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Last Active 12-03-22 11:37 pm
Joined 08-18-16
Review Comments 16,120
| Top 10 Albums of 2017
Yeah, I know it's late, but getting it done before the end of January is actually a personal triumph. In the past it usually takes me until February or even March to finalize my Top 10. This is basically the same list I turned in here at the end of the year in the voting for the Sputnik Users' Top 50 list, with the exception that 8 and 9 have flip-flopped spots. | | 10 |  | Neil Cavanagh
City of the Sun, Valley of the Moon
This is a truly beautiful album of gentle psychedelic rock. Indie musician Cavanagh wrote, performed, recorded, mixed and mastered this release himself.
Favorite Track: "The Gates of Crocheron Park" | | 9 |  | Wolf Alice
Visions of a Life
John from ARTV always raved about this band, and he was right. Lead singer Ellie Roswell can shriek with the best of them, then turn around and sing a nice ballad.
Favorite Track: "Heavenward" | | 8 |  | Lorde
Melodrama
This made a lot of people's lists, and deservedly so. There's a lot of good stuff here beyond the singles. My favorite track, listed below, is just a devastating song.
Favorite Track: "Liability" | | 7 |  | Greywind
Afterthoughts
The debut album by a fairly heavy sister-brother band from a small village in Ireland. Lead singer Steph O'Sullivan has a voice that's ridiculously powerful and gorgeous. Even the album art for this one is first rate.
Favorite Track: "Afterthoughts | | 6 |  | Aimee Mann
Mental Illness
This is Aimee Mann's most stark album ever, and probably her best one since 2005's "The Forgotten Arm". She might well be the best singer/songwriter out there these days.
Favorite Track: "Goose Snow Cone" | | 5 |  | Brand New
Science Fiction
This album feels like a particularly nightmarish episode of "The X-Files". The music can switch from quiet and creepy to manic and frightening in a heartbeat. It's a stunning musical achievement.
Favorite Track: "137" | | 4 |  | Matisyahu
Undercurrent
Mixes ideas and images of Hebrew spirituality with hip-hop, improvisational rock, jazz and reggae to form a lush musical soundscape. This is an album to soothe a tired soul.
Favorite Track: "Step Out Into the Light" | | 3 |  | Mostly Autumn
Sight of Day
This is the twelfth studio album by this British progressive rock band, but I only learned about them from my fellow Sputnikers this year. You can hear various folk, Celtic and prog rock influences here. The band features both male and female lead vocals.
Favorite Track: "Once Around the Sun" | | 2 |  | The Flaming Lips
Oczy Mlody
I was going to skip this album, but the reviews on here that mentioned the weird and fantastic subject matter (which includes wizards, witches and frogs with demon eyes, among other things) convinced me to check it out. Modern psychedelic rock at its best.
Favorite Track: "There Should Be Unicorns" | | 1 |  | The Magnetic Fields
50 Song Memoir
I admit that I was concerned about whether Stephin Merritt was still up to a project as ambitious as this fifty-song opus, but I needn't have worried. This is a songwriting Tour de Force. I won't claim that every song is a winner, but the ratio of good to disposable songs is high.
Favorite Tracks: "Have You Seen It In the Snow?" and "A Cat Called Dionysius" | |
Divaman
01.30.18 | Not necessarily the list I pictured at the beginning of last year, but these were the ones I wound up liking best. Honorable mentions included Barns Courtney's "Attractions of Youth" and Cut Copy's "Haiku From Zero". | Dewinged
01.30.18 | Nice, I could never get into The Magnetic Fields, and Flaming Lips ended up growing off me as the year went by. 7 and specially 9 are good picks! Gotta check 3, sounds like I might dig. | Divaman
01.30.18 | I think you might, Dewinged. |
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