2017 end of the year lists

thanks for that songexploder, i had been wondering about the story behind deathless

xps kitten rule

james holden record is super good

cool list from Stranded Records, gotta check out that new Bill Orcutt and the Alan Vega

https://www.strandedrecords.com/collections/stranded-favorites?mc_cid=25b6891673&mc_eid=4d62f33c41

i'm no War On Drugs super-fan, but maura piqued my interest in Kitten ... what album is a good starting point with them?

they have one album iirc. in terms of '80s pastiche they mainly survey dance pop and freestyle (sorta); they're simultaneously an early '90s britpop pastiche

one of the coolest bands going imo

they have a similar identity crisis to wolf alice but the poles they travel between are more interesting (for me) (wolf alice is great don't get me wrong)

I'm not surprised that it's not been mentioned anywhere given their career arc, but this year's Cut Copy record was really really good. I had totally given up on them.

― evol j

Yeah, I thought this album was really great too. I still don't know how In Ghost Colours seemed to pass all the critics by (excluding Pitchfork) back in 2008. I would have thought they had all the right ingredients to get there. Same goes for The Juan Maclean's last couple of albums.

I liked some of the stuff off that ambient tape they put out last year

January tape

Holden album largely does keep it up! A few tracks are a little more noodly/aimless than others but largely a very good job I'd say

I fell down a Shabazz Palaces rabbit hole and am super, super happy about it

https://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/article/434wnb/noisey-100-best-songs-of-2017

Say what you will about noisey/vice but imo they made some great choices in their top five (that alex g song in particular is a total heartbreaker and it's definitely making my ilx ballot)

xp
Tendai Marare (of SP) produced one of my favorite albums this year: Pierre Kwenders "MAKANDA"
I should really start a thread for it, but I have a hard time describing it: sunny, groovy, multilingual afropop but with some of that SP heaviness

Say what you will about noisey/vice but imo they made some great choices in their top five (that alex g song in particular is a total heartbreaker and it's definitely making my ilx ballot)

― josh az (2011nostalgia), Thursday, December 7, 2017 4:55 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wow, Cardi B and Lil Uzi Vert, color me impressed

I don't get why everyone is THAT into Cardi B. Like, that song is okay? I don't turn it off when it comes on the radio but I don't actively seek it out.

people love cardi b the person and love that her song became such a massive hit

ah, okay, that's fair enough

it's her best bars up to motorsport imo but ymmv

also crucial:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BY7OpSMAJ_n/

japandroids in the top 25! so radical, wow

“crew” at no. 2 is admittedly otm

Say what you will about noisey/vice but imo they made some great choices in their top five (that alex g song in particular is a total heartbreaker and it's definitely making my ilx ballot)

― josh az (2011nostalgia), Thursday, December 7, 2017 1:55 PM (two hours ago)

this made me go to the Noisey list to see what Alex G song they chose, and happily, they chose the right one. i feel like i've seen several songs from Rocket on these lists - like he's splitting the votes - but imo, Bobby is by far the best song on that album. it's top 5 of '17 for me.

Personally I love Sportscar the best but Bobby is great. I perdormed it live in one of my bars a month ago! Sang second female voice in the chorus and played the violin part on guitar. It’s a fun song to cover.

That song reminds me of Lullaby for the Working Class

japandroids in a top 25 in 2017 *is* kind of radical in a sense

yeah, i kinda agree w/ this ^^ they seem like they're from another era at this point (and i like them)

maybe they just liked the song? it's fantastic and made my 2016 ballot

oh yeah what if the song is just fantastic

haha, well of course eoy lists are primarily ideological battlefields

I don't ever particularly care for the Japandroids, but that is one great song

lmao brad

Upgrading the James Holden album to 'fucking awesome'

http://afropop.org/articles/stocking-stuffers-2017-feature

Davido, Mokoomba, Trio Da Kali, Orchesta Baobab and more. Mostly old-school funky but also some new programmed beats pop/r’n’b types

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/various-artists-afrobeat-hot-hits-new-urban-dance-grooves-from-africa/

This comp is on the Afropop list. Might not be as good as the list one could make by going through the YouTube videos on the Afrobeats/Afropop list, but still nice

I meant the videos on the ilx afrobeats thread

Just what is going on here?

23.
82
Cry Cry Cry
Wolf Parade
User: 7.7
Oct 6, 2017
24.
81
Visions of a Life
Wolf Alice
User: 7.8
Sep 29, 2017
25.
81
Hiss Spun
Chelsea Wolfe
User: 7.3
Sep 22, 2017

http://www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/90day/filtered

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL

Raven Sings The Blues - Best Albums
http://www.ravensingstheblues.com/rstb-best-of-2017/

I'll be checking some of these for sure for I can't believe someone is still doing text in jpeg form in 2017

not sure I understand the advantage of that approach?

Such a great blog. Along with The Finest Kiss, it turned me onto the likes of RVG, Century Palm, Cable Ties, etc. Looks like I'll need to reconsider Rat Columns and ORB. I liked them, but have been neglected in favor of other stuff.

Fester's Lucky 13: 2017 Year-End Summary
http://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-17/

Ooh nice, that Business of Dreams album is really enjoyable, "aural comfort food" captures it. And the new Bats album is worth spending some time with, I played it with passing interest for a long time and am just lately noticing how strong it is, last four songs especially.

Also Circuit Des Yeux is A++.

Combined Allmusic list:

Aimee Mann - Mental Illness
Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin - Telemann: Concerti per molti stromenti
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Alvvays - Antisocialites
Angaleena Presley - Wrangled
Ann Hallenberg / Il Pomo d'Oro - Carnevale 1729
Arca - Arca
Benjamin Booker - Witness
Björk - Utopia
Bunbury - Expectativas
Cantica Symphonia / La Compagnia del Madrigale / Giuseppe Maletto / Ensemble La Pifarescha - Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Circuit des Yeux - Reaching for Indigo
The Clientele - Music for the Age of Miracles
Colleen - A Flame My Love, A Frequency
Converge - The Dusk in Us
Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Dreams and Daggers
Depeche Mode - Spirit
Downtown Boys - Cost of Living
EMA - Exile in the Outer Ring
EX EYE - EX EYE
Fever Ray - Plunge
Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up
François-Xavier Roth / Les Siècles - Maurice Ravel: Daphnis & Chloé, Complete Ballet
Fred Thomas - Changer
Gas - Narkopop
Girl Ray - Earl Grey
Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Navigator
Idles - Brutalism
Jane Weaver - Modern Kosmology
JD McPherson - Undivided Heart & Soul
Jlin - Black Origami
Juana Molina - Halo
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Kid
Kehlani - SweetSexySavage
Kelela - Take Me Apart
Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
King Krule - The Ooz
Kip Moore - Slowheart
La Santa Cecilia - Amar y Vivir
Laura Marling - Semper Femina
LCD Soundsystem - American Dream
Lorde - Melodrama
Lost Horizons - Ojalá
Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Max Richter - Max Richter: Three Worlds – Music from Woolf Works
The Moonlandingz - Interplanetary Class Classics
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
Nicole Atkins - Goodnight Rhonda Lee
Nicole Mitchell - Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds
Omni - Multi-Task
Paramore - After Laughter
Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent
Randy Newman - Dark Matter
Riccardo Muti / Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Robert Plant - Carry Fire
Roscoe Mitchell - Bells for the South Side
Sacred Paws - Strike a Match
Sampha - Process
Sheer Mag - Need to Feel Your Love
Sherwood & Pinch - Man vs. Sofa
St. Vincent - Masseduction
Susanne Sundfør - Music for People in Trouble
SZA - Ctrl
Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy
Vijay Iyer Sextet - Far from Over
Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory
Whitney Rose - Rule 62
Zara McFarlane - Arise

https://www.allmusic.com/year-in-review/2017/allmusic-best-of-2017

No list is complete it without Julie Byrne

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-UXtbT0TkY

That RSTB list looks like an excellent repository of stuff that won't be on other lists, ty

It always is each year. One of the few original mp3 blogs that is still going and is always worth a read. I think that and Said the Gramophone’s are my two favorite EOY lists from a blog. Glad they’re still going on after 10+ years.

Btw fastnbulbous that is one insanely detailed list for one person! Love that you made genre lists, I don’t think I even know what genres I’m listening to most of the time.

idk if the "pivot to video" now includes lists, but it seems that Pitchfork's Top 10 songs are contained in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR7P_nS9twI

10 Charli XCX "Boys"
9 Kelela "Frontline"
8 Future "Mask Off"
7 King Krule "Dum Surfer"
6 Frank Ocean "Chanel"
5 Lil Uzi Vert "XO Tour Llif3"
4 SZA "Love Galore feat. Travis Scott"
3 Lorde "Green Light"
2 Kendrick Lamar "D.N.A."
1 Cardi B "Bodak Yellow"

i forgot about 'boys'