NMW: Top 20 Albums of the Year Part II: 10-1!!!

Hey there music lover! You like new stuff? Great! You’ve stumbled into the perfect corner of the internet. Each week all sorts of audiolicious goodies are unleashed onto the masses and this is where they come to be judged. I’ll tell ya what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s a waste of your precious time. So strap on your headphones and let’s take a ride!

The Big News
It’s that time of year music lovers, time for the end of the year lists! This is round three. The top ten songs of the year, and the top twenty albums of the year are located here and here. These are the big boys, the real deal, the TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2017, according to the highly skilled staff of writers here at Overmental, which, at the moment, consists of little ol’ me. The list, as usual, is compiled from hundreds of albums culled from the weekly New Music Weekend (NMW) column, as well as from submissions sent to me by artists, labels, etc, and other stuff I just sort of stumble into late at night when I’ve had too much to drink. And stuff friends send me, as well. There are a few rules that I explained in the last two columns (covers records cannot make the list, if you die you cannot make the list unless you win album of the year), but those should be pretty clear by now for anyone paying attention. AND KEEP IN MIND THAT THE NEW BJORK ALBUM IS, LIKE ALL BJORK ALBUMS, SURELY A MASTERPIECE AND, LIKE ALL BJORK ALBUMS QUITE POSSIBLY THE GREATEST COLLECTION OF PIECES OF MUSIC EVER ASSEMBLED I JUST DIDN’T HAVE 10 HOURS TO SIT DOWN AND CONTEMPLATE THE WHOLE THING SINCE IT WAS RELEASED SO RECENTLY SO IT’S NOT ON HERE. SORRY BJORK. Also, this is the fifth year of these ceremonies, and if you would like to review previous ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, the 20-11 post from last week did list them. I’m not gonna do it again cuz I’d rather GET DOWN TO IT! Here they are MY TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2017!!!

10. Christian Scott, Ruler Rebel, Stretch Music

Jazz bad boy makes a blasted avant masterpiece with horns aplenty.

9.The Huntress and the Holder of Hands, Avalon

The spirit of the mighty Brown Bird carries on in the hands of The Huntress. Long live Brown Bird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd4Uma8Guak

7. The National , Sleep Well Beast, 4AD

Honestly, I probably listened to this record more than any other record this year. But that doesn’t mean that I like it or enjoyed it. I do love the New Order splashes of sound at the beginning of this song, but I, as anyone who reads this column regularly knows, I just don’t trust them. It’s a weakness I wish I didn’t have.

7. Benjamin Clemintine, I Tell a Fly, Behind

The most mesmerizing person working in music today.

6. Reese Mchenry with Spider Bags, S/T, Sophomore Lounge

This is an old video and I couldn’t even post the most powerful songs from this soulful get down of a record. One of my absolute favorites this year, listened the fuck out of it when I first came out, this is one of the most important releases to see the light of day. Really glad it finally came out.

5. Jessica Lea Mayfield, Sorry is Gone, ATO

Jessica Mayfield is growing into one of the great American weirdos that end up doing something great and unnoticed. I hear Jandek and Captain Beefheart seeping in. This trashy and tragic masterpiece is the best thing she’s ever done.

4 Converge, The Dusk in Us, Epitaph

The most aniticipated metal record of the year also turned out to be the best. Was anyone surprised by this brutality? Ok, I’ll admit that I didn’t listen to nearly enough metal this year, and that my thirst for the dark side has waned a bit in the last year or two, but this is the kind of release that could just reinvigorate that hunger.

3. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit The Nashville Sound, Southeastern Records

I’ve said so much about this record, don’t know what else to say. It’s an important record, one that every one in America should listen to. And it’s the best thing Isbell’s ever done, I just wish Isbell were a little bit more unpredictable.

2. Pere Ubu, 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo, Cherry Red

The kings of all, the best band ever in the whole fucking world ever, Pere Ubu return with a peculiar little jaunt into the nether-reaches of post-Sun Raism. Graduate students should write term papers over this shit.

1. EMA, Exile in the Outer Ring, City Slang

I’ve been expecting this sort of apocalyptic infatuation from EMA for a while now. Creepy, cathartic, and somehow more brutal than anything Converge could produce, this is the album that mattered most this year. It’s a bleak and vibrating warning that sometimes exploring the depths of the human soul is not as terrifying as someone like Edgar Allen Poe might lead you to believe. Sometimes it’s just void, not black or white or right or wrong, but simply non-existent. Good luck out there, guys. If this record is any indication, we’re going to need it.