ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2023

Hi, there. Usually forks was the one who did the honors of doing this opening post, but since he is sorely missing this time around, you'll be stuck with me as your lesser host until someone who is actually good at this steps up for the job.

As I'm not very good at doing the writing thing I'll try to keep it short and informative, but first, a round of gratitude:

Thanks seandalai for helping me organize this, I don't think I'd have the energy to pull it off without you!

Also thank you so much to each one of you who took the time to nominate, campaign, vote and/or comment on the music that mattered to you the most in 2023. I fall in love with our list every year.

Here’s the Top 77 Tracks of 2023 Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1P8nwagAPBtvJmHmfaM8PL

Apple Music Playlist

Tidal Playlist

If anyone wants to build a matching YouTube / Tidal / Apple Music / Amazon Music - please share it. I'd like to request the mods if said playlists are shared please be so kind to add them to this opening post for visibility.

Your poll runners this time around are myself (posting, playlisting, graphics) and Seandalai (organization and vote tabulation).

As usual every winner in the poll is accompanied by a Youtube video (unless there isn't one) and a small blurb taken from somewhere else in the internet... some of these songs are more obscure than others so a few of them might not even have a very interesting blurb or one at all. Due to me not being very well versed on which rolling ILM threads are the appropriate ones for further reading and discussion about each placement, I wont be adding links to them this time around. If you feel like directing us to them please do so.

Poll starts around 9am EST tomorrow. Here's for another year of music! See you tomorrow!

I apologize for the inevitable writing mistakes I did and will do throughout this whole thread. English is not my first language and I'm always sleep deprived.

I look forward to waking up to this!

THANK YOU Moka and Seandalai!

Going in blind, not having seen the nominees!

sorry in advance for forgetting to vote for "chale"

I quite liked Chale. That'll do, right?

much love to Moka and Seandalai. Thank you so much.

Wahooooo! Exciting! Thanks Moka, thanks seandalai

many thanks, Moka and seandalai - absolute champs! excited for the rollout

Looking forward to this.

This year I got as far as listening to all the noms for the first time, but still did not manage to vote. One of these years!

Can’t wait!

aussie crew set cycles to nocturnal

Midnight start? Nah, I’m just here for the daily recap. Sorry, maybe I should move to the I “Kinda Like” Music forum instead. Consider this thread lurked!

Great stuff

Excellent! Thanks again, mods!

Great stuff! Feel like long-absent king returning from travels afar to reclaim his rightful though beneficient domination over places 285 to 327 in the list. All praises to Moka and Seandalai!

An Apple Music playlist would be welcome; I didn't browse the noms list because I don't have Spotify or Tidal.

will miss the superior rollout coming first— i have always been an albums guy, even when i was a dj— but i will settle for the catnip this week.

say this every year but tracks is way more fun imo

funny i saw the latter roll-out as the "main event"

though i didn't get it together to vote tracks, i'm looking forward to it most.

Last year the tracks were way more fun, but I'm normally more interested in hearing some great new albums.

I think tracks are more exciting with the uncertainty and the immediate reactions they grant - so they are like starters and amuse-bouche before the "plat de résistance".

keeping poptimism alive single handed here

41-minute tracks at a time

Tracks = a good time, lots of excitement, stoked to find a few new bangers

Albums = I have arrived at the top of the mountain

The tracks roll-out is often more fun because you can listen along more easily if you don't know stuff. I did wonder when Moka was debating which to do first if one poll was more likely to 'spoil' the other (e.g. if there are loads of tracks off an album making it, is it therefore inevitable that album will be #1, or would a notable omission in the albums poll give away that someone won't make the tracks poll either?). But ultimately I reckon that's too much fretting about something that would have a very minimal impact if any.

Yes, I also find tracks is more fun precisely because it’s easy to follow and react on those songs you don’t know about. I have found some of my favorite albums via a retroactive listen to the albums poll, though.

It’s usually tracks first, then albums. Last year we did a switch up because forks was busy to run the tracks poll atm and he asked me to start albums first… it wasn’t a conscious decision, rather a scheduling conflict.

And it all starts with a big bang…

https://i.imgur.com/imMYV5a.jpg
77. 96 Back - Laco 111 points - 3 votes
Video
You know what’s good? Weird, droning synth noises - always. And all the more so when turned into massive dance-floor bangers, as Manchester’s 96 Back does on this banger for Local Action. The key, I think, is that 96 Back doesn’t overcomplicate things: he’s got a couple of excellent, ever so slightly sickening, noises that he knows will work wonders on the dance floor and he lets them play their merry game. If you hear this in a club you will vomit with excitement.

I voted for this, a track I discovered while listening to the nominations, glad my vote pushed it into the top 77

for anyone using Tidal, I'm doing a playlist here: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/be8be68e-7326-4eee-9a60-afa7fc838ef8

I will try to keep it as up-to-date as possible

lol that is exactly the type of club track that i despise, a sound palette of the most obnoxious sounds ever created standing in place of any groove

This track is fun and it definitely grooves

Throwing everything but the kitchen sink, but strangely coherent and minimalist and menacing. Fitting opening for the Top77. Reminds me of Shanti Celeste.

the thing about this track is that it's a relatively simple thing done extremely well, very satisfying to listen to. The main riff to this track is not at all obnoxious to me.

Ultimately I couldn't talk myself into voting this year (and probably going forward), but I look forward to hopefully discovering at least a dozen new jams here

lol that is exactly the type of club track that i despise, a sound palette of the most obnoxious sounds ever created standing in place of any groove

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, January 22, 2024 9:18 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

SO funny you say this b/c as i'm listening to this track for the first time i thought of that obnoxious peder mannerfelt track i posted a couple years ago that you got mad about and i was wondering if you'd hate this one as well lol

(the track in question for anyone curious: https://hectoroaks.bandcamp.com/track/a1-peder-mannerfelt-the-b-20 )

It's like if Akai made one of those giant machines that shreds everything

Great pic layout
Was trying to work out for a while what IUN meant on the right lol

yeah it looks great moka

Iirc this guy's dad is closely associated with the early days of Warp records, just in case you were picking up afx vibes

https://i.imgur.com/jxotkNj.jpg
76. Men I Trust - Ring of Past 112 points - 4 votes
Video
A starlit jam that rides a keening keyboard pattern and a bouncy, tightly coiled bassline. Emmanuelle Proulx sings in her familiar ghostly coo, professing that "I'll always love you / Forever with you / Reliving youth through / You."  A bit more in line with the sighing lounge pop on 2021's Untourable Album than with the lean post-punk of "Billie Toppy" or the trembling baroque folk of "Girl."

96 back: I think the obnoxiousness of the sound palette is what saves this track - it's not that interesting otherwise but the queasy synths and irritating chirps are making me laugh.

Great pic layout
Was trying to work out for a while what IUN meant on the right lol

― nxd

yeah it looks great moka

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar...,

Thanks! I had a cleaner ILM monogram before this one but when doing the slightly different albums layout I thought this one looked better over there and decided to send it to the tracks poll as well for consistency.

This was on my short list, but didn't quite make the cut. I've been amazed at how much Men I Trust have blown up over the past year or two.

Not nuts about this one but that is a fantastic bass sound (I'm guessing rubber bridge?)

Men I Trust: yeah, this is fine. The synth line is very nice! But overall a pretty slight morsel imo.

96 Back is cool and fun. Men I Trust... Yeah, this type of thing is on here every year, right?

Liked this but didn't vote for it. Much preferred their track that placed last year (Billie Toppy)

yeah not as good as billie toppy

I like this track but not enough to have chosen it as one of my favorite 25 songs. I do love how tight they always sound and the tone on their bass is always amazing.

Not nuts about this one but that is a fantastic bass sound (I'm guessing rubber bridge?)

― blazin' squab (NickB)

iirc it's palm muted and played with a pick. AudioHaze on yt does a pretty good breakdown on how they sound like they sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O441r8ThefY

https://i.imgur.com/Pfdj3nm.jpg
TIE 74. Boygenius - Cool About It 114 points - 4 votes
Video
Coloured with acoustic chords and faint banjo instrumentation, this folk-rock track falls narrative first with each member claiming a verse as they each thread in different stories of running into an ex-partner. Imagining another kind of intimacy, Cool About It is a credit to the trio’s strength as songwriters.

oh haha there’s gonna be a few boygenius tracks

thanks Moka, will watch that later!

It's like if Akai made one of those giant machines that shreds everything

hell yes

Boygenius: never going to love them myself, but I think I like them more as a group than their respective solo endeavours. That live video where they are so joyful in each others' presence really endeared them to me so I'm not going to be mean even about their most boring songs. I swear it.

this song made me cry when i saw it live but my gf was about to break up with me tbf

I think I like them more as a group than their respective solo endeavours.

yep!

Yeah I like all three of them individually, but tbh I think they're all capable of writing 3-4 great tracks per album — which works out well when they all get together.

I think this song is good but benefits a lot from the warmth of a live performance: http://tinyurl.com/3d8kwwba

To be even more fair to them, I can totally see the appeal of this song. Like, it's not for me at the moment, but it feels absolutely successful as a break-up tearjerker.

I probably underrate this group and their solo work, compared to my actual feeling when I'm listening to it. Could have placed them higher. It's been kind of great to see them break through in such a substantial way tbh.

liked the album on first listen but was kinda turned off by the mania that ensued. i recognize that that’s a “me problem”

don’t remember how this one goes, will report back

ok i remember now, this is the one that sounds like “the boxer”

I really like the tone Baker gets out of her guitar and how clean she plays on her solo work, but I agree on Boygenius being more interesting than what they all do apart. Their very different writing and vocal style makes for a good contrast and whenever the three of them harmonize it sounds heavenly.

Not really my gear but I can definitely see why their music is so loved.

https://i.imgur.com/ayvooLQ.jpg
TIE 74. Blur - Barbaric 114 points - 4 votes
Video
The Britpop crew’s first album in eight years is Blur CliffsNotes — a sprawling 42-minute trip through the best sprightly riffs, grungy alt-rock, and experimental electronic work the band has offered up since their founding in early-’90s Britain. The pop-leaning “Barbaric” takes things a step further. By combining the radio-friendly elements of Gorillaz with the thudding bass lines and tight percussion of Blur — and throwing in one of the catchiest hooks in either catalogue — they successfully bridge the work in the group that made front man Damon Albarn famous in England with the one that made him famous in the States.

????

Great little song. Nothing special. A bit sad that Blur isn't more special at this point, but oh well.

Blur: hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm okay ilm.

a little early to be starting the fake outs, no?

seems like people had a rough year

barbaric

sounds like something off keir starmer's treadmill playlist

Probably should give this a go since I've been more into Blur and Gorillaz lately

How are the rest of the band managing to not punch the Tory cheese wanker, that's what I want to know.

seems like people had a rough year

― nxd, Monday, 22 January 2024 15:11 (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao otm

https://i.imgur.com/xeq5rhN.jpg
73. Hotline TNT - I Thought You’d Change 115 points - 4 votes
Video
Of “I Thought You’d Change,” Anderson says: “This song is about wanting a friendship to turn into something more, seeing it happen against all odds, wondering if it was the right thing to do, then wanting it to change back to a friendship or even a secret third style of attachment that I can’t identify or hold onto. This is the first time I’ve written a song that switches back and forth between two narrators, and I’m not sure which words are supposed to be mine and which are from my lover.”

How are the rest of the band managing to not punch the Tory cheese wanker, that's what I want to know.

― emil.y, 22. januar 2024 16:14 (forty-two seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

Damon spent most of Country House pointing at Alex and laughing at their concert at Roskilde. Didn't punch him, though.

Oh wow, two of mine in a row :) The album didn't make the cut on my list, so threw a vote to this instead.

that's cool they got eric rahill for their video, he's a funny dude

the latest gorillaz album was bad but i think i still prefer albarn in that mode these days. his voice is not what it used to be, can’t carry the melodies he needs to make a great blur song

It's quite sweet how faithful ilmers are to their aging relatives

I know we are just getting started, but this is feeling like an unusually rockist countdown so far

I know we are just getting started, but this is feeling like an unusually rockist countdown so far

― Muad'Doob (Moodles)

Agree. I'm sure this range is usually where we get some interesting bobbins.

the rockism continues:

https://i.imgur.com/DSGfYbn.jpg
72. Ratboys - The Window 115 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
“I wrote this song a few days after the death of my grandma in June 2020,” says Ratboys’ Julia Steiner. “She didn’t have COVID, but because of the pandemic my grandpa wasn’t able to visit her in person at the nursing home to say goodbye. He ended up standing outside her room and saying goodbye through an open window. A lot of the lyrics are direct quotes of things he said to her in those final moments.”

occasionally i'm suspicious of things i think i'll like a lot, idk why, years of second-guessing myself maybe, but yeah turns out i do really like hotline tnt

who could forget dear ratboys!!!! this is an indie rock countdown now

Agree. I'm sure this range is usually where we get some interesting bobbins.

― emil.y, Monday, 22 January 2024 15:24 (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

we've had some uninteresting bobbins tbf

Rock is back, baby

I voted for the 96 Back track, so if nothing else I voted for shows up then I'm good with #77. :)

Speaking of which, I always do this, but is there any way to see my ballot at this point? Sorry for being dumb, I forgot to write it down elsewhere and I can never remember exactly how I voted (especially w/tracks).

enjoyed both hotline tnt and ratboys output last year

(this year I spent a bunch of time with the albums playlist on shuffle, but just went down the tracks list visually and listening to stuff I didn't know that sounded interesting)

I really dug what I heard of both these last groups, but didn't give them enough time to vote for either. Of course what usually happens is a year after I vote I've discovered so much that I hadn't heard before, that my ballot would probably look 80% different.

I voted for both the Hotline and Ratboys albums (very high) but no tracks.

https://i.imgur.com/mQYL2Wl.jpg
71. FIFTY FIFTY - Cupid (Twin Version) 115 points - 6 votes
Video
“Cupid” by FIFTY FIFTY has become the little K-pop song that could. Released by independent label ATTRAKT, the irresistibly bouncy lament on modern love has grown into a crossover phenomenon on the back of organic social media virality, clever marketing and a “Twin Version” in English. While English-language versions of K-pop songs are increasingly common, they are usually rolled out after the original and frequently feel like an afterthought. That’s not the case here. “The ‘Twin Version’ is more focused on the music and message, expressed through a slightly different mixing style and arrangement,” Siahn says. “The reason we named it the ‘Twin Version’ is that the two songs are identical in some aspects, but different in others.”

"cupid is so dumb" made me laugh

a stupid cupid, if you will

nice
reminds me or marina circa 2012

def would describe this song as a confection

Three in a row for me (74-72). I love bands!

Hotline TNT: a perfectly serviceable shoegaze number and the video is fun. That's about it.

Ratboys: listened to a couple of their other tracks before, doesn't do it for me.

Fifty Fifty: I feel like I'm out of step with K-Pop trends. Think I only voted for one this year and it wasn't this.

their bio is wild!

The real world and the ideal world of FIFTY FIFTY are in a parallel universe, existing through the past, present, and future. Guided by a mysterious being, the girls travel to various places, transcending time and space. At times, they run back to the happiest moments in their lives and immerse themselves in the ecstatic memories they hope to cherish forever. On the flip side, they experience some of the darkest moments in their lives, desperate to escape from the tough world as they yearn for freedom.

The four songs in the album THE FIFTY reflect the girls’ first adventure to the unknown as they long for freedom beyond chaos in reality, and finally walk toward the path of utopia.

Didn't vote for this but it was the biggest out of nowhere k-pop hit of the year. Group was not big in Korea, and not from a big label, but tiktok blew it up. Then lots of contract disputes meant all but one member left the group. Biggest fumble of the year too.

Also, this probably isn't the place for this, but I'm finding myself increasingly concerned by how skinny K-pop girl bands are getting - like, we all knew the industry was harsh and controlling and maybe I'm just getting old and parental but I'm worried for them!

the arrangement on this feels much more stripped down and relaxed than a lot of the k-pop I hear out in the wild

https://i.imgur.com/rWQQJc1.jpg
70. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Soft Landing 116 points - 4 votes
Video
As per its title, Maps frequently deals with woods’ life on the road as a relatively successful touring rapper, including on lead single “FaceTime.” The theme reoccurs on “Soft Landing,” a second single unveiled today. Over Segal’s woozy lo-fi electric guitar chords and gallumphing bass-bombed beat, woods describes his life in transit, rhyming Attenborough with “Joe Burrow” and dropping bars like “It could be nuclear winter with an earthquake/ The worst people’ll wiggle out the rubble/ Maybe suicidal thoughts was the every day struggle/ For a brief, sweet, moment it was nothing in the thought bubble.”

extremely great, voted for the album instead

same

Yeah, this is good. Much more like it, ILM.

https://i.imgur.com/Q3rIBoU.jpg
69. The Parade - I’m A Dreamer 118 points - 3 votes
Video
“I’m a Dreamer” is the debut single by dream pop band The Parade from Stockholm, Sweden. Its introspective melodies and gentle rhythms and melodious vocals are reminiscent of Saint Etienne and in moments the keyboard work like something you’d expect out of an early 90s downtempo group but a production style more like club music you’d hope to hear these days. Given the music video and footage like a raiding of thrift stores for VHS tapes and repurposing and editing them to give a deep sense of late summer, night time revelry. And this song is seemingly about a casual, summertime romance that might turn into something more but doesn’t have to evolve beyond something mutually entered into for the good times for now.

tbf the Ratboys is good too, and I won't hold it not having a 5-minute guitar solo against it. not much anyway

mature sound for their age

If I would have sent a tracks ballot, Id have that Billy Woods track in my top 5

Not heard this one before. I can see the Saint Etienne, but there's also a bit of Groove Armada corniness to it, which puts me off. I do like it, though, nice summer dance track.

i had not heard of this parade song and it is pretty wonderful even though i feel like i'm being pandered to by every musical choice it makes e.g. when the slow motion house piano enters

first placement to give me that classic ilm experience of hearing a very immediate and pleasant song for the first time and having aboslutely no reference point for who it is or where it came from

there's something in it that reminds me of the tough alliance, if anyone remembers them

Loved them

YouTube blocked here at work unfortunately

The tune's nice, but I especially like the early '90s lite-club groove. Most immediately puts me in mind of "Dub Be Good to Me."

Or early St. Etienne, sure.

Pleasant! And, yes, reminds me of 1992 St. Etienne.

https://i.imgur.com/uiveHZ6.jpg
68. Fever Ray - Shiver 118 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
“Shiver” is creepy. Whirring synths swirl around your head like flies. Listen closely for the ghosts — demons? — breathing beneath primal drums and the specters yelping and jeering over them. Erotic “woo!”s fill the upper register while brooding “wah”s form the bass. Every layer, everything sounds like a voice. That is, everything except Karin Dreijer’s vocals, which are pitched up to the uncanny valley and drawn out in airy wisps. None of it feels right, but it all feels good. In facing the unnatural head-on, siblings Olof and Karin Dreijer, along with co-producer Johannes Berglund, find reprieve and beauty in the darkest corners of human desire, as does all great escapist dance music.
Through the lurching groove, Dreijer aches for the thrill of contact. They belt, slightly out of tune, of “thick thighs” and “needle highs” before admitting “I just wanna be touched.” In one moment, they suggest a romantic reboot prime for the dancefloor: “Trophy human/ You still haven’t met/ But you need to reset.” Immediately, though, what has been described as lust is now framed as the spark for love: “Though you haven’t met them yet/ It all started with a shiver.” If only more dance music so deftly balanced the competing motivations of the body and the heart that drive us to the club.

That last one sounds a lot like France Gall - Ella Elle L'a

Oh hey, I voted for this one. I had the opportunity to see them live recently and it was a lot of fun.

Classic ILM!

Not the track I voted for from the album. But love this one.

I really don't think they've ever gone wrong with their career, just such a singular sound and consistent high quality

i want to agree with that, yet i've lost interest in fever ray's output for reasons i can't quite put my finger on. i find it enjoyable when it's brought to my attention but i'm not drawn back to it

https://i.imgur.com/qfRrkgc.jpg
67. PinkPantheress - Angel 120 points - 3 votes
Video
‘Angel’ has a pleasing sense of innocence. Subtle hints of her breakbeat fetish remain in place, but the cute plasticity recalls PC Music’s more heart-on-sleeve moments. She sings: “Every tells me life is hard / But it’s a piece of cake…” With a Celtic-flavoured fiddle breakdown, ‘Angel’ is subtle but striking, easing PinkPantheress out into fresh climes.

Happy to see The Parade place. Was fairly high up on my ballot and yes, very much a bit of a Foxbase Alpha vibe about it.

I know we are just getting started, but this is feeling like an unusually rockist countdown so far

― Muad'Doob (Moodles)

Agree. I'm sure this range is usually where we get some interesting bobbins.

― emil.y

Funny you say that, seandalai sent me some preliminary results friday evening and the last 5 or so ballots sent several bobbins out of the top 77.

High five groovypanda and the other voter besides me who voted for The Parade. Was surprised it made it but voted either way because I thought ILM would like it.

xpsi want to agree with that, yet i've lost interest in fever ray's output for reasons i can't quite put my finger on. i find it enjoyable when it's brought to my attention but i'm not drawn back to it

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Monday, January 22, 2024 4:46 PM (four minutes ago)

1st Fever Ray is an all time fave of mine. I listened to last years one a fair few times but while its not bad by any means it just never really clicked for me for reasons I dont know either

i want to agree with that, yet i've lost interest in fever ray's output for reasons i can't quite put my finger on. i find it enjoyable when it's brought to my attention but i'm not drawn back to it

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar...

Might just be the length of their career? I often tire of artists even when they're still producing great stuff simply because I want something new instead.

seandalai sent me some preliminary results friday evening and the last 5 or so ballots sent several bobbins out of the top 77.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka)

Waaaaaa. Less rock, more bobbins!

Funny you say that, seandalai sent me some preliminary results friday evening and the last 5 or so ballots sent several bobbins out of the top 77.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 22 January 2024 16:53 (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

gree hee hee

(sorry)

Really enjoying the PinkPantheress. Not been particularly interested in PC Music style stuff for a while but this is very charming.

blue pedro slight return

https://i.imgur.com/JyoOFi7.jpg
66. Abra - FKA Mess 120 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
“FKA MESS” channels the casual and meandering quality of Abra’s early work without entirely sacrificing her newfound desire to step out of the fog and into the light. Going back behind the boards as producer, Abra crafts a six-minute experimental pop excursion: layers of mall-ready drums pop and shimmy while a Cure-reminiscent electric guitar strums out a doleful lead melody. Abra takes a more spectral presence here, drifting around the music like steam on the dancefloor and wrapping herself in the glory of ecstatic moods rather than pushing anything immediately concrete. 

couple of great tunes

Ooooh, this Abra track is great. Love it.

her best one yet

Yeah, really like the Abra track. Was one of many discoveries from the nominations playlist I couldn't quite squeeze onto my ballot

I like that Abra track.

invoking the trades description act for 'experimental pop' but decent

Yeah I like this a lot. I need more of this post-punk r&b in my life.

https://i.imgur.com/t8fwu9C.jpg
65. Jorja Smith - Little Things 121 points - 5 votes
Video
There’s joy in life’s small pleasures, as Jorja Smith reminds us on summer sizzler Little Things. Capturing the frisson and minutiae of dancefloor flirtations, the track leaps to life with a live jazz piano loop that catches the ear immediately and brings to mind the sort of low-lit clubs that are primed for romance. “It’s the little things that get me high/ Won’t you come with me and spend the night?” Smith playfully teases on the intoxicating hook. By this point, the P2J and New Machine-produced beat has unfurled to reveal its full form: a rapturous UK funky banger, led by skipping hi-hats and a bassline so rhythmic you just can’t help but jump into motion. But more than anything, it’s the sound of an artist having fun – a frivolous, infectious track created for loosening bodies on the dancefloor.

Abra kinda fell off my radar for some reason but this sounds fabulous. Good one!

I haven't thought about her since "CRYBABY"

abra track is fantastic

https://i.imgur.com/lpPWst4.jpg
64. Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red 122 points - 5 votes
Video
A jaw-dropping heel display here, a weapons-grade blister agent: like prime Eminem without the self-thinkpiecing. She makes one feeble attempt to sort the fans from the freaks–otherwise, it’s omnidirectional menace. The jokes are great; the image she inhabits is too. To sound famous, Doja Cat risks looking ridiculous (“ain’t no sign I can’t smoke here”), getting so deep into her lore I’m honestly surprised she didn’t threaten to show feet. The sophistipop sample is big and obvious, but she doesn’t interact with it like on “Vegas”. In fact, listen hard enough and Warwick becomes a beleaguered member of Doja Cat’s team, pleading with her to drop it already.

¬_¬

Even though ideologically I don't believe in guilty pleasures this still kinda was one for me. I rolled my eyes at the "Walk on By" sample at first but ... dang, it stuck. After months of radio exposure I ended up voting for it.

https://i.imgur.com/vjkT0en.jpg
63. Blawan - Toast 124 points - 5 votes
Video
Everything on the opener Toast sounds like it's coming out of a toothpaste tube crushed by an anvil: the synths slither and squirm in odd spurts, over a hybrid techno beat that flirts with drum & bass and dubstep (not to mention basslines that sound like they were designed to get the best out of Corsica Studios' unparalleled Room 2 sound system). You get the feeling that Blawan is having pure fun making the weirdest, gurgliest sounds he can, and it's equally fun to listen to.

I am very attracted to Blawan

okay this rules I think

good track titling

great to see blawan working this vein, whatever it is - puts me in mind of joy orbison and skrillex lately but half-stepping. i wish he would collab with a vocalist though.

in what might seem surprising, i voted for both Hotline TNT and Ratboys, which was my number one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ah, damn, I'd actually made a note to check this out during noms/voting period but life was too stressful and I didn't get a chance. Very good, I like. Squelch squelch bleep.

Not as good as the Streetband original

Ha!

https://i.imgur.com/6GkYEXM.jpg
62. Troye Sivan - One Of Your Girls 126 points - 3 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
Sivan makes pining sound impossibly stylish. "One of Your Girls" is where melancholy meets hedonism; loneliness and swagger coalesce; horny pleas are delivered through the angelic melodies of a Y2K boy band. Even Sivan's use of contemporary slang ("Face card, no cash, no credit"), which would be cringey coming from anyone else, registers as cool.
In the grand tradition of pop classics like Robyn's "Dancing on My Own" and Lorde's "Supercut," "One of Your Girls" is a song for sobbing masked as a song for strutting. If Sivan is the subgenre's heir, we're in good hands.

First time hearing this one. Love how it uses the vocoder.

This kind of sounds to me like the extremely more competent version of how Harry Styles tries to sound like.

Not quite as wonky as his EP a couple of years ago that had everyone talking about circus music, but still rules, <3 Blawan.

I think I might be slightly allergic to what Sivan's selling, but I'm glad it's out there in the world obv

https://i.imgur.com/hFcNxUf.jpg
61. Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve 126 points - 3 votes - 2 º1 votes
Video
Against a roaring southern rock riff and an undercurrent of gorgeous pedal steel, Hartzman recounts time spent binge drinking, friends overdosing on Benadryl, skipping school and having sex in SUVs. Some of it’s youthful indiscretion, but none of it is particularly glamorous, which makes what is ultimately a sweet and painfully honest song all the more affecting; after she sings the final chorus (“‘Cause I’m the girl that you were chosen to deserve“) and that riff comes back in, it feels like fireworks going off on a warm summer night and the kind of buzz that you never want to end. It’s a love song that’s charmingly, willfully unromantic, casting aside the dramatic overtures in favor of something real.

Last one for the day!

Blawan and Doja Cat were in my list of 50 but I dropped them from my final 25 because I thought they'd already be picking up votes, and I wanted to retain some tracks I didn't think would get enough ILM love. But since I've not been on ILM all year I've no idea what will or won't be getting the love!

Voted for the boygenius and Billy Woods so far.

I was one of the number 1 voters for “Chosen to Deserve”. My first song to place!

I voted for the Troye Sivan track, super catchy and playful. I assume "Rush" will place higher, but that one kind of annoyed me.

voted (and I think nominated?) the Blawan track. Glad that other people like it. Anybody who can get a good groove going with these kinds of sounds will generally get my vote.

Wednesday theoretically checks a lot of boxes for me but I've yet to fall for them. I respect what they do and happy for any attention they get, though.

Ratboys > Wednesday

my favorite sivan song last year was "got me started," which was not nominated. last year was the year this guy's material finally convinced me to pay attention to him

xp this is a massive track though

lol I feel sort of the same about Ratboys -- I do like "The Window," but the album didn't sink in for me. Expect to see both of them on the album countdown too, obv, and I don't begrudge them.

hi thanks moka+sean!!

some thoughts so far-

didn't know/instant love/what i'm here for:
men i trust
parade

decent:
jorja smith
fever ray

good fluff:
fifty fifty
pink panthress

meh/don't care (but in a nice way)/fine for what it is:
96 back
boygenius
hotline tnt
ratboys
billy woods
blawan
wednesday

hate/wtf/no:
blur
doja cat
troye sivan

+abra nearly missed my ballot. great track. none of my votes have showed.

Troye Sivan: love the chorus of this. Quite devastating. Not so keen on the verse sections, though.

Wednesday: I'm just never going to love any of this wave of country-tinged rock, am I?

The best so far was an ad for something called Burt's Bees that had jaunty music that was a bit like Steve Reich

There was a motif in the Doja Cat record which felt extremely familiar but can't place

I rolled my eyes at the "Walk on By" sample at first but ... dang, it stuck

ohh, thats why

had not heard this PinkPantheress track, and it's really quite charming

The best so far was an ad for something called Burt's Bees that had jaunty music that was a bit like Steve Reich

― saer

lol

Wednesday: I'm just never going to love any of this wave of country-tinged rock, am I?

Love Quarry but the rest of the album just didn't click with me

Didn't really make an effort to keep up with hip-hop last year so pleasantly surprised by the Billy Woods. This the kind of rap music that I like. I even kind of like the Doja Cat.

the best music video i've seen this morning was the streetboys' "toast" thanks to nickb calling it out

glad everyone picked the correct pinkpantheress song (and the correct song from barbie, tho there may be more to come)

also glad to see two (2) american hip-hop songs

inauspicious start but this turned into a pretty good day of songs. excited to check the ones i don’t know

Favourites from today: Billy Woods, Abra, Blawan.

Can we get a recap list, Moka?

Can we have a run-off round with the Burt's Bees ad music on the ballot?

Recap!

ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2023

61-77

61. Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve 126 points - 3 votes - 2 º1 votes
62. Troye Sivan - One Of Your Girls 126 points - 3 votes - 1 º1 vote
63. Blawan - Toast 124 points - 5 votes
64. Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red 122 points - 5 votes
65. Jorja Smith - Little Things 121 points - 5 votes
66. Abra - FKA Mess 120 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
67. PinkPantheress - Angel 120 points - 3 votes
68. Fever Ray - Shiver 118 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
69. The Parade - I’m A Dreamer 118 points - 3 votes
70. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Soft Landing 116 points - 4 votes
71. FIFTY FIFTY - Cupid (Twin Version) 115 points - 6 votes
72. Ratboys - The Window 115 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
73. Hotline TNT - I Thought You’d Change 115 points - 4 votes
TIE 74. Blur - Barbaric 114 points - 4 votes
TIE 74. Boygenius - Cool About It 114 points - 4 votes
76. Men I Trust - Ring of Past 112 points - 4 votes
77. 96 Back - Laco 111 points - 3 votes

Yay, thank you!

Lol xps

Wondering if it was this one?

Nothing from my ballot has showed yet. I sh/could have voted for The Window but discovered it too late. Voted for Kandy instead of Shiver. Respect the integrity of Blawan and Billy Woods. The rest didn't jump out.

Lol xps

Wondering if it was this one?

There it is!

Apple Music playlist:

https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/ilm-tracks-poll-2023/pl.u-kv9l065sWWdXNj

Let me know if there are any problems. I will update daily as time permits, usually in the afternoon or evening, Pacific Standard Time.

So far the list is very ILX'y, except there's a bit more rock than usual. But it was a good year for rock? I've thought things have been more texturally interesting than in a while, perhaps because of the whole shoegaze-comeback thing. That Wednesday track is a bit too southern rock for me, I thought Bull Believer would be the consensus Wednesday track.

it was a great year for punk, idk abt "rock" per se

There it is!

Found the full version, an unexpected discovery

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

And not only has he worked with Burt's Bees but also Barclays, JVC, Pizza Hut, Rover, Renault, and Hitachi.

77. 96 Back - Laco: parts of this are decent and parts are really annoying
76. Men I Trust - Ring of Past: they seem to pretty consistently put out these lovely dreamy indie pop songs like this but i never keep up with them. not as good as "billie toppy" last year though
TIE 74. Boygenius - Cool About It: extremely 'just fine' indie folk
TIE 74. Blur - Barbaric: better than i would have expected from blur in 2023 at least but nothing to be remotely excited about
73. Hotline TNT - I Thought You’d Change: i like the main riff but the song around it is awkward
72. Ratboys - The Window: is their 8-minute epic still to place? this is quite good indie rock, i probably should have spent more time with this album
71. FIFTY FIFTY - Cupid (Twin Version): i forgot there was an english version of this. is it just "say so" it's really reminiscent of or is there something else? catchy enough but the only interesting idea it has is the brief section with backing vocals at the end
70. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Soft Landing: this sort of woozy slightly dissonant beat does absolutely nothing for me
69. The Parade - I’m A Dreamer: ooh this is good, reminiscent of the tough alliance and saint etienne, yeah, and i am always glad to have more that sounds like those. vocal melody a little unfocused though?
68. Fever Ray - Shiver: "kandy" was the best fever ray/knife track this year, this one is a bit lacking in movement
67. PinkPantheress - Angel: cute & fun but i liked a few other pinkpantheress tracks more this year
66. Abra - FKA Mess: i like the idea of freestyle-tinged post-punk more than the execution
65. Jorja Smith - Little Things: this is great, easily could have voted for this if i'd heard it. ah it makes sense p2j produced it. should i get around to the album?
64. Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red: how was this such a hit when it's this dull
63. Blawan - Toast: not for me
62. Troye Sivan - One Of Your Girls: pleasant sound palette but there's nothing much here melodically? chorus is very reminiscent of something i can't place
61. Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve: a decent country-rock track that probably didn't need to be nearly 6 minutes

i didn't vote for anything here and i don't think anything interesting from my ballot is going to place now, only the obvious stuff.

last year was the year this guy's material finally convinced me to pay attention to him

you're missing out then because something to give each other was quite a step down from bloom & in a dream

i wouldn't be surprised if the only track i place is the most obvious one, though i could also see it being around #78

self-indulgent post alert

i also don't like the abra track. cheap, fast-fashion-y.

why do i never want to listen to troye sivan? it's similar to bottoming for me, i know i'll probably like it but it's never the most appealing thing on the menu.

jorja smith is my favorite track here.

weirdly the wednesday track grabbed me for a minute.

As far as "rock" goes, 2023 was certainly the year that guitar-oriented music came back for me. There simply weren't as many "weird" records or jazz records I found compelling, and perhaps some emotional troubles in the middle of the year made me return to the source of my teenage music obsessions — shoegaze and sad pretty alt-country punk stuff.

The Parade, Abra, and Jorja Smith tracks are all new to me and fantastic. These countdowns always make January so much more tolerable.

weirdly the wednesday track grabbed me for a minute.

i felt the same, i think the video played a part in that

the troye sivan chorus isn’t exactly alike, but it definitely evokes “nightcalls” by kavinsky

i definitely thought of "nightcall" but i think what the chorus reminds me of might be something else too

Okay I'm gonna try and do the whole "comment unnecessarily on every song every day" thing this year.

96 Back – Laco: I like a lot of 96 Back stuff but there’d be other parts of mid-00s electro-house I’d prefer to see revived before Alter Ego’s “Rocker”.

Men I Trust – Ring of Past: This is very nice and reminds me that often I’m at a loss for something soothing to play that my BF will not object to and Untourable Album is right there.

Boygenius – Cool About It: I love this song and think it’s one of the most successful trio-qua-trio tracks on the album in the way it explores the similarities and differences between the bandmembers’ respective personas. I said on the boygenius thread “the things that each needs to let go of in order to move on are very much in character and carefully (though not obviously so) counterposed: Baker needs to let go of her idealisation of her ex’s goodness; Dacus, her desire for fair determination as to where blame lies; Bridgers, her over-identification with her ex’s flaws.”

Blur – Barbaric: This is nice I guess. I’m not sure I have the emotional headspace to deeply invest in an understated late-era Blur song though. Damon’s quavery voice makes me want to put on Robert Wyatt.

Hotline TNT – I Thought You’d Change: When I listened to the album I found the singer/songs too submerged for me to click with this beyond a generalised sense of “I should pull out my Catherine Wheel albums again”. Works better on a song by song basis though; this is fun.

Ratboys – The Window: I love the album so much. This song specifically sounds a bit like Taylor Swift circa 2010 trying to write a Jimmy Eat World tune, and I’m not sure why they’d want to threaten me with a good time like that.

FIFTY FIFTY – Cupid: A charming pop song I habitually underrate because it reminds me of Post Malone’s “Better Now”.

billy woods and Kenny Segal – Soft Landing: I really like this album but this makes zero sense to me in isolation other than as a stand-in for the album, even with the “Feeling Good” interpolation.

The Parade – I’m A Dreamer: Lovely but almost too much so. I feel like I listened to a lot of songs like this last year, loved them, immediately forgot about them, and never listened to them again. It says more about me than this song I guess that at this point I feel like I need an “angle” on something to click with it.

Fever Ray – Shiver: Awesome song and album that I probably should have rated higher and listened to more. I vibe with e.mily’s comments above album familiarity with the schtick dampening the enthusiasm at this point, but I think I will always be here for the combination of Fever’s voice and Olof’s Caribbean industrial-pop arrangements.

PinkPantheress – Angel: There’s stuff on PinkPantheress’s subsequent album I prefer, but I feel like the fiddle part really lifts this.

ABRA – FKA MESS: Love this tune so much and voted for it. ABRA’s aesthetic was so important to me in 2015 and it’s lovely to have her back. The whole Be Music

Jorja Smith – Little Things: It’s surprising I didn’t vote for this given you’d think this uk funky throwback would be catnip for me. And I do think it’s great, but maybe the problem is that I have a personal pantheon of tunes this is recalling that could stretch like a girdle round the earth. The unnecessarily long, bass-driven outro is a nice twist. Some other really nice tunes on this album.

Doja Cat – Paint The Town Red: I wouldn’t consciously seek this out but it does make me smile when I encounter it in the wild, and I think that as a gay man I am mandated to like the “ooh, she a devil…” bit.

Blawan – Toast: This is a nice piece of mood music but I feel like a listened to a lot of stuff like this in 2023 from producers like Autarkic and Vromm that had the advantage of also being danceable.

Troye Sivan – One Of Your Girls: Actually connecting strongly with Troye’s music would probably negatively interfere with my appreciation of him as a cultural figure. I do like that this is basically a gay version of Daft Punk’s “Something About Us”, and there’s a lot of nice, really subtle, unrepeated tricks in the arrangement (starting with those little overexposure synth flares in the first verse) that are surprising for a song that initially seems to schticky.

Wednesday – Chosen To Deserve: Sorry Wednesday, I love you but I’ve chosen Ratboys. This was probably the song on Rat Saw God that I clicked with hardest, though.

The ABRA comment cut off - should say "The whole Be Music vibe is a nice twist but even more than I am intrigued I am relieved that it doesn't mess too much with the essential formula."

I didn't do a tracks ballot, so I'll kip, and honestly this might be more fun not being ~invested~

the Nia Archives remix of "Little Things" is a lot of fun too (do not listen if you hate jungle)

I listened to most of them; these are the tracks that are "up my alley" enough for me to even venture an opinion:

Ratboys - The Window: sounds like a Sleepyhead song played at half speed... singer's voice is very thin. I don't like those big pitch jumps in the chorus melody. The long bridge(?) section is nice
Hotline TNT - I Thought You’d Change: agree w/ufo's comment above
Troye Sivan - One Of Your Girls: very dull!
Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve: I remember this from the album... the main riff is kinda goofy and obvious to me. It's fine, but kind of a boring song

i definitely thought of "nightcall" but i think what the chorus reminds me of might be something else too

― ufo

I read somewhere that it’s “nightcall” vs one direction “night changes”

Thought just popped into my brain: I wonder how many repeated song titles we've had make our charts? Because we've now had two songs called 'Toast', and I'm wondering if/hoping that two is enough to make it our most popular song title.

hmm "night changes" is similar but it's just a pretty generic sort of melody i guess, it's definitely not "night changes" that i'm thinking of

Thought just popped into my brain: I wonder how many repeated song titles we've had make our charts? Because we've now had two songs called 'Toast', and I'm wondering if/hoping that two is enough to make it our most popular song title.

― emil.y

We also had DJ PYTHON - Angel at #5 last year and another track called ANGEL this year.

Nice work pollrunners!

My long-list was feeling a little lazy given the number of acts I've voted for in the past. But after extensive playlist listening Blawan, Men I Trust and Woods/Segal still hadn't been displaced at the end. (Actually, the latter was a very late cut; I too voted for the long-player instead.)

'Toast' is an objectively better song title than 'Angel', pah.

Missed today's roll out. Not familiar / don't care much for many of the things here so far.

But I'm really pleased the 96 Back tune I nominated scraped in. Yeah it's nose-wrinklingly obnoxious, but it IS groovy and a hell of fun to play to a heaving dancefloor. It's also crafted well enough to be miles away from any bitcrushed/edgelordy EDM; i.e. it is bobbins qua bobbins, not nu-metal masquerading as dance music.

Can't remember if I voted for Barbaric or not, but I was easily the keeper from Blur's ho-hum album which, tellingly, wasn't even nominated.

Not many thoughts about anything else yet - I'll need to take a listen to all these featherweight indie bands. I did quite like the PinkPantheress tune when it came up while shuffling through the noms playlist, but it's not something I'd listen to on the reg.

Reminder to self to get stuck into the Blawan EP proper. Toast is great but I hadn't heard it enough to vote for it

Tidal playlist I’ll try keep updated by the day

https://tidal.com/playlist/529504d5-1dbb-4b81-8871-327bb0b81165

for anyone using Tidal, I'm doing a playlist here: https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/be8be68e-7326-4eee-9a60-afa7fc838ef8

I will try to keep it as up-to-date as possible

― silverfish, Monday, January 22, 2024 6:17 AM (eleven hours ago)

I only have one song so far but also nominated, The Window. Another track made my ballot in the end.

I do love this The Parade song so thanks

Ugh whoops sorry! Thanks silverfish

I didn't nominate or vote in the poll this year, a first since musically was orchestrating them many many years ago, and looking at the results only proves I was extremely disconnected from what was good and/or on trend in 2023. Looking forward to diving into the final playlist, though.

moka's art is brilliant as usual

I ended up putting "Angel" at #2 and, to contrast with others, preferred it to anything else Pinkpantheress released this year (though I do like the album, "Capable of love" particularly). The overarching wistfulness, the Irish jig, the dog barks...if you ask me I'd much rather it be in Oscar contention over the other Barbie songs but what would I know!

Oh god, the fiddle. I'm falling completely in love with Angel today. I voted for another PinkPantheress song, but this should definitely have been on my ballot as well.

laco - 96 back : don’t like it

men i trust- ring of past : pretty nice

boygenius- cool about it : i hate it sorry. i liked it when a random teenager random onto ilm and started a thread trashing phoebe bridgers and then asked for the thread to be deleted after getting some mild pushback

blur - barbaric : don’t like

hotline tnt - i thought you’d change : this wouldn’t be my pick off the album but i listened to it enough on loop that the whole thing kind of blended in my mind

ratboys - the window : i retired from liking this kind of music a couple years ago, after being a big fan of the first couple big thief albums. nothing against it just something that shifted in me. “black earth wisconsin” somehow cracked through my defences but other than that it’s a polite no thanks

fifty fifty - cupid : underwhelmed by the hook

billy woods - soft landing : not my thing

the parade - i’m a dreamer : kind of an ace of base vibe?

fever ray - shiver : never liked this stuff except at the extreme tail end poppiest like heartbeats to counteract the scary weird sounds. cool beat but not sugary enough for me

pinkpantheress - angel : her album was one of the big disappointments of the year. not that it was bad but i had high hopes. maybe this is better than the average song on the album but still doesn’t live up to my expectations

abra - fka mess : not for me

jorja smith - little things : i never kept up with her after loving ‘on my mind’, i’m sure that’s a mistake and some day i’ll catch up. but not just yet

doja cat - paint the town red : i like her but this one didn't quite have the juice

blawan - toast : i often love it music but he really does make repulsive music doesn’t he? the sound in this one that's like someone shaking their head real fast and you can hear their cheeks slapping against their gums--yuck

troye sivan - one of your girls : it’s ok

wednesday- chosen to deserve : see ratboys above

strong interlocution

i was generally underwhelmed too by yesterday's selections, with a few stated exceptions

eh, day one is often quite wretched, closely followed by 2,3 and 4

i was disappointed too, usually this is where anything weird i haven't heard lives, not middling indie

At least the 20 fakes were worth pulling a joke on Tim F, who had a kind word for all of them

I've noticed Day 2 has tended to have more Weird Surprises in recent times, here's hoping. Still in 'three ballots will do' country just about

this year's 77-61 was definitely worse than the last few years but hopefully tomorrow will be better

xps we had two tracks called undercover in the same poll iirc
(susanne sundfør and kehlani)

rooting for another 'girlfriend' this year

hoping that some odder bits pop up courtesy of the ilm 2023 listening thread, which ran out of steam a bit at the end but did throw up some great stuff earlier in the year

I have a kind word for everyone, it’s why I am happier

<3

Good morning!

My takeaway from yesterday’s results seems to be “RATBOOOOOIIIIIIIS”

I kid, kinda. Haven’t had a chance to listen to all the selections, but will eventually.

(I have not heard Ratboys, was barely away of them before this poll.)

I have a kind word for everyone, it’s why I am happier
― Tim F, Tuesday, January 23, 2024 12:05 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It came out as a mean joke, but I meant to say you're clearly a better person than we are, or that there's a thin line between appreciating and dismissing, or w/e :)

I thought it was funny and true, not mean

Right, time to listen through yesterday's results and drop some HARD SCIENCE

Ratboys - The Window: sounds like a Sleepyhead song played at half speed... singer's voice is very thin. I don't like those big pitch jumps in the chorus melody. The long bridge(?) section is nice
― cellaring potential (morrisp), Tuesday, January 23, 2024 12:15 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ha, the pitch jumps make the song afaic: they break the mold with their cadence and lightness, while the rest of the album is more in character with the bigthievindication of indie / country music, a little ponderous and tired like a 78-yo Neil Young.

The Billy Woods/Kenny Segal is excellent but like several above have said, I voted for the album.

Abra, Jorja Smith, Blawan and The Parade are the only others so far that I might have considered voting for, though the Nia Archives remix of Jorja Smith is loads more fun than the original.

Viscerally dislike the whispered vocal on Men I Trust, which is a shame because I enjoyed it otherwise. Fifty Fifty is fine but in a year when k-pop was gleefully trampling over genre lines, a straightforward disco track suffers by comparison.

I can see that the Hotline TNT, Ratboys and Boygenius are accomplished but my indie/rock days are well behind me.

Not much to say about the rest, at least they're not aggressively unpleasant.

96 Back - Laco - Yeah, sick! Whoever nominated this must have great taste. Boo ya sucks to the haterzzzzz, get one fun

Men I Trust - Ring Of The Past - I very always enjoy basslines like this. Bit of a shame it's been used in the context of an otherwise hazy, dazey song. If you're gonna be funky, then be funky! So I'm not sure I love this combination of tight, groovy rhythm section + ethereal/detached keys and vox. It's nice enough but makes me think of Radio 6 c2015.

boygenius, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers - Might need another listen for this one to sink in. A meandering, stitched-together melody that never really repeats or settles into verse/chorus/verse. It does indeed at one point veer into sounding like The Boxer before steadying back into the centre of the road. Not really my thing, but prolonged exposure might help me.

Blur - Barbaric - Speaking of meandering songs that sound like they're stitched together from lots of other songs, Barbaric dug its claws in through uncanny familiarity. Definitely the highlight from their so-so album. I like it, but I get that people are totally done with this band and its members these days.

Hotline TNT - I can't get excited about mono-dynamic indie-drone like this unless it's going to do something interesting, and this doesn't really do anything beyond bury the singer's tepid vocals under just enough noise to cover it.

Ratboys - The Window - This is not what I imagine a band called Ratboys to sound like. I get they're likely very good at doing what they do but Dawson's Creek rock/pop isn't really for me. If I wanted to hear this, I'd go to The Beths.

FIFTY FIFTY - Cupid - Not sure what to make of this. It sounds like it's being sung by a mannequin. There's even a very slight slapback echo on the vocal that sounds like she's singing into a shop window. The music feels weirdly plasticky. I dunno, it makes me feel a bit sick. Is that the idea?

billy woods, Kenny Segal - Soft Landing - Whereas this sounds like a dock worker who suddenly got hit by a bolt from the blue and started sermonising from on top of a container. I don't usually like slow'n'sloppy, overtly lyrical hip hop like this but I'll concede it's a vibe.

The Parade - I'm A Dreamer - Oh man, I've been waiting for someone to reference Dubstar, and this sounds very much like Dubstar. It's good, I like the overall sound, but it could do with a bit more of a hook or a chorus. Yeah it's good though! First thing off the list I'd not heard before that I'm saving for another listen.

I didn't realise FIFTY FIFTY were K-pop. Makes more sense now, the aesthetic

If you want Dubstar, check the a.s.o. album which may or may not appear in next week's rundown

ABRA - FKA MESS - CKA MESS more like. I really have no patience for messy, indistinctly-mixed vocals like this, and yet it seems to be such a prevalent production choice across so many tracks and genres every EOY. As such, this is just a wash of vaguely pleasant noises with a serviceable eighties-style boombox beat to me

god it's long too... is it necessary to have that reprise?

I have a kind word for everyone, it’s why I am happier

― Tim F, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 11:05 (one hour ago) link

love ya tim

ABRA - FKA MESS - CKA MESS more like. I really have no patience for messy, indistinctly-mixed vocals like this,

exactly my reaction dl. i'll give it another shot and probably come around, but it reminds me of why i can't really get with a lot of original era freestyle either--the vocals are just too 😬

Seems as everyone else turned into a total asshole about anything rock-oriented, I softened to it.

also that 96 Back song is like kryptonite to me, I hated “Rocker” and that comparison resonates

xp I think what you noticed is they've always been assholes about it.

ILM is no place for the language of division

Jorja Smith - I don't follow Jorja Smith too close but aw she's great isn't she? JS could so easily have gone down a route of making accomplished but serviceable R'n'B, but instead she's absolutley ploughing her own furrow of jazz-infused vocal dance. Definitely the best new-to-me track. My only complaint is that it's over too quickly. Why does that ABRA track get to take up 6 minutes while this ends abruptly just as it's in full flow.

Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red - I like her a lot, but the obviousness of the "Walk On By" sample puts me off.

Blawan - Toast - Yeah, this is very much my thing, on paper at least. Whoever said it sounds like someone shaking their head to make their cheeks slap around is right and I can't unhear it. Neverthless I might prefer Blawan even more if his productions weren't so blown-out. I like this but not quite as much as 'Under Belly' from a couple of years ago.

Tryoe Sivan - One Of YOur Girls - It feels a bit soon for people to be disinterring Random Access Memories already, but I guess there was a mini revival earlier this year. Or is it more along the lines of the second side of Discovery? Either way, it gives me uncanny vibes with its homage, but it's a decent song with lots of cool ideas thrown into its 3 minute run-time.

Wednesday - Chosen To Deserve - Country rock isn't my bag at all, but I don't hate it. This is nice enough and as a Big Thief fan I could see myself digging it on a couple more listens.

Huh, I can't believe I'd never heard Alter Ego's 'Rocker' before - very surprising as I enjoyed a lot of electro/house stuff in the early thousns.

Uhhhhh, yeah I get why people're comparing this to the 96 Back track but I don't hear them in the same way really.

'Rocker' is definitely milking that "I am a malfunctioning Atari electro-rockbot" thing that was popular in the 2000s, whereas 96 Back is a high-tempo house tune with detuned divebomb synths at its core.

If we're going to compare it to early-2000s music (which again, I'm not sure it's trying to ape but ymmmv), I'd say Vitalic's 'Poney' EP is more appropriate.

ILM in general loves rock but only certain strands of it get board consensus. There’s at least 3 (I guess 4?) rock songs coming ahead this day but I’ll assume there should be more consensus about them since they’re higher.

Let’s start the day with some bright, easy pop, shall we?

https://i.imgur.com/j36uBM5.jpg
TIE 59. Katie Dey - Never Falter Hero Girl 128 points - 4 votes
Video
The other notable shift to pure noise occurs in the title track, ‘never falter hero girl’. The song is pop maximalism at its finest, with extreme feelings and extreme musical choices going hand-in-hand. As the tension ratchets up, Dey urgently sings “I wanna live my life but there’s no time for that/never falter hero girl”. The word “girl” is screamed before a densely synthesised blast of white noise starts. It’s as if singing as a mode and the twelve existing musical tones aren’t enough to truly convey the feeling of those words. When the limits of musical possibilities given to us by our instruments and our voices fail, it makes sense to push the boundaries of what is possible, to find the expressive faults in our broken technology. White noise by its definition is every frequency being played at once. It’s hard to think of a better way of capturing the sound of someone putting their whole heart into the words they’ve written and meaning every syllable.

Day Two, folks :)

Dey too

lol

This was my #4. My line about it is basically 'you know how The Armed are claiming to have invented ultrapop? THIS is ultrapop'. Katie Dey has worked so hard and now she has won and she is the Hero Girl

Is that PC Music

Katie Dey is in that realm of people I theoretically like but never think to listen to. I did like the Mydata/Urdata albums. This song is equal parts endearing and aggravating to me, which is par for the course for her.

xp: not at all. uhhh maybe best described as the aussie wing of OUT OF FLUX WITH THE UNIVERSE: the canada trans electropop scene but also kind of her own mutant bedroom pop entity idk

love katie dey, album just missed my top 25

https://i.imgur.com/qoGJM9X.jpg
TIE 59. Sofia Kourtesis - Si Te Portas Bonito 128 points - 4 votes
Video
Si Te Portas Bonito settles into a choppy groove with decidedly coquettish lyrics (“Vamos, vamos para adelante / Dime qué está en tu mente / Vas a querer hablarme / Vas a querer escucharme / Vas a querer tocarme / Vas a querer comerme”) as shakers, cowbell and rolling snare hits aid the track’s momentum. It’s relatively simple, only a brief diversion from the main loop in the middle, but when that hook comes around all the elements feel perfectly placed.

I like the Katie Dey but find the vocals a bit much, like most of ultrapop, ultragarbage, and etc. Otherwise, right up my alley

My first vote to place. Someone said it was the simplest song on the album, and I agree. It has that big oomph each time before she says Pienso en tu mira. It's chopped and fluid, cold and warm, psychedelic elements so well integrated. Connected with me directly.

Thank God for Katie Dey

whoa totally missed that katie dey released a new album. i like some of the new “hypergarbage” stuff, but what this dey song has going for it that a lot don’t: 1) vocals that you can actually understand, 2) dynamics, a great sense of when to bring out the blown out orchestra

kourtesis: loved “la perla” when it came out, but her album, while tasteful, didn’t excite me this year. probably my own fault. there was a samey-ness to it, too many songs basically just lesser versions of “la perla.” this one does sound great outside of album context though

I'm going to take a shower, in the meantime you all can listen to our next 40+ min placement:

https://i.imgur.com/jtq8IrS.jpg
58. Ela Minus & DJ Python - Abril Lluvias Mil (Ricardo Villalobos Remix) 128 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
Ricardo Villalobos doesn’t do half measures. Now, remixing Ela Minus and DJ Python’s “Abril Lluvias Mil,” he outdoes himself again, stretching the duo’s downy ambient reggaeton into nearly 41 minutes of grinding, pins-and-needles techno. Even Villalobos’ fans will acknowledge that his remixes can stray pretty far from the source material. Villalobos does away with DJ Python’s ethereal dembow groove, swapping in his own gravelly bass synth and a nervous, staccato pulse pinging along at 130 beats per minute. What he keeps from the original are just short, meditative loops of Minus’ voice—“La luz o la sombra” (“The light or the shadow”); “Sin tocarte” (“Without touching you”)—which he weaves through his brittle synths and drums, blunting their edges. The further Minus seems to delve into her own thoughts, wisps of delay trailing her murmured vocals, the more that Villalobos’ bass and drums open up, revealing unexpected dimensions in its labyrinthine depths. The power of the original song came from the feeling of eavesdropping on Minus’ innermost emotions; Villalobos’ herculean remix turns that brooding interiority into a wide-screen epic.

'give us more bobbins' they cried, and lo

Huh, I can't believe I'd never heard Alter Ego's 'Rocker' before - very surprising as I enjoyed a lot of electro/house stuff in the early thousns.

Uhhhhh, yeah I get why people're comparing this to the 96 Back track but I don't hear them in the same way really.

'Rocker' is definitely milking that "I am a malfunctioning Atari electro-rockbot" thing that was popular in the 2000s, whereas 96 Back is a high-tempo house tune with detuned divebomb synths at its core.

If we're going to compare it to early-2000s music (which again, I'm not sure it's trying to ape but ymmmv), I'd say Vitalic's 'Poney' EP is more appropriate.

I also just listened to "Rocker" for the first time and while I can see the similarities to "Laco" my opinion is mostly that Rocker is terrible and "Laco" is good.

Yay for Katie Dey! I feel like I've had a track of hers around the middle of my ballot every year for almost a decade, ha.

Also lol @ voting a 41-minute track into the poll. I'm p sure this isn't even the first time this has happened, and it's one of the reasons I like this place.

slow bieber undefeated

I just realized the random Cambodian letter on the side of the template is actually saying ILM.

I totally missed the Villalobos remix on the noms— would have made my list

This is ok for five minutes, maybe a few more, I don't get the runtime.

Now I'm listening to the original and I could have voted for that

dancefloor hypnosis innit xp

i think i'd really enjoy this to go shopping to, will try it out now

eventually we all become saer

i regret that i never actually got round to listening to this whole thing before

the difference between this and the sofia kourtesis though. i like sk well enough but a lot of her stuff seems just a bit too polite for it's own good. this on the other hand, woooow

its

mods please rename thread "ilm's top 77 incorrect opinions about Sofia Kourtesis"

Also lol @ voting a 41-minute track into the poll. I'm p sure this isn't even the first time this has happened, and it's one of the reasons I like this place.

― emil.y

Yeah I haven't even listened to it, but I really love seeing things like this - a track which I don't think I've seen in any other eoy list? - on our top 77.

https://i.imgur.com/vl9csnn.jpg
57. Dawn Richard - Babe Ruth 132 points - 4 votes
Video
Of “Babe Ruth,” which is inspired by Richard’s career as an All Star Softball catcher, she says: “I wanted to collaborate with more women producers and DJs. I really appreciate Gina Jeanz and what she’s creating, and contacted her to see if she’d work with me on this record. Between Wes and Taylor, Gina Jeanz and I, we wanted to make a hybrid of sounds that make you want to shake your ass.”

woah slow down now, i'm only 18.5 minutes into this villalobos

I don't think I've ever voted for a Dawn Richard track on our eoy polls, but every time she places I regret not giving her the time or the vote. Love this. Maybe not as great as 'Bussifame' but still a banger.

sudden urge to see all moka's dawn richard images lined-up side by side

I'm not sure how I missed Dawn's EP.

big fan of this 41-minute thing, good job ILM

Really contemplated voting for Babe Ruth. I like or rather admire it. But it's also sort of too rich and complicated, somehow combining all of her songs. The three notes at the basis are delicious though, God Bless Her.

Video is great too

Well, Hentoff got laid off in '09.

babe ruth just missed my ballot

I wish more people were going for this high-intensity syncopated r&b resolving into 4/4 dance, and a guitar solo because why the fuck not. Ok definitely regretting not voting for it.

Hey guys, sorry I was in work meetings all day yesterday, have a little more time to listen along today! Great rollout so far. Loving what happens at 1:30 at Babe Ruth.

sudden urge to see all moka's dawn richard images lined-up side by side

― blazin' squab (NickB)

I have been on the eoy polls since 2018 and I think she has placed only with BUSSIFAME in 2021. But iirc she also placed on the 2015 poll. At least 4 of her albums have placed tho.

oh this is good

big fan of this 41-minute thing, good job ILM

yeah it's tremendous! amongst other things, the way that one note in the bassline drags behind the beat is just so great, so simple but a huge part of the overall tension in the track

eventually we all become saer

Not for me, I believe in the magic of the fa cup not this exercise in VAR

we've studied several angles of the dawn richard song and concluded that it bangs, placement allowed

speaking of bangs

https://i.imgur.com/X5oCOC2.jpg
56. Melenas - Bang 132 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
Based out of Pamplona, Spain, Melnas are evoking a refreshed, revamped, and revelatory take on dream pop. Supposedly they started out work on their new album Ahora with a basic premise: “can you make jangle pop and garage rock with synthesizers?” The answer is apparently yes. The song “Bang” is effervescent, yet propulsive. A delicate balance of restraint with booming synthesizer whirls propelling their soft, entrancing melodies forward. Evoking Stereolab and Kraftwerk, the band find themselves in good company with this exciting direction.

Awesome!

sounds kinda like a spanish electrelane?

Always happy to hear from Dawn Richard. I like this track although I think I might like it more in the context of a larger album, it feels like a piece of something larger.

And I was the #1 vote for "Bang," just total catnip for me. Krautrock + '60s pop, totally irresistible. Love the way the vocals weave around each other. Sort of like a poppier "Be Sure to Loop."

bong

That track (Bang) was kind of cool, but I feel like it went on too long…

didn’t hear this until after i voted but it feels like a song that will stick with us for a while

I voted for this one, yeah it’s total catnip for me too.

I've been waiting a significant part of my career as a music appreciator for Villalobos to click, and listening to this track while preparing an entire chili enchilada from scratch, I have come to the conclusion the guy is most definitely a hack. Can anyone explain the appeal here? It really sounds like a half-finished Reason project I forgot to take off emergency loop.

I wish I didn't sound so negative, but with so much incredible boundary-pushing electronic music coming out of South America at the moment, it dismays me that this and the yes-actually-very-polite business house of Sofia Kourtesis are the examples held up so far.

Although YAY! I heard the Melenas track while scrolling through the noms and it's so so so good! Just about made it into my ballot but I'd probably have rated it a bit higher if I were voting today

Would definitely have voted for the Melenas if I'd heard it on the noms, wow. Linked KEXP description suggests this would sound cold but it's anything but.

omg they cover Eisbär in Spanish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wj5vgRhBRY

Are you all cat persons... or just cats? The way this expression has caught on is ridiculous.

yeah like that cover a lot, it's a good synth update on the original.

Are you all cat persons... or just cats? The way this expression has caught on is ridiculous.

― Nabozo

I'm an electronic appliance.

ooh that Eisbaer is great

Ooh Dawn Richard doing a sort of Gqom thing? I'm here for it

https://i.imgur.com/N8aONeE.jpg
55. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - All Of My Friends Are Going To Hell 133 points - 4 votes
Video
Once again taking inspiration from Christian values – specifically the Pentecostal-Holiness Movement which dictates that one’s closeness to God is demonstrated through transcendental personal experience – Hayter uses her voice as a vessel for redemption, with ‘All Of My Friends Are Going To Hell’ forming her first potent sermon. Her sparse instrumentation allows her idiosyncratic vocal to remain the the centering force as she seeks salvation in direct, unrelenting fashion: “I’m getting up from the place where I fell / Lord please forgive me / I don’t want to be like my friends who are going to hell”.

Just found out this is a LINGUA IGNOTA side-project.

ooh that Eisbaer is great

eh they miss out that horrible clanking guitar part that sounds like a flock of metal penguins falling off a glacier (ie the best bit)

I voted for a different one. This is both hilarious and somewhat terrifying though

Yes very happy RKMH got in - another asurprise from the noms list, and then I learned it was Lingua Ignota and it all made sense. But I somehow feel that the song works better totally out of contexxt. I don't want to hear the rest of the album, I just want to imagine this song in its own weird space.

“after failing to get villalobos for decades i have decided he is a hack” gonna be clutching my forehead over this opinion all day, thanks for the migraine dl

I've been waiting a significant part of my career as a music appreciator for Villalobos to click, and listening to this track while preparing an entire chili enchilada from scratch, I have come to the conclusion the guy is most definitely a hack. Can anyone explain the appeal here? It really sounds like a half-finished Reason project I forgot to take off emergency loop.

villalobos in the year 2023 is not for me, but this is absurd. just listen to his early tracks and mixes before he dug deep into the vein of strung out minimal he invented and permanently installed himself there. he's like a ceramics master who is obsessed with making variations of a particular type of bowl that most people don't give a shit about. i don't need his stuff but he is a master at it, it's v weird to me that anyone obsessed with dance music couldn't at least hear that.

totally agree about kourtesis. i think casual dance music home listeners like her because it's undeniably competetent and pretty, but her music's natural habitat is a festival with people bobbing their heads while holding their phones up to take videos/selfies

This RKMH is the kind of thing I can imagine being into as a found object from 1960s vinyl but I just don't buy it as an object produced by someone in 2023 on purpose for young non-religious people in 2023 to listen to

Love this one. I found it perplexing when she announced she was done with LINGUA IGNOTA because it was too emotionally heavy because I couldn't imagine her being just a completely different person in her music, but of course her pivot is barely perceptible. Yes, there is some humor and positivity on SAVED! but it really isn't a whole lot less intense.

the kourtesis album is one of the most gorgeous things i heard last year

that's fair, i think i'm just over gorgeousness in dance music after gorging on it for too long

her music's natural habitat is a festival with people bobbing their heads while holding their phones up to take videos/selfies

lol that's the exact environment in which I heard her at the Pitchfork fest a few years ago — and it did work well there, yep.

really like 'all my friends are going to hell,' found it in the noms list but didn't quite vote for it

Today already fantastic -- haven't heard most of these.

Video is great too

― Nabozo, Tuesday, January 23, 2024 8:57 AM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Her commitment to progressive fashion and visual design has been a hallmark of her career. If the music was half as good, she'd still be an incredible artist.

https://i.imgur.com/3m6u2Jn.jpg
TIE 53. Olof Dreijer - Rosa Rugosa 135 points - 4 votes
Video
Olof Dreijer has a knack for reinventing himself. In 2009, under the name Oni Ayhun, he put out "OAR003-B," 12 minutes of shimmering, IDM-y techno that enchanted dance floors worldwide. 14 years later, after years spent working with his sibling Fever Ray in The Knife, among other experimental projects, he finally returned to the club on one of dance music's most vaunted labels, Hessle Audio. "Rosa Rugosa" is deceptively simple: a punchy drum pattern, a pitch-bent synth line and a glowing, almost skittish, melody. On playing it at Panorama Bar back in May, Ben UFO recalled the dance floor "orienting itself to the insistent percussion of the track and allowing itself to be swept away in a kind of slow-motion ecstatic release." Listening in my headphones, I felt a similar sense of childlike awe, Dreijer's gleefully punchdrunk footprint once again leaving its singular mark.

he's like a ceramics master who is obsessed with making variations of a particular type of bowl that most people don't give a shit about

Hehe, I appreciate this description but it seems like a weird sell all the same. Who wants a bunch of bowls that no one gives a shit about?

I think there have been a few RV things I've kind of liked in the past (I was sort-of into Tagheuer Zieheuer or whatever it was called back in the day). But this track feels like trolling to me at this point. I wait 40 minutes for this not-even-nice or interesting or danceable or trippy or groovy sound to coagulate or transform into something edifying and... no it just clomps along like a big ugly robot carrying out manual work in a factory basement, an ill-fitting assemblage of sounds that don't really work together. I love dance music, and I love weird electronic non-dance music, but this doesn't deserve to be 41 minutes long.

wow, two in a row that I voted for, can't complain

really don't click with this Rev Kristin Michael Hayter thing at all, just sounds like a worse version of the corny southern gothic pantomime shtik that Nick Cave was doing in 1980-whatever, and i can't even bear to listen to that anymore either. if you want raw, rootsy, hymnal music that'll make you feel all sorts of mortal terror (and joy too! and much else besides), go listen to Lisa O'Neill instead imo

ha! i love it. it would have been right up thee had i remembered to submit my poll in time.

there

Liked the Lisa O'Neill album about as much as the KH album fwiw, they have different merits

A lot to catch up on, but first -

blawan - toast : i often love it music but he really does make repulsive music doesn’t he? the sound in this one that's like someone shaking their head real fast and you can hear their cheeks slapping against their gums--yuck

best music writing 2024

There simply weren't as many "weird" records or jazz records I found compelling, and perhaps some emotional troubles in the middle of the year made me return to the source of my teenage music obsessions — shoegaze and sad pretty alt-country punk stuff.

Funny, I had the opposite experience, table. Last year was rough and I found myself completely uninterested in most vocal music, even a lot of dance music felt a bit obligatory, all I wanted to hear was jazz and ambient-adjacent music for the most part.

xxxxxpost well i wasn't trying to sell you on his current music! just convince you he isn't a hack

my favorite tracks from the sofia kourtesis record weren’t nominated but they were “vajkoczy” (love the vocal emerging broken from the brokenness of the beat, like it’s bleeding from some jagged cut in the track; i had a very emotional experience listening to this song while walking to the laundromat) and “funkhaus” (is what it purports to be imo). that album was a major late-year discovery for me and it was hard for me to find it merely competent or pretty bc the emotional throughline was immediately apparent and undeniable for me

THRILLED to see “rosa rugosa” place

and “funkhaus”

― ivy., Tuesday, January 23, 2024 9:55 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I looked for this to vote for and also realized it wasn't nom'ed :/

RV has made some great records in the past but its been emperors new clothes for a long time. Dog Latin is correct

https://i.imgur.com/oVWlI95.jpg
TIE 53. Nia Archives - Bad Gyalz 135 points - 4 votes
Video
Ravey and revelling in jungle rhythms, it’s accompanied by a 90-style video that pays joyful tribute to the track’s eponymous ‘gyalz’. Talking about the track, Nia says: “I was on ma way to the studio with Clipz listening to Ranking Ann who is one of my fave MCs - period. And then I was just thinking about tha fact that like whenever I go to one of my shows, it’s like 85% women age 18-25 which is so amazing! And they are all baddies, absolute junglists. So I wanted to make a song that represents that and tha women that come to ma raves. And that’s how ‘Bad Gyalz was born!”

xxxxxpost well i wasn't trying to sell you on his current music! just convince you he isn't a hack

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Tuesday, January 23, 2024 3:54 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

Fair enough. I should maybe go back and reacquaint myself to some of the 2000s stuff. I always thought it might click, but this recent one (being the first thing I've heard from him in a while, mind), has rubbed me up the wrong way

If the opposition to Villalobos' rugged homemade bowls is polite corporate dance music, well, hold my selfie stick and let me embrace capitalism.

forgot to vote for olof - love how expressive those synths are, they are absolutely trying to tell you something urgent like a dog in a film that won't quit hassling the handsome but somewhat dense protagonist

omigod love that line

oops this is another tune i forgot to vote for, love nia, consistently great and fun productions

Fair enough. I should maybe go back and reacquaint myself to some of the 2000s stuff. I always thought it might click, but this recent one (being the first thing I've heard from him in a while, mind), has rubbed me up the wrong way

808 the bassqueen is pretty hard to deny

If the opposition to Villalobos' rugged homemade bowls is polite corporate dance music, well, hold my selfie stick and let me embrace capitalism.

lol. def not trying to set up a dichotomy between these two things

Ok I nominated the Villalobos remix and it makes me very happy that people voted for it.

Can anyone explain the appeal here? It really sounds like a half-finished Reason project I forgot to take off emergency loop.

For me it's 1) all loops either become quickly irritating if they don't stop or change or become a background element, or have that magic quality where they gain power the longer they go. For me he definitely has the ear for the latter. 2) But really what makes it work is the constantly moving, breathing mix. It sounds to me like a live dub mix essentially, I can picture his hands on faders the whole time. But certain little things mystify me, like the way the bass part keeps slightly shifting in this track, I wonder how he did it.

I only really started getting into him in the last couple of years and as far as the Villalobos 'thing', this one really does it for me.

The Olof track is great, pretty sure I heard & voted for that after seeing on the noms list. Reminds me of Errorsmith.

I wouldn't have been surprised if the Nia Archives track had been top 5.

This is probably a me-problem, but I can’t shake off Sofia Kourtesis - Si Te Portas Bonito having a melody that reminds me of a Coldplay song.

Bad Gyalz is excellent, totally pop but also undiluted jungle too. Nia is the best.

2023 something of a banner year for jungle/drum & bass, lots of hits (in the UK at least) and with female vocals making a big comeback. It also seems to have embraced its rave origins again, with 4/4s and pianos making a resurgence. (Which has pissed off a lot of grumpy old men, rarely a bad thing.)

https://i.imgur.com/sHLMPKu.jpg
52. Kelela - Happy Ending 135 points - 5 votes
Video
Kelela’s breathy, decorous vocals swoop over jumbling breakbeats courtesy of LSDXOXO. It feels like a jubilant return to more uptempo songs like “Rewind,” an impression reinforced in the song’s candid-feeling rave video. If the lyrical concept involving a distant lover and the implied double entendre of the title is a little underthought (“Les play catch, babe,” Kelela suggests), it’s hard to begrudge this sonic pioneer some lighthearted fun.

For me it's 1) all loops either become quickly irritating if they don't stop or change or become a background element, or have that magic quality where they gain power the longer they go. For me he definitely has the ear for the latter. 2) But really what makes it work is the constantly moving, breathing mix. It sounds to me like a live dub mix essentially, I can picture his hands on faders the whole time. But certain little things mystify me, like the way the bass part keeps slightly shifting in this track, I wonder how he did it.

Cheers for this btw, appreciate it, especially since I think we generally agree on a lot of stuff here. The idea of a live dub mix appeals to me a lot. My old housemate had a load of machines in his room that he would loop and tinker around with all day, and this sounds very similar to the stuff that I'd hear across the hallway. As an exercise, it's interesting, I just don't know if I like the results or have the time for it.

RV has made some great records in the past but its been emperors new clothes for a long time. Dog Latin is correct

― saer, Tuesday, January 23, 2024 7:59 AM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is so funny to me because I so often disagree with tracks you like— I find them boring and lifeless. But I love Villalobos and his weird bowls, and love this track.

The Kourtesis is pretty but I kept waiting for something to happen.

That Kelela album works best as a unit imo

Olof Dreijer - Rosa Rugosa. Well this is the first time I've heard Olof solo, and now it's making sense why when I hear Fever Ray it feels like it's missing something. There's definitely something about the Knife's sonic pallette that appeals to me over Fever Ray, and it's these great synth sounds

This is probably a me-problem, but I can’t shake off Sofia Kourtesis - Si Te Portas Bonito having a melody that reminds me of a Coldplay song.

gee, thanks for taking a you-problem and making it an us-problem! relistened and it actually sounds a lot like 'somewhere only we know' by keane. gah! :(

xpost: Olof is credited on the first four songs of the new Fever Ray album, tho! (What They Call Us, Shiver, New Utensils, Kandy) - which makes sense since those songs are the closer Fever Ray has sounded like The Knife.

it really doesn't, stop doing this to yourselves xp

*closest

I meant to listen to that Kelela album as a whole for months, and just never did.

Kind of feel like the opposite about fever ray, so much of what I liked about the knife has found its way into their music that it almost feels like an evolving single project rather than two different ones.

catching up on stuff i haven't heard... i should listen to this katie dey album

808 the bassqueen is pretty hard to deny

Very nice as a warm, huggy 1999 house tune, although nothing like what he'd develop later

xpost: Olof is credited on the first four songs of the new Fever Ray album, tho! (What They Call Us, Shiver, New Utensils, Kandy) - which makes sense since those songs are the closer Fever Ray has sounded like The Knife.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, January 23, 2024 4:27 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Cool, I'll need to give the album a listen!

it really doesn't, stop doing this to yourselves xp

err, the end of that chorus is exactly the same melody and cadence as 'somewhere only we know', i can only wish i didn't hear it but have a listen

https://i.imgur.com/0Kp370R.jpg
51. 100 gecs - Hollywood Baby 136 points - 4 votes
Video
“Hollywood Baby” has a thick fat-fingered guitar riff and flailing power chords and might as well be constructed from oversized cargo shorts and a chain wallet. I was so struck by 1000 gecs back in 2019 because it seemed to absorb the seething hatreds of the time and the disruption of a world on fire and respond with their own form of chaos: if the world refused to make sense, their music was its own kind of senseless excess. This is less warped zeitgeist and more of a good time. But you can pogo to a good time.

booo terrible

Sorry for making my problem a you problem!

Great run of tracks today though, much more like it than yesterday.

I just don't get 100gecs, sorry ilm. I do find it curious that I get them even less when they are making "accessible" music.

'Carbon Dioxide' sounds to all intents and purposes a (00s) Knife track also imo.

Ooh, this is a real me day today!

Dawn Richard: always glad to see her.

Melenas: meant to check this out, if I had then it definitely would have won my vote. They're on the same label as En Attendant Ana, whose album I liked but didn't quite make my ballot. Very very Electrelane/Stereolab but imo there's not enough of that stuff and more is welcome.

RKMH: my number three! I didn't vote for the album b/c I don't gel with it as well as Lingua Ignota, but this to me was a perfect encapsulation of what's good about her new stuff. Fire and brimstone!

Olof Dreijer: not heard before but you know I approve of squelchy bleepy shit, yes, it's all good.

Nia Archives: can't remember exactly where I put this but it made my top ten. So much joy in it.

(not got to Kelela or 100gecs yet in my catch-up)

I like Bad Gyalz, hadn't heard it before, definitely one of the better examples of pop DnB that I've heard

The Kelela is another that I voted for, I went with a different 100 gecs track.

Don't really get this 100gecs song, is it popular on ILX because the video prominently features a trucker hat and a couch?

I was certain "bad gyalz" was on my ballot but I'm looking at it and I guess I left it out at the last minute. Very glad it made it without my help.

wasn't into gecs this time around; no shade if you were though

yeah, this one was just too much, pretty sure like 56 gecs is my limit these days

maybe 57

it sounds like a late-'00s all time low song with gLiTChes, it stinks

i voted for the kelela album but "happy ending" is still so wonderful

Despite enjoying their first album, this 100 gecs album didn't do much for me, this is probably the best track from the album though.

https://i.imgur.com/90IekgD.jpg
TIE 49. Yo La Tengo - Fallout 136 points - 6 votes
Video
”Fallout” bears the fruits of such consistency. Over propulsive guitar chords and James McNew's fuzzy bass line, Kaplan contemplates the anxieties of contemporary living and the way they've shaped his own thinking. He's disgusted by everything — including himself — and wants to escape; his desire for catharsis is felt in how Georgia Hubley's drums tumble into the occasional cymbal crash. Even more than their previous songs, "Fallout" feels like Kaplan's putting your hand in his, providing comfort amid increasing uncertainties. "Close your eyes, fall out of time with me," he softly asks. It has the intimacy of sitting on a porch with a lifelong friend, relishing the moment.

"bad gyalz" rules and i should've known about it and voted for it

not my fave track from the new YLT but voted for it anyway

I've listened only to the first 15 seconds of this YLT and I love it

I voted the YLT album in my top 10 but didn't vote for any tracks. This is the obvious single tho, great tune.

This Yo La Tengo song is basically exactly like being in the basement of the Middle East in 1996 and if you're into that -- which I am -- it is great -- I wonder how it lands with those for whom that's an exotic or unknown or uninteresting experience

i'm sorry but ira's voice is very this thread:

Lonely guy just thinking baout things

Kelela: nice but doesn't really do much for me.

Gecsgecsgecs: was expecting to hate this but actually I quite like it as a stupid pop punk song. I mostly agree with Moka's "I do find it curious that I get them even less when they are making "accessible" music" - their first stuff was drenched in terrible influences and deeply annoying but it was FRESH and NEW and EXCITING, whereas the more accessible stuff drops the elements that made them interesting.

Yo La Tengo: ehhhh fine. To me YLT always fall somewhere between "pretty good" and "completely fucking boring" and this is somewhere in the middle of that, so... fine.

indie rock is BACK. yo la TENGO

one of the best decisions i made last year was to listen to every major yo la tengo record in a row. the only band that smokes as much weed as i do afaict

one of the best decisions I made last year was to book a hotel night in another city and go see YLT live, just a phenomenal show.

never been a big YLT fan, but being in the basement of the Middle East in 1996 was very much something I was doing so I guess I should check it out

i listened to so so much YLT in the 90s and i guess i wore it so thin that it just chafes me now :(

https://i.imgur.com/FljKsKV.jpg
TIE 49. Nabihah Iqbal - This World Couldn’t See Us 136 points - 6 votes
Video
The song opens with drums splitting the difference between "Take On Me" and "Maniac" as guitars spread a glittering gothy dourness. The bittersweet mood is appropriate for a song so consumed with a brighter past and wretched present: "When all the summer flowers/Were for you and me," Iqbal says, her voice bubbling with ache beneath the surface, "When life tasted sweet / And fate was a friend." Now, it's only "unforgiving destiny" and "fate that grants no mercy," placing the love that was once so sustaining inside of a world where it's seemingly incompatible. It would be wrong to say that there isn't a hint of deflation in "Couldn't See Us," but it's what makes the defiance that much stronger, along with the sense that you're really tapped in with the voice of someone's heart.

Nabihah <3<3<3

think i voted for Sunflower instead though

Yay. Glad this made it. I had to cut it from my ballot in order to make 25 by following the "not voting for any tracks off albums also voted for" rule

the way those guitars build throughout this track is the real joy of it to me, just gently rising up through the whole song until they wash your heart away

Oh yeah, this is nice. Getting my gothy melancholia on.

one of the best decisions i made last year was to listen to every major yo la tengo record in a row

This is going at the top of my to-do list

https://i.imgur.com/yr6BP1a.jpg
48. Romy - Enjoy Your Life 137 points - 4 votes
Video
Speaking about the track Romy says: “When I heard the line, “My mother says to me enjoy your life” by Beverly Glenn-Copeland, I was speechless. Those few words felt like the most simple and disarming sentence. Ever since I was 11, I’ve been aware of and drawn to the phrase, life is short. I’ve felt inspired by people who I’ve seen react to this by trying to see the positives in life, even when things are going wrong and times are hard. As much as I’d love to naturally be one of those people, I’m not always able to do this myself and often get in my own head and my own way, so sometimes a reminder goes a long way. Glenn’s lyrics were a direct connection to what had been a very quiet private thought. It resonated especially deeply as it is because of my mum passing away when I was 11, that this perspective on living life was even a part of me. I hope this song celebrates and shares the words that Glenn said so beautifully and my reaction to it and hopefully uplifts a dance floor along the way. I hope you know I would never want to tell anyone how to feel or to pretend to feel good when they don’t, I know how that feels. I want to thank Glenn with all of my heart for allowing me to sample this song. Please go and listen to the original song ‘La Vita’ from his album Primal Prayer. The song also contains a sample from Oby Onyioha’s incredible song “Enjoy your life”, which Jamie brought into the mix. All my love and thanks to an amazing team Fred, Jamie and Stuart Price for all of your brilliant ideas and for sticking with me on the journey of this song”

My first one to place and it’s a banger. Expect the album to do really well.

Great quote too.

<3 "Happy Ending"

That Kelela album works best as a unit imo

― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, January 23, 2024 10:20 AM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

That's why I voted for it, too.

Just saw Nabihah Iqbal the other night, she said that song was inspired by reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles. And seemed very pleased with the response Thomas Hardy got from the crowd.

ok, this Nabihah Iqbal track is probably the first one on here I hadn't before that is making me want to dig further.

*wrestling chant voice* THOmas HARdy [clap clap clapclapclap]

(really loved the iqbal track as well)

Not heard the Romy track yet, but as soon as I saw the track title I thought of Beverly Glenn Copeland

My favorite Romy track this year was "One Last Try," which has a tighter pop song structure. I like this one but the repetition of the phrase "enjoy your life" got a bit stale after multiple listens.

This Romy track is another I voted for, don't know if it's a function of just having fewer voters than in previous years or being increasingly assimilated into the hive mind, but I'm not used to seeing so many of my tracks choices make the list.

Not heard the Romy track yet, but as soon as I saw the track title I thought of Beverly Glenn Copeland

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

you thought correctly

This one's not for me. At least partly because I cannot relate to the central concept of enjoying life. Life sucks! Boo to toxic positivity!

(I am maybe sort of kind of joking... ish)

ok, this Nabihah Iqbal track is probably the first one on here I hadn't before that is making me want to dig further.

inevitably, the KEXP session from this year is a great place to start. the album is really lovely too, ranging from dreampop to blissed out dance stuff

nice, will watch

Nothing on the album hit the spot as good as "Lifetime". Do I need to try again?

ivy otm about Kourtesis. Often ecstatic album!

https://i.imgur.com/BUmCmYq.jpg
47. Sexyy Red - SkeeYee 138 points - 4 votes
Video
No artist left less to the imagination this year than Sexyy Red, who broke out with a single called “Pound Town” and its extremely memorable opening declaration: “My coochie pink, my booty hole brown.” That blunt approach extends to “SkeeYee,” a summer anthem off the St. Louis rapper’s debut mixtape, Hood Hottest Princess, that’s now universal enough to have countless viral remixes and a place in Fat Joe’s vocabulary. Amid a bell-chiming beat, Red explains exactly what the song’s emphatic hook means: pull up! Turns out that’s a solid rallying cry. It’s also just really fun to say “skeeyee!”—especially when you’re supposed to be quiet. “Pound Town” may have established Red on the charts, but this is the song that distills her disruptive glee.

Enjoy Your Life is my first vote to make it. Our two year old got hooked on that one (asking for "Enjoy Your Wife every time") so I've heard it a ton. The album is so good and should have been huge.

Nice to see Nabihah make it. I've really fallen for her album in the last week after getting obsessed with Sunflower from the playlist. Hoping that is still to come.

Enjoying the roll-out. A few songs made it from albums I voted for (Kelela, Troye Sivan and Sofia Kourtesis) and some that just missed my list like that fantastic Melenas song and Men I Trust. It's so great to see Men I Trust blowing up in the last few years. We get asked about their albums all the time at work.

Sexyy Red is not great and sometimes not even good but I dig this track.

"skeeyee," my first vote to place ;_;

this romy song is invoking evil imago mode. aggressively vapid

I enjoy my life but not that Romy song

SkeeYeebidi Toilet remix now.

lmao someone had to say it

Enjoy Your Life or the beatings will continue

said beatings: kitchen person's entire ballot making the top 50

https://i.imgur.com/4pqLHYU.jpg
46. Geese - 3D Country 139 points - 4 votes
Video
 It takes some time to get warmed up over its five minute run, but by the time the female backup vocalists enter belting “a cowboy with a one track mind/he drank a cup of the devil’s moonshine,” the song has fully won me over. And then the band really brings it home, ratcheting up the rock euphoria all the way to the end, where the final chord dissolves into wondrous harp arpeggios

good track, nice to hear a rock band out there doing their own thing

Was afraid that this was going to be yet another straightforward country indie rock thing - it's more interesting than that. There's some really intriguing "weird" and "wrong" stuff happening in it, but overall it doesn't please my ears. So, I don't like it, but I give it some kind of grudging respect.

can't get into this at all, was hoping for something weirder based on board chatter

I like the croony vocals at the beginning, think it sounds good throughout, hate the "hit me motherfucker" at the end

I’m with em, appreciate it for what it is but country tinged rock isn’t in my list of interests. ILM seems to love it this year.

checked them out at the time after RYM hype, was underwhelmed. this is like, fine idk, can't really see the appeal

'this year' lol

There's some commonality between this and the Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter track -- are kids today out there looking for Weird Christian Americana pastiche?

Romy giving me distinct Spiller - Groovejet vibes

sounds like a pretty decent late-period ween track until he starts really singing

xp Neither one sounds generically like "country music" to me, they sound like a very specific kind of whiskey hard times and snake-handling vibe

hahaha yes, debrowned ween

bad gyalz is good fun btw

like i thought we all agreed that nrbq was a thing that should stay in the past?

me going through bad gyalz frame by frame trying to identify locations (it all seems to have been filmed pretty near where i live)

https://i.imgur.com/7hTXBcC.jpg
45. Nation of Language - Sole Obsession 140 points - 3 votes
Video
The band’s Ian Devaney and Aidan Noell comment…“In simplest terms, ‘Sole Obsession’ is one about knowing when, or if, to give in or give up. Particularly, when to untie the knots we tie ourselves into when an infatuation sets in. So many of us have experienced an addictive feeling that constricts us further and further until, hopefully, there’s a moment of clarity that allows one to free themself from that particular compulsion. The title of our next album, ‘Strange Disciple’, is a lyric from ‘Sole Obsession’ which references a character of such a nature; one who finds themself an adherent to a subject that is probably not worth the devotion.” 

taking inspiration from 80s music can result in amazing things obviously, but this is slavish wholesale cribbing with nothing interesting about the realisation or the songwriting. drab majesty this lot are not

bad gyalz easily my favourite discovery of the rollout so far tho. really great

I don't disagree that this is wholesale cribbing but I do like the end result. A little too clean and smooth, maybe, but it still sounds good in my ears.

(Very happy that you like 'Bad Gyalz', though)

i like the chorus in the troye sivan song
really reminds me of something but i can't put my finger on what

also, 140 points with 3 votes but no number 1 is very, very weird

That's 3 pretty high votes to score 140

Sole Obsession the aural equivalent of somebody looking at your vase on Antiques Roadshow and telling you it's a reproduction and it's worth 50p

xp

(does the maths)

Two seconds and a fourth, right?

https://i.imgur.com/DMMabQq.jpg
44. Tkay Maidza & Flume - Silent Assassin 142 points - 4 votes
Video
“I like to move in silence, but this song is a reminder that people shouldn’t count me out or underestimate my abilities; they should be afraid when I’m quiet as I come back more evolved,” she said in a statement. “I’ve always wanted to work with Flume and was immediately ecstatic when he played the instrumental for this; I wanted to channel Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliot.”

Nope that'd be 145 lol xp

Three top ten votes though

lol nv

Oh wait, is it two points off for every placement as we can only vote for 25?

yeah it's either two 2s and a 4 or a 2 and two 3s

'Silent Assassin' is very ILM-y and also it rules

good to see that john foxx impersonation was so accurate it came with its own maths

do people still say 'i'll get my coat'?

enjoying how the last two songs' titles rhyme, and how their vibes differ

https://i.imgur.com/hyjDhxM.jpg
43. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres 142 points - 5 votes
Video
Madres is largely inspired by and dedicated to Kourtesis' relationship with her mother, as well as maternity of all kinds. As Kourtesis worked on the album, her mother battled and beat cancer, and as a result, the album became a playground for the celebration of such survival. The title track is an alluring tropical house tune that teems with life at every corner. Seemingly narrated by a mother, it's filled with brightly textured synths and alluring adlibs. "Madres" is diasporic nostalgia personified. Its lyrics call for children to "vuelve a casa"—or return to their home—a theme Sofia Kourtesis has previously explored in her work ("Home Is Where I Can Dance").

that Nation of Language track made me want to take a nap

i like this sofia kourtesis more than the last one, sounds a lot like classic period pantha du prince

Nice. I thought she might get vote split out of this completely.

I wouldn't call myself a Flume fan, but the music on that Tkay Maidza track works really well

neither of these are my favorites on the SK album, but I hope there isn't more to come--I strained myself earlier rolling my eyes at her being called "business" and "corporate"

https://i.imgur.com/s2AibrT.jpg
42. Slowdive - Kisses 147 points - 5 votes - 1 º1 vote
Video
Slowdive’s second post-comeback album, everything is alive, leans toward the more meditative and overcast end of the shoegaze pioneers’ aesthetic spectrum. But partway through, “kisses” punches a moon-sized hole through the haze to let all the feelings come gushing out. While this winsome indie-pop reverie may be a sonic outlier, it nonetheless complements the record’s thematic preoccupation with the passage of time. Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell channel the rush of young romance via the music that soundtracked their youth, with crystalline Cure guitars and a chorus that would make New Order swoon in approval. 

skeeyee is too low

skeeyee I was all ready to not like but it's got plenty of charm

as for this, *furiously hides phone from self*

Slowdive, awesome. i didn't place one of their tracks on my ballot, but voted the album up pretty high. not quite as great as the s/t from a few years ago, but still great.

I voted for "Madres." A lovely palette cleanser for what's to come.

hmm, loved 'em once but not really down with this comfort rock incarnation

https://i.imgur.com/dpVYnXg.jpg
41. Real Lies - Shirley Road 147 points - 6 votes
Video
In the EP’s Bandcamp description, the song is explained like so: “The whole EP is inspired by Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, broken glass and memory loss”. In SHIRLEY ROAD, I return to my hometown on the run from some unspecified crime and find my dad still dozing on the family sofa, as Cremonese and Atalanta play out a bore draw on TV. The sounds of a dial-up modem punctuate the silence of one of those dead Sundays that used to serve as a reliably tedious end to every working week, before the internet tore life off its temporal hinges and made boredom a thing of the past. Anyway, basically I hope to find sanctuary there but instead find a town that hunts me like prey because I’m an intruder from a different time, the walls beneath the posters in Athena growing teeth as I’m chased across the strange landscape”.

Recap!

ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2023

41-77

41. Real Lies - Shirley Road 147 points - 6 votes
42. Slowdive - Kisses 147 points - 5 votes - 1 º1 vote
43. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres 142 points - 5 votes
44. Tkay Maidza & Flume - Silent Assassin 142 points - 4 votes
45. Nation of Language - Sole Obsession 140 points - 3 votes
46. Geese - 3D Country 139 points - 4 votes
47. Sexyy Red - SkeeYee 138 points - 4 votes
48. Romy - Enjoy Your Life 137 points - 4 votes
TIE 49. Nabihah Iqbal - This World Couldn’t See Us 136 points - 6 votes
TIE 49. Yo La Tengo - Fallout 136 points - 6 votes
51. 100 gecs - Hollywood Baby 136 points - 4 votes
52. Kelela - Happy Ending 135 points - 5 votes
TIE 53. Nia Archives - Bad Gyalz 135 points - 4 votes
TIE 53. Olof Dreijer - Rosa Rugosa 135 points - 4 votes
55. Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - All Of My Friends Are Going To Hell 133 points - 4 votes
56. Melenas - Bang 132 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
57. Dawn Richard - Babe Ruth 132 points - 4 votes
58. Ela Minus & DJ Python - Abril Lluvias Mil (Ricardo Villalobos Remix) 128 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote
TIE 59. Sofia Kourtesis - Si Te Portas Bonito 128 points - 4 votes
TIE 59. Katie Dey - Never Falter Hero Girl 128 points - 4 votes
61. Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve 126 points - 3 votes - 2 º1 votes

62. Troye Sivan - One Of Your Girls 126 points - 3 votes - 1 º1 vote

63. Blawan - Toast 124 points - 5 votes

64. Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red 122 points - 5 votes

65. Jorja Smith - Little Things 121 points - 5 votes

66. Abra - FKA Mess 120 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote

67. PinkPantheress - Angel 120 points - 3 votes

68. Fever Ray - Shiver 118 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote

69. The Parade - I’m A Dreamer 118 points - 3 votes

70. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Soft Landing 116 points - 4 votes

71. FIFTY FIFTY - Cupid (Twin Version) 115 points - 6 votes

72. Ratboys - The Window 115 points - 4 votes - 1 º1 vote

73. Hotline TNT - I Thought You’d Change 115 points - 4 votes

TIE 74. Blur - Barbaric 114 points - 4 votes

TIE 74. Boygenius - Cool About It 114 points - 4 votes

76. Men I Trust - Ring of Past 112 points - 4 votes

77. 96 Back - Laco 111 points - 3 votes

Slowdive album crept into the lower reaches of my ballot, it's really nice. (Between that, YLT and Blonde Redhead my ballot was very receptive to hazy '90s indie lifers.)

Think I voted for this although preferred I Remember High Streets

Couldn't quite bring myself to vote for a three track EP on the albums ballot though.

Always happy to see YLT place anywhere in 2023 polls.

today was much better i thought? still on 0/37 mind you

hate/wtf/no:
katie dey (if the physical act of vomiting could play an instrument)
ela minus+dj python+villalobos
the reverend thing (jfc this is the worst. nvm ilm, we're not friends anymore)
100 gecs
sexyy red (bruh she's not even on beat)
geese (the guitar playing is really damn good tho!? alt country smiths? fucking confounding bullshit. sounds like someone making fun of counting crows or the pros and cons of hitchhiking or smthg. i genuinely hate this. nice.)

meh/ffwii:
sofia kourtesis (both, tho i do like 'madres' a bit more)
dawn richard
olof dreijer
kelela
yo la tengo
romy (aggressive meh here, her back catalogue indicates that she knows better)
tkay maidza

decent:
melenas
nia archives
nation of language (lotta newer bands in this vein all remind me of vienna+omd. not a bad thing, just... idk, i still like hearing vienna+omd?)
real lies (really like these guys in small doses+again gave this place to thank for constantly reminding me how good they are. it's very cinematic music, isn't it? they like to paint their pictures... like it feels like the next century iteration of the silent movie house that would have live piano soundtrack accompaniment, except now it's on a small box you carry around in your pocket. i voted for one of their tunes, tho not this one.)

hotness:
nabihah iqbal (this nearly missed my ballot. i prefer the slightly more ethereal audiotree performance. i also agree that she is quite wonderful and worthy of many ♡s. if i had submitted an albums ballot, she definitely would have gone top ten.)
slowdive (early soty candidate. still in heavy rotation. voted for it, obvs way too low. also would have voted for the album, which was very solid. not better or worse than the previous one, just consistent. they can cash in on their legacy all they want if the records continue to be this good.)

thanks all around once again. lotsa new-to-me things today.

I feel like I should enjoy the Real Lies track more than I do

I will second the “not getting” the Lingua Ignota thing— I find the whole schtick boring, like we get it you wanna be Jarboe, but you will never be Jarboe

Just realized Nabihah Iqbal is this year's Real Lies. Need to listen to her.
Good to see Tkay Maidza place. I was voting Ring-a-Ling then decided album made more sense.

Kelela song is good. I should hear the album eh

808 the bassqueen is pretty hard to deny
Very nice as a warm, huggy 1999 house tune, although nothing like what he'd develop later

― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Tuesday, January 23, 2024 11:30 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i mentioned 808 the bassqueen b/c it's so immediate, but it already has the subtly shifting, tantric quality of his later stuff, and if you check out his other releases from 99 (luna, frank mueller melodram) you can hear he was already doing the nudging disorienting rhythmic loops so they fall in and out of place thing back then

nabihah iqbal and real lies were my votes to place so far

SkeeYee is fun but I can't imagine voting for such. Ice Spice will do well.
The Kelela that really stopped me in my tracks was Enough for Love, would have voted if nominated

like we get it you wanna be Jarboe, but you will never be Jarboe

i don't really see the comparison. i love Jarboe but she is very, very serious while this is preposterous and makes me laugh, which is what i assumed Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter was aiming for.

nabihah iqbal is another i would have voted for. i'd love to see her live. has anyone been to see her?

I do think this is supposed to show off her more light hearted side, but I'd say her LINGUA IGNOTA stuff is more on the dark and serious tip

xp

Just realized Nabihah Iqbal is this year's Real Lies

yeah neither of them can sing... j/k there are lots of similarities, nabibhah skews more dreampop on the whole but she's still very invested in electronic music (e.g. i saw her irl at a kassem mosse show that she'd put on back in may) and incorporates it brilliantly in her own stuff too (<3<3<3 Sunflower <3<3<3)

i'd love to see her live. has anyone been to see her?

almost went but forgot it was on ;_;

Voted for Real Lies. They're one of the best bands out there right now. Still waiting for the rest of the internet to catch-up.

None of my noms placed today, but had difference ones by Kelela and Nation of Language.

Played the Villalobos while having to go into several different documents and recall several recent conversations to update a work presentation at the end of a long busy day. The track seemed to last half the 40 minutes.

frank mueller melodram

✔️

Tia, Samma, Sinner in Me

Sorry everyone, I did vote "Sole Obsession" at number three as I was in a very Human League mood when I put my ballot together.

I got three in today, a good day for me.

Thanks so much for running this, Moka & Seandalai! Always lovely to wake up in NZ and blearily scroll through these - was a bit disconnected from the wider musical world last year so lots of great discoveries or remedying blind spots. Voted for the Katie Dey (nice lil Antipodean trans bubble w her, Amamelia, Baby Zionov etc) and the Melenas (some lovely Euro indie getting a wider spotlight in North America via Melenas and En Attendant Ana on Trouble in Mind, and Lewsberg on 12XU).

i had not heard of this parade song and it is pretty wonderful even though i feel like i'm being pandered to by every musical choice it makes e.g. when the slow motion house piano enters

― ivy., Monday, January 22, 2024 4:07 PM

^^

[...] the bigthievindication of indie / country music [...]

― Nabozo, Tuesday, January 23, 2024 12:18 PM

Ha! I'm with the Ratboys > Wednesday crowd, but there's also Arbor Labor Union for an Up On The Sun alternative path across this territory.

There are two bands on the list so far which I discovered on the noms and voted for, but in each case the song I voted for has not appeared....

I thought I'd voted for Dawn Richard but was a late cut. Real Lies might be the only thing on my ballot showing up here.

Still catching up, but why wasn't this Abra track #1?

because rock is baaack

kinda gagged that a Tkay Maidza song made the list without my help

bruh she's not even on beat

the beat isn't even on HER

by far my least favorite criticism of modern hip-hop. it's called style, you can rap on or off beat if you sound cool and say dope shit

Agreed tbh, it’s played.

but there's like odb offbeat... and then whatever that nonsense was.

yeah odb, that's who i'm thinking of when i'm talking about modern hip-hop

and idk, the beat avoiding the rapper seems like a pretty sick burn on the rapper: "your style's so wack, the beat won't even work with you."

she's really not even that off beat. the way she pauses before the downbeat makes it hit harder.

okay well i usually don't notice it with modern hiphop, but it was so egregious in this case that it ruined the song.

I listened to that 42 minute song while doing laundry, don't need to hear it again. Nonetheless, it's cool that something like that can make this countdown.

The only other song, from today, that I had time to hear was the Real Lies song and I just can't get into that guy's voice. I feel I could like them otherwise,

nabihah iqbal is another i would have voted for. i'd love to see her live. has anyone been to see her?

yes, on Sunday! she's on a short US tour right now. was just her on guitar and another guitarist/saxophonist, with recorded tracks for the rest, but the sound and energy was amazing. and cool to hear her talk at length about the origins of some songs.

looks like the "This World Couldn't See Us" encore made it onto instagram

I like Real Lies and understand why ILM loves them, but can’t get too onboard with them on anything but small doses, all the songs I’ve heard of them sound like a variation of the same idea.

looks like the "This World Couldn't See Us" encore made it onto instagram

― soup of magpies (geoffreyess)

She deserves a much bigger crowd than that!

100 people that are really into your music is better than 500 people who don’t get it but still…

Yeah, that looks about the size of the crowd when I saw Real Lies at the tail end of 2022. It was great because you could obviously get real close but would have much preferred (and they totally deserved) a much bigger crowd

i voted for "babe ruth" and voted for "fallout" last year

delighted to see katie dey show up, though i voted for the album. i voted for a different sofia kourtesis track to the two that placed lol.

"bang" is my favourite discovery so far from this poll, it's wonderful.

"strange disciple" is quite nice synth pop pastiche

"hollywood baby" is better than most of the gecs album in that it has a tolerable hook but i want so much more from 'hyperpop' than just blown-out pop punk! they got so boring

nabihah iqbal did the vocals on sophie's "lemonade"?! i like the way the guitars build on "this world couldn't see us" but there's not much to it beyond that

much much better than yesterday

Some great tunes in the first 15 that I’ve listened to so far, love the Jorja Smith / Blawan / Billy Woods especially. Never really understand the love for the politely washed out ‘Men I Trust’ kind of sound on here but it takes all sorts.

Finally figured out why that Sofia Kourtesis song is so familiar - the chorus is basically a europop version of Keane - Somewhere Only We Know.

oh no two of you have said it now. oh no

looool

nabihah iqbal did the vocals on sophie's "lemonade"?

think they were besties or flatmates or something at that point?

yeah that's what i read

lmao i can hear "somewhere only we know" in "si te portas bonito" a little but i never would have heard it if it wasn't pointed out, completely different feeling to it

good to have nabihah and sofia kourtedis on this list instead of ninja tune's far higher profile artist from this year *spits*

Sorry just listened to the playlist before reading the thread. It’s virtually identical come on.

xp I don’t think any Terfy Murphy tracks were even nominated

me, a true connoisseur: i have completely forgotten what little i ever knew of keane, i would never have known

While I can see the slight melodic similarity now it’s pointed out I truly would never have thought to associate Keane with “Si Tu Portas Bonito”…all I can say is I guess I wish more Keane songs sounded like it (then again, I think I’ve only ever heard one Keane song, so maybe they all do)

Tbf, if it was intentional she deserves a medal for bothering m to sift through the detritus of mid 00’s landfill indie looking for hooks to steal like a Peruvian Noel Gallagher. Rather her than me.

40 minute villalobos remix of somewhere only we know for next year pls

And if you have 40 minutes why don’t we go

I was hoping for a washed out indie funk version of the Castaways theme this year tbh

good to have nabihah and sofia kourtedis on this list instead of ninja tune's far higher profile artist from this year *spits*Don't think anything from that artist was even nominated, which is a pretty extraordinary turnaround given the board anticipation for the new album at the start of the year.

Tervery makes fools of us all

Finally figured out why that Sofia Kourtesis song is so familiar - the chorus is basically a europop version of Keane - Somewhere Only We Know.
― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl)

40 minute villalobos remix of somewhere only we know for next year pls

Wasn't that song used in a big John Lewis add? Maybe he could do it as Ocado Villalobos

save us moka

love everyone outing themselves as fans of Keane, an apparently deeply despised band no one outside the UK has ever heard

wow @1.3 billion spotify streams on that Keane song
i'm not sure a judge would convict here

SAVE US

this melenas song makes me smile

Biggest selling band ever to come from the county I live in :(

bong bong bong bong

Aha Keane not Coldplay, that’s the song it reminds me of!

MOKA

hey

how about we start the day with another pop song that sounds like Keane?

https://i.imgur.com/Wn5Qs6W.jpg
40. Alice Longyu Gao - Hëłlœ Kįttÿ 148 points - 5 votes
Video
‘Hëłłœ Kįttÿ’ is remarkable – an ultra-futuristic take on pop’s electronic tendrils that unveils a tidal wave of fresh ideas, all accomplished with a smile on its face. Tied to some wild and wicked visuals, ‘Hëłłœ Kįttÿ’ underlines Alice Gonyu Gao’s status as an unrivalled cross-platform innovator.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahhaa

I'm so sorry ILM. Two days running we begin with some hellish thing I adore to the very depths of my horrible being. Hey, it really doesn't sound like Keane though. Quite different!

Here for anything that sounds like a Shampoo / Mr Bungle collaboration.

one wonders whether this is the extent of the imago/tangenttangent assault on taste and common sense this year. one can dream, but if this is the sum of the crop i won't complain lol. now shut up and enjoy your hyperska

This just made it onto the bottom area of my ballot. It's fun. I think this might be the highest number of votes I've ever had in the poll? I've still got hope for a couple more, too.

i'm keen

this is fun. love that it’s in 3/4, adds a little swing.

absolutely despise the video tho, sheesh

This is theatrical and punkish, so I don't find it abhorrent. At least I expect Mr Bungle to sound worse.

https://i.imgur.com/RSDfTZj.jpg
39. Tyler ICU ft. DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee - Mnike 150 points - 5 votes
Video
In 2021, Tyler ICU alongside his long-time mentor Dj Maphorisa worked on a series together titled ‘Banyana’ with smashing hits ‘Banyana’ and ‘Izolo’. Each of them displayed a range of producing techniques. It was not until their recent drop ‘MNIKE’ that they truly took over the world, this time around, with Tyler ICU leading the front. Although his latest featured release ‘SUKA’ made just as much noise, it was ‘MNIKE’ that spoke to the people and wherever you looked at this summer, it was impossible to avoid the heat and energy that came with this song.

Not sure if I love it, but the vibes are good. Feels a bit short, maybe?

TOO LOW!

enjoying this

emil.y: the full Mnike is double the video edit length (wary of embedding itt, but you should be able to find it) and superb

I didn't listen to enough of the ALG to responsibly weigh in, but my kneejerk, totally unconsidered take on this stuff (meaning, I guess, this and Katie Dey, though I liked that one more) is that contrary to its surface appearances, it's actually pretty dull

https://i.imgur.com/FlKwrVi.jpg
38. Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha 152 points - 4 votes - 2 º1 votes
Video
This is a kind of song you would only hear in Eurovision and only from a few certain countries. Finland and Iceland are those kind of countries (hello Hátari!). Although Käärijä didn’t get me cha-cha-cha’ing from the first listen, I’ve surrendered to the visual overflow and the catchy chorus by now. Love the shift mid-song from the hard-pumped intro to the almost 80’s schlager vibe at the end. 

Alice Gao is way too hyperactive and annoying

Really like Tyler ICU but yeah too short.

was robbed at eurovision!
threw cha cha cha some points

Oh this one made my shortlist! We do declare, a banger

for those of you who thinks the Tyler ICU is too short here's the non-edit 7 min version:

Video

CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA

lol did not even see this on the noms, but I did enjoy it at Eurovision.

This was my number one. Robbed at Eurovision! Robbed!

Yeah I can't think of what could possibly have beaten this with any sense of moral justice intact

was robbed at eurovision!
threw cha cha cha some points

― nxd, Wednesday, 24 January 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Lol this did sound very Eurovision-y!

I first heard this one on the noms and nearly voted for it, happy to see it here, it's a lot of fun

Also since this is an Eurovision song I think part of the charm is watching its performance so here you go:

Video

There's some cool stuff going on in the mix of Mnike

when that little cute crab dance comes in <3