i haven't done one of these in a while, which is a bit of a travesty. 2017 has been a superb year for music, + conveniently, life too. i got engaged, bought + renovated a home, spent more time with my closest friends that i have in almost 10 years, + joined a great team at work. all of this has kept me extremely busy with less time than usual to listen to music, but no complaints here.
so many of my old favorites put out new albums this year + several new artists came into my radar making this "best of" list one of the most difficult yet. let's start with the favorites though:
from an album standpoint, i would have to say slowdive. sometimes you come across music that feels like it was written just for you, and slowdive's first album in 10+ years did just that. it is so dreamy + i could not get enough.
this is always the tough one, but in terms of top song, i would have to go with "thinking of a place by" war on drugs. for those of you who don't know, nostalgia is my favorite feeling of all time + this songs just hits the nail on the head in that department. "everything hits at once" by spoon wins out for me for top live song this year. i hadn't heard it in years + was truly the highlight of a somewhat "meh" show. best show, by the way, was arcade fire at the metro.
in 2017 also continued my new + welcomed hobby of reading books about music. "meet me in the bathroom" by lizzy goodman was perfection. remember when i said i loved nostalgia? this book did just that. sadly, i wasn't in new york during the early 2000's, but i was in the suburbs of st. louis listening to heavy amounts of yeah yeah yeahs, interpol, kings of leon, etc. this book really rekindled my love for these bands.
lastly, in terms of new talent, i was very into japanese breakfast (also best song name) + kelly lee owens. then there's my favorite category for me -- the new to me artists. ariel pink wasn't totally unknown to me before this year, but got much closer to his full discography.
that was a lot. but there is more. here's the full list, in no particular order:
1. how do you sleep? || lcd soundsystem
2. road head || japanese breakfast
3. thinking of a place || the war on drugs
4. dam surfer || king krule
5. everything hits at once || spoon
6. anxi || kelly lee owens
7. shadow || chromatics
8. no i in threesome || interpol
9. slomo || slowdive
10. electric blue || arcade fire
11. nobody else will be there || the national
12. prom || sza
13. marilyn || mount kimbie
14. modafinil blues || matthew dear
15. baby || ariel pink
16. shine a light || shabazz palaces
17. noonside || yaeji
18. los ageless || st. vincent
19. dragon queen || yeah yeah yeahs
20. replica || the xx
21. the pilot || clap your hands say yeah
22. cutlass cruiser || tops
23. three rings || grizzly bear
24. andromeda || gorillaz
25. two thousand + seventeen || four tet
you can also hear my full list of 2017 contender HERE