Ahh, yeah, it’s that time again! The last couple of the weeks out of the year when I actually post stuff on a regular basis! It’s time for my favourite music of the year list.
I joke about it, but curating and commenting on these lists is something I really enjoy, and if the small amount of people who read them get introduced to some great music, my work here is done!
Once again, this year saw WAY too much great music to be easily distilled into twenty tracks, so I’ve written this secondary list of tracks and albums that I won’t write about in detail, but still deserve some attention:
A$AP Rocky – “Fuckin’ Problems”
As I get older and wiser (hopefully), it’s becoming more difficult for me to enjoy and recommend songs that don’t really go beyond “fucking bitches” (and that goes for classic rock as much as it does for hip-hop).
But dang it, the beat on this track is dope and Rocky, Drake and Kendrick all perfectly demonstrate why they’re the current kings of the rap game, even if the lyrics make it the musical equivalent of an episode of Entourage (which I watched every episode of, and greatly regret).
Biffy Clyro - “Different People”
When making this list, I noticed a running theme of songs that raise themselves up and almost seem to take flight and soar. Biffy have been specialising in that sort of song for a while now, and this track shows just how adept they’ve become at making them.
David Bowie - “Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)
I still haven’t gotten around to listening to all of The Next Day, but if the mastermind behind one of my all-time favourite bands is going to remix a track by one of my all-time favourite people, you can bet your ass I’ll be the first in line to hear it. All ten minutes of it!
Everything Everything - “Cough Cough”
It turns out that I didn’t really give EE much of a chance to win me over. I heard one song off their first album, and decided they all sounded that manic and clumsy. More fool me. Most of their output has actually been fairly restrained, making “Cough Cough” one of the few songs where they really let themselves go (but remain focused on the beat). And damned if “Yeah, so, um, waitasecond” isn’t the best album-opening line I’ve heard in a while.
Kings of Leon - “Supersoaker”
Like Biffy Clyro, Kings of Leon are a band with a lot of older fans that feel disconnected with the music they make these days (speaking from personal experience as someone who knows every lyric from Youth and Young Manhood). So it was nice for them to seemingly acknowledge that and make “Supersoaker”, a song which perfectly us why we fell in love the band in the first place. It’s a pity that didn’t stay in that mode for the rest of Mechanical Bull, but hey! One song from the old-style KoL is a heck of a lot better than none.
The National - “Don’t Swallow the Cap”
The Dessners, Matt Berninger and the Devendorfs continued to impress everyone on their sixth album Trouble Will Find Me, and they continue to write couplets that cut right to my emotional center. “I have only two emotions, careful fear and dead devotion” stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it.
The Preatures - “Is This How You Feel?”
Given all the Fleetwood Mac reissues and reunions that have been happening over the last couple of years, it makes sense that we’re starting to hear from new acts that have been heavily influenced by the band’s sound. Haim are one and, on the basis of this great song, Australia’s The Preatures could well be another.
Savages - “Shut Up”
Specifically, the video version of “Shut Up” (click above), which features a spoken intro that was printed on the album cover (you know, the one with the typography that bothered Sufjan Stevens). This intro isn’t present on any other version of the track, which is a shame, because it really hammers home the message that Savages have been attempting to put across in almost everything they do: silence yourself (and your phone).
Thundercat - “Oh Sheit It’s X”
In a year overstuffed with smooth pop tunes, this was one of the smoothest, and one of the best songs to be discovered in GTA V’s soundtrack.
Wavves - “Demon to Lean On”
Thanks to the internet, my teenage years were soundtracked by a mix of alternative rock from the 80s and 90s. I’m pleased to say that this song could have easily slipped into the mix.
Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap
Chance appears to be picking up the ‘school spirit’ rap reigns where fellow Chicagoan Kanye West left them, especially when you consider “Good Ass Intro” borrows its name from the original title to Ye’s fifth album. Acid Rap is a mixtape, and therefore available to download for free, so get up on that.
Danny Brown - Old
On the other end of the spectrum, you have Danny Brown, a guy who, up to this point, had been displaying a pretty crazy and hedonistic image. There’s still some of that on his second album, on tracks like “Kush Coma”. But the surprising thing about Old is how much range he’s showing off, with more Wu-Tang influence on “The Return” and “Gremlins”, and even some real smooth stuff like “Lonely” and “Float On”.
It’s a great second impression from one of the most unique rappers around right now. And I want that cover art hanging on wall at some point!
The Flaming Lips - The Terror
Despite their fun-loving sound and barnstorming festival appearances, The Flaming Lips have always carried an ounce of existential dread within their music. Normally, they’ve turned it into a positive force (that’s the official state song of Oklahoma, right there).
As its title might suggest, there’s nothing really positive about The Terror. Even the sun rising is a harbinger of doom. For this one album, they gave into the fuzzy feedback, heavy sighing and bleak outlook that’s always been present in their sound, and the result was glorious. This is an album that’s best experienced as a whole. Wait for a sunny day, and take a long walk. Trust me.
Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience (Part One)
Whether you include Part Two (which I haven’t heard) in the equation or not, 20/20 is an extraordinary work when compared to most charting pop albums. More than half of the tracks exceed the six minute mark, including what must the longest Number One single the UK charts have had for a while. The modern stuff works well, and the soul throwbacks work better. It’s everything we wanted from a JT comeback album.
The Lonely Island - The Wack Album
It’s never a likely prospect that a comedy song will make the grade for one of these lists (even ones as ramshackle and rambling as mine), but Lonely Island’s latest came close. I’ve always found their albums a little hit-and-miss (like sketch comedy in general), but they’ve slowly improved over time, and The Wack Album is easily their best effort yet. There’s still the odd obnoxious one-joke song like “Diaper Money” and “Spring Break Anthem”, but they more than make up for it with great tracks like “Semicolon” and even manage to make T-Pain funny again on “I Fucked My Aunt”.
My Bloody Valentine - m b v
Never before has the announcement of an album’s release left me equally excited and worried. Excited because m b v was the first album from MBV in 22 years. Worried because their previous release, Loveless, is one of those truly unique albums. Universally beloved, incomparable and, until this year, impossible to follow. The fact that m b v was released at all was a miracle. The fact that it was a worthy third album was divine intervention.
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Speaking of great third albums!… Modern Vampires is, quite possibly, VW’s best album to date. The tracks flow together seamlessly, the band is taking more chances musically, and the results are clear to everyone. But I just couldn’t find a song that stood up as a solo piece (despite “Diane Young” being my top-played track of the last year. Weird, I know).
EDIT: “Hannah Hunt”, tho!
…and we’re off. I’ll be back tomorrow with the start of the list proper! My twenty favourite songs of the year, in no particular order, one a day leading up to the 31st. I can’t wait!
[Links for 2012 and 2011]
![Nick’s Favourite Music of 2017
DRAKE - “PASSIONFRUIT”
[YouTube] [Spotify]
I mean this as neither a slam nor a compliment: I’m finding it difficult to label and categorise the kind of music that Drake and his contemporaries make. The last decade of...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7ffbb79df4d2517bd2845f905180dde3/tumblr_p2k9csZizt1qz9k6wo1_1280.jpg)
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