Please, finish your list. Ta.
Piss off.
Anyway... here are numbers 20-1..
20. Dope Knife – Nineteen Eighty Four
Another recommendation from soapbox legend Karl Mahoney, this is very much a throwback, east coast, 90’s boom-bap record, and it’s great. I suppose this isn’t the record a young, mainstream hip-hop fan wants to be listening to in 2017 but I sort of get the impression that Dope Knife has no qualms with that either. The beats are fantastic on this, it keeps a genuine consistency throughout and I love his vocal tone and delivery. This is the sort of hip-hop I’m happy to listen to in 2017.
19. Happyness – Write In
I was really into this record for the few months after it came out, it’s lost a little of it’s lustre since as I haven’t spent a lot of time with it since, but still a fine record. They have a great knack for a pop hook, especially on the faster songs, but they also cultivate those lengthier, brooding songs, very well and it never drags. They do wear their influences on their sleeves, but which rock band in 2017 doesn’t?
18. Jane Weaver – Modern Kosmology
Another record that seemed to slip out a little unnoticed, it seemed none of the big review sites picked up on it, and another I stumbled across by actually hearing in a record shop. I hadn’t heard any of her previous stuff so went in raw. Similar spirit to the Mount Kimbie record, that straddles the line between electronica and acoustic instrumentation, but with folky elements. Her voice isn’t the most powerful, but she uses it well and the melodies work fantastically against the music, nods to Krautrock throughout and the whole thing is well paced. Despite it’s apparent quiet release, glad to see it’s been making quite a lot of year end lists.
17. DUDS – Of a Nature or Degree
This is like the British version of that OMNI record, only better. This just feels a little more urgent. It’s a jaunty and angular post punk record, the entire thing is 23 minutes long, they don’t hang around. Apparently they’re the first non US band to be signed to Jonathan Dwyers Castle Face label, though they sound nothing like Thee Oh Sees or that ilk. This record could absolutely have been released in 1981, with it’s syncopated funk rhythms, musically it’s very technical, but also reminds me a little of Josef K in places, which is probably why it hasn’t really found much of an audience. But it’s a lot of fun, looking forward to seeing them do this live in the new year. (Oh and another Mahoney recommendation)
16. Bastien Keb – 22.02.85
Enjoyed his debut from a couple of years back, and this is a step forward for me. It has such a hazy feel to the production. It feels like there are probably intentional mistakes left in to add to a sense of disjointedness. The whole record never lets you rest, it’s constantly, albeit slowly, moving around. There are more vocals and spoken word pieces on this album, which I quite enjoy and think it help to move it on a level.
14. OCS – Memory of a Cut off Head
This was a real surprise for me, I only know Thee Oh Sees as a heavy psych/garage rock band, I knew they’d done some ‘folkier’ stuff in the past, but had never got round to listening too properly. This is a really pretty album, full of nods to English folk, 60’s psychedelia, bit’s of Love and even flashes of the Beatles. Dwyer takes on some of the more traditional sounding stuff and Brigid Dawson tends to go down the rabbit hole a little more, it’s well paced and the tracklist works well. A genuine surprise addition to their catalogue..
14. Oh Sees - Orc
..which I’m putting on a par with their other release from this year, the much more abrasive and familiar sounding Orc. Some of this sounds positively evil. The opening track is such a brute force of energy, you can not help but be sucked in. Production wise they are moving further and further away from that regular, reverbed drenche, psyche stuff (though still plenty of reverb..) with every release. At over 50 minutes this is also quite a lengthy release for them and they use that time to get a bit proggy. But the instrumentation is brilliant throughout so it never gets dull and there are enough blasts of distortion to keep your attention peaked.
13. Girl Ray – Earl Grey
First saw these supporting Bill Ryder Jones at a Christmas gig last year and was instantly drawn to their songs. They’re very slapdash, but in a good way, they’re a bit clumsy live but it’s very endearing. I think the songs are written by the singer alone and she has a real knack for a melody and a pretty unique vocal delivery and when blended with the other members voices create a fantastic yet chaotic harmony chorus throughout. Definite nods to Gorkys (probably why BRJones is a fan..) and stuff like the Raincoats. It even gets a bit experimental structurally in a few places. I realise that I’ve used what seem like a few derogatory adjectives here, but I mean them in the best possible way, their unabashed amateur qualities is what lends such charm to what they do.
12. The Moonlandingz - Interplanetary Class Classics
A collaboration between members of the Fat White Family and Sheffield electro duo the Eccontric Research Council and it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It has all the dark and lewd grit of the Fat White but pulsed along with danceable pop electronics. Sort of Disco durge. I do love what the Fat Whites are about and love their sound. I know after their debit record, they spent a lot of time in New York on Sean Lennon’s money recording loads of stuff, a lot of it ended up not making it onto the second FWF album and I think a lot of it has ended up being the basis for this album. Saw them live supporting Goat and it didn’t quite work, but at their own gig recently they were immense live. Lias is a great frontman. I don’t think we’ll hear anymore from Moonlandngz, Lias has already said he’s out unless someone throws some money at them. I don’t know how much staying power this album will have, but for now it’s oodles of fun and I keep coming back to it.
11. Feist - Pleasure
This was one of those rare occasions in modern music times, where I was completely drawn in by the artwork first, which I found so striking. I’ve never listened to Feist in my life and had only had cursory experiences with Broken Social Scene, but this album is gorgeous. The production is so spacious and minimal, it has been judged to perfection to work with the songs. You can hear the mic hiss and I love the use of muted percussion throughout. It’s a bit of a concept album in that the songs are thematically linked and the words work perfectly twinned with her stunning voice. Jarvis even makes a spoken word appearance. Again, I’m not sure how popular this has been, especially amongst longstanding Feist fans, I understand she had quite a popular and more upbeat record out about a decade ago that is a fan favourite, I saw her live and she opened by playing the new record straight through and it didn’t seem to get a huge reception from the crowd, then she came out and did all the oldies and people were going mental. But for me, this is a great work.
10. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory
I’ve dipped into bits of his stuff before, Summertime 06 never fully grabbed me because it felt too long and I just couldn’t engage with it. This is the complete opposite, it’s tight and compact and really works as an album. This definitely feels just as much of an electronic album as hip-hop. There are some stylistic elements of modern hip-hop on here that I don’t usually go for, but feel work brilliantly on this. Definite nods to stuff like Burial here (though i’m fairly novice in this area) that sound great. The whole record feels very vibrant and alert.
9. Foxygen - Hang
It really does straddle the line perilously close to parody, but it comes out on the right side for my tastes. I can see where someone might feel this is a little too saccharine, but I’m all for a bit of pomp on occasion. It pretty much is a broadway musical, but that was always their intention. Perfect string and horn arrangements from the Spacebomb crew and seems The Lemon Twigs and Stephen Drozd help flesh out the studio band. It’s just a lot of fun, really catchy and at 35 minutes, doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, which I think is key. If it was 10 minutes longer, perhaps it would have been too much, but as it is, you’re in and out pretty sharphish and it feels just right.
8. Milo – who told you to think??!!?!?!?! 
I think Milo is just one of those artists who I think I’ll always like what they do so some degree, he just has a voice, literal as well as poetic, that just seems to sit perfectly in my soul. Apparently he and producer Kenny Segall recorded this live and used a voice manipulation tool to mix it as they went, which I find incredible. It does have a bit more of a scattershot feel to it, the record flits here, there and everywhere, but it works perfectly for his laconic vocal style which works as an anchor to what the beats are doing. If Kendrick is the voice of a more mainstream America, then Milo is the voice of the esoteric undercore, he’s not afraid to ask bigger questions or even attack his peers, ‘Why’s your favourite rapper always bragging about her business acumen?’ ‘Why’s your favourite rapper always babbling about his brand again?’. He is the perfect riposte to the mainstream hip-hop ideal in 2017.
7. St Vincent - Masseduction
I’ve had to restructure this because I had genuinely built this write up around how this is the album Beck wanted to make, but both JP and Mahoney have already delved into that area! But yeah, I don’t think this is exactly the ‘pop masterpiece’ this has been hyped as, but it’s certainly a step closer to that area and that’s it’s beauty. It still holds more than enough of her own style to keep it grounded with just few pop flourishes here and there. She blends dissonance with those pop elements really well throughout the whole record, with some genuinely poignant moments littered throughout. It loses just a touch of steam towards the end, otherwise this would have been top five. But apart from that, this is a fine record.
6. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
Not a lot more to say about this than has already been written by pretty much everyone in the music sphere, clear album of the year amongst the hacks and probably deservedly so. I wasn’t keen at first mind, I think perhaps because of the weight of wealth in his previous couple of albums especially perhaps raised the bar of expectation ridiculously high. But there was enough to keep me coming back and it slowly started to reveal its greatness to me. I suppose a lot of great albums do that. I actually had a real breakthrough when I picked it up on vinyl, because the pressing is fantastic, it adds a genuine warmth to the record that I wasn’t getting from digital listening. I ended up loving the album and it continues his rule at the very top of Hip Hop. I even like the fucking Bono appearance. Fuck you Kendrick.
5. Ty Segall – Ty Segall
I’m now a fully fledged member of the Ty Segall cohorts society, I’ve spent more time with him over the last few years than anyone else and this is another strong album. He’s never going to stray that far away from what he does, but, a bit like Neil Young, he’ll dart between those subtle variations and he does it expertly here. It’s probably his most accessible album, with a generous dollop of pop ballads that sit snuggly next to his fuzzier and heavier stuff, it could almost be a ‘best of’. As Barny pointed out, those acoustic pop numbers are full of pure Beatles and Kinks hooks and melodies which I really have a lot of time for. He could knock out a fucking great pop rock record if he wanted to (he probably won’t) and stuff like the lengthy ‘Warm Hands’ sit perfectly well against those poppier songs. His next album is 19 tracks and an hour and 20 minutes, which concerns me a little, even if al the songs released from it so far, have been pretty strong.
4. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream 
A strong return for James and LCD, spent a lot of time with it when it was initially released, I think because I was so concerned it would be flat and shit and then it wasn’t, probably helped with the initial hype. It’s nothing particularly knew, but then LCD aren’t going to all of a sudden dip into bluegrass are they, you know what you’re gonna get and I’m more than happy with that. I think lyrically it’s different and I also think the fact that I was reading the ‘Meet me in the Bathroom’ book around the time of this release helped a lot to delve into some of the themes visited on here. The LCD story in that book was by far my favourite part, it had so many vivid characters and although we know about Murphy and Goldsworthy falling out, getting a better picture really brings songs like ‘How Do You Sleep?’ into greater focus. LCD have always worn their influences quite brightly and this record seems to be more of a post punk record in terms of musicality, with bits of Eno/Bowie/Fripp thrown in here and there. Actually some really Frippy guitar throughout, along with those obious nods to Suicide and Joy Division. I don’t think he/they could have made a better record at this point, it’s an expertly judged return.
3. Tyler the Creator – Scum Fuck Flower Boy
Flower Boy? The spine on my record says ‘Scum Fuck Flower Boy’, so I’m going for that. This was the biggest bolt out of the blue for me musically all year. After that initial hype around OFWGKTA a few years back and Tylers brilliant Yonkers single, nothing he’s done since has done anything for me, I pretty much just gave up on him and assumed he was just some internet troll. Which funnily enough is exactly what he explicitly addresses on this record. This album feels ‘mature’ and I know that phrase has been used widely here, but its appropriate. I think he genuinely wanted to take a step back and make a cohesive and well put together record and it is so much better for it. There is actually loads of singing on the record too, it’s as much an R’n’B album as it is hip-hop, I think the friendship and influence of Frank Ocean must have played a part, as aside from the guest spots, you can tell there are some of those tropes in there. This album feels vibrant and alive all the way through. I’ve consistently come back to this since it was released. I hope he continues down this avenue and keeps the quality control in check because when he hits, he’s amongst the best.
2. Protomartyr – Relatives In Descent 
Arghhh, this was a really tough choice because I have loved this since it came out and it could quite easily be my number one. Ultimately I think it’s pipped by my number one because I’ve had a lot more time with that album and its stuck with me for the whole year. This is a beast of a record though, their previous album ‘The Agent Intellect’ was where I first discovered them and that album made my top three in 2015.I just love what they do, musically and lyrically. This record seems a little more daring in terms of musicality and structure, as Karl mentioned in his write up, it’s sequences is fantastic, it feels like the sequencing is a crucial part of the make up of the record (even though they’ve claimed it really isn’t) but the flow is great. Singer Joe Casey has really found a balance between his delivery and what the band are doing and his vocals sit perfectly against the music. I think Casey is one of the most intriguing lyricists around at the moment, he comes at themes in subversive ways and the songs are littered with references and aphorisms that lead me off into rabbit holes trying to decipher and figure out. He did an interview around the release of the album where he discussed some of the themes and it was a riveting read, the themes behind songs like ‘A Private Understanding’ and ‘Night Blooming Cereus’ are really touching and relevant to the trials of the modern world, , he has a unique turn of phrase. A Fantastic live band as well. This was so close to being number one.
1. Priests – Nothing Feels Natural
I thought there would be more love for this band, but another album that seems to have slipped by relatively unnoticed. I think that might partly be down to the way the band operates and sometimes overtly political leanings. They have their own label put everything out themselves and I don’t think they’re particularly bothered about playing the game to much. This record has stuck with me for the whole of the year as it came out in January, I’ve constantly come back to it. Sort of bouncy post-punk vibes, but they branch out quite a bit on this release, previous EP releases have been a lot rawer and rooted in that garage rock vibe, but they delve into other areas on this (Even a little disco beat along the way). Again, the singer Katie Alice Greer is utterly captivating, both as a front women, vocalist and as a lyricist. Much like Joe Casey from Protomartyr, I’m as much intrigued by the lyrics on this record as I am the music, and although perhaps not as overtly political as some of their older stuff, her lyrics are now smarter and cloak those themes in metaphor and subversive story telling , (‘Magical psychology, deceptive anthropology, all the wing nuts got a haircut, bred and had babies), though saying that the band feels like a four piece, they are certainly more than the sum of their parts ad there’s always something of a delight when you get those sort of bands. On the flip, it’s certainly understandable that Priests aren’t going to be for everyone, her voice can be shrill and piercing and any sort of political band in 2017 are naturally going to be looked a with trepidation, but I’m all in favour of those elements when it comes to Priests, as they ascend above the regular imitators in this field and feel genuine to me.
As he said, this is much better.
