2017 was a barnstormer of a year for certain. With tunes, jams, belters, bops and anthems all fighting for our attention it could be hard to discern your favourites from the massive amount of music out there. But I’ve done my best to come up with a list that reflects ten of my favourite songs over the last year.
10. Don’t Take the Money – Bleachers.
Jack Antonoff has been sneaking his way into your ears throughout the whole of 2017 as both a producer and writer for the likes of Lorde, Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen. With Bleachers his solo act outside of the band FUN he indulges his 80s influences from the likes of John Hughes films and the pop acts of the 80s and 90s while modernising production techniques. Don’t Take the Money takes the echoing vocals, stuttering drums and ringing keys synonymous with the above decades. It’s as much Talking Heads as it is Bruce Springsteen’s more melodic side. With Lorde’s uncredited vocal work the track becomes brings all its influences full circle. It doesn’t cheapen anything it just adds to the formula.
9. Firefly – City of the Sun.
Post-rock has become more stripped down of late. With nearly every second bandcamp artist being dedicated to monumentally produced multi-tracked guitars and bombastic drums the more mainstream acts like Explosions in the Sky took a step back. City of the sun did the same and pared back their music to the bare essentials. Firefly is one of this year’s most calming songs and its meaning is effervescent like thin clouds at dawn. Over five minutes guitars and percussion build in rhythm until they are a cohesive whole. Its music that feels both pre- and post-climactic. That moment in between states where nothing is formed and emptiness is treasured.
8. Big Fish – Vince Staples.
“I was up late night ballin’, Countin’s up hundreds by the thousands!” goes Juicy J’s chorus to ‘Big Fish’ the lead single off of Staples’ second album Big Fish theory. It’s a flowing, effortless dissection of a man’s past struggles and contemporary success and the problems that come with escaping one and achieving the other. Staples chews his way through bars with ease all while keeping the focus on his hard-hitting lyrics. “Swimming upstream while I’m tryna keep bread from the sharks made me wanna put the hammer to my head,” he raps over Christian Rich’s G-funk inflected beat. The sophomore slump never affected Staples because he only ever cared about surviving and that’s what Big Fish is all about.
7. Without Love – Alice Glass.
Glass recently revealed all about why she left the iconic noise punk outfit Crystal Castles. Rumours of founding member Ethan Kath’s abusive behaviour; physical, sexual and emotional, had been circulating for years until this year where the revelations coincided with Glass’ eponymous debut EP. On Without Love Glass’ normally abrasive vocals float, feather light, over Jupiter Keyes icicle synths and wobbling bass. She echoes the deep cut ‘Tell Me What to Swallow’ off of Crystal Castles’ first LP when she sings “Tell me what to spit, Don’t tell me what to swallow.” Her voice maybe quieter but it sounds like she’s finally found it.
6. Green Light – Lorde.
Every year I ask myself what had the best keyboards in pop music? The answer is always the riffs in Frank Ocean’s ‘Pyramids’ but this year ‘Green Light’ came pretty close. What starts off as a call-out song for every girl to scream the lyrics to in a nightclub turns into an optimistic plea for hope. I like to think that Lorde had The Great Gatsby on the brain when she wrote this song. Still if this song made you think of Leonardo DiCaprio belting out the lyrics to ‘Green Light’ while battered at karaoke than it deserves to be a song of the year. “I’M WAITING FOR IT, THAT GREEN LIGHT, I WANT IT!!!” Think about it…
5. Mask Off – Future.
Turning up when you’re turned down has always been a theme in Future’s music. The chanted chorus of “Percocet, molly, percocets” over producer Metro Boomin’s sampled flutes and rattling hi-hats is destined to make it onto hundreds of sad boy vines. Future’s lean-addled mumble sinks and surfaces like a man drowning at sea while those who know him look on sad but apathetic. On what has been a stellar year for the Atlanta born rapper Future further cements his place as one of the consistent and prolific rappers ever alongside contemporaries Gucci Mane, Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan.
4. Show Yourself – Mastodon.
Cancer affects nearly everyone these days. You’re a lucky person if you don’t know anyone afflicted by some version of the insidious malady. On Emperor of Sand, Mastodon’s first concept album since 2009’s Crack the Skye, the band explored the nature of the illness and human mortality in the face of it. Compared to the band’s more complex work this single is far simpler with driving riffs and drums that gallop along. Drummer Bran Dailor’s lyrics are pessimistic and drive home the album’s hope in the face of fatalism. “Dead and gone, Dead and gone, I’ll see you on the other side of the fire!” Typically gnarly stuff from one of the gnarliest bands out there right now.
3. T-Shirt – Migos.
With the likes of the Dab, the hook off ‘Versace’ and grand slam of ‘Bad and Boujee’ the Migos have had constant victory laps over the last three years. One could call it over-exposure if the trio of Quavo, Offset and Takeoff weren’t so good at what they do. Consistently slam-dunking on any and all competitors while simultaneously collaborating with them the Migos have established themselves as the Three Wise Kings of the rap world. Their ad-libs on champion belt ‘T-Shirt’ remain entertaining, punchy and nuanced while each verse builds on the next like a pyramid built of gold and white bricks. “Space coupe Quavo, Yoda pourin’, Drinkin’ sodas.” Long may their reign continue.
2. Thinking of a Place – The War On Drugs.
Your Dad’s faves could never compare to Adam Granduciel. The eleven minute opus stretches and time giving it a rubber band elasticity that just keeps going. Woozy synth washes and an ever-present stiff guitar give a real sense of place. From nighttime drives to West Coast beaches to the rainy forests of north Washington Granduciel paints these places using his music as canvas. If you asked Bob Ross to write a song about his life this is how I imagine it would sound. The War On Drugs takes their inspirations from Dylan, Campbell and Springsteen but never lets the shadows of these giants cloud the majesty of the band’s music. Thinking of a Place takes you on a journey to somewhere you’ll never go with someone you’ve never met and makes it real for a brief, little while.
1. Cut to the Feeling – Carly Rae Jepsen.
The true Queen of pop announced her reign with KISS, celebrated it with Emotion and now, with ‘Cut to the Feeling’, writes it among the stars. The song, which frankly should have been the lead single off 2015’s Emotion, glitters and shines in perhaps the truest expression of joy and love ever put to record. At once coy, sweet and gleeful ‘Cut to the Feeling’ soars like a phoenix taking wing emphasising Jepsen’s bombastic, heavenly delivery. “I wanna wake up with you in tangles oh!” ‘Cut to the Feeling’ is music as a joyous salve. As Mathew 25: 35 – 36 reads:
“For I was hungry and Carly Rae Jepsen gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and Carly Rae Jepsen gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and Carly Rae Jepsen invited me in, I needed clothes and Carly Rae Jepsen clothed me, I was sick and Carly Rae Jepsen looked after me, I was in prison and Carly Rae Jepsen came to visit me.”
Andrew Carroll.
Cold Coffee Press 