//////////////shawty got poll poll poll poll poll poll poll (part I: 2008 TRAX)\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Okay, here we go.

Info:

78 ballots received (64 received last year)
One tie
47 of our top 50 placed somewhere on the P&J
28 of our top 50 placed somewhere on the p4k top 100

thanks to everyone who participated this year. cross your fingers and let's hope that this goes smoothly!

50 - Flo Rida - Low
69.5 points, 7 votes
100 in P&J

Thoughts?

btw I am very happy that the 50th place track got 7 votes. IIRC for the 2006 poll the 50th place only received 2 votes.

it begins

The one time I have fogiven Flo Rida his name.

good title, good start

i already wish i could totally redo my list, but it was ordered anyway so the ones i would cut i didnt give much weight to anyway

i forgot to do traxx tho

xp agree with lex on title

^high heresy!

i like "low" fine, but i was already sick of it at the beginning of '08, nevermind the end.

musically, you are a wonder for this. shame I gave up on the rap one, but the autogoons didn't want it in the first place.

yeah I can imagine that for more niche polls that getting enough participation to make it worthwhile might be difficult.

one of my least fav t-pain productions ever - flo-rida's voice is crazy annoying and the flow he locks into is so ugh

^^this

i don't think T-Pain produced that one, but yeah, not one of my favorite hits of his, although I liked it a bit at first.

yeah you're right, but i meant least favorite songs involving t-pain anyway. beat and stuff is actually aaaight

I liked it enough to give it a vote. It's got an excellent intro, leaping all over the place thanks to my fancy new speakers. I can see what might be annoying about the delivery, but still a cracking pop tune nonetheless

i like "low" fine, but i was already sick of it at the beginning of '08, nevermind the end.

― paper plans (tipsy mothra), Monday, 2 February 2009 18:17 (2 hours ago) Permalink

otm

49 - Air France - No Excuses
70 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote
1210 in P&J

No Excuses is just about the fizziest, trembliest, most joyful thing I've heard, smeary piano and cascading string riffs swirling around like ambient happy hardcore. ― Tim F

Thoughts?

obsessed with this song

Something I'll have to listen to when I get home

Less than forty seconds in, and already I wish I'd heard it in time

yeah for some reason when i first heard that air france ep i didnt get into that much but just recently i've had it continuously on repeat. soooo nice

Less than forty seconds in, and already I wish I'd heard it in time

― Ismael Klata, Monday, 2 February 2009 20:49 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

otm.

thirded! how did i miss this?

Seriously, what a fabulous record. The section from 0:20 onwards is just euphoric. I'm playing it over and over in the dark in the depths of winter, with a beautiful warm feeling and a big summery grin on my face.

maybe i should go back to the air france ep but i was really hyped about hearing it at the time, and just didn't feel it in the slightest :(

That song would be better without the vocal bit, which is kinda bland and the tune doesn't really need it.

But quite nice otherwise.

just gave that EP another listen the other night, if I'd spent more time with it it would have placed in my list.

btw thanks for all your work Musically

The mood here (especially video, but also the music) reminds me a bit of 'Star Guitar' by the Chemical Brothers. The Chemicals' video is something else, but 'No Excuses' is by far the better tune

48 - Kleerup Feat. Lykke Li - Until We Bleed
73.5 points, 7 votes
(3 votes, 29.5 points for Mikael's Cello Version)

cello version

49 - Air France - No Excuses

^would have voted for this if i did traxx. glad to see it place, my fav song of theirs

No.48's pleasant enough (both versions), if a little dull. I just don't like that kind of treatment on the vocal either, singers should put themselves out there properly

until we bleed raised my expectations too high for the lykke li album.

47 - Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City)
74 points, 7 votes
739 in P&J, 43 in p4k

i like the vocals on 'Entropy' with the duet dynamic (a bit Human League perhaps), and the "heroin, cocaaaine" line keeps getting stuck in my head
―blueski

I like this, but I like "Roseband" a bit better.

I agree. Also, I would have voted for 3 A.M. from the Kleerup album if it had been option. Why I didn't nominate is beyond me.

46 - The Bug - Poison Dart feat. Warrior Queen
75.5 points, 7 votes
89 in P&J, 80 in p4k

Poison Dart - video of the decade. So menacing and amusing at the same time. So those pounding machines are he gets the devastating bass hits? Might be song of the decade too.
― bendy

A+ last two tracks, big ups!

i stupidly left "poison dart" off my p&j list, so i was glad i got to vote for it here. (don't quite love that album like some do, but i do love that track.)

"Poison Dart" isn't even the better Ivy Queen track

err Warrior Queen

45 - Katy Perry - Hot N Cold
76 points, 7 votes
38 in P&J

Ten weeks on now, and this'll probably be up the business end of the charts for a little while yet. Heard it out last night, and the distinctly less-than-subtle boshing suggests it'll be a fixture on the mobile discos for some time to come.
-William Bloody Swygart

Hot N Cold has probably the best chorus I've heard this year.
― Matt Armstrong

i hate how the chorus of that never takes off and i suspect it's cuz she can't really sing. i can remember the chorus even tho i've avoided it which i think says something but it's a very unsatisfying song imo

first dud for me. my flatmate swears by it, but i got tired of it really fast. perhaps i was so disturbed by the bigotry of her previous singles that i've become a katie perry bigot myself. ooh, what a tangled web...

damn I placed Entropy Reigns much higher, like top 5.

it was my number 4.

yeah, katy perry = dud, but hot n cold = classic

yeah it took me a few times of stumbling across it for me to warm to "hot n cold," mostly i think because it had to get past my automatic katy perry deflectors. but it won me over.

same here but i also suspect that hot n cold is the kind of song that i might enjoy no matter who sang it - there's nothing in her particular performance that sells it either way.

44 - Crazy Cousinz - Bongo Jam
77 points, 6 votes
567 in P&J

bongo jam' is the kind of song which is perfect both for dancing to after an all night rooftop party as the sun rises, and for giving you some ~positive vibes~ as you stroll to work. SOMETIMES I WAKE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING TO PLAY MY CON-CON-CONGO
― lex pretend

w00t, too bad the version in that video is mad wack

77 points

that's the only version of that song on youtube, if there's embeddable video from somewhere else i'll post it.

also, teaser: the next track had the lowest average score. cue zings

back to "hot n cold", i dislike it because - even for a pop tune aimed at 12 year olds - it's so stiff and brittle, whereas great dance music is often... fluid. "hot n cold" doesn't really move, and i don't see how anyone could really move to it

I'm a sucker for all those cookie cutter Dr. Luke tracks so I'm good with "Hot N Cold," although it mostly just reminds me of that Paris Hilton single that had a much better lighter groove with the same kind of melody.

Oooooh results thread yeah!!! The equivalent thread last year introduced me to a lot of neato stuff...nothing I know yet (I've heard "Hot n Cold" maybe once?) so I'm stoked.

back to "hot n cold", i dislike it because - even for a pop tune aimed at 12 year olds - it's so stiff and brittle, whereas great dance music is often... fluid. "hot n cold" doesn't really move, and i don't see how anyone could really move to it

Suggest Ban Permalink
― your infinity in you is mad lifted (J0rdan S.), Monday, February 2, 2009 6:41 PM Bookmark

This is my problem with 90% of the pop-qua-pop out right now. They all seem to crib house beats, but don't throw in any of the syncopated elements present in most house, so the songs just thod-plunk-thod-plunk along in a really blocky, boring way.

Listening to "Low" right now - not bad but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to hear it again despite some good moments ("like a pornography POSter") - I hate to invoke this trope but it's kind of a "heard all these tricks before" listen for me.

also listened to "poison dart" before that and apparently already forgot about it by the time I wrote the post. Which sounds like a slam but it's just the honest report. Didn't make a huge impression on me - I haven't read any of the Bug related threads, not sure what I was expecting...people love that album, what's the bullet-point argument for this person/group?

xp: Naw, that's basically what it is. It's basically one of those songs that takes a few disparate things happening in its genre ("This Is Why I'm Hot" bleeps, post-crunk beats, T-Pain Hooks) and fuses them together, so the "all these tricks before" feeling is justified. Thing is, when done right, that sort of thing can be totally sui generis (cf: "Lollipop", which pulled a neat trick of pinching the double-time "This Is Why I'm Hot" beeps from "Low", but slowing the beat back down to the original half-tempo), but in this case is just kind of hackish.

43 - MGMT - Kids
82 points, 9 votes
56 in P&J

The bullet-points will make it sound boring, but The Bug album basically = mammoth pissed-off industrial dancehall. Try "Skeng on for size.

Kids an average score of 9.11, the lowest in the top 50. Incidentally, the track with the highest average is a couple down.

MGMT have great singles!

so stoked about this poll, too bad there won't be a rap one this year...

42 - TV On The Radio - Family Tree
83 points, 6 votes
118 in P&J

family tree is pretty stunning...i can't really get past "family tree". i dont really even know what the lyrics mean but they kill me anyhow. easily the most beautiful song they've written, esp when the drums come in.
― J0rdan S

i am hoping that at least one aeroplane remix ends up on here. i have fears of vote-splitting though.

i combined remixes with the originals so as long as the remix and the original got at least one vote, the points would be pooled together. so there shouldn't be any vote splitting. see #48.

sorry i should've been more specific. i meant vote-splitting amongst all of the remixes that were nominated because i think there were at least four and i had to force myself to pick only one.

that mgmt song is great.

Flo Rida is the only one I've heard so far. Keep 'em coming!

yeah i had never really listened to MGMT mostly because my taste doesnt match up w/ the kind of ppl who usually stunt for them (not here just in gen.) but i v much enjoyed that tune

they're a good singles band. shit live tho.

okay, last one for tonight. this next track had the highest average score, 16.7.

41 - T.I. - No Matter What
83.5 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote
127 in P&J, 27 in p4k

no matter what is total hall-of-fame stuff
-tipsy mothra

interesting, i like that song but really didn't feel compelled to make room for it on my ilx ballot.

Same here.

anyway, some teasers for #40:

-it had the same number of points as "No Matter What"
-it did not appear on P&J or p4k's list

yeah im with you guys - i liked it immediately but it never really held me

family tree is incredible, dunno if i voted for it tho

still think it was the best song t.i. released last year. it's an ATL "freebird," lighters-in-the-air sort of thing. plus he seems like somewhat less of a dickhead than on a lot of other songs on the album.

production is def great but idk that song always felt like it was 7 mins long to me

so's "freebird". (well, 9 mins. and t.i.'s is only 5 mins, really. but it does have that kinda epic sweep.)

i like 'no matter what' but if i voted for a t.i. track from last year - and i can't remember whether i did or not - it would've been 'let my beat pound' by a million miles.

also stop fronting, 'whatever you like' was easily the most fun t.i. single of 08. irresistible.

whoop whoop for crazy cousinz btw - let's hope there's more uk funky to come.

mgmt are so boring i can't even h8.

That Crazy Cousinz tune is dope, but for some weird reason it bothers me that the vocals say "to play my congo". Congo is a country, did you mean to say bongo or conga?

Btw, does anyone know if the "sometimes I wake up in the morning" male vocal bit is sampled from somewhere? The title of the tune says "featuring Calista", but I assumed Calista is the female vocalist on it...

i can't stand the katy perry, if only because it acts like it is a smarter piece of pop music, and yet she has to do this ridiculous breakdown to inform us she is singing about someone who's bi-polar. like, wow, really? the song would be perfectly fine without that, it's just like she feels she is singing for retards who wouldn't get it (hot OR cold? how could he be two? that's mental katy!).

"Bongo Jam" is my only track pick to surface thus far, although "Entropy Reigns..." came close.

Yes, Calista comes in later. She was a contestant on Big Brother's Celebrity Hijack on E4 in early 08, and a snatch of "Bongo Jam" was featured on her introductory VT.

'Kids' is a strange one. I hate the intro melody when it's on its own (it's fine as part of the chorus and/or smothered in syths), the beat is the dullest thing ever and the two solos are just awful - but the whole has really grown on me. I'm a sucker for that kind of nostalgia I guess, especially with a nice understated melody

I had to go back and check where I'd put Family Tree on my list. High.

Kids < Time to Pretend

Kids > Everything else MGMT have done except Time to Pretend

I think "Electric Feel" is miles better than both of those (though no MGMT came close to my list).

great day today, 2 of my top 3 are in the 30s.

40 - Cassie - Official Girl
83.5 points, 6 votes, 2 #1 votes

Official Girl is a bit More Than A Woman, but way more concise, same feeling of lift though and maybe a little slinkier than the usual Cassie track.
― I know, right?

That should have been way higher. It's so... streamlined, like it flies along with so little effort.

Happy to see Bongo Jam in there but I have a feeling the only funky house track that'll place any higher will be Do You Mind.

I'd expected that MGMT song to place much higher as well but I'm happy it didn't.

It might just be the youtube clip (it's the first time hearing it) but Official Girl sounds like it's been mixed incredibly badly? Does it actually sound like that? Because if there is a version where the drums sound crisp, and the voice blends better with the beat etc., I might be interested in hearing it again.

Sad this isn't a little higher but yaaay all the same. Prolly my fav Danja production.

xpost, yeah, I'd think hearing a non-YouTube version (one in which you can actually hear the bass) might help bring it all together for you.

Prolly my fav Danja production.

Think it might be mine too.

This was my #1.

prolly my least fav Danja production

The Lil' Wayne-less version is so much better. Sucks that I can only find it on YouTube!

It might just be the youtube clip (it's the first time hearing it) but Official Girl sounds like it's been mixed incredibly badly? Does it actually sound like that? Because if there is a version where the drums sound crisp, and the voice blends better with the beat etc., I might be interested in hearing it again.

― a hoy hoy, Tuesday, February 3, 2009 11:37 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no, the beat really does suck.

good good. i can never usually tell when it comes to youtube.

39 - Matias Aguayo – Minimal
84 points, 7 votes
(4 votes, 51.5 points for DJ Koze Maxi Version)
126 for DJ Koze Mix in P&J

DJ Koze Mix

yeah, what's the big deal? sounds like by-the-numbers rnb with a lame-ass singer up top to me.

xp

The beat definitely doesn't sound by-the-numbers to me. I think it's quite odd, starting with the way the kick drums throw the whole thing off-kilter. I mean, I know, "OMG syncopation, big deal", but I think Danja is doing something really fun here.

Again, hearing it not on YouTube helps immensely, I think, and completely agree with Lou about the Wayne-less version being much better.

uh, the linearity of it is really cool. agree it would be nice to hear a version without lil wayne. i think the last guest rapper spot i really liked was jay-z in "umbrella" and it had more to do with his delivery than what he was actually saying.

yikes, I'm typing "I think" a lot this morning xpost

no me hace pumpin pumpin pumpin

crap i hate it when you are watching a youtube clip in a thread and then you post and goodbye song

re: "Official Girl"- Basically Danja's little vocal bit makes me melt and it reminds me of (not as good but still) Aaliyah.

i like "official girl" a lot because of its weightlessness and its urgency

Aaliyah as a pretty vacant stepford rnb singer?

Yeah, the "not as good" part is definitely because of the vocals. What sounds similar to me is the production--the "quite odd" beat Maciej described reminds me of how Timbaland arguably saved his weirder stuff for Aaliyah.

intersting list guys

Aaliyah as a pretty vacant stepford rnb singer?

― (a mess0 (Ioannis), Tuesday, February 3, 2009 9:35 AM Bookmark

Yeah, basically. "Me & U" was awesome because Cassie & R-Les pushed the icy, vacant robot aspect as far as it could go (the amazing production didn't hurt), but everything she's done since has been kind of nonexistant.

I don't know, I think Cassie does this sort of wistful sweetness thing ("Not With You," "Official Girl," "Kiss Me,") just as well as she does the detached ice-queen.

has she ever shown any personality, like, at all?

tbf it's not exactly part of her job description

38 - Half Man Half Biscuit - National Shite Day
86 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote

Jesus, there is so much righteous anger in that vocal performance (and in the playing), awesome
― country matters

OK, after several listens, and some reflection, I've decided that the second verse of "National Shite Day" (the tale of Stringy Bob) is the best 90 seconds of music that will be released this year. The pathos. The damaged tragicomic humanity. The rest of the album's pretty fucking brilliant as well. They have this...infectious knack. Singalong. Fierce.
― Just got offed

I think she's very sweet and likeable on "Is It You?", but I guess that depends on what qualifies as personality for you. xxpost.

FUCK YES

entire poll redeemed ;)

my (country matters') quote was actually in reference to a different HMHB song, but it totally applies here too :)

weakest track yet. sorry, Louis.

I was going to say that I thought house and techno were going to be virtually unrepresented this year but I'd forgotten about Minimal. Even if the original is better than the DJ Koze version.

Dodgy live recording, Ioannis! The instruments are all wayyyy crisper and fiercer on the recorded version (or of you're actually at the gig).

Actually you can make out most of it, put it down to a lack of understanding of British culture :P

haha--that's probably very true.

"Even if the original is better than the DJ Koze version."

^^ cosign.

I'd never heard that Kelley Polar song before (or indeed anything by him) and it's excellent. Thanks ILM.

37 - Lil Wayne - Got Money (Ft. T-Pain)
90.5 points, 7 votes
120 in P&J

got money' is really underrated, sure the beat is pop-cheesy and you've got t-pain in the chorus AGAIN but weezy rides it pretty nimbly, something's constantly piquing your interest (handclaps, "i'm a great dane", umbrella riffing &c)
― lex pretend

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/3600/07c845c9c76cxb7.gif

Ugh who the fuck put all those unwanted additional vocals over Bongo Jam? Rub.

I like and voted for the Cassie track. It's the constantly overlapping vocals that do it for me, they keep you on your toes all the way through. The guest rap is pretty rubbish, agreed - much encouraged by the suggestion that there's a Wayne-less version somewhere.

I really like Minimal. What is it, Brazilian?

Chilean.

Wayne-less O.G.:

hey re: official girl, the wayneless version is indeed far superior, and yeah the youtube is super poorly mixed-sounding and makes it sound way too cluttered. besides the great hook what i like about the song is how clean it all sounds; the production makes it super spacious and for me enhances the sentiment the song's trying to get across...it strikes me as really innocent and sincere and good-willed.

Thanks. It did occur to me that the vocal arrangement might be a way of covering up the weak singing that I'm always hearing about. It's great anyway, I can't think of another track that does so many different things with its vocals

enjoyed the screamer in the lil wayne video

36 - Ting Tings, The - That's Not My Name
91.5 points, 8 votes
28 in P&J

Don't fancy the girl at all but I think "That's Not My Name" is a really fun song - heard it at a club a few weeks ago at just the right time in my personal dance buzz and it really nailed me somehow. Just got me all skittery. I like how they marshal all this production drama as the song goes on, even though there's absolutely no content to back it up - it really works, IMO.
― Doctor Casino

haha i knew something was up when the video was for birdman's "100 million" instead of "got money"

xpost

i don't some songs on this list but i understand why people might be inclined to enjoy and vote for them. the ting tings - i just don't get it.

tings tings = transvision vamp '08

(i like that song)

I did give a couple of points to their other one, but I don't see the appeal of this at all either

i liked the dizzee rascal version

late on this but i like the dj koze version of "minimal" a LOT more than the original - and agreed that wayne's rap is the only thing i dislike about that cassie track (love the leadup to the, uh, 2nd chorus i guess? the halfway-buried "you gotta learn to love me")

i like the ting tings' song partly because of a congenital weakness for sparse beats with sing-song girl vocals. (see also "milshake," lumidee, nina sky, m.i.a. -- not that this is as good as those, by a long shot, but i just have a sort of pavlovian response to that kind of thing.) and also like dr. casino says, i like the way it builds and gets all noisy in the final minute.

35 - Rihanna - Disturbia
92 points, 9 votes
16 in P&J

i cant believe that is not lower

that song & video stopped me from completely hating rihanna last year.

bum bum deedum

song really grew on me

i can't believe it's not higher! top 5 me (i think).

yeah thats what i mean by lower

yikes

for me

xp

aha

Probably my song of the year. My only wish is that Rihanna were more appealing as a pop star. I find her so boring and soulless. A personality transplant would suit her nicely.

"Disturbia" is one of those songs that you can tell is trying so hard not to be boring, but yet....is.

the video is what really got me into this song. i still dont really 'get' rihanna and i think she's still way too distant sometimes, but whatever i love her songs

xxp musically!

truth bomb. belting out "BUM BUD DA DEE DUM" is the only fun i've been able to have with it.

xpost

it's like a first draft for 'Just Dance'. This is alright, but there's something else there in the Lady Gaga tune to elevate it

"Disturbia" is infinitely better than "Just Dance" by simple virtue of being done by Rihanna instead of Lady Gaga.

I knew the Ting Tings would be in here somewhere but thank god we got them out of the way relatively early.

yeah they suck

34 - Lil Wayne feat. Static Major - Lollipop
94 points, 8 votes
31 in P&J

lollipop completely blew away my expectations for this album...it's fucking epic.
― Preview of the Matrix 12

I really love the way Weezy's verse on Official Girl starts, by the way, it's like he just throws himself into the momentum of the track. Admittedly it loses that momentum pretty quickly but I'm glad he's on there.

(Also, Wearing My Rolex is going to finish above A Milli on this poll, I'm calling it)

"lolli lolli" >>>> "lollipop"

i hope it does matt

i think "lollipop" is gonna sound great in like 10 years

Does Lollipop sample "Reflections" by the Supremes? I've always thought so.

Lolli Lolli is a jam too. Candy-themed rap songs are generally pretty great.

Thought Cassie would rank higher (my number one), but I'm glad to see that it's generating discussion...

'Lollipop's pretty good. I didn't think much of it when I first heard it and hadn't heard it since, so glad to get the opportunity to reappraise. Very nice low-end. I had forgotten all about him for some reason when it came to voting, or I'd've given 'Let The Beat Build' something

33 - Lindstrøm - The Long Way Home
97 points, 10 votes
(3 votes, 23 points for Prins Thomas Edit)
1561 in P&J

Prins Thomas Edit

"Lolli Lolli" has to be one of the five worst songs to reach my ears this year.

Does anybody know the first line of "Minimal"? I'm pretty sure the last word is "dance."

(unintelligible)
'Cause that music got no groove
Got no balls
No me hace pumpin' pumpin' pumpin'.

Porque yo quiero bailar
Con un ritmo mas nocturno
Mas profundo
Mas sensual
Basta ya de minimal

(No!) Es lo que bailo
(Hay!) Otras movidas
(Si!) Vas padelante
(Mas!) You gonna get.

Lil Wayne sucks.

controversial

how dare you

- dunno why i'm still surprised at the amount of love 'lollipop' gets vis à vis a) wayne's output overall b) wayne's output in 2009 c) hip-hop in 2009, but it's definitely perplexing - i don't dislike it at all but c'mon, really?
- cosine those repping for the og 'minimal' above the missing-the-point koze rmx
- 'disturbia' is merely ok - rihanna never needs to be autotuned ever again but the lyrics are great & the hook is undeniable; lol @ dumb-dumb-de-dumb, dumb-dumb-de-dumb-dumb though, it's funny cuz it's true
- 'official girl' is INCREDIBLE, i expended maybe more words on cassie than any other artist in 2008, so no more here
- ting tings ughhhhh, how can you

I am merely loving how wondrously sore-thumb the HMHB song is and will continue to be in this poll

- dunno why i'm still surprised at the amount of love 'lollipop' gets vis à vis a) wayne's output overall b) wayne's output in 2009 c) hip-hop in 2009, but it's definitely perplexing - i don't dislike it at all but c'mon, really?

yeah word -- as a fan of plenty of autotune/ringtone singles, that's one that is just way too long and doesn't have much of a hook, don't hate it so much as i don't get it.

oh yeah i forgot to slag off the HMHB song and what i assume was the bloc-voting borne out of terrible taste to get it here in the 1st place

xp

yeah it's just wayne jumping on a bandwagon in a really rote way - a good bandwagon but 'lollipop' has been done so many times, often better. and yeah god SO UNNECESSARILY LONG

if anything "Lollipop" really made me go back and appreciate "Sensual Seduction" a lot more

32 - Goldfrapp - A & E
98 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote
50 in P&J, 73 in p4k

please everyone, hold your comments about goldfrapp!

31 - Ne-Yo - Closer
98.5 points, 10 votes
25 in P&J

closer = R&B single of the year.
― titchyschneiderMk2

Guess it would have made more sense to vote for this instead of "Single". I burnt out on it by the end of the year though.

man you know i love you guys but thank god we are only on #31.

damn, "closer" is a great song, but i'd definitely take "single" or "mad" over it. hope those two didnt suffer from vote-splitting. YOTG was my car soundtrack for the second part of the winter

Completely forgot to vote for "Mad", damn.

anyway, that's it for today. don't have anything much to say about #30, but it's in Pitchfork's top 10. see you tomorrow.

miss independent is the best of them all

'Put A Donk On It' isn't going to be in this list is it? Damn you HMHB crew for not putting your comedy block vote to better use.

I was waiting for the Enigma remix - 'Put A Monk On It'

if you like it then you shoulda put a donk on it

donk was my #1 fyi

please everyone, hold your comments about goldfrapp!

Considering A&E kinda snuck on to the end of my tracks list, I'm delighted to see it get some love. I still can't make up my mind about Goldfrapp in general, but there's something about that last album -- or at least a couple of tracks on it -- that really gets to me.

I'd never heard that Kelley Polar song before (or indeed anything by him) and it's excellent. Thanks ILM.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 3 February 2009 19:06 (Yesterday)

for real? i'm amazed you've managed to somehow avoid him all this time

I've just never bothered to seek any out and it's not exactly ubiquitous in day-to-day life.

Apart from Me & U, Cassie's appeal for me at least is how she seems situated in the Venn intersection between fembot and teen-movie character. It reminds me of something Tim F said about Person Pitch on another thread, its less of a lack of depth, more a glistening variety of surfaces. Its an aesthetic that's all about surface and their impenetrability. Its a seductive mirage of a song, better without Wayne because its more compact, wonderfully free of spontaneity (replaced instead with the thrill of how everything just clicks together so satisfyingly). I'll admit I'm a sucker for really minimal pop music and so this is out the door, round the corner for me.

I've just never bothered to seek any out and it's not exactly ubiquitous in day-to-day life.

― Holy Suffering Gobi Desert Clit Nun (Matt DC), Wednesday, February 4, 2009 11:54 AM (1 hour ago)

I highly recommend you seek out his mental Italo cover of Magic Dance (from the Labyrinth OST) in Italian. Good way to get into him I think. Also really addictive.

http://hypem.com/track/567577/Kelley+Polar-Magic+Dance

damn, "closer" is a great song, but i'd definitely take "single" or "mad" over it.

― k3vin k., Wednesday, February 4, 2009 4:14 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^yes, for sure.

nothing else on the kelley polar album grabbed me as much as 'entropy reigns'...it wasn't bad, but that song overshadows the rest somewhat.

i find it really weird that a lindstrom track placed. it seems to miss the point somewhat.

this is awesome, thanks musically

i will never understand what y'all see in "Mad."

i will never understand how anyone could prefer anything else on YOTG to "Closer."

oh, btw, Musically, you are a goddess amongst mere mortals here.

first line of "minimal" is i think "these people don't dance, people don't dance" - at least that's how i've always heard it. and i don't care if the koze version "misses the point," i'd still rather listen to it than the og

??? The Koze version bores the shit out of me, I love the original

The Koze version is good in a sort of fake Alan Braxe & Fred Falke way but the original has all that awesome percussion and swanee whistle noises and so forth, it's so much more kinetic.

Kinda sounds like he's saying "clubber don't dance," especially the second time around.

Yeah, that's what I've always heard.

all the lyrics for it I sing in my head are totally wrong: "scooby don't dance scooby don't dance, cos that music got no blues, got no balls only acid pumpin' pumpin' pumpin'"

thanks everyone for the kind words. glad to see people are enjoying this!

30 - Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
101.5 points, 10 votes
59 in P&J, 6 in p4k

only song from that album that i really dug.

29 - Gang Gang Dance - House Jam
102.5 points, 8 votes
195 in P&J, 24 in p4k

I'll be fucked if "House Jam" isn't the best song I heard all of last year.
-ilxor

shit i must have missed the voting thread for this completely! i've been looking like once a week and never saw it

28 - Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
106 points, 8 votes
10 in P&J, 2 in p4k

A friend of mine pointed out how much this song sounds like something Ron Burgandy and friends might sing in three-part-harmony in an Anchorman scene. I already enjoyed the song but now I can't unsee Will Ferrell lip-syncing this, which made it even better in its surreal way.
-cunga

i've been avoiding fleet foxes knowing that they'd bore me but i didn't think it would be that bad. it's just so... pointless and dull. i know i've listen to my share of boring indie music and if i'd heard that a couple years ago i might have loved it though.

"white winter hymnal" is really the song that justifies them

a chilling thought

^imo

alex you might like the sheek louch remix

i agree it's their best song by a really wide margin but i really hate them. i can't even talk rationally about it really

xpost

"really really really" etc *rolls eyes*

ya dude y u hate them so much - they are pretty inoffensive sonically and morally and there are plenty of other bands who're just as hyped as them

i think they have moral issues, claiming they'd never sign with a subsidiary with a major when they already have and all.

yeah true but i chalk that up to "lol young naievety" more than anything

i think "inoffensive" is the problem, tbh. i'm still really young and this past year my tastes shifted significantly, and i think i'm going to look back on it and be really glad it happened. this band represents the bland indie rock that i've grown to loathe, especially when they're grouped with other, infinitely more talented artists in their 'genre', which gives those guys a bad name by comparison to non-indie bros. it's like, how am i supposed to convince people that of montreal are worth listening to when their ambition and talent is subverted and rejected in favor of this stuff in the media.
also, i tried listening to the album again about a month ago and it gave me this uncomfortable feeling, i have no idea what it was or why but i didnt like it and had to stop.

xposts

no he lied to the public, he should burn at the stake

xpost

and yeah that major label thing didnt exactly endear them to me, though i wasnt too surprised and it was more eyerolly like j0rdan said rather than "ugh i hate u u r so dumb"

yeah j/k i don't give a fuc

Will have to dig back through the vid links when I have time...

As for the Ting Tings, I guess I say it all in the blip up there... I can see why it wouldn't be some people's thing but it seems weirdly self-evident to me why it would be some other people's. I mean it is just stupidly rich with hooks: the main guitar thing, the "ame, ame, ame" bit, the way she pops back out to declare "They call me HELL," plus obviously "STAY-CEEEE" which is great. And yeah, the forest of stuff in the last minute. This is turning into Tom Ewing's review of "Sugar Sugar" sort of, but it's one of those kind of songs, two and a half minutes about nothing at all that just keeps layering it on higher and higher. I would put "Stand and Deliver" in this lineage as well. The Ting Tings are no Ants but it's a great single.

idk kev, fleet foxes to me operate as "indie rock" only in the way that the term has shifted in this decade. they certainly aren't indie rock like deerhunter is indie rock or jay reatard is indie rock or even mgmt is indie rock. the album leaves me a little bit cold - but oftentimes so does much acoustic folk - but i certainly wouldn't call them bland. they are musically sparse and their ideas are immediately graspable. just because skeletal lamping has crazy musical shifts and lyrics about being a tranny doesn't make it any more or less "bland" - it's just an aesthetic choice. if anything i think their reliance on open spaces and vocal harmonies makes them quite interesting - and their music, in this day, almost daring - even if i think the songs sometimes fall flat.

i'm not sure i directly disagree with anything you just said, jordan, but i think my main problem with them is that they are so aesthetically driven rather than song-driven. that's the thing that pisses me off, actually, for me they're all style no substance. it's the same feeling i get for some "lol we're lo-fi!" band that cops the cool aesthetic technique of the moment but forgets to write songs. i can totally see why some people might like them, and the dudes have fine voices for sure, but it's just not something i'm able to engage with at all.

and yeah about skeletal lamping, that rec means more to me than any album in a long time, and the reason i like it is a lot more than the just zany structures (not that that's what you were implying, just saying). hopefully it'll place in the album poll; maybe i'll write musically a blurb.

but ANYWAY, sorry to hijack this guys, great job musically keep it coming :)

hey, that's why i am posting the results here and not on another website.

for me they're all style no substance

i can totally see why some people might like them, and the dudes have fine voices for sure, but it's just not something i'm able to engage with at all.

i basically agree completely w/ u here, i'm just trying to get to the bottom of why - even though we seem to be on the same wavelength re their music - i find them "pleasant" and you find them completely detestable. also i wasn't breaking your <3 for skeletal lamping and your hate for FF down solely to the structure of the music, i just thought that you might be conflating the respective structures with blandness and non-blandness.

it's fine to dislike f. foxes (and i have the same issue with them that you do re: songwriting) but i don't think repping of montreal instead is some kind of paradigm shift.

or put another way, i think of montreal are incredibly boring but i don't tell everyone this whenever they are mentioned on a thread. ppl are pretty aware of your dislike of f. foxes, k3v. i'm not sure you want to be copping the lex's ILM posting style in this regard.

27 - Alphabeat - Fascination
111 points, 7 votes, 2 #1 votes
52 in P&J, 47 in p4k

Is it wrong of me to love "Fascination"? Their schtick would annoy if the hooks weren't so strong. The way the chorus lifts into the "Wo-ah Wo-oh-ah" bit is pretty magical.
― Tim F

i just saw the Fascination video. hated it (and them) for the first 30 seconds but was completely won over by the end! the band's puppy-dog sincerity would make them very punchable if the music didn't follow-through with its complete lack of irony - pretty rare for such an obvious 80s throwback. the groove is undeniable and the build-up during the 'say the word' bit is absolutely glorious. great song!
― jabba hands

to be fair lex has like 3 years of anti-indie trolling history, whereas kevin's hating of fleet foxes has occurred in like two threads over the course of a few months

The Fleet Foxes song reminds me most of the sixties revival bands that occasionally come out of Liverpool. It's a bit better than straight Merseybeat, I can hear that the folk, Appalachian, gospel or whatever influences are there, and there are some nice moments - but it's been done before, doesn't amount to more than the sum of its parts, and so is too close to pastiche to be worth my time (xp obviously)

xpost i feel like it's more than two threads but this is true--i guess i just don't get why one would use this message board to neg something more than like once or twice.

"Fascination" should be much higher - BLISS BLISS BLISS.

Fascination: agree with what Tim and jabba hands say. I really, really don't like those first thirty seconds - not one for simplified upbeat hooks, me - and I wish there was a bit more going on there. But it develops really nicely after that when it gets a bit more complicated. I was going to say that both 'Boyfriend' and '10,000 Nights' are far better, but on second thoughts that's probably just because they have much stronger starts. Good band.

i've been meaning to listen to alphabeat for a while now. "fascination" is a fine, fine song

Gang Gang Dance I like. I really like the drums in the first half - lots of nice triplets and the percussion track interacts with the other strange elements really well. It brings to mind the Cassie track a little bit for that reason, the busyness of it. I'm most enjoying the laid-back dance tunes here. Not my usual sort of thing, so this poll is great news for me

It's only just struck me, but has anyone ever noticed the similarity between 'White Winter Hymnal' and certain passages of the Habanera from Carmen? (Check out this from about 1.23-ish in)

this has to have been said before, but alphabeat remind me of a more upbeat new pornographers. "fascination" in particular is reminiscent of "the bleeding heart show", though the former is much better imo

They're weirdo kids TV presenter types that's for sure. About as sexy as Steps.

Didn't know both 'Fascination' nor 'Until we bleed' before this thread, but love them both dearly already. Especially Fascination sounds like Katrina & The Waves warped into 2008 somehow. Nice!

26 - Ida Maria - Oh My God
116 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote
66 in P&J, 79 in p4k

Well, #26 has broken the careometer, hasn't it?

it's a pretty great song

I rated "Oh My God" high on my ballot, having only just heard it for the first time a day or two before, thanks to the nomination thread. It remains headsticky and sharp, a great example of milking a ton of energy out of a limited premise and very few lyrics. The drummer deserves bonus credit here, although clearly the center of this thing is Ms. Maria, whose Nico von Bjork style is a kind of guaranteed win. Good song.

I quite liked it too

The other stuff of hers I've checked out doesn't crackle as well, but "Oh My God" does set the bar kind of high...

Sorry to be negging everything in this thread, but "Fascination" is completely killed by it's flat, lifeless production. The tune and performance are fine, but sonically, it just seems....there. Something like that really needs to jump out of the speakers to be effective.

Yeah, the rest of the album is decent at best, but this song is a force of nature. xp

25 - Erykah Badu - The Healer
117 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote
110 in P&J

;_; why didn't I vote

..."Fascination" is completely killed by it's flat, lifeless production...Something like that really needs to jump out of the speakers to be effective.

Have you only ever heard it via Youtube? Because it sounds amazing in my car.

Rev - Huh - I think it's pretty punchy but I guess I sorta see what you mean. I could maybe live with the piano being a little louder, and the drums sometimes. But lots of things jump out of the speakers to me, mainly in the vocals! "WOAH OH WUH UH OH!"

And goddamn, the way the chorus roars back in after the whole "the word is on your lips" section - that right there is all I really ask of music from the Beatles to ABBA to this here. Flutters my heart, it does.

The problem with that Ida Maria song is there's so little to it and her shtick is so limited that it goes from Oh My God (this is great!) to Oh My God (STFU) within about three minutes.

I first heard it on mp3. xps

I'm not sure it's something I would go for even if I didn't think the production was poor. A bit white-bread for my tastes. (n/sfj)

I guess my problem with the production is that it sounds like everything is crammed into the mids, with no high or low end or space between instruments.

"it sounds like everything is crammed into the mids, with no high or low end or space between instruments."

not that it should change your dislike, but I think this is not only true but very deliberate.

"Fascination" feels like one of those songs which at first sound great, but pretty soon you forget about them. A lot of instant, ear-grabbing hooks, but it kinda lacks the sort of melodic and sonic sensibilities that make an evergreen pop song. A fun piece of fluff nevertheless.

24 - Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
120.5 points, 12 votes
3 in P&J, 23 in p4k

Single Ladies will still be played years from now in chick-flick ads and at weddings to introduce the bouquet toss
-dmr

So Single Ladies is one of those singles that suddenly makes sense as being amazing aaages after it gets released I think.
―I know, right?

wooooo erykah badu

Wow, 24? I thought for sure this would rank higher. Top 12 at least.

hey musically once you stop for today can you post the results so far in list form?

single ladies is pretty divisive on ilm

I found Alphabeat till I heard fascination on the radio earlier for the first time in forever and it just clicked why it was so fun. So i'm happy it placed. xpost.

was the healer actually a single? because for an album track, i think that 24 doesn't seem too bad.

I'd have thought that Single Ladies was a dead cert for the top ten, if not the top five. Not, like, three places above Alphabeat.

single ladies is pretty divisive on ilm

Right. The home of contrarianism.

ah idk about that - i mean the haters say that's it's just a retread of b'day tracks and it can be certainly read as that, because it basically is. the rest of us, i think, thing that's a b'day track as a massive pop single

yeesh - the rest of us, i think, thing that it's a b'day track as a massive pop single

I rated "Oh My God" high on my ballot, having only just heard it for the first time a day or two before, thanks to the nomination thread. It remains headsticky and sharp, a great example of milking a ton of energy out of a limited premise and very few lyrics. The drummer deserves bonus credit here, although clearly the center of this thing is Ms. Maria, whose Nico von Bjork style is a kind of guaranteed win. Good song.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, February 4, 2009 9:55 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Okay, I like 'Oh my God', but Nico von Bjork?! What kind of comparison is that? Is it even related to this song?

Forgive me, I'm just trying to find a way to convey the various indie-cool affectations she's cramming into her vocal style - she totally runs the map from the "birth of the flattened cool" to scrunched-up pixie with odd enunciation. There are probably much clearer and more contemporary references but I don't really keep up with the music of today.

oh, I forgot to add my 2c about Single Ladies.

i have heard "get me bodied"
i have listened to "get me bodied" many times
"get me bodied is one of my favorite songs
"single ladies," you are no "get me bodied"

it grew on me and all but still, i am annoyed that get me bodied was saved for the kitchen cleanout singles blitz during the waning days of the b'day promo and wasn't given a proper release.

oh well.

23 - Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
121 points, 11 votes
40 in P&J

Hopefully "Oxford Comma" ranked too, because "A-Punk" shouldn't be the only representation Vampire Weekend gets.

Forgive me, I'm just trying to find a way to convey the various indie-cool affectations she's cramming into her vocal style - she totally runs the map from the "birth of the flattened cool" to scrunched-up pixie with odd enunciation. There are probably much clearer and more contemporary references but I don't really keep up with the music of today.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, February 4, 2009 11:15 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

No worries! I couldn't name contemporary references to this myself. It's just that I'm heavily into Nico and can't find a single trace Nico might have left in this song. But I could be entirely deaf to it, I must admit.

The deep, husky parts on some (not all) of the verses - some of the repetitions of "pin a smile," "for-tress" etc. I'm not good enough at describing voices (nor a fan enough of Nico!) to really do this justice, though.

Listening to "Kids" now, heard it before but this is the first time I'm paying attention. It's good but maybe playing its cards a little too forcefully in the case of that main keyboard hook. Everything else is really beautifully put-together, though - especially that wonderful, wonderful Super Nintendo solo in the middle there. I much prefer the sound of "Time To Pretend" (which I assume we'll be getting to in due time) but this sort of Faint-esque digression seems like a reasonable thing for this band to do and they equip themselves well. Love the rampaging "Blue Monday" drums that come crashing back in later on. This is pretty okay!

I wasn't too convinced by "Fascination" before, but damn, I wish I had bought the album when it was a fiver.

22 - T.I. Feat. Rihanna - Live Your Life
123.5 points, 10 votes
13 in P&J, 40 in p4k

"Live Your Life" with Rihanna is New/Numan Pop awesome.
-Marcello Carlin

it's all a bit rich considering that the man doling out life lessons is about to serve a year in jail, but it's quite affecting regardless.

last one for tonight:

21 - Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep
135 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote
117 in P&J, 8 in p4k

wow, gang gang dance apart (and...surely 'first communion' and 'princes' should place higher?), 30-26, 23 and 21 are some bullshit. was feeling so happy and enthused about the list til then.

'single ladies' is the kind of song that only someone who doesn't care enough about beyoncé to follow her career, or enough about r&b to follow the genre, could vote for. nonetheless i would much rather be that sort of person than the sort of person who gives a shit about the dreary greyness of deerhunter or fleet foxezzz, or who can not only bear but enjoy alphabeat.

spent the day hanging out w/t.i. and his gorgeous smile <3 so now is not the time to grump about numa numa for me

I'm kind of surprised you don't like Air France.

eh, i don't hate it but it's just boring and a bit twee. i really really hate twee shit.

Listening to "Disturbia" now - had heard it 2-3 times before but now actually paying attention. It's pretty damn good except for the TITLE - "Disturbia"? It's just a corny word, and aligns badly with the the Marilyn Manson "gothy fast-motion spaz out" video imagery.

But I like the way it comes together as a soundscape, a little 4-minute Blade Runner, the "city of wonder" inhabited by this incredibly machined voice...and yet the prechorus sounds an uplifting note, humanity still alive in the darkness. The suggested narrative is way better than the complete set of actual real-life lyrics.

It's pretty damn good except for the TITLE - "Disturbia"? It's just a corny word, and aligns badly with the the Marilyn Manson "gothy fast-motion spaz out" video imagery.

or the Shia LeBouf film

Yeah, well, exactly. Coming next year from Rihanna: "The Ring," "Spider-Man 2," and "Gothika."

re: A-Punk: Wow, it's THAT song! I wonder how many people are in my position of having heard it but never figured out who it was. Catchy thing, I kinda feel like I've heard enough of it by hearing it straight through once though. The guy's voice does nothing at all for me - all the hooks are really in the instrumental.

annnnnd that Fleet Foxes song is pretty. Does all this mean I really have turned into a boring coffee shop grown-up music listener?

Re: Fascination. Hah, I hadn't even bothered to listen to it, on the grounds that it couldn't possible be as good as the Human League. But wow! Agree with the Katrina and the Waves thing. That's my idea of a pop song!

ugh son

wow, gang gang dance apart (and...surely 'first communion' and 'princes' should place higher?), 30-26, 23 and 21 are some bullshit.

pretty much otm except i like the ida maria song -- it's like a lost '90s modern-rock radio track. but let's just assume this is the indie-ghetto portion of the countdown.

(and my first reaction to "single ladies" was that it sounded like a b'day b-side, but after a while either i changed my mind or i decided that wasn't a bad thing.)

I am loving this list because I have no knowledge of stuff like lindstrom and all the 'dance' (only calling it this because i'm not sure what genre all this stuff actually is) and, like the metal one, it's giving me an easy 'in' to something i never really knew how to start digging into.

everytime i've read someone talk about 'live your life' they always look at hypocritically but, especially considering the video, does no-one else take away the lyrics as tip reassessing his own situation?

Air France possibly making the mistake here of having more than one good tune.

ILM tracks lists always seem to have an indie ghetto around this point.

Hopefully "Oxford Comma" ranked too, because "A-Punk" shouldn't be the only representation Vampire Weekend gets.

Yeah it'd be terrible if Vampire Weekend didn't get the critical attention they deserve.

Indie ghetto
And his mama cries
'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
it's another "wonky pop" act to feed
Indie ghetto

(x-post)

hahahahaha

ditto on the lols.

Also right there with foxes a hoy hoy on the "dance" (?) stuff which mostly sounds really lovely to me - I have no idea how to evaluate it but it's nice!

Only put dance in '' because it's a ridiculous fucking term, but don't know my balaeric from my minimal, what's house, what's techno, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Air France is not particularly twee, certainly not compared to, say, 'Sandcastle Disco'

ha.

ahoyhoy: Right, exactly - it's not my scene and I know I'm missing all sorts of subtle distinctions, but the Air France and the Gang Gang Dance both blow away my puppy's mind.

poor puppy.

Air France are the acceptable side of twee for me, the romantic sense of wide-eyed wonder rather than sickening mimsiness.

I suppose where they differ from Studio or someone is that their music evokes being stone cold sober and looking at an amazing view with someone cute, rather than being totally fucked and lying in the sun. Both are fun though.

yar. lack of annoying twee lyrics generally (aside from one or two repeated phrases) is a plus too.

I need to pick up that Gang Gang Dance record! So far that and Cassie are the only two which I hadn't heard that would've made me reconsider my votes.

Yeah what I like is that they just drop in these totally evocative vocal samples, like that bit where the woman goes "this place... is amazing!" and they don't need anything else.

air france/'sandcastle disco' is not a very good comparison at all - 'sandcastle disco', for all solange's (charming) pouty affectations, is never as infantile as air france; and it isn't sonically twee in the slightest. it's the sense of naive wonderment which matt describes which puts me off air france, i think. "child-like" is not an appealing adjective at all.

for all solange's (charming) pouty affectations, is never as infantile as air france

don't agree, and not just because solange has 'sandcastle' in the title (musically it's much more overtly sugary and shuffley than AF - easily comparable with tracks like 'Young Folks' on THAT basis. obv i'm not talking about the obvious differences in the vocals between the two there). there is nothing infantile about AF unless you're talking about like sampling children's voices in which case come on...

their music evokes being stone cold sober and looking at an amazing view with someone cute

right but so much different-sounding music does this. 'naive wonderment' and 'child-like' are projections that again can be applied to any melancholic dreamy music to support a criticism of same.

What does "sonically twee" even mean here Lex? Does this mean hating on all ambienty sounds?

I can see that Air France are at times twee and/or "childlike", but hating on that aspect of the music seems a little bit like hating on early Omni Trio for the same reason. And with both it strikes me as childlike-ness that is possible only after passing through regret/melancholy/disillusionment. Hence the effectiveness of all their little rave samples (e.g. it's not all surprising that "No Excuses" shares a sample with the first track on Zomby's Where Were You In '92 EP.

It's Frank's babbling brook thing again innit: no adjective is appealing/unappealing all the time.

I'd quite like a record that samples lots of small children going "bumbaclaat".

this 'child-like' thing could be a good separate thread discussion - as i can think of countless examples where those using it as a criticism against AF would approve of it elsewhere (dancier stuff, RnB...).

And with both it strikes me as childlike-ness that is possible only after passing through regret/melancholy/disillusionment

Yes hello COMEDOWN MUSIC.

Moreover this is where I can't finally get on board with the anti-indie crusade - it tries to hypostasize different ennervating configurations into a single monolithic quality of wrongness, which is something i think just doesn't exist in music (unless we're talking about, say, "holocaust denying" as a quality of music).

My longstanding issues with indie are much more comparable to the way I felt about dubstep two years ago: the sense that this music is/was so often being obtuse in failing to live up to its own rhetoric and/or potential. I've been pleasantly surprised to find dubstep starting to reform itself, and while indie is too big/amorphous to undergo "reform" as such, there's similar situations where pockets of music we might call "indie" draw their indie qualities into configurations that escape or (better yet) respond to the very frustrations I normally have.

Gang Gang Dance are precisely such an example; it would be dishonest to give them some kind of free pass by saying "oh no they're not really indie." Better and more interesting to ask how/why they redeem indie as an operating context.

And with both it strikes me as childlike-ness that is possible only after passing through regret/melancholy/disillusionment

i don't hear this at all, or see how it would make it better. idk those air france tracks are a bit like marcel pagnol books, it's like viewing the world through rose-tinted glasses which never come off. total pastoral overload (when the flutes come in, it's just like...stop it, ffs), and cut up really senselessly too. i don't really hate it though b/c it's too insubstantial and nothingy for that, but if i was in a room and someone put it on, it'd really start grating after 15 minutes or so.

Yes hello COMEDOWN MUSIC.

jesus NO!!

ahhh i've just worked out what air france is like a really poor take on - the blissful kuniyuki takahashi album from last year. now that is some gorgeous sample-dappled pastoralism there.

i admit i wouldn't mind hearing a touch more (any) menace in AF's stuff sometimes

total pastoral overload (when the flutes come in, it's just like...stop it, ffs)

This strikes me as a more concrete criticism really, and one I would agree with if pastoral overload bothered me in the slightest. As it is, you can slap on "omg sunshine in fields" signifiers with a trowel and I'll pretty much lap it up.

I will check that Takahashi album out though.

"Yes hello COMEDOWN MUSIC."

Yes, but i was thinking also of how Simon Reynolds describes Omni Trio in Generation Ecstasy - like a frail, mirage-like flashback to '92 rave, but unable to erase entirely the awareness of the bad drug vibes of '93.

Air France's music isn't at all trying to do that "Fascination"-style dogmatic insistence on innocence/positivity: it's music that explicitly toys with the fragility of loveliness - e.g. the double implication of a sample like "...like a dream/no, better." This is why they remind me so much of Saint Etienne, especially the tear-flecked "euphoria" of "He's On The Phone". Which makes me think of Kylie's "Better The Devil You Know", which I think my friend Catherine described as being about the hysterical joy of staring into an abyss (which is melodramatic but spot-on in many ways).

kuniyuki myspazz: http://www.myspace.com/kuniyuki

'all these things' sums up what i love about kuniyuki's album pretty well. it was definitely a default comedown album last year.

fwiw lex you're not the only person i know who dislikes air france because they're twee and I agree with you that the Kuniyuki record is gorgeous.

I don't find AF child-like at all. I dunno girl-like seems like a more accurate description. they remind me of watching sofia coppola movies (oh no twee AND indie).

It's a nostalgia for the state of child-like wonder isn't it? Reminds me of the Go Team! in that respect (who admittedly I don't particularly like, and who I expect Lex likes even less).

Is nostalgia inherently twee?

What if you're an ageing Viking getting nostalgic for your raping and pillaging days?

It's a nostalgia for the state of child-like wonder isn't it?

marcel fucking pagnol comparison gains weight! i hated pagnol so much. i also hate the go team, yes, but for difft reasons (unlistenable non-production).

i'm not particularly down w/nostalgia generally, but when i am it's almost always to do w/specific memories or situations rather than the vague meaninglessness of "child-like wonder" - i actually have no concrete memories of "child-like wonder" at all, it's not a phrase which conjures anything up for me.

Damn, you sure got my number... (x-post)

i actually have no concrete memories of "child-like wonder" at all, it's not a phrase which conjures anything up for me.

as a parent of small children, i can attest that wonder is part of the deal -- take a kid to his first circus and watch. but only a part. there's also a lot of temper tantrums, power struggles, anxiety, confusion and fear. but you rarely hear anyone invoke "child-like terror."

it seems to me that it's one of those things that you only notice from the outside - watching kids poke around and discover the world - at the time it's just what one does. though i did spend much of my childhood trying to be a blasé know-it-all

twee black metal would be something to hear.

tipsy otm, I have no memories of 'child like wonder' but it exists as I've seen it several times, both with my son and other children and I guess my parents must have saw me responding with awe or wonder back in the day. I didn't get cynical until I was at least aged 11.

Surely the whole point of nostalgia for childlike wonder is that it's actually nostalgia for something you don't remember having experienced. It's like when you've never been in a relationship but keenly feel a sense of nostalgia for an imagined love.

I'm tempted to go a bit wanky here and start talking about "retroactive positing". Childlike wonder springs into existence at the point that you become aware that it is not something you can access. Or more simply "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".

The - yes - drugginess of Air France lies in how they play with e's ultimately unfulfilled (or at least not permanently fulfilled) promise to "restore" this sensation. That's the sense in which it can be literally comedown music, without being "chillout" as such.

That last para is pretty much exactly what I was trying to articulate.

<3 u guys who imply that "indie" tracks are never good enough for the tracks poll.

anyway, i'm thankful for the repeated exposure to GGD and the initial exposure to alphabeat (i like that song a lot though i don't know how often i want to listen to it). i agree that ida maria sounds like a lost 90s track but i'm not sure that's a good thing. love seeing those t.i. jams and still basically confused by air france. so yeah, it's been educational as always.

only version of 'Fascination' i get with

Childlike wonder springs into existence at the point that you become aware that it is not something you can access.

yeah, although i think the misleading term here is probably 'childlike.' we're really talking about wonder, period. and i guess that's where people (like, maybe, air france, and definitely, say, flaming lips) go wrong for me in sort of stipulating innocence or at least naivete as a precondition for wonder. or, more precisely, fetishizing the particular variety of wonder that arises from imagined innocence or naivete. as a grown-up, i can still experience wonder, including in music, through avenues that don't require any nostalgia at all. ornette coleman comes to mind (who arguably also fetishizes a kind of innocence, but it's of a more rigorous sort).

Geogaddi is the best example I can think of of ambient electronic music that mixes childlike wonderment with anxiety, confusion and fear. That said, I'm not sure I want Air France to become more sinister.

tipsy otm re: innocence and naivete, that's what i was trying to get at

Here we are, counting down the top 20:

20 - Jordin Sparks And Chris Brown - No Air
139 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote
75 in P&J

Oddly for an American Idol winner, on her own material Jordin usually performs most strongly when she realises that her baby-Mariah voice actually works best prosecuting baby-Janet material (see for example current single “One Step At A Time”): fluttery and almost ostentatiously pretty, with Jordin’s voice never resting on a single note for more than a moment – with Janet this is done to obscure her vocal limitations, with Jordin it’s a choice.

“No Air” is a bit risky therefore, with Jordin lingering lugubriously over heartbroken notes and phrases like she’s been shot in the chest. But death-fixated pop songs are the exception to every rule, and this suicide note is simply gorgeous, a deep pool of intoxicating emotion perfect for every wallower. Chris Brown also does fantastic, understated work, his gentle, yearning delivery providing a trace paper outline of a hidden mountain of regret.

If the song is devastated, the arrangement is utopian, all twinkling starlight tinkles and the most graceful stuttering kickdrum. The chorus, when the two get wrapped up in suffocating clouds of cumulus synthesiser is probably the largest moment in pop this year, like two giant space babies finding each other in a Hollywood remake of 2001: A Space Odyssey redone as a romance. And we haven’t gotten to the fabulous artificial strings in the last two minutes, then that absolutely desolate, almost discordant harmonised moan, and then the stadium drums come in, and, oh… words fail, truly they do.
-Tim F

I really don't get this list at all, I'd expected that to be much higher. I have no idea what's going to place where in the upper reaches of this, except Milli and Rolex.

Unexploded Bomb = Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire.

wow, i had not even heard of this song until right now, but tim you just sold it to me like a million times over.

think Happy House is top 5.

Tim otm above, re. the performance/production. unfortunately, the song itself isn't particularly memorable.

"No Air" - no, sorry, I just don't hear it. At all.
(But Tim F's description makes me wish that I did...)

whoops I wanted to post my favorite remix of No Air:

Benny Benassi remix

Hope its not the only Chris Brown mention here.

JS won American Idol? It seems odd that it hasn't been mentioned once in marketing her over here, although I guess it might have hindered her a little bit with the rnb audience (i have nothing to back this up though). Love the song.

I thought it was pretty heavy, but then I don't really pay that much attention to marketing unless I'm really into something already since I don't own a radio or television.

No Jeezy yet, I hope we haven't split the Recession vote by nominating too many tracks.

fuck a song - that remix is infinitely preferable!

xp's

I'd imagine "Blind" is up towards the top too. And I hope all the Crazy Cousinz votes didn't go to "Bongo Jam" and we still get "Do Ya Mind".

I assume American Boy will be top10 as well.

If it wasn't I would really wonder at the point of this site.

My guess for the top five would be some combination of A Milli, Blind, Wearing My Rolex, Time To Pretend and maybe Paper Planes, depending on how many people voted for it as a 2008 release. Otherwise replace it with American Boy or Love Lockdown.

if it's gonna be that boringly predictable how about we just stop at 11?

Machine Gun top ten or not?

because it's just a ruse and los campesinos! are actually going to fill all 10 spots.

Blackout Crew for #1.

Awesome thread, y'all - old school ILM material!

I still don't understand how so many people whose taste I otherwise respect find "American Boy" tolerable.

still surprised u hate on it this much

its really annoying

yeah, that

i like the beat OK, but the vocals do nothing for me (and the will.i.am version isn't any better).

still surprised people find it annoying

Estelle's vocals are really shrill, and the lyrics are really stupid when not completely cringeworthy. The melody is catchy, but not pleasing, and so just sits in your head being annoying forever after you hear it. Kanye is as cloying and smug as he's ever been. The way the beat is arranged discards any sense of flow it had in "Impatient". Basically, this song is garbage. I hate it more than Katy Perry.

I'm pretty sure I would love any r'n'b song that dropped Ribena though

Are most of the (non-british) people who like "American Boy" anglophiles to some degree? I find anglophilia offputting in general (which certainly isn't to say I hate English music or English people or Englishness, just Americanos who get b0nerz about such things) and this song triggers that revulsion.

Estelle's vocals are too airy to be shrill.

No, they are absolutely ear-damaging.

to me there's just something about the way her accent manifests in that song that is really bothersome to me - also the chorus "i really want tooooooo/ come kick it with yooooouuu" is like the dictionary definition of 'annoying' to me

i'm not an anglophile in the slightest (and really have trouble relating to a lot of brit music), but something about the breeziness of 'american boy' is enjoyable to me.

Yeah, that goes back to what I said about being catchy, but not pleasing. Catchy + ugly is more or less the worst combination of adjectives in music. Otm about her accent, too.

(was an xp)

I also hate how cute this song tries to be about the fact that Estelle is British. It's like I understand that there are cultural differences between the US and UK, you don't need to fucking Big Bird this shit for me.

yeah i wish it struck a kind of idk jetsetter tone - with estelle in the position of power - but instead it just makes her seem really doltish and ditzy

on listening closely for the first time in a while, what i really like about it is actually the progression--it's a little jazzy/loungy and seems a little atypical for an r&b hit. it's not totally successful because, as michael mcdonald would point out, they did not go 100% smooth.

jetsetter OTM--that's what i want this song to be.

yeah that is annoying generally (see also Sway's love of the Union Flag) but i blame the US involvement in these things just as much for that too. it's Kanye who wanted to drop in more UK refs and make a deal out of that too. xposts

No, they are absolutely ear-damaging.

okay so basically the problem here is that you are insane (not because she represents the epitome of amazing singing or anything but because she's basically the vocal equivalent of a fangless Ashanti and somehow your brain has managed to translate "barely audible" into "shrill, piercing")

19 - Grace Jones - Williams' Blood
142 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote
(7 votes, 81.5 points for Aeroplane Remix)
1722/429 in P&J

Aeroplane Remix

both brilliant

yeah ftr even tho rev is obv challopsing, i think he's going overplaying how bad her vocals are - they are just mildly annoying but annoying enough - very mosquito trapped in your car

What about the greg wilson one? (I haven't heard it but am v curious)

I'm actually reeling that anyone could dislike this song just a little bit.

xps: Oh, don't worry, I hold Kanye just as responsible.

more xps: R&b singers (or non-jazz singers in general) using "jazz" mannerisms tend to annoy the fuck out of me because very close to NONE of them do it well. They almost always seem to think that singing jazz-style means singing in an awful, pinched, nasal tone. Thanks for hitting upon another thing that annoys me about this song.

jordan and rev remind me, how do you find adele's and duffy's voices?

Estelle's vocals are just right at the point where they set me completely on edge and make my fillings rattle in my teeth. Shit is like a dog whistle to me.

jordan and rev remind me, how do you find adele's and duffy's voices?

― O Supermanchiros (blueski), Thursday, February 5, 2009 10:19 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I find them to be like murder me now and get it over with.

cosign

i like "chasing pavements" a lot (havent heard duffy), but i really don't mind estelle in general - in fact i think "no substitute love" and the new one w/ sean paul are both really great - it's just something about the melody of the song that brings out something unpleasant in her voice - also the melody itself is annoying

Rev your hate for "American Girl" is baffling. Like.. are we listening to a different song?

18 - M83 - Kim & Jessie
142.5 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote
30 in P&J, 5 in p4k

xxp: Right. I do like most of Estelle's other stuff, but not to a great degree. It's just this song in particular that hurls me over the edge.

Rev your hate for "American Girl" is baffling. Like.. are we listening to a different song?

― De Pussyclot Dolls (The Brainwasher), Thursday, February 5, 2009 10:22 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

sorry duke, It's been battling it out with "I Kissed a Girl" all year for least favorite song

Estelle's vocals are just right at the point where they set me completely on edge and make my fillings rattle in my teeth. Shit is like a dog whistle to me.

haha so is there a female singer you can listen to or are they all like shoving icepicks in your ears

Adele's voice is really good, she just needs better material. About half of her album is great... Duffy is one of the worst 'singers'... now THAT is a "shrill" voice Rev. Estelle is such a non-entity in terms of singing, she has a pleasant voice, it works for her...

xp Intentional misconstruance zzzzzz.

think Skin Of The Night is now my favourite vocal track on Saturdays=Youth.

whoops, yesterday i said I would post a list of the placers so far:

50 - Flo Rida - Low (69.5 points, 7 votes)
49 - Air France - No Excuses (70 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote)
48 - Kleerup Feat. Lykke Li - Until We Bleed (73.5 points, 7 votes; 3 votes, 29.5 points for Mikael's Cello Version)
47 - Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City) (74 points, 7 votes)
46 - The Bug - Poison Dart feat. Warrior Queen (75.5 points, 7 votes)
45 - Katy Perry - Hot N Cold (76 points, 7 votes)
44 - Crazy Cousinz - Bongo Jam (77 points, 6 votes)
43 - MGMT - Kids (82 points, 9 votes)
42 - TV On The Radio - Family Tree (83 points, 6 votes)
41 - T.I. - No Matter What (83.5 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote, )
40 - Cassie - Official Girl (83.5 points, 6 votes, 2 #1 votes)
39 - Matias Aguayo - Minimal (84 points, 7 votes, 4 votes; 51.5 points for DJ Koze Maxi Version)
38 - Half Man Half Biscuit - National Shite Day (86 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote)
37 - Lil Wayne - Got Money (Ft. T-Pain) (90.5 points, 7 votes)
36 - Ting Tings, The - That's Not My Name (91.5 points, 8 votes)
35 - Rihanna - Disturbia (92 points, 9 votes)
34 - Lil Wayne feat. Static Major - Lollipop (94 points, 8 votes)
33 - Lindstrøm - The Long Way Home (97 points, 10 votes; 3 votes, 23 points for Prins Thomas Edit)
32 - Goldfrapp - A & E (98 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote)
31 - Ne-Yo - Closer (98.5 points, 10 votes)
30 - Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened (101.5 points, 10 votes)
29 - Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (102.5 points, 8 votes)
28 - Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (106 points, 8 votes)
27 - Alphabeat - Fascination (111 points, 7 votes, 2 #1 votes)
26 - Ida Maria - Oh My God (116 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote)
25 - Erykah Badu - The Healer (117 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote)
24 - Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (120.5 points, 12 votes)
23 - Vampire Weekend - A-Punk (121 points, 11 votes)
22 - T.I. Feat. Rihanna - Live Your Life (123.5 points, 10 votes)
21 - Air France - Collapsing At Your Doorstep (135 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote)
20 - Jordin Sparks And Chris Brown - No Air (139 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote)
19 - Grace Jones - Williams' Blood (142 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote; 7 votes, 81.5 points for Aeroplane Remix)
18 - M83 - Kim & Jessie (142.5 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote)

Kim & Jessie <3 <3 <3

How the hell is that intentional misconstruence! I'm not the one going "OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWD HER VOICE IS SO SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL IT HURTS MY EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEARS! ;_;"

sorry duke, It's been battling it out with "I Kissed a Girl" all year for least favorite song

― The Reverend (rev), Thursday, February 5, 2009 6:24 PM (3 minutes ago)

Its kind of sick that you would even compare these

xp Because Estelle is only one person?

Estelle's vocals are just right at the point where they set me completely on edge and make my fillings rattle in my teeth. Shit is like a dog whistle to me.

Considering that she has possibly the LEAST SHRILL VOICE of any female singer who had a popular hit in 2008, this basically tells me you either a) can't handle hearing notes over a certain pitch; b) really suck at detecting/describing timbre; or c) are having such a visceral reaction to other elements in the song that you dislike that you've completely forgotten what Estelle actually sounds like.

Yay M83! I neglected to nominate any tracks, myself, and when I went to vote found myself without very much on the list that I could get behind, thus my tracks ballot had only: four M83 songs, "Hot N Cold" and one forlorn Jesu "alternate version". But two of those in the top 50 so far, and if Kim & Jessie got 142.5 points, I'm betting at least Graveyard Girl is still to come. And Couleurs?!

yeah i think dan's right btw - her voice isn't shrill

c) are having such a visceral reaction to other elements in the song that you dislike that you've completely forgotten what Estelle actually sounds like.

^^^^^^

is it just 'weak'? it kinda breaks on high notes. personally i find it a bit endearing and at least she's got character.

I can't believe "Got Money" made this list. I would never have guessed that song had pop crit appeal

yeah i know rite

Yeah, it's the way it breaks on the high notes, in addition to the nasal "jazz"-isms that really just fucks with my head.

Didn't you say you liked the Estelle album though? Is it just her voice on that particular song that bothers you?

Estelle's voice definitely sounds "weak" compared to most other pop singers because she isn't pressing or belting; it's basically the exact opposite of what Duffy does. (Also, as pointed out, there seem to be some range things going on there, too.)

xxp: Right. I do like most of Estelle's other stuff, but not to a great degree. It's just this song in particular that hurls me over the edge.

― The Reverend (rev), Thursday, February 5, 2009 10:23 AM Bookmark

again any destroyer fan who hasnt heard "no cease fires" should do so

Dan, do you mean range things going on with Estelle or range things going on with Duffy?

(xpost to myself) RONG THREAD

I can't believe "Got Money" made this list. I would never have guessed that song had pop crit appeal

― The eMo City Don (surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally)

wat, t-pain and weezy are beloved by ILM, i would have been shocked if it hadn't placed

yeah but there are tons of T-Wayne songs I would've thought much more likely to place than "Got Money"

Dan, do you mean range things going on with Estelle or range things going on with Duffy?

I mean with Estelle and was implying some problems; the best thing Duffy does on "Mercy" is switch out of her pressed voice into head voice on that high note, something Estelle wouldn't have to do because her entire song sounds like it was sung in head voice.

yeah that is annoying generally (see also Sway's love of the Union Flag)

American vocalists often drop in parochial references that have minimal relevance to most people outside the US. Most Americans are unaware that the world does not actually revolve around the cultural minutiae of their country, so don't notice this.

;)

lol

I don't actually like American Boy that much and wouldn't be particularly bothered if it didn't make the list at all.

Williams Blood, on the other hand, is brilliant.

I think "AB" is pleasant enough but I don't really see why it was a massive, inescapable hit unless there's a previously-untapped "lol Kanye said 'RUBBISH!'" market out there.

17 - Kanye West - Love Lockdown
144 points, 12 votes
9 in P&J, 39 in p4k

"Love Lockdown" is the best piece of pop I've heard since "Umbrella" or maybe "Piece of Me". I have no idea if it'll break big, but I've been singing it pretty much nonstop for five days now (albeit asking filling in all kinds of strange and generally lewd things for "love").
― Euler

"Love Lockdown" is kind of great, both on its own merits with its naval-gazing minimalist construction merged with the drumming breaks, and when placed next to everything else on the pop charts at the moment. It is certainly the most unique-sounding hit on the countdown at the moment.
- HI DERE

speak of the devil...

American vocalists often drop in parochial references that have minimal relevance to most people outside the US. Most Americans are unaware that the world does not actually revolve around the cultural minutiae of their country, so don't notice this.

― Holy Suffering Gobi Desert Clit Nun (Matt DC), Thursday, February 5, 2009 10:50 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Naw, I'm always down for some local color, but the way they take so much pain to play up her Britishness in a song that was aimed at breaking her to an American audience annoys. The UK-specific references play as exotification in a way they wouldn't in something like "1980". Once again, I realize this is as much Kanye's fault as Estelle's.

Yeah, "lol Kanye said 'RUBBISH!'" is basically it.

the "love lockdown" outro is the best part of the song

"you looooooose" is totally what tips the song from OK to bad for me

uh, I'm a moron & forgot to vote in this, but: awesome job & great thread!

Machine Gun top ten or not?

― Frank Sumatra (NickB), Thursday, February 5, 2009 12:22 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

top 5, I'd guess. Maybe even top 3, somewhere in very close proximity to "A Milli."

Rev, do you hate nasality in vocalization in general or is this just a specific instance of that? (lol, Beach Boys h8eration to thread.)

I wouldn't say in all instances, but more often than not and more often in singers who are not naturally nasal than those who are. I also wouldn't think of the Beach Boys as nasal really. My objection to them is more "cherubic glee club vocals".

Woah - 'Love Lockdown' is some kind of wonderful. Why wasn't I aware of this already?

Do you not read this site?

ok. just asking cause the predominance of nasal vocals was probably the central reason for my inability to get with old-timey country music once upon an age, fwtw. so, yeah, i can see where that might be a problem for you. but don't really see how it applies to Estelle's singing on "American Boy." is she irritating? sure. shrill? i say thee nay. i like it.

or listen to the radio? xp

wot planet u on?

xps

Yeah yeah, I know. My loss.

Now I'm scared to say anything for fearing of showing myself up even more, but here's something subcontinental about it, is there not?

Dude, don't worry about it. We're a forgiving bunch unless you drown someone.

Don't feel bad - I've heard maybe five or six of the big chart hits of 2008. My clock radio only gets good reception on oldies stations and I just never think to go out of my way to check out stuff, even though obv. I like pop pretty well!

16 - Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
144.5 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote
12 in P&J, 3 in p4k

I still can't figure out precisely (linguistically) what it is that underlying 8-bit synth glide in 'Ready For The Floor' does to me, but it feels quite awesome.
-William Bloody Swygart

Heh, practically the only ones I've heard so far are ones that I actually voted for xp - which makes this poll a far more interesting and enriching experience, obviously.

About 'Love Lockdown' though, what is it that I'm picking up to make me think of Indian music? Is it just the drum pattern, or is it the bass sounding like a tabla, or is it something else entirely?

I didn't think much of 'Ready for the Floor' when I first heard it - much as I'd like to like Hot Chip, there's often a kind of archness about them that I find quite offputting, this seeming like a prime example. But now I find it quite sweet and sincere. Maybe it's just the lack of effects on the vocals. I really like the video too

The problem with Hot Chip is that for archness to work you have to actually be clever.

Well, one of their problems.

it sounds too brittle for me (and not in a good way).

That, too. For a group that seems intent on making beat music, they seem to have a remarkable lack of... beats.

Sorry if it seems like I'm just negging on everything in this thread, btw. Most of the songs I haven't commented on are crazy awesome.

I'm amazed people like this enough for it to place so high (on this and other year-end polls). I can't get through the first minute.

Back to Erykah Badu (no.24 or thereabouts) - this was the last thing I had on last night, just once, and it sounded amazing. Today I can't see what the fuss was about. Actually, that's not fair, it's very haunting and I do like it, but it could virtually be a Kate Bush tune (I'm thinking something off The Dreaming, maybe 'Leave it Open'). No bad thing, but I find it strange that it should be so exalted

not to be a dick but it takes a special kind of white person to make a beat as inept as the one in 'ready for the floor.'

^It's a great song but probably needs to be heard in context of whole album

xp

looooooooool

xpost

loool CAD

haha xp

yeah I love Erykah/New Amerykah/"The Healer" but I never did get why everyone is SO crazy for that particular song (it won the 'best song on new amerykah' poll by a large margin) as opposed to, say, "Soldier" or "That Hump"...

"ready for the floor" is a really sweet song - "you're my number one guy/ number one guy/ number number one one one one guuuyyyyy"

There was a time in very early 2008 when Ready For The Floor felt like a genuine pop moment, in the the UK at least. It went top three over here, there were stories that Kylie tried to get it for her album. Those moments when an oddball band suddenly go from indie/hipster concern to actual High Street disco-friendly pop are still comparatively rare. I still wish it had actually gone to Number One because the last minute or so would have been perfect at the end of chart rundown shows.

Of course, then other ILM hobbyhorses like Wiley and Dizzee Rascal and MIA all had massive hits, and it stopped looking like such a novelty. I still love the song though, and its clunkiness works in its favour like a lot of the best Hot Chip songs. When they don't work, however, they can be awful, but the feeling that they're stumbling across great pop as much by accident as design, that the wheels could just come off at any point, comedy clown car style, is part of their appeal.

15 - MGMT - Electric Feel
151 points, 12 votes
(2 votes, 27.5 points for Aeroplane Remix)
18 in P&J

Aeroplane Remix

"electric feel" reminds me of something from the first two PRINCE albums, but with more production. I love when it comes on in the car.
― nicky lo-fi

electric feel is the type of song prince would have written for the family (screams of passion) or shiela e or someone in the mid 80s.
― titchyschneiderMk2

btw idk how you guys are tripping off the beat - it's got a great bounce to it

and yeah it's a great pop song, the vocals are what make it anyway

"electric feel" = awesome. I don't really get their other songs but thats a great one.

The bounce is more in the synths and the bass than the beat though, they're what carry the song, the beat is almost an afterthought.

(Sorry, I'm still on Hot Chip, meh to MGMT. Although the Aeroplane remix of Electric Feel is great, just transforms it texturally and harmonically).

well i guess i consider the synth and bass part of the 'beat' - but yeah i mean the synth pattern that comes in a minute in or whatever and powers the whole song

MehGMT

I still think Electric Feel is amazing. Shame about most of the album.

"electric feel" is a great disco ballad, str8 up

and yeah it's a great pop song, the vocals are what make it anyway

― your infinity in you is mad lifted (J0rdan S.), Thursday, February 5, 2009 1:15 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't like the vocals either tho. :-/ Dude sounds so meek. I guess one thing about the two Hot Chip songs I've heard that I do like ("Playboy and "Shake a Fist") is that he parlays this meekness into sounding kind of spooked.

yeah the meekness is the point and the attraction though - i mean the vocals are supposed to sound soft and vulnerable. i couldn't really imagine a more 'strong' voice singing hot chip songs

he's no Jonathan Richman.

man i had not taken MGMT seriously but both the songs that placed in the poll totally rule.

"Electric Feel" still sounds like an outtake from Midnite Vultures to me. I understand the Prince touchstones, but it doesn't swing at all.

but it doesn't swing at all

Yes, exactly. 'Electric Feel' is really plodding and crude-sounding. I can't stand the singer's manner either, or maybe I just don't like his face.

what does 'swinging' have to do with it - it's obviously supposed to move vertically not horizontally

by which i mean that i think it's supposed to be a lighters up anthem with a great bassline not some like sweaty dance workout

"Electric Feel" is the least of the three singles to come from the album, but still cool...I guess. "Kids" is my favorite of the three, though, so what the hell do I know.

yeah i guess i don't think electric feel is trying to swing and i think hot chip is.

man i had not taken MGMT seriously but both the songs that placed in the poll totally rule

yeah, me too

maybe I just don't like his face

im going to use this as my defense as much as possible from now on.

"why don't you like joy division???"
"maybe i just don't like his face...ever think of that?"

also, agree that electric feel doesn't swing, ergo is somewhat useless. time to pretend was my no 1, and i don't think i picked any other mgmt tunes.

the vocals are supposed to sound soft and vulnerable (re. Hot Chip)

That's as may be, but to me it's more feeble and wimpy. I can't stand the beat either (as previously referred to). I keep thinking the proper beat is going to come in, but it doesn't. Not that I want some great big dance beat to come in, but something a bit more solid.

what does 'swinging' have to do with it - it's obviously supposed to move vertically not horizontally

I guess the way it's constructed is intentional but I just don't like the rhythmic effect. It sounds leaden too me. No bounce.

yeah i guess how it could be seen as leaden, but i think that just means your misconstruing the intent of the song. like i said i think it's basically a ballad - you don't dance to ballads. unless you're slow dancing, and i think you could slow dance to "electric feel"

also i think the bassline is pretty bouncy

It doesn't come across as a ballad (not the song but the arrangement). It's got this big heavy downbeat, 4 beats to the bar feel to it, which is what I don't like.

good for walking and high-fivin

Isn't "Electric Feel" around 100 bpm? A bit fast for a ballad, and the drums almost play a march. Beck doing "Road To Nowhere".

14 - Aeroplane feat. Kathy Diamond - Whispers
158 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 vote
240 in P&J, 31 in p4k

What I love about them as original producers - the sense that on every single occasion they're consciously trying to make the most enjoyable record imaginable. And their ability to mix pop-disco and e-transcendence and that sense of wide-eyed wonder without ever really coming over as twee or cloying or annoying. Whispers is my favourite single of this year by several light years.
-Matt DC

Wow! I'd never heard that Aeroplane track. Really, really good. Well done everybody else!

best song on the list so far

that's very good. Lovely-looking video as well

Hadn't heard this before tonight, may well have voted for it if I had. Based on their remixes for Friendly Fires and Grace Jones and this I think they'll have one of the albums of 2009 when it's released in the Autumn.

It's got this big heavy downbeat, 4 beats to the bar feel to it, which is what I don't like.

― dubmill, Thursday, February 5, 2009 1:59 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Sry for pedantry, but most of the song is in 6/4 time.

That was my #1 - I thought it might actually sneak into the Top 10 if the right people voted it high enough, but 14 isn't too bad at all :)

(Got a feeling the Friendly Fires song might be propelled quite high by a combination of original votes and remix votes, people seemed to keep nominating the remix at any rate)

Not so nuts about the Aeroplane there, the vox don't do a lot for me. She's no Roisin Murphy is she?

Well no she's not on Roisin's level, but she's a pretty good vocalist... you should check out her album Miss Diamond To You lots of great production by Maurice Fulton.

That version of Whispers isn't quite as good as the full six minute version but it gets the point across. Is that the real video? It works really well anyway.

I still need to hear that Kathy Diamond album.

Matt tell me you've at least heard her "I Need You"...

Sry for pedantry, but most of the song is in 6/4 time

As soon as I posted about '4 beats to the bar' I knew you would pick up on that. But you know what I meant. Also, if you listen to the drums, what they play is indistinguishable from a 4/4 pattern. But yes, I SHOULD have said It's got this big heavy downbeat, 6 beats to the bar feel to it, which is what I don't like.

Tim, probably, we saw her play at Glastonbury. Unfortunately it was at 11am in the Guardian Lounge and most people were sitting in armchairs, hungover, reading the paper and drinking tea, so probably not the ideal setting.

wow hadn't heard Whispers before. this is great.

13 - Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
161.5 points, 16 votes
64 in P&J, 7 in p4k

It shouldn't work, but it does. A maximalist masterpiece: synth stabs; nice arpeggios; "It Takes Two"-ish samples; trance builds; cheesy sax; New Order high-octave bass outro. All it's missing is a hip-house verse warning of the dangers of actually setting your heart on fire.
― Shane Black-Macken

idgi

I love that one as well - it threatened to be overplayed all summer but never actually got there.

hooray for aeroplane! although i think the cosmic jam remix of grace jones is better than theirs by some distance

My favorite track on the Miss Diamond To You album is "Between the Lines". The multitracked vocals in the
chorus get me every time.

i have another aeroplane as my number 1.

kathy diamond's vocals seems to really divide people. i think she compliments both aeroplane and maurice fulton's music very well.

I'm disappointed by that one (Cut Copy). The repeated line is such a cop-out - there are a couple of verses already, why not go for it a little bit more and turn it into a proper song? It's not manic or hypnotic enough to bear that amount of repetition. As it stands I'm switching off midway through, when it's a nice-sounding thing and deserves better

geez, seems = seem and compliment = complement

are we going to see the top 10 today?

Whoah, can't believe Kim & Jessie didn't finish top ten!

As soon as I posted about '4 beats to the bar' I knew you would pick up on that. But you know what I meant. Also, if you listen to the drums, what they play is indistinguishable from a 4/4 pattern. But yes, I SHOULD have said It's got this big heavy downbeat, 6 beats to the bar feel to it, which is what I don't like.

Suggest Ban Permalink
― dubmill, Thursday, February 5, 2009 3:17 PM Bookmark

I should have added an "I feel you tho" to my pedantry

no, top 10 is tomorrow, we'll get up to 11 today

that Aeroplane is A++ thank u all for voting it I needed to hear that

hearts on fire is the jam of all jams

it was cemented as my fav song from the album for a while but last night i thought that maybe "so haunted" is better

not a single vote for the hercules and love affair remix of "whispers" is interesting/perplexing. maybe it just wasn't nominated.

i think it's hard to beat the original, to be honest

Just checking back, that was my number 2 song, so I think I did my part to get it up there. Anyone know if that is an official video?

12 - Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
171.5 points, 15 votes
6 in P&J, 4 in p4k

Holy shit is that "LES Artistes" song amazing. I don't hear M.I.A. there (more like a kind of recent Nelly Furtado over indie rock on that one); but I haven't heard any other Santogold songs yet. I can't stop playing "LES Artistes," though. It's just huge.
― Ben Boyerrr

x-post: With gukbe on this one: the H&LA remix is fantastic but the original of "Whispers" is sublime, and it would have been odd voting for both.

lower than expected?

that grace jones track is good, i've been meaning to track down that album.

also, youtube embeds are a great addition to these threads. how did we live without them?

L.E.S. Artistes was well lower than I expected. Should have guessed what with Lights Out not getting a shout, but I am surprised.

i heard the "whispers" remix before the original and that is what hooked me. i like the original, but the remix is more fun to play around with in a dj mix imo.

the youtube embeds really are a great addition.

yeah, without them i would have just thought "hey, a list i should check out (but most probably never will" and now i am actually spending time listening and enjoying and making an effort to actually get into this stuff.

yeah echoing youtube love over here

The Aeroplane Grace Jones and MGMT remixes are dope too. Will have to seek out more Aeroplane.

friendly fires remix to come as well then, obviously. It really has been the year of Aeroplane.

for some reason I'd managed to avoid hearing of them even tho I've been into quite a bit of similar stuff this year

before I post the last one for today, just something interesting about the top 10. In the past couple of years, this has been the 1-2 point breakdown:

2007

1. Rihanna - Umbrella (334 points)
2. Battles - Atlas (280 points)

2006

1. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (240 points)
2. T.I. - What You Know (172.5 points)

Generally the first place song has beat the second place song by a significant margin. This year, however, the breakdown is:

1. 322.5
2. 314

A few other funky things are goin on with the top 10 but you'll find out about them tomorrow.

2. Battles - Atlas (280 points)

LOL.

what about it?

srsly i was thinking this year wasn't that great but i'm really loving most of this list.

also lol i voted for both the original and aeroplane remix of Friendly Fires - really couldn't decide which one I liked more. I know most people prefers the remix (dreamy vocals, more bliss-out disco) but the original has that sublime breakdown at the end. I hope it does make it on the list but maybe everyone used up their aeroplane votes for the three that are already on here.

Aeroplane were responsible for so many of my favourite tracks this year I didn't think twice re-using them. 8 of my list have already turned up. I'm pretty sure there is now way 8 of my other choices would be in the top 11, which leaves a possible 4 left.

re-using Aeroplane, not the same track several times, obv

I think Brainwasher is lolling at the fact that something that isn't powder-puff R&B/dancepop/chartfluff actually made it into the top 2 tbh

oh wait this is no-hatin' 09, shi-

last one for tonight:

11 - Portishead - Machine Gun
173 points, 16 votes, 1 #1 vote
11 in P&J, 9 in p4k

Machine Gun is the logical endpoint of their obsession with juxtaposing human frailty with mechanical coldness...The juxtaposition of the drums and the achingly pretty, almost folksy melody in Machine Gun is what makes it work so brilliantly.
- chap

The bit in the middle of Machine Gun when the sub-bass comes in, before the 80s synths, is spine-tingling - not sure if it'll really pick up on a video stream though. I love how inhuman it all sounds.
― Matt DC

wau

lower than expected?

Machine Gun top ten or not?

― Frank Sumatra (NickB), Thursday, February 5, 2009 12:22 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

top 5, I'd guess. Maybe even top 3, somewhere in very close proximity to "A Milli."

― Ricky Apples (Pillbox), Thursday, February 5, 2009 11:13 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

The year's most popular non-powder-puff R&B/dancepop/chartfluff song nicely tucked away at 11 there, clearing the way for yet another Poptimist Procession :)

(please let me be wrong)

I think "Machine Gun", "Closer", and "Bongo Jam" are my only votes that have shown up.

god forbid anyone like anything populist LJ

Haha! I know, 'tis the way of the world. It'd just be nice to see a bit more recognition for other types of music in these polls.

I think "Machine Gun" did quite well in my own ballot fwiw

Blind, Happy House, A Milli FITE

+ time to pretend, paper planes

"Put On"? Not sure if anyone outside ringtone crew was hugely into that. Too bad we couldn't launch "Rollin'" into the top 50. :-/

oh, "American Boy" will be top 10 obv *shrug*

oh right. i thought it was already listed cause of all the talk upthread.

nah, someone mentioned it and I kinda went off :-/

yeah i noticed. it was my number 2 btw. XD

I haet u.

Or at least you've gone from a <3 to a <2.

;_;

no, nothing against those that like the song XD

lol rev u are having a tough night homie

I know, right?

lower than expected?

Machine Gun top ten or not?

― Frank Sumatra (NickB), Thursday, February 5, 2009 12:22 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

top 5, I'd guess. Maybe even top 3, somewhere in very close proximity to "A Milli."

― Ricky Apples (Pillbox), Thursday, February 5, 2009 11:13 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

― lil waynes babymama (musically), Thursday, February 5, 2009 9:05 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

ack. shows what I know. It must've been that the "Machine Gun" love contingent on ILX was especially vocal. Great song, whatever the case.

I'm sure the album will be top 5 tho.

Does anybody know if Lily Allen's "The Fear" was nominated? The "nominations" thread is making my browser crash, as soon as I open it... Anyway, I didn't get to vote this time but "The Fear" would've been my # 1.

2009 singles weren't eligible, so no.

Always makes me think of Best acronym in "F.E.A.R." by Ian Brown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fear_(song)

Released December 9, 2008

???

OK, nevermind. That's wrong.

i just checked and it doesnt seem to be in the noms thread. i quite like "chinese" fwiw. bump lily's thread

The Fear was released digitally in December, released in physical form in January.

put on should be top 10...

holding out some hope for "love story" in the top 10, but i really have no idea how broad the taylor swift appreciation is in the electorate.

(but if it's not on the list at all, jeeeeez)

I got into the Taylor Swift album like days after sending in my ballot :(

I voted for "Love Story," for what it's worth.