Music in 2017

So, music in 2017 was pretty good, huh?

According to my Spotify profile, I listened to 32,790 minutes of music this year – that’s roughly 23 days of my life that have been soundtracked by the songs and albums below.

Without too much more preamble, here are the best albums and best songs I listened to in 2017. You can also check out my 2016 wrap up list of best music here and my 2015 list here.

Best Album of the Year & Best Song of the Year

Despite the impossibly multitudinous achievement from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – for me, 2017 belonged to the soaring, singular artistry and songwriting from The War On Drugs. Written, performed and produced by frontman Adam Granduciel, A Deeper Understanding is stirring work, filled with rich soundscapes and ruminative lyricism. It’s a journey inward, where each turn reveals something wistful or painful. In the album’s centrepiece “Holding On”, Granduciel creates an astonishing, anthemic force of billowing synths and blissful guitars that have a classic Springsteen allure to them. It’s an elaborate, colourful track nestled within an airtight record of both immense energy and sublime moments of zen.

Best albums

1. The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding 

2. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.

3. Gang of Youths – Go Father In Lightness

4. The National – Sleep Well Beast

5. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3*

6. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy

7. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Murder of the Universe

8. Holy Holy – Paint

9. Wolf Alice – Visions Of A Life

10. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice

11. Kasabian – For Crying Out Loud

12. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana

13. Alex Cameron – Forced Witness

14. Methyl Ethel – Everything Is Forgotten

15. Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins

16. The Preatures – Girlhood

17. Dune Rats – The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit

18. Temples – Volcano

19. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Sketches of Brunswick East

20. Pond – The Weather

Best Songs

Link to playlist

1. The War On Drugs – “Holding On”
2. Arcade Fire – “Everything Now”
3. Father John Misty – “Pure Comedy”
4. Touch Sensitive – “Lay Down”
5. Kendrick Lamar – “DNA.”
6. Pond – “The Weather”
7. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Nuclear Fusion”
8. Methyl Ethel – “Ubu”
9. The Preatures – “Yanada”
10. The National – “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness
11. Gang of Youths – “Let Me Down Easy”
12. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – “Over Everything”
13. Kendrick Lamar – “HUMBLE.”
14. Temples – “Strange Or Be Forgotten””
15. Run The Jewels – “2100”
16. The War On Drugs – Thinking Of A Place”
17. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Crumbling Castle”
18. The xx – “Say Something Loving”
19. Phoenix – “Ti Amo”
20. The National – “Day I Die”
21. Milky Chance – “Blossom”
22. Tourist (feat. Ardyn) – “We Stayed Up All Night”
23. Kasabian – “Bless This Acid House”
24. Pond – “Paint Me Silver”
25. Holy Holy – “Send My Regards”
26. Grizzly Bear – “Mourning Sound”
27. Green Buzzard – “Never Let Me Go”
28. Gang Of Youths – “What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?”
29. Dune Rats – “Buzz-Kill”
30. Drake – “Passionfruit”
31. The Tallest Man On Earth – “Love Is All”
32. The Creases – “Is It Love?”
33. Arcade Fire – “Creature Comfort”
34. Alt-J – “In Cold Blood”
35. Foo Fighters – “Run”
35. Alex Cameron – “Runnin’ Outta Luck”
36. Ásgeir – “Stardust”
37. Ball Park Music – “Exactly How You Are”
38. Wolf Alice – “Beautifully Unconventional”
39. The War On Drugs – “Pain”
40. Gang of Youths – “The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows”
41. Luke Million (feat. Last Dinosaurs) – “Hypnotised”
42. Elbow – “Firebrand & Angel”
43. Milky Chance – “Clouds”
44. Temples – “Oh The Saviour”
45. Calvin Harris (feat. Frank Ocean) – “Slide”
45. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – “Blue Cheese”
47. Bernard Fanning – “Fighting For Air”
48. Real Estate – “Darling”
49. The Preatures – “Girlhood”
50. The National – “Turtleneck”

*Released end of December 2016