2017 Music - Albums of the Year

So to finish off the year, here are the 25 albums that floated to the top in the goldpan of our 2017 music project, for me. Worth noting that Jez and I listened to more than 800 albums and EPs released this year, so this is a comprehensively whittled down list. But it's purely based on my own enjoyment, and I make no pretenses about this being a definitive list of 2017 - just a better one than all the other ones out there. If you haven't heard something on this list, give it a try - you might love it too. Or not: what am I, your own personal brain?

25) Neutral Paradise - Brendan Byrnes (Xenharmonic Electronica)

Kicking my albums round-up with this odd but remarkably well-produced collection of electronica, playing with chords and harmonies in ways that shouldn't work, but do. The weirdest of the tracks on here 'Kaleidoscopic' was also my favourite and my #11 song of the year. This album's only shortcoming was being a bit samey in spite of every bit feeling unexpected.

24) Wireless World - Warm Digits (Prog-Rock)

Two albums in and we're already in a niche of predominantly instrumental tracks, with the occasional bit of vocals thrown in. This is really interesting progressive rock with a heavy emphasis on synth sounds and a curious social commentary thrown into its lyrics and song titles. Mostly I just enjoyed the driving energy of the progressions.

23) Rudes Against - Skassapunka (Italian Ska Punk)

So I wrote about Russkaja and their faux-Russian ska punk in my songs write-up, but the superior European ska punk album of 2017 was this one. It's got a fun, slightly flamboyant Italian laddish spirit to it, with a good dose of punk aggression underneath the sax and brass section which is really just charismatic and enjoyable.

22) The Water - San Cisco (Australio Indie Pop)

I mentioned in my songs write-up that this album, despite winning album of the week when it came out, kind of fell off my radar due to the fact that there were also very good albums from San Fermin and Saint Etienne this year and the similar nomenclature all got muddled up together. On relistening, this one rose to the top as it just has a consistently good magnetic pop line running through it that helps me overcome the fact that it feels very produced and what I'd call that typical 'Indie' sound with reverbed vocals and layered synths. This is just enjoyable music.

21) Music for the Age of Miracles - The Clientele (Neo-Psychedelia)

Very oldskool sound to these guys, they're like a mix of late Beatles, early Pink Floyd, bit of Velvet Underground thrown in; basically a whole bunch of nostalgia-tinted artists that I love. But even while it channels their sounds this is unmistakeably new and interesting music, with a surprisingly sweet and uplifting spirit to it all.

20) Oh, Yuck - So Much Light (Neo-RnB)

I mentioned in writing up my favourite song from this album - Full Body Mirror, my #4 song of the year - that what So Much Light brings to his music, and the RnB genre overall, is this scintillating quirkiness to the instrumentation; it adds this amazing colour and personality to a lot of these tracks that could otherwise fall by the wayside along with so many other humdrum RnB artists do for me. He writes good songs and sings them well, but it's the idiosyncratic production around them that really makes this.

19) The Machine That Made Us - Flotation Toy Warning (Psychedelic Rock)

From the unwieldy song titles to the rock operatic delivery, this album's just a kooky, enjoyable ride to another realm. The music is varying levels of retro rock influences combined together, but there's a soulful and slightly plaintive lament at the heart of it that really resonates with me.

18) Murmuration Nation - Emily Saliers (Folk Rock)

This album could have been a hell of a lot higher, because it's really rather impeccable and faultless. Somehow though there's something just a bit too polished about Saliers' delivery that feels a bit too intrusive like she's really getting up in my grill. I'm nit-picking obviously because this is a fantastic collection of music; it's one that just stopped short of me really, fully embracing.

17) I Tell a Fly - Benjamin Clementine (Post-Music)

I've already written a bit about this album in my top twenty songs write-up, where the opening track Farewell Sonata may have actually gotten this exact same spot (Yes, it did). This whole album is an artistic masterpiece; it pushes every boundary you can imagine - including the boundary that says harpsichord should be sparingly used in modern music - and somehow comes out being both deeply stimulating and highly enjoyable. As I said in the songs write-up, it's poetry, it's art, it may not quite be music, but it's wonderful.

16) Solveig - Seven Spires (Symphonic Metal)

Again another artist I've written up a fair bit in my songs write-up; Seven Spires deliver a really bold line of symphonic metal, that pretty much uses synth strings and other non-metal instrumentation as a sidenote to some pretty raw death metal, but the key selling point is frontwoman Adrienne Cowan's protean skill, delivering death screams, aggressive punk-style yells, and the essential tuneful mezzo-soprano to make this a multi-faceted and riveting album of metal.

15) Unpeeled - Cage the Elephant (Acoustic Live Rock)

All year since I heard this album - and picked it as my album of the week - I've been going back and forth over whether it's really eligible as a 2017 album. All this is is live and acoustic (unpeeled) versions of previously-released Cage the Elephant material with a handful of new covers thrown in as well. But I've decided not only is it eligible but it's my #15 album of the year, based on the fact that, having gone back and listened to some earlier versions of these songs, that the acoustic versions actually improve on them (Mainly by stripping away the 'Indie' veneer of post-production) and also this was my first time discovering Cage the Elephant, so I feel like it was an essential part of my 2017 music experience. This is just simple, unpretentious rock with a great band dynamic and engaging tunes.

14) Death of the Artist - Elsiane (Art Pop)

This is a strange and dark journey through some stirring and beautiful musical landscapes. Elsieanne Caplette's really empyreal vocal style is the point of differentiation here, although the layered complexities of the synth and strings underneath just elevate her performances as well. It's quite a dark, brooding forest of sound that it's easy to get lost in.

13) Hopeless Romantic - Michelle Branch (Indie Pop)

From a dark, brooding forest of sound to more of a pleasant conversation with an old friend. Michelle Branch's warm-hearted pop songstress style is quite easy to embrace. It's sweet, playful, with an easy and unpretentious delivery of positive vibes. Ultimately I just connect a lot with Branch's personality that is imbued in these songs but it rises to the top because I just love a simple bit of pleasant pop music.

12) Chaos & Systems - Sundays & Cybele (Japanese Psych Rock)

Of course, the album that is the source of my song of the year deserves a spot on my top 25. Although this album reaches a pretty significant peak on the second track, those nine minutes are probably just the highest energy and most chaotic on the album. There's a cornucopia of different and classic psychedelic flavours throughout this, and while it's not all as scintillating as Butterfly's Dream, if it all were, we'd be having this write-up 11 songs later. It's all very fascinating and enjoyable though.

11) The Twin - Sound of Ceres (Dreampop)

It was an astoundingly good week of music for me following the 6th of October; the creator of my #1 album of 2016, Mr Yéyé, released his follow-up, and on the very same day, this sophomore effort from Sound of Ceres - creators of my #2 album of 2016 - also came out. Which was just fucking absurd. And the best part was, neither album disappointed. This, like its predecessor Nostalgia for Infinity, is an immensely intricate and rich collection of beautiful, dreamy and ethereal music. Nothing else sounds like, well, Ceres I guess, and it's only really how very cognate this is with last year's #2 that drops it slightly out of the top ten of the year.

10) This is the Sound - Cellar Darling (Folk Metal)

I think the guy from Metal Injection said it best on this Swiss outfit when he announced "they have a goddamn hurdy gurdy". Is a hurdy gurdy enough to make metal especially good? No, but when it  and plenty of other strange folk elements are intertwined so skilfully with some kickass metal, it becomes something pretty damn good. It's potentially an unusual proposition, but in its execution this is just a really killer metal album, and the folk elements just act as a bridge and an accompaniment to it all.

9) Hybride - Mr Yéyé (French Electrorock)

So this certainly shouldn't be a surprise, given how strongly I've been adumbrating its imminence. This album was a big deal for me; to begin with I contributed to its crowdfunding campaign, on the back of my love of his album Cabaret Noir last year, and so received a hard copy of it alone with a whole bunch of other fanboy paraphernalia. Expectations were high, but there was no fear of disappointment. This guy's particular attraction for me is in how much he just loves what he does, so there's no danger of him overdoing it, or taking his music in weird new directions and turning pretentious. He just delivers hard-hitting rock music, with surprisingly clean and positive lyricism. Is there anything wrong with this album that drops it down to #9 of the year? Genuinely not. It's just more about the level of fervour I can muster so soon. I had the revelation last year; this is just the confirmation.

8) Prophets of Rage - Prophets of Rage (Rap Metal)

A set of great metal at the front of this top ten. Prophets of Rage, an Audioslave-and-Rage Againt the Machine/Public Enemy/Cypress Hill supergroup put forward a gimmicky little EP in 2016 that was essentially just a mashup of old songs from the composite groups' back catalogue. It was a fun little intro to the idea, but it wasn't until this proper eponymous debut that they really forged their own identity and put their stamp on the music scene. And it's an emphatic stamp; the metre and structure of the rap is exactly the style that I like - plaintive but rhythmic, and the use of the hard-hitting strains of Tom Morello's guitar just make this a really great, loud and enjoyable album with a big, loud and appropriate fuck you to the machine.

7) The Far Field - Future Islands (Synthpop)

So in my all-metal-and-happypop top ten, it's taken a long time but we're finally into some pop. And anyone who read my songs write-ups (Hi, Mother!) should have known this album was coming. It's not really complex or intricate synthpop, but it's catchy and somehow full of such positive feeling that it's all I'm left with every time I listen. A lot of it comes down to Samuel T Herring's unusual vocal delivery, which could act as the unassailable hurdle for some, but for me just lifts this above the ordinary into something special. I'm not kidding when I say it's just pure joy from start to finish.

6) After Laughter - Paramore (Synthpop)

Yep, all metal and happypop continues. There's probably been a lot written about this album from all sorts of sources because it actually came as a bit of a bolt from the blue for those who were familiar with Paramore from their early days. And this didn't really come as a bolt from the blue for me, but it was just a lightning strike of fantastic synthpop. From the opening track Hard Times it's top shelf happy pop that never slows down. But beyond just being bubblegum and treacle, it's also thoughtful and cleverly written music that is worth respecting as much as it is worth embracing.

5) Machine Messiah - Sepultura (Brazilian Groove Metal)

While the fact of my all-metal-and-happypop run continuing may be a surprise, I feel that this album's position may be a surprise for many - including Jez, and any Sepultura fans from back in their heyday. Fact is, they've seemingly become a bit of a punchline since the founding Cavalera brothers left, and the residual Frankenstein band and their output seems a bit of an afterthought. But the fact is I never really connected with Sepultura's music, and when I listened to the new album from the splinter Cavalera brothers later this year, it came home that what I never connected with was actually the Cavalera brothers. This album, on the other hand, is an absolute masterpiece of raw aggression; some great Latin grooves set the mood and provide texture to the piece, but it's otherwise just an amazingly poised and well-composed album. Each song builds complexities and layers of musical meaning on the song before it, and the whole thing becomes an immersive and wonderful experience in raw power.

4) Sweet Dreamer - Will Joseph Cook (I don't know, will he?) (Pop)

Will the all-metal-and-happypop run never stop? Will Joseph ever cook? (that's just in case you've missed the joke up to this point) This album had a bit of a mixed run in our music project - for some reason I put it in my 'extra credit' section at the start, and set it up for failure. Then I listened to it, love it, but somehow managed to convince myself that there were just a bunch of really good songs on this, and a bunch of filler, and relegated it to runner-up album of the week (To my #14 album of the year, Elsiane's Death of the Artist). But when I revisited it for this list, I confirmed my initial suspicions that I was full of shit, and so the final destination for Will Joseph Cook is right at the top end of the year, where it belongs. This is a really remarkable debut album from this young bloke; an unwavering sequence of entertaining, intriguing and exuberant pop, and contrary to my initial mistaken impression, there isn't a bad song on here. There are just great songs, and a bunch of top-100-of-the-year songs.

3) The Temple of I & I - Thievery Corporation (Triphop Reggae Fusion)

"No!" I hear you shriek in disbelief. This can't be true, can it? What an unbelievable shock. My undisputed favourite group, a group my wife and I listened to on our honeymoon road trip, a group we've seen live twice and talk about as our son's first gig (Bec was three months pregnant during their last tour), a group I compulsively refresh the booking site so I can buy tickets to every upcoming tour the minute they go on sale, they put out a new album this year - and I really really liked it? Yep, it's hard to believe but here we are. What Thievery's been doing lately - isolating a genre and exploring its themes and fusing in their beats and fusion elements across an album - is at times (as in their previous bossa-focused effort Saudade) a tad risky, since if the genre doesn't interest then the album becomes less engaging. In the case of The Temple of I & I, I'm on board from the minute you say reggae fusion. Welcoming back a bunch of their favourite and frequent collaborators, including Notch (who features on one of my favourite Thievery songs, Amerimacka) and Mr Lif (whose album Don't Look Down I loved last year), and introducing into the mix my new favourite Raquel Jones, it's a good hour of enrapturing fusion music, with great reggae spirit and attitude on top of Eric & Rob's trademark blend of mellow and kicking beats. It was actually a treat to listen to my favourite group in the context of the music project, because it really hammered home just how important Thievery Corporation is in the life of my music; they stand so far above the other great music I'm discovering for the first time. Obviously, except for...

2) Aetherlight - Mt Wolf (Dream Rock)

Poor Mt Wolf, always the bridesmaid. 800 albums/EPs and likely well over 5000 songs, and from their first proper full-length album, they've only managed to land at runner-up song and runner-up album of the year. Obviously, facetiousness aside let's talk about this album. Obviously Hex was a big highlight track from it in its completely beguiling ethereal beauty, but that beauty is all across this album. What I love about the way they compose their music is that it's unmistakeably rock-focused even while it's so ambient and dream-like, and so at times like the climax of Hex when it goes big and loud and guitar-driven, it's all earned by what came before it. The album moves in moods from mellow ambience to passionate enrapture, all underlined by Bassi Fox's stunning vocal work that makes me feel every moment.

1) A Deeper Understanding - The War on Drugs (Indie Rock)

Yes, this shouldn't be at all a surprise to anyone who read my songs write-ups (Hi, Mother!), and it was an easy, towering decision when it came down to the pointy end of the year, because this album is just so fucking good. In some ways it's a bit of a throwback sound, in that there are definite tinges of bygone eras of music, and if I were being a stupid jerk I'd say it's just a throwback to a time when bands made real music (or rather a time long ago enough for us to have selective memory of only the best parts). One thing that really has come home to me as I've relistened to this album (and I've done a lot of relistening) is that, in the year that we lost the great Tom Petty, these guys really should be considered the rightful heir to his throne. This is not simply because of frontman Adam Granduciel's obvious vocal similitude to Petty, but because the War on Drugs, like Petty & his related Heartbreakers, do a particular line in deceptively simple, elegant rock music. 'Elegant' is really the best word for this album; there are no wasted moments and no wasted notes; every chord, every orchestrated piece of instrumentation, it's all there for a reason, and the combination is greater than the sum of its parts. From the perky and free-flowing Holding On and Knopfler-esque Nothing To Find (my favourite two tracks) to the sprawling 11-minute Thinking of a Place, their introspective and deeply rich lyricism is imbued in every moment. Like I said too, it's deceptively simple; it's good old guitars, drums and keyboard, but the arrangement of all its elements is nothing short of masterful.

And finally, if you go through all of these 25 and find nothing that interests you, or that you liked upon hearing yourself, here are my outliers. Maybe one of these, that wasn't quite good enough for this list, might be good enough for yours:

Life Will See You Now - Jens Lekman (Indie Pop)

The Source - Ayreon (Prog Metal)

Manual Override - Saskwatch (Australio Indie Pop)

Villains - Queens of the Stone Age (Rock)

Run the Jewels 3 - Run the Jewels (Hip-Hop)

Kosmopoliturbo - Russkaja (Faux-Russian Ska Punk)

Evocation II - Pantheon - Eluveitie (Folk Metal)

Freedays - Tall Tall Trees (Indie Folk)

The Great Electronic Swindle - The Bloody Beetroots (Italian Electronica)

Sleep Well Beast - The National (Indie Rock)