March 2018 album reviews

XXXTENTACION - ?

'17' was one of the worst albums that I heard last year, and so this new project '?' wasn't something I was eagerly anticipating. As it is, it's a little better than '17', but has many of the same problems that made that album so unbearable. This time round there are some spots with more trap-influence and with a sense of humour, like 'infinity (888)' with Joey Bada$$ and even some of the more emo leaning tracks are OK this time around, like 'NUMB', which benefits from having more elements than the rest of the borderline unlistenable acoustic guitar led tracks like 'ALONE, PART 3' and 'Pain = BESTFRIEND', where XXX's grading sad-boy voice meanders over basic melodies making something that is both too depressing to enjoy yet too annoying to soothe any actual depression. Worst of all is the baffling decision to include 'i don't even speak spanish lol' which is a generic piece of latin pop, that despite the songs title, has no semblance of irony or subversion. It's good enough to probably not end up on any of my end-of-year lists, but I would recommend that anyone who thinks this is peak emo go listen to American Football or Sunny Day Real Estate. 3.3/10

The Voidz - Virtue

As a fan f the Strokes' last EP, I was eagerly anticipating 'Virtue' by Julian Casablancas' side-project The Voidz, who have typically made much more experimental and ambitious music than The Strokes, and this project is no exception. Although there are hints of the Strokes to be found on the opening 'Leave It In My Dreams', the album quickly goes beserk into a pile of wobbly synths and hindi-style vocals on 'QYURRYUS', and this mad mix of colourful sounds continues on highlights such as 'One of the Ones', 'Permanent High School' and 'My Friend The Walls'. At 55 minutes this album could have been refined a little more - 'Wink' sits obsolete in the middle of the tracklist - but the album is varied enough to stop it getting boring, and the final two tracks are two of my favourites on the LP. 8.3/10

The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy

The musical equivalent of a bread sandwich. 3.5/10






Jack White - Boarding House Reach

Surely one of the craziest rock albums to come from an established artist in the past few years, 'Boarding House Reach' reverses the downward trajectory of Jack White's career by fusing his typical garage rock with funk, electronic music and gospel. 'Corporation' and 'Connected By Love' are some of the most insane and fun songs of his solo career so far, and the more straightforward 'Over and Over and Over' has the best snarling riff I've heard this year. It's far from a perfect album - the latter portion of the album, while still good, isn't at the same standard as the rest - but it's proof that artists don't have to slowly release diminishing albums as they get older. 8.5/10

Mount Eerie - Now Only

Last year's 'A Crow Looked At Me' was one of my favourite albums of the year, and stands as one of the most heart-breaking and depressing albums ever made, as it detailed Phil Elverum coping with the death of his wife to cancer. 'Now Only' is similarly depressing for the most part, but the songs are much longer and more orchestrated this time. While it is a very depressing album, there are glimpses of light this time, primarily on the title track which is the only song within this album and 'A Crow Looked At Me' to have a chorus, and one which is strangely upbeat at that. This project will definitely be appreciated by fans of Sun Kil Moon, but as much as I see this album as vital and likely something which wasn't created to be enjoyed, I do find it less powerful than 'A Crow Looked At Me'. The longer songs can become jading in a way that the short fragments of his previous album didn't, and the nature of the album makes it difficult to return to. It'll probably be the most depressing album of the year though. 7.9/10

Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

I wanted to like this album more than I did, it has an annoying mix of some of my favourite songs of the year so far - the chilling 'Toy' and the uplifting 'In My View' - but buried within impenetrable and formless tracks like 'Fee Fi' and 'Wire'. Overall it's still a good album and an interesting listen, but I can't help but feel like it could have been one of the best albums of the year. 6.8/10

American Pleasure Club - A Whole F**king Lifetime Of This

I've never been the biggest fan of Teen Suicide, and their rebranding as American Pleasure Club hasn't really changed this, although I would say that this album is still decent. The more emo-leaning songs here are the best ones, like 'this is heaven & id die for it' and 'new years eve', with some other more experimental stuff like 'just a mistake' also being fairly interesting. Unfortunately these moments are bogged down by some unmemorable tracks - closer 'the sun was in my eyes' and a bunch of very short songs which act as interludes - and the downright bad 'sycamore', which combines a lofi-hip hip aesthetic with muffled vocals and irritating pitch shifting. 6.3/10

Lil Yachty - Lil Boat 2

I didn't dislike 'Teenage Emotions' as much as many did, but I'm less enamoured by this new mixtape. it has some highlights, like the opener 'SELF-MADE', but then a whole load of boring and/or repetitive 'trap bangers', which are devoid of anything which made him appealing to begin with. The 6 track stretch between the title track and 'she ready' are brain numbingly identical in sound, while 'FLEX', 'POP OUT' and 'WHOLE lotta GUAP' are repetitive to the point of getting jading. While there are a few good songs on here, it is ultimately a depressing and generic experience. 3.4/10

Remo Drive - Pop Music EP

After releasing one of my favourite albums of last year, 'Greatest Hits', I was hoping that the pop-emo band would release something equally great as a follow up, and unfortunately this 'Pop Music EP' is a disappointment. 'Blue Ribbon' sounds like a B-side from 'Greatest Hits' with cleaner production that makes it sound quite generic. 'Song of the Summer' is better but still feels like a B-side. Most dissappointing is the re-recording of 'Heartstrings', which is far inferior to the raw, lo-fi original. 4.7/10

Andrew W.K - You’re Not alone

I was blown away by this thing on my first listen, having zero expectation of this being good, and after that first listen I was convinced this would be in my top 5 albums of the year, but on multiple listenings it's not quite as good as I first thought. Every song is so bombastic that it can get a little jading, but in general I'm still in awe of this album. 'Ever Again', 'The Devil's On Your Side' and 'Music Is Worth Living For' are exemplary of what makes Andrew's album so enjoyable, they have such a pure quantity of guitars, pianos and vocals in each song that they can't help but sound epic. The lyrics are largely about partying (and I would expect nothing else from the man), but there is enough variety to make even the biggest party-phobe smile. 8.3/10

Superorganism - Superorganism

This album grew on me a fair bit from my first listen, and while I initially thought it was an average indie-pop album, I now see it as something which is not only an interesting and fun listen, but something which is futuristic. Combining the sample-heavy nature of hip-hop and electronic music but adding in elements of pop and indie and all covered with the deadpan, jaded vocals of the lead singer. The singles are the best songs here - 'Something For Your M.I.N.D' and 'Everybody Wants To Be Famous', but the rest of the tracklist holds up well, especially 'It's All Good' and the title/self-titled track. 7.2/10

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Anna Von Hausswolff - Dead Magic

I wasn't sure what I was in for when I first saw the unsettling album cover to 'Dead Magic' by Swedish musician Anna Von HaussWolff, but after a month of listening to it, I believe that the cover is a good summation of the sound of this record. 5 tracks and 50 minutes long, 'Dead Magic' is filled with tension and dread brought on by long droning organs and vocals which are alternately chanted softly in a ghost-like fashion or growled explosively as on standout track 'The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra'. It's also a very unique project, sounding unlike anything I've quite heard before. The ominous organ drones remind me of Swans work this decade, but while an album like 'To Be Kind' is dirty and frantic, this is a more orchestral, fear-filled affair, as if the listener is being slowly brought through a huge Swedish forest towards something terrifying which we never see but we can hear getting closer and closer... Surely one of the most atmospheric and thrillingly unsettling experiences of the year. 9.1/10

Top 20 albums of 2017

It's the big one! This has been a bit delayed by the late release of BROCKHAMPTON's Saturation III, but I'll be damned if I miss out a great album. This has been another decent, if not outstanding year for music, but as with any year there was a fair share of great projects, so let's go though my favourite 20!

20. Sandy (Alex G) - Rocket

Despite having an awkward and sketchy artist name (and I thought it couldn't get worse than 'Car Seat Headrest'), Alex G produced a breezy, atmospheric album that is mainly folk but has some entertaining surprises. 'Sportstar' is a vocoded piano ballad, and comes right after the Death Grips-esque 'Brick'. This song in particular is at complete odds with the teenage emotion of 'Bobby' and 'Proud', but it means this album is never predictable, and all great.

19. Creeper - Eternity In Your Arms

Creeper is one of the more interesting bands to come out of the UK in the past few years, and seem ready to bring some bombast and theatrics back! 'Eternity in Your Arms' is a collection of 10 fittingly gothic tunes that follow a loose storyline, but the real appeal are the energy of 'Poison Pens' and 'Suzanne', the sing-along of 'Black Rain' and 'I Choose to Live' and the pure self-aware hilarity of 'Misery'. This is sure to be my go-to Halloween album for some time.

18. Sampha - Process

Few artists released albums so difficult to classify this year as Sampha. 'Plastic 100°' and 'Reverse Faults' make a good case for calling it electronic, 'Blood on Me' has the chorus of an alternative R&B song, but a surprisingly funky bassline in the verses, while the instant classic 'No-one Knows Me Like the Piano' is more of a singer-songwriter tune. Either way, this is an inspired, beautiful and textured debut. One mercury award later, I can't wait to see what Sampha does next.

17. St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION

I'd never really been a fan of St. Vincent before 'MASSEDUCTION', as although I loved 'Birth in Reverse' something had always stopped me wanting to listen to her self-titled 2014 effort. This has changed things completely, and at this point the purposefully tacky cover art is burned into my brain. A pop concept album with a real brain, this is an album about romance in all it's forms, from the heartbreak of 'New York' and 'Slow Disco' to the fetishism of 'Saviour' and the title track, and all in an innovative synth/guitar sound. 

16. Neil Cicierega - Mouth Moods

It's weird to think that one of my most-listened to and undoubtedly one of my most enjoyed albums of the year is a meme mashup album, but 'Mouth Moods' is so good it may just go down as one of the all-time best mashup albums. 'ACVC' and 'Smooth' are hilarious the first time you hear them, but later come to show how similar stylistically opposite songs can be. That's not to mention the 'meme collage' madness of 'The Starting Line' and 'Annoyed Grunt', which seem to introduce a new sample every few seconds. best of all though are where Cicierega edits songs to actively improve them, turning 'In the End' by Linkin Park into something that would fit onto the Mario Kart soundtrack and turning 'Wild Wild West' by Will Smith into an actual banger.


15. The Mountain Goats - Goths

I always love it when I leave an album feeling like I've learnt something, and 'Goths' delivers this in spades. The songs here tell intriguing and charming stories about the goth lifestyle, for which the band clearly has a great affection for. From the bombast of 'Rain in Soho' to the joy of 'Wear Black' and 'Unicorn Tolerance', this is a concept album that proves there are hundreds of dormant ideas for songs, and that you can make a compelling album about anything if this level of humour and melody is incorporated.








14. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - Everything

A substantial amount of bands have only ever released four or less albums. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released four significantly different concept albums in 2017 alone, with a fifth apparently planned to be released before the year is out. This could have gone totally wrong, but at the same time it's easy to see why it didn't. The saharan microtonal sounds of 'Flying Microtonal Banana' - my favourite of the four albums - are distinctly different from the end of the world psych-rock of the three-song 'Murder of The Universe', which is completely opposite from the chilled out jazz/funk of 'Sketches of Brunswick East', all of which seemed to lead up to the single song prog-rock masterwork that is 'Polygondawanaland', which was released for free with no copyright, allowing fans to use the music for whatever they want. Throughout 2017 King Gizz were a reliable source of music and memes with a clear love for their fanbase, and surely they deserve a break after LP 5!

13. Jens Lekman - Life Will See You Now

Hidden behind the terrible cover to 'Life Will See You Now' are the most upbeat, joyful pop songs of the year that helped brighten up a vaguely depressing summer. 'Festival Song' is probably the most cheerful song of the year, and it has competition from the groove of 'Wedding in Finistere', 'To Know Your Mission' and 'What's That Perfume That You Wear'. The rest of the tracklist pulls at the heartstrings with the aching perfection of 'How Can I Tell Him' and 'Our First Fight' to the surprisingly dark 'Postcard #17'.








12. King Krule - The OOZ

Out of everything released this year, this was the album that more than any other I was swallowed by. It's a bleak, depressing album that is filled with drowned, defeated passages that create an atmosphere of sadness so deep it's as if the narrator is converting the gritty English streets around him into an underwater chamber of isolation - 'Czech One', 'La Lune', 'The Cadet leaps' and the title track all build up tension, which eventually bursts into scrappy post-punk/jazz jams like 'Dum Surfer' and 'Emergency Blimp'. If you want to feel depression English-style just sit down and listen to this.






11. IDLES - Brutalism

If 'The OOZ' was depression English style, the this is anger English style! IDLES have such a raw punk energy, that you feel like you are being assaulted every time you listen threw it. Frontman Joe Talbot's vocals are maybe the most exciting I've heard in 2017, bile-filled and harsh on 'Well Done' and 'Mother' but surprisingly emotive on cuts like 'Slow Savage' and 'Exeter'. If you think punk is dead, this will revitalise your hopes, keeping the simplicity, raw production and energy of the classics but updating the song topics for the bleakness of modern-day England.







10. The Horrors - V

Another album that's easy to get lost in, 'V' presents a pitch black world of... well, horror. What really intrigues me about this project though are the lyrical themes of delusion in the digital world. 'Press Enter to Exit' and 'Point of No Reply' look at online extremism, while 'Something to Remember Me By', 'Ghost' and 'Machine' look at online ghosts, dead accounts of the gone. All in all, it's an exciting synth-driven album perfect for technophobic fans of 'Black Mirror'.









9. Kirin J. Callinan - Bravado

Few songs have brought me more joy this year than the ones on 'Bravado', which may also be the experimental album here despite it's pop stylings. This is an album where the creepy funk of 'Down 2 Hang' is followed by the pop rock of 'Live Each Day'. This is an album where pitch-shifted vocals from modern EDM are slotted into an 80s synthpop jam in 'S.A.D', and cowboy ballad 'Big Enough' turns into a call for World peace complete with a screeching cowboy drop. That's not to mention the title track 'Bravado', which is one of the most fitting and brilliant closing tracks of the year, summing up and explaining the face-pissing, dick-flashing persona Callinan adopts here. All this time, it was all bravado.



8. Remo Drive - Greatest Hits

Quor mate what you can say about Remo Drive that hasn't already been said by the man himself James Baker. Now everyone loves a some proper lads who can scream out a bit of emo while sill wearing minions shirts in their videos. You can see the influence from other bangers on this album with a wee hint of pinkerton and my name jeff rosenstock all mixin into this masterpiece. Whenever im alone in the house i like play all there songs together and scream out the few lyrics can make out. The instruments are mmmm nice with the drums going doon doon doon dun dun doon doon doon.. don don don at the start of your killing me and i cant talk about the rest of the instruments because im a drummer so i don't bother to listen to them. While im writing this im watching the cinema classic of pich perfect and i think an album of this caliber should have its own remake of pitch perfect with only this album and the live version of it and there demos before this being sung. That would be a classic movie. There is so much potential in the future albums and movies based around these three blokes and cant wait to see em boom up and become proper big boys in the music.

7. The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir

This album makes me feel old in the best possible way. Going through main architect Stephin Merritt's literal life story is incredibly entertaining, mainly because of how ordinary it seems. Nothing particularly strange happens, making this a joyful look at one normal man's history, from the cynical hilarity of 'Life Ain't All Bad' to the electric riffs of 'How to Play the Synthesiser' and 'Foxx and I'. The first half of the album is undeniably stronger than the second, but it's still full of highlights, like the goosebump inducing 'Fathers In The Clouds' and the heartbreaking 'Have You Seen It In The Snow'.






6. Run The Jewels - RTJ 3

 'RTJ 2' was my favourite album of 2014, so I had high hopes for the follow up, and when this dropped on Christmas day last year it completely delivered. The album is thematically split between top-tier bangers like 'Stay G.O.L.D' and 'Legend Has It' and more politically charged tunes - '2100', 'Talk to Me' and the revolutionary closing track 'Kill Your Masters'. Best of all is the thought-provoking and gut-wrenching 'Thursday In the Danger Room', which is easily one of the best songs Killer Mike and El-P have ever made. Overall, this was a great way to start 2017, and it has been on repeat all year.







5. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

2017 wasn't exactly the best year for humanity, and no album seemed to predict this better than 'Pure Comedy'. Almost every song here tackles a concept that is very recent, whether its name-dropping the oculus rift on 'Total Entertainment Forever' or looking at increasingly radical and divisive politics on 'Two Wildly Different Perspectives'. Many people (including myself) slated this as boring and pretentious when it first came out, but something compelled me to keep listening. What I found was a rare album that isn't afraid to tackle huge political and philosophical themes with some of the best lyrics of the year and a biting sense of humour, with music that grows on the listener each time they listen. Brilliant, although it can also give you existential dread.

4. Lorde - Melodrama

The pop concept album has been increasingly common thanks to megastars like Beyonce, but 'Melodrama' just might be the best we've got so far this decade. This is an album where every every track is outstanding, and 'Supercut', 'Writer in the Dark', 'Perfect Places', 'Liability', 'Homemade Dynamite' and 'The Louvre' are all classics, and the rest of the tracklist glues these tracks together remarkably well. This is a startlingly mature and nuanced look at what it's like to be a party-savvy but heartbroken teenager in 2017, yet it ultimately feels like this album will last much longer than just this year.






3. BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION I, II and III

Slightly less prolific but more consistent than King Gizzard this year were BROCKHAMPTON who managed to produce 3 almost equally great albums in 2017. Saturation I is maybe the best of the 3, with 'STAR', 'GOLD' and 'MILK' all being some of my favourite songs of the year, but this can also be said of the sequels - 'JUNKY', 'SWAMP', 'QUEER' and 'SWEET' from sat II and 'BOOGIE', 'BLEACH' and 'HOTTIE' from Sat III. The sheer volume of great music they released this year is surely some kind of World record. Watching every artist in BROCKHAMPTON gradually improve over the three projects has been one of the most wholesome experiences of the year, and I hope that these boys keep up the hard work for 2018.



2. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me

It seems like every year I encounter a new 'Saddest album I've ever heard'. In 2015 it was 'Carrie & Lowell' by Sufjan Stevens, in 2016 it was 'Skeleton Tree' by Nick Cave and now it's 'A Crow Looked At Me' by Mount Eerie. This is the kind of album so powerful that it only needs to be listened to a single time, and after i initially checked it out from morbid curiosity it's haunted me. The minimally orchestrated lyrics are consistently soul-destroyingly sad from the first line to the last. That the album manages to find some kind of conclusion in 'Crow' is honestly amazing, and is what elevates this into something truly legendary.





1. Alex Cameron - Forced Witness

And yet, after all of the philosophical themes of 'Pure Comedy', the game-changing 'Melodrama' and the heart-breaking 'A Crow Looked at Me', my album of the year is an album about online dating. But I'll be damned if this isn't the catchiest, most enjoyable and ultimately thought-provoking album of 2017. The first thing you'll notice about Alex Cameron's masterpiece is it's brilliantly terrible cover art, which shows only a little indication of the character study the listener is about to embark upon. After my first few listens of this I was already sold on it as a great album, with every song being a glitzy, catchy take on soft-rock, but when I really dug into the lyrics the genius behind this became clear. The characters presented in 'Running Out of Luck', 'Candy May', 'Marlon Brando' and every other song here are not the hyper-macho stereotypes I first thought, but actually pathetic, creepy sketches of what extreme masculinity can lead some to. Whether it's the teenager stalking of 'StudMuffin96' or the online transactions presented in the hilarious 'Beautiful Eyes'. Every track on here is vitally important to it's concept and it's the most I've loved an album this whole year. Bring on 2018!

Top 20 songs of 2017

Now that the worst of 2017 has been washed out of my system through my 'Worst of 2017' lists, I can finally get onto the good stuff! There were loads of great songs released this year, and I had to cut this list down from about 50 tracks, so you can rest assured that these are my absolute favourites from the year.

20. Alvvays - Dreams Tonite




I'm generally indifferent to the sudden popularity of 'chill' music - I personally wish rock would get more and not less exciting - but Alvvays are by far the best thing to come out of it. 'Dreams Tonite' especially is a euphoric, relaxing headtrip that I haven't stopped coming back to since it was released.

19. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Crumbling Castle




King Gizzard released so much good stuff this year I could make a top 20 solely of their 2017 output, but this was the highlight. Sounding both cutting edge and medieval, this is a sprawling 10-minute multi-part jam that seems to incorporate aspects from the previous 3 albums King Gizz released this year into a tune that will undoubtedly go down as one of the best prog-rock songs of the decade.

18. Kendrick Lamar - YAH.




When it was released, many critics pointed out that this was Kendrick's most downtrodden, bleak album, and this is the most downtrodden, bleak song from it. The beat is so dreary you can practically feel rain pouring down onto the track, and Kendrick's sing-song flow is so defeated that this quickly became my go-to song for grey day bus rides.

17. Run The Jewels - Thursday In The Danger Room (Ft. Kamasi Washington)




Run the Jewels have built up a reputation for creating bangers, yet for the second album in a row the highlight for me has been when Killer Mike and El-P turn their talents to darker topics. 'Thursday in The Danger Room' takes the template of 'Crown' from RTJ 2 and shows why the two MCs of RTJ work together so well - they are able to bring completely different viewpoints to a concept, with the topic here being the death of a friend. El-P raps about the crippling effect of trying hard to make your last days with someone count, while killer Mike reminisces about the effect a brainless killing for a chain had on the victim's family, which is all bound together with a chilling hook.

16. Ariel Pink - Time To Live



This is definitely one of the weirdest songs on this list, sounding like a mashup between 'Video Killed The Radio Star' a distorted, power-chord filled rock song. The chanting chorus of 'Time to Live, Time for Life' sounds like the jingle of an alternate reality radio station, and all 6 minutes of this brilliant mess could only have come from Arial Pink.

15. Ryan Adams - Do You Still Love Me?




A song so good it made me care about Ryan Adams, who I had never particularly liked before, 'Do You Still Love Me' feels timeless, and I half-expected it to be a cover version when I first heard it. It's not reinventing the wheel, but it's everything you could ever want from a rock song, overdriven chords, a guitar solo and a momentous chorus. 

14. Car Seat Headrest - War Is Coming (If You Want it)




(This songs not on YouTube, so I suggest streaming it.) A song that was massively relevant in 2017 - especially since it was released the day after the Charlottesville trouble - this is the perfect summation of the gradual increase in political tensions coming to a head, and it does the admirable task of doing this without seeming preachy or biased. The music is also intriguing for Car Seat Headrest, led by bass and synthesizers more than guitars, making this as catchy as it is thoughtful.

13. Sandy (Alex G) - Proud



On the other side of indie is Sandy (Alex G), who makes folk-inspired music that takes a little while to grow on you, but when it does it becomes inescapable - hence why 'Proud' is my most streamed song of the year according to Last.fm. The melodies on this thing are unbelievably catchy, and even though Alex G's voice initially turned me off, it has enough quirks to make it memorable. In a summer where 'Despacito' seemingly reigned, this was the song I had in it's place.

12. Creeper - Black Rain



Ever since the Darkness lost relevancy, I've been waiting for the UK to produce another self-aware rock band to up the pantomime, and Creeper did it better than anyone else has for a while. With an eyeliner and leather image and a music video inside a neon church, 'Black Rain' was the edgiest I let myself get in 2017. It also helps that it has one of biggest choruses I've heard all year.

11. Remo Drive - Crash Test Racing




Almost any song form Remo Drive's first big project 'Greatest Hits' could have made this list, but 'Crash Test Racing' is my personal favourite. An emo song without any of the mockable and irritating qualities of emo (Melodramatic self-loathing, misogyny etc.), this is an airtight 2 and a half minutes filled with multiple hooks from an album that will hopefully go down as one of the best third-wave emo albums.

10. The Rentals - Elon Musk Is Making Me Sad



Weezer might have spent 2017 indulging once again in bland pop, but at least their ex-bassist Matt Sharp managed to come out of nowhere with one of the most thought-provoking, existential songs of the year. Even despite having about four great choruses, the lyrics are the highlight here, with Matt using Elon Musk as a benchmark to compare whether his own life could have been more than it was. Then at the four minute mark the song looks into the future complete with a choir - because this song also doubles as a surprisingly fitting christmas song.

9. Brockhampton - MILK



My favourite hip-hop song of year, this is an anthemic yet personal tune about isolation, pushed into greatness by the different angles the different members of Brockhampton bring to this concept. The beat is also massively emotive, complete with a chorus with lyrics that could easily fit into an emo song. Constantly interesting, melancholic and ultimately uplifting, this is a great song to show naysayers what hip-hop is capable of.

8. Jens Lekman - Evening Prayer




This song could have very easily gone completely wrong. A bright pop song with lyrics about overcoming cancer would have bombed in anyone else's hands, but Jens Lekman's soft voice and small-scale yet uplifting lyrics made this one of my most-played songs this summer. If all pop music sounded this joyful, I can guarantee the world would be a better place.

7. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream




While I was overall a little disappointed by LCD Soundsystem's newest album, the title track is still a towering achievement. James Murphy is no stranger to making subdued ballads (see 'New York I Love You But You're bringing Me Down') or emotionally-destroying yet danceable tunes (See 'Someone Great'), and 'American Dream' is a combination of both, with a crushing slow-dance synthline chorus and a dark, spitting bass over some of Murphy's bleakest lyrics. Encapsulating what it feels like to live out the supposed rockstar dream when you're well past the appropriate age, this may be depressing but it's impossible to look away, especially when it sounds this good.

5. Father John Misty - Leaving L.A



'Leaving LA' is more than just a song, it's an experiment. A 10 verse chorus-less diatribe with little instrumentation other than Josh Tillman's acoustic guitar and some strings, this was likely the moment when many listeners had enough of 'Pure Comedy', which seems to have been attacked by one half of the internet and adored by the other. The reason I'm in the latter half is exemplified by this 13-minute behemoth, because the lyrics here are astounding. Contemplating the human condition in a constantly funny and unexpected way, this song is elevated further by Tillman's self-fulfilling lyric about his 'college dude' audience leaving him because of the inaccessibility and grand themes of his newest album, showing an artist who is completely aware of his position and is willing to risk it for something greater.

5. Kirin J. Callinan ft. Alex Cameron, Jimmy Barnes and Molly Lewis - Big Enough




And now for something at the complete opposite end of the musical spectrum! Kirin J. Callinan makes music that is probably the most lovingly-made and least cynical parody of pop music that I have ever seen, and as such his songs are enjoyably insane. 'Big Enough' is the ultimate culmination of this, a western-themed call for Worldwide peace complete with an EDM drop with a euphoric scream from the legendary jimmy Barnes. I especially love the 'Dancing in the Street' style call-out of countries at the climax of the song, which adds an extra layer of glorious cheese to this beautiful creation. It was amazing to watch this become a meme.

4. The Horrors - Something To Remember Me By




Sometimes all you need is a really great chorus, and 'Something to Remember me by' delivers this in spades. I still refuse this song is nearly 7 minutes long, as every time I finish it I just want to hear it again instantly. The production is brilliantly atmospheric, with the short synth riff somehow never getting old and the layers of chords and beats swallowing the listener whole, but it's the vocals which really propel this song into my top 5. They are confident, clear and crucially withheld from the listener so that every time they come in they make the song even more exciting. I also like to imagine that the lyrics are about the Christopher Nolan film 'Memento', as they fit perfectly and add a dark edge to this magnum opus.

3. Sampha - No one Knows Me Like the Piano




This ballad by the 2017 mercury award winner is quite simply breathtaking, and this coming from someone that usually doesn't care for vocal-heavy, sentimental soul music. Sampha's breathy voice carries such a huge amount of pain and passion that it's impossible to not be transfixed by his grief, and the piano backing is built off of a memorable and delicate riff. Out of all the songs I heard this year, this is the one I believe will be remembered for the longest, and rightfully so. 

2. Lorde - Writer In the Dark


While my second-favourite song on 'Melodrama' changes daily, I knew the moment that I heard 'Writer in the Dark' it was one of the best songs of the year the moment i heard it. The lyrics are starkly visual, creating a series of images that progress in a way like few other songs. It starts off heartbroken and moves further and further towards glory until the final Kate bush-esque chorus sounds powerful as opposed to tragic, despite not having changed a note. See also: Liability

1. Alex Cameron - Runnin' Out of Luck




Does this deserve to be my song of the year? Probably not. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't by far my favourite tune of 2017. It's quite frankly a perfect pop song, sounding like straight out of the 80s but with modern-day production, and with a level of self-awareness that makes the whole thing hilarious without diminishing how great of a song it is. It's also proof that if there's anything we need in 2018, it's more saxophone outros.

The Best Albums of 2017 So Far

I realise that I'm a month late on  making a mid-year album list, but that's essentially what this is, and as such no albums from July 1st onwards are included here. With that disclaimer out of the way, I would like to say that 2017 has so far been an alright year for albums, albeit one also filled with some substantial musical disappointments ('Humanz' by Gorillaz, for example.), and while I'm yet to find an album I fully connect with, some great material has still been released. Keep in mind that this list is just my opinion, and that I haven't heard every album that came out in the first half of this year, and with that lets get n with my top 15 albums of the year so far!

15/14. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Murder Of The Universe/ Flying Microtonal Banana

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are supposedly attempting to release a total of 4 to 5 albums this year, and although this initially had me worried that we would be flooded with mediocre, hastily created songs, the two albums released so far are both brimming with crazy, unique ideas. While neither album is perfect - The songs on 'FMB', while all great do blend into each other a bit, and 'MOTU' has an excessive amount of interludes, but if the rest of this years projects are of this quality, by the end of the year King Gizz will surely have gained even more attention than they already have.

 13. Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog

This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, as a fairly big fan of DeMarco, and 'This Old Dog' lived up to every expectation I had had of it. It's chilled out, slightly downbeat and has a number of great songs that flick between psychedelic synth-led pieces like 'On The Level' and guitar ballads like 'One Another'. 

12. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

It feels to wrong to say this in a celebratory review, but I can't help but feel like 'DAMN.' is a little overrated, and is inferior to 'To Pimp A Butterfly' and 'Good Kid M.A.A.D City', but then again most albums are. But while I may find 'LOVE.' to be one of Kendrick's weakest songs and some cuts like 'FEEL.' and 'GOD.' to be instubsantial, the rest of the album is, as you would expect, amazing. From the lyrics of 'LUST.' and 'FEAR.' to the incredible beats on 'DNA.', to the earworm choruses of 'ELEMENT.' and the mega-hit 'HUMBLE.', this is an album which deserves the huge amount of commercial success it's gained.

11. Creeper - Eternity In Your Arms

I've had a lot of flip-flopping on my opinion of this album. It's the kind of project I would love to hate on, with an image that reeks of edginess and of the excesses of goth-rock, mixed with pop-punk attitude, but alas, the more I played this the more I had to admit to myself that I loved it. The meat-loaf esque vocals and melodramatic choruses were just what I needed in a year with largely mellow singer-songwriter albums dominating my playlists. If you think it's too edgy, or adolescent then I don't blame you - although only if you can make it though 'Misery' without cracking a half-smile.

10. Brockhampton - SATURATION

It seems like everyone has agreed that so far 2017 hasn't been a great year for hip-hop with the exception of 'DAMN.', but for those who weren't expecting Future's double album to be a their AOTY, there was a lot of good stuff be found, specifically 'Saturation'. Combining bars that are both hilarious and depressing ('STAR') with inescapable hooks, ('GOLD') this is likely going to be one of the best hip-hop projects of the year.






9. Sandy (Alex G) - Rocket

Another album I flip-flopped on, although unlike 'Creeper' I still haven't fully decided the extent to which I like this album, but for now I can certainly say that I love a lot of the songs. 'Bobby', 'Proud', 'Powerful Man ' and even 'Sportstar' have all become some of my favourite tunes of the year, and now I'm just waiting to see if the weirder corners of the album will come together or not - so this album could be higher or lower come December.






8. Sampha - Process

This is the album I want to win the Mercury award this year. It's refreshing to find a debut album that tackles so many different ideas and succeeds at all of them, giving Sampha a song which already feels like a classic with '(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano' and some others - 'Blood On Me', 'Plastic 100 degrees C' - which seem destined to become future hits. If Stormzy beats this I will be very annoyed.





7. Remo Drive - Greatest Hits

I hadn't heard of this band before they had already released 'Greatest Hits' (Which isn't actually a Greatest hits album, for clarification.), but it is so far my favourite rock album of the year. The album is charmingly lo-fi, with every brittle guitar and slightly out-of-time drum beat makes it seem as flawed and human as the lyrical themes. It also helps that tunes like 'Art School' and 'Yer Killin' Me' are simply some of the best songs I've heard this year.





6. Jens Lekman - Life Will See You Now

Probably the most upbeat, happiest album I've enjoyed this year, this is what I wish more pop music sounded like. It's lush, filled with sunshine, yet doesn't compromise on the lyrics, which are some of the strongest aspects of this album. Songs like 'Evening Prayer' with it's "Doo-doo doo do doo do" chorus wouldn't have been filled with lyrics about a cancer survivor in the hands of a lesser artist, but not only does it give the song gravitas, but it doesn't detract from the cheerful mood. It's a shame the cover is so rank.



5. The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir

Most artists probably couldn't make an album that's 50 songs long, but when it comes to Stephin Merritt it's nothing compared to his classic '69 Love Songs' triple-LP. '50 Song Memoir' is an album that feels effortless to listen to despite it's length because it's core concept is so intriguing, that each song represents one year in Merritt's life up to age 50. It also makes the album immensely satisfying to listen to, especially the first 20 songs which chart his early childhood and teenage experiences. The music also uses a huge variety of instruments to sum up each year's mood with a nostalgic soundscape.



4. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me

Easily the most depressing album I've heard this year, this is almost painful to listen to due to the intimacy of the songs combined with the subject matter. I haven't felt as emotionally affected by an album like this ever before, not even by 'Skeleton Tree' by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds last year, which was somewhat similar in tone. If you listen to music purely for emotion, this may well be your album of the year, and it may even end up as mine if I can bring myself to listen to it again.





3. Run The Jewels - RTJ 3

Technically this was released on Christmas day 2016, but it was released in physical form in 2017, and either way it would be a travesty if this were to miss my albums list on such an obscurity technicality. Other than being an amazing gift that I don't think anyone was expecting on December 25th, this is an outstanding end to what is surely the best trilogy in rap history. While it may be slightly inferior to my 2014 AOTY RTJ 2, it is still a major leap forward for Killer Mike and El-P, with more political lyrics that will make you want to start a revolution ('Don't Get Captured', 'Kill Your Masters') mixed with flex anthems that make you feel awesome whenever you play them ('Legend Has It', 'Stay Gold'). And it's free on their website!

2. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

Loads of people don't like this album, and I can see why. Hell, I was massively disappointed for the first few days after it came out, before I started to focus on the lyrics rather than any of the other aspects. Only then is the genius of 'Pure Comedy' unleashed. It's purposely the complete antithesis to the instant gratification of modern life, with Josh Tillman highlighting this with 13-minute behemoth 'Leaving L.A', itself seemingly a weapon to be wielded at those not willing to truly appreciate his work. The concepts behind nearly every song are equally ingenious, looking at the last moments of a self-righteous internet warrior and an imaginary confrontation with God. It's a shame that the detachment and sarcasm of this album have led to many giving the LP the label of 'pretentious', because those are the features that make it so great.

1. Lorde - Melodrama

This was actually my number 2 until I re-listened to all of these albums for this list, but I can now put it no lower than number one. It's the kind of album that I feel will not only be seen in many years time as a great summation of the 2017 music scene, but will be enjoyed as a great album. There isn't a single weak track on this thing, and every other track is a standalone masterpiece, so when taken in all at once it's incredibly powerful. 'Supercut', 'Green Light', 'Homemade Dynamite', 'The Louvre', 'Liability' and especially 'Writer in the dark' are all highlights, and with any luck this will be my generation's break-up album of choice.