I've been a music fan since my parents gave me a record player for Christmas when I was still in grade school. The first record I remember owning was "Sesame Street Disco." I've been a professional writer since 2004, but writing long before that. My first published work was in a middle school literary magazine and was a story about a zoo in which the animals could talk.
Funny, sharp, and frenetic, this single from Caroline Rose‘s upcoming album (due in February 2018) is instantly catchy and one of the wittiest post-punk songs of the year.
#4 – LCD Soundsystem – “Tonite”
Speaking of witty songwriting, LCDSoundsystem‘s “Tonite” has the most scathing lyrics of the year as lead singer James Murphy takes down Millennials, Gen X’ers, the rich, hipsters, and himself with lyrics like “Life is finite, but that shit feels like forever,” “Are you shocked from being used?” and “You’ve lost your internet, and we’ve lost our memory.”
#3 – Tinariwen – “Sastanaqqam”
The beats on this amazing track by Tuareg music legends Tinariwen were enough to get my feet tapping, but as soon as the guitars kick in I knew this was going to be one of my favorite songs of 2017. There is something about Tuareg music that is hard to describe, but you feel it in your core. This song is a prime example of that.
#2 – Soulwax – “Missing Wires”
As soon as I heard the opening synths of this playing somewhere in Chicago, I thought, “Who is this?” It was Soulwax. This song grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I immediately tracked it down, along with their stunning album, From Deewee, which was all recorded in one take.
#1 – Feltworth – “Forget This Feeling”
Yes, this is my favorite song of 2017. Do not dismiss it. It has the best power pop hooks I’ve heard all year. It also has sharp lyrics, shredding guitar, killer piano work, and a crisp rhythm. The lads in Feltworth are also fun dudes, so that’s a win.
I’d heard a lot of good things about Sleaford Mods, one of the best being that they were Iggy Pop‘s new favorite band. That alone makes them worth a listen, but if you come for the Iggy Pop suggestion, stay for what might be the most punk record you’ve heard all year…and there doesn’t appear to be a single guitar on it. It’s just Jason Williamson‘s half-rap, half-stream of consciousness social commentary and Andrew Fearn‘s minimalist electronic beats. When you first hear a Sleaford Mods song, you might think, “This shouldn’t work.” Yet, it does. It does every fucking time.
English Tapas, the band’s newest, is a punch to the gut of subjects like Brexit, working class blues, one-percenters, consumerism, Donald Trump, hipsters, and everything else currently annoying. The album title itself is a play on the gentrification of working class neighborhoods.
Opener “Army Nights” has them taking down weekend partiers. Fearn’s electro-bass is instantly addictive, as are most of his beats. They get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming them throughout the day. “Just Like We Do” has Williamson making fun of music snobs. “You walk around like a twat, just like we do,” he says, not caring about people who dwell on past accomplishments.
“Moptop” has Williamson worrying that he can’t cope with what’s happening around him (mostly having to deal with inane bands, internet overload, and annoying British politicians) while Fearn’s synth-bass gets downright groovy. It’s even groovier on “Messy Everywhere,” as Williamson sings about people being stuck in dead end jobs (“First it’s this, then it moves on to that…”) yearning to get out and shake up things.
I love how Fearns loops crickets chirping in “Time Sands” to mock the crickets in our heads as we see chaos and inequality all around us yet we stand and often do nothing. Williamson warns us that time, and history, is passing by us so we’d better “turn it upside-down” by getting off our asses and making our voices heard (or at least lending a hand now and then). “Snout” immediately trashes people creating perfect, fake images of themselves to project to the world via social media. “Felt like I was trying to be trendy, when I’m not,” Williamson says. “I don’t fuck about, I’m making sure I don’t give my kids anything to feel fucking embarrassed about.” Preach it, Jason. Seriously, this might be the angriest track I’ve heard all year.
“Drayton Manored” refers to an amusement park in Staffordshire, England and is a funny song about Williamson and Fearns lamenting about a long trip there and all the odd looks and attitudes they receive there. “Carlton Touts” has Williamson flat-out referring to English politicians and ticket touts (scalpers, as we call them here in the U.S.) as “fat bastards.” “Cuddly” has slick beats from Fearns that any hip hop producer would love to have in their back pocket. “What does a million quid a week bring when your brain can’t tell your legs to kick the fuckin’ thing?” Williamson asks, making us question our addictions – whatever they may be (iPhones? Drugs? Booze? Recognition?).
“Dull” lashes out at those who voted for Brexit (“Safe bet, all the oldies vote for death.”) and “B.H.S.” is a lament for over eleven thousand people who lost their jobs (and more lost their pensions) when a British businessman, Sir Philip Green, bankrupted the B.H.S. department store chain and skated to the Mediterranean with hundreds of millions of pounds. “I Feel So Wrong” has Williamson feeling conflicted over his own success with a chorus of him repeating the song’s title and lyrics like “I looked at myself tonight, I know I’m richer. It turns itself inside and burns that little bit deeper.”
This is one of the smartest, wittiest, best,and most punk albums of 2017. Sleaford Mods might not be for everyone, but they’re speaking for all of us.
Keep your mind open.
[I don’t have a moptop, but I could use a subscription.]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
2017 was the first year in a long while when I bought singles and not just full albums or EP’s, so I thought I’d keep track of my favorites. Here’s the first half of the list!
#10 – Marlon Williams – “Vampire Again”
Not only does this song have the sexiest groove of the year, it also has a great backstory. Marlon Williams was bored on Halloween night in L.A. and noticed a local theatre was showing Nosferatu with a live orchestra performing music for the silent film. He got high, dressed up as a vampire, and went to the event only to discover he was the only one in costume. This is the story of that night.
#9 – Bebel Gilberto – “Creep” (live)
When my wife and I saw Bebel Gilberto in 2016, she played this song and mentioned that she was “thinking of releasing it.” “Please do!” I yelled from the middle of the amphitheater. She did, along with her wonderful EP Live at the Belly Up. This song makes me cry every time I hear it.
#8 – Honey – “Dream Come Now”
Honey‘s fiery single “Dream Come Now” was one of the most exciting tracks I heard all year. The opening guitar chaos made me immediately want to buy their album, New Moody Judy, which wasn’t available for another few months. It was well worth the wait.
#7 – Ty Segall – “The Main Pretender”
This wild, groovy bit of soul-punk from Ty Segall is jaw-dropping, especially with the wicked saxophone work from Mikal Cronin. This is like a lost Captain Beefheart track and a great example of Segall‘s love of multiple genres.
#6 – The Moonlandingz – “Black Hanz”
Weird, trippy, funky, and catchy, the Moonlandingzreleased “Black Hanz” and I was immediately hooked on them. The chorus roots into your head and the song warps into a crazy dream sequence at one point. It’s my favorite psychedelic track of the year.
How do you follow up one of the best shoegaze records of 2016? Well, if you’re the Duke Spirit, you do it by releasing a deeply introspective record called Sky Is Mine, which keeps some of the shoegaze elements of Kin, but also ups the dream-pop. Lead singer Liela Moss was pregnant during the recording of Sky Is Mine, and she’s admitted in interviews that carrying a new life definitely influenced her songwriting for this record.
It begins with “Magenta,” a one-two punch of fuzzed out guitars and Moss’ echoing siren-like vocals. “Who knows where the heart goes?” she asks, wondering how far love can reach when one is separated from a lover. “Bones of Proof” is proof that Ms. Moss is one of the best vocalists of her generation. She has a way of making a song sexy, sad, and slightly scary all at the same time. “Go now and seek the truth, you’ll know it when the bones of proof press against your body warm, the skin, the form, the idea born,” she sings, and you can’t help but think she wrote those lyrics while pregnant. The guitar in this is like a gentle buzzsaw. I know that’s an odd description, but you’ll understand once you hear it.
“See Power” moves from dream-pop verses to bold shoegaze choruses and back again like, well, waves of the sea. The heavy bass of “In Breath” mixes with ghostly guitars and hints of Celtic magic. “Houses” has Moss’ reverbed vocals bouncing off each other as the band churns out a solid shoegaze groove behind her. “How Could, How Come” is the stuff of dream-pop dreams and possibly a lost Cowboy Junkies track.
“Yo Yo” has wicked beats and sneaky, tricky guitars throughout it as Moss sings about (in my opinion, at least) staying in the present despite outside forces constantly pulling us back and forth. “The Contaminant” is textbook shoegaze, and the closer, “Broken Dreams,” wraps around you like a warm fog with Moss’ lyrics about peaceful patience and hypnotizing percussion.
This album doesn’t rock as hard as previous Duke Spirit albums like Neptuneor Kin, but that’s okay. It’s the band’s further exploration of dreamscapes. It’s ideal for wandering, sitting, and looking up at the night sky, which is mine, theirs, yours, and ours.
Keep your mind open.
[Who knows where the subscription box is? You do. It’s to your left.]
We’ve arrived at the top 5 live shows I saw this year. Here they are.
#5 – LCD Soundsystem – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL November 7th.
This was the second of a three-night residency at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom for LCD Soundsystem. It was the second time we saw them in 2017, and they were healthier and a bit goofier than the first time. It was also the best show we’d seen at the Aragon in a long while.
Slaves‘ opening set for Kasabian at this show was, without question, the best punk rock show I’ve seen in a couple years. They came out with cocksure swagger and proceeded to freak out the entire crowd. My friend, Portia, and I had a “rock moment” with them when we were the only ones in the audience who knew to yell “Fuck the hi hat!” when they began telling the story behind the song of the same title and they pointed us out in the crowd. Win.
I hadn’t seen Gary Numan in concert for about ten years, but he hasn’t lost a step. He actually has become better in that time. His band was tighter, his vocals were sharp, and the spectacle of the performance was top-notch.
No, this isn’t an error. LCD Soundsystemare in my top five live shows of 2017 twice. This was the first time my wife and I saw them, and we were instantly hooked. They became one of our “We’ll see them anytime.” bands thanks to this performance that closed the first night of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival. The crowd was wild, erupting into two mosh pits during the show, and LCDSS threw down a raucous set despite dealing with injuries and mild illness.
Within moments I knew this sold-out Midnight Oil show was going to be the best show we saw all year. It was their return tour after twenty years and they sounded like they’d stepped out of a time machine. Lead singer Peter Garrett even appeared to not have aged in that time. They proved they were still one of the most relevant and best live acts in the world. It was uplifting to see and hear them again, and left everyone hoping for new material soon.
There you have it. Go see a bunch of live music in 2018. Your favorite band is depending on you.
Keep your mind open.
[You can still subscribe before the end of year. I won’t judge.]
This album almost slipped by me in this crazy year of alternate facts and a lot of yelling. I’m glad I saw a recent article about it that reminded me to buy Priests‘ Nothing Feels Natural, because it’s a sharp post-punk record and one of the records 2017 needed most.
The album begins with drummer Daniele Daniele‘s urgent beats before lead singer Katie Alice Greer comes in with her vocal style that immediately grabs you by the throat. Soon, guitarist G.L. Jaguar and bassist Taylor Mulitz are slapping you around and Greer is singing, “It feels good to buy what you can’t afford.” She’s put her finger in the eye of American consumer culture in under two minutes. On “JJ,” Jaguar unleashes some clever surf rock hooks and Greer’s vocals go from menacing to playful while the lyrics keep twisting a knife into the culture of artifice we’ve created.
“Nicki” has some goth touches (mostly in Jaguar’s guitar and Mulitz’s bass) that catch you off guard before it flattens you with hard shoegaze riffs. “Yes, it’s true, I want more,” Greer sings. She’s just as easily seduced by consumerism and always projecting a perfect image as the rest of us, but the power behind her vocals lets us know she’s fighting temptation. “Lelia 20” offers us some of that strength as Greer sings, “Things could be much worse.” Never forget that (and you won’t forget Daniele’s great drumming throughout the whole track).
“No Big Bang,” with vocals by Daniele, is about disappointment and shattered illusions. “Your mind keeps running along the same narrow track of logic for what feels like forever…” is just one of the insightful lyrics in this near-spoken word piece. The title track has some of Greer’s best vocals and saddest lyrics. “Perhaps I will change into something,” she begins as the rest of the band puts down great riffs and beats behind her. Jaguar’s guitar soars on this cut, taking it to another level.
“Pink White House” is the first song I ever heard by Priests. It’s fiery, vicious, and yet completely danceable as Greer keeps chanting about “Anything you want. Anything, anything!” It’s a wake-up call to walk away from the temptations of a new SUV, mindless sitcoms, dwelling in nostalgia, and thinking money will solve everything. “Kneel at the feet of programming…You are just a cog in a machine,” she warns.
“Puff” has Greer saying she wants to start a band called Burger King (Who used to have the slogan “Have it your way.”) and use it to make others’ dreams come true. It is, of course, a slap in the face of people who look to the media to solve their problems and make up their minds. I love that the album ends with a song called “Suck.” It’s slick as oil (Daniele, Jaguar, and Mulitz fire on all cylinders throughout it) and has Greer singing, “Please don’t make me be someone with no sympathy.” She wants to care, but sometimes people make it so damn hard.
2017 was like that. It was hard to care, but Priests know we must. We are all each other have. Nothing Feels Natural, both in title and content, is a glass of cold water in our collective faces. Wake up. Snap out of it. Preach on, Priests.
Keep your mind open.
[Anything I want? How about a subscription from you?]
“I don’t know why this show isn’t sold out?” was the sentiment held by me and at least a few others when Kasabian played in Chicago. “These guys sell out Glastonbury!” said a guy behind me, referring to the massive British music festival. Sure enough, Kasabian put on a great, energetic set that had everyone bouncing and dancing. It might’ve been the liveliest set you missed all year.
I was stunned to learn that Nashville’s All Them Witches were playing for free up in Michigan. I was even more stunned by their set, which was a tight set infused with blues, rock, voodoo rock, and psychedelia. It immediately made me want to catch them again as soon as possible.
2017 has been the year of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They’ve release four albums this year and a fifth is due to drop any day now. Their show at Chicago’s Metro was one of the craziest I attended all year. They tore through a set that not only played older material but also included tunes from the (at the time) unreleased album Murder of the Universe.
This show gave me chills. Anoushka Shankar is perhaps the greatest living sitar player on Earth, although I’m sure she’d disagree with that statement. Seeing and hearing her in an acoustically perfect venue playing traditional ragas might convince you of my earlier statement, however. It was a sublime performance.
Flying Lotus was the final act we saw at Mamby on the Beach this year. It was chilly by that time of day, but his set made you forget about the cool air blowing in from Lake Michigan. The visuals were stunning and the sounds he made from his mushroom cloud-like stand were an impressive array of psychedelic, trip hop, and dub sounds.
Who finishes in the top five for 2017? You’ll find out tomorrow!
Keep your mind open.
[We’re in the twelve days of Christmas, so you can still be generous with a subscription.]
This was an impressive show with a sold-out crowd. Tom Petty and his crew had a fun time tearing through a lot of classic hits, and the performance took on a deeper meaning to my wife and I after Petty’s death at the end of this tour. We’d wanted to see him for a long while, so we were thankful we caught him in time.
Blues legend Buddy Guy is pushing 90 and still shredding better than guitarists a third of his age. He dazzled with his skill and spoke openly about the importance of love and compassion in these tough times.
Depeche Mode were a big part of our high school years, so it was surprising that it took my wife and I so long to finally catch them live. It was a solid set with new and classic tracks and one of the best encores we saw all year.
#12 – Deap Vally – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ March 11th.
Deap Vally are easily one of the best live bands of this decade. This set at Phoenix’s VIVA PHX festival was a stunner. I always feel bad for any band that has to follow them, and getting to chat with them after the show was an added treat.
I won’t skip an opportunity to see the Black Angels. I’ve already bought tickets to see them at next year’s Levitation Austin festival. This set in Chicago was a great start to a fun weekend with my wife, and the Black Angels played more aggressively than I’d seen them in a long while.
Who cracks the top 10? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Keep your mind open.
[We’re still in the season of Advent, so you can still give the gift of subscription.]
Are the winter blues getting to you? Are you tired of snow? Is the Christmas season bringing you more stress than joy? Don’t worry, bossa nova legend Bebel Gilberto has a cure. It’s her new live EP – Live at the Belly Up.
Beginning with the lovely “Samba E Amor,” the album instantly relaxes you and brings to mind images of spending a warm night on a Brazilian beach with your lover. Thankfully, she has included her cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep,” which never fails to make my eyes misty.
“Momento,” the title track from one of her many fine albums, is dreamy and a bit mischievous as Ms. Gilberto and her guitarist play back and forth. “Bananeira” is even more playful as she gets the audience to clap and sing along with her before putting down some of her sexiest vocals.
She gets even friskier on her classic “So Nice,” which is about wishing for a lover even to just stroll with on any given day. The audience has fun with her, too. If your winter blues haven’t melted by now, they probably will during “Baby” – another one of her classics that belongs on every make-out mixtape.
You might want to save room on that mixtape for the closer, “Preciso Dizer Que Te Amo,” because it’s the type of song that can change the mood of an entire room to amorous in just a few chords.
Bebel Gilberto is a great performer, and this EP is a nice slice of her wonderful live shows. I think it’s impossible to be blue while listening to this. Get it and get out of your winter funk.
Keep your mind open.
[Creep on over to the subscription box and drop in your e-mail address while you’re here.]
