2017: A Year in Music
2017: the year that felt like a decade. That felt true in
life as it did in music. For the stories that we shared, most specifically,
that of our current president and the myriad things that he has done which have
changed the complexion of the modern world and made time seem to dilate, there
is little that I can say that would add to the conversation. It was there. We
have had to live through it. But it is decidedly relevant in terms of music
that was made, and how we perceived it, and how it shaped us.
For me, personally, there was life: a seemingly endless winter, heartbreak, an ethereal, lovely spring, a dry, desperate summer and the smoke of the world seeming to burn around us, recovery, rehabilitation, a new house, a new car, a new job, a new life. These all changed me, how I listened, how I experienced.
It is also worth noting how and why I consumed music this year - whereas in 2014/2015 I spent a lot of time and effort trying to leave how to DJ and curating playlists for NYC, this year I spent much of my resources seeking out world music to flesh out the sounds of a little bar in Seattle. That aesthetic direction has some influence over how this list ended up and what I actually made it to this year.
2017 feels like the year where the word got too big, moved too quick. Consensus is gone. The world is fragmented, isolated. There is more and more and more. Generally, it is great. But it is hard to not feel, at least at times, overwhelmed. And this is life now.
For me, personally, there was life: a seemingly endless winter, heartbreak, an ethereal, lovely spring, a dry, desperate summer and the smoke of the world seeming to burn around us, recovery, rehabilitation, a new house, a new car, a new job, a new life. These all changed me, how I listened, how I experienced.
It is also worth noting how and why I consumed music this year - whereas in 2014/2015 I spent a lot of time and effort trying to leave how to DJ and curating playlists for NYC, this year I spent much of my resources seeking out world music to flesh out the sounds of a little bar in Seattle. That aesthetic direction has some influence over how this list ended up and what I actually made it to this year.
2017 feels like the year where the word got too big, moved too quick. Consensus is gone. The world is fragmented, isolated. There is more and more and more. Generally, it is great. But it is hard to not feel, at least at times, overwhelmed. And this is life now.
So this is my list of stuff that made it through all the
noise, that made an impact on me this year.
Rock & Roll can change the world. If you are nice to people.
Rock & Roll can change the world. If you are nice to people.
Algiers – The Underside of Power
I first heard Algiers after a Friday night shift, lying in
bed with headphones on, scrolling through new releases. It was a rare moment
with music, where I was immediately rapt; it felt like a revelation. Six months
later, it still feels new, relevant, important. In a year where political discourse
is inescapable, where the world is increasingly global, where influences smash together
to point to the future, there is this record. When I hear Walk Like a Panther,
the screaming, distorted vocals give me goosebumps. When I hear this album, I
feel like it should be at the center of the conversation. And so it is at the
top of my list.
Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory
It is my opinion that Vince Staples is the future of hip hop
if not the future of music. He is pushing himself as an artist and he is a
singular and relevant voice. His second full-length is an essential listen, a
step forward, a raging ball of energy.
Kendrick Lamar – Damn. (Collector’s Edition)
Damn. Is obviously the best record of the year – it is the
only remaining consensus pick in a year utterly devoid of consensus. Similarly,
Kendrick has long been one of, if not the single greatest talents, in all of music,
this being his follow-up to his last consensus album of the year. Throughout, I
have admired him, but rarely connected with his work. For me, Damn. Is Kendrick
at his most accessible – and at his best. It is best listened to in the
recently released ‘collector’s edition’.
Gorillaz – Humanz
Humanz is, in a way, The Last Jedi of albums. It is the
sound of an established artist pushing the boundaries and polarizing the fan
base. Humanz was conceived as a party record for the end of the world. It is,
perhaps, messy, unrefined, but quite like other maximilists whose work I love
and admire – see also: Kanye West – Humanz is overflowing with ideas and
generosity. The production from Twilite Tone is some of the best of the year.
It is fun and serious, contemplative and forward-looking. An underappreciated
gem.
The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
A Deeper Understanding is the best album yet from the War on
Drugs. It is Adam Granduciel grappling with his humanity, with purpose and
existence, but wrapped up in a warm hug of Springsteenian reverb & throaty
mumble-singing and epic, swooning guitar solos. It is the bedroom anthem rock
we needed in 2017.
The National – Sleep Well Beast
The Dessner’s did their best to make a The National make a
Radiohead record record and Matt
Berninger slapped his everyday humanity and contemporary acumen all over the
top of it to make a haunting, beautiful record that stands out even amongst their
already prolific body of similar work.
St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION
(Mass/seduction) One of the world’s greatest living
guitarist suppressing her strengths to find something new. My favorite St. Vincent
is Strange Mercy/John Congleton St. Vincent. Some of her over-the-top meta-performance
art antics have lost me in recent years. Here, her vulnerability has pushed her
to new and different heights. She strips bare her own towering aesthetic and
finds something new through it all, disguising her most recent masterwork with
a thin veneer of bubblegum pop.
Valerie June – The Order of Time
The greatest hits of Americana, the rollicking south, soul
and blues all smashed together through the eyes of one of America’s most
distinct voices. It feels epic and timeless from the first track.
Feist – Pleasure
Feist has been one of music’s most casual geniuses over the
last decade and a half, cranking out great albums every few years with little bombast,
establishing herself more as an institution than an event. Pleasure is no
different. Quite like St. Vincent on this list, Pleasure sees Feist at a moment
of vulnerability, which she embraces and stares right back into the face of.
Pleasure is a raw, rough record full of pain and emotion. Feist stares into the
abyss, and demands that it smile back.
Perfume Genius – No Shape
Slip Away, one of the year’s great tracks, has a drama,
theatricality, and weight to it that reverberates throughout the record. It is
an album that uses texture and dynamics to perfectly support its weighty
material considering love and identity in a changing world. A perfect marriage
of content and production work.
Walter Martin – My Kinda Music
I will sneak My Kinda Music in as the eleventh pick so as to
avoid being guilty of anointing every Walter Martin album as a top ten album,
but it deserves to be called out as one of the greatest and most exuberant
albums of the year. Walter Martin is a true delight and his music makes my days
brighter and the world a better place. My Kinda Music, his third solo release,
continues his tradition of joyous, funny, fun songs with levity and kindness.
More things:
Jlin – Black Origami
Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors
The XX – I See You
Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
Spoon – Hot Thoughts
Rostam – Half-Light
Sylvan Esso – What Now
Josh Ritter – Gathering
Margo Price – All American Made
Lee Ann Womack – The Lonely, The
Lonesome, & the Gone
Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
Lorde – Melodrama
SZA - Control
SZA - Control
Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me
Iron & Wine – Beast Epic
Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now
Hurray for the Riff Raff – The Navigator
Harry Styles – Harry Styles
Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder
Amber Coffman – City of No Reply
Manchester Orchestra – A Black Mile to the Surface
Vagabon – Infinite Worlds
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound
This is the Kit – Moonshine Freeze
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice
Oumou Sangaré – Mogoya
Sharon Jones – The Soul of A Woman
Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights
Juana Molina – Halo
From the Archives:
There were three standout re-recordings/anniversary editions that I would like to highlight from '17
Radiohead - OKNOTOK 20TH anniversary edition of OK Computer
A remastered edition of one of the great records of all time plus a small handful of never released songs from the OK Computer sessions plus some excellent B-sides make this the definitive edition of Radiohead's magnum opus.
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People 25th Anniversary
There is too much great music on Earth to really feel compelled by bonus live releases and demos except when it comes to an album where one of our great bands rediscovered themselves and found a different gear. Bonus: listen to the song exploder episode about try not to breathe
The Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th anniversary remix
The care put in to this remaster by Giles Martin adds depth and clarity to the album that defines what it means to be an album.
Soundtracks have gotten really good recently and Baby Driver was the year's standout winner.
Many of the artists on this list were featured on kexp or tiny desk concerts or song exploder. I would highly recommend them all.
My mixtape for the year:
