Best New Albums of 2017 *

Another contender for album of the year...

Foster the People - Sacred Hearts Club. If you don't own this yet, you are doing your music collection a huge disservice. That record is stupid good.

 

This one rawks

 

For fans of the Specials & Madness, a very cool band I came across this summer in the UK. Lead singer is the son of Colin McFaul of Cock Sparrer.

Their debut LP is a corker. It's called "Blatant Propaganda"

 

Wand's latest, Plum, is excellent. "Blue Cloud" is one of the best things they've done, and "The Trap" and "Driving" show an unexpected mellow side to the band. I think most rock-oriented folks on these boards will really respond to it.

Plum, by Wand

 

King Krule - The OOZ


Never heard this artist before (Archy Marshall) but he's great - as is this album. The way he paints those richly textured sonic landscapes, mixing jazz, ambient, psychedelia, hip hop, post punk, etc, in one melting pot, is really impressive. A work of singular sensitivity and depth for someone who's just 23.

 

My top ten:

1. LIAM GALLAGHER – As You Were
2. FLORIST – If Blue Could Be Happyness
3. HAPPYNESS – Write In
4. RIDE – Weather Diaries
5. PAUL WELLER – A Kind Revolution
6. CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD – Barefoot In The Head
7. THE MAGPIE SALUTE – The Magpie Salute
8. CHRIS STAPLETON – From a Room: Volume 1
9. SLOWDIVE – Slowdive
10. THE WAR ON DRUGS – A Deeper Understanding

 

Two new ones to me from recent days:



Seconding the love for the new St. Vincent, it's fantastic. I was a little hesitant about the supposed pop direction and the shiny Jack Antonoff production, but I needn't have worried - this is still all Annie Clark's vision. I do wish there was a little more guitar in there, but the songs are undeniable. I'm in love with this record. (Also, am I the only one that had been reading the title as Masseducation all this time? Oops.)



For fans of heavy, and an extra emphasis on the heavy, metal - I can't recommend the latest from Denver's Primitive Man enough. Unhinged sludge metal that drags lumbering doom through a sanitarium and comes out the other side complete with deranged vocals and a half-speed Merzbow abrasion sanded over the top. Killer stuff.

 

I'm getting a total 60s' vibe from this album, and I dig it.

 

I feel like this album is a tale of two sides, both blending their respective influences and styles to create what essentially sounds like two EPs. The former is electric and more hazy, psychedelic, while the latter is more grounded and rootsy, with more sparse, acoustic arrangements. The best part is that it slowly fades from one to the other, and it wasn't until the end of the album I realized the sound and style had done a complete 180 for me.

 

Bully - Losing (Sub Pop)



Sonic Youth meets Kim Deal, and it's awesome.

 

I thought I had dyslexia looking at the album title...

 

Yes. I wrote my initial impressions after listening to the first half a few times, but getting interrupted. The second half has a different flavor. It's a perfect album for 2-sided vinyl LP.

 

It's like somehow Joe Strummers spirit has gone into a pale ginger kid.

 

Ariel pink - Dedicated to Bobby James. His usual 60s/70s/80s mix of lo-fi quirky pop. Mostly very good with 1 or 2 filler tracks.

 

I love this album, but that's not a comparison I would have thought of. What's the spirit you're thinking of?

 

Mentioned the new one from Hannah Peel today over in the hardware forum, many here would probably love it, really nice conceptualized soundtrack titled Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia with a great brass band and analog synths and found sounds and bits of electronica all mixed in the far reaching story line ...

Post photos of your systems/rooms here! (Part 15)

 

Victor, bassist supreme, with Dennis Chambers on drums and Bob Franceschini on sax with just a few guests.

 

I add my votes for St. Vincent (Masseduction) and Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile (Lotta Sea Lice), two recent acquisitions that I really love.

 

Two from Tony Allen, his new one and a tribute 10". Saw a recommendation in this thread about him and checked him out. Thats why I love this thread.

Tony Allen: The Source
Tony Allen: A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

 

Foster the People might be my favorite current band. I don't know if they're excellent or if it's just me cause I know not many on the forum like them much and think they are a one-hit wonder, but the biggie "Pumped Up Kicks" isn't really what they sound like at all. Their sound keeps changing too so I think they are one of the post-rock bands where a lot of their songs are hybrids.

 

Joss Cope's new album is an unexpected delight if you like 80s/90s British indie.








Unrequited Lullabies, by Joss Cope

 

Somewhere between The Smiths and The National. There's also a separate EP for some reason. Proselytes, by Rope Sect

 

EP

 

Really enjoying Andrew Savage's (Parquet Courts) new solo Thawing Dawn.

 

Albums that stood out to me recently:

St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION (awesome record - Annie Clark did it again!)
Margo Price - All American Made (fantastic country album - love the production and singing)
Destroyer - Ken (excellent sophisticated indie pop/rock from The New Pornographers founder)