Songs of 2017 Part Two: 50-21

Yes, it's been less than a day, but as I'll be travelling soon and I still have my top twenty and albums to write up, I took the time to put a few comments on the next set of songs and, before you knew it, it was ready to post. So here we go, into my top 50 but stopping short of my top 20 (which will likely come out tomorrow):

50. ‘Diamonds’ by Joshua Radin (Indie Folk)

For a while this song was likely to be higher on this list, as it was the first song to get me a little misty-eyed. It’s simple, beautiful folk music whose subtlety ends up just dragging it slightly down this countdown order.

49. ‘Sal*pe’ by Mr Yéyé (French Electrorock)

Mr Yéyé, creator of my #1 album of 2016 somehow managed to put out another full, cracking rock album this year, and this was the highlight song from it. My favourite part of this is how wholesome he is that he censors the obviously derogatory title, while still using it.

48. ‘I Would ‘by Slow Dancer (Australio Indie Folk)

Two things I think about this Melbournian singer-songwriter: one, he really sounds like Kermit the Frog when he sings; and two, he really looks like a client of mine (my client’s underlings agree, although he doesn’t). More importantly, this song is a nice, soulful bit of folk rock and won my song of the week when it was released.

47. ‘The Winding Stair Mountain Blues’ by Turnpike Troubadours (Country Rock)

2017 will go down as the year when I liked a surprising amount of country music, and this is one of the biggest aberrations. Bluegrassy, hillbilly stuff, this song just also happens to be really catchy and engaging and I just really enjoyed it.

46. ‘Girls Like Me’ by Will Joseph Cook (I don’t know, will he?) (Pop)

So it’s the first time talking about Will Joseph Cook (I don’t know, will he?) and I should mention that every time I say his name I make this joke about his name, and as Jez will attest, and you will soon learn, it gets funnier every time I do it. We’ll hear a fair bit about M. Cook throughout these write-ups, because his album “Sweet Dreamer” is a masterful collection of fun, lively pop music, and this is just one example of it.

45. ‘Dot in the Sky’ by Drab Majesty (Retrowave)

Bit of an odd one, this – pure and simple recreation of a minor-key new wave pop song that could have been lifted straight from an 80s compilation. I’m not entirely sure why I connected with this so strongly (having an off-beat hi-hat in the chorus doesn’t hurt) but I’ve never skipped it when it’s come up on my playlist and I enjoy it every time.

44. ‘Hey Road’ by Russkaja (Faux-Russian Ska Punk)

I call these guys faux-Russian because they’re actually Austrian. And they could have had lots of songs and albums all over my top of the year, but I had to rein in my enthusiasm when I realised that I liked them mainly because each of their songs sounds like a cheesy eastern-Euro Eurovision entry. This opening track of their album Kosmopoliturbo is the best example of it. Great fun.

43. ‘Letter to the Editor’ by Thievery Corporation feat. Raquel Jones (Trip-Hop Reggae Fusion)

I’m obviously well-known as a big Thievery fan, but the main reason this song stuck with me for so long is that it was my first time hearing Raquel Jones, who has an awesome style and works really well with Thievery’s sound. This was my song of the week when their album The Temple of I and I was released and it's stuck around in my mind.

42. ‘Ring-a-ring o’ Roses’ by Charlotte Gainsbourg (French retro-pop)

I found Mlle. Gainsbourg’s album overall a bit disappointing, and one of the reasons is that it tears out of the blocks with this haunting bit of idiosyncratic pop, exactly the kind of thing I expect from the offspring of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. She just couldn’t keep up this killer pace for the stretch of an entire album.

41. ‘Nothing in the World’ by PNAU (Wonky Pop)

Obviously one of the things I really enjoy is a bit of reggae fusion, given I’ve had two reggae fusion songs in the space of three spots. This is just a really fun, loud bit of tribal-tronica with a great beat and energy.

40. ‘Call It Dreaming’ by Iron & Wine (Indie Folk)

I’m starting the second lot of ten in a very similar way to my first lot here, with another simple, pared-back folk song that just has a great melody. Iron & Wine has a great style and a great understanding of how to create a tune, and this is one of his best.

39. ‘Love Is Here To Stay’ by Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie (Folk Rock)

Yep, two former Fleetwood Mac-ers put together an album of Fleetwood Macean poppy folk rock, and surprise surprise, it was very good. This was my favourite song from it, and won song of the week at the time.

38. ‘Tribes’ by Chase & Status (Nu DnB)

This album overall was a bit meh, but this particular song is so much mindless, stupid fun that it’s stuck with me. Tribal drumming, heavy bass, unexplained big brass… it’s about the most fun I had with any song this year.

37. ‘What Is It?’ by Lydia Ainsworth (Indie Pop)

This song was one of the closest crossovers we had, winning Jez’s song of the week (I think?) and my runner-up, and it got forgotten by me throughout the year only to re-climb the ladder when I put together my song of the year longlist. It’s vibrant, thoughtful pop done very well.

36. ‘Out of Tune Piano’ by MisterWives (Indie Pop)

I wanted to like MisterWives’ album more (Jez, in fact, gave it to me for ‘relisten week’ in that he thought I’d underrated it) but in the end, I settled for putting this highlight song right up on my songs of the year list. It’s really well-produced pop music and this song is probably the catchiest chorus so it sticks around in my memory; the rest of the album is really good too, although I just stopped short of embracing it.

35. ‘Sunrise’ by San Cisco (Australio Indie Pop)

San Cisco, and their album The Water, won album of the week when it was released and then disappeared off my radar until the end of the year revisits as I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed their sound, in particular this song with its double hand-claps joyousness. Part of the problem was there were too many good albums done by bands called Sa(i)n(t) * this year - three of them - and it was hard to distinguish them without relistening, but having done so, here is San Cisco at number 35 of the year

34. ‘Due to Adverse Weather Conditions, All of My Heroes Have Surrendered’ by Flotation Toy Warning (Psychedelic Rock)

This band is a whole lot of silly neo-psychedelic fun, and this song in particular stuck with me for a long time this year. It just has this impish glow all over the dark undercurrent that makes it really compelling; it's kind of a prog-rock, operatic style composition that's really enjoyable if a bit ostentatious.

33. ‘Country Figs’ by Alex Cameron (Indie Rock)

Speaking of silliness, I don’t know. I still can’t quite make head or tail of this song, which got runner-up song of the week despite my not loving the album overall. I can’t quite discern the tone, whether it’s serious, satirical, or just plain silly and daggy. But even though the lyrics seem a bit confronting at times, the song and its chorus (I’m stuck here in the city / where the people all speak like pigs / don’t need their pity, need my country figs) just get stuck in my head like very little else.

32. ‘Lucky’ by Lenka (Australio Indie Pop)

It was my first time properly discovering Lenka this year (apparently one of her earlier songs was used in the Moneyball soundtrack and therefore I must have heard it), and this song was a real treat. It’s dreamy, playful and very sweet; exactly the kind of pop music that tends to beguile me.

31. ‘Heavy’ by RAC (Indie Pop)

This song only managed about fourth or fifth song of its week, and the main thing I remember is that two songs called ‘Heavy’ were right next to each other (the other, by Oh Wonder, ended up my #125 song of the year, if you were wondering). But one night I woke up with some song in my head whose name I couldn’t remember, and I found out it was this song, which just grew and grew in my estimation in the same way the song builds. It just missed out on top 30 placing, which of course means nothing.

30. ‘The Wings’ by Shenandoah Davis (Baroque Pop)

I’m not broadly speaking a fan of quirky, waifish singers like Shenandoah Davis (see also: Joanna Newsom, Björk, Kate Bush etc.) but somehow this opening track with its throwback 20s/30s strings and musical swells just completely beguiled me. So much so it beat out Alex Cameron’s ‘Country Figs’ to take both song of the week at the time, and a higher spot on my top 100 countdown.

29. ‘Thunder Drum’ by The Dhol Foundation (Bhangra)

An odd one to throw into the mix; The Dhol Foundation’s album was a great mix of bhangra and strangely Celtic-themed folk, but this bit of lively dance music just floated my boat. I couldn’t help but be as white as - well, me - and refer to this whole album as Indian restaurant music, but if that’s all this is, it’s absolutely the best and most compelling bit of Indian restaurant music I heard this year.

28. ‘Chaos’ by Sound of the Sirens (Folk Rock)

Really compelling bit of songwriting here. Great sound, great construction to the lyrics and the instrumentation; overall Sound of the Sirens didn't quite enrapture me for the whole album, but I really enjoyed the spirit and the guitar motifs on this song, and it's just grown in my favour during my revisits.

27. ‘Stay’ by Seven Spires (Symphonic Metal)

What I loved so much about Seven Spires was mainly singer Adrienne Cowan’s whole personality – when she sings symphonic, it’s gorgeous, and when she shouts/throaty yells/shrieks it’s gripping. There’s not a big symphonic element to this song but there’s an epic scope to it that precludes the need for any big orchestral focus from the instrumentation. It’s just great metal.

26. ‘Let Me Down Easy’ by Gang of Youths (Australio Indie Rock)

When Gang of Youths took out album of the year at the ARIA awards, I didn’t spit bile and hatred at whatever source I got that news from (I certainly wasn’t watching the damn awards, I don’t care to hear ten performances from Flume), which should tell you something since I hate the Australian recording industry at the moment, since it seems these days to be a shrine to Flume and a collective celebration of how deftly he’s destroyed music and the Australian music scene. Sorry, this turned into a bit of an anti-Flume rant. This song though is also anti-Flume, in that it’s not only actual music, it’s great music: compelling and interesting and look, who doesn’t need a bit more erhu in their rock songs? PS: Fuck Flume.

25. ‘Easy Tiger’ by Portugal. The Man (Indie Pop)

Everything about Portugal. The Man seems annoyingly obtuse to me; not just their (his? her? its?) unwieldy and nonsensical name but the fact that the music is so compelling in its harmonies and tunes and yet so irritatingly over-produced. This song breaks through all of my guardrails though because it’s just driving, exciting pop music that is heavily altered in post-production but retains a great musical structure.

24. ‘Dark Between Stars’ by The Polish Ambassador (House)

Generally speaking, I hate house music. However, this song overcomes that hatred by being interesting and lively, with a compelling contrast between its dark, moody undercurrent and the sprightly tropical-house treble elements (very much as if it's, musically, dark between stars). It’s still house music though, so it’s just a very good example of straightforward dance music well produced.

23. ‘Rose-Colored Boy’ by Paramore (Synthpop)

I loved Paramore’s album After Laughter, and it was really my first introduction to them so I didn’t have any baggage from their pre-synthpop days. Therefore I think of Paramore now as a fun, engaging synthpop band and this was one of the best songs from the album. I say ‘one of’ with no telegraphing at all, honest. Or do I?

22. ‘Time On Her Side’ by Future Islands (Synthpop)

Yep we’re reaching the inevitable conclusion that this year had a lot of really fantastic synthpop, with two in a row. The main thing to mention about Future Islands is that, while Jez couldn’t get over the strange vocal style of Samuel T Herring (he referred to him frequently as Ian McKellen-esque), I found him completely enjoyable, and this song was one of the best songs from their album The Far Field. I say ‘one of’ with no telegraphing at all, honest. Or do I?

21. ‘Strangest Thing’ by The War on Drugs (Indie Rock)

No false pretences, you will be hearing more about the War on Drugs as these write-ups go on. This was one of the slower, more psych rock-esque numbers from their album A Deeper Understanding, and a very compelling, beautiful bit of music it is. Just missing out on the top twenty, making room for more from that album to crack the top twenty. Or will they?