At the start of the month, I mentioned that I was working on my 2017 ‘books of the year’ list. Well, I’m still working, reader! Keep an eye out for the final list sometime in the next week
In the meantime, here’s my annual music review. I’ll follow the general outline of the ‘podcast awards’ post from a couple of weeks ago. Specific song links are tucked away into the footnotes.
Thanks for reading (and possibly, listening).
Tim
2017 TOA Music Awards
Last year, I included my music concept as a little footnote on one of the 'books of the year' posts. Let's blow it out a little bit this year and see what happens...
Rookie of the Year: Chvrches
Chvrches, a synth band from Scotland, has always been among a shortlist of common recommendations (others including Mumford and Sons, Alt-J, Elton John, The Alabama Shakes, Norah Jones, The Dubliners, etc). For the most part, I’d listen to these artists, bob my head a little bit, and plug my headphones back into what I already knew as soon as I thought I'd sufficiently proved my acknowledgement of the recommendation.
Chvrches finally broke through to me this year when I came across a Muse cover of their song ‘Lies’. As far as getting into a new band goes, this is about as indirect as it gets (1). But once I was in, I was in. As I explored more of their music, I discovered Chvrches does a lot of covers and this feature is a big reason why I have them winning the ROY ‘honor’ (2).
Chvrches has released two albums to go along with their many borrowed performances. Both albums were good, just fine by me, but I don’t have much insight to add. I’ll instead note that the first time I heard ‘The Mother We Share’, I burst right into tears, but this type of thing has never happened before (and probably will not happen again).
I’m not really sure what to make of it.
Let's move on.
Honorable Mention: vkgoeswild
The reality of the ROY ‘honor’, reader, is that this was a two-horse race between Chvrches and this artist I know solely through her Youtube channel. I just didn’t get into much new music this year, perhaps the surest sign of my recent move into my thirties or, as I call it, The Middle Ages.
‘VK’ has uploaded a near endless set of piano covers on her channel. Her twist on the ‘genre’ is a little unusual because most of her performances are adaptations of famous rock songs. I find piano covers a little difficult to sort out in terms of who is playing well but whenever I find myself on Youtube comparing a 'VK' cover to another's effort, I almost always find myself preferring ‘VK’ and her performances (3).
In terms of her career, well, I’m not sure exactly what VK does for a living but it does appear like her Youtube presence has created some good opportunities for her - the channel turned ten recently and, from afar, it looks she is receiving plenty of positive attention for her performances.
Good luck in 2018, VK.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The YYYs are the strangest inclusion in my favorite band list. Their sound is very different from almost every other group I prefer. They do NOT cover other songs and they are NOT great live performers. Honestly, reader, I sometimes go months without thinking about the YYYs (and since they were recently on a bit of a hiatus, I suppose it's possible the YYYs went months without thinking about the YYYs). Given those circumstances, I can’t imagine I count as one of their biggest fans.
But there was a point a few years ago when I listened to them all the time. In my current iTunes file, six of the top twenty most played songs are from the YYYs. When I heard recently that they were resuming touring after a three-year break, I immediately checked out their concert list to see if anything in the area was planned.
I guess for me this band is like certain long-lost friends - I'm perfectly content to remain friends forever, accept that I might never see them again, but ready to catch up on old times in the unlikely event they pop up on tour somewhere along the Green Line.
Most Improved: Of Monsters and Men
I guess I use the term ‘improved’ loosely here. I’ve always liked this Icelandic band. However, I found it hard over the past couple of years to listen to them because OMAM was the only musical experience directly impacted by my mom passing.
I suppose I first recognized this two months after she died. I was having a few beers with my brother on a Friday night. I knew the band was performing in town but I had no interest in going. This was a little strange because in May - two months prior to her death - I was deeply disappointed to be out of town during the weekend they played a show in Boston. Something in me had flipped in those four months, I guess.
The process likely started the day my parents and I listened to their debut album, My Head Is An Animal. We listened as I drove us all home from the Longwood Medical Area. That day, both parents were groggy due to the aftereffects of separate medical procedures. I remember taking great care to maneuver the car around every bump, crack, and pothole on the ride home. Throughout the journey, OMAM set the soundtrack with songs about the wolves and the woods and the world of lurking monsters. As we glided home, my parents agreed on how much they liked the album (4).
It took some time for me to flip the switch back to its original position. It took over a year, at least, because I remained unmoved when OMAM returned many months later for another local show. But it wasn’t much longer than a year, either. For whatever reason, today the difficulty of plugging into their sound is gone. I suspect a new album is out there, somewhere, and hope to get a chance to see them perform in 2018.
Honorable Mention: The Head and The Heart
Like with the YYY’s, this band once was among my very favorites. The momentum faded a little bit after their first album, though, and once my interest started to slide, I found the downward trend difficult to arrest. It didn’t help that their subsequent albums got away from the sound of the first album or that I grew less interested in their genre of music. When they came around on tour recently, I admitted I didn't care, and that seemed the end of that.
Of late, I’m finding my way back into them a little more. I’ve done it with subtraction rather than addition - instead of worrying about recent performances, I’ve just ignored those and gone back to the first album. In other words, I've become the old guy who ignores the new stuff.
But hey, in my defense, I say the facts of those early days remain unchanged. I liked the band on their first album. When you can’t hear something as clearly anymore, one way to improve the acoustics is to block out the surrounding noise.
TOA 2017 Band of the Year: Rubblebucket
Let me tell you, reader: it was a slow music year for me (not Slow Club slow – just slow). Celtic Social Club made my shortlist due to a solid core of songs I listen to regularly (and their excellent concert I attended in September helped, as well). U2 snuck onto the list more so for a year of consistent appearances in my headphones than for any especially fevered stretch of listening. I gave some passing thought to Chvrches or Lake Street Dive but concluded they were significant only for portions of the calendar year.
In the end, Rubblebucket proved a logical choice. They were a relatively new band for me and thus benefited from curiosity and novelty factors other groups did not get to enjoy. However, I cannot deny how much I’ve enjoyed many of their live performance clips and did spend a few library sessions digging deep into their archives for any hidden gems. In a musical year I could best sum up as The Year When Almost Nothing Happened, Rubblebucket did just a little more than everyone else to inch into a deserved yet uninspiring first-place position.
So, congratulations to Rubblebucket...
(Well...sort of, I guess...)
(Better than not winning, we can all agree?)
The Year Ahead...
Let's wrap up with a prediction or two about things I am 100% in control of, shall we?
Since I've never been one to stray too far from my beaten paths, I could see further consolidation freezing my preferences into place as I gain a foothold on The Middle Ages. I’m too old now for new music, you know? But as is the case with all new interests, I suppose I wouldn’t know much about them now, anyway, right? I suppose we’ll just have to see.
What might the awards look like in 2018? In the early weeks of the year, it looks like it could be the year U2 returns to claim another one of my critically-ignored 'band of the year' awards. Lately, I’ve found myself digging deeper into U2’s archives. This could work together with their new album (editor's note: surprisingly good) and my projected first U2 concert to push the band atop the pile at this time next year. For now, let's install them as the favorites to win my band of the year ‘honor’ in 2018.
I’ve also found more to like from Chvrches of late and I could see them making a Rubblebucket-style surge to surprise pundits at next year’s awards. New albums from Lake Street Dive, Of Monsters and Men, or Courtney Barnett could see a resurrection for these former favorites.
The dark horse, again, might be Celtic Social Club. As mentioned above, I enjoyed this band in person and I have a suspicion they might make a return trip to the area in the fall. This year, their limited discography hurt their case but I'm starting to see some promising new work from this group (5). If they churn out a couple more hits in 2018, who knows where it will take them?
Footnotes / musical interludes
0. Coming...sort of soon...
I think a ‘song of the year’ shortlist is in order this year. Just don’t expect to see it anytime soon...
As part of the proofreading step, I separated out my remarks on the concerts I did (and did not) attend in 2017. Those are coming, perhaps a little sooner than the song list.
0a. My updated band of the year list...and foster the what?
1987 - 2006: Eminem (Nelly, Nirvana)
2007 - 2009: U2 (Counting Crows, Passion Pit)
2010: The Killers
2011: Muse (Arcade Fire)
2012: 'Podcasts' (sorry)... (Oasis, Foster The People)
2013: Yeah Yeah Yeahs (T.I., P!nk)
2014: The Head and The Heart (Sara Bareilles, Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
2015: Lake Street Dive (Of Monsters and Men, U2)
2016: Slow Club (Courtney Barnett, Lake Street Dive)
2017: Rubblebucket (Celtic Social Club, U2)
1. For the record, I think Muse plays ‘Lies’ better than Chvrches does...
I suppose the process I describe here is not all too different from a friend making an introduction to someone new. So, thank you for the connection, Muse!
Anyway...
Here are the links to ‘Lies’ – this one by Muse, this one by Chvrches.
And while on the topic, here is my favorite Muse song of the year – a cover of Prince’s Sign O’ The Times.
2. Chvrches covers
I'll give my approval to 'Do I Wanna Know' by the Arctic Monkeys and 'Team' by Lorde.
A notable feature of these covers is how the performances only vaguely resemble the original version. I'm sure some love it and some hate it.
3. The vkgoeswild awards...
This year, my favorite ‘VK’ performance was the Muse song ‘Madness’.
I also really liked ‘Landslide’ by Fleetwood Mac.
In terms of pure rock songs, perhaps “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams is the best example from her extensive catalog.
4. The runner-up explanation...
Or...maybe it’s because so much of their work sets itself limp in the face of suffering...?
My favorite song from OMAM is ‘King and Lionheart’, a beautiful song about being with a dying parent. My Head Is An Animal in its entirety feels like a futile attempt to outrun shadows in the dark and never-ending forest.
The second album, Beneath The Skin, is like a long meditation on depression set against the ever-present backdrop of the bone-chilling sea.
The only cover I’ve heard them perform is ‘Skeletons’, a YYY’s song appropriate for wakes, funerals, and memorial services.
