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cancatervation · 7 years

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favourite music 2017

The affording of enormous weight to barely concealed fragility and vulnerability; when I pore over the contents of my iTunes from the last twelve or so months it’s plainly apparent that this is the hill I’ve elected to die on. Almost all the albums I found myself infatuated with at some point or another in 2017 meditated upon desire, the transience of romance, and the anguish that often accompanies its pursuit.

I’m acutely aware of how oddly this contrasts with my own life, which for the past almost-two-years has been romantically fulfilling in the way that my previous 25 absolutely weren’t. On this, I would say two things. First, that stability is elusive even (maybe especially?) for the most outwardly rose-coloured of us, and that maintaining relationship hygge takes compromise and is not easy, and for those reasons feelings of vulnerability are never far from the front of my mind; and, second, that it’s testament to the skill of certain songwriters and performers that their work was able to make this gay-ass conventionalist really feel something every now and again last year.

I wouldn’t want to suggest that I only just worked out that the theatrical presentation of desire is something I’m drawn to, but certainly there were some things in the past year that I really did begin to understand. Theatricality is often used in a critical sense as pejorative; something that is too extra, that goes too far, that is all tell and no show. Despite its predisposition towards excess, musical theatre has, for instance, always played out as sterile and spurious to me. (Sorry. And look at it this way, you don’t ever need to worry about getting me tickets to Hamilton). It’s so dramatic that it becomes too dramatic; your self-awareness isn’t allowed the chance to be suspended, even for a moment. An album like Lorde’s Melodrama makes its intentions apparent before you’ve even heard a note of it, but its theatrics (and there are many - think of the wailed chorus of “Writer In The Dark”, the gory car crash of “Homemade Dynamite”, the bridge in “Supercut” that accelerates like you’re on a bike rushing down a hill) are as easily consumed by sitting silently in tears as they are dancing, or walking, or lifting heavy weights, or running up a hill (to make or not to make a deal with God), or lying in blissful supta baddha konasana. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that hyperemotional vulnerability is for all seasons and for all hours of the day and I am now happy to welcome it into every aspect of my life.

I wrote over fifty blurbs for various songs on the Singles Jukebox last year. Some I loved, some I hated, what’s new. I wrote a blurb for “Praying”, Kesha’s first solo single in nearly five years, which turned out to be both the highest scoring song on the site for 2017 and the champion of my personal “list”. I sort of said all this already on the Jukebox, but my love for “Praying” lies nearly entirely in the way Kesha leans so heavily into her aphorisms, finding new ways to bring profundity to ostensibly simple lines like “I’m proud of who I am”. (Contrast this with most of Taylor Swift’s 2017 work, which forewent specific detail in favour of portentously loaded maxim, but forgot about nuance and came up mostly dry). When Kesha punctuates her sermon with a thunderous kick drum, it’s basically game over. As the stories of survivors of sexual assault, abuse and harassment began to dominate news media in the second half of the year, the song only gathered further resonance.

Lorde’s album held court as my favourite for most of the year. A promo image released by Kelela at the beginning of August threatened a coup. The odds shortened a few days later upon the release of its lead single and the arrival of the full album at the beginning of October marked the tangible takeover. Take Me Apart is all juxtaposition, which when applied to albums is often code for jumbled quagmire, but here there’s too much attention to detail, steadfastness of narrative, and, er, feeling, to get mixed up in anything like that. It see-saws between playful flirting, introspection, self-acceptance, control, loss of control, falling slowly through the sky, and falling fast through the abyss. I love it so much. It’s also very queer and very Black. Support Black queer art! Especially when it’s this well crafted.

Aside from all THAT, my favourite things in music last year were Moses Sumney’s Tiny Desk Concert, attending the Lorde show in the Botanic Gardens, the line “every single day I fight another war; every single night I feel more powerful!” in Rina Sawayama’s “Take Me As I Am”, and Rihanna telling Diplo his music sounded like a “a reggae song at an airport”.

My ten favourite songs of 2017 were:

1. Kesha “Praying” - as above and here;

2. Lorde “Green Light” - see here. The score given, however, is wrong. Add another point.

3. Sigrid “Strangers” - see here. I can’t wait until she’s everywhere and everyone knows her; her potential to me scans as “unlimited / infinite / fucking enormous, if it must be quantifiable”.

4. MUNA “I Know a Place”. The album version is acceptable but I’m also partial to this live one, which involves some changes to the lyrics.

5. Tove Lo “Disco Tits”. Like a wonky, filthy Kylie B-side played underwater.

6. Kelela “Turn To Dust”. Refer also to the first set of songs below. She didn’t play this at her concert this week, which is lucky, because otherwise its title may have proved prophetic.

7. Nilüfer Yanya “Baby Luv” - see here. See also dirgey diatribe above re: vulnerability.

8. Rae Morris “Do It” - I’ve become more and more besotted with this as time has passed and am not sure whether I’m most impressed by a) the wordplay b) the ping-ponging percussion in the second verse c) the subtle yet giant switch-up halfway through d) the soaring vocals or e) managing all of the above in less than 3 and a half minutes.

9. Rina Sawayama “Alterlife” - it did not take me long to request for lamination of a stan card for a popstar who loves key changes and here deftly incorporates influences as diverse as the Need For Speed soundtrack, Samantha Mumba and Madonna at her glassiest.

10. Tove Styrke “Mistakes” - see here. I’m ready for her to run away with 2018, in or out of a wedding dress.

Aside from those, here are some other songs I enjoyed in 2017, variously categorised and (with the “top 10″) collected in a Spotify playlist, located here:

Songs that can make you feel like you’re floating slowly heavenward

Björk “Arisen My Senses”

Charli XCX “Track 10”

Julie Byrne “Natural Blue”

Julien Baker “Appointments”

Moses Sumney “Quarrel”

Rae Morris “Do It (Nico Muhly Dance Remix)”

Sampha “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano”

Sevdaliza “Loves Way”

Slowdive “Slomo”

St. Vincent “Slow Disco”

Susanne Sundfør “Undercover”

Dance music that I barely pay any attention to throughout the calendar year and then become unusually enthusiastic about come end-of-year-list season

Bicep “Vale”

Gerd Janson x Shan "Surrender”

Honey Dijon “Catch The Beat”

Jad & The “Strings That Never Win”

Kink “Perth”

Minor Science “Volumes”

Octo Octa “Adrift (Avalon Emerson’s Furiously Awake Version)”

Shanti Celeste “Make Time”

SW. “Untitled B2”

The xx “On Hold (Jamie xx Remix)”

Yaeji “Raingurl”

Songs for the summer gloaming

Charlotte Day Wilson “Doubt”

Daniel Caesar “Blessed”

Frank Ocean “Chanel”

Jessie Ware “Stay Awake, Wait For Me”

Ladi6 “Guru”

Rachel Foxx “Happen To Me”

Sampa The Great “Bye River”

Sevyn Streeter “Before I Do”

Syd “Body”

Tyler, The Creator “Garden Shed feat. Estelle”

Plaintive songs for grey afternoon walks

Alvvays “Dreams Tonite”

Amandla Stenberg “Let My Baby Stay”

HAIM “You Never Knew”

Kehlani “Advice”

Khalid “Winter”

Lana Del Rey “Love”

Laura Marling “Next Time”

Paramore “Forgiveness”

Perfume Genius “Die 4 You”

St. Vincent “Happy Birthday, Johnny”

SZA “Prom”

Taylor Swift “New Year’s Day”

Best bangers

Amber Mark “Heatwave”

Charli XCX “Lipgloss feat. Cupcakke”

Charli XCX “Porsche feat. MØ”

Charlotte Gainsbourg “Deadly Valentine”

Charly Bliss “Glitter”

Drake “Get It Together feat. Jorja Smith & Black Coffee”

Dua Lipa “New Rules”

Haiku Hands “Not About You”

Ibibio Sound Machine “Give Me A Reason”

ionnalee “Samaritan”

J. Balvin x Willy William “Mi Gente feat. Beyoncé”

J. Hus “Did You See”

Jessie Ware “Your Domino”

Jorja Smith x Preditah “On My Mind”

Kah-Lo “Fasta”

Kelela “Truth Or Dare”

Kendrick Lamar “LOYALTY. feat. Rihanna”

Kllo “Last Yearn”

Leikeli47 “Miss Me”

Lorde “Sober”

Maliibu Miitch “4AM”

Miguel “Banana Clip”

Nite Jewel “2 Good 2 Be True”

Paramore “Hard Times”

Phoenix “J-Boy”

Rina Sawayama “Take Me As I Am”

Ronika “Better Than Ever”

Rose Elinor Dougall “All At Once”

Sigrid “Don’t Kill My Vibe”

Stormzy “Big For Your Boots”

The Horrors “Something To Remember Me By”

Tove Lo “Shedontknowbutsheknows”

Whethan “love gang feat. Charli XCX”

Wolf Alice “Don’t Delete The Kisses”

Finally, here are thirty albums I loved last year. Onwards and upwards!

1. Kelela Take Me Apart

2. Lorde Melodrama

3. SZA Ctrl

4. Fever Ray Plunge

5. Charly Bliss Guppy

6. Wolf Alice Visions Of A Life

7. Rina Sawayama RINA

8. Jessie Ware Glasshouse

9. Tove Lo Blue Lips

10. Charli XCX Pop 2

11. MUNA about u

12. Moses Sumney Aromanticism

13. Sevdaliza ISON

14. St Vincent MASSEDUCTION

15. Susanne Sundfør Music For People In Trouble

16. Ibeyi Ash

17. Sampa The Great Birds & The Bee9

18. Kink Playground

19. Daniel Caesar Freudian

20. Bicep Bicep

21. Sophia Kennedy - Sophia Kennedy

22. Miguel War & Leisure

23. Laura Marling Semper Femina

24. Ibibio Sound Machine Uyai

25. Jen Cloher Jen Cloher

26. Dua Lipa Dua Lipa

27. The xx I See You

28. Honey Dijon The Best Of Both Worlds

29. Kesha Rainbow

30. Leikeli47 Wash & Set

#music #musicwriting #2017 #2017music

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morechunesforyourheadtop · 7 years

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Top 10 Albums of 2017

Not even halfway through 2017, and it seems like most major music based websites are pumping out their lists of what they choose to be the best music of the year. I’ve never understood the rush to get these released so quickly, but never one to not ride the wave, here are my top 10 albums of 2017 so far.

10. Gharly Bliss - Guppy

With only one song lasting longer than 3:30 and the entire album being under 30 minutes, guppy makes full use of it’s short run. Hailing from New York, New York, Gharly Bliss is cut from the same grain that the best sugar-coated indie rock groups were in the mid 90′s; like a sunflower on a penthouse windowsill, lead singer Eva Hendricks’ voice rides the tightrope of being sickly sweet and not having the panache necessary to front a band this sunny. Throwing this on in the background makes for a lighthearted short listen that would best be enjoyed beach/pool-side, but on a deeper listen the lyrics aren’t what would be expected on a first take; this album is filled with moments of shocking clarity, a sentence or three takes the listener to a crystal clear moment in time. For example, Eva in “Ruby”, describing both her love life and her fainting issues.

Guardrail, taking the stairs Passed out on the subway with blood in my hair I guess I need a ride I’ll check with my boyfriend and see if it’s fine

On standout track “Percolator”, we dive into the mindset that is becoming more and more of the defining characteristic of Generations Y and Z, and the same reasons that has made Lil Uzi Vert’s “Xo Tour Llif3″ a top 10 Billboard hit: the outward depressive nature that can’t be accurately pinned as completely true or extremely exaggerated.

Well, I think I’m still breathing While my parents are sleeping I am sick, but I’m speaking My boyfriend is freaking My conscious is fucked and my judgment is leaking and I’m gonna die in a getaway car I haven’t tried, but it sounds too hard

This album can be as deep and meaningful or as lighthearted and summery as the listener can want/handle. Depressive, romantic, and beaten down, all wrapped up in a sparkling box with a glittery bow. The debut album from Charly Bliss is a fantastic one, and one of the best of 2017.

9. Sampha - Process

The first time I heard Sampha’s voice on SBTRKT’s self-titled album. Always a fan of Future Garage, I was just settling in to this album when the second song, “Hold On”, started playing. The Mbira started, and Sampha arrived to the party along with a kick drum. Hearing him talk about a woman ashamed of the affair she’s having with him was ethereal, and had to be replayed as soon as it ended.

With a voice of an angel and a great choice in his lyrics, I went on an internet trip looking for everything he has gotten his hands on. He has been featured on electronic and hip-hop songs, but after years of waiting, his first album finally released.

Process is a very melancholic project, dealing with the death of his parents (His father passed when he was ten, his mother less than two years ago) just as much as his own fears and insecurities (finding a lump in his throat with no known cause). The scared, alone, confused feeling in this project is one that many, if not all, of listeners can empathize with.

In just four lines, we hear a verse, just four lines, that showcase a cornucopia of feelings about his mother’s passing

An angel by her side, all of the times I knew we couldn’t cope They said that it’s her time, no tears in sight, I kept the feelings close And you took hold of me and never, never, never let me go ‘Cause no one knows me like the piano in my mother’s home

In closing song “What Shouldn’t I Be”, Sampha is divided on what he is and what is wanted of him, by his family and by himself:

Family ties Put them 'round my neck I’m walkin’ 'round high A ghost by my side Challenges come

There are feelings of guilt, distrust, confusion, loneliness, and many others on this album. In 40 minutes, we are given a look into Sampha’s personal diary, and get the feeling like the surface is just being scratched.

8. Slowdive - Slowdive

22 years since Pygmalion released, Slowdive return with a new, self-titled album. It would’ve been easy to go the same route that earned them critical success and fame with another shoegaze album, but slowdive is much more inline with Beach House and Cocteau Twins than it is My Bloody Valentine. Don’t misunderstand; this is not a slight in the slightest. This is a fantastic dream pop album, with breathy vocals and fantastic guitar work.

The instrumentation on this album is fantastic, with each new listen unwrapping a new part of a song that went unnoticed on the last run-through. On the opener, the guitar riff is just seven notes, but the sixth goes up an entire octave, giving the song a completely different feeling than it would be without it, just in one note.

Perhaps the biggest sign of change is the last song on the album, “Falling Ashes”. One of the slowest, quietest songs in Slowdive’s arsenal, most of the 8 minutes is vocal-less, consisting of a piano in the forefront with a guitar barely audible in the background. Depending on a person’s viewpoint, it’s either a great end to an album that sends the band looking forwards, or a boring, end to a disappointing album. Slowdive doesn’t care which is the choice; after 22 years, they know exactly what they’re doing, and it’s working.

7. Laura Marling - Semper Femina

Semper Femina is unabashedly feminine-the title is Latin for “always a woman”- and there isn’t a male pronoun in sight, the only men being discussed in length are various fathers. This isn’t a one noted album because of it, however. Each song seems like a little personal story, some wrapped up more than others, each a window into a personal moment; a prime example is the end of “Always This Way”, where Laura has lost a close one, and has nothing to show for it.

Now she’s gone and I’m all alone And she will not be replaced Stare at the phone, try to carry on But I have made my mistake At the end of the day At least I can say I made my own way And my debts have been paid

At the end of Nouel, we see Marling tying the project’s name into a reoccurring situation in this album: loss and confusion

I do well to serve Nouel My only guiding star Fickle and changeable Semper femina

The instrumentation in this album are very simple and tame, consisting mostly of finger-picked folk guitar, violins and plucked double bass, contributing to the peaceful folk ambiance she has created. This album is the soothing and relaxing while being thoughtful at the same time, and Laura Marling hasn’t done better than this.

6. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me

Let’s be blunt here; this is one of the most devastating albums in recent years. Phil Elverum, who records on his own under the moniker Mount Eerie, unwraps his feelings in a somber way that is on the same level as Sufjan Steven’s Carrie and Lowell and The Antler’s Hospice. His wife, Geneviève, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a disease that kills 80% of patients within a year. She died three months after her 35th, 1 ½ years after the birth of their daughter.

In the first 2 minutes, in the opening song “Real Death”, Elverum brings the reader to tears with a crushingly photo-realistic moment of realization of loss

Crusted with tears, catatonic and raw I go downstairs and outside and you still get mail A week after you died a package with your name on it came And inside was a gift for our daughter you had ordered in secret And collapsed there on the front steps I wailed A backpack for when she goes to school a couple years from now You were thinking ahead to a future you must have known deep down would not include you Though you clawed at the cliff you were sliding down Being swallowed into a silence that is bottomless and real

There is very little instrumental work in this album. Each breath, each strum of the guitar; this is just as much therapy and release for Phil as it is music for the listener.

In “Swims”, the anguish of the loss turns into fear of the unknown and loss in general, talking to his daughter:

We are all always so close to not existing at all Except in the confusion of our survived-bys grasping at the echoes Today our daughter asked me if mama swims I told her, “Yes, she does And that’s probably all she does Now.” What was you is now borne across waves Evaporating

This album is very, very tough to go through on the first listen without stopping. I definitely cried listening to this. It’s an experience, but an experience that’s as beautiful as it is crushing.

5. Jens Lekman - Life Will See You Now

Before getting into the depth of this write-up, I have to get something off my chest: this has to be the worst album art for an album I’ve loved in, well, probably ever.

Hopefully the artwork doesn’t turn you off of giving this a chance, because underneath this terrible interesting artwork is an album bursting with diverse instrumentals and dense lyrics. This album brings to mind a less wild Sufjan Stevens, but is still a clear standout from the indie pop crowd. The way Jens is able to turn his voice into this warbling, dynamic device takes songs from picturesque to cinema-quality. The most remarkable part of this album is that it knows exactly when to bring something new into a song when it is needed most. For example, in “What’s That Perfume You Wear”,

Got a miniature shampoo bottle on my shelf From when we stayed at a hotel And one whiff of that and I’m back there with her Coming out of the shower, she’s still in bed fixing her hair Says, “Let’s go somewhere” I can smell her sun lotion From the window the jasmine And the salt from the ocean

Lekman start speeding up, almost rapping for the first three lines, and right when he slows down a clapping background comes into play.

For such an upbeat, almost tropical sounding album, these lyrics can pack a punch, and will need to be unwrapped with multiple listens. In the beginning of the next song, “Our First Fight”, we hear a couple’s first fight:

We just had our first fight Unresolved, we head back out into the night Putting my face back on as we drive Not a word is spoken, not a blink of an eye And in my head my thoughts go nuts Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut Maybe our love was hanging by a thread Shouldn’t have showed you how I really felt

In eight lines, so much information is unveiled: an unresolved fight, the head-swimming feeling that so many of us have felt in a relationship, and an image of what’s to come next. Jens Lekman packs so much of this into a 41 minute project that it’s a bit overwhelming. There are topics of lost loves, confusion about expressing love between two male friends, and many more. Each listen brings something new to the party, and I haven’t felt any reason to turn this project off on each listen. This album is truly as good as it’s cover art is bad.

4. Perfume Genius - No Shape

Mike Hadreas’ new album starts off in an unexpected manner; the first sound we here is a simple piano. Those familiar with Mike’s work expect bigger, more flourishing backdrops, so this is a change. “Otherside” is a hymn at it’s core, and after this chorus

Rocking you to sleep From the Otherside

is when the album unfolds. An explosion of noise follows suit, and the listener is strapped in for the best album Hadreas has ever released.

On the last Perfume Genius album, Too Bright, sexuality and bodies were painted in a negative, decaying light, thrown into a basement of depression and fear. In No Shape, Mike’s sexuality is unabashed, beautiful and proud. The best example would be on “Slip Away”:

Don’t look back, I want to break free If you’ll never see 'em coming You’ll never have to hide Take my hand, take my everything If we only got a moment Give it to me now

This album is art-pop at it’s finest: instrumentation in the beginning of “Sides” compliments Mike discussing his Crohn’s disease in a very fast manner, a less graceful singer would stumble over their own tongue, but here it is effortless manner.

Burn off every trace I wanna hover with no shape I wanna feel the days go by Not stack up Running up that hill I’m gonna call out every name Until the one I’m meant to take Sends her dove

For every breathy vocal and emotion belted out on this album, the closer, “Alan”, dedicated to his lover Alan Wyffals, is otherworldly. An unusually low voice starts the song off, but the chorus of

You need me Rest easy I’m here How weird

showcases Mike’s jaw-dropping vocal talents; the light touch on “you need me” shifts the change from deep to high, and “how weird” has so much emotion, so much feeling in just two words that it’s a true tearjerker.

Every album released under the Perfume Genius moniker seems to be unbeatable-until the next one releases. This project is simply a beautiful piece of work, and is seemingly un-toppable. Until Mike one-ups himself again, this audio masterpiece deserves to be listened to hundreds of times.

3. The xx - I See You

The xx’s self titled album in 2009 was one of the biggest moments in music in recently history. The extremely minimalist instrumentals and breathy, barely-there vocals quickly launched The xx into stardom, critically receiving praise and becoming a commercial hit. Since then, the group released a follow-up project in 2012, Coexist, that wasn’t treated as well, mainly citing that there wasn’t enough risks taken, more a doubling down on what worked on the self titled album without the same highs.

During this time, the man responsible for the drum machine and samples Jamie Smith (better known as Jamie xx) was getting very well known for his solo work. First a reworking of spoken word artist Gil-Scott Heron’s I’m New Here, and in 2015 a solo debut titled In Colour, both received very well. His work is a sharp turn from The xx’s usual sound, filled with a cornucopia of different noises, be it old school drum ‘n’ bass to dancehall influences to even a Young Thug feature.

When The xx announced a new album and released the first single in early November of last year, it was clear what direction was taking: with Jamie xx layering flickering hummingbird drums with synths, they were pushing this album into their breakout star and letting him set the stage.

This isn’t to say the other two members, Romy Madley Croft (vocals, guitar), Oliver Sim (bass, vocals), were thrown to the side. The lyrics work seamlessly with the uplifted production;

My name on your lips Your air in my lungs Drowned in oxygen Now you’ve set the scene High on intimacy Drawing me above

The way Romy is able to turn ‘lips’ into three breathy syllables works fantastically with the David Lang sample.

Like “Our Song” off of Coexist, the final song on I See You, “Test Me” is also about the relationship Oliver and Romy have together. A gloomy, sparse, spacey production sets the stage for a bend-but-don’t-break conversation;

Just take it out on me It’s easier than saying what you mean Test me, see if I break Tell me this time you’ve changed I’ll take it out on you It’s easier than talking it through Test me, see if I stay How could I walk the other way?

After this second verse, the last two minutes on the album is reserved for Jamie: a warped sample with a looped drum play, with almost alien sounding vocals from Oliver coming in sporadically. The last song seems to almost sum up the past few years of this group: rough, almost shattering, but beautiful and always brutally honest and sincere.

2. (sandy) Alex G - Rocket

The cover of (sandy) Alex G’s newest record Rocket, at a glance, is unassuming and relatively banal. A goat stands in a pasture with candy cane balloon letters hovering overhead. Much like (sandy) Alex G’s music, the quirks of this cover become more apparent the longer you inspect it. You first might notice the two sets of horns: one straight and pointy, traditionally expected from a standard goat. Another set menacingly furls behind like a ram, and points directly at the viewer. Next, your gaze drifts down to meet the goat’s eyes. They are misshapen, unlevel, and weird looking even by goat standards. Its ears are even misshapen and unsymmetrical. What is this all about? Why is a goat in the middle of a field, and what does it have to do with Rocket?

Every part of an album can be twisted and given different meanings, but my take on it is this: this album is probably the most collaborative Alex has released, which is represented in the odd goat above. Different backing vocals accompany the first handful of songs, giving this a different sound. Alex G has been known for a very lo-fi type of sound, but for most of this album that is not the case. This album takes a more folks-y turn compared to past efforts, and that works out fantastically. In the third verse of “Bobby”, guest singer Emily Yacina sings delicately while Alex takes the front, illustrating a sadness bleeding over into his art, over a simple guitar strum:

I paint pictures of my heart The colors blue and purple start To bleed into an endless dark It’s only you it’s only you

The best part of this album is the fact it isn’t possible to group the entirety of it in one box. “Brick” wouldn’t be out of place in a Sonic Youth album, a wall of noise rock crashing into the listener, with Alex screaming about being sick of the lies his friends tell him:

You think I don’t but I always fucking do Every time you tell me something untrue Puts a brick in the wall between me and you

the song immediately after, “Sportstar”, an autotuned ballad in the same vein of Frank Ocean’s “Nikes”, who Alex G worked with on Ocean’s Blonde. This song is parallel to “Bobby”, in another song dealing with wanting someone desperately and not feeling reciprocated.

My dream Let me play on your team I’m clean Let me tie your Nikes Holding on for sport star Let me wear your jersey If you want to hurt me Hurt me

This album is all over the place, and normally most people don’t have the talent to make all of these puzzle pieces fit. (sandy) Alex G does it, and makes it seem effortless at the same time.

1. Sorority Noise - You’re Not As _____ As You Think

Emo music is a very diverse genre; a lot of people are stuck in the mindet of Hot Topic bands, stereotypical ‘woe is me’ bands that don’t say anything of value, just that their life sucks. Being honest, Emo isn’t my favorite genre, a lot of it is too rough for my preference. This Sorority Noise album, however, is the perfect balance between heavy guitars and drums and somber, melancholy lyrics about deaths of close ones and the feelings that are a result of it.

Lead singer Cam Boucher has had two of his best friends pass away since the release of the last Sorority Noise album, 2014′s Joy, Departed, one to suicide and one to a heroin overdose. As such, this album takes an extreme jump, in lyrics and overall quality, compared to their sophomore project. The jump taken between that album and this one isn’t very different the one Brand New made a decade earlier between Deja Entendu and The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me: A band who had already began moving past the dreaded generic pop-punk threshold into a great band, and then decided to really crack open their brains and spill the contents onto the lyric booklet.

One of the most noticeable differences in Joy, Departed and YNA_AYT is the wording. Lyrically, based on the friends that Cam has lost to suicide between their last big release, it feels like like Cam feels genuinely guilty for how candid he was about mental illness in their first two albums. It seems like he kind of feels like some of his past songs romanticize suicidal thoughts and he doesn’t want his music to carry that idea ever again. Sure, there are references to Cam’s personal experience with depression and anxiety, but they are usually followed up with “I’m going to be okay” or some self-help advice. Near the end of “Disappeared”, for example:

I let my hair down today And I took a shower for the first time in what felt like weeks I felt my hair falling out And I felt myself falling down But that can’t seem to be the reason I can’t sleep when I’m alone It’s getting better And it’s hardly getting worse It’s hard to think about the things that make it all hurt

A more mature take on these topics make for a much better album. Life is always going to have bad moments, and I’ve never dealt with anything in the ballpark of this. Hearing these songs with the ever-so-slight moments of “it’s not going to be this terrible forever if I work on them” is a major part of the emo albums that I am crazy about. This album takes life’s worst moments and describes them in vivid detail without being over melancholic about them.

With that being said, that’s my top 10 albums of 2017 as of now. If there’s anything you’d suggest, I’d love to hear it. That goes for critiques as well.

Much Love, Tyler Schweitzer.

#music #rankings #album of the year #reblog

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