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FIN - volition's Best of 2017 - TOP 10 ALBUMS


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Posted

Of course I missed more than one update :rip: But anyway, I see lots of good stuff again :gaycat3: Enjoyed Under, 10-20-40 and Boyish although I'd say there's better stuff on every album those songs are from.

Loved Century, To the Moon and Back, Mythological Beauty, On Hold, Losss, that Tzusing song (surprised to even see him here :eek:), XO Tour Llif3 and Third of May :clap3:

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Posted
Spoiler

 

18 hours ago, Vxspertine said:

Mess at all the spoilers :toofunny2: I hate ATRL for these kinds of stupid things

Mythological Beauty :alexz: A song, a story :alexz:

On Hold is one of the songs I liked on the XX's album :-*

Loss(s(s(s(s)))) :alexz:

It's annoying me because it looks bad but I have no idea how to fix it 

 

18 hours ago, Tom Vercetti said:

don't give up :dancehall:

 

16 hours ago, Lazuli said:

Mythological Beauty, On Hold, Lossssss, Mercury, Three Rings, Third of May :heart2: 

 

3 hours ago, theblackestday said:

:deadbanana: atrl is a mess. anyways, Under, Saturnz Barz (aged kinda badly tho), Mythological Beauty and Loss(s) are all great :clap3:

 

3 hours ago, Topmaster 2 said:

Grizzly Bear, The xx, Fleet Foxes + Big Thief :jonny5: 

indie talent :clap3:

 

going to update now

Posted

Top Songs of 2017: 40 - 31:

 

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40. Pills - St. Vincent

A surprise sleeper hit from Masseduction for me, I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. I found that I just couldn't escape that hook, and the way it referenced serious subject matter in such a child-like way. Love the guitar work and the extended outro too. From guru to voodoo, and voodoo to zen :katie2:

 

 

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39. Mask Off - Future

Excellent track, one of the best hits of the year, love the production, atmosphere, flute sample, everything. Was one of my most played songs earlier in the year, wish it had been on HNDRXX though.

 

 

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38. Zeltron 6 Billion (feat. Lil Ugly Mane) - Denzel Curry

I've only heard his EP but I guess I need to get into Imperial sometime soon. I hope his album is like this because he really put up an excellent performance here. 

 

 

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37. Unforgettable (feat. Swae Lee) - French Montana

Can I call this a pop song? Easily one of the best tracks to achieve mainstream commercial success this year. I feel like Swae Lee should make more music like this, it's super catchy and danceable and just really enjoyable to listen to.

 

 

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36. Slide (feat. Frank Ocean & Migos) - Calvin Harris

A favourite since much earlier in the year, Calvin came back with a brand new stylistic direction. As a whole his album was pretty average, but this tropical, breezy lead single has retained all of its appeal, with Frank offering a nice chill hook, and both him and Migos have some choice lines.

 

 

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35. Narkopop 7 - GAS

I'm terrible at describing ambient music, so lets just say this song feels like I'm walking through a forest in the middle of the night. That one drum beat, that's my feet, and everything else is the forest. It's not too simple at all.

 

 

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34. Hard Feelings / Loveless - Lorde

I think I may have added a few too many Lorde songs. Still, I have to mention this one for being the best on the album, and by a fair margin too. It has the most interesting production, with the industrial sounding middle section leading into the sample and the perfect transition into Loveless, which on its own is a highlight of Melodrama out of sheer bluntness. As with a lot of her songs, there are many standout lyrics here, eg. the groceries sequence:


Three years, loved you every single day, made me weak, it was real for me, yup, real for me
Now I'll fake it every single day 'til I don't need fantasy, 'til I feel you leave
But I still remember everything, how we'd drift buying groceries, how you'd dance for me
I'll start letting go of little things 'til I'm so far away from you, far away from you, yeah

 

 

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33. Nyakinyua Rise - Jlin

There's something so perfect about Jlin's sound, and I don't know how to describe it, but her music is another addition to the canon of electronic musicians whose control of rhythm is so masterful that their work seems so extravagant and accomplished. Every sound is in the perfect place for this footwork track to succeed.

 

 

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32. Paper Bag - Circuit des Yeux

Listen to that electronic intro, with ambient moans buzzing along with the synth lines before the song collapses into a folk-rock production supported by Haley's fantastically deep, androgynous voice. The electronic influence comes back near the end to push along the song to its finish. It' an utterly captivating listen.

 

 

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31. Thinking Of A Place - The War on Drugs

The peak of The War on Drugs' latest album, Thinking Of A Place reinforces everything that I love about a great, long song. It's absolutely gorgeous and pure joy to listen to. I've never been a huge fan of heartland rock, but this song is a lot more dreamy than many tracks of that genre, and I love its sophistication and beauty.

Posted

Pills is a bop and a half. Hard Feelings / Loveless is a nice one from Lorde. Thinking of a Place is a beautiful song. :heart2: 

Posted

PILLS TO WAKE :katie2: PILLS TO SLEEP :katie2:

Slide :clap3:

Hard Feelings / Loveless is Lorde's most progressive song yet, one of her best for sure

Nyakinyua Rise :clap3:

Paper Bag :jonny5: She did that :jonny5:

Posted

Pills :katie2: 

Hard Feelings, TOAP :heart2: 

Posted

Pills (sort of), Unforgettable, Slide, Nyakinyua Rise :katie2:

Posted

TOAP is 30 spots too low :duck:

Amazing song ofc.

39 through 36 packs a mega punch :clap3: 

Narkopop 7 wasn't one of my standouts but appreciate the fact that it's even on a best of. 

Posted

Pills is not the tea :sorry:

Mask Off, Zeltron 6 Billion, Slide, Hard Feelings / Loveless, Nyakinyua Rise and Thinking of a Place :alexz:

Surprisingly I still haven't heard Unforgettable :rip: Let me listen in a moment

I've been meaning to check out that Circuit des Yeux album for a good moment. I wasn't really keen on her previous records but I saw her live over the summer and I really liked her set

Posted
Spoiler

 

On 30/12/2017 at 10:02 AM, Eeveelution said:

Pills is a bop and a half. Hard Feelings / Loveless is a nice one from Lorde. Thinking of a Place is a beautiful song. :heart2: 

agreed, agreed and agreed :heart2:

 

21 hours ago, Vxspertine said:

PILLS TO WAKE :katie2: PILLS TO SLEEP :katie2:

Slide :clap3:

Hard Feelings / Loveless is Lorde's most progressive song yet, one of her best for sure

Nyakinyua Rise :clap3:

Paper Bag :jonny5: She did that :jonny5:

I agree that it's her most progressive song, should've said that in the write-up cause that's what makes it stand out to me

and miss Haley really did

 

20 hours ago, Lazuli said:

Pills :katie2: 

Hard Feelings, TOAP :heart2: 

a banger :johnald:

 

20 hours ago, theblackestday said:

Pills (sort of), Unforgettable, Slide, Nyakinyua Rise :katie2:

PILLS2SLEEP :katie2: miss vincent did that yes she did no sort ofs about it

 

7 hours ago, Tom Vercetti said:

TOAP is 30 spots too low :duck:

Amazing song ofc.

39 through 36 packs a mega punch :clap3: 

Narkopop 7 wasn't one of my standouts but appreciate the fact that it's even on a best of. 

haha it was a great #1 pick on your end. it was hard picking a narkopop track but even though 7 may not have been as impressive as some of the other tracks compositionally it stood out to me emotionally on multiple listens so that's why i chose it

 

4 hours ago, AlexisNeiers said:

Of course I missed more than one update :rip: But anyway, I see lots of good stuff again :gaycat3: Enjoyed Under, 10-20-40 and Boyish although I'd say there's better stuff on every album those songs are from.

Loved Century, To the Moon and Back, Mythological Beauty, On Hold, Losss, that Tzusing song (surprised to even see him here :eek:), XO Tour Llif3 and Third of May :clap3:

 

Pills is not the tea :sorry:

Mask Off, Zeltron 6 Billion, Slide, Hard Feelings / Loveless, Nyakinyua Rise and Thinking of a Place :alexz:

Surprisingly I still haven't heard Unforgettable :rip: Let me listen in a moment

I've been meaning to check out that Circuit des Yeux album for a good moment. I wasn't really keen on her previous records but I saw her live over the summer and I really liked her set

that's a lot of songs :johnald: had to give tzusing a place because i loved that track and he unfortunately doesn't appear on my albums list. pills is excellent gonna ignore that, and definitely check out reaching for indigo because it's excellent. also lucky you to see her live :eek:

 

late i know but next songs coming up! :duck:

Posted

Narkopop7 and Thinking Of A Place, hell yes!

Posted

Top Songs of 2017: 30 - 21:

 

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30. Change - Lana Del Rey

Lana really surprised me with this one. It's so much simpler than some of the other songs on her album, but it feels like the best of Lana distilled into the simplest thing she could impress me with. Each part of the song elicits its own reaction, but it's that "honest.. capable.. beautiful.. stable" sequence that makes this such a magical song.

 

 

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29. A Private Understanding - Protomartyr

An amazing post-punk track with heaps of lyrical references and allusions. It's tense, cathartic, and beautiful, everything I want from a song like this. The outro too, whew.

 

 

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28. Smile (feat. Gloria Carter) - Jay-Z

Some excellent lyricism on this track on Jay's best album in a long long time. The verse about his mother having to hide her true self with the spoken outro at the end is moving, and as a whole the song is inspiring and motivational. Be yourself and smile, simple right.

 

 

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27. The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness - The National

The National return with an excellent song featuring Matt Berninger's characteristically deep voice, a guitar solo (also some great little guitar flourishes throughout), and one of the best and most emotionally compelling hooks I've heard all year.

 

 

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26. Ubu - Methyl Ethel

This little indie song I heard when I was checking out their album from a review, but it made me remember that I'd also heard the song in a Spotify ad. It's such a great pop song though, and while it takes 2 minutes for that hook to come through, when it does, it just gets stuck in your head for ages.

 

 

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25. Lemon (feat. Rihanna) - N.E.R.D

Shoutout to N.E.R.D for their work on this, but of course Rihanna steals the show with her inimitable presence. It's so catchy and charming and bouncy and likable. I love Rihanna, yes.

 

 

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24. 911 / Mr. Lonely - Tyler, the Creator

Lovely neo-soul feel here, recalling some of my favourite artists instrumentally. Of course it's the lyrics here that stand out. He really lays everything out for everyone to hear, and it makes me feel real sorry for him. It's a bit depressing, but brave of him to talk about. And Frank :heart2:

 

 

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23. Real Death - Mount Eerie

This song rips my heart into pieces. Those lyrics are so blunt and you'd have to be a monster to feel nothing after hearing it. Saddest song of 2017 for sure.

 

 

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22. In Undertow - Alvvays

How could you not love a track so dreamy and beautiful. Alvvays have a tendency to fit in little charming lyrical moments, and here it's the 'astrology.. moon / psychology.. mood' variation in the verses. That chorus is absolutely fantastic too.

 

 

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21. This Country - Fever Ray

It starts with that mutating electro-machinery stomp like you're standing in a factory. It's amazing on its own, but Karin has to come in with her completely unique voice and sing some of her characteristically crazy lyrics, turning this song into something weird but yet perfectly normal by her standards. All the lyrics are so good here, from the 'free abortions' sequence to the especially excellent 'this country makes it hard to fu-uck'.

Posted

Alvvays didn't disappoint me this year. Not even a bit.

Posted

The System, Real Death, In Undertow :heart2: 

Posted

Change :'( gorgeous sing. I'm glad to see more people appreciating it.

Lemon is that bop. I gotta admit it got tired after awhile, but it still knocked.
A Private Understanding, Smile, TSODITD, 911 / Mr. Lonely, In Undertow are all amazing :alexz:
This Country is truly electro perfection, and it's not even one of my top picks from Plunge. :-* The lyrics kinda ended Trump though didn't they?

Posted

I love so much The National :jonny5: 

Posted

Another well rounded set.  Even This Country grew on me. 

Posted

This Country. :jonny: A one of a kind sing.

Posted (edited)
Spoiler

 

17 hours ago, Sunderland 4ever said:

Alvvays didn't disappoint me this year. Not even a bit.

neither, they outdid their debut for me 

 

12 hours ago, Lazuli said:

The System, Real Death, In Undertow :heart2: 

 

11 hours ago, theblackestday said:

Change :'( gorgeous sing. I'm glad to see more people appreciating it.

Lemon is that bop. I gotta admit it got tired after awhile, but it still knocked.
A Private Understanding, Smile, TSODITD, 911 / Mr. Lonely, In Undertow are all amazing :alexz:
This Country is truly electro perfection, and it's not even one of my top picks from Plunge. :-* The lyrics kinda ended Trump though didn't they?

yes! trump was ended when miss karin destroyed boring and rammed her fi

 

8 hours ago, Topmaster 2 said:

I love so much The National :jonny5: 

 

 

my post screwed up again so to all of you (incl. tom & eevee) i previously had excellent responses all written!! i hope the sentiment transfers despite that, metaphysically or something xx

Edited by volition
Posted

Top Songs of 2017: 20 - 11:

 

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20. Big Fish - Vince Staples

This song is so so good, the electronic influences on Vince's new album are just what I was looking for but didn't know I wanted. His flow on this is so great, his lyricism first-rate, and that hook is just impossibly catchy. Seriously this song is a gem in an already excellent album and I am still not sick of it. Makes me wonder if he's going to continue in this style for his future albums, I kind of hope so. The production is just so bouncy and it makes the song super fun to listen to in any occasion.

 

 

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19. American Dream - LCD Soundsystem

Their earlier output are complete ingrained classics in my mind. A while ago now I had a massive insular music phase where I basically only listened to 3 artists, and LCD Soundsystem was one of them. Thank goodness I discovered trashy pop music. Anyway, I'm obviously a huge fan and couldn't wait for their album, and I decided that I wanted to highlight this song. It's a ballad with the classic LCD electronic sound, and also the classic humorous James Murphy delivery, but the lyrics tell a more complex story.

 

 

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18. Stay Happy - Broken Social Scene

Who doesn't love these guys? The best multi-member Canadian collective album released in 2017 for sure. We start with that distinctive Feist-ian simple intro (let me just point out I love the melody at 0.36) before moving into a bit of a proper groove. The guitar phrases that pop up sporadically remind me so much of something else I can't remember. I love the power of the horns coming through also. It has the kind of erratic spontaneous feel of their earlier work too, and the lyrics feel like they can have multiple interpretations. This is exactly what I want from this group; it's musical wonder.

 

 

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17. Bodak Yellow - Cardi B

The biggest banger of the year from breakout artist miss Cardi B. I don't really like her other material or her rapping in general, or even her personality or anything else about her. This song on its own though, was successful for good reason. It's excellent the whole way through, it doesn't ever halt or stop, it just slaps and I will never get sick of hearing it

:flame:

 

 

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16. Blissing Me - Bjork

The biggest banger of the year from veteran artist miss Bjork. Why did I pick this over songs like Loss(s), which has a more interesting and crazy production, or Body Memory, which tells a more interesting lyrical story? Because I feel like I've shown so far how much I like the simpler songs by artists, and this one has just enough of everything I need. The melody is lovely and the lyrics are super cute. I also attach this song to some memories in real life which gives it more meaning to me.

 

 

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15. 16 Psyche - Chelsea Wolfe

Maybe I should've put this at #16. Anyway, I loved this song on first listen. Apparently this is her most metal-y album yet? It's super gothic and eerie for sure. This song's ranking is mainly because of two things: the glorious cathartic chorus, and that little falsetto bit in the silence after the chorus finishes. Knew this one would finish high on this list since I first heard it, it was immediately captivating and definitely one of the best songs of the year. I haven't heard her earlier albums so I don't know how this one compares though.

 

 

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14. Star Roving - Slowdive

This one is even better than Sugar for the Pill. I love the gentler tracks for sure, but I always have a soft spot for the more shoegazey songs. I wasn't sure on this at first compared to the rest of Slowdive's catalogue, because the chord progression seemed rather standard and the song also felt too 'positive' (bad reason I know). I realised though they didn't need to reinvent the wheel or anything, they basically did the anti-Portishead and did what they do best instead of going off in a different direction, and I'm sure either approach would've worked, but I do appreciate this lovely song that definitely feels like Slowdive all the way.

 

 

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13. Onanon - Kelela

My immediate favourite song from Take Me Apart has never lost its ranking no matter how many times I listen to the album. It's divided into individual parts that are each so breathtaking in their own way. There's the opening couple of lines with that gorgeous melody, followed by a section where her vocals are clipped electronically, leading into a beautiful restrained passage featuring some perfect lyrics "tomorrow we break/it's like an earthquake", "it's not a break up/it's just a breakdown", and THEN the Onanon hook/chorus/un-chorus thing. All the subtle little details in this song, like adlibs and transitional sounds and stuff are all perfectly in place. Then there's a perfect bridge too and another Onanon sequence but even better lord when I listen to this song I am taken to a higher plane of existence.

 

 

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12. Appointments - Julien Baker

When I started hearing this song for the first time, throughout the first half of the song, I thought 'wow, this is a lovely sad song by a nice singer/songwriter', just to notice for its lyrics and arrangement, and it was good, but not exceptional or anything. But then the second half of the song happens (or basically the last minute really) which elevates the song so far above what I thought it would be. I didn't realise she'd be such a fantastic vocalist. Those last phrases are so powerful and moving that the whole song because so much more special because of it.

 

 

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11. Rolling Stone - Ulver

No secret that I love these guys, discography wide too, from their metal releases through their electronic/dark ambient ones, and into this new synthpop direction. Insert Depeche Mode comparison here, and considering I love them too, you can imagine how I warmed to this album. They're so creative as musicians and visionary that they're able to transfer across several genres so successfully. This song is nearly 10 minutes long so you can imagine that a lot ends up going on in this track. It starts with a thumping percussion and some guitar, but after a minute it starts going into an incredible synthpop groove, moving along casually and getting everyone into the instrumentation. Then it starts to build up before collapsing into the previous groove but with the addition of vocals now. The chorus is so perfect, partly due to Garm's excellent singing, but it's the overall construction and composition of this song that allows to be so epic and incredible. There are actually few lyrics overall given the size of the song, but they are dark and recall the lyrics of some metal songs themselves, which makes the contrast between the instrumental more notable because the instrumental, while being tense and dramatic, feels more positive than dark, at least until the end where it devolves into something more crazy and primal. It hurts me not being able to put this in the top 10 but I'll have to settle for it because the songs above it I love even more. What a fantastic track though, from a consistently incredible band.

Posted

Been meaning to check out your list for a while now. Some great picks from what I've seen perusing through the thread (noticed XXX. was low on your list though :fish2:). Top 20's looking good too :clap3: (except for BY). Faves Onanon :heart2: 

Posted

Pills, Lemon, 911/Mr. Lonely, Blissing Me, BOdak Yellow and onanon :clap3: 

  • ATRL Moderator
Posted

WHEW, lots of good stuff on this page.

Big Fish, Rolling Stone, Onanon, American Dream, THIS COUNTRY!!!

Posted (edited)

This might be my favorite Best Of list yet, I like so many of these :jonny5:

Nice to see A Private Understanding on another list though :duca: Relatives in Descent might be my favorite album from Promomartyr!

Edited by AlexisNeiers
Posted

Whew what a set :jonny2: Big Fish, American Dream, Bodak Yellow, Blissing Me (questionable choice), 16 Psyche, Star Roving and Onanon are all excellent. The Star Roving and Bodak Yellow writeups are pretty accurate and I love the fact you chose Onanon for Kelela, such a flawless masterpiece. I can't explain it :'(

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