Slappy's Favorite Music of 2017

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HERE WE GO

Pasting from last year's description, because I hate writing these parts:

Fair warning: I’ll be posting in this thread fairly regularly for the next month or so. This is your chance to hide the thread/turn off notifications/set your monitor on fire.

More important fair warning: I am bad at describing music. So I'm actually not going to focus on describing the actual music. I'm going to focus on trying to recreate my experience of listening to the song in 2017. When I write about music, my imagined audience is an older version of myself; one who is seeking to remember how I used to think. Because of this, please feel no obligation to read what I wrote out; they probably won't help you understand the music, but they might help you understand me (at least that's the hope, I want to understand me in the future).

I'm going to write about fewer songs/EPs/albums because I'd like to write better blurbs. But I still really want to write many, so likely there'll be about half of each list that has no writing, and half that does.

I’ll be using this thread to collect 3 lists of music in 2017: My favorite tracks, my favorite short releases, and my favorite albums.

The lists at this point are more or less “captured”, they represent a ranking at a point in time, and will substantially change over the years. But I like figuring out my perspective on the year’s music at this particular point, right as the year comes to a close.

Generally the music is all from the calendar year of 2017, but some are from late 2016 (while putting a list together, you generally start before the year actually ends, and there are a few releases that I love already from December, but I’ll push back to 2018’s list).

Also, discussion is more than welcome, my intent in creating the list is for personal archival purposes, but my intent in posting it in public places is to discuss. Well, that and it keeps me on track otherwise I'd never finish these lists.

I’ll edit the first & second post as I progress.



Top 100 Tracks:



100. Frankie Cosmos- Fishbowl
99. The Range & Jim E Stack- With You
98. DJ Orange Julius- Out on the Floor
97. Gintas K- Song
96. Pierre Kwenders- Sexus Plexus Nexus
95. The War On Drugs- Holding On
94. Mal Devisa- You Are My Sunshine
93. Yves Tumor- E. Eternal
92. Gorillaz (ft. Lil Simz)- Garage Palace
91. Red Boiling Springs- Stasis
90. Holy ****-Bird Brains
89. Jim-E Stack- I Did The Best I Could
88. Neil Cicierega- The End
87. Kendrick Lamar- FEAR.
86. Mark Barrott- Schopenhauer’s Garden
85. Ben Zimmerman - Damn Matter
84. Daphni- Life Is What You Make It
83. Classix- Possessive
82. Oliver Coates- Peace
81. The Mountain Goats- Andrew Eldritch...
80. Porter Ricks- Shoal Beat
79. Open Mike Eagle- 95 Radios
78. Saagara- Hoofbeat
77. Earl Grey- Corridor of Uncertainty
76. James Murray- Footsteps
75. Gladys Laser- Veronica
74. Noctilucents- Run With Me
73. Madmadmad- Gwarn
72. Widowspeak- Dog
71. YVAT- Enlivener
70. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile- Over Everything
69. Paul White- Accelerator (Ft. Danny Brown)
68. Akira Kosemura- The Cycle Of Nature
67. Calvin Harris- Slide
66. Cup Collector- If You Could Ever Leave Your...
65. James Holden- Spinning Dance
64. A. G. Cook- Whaaat 85
63. Future Islands- Cave
62. Father John Misty- Pure Comedy
61. Seabuckthorn- Near Translucent
60. HMLTD- Satan Luella & I
59. Soccer Mommy- Last Girl
58. Andy Stott- Home Away From Home
57. Jesca Hoop- Memories Are Now
56. 아버지 (Father)- Reflections
55. Terror Jr- Come First]
54. Jorja Smith- On My Mind
53. Kendrick Lamar- Humble
52. EASYFUN- Blink
51. Mal Devisa- Untitled 1
50. Lorenzo Senni- XAllegroX
49. Brother Ali- Out Of Here
48. Melanie Velarde- Parcel
47. Kendrick Lamar- Yah
46. Sherwood & Pinch- Lies
45. Cyber Latin- Strangulate
44. Quelle Chris- It's Great To Be
43. Shinichi Atobe- Regret
42. JAY-Z- The Story Of O.J.
41. Hannah Diamond- Concrete Angel
40. Ka5sh- I’m Depressed
39. The Horrors- Something To Remember Me By
38. Animal Collective- Kinda Bonkers
37. Quelle Chris- Buddies
36. Iguana Moonlight- III
35. Louis Cole- Thinking
34. Four Tet- Daughter
33. Future- Mask Off
32. Homeshake- Every Single Thing
31. Yves Tumor- Limerence
30. This Is The Kit- Moonshine Freeze
29. Empress Of- Go To Hell
28. U.R.S.U.L.A.- MYTHOMALIA MIX
27. Sacred Paws- Everyday
26. Phoebe Bridgers- Motion Sickness
25. Steve Lacy- Dark Red
24. The xx- On Hold
23. Jens Lekman- Evening Prayer
22. Jason Isbell & The 400- If We Were Vampires
21. Selena Gomez- Bad Liar
20. Open Mike Eagle- (How Could Anybody) Feel...
19. Camedor- Alba
18. The She-Devils- The World Laughs
17. High Bloom- Laundry
16. Mondo Grosso- Labyrinth
15. CCFX- The One To Wait
14. Rex Orange County- Loving Is Easy
13. Mary Lattimore- Wawa by the Ocean
12. Blue Hawaii- No One Like You
11. Finn- Sometimes The Going Gets A Little Tough
10. Boreen- Garden
9. Lorenzo Senni- The Shape Of Trance To Come
8. The Black Madonna- He Is the Voice I Hear
7. Big Thief- Shark Smile
6. Treasure Hunt- P3T3R P4N
5. Jim-E Stack- Deadstream (Rostam Version)
4. Tim Heidecker- Trump Talkin’ Nukes
3. Rostam- Bike Dream
2. Moses Sumney- Doomed
1. Death’s Dynamic Shroud- Tell Me Your Secret



Top 100 Tracks
100-41
(No Blurbs)



Prettier Version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...qGfZyu2uQ/edit

Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/ycwu5wcs

100. Frankie Cosmos- Fishbowl [Indie-Pop/Cover]

99. The Range & Jim E Stack- With You [UK Bass]

98. DJ Orange Julius- Out on the Floor [Footwork]

97. Gintas K- Song [Experimental/Ambient]

96. Pierre Kwenders- Sexus Plexus Nexus [Afro-Funk]


95. The War On Drugs- Holding On [Heartland Rock]

94. Mal Devisa- You Are My Sunshine [Soul]

93. Yves Tumor- E. Eternal [Ambient/Sound Collage]

92. Gorillaz (ft. Lil Simz)- Garage Palace [Grime]

91. Red Boiling Springs- Stasis [Ambient/Soft Noise]


90. Holy **** -Bird Brains [Electronica/Instrumental Rock]

89. Jim-E Stack- I Did The Best I Could [UK Bass]

88. Neil Cicierega- The End [Mashup]

87. Kendrick Lamar- FEAR. [Hip-Hop/Rap]

86. Mark Barrott- Schopenhauer’s Garden [Balearic/Electronica]


85. Ben Zimmerman - Damn Matter [Experimental Electronica]

84. Daphni- Life Is What You Make It [Tech House]

83. Classix- Possessive [House]

82. Oliver Coates- Peace [Cello]

81. The Mountain Goats- Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back To Leeds [Indie Pop]



80. Porter Ricks- Shoal Beat [Dub Techno]

79. Open Mike Eagle- 95 Radios [Abstract Rap]

78. Saagara- Hoofbeat [Jazz Fusion]

77. Earl Grey- Corridor of Uncertainty [Drum & Bass]

76. James Murray- Footsteps [Ambient]


75. Gladys Laser- Veronica [Instrumental/_ _ !,!_**,,.._ _]

74. Noctilucents- Run With Me [Downtempo/R&B]

73. Madmadmad- Gwarn [Aggro-Disco]

72. Widowspeak- Dog [Dream Pop]

71. YVAT- Enlivener [IDM]


70. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile- Over Everything [Folk-Rock]

69. Paul White- Accelerator (Ft. Danny Brown) [Psych-Rap]

68. Akira Kosemura- The Cycle Of Nature [Modern Classical]

67. Calvin Harris- Slide (ft Frank Ocean & Migos) [Dance Pop]

66. Cup Collector- If You Could Ever Leave Your House [Drone/Instrumental]


65. James Holden & The Animal Spirits- Spinning Dance [Kosmische]

64. A. G. Cook- Whaaat 85 [Bubblegum Bass]

63. Future Islands- Cave [Synthpop]

62. Father John Misty- Pure Comedy [Singer-Songwriter]

61. Seabuckthorn- Near Translucent [Acoustic/Instrumental]



60. HMLTD- Satan Luella & I [Glam Punk]

59. Soccer Mommy- Last Girl [Lo-Fi/Indie-Pop]

58. Andy Stott- Home Away From Home [Dub Techno/Remix]

57. Jesca Hoop- Memories Are Now [Indie-Folk]

56. 아버지 (Father)- Reflections [Experimental/Ambient]


55. Terror Jr- Come First [Alt. R&B]

54. Jorja Smith- On My Mind [2-Step/R&B]

53. Kendrick Lamar- Humble [Rap]

52. EASYFUN- Blink [Bubblegum Bass/Experimental Pop]

51. Mal Devisa- Untitled 1 [Soul]


50. Lorenzo Senni- XAllegroX [Minimal Trance]

49. Brother Ali- Out Of Here [Hip-Hop/Rap]

48. Melanie Velarde- Parcel [Ambient]

47. Kendrick Lamar- Yah [Hip-Hop/Rap]

46. Sherwood & Pinch- Lies [Dub/Psych]


45. Cyber Latin- Strangulate [Experimental/Electronica]

44. Quelle Chris- It's Great To Be [Hip-Hop/Rap]

43. Shinichi Atobe- Regret [Dub Techno]

42. JAY-Z- The Story Of O.J. [Rap/Hip-Hop]

41. Hannah Diamond- Concrete Angel [Experimental Pop]



Top 100 Tracks
40-1
(with Blurbs)
(AKA Journal Entries Set To Music)


Prettier/Easier/Better Version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...bapaZqGfZyu2uQ

Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/ycwu5wcs


40. Ka5sh- I’m Depressed [Trap/Alt. R&B/Seinfeld: Petty Until The Universe Deals It Back]
It’s a good thing to normalize sadness, to make it alright to feel down, to not like the things you normally can’t get enough of; but sometimes we go overboard. Sometimes depression isn't a heightened state of awareness. Obtaining perspectives emotional states give is an admirable task, but we often lionize the wisdom that sadness can bring. I’ve endured extended ennui due to a learned idea that sadness must be mined for a piece of wisdom before you are allowed to leave it. But depression isn’t always this sort of opportunity, sometimes depression is a petty, self-indulgent state; sometimes you just have to hear it said out loud to recognize it for what it is.


39. The Horrors- Something To Remember Me By [Synthpop/The Things We’ll Carry]
We don’t have to make decisions anymore, the tracks will do all the work for us. Pulled in different directions; fingers outstretched but feet planted firmly.---
Or that dude on Genius is right and it’s about Memento?


38. Animal Collective- Kinda Bonkers [Psych-Pop/Always Remember That Getting Here Wasn’t The Point, We Have To Keep Talking Like It’s Our Last Chance For Eye Contact]
Hey, you, the one in the room. All of this, I know it looks like just me talking to myself. And a lot of it is, but I want you know that it’s an invitation too. Sometimes I might forget why I do this at all, but it started with the idea that talking out loud long enough might catch someone’s ear, someone that was just thinking about the same thing. Even if you don’t join me, I hope you see something that reminds you of yourself, maybe something you thought you were a bit alone in. I hope this because I feel indebted to songs like this, the ones that give me those communal feelings. I owe you all for giving me so much; share a moment, let’s meet.


37. Quelle Chris- Buddies [Abstract Hip Hop/I Hope It’s Not Laziness Or Vanity To Say:]
Me.


36. Iguana Moonlight- III [Ambient Electronica/Until We Speak Like True Stories]
This song has a specific power over me, I just have to talk out loud to myself when I put it on repeat. The speech is paced out like spoken word, and the cadence compels a trance mindset where I’ll reach for words faster than my brain can buffer them, leading to that state of discovering that something’s been sitting in my head, just under the surface, something that I didn’t even realize was there. Like a dream in the nearly unfiltered delivery of the subconscious, but a bit more directly intelligible. I hope the habit never breaks, and I hope to be back shortly.


35. Louis Cole- Thinking [Indie-Club/Oh, I Remember These Sides Of You]
Playful & Confident
Earnest & Warm
Sincere & Curious
Expressive & ...Rad?


34. Four Tet- Daughter [Downtempo/Ambient House/Not A Child, Not A Partner, Not Me]
I'm not ready to meet you, but my heart beats out of my chest when I think of getting the chance. I'll do my best to be ready, and I'm sorry about my tendency to detour and digress. I don't think it'll ever be too late; I just don't want to tell you what they told me.
You’ve changed, and I’ve changed, but one way or another: I’ll see you soon.


33. Future- Mask Off [Trap/Our Uncontrolled Actions Move Beyond Reconciliation]
Finding boldness through disengagement leaves you open to moments of quiet contemplation as you’re forced watch your actions from outside. A passenger, watching itself turn reckless. A feeble and supine ego; a lost agency using all its will to mutter a condemnation of the process; we had nothing to lose, so we detached, we have nowhere to go, so we detached.


32. Homeshake- Every Single Thing [Alt R&B/hey hey hey hey hey hey hey]
Wasn’t the whole point of our exhaustive self-contemplation was finding something to bring back for others? What happened? Did we spend too long inside? I see a lot of people trying to play up a communal sense of being oblivious, trying to turn our inattention into an endearing quality.
We actually have the ability to put one another at ease; but what do we do instead?


31. Yves Tumor- Limerence [Experimental/Ambient/You Could, But You Won’t]
The song is actually hard to listen to sometimes (most times, if we’re being honest). It’s hard to hear someone fight for a vision and be met with intentional quiet. It’s managing regret, someone finally giving validity to the other person, the feelings, the plan. Despite it, I can’t stop listening.


30. This Is The Kit- Moonshine Freeze [Indie-Folk/ Δ ]
It’s funny the way things work out. A line split (we are separate), a new one that connects (we are one again). It’s a symbol of supposed instability, yet loving. It’s change and it’s tricky.
I guess that’s what autumns are really all about.


29. Empress Of- Go To Hell [Electro-Pop/In Time, I’ll Read This And See Your Success]
A- Staying, knowing full well how reckless it seemed. They’d talk, he was sure, but he wouldn’t live by someone else’s fears. B- Persisting, knowing full well how demanding it’d be on her. They could have made her ambitions easier, sure, but they were too in love with the sound of their own voice. C- He was tired of hearing about his potential, or what they’d do. They wouldn’t.


28. U.R.S.U.L.A.- MYTHOMALIA MIX [Experimental Club/My Kind Of Epic]
Uses the ends of echoes to punctuate the beats. The structure, immediate sounds, and even the video feel like being dropped into a larger story where you have just a few seconds to piece a context together before we’re on to the next chapter. The abstractions become more and more familiar, until our shared nostalgia descends.


27. Sacred Paws- Everyday [Indie-Pop/You Were Always Taller, But I’d Hold You Higher So That You’d Know It]
There are the lyrics about the transition into a new secure feeling of intimacy with those that you care about but you don’t see as much anymore; surely relevant, but it’s not what I come to the song for. I put on this song because it hugs me at the waist and lifts me above its shoulders.


26. Phoebe Bridgers- Motion Sickness [Indie Rock/Those Of 12-15]
/// I saw his reflection on the train and acted on it, is this new? \\\ Who are these four? Are they permanent? /// He remembered what I had written, and knew I meant it. I rode that memory, that sounds like me, writing, but now I’m talking to him \\\ Her eyes lit up, and I missed her like a little kid. You counted me among your best decisions, and I’m just happy that I wanted to surpass expectations for once /// He shook my hand, and I started to pull away and he squeezed a bit and took my arm closer. “She talks about you all the time, and what an honor it was to know you, you need to know how proud she is” \\\ She ruined his compass, and I told him that it wasn’t his fault. There’s just some things you can’t tell at first glance, I sure didn’t know what was happening /// From the next meeting it seemed so meant to be. A stone’s throw from where I was, we shared a known name, and the three of us settled quickly. I left with my eyes wide, but soon I’d be wondering how only I felt that connection \\\ It was her bad luck to call right then, I was a little too caught up in the moment, I felt different, and you could hear it, I’m sorry it all went the way that it did \\\ I fumbled for the last time this happened, it just wasn’t the same, but I wrote her anyway, I hoped we could let it go and we did /// I thought I was more than ready for the tides, but I found out that I’d lose myself in each wave, I guess I have...


25. Steve Lacy- Dark Red [Lo-Fi/Funk/Thank You For Carrying Me]
Anxiety looks for any excuse to take over. A dizzy spell, a quick heartbeat, a shade of lipstick. The vagueness of the threat is noted, but the danger still feels immediate and specific. It burns well beyond the initial spark. But Lacy also takes a moment to articulate a hope, a voice of reason, a chance to get out. It tells us: we need something, anything, that breaks the feedback.
I didn’t recognize it until I saw those without it.


24. The xx- On Hold [Indie-Pop/Electronica/We Could Finally Say We Kept Our Promise]
I had to listen to it there. Miles of garden, the biggest I’ve ever been in. I rode as quickly as I could. I wove and dipped with tones. I lost my breath at the right moment. I pushed my shoes into sand. I was here, I was finally here….how, how, how didn’t I see it until now?


23. Jens Lekman- Evening Prayer [Indie-Pop/I Want You To Know: I’m On Your Side And I Have An Active Hope It Gets Better]
A story about a feeling that seems idiosyncratic but probably isn’t; wondering about other people for what feels like an obsessive amount of time; wondering what they're not talking about when you hear a distress in their voice. For Jens, it takes the form of what he thinks may be an intrusive compassion. We worry our concern may overwhelm, we worry that our care will be a burden, we worry that our intimacy is too forward, too assuming, too sentimental...
But man, more and more it seems like we had nothing to fear.


22. Jason Isbell & The 400- If We Were Vampires [Country/At Least We Share Worries]
A) Attachments can be seen as a trading the dull pain of dreading death for the sharper moments of recognizing that you're giving yourself multiple deaths [or the deaths of the thirds, mutual expressions created between people], but B) That’s alright; because if we lived forever we wouldn't appreciate the time we have. This solution drives me crazy, it hits me as a cheesy and well-trod cop-out. It may get a few hallelujahs, but doesn't actually shed any light on my own fears. But it works for me in a different way, because it brings up my misestimations. I consistently have this feeling that most people don't even have the dread that I have, but I'm wrong; it's that they're more willing to feel these sort of pain in bursts, more compartmentalized. It seems like other people are more able to feel these things in acute flashes and write them off, rather than having the less intense but omnipresent backdrop. Can’t say I know which way is better; but I know this song is a new kind of gut punch.


21. Selena Gomez- Bad Liar [Pop/It’s Not Chemistry Until The Mix]
One of the very few songs that have managed to capture something about seduction that I’ve always intuitively felt but haven’t seen expressed often enough. Certainly, the song hits the important (but common) segment of listener-as-seducee. That’s a fun aspect, to be sure, but it’s fuller when it’s balanced against the charm of listener-as-seducer; where communicating desire is as positive as receiving it. The song’s narrator finds herself in that balance; a blend of thrills that’s drawn together into a single motion. Offering this inclusive view is also functions as an analogy for the proposition itself; hard to think of a better invitation.


20. Open Mike Eagle- (How Could Anybody) Feel At Home [Art Rap/And Let’s Not Forget The Beat Of The Year: Nails Clicking On The Stopwatch To Our Sepia Tones Of…]
Mike’s search for a sense of home seems to indicate home as a center of gravity; spinning abstract scenes (broadcasting into a mic and leaving, escaping a burning room, displaced bars, being told to make life in makeshift) so that he can see the gentle tug on each one; maybe home’s that direction. I spent a lot of the year wondering what home was, and it got pretty acute right at the end there. I don’t think I’ve found it yet, but I think I’ve seen the satellites.


19. Camedor- Alba [Psychedelic/Rock/Noumena? The Other Side Of The Painting?]
The unrelenting, unremitting pace of a thousand images a minute through my mind. It’s stunning, stop-my-heart, take-my-breath stunning, to think of how much exists in between those stills that is totally forgotten. Now that I have the formal metric based on usefulness for communication, what do I make of all that time? Waste? Infrastructure? Entertainment? Packaging? It’s not that it doesn’t seem fair, we are constantly experiencing, and we can’t relive but a tiny fraction. Maybe this use gives a depth of color? Not just having the sand, but unconscious associations? I hope, because each moment of reflection means ignoring something else, there’s no pausing the film. It’s hard to accept that life moves that w---
The drones cut for a few seconds. I have just a second to compose myself. I say: Remember.
And I fall back in.


18. The She-Devils- The World Laughs [Indie-Pop/So Many Times, But Still One Story]
It’s hard to see a loved one suffer alienation, especially self-imposed. Hard on the obvious level that it you don’t want them to hurt, but also the special frustration in the fact that you also know what an astonishing person they are. It’s just so obvious to you, how can you explain it? Start with how you feel at that moment. Tell them how badly you want them to know that they are the world, nothing can be right if they’re in pain. You feel more than the empathetic impulse, you’re obsessed with fixing it; it’s not possible they should feel this, something’s wrong in the machine, a mistake has been made, the algorithm is off. You don’t think they’re entirely convinced, but they smile and say you’re a bit much; you tell them they lucked out on the short version.


17. High Bloom- Laundry [Ambient Pop/All I Can See Is In The Light Around Me, I Know That You Must Have It Too, But To Me It Looks Like You Fade When You Leave]
It sounds like the way we used to dream, nostalgic for the way we used to invent futures. There was a time we dreamed before we knew what it was like to fail. Do you remember what it was like to have unreserved commitment to unmitigated fantasies? What it was like before experience threaded your hopes to disappointment? Remember when we were boys on the bus and we spoke quietly about Amber Spyglass? Our heads pressed hard into the cushions; we strained our spines against acceptance. You said you didn’t understand why they couldn’t stay together; I said I’d never let anything like that go. The circumstances were explicitly designed for there to be no option, but we refused to consent. We didn’t know it at the time, but it turned out to be the last time we’d really talk before you’d leave; now I’ve found your thread again.


16. Mondo Grosso- Labyrinth [Dance/Pop/We’re Getting Lost, What Kind Do You Want?]
Mazes, by nature, force you to be cognizant of choice every time it shows up; decisions define your journey. A maze’s implicit message is that there are right and wrong directions, that you do best by minimizing your time inside, that it’s about leaving. But so little of life seems like constant, consistent choice. There are punctuated moments of self-awareness but nearly all of it seems like it rests on finding the right way to get lost; it all feels more like a labyrinth to me. Labyrinths employ the totality of the space given; maximizing your time inside the structure. There’s no choice, just following the course. The fact that there isn’t right and wrong, that there’s just a bent path wrapping in on itself, takes away the implicit idea that you are trying to rush through. Removing the incentive for speed through allows your mind to drift to other goals.---
The narrator makes a labyrinth out of a night, intentionally bending her path so that she draws out the shared time as long as possible. There’s a sneaky sincerity in sharing a circuitous route; giving the warmth you feel a thin veil so you allow yourself to feel it more fully without being alarmingly transparent. At the end of your woven steps there’s a shared glance at the exit; without missing a beat the question is breached: Hey, want to go back the other way?


15. CCFX- The One To Wait [Dream Pop/At Least I Knew He Wouldn’t Show]
There’s a gulf between resolve and resolution, where the decision was settled but you still have to execute. You find yourself in old habits, why are you collecting arguments for the choice anymore anyway? It won't get you there. Purposeful, painful, persistent motion is the only way forward, because it'd be so, so simple to relent. The climb is so much harder than you imagined.
It’s only now, now after all that talk; now's when wasting time doesn't sound so bad?


14. Rex Orange County- Loving Is Easy [Indie-Pop/The Swaying Fool In The Tea Aisle]
Sung to another, but spoken for his benefit. He had to explain himself: the more he was drawn in the more he felt he had to protect a piece of himself in case it all went wrong. But at some point he had to admit he wanted to let go and feel it fully. He was tired of straining against it. ---
It is easy, you know? It’s his state of nature; inevitable under the right conditions. If it feels difficult, it’s because something else is impeding it. Almost always, the barrier was self-created. Dismantling got easier the more he did it, all he had to do was ask what was stopping him?
Was there really any good reason to hide his permanent and obvious blush?


13. Mary Lattimore- Wawa by the Ocean [Instrumental/Harp/The Only Way I Could Put It]
Every wall was intricate stained glass. On a table in a flooded field, I was halfway there. The light comes through and spreads over heavy incense. The three of them lit on a bridge against a pink sky. When it all turned to crescent, I wanted to help them see. Children chase bubbles and two old friends dance like they used to. Sulphur and their silhouettes. The boats, the bridges, the reflections on the water; it all looked like a stop motion model. On the hill in the city, I looked over to tell him it was beautiful and a recognition came over me like we were kids again. A crowd of two dozen dancing to Italian Ska (it couldn’t have been enjoyable without heavy nostalgia, I guess we’re not so different after all). A lantern in the trees, just like the begi...


12. Blue Hawaii- No One Like You [Nu-Disco/A Fuller Promise, I Swear]
She was asked to forgive the hurt, to let go of the problems in the past; but she can’t just forget, she can’t betray her heart. She has a counter-offer: she’ll remember the pain, but she’ll stay, she’ll grow, she’ll feel all of it and still hope you’ll stay too. After all, there’s never been…---
The chorus overpowers the verses of uncertainty, because once you start saying it, your heart hears it, and repeats it, and repeats it, louder and louder until the rest fades away and your body is left with the lingering message. We’re stronger than the need for a clean slate, we’re worth more than the promise of possession; our vibrant and dynamic pattern is sufficient in itself.


11. Finn- Sometimes The Going Gets A Little Tough [Dance/Saved By The 2 Minute Mile]
I'm sure there's downsides to abstracting out parts of myself to the point where I have to engage in self-paternalism, but at least I get to feel this track. I don't always seem to listen to myself, I sometimes forget I'm there when things are good, but on those bad days: I'll be there.--
It closes a loop, because I feel the relief as I’m providing the comfort. I’ve gotten so used to feeling both sides of comfort (being comforted, providing comfort) that it’s activated every time I experience either. I hope it’s something like empathy, and not just more selfishness.--
Right before sprinting I take a few rapid steps on my toes. Everytime I make that shift there’s a rush of excitement, because whenever it happens it was for a good reason.


10. Boreen- Garden [Indie-Pop/You Got Me To Hear What I Didn’t Want To]
I listened to this track during the writing stage of this list more than any other because I kept trying to make the wrong narrative fit. I wanted the song to be from the perspective of a father watching his daughter extend an invitation, seeing the rejection, and failing to console her. I wanted the narrator to be a third party that was helpless in watching. I always saw problems with that interpretation, but if I want a story to fit I’m not shy about a fuzzy logic. Still, I couldn’t shake the idea that the narrator was the rejector; but I badly wanted it not to be true. Eventually I caught myself saying it was impossible for the narrator to be the rejector because the song makes it clear that the narrator is both empathetic and aware of Elizabeth’s pain, and it’s impossible for an empathetic person to hurt someone knowingly. Wait, what? Where did that last assumption come from? I just wanted it to be true, by making that statement true, it means that I couldn’t be a rejector. But it’s not, and as much as I wish empathy prevents me from hurting people that want to be close to me by not reciprocating their efforts, it doesn't. As much as I’d like to posit myself as a broken faucet of unlimited affection, it's been demonstrated otherwise.


9. Lorenzo Senni- The Shape Of Trance To Come [Progressive Trance/Memento Vitae]
When I can feel my blood pressure drop and I'm near fainting, either by true association or conditioning, it feels like an encounter with the initial stages of dying. Anxiety hits, I’m flooded. I worry that this is that same sensation I'll feel just before... I just want to lie down, just let me rest. My conscious tries to tell me it's not true, that I'll be fine, but I don't feel it. I try a walk, fresh air, natural sounds. It doesn't seem to work. By luck, the song comes on, and I can feel the surging contours of my will to live. Death seems briefly impossible, not being vivid and alive just doesn’t make sense. It can’t possibly be true; I’ll fight it, and it’ll lose. I will find a way, or make one.


8. The Black Madonna- He Is the Voice I Hear [Nu-Disco/Soundtrack For Self-Reunion]
You see, this is my pocket. This is right where I feel at ease in music. This is when it’s completely natural.This is where I’m from. I knew the song would be here from the first time I heard it. I worry that 2017’s head-cannon will be all about change, and while it’s true the changes are pretty salient, the year was also about fighting to keep what mattered to me. I’m more than the latest difference, and here’s the steady beat of my heart that I trust to accompany me my whole life. My rock, my pulse, my first record; without it, it’d just be change, not growth.


7. Big Thief- Shark Smile [Indie-Rock/Americana/Forty Seconds Of Wreckage]
I’d recognize that heartbeat anywhere. A momentum that I either immediately and consciously control, or I’m overwhelmed by; swept up in its current until I’m carried to whatever is on the other side. I know it because it’s unsustainable. I can’t forget the feeling of being lost in it, the familiar and chilling feeling. I’d be able to run, I know it, if it weren’t for the chords before. The shared moments between the channels, creating the center; once I hear it I know it’s over.


6. Treasure Hunt- P3T3R P4N [Experimental/Electronica/In The Car, 10 Years To The Day]
It’s finally time to run head first into the places I didn’t dare hope for. I’m going to find out if I’m wrong one way or the other; I just don’t want to fear the magnitude of my dreams. I saw my biggest weakness for what it was, an exposed liability that I have to share. It could hardly be called talking, more like barely hold my spirit in, nearly yelling my life outlook (there’s no way I’d turn the song down). Hearing myself the moment, noticing the gaps, I knew I had to follow Peter.
In the end I’d rather be exhausted than restless; I’d rather feel regret than indecision.


5. Jim-E Stack- Deadstream (Rostam Version) [Garage House/I Don’t Know When]
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
It was the only thing I could say to keep myself together. I heard the song when it wasn’t playi...
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
Am I in shock? Is this what shock is? How is this inducing a physical response? What am I f...
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
You called, I needed that. I had to talk. I don’t think I can go back in there. You need to tell m...
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
I don’t know what’s going to happen dude. I think it’s real. I’ll never be forgiven, I can’t los...
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
I’m dying tonight, but it still won’t be over. Someday it might be different, but for now:
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.


4. Tim Heidecker- Trump Talkin’ Nukes [Singer/Songwriter/There Is Virtue In A Proportional Response, But We Don’t Seem To Talk That Way Anymore]
Tim’s work is usually coated in several layers of irony, and ironic detachment from irony, abstract strangeness to prevent ever getting a foothold to any sort of certainty, and irony. Yet this is one of the most sincere songs I’ve ever heard. He’s honestly frightened, and he just has to talk it out. It’s good to hear, because we’re not supposed to openly talk about being scared of him anymore, it’s not seen as constructive. We were allowed to be scared on the first night, everything else after had to be productive anger. But man, sometimes I still get scared. ---
We used to be taught to hide because we weren’t used to the threat, it was real then. But now we’ve become numb and forgotten what we have. We take it for granted that is hasn’t happened; actually using them, that’s in the past. Tim gives recognition to our drastic power asymmetry. When we get hurt, we have a responsibility not to hit as hard as we can, because we truly have the capacity to destroy everything when we feel afraid.---
I’m amazed how cathartic and graceful this song turned out, it’s so unlikely; in fact it’s a miracle.


3. Rostam- Bike Dream [Indie-Pop/Within Seconds, The World Turns To Runway]
I almost forgot about you, east-coaster. I’ve been feeling like you recently. I didn’t keep our promise, but I’m not sure you’d mind; I don’t think we really knew why we wanted to make it. I like to think you’d be happy with me. A lot has happened since we last talked. There’s this song Bike Dream, it’s one of the reasons I’ve been thinking of you. Sometimes I get dressed up just to listen to it, just like you used to do; you had a lot of funny habits. I think you would have listened to it in the shower, with the lights out, as warm as you could handle. I’ve been listening to it out on the city streets, but I should try it your way sometime. The more I reminisce, I bet you’d be surprised with me now. Turns out to get at the heart of the promise I didn’t need to leave. Bike Dream talks about fulfillment the way we used to, a state of constant motion, our moments of reflection only long enough to smile before we break into a run to make our train. Speaking of which, I have to go, but I really want you to listen to this song, we might be these two boys.


2. Moses Sumney- Doomed [Soul/The Note Reads: I Must Not Forget That In My]
An existential crisis, despite durable faith. He feels like he was left out of the plan, just an accident of creation. The words that he’s told are etched on his heart just aren’t there.
He aches and lingers on each syllable of his lonely prayer; a reluctance to finish because it feels like he’s uncovering divine indifference. His loneliness isn’t claustrophobic; his gasp echoes over chasms when he begins to speak; the music swells as he reaches toward the beauty above, toward that most wonderful connection in all of creation, and it peels to empty space. ---
It speaks to a dormant part of my mind, the old unconscious. I’d resent the structure if it were me, I guess I already do, just from the other side. I refuse to say the pain is incumbent, while he articulates a dignity to the suffering. I’ve tried in the past to understand that sort of abiding poise, but only this was able to give me a glimpse into a sympathetic stoicism.


1. Death’s Dynamic Shroud- Tell Me Your Secret [Experimental/Orange Milk Remix, Again]
I don’t know about you, but most of my existence is spent in scattered, spontaneous, unthinking, chaos. All of the moments with meaning lasting beyond their experience were wrest from confusion through reflection and struggle. The rush of sense and feeling is the substance, but it’ll disperse in an instant without organization. I see an eagerness within myself to give up and live in disorientation. I resent the effort it takes to draw together a form, to justify my reactions. I dread writing this list because it’s painful to enforce a slow and methodical structure onto my unbridled enthusiasm for the music. Every year I just want to write that I love every song, and every time I’m done with the list I’m so relieved that I put the work in.---
You get to hear the process on the song, you actually, sincerely, genuinely get. to. hear. it. The first half is gorgeous anarchic madness, resistant to any attempt to comprehend; but then it recognizes its own disorder and it pulls itself together for a moment of courage and lucidity; just enough time to seize the nearest person with eye contact. We get our bearings, and we build a foundation, we make a memory, we save something from today, we keep this triumph. And we repeat. More than inspirational, a role-model; both personal and monumental.---
And COME ON, it’s a song that takes control over a cacophony just to beg: tell me your secret.
It’s ****ing MADE for me.



Oh man, I just assumed you'd let these trickle out, maybe even in sets of 10. Now I need to block out, like, a few hours while writing code or something to check all these out.



Oh man, I just assumed you'd let these trickle out, maybe even in sets of 10. Now I need to block out, like, a few hours while writing code or something to check all these out.
Used to! But I got lazy.

Feel free to pretend I only released a set of 10 each week over a month.



Good stuff. Just cracked the top ten today, found a few I really like/have now/might put on the wife's next mix tape, too.
I'm sure she's already bumping Mask Off so you don't need to give it to her.

But for real, given her interests she might like Moses Sumney's very very personal takes on theology. His 2016 EP Lamentations in particular. They're a little idiosyncratic given his aromanticism, but very sincere.

Speaking of EPs, that's what's coming next (though over the years its been apparent that it's of the least interest to other people. Which is too bad! Short releases are fascinating! Though admittedly, it's also my shortest list, so I like songs and albums better myself. But this year has a tremendous top 3 or so.)



Top 20 Short Releases of 2017
(mostly EPs)

Pretty Version https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FNY ... Mv7c/edit#

Youtube Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/y7sfwajk

20-11 (No Blurbs)


20. Holy ****- Bird Brains EP [Electronica/Instrumental]

19. Lucinate- Metaphysical Modes [Electronica/Jazz]

18. CCFX- CCFX EP [Dream Pop/Alternative]

17. Paul White- Accelerator EP [Rap/Hip-Hop]

16. Death Grips-Steroids [Experimental/Noise/Rap]


15. ideias, etc- Insônia Terrível, Mas Conveniente [Lo-Fi/Indie]

14. Akira Kosemura- The Cycle of Nature [Instrumental Piano]

13. Bullion- Blue Pedro [House]

12. Injury Reserve- Drive It Like It's Stolen [West Coast Rap]

11. The Comet Is Coming- Death To The Planet [Psych-Jazz]



10-1 (With Blurbs)


10. Luct Melod- Februation EP [Industrial Techno/Unyielding Will And Tireless Frame]
Out of all the apocalypse scenarios, machine dominance (e.g. Terminator) is still the one that gets to me the most. Because it’s really two concepts taken to an extreme beyond human capacity: single-mindedness and indefatigability. It’s the mix that makes it so frightening. For a long time, we feared the leverage, where technology moved us further and further from our baseline capabilities; until we realize we’re dependent. But there’s also the pace of technology, where the magnification turns on itself and starts to speed toward exponentiality. The correlation is made explicit on the EP; a voice describes the feedback between pain, suffering, and power.


9. Sky.High- sleepy.[tape] [Lo-Fi Hip Hop Anime Chill Beats To.../Hey! Look! Listen!]
A peek at the vignettes of another life's peaceful moments. The comfortable quiet in all of us. I don’t feel as if I’m myself, I could gaze out the window as her, or him, or any of those four across from one another. I pair two of them, imagine one stroking the other’s hair in their lap. It’s like viewing a scene where the only way you know it’s not a still picture is the slight brush of the wind on the leaves. It’s my stop, and wouldn’t you know it, there's a rainbow, the first I’ve seen in years. Some exit with me, they’re struck by it too. They steal glances at each other's faces to see the shared recognition. We linger for a moment in this unearned, but appreciated familiarity.


8. Camedor- En Ut / Alba [Psychedelic/Rock/Frontloading Pain As An Act Of Faith]
There was something familiar in the way you spoke about starting to climb before dawn. How you’d only be able to see a couple feet in any direction, no visual guarantee of progress, no measure of headway, but you had to be advancing, right? This was the hard part. But, as the light starts to flood in, you’d realize the kind of landscape you were in. And it’d appear all at once. I know a little bit about what you mean, maybe. Each time I begin my interaction with Camedor I forget where it eventually goes; I fumble in the dark a bit before it all comes together. When it does, it’s just like you said, I feel so alive.



7. Jorud- Ok Ok Ok ok ok [Indie/Pop/Asparagus Five Ways]
Have you ever met someone with the simple superpower of being able to make something wonderful of whatever is in arm’s reach? Taking in their immediate environment and layering their observations until they find an emergent beauty or purpose. I’d call it crafty I guess, and crafty is what I’d call Jorud. There is no one particularly fascinating element of the music but it loops in on itself in endearingly simple ways. What it seeks, and finds, in me is functional optimism; a sense that I’m just a blueprint away from rearranging my surroundings into a grin.


6. Hannah Diamond- Soon You Won’t See Me At All [Pop/Faded, Blocked, or Left]
Never Again starts with a reference to Fade Away, and it’s actually quite stunning. Fade Away describes a recognition of a crumbling connection that arrives as you watch the pieces you didn’t even realize were there start to leave. The reference on Never Again is proactive, saying how we caught ourselves early this time; a moment of long term hope that this would be the one that wouldn’t disappear, please don’t let this be like the others. Concrete Angel fits wonderfully in between the two originals, and explores the myriad feelings that accompany watching a previously open person walk away from you by restating the same chorus with drastically different emphasis (implying a monumental sadness to begging reconsideration at a pace faster than you can speak, to dancing alone in self-embrace, to the novel liberty that accompanies decisiveness). The Ending captures both the uncertainty of being left behind while the other retreats into contemplation about a future that will affect the both of you, when they return it’s not the answer you hoped for. The emotional closure on the EP is actually back on Never Again, where Hannah hums to herself while watching a rainstorm, comforted by the idea that the magnitude of these feelings could someday find themselves on a stage befitting their scope.


5. Lorenzo Senni- The Shape Of Trance To Come [Minimal Trance/Spirit Of The Game]
It brings out an competitive spirit out of me, one that isn’t antagonistic, rather a desire for communal ambition. A love of bringing action out of others, a love of being inspired to action, a love of being the inspiration to others. It’s not a love of dominance over another, not a love of relative victory, but a push towards an absolute understanding. It's the kind of music that makes me feel like there is a best version of me, and that existence alone is a motivating thought. The music is simple, but simple in the way that a narrow shell that can pass through my slim window of attention only to burst when it's inside my mind.



4. Madmadmad- Pax [Aggro-Disco/I Barely Outpace My Bad Habits, But I Still Smile]
I’m drawn to moments of necessary and intense improvisation. Managing opportunity, minimizing mistakes, making loose backup plans, time as the prime resource rather than dedication and forethought. I think it’s because it turns decisions into something more like play that liability. Decisions become easy when they fly past, when there’s no time for reflection. It’s probably not a mindset I should be rewarding, but I revel in the satisfaction of snap choices.


3. Ivy SOLE. - EAST [Rap/Hip-Hop/Soul/As If The Words Had Past Lives Of Their Own]
Something I love about Ivy: her thorough devotion to language. While a word’s sound is initially arbitrary to its meaning, and the symbols are initially arbitrary to the sound, and the meaning is initially arbitrary to the symbols; it all feels meant to be when she puts them together.---
Everything To Lose is never settles on any one piece of language relation (assonance, rapid slant-rhyme, collaged meaning) yet also doesn’t lose its message in the love of elocution (you’ve grown and developed and your potential energy has to be protected; you can’t just fight like your back is against the wall anymore, even if that’s all you’ve known). Deep shows the breadth of a holistic understanding, where she seems to drift into new truths by the following the trailing edge of the previous thought; the facets of interacting with the boyhood of others giving way to the masculine but disparate facets of Chicago giving way to the pieces of her distant father that exist within her despite the gap giving way to… The EP’s title itself was this sort of trailing thought, she began in Eden, after Eden she went East, and then she turned...


2. Ivy SOLE. - WEST [Rap/Hip Hop/Soul/Maybe I’m So Protective Of Your Memory Because Like Her, I Think You’re The Reason I Got To Live The Life I Have Now]
Something I love about Ivy: her ability to gain poise and determination from pressure and burden. Ivy music induces a search for courage rather than simply providing it. I’ve encountered lyrics about obligation and insecurity many times, and it can be wonderful to hear a sympathetic perspective about how difficult feeling the weight of expectation can be. But Ivy draws a motivation from holding herself to account, she thrives under the magnitude of her opportunities; I have total faith in her, I’m certain of success and thrilled to find out what she chooses next. ---
West continues Ivy’s warmth over locations, like she's detailing a loved ones little facets, the spots and memories are vivid and the picture flows naturally, I feel a kinship here. On Rooftops her focus comes into question, where she wonders if cultivating a large picture view has stifled her ability to properly lament the individuals. Something is lost when we have to keep moving forward, but we need to take some time to give our love and recognition to the special people now gone. My Way is a well placed love song; the context within the EP gives it a space where it feels like a reprise and safe haven; that’s no accident, it’s one of the few places left for some.



1. Jim-E Stack- It’s Jim-EE [Electro-Pop/Garage House/I Will Remember Every One Of You Until I Can’t, And Then I’ll Need You To Tell Me Again]
Every time I hear it, I want to call it “modern”, truly 2017. And that’s true enough; it’s has a technical flavor indebted to recent influences like Jai Paul and various Young Turks releases, it brings together some significant contemporaries like Rostam and Charli XCX, it has an earnestness to its digital liner notes (a kind of earnestness that’s been blossoming into a proper counter-culture). But I think my intuition is accidentally equivocating on the word modern, because it’s not that it’s 2017, I think it wants to call it modern because it’s reflecting a personal attitude towards maturation, the modern me. Maturity doesn’t seem to be a moment. It also doesn’t seem to be irrevocable, my foundational lessons seem to be ones that occur again and again. Maturity seems to be where we can talk breathlessly about ideals, how love is a free resource, how it’s unlimited in scope, and then we sigh and say, but time. It’s the reaction to a context that’s becoming overwhelmingly intuitive even when we wish it wasn’t. I’ve been skeptical of maturity my whole life, and I think that’s the correct approach for a lot of the spurious relationships people claim in its name, but I was also skeptical that even such a thing existed, at least at scale for all of us. I think it’s because I didn’t account for the difference that having points of reference would make.---
I want to call it a moody release, and usually that’s accompanied by a disclaimer that you’ve got to be in the right headspace to listen to it, but there was nothing that was more familiar and easy to slip into than this EP. The confusing part about it all is how I swear I did this all before, that I already said these goodbyes, already had this growth. But how would I know? I’m just a kid---
I keep trying to find your center of gravity. This all sprouted from a single song, each piece must have seemed so wonderful you couldn’t bear for them not to experience their own starring role. You’d sit and consider the addition long enough that you’d get lost in it, you’d get too attached to the personality of the addition for it to be subsumed by the original concept. Your ideas on the end of the relationship come together like technicolor; refracted, reversed, and relayered into a reconstructed memory (Like all stories? Let’s not forget our sand). R- Sadness that it’s over but refusing to reach out (out of fear or pride?) G- Reflection on the time, as if you were graduating from a state of mind, but one you loved. B- Regret on how you didn’t see the end coming, you didn’t even have to think about how you would stop it before it was pulled out from under you.





Well, will post pure list at least:

Youtube playlist: https://tinyurl.com/ybflwdbc

50. Blanck Mass- World Eater
49. Rapsody- Laila's Wisdom
48. The xx- I See You
47. Father John Misty- Pure Comedy
46. Four Tet- New Energy
45. Treasure Hunt- All My Children
44. Big Thief- Capacity
43. Quelle Chris- Being You Is Great...
42. Laura Marling- Semper Femina
41. Mount Kimbie- Love What Survives

40. Jonwayne- Rap Album Two
39. 아버지 (Father)- Reflection
38. Ninos Du Brasil- Vida Eterna
37. Mary Lattimore- Collected Pieces
36. Jens Lekman- Life Will See You Now
35. Death’s Dynamic Shroud- Heavy Black Heart
34. Bicep- Bicep
33. James Murray- Killing Ghosts
32. The Courtneys- The Courtneys II
31. Run The Jewels- Run The Jewels 3

30. Harvey Sutherland- Expectations
29. James Holden- The Animal Spirits
28. The Washboard Abs- Recurring Chasms
27. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie & Lowell Live
26. Samuel Regan- Stil de Grain
25. J.I.D.- The Never Story
24. Porter Ricks- Anguilla Electrica
23. Bibio- Phantom Brickworks
22. Kendrick Lamar- DAMN.
21. Pregnant- Duct Tape

20. Brokenchord- Endless Transmission
19. Girlpool- Powerplant
18. Eluvium- Shuffle Drones
17. Spoon- Hot Thoughts
16. Sacred Paws- Strike A Match
15. Gas- Narkopop
14. Brother Ali- All The Beauty In This Whole Life
13. Chuck Johnson- Basalms
12. Soccer Mommy- Collection
11. Brockhampton- Saturation Trilogy

10. Moses Sumney- Aromanticism
9. Earl Grey- Headwinds
8. Guerilla Toss- GT Ultra
7. Seabuckthorn- Turns
6. Future Islands- The Far Field
5. Saagara- 2
4. Jay-Z - 4:44
3. Colin Stetson- All This I Do For Glory
2. Open Mike Eagle- Brick Body Kids Still Daydream
1. Mount Eerie- A Crow Looked At Me