Mid Year Review

[Battra]

21 hours ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

Terrific album.

 

I absolutely love that one.

 

Spun it just the other day.

 

Sump Pump does great, great work. I really should pick up Druids one of these days.

[Shitty Rambo]

On 6/3/2017 at 2:44 PM, Derek™ said:

I feel legitimately sad reading this.

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Everything that's come out so far hasn't done much for me. I was really looking forward to the new PALHTH but it's just not clicking for some reason. I was hyped for the new Pictures of Vernon EP as well and even though it's good it's not blowing my dick out of the back of my shoes like I was hoping it would. This new Daddy Issues - Deep Dream LP is cool, and I'm looking forward to Rozwell Kid's new LP but aside from that and The National's next album there's not a whole lot I'm excited to check out. 

[Shitty Rambo]

BTW, I didn't hate that new Tigers Jaw album. Just haven't gone back to it since the week it came out.

[2notepockets]

A couple of noteworthy lists:

https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/06/top-25-albums-of-2017-so-far/

http://www.stereogum.com/featured/the-50-best-albums-of-2017-so-far/

Stereogum gets extra points for having Elder in the top 10  

[jlobban]

i feel like 2016 was a slow year for music for me, but 2017 is KILLING IT. 

 

Dodecahedron - s/t

Ulsect - s/t

The Great Old Ones - EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy

Dark Habits - Cave Paintings

Rash - Midnight Crooner

Dakhma - Suna Kulto

Syndrømes - EP Tape

Fuming Mouth - God of Death demo

probably forgetting some.

 

best late-in-the-year releases from 2016 i didn't pick up until 2017:

Red Fang - Only Ghosts

Sect - s/t

[deafening]

bump for year end.

 

 

It was a good year, and I'm still absorbing. Too many honorable mentions.

[THE_James_Champ]

Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns

UsLights - Wæs 

Death of Lovers - The Acrobat

Special Explosion - To Infinity 

[TheGhostOfRandySavage]

No EPs or mixtapes, also just running through my discogs to refresh my memory, so this may change when I can sit and think about it more.

No order:

 

Goya - Harvester of Bongloads

Zola Jesus - Okovi

Racquet Club - S/T

Slowdive - S/T

Brand New - Science Fiction

Space Slug - Time Travel Dilemma

Julien Baker - Turn Out the Lights

Hyborean - Vol. 1

Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard

Big Boi - Boomiverse

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

top 10 of 2017, since I actually liked 10 albums this year! Have to give @scottheisel a nod for Charly Bliss, wouldn't have heard them without his top 20 list that had them on it.

10. Citizen – As You Please
9. Charly Bliss - Guppy
8. Converge – The Dusk In Us
7. Quicksand - Interiors
6. Comeback Kid - Outsider
5. Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights
4. Code Orange - Forever
3. The Movielife – Cities in Search of A Heart
2. Iron Chic – You Can’t Stay Here
1. Propagandhi – Victory Lap

[Tommy]

DAMN.   ... 2017 was awesome

 

1. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

2. Ryan Adams - Prisoner

3. Oliver Houston - Whatever Works

4. Thundercat - Drunk

5. Mr. Jukes - God First

6. Fleet Foxes - Crack Up

7. SZA - Ctrl

8. Japanese House - Saw You In a Dream

9. Broken Social Scene - Hug of Thunder

10. John Mayer - Search for Everything

11. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

12. Dirty Projectors - ST

13. New Found Glory - Makes Me Sick

14. Beck - Colors

15. Paramore - After Laughter

 

technically not an album but: Frank Ocean (all new 2017 singles)

 

 

Edited December 20, 2017 by Tommy

[scottheisel]

My personal top 20 albums of 2017:

 

20. Arcade Fire - Everything Now (Columbia Records)
19. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Hanged Man (self-released)
18. Glassjaw - Material Control (Century Media Records)
17. LCD Soundsystem - american dream (Columbia Records)
16. JAPANDROIDS - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Anti Records)
15. Minus the Bear - VOIDS (Suicide Squeeze Records)
14. METZ - Strange Peace (Sub Pop Records)
13. Rozwell Kid - Precious Art (SideOneDummy Records)
12. MEAT WAVE - The Incessant (SideOneDummy Records)
11. Pet Symmetry - Vision (Polyvinyl Record Company)
10. Paramore - After Laughter (Fueled By Ramen)
9. White Reaper - The World's Best American Band (Polyvinyl Record Company)
8. Sorority Noise - You're Not As ____ As You Think (Triple Crown Records)
7. Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights (Matador Records)
6. Open City - Open City (self-released)
5. Rainer Maria - S/T (Polyvinyl Record Company)
4. Cloud Nothings - Life Without Sound (Carpark Records)
3. Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound (Southeastern Records)
2. Aviator - Loneliness Leaves The Light On For Me (No Sleep Records)
1. Charly Bliss - Guppy (Barsuk Records)

 

Honorable mentions go out to Quicksand, At The Drive In, The Bronx, Tim Kasher, Bad Cop / Bad Cop, Smidley, Circa Survive, Manchester Orchestra, and many more artists who made good music this year.

[2notepockets]

Albums I've enjoyed:

Elder - Reflections of a floating world

Spirit Adrift - Curse of conception

Ragana - You take nothing

Bell Witch - Mirror reaper

Tchornobog - Tchornobog

Oxbow - The thin black duke

Amenra - Mass VI

Artificial Brain - Infrared horizon

[njpunkmusic]

Not in any order, but my favorite albums of 2017

 

At The Drive In  - in-ter-li-a

Nine Inch Nails- Add Violence

Brand New-  Science Fiction

LCD Soundsystem- American Dream

Cloud Nothings- Life Without Sound

Marilyn Manson- Heaven Upside Down

Sylvan Esso- What Now

Gorillaz- Humanz

 

Duds of 2017 (for me personally because I had high hopes.)

Manchester Orchestra

Speak The Truth Even If Your Voice Shakes

Wild Cub

Foo Fighters

 

 

[dawhizz]

Thanks for re-upping this - I always find a couple gems on other peoples lists. 

 

Im still (forever) catching up on the year, but here are my favorites:

 

1. Brand New - Science Fiction

2.  Head North - The Last Living Man Alive Ever in the History of the World

3. Sorority Noise - You’re Not As ____ As You Think

4. Telethon - The Great Spontenation

5. The Collection - Listen to the River

6. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

7. Wooden Sky - Swimming in Strange Waters 

8. Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mike to the Surface

9. Julian Baker - Turn Out The Lights

10. Slowdive - Slowdive

11. Homeless Gospel Choir - Normal

12. Oso Oso - The Yunahon Mixtape

13. William McCarthy - Shelter

14. Creeper - Eternity In Your Arms

15. John Moreland - Big Bad Luv

 

and I liked these EPs:

Petal - Comfort

Fire Is Motion - Still I Try

Rebuilder - Sounds From the Massachusetts Turnpike  

[Rip]

20. Glassjaw - Material Control

19. XXXTENTACION - 17
18. Lil Uzi Vert - Luv Is Rage 2
17. Juicy J - Highly Intoxicated
16. Mansions - Deserter

15. Allan Rayman - Roadhouse 01

14. The Front Bottoms - Going Grey

13. Lil Peep - Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1

12. Converge - The  Dusk In Us

11. The Chain Gang Of 1979 - Felt

10. Coward. - Coward.

9. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

8. Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights

7. BROCKHAMPTON - Saturation III

6. Tyler, The Creator - Scum Fuck, Flower Boy

5. GHOSTEMANE - HEXADA

4. Gorillaz - Humanz

3. BROCKHAMPTON - Saturation

2. See More Glass - Graveyard Gertie

1. Brand New - Science Fiction

Edited December 22, 2017 by FiggyPud

[cside]

1. Propagandhi - Victory Lap - Just Wow - a grower not a shower this time around. Every listen I discover new things to love.

2. Brand New - Science Fiction - Sometimes dysfunctional/tragic/horrible/flawed people make great art. This may be one of those times. 

3. The Menzingers - After The Party - career topping LP - in most years this would have been my number 1

4. The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Wild - this one seemed to come out of nowhere for me, amazing folk rock songwriting, keep things varied throughout without throwing in too many ballads

5. 88 Fingers Louie - Thank You For Being A Friend - Better than take back the streets, not as good as behind bars. Dennis' voice has aged very well.

6. Daniel Romano - Modern Pressure - My favourite post Attack in Black Lp from any of the members. 

7. The Flatliners - Inviting Light - It took me two years to truly appreciate Dead Language. Hope that happens here. Weird production. 

8. Blink 182 - California Deluxe - Not a Blink 182 fan but there are some serious good tunes across the double LP that make for a really decent single LP playlist. Matt hasn't screamed this much since Good Mourning. Too many whoas and na na nas though.

9. Sincere Engineer - Rhombithian

10. Hot Water Music - Light It Up - pretty disappointing for HWM, still better than most stuff out there

[DecayToDeath]

Alrighty...now that the year is officially over, I've got my list all ready. Here's the spreadsheet (organized by date) to keep track of all the releases from this year I checked out: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_3SRJhSyhhA68Q0ukQAUOJtE7D8a8sifynuCSm5j3Y8/edit?usp=sharing

 

The final tally was 222 releases (mostly albums, a few EPs). I think I'm gonna go for fewer releases in 2018 so I can spend a reasonable amount of time with all of them this time around. Spread myself a little thin this year between these releases and the hundreds of albums that didn't come out this year I listened to for the first time in 2017.

 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR LIST

20. Baths - Romaplasm

19. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World

18. (Thee) Oh Sees - Orc

17. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream

16. Brand New - Science Fiction

15. Planning For Burial - Below The House

14. Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up

13. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 3*

12. Strange Ranger - Daymoon

11. Godflesh - Post Self

10. Everything Everything - A Fever Dream

9. '68 - Two Parts Viper

8. Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog

7. Rozwell Kid - Precious Art

6. Blanck Mass  - World Eater

5. St. Vincent - Masseduction

4. Tyler, The Creator - Scum Fuck Flower Boy

3. Converge - The Dusk In Us

2. BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION Trilogy

1. Sorority Noise - You're Not As _____ As You Think

 

*Counting towards 2017 because the physical (and intended) release date was in January

 

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell Live would be on this list somewhere but I'm not counting it since it's a live album

 

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me (I couldn't figure out how to rank this. It's a real special case.)

Jens Lekman - Life Will See You Now

Sparhawks - The Quiet Hour

King Krule - The OOZ

Iglooghost - Neo Wax Bloom

 

5 EPs I ENJOYED (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

Shin Guard - Leglike

Death Grips - Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix

Animal Collective - Meeting of the Waters 

David Bowie - No Plan

Chinese Football - Here Comes a New Challenger!

 

And finally, the worst album of the year. My vote goes to Pink Guy - Pink Season, but that was kinda a meme release anyway and nobody was supposed to take it seriously. So my pick defaults to Sun Kil Moon - Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood. The acclaim outside VC I've seen for this album baffles me; it's downright terrible. Goddammit Kozelek, you used to make amazing music.

[mrewest]

My Top 15...

15: Glassjaw - Material Control

14:  Riding Panico - Rabo de Cavelo

13:  Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold

12:  Godspeed You!  Black Emperor- Luciferian Towers

11:  Hundredth - Rare

10:  Spectral Echo - Demo

9:  Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark?

8:  Run the Jewels - RTJ3

7:  Frequency Eater - Finite States

6:  Sleepmakeswaves - Made of Breath Only

5:  Lowercase Roses - Surgical Pop

4:  Death of Lovers - The Acrobat

3:  Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile ro the Surface

2:  Glories - There is No Stillness

1:  Molly Burch - Please Be Mine

 

Most Disappointing:

This Patch of Sky - These Small Spaces

Langhorne Slim - Lost at Last Vol 1

Edited January 2, 2018 by mrewest

[omik11303]

I'll toss in my 20 for posterity:

 

1. Astralia - Solstice

2. Øjne - Prima Che Tutto Bruci

3. Leveless - Remind|Replace|Expire|Erase

4. Gullwing - S/T

5. Blak - Between Darkness and Light

6. Blis. - No One Loves You

7. Ánteros - Cuerpos Celestes

8. Eidola - To Speak, To Listen

9. Lesser Men - Biding Time

10. Ghost Key - If I Don't Make It

11. Father Mountain - Apartment Living

12. The Tidal Sleep - Be Water

13. Sophie Hutchings - Yonder

14. I/O - Anyone, Anywhere

15. Dead Leaves - Vultures

16. August Burns Red - Phantom Anthem

17. Special Explosion - To Infinity

18. L'Effondras - Les Flavescences

19. Polaris - The Mortal Coil

20. Young Lions - Mr. Spaceman