Edit: Sorry for double post, realized this was the last post of the last page and wanted to start fresh to spur on some discussion.
Edit 2: Added a couple of honorable album mentions I forgot about
Seems like a good time to do "best of the year" stuff for 2017! For the albums I got the negative stuff out of the way first cause I wanted to leave the positive for last, here's all my shit, looking forward to seeing what others have :)
Top 10 Favorite Songs (no order).
I tried to only put one song from each artist on this list to diversify it as much as possible, so without further ado here it is :D
Cashmere Cat - Quit (Feat. Ariana Grande)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKhmCh68Qu0
CloZee - Secret Place
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soLrXM0EQ8c
Gorillaz - The Apprentice (feat. Rag'n'Bonee Man, Zebra Katz, RAY BLK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdPyYze2NIA
CHVRCHES | 'Down Side Of Me (Live)'
This is a bit of a weird one, technically the original song came out in 2016, but this live version saw an official release this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2F_wEnLPZ4
Lorde - Green Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMK_npDG12Q
St Vincent - Pills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwFx0ROBf7o
Oliver - Ottomatic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7rAOl3liP4
RY X - Shortline (Thomas Jack Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-8at-FzzFw
Yotto - North
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BG8h4CjxRQ
Kimbra - Top of the World (Produced by Skrillex)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4FApt6z55c
Worst Album of the Year
Memories Do Not Open by The Chainsmokers
Normally, I would not make such a negative point in a list like this, but I feel like this has to be made. I made a joke post about this album in the last thread so it's time for a more serious review. This is an album that I felt really impacted music as a whole, and I mean that in the worst way possible. I don't wanna say that the album was categorically terrible, I've followed some of The Chainsmokers' background and to be completely fair, their productions are authentic, they know what they're doing on that end, and that can't be said about everyone. That being said, it's like they know their audience, and dumb down their music intentionally to cater to that. For example on "Something Just Like This", Chris Martin (Coldplay's singer) writes some of his weakest lyrics to date, and that's kind of an indicator of what this entire album really is. It had to be mentioned, I feel like it spawned a whole breed of music from old and new producers who realized they could get away with making such low effort music. These guys, without a doubt, lowered the quality of mainstream EDM. I knew it would happen, and it did.
Most Disappointing Albums
Gorillaz - Humanz
Uuuuugh... This album man. This album. I wanted to like it so, so, so badly. I really did. Many of the tracks leading up to this were fantastic, I even put The Apprentice as one of my favorite tracks of the year. Then the album arrived and it just completely fell flat for me. It honestly just felt like a huge playlist of songs with little to no flow between them, and the vast majority of these were just downright forgettable. It didn't even come close to the likes of something like Plastic Beach, and I really hope Damon Albarn realizes what made some of his previous projects much more successful.
Virtual Self (Porter Robinson) Self Titled EP
Lol. Porter Robinson's first full body work since Worlds, three years ago, and this is what we get. It's not terrible, but it was just absolutely not for me. I'm not gonna say too much since I recently posted about this, but I can't get over how generic this project was overall. Really disappointing, I'm hoping for better in the future from Porter.
Honorable Mention Albums
Cashmere Cat - 9
Great album, I feel like this really showed the diversity and evolution of what Cashy Cat is capable of doing. I mention this already but this album had one of my absolute favorite tracks of the year too (the Ariana Grande one), and I admire his risk taking even if it's not always my thing (SOPHIE collab). Give this one a listen!
Mura Masa Self Titled
This one's really cool as well, slightly more consistent than the above album, and I really dig some of the features on here as well like Charli XCX, Damon Albarn and such. Like the minimalist but energetic approach that Mura Masa seems to have.
Migration by Bonobo
I really enjoy this, Bonobo does some really nice, relaxing music with a lot of organic & dynamic elements thrown in. Very nice music especially while having a couple drinks on a quiet evening, I've heard he does a fantastic live show as well but I haven't had the chance to catch him unfortunately.
Album of the Year
Melodrama by Lorde
It's not wall to wall EDM, but a very large number of the tracks could easily be considered that, so it gets the title for me - also it was a tough one between another album, but I consider this more EDM and overall the better album regardless.
To say this album had a tremendous impact on me would be a massive understatement. Melodrama was a joint project between Lorde and Jack Antonoff primarily, with a couple of smaller contributions played by others (Flume, Frank Dukes, etc.). Lorde being only 20 years old when she released this album touched on the subject of growing into adulthood, dealing with the hardships of being an adult, and the hardships that come with being a celebrity as well. It's brilliant, sad, and beautiful from start to end. The quality of writing here is fucking incredible especially given she wrote it from 18-20, and Jack Antonoff's production is not only his best work to date, but also the best production of the year by a long shot. As you guys know from the previous thread, I don't give AOTY lightly. Do not miss this one, Lorde will be going down as an artist to remember. She's just getting started, I can't wait to see what she does next, I recently watched an interview with her on Zane Lowe and her "5 year plan" is to produce an album entirely herself
Edit 2: Added a couple of honorable album mentions I forgot about
Seems like a good time to do "best of the year" stuff for 2017! For the albums I got the negative stuff out of the way first cause I wanted to leave the positive for last, here's all my shit, looking forward to seeing what others have :)
Top 10 Favorite Songs (no order).
I tried to only put one song from each artist on this list to diversify it as much as possible, so without further ado here it is :D
Cashmere Cat - Quit (Feat. Ariana Grande)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKhmCh68Qu0
CloZee - Secret Place
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soLrXM0EQ8c
Gorillaz - The Apprentice (feat. Rag'n'Bonee Man, Zebra Katz, RAY BLK)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdPyYze2NIA
CHVRCHES | 'Down Side Of Me (Live)'
This is a bit of a weird one, technically the original song came out in 2016, but this live version saw an official release this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2F_wEnLPZ4
Lorde - Green Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMK_npDG12Q
St Vincent - Pills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwFx0ROBf7o
Oliver - Ottomatic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7rAOl3liP4
RY X - Shortline (Thomas Jack Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-8at-FzzFw
Yotto - North
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BG8h4CjxRQ
Kimbra - Top of the World (Produced by Skrillex)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4FApt6z55c
Worst Album of the Year
Memories Do Not Open by The Chainsmokers
Normally, I would not make such a negative point in a list like this, but I feel like this has to be made. I made a joke post about this album in the last thread so it's time for a more serious review. This is an album that I felt really impacted music as a whole, and I mean that in the worst way possible. I don't wanna say that the album was categorically terrible, I've followed some of The Chainsmokers' background and to be completely fair, their productions are authentic, they know what they're doing on that end, and that can't be said about everyone. That being said, it's like they know their audience, and dumb down their music intentionally to cater to that. For example on "Something Just Like This", Chris Martin (Coldplay's singer) writes some of his weakest lyrics to date, and that's kind of an indicator of what this entire album really is. It had to be mentioned, I feel like it spawned a whole breed of music from old and new producers who realized they could get away with making such low effort music. These guys, without a doubt, lowered the quality of mainstream EDM. I knew it would happen, and it did.
Most Disappointing Albums
Gorillaz - Humanz
Uuuuugh... This album man. This album. I wanted to like it so, so, so badly. I really did. Many of the tracks leading up to this were fantastic, I even put The Apprentice as one of my favorite tracks of the year. Then the album arrived and it just completely fell flat for me. It honestly just felt like a huge playlist of songs with little to no flow between them, and the vast majority of these were just downright forgettable. It didn't even come close to the likes of something like Plastic Beach, and I really hope Damon Albarn realizes what made some of his previous projects much more successful.
Virtual Self (Porter Robinson) Self Titled EP
Lol. Porter Robinson's first full body work since Worlds, three years ago, and this is what we get. It's not terrible, but it was just absolutely not for me. I'm not gonna say too much since I recently posted about this, but I can't get over how generic this project was overall. Really disappointing, I'm hoping for better in the future from Porter.
Honorable Mention Albums
Cashmere Cat - 9
Great album, I feel like this really showed the diversity and evolution of what Cashy Cat is capable of doing. I mention this already but this album had one of my absolute favorite tracks of the year too (the Ariana Grande one), and I admire his risk taking even if it's not always my thing (SOPHIE collab). Give this one a listen!
Mura Masa Self Titled
This one's really cool as well, slightly more consistent than the above album, and I really dig some of the features on here as well like Charli XCX, Damon Albarn and such. Like the minimalist but energetic approach that Mura Masa seems to have.
Migration by Bonobo
I really enjoy this, Bonobo does some really nice, relaxing music with a lot of organic & dynamic elements thrown in. Very nice music especially while having a couple drinks on a quiet evening, I've heard he does a fantastic live show as well but I haven't had the chance to catch him unfortunately.
Album of the Year
Melodrama by Lorde
It's not wall to wall EDM, but a very large number of the tracks could easily be considered that, so it gets the title for me - also it was a tough one between another album, but I consider this more EDM and overall the better album regardless.
To say this album had a tremendous impact on me would be a massive understatement. Melodrama was a joint project between Lorde and Jack Antonoff primarily, with a couple of smaller contributions played by others (Flume, Frank Dukes, etc.). Lorde being only 20 years old when she released this album touched on the subject of growing into adulthood, dealing with the hardships of being an adult, and the hardships that come with being a celebrity as well. It's brilliant, sad, and beautiful from start to end. The quality of writing here is fucking incredible especially given she wrote it from 18-20, and Jack Antonoff's production is not only his best work to date, but also the best production of the year by a long shot. As you guys know from the previous thread, I don't give AOTY lightly. Do not miss this one, Lorde will be going down as an artist to remember. She's just getting started, I can't wait to see what she does next, I recently watched an interview with her on Zane Lowe and her "5 year plan" is to produce an album entirely herself
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