent and maybe she felt like doing an homage.

maybe but the vibe of the whole SIMBI project plus her sudden celebrity status has me operating at maximum cynicism levels; i can only apologise

not sure about the trap drums on this 'drop' song tbh, it feels a bit awkwardly put-together

evil imago has finally emerged, we did well to get this far lol

the question is whether this self-mythologising handwringing makes me just as bad as Simz ;)

Simz track is great. Completely regretted not sending my revised ballot as I definitely would've voted for it and would have helped send it a few places up. Still happy it placed.

Bassline for Point and Kill is 100% a rip-off of "Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)" by Jorge Ben to my ears but I love it.

The album title "Sometimes I Might Be Introvert" pisses me off

i didn't vote for any simz, i do like point & kill tho.

also cool that my guy obongjayar managed two separate spots on this list. come post in his lonely thread: up like sun, down like sun - a thread for obongjayar

In something of a surprise double placement for a mostly unsung-on-ILM musician, DJ Sofia Kourtesis’ second song on the 77 is a cunning and cool musicbox of clicks and dings and horns and looped drums, all delivered with a distinctly KK Slider sound.

https://i.imgur.com/HeSI1TJ.jpg
36: Sofia Kourtesis - “By Your Side” - 172 points / 6 votes
Video

Bobbins 2021

This is the Sofia Kourtesis track I voted for, though I'm a bit surprised it placed higher than "La Perla"

Preferred the other Kourtesis song.

that kanano track is so good

imago OTM about Simz. I also loved Grey Area and felt like Introvert was way over the top. I keep a little music journal to help me track/remember what I listen to throughout the year, and my first listen to Simz I just wrote: 'disappointing, overwrought and self-important bombast'. Genuinely thrilled to see her success but this one wasn't for me.

Delightfully surprised to see another Kourtesis song place! I voted for the EP and hope others did, but I'll take at least 40% of it making the tracks list.

nothing really wrong with this song but nowhere near as distinctive as La Perla

"By Your Side" reminds me a lot of Nicolas Jaar's Against All Logic tracks.

Drop! Glad this came up in the Hype thread. Just nuts

I haven't been on the Sofia Kourtesis train as much as others but I like that one. If you told me it was a Four Tet track, I would believe you.

for those of you looking for more Blawan, I highly recommend checking out Karenn - Grapefruit Regret, which is a full album he made with Pariah chock full of twisted analog synth insanity

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), 2. februar 2022 16:20 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh yeah, that's true! That was good.

36: Sofia Kourtesis - “By Your Side”

This is pretty good, feeling this

Folks who enjoyed the Sofia Kourtesis stuff might also like the 'Euphoric Melodies' EP by her label mate Elkka

Some of us, myself guiltily included, still haven’t caught up with ILM amapiano fave Sun-El Musician’s 2020 double album To the World and Beyond, much less his 2021 LP African Electronic Dance Music. It’s all wonderful music but the genre, even when you’re dealing with a genius, can get a bit blissfully same-y unless you take the time to fully drill down. On the other hand, new music from Sun-El protege vocalist Simmy (2020’s #45 album, #42 track) has been painfully scarce. As is often the case with this duo, each elevates the other beautifully, turning what could have been Zumba filler into a ray of sunshine.

https://i.imgur.com/CTSn3cl.jpg
35: Sun-El Musician ft. Simmy - “Higher”
174 points / 5 votes / 1 #1 vote
Video

THE HOUSE OF SUN-EL: Sun-El Musician, Simmy, Mlindo The Vocalist, and other related artists