The Wildcard’s Top 10 Albums of 2017
From a list of too many to count comes a longlist of three or four dozen from which ten records have made the cut, the ten albums that I rate the most from this long year of tunage. As always there’s a bit of this and a bit of that. As always I’m not gonna pretend this is anything other than one person’s opinion either. But as always there are some stone cold stunners in here all the same, matey, you’ve got The Wildcard’s Guarantee on that one, Jack/Jill.
There were five records that were automatics, the other five had to go through the knockout stages against the other contenders. I shan’t disclose which, no reason to go tarnishing the good reputations of the second five. They’re listed here in no particular order too so don’t read anything into which follows which – they’re all tied for number one. Numbered lists are pretty fickle.
Also, yeah, there are gonna be some good ones left outta this thing. Sometimes because of taste and sometimes because I just didn’t get around to listening to them or maybe they just didn’t click for me. There were more than ten good albums this year, obviously. Your favourite that didn’t get listed is probably still a classic. So it goes, amigos.
Honourable Mentions
- Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound
- Thundercat – Drunk
- Kamasi Washington – Harmony Of Difference
- Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy
- Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice
- Joey Bada$$ - All Amerikkkan Bada$$
- Lorde – Melodrama
- Oxbow – The Thin Black Duke
- Margo Price – All American Made
- Mac DeMarco – This Old Dog
- Foxygen – Hang
- Wolf Alice – Visions of a Life
- Meatbodies – Alice
- Fazerdaze – Morningside
- Torres – Three Futures
St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION
“How can anybody have you?/How can anybody have you and lose you?/How can anybody have you and lose you and not lose their minds, too?”
The new St Vincent record was a little while in coming and it seemed like it floated rather than soared when it was finally dropped. The neon-pink design and the vaguely S&M visuals… it all seemed so choreographed and that appeared to overshadow the record itself, with the singles arriving only to reserved applause. Well, that’s why you’ve gotta float your own boat rather than relying on other jokers because this album is a stunner. Pills is chirpy and hilarious, New York is heartbreaking and beautiful, Young Lover is a banger and Slow Disco will make you cry. Just wait and see how well this one holds up.
Daniele Luppi & Parquet Courts - Milano
“Why should it not have dots?/Why should it not have lots?/Will you tell me why not?/Are you artists or cops?”
Anything with Parquet Courts involved is worth listening to (the A. Savage record’s decent too, btw) and they cracked the list last year with Human Performance. This isn’t really their record though. See, Daniele Luppi had this idea, he wanted to make a record that reflected the world he came up in, the sleazy, glamourised art scene of 1980s Milan. So he grabbed the best big city rock and roll band out there right now and went to work – with multiple fantastic features from Karen O. It’s chunky and bouncy and genuinely funny in a couple places too but mostly it’s just cool. As cool as the other side of the pillow.
Aldous Harding – Party
“Let me put the water in the bowl for your wounds, babe/Let me fill you up with the fingers of love, you can’t lose babe.”
Boldly authentic, subtly immense. Aldous Harding’s Party is a uniquely fascinating record that enthrals more as time goes on. From a carefully plucked guitar to a minor key piano dirge or that rewarding saxophone flourish at the end of Imagining My Man, the sounds are sparse yet emotive and Aldous is able to inhabit so many different voices that you almost wouldn’t know it’s the same person on Party as it is on The World Is Looking. What’s most remarkable is that there isn’t a single stumble upon the way. Every risk pays off with beauty and profundity. Kia kaha.
Laura Marling – Semper Femina
“We've not got long, you know/To bask in the afterglow/Once it's gone it's gone/Love waits for no one.”
This one, there’s just… like, I don’t even know. I didn’t hear anything else that touched upon the empathy and grace of what English folkstress Marling was able to grasp in these songs. There’s a theme throughout of female relationships which anchor these tunes to keep them floating away on the breeze while the different voices that Marling is able to inhabit ensure that she avoids the main hurdle of modern folk albums in that things never become stale. God, they never even come close, this thing is poignant and powerful from the first second and the final track, Nothing, Not Nearly, is capable of bringing on a bit of unexpected lachrymosity in my more vulnerable moments. Listen like you’d gaze at a painting.
Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory
“Move your body if you came here to party if not then pardon me/How I’m supposed to have a good time when death and destruction’s all I see?”
After his debut record Summertime ’06 and the Prima Donna EP that carried on the momentum (with a little more experimentation), Vince was set up to do whatever he wanted. But not too many expected an album with such ferocious bass and club-ready production. We’re not talking straight bangers though, this is still Vince Staples so there’s some heavy and mordant chill going on. The lyrics have some teeth to them and the tunes sound like the future. Vince Staples is top tier. Yo and when that chorus hits on 745…
Guerilla Toss – GT Ultra
“Personal persona/Can I get the real stuff?/Swimming in the makeup/Creature became dreamer.”
Guerilla Toss are not a simple band to categorise, so it’s best not to try. Suffice to say that there are elements of industrial punk with psychedelic pop and some new wave, maybe a hint of funky jazz art school vibe as well… yeah, nah, told you I shouldn't have tried. They're definitely a band that some people will just never have any interest in. But for those out there who dig some highly experimental sounds, GT Ultra is a bit of a revelation. The production is clearer, the songs are wild but relatively straightforward and the band is on fire. Get funky with it.
Chris Stapleton – From A Room Vol. 1 & 2
“We can just go on like this/Say the word, we'll call it quits”
Is it cheating to count these two as one album when they were released months apart? Nah, of course not. It’s my list! Anyway, it just seems right when they’re such a flowing singular collection. Stapleton’s been around for a while, doing the Nashville songwriter thing for other folks, but now he’s a champ all on his own and he's doing the Real Country thing better than anyone else at the moment. Stap’s got plenty of songs stacked up and as the titles suggest there’s no conceit here. Simple but dramatic renditions of brilliantly written tunes. A couple covers, mostly originals. He does the hard rockin’ thing, the hard drinkin’ thing, the broken hearted thing and the outlaw thing and his belting voice and compassionate storytelling carry them all. These ones will stick with ya.
EMA – Exile in the Outer Ring
“There was once a light on a place that I wanted to keep dark, and so I ran away to the darkest place that I could find: a basement in the outer ring”
One part electronic fuzz drone and one part righteous rock and roll and all parts fire and brimstone. It begins with the gorgeous 7 Years and mixes it up from there. I Wanna Destroy has a killer punk cover in it somewhere while 33 Nihilistic and Female hits like some of that Marilyn Manson chunk. EMA's track record pretty much guarantees a top listen and this one is the antidote to a lot of that 2017 political mess. Hear it swell and crash and roll all over. Sway along with the grooves. Stay alert to the wisdom. So good.
Oh Sees – Orc
“Peel back your face/And make haste/For the underground/Crawl space/Fill up on rubber smoke/Hold it, then choke/Lay back and let go”
Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, OCS… call ‘em what you want, they still get the job done. John Dwyer’s been on a hit streak lately with last year’s two records and now a couple more in 2017. Hey and Memories of a Cut Off Head was pretty damn good too but Orc stands up with any other rock and roll album this year, regardless of petty subgenres. I just loved this one. Drowned Beast hits such a menacing groove while Keys to the Castle is like an odyssey in itself with all the ground it covers. The Static God starts things off with some shredding and hectic beats… mate it’s all here if you’re looking for something to drive a fist into the air to.
Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
“You take two strangers and put 'em in random predicaments/Give 'em a soul so they can make their own choices and live with it…”
So I was taking a walk the other day… quite honestly there isn’t a person working right now on a higher plane than Kendrick Lamar. All genres, he’s the best in the business and anyone who thought he couldn’t keep up with the heights of Butterfly clearly hadn’t heard his previous belters. DAMN sees Kung Fu Kenny switch from fierceness to vulnerability, from aggression to tenderness to reflectiveness sometimes in the space of a verse. It’s a little more of an eclectic collection and the dude can still do no wrong. Months later and it continues to reveal new secrets with every subsequent listen... no matter if you listen to it forwards or in reverse.
Smack an ad to support the hustle, good on you friend.