2017 Music

Back by popular demand! My yearly listing of the best music. It was a rough year. Rap has evidently taken over. Identity politics are the prevailing theme whatever the genre. When Eminem is woke and Run the Jewels are important, you know things have gone horribly awry. Most all of music in now in a spectacularly embarrassing game of virtue signaling one-upmanship (e.g. party-pop maestro Jack Antonoff, gender-bending post-punk outfit PWR BTTM before their untimely demise, pretty much every boomer generation dinosaur act). Sometimes, I just want to people to sing about love, loss, and trees. Or to rock out. So, here it is...a few bright spots in an otherwise dismal year for music:

10. (tie) Songs of Experience by U2--This album is here for purely sentimental reasons. There is nothing compelling about this LP. It is like How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb without the good songs. However, as has been stated before, the worst that U2 produces is far better than most everything else.

U2 Songs of Experience

(tie) Lotta Sea Lice by Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile--A great album from singer-songwriter-guitarists Vile and Barnett. Listen to "Over Everything."

Lotta Sea Lice

9. Capacity by Big Thief--I believe that lead singer Adrienne Lenker was born in Minnesota, so she gets points by proximity. This is altogether a rugged album of Midwestern pathos. Take a listen to the song "Shark Smile."

Big Thief-Capacity

8. The Greatest Gift by Sufjan Stevens--Mostly outtakes from 2015's wonderful Carrie & Lowell, but with several new entries, this is a delightful companion piece from the greatest singer-songwriter of our generation. "Wallowa Lake Monster," however a bit overwrought, is memorable.

7. Haiku from Zero by Cut Copy--Stylish psychedelic disco pop from Melbourne, Australia. Reminds me of early OMD.

Cut Copy

6. Planetarium by Dessner, McAlister, Muhly, and Stevens--What do you know...musicians still make concept albums. This one is inspired by the solar system, of course. Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner (The National) feature. The song "Mercury" is one of my year's favorites.

Sufjan and friends

5. Drunk by Thundercat--Solid jazz, rhythm & blues fusion from Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, the preeminent bassist in the world. The song "A Fan's Mail (Tron Song Suite II)" will go down in my books as the 2017 Tanner Smith Song of the Year.

4. Slowdive by Slowdive--Glorious shoe-gaze from 1990's British pioneers. This is a spectacular and surprising album. Turn up "Star Roving" very loud and enjoy.

3. Crack-Up by Fleet Foxes--American indie folk from Robin Pecknold and team. This album in many ways defines my 2017. Take a listen to "Fool's Errand" and "Third of May."

Mogwai Every Country's Sun

2. Every Country's Son by Mogwai--Spectacular post-rock from the Scottish lads. "Coolverine" to "Party in the Dark" is as good an intro to a rock album I've heard in years. The rest just flows in all of its loud, post-rock glory.

1. A Deeper Understanding by The War on Drugs--While not as epically awesome as 2014's Lost in the Dream, this is a wonderful album. Adam Granduciel and his Philadelphia bandmates have become the premier rock band in the world; perhaps even the 21st century equivalent of Bob Dylan & The Band. "Thinking of a Place" is my 2017 Song of the Year. From top to bottom, there was no better album.