Okay 2017, let’s cut to the chase. I don’t like you and you don’t like me. Maybe we can find common ground here. Do you like music? You don’t? Well shit. Anyways here are ten albums I liked, five more I liked almost as much and all the memories made along the way.
It’s time to admit my approach to music isn’t that great. I basically look at three websites and my Twitter feed for recommendations and add everything I find to my Apple Music library. In 2017, that was over 130 albums. What that boils down to is maybe five albums I really love and like 30 albums I would like to put on this list. And then the day comes when I have to write this post and it sucks. I artificially limit myself to only five honorable mentions, so, suffice it to say, there were some albums that could have been on this list earlier today that I won’t even talk about. This was the year that I tried to cut back on investing in media that I wouldn’t immediately use, and maybe in 2018 I’ll have to try to extend that approach to music too… On the other hand, maybe this is a good problem to have?
2017 was a year of highs and lows, but mostly lows. Fortunately, we were given plenty of highs in the form of plenty of great albums, as I never had a shortage of delightful tunes to get me through this year that was for the most part dismal. Granted, I still continue to feel overwhelmed by the amount of music available, as I’m now fairly entrenched in my commitment to streaming, while I still can’t help myself from buying lots of newer music on vinyl, mainly because I’m just a sucker for that limited edition colored vinyl. But hey, it was a year where indulging your vices was slightly more acceptable than usual. And luckily, with albums like these, I never felt a shred of guilt towards this most vital of indulgences. Continue reading
You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Rokk Talk is coming to town
They’re making their lists
of Christmas rock songs;
Gonna find out Which list is wrong
Rokk Talk is coming to town
They see you when you’re listening
They know when you’re into it
They know when it is time to rock
So come check out this shit
Oh! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Rokk Talk is coming
Rokk Talk is coming
Rokk Talk is coming to town
Now that The Last Jedi has been out for a week and everyone’s had time to make their mind up, why not listen to us gush about it? Seeing as it has the most bizarre division between critics and the fanbase in Star Wars history, we try to unpack why Episode VIII is so controversial. But mostly we just scream over each other about how much we liked it and how sad it is that Carrie Fisher is gone. Fair warning though, there are spoilers ahead for those who dare listen.
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Kamasi Washington was one of those artists I’d always wanted check out, but like so many things, time was the thing holding me back. Much like Thundercat, Washington got a little bit of mainstream exposure from appearing on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, and adding to that record’s jazz-funk sound. However, it didn’t help that his most acclaimed album to date was 2015’s The Epic, which at a nearly 3-hour running time, might actually have been short-selling itself with that title. Continue reading
Unsurprisingly, this was a year where I was a little more prone to sad bastard music. Not because I necessarily found it good to wallow in some sort of depressive state. But more because, not unlike the feeling of listening to Vince Guaraldi around Christmas time, sometimes you need some contended “sad time”, and to remind yourself that music is a place where indulging life’s more morose feelings can be a source of comfort. Granted, it’s a little hard to pin down what Julien Baker, a supremely talented 22-year-old, would have to be sad about, but she sure has a way of expressing it in a very pure way. Continue reading
