2017 end of the year lists

Oh I forgot about The Luminous Guitar Craft of Alameda Duo!! Thanks for the reminder.

From Marc Masters' Twitter:

Here's a thread of some 2017 records that maybe deserved more attention, in no particular order.

1) @woodenwand "Clipper Ship" on @3lobed
2) Jack Cooper "Sandgrown" on @trouble_in_mind
3) White Poppy "The Pink Haze of Love"
4) David First "Civil War Songs for Solo Harmonica" on @FabricaRecords
5) @florasninos "Incantations from Yin Valley" on @FortEvilFruit
6) World War "Soundsystem" on @HausuMountain
7) Lau Nau "Poseidon" on @beaconsound_pdx
8) Megabreth "Ultra High Noise" on @fieldhymns
9) Billington / Shippy / Wyche "Billington / Shippy / Wyche" on @astspiritsrec
10) Reese McHenry w/Spider Bags "Bad Girl" on @sophomorelounge
11) @mattjencik "Weird Times" on @hitd_records
12) @sofingusa "The Curfew Tower Recordings" on @CrowVersusCrow
13) Mark Feehan "M.F. II" on @TestosterTunes
14) @TALsounds "Love Sick" on @badabingrecords
15) Nate Scheible "Fairfax" on @weareACR
16) Ekin Fil "Inflame" on Helen Scarsdale
17) Manas "III" on @Feeding_Tube
18) Country Florist "Waveland" on @drwngrmrcs
19) Mazozma "Heavy Death Head" on @Feeding_Tube
20) Headroom "Head in the Clouds" on @trouble_in_mind
21) @RossWHammond and Jon Bafus "Masonic Lawn"
22) Kate Carr "The Story Surrounds Us" on Helen Scarsdale
23) Private Anarchy "Private Anarchy" on Round Bale
24) @LXV_audio "Inversion Method" on @PhineryTapes
25) @PlatesOfCake "Let's Not Deprive Each Other" on @UnblinkingEar

haven't listened to lau nau for years, will have to check that one

agreed

The Wire assigns genre-specific charts to individual writers for their year-end issue (the big top 50 is voted on by all the staff and contributors); they gave me the jazz list, so here it is:

1. Yazz Ahmed, La Saboteuse (Naim Audio)
2. Jaimie Branch, Fly Or Die (International Anthem)
3. Camilla George Quartet, Isang (Ubuntu Music)
4. Christian Scott, The Centennial Trilogy (Ropeadope)
5. Irreversible Entanglements, s/t (International Anthem)
6. Vijay Iyer Sextet, Far From Over (ECM)
7. Tyshawn Sorey, Verisimilitude (Pi)
8. Kamasi Washington, Harmony Of Difference (Young Turks)
9. Harriet Tubman, Araminta (Sunnyside)
10. JD Allen, Radio Flyer (Savant)

jazz ppl must be feeling a tiny bit of Vijay fatigue at this point, right?

I've never been much of a fan, honestly, despite having written a cover story about him. This is his best album IMO, and it's mostly because of the horn section and Tyshawn Sorey's drumming.

When I saw that Vijay Ayer had made your list, I immediately thought this might be one Ayer album I should check out. "Never much of a fan" is a bit of an understatement given some of your past comments about him.

Circle & Elder riding high in the Rolling Stone 20 best metal albums. Good work.

The Alameda Duo record is glorious. I don't know enough about Polish history or culture to say anything meaningful about the 'return to the pastoral' or the dredging of folk myths, but that's what seems to be going on with the Instant Classic stuff. And they have a song called 'The Grand Mixolydian Cunt Slip' which should win some sort of prize.

Is the Partner record in that Noisey list all as much of a blast as the first two songs?

Oh you're all talking about it in the dogs on skateboards thread. If they're that good, start threads on them!

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of both Alameda Duo and Zimpel Ziolek.

I haven't heard Far From Over yet but Iyer (and Mahanthappa) play on the Rez Abbasi album, which is great imo. I wouldn't say that I've really loved Iyer's own music in the past but I have enjoyed it, esp Tirtha and the version of "Galang" (which I prefer to the original).

Complex - Best Albums
http://www.complex.com/music/best-albums-2017/

1. Kendrick Lamar - Damn
2. Jay Z - 4:44
3. SZA - Ctrl
4. Future - HNDRXX
5. Sampha - Process
6. Tyler - the Creator - Flower Boy
7. Migos - Culture
8. Lil Uzi Vert - Luv Is Rage 2
9. Daniel Caesar - Freudian
10. Drake - More Life
11. Syd - Fin
12. Charli XCX - Number One Angel
13. Rapsody - Laila’s Wisdom
14. Vince Staples - The Big Fish Theory
15. Future - FUTURE
16. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - The Bigger Artist
17. Kelela - Take Me Apart
18. Joey Badass - All-Amerikkkan Badass
19. Calvin Harris - Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1
20. Rick Ross - Rather You Than Me
21. Kesha - Rainbow
22. Kodak Black - Painting Pictures
23. Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice
24. Gucci Mane and Metro Boomin - Droptopwop
25. 2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music
26. Taylor Swift - Reputation
27. G Perico - All Blue
28. GoldLink - At What Cost
29. Roc Marciano - Rosebudds Revenge
30. Thundercat - Drunk
31. Sonder - Into
32. ASAP Twelvyy - 12
33. Harry Styles - Harry Styles
34. Meek Mill - Wins & Losses
35. Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa
36. Aminé - Good for You
37. 21 Savage - Issa Album
38. John Mayer - The Search for Everything
39. Young Dolph - Thinking Out Loud
40. 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin - Without Warning
41. Smino - blkswn
42. Miguel - War And Leisure
43. J.I.D - The Never Story
44. Lorde - Melodrama
45. Cyhi The Prynce - No Dope On Sundays
46. Lana Del Rey - Lust for Life
47. Khalid - American Teen
48. Haim - Something to Tell You
49. Lil Pump - Lil Pump
50. Lil B - Black Ken

The Vinyl Factory - Top 50 Albums
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/best-albums-2017/

^ always some interesting stuff to be found on their lists imo

Apparently people really hated 'Beautiful Thugger Girls'.

vinyl factory list is great

Cool, lots of interesting-sounding things I’d missed there. That number one though...

crunchy green sea-vegetable wins music poll

Is the Partner record in that Noisey list all as much of a blast as the first two songs?

― Matt DC, Thursday, December 7, 2017 2:38 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh you're all talking about it in the dogs on skateboards thread. If they're that good, start threads on them!

― Matt DC, Thursday, December 7, 2017 2:40 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i thought about it! but it was hard to get people to talk about that record even in rolling threads

yes the Partner record is v good. more bands w/ a sense of humor, pls

Dutch magazine OOR, not terribly exciting though Mt. Eerie at #7 is quite a surprise

1. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
2. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
3. The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
4. Thundercat – Drunk
5. The xx – I See You
6. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism
7. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked At Me
8. Protomartyr – Relatives In Descent
9. The National – Sleep Well Beast
10. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory

Oranje Oriented Rock

AV Club List: https://www.avclub.com/the-a-v-club-s-20-best-albums-of-2017-1820857283

Plus the individual ballots (always more interesting): https://www.avclub.com/the-best-of-music-2017-the-ballots-1820658326

here's the full list (heavy on the indie, as you might imagine)

20. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream
19. Iron Chic - If You Can't Stay Here
18. The Horrors - V
17. Lorde - Melodrama
16. Charly Bliss - Guppy
15. Björk - Utopia
14. The National - Sleep Well Beast
13. Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
12. Sampha - Process
11. Pile - A Hairshirt of Purpose
10. Waxahatchee - Out In The Storm
9. Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory
8. Julien Baker - Turn Off The Lights
7. Fever Ray - Plunge
6. Priests - Nothing Feels Natural
5. SZA - Ctrl
4. Sylvan Esso - What Now
3. The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding
2. St. Vincent - Masseduction
1. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

I just wanted to mention that Vijay Iyer was my friend's tenant for a while (actually he still might be, I never asked if he moved out).

Someone's going to disappoint me by pointing out that the band Priests aren't actually priests, aren't they?

i had to listen to that war on drugs album recently and man, men get such a wide berth for '80s pastiche. kitten (who i was also listening to in advance of their boston show) does it so much better

I liked that they put Iron Chic on there. That genre of punk (a weakness of mine) rarely gets much play in these lists

Notable that Grizzly Bear is nowhere to be seen on any list.

if this year has a GAPDY then SZA would appear to be in it. wonder if it's any good

SZA, the white indie rocker that showcases the milquetoast hivemind of pop critics, you dumb stupid motherfucking asshole

GAPDY just means 'consensus pick' at this point

"SZA is R&B's New Jersey, don't @ me"

but fine i'll stop using it

it's a tenuous and unhelpful phrase. i just meant it as 'ubiquitous pick'!

also you have strange anger issues. is everything ok at home?

i'm listening to SZA now anyway. it sounds...not bad idk? let's see

:(

sorry, imago

quite ok. ilm can never lose its eoy fire, that'd be dull

"ugh, how apathetic the pens of scribes recommending platitudinous trollop SZA when Yrrrt Grvlakak released an album on Bandcamp"

― "the fgti incident?" (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, November 20, 2017 5:14 PM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha this particular 'dumb stupid motherfucking asshole' gun was loaded a whole fortnight ago :D

I was not aware of the Ibeyi album until Matos mentioned a song on Facebook and holy shit this is gorgeous.

Ben Ratliff, who used to be at the NY Times, but now freelances, writes books and teaches, made an alphabetical list of 15 for Esquire, while critiquing the whole list-making thing and endorsing sites from Quietus to Norteno Blog and Na Mira da Groove

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a13587928/best-albums-2017-alphabetical-order/

Future-Hndrxx
Girlpool-Powerplant
Grace Sings Sludge-
Laurel Halo-Dust
JLin-Black Origami
Kendrick Lamar-Damn
Arto Lindsay-Cuidado Madame
Nkisi-Kill
Protomartyr-
Ryuichi Sakamoto-Async
Sampha-Process
Jay Som-Everybody Works
Thundercat-Drunk
Tyler the Creator-Flower Boy
David Virelles-Gnosis

Tyler the Creator's doing way better on these lists than I would ever have guessed.

even I like the Ibeyi album

i've been tyler agnostic for a very long time, but the new album is really nice

Ibeyi is hitting me a little like an updated iteration of Les Nubiens

i heard priests album this week

p good

shes tasted maggots

SZA album has some real highlights but they're not the big singles (imo) - e.g. Pretty Little Birds is *lovely*

ok on second listen the opening track is quite something