Honestly, I’m loathe to put these albums into some kind of arbitrary ranking. Each of them means something to me, be it from a perspective of pure enjoyment or from some kind of emotional simpatico with an interpretation of the artist’s inner thoughts and feelings. This song’s about me. Is it, fuck.
I appreciate I’m late to the party with 2017 releases, but I’ve barely had the time catch my breath and reflect on last year’s musical offerings. For the most part, they’ve been great. A lot of my favourite musicians have brought something to the aural picnic, and thankfully most of them delivered something brilliant. Others…continuing the picnic metaphor, it’s like they promised a carrot cake and brought a potato salad. It’s a great potato salad, don’t get me wrong…but I’m just going to…put that back in the hamper.
Anyway, let’s segue back from tubers to tubas…and other instruments (fuck, that was clumsy). Here’s a list of my personal top 10. You like lists, don’t you?
10. Kasabian – For Crying Out Loud
I think the turning point in my attitude to Kasabian was seeing them live. Previously, I’d just considered them to be a middle-of-the-road alt-rock band capable of churning out the odd song destined to be thrown onto a FIFA soundtrack.
And then you see them play, and they’re phenomenal.
At face value, For Crying Out Loud doesn’t exactly innovate or experiment, save for the funk-influenced grooves of “Are You Looking For Some Action?”, but you strongly suspect that all of these offerings were meant for the stadium. Kasabian are at their bombastic best, and the Leicester four-piece effortlessly swagger through the album in their own inimitable style.
Rather than rehash a previous review I wrote, you could just go here and check out my early musings.
Hot tracks: Ill Ray (The King), Are You Looking For Some Action?, Comeback Kid
Track’s not hot: Bless This Acid House
9. Future Islands – The Far Field
Part of the wave of modern bands who have successfully managed to blend synthpop and alt-rock, Future Islands released The Far Field in the first half of 2017. Beautifully laden with reverberating synths and bouncing bass lines, the album presents a brilliantly energetic album which also manages to teem with melancholy and the feeling of loneliness.
That doesn’t come to its detriment, however.
Tracks like “Ran” and “Cave” are beautifully atmospheric, and William Cashion’s bass-playing carries you through a mental journey of fresh-yet-misty landscapes. In the case of “Cave”, sporadic screeches from effect-heavy guitars burst through late on, pumping an extra jolt of energy into the song.
While occasionally cathartic, Future Islands’ arrangements are tied together with the whispering growls of vocalist Sam Herring, whose voice just clicks oh-so-nicely into place with the ethereal atmospheres created. His performance is strong throughout, to the point where I can’t make up my mind whether Debbie Harry’s cameo on vocals in “Shadows” actually adds anything.
The Far Field is probably one of the lesser-known albums on this list, and it’s absolutely 100% worth your time.
Hot tracks: Ran, Cave, Day Glo Fire
Track’s Not Hot: Candles
8. Tinariwen – Elwan
Tinariwen is a Tuareg folk-rock band that’s been going since the 1970s. From the Sahara Desert, they’ve taken African folk and blues music and manipulated it with contemporary Western influences – they’ve made such a splash on the world music scene that they won a Grammy in 2012.
That preamble is partially to introduce them, and partially to preempt any epithets of “hipster garbage”, a not-infrequent occurrence that plagues my everyday life. Now, the album.
Elwan is Tinariwen’s seventh full commercial release, and it boasts a fantastic mixture of buzzing, captivating guitar riffs and wandering, dry harmonic vocals. Everything on the album is underpinned by a collection of traditional West African instrumentation and, while authentic, is nonetheless experimental.
There’s plenty of variation in a formula that’s potentially quite unfamiliar. The energetic, upbeat “Sastanaqqam” recedes into the lonesome, reflective “Nizzagh Ijbal”. Adding to the western influences, musicians Kurt Vile, Matt Sweeney and Alain Johannes all make valuable contributions to Tinariwen’s compositions.
Hot tracks: Tiwayyan, Sastanaqqam, Assawt
Track’s Not Hot: Tenere Taqqal
7. Royal Blood – How Did We Get So Dark?
How Did We Get So Dark? is a painfully self-aware statement (or rather, question) on Royal Blood’s direction for their second album. The first album, a brilliantly-produced set of tracks which leaned on only Ben Thatcher’s violent drumwork and Mike Kerr’s visceral bass lead, was a massive success for the Brighton-based two-piece.
How did they get so dark?
The compositions are tortured and brooding, taking the benchmark of the first album and contorting it into something notably thicker and heavier. Once more, I’m reluctant to just repeat a previous review, but one of the key first impressions was the amount of parallels to Queens of the Stone Age’s Era Vulgaris album. I don’t have the musical capability or knowledge to accurately pinpoint why it springs to mind, but the selection of bass effects churning throughout are unmistakably reminiscent.
Although it probably was less well-received than Royal Blood’s first explosion into the mainstream music scene, HDWGSD? is another phenomenal offering.
Here’s the previous “full” review.
Hot tracks: Lights Out, Don’t Tell, Hole In Your Heart
Track’s Not Hot: She’s Creeping
6. Findlay – Forgotten Pleasures
Forgotten Pleasures is Findlay’s first album, and it immediately becomes clear that this is more than just an assured debut release. It’s a bold, confident brand of alternative rock augmented by synthpop and electronica elements, delivering a creation that doesn’t stray too far from contemporary artists such as Wolf Alice and Editors.
In the mixing, the vocals and raw guitars are treated with an almost lo-fi effect, adding a vibrant fuzz to the fierce and powerful compositions. Bouncing synth hooks, carefully peeled from the 1980s and reworked, lead the proceedings on “Waste My Time”, while distorted guitars scratch across the openings of “Greasy Love” and “Junk Food”.
Findlay’s vocals are also strong, possessing a bluesy quality that can lend itself to a range of styles, proving to be adaptable to the variety of songs on offer across the album. “Off & On” is a dynamic, brash sub-three-minute explosion, and Findlay adopts a shouted, exasperative tone throughout. Conversely, “Monomania” is a soft, pop-influenced piano ballad, and her vocals assume those of a ersatz-Florence Welch, with minor Winehousian inflections as she rasps around the lower-pitch lines.
The biggest thing that drew me to this album was the sheer breadth of what’s on offer. Findlay doesn’t seem content to just stick to one style; there are many strings to her bow.
Hot tracks: Waste My Time, Off & On, Forgotten Pleasures
Track’s Not Hot: We Are Never The Last
5. The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
The War on Drugs are the kings of reverberating, atmospheric shoegaze, and three years after releasing their breakout Lost In The Dream, the band is back with a few new tricks.
Before I begin, I’d like to direct you to listen to Lost In The Dream if you haven’t already, in all of its sumptuous glory. Do it now.
A Deeper Understanding takes the delicate Lost In The Dream and adds a little bit more punch in places. The previous format’s not tinkered with too much on “Pain” and “Knocked Down”, which are both slow-moving and swirling tracks embellished with sparse ringing guitars, while “Nothing to Find” and “Holding On” kick the tempo up into double-time and throw a sense of urgency into the mix. It’s brilliantly varied.
The opener, “Up All Night”, is a bit of a curate’s egg. It’s a strange choice to begin the album with, since the reasonably reverb-free piano and the choice of drum machines rather sits at odds with the rest of the album. It’s a bit of a misstep, and does the rest of the catalogue a bit of a disservice.
If you’ve ever conceived the idea of shoegaze that you could dance to, then A Deeper Understanding is just that. It’s beautifully crafted, lush and vibrant, and the 11-minute epic of “Thinking of a Place” is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve heard all (last) year.
Hot tracks: Thinking of a Place, Strangest Thing, Pain
Track’s Not Hot: Up All Night
4. Everything Everything – A Fever Dream
2015’s Get To Heaven was the album which took Everything Everything to mainstream radio play, as the band enthralled with complex and synth-addled hooks. Conceived as a continuation of the successful style that the band had stumbled across, A Fever Dream touches on emotional and political topics and throws them into an explosively experimental record.
Everything Everything isn’t a band you can entirely label or pen into any one sub-genre, proving to be a flurry of electronica, art-rock, synth-pop and indie, all meshed together with Jonathan Higgs’ visceral falsetto vocals which dictate the pace of each track.
“Desire” is probably the closest thing to a conventional rock composition, and even then, the screeching guitar overlays help the song blur the lines between genres.
As the album begins at full wax with “Night of the Long Knives” and “Can’t Do”, it settles into a muted wane with “Big Game” and “Good Shot, Good Soldier”, a pair of lower-tempo tracks which again lean on Higgs’ falsetto for energy.
Then, you’ve got “Ivory Tower”, a punchy track which climbs off of the back of piano-led titular “A Fever Dream” and segues back into Everything Everything’s frantic, idiosyncratic style. It’s a perfect allegory; they experiment with new ideas, but there’s always that yearning and drive to return to a style that they’ve made their own.
Hot tracks: Ivory Tower, Desire, Night of the Long Knives
Track’s Not Hot: Put Me Together
3. London Grammar – Truth is a Beautiful Thing
There was something about London Grammar’s first album, If You Wait, that captivated me from the very beginning. It grabbed me at a time when I needed it most, and became a favourite study companion through university, like some kind of aural mascot. It was amazing.
Truth Is A Beautiful Thing doesn’t quite have the same meaning for me. But it’s just as beautiful, if not a little more raw in places.
Rooting For You and Big Picture offer familiarity from the last album, but it’s “Wild Eyed” where things really begin to get into their stride. It’s quiet and unassuming, but Hannah Reid’s gorgeous bellowing vocals grasp you from nowhere and batter you into submission. The album’s got you.
I’d covered it pretty comprehensively before but, truthfully, I’ve been afraid to pick it up again. I’m glad I did.
Hot tracks: Wild Eyed, Oh Woman Oh Man, Hell To The Liars
2.
I’m sorry, this is a total cop-out. Most of the delay in this list was trying to choose between two albums for the “coveted” number one spot. I couldn’t do it. I hope you don’t think any less of me.
=1. Lorde – Melodrama
This is a very special album indeed. I tried writing something about it during the last throes of summer, having bought the album at a time when personal matters got very tough, but I just couldn’t see it through.
I don’t have the wherewithal to accurately encapsulate what’s on here. It’s an album which heals your wounds and tears them back open in equal measure.
One day, maybe I’ll be able to revisit it more objectively. The time’s still not quite right.
=1. The National – Sleep Well Beast
You’re greeted by a ringing, lo-fi piano. Soon, you’re greeted by Matt Berninger’s rasping baritone, whispering the refrain broodily. Nobody else will be there. Nobody else will be there.
It’s such an unassuming opening track. And it works perfectly.
Sleep Well Beast is The National’s seventh album and, although the band is reluctant to stick to any one given style – the poetic, precise High Violet and the post-punk influenced Trouble Will Find Me, the band’s previous albums, offer very different aesthetics – Berninger’s vocals add something of a signature.
As the album curtly folds into “Day I Die”, complete with frantic drumming and hoarse guitar, there’s already plenty of variation on show.
I don’t recall such a high percentage of piano-led tracks on a National record since Boxer, and both “Born to Beg” and “Carin at the Liquor Store” cut through the album like sharp amuse-bouches between courses, dripping in ennui and feelings of regret.
Honestly, I could just sit and pretentiously unpick the album, or you could just do us both a favour and listen to it. It’s bloody brilliant.
Hottest track:
…and 4 disappointments of 2017.
What makes an album disappointing? I like bands who take their key signature elements, experiments with them and tries to innovate, while still maintaining their core ethos. Succumbing to the commercial pressures of keeping things the same is a no-no; instead, I feel that bands should strive to explore their influences. Otherwise, they’re just releasing the same album time-and-time again.
I also appreciate that I’m being intensely hypocritical, having collected far too much of the Red Hot Chili Peppers back catalogue.
Regardless…
HAIM – Something To Tell You
I gave a much more glowing review of this over the summer when I first kicked off this blog, but with time to reflect I’ve come to the conclusion that Haim played it far too safe. The trio’s first album was great, and played on common alt-folk-rock elements and tropes while keeping the sound contemporary.
But I cannot find a reason to care about Something To Tell You. Without listening back, I’d struggle to pick out a song that I remember vividly. Without wishing to cast dispersion on the band’s desire to create an album with their own vision in mind, it’s just too similar to the first offering, but without any of the songs which brought Haim to the fore.
I’m sorry, Haim. I think I got my hopes up too much.
Foo Fighters – Concrete & Gold
I like Foo Fighters when they’re doing something a little different. For an out-and-out stadium rock with a huge commercial following to innovate is a tricky task, but 2011’s Wasting Light was a great example of how the band could mix up the status quo and experiment with new recording techniques. It felt like the band bought into the aesthetic of using analog equipment, and cut their cloth accordingly.
But since then, offerings have been sparse. Sonic Highways was built on the premise of being recorded in eight different cities, but it’s not pushed the band in any way. In the case of Concrete & Gold, there’s just nothing that stands out. It’s just an album. I genuinely have very little to say about it.
Queens of the Stone Age – Villains
My personal complaints about this album are very similar to the above Foo Fighters paragraphs. QOTSA are a band who are at their best when experimenting with dark, festering atmospheres, and although previous album …Like Clockwork sometimes skirted the line between moody and upbeat, it was nonetheless rooted in where the band is most effective.
Villains is not. I’m going to argue that Royal Blood made a better Queens of the Stone Age album than Queens of the Stone Age themselves. There’s just nothing about Villains that interests me; there’s nothing that takes me by the hand and thrusts my nose into the dirt. It’s just too plain; it’s a light punch on the arm rather than a swift kick to a photographer’s face.
Wolf Alice – Visions of a Life
I had big, big hopes for this album. Wolf Alice’s first release My Love is Cool was oozing with vivacity and assurance, and the beautiful first track opened up into a brilliantly cohesive record.
Visions of a Life is too confused. I’ve praised albums previously for showcasing a range of styles, but they’ve all shared similar elements and, like a group of friends, stand together despite their differences. Here, Wolf Alice have thrown a bunch of strangers into a room; individually they’re very pleasant, but have minimal chemistry together.
“Heavenward”, the opener, is a mellow shoegaze-influenced track. “Yuk Foo”, the second track, is a rebellious ball of rage that simply bursts out of nowhere. Then, “Beautifully Unconventional” offers another complete shift in pace, with a languid and lacklustre indie-rock piece.
The disjointed nature of the opening three tracks sets the tone for the album. There are some great songs – “Don’t Delete the Kisses” in particular is a very strong track – but collectively? As an album? No. Sorry.
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