the single best album of 2017 you feel is overlooked

so it's still September and year-end lists are drifting into view. but when I think about my favorite albums of 2017 it's just a big ??????, which is very concerning. on a financial level as well as just core identity.

- the biggest culprit is that I spend large chunks of my day in an office that discourages listening to music, more large chunks of my day transcribing video (where I *actually* can't listen to music)
- it's not that I haven't discovered any new music -- in fact I've probably discovered more this year than the past few. it's just generally not been from 2017. it is fucked up on many levels that I feel guilty about this, but I work in a field that prioritizes the new above all else, and am also a machine that turns oxygen into guilt, so here we are.
- a lot of my freelance work a while back required systematic monitoring of the charts, premieres, radio adds, etc. not so much anymore. still happens, just not as a routine
- a lot of the albums I was looking forward to this year have been somewhat disappointing, if we're being honest. I won't name any because it's entirely possible I haven't been the right listener; I've been far from the most sympathetic listener to anything I haven't been paid to assess. (just covering my ass here in case I get 100 more angry emails like "SEE EVEN YOU ADMIT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT THIS CLEARLY PERFECT FART OF GENIUS, EXCEPT THAT METAPHOR IS WRONG BECAUSE IT IS IN FACT YOU WHO ARE THE FART")
- am I just old now? is this when it happens?
- or is it the 2017 effect? the above reasons are more than sufficient to explain it, and I don't want to refract legitimate political events through my bullshit, but... many things I enjoy have seemed less appealing this year.

anyway, the title says it all: what is the single best album of 2017 you feel is overlooked? obviously I have no shortage of places that will tell me the Kendrick or Lorde albums are the greatest things ever.

Shadow Band - Wilderness of Love
https://shadowband.bandcamp.com/album/wilderness-of-love

Blanck Mass, World Eater

i've only been successful at getting people to talk about the partner record in the emo thread, but it's really wonderful power-pop, pairs well with the charly bliss record from this year https://partnerband.bandcamp.com/album/in-search-of-lost-time

the Mark Eitzel record was doomed to be slept on but he's still one of the best songwriters on the planet imho

probably Pharma by Nmesh, this album is nuts and dense enough to hold up over a dozen+ listenes

https://orangemilkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pharma

Got some attention here but Sorority Noise

the Mark Eitzel record was doomed to be slept on but he's still one of the best songwriters on the planet imho

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, September 26, 2017 7:36 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

Anna Wise - The Feminine Part 2

*the feminine ACT II

I have a few. The one that springs to mind the most is Future Islands' The Far Field, which has had some understandably lukewarm reviews but for me has grown into one of my most played records. It's quite one-note and not a huge departure from their usual sound, but at the same time it's a near-perfect crystallisation of their sound - them doing what they do best. Each song has slowly turned into a classic for me now.

Lowly - Heba

https://youtu.be/6G9b47bnwGo

World Eater is really good too!

yeah, the Mark Eitzel record is my favorite of the year

co-sign Lowly, really great album

Wednesday Campanella - Superman is my favourite pop album this year

https://youtu.be/4jWLioW7Zx0
https://youtu.be/aP4ERPsuyCU

Palehound's A Place I'll Always Go might be my favorite semi-popular album this year:

https://palehound.bandcamp.com/album/a-place-ill-always-go

Planning for Burial - Below the House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNcGVIohlMQ

Oh for fucks sake, that wasn't meant to imbed.

Pick any year when he's released a new record and Mark Eitzel will be amongst that year's most overlooked.

The man's a genius...

well now that he's earned 4x props itt I guess he's no longer overlooked

new candidate: the Ex Eye album

POWERPLANT by Girlpool. I know it got BNM on p4k, & positive press p much everywhere, & yeah they're headlining a cool mini-fest here in November, but I just discovered them this year, & holy shit they're incredible, my new favorite band. their 2015 album BEFORE THE WORLD WAS BIG is just incredible, within a week of hearing it for the first time it already became one of my favorite albums ever. I want the world blanketed with Girlpool music.

Sacred Paws - Strike A Match is still getting a ton of play from me

Matt Jencik - Weird Times

https://mattjencik.bandcamp.com/album/weird-times

I feel like I've been babbling about this album nonstop since I first heard it but if you have any inclination whatsoever towards Clan of Xymox-ish goth pop, you should listen to The Demonstration by Drab Majesty IMMEDIATELY:

https://drabmajesty.bandcamp.com/album/the-demonstration

^^good album

I want to say Midnight Magic's 'Free From Your Spell' which is a great nu-disco/pop album but it came out in November 2016 and not the kind of thing that would get any real critical buzz at this point but I haven't played anything more recent quite as much yet so just listen to it anyway.

if you have any inclination whatsoever towards Clan of Xymox-ish goth pop

immediate click

The Regrettes "Feel Your Feelings, Fool!"

It is probably gauche to mention an album you made, haha, and I think the Oxbow record is getting some praise, so I'll though out the New Year record "Snow" which not enough people I think even know it exists

https://thenewyear.bandcamp.com/album/snow

Drab Majesty seconded

The Regrettes "Feel Your Feelings, Fool!"

^ Album of the year, according to my 17 year old, along with "Gravedigging" by the Buttertones

I feel like Allison Crutchfield's album is somewhat overlooked-one of the best live shows I saw this year.

Jane weaver modern kosmology is pretty underrated

^^^ oh yeah that record rules

El Goodo - By Order of the Moose

---

Perfectly executed homage to '60s garage & psychedelic rock. Great follow-up to their 2009 LP Coyote. I think it's much more cohesive and enjoyable than Coyote and I've been listening to it on loop for three weeks now. I know I'll burn out, but I'm enjoying it while it's still fresh. Listen to "It Makes Me Wonder" and "Sit & Wonder" for a good taster. Both have music vids on YouTube.

Jane Weaver album is ok. Feels like it's missing a little of the mystery that made The Silver Orb so good, though.

Globe/orb, whatever.

https://talitres.bandcamp.com/album/the-silver-veil

I've listened to this more than any other album this year

I've probably discovered more this year than the past few. it's just generally not been from 2017. it is fucked up on many levels that I feel guilty about this

Oh how I can relate to this! It's not that I'm overly focused with the new - and, let's face it, there's more of it than ever. But our society is completely obsessed with "what have you done for me lately", especially in America where we tear down our 'old' buildings with no regard for their history or importance. And music has always been youth-driven, so it makes sense we feel guilt about not being as completely engaged as we once were. But I let that feeling wash away when I listen to something new-to-me-and-cool.

Most of my discoveries this year come from a previous era, the new Jane Weaver being my favorite of 2017 releases. Runners up include Fazerdaze - Morningside, The Black Watch - The Gospel According To John, Popguns - Sugar Kisses and Pete Fij/Terry Bickers - We Are Millionaires.

Mdou Moctar - Sousoume Tamachek

I was never a huge fan of Lillix and didn't think that much of her first couple of solo albums but Young Mopes by Louise Burns is a terrific record. It's not a million miles away from The Bangles / VOTB / Belinda Carlisle at times.

The three singles from the album currently have between 3000 and 18,000 YouTube views.

I love this:

https://homenormal.bandcamp.com/album/love-retained

Bandcamp is currently suggesting you can buy the CD for a quid (which seems ridiculous).

I love love love The Courtneys and their album II. Been meaning to start a thread for it.

I want the world blanketed with Girlpool music.

I also relate to this. Might've been my answer if they were new to me this year.

I was never a huge fan of Lillix and didn't think that much of her first couple of solo albums but Young Mopes by Louise Burns is a terrific record. It's not a million miles away from The Bangles / VOTB / Belinda Carlisle at times.

The three singles from the album currently have between 3000 and 18,000 YouTube views.

― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Tuesday, September 26, 2017 2:25 PM (fifty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh damn this is good to know

Young Mopes is a fantastic album. I liked her last one too, but this is even better.

I keep coming back very often to Nikki Lane's 'Highway Queen,' but I honestly don't know what kind of footprint it has in the real world. Maybe it's popular? I know it's not chart popular, and it seems untalked about in "Americana" circles for the most part. It's not throwback country, really, but it's not pop Nashville either. It swings and the songwriting is sooooo good.

I was all set to write off Liars' T F C F as an Angus solo project, but I have got a lot out of it (maybe more so than some of the previous 5 albums).

Really love this release from Rings Around Saturn. Maybe not technically an album but it's 40 minutes of music. Just really emotive music from Drexciyan electro to balearic electro-funk.

https://firecrackerrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/unthank011

Deep Purple - In Rock

Dunno about "single best", but am a bit surprised that exactly zero of these zillions of yearend roundups mention Ouï by Camille. Of several enjoyable things about this album is her sense of melody, which I find to be akin to that of Liz Fraser.

Thanks, enjoying this on first listen in a way that makes me suspect I will be listening further.

Also, the vocals sometimes go off in unexpected directions (Twix).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP4tsnttO-k

Simple, but terrific video, I think.

Spellling from Oakland, CA arrive seemingly fully-formed making an amazing sound that brings to the tip of your mind many sonic reference points, but is good enough to quickly push that tendency away and just demand attention on its own merit:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1443573223_10.jpg

https://spellling.bandcamp.com/album/pantheon-of-me-2

(Since there's nothing on Youtube I can embed, I guess I'll play the references game to get anyone to check it out. The record has tones of Sade, Cocteau Twins, Erykah Badu, Portishead, This Mortal Coil, Nona Hendryx, Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook's 'Sleeps With the Fishes' record, The Knife, and my favorite record from last year (discovered this year), Serpentwithfeet. Really bracing, singular, confident stuff.)

^thank you Soundslike, that Spellling album is really good!

tonstartssbandht - sorcerer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vv2se_K_J0

they are terminally underrated and overlooked, great band

What about the album of 2016 that you feel is overcooked??

I don’t know the answer, but I feel it’s worth asking because it rhymes

Changing my answer from Nelly Furtado to The Rubs

https://therubsaretrash.bandcamp.com/album/impossible-dream-lp

yeah that Rubs record rulz

I like what Spellling is doing generally so much i have no idea after 2 listens if they are good. I think def yes.

Surprised there wasn't more love for the Rostam record. Pretty sure it's my fave of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66y8JMEvTas

I liked some tracks on the Rostam album but didn't really feel compelled to revisit it much, maybe I should though. Bike Dream was especially good

Spellling reminds me of some of His Name is Alive maybe?

xp - I love most of the tracks on the album. Fun, kitchen-sink production, sing-along harmonies - all the stuff I love.

pretty sure i have not seen this album getting any love, but i love its dirty beats and weird atmospherics.

https://ninjatune.net/release/kutmah/trobbb

sorry to perseverate, this is one of the better reimaginings of a classic i've heard:
https://spellling.bandcamp.com/track/higher-ground

the whole sequence of bolt from the blue/higher ground/blue (american dream)/place without a form is fucking nice imo.

I have a new favorite to replace the Mdou Moctar record, Eyvind Kang's Plainlight. maddeningly released in a non-streaming vinyl-only edition of 400

http://www.suncitygirls.com/abduction/Plainlight.php

whenuweremine nominated the Charlotte Dos Santos album Cleo. I had not seen it mentioned anywhere before that. Incredible voice, incredible singer. Might be too whimsical for some tastes (covering a 13th century song, writing new lyrics for Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay, doing a new 60s-sounding Latin soul song in English) but I think she makes it all work. File under vocal jazz and soul, I guess.

yasmine hamdan - al jamilat

https://yasminehamdan.bandcamp.com/album/al-jamilat

i came across a video for a song off this album while i was just clicking through a "recommended for you" playlist on youtube, so i don't really have any idea what the larger social or musical context for this artist is. she's lebanese, the lyrics aren't in english, the video i saw had subtitles that made the lyrics seem very apocalyptic and political, but the music is very beautiful and ethereal. it's not lo-fi but it doesn't seem to have any interest in being conventionally hooky and poppy. i guess i would say RIYL grimes' visions, maybe juana molina or susanne sundfør.

it's really good, i know the language barrier is a factor in why it isn't more well known, but i'm really surprised that i haven't seen it show up in any year-end discourse given the quality and how good the videos are.

Yeah, Yasmine Hamdan is great. Seek out 'Soap Kills' as well, if you don't know it yet, her previous (electro)pop band.

(though her solo effort 'Ya Nass' is my fave)

Any impressions of Jo Harman? She seems not to have been mentioned on ILM ever. I think she's good, but I'm not sure how good yet. I love the 70s (probably more than any decade for English language popular music, maybe popular music in general), but sometimes the echoes of the 70s seem too obvious.

Very good singer. I'm still on the fence about the songwriting.

Really enjoying the Charlotte Dos Santos; thanks Rudipherous!

Fabiano do Nascimento - Tempo Dos Mestres: Gilberto Gil Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday

Listening to this one. So far it's beautiful.

haha, yes it's a great one

I have a new favorite to replace the Mdou Moctar record, Eyvind Kang's Plainlight. maddeningly released in a non-streaming vinyl-only edition of 400

http://www.suncitygirls.com/abduction/Plainlight.php🕸

it is soooo good

I will repeat: Camille is fantastic and you don't know what you're missing if you haven't given it a spin. It's not the cabaret music I suspect some are expecting. It's very melodic, but there are often separate layers of Camille's vocals doing primarily rhythmic things (in addition to the rhythmically oriented instrumental layer). The technique is often very adventurous, but it's much too catchy to be filed with extreme experimental vocal music.

(anatol_merklich, glad you like the Charlotte Dos Santos. I think I might rank Camille slightly higher at the moment, because it's so polished. And it feels like Camille is inventing her own unique sub-genre of pop music.)

I like the Camille album

Casey Dienel's Imitation of a Woman To Love (https://caseydienel.bandcamp.com/) is very overlooked - found out about it thanks to maura's write-up. ambitious artpop riyl roisin murphy albums especially

*the last two roisin murphy albums

Ouï didn't quite rise out of the pack of good 2017 albums for me but it's definitely Camille's best record since Le Fil. Did anyone try the alternate version, Ouïï, which seems to be the same songs arranged for voice and tambour?

Gilberto Gil Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday

not sure you could write a more appealing 8 word description of an album, diving into it now

Xiu Xiu - FORGET

^absolutely

Billy Woods - Known Unknowns

thinking plague hoping against hope

Blind Boys of Alabama - Almost Home

alvarius b with a beaker in the burner and an otter in the oven

that fabiano do nascimento album is great, been caning it

I had no idea Camille released an album last year - thanks for the heads up!

https://www.toneglow.net/reviews/2017/11/16/jurg-frey-lame-est-sans-retenue-i

sounds massive on the stereo.. like intermittent surf (breaks), or a jet plane carving out the sky - but very, very intermittent at parts. lot of silent breaks, it's aggravating to listen to actively

I think I read about it here first but now can't find it. Anyway, the Upper Wilds' Guitar Module 2017 is kinda wild. Dan Friel and Aaron Siegel making a glorious racket.

I briefly mentioned it in the 2017 end of the year lists thread

Ryan Power - They Sell Doomsday. Perfect smooth prog pop, kind of like a spikier, cynical Prefab Sprout. This guy is basically at Rundgren levels of one-man-band production.

https://ryanpower.bandcamp.com/album/they-sell-doomsday