Best of 2017

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
My favourite song of the year alltold was from Dec 3 last year, but it's amazing and has stayed with me all year. It's fierce, trippy. It seems like it never ends. It comments on the pursuits of the two people involved, but it's hard to tell whether that's real or whether that's just a comment on their personas. It sounds like a Eurythmics B-side around The Walk era. I'm amazed that Tim Westwood played it. It's fucking great.

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sadmanbarty

Well-known member
2018 predictions

There'll be a number of tracks that combine afroswing melodies and autotune with uk drill rhythms. occasionally there'll be things that combine the two in subtler ways. there won't be enough of it being made to produce a proper genre/scene, so it'll be fun for a few months, but in the grand scheme of things it'll be fruitless. it'll start to gain traction in march

other than that, neither uk drill nor afroswing are going to develop or evolve in any way, but they're not going to die either. they'll still be the sound of london, it'll just be the same sound as 2017.

there'll be the occasional sparks of goodness from 'mumble rap', but that's about it.

there'll be a wave of post-hndrxx sort-of-rnb, but it won't be very good.

in the middle of the year pop will move on from the 'tropical' thing, but not into anything particularly exciting.

grime will continue to be embarrassing for everyone involved.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I predict many a wistful orgy for Barty. In shipping forecast form: wisterly wanks, good.

Here's RAs best tracks of 2k17 on Spotify form:


I like to sneer at RA but then I tend to actually like at least some of what they like soooo
 

luka

Well-known member
i read that weiss list and it made me depressed. actually im already depressed cos its winter and ive got the worst flu i can remember having for many years but that list and the tired, hackneyed apologising for bad music, awful terrible irredeemable music made it much worse
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
LoL

Just for my entertainment and interest I'd like some specific instances

Cos I've not really read most of it

The write up for Magnolia was quite funny cos it cites playboicartis alleged 'charisma', which might be in evidence in his other songs but is certainly not in evidence in Magnolia (which made my much esteemed top 50 btw)

The RA 50 is so boring it makes me wonder why anyone bothers making house/techno anymore. It has to rank in terms of excitement with gardening and stamp collecting.
 

luka

Well-known member
the corniest careerist rap nerd blog prose

If tracks like “Buddies,” and “Birthday,” are the kilns of Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often, in which self-acceptance, self-exploration, self-hatred and self-affirmation melt to form the armor of Quelle’s identity, “Calm Before,” is the satisfying hiss of metal quenched in cool water.

for example, but there's plenty more i'll go fishing
 

Mad Cyril

New member
2017 was great LP wise. May as well c+p the list I posted elsewhere. Posting any writing here always made me slightly nervous (you seem an intellectual lot) and my top pick will kill any notion of cool straight out the gate, but fuck it. :)

20 - GFOTY - GFOTYBUCKS

19 - The Just Joans - You Might Be Smiling Now
Acid tongued indie pop. Nobody but the Scottish can pull off twee without it sounding icky.

18 - Ariel Pink - Dedicated To Bobby Jameson
Twisted pop genuis makes his best LP in over ten years and doesn't even crack the top 15!

17 - Kendrick Lamar - DAMN

16 - Darren Keen - It's Never To Late To Say You're Welcome

15 - Brockhampton - SATURATION

14 - Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy
A bit like my number 8 choice in that it's a mad sonic mash up of styles held together by gorgeous female backing vocals.

13 - Open Mike Eagle - Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

"All these discussions online is mayonnaise versus mustard Mayonnaise people think French can't be trusted Mustard people think eggs is all busted"

The one disappointing thing about last years music was artist's reluctance to comment on what the fuck was going on in the world in 2017. So after my first playthrough of Brick Body Kids Still Daydream I almost stood up and cheered. This is hip hop born of genuine wisdom and clarity. There's shots at the American system but there's also harsh words on tiresome rap misogyny and the patriarch in general. It name drops the Kinks and Ewoks. There's a world weariness to this LP that is kinda heartbeaking. The relatively low placing of this album is a testament to how strong 2017 was.

"When the king is a garbage person I might wanna lay down and die
Power down all my darkest urge
Keep my personal crown up high.
This is normal. This is normal now"


12 - Fire Toolz - Drip Metal
Hipster release of the year. Electro/industrial/vaporwave/sound collage. With thrash metal vocals on top. Because why the fuck not?

11 - Omni - Multi Task
Post- punk revival- revival. I've nothing against The Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand and all things 2004 but this pisses all over them. An eccentric mash of flick knife guitars and crazy rhythms. One of the more intriguing rock groups out there at the moment.

10 - Eddie Palmieri - Sabiduria
Latin Jazz. The sax, vibraphone, piano and the wonderfully squeaking violin playing is immaculate. Not to mention the deep, ceaselessly funky percussion. This is old man, muso jazz, make no mistake. And it's glorious.

09 - Giant Claw - Soft Channel
Brain melting trip through glitch and plunderphonics. The best from the gluttony of 2017s Orange Milk releases. There's a real skill and mastery in Giant Claws manipulation of sound. It's modern classical machine music.

08 - Spoek Mathambo - Mzansi Beat Code
Afrobeats, house and hip hop thrown into the blender. It's called kwaito music, from South Africa and it sounds as unlikely as it is insane. Something like 'Landed' is as mind bending as any experimental US hip hop out there. An amazing record that would be in contention for the top spot most other years.

07 - Denzel Curry - 13
EP of the year. Dark, industrial, scattergun hip hop.

06 - Richard Dawson - Peasant
What you could only call avant-folk. It's Dawson's pained banshee welp over ghostly John Fahey chords. It's a eccentric kind of folk that's as old as the hills, emitting dark magic. There's moments of lucid beauty too like the intro to 'Soldier'. Only a rare talent could make good old folk music sound this fresh and boundless.

05 - Playboi Carti - Playboi Carti
Pop rap trash. The best thing about trap - aside from it winding up hip hop purists - it's the best music for fucking and getting fucked up out there today. It's the bratty, hedonistic step child of gangsta rap, morally bankrupt and seductive as hell. And it don't stop giving a fuck. If Open Mike Eagle provides food for the soul then this is the greasy takeaway. Regrettable but, oh, what a thrill.

04 - Natalia Lafourcade - Musas
The most pleasant surprise of the year. Mexico's Lafourcade has been around years and apparently won grammys and all sorts, I'd never heard of her until I chanced upon this. Musas is a Latin folk pop masterpiece. Her voice is timeless and backed by the most impeccably played music all year. The way the twin acoustic guitars are gorgeously plucked from each speaker channel! Lush! :love:

03 - Chloe x Halle - The Two Of Us
By far the best mixtape I've come across in 2017. Chloe x Halle are a duo from LA. Two of Us is a dreamy stumble through modern pop, 'alternative' rnb, hip-hop, and a very psychedelic soul. There's some lovely, bright and fluid interplay between the vocalists, wrapped up in slighlty oddball pop magic. There's as much Kate Bush as Rhianna. At twenty eight minutes there's not an inch of fat.

02 - Kristofer Maddigan - Cuphead Soundtrack
There were two albums that had me grinning from ear to ear this year for different reasons. Steven Universe because of its message of love and Cuphead for the most glorious music on earth in 2017. I suppose you can call this the real number one; Universe wouldn't be there without the cartoon link to be honest. Cuphead looks like a cool video game but it's the sort of thing I'd be shit at and I've no plans to own a Xbone. This stands up on its own. It starts with a barbershop quartet, segues into a classical piece before diving headfirst into skiffle. This music -swing, dixieland, ragtime, big band . . . it's so old. So old you can point fingers at bop jazz and rock n' roll for killing it off. Music untouched and untapped for so long it feels like the freshest thing on Earth in 2017. And it's all played with relentless gusto. You can feel the joy, the sweet release in every trumpet blast and frantic piano line, the reverie in it's own unlikely existence.


01 - Various Artists - Steven Universe Soundtrack: Volume 1
Putting a soundrack for a kids TV show at the top spot looks incredibly garish, and I understand it if you write it off. If you're familiar with the series however you'll understand why it's here immediately. Steven Universe is a coming of age tale of a boy getting to grips with relationships, morals, gain and loss and challenging emotions in an extra ordinary world. It's a cartoon whose prominent theme is acceptance and it tackles issues like gender, race and sexuality in a staggeringly mature and tender way. It's a show of real depth and quality and happens to have the best sci-fi world-building you could hope for. And it's funny. And I could go on and on about it but this is the wrong place. The music? It's 8bit pop, AOR soft rock, jazz, show tunes, Rn'B, lute twee, electro pop . . Without context it's perfectly likeable fluff. But within the context of the show these are some of the most loving and generous messages ever put to tape. For example, Garnet's (voiced by Estelle) 'Stronger Than You' is a fine catchy pop number. But what it REALLY is is somebody coming to terms with being part of a same sex relationship, telling us that love will conquer prejudice. It's everything the cynical, combustible world of 2017 and beyond needs. And it's certainly not for everyone. But why pretend to be objective anyway?

 
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