Top 30 albums of 2017: #’s 30 – 26

I reviewed close to 60 albums this year.  Post-punk made a big comeback for me this year, as did electro.  Let’s get this countdown started!

#30 – Ancient River – O.D.D.S. II

I’ve been listening to this psych-rock duo for years now, and they deserve to be better known to the world at large.  O.D.D.S. II was a wild, crazy record with heavy fuzz, vocals covered in so much reverb as to make them almost incoherent, and a mix of live and electronic beats.

#29 – Tinariwen – Elwan

These Tuareg musicians make music for desert landscapes, yet it fits in anywhere you are.  You could be in Antartica, the Amazon, or at the middle of Randolph and Michigan in downtown Chicago and this album’s haunting vocals and superb craftsmanship will make you feel your surroundings in a different way.

#28 – Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor – Lavender Blood

In a perfect world, this Detroit psych-rock trio are headlining music festivals.  This album, heavily influenced by a near-death experience shared by all three members during a flight to Greece, is their trippiest so far and might be the best Velvet Underground album never released.

#27 – Partner – In Search of Lost Time

This is probably the best debut album of 2017.  Josee Caron and Lucy Niles come out guns-a-blazin’ with this fine piece of power pop that contains heavy riffs, fun lyrics, and razor sharp song craft.  It’s loud and proud.

#26 – RIDE – The Weather Diaries

RIDE came back this year with one of the best albums, shoegaze or otherwise, I’d heard in a long time.  Shoegaze is enjoying a great resurgence right now, and it’s due in part to albums like this.  It’s a stunning piece and a record we didn’t realize how badly it was needed until we heard it.

Who’s in the top 25?  Stay tuned!

Keep your mind open.

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Ancient River – O.D.D.S. II

Psych-rock duo Ancient River (James Barreto – guitar and vocals, Alex Cordova – drums and synths) moved to Austin, Texas last year to fully embrace the psychedelic music scene there and the weird creative vibe of the place has led them to explore multiple music genres and play whatever they feel like playing. That freedom gives us O.D.D.S. II, a new album that collects tracks that don’t fit into one category.

The opener, “Welcome to the Underground,” is psychedelic guitars mixed with tribal drums and ghost-voice synths. “As I Am” is a wall-flattening rocker with Barreto and Cordova going for broke on their respective instruments, and Barreto not really giving a damn if you understand the lyrics.

“You Are They Light” is a groovy mix of hippie-psych and swirling shoegaze. It sounds like something the Beatles might’ve done on Rubber Soul if they’d eaten peyote before recording the album. They cut loose again on the appropriately named “Playground.” The guitars are as soaring as a kid on a swing and the drums are as bonkers as another kid on a merry-go-round.

“Let’s Open the Sky” is the track that is probably the closest to “classic” Ancient River (if you’ve heard all their material). It’s Barreto’s space-rock guitars and heavily reverbed vocals and Cordova’s Joy Division-influenced drumming assaulting you with walls of sound that come at you in all directions. I can’t wait to hear this one live. “Eleven” is a near chill-out instrumental, whereas “Russian Surf Party” is an instrumental for a movie score featuring hot Russian femme fatale vampires who spend their nights at the beach.

“Time for Giving” soars around your speakers like a comet and reminds me of some of Matthew Sweet’s early 1990’s work. “My Sonic Temple” refers to, I’m guessing, Barreto’s mind. It’s a wild ride of rolling cymbals and desert wind guitars and is probably the soundtrack to Ancient River’s recording sessions, let alone their walk down to the coffee shop.

Despite its name, “Last Song” isn’t the last song on the record. That is saved for “Star Boy.” “Last Song” is a slowly building mind trip that reminds me of sitting atop mountains in Tucson while a dust devil twirls miles away in the distance. “Star Boy” builds in a similar manner and sounds like something that was playing on Frank’s headset as he was floating away from the Discovery 1 in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

O.D.D.S. II is a good collection of psych-rock, space rock, and shoegaze that lets Ancient River stretch their muscles and cut loose. Get odd. You need to cut loose now and then.

Keep your mind open.

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