Our Year-End coverage "fun" isn't over just yet. You've read our spectacular "Year In Review" feature (available to bookmark for your convenience) and checked out the "Staff Picks" count-down, but now it's time to hear from some friends of the site in a feature we're calling "Guest List," a chance for bands, labels, and music industry types to share what kept them going over the past year.
Aaron O'Neill (Shady Bug)
1. Spirit of the Beehive - Pleasure Suck
2. The New Year - Snow
3. Pile - A Hairshirt of Purpose
4. Slowdive - Slowdive
5. Wild Pink - Wild Pink
6. Melkbelly - Nothing Valley
7. Yowie - Synchromysticism
8. Thunder Cat - Drunk
9. Glued - EPs I & II
10. Smino - blkswn
Adam Downey (Northern Spy Records)
I wanted to share my youtube playlist of favorites from 2017. Here it is.
AJ Pantaleo (Baked / APMD)
In no particular order!
Drunk-Thundercat
Beautiful Thugger Girls-Young Thug
Harmony of Difference-Kamasi Washington
ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$-Joey Bada$$
Blue Chips 7000-Action Bronson
Pretty Girls Like Trap Music- 2 Chainz
Villains-Queens of the Stone Age
Greatest Hits Vol. II- Ovlov
Flower Boy-Tyler, The Creator
The OOZ-King Krule
Alex Fatato (Alexander / Du Vide)
10 - Noam pikelny - universal favorite
9 - pile - a hairshirt of purpose
8 - thundercat- drunk
7 - Kendrick Lamar - damn
6 - Richard Edwards - lemon cotton candy sunset
5 - palehound - a place I’ll always go
4 - Daniel Caesar - Freudian
3 - big thief - capacity
2 - mt eerie - a crow looked at me
1 - bad history month - dead and loving it
Benjamin Parrish (Kill Rock Stars Records)
1. Circuit Des Yeux Reaching For Indigo (Drag City) & live at Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
2. Lithics Wendy Kramer CS (self-released) and live all over Portland, OR
3. Mope Grooves Joy (See My Friends Records) + live at Human Flesh Body World, Portland, OR
4. Sneaks It’s a Myth (Merge Records)
5. The B-52’s live at the Clark County Fair in Ridgefield, WA
6. Rays s/t (Trouble in Mind)
7. Cotton Candy live at Land, Portland, OR
8. Table Sugar Introductory Material (self-released)
9. The Revolution live at Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
10. Cate Le Bon Rock Pool EP (Drag City) and live at Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
11. Jonathan Richman live at Shively Park, Astoria, OR
12. The Space Lady live at Turn Turn Turn, Portland, OR
13. Kicking Giant Halo 2LP (Drawing Room Records)
14. Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda World Spirituality Classics 1:
The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda (Luaka Bop)
15. Neil Young Hitchhiker (Reprise.)
Conflict of interest alert: Taiwan Housing Project’s album and live show were my REAL favorites of the year but I work with them, sooooo....
Brendan Principato (Boon)
Here's my top 10 in no particular order. Sorted alphabetically:
Broncho - get in my car (single)
Caretaker - everywhere at the end of time stages 2&3
The cradle - little missionaries
Grouper- Paradise valley
Guerilla toss - GT ultra
John maus -screen memories
Laraaji - bring on the sun
Les filles de illighadad - eghass malan
Mgmt - when you die (single)
Tonnstartsbandht - sorcerer
Brent Lakes (Broken Circles Records)
The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time Stage Two (History Always Favors The Winners)
Champagne Superchillin’ - Destino! (Soft Junk)
Total Control - Laughing At The System (Alter)
Bonny Doon - Bonny Doon (Salinas)
Four Tet - New Energy (Text)
Bing & Ruth - No Home Of The Mind (4AD)
The Spirit Of The Beehive - Pleasure Suck (Tiny Engines)
Sevendeaths - Remote Sympathy (LuckyMe)
Corridor - Supermercado (Citrus City)
Amy O - Elastic (Winspear)
Palm - Shadow Expert (Carpark)
Thundercat - Drunk (Brainfeeder)
G.S. Schray - Gabriel (Last Resort)
Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent (Domino)
Hoops - Rules (Fat Possum)
Pardoner - Uncontrollable Salvation (Father/Daughter)
Wand - Plum (Drag City)
Tops - Sugar At The Gate (Arbutus)
Kamasi Washington - Harmony Of Difference (Young Turks)
No Vacation - Intermission (Topshelf)
Dan Paoletti (Bee Side Cassettes)
Slow Ref - Slow Ref
Russel the Leaf - Janitor Boy
Blue Ranger - Actual Food
Full Body - What's Good?
Bilge Rat - Bilge Rat
Hate Club - No, Seriously
Floral Print - Mirror Stages
Bruiser & Bicycle - You're All Invited
ylayali - yy
Dove Lady - One
Spirit of the Beehive - Pleasure Suck
Kesha - Rainbow
Dillon Riley (Adhoc)
This was my first year living in New York and also the year I learned to stop caring about things that don't actually matter and instead just worry about what positive things I can contribute to the culture. I also went out and danced a lot, which helped.
some of my top records
Vince Staples- Big Fish Theory
Blanck Mass- World Eater
Lorde- Melodrama
Drab Majesty- The Demonstration
Slowdive- Slowdive
Jlin- Black Origami
Priests- Nothing Feels Natural
Machine Girl- ...Because I'm Young Arrogant and Hate Everything You Stand For
Japanese Breakfast- Soft Sounds From Another Planet
DJ Seinfeld- Time Spent Away From U
Wiki- No Mountains in Manhattan
The Spirit of the Beehive- Pleasure Suck
another bunch of criminally overlooked records imo
Gingerlys- Gingerlys
Kedr Livanskiy- Ariadna
Sleazy- From Québec, With Love
Ambersmoke- Lay My Bones Beneath the Valley Oak
Corridor- Supermercado
Show Me The Body- Corpus Mixtape 1
Tall Friend- Safely Nobody's
UMFANG- Symbolic Use of Light
Strange Ranger- Daymoon
MIKE- May God Bless Your Hustle
Geotic- Abysma
Infinity Girl- Somewhere Nice, Someday
Planning For Burial- Beneath The House
Du Vide- 2015-2016
Gio Coviello (Kiss Concert)
in no particular order:
Pissed Jeans - Why Love Now
Rick Rude - Make Mine Tuesday
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
LCD Soundsystem - american dream
Bad History Month - Dead and Loving It
Girlpool - Powerplant
Gnarwhal - Crucial
Melkbelly - Nothing Valley
Converge - The Dusk in Us
SZA - Ctrl
Maneka - Is You Is
Spirit of the Beehive - pleasure suck
Gorillaz - Humanz
Lomelda - Thx
Glassjaw - Material Control (lol)
Greg Hanson (King Pizza Records)
5 Really Rad Non-King Pizza Live Performances of 2017:
No Men (Chicago) at East Williamsburg Econo Lodge (Brooklyn)
XETAS (Austin) at The Gutter (Brooklyn)
A Giant Dog (Austin) at Rough Trade (Brooklyn)
Francie Moon (NJ) at S.ADD House (Richmond)
CD-ROM (Rochester) at Monty's Krown (Rochester)
Jake Saunders (Ramp Local)
Foodman - Ez Minzoku (Orange Milk Records)
This album (along with most releases from Orange Milk) was played constantly at R&D Vinyl, the record shop where I work and run Ramp Local out of. There is some truly compelling playfulness on this record that subverts the footwork genre and flips it on its side. Every release from that label showcases an artist who is able to create a truly unique and totally sentient voice from a very Un-human set of sounds.
The Cradle - Little Missionaries (HEC)
Paco Cathcart amazes me with everything he puts out. Little Missionaries is another step towards his ability to combine wonderfully soothing pop hooks with a home-spun creativity that is totally his own. Paco’s production skills alone are enough to show how powerful his vision is, but if you haven’t seen him live yet I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible.
PC Worship - Buried Wish (Northern Spy Records)
Each one is better than the next, and captures the band's vibe even more acutely. Justin Frye is a freakin' wizard producer partly, because the basement where he was recording this flooded halfway through the process, so the fact that he was able to create something this raw with an obstacle like that well...hats off to you, sir.
Urochromes - Night Bully (Wharf Cat Records)
Jackie McDermott has outdone himself with this one. Totally blown away by the sheer magnitude of energy. First thing I heard this year where I got to do one of my favorite activities, the private solo mosh pit in my room when nobodies home.
Tredici Bacci - Amore per Tutti (NNA Tapes)
Simon Hanes and his incredible 13 piece band has delivered some of the most ambitious live performances I’ve seen all year from opening for James Chance to performing alongside OG weirdo Gary Wilson. Every time was an adventure and had me laughing the whole way. The impressive musicianship from the players he’s amassed for Tredici Bacci is something I don’t get to see often, but to watch it go down in a punk rock setting is a truly a rare treat. Sammi Stevens vocal performance on stage and on this record is breathtaking, and so is that of the cameos from the guest singers (Ryan Power, Ruth Garbus, JG Thirwell among others). You will love this album and so will your parents!
Mack Enemy - CS1 (Self Released)
Wacko karaoke punk from Philly! His voice sounds like one of Batman’s arch nemesis on crystal meth. Sounds like the Devo-punk from the Lumpy Records bands (another label whose music we bumped a lot this year at R&D), but I get to actually see it live and not just on Youtube!
Mount Kimbie - Love What Survives (Warp)
This is the year I remembered/realized I like pop music. The song “Marilyn” that Mica Levi sings on is beautiful, the lyrics and her delivery are so soothing AND comforting.
Joey Agresta - Let’s Not Talk About Music (Wharf Cat Records)
It made me cry and laugh, two things I love to do when I listen to music. I was blown away by the sincerity that Joey captured on this one. Props to Wharf Cat on this one, I will treasure it.
Laurel Halo - Dust (Hyper dub)
I feel super cool when I listen to this album. That's all.
Irreversible Entanglements - S/T (International Anthem)
I found out about International Anthem this year. They are releasing some truly amazing modern jazz records. This one feels so classic Coleman-style free jazz and yet breathes like it’s fresh, partly because Moor Mother is a present day Avant-genius. Her presence is menacing, appropriately so.
Sweet Baby Jesus - Lyres of Ur (HEC)
Friends doing friend things, loving each other, having fun, jammin’ out. Good stuff.
Dimples - Whimpers (Nicely Music)
Colby Nathan makes breezy, whispering tunes with his beautiful voice and melodies. These songs are dripping in molasses and it feels great.
Zach Phillips- How to Slip Away (Self Released)
Zach enlists a line up of singers to sing songs he wrote. Super cool way to make a record and showcase some amazing talents on top of his totally unique composition style. Getting to witness how beautiful Ani Ivry Block's voice is when she’s not screaming in Shimmer or Palberta (both would be on this list if I hadn’t worked on those releases) is a real treat. "Roll Like and Apple [Mike Kolb]” was stuck in my head for a week.
Snakehole - Interludes of Insanity (Wharf Cat Records)
Intense jams from two serious rock 'n' rollers. KC's circular drumming is a monster deserving of its own credit. A perfect example of a duo who knows how to sound incredibly large without overdoing it. We also get to hear some of Autumn's beautiful talent on the piano, which is something missing from most punk records.
Jlin - Black Origami (Planet Mu)
Truly innovative work on this record. After getting to spend time at Teklife shows at Palisades in NYC I was absolutely overjoyed to find something that combined the energy from those DJs with my love of genre-bending music.
Fire-Toolz - Drip Mental (Hausu Mountain)
Hausu Mountain is releasing some of the craziest stuff on the planet, no doubt about it. Fire-Toolz cassette in particular blew me away this year, another example of an artist taking bizarre dips and dives into unexplored territory in pop music. Best use of a Spongebob sample I've heard yet ("All Deth is U2")
Lumpy and the Dumpers - Those Pickled Fuckers (Lumpy Records, La Vida Es Un Mus Disco)
I also learned about Lumpy Records this year, which happens to be one of my favorite discoveries since I moved to Philadelphia just over a year ago. Another introduction courtesy of R&D Vinyl. Those Picked Fuckers finds Lumpy and the Dumpers in the most polished audio setting I've heard, yet the grime and the grit is still totally alive. Definitely one of my favorite record covers of the year too. Shout out to Jordan Reyes for turning me on to this one!
Ada Babar - (2018) Leaked (Self Released)
Ada Babar is a Philadelphia musician who makes songs with the use of a midi pickup on his guitar, which gives him access to a seemingly infinite bank of sounds that he can contain within the rhythmic structure of the guitar. His music can go anywhere at any time and he uses the midi to jump from catchy, yet bizarrely constructed, hooks to blasts of synth noise freakouts. Not only do I appreciate the comedic element in this music, it goes beyond that to suggest that there is a method to the madness. I’m not quite sure what the method is yet, but there’s definitely a lot of madness going on.
Ramp Local 2017
Of course I would be remiss without shouting out every release that Ramp Local put out this year. It’s an incredible honor to work with such a talented crew of artists, and this music is the reason I wake up every morning.
Palberta - Bye Bye Berta
Lily and Horn Horse - Lily on Horn Horse
Old Maybe - Piggity Pink
Big French - Stone Fish
Pat Keen - Albatross
Buck Gooter - 100 Bells
Lily Konigsberg, Andrea Schiavelli - Good Time Now
Lily and Horn Horse - Next To Me
Palberta, No One And The Somebodies - Chips For Dinner
Joe Gaudiana (Edgar Clinks)
1. Kelly Lee Owens
2. Palehound - A Place I’ll Always Go
3. Aldous Harding - Imagining My Man
4. Girlpool - Powerplant
5. Laurel Halo - Dust
6. Mega Bog - Happy Together
7. Reptaliens- 2030 FM
8. Molly Burch - Please Be Mine
9. Hand Habits - Wildly Idle
10. Fleet Foxes - Crack Up
Joe Trainor (Wildhoney)
Melkbelly - Nothing Valley
Spirit of the Beehive - Pleasure Suck
Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory
Rapsody - Lilias Wisdom
Bugg - Bugg
Pauline Anna Strom - Trans Millenia Music
Colleen - A Flame My Love, A Frequency
Sampha - Process
Sky Girl Compilation - Compiled DJ Sundae
Dreamdecay - YU
UV-TV - Glass
Marble Eye - EP 2
Latitia Sadier Source Ensemble - Find Me Finding You
Gaussian Curve - The Distance
Palm - Shadow Expert
Alvvays - Antisocialites
Laurel Halo - Dust
Bjork - Utopia
Crumb - Lockets
Romantic States - Corduroy in Italy
Martin Pohl (Bee Side Cassettes)
Washer - All Aboard
Lomelda - Thx
Uranium Club - All of Them Naturals
Milo - Who Told You To Think
Pile - A Hairshirt of Purpose
Two Inch Astronaut - Can You Please Not Help
Lemuria - Recreational Hate
Bad History Month - Dead and Loving It
Tall Friend - Safely Nobody's
Worries - Survival Pop
Gingerlys - Gingerlys
Paramore - After Laughter
Michael Potter (Null Zone Tapes)
Headroom - Head in the Clouds (Trouble In Mind)
East of the Valley Blues - Fayet (Death Is Not The End)
Raising Holy Sparks - Search for the Vanished Heaven (Eiderdown Records)
Lee Noble - The Hell Of You Come In (No Kings)
Granite Mask - Silenzio (Nostilevo)
Grant Evans - Seeking Fragrance (Adversary Electronics)
Abby Lee Tee - Riverside Burrows (Shash)
Jon Collin - The Nature (Early Music)
Bill Orcutt - Bill Orcutt (Palilalia)
MANAS - III (Feeding Tube)
Michelle Nigro (Wharf Cat Records)
Cost of Living - Downtown Boys
The Demonstration - Drab Majesty
EP 2 - Yaeji
Freightliner - Anna Altman
Good Time Now - Lily Konigsberg, Andrea Schiavelli
Interludes of Insanity - Snakehole
Nakedness - Pharmakon
Nothing Feels Natural - Priests
Need to Feel Your Love - Sheer Mag
Party - Aldous Harding
Shimmer - Shimmer
Subordination - Institute
Unnatural Channel - Drew Mcdowell
Untitled - WALL
Utopia - Björk
“When You Have Won, You Have Lost” - Haram
Wideass Highway - Dougie Poole
Wildly Idly (Humble Before the Void) - Hand Habits
Rob Connelly (Art of the Uncarved Block Records)
1. Ancient Shapes- Silent Rave (You've Changed)
2. Daniel Romano- Modern Pressure (You've Changed)
3. Tobin Sprout- The Universe and Me (Burger Records)
4. Luge- Actual Rock 'n' Roll (Self-Released)
5. Nouveau- Fever Glow (Sooper Records)
6. Slates- Summery (New Damage)
7. Buck Gooter- 100 Bells (Ramp Local)
8. Guppy- Chapstick (Self-Released)
9. The New Year- Snow (Comedy Minus One)
10. Mount Eerie- A Crow Looked At Me (P.W. Elverum & Son)
Ryan McKeever (Staffers)
FAVORITE ALBUMS
Lily and Horn Horse - "Next to Me"
David Nance - "Do The Negative Boogie"
Total Control - "Laughing At The System"
The Rebel - "Poems With Water"
Shimmer - "Shimmer"
The Stroppies - "The Stroppies"
Rays - "Rays"
Razors - "Erickson Kid Chants"
FAVORITE TRACKS
"Crime Slides" by Chauchat
"Juice" by DJ Desk Jockey
"Gravity Is Stern" by The Stroppies
"Talk to Me" by Lily Konigsberg
"Exaltatoin" by Salad Boys
"Icon Tact" by The Rebel
"Freedom" by Bib
"Laughing At The System Pt. 1" by Total Control
FAVORITE REISSUESS
The Necessaries - "Event Horizon"
Look Blue Go Purple - "Still Bewitched"
The Fall - "Perverted by Language"
The Pin Group - "Ambivalence 7”
Arthur Russell - "Instrumentals"
Patrice Rushen - "Pizzazz"
I STILL NEED TO LISTEN TO :(
"Halo" by Juana Molina
"Divine Creature" by Data
"CCFX EP" by CCFX
"Part IV" by The Cowboys
Seth Applebaum (The Mad Doctors / Ghost Funk Orchestra)
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Soul of a Woman
The Heliocentrics - A World of Masks
Iojii & Swarvy - Due Rent
King Krule - The OOZ
Faux Ferocious - Faux Ferocious
Antibalas - Where the Gods are in Peace
Illiterate Light - Ego Flora I
Headlessmantis - Scumfy
Onyx Collective - Lower East Suite Part One
Combo Chimbita - Abya Yala
Steve Mann, Justin Penney, & Matt MacEwing (Gun Control)
Below is an amalgam of Steve, Matt, and Justin of Gun Control's top picks for 2017 compiled by a text chain that featured no obvious sarcasm emoji so everything made it in. In most case's the whole album is good, but we're only putting our stamp on the following songs. It features the mainest of streams, some local Vancouver gems, and only one borderline conflict of interest. Overall it was a good year for melodies!
Pale Red - Mineral Lick - Soft Opening
Chad VanGaalen - Mind Highjacker's Curse - Light Information
GFOTY - Poison - GFOTYBUCKS
Alex Cameron - Runnin' Out of Luck - Forced Witness
Palehound - If You Met Her - A Place I'll Always Go
(Sandy) Alex G - Bobby - Rocket
Marleana Moore - In Love Again - Gaze (vinyl came out in 2017 so it counts)
Andrew Younker - Electric Chair - Microchasm
Mura Masa feat. Charli XCX - 1 Night - Mura Masa
Lorde - The Louvre - Melodrama
Big Shaq - Man's Not Hot - Single
Blis - Old Man - No One Loves You
Daniel Romano - The Pride of Queens - Modern Pressure
Fall Fair Car - Wiggin' Out - Port Machine Works
Common Holly - If After All - Playing House
Yankee Bluff - Something Strange - 3 EPs
MALK - Berlin - Born Elated
St. Vincent - New York - Masseduction
Mathew Lee Cothran - America Forever - Judas Hung Himself In America
Alex Lahey - Every Day's the Weekend - I Love You Like a Brother
Tim Crisp (Better Yet Podcast)
Was lucky to talk to so many people who put out unbelievable records this year. Also Chicago came correct this year and it’s high time it gets recognized.
1. Ratboys - GN
2. Vagabon - Infinite Worlds
3. Melkbelly - Nothing Valley
4. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me
5. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
6. Pile - A Hairshirt Of Purpose
7. Meat Wave - The Incessant
8. Big Thief - Capacity
9. Tall Friend - Safely Nobody’s
10. SZA - Ctrl