Top 10 albums of 2017

1. Diet Cig - Swear I'm Good at This

I will never be able to articulate just how far my love for this band stretches. This album fills me with so much validation and motivation and empowerment, also I have Alex's phone number from an interview I did with them a few years back and it's honestly one of my most prized possessions.

2. Lorde - Melodrama

I'm not one to get into pop music much, but this is truly an unapologetic bop all the way through. I listened to it on repeat for 7.5 hours the day it was released, and it would have been longer but one of my roommates asked me to turn it off.

3. Adult Mom - Soft Spots

This was easily my favorite show this year, I cried on the way home. Steph is a lyrical genius and has the funniest Twitter account and I love them because they ~JuSt GeT mE~

4. 4th Curtis - I Won the Pageant

Since I'm on the topic of lyrical genius, let's talk about Lex from MY FAVORITE LOCAL BAND, 4th Curtis! For anybody looking for some queer heroes, 4th Curtis is for you. "Anjali" is such a jam, and I want everything good in this world for them.

5. Angus & Julia Stone - Snow

I still think it's kinda weird that a set of siblings sings these deeply personal love songs together about their significant others, but this album is a lighter, more pop-friendly version of the songbirds and their melancholic heartbreak tracks they are known for.

6. Sylvan Esso - What Now

Amelia and I made eye contact three times when I was shooting their second show at First Ave this summer and I want her to teach me how to dance because I want to dance to their music for the rest of my life.

7. Overcoats - Young

Thinking about their live performances gives me chills. Those girls are so synchronized and the harmonies throughout this album absolutely kill me — they are witches, I'm sure. They exude magic.

8. Remo Drive - Greatest Hits

I never had an emo phase as a teenager.

9. Cherry Glazerr - Apocalipstick

Noise pop at its best. Every time I listen to this album I feel empowered and I have these head-scenes of that shot of the Bennett sisters ready to kill in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

10. Bully - Losing

I've wrote this before, but Bully have such a way of capturing the weight of youth and turning that weird mess of feelings into these grungey, riot-rousing cathartic releases that you just can't help but scream-sing to.

Honorable mentions
Feist - Pleasure
Skating Polly - The Big Fit (I know this came out in 2016...)
Perfume Genius - No Shape
Terror Pigeon - We Will Never Run Out of Love

Top 11 songs of 2017

In no particular order.

Arcade Fire - "Creature Comfort"

SALES - "Talk a Lot"

Mount Kimbie ft. King Krule - "Blue Train Lines"

Hippo Campus - "Buttercup"

Julien Baker - "Appointments"

Zophia Dadlez - "Two-Headed"

Radiator Hospital - "Pastoral Radio Hit"

Chastity Belt - "Different Now"

Tom Rosenthal - "Fenn"

Terror Pigeon - "Girl!" (not from 2017, but very important this year)

The Happy Children - "Came and Went"

The Current Hosts' and Staffers' Top 89 of 2017

Brett Baldwin • Bill DeVille • Jay Gabler • Jade • Cecilia Johnson • Lindsay Kimball • Mary Lucia • Jim McGuinn • Sean McPherson • Shelley Miller • Mike Novitzki • Brian Oake • Anna Reed • Jill Riley • Nate Ryan • Derrick Stevens • Andrea Swensson • Luke Taylor • Mark Wheat • Mac Wilson • Jesse Wiza