🚨🎷🎸ILM's 2023 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING THREAD🎸🎷🚨 - LAST CHANCE TO VOTE 19/01/24!!!

Hi people! It's time to vote!

Here's the link: https://forms.gle/4Yf1NCK1nrrQ34or8

Voting ends at MIDNIGHT PST on Friday, January 19th, 2022.

The procedure is simple: enter your tracks and album ballots (up to 25 items on each), one item per line, in the appropriate fields below. Please copy each line directly from the nominations list; do not number your ballot.

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

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

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

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

TRACK NOMINATIONS
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g1nagCFsVt5x97s4L5_RMpkthxixRD3aQrLSwlMd078/edit?usp=sharing

ALBUM NOMINATIONS
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kfm-xPZ_zGcbLDYx7Ivc1GZKzPwYwhpvN4qhJ-uAOq0/edit?usp=sharing

PLAYLISTS
Tracks - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3rZMvbO83mQlRcwx8VUWoa
Albums - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3cK8YxdCt7EGCOUPRUtumR

Is this also the "hype"/promotion thread(?)

yes! hype away

I'd like to promote these two lush, beautiful tracks that I'm really happy I discovered (and which I think others will dig):

Tamera ft. CKay - 40 Days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dGGqMmlnZg

Ayra Starr - Rhythm & Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o74CEUC-Lw4

Also, I've hyped this elsewhere – an amazing indie rock / pop track with a killer riff:

Blondshell x Samia - Charm You (Blondshell Version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccs65_gxIBg

Also, while I know anything involving Billie Eilish probably doesn't need "promotion," this was my first fave track of the year, and I don't think it got the attn it deserves:

Labrinth ft. Billie Eilish - Never Felt So Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVCNgOi4kFg

Sorry, but I'm gonna have to write this one in. I could have swore it was nominated but I was mistaken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2cF9o7FuU4

These playlists are crazy. After an hour on shuffle, here are some standouts that I'm gonna go back to (ie stuff I hadn't heard already):

Roge - Curyman
Amen Seat - Deathbomb Arc
John Carroll Kirby - Blowout (somehow missed this, or forgot?)
Carlene - Looking Out My Window
Holy Tongue - Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare (though I heard Valentina Magaletti's contributions to that Senegalese remix record, the Moin record, the Phil Selway record, etc)
Sam Goku - Things We See When We Look Closer
David Murray / Questlove / Ray Angry (didn't know this was streaming! Thought everything on this label was a vinyl exclusive)

Kind thrilling when one of my selections comes up on shuffle, lol.

Not sure where to even start with hype, but here's the drum solo of the year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RgnjhKCXeY

So many good tracks… voting will be painful when I eventually get to it. I didn’t nom this one (but would’ve have tbh) and will surely vote for it. It was my most played track in a bittersweet summer of a bittersweet year.

Freak Heat Waves feat. Cindy Lee - in a moment divine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayEgs1U0Ggk

Here’s a blurb taken from RA on their “songs of 2023”:

Earlier this year, I called "In A Moment Divine" the "finest song ever released on Mood Hut," and I stand by it. Pulling on the thread first unravelled by Jack J with his languid vocal house, funk band Freak Heat Waves make the ultimate melancholy, summer-is-over breakbeat torch song. The understated vocal from Cindy Lee, the former frontperson of indie band Women, is framed by a sequencer lead straight out of "Temptation"-era New Order and a delightfully rusty string section to underline the song's ramshackle charm. But it's when everything falls apart for an almost prog house-style breakdown that its genius truly comes through, capturing both the urgency and emptiness of leaving some place (or someone) that once meant a lot to you. -Andrew Ryce

I say this year but 25 votes feels like not enough. I'm doing a preliminar list and I'm at the letter "f" and already have 40 on my shortlist :/

oh hey no "bar italia" noms on the tracks... thought they were popular in here considering their thread seemed to get revived a lot thru the year.

also no "george clanton" tracks... he seemed pretty popular on other eoy lists.

Hi Moka and Sean - thanks for coordinating. I've spotted a handful of duplicates on the album doc, as follows:

Tara Clerkin Trio - On the Turning Ground
Titanic - Vidrio
Tzusing - Green Hat
Prairiewolf- S/T

Thank you!

Also a duplicate on the tracks

vayda - prima donna

You should obviously vote for everything I nominated, but if not at least check these out which I wholeheartedly endorse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut6Y13Zi5Kg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeKcNx5FL90

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

mostly i just want to advocate for lamp - dusk to dawn. the shibuya-kei greats put out a double album and it's perhaps the coziest album i have ever heard? they have fantastic melodic instincts, the arrangements are gorgeous and lush, and cover so much stylistic ground, it's so wonderful. riyl: 'city pop', the sort of jazz that ends up in mario soundtracks, court & spark, steve mcqueen

if anyone hasn't heard jim legxacy's emo-afrobeats yet they really should change that too.

two singles i love:

max tundra - lights 2023: tundra reworks a 20-year old track of his into hyperpop bloc party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x9CggWVsiA

cruel santino feat. s-smart - ftr: rage synths with mbalax drums is the sound of the future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGhEzL3e72o

Sorry, but I'm gonna have to write this one in. I could have swore it was nominated but I was mistaken.

A travesty, but hopefully the album does quite well.

Have spent about 5 hours driving today with the tracks playlist on shuffle and in all that time can honestly say I only skipped two tracks.

Stellar selections everyone 🙂

And xp to Jordan: it's definitely thrilling when one of your own nominations comes up lol

oh hey no "bar italia" noms on the tracks... thought they were popular in here considering their thread seemed to get revived a lot thru the year.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, January 2, 2024 7:37 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

the tracey denim album will make it

for those using Tidal, I made a Tidal version of both playlists here:

Tracks: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/44136f81-6f77-49f1-88d7-14e432e21de0
Albums: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/851a1d70-f07e-4971-b6a0-5bfffe7414b9

And I'm just going to take a minute to praise this fairly unique musical achievement:

Oneohtrix Point Never - Memories of Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkky_GnDKIQ

This track has all these various sections it goes through, never really repeating anything but somehow flows beautifully from one thing to the next. When I first started listening to it I kept thinking that this part or another reminds of various stuff I've listened to in the past (mostly prog-ish 70s stuff but not just that I think) but could never definitively place anything and then I notice that the track is called "Memories of Music".

Thanks silverfish, saved me a job

I was asked who would "do a Ruger" this year from my noms. I strongly encourage you to consider these:

DJ Cleo - J'ai Vu Le Loup
It's just a huge, huge slammer of an South African dance anthem based, incongruently, around a traditional French folk song. Big in every way; especially in the way it builds. My number one so far as it never fails to grab people's attentions when I play it out in my sets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdVCaZH9NrE

Buni Garlin - Hard Fete
Best late entry of the century: "I'm not going no small fete / Let me extend my apologies / Only big fete with big flag going overhead like canopies". Bunji is NOT messing about with this heavyweight piece of a power soca party anthem. ALL SOCA LOVERS DO THIS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97bq9Kjmr3E

Sho Madjozi - Chale
Another staple of my DJ sets. Sho Madjozi is an undeniable talent who's been ploughing her own specific furrow in the Afro-dance scene for years but always seems to top herself. I'd be surprised if this doesn't make Top 77 at least. It's just so good. I also wanted to shout about another Sho Madjozi track in conjunction with CTT Beats, "Balotelli", which I think is equally as good but perhaps less well known.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut3lDyGoqVU

96 Back - Laco
Discovered via the bobbins thread. There's nothing subtle or restrained about this utter divebomb of a dance track. C'MON!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uPnCjKlPaQ

Mika Singh, Neha Kakkar & Sachin-Jigar - Bijili
We don't talk about Bollywood enough on ILM, no no no; and I've been guilty of ignoring what happens in South Asian and Desi-adjacent music until this year. But I tell you if I'm in the middle of a diverse set and I drop this sort of thing, people just go BANAAAANAS. Fully intend to start a dedicated rolling thread for sub-continental music soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhKqa0qJoLM

Young Marco - What You Say?
This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes it to EOY number 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_8EpT4Qxxk

Jux - Nice (Kiss)
Amapiano is now safely out the bottle and safely spreading throughout the world. Jux's Tanazanian take on the genre is one of my favourites of the year. It's just *chef's kiss* MWAH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsuWIa1vTJ0

seen both of these bands live, both amazing and very underrated even on ILM

North Americans - Long Cool World album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgfD359c1yU

Behold The Arctopus -Interstellar Overtrove album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y9gP1FMapA

Durand Jones's Wait Til I Get Over deserved more love from the EOY lists, earning a #2 spot on Pop Matters's list but otherwise flying under the radar despite an 88 on Metacritic.

A super personal classic soul, gospel, and R&B record that lovingly paints a picture of Southern Black life via imagery and poetry about his hometown of Hillaryville, Louisiana, named for ex-slave Hillary Rice: "Most visitors are still greeted by the tall, sprite green, green sugar cane basking in the presence of the sun," the same sugar cane depicted on the album's cover. Beyond geography and history, Jones sings stirringly about queer love ("That Feeling") and civil rights ("Someday We'll All Be Free"). He is the star -- I'm reminded of the confidence of Marvin Gaye, the exuberance of Stevie Wonder -- but the gritty production is a triumph, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Eq7tpGTjc

Bumped into this one on the noms playlist. Really slick. Saved it for listening again later and then watched the really cool music video and it made me like it even more. Definitely voting for this one.

METTE - mama’s eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi9OBRzbMNI

thanks folks for reporting duplicates above - I'm cleaning those up as I go

I think “Chale” will make it, considering throwing a vote her way.

Also on the afropop section want to give a shout out to Victony. I think it’s a Nabozo nom and I’ve been loving everything I’ve heard from him, very warm production.

Researching “Mette” and it seems she’s been on Pharrell’s dance troupe for years which explains her physical confidence both live and on the music video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTCtSOlzNV0

Don't know if this was asked but were reissue compilations allowed? I love Dream Dolphin - Gaia: Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996-2003) but I'd realized these sorta things were allowed I'd have nominated the Hydroplane singles compilation for instance... dang!

but if*

Oh look, The Necks album is streaming now too. I had to stop my shuffling and listen to all 17 minutes of 'Imprinting'.

A few more recs from my list:

Nikki Nair & Hudson Mohawke - Set the Roof (dance single of the year contender?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJs80e87iM

Dave Easley - Ballads (jazz from an incredible pedal steel player with Jeff Parker on second guitar)

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

Ambrose Akinmusire (w/Bill Frisell & Herlin Riley) - Owl Song (super beautiful & delicate trumpet/guitar/drums trio record with the masters)

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

Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh - Until Then (restrained, minimal 'nordic noir' Danish jazz)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9x7pdWgMG4

Holly Waxwing - Meridians (gossamer thin hyperpop?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Lou-dIvok

Moka: Mama's Eyes has been on the 2023 Listening Club playlist you maintain most of the year lol xps

Yeah! I was aware of it! Gorilla vs Bear also had it on his mid-2023 list iirc. I liked it when I heard it in the past but didn’t really click on me enough to add it to my own favorites. It clicked hard a couple nights ago.

Ironically songs that I suggested myself to the ongoing playlist did the opposite thing and have fell out of favor for me lol

i nommed two Kylie tracks including Padam Padam but I'm probably going to give far, far more points to Tension, which is great imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-aEr4WRPYk

Noticed this post & form say 2022 still - hopefully this doesn't cause any confusion on the admin side of things.

Also - voted! This year was probably my most disconnected from music in a while, with only a few things really worthy of being on my list, but was still able to put together 25 albums.

If you check out one album, please check this one out:
https://rancapduoi.bandcamp.com/album/1

Last year Tove Lo released arguably her best album Dirt Femme and it seemed like the cycle was done. Then in January she dropped this magnificent song for 2023. She then released two other songs to make a deluxe set of that album. I only went to one show in 2023 and this was it. When she did this song I was screaming and dancing my ass off, as I think it's a Pop gem. I only saw this song on the Rolling Stones EOY list though I didn't scan every list this year. Anyways, for your consideration as this was just some bonus song from her that she released.

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

yall gotta start doing this earlier in the year. hard to get excited about eoy lists in february

it's confusing Tove Lo now has a Borderline (which I wasn't aware of, so thanks for that) when that is also the name of Tove Styrke's arguably biggest hit, at least in the US, from way back in 2015.

submitted a ballot. trax only, mixed w/ 22 unweighted bc once again my exposure to current music was pathetic this year. i failed to do nominations before the deadline so about half the ballot was not nominated. as my 'campaigning' i will just... post them here

SZA - Snooze
Coco Jones - ICU
Doechii feat. Kodak Black - What It Is (Block Boy)
Doja Cat - Agora Hills
Drake feat. Sexyy Red & SZA - Rich Baby Daddy
Ivan Cornejo - Aquí Te Espero
Kaliii - Area Codes
Lola Brooke feat. Latto & Yung Miami - Don't Play With It
Rod Wave - Boyz Don't Cry
Rylo Rodriguez feat. NoCap - Thang For You
That Mexican OT, Paul Wall & DRODI - Johnny Dang
Troye Sivan - Got Me Started
Victoria Monét - On My Mama

snooze is my #1, yes ik it's from an album that many if not most of us heard when it released last year but some songs grow even more special to me w/ public exposure/reaction, even when it's as sleeperish as it was for this song

Enjoying Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh, Jordan. Love this sort of thing

yall gotta start doing this earlier in the year. hard to get excited about eoy lists in february

― flopson, Wednesday, January 3, 2024 9:14 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

hard disagree

Yup. I like the amount of time I have to properly reflect on the year, listen to nominations, and hell, even listen up to the end of the year. It's weird seeing other EOY lists coming out three-quarters of the way through the year itself, and I always feel sorry for releases that come in that interim Nov/Dec period

I also relish being able to add to my favorites until the end of the year— the EOY lists and noms here are often wildly fruitful in providing new sounds to listen to. exhibit a: like others, i came into the end of the year thinking it wasn’t that great for music, but now am convinced that i just wasn’t looking in the right places!

Glad you like it DL - if you want here's the playlist I have going for this vibe, mostly Scandinavian jazz and Bill Frisell (ideally both)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7AYLYgDPQ0S6nsiBBm1Rjb?si=f63af073d6e44d31

I agree that it's really nice to look forward to this in Jan/Feb after the dust has settled with all the other EOY shit, in the depths of winter when there's not much going on otherwise.

Thanks! (and here's mine, but it needs updating so I'll maybe crib a few from yours! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ygoq0yNv96a5z2fPlocJV?si=9823c3b3f2314f28 )

it's gonna take a lot of work for me to put a tracks ballot together but if i do i'm putting the following song on it:

Ratboys - Black Earth, WI

Will do another post praising discoveries once I'm further through the tracks playlist. Some good stuff for sure.

In the meantime, here are the nominations of mine I'm particularly interested in others hearing:

The motivational pop smash of 2023! Going straight to the hyperpop source (Scritti Politti) and creating this immortal banger
(Hannah Diamond - Affirmations)
Triumphantly terrifying synth-folk ceremony that isn't quite of this dimension
(MXLX - Kitab Siriyun)
the real ultrapop
(katie dey - never falter hero girl)
the other real ultrapop (new age version) (WARNING HARSH VOX!!!)
(Fire-Toolz - Everything And Everywhere Is A Divine Mirror)
3 minutes and 20 seconds of what can only be described as 'the most imago songwriting possible', by everyone's favourite 66 year-old furry <3
(Bob Drake - The Belua Bell)

There has also been an uptick in me nominating things by my talented friends, but you'll be hearing a lot more about them over the following year...

it's gonna take a lot of work for me to put a tracks ballot together but if i do i'm putting the following song on it:

Ratboys - Black Earth, WI

― ivy., Thursday, January 4, 2024

I nominated this and will be voting for it as well. One of my favorite December discoveries.

Yeah, I had the noms list on shuffle in the background today, and that ratboy track jumped out at me

Ok the Holy Tongue album is the dub record of the year

Lol, this Tomb Mold album sounds Rush for a minute there.

like Rush

Ok I already voted. Two albums I nommed and voted for which are on the ambient side and have some gorgeous sound design for your consideration:

Dasha Rush - Contemplating
Gonubie - Signals at Both Ears

https://raster-raster.bandcamp.com/album/contemplating

https://metronrecords.bandcamp.com/album/signals-at-both-ears

I only nominated the Abi Ooze tape as an album but here is a great track from it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XELBkIW3kKg

Noticed this is missing from the Spotify playlist so posting here for your consideration. Garage noise rock from Dublin (with some Zeppelin style riffs thrown in) and their excellent debut album is out today too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAVgqbsw5NE-

Quick question for the poll runners and/or the nominator: is the Acid Klaus track in the tracks list the Head Technician remix (which is 2023) or the original (which is from a 2022 LP)?

I'll try and plug a few of my LP nominees that aren't on Spotify in the coming days.

First up, the latest library release (Vol.4, 'Sport & Physical Activity') from the Paris-based electronic label ERR REC:
https://err-rec.bandcamp.com/album/err-rec-library-vol-4-physical-activity.

There's lots of compilations about these days which deliberately hark back to the golden age of 1970s library music, but the French always do/did it best and this album of jazz, disco and electronic music stands with the finest of e.g. the Tele Music label's output. Probably the most purely enjoyable collection of instrumental tracks I heard in 2023.

Because reissue compilations were apparently allowed I just would like to point out this one which would have been my #1 or #2 if I'd realized I could have nominated it:

https://hydroplaneband.bandcamp.com/album/selected-songs-1997-2003

the only reissue compilations that tend to get nominated or voted for are v/a compilations of obscure material

Well the nominated Dream Dolphin comp is also single artist compiling 90s material that was previously CD only but not otherwise unavailable (Hydroplane was 7" singles), so that's the closest example I can cite.

My favourite new discovery from the noms list is the band Geese! What is this 'Big Country'-era Talking Heads fronted by a Dave Berman-esque singer who sounds profound as much as he sounds unhinged

i love that there are active indie bands named both 'geese' and 'goose' right now

Except one of them is a jam band :(

Hype, long-form edition:

Ela Minus & DJ Python - Abril Lluvias Mil (Ricardo Villalobos Remix) - 40 min long track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnV0n78e3Q

Autechre - Live in Sidney 8.27.23 bootleg (the one where it feels like being slowly boiled alive, one of my favorite listening experiences of the year)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdPE1X7zq3g

40 minute DJ Python OK I'm down

xp and not forgetting Gooooose too (def not an indie band)

idk how people do this I could probably just about do my 20-22 lists by now and I'm still catching up on those years

I'll second the ran cap duoi shout out they're great

I would have nominated ((( O ))) who has been making great albums for years that totally fly under the radar but judging by her name and general inscrutability she seems to prefer it that way

The Sam Goku album is really excellent too, whoever nominated that

My favourite new discovery from the noms list is the band Geese! What is this 'Big Country'-era Talking Heads fronted by a Dave Berman-esque singer who sounds profound as much as he sounds unhinged

― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin)

In 2022 I went to a Spoon show at the Hollywood Palladium, opening for them was a band called Geese from NYC. I nominated a couple of songs and still figuring out things and hope they make my ballot.

Hoping for a good placement for Ran Cap this year. Did the last one make it in at all?

I think it did (pretty sure that's how I first heard of them?)

This Daniel Bachman album of ambient banjo is a great discovery too

yeah I am loving that one

A Ran Cap album made it to #45 in 2021.

want to make a case for three full-lengths:

HiTech's DÉTWAT is 12 tracks and 28 minutes of the next generation of Detroit ghettotech...it's really incredible listening to it as a whole, with everything excellent about Detroit techno and ghettotech, Chicago juke, and some stuff that sort of makes me imagine a genre called "ballroom drill." Production is slick yet goofy and playful. My favorite record to bicycle to this year. (This is on Spotify, I think they took it off FXHE because of some shit that went down)

Jam City is an old name back from the heyday of Night Slugs and whatever "UK funky" was lmfao, but Jam City Presents EFM hits the perfect sweet spot for me— it's a perfect club pop record, as far as I'm concerned. "Wild n Sweet" featuring Empress of doing vocals is the single that will make my tracks for sure. https://jam-city.bandcamp.com/album/jam-city-presents-efm

Totally different universe, but another one of the albums I kept coming back to this year was the Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble's III. I thought I had tired of the fingerpickin'/Takoma meet ECM ambient jammer thing, but no— this record is just a nice little late spring day of getting a little stoned and lazing around on a blanket in the sun.

Oh, link for that one: https://aelijahmclaughlinensemble.bandcamp.com/album/iii

uk funky was awesome. i do like the jam city album tho

it's gonna take a lot of work for me to put a tracks ballot together but if i do i'm putting the following song on it:

Ratboys - Black Earth, WI

― ivy., Thursday, 4 January 2024 19:53 (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hard agree.

amazing song. best guitar solo of the millenium

I just bought that tape! have not given the album a full listen yet tho

Am I really the only person on ilx who stans for mnike? It's the hardest hit of the year imo. When Uncle Waffles dropped it at the Øya festival this summer my soul positively left my body.

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

I'll definitely vote for Mnike. And Chale.

Weekly reminder to VOTE VOTE VOTE

Hope to see Jess Williamson's "Hunter" make it. Discovered her through her countrified band Plains with Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield -- cannot recall if that album made the ILM list in 2022? I liked this solo effort even more. I'm an admirer of her lyrics, and Hunter's take on modern dating is poignant:

I've been thrown to the wolves and they ate me raw
Worked both sides at the Shangri-la
Thrown back a few more and I mopped up the floors
It's a life of delusion and love is the cure

Lindsay Zoladz's take:

The indie singer-songwriter Jess Williamson chronicles both the promise and fatigue of looking for love in this bittersweet, poetically rendered reflection, her twangy voice brimming with a weary hope.

+1 from Jack, fwiw:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GAIVTa4aIAABUEj?format=jpg&name=large

I voted for her album.

For your consideration, LIYL dubby ambient post-rock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXw-oa9nN4s

Any other people like myself who like weirdo rock might want to consider the Ryan Bourne album "Plant City". It's kind of a murky psychedelic pop home recording trip, perhaps slightly reminiscent of the spacier end of Elephant 6 collective type stuff (perhaps dating myself with that reference). Definitely one of the stronger collection of original songs I heard in 2023. Another one is Cory Hanson's "Western Cum", which is more in a Neil Young/Crazy Horse/Dinosaur Jr type of continuum. The weirdness there is more subtle at first, but the guitar pyrotechnics are hard to miss. Both available in the usual place (ie Bandcamp).

Bong Wish's album "Hazy Road" is also a very strong collection of psych pop gems.

Gotta say I love finding out about music at all the different stages of this poll - the playlists + this thread, going through the lists when putting together a ballot, and the rollout.

Not sure it’ll do much good to promote this album as, even on Bandcamp, only a handful of the tracks are available to stream without buying the record (and Spotify? Fuggedaboudit). But it’s really good and, hey, buy music yeah as well as vote for it if you like the sound of it and the preview tracks.

The Rowan Amber Mill, ‘The Haunted Future Silence Bequeathed’
https://rowanambermill.bandcamp.com/album/the-haunted-future-silence-bequeathed

Billed as a collection of songs “inspired by the Folk Horror films of legendary film studio (Associated) British Ligoncuss” (it’s invented of course), this is lush British psych folk at its best, topped by a dreamy lead vocal. Honestly, I could listen to Stephen Stannard sing about ghosts and witches all day.

OK, time to knock this out

I think “Chale” will make it, considering throwing a vote her way.

Yes! This should be in the top 3 of tracks.

i wouldn't be surprised if it topped the poll tbh, lots of love for it on the board

it'll be pretty high on my ballot as well (though I haven't decided if mine will be ranked/weighted yet)

I've found so much music through the noms list. I was going to just send my personal faves through but that all may change after this

share some favorites, why not

Well Geese - 3D Country has zoomed to the upper brackets of my album choices. There's some great dance bangers I'd overlooked too. The Rae Sremmurd track is loads of fun

Uffie - The Ecstasy made me lol a lot

yes plz everyone vote for rae sremmurd's "flaunt it/cheap," they're still pop rap savants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9UXGNJBQ84

i wouldn't be surprised if it topped the poll tbh, lots of love for it on the board

― Roz, Tuesday, January 9, 2024 1:36 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Are there any other ilm-specific favorites that you'd recommend checking out before voting? Songs like "Girlfriend" or "Balloon" that weren't prominently featured outside the board?

Genuine respect to any of y'all who have the bandwidth to dip into a 949-track playlist (or 716-album playlist)!

One thing this process has (finally) moved me to do is maintain a running tracks playlist for the year (2024 in this case)

i finally did that in 2023 so i'd be prepared for ilm's eoy for once, and then i was sick as a dog for the last few days of noms, the days i had planned to nominate, so i missed it anyway

I don't have the time to do much more than relisten to "my" albums to figure out their order for the poll, but the track playlist is a good way to catch up with the year, strike a few late discoveries, and it's... educative. So far I played anything that I recognize the name. But random also works, nothing is bad in there; with time I come to appreciate things that (because they) are not my taste.

Always enjoy your noms karl xp

So feel free to share your playlist here if you want

If Chale hits number one, that'll feel like something of a hat trick of sorts in an "only on ILM" way. I'd be super happy about it, just as I was with Balloon and Girlfriend

xp thanks groovypanda, i enjoy yours too!

just for fun, here's tracks:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/42nzVPGSsVcTpsOQSPuxJX?si=1a8fa2258b0e4fea

and albums:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GESQAzPZVKLnABqvKQwOd?si=902884b6e5ed46e2

Plugging two of my albums:

I saw Pink Eye Club open for a Punk band friends wanted to see w/ no expectations of my own and it was a super fun gig. Angry gay synth pop, I think every track bangs but this is the single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZsA1k5lGuw

Ana Frango Eléctrico is very funky genderqueer post-MPB, great identity theft in this one:

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

I just need to shout about GEESE again, sorry. Since finding out about them on the noms list, I've had to go out and buy the vinyl and it's my favourite favourite shit, 'Gaucho'-era Steely Dan, meets 'American Water'-era Silver Jews with occasional noise freakouts reminiscent of early Boredoms, amd they're just a proper hoot (or a honk?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GJx5NWF414

This is the title track 3D Country, but the whole album is a careening, wild, exhuberant twisty thing

I'm glad you are enjoying Geese, they were cool live but I'm not sold on them yet.

WHOEVER NOMINATED SNOOPER, I LOVE YOU

this might even be my #1

https://snooper7.bandcamp.com/album/super-sn-per

absolutely killer catchy punk madness

That sounds like Jay Reatard a bit. I'm intrigued.

it's so good! and yes a lot of the new "egg punk" has a heavy JR influence as I hear it

see also: the Abi Ooze and Liquids releases I nominated

speaking of "egg punk," i will likely vote for "a nice man" by ismatic guru. incredible groove, unhinged vocals, great punchline, only a little over a minute long

https://ismaticguru.bandcamp.com/track/a-nice-man

that's cool, thanks

Let me join the fun and try to campaign for:
- Adoretua by Verde Prato, a young singer from Northern Spain, discovered through willem who posted the starry-eyed 80s-strewn melancholy of Niña Soñando. The 25-min album is a delicate and poignant affair, stripped down, introspective-demonstrative. Both the track and album are nominated.
- I'm voting for the two Tinashe tracks and so should you
- Recent years are incomplete without lush, aggressively inventive R&B albums. This year, think of Tkay Maidza.
- Probably does not need it, but wow at the intravenous, serpentine, sugar pop funkiness of Say She She - Reeling.
- Seconding morrisp on Tamera - 40 days, thanks.

:D

VOTED

Usually do mixed ballot but this time weighted it despite feeling like my #1 picks are increasingly arbitary. Probably only got about a third of the way through the nominations playlist but did cut a few of my own picks for other peoples.

I couldn't choose or strategize among my albums so I just did unweighted, weighted tracks was easier somehow (since this was a very album-oriented year for me).

I want to advocate for one more song, this should be ILM catnip, this is right up our alley. This is like Human League lost song from the 80s that was released in 2023:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ox_SnQOpXk

Just want to big up Atki2's 'Blond Lad' as it's not on Spotify - top notch queer instrumental UK dancehall, for fans of Equiknoxx etc

https://atki2.bandcamp.com/album/bubble-on-volume-4

voted x

Biggup Austin for nomming The Astronauts. I knew Mark Astronaut in his lifetime and he was the definition of a cracked genius. He was a massive influence on the music scene where my friends and I grew up and listening to his work as a body after his sad passing away really hammered home what an exceptionally talented person he was, not to mention how much seeing him perform live affected my own tastes and sensibilities

https://growyourownrecords.bandcamp.com/track/open-prison

Austin?

I wish I'd met Mark Astronaut. At least we have his music. Anyone who fancies a 16-minute psych-punk swansong, there you go

voted! feel like my albums ballot will be pretty hivemind-y (8 of my top 10 will almost definitely make it, possibly 8-10 more too), but i expect to be a loner for a lot of tracks

i do want to make sure that every fan of '00s indie knows that charles bissell of the wrens returned under the name car colors and released an incredible autobiographical epic, called old death, which is very high on my ballot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcerraJjUjw

I wish I'd met Mark Astronaut. At least we have his music. Anyone who fancies a 16-minute psych-punk swansong, there you go

― imago, Thursday, January 11, 2024 2:59 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

My apologies imago, I did a search and thought it was Austin who subbed that and I was surprised it was by someone not in the UK. This makes sense. Yup, I interviewed Mark years and years ago with his other band The Otters for a thing. Absolutely smashing fella. Ah it's still online in case it interests you https://roguemag.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/interview-with-the-otters/

lovely, that very much does interest me ty!

It might not have any effect on ballots with only a week left to submit, but I thought I would say something about some of my nominations in the hope that they might garner more than a sole vote.

I nominated a lot of music in Spanish - some of it from Spain itself and some from the Americas. Aitana's "Los Ángeles" and Alaina Castillo's "éxtasis" are both shimmering and sleek pop bangers. Burgeoning Argentine superstar Emilia released the album .mp3 late in the year - the Limewire aesthetic belies the currency of its sound. I nominated the urgent, shaking "La Original.mp3" from it, which is a teamup with fellow Argentine artist TINI. Then, on a slightly different tack, I loved Sofia Kourtesis' record Madres and will likely vote for that as well as its most accessible track, "Si Te Portas Bonito", which is great to shift one's shoulders to. And then there's María José Llergo's extraordinary ULTRABELLEZA, an album in a style that most of us will readily associate with Rosalía but here it has the addition of Andalusian authenticity.

AMAKA's "Unfamiliar", Victoria Monét's "Alright" (as an aside, dyl, I'm glad you voted for "On My Mama", it feels so wrong that it wasn't nominated!) and Rochelle Jordan's "Lover / Friend" are all tracks I loved last year and all of the happened to be produced by Kaytranada. He also played a role in Tkay Maidza's album Sweet Justice (though not my favourite of its tracks, "Ring-A-Ling", in which Tkay sets herself into "Missy's daughter" mode). The best emulation of his production that I heard this year was "Le dessert en premier" by Ehla, the sister of Clara Luciani - I nominated her excellent album Pause, which has a bit more of this as well as Pinkpantheressy Y2K 2-step ("L'autorisation").

Other tracks to note would be Say Now's "Not A Lot Left To Say", which I talked about on the Singles Jukebox here. "Moon Rising (10 Years)" by Gayance and Judith D has an irresistible groove. Moka is right to point out the brilliance of the "Mama's Eyes" video - Mette I think had the best videography of 2023 aside from perhaps Troye Sivan (and she's got another song out today, incidentally!) Mery Spolsky's "Lateks" is all dramatic goth-lasers; "Miss Belladonna" is just as dramatic, Slayyyter's best Gaga cosplay yet, and twst's "Catch Me (beautiful fall)" is like Charli or Carly (take your pick) on a skydive. Blusher's "Dead End" is a pretty decent Australian approximation of MUNA. My favourite Australian singles this year (beyond those from Tkay Maidza) were Miss Kannina's dour yet forthright "Blak Britney" and Maina Doe's whipsmart "Let Her Be" (not on Youtube in full, unfortunately!). And if anyone's ballot is lacking in French touch in Japanese, may I please suggest the sublime "Love Groovin'" by DE DE MOUSE & HITOMITOI - thanks to Patrick St. Michel of the Jukebox for that recommendation.

Re: albums, Naomi Sharon is the first woman ever signed to Drake's label OVO Sound, and her debut Obsidian is gorgeously languid R&B, and I was also very attracted to the variety of Lady Donli's Pan African Rockstar.The unsung album I'm really hoping can pick up more than a vote or two is Hannah Jadagu's Aperture, a singer-songwritery record that appeals to me much more than something like the boygenius one.

some things i nommed:

Arash & Quasar - Double Moon
https://skylaxrecords.bandcamp.com/album/double-moon-mellah-3
Been obsessing over this all of last month but looking back at that i'm not even sure it's out properly yet, so maybe i'll be repeating all this again in 12 months time? anyhow, it's new italo disco stuff from a tatar duo singing in their native tongue and using traditional instruments with some acidy synth touches for good measure. entire EP is fantastic and includes a kraftwerk cover also in tatar, but this was that track that hooked me in

Salamanda - Homemade Jam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETmuC_-dg90
Possibly too cutesy for some of you but this bewitched me, a simple magical ode to making jam by a south korean electronic duo that came out on k-lone's wisdom teeth label

Faizal Mostrixx - Tunes Of The Jungle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEoT_x8e08w
This whole album of ugandan avant dance rhythms was flipping great but this tune in particular really got me. Hypnotic drums, exemplary pitched samples calling out to you like mischievous sprites, god i want to hear this at full volume somewhere just one time please

and talking of sprites...
Spriitzz - Where R U (Ibiza Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FigP00sJ11g
Undeniably the biggest earworm of the year for me. Absolutely glorious nu-rave tune that came out in the spring on the last installment of radiant's international women's day comp series, and then apparently snuck into all sorts of sets throughout the summer. Pure delicious pop-trance meets euro-beat that makes me think of the likes of Opus III's It's A Fine Day - as bouncy as it is cheesy, and with a vocal that'll get stuck in yr brain like a grappling hook. i thought that i might've grown tired of it by now, but listening to it again was like shaking up a large can of sunshine and opening it up in my own face. Heroically good!

I'm voting for what I'd already had listed before the poll (which was difficult enough to trim down), and I don't think I'm even a third through the noms playlist yet but here are a bunch of tracks I hadn't heard before that got me wavering on some of my choices. thanks all for nominating:

Mimi Webb - Freezing
Islet - Euphoria
Rae Sremmurd - Flaunt It/Cheap (this really jumped out when I was shuffling through the playlist)
Ayra Starr - Rhythm & Blues
Rozi Plain - Agreeing For Two
Jamila Woods – Tiny garden
English Teacher - Nearly Daffodils
The Japanese House - Boyhood
Blondshell - Tarmac
Lucie Antunes - Hoho
Barker - Wick and Wax
Hotline TNT - I Thought You'd Change (i have such a hard time resisting this kind of fuzzy, shoegaze-y emo)
Tori Kelly - cut
Ratboys - Black Earth, WI
O'o - Alone
Byron Messia - Talibans
death's dynamic shroud - What? to be human (this is so OTT and anguished, it'll probably annoy me eventually but for now, it's pretty great)
John Parish & Aldous Harding - Three Hours (very nice krautrock Nick Drake cover)
Leon Vynehall - Rosebud
Alex Kassian - Strings of Eden

Many thanks to whoever nominated the DJ Muggs/Boldy James joint

Just been whittling down my top tracks playlist and it's like drowning puppies :-/

Blimey, no one nominated Ballad Of Darren. I would have, but was too busy submitting tracks

My last campaign post for an album I nominated that's not on Spotify.

Everyday Dust, 'Gateway X'
https://everydaydust.bandcamp.com/album/gateway-x

RJ McConnell ploughed his singular furrow over something like ten albums in 2023, albeit some were split releases or collaborations with other artists, mostly tape and digital releases on his own Dustopian Frequencies label. No one creates sound worlds quite like him.'Gateway X' is arguably the pick of the bunch; ED conjures up arid landscapes populated by giant foghorns and kinetic machines, using hardware synths, magnetic tape effects and concrète-style manipulation plus marimba and other tuned percussion. An album to get lost in.

Have recently discovered this track via a few Balearic types' EOY lists so thrilled to see someone nominated it (cheers whoever you are). I've seen it described as "Smith & Mighty jamming with Lush" which seems entirely apt for its shimmering dream pop/shoegazey vocals and deep & dubby trip hop bassline.

hoodie x james K - Scorpio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX6QWmGxCiE

yeah thats a good one, reminds me a lot of bowery electric or love spirals downwards

I think I nommed Scorpio? If not I def voted for it, seems to me like the kind of song ILM would love. Balearic Shoegaze is apt but I also hear a lot of Trip Hop influence.

I checked the nominations thread and you did indeed nominate it Moka. Cheers 🙂

It needs to be heard on a proper system or headphones! I just opened the mv on my phone and thought the very low dubby bassline was not there for a minute.

Glad you like the DDS and Lucie Antunes Roz.

I like the Japanese House and Barker tracks too.

and 'Scorpio' too

Scorpio is lovely

Something often grows on me after I vote in these things and this year it's Say She She's album. It's gonna sound fantastic in the spring.

obv getting round to even looking at this right now. extremely annoyed with myself imago for not nominating dead ahead by oxbow tbh

among many others

:(

we are not perfect creatures

as usual I will do this at the last possible minute

i demand perfection of others but not myself obv xpost

and not my favourite nourished by time track either ;_; i know it's my own fault

We still have another week, thank God.

This is hard but need to figure it out.

xp consider voting for "rain water promise" as a consolation

Definitely going to end up doing this last minute. I know I usually do anyway, but am so distracted atm it's going to be a struggle to pull together.

I know this song doesn't need any complaining but just heard it again. Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAaUn5sn1T0

final week to VOTE VOTE VOTE

I'm getting there with tracks, choice and order included. The order is more difficult for albums, I'm thinking of doing a mixed ballot to spare me the head-scratching.
Always very happy to do this exercise: the slow maturing process, the long delivery, the madcap enthusiasm found on the way.

really surprised no one nominated civic - taken by force

Have voted (in the Tracks poll).

It's always such a great way to perk up January discovering things in the end-of-year poll.

Thanks to Bee upthread for reminding me to listen to Sole Obsession again.

Whoops, I convinced myself that Actress - Push Power (a 1) ( Youtube ) was on the nom list, but it was the long-player alone. Campaigning for write-in entries is surely futile though, so I'll say no more.

Really hoping this amazing Legowelt remix of a dancehall classic can crack the 77

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsaXwqZ6vts

it's getting a vote from me at least

Just finished listening to everything I wanted to, so about to start assembling the ballot. Happiest track discovery so far is “Space Orphans” by Ichiko Aoba.

Love that legowelt remix and voted for it. Are there other tracks like it to mix it into?

i believe i've mixed it into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12bZiZ6aK6g

Koko (Front De Cadeaux Remix)

which i would've nominated if i hadn't missed the window

Thanks! This sounds really cool

I am getting there. Think my tracks list might be in order, my albums are kind of still in disarray.

1st albums pass and down to 50, yeah I can do this

Oh no, I forgot to nominate Ice Spice & Rema - Pretty Girl. It would definitely have been in my top ten. To make it even more stupid, I just did a first pass at my track list, and I could find 24 favorites in the nominations...

yo this Chemical Brothers album is pretty good! that and Nicole Mitchell made my list, these albums were new to me so thanks for nomming whoever u are

PS VOTE FOR SNOOPER

(and Jaimie Branch, and the Gespensterland compilation)

Oh no, I forgot to nominate Ice Spice & Rema - Pretty Girl. It would definitely have been in my top ten. To make it even more stupid, I just did a first pass at my track list, and I could find 24 favorites in the nominations...

― Frederik B, Tuesday, January 16, 2024 3:09 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

vote for "in ha mood" instead

xpost hell yeah! the gespensterland comp! i didn't even bother looking for it b/c i assumed since i didn't get my noms in it wouldn't be there. foolish of me to underestimate ilm

thanks to brimstead for turning me on to that, it's a whole world of releases and bands

I sadly did not know there was a new Baldruin tape in 2023 or I would have nommed it!

https://cosimapitz.bandcamp.com/album/unterholz

Oh no, I forgot to nominate Ice Spice & Rema - Pretty Girl. It would definitely have been in my top ten. To make it even more stupid, I just did a first pass at my track list, and I could find 24 favorites in the nominations...

― Frederik B, Tuesday, January 16, 2024 3:09 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

vote for "in ha mood" instead

― kissinger on my list (voodoo chili), 16. januar 2024 21:14 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I don't think I heard it more than once, but I have another Ice Spice collaboration in my top five.

VOTE!

btw should we start this year with the album poll or the track poll?

I have been thanked for voting. Now smugly waiting for rollout to start.

No strong opinion on what goes first

I think whatever gets the most votes should go last.

Is it usually Tracks and then Albums?

I think I enjoy Tracks more. Albums tends to be a bit more predictable, especially in the upper echelons whereas Tracks sometimes feels like anything can happen.

No massive preference but possibly Tracks second at a push.

what if...tandem

Voted!

Bunch of stuff I thought would get nommed wasn't there, which is on me, I guess!

Filled out a tracks ballot for the first time lol.

Opening a bottle of wine and going to try and knock this out, excited!

Voted. My tracks ballot was somewhat dishonest this year, as there were too many different artists I wanted to include across the two ballots and so I ended up going with the lex method of omitting any track by an artist on an album I was voting for. Brutal!

Looking forward to results; I agree with groovypanda that the Tracks poll ends up being much more unpredictable and thus interesting for me, but whichever comes first is immaterial.

I meant = I think whatever gets the most ballots should go last - but you probably figured that out.

Voted

I’d vote we start with tracks, but defer to you kind folks who put in all the work…

voted & also like tracks first but whatever the heroes want to go with will be great

Albums almost done.

Tracks, as always, absolutely brutal and going to go to the wire

I wish I'd remembered to nominate Lone - Waterfall Reverse

i didn't realize further write-ins were allowed and i, uhh.... hmm.

serious question: if i vote for one track, and one track only, can it have all of my points?

Who wore it better in 2023 (probably Lone)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUGTfqZ4tho

xp

voted albums! tracks may follow....

that Chants song is cool, I ended up writing in the Lone one, don't know if it will make a difference but it's very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVnw0tvbLM

there is a total of one (1) tracks i want to hype in this thread. nikki nair flipping a house number by polish producer lubelski with vocals by someone named danke. danke sounds amazing on it. she does that thing with kinda basic lyrics where they become anthemic. so much urgency and space to the hooks. nair turns it into this constantly undulating, waning and waxing filter disco masterpiece with soft and gorgeous breakdowns. i doubt this will make the list but more people should have heard it. i played it out almost every week since the summer and never got tired of it.

lubelski ft danke - satisfied (nikki nair remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZBJyNpkC9Y

thank you everyone. just re-read thread+going through campaigns.

i have to co-sign ivy's sentiment from above: tons of great stuff, just wasn't looking hard enough.

+on that note-
i've found 2 of my favorite songs of 2023 just in the past couple weeks thanks to the track nominations playlists. except, the songs i'm thinking of didn't even get nominated. both were late season standalone singles by the respective bands+are most likely doomed to that laye season purgatory for now. oh well.

(which is also why i asked that question above; one of the songs is that good, but it would be a late write-in)

I was all ready to make Thakzin's 'The Magnificent Dance' my #1 but then realised that's not the Thakzin track nominated.

is it 10 hours left or 34 hours left

It had better be the latter

Voted. Thank you!

The Magnificent Dance should have been nommed. That's a shame

Especially as it's the ur-example of the emerging 3-step sound

is it 10 hours left or 34 hours left

― ufo

I actually don’t know what time zone seandalai’s currently in but I think it’s the latter.

In practice there are about 30 hours left. Keep voting!

ty

thanks!

welp, just threw together a quick unweighted tracks ballot and skipped the albums entirely. most of my ballot was songs i heard for the first time on the nominations playlist over the past month.

if anyone wants to check out some seering hot jams from late last year that just missed the noms, i highly recommend-
dina ögon - "det läcker"
middle kids - "dramamine"

thanks again everybody.

going to at least throw in an albums ballot tonight. my year was nuts but i realized there was a good deal i loved. some nice discoveries here too. thanks all i always enjoy this

Going to be voting for a country record for the first time. I keep an ear open to this stuff mainly to find decent stuff to play around my father. But the Margo Cilker album i just out and out love. I don't think it's just my tiredness talking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfjKIfD9lhc

Voted, having listened to (nearly) the entire tracks noms list thanks to a quietish week at work.

I say 'nearly' because I didn't need to listen to my own noms or things I already knew, but that's still 800+ tracks. I came out with around 150 that were new to me and I enjoyed, so good work ILX.

Things I have learnt:
Vocals are by far the biggest factor in me lunging for the fast forward or skip button - by which I mean the tone/timbre/affect of the voice, not the lyrics. So many tracks I heard that I thought were reasonable until the singing started and then ugh.
I should be paying more attention to Eurovision based on the tracks nommed this year, which were all at least interesting or fun, and in most cases good to great.
Releasing anything vaguely disco-adjacent will likely get you nominated.

xp I voted for it. Here's a few more to play for Dad:

Rolling Country 2024

voted

Last day to vote! It doesn’t matter if it’s a one track or one album ballot, get yours in

ok I promise

will be submitting mine in a few hours

Might be worthng asking a mod to add flashing lights/warning sirens/dancing horses to the thread title

good idea. I missed it completely one year because for some reason my eyes glazed over the thread title

Ugh, I dunno, should I vote? I really haven't listened to much, my ballot would be "some pop hits plus some tracks I notably liked while listening to the noms but I only got through about half the noms"

Sent a weighted album ballot (18 albums)

I didn't bother with a tracks list

Everybody vote now! (That message is also to me, who still needs to vote)

I hope everyone appreciates how classily I abused my mod powers on the title change.

i love it personally

<3

eephus - YES!

lol emil.y

eephus, definitely vote

felt similar but realized i would encourage me to vote. knowwhatimean? VOTE!

ok I voted! even threw in an unweighted tracks list, around 10

ignoring work today to put together one nasty beast of a ballot, 25 tracks and 25 albums of straight heaters

If you're (not necessarily you, Sleeve, the plural 'you') struggling to reach 25 tracks, why not add Wakey Wines - Come Closer to your vote? It's the best song advertising an off licence in Wakefield there is.

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

I liked that Wakey Wines tune

I also liked the Wakey Wines tune but the Tracks vote is so fucking brutal it didn't make the cut sorry.

Albums done but still have the impossible task of squeezing 38 tracks into just 25

voted

Remembered the deadline, working on the choices now! Been fun listening to the tracks list the last couple of weeks.

i have also voted

i didn't campaign at all this year haha hopefully there is at least one (1) american hip-hop song

anticipating with dread the sexxy red votesplit

also lmao who nominated every kim petras song from last year

haha I saw that

I voted for (1) american hip-hop song xps

OK finally voted.

Unfortunately once again I didn't find time to listen to the nominations list, but am submitting an albums-only ballot.

Was driving myself mad fiddling with placements, just sent it in. Glad I made it, was looking dicey for a while.

Voted. Fuck, tracks ballot was sooo hard. First time I've gone unweighted.

ok -- i'm scheduled for like the next 5-6 hours but I will get my sparse-ass ballot in before Pacific Midnight!

Voted!

i had a shortlist of 150 then 50 and then made some tough choices to whittle it down

Voted! I also forgot to nominate Youth Lagoon - Prizefighter :( I thought I remembered everything this year.

mine vote is cast!

Is this rollout really starting Monday?

I’ll try my best but yeah I think I can start whichever - tracks or albums - on Monday!

I haven’t really done testing on images but I’ll go for a clean look

When you submit a ballot it said rollout started Monday, so that is why I asked.

You Rock Moka!

Or starts but you know what I meant

voted! compelled to include a certain 8.5-minute song. tim/ivy-imago accord moment '23

Voted! Forgot any campaigning so probably some solo votes for some NZ/Chinese stuff, ah well.

would like to see your ballot after rollout

I VOTED(albums)

going to close in ~8 hours

voted

voted y'day

voted

voted

I am trying to persuade one more (my usual sidekick) to get something together in the next hour. Her late-night Magic The Gathering getting in the way of duty

only had time to do a tracks ballot this year but I'm glad I made it

Only managed albums, but voted!

How long we got?

how long do you need?

Eek, despite imago's incessant pestering I am only just on this. If there can be ten more generous minutes I will throw something together

Phew!

ok unless anyone shouts very soon I'll wrap it up

Voting has been closed! Rollout for mmm tracks on Monday!

Whoop!

Exciting. How does the turnout compare to other years?

https://i.imgur.com/p8zvWNd.png

oh boy a new low!

Wow, half as many track voters as 10 years ago!

friends, we are the actual 77

It's still a decent number, imo. The internet has changed a lot over a decade and we don't really get that much new blood in, so I imagine the decline will continue (unless the splintering of social media somehow pushes youngsters to old-school boards??). Having ~75 people on a message board who are passionate enough about music to submit a ballot, well, to me that seems pretty good.

makes a more interesting start to the rollout too

oops forgot to vote

Am I the only one who thinks there are two giant frontrunners this year? Caroline Polachek and Super Shy seems like ILX catnip to me.

I only managed an album ballot this year. Partly a true reflection of my changed listening habits (and busyness) in '23, partly just not having the time or will to sort out a tracks ballot

Am I the only one who thinks there are two giant frontrunners this year? Caroline Polachek and Super Shy seems like ILX catnip to me.

― Frederik B, Saturday, January 20, 2024 1:36 PM (one minute ago)

ILM is so quiet now I have little sense what people are enthused about en masse. I didn't try very hard with the search, but there seem to be like 3 posts about Super Shy? CP probably a strong contender, but I have no clue really

Polachek should be my catnip but somehow isn't. Still will do well?

I actually threw "Super Shy" on the very end of my Tracks ballot... I don't even love it enough for my own year-end playlist, but it's a cool track I felt like mixing things up

so... I always forget how many tracks to do per day... 77/5 is 15.4 tracks per day... so...

I was thinking

Mon 15
Tu 16
Wed 16
Thu 15
Fri 15

In case I see my schedule a bit busy one of those days I might move a couple songs more per day and end up Friday with the top 10... suggestions are welcome.

I think it has been:

Mon 17
Tues 20
Wed 20
Thur 20

Am I the only one who thinks there are two giant frontrunners this year? Caroline Polachek and Super Shy seems like ILX catnip to me.

i think both will be top 10 but i have no expectations beyond that

I think it has been:

Mon 17
Tues 20
Wed 20
Thur 20

― Bee OK

Oh this works better for me!

broke my 10+ year streak of voting this year as I haven't purposely listened to any music since around March. will happily read the rollout and try to imagine what stuff sounds like :)

All I have to say is that it’s a pretty diverse list compared to other eoy lists and y’all like some pretty weird pop things.

thank goodness.

yay

i'd be disappointed if that wasn't the case

hee hee

it’s a pretty diverse list compared to other eoy lists and y’all like some pretty weird pop things.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka)

Excellent!

Also, I'm down with more results per day and a Thursday end. I think it's varied a few times over the years but seems good to me.

i had a shortlist of 150 then 50 and then made some tough choices to whittle it down

― omar little, Friday, January 19, 2024 10:07 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

exact same quandary and process

Apologies for not voting. Expert Witness ballot due at the very same moment, and I simply spaced this. But ILM noms and results are always intriguing, look forward to the rollout.

Well, I made up for you. A gazillion years on this site and I finally voted in my first end-of-year poll

Good for you!

A handful of friends shared our Uproxx ballots with each other via email in late November; three of us voted "Chalé." So I excitedly turned to the Uproxx results in mid December, and saw that "Chalé" got... 3 votes. Still, will be surprised if it doesn't make the top 77 here. Just so bright and dramatic and ghostly and danceable.

It's a lock for the countdown and a strong top 10 contender (I think, I hope).

That's excellent Vinnie and I hope you make it an annual event.

Wish I'd voted for more tracks, but I'm glad I got a ballot in!

I always feel unqualified to vote, I tend to get my recommendations from our eoy polls! But I listened to about 25 albums from 2023 and that's more than usual, so I threw in my short ballot

Big thanks to whoever nominated Say She She. Submitted my ballot before randomly shuffling across it in the album noms playlist. Def would've been top 5.