End of year list with a difference

I thought I'd try taking a departure from the usual end of year lists format this year, having not done one since 2014 because:

A.) Florence + The Machine would have won everything in 2015, and that would have made for a pretty repetitive blog post

B.) 2016 was such a weird year it required a different approach.

So, 2017... 

I remember writing in my diary at the end of 2015 'Well, thank God that's over' or words to that effect, little knowing the horrors 2016 would bring, and indeed, 2017...

One last thing:

Because I didn't do a list in 2016, the rule I'm working to is: If it was released in 2017, or if it was released in 2016 but I didn't hear it until 2017 then it's OK to include it. 

Favourite article of the year to write (By me): Women and music festivals, again (The F-Word)

Perhaps this is a little misleading... It wasn't so much a case of 'enjoying' it as being gripped by a hurricane that wouldn't let me go until I'd finished it, 48 hours later. And it led to a whole series of posts on here as well, plus 7 fantasy festival bills I'd like to see.

Expect to read more on this issue, and related issues, in 2018.

Favourite article of the year (Not by me): What I learned from a year of dumpster diving in Australia (Medium)

You will be staggered by this... really staggered, and possibly inspired as well.

Favourite tattoo of the year: This one from The Studio in Manchester

Such a collision of difference reference points, and no one else will have one like it. Genius.

Favourite disclaimer of the year: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Duke of York Theatre, London

Favourite foul mouthed ear worm of the year:

A tie between St Vincent's 'New York' and Peking Duk/Icona Pop's 'Let You Down', both of which feature copious and enthusiastic use of the f word.


Favourite anti-Donald Trump song of the year:

Grace Mitchell 'Kids (Ain't Alright)' did it for me in the end, conveying as it does a real sense of bewilderment and 'What the fuck just happened?!'. That said, favourable mention (obviously) goes to Arcade Fire and Mavis Staples for 'I Give You Power', which they had the foresight to release on inauguration day.


Favourite double edged single of the year:

Natasha Kmeto, 'Pour Down/Free For Tonight'

Side A: Full on rainbow coloured lust on the dance floor

Side B: An equally killer dance anthem but with the underlying razorblade in the floss that it was a song pointing to the fragility of LGBTQI spaces

Favourite breaking artist of the year:

Overcoats.

The New York duo more than punched above their weight this year, with an impeccable debut album and strong singles. Their tours in the US are now headliner tours and are getting longer and longer. Let's hope we see them in the UK soon.

Most fully realised psychogeographic album of the year:

EMA, Exile in the outer ring

A dystopian postcard from the US mid west. 

Most eerily prescient album of the year:

This is a tie between Kate Tempest's Let Them Eat Chaos and Father John Misty's Pure Comedy. The former hinted, in various ways, at a number of societal factors that were all about to converge in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster, whereas the latter clearly signposted the warning signs of a US that had just elected Trump president.


Favourite video of the year:

Georgia, 'Feel It'

Favourite 'Where the hell did that come from?!?' album of the year:

Kelly Lee Owens, Kelly Lee Owens, as signposted by Piccadilly Records.


Favourite gig of the year:

A tie between Gothic Tropic at The Castle Hotel as part of the Manchester leg of Dot To Dot, 26th May 2017 and Honeyblood at Gorilla, 21st December 2017 (review currently in progress, stymied by Christmas...)

Band to watch in 2018:

Pearl City

They provided strong support to Honeyblood at Gorilla on 21st December and are a Manchester duo who used to be known as Bernard & Edith and now appear to have renamed themselves after a mancunian Chinese restaurant. They sound a bit like Kate Bush fronting a dark wave band... Am expecting good things. 'Flames' is out now.

Albums of the year:

15) Wolf Alice, Visions Of A Life
14) Jesca Hoop, Memories Are Now
13) Bully, Losing
12) Rews, Pyro
11) Pink Milk, Purple
10) Zola Jesus, Okovi
9) Kelly Lee Owens, Kelly Lee Owens
8) Noga Erez, Off The Radar
7) Honeyblood, Babes Never Die
6) Wild Ones, Mirror Touch
5) Helen McCookerybook, The Sea
4) Gothic Tropic, Fast or Feast
3) St Vincent, MASSEDUCTION
2) Overcoats, Young
1) XX, I See You 

Songs of the year:

I have made a Spotify playlist of these songs, but Helen McCookerybook's most recent album is not available on Spotify so I have included a link to the song on YouTube instead.

20) Grace Mitchell, 'French Becky'
19) Halsey and Lauren Jauregui, 'Strangers'
18) London Grammar, 'Truth Is A Beautiful Thing'
17) Rews, 'Miss you in the dark'
16) Daughter, 'Burn It Down'
15) Beth Ditto, 'Savoir Faire'
14) Wolf Alice, 'Beautifully Unconventional'
13) Bipolar Sunshine, 'The Scientist'
12) Noga Erez, 'Noisy'
11) Georgia, 'Feel It'
10) Honeyblood, 'Sea Hearts'
9) Lorde, 'Liability'
8) Wild Ones, 'Parathesia'
7) Helen McCookerybook, 'Big Brother'
6) XX, 'Replica'
5) Overcoats, 'Nighttime Hunger'
4) Gothic Tropic, 'Stronger'
3) Natasha Kmeto, 'Pour Down'
2) St Vincent, 'Los Ageless'
1) Miya Folick, 'God Is A Woman'

Hollie Cook "Angel Fire"

No new album from Cook as yet, but judging from this and from the earlier lovers rock take on 'Superstar', the signs are good.

Each Cook album has shown a more developed sound and greater sophistication and maturity and this single shows how far she's come since Twice.

Really looking forward to the new album.

Lorde - Sober (Vevo x Lorde)

It's been a good year for Lorde, who is currently partway through a massive international tour to promote her Melodrama album.

This is a nice, brooding take on 'Sober' that feels just right for Boxing Day.

Talmont - Moving Further Than Before (Official Video)

This also came via the monthly Loud Women ezine in November and I'm including it here because I just love her voice. Also, I like the different elements to the song. It feels very timeless but it also has that sort of jazz/R&B aspect to it with a pop element, very stylish and classy.

Doldrums - Limerence (We Come In Pieces)

I don't know how best to describe this. Sort of angsty electronica? noirish? It's one of those songs you have to listen to repeatedly I think for it to really start to lodge itself in your head.

I haven't been able to get into the album particularly, but I do like this song.

Starway to bed

Bully - Feel The Same [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

The album, Losing, came out at the end of October on Sub Pop and is an endearingly catchy melange of grunge and power pop with great melodies and energy. Well worth listening to.

The Tube - Ailbhe Reddy

This came via the Loud Women monthly zine in November and it's just a gorgeous, understated song from the heart. Really powerful, love it.

Natasha Kmeto-"Free For Tonight"- Live at Bunk Bar 2, 10, 2017

A truly absorbing performance of 'Free For Tonight', which was the slightly more gritty/somber B Side to the euphoric 'Pour Down'.

The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health (Shaken-Up Version) Live At Ter...

An absolutely genius re-working of an electro pop classic.

David Wilkinson did a particularly astute write up of their Shaking The Habitual album over on The F-Word back in 2013, an album that increasingly feels prescient and slightly ahead of its time.

'We Share Our Mothers Health', meanwhile, dates from the bands Silent Shout period in 2006 and, as such, is much more pop than anything off Shaking The Habitual. Which is not to say it's a 'light' track by any means. Sonically, its very robust and complex, but it does have a lightness that the more recent material doesn't have.

St. Vincent - "Los Ageless" (Official Video)

Late contender for single of the year for me.

Or just a great dance madly around the living room kind of record.

The album, MASSEDUCTION, is great as well and I really don't understand why it's not in any of the steady flood of end of year lists coming along this month. Except perhaps that it was only released in October?

As a general rule, my personal end of year list doesn't often cross paths with the general ones, partly because I'm a bit slow on the uptake with some albums, but also because I think I operate in some musical twilight universe where my ears operate differently or something... Which worked OK as an approach when I was a fanzine writer, but was less useful as a music journalist. Sigh...

Wild Ones - Paresthesia (opbmusic)

I reviewed the album, Mirror Touch, on here a month or two back and this is still my favourite track from it.

Startling for all the right reasons.