One of my favourite albums of 2017 is James Holden & the animal spirits. It’s a really organic sounding album recorded in one session. It’s sounds modern but retro at the same time. I can hear elements of Pink Floyd, African music and Jazz. His band are really tight and musically gifted. I genuinely believe this to be James’ masterpiece. If he made no more music this is the album he should be remembered for.
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Wolf Alice jeez, the debut is one of the best guitar records of the last 10 years but for me it’s a wishy washy mess of a follow-up record. I really wish i loved it. Musta listened to it 20 times and couldn’t hum the chorus of any of the tracks in the 2nd half at gunpoint. And it seems to go on and on for ever.
Couple of good songs on it like…
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How is it inconsiderate? Yes, it’s an incredibly intense album, dealing with emotions I cannot comprehend personally. And hugely fair play to him for putting this out there. But I didn’t get much from it either. Doesn’t make me wrong.
And albums that are that emotionally deep probably don’t deserve to be in an AOTY list as there is nothing appropriate to rank it against.
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If the Wolf Alice album isn’t as good as the debut then it shouldn’t be in the list at all.
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I’ve never even listened to them
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It’s more the wording “did nothing for me” I guess…just sounds a bit entitled, as if the primary aim is our enjoyment.
Ofc people won’t like it, that’s not what I was highlighting though
I also agree that it doesn’t really fit in an AOTY list
I’m a pretty big mt eerie fan and im not crazy about the album tbh. Doesnt mean i feel for him any less
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It’s nice the Noveller album is so high, cheers to whoever recommended it on here.
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The first Wolf Alice album was in my top 5 albums of that year but I wouldn’t even put this one in my top 50. It doesn’t sound cohesive at all. Just a mish mash of ideas and very few memorable moments.
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That might have been me. I’ve been obsessed with it. Such glorious guitars. Anyone who hasn’t heard it and loves Explosions in the Sky or the more joyful Sigur Ros tunes, should definitely investigate the album. It’s a really wonderful vortex of calming sprawling sounds.
Aside from The War on Drugs & Public Service Broadcasting’s ace albums (both too low at #96 and #97 respectively), I’d like to fly the flag for an album that didn’t any attention outside Northern Ireland (and hardly any more here, come to think of it).
“The Inbetween” by Lauren Bird, which is a fabulous album of self-described “happy songs about sad things”, played on the ukulele. There are moments of self-deprecating humour on songs like “Things I’m Good At”, and there are songs on it that have literally moved me to tears - there’s one lyric on “That’s The Truth” that really gets me (“I’d rather by nothing than be a burden to you”). It’s not an album that everyone will enjoy, but I absolutely love it, and would encourage everyone to give it a go.
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Sounds great. Will definitely investigate it!
On the whole a really good list and a strong top 10, nice one Sean.
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I’ve been a long-time Mt Eerie (Microphones) fan, and this completely folded me in and over myself in sad-agony. If you’re not aware of ‘the story’ as it were, then I guess you might not get the most from it, if that’s an appropriate way to put it.
This album took me into very sad places, I found the loss expressed very tangible - devastatingly so, halo’d by the beautiful music. Incredibly powerful album - wish it was recognised in the list.
As an aside, the only album I’ve listened to consistently, regularly (borderline obsessively), this year is the Hajk self-titled. A perfect Scandinavian pop album which is my biggest musical button.
I know very little on this list, and a good chunk of it that I do know, in fairness, I don’t really rate - but there are also a couple of gems on this list I’ve dug, and there’s lots here I could explore, which is really exciting.
Love it that Rose Dougall, Max Richter and Colin Stetson are on the list, gutted Brutus, Weezer, Overhead Compartment, GSYBE!, Wonk Unit didn’t make it (I don’t think, unless I missed them).
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Yeah, I’d happily see this in the top 100 at the expense of, say, FJM, War on Drugs or Arcade Fire.
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One of the things that very often bothers me about top tens is how male-heavy they can be. I think that the situation is much better than in previous years and places like this can often be much better than a lot of the old-school music press at championing and promoting music by female songwriters and musicians.
In short: I really like how the top ten is so well represented by female artists. I think that a lot of the best music this year has been made by women (Phoebe Bridger, Julien Baker, Marika Hackman, Kelly Lee Owens, This is the Kit for me).
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The top ten is actually all female (or female-fronted) artists!
I might not agree with a lot of the list…but that is something to be celebrated.
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*drawers
She’s from my neck of the woods, have only listened to a few songs on the album, didn’t do a massive amount for me tbh but some nice catchy bits here and there