So I listen to a lot of music, several hours per day. It's an important piece of my life. So when looking back at 2017 (and forward to 2018) it's only natural to reflect on the new music I listened to in 2017. To keep the list interesting to others I'll limit myself to new releases in 2017. There's only one new artist on this list, which may indicate I repeat myself. Ouch.
These albums are not necessarily the best ones released in 2017, but they are the ones that received the most play time in my earbuds, and hopefully there's some correlation between the two. I've assembled a Spotify playlist of some of the songs
In Spades - Afghan Whigs
While The Afghan Whigs was on Sub Pop they never fit the grunge crowd, their music was too groovy, too soul, and they never broke it big. Their albums stand the test of time better than most of their contemporaries, and the 2014 comeback album Do to the Beast was more energetic than a bunch of late 50 year olds should be able to pull off. On In Spades they continue pushing on. The songs are less guitar-driven than before (guitarist Rick McCollum has left the group due to personal issues). Still - this stuff rocks.
Canyons of my Mind - Andrew Combs
Andrew Combs is part of the new and younger breed of Nashville musician. I saw him at Café Mono, a small and intimate venue, and he was brilliant. His friend Brent Cobb played thge same venue a few weeks apart (his last album is great, too, but it's from 2016 and hence not on this list. Genre? Country pop, or thereabouts. His single Dirty Rain is a melancholy masterpiece.
A Deeper Understanding - The War on Drugs
Adam Granduciel, the mastermind and driving force behind The War on Drugs, grew up in the Boston area like many other bands I love. Adam has a way to craft songs that at first listen sound monotonous bordering on boring. They are often compared to Bob Dylan, and if we're talking about late 60's Dylan that's a reasonable reference. Listen a few more times and the melodies and harmonies stick to your brain like superglue. Their concert in Oslo this year was OK, but the venue was too large for them. The album, though, is neither too large nor boring.
The Echo of Pleasure - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
While The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is starting to look more and more like a solo project of frontman Kip Berman he can still craft pop-gems that sonically bring me back to the sounds of the early 90's. Call me nostalgic, but the songs can hold their own without the nostalgia. And sugary vocal harmonies of Jen Goma would fit right into a 4AD release from 1990. What's not to like?
The Nashville Sound - Jason Isbell
I never liked Drive-By Truckers, the former band of Mr. Jason Isbell, much. While I love a lot of American folksy music, I always found the truckers, well, boring. After leaving the Truckers and sobering up, Isbell has given us a steady stream of top-notch country rock. His last one, Something More Than Free, received a lot of playtime here (fun fact: the album producer, Dave Cobb, is the cousin of Brent Cobb, mentioned elsewhere in this list).
It took me some listens until The Nashville Sound stuck with me, but it did, and it's great.
Whiteout Conditions - The New Pornographers
I distincty remember picking up The New Pornographers debut album Mass Romantic at a Newbury Comics store in Boston in 2001. At the same time I was discovering member Dan Bejar's band Destroyer. While Bejar did not tour with the Pornographers, be always contributed a few songs to each album. This time the album is void of Bejar contributions and hence his strangeness. So the album is more bubblegummy without the breaks. Good bubblegum, though, and A.C. Newman and Neko Case can still do those harmonies.
Oczy Mlody - The Flaming Lips
In the Flaming Lips masterpiece The Soft Bulletin from 1999 the song Spiderbite Song has the line:
When you got that spiderbite on your hand
I thought we would have to break up the band
To lose your arm would surely upset your brain
The poison then could reach your heart from a vein
This song references a staph infection songwriter and keyboardist Steven Drozd got after shooting heroin with a dirty needle, and making a cover story to his bandmates that the cause was a spiderbite. The Lips transformed this story into a strange and wonderful song about friendship.
Oczy Mlody translates "In the eyes of the young" from Polish. I'm not sure that's a fitting name for this album, but it's a strange title by a strange band that are capable of strange and wonderful music. This is not another Soft Bulletin or even a Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, but listen to Sunrise (Eyes of the Young) and tell me it doesn't move you.
Slowdive - Slowdive
In 1992 there was a mandatory military service for men in Norway, and I spent a year about as far north in Norway as possible, way beyond the polar circle at Banak airport. The winters are dark and blue, and for several months the sun never rises above the horizon. In this strange and moody surroundings I received a mixtape from my friend Anders with a song from Slowdive's 1991 album Just for a Day. The music matched the mood of the surroundings perfectly.
I've followed Mojave 3 and the solo efforts of Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead, all great, but still not the same as Slowdive. After an amazing 2015 concert at Ăyafestivalen we could only hope. And this year we were rewarded with an album. And you know what? It's great.
Phoenix - Ti Amo
This is soft rock, bubblegum pop, cheesy stuff. And irresitable. Phoenix is French, of course, and like Serge Gainsbourg they can get away with the cheeziness. While this pack of songs do not match the brilliance of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix I just cannot get Telefono out of my head.
Pronto? Si...
Come va a Hollywood?
Oh you're staying a little longer?
Well I thought you'd be done by September...
Grandaddy - Last Place
When Grandaddy returned with a highly anticipated album in 2017 the title was unfortunately prophetic. The album starts off with classic Grandaddy, like the 17 years since Sophtware Slump have never happened. The same casio-era synths, the same soft guitar-wash that Band of Horses copied. And great songs.
Then a couple of months after release bassist Kevin Garcia suffers a stroke and dies. Last Place, indeed.
Closing remarks
Albums that may have been on the list if I'd come around to listening more to them are Magnetic Fields, Fever Ray, Blitzen Trapper, Destroyer.