December 2017 Review

Finally, the year's reviews are done. I am fully 2 months behind where I want to be with these updates, and I'm done with the format now. I'm gonna go into some more  longread-y stuff from this point. Unless one of you fancy paying me to do this. Do.. any of you... fancy paying me... for this? Maybe one day. For now, there's the final 9 albums of the year. As with last December's there's slim pickings - I had to put in a film soundtrack to pad out the numbers. But I am very enamoured with the top 2 records, and I did really enjoy hate-listening to Eminem's latest dirge. Top 40 of 2017 to follow!


The Rest:

Eminem - Revival - C-

Eminem's new album Revival (hasn't he already released like 4 albums with that title?) conveniently illustrates the paradoxical dichotomy at the heart of his huge success. It is a confused mess of superstar guest spots, blunt-force attempts at socio-political commentary and downright ludicrous misogyny. Revival is Eminem's latest attempt to reconcile his Still Don't Give A Fuck bleach-blonde shock-rap persona with his No, Actually I Want To Be Serious Now version of himself he started in the mid-00's. As you may have gathered, it doesn't work.

Eminem would be far more credible and relevant if he picked a side. All the ham-fisted sincerity in songs like Untouchable, Bad Husband and Believe would be at least acceptable if it wasn't on the same album as songs like Framed, Offended and Remind Me, (the latter of which making a complete waste of the clearing fee for extensive sampling of I Love Rock 'n Roll) the lyrical content of which is frankly appalling.

He almost gets it right with progressive song structures. He shows brief flashes of the technical brilliance that made him famous in the 90's. But this is all buried in the quagmire of a terminally disoriented middle-aged stream of consciousness. There is no consistent tone or message, and it's about 20 minutes too long. Hip-hop is in it's third golden age. Records are being released that we will talk of in reverential tones in 20, 30, 40 years time. Boundaries are being broken. Legends are being made. This simply will not do.

G-Eazy - The Beautiful & Damned - C

Gucci Mane - El Gato: The Human Glacier - D

Minors - Atrophy - C


The Best:


01: Glassjaw - Material Control - A

It's tough for heavy bands to keep up the energy of their earlier years as they move in their 30's and 40's. This era of rock band come backs has yielded some mediocre offerings in that regard - You only have to look to At The Drive-In's thoroughly OK album from earlier in the year for an example of this. It's just not that easy to replicate the pure energy of your teens with an extra couple of decades between you and that age, with kids and a mortgage in tow.

With Material Control however, Glassjaw have bridged that gap with some vital, moany American Post-Hardcore. Material Control has all the bite of the best of the 90's output of that scene, with the added bonus of self-reflective hindsight. This is only the band's third album to date from a release history that spans over 20 years. That may be what is driving Glassjaw to such achievements - They still have a ton of energy left from the old days. They have unfinished business.

Material Control is a contained, clever piece of art, with every considered emotive phrase licking at the heels of it's predecessor. The intro suite of New White Extremity, Shira and Citizen suggests a relentless aggressive listen awaits, but as the album unfolds, Glassjaw enable their more experimental side to come out. They balance that out with quieter sections, although they are merely contextual to the soaring choruses in tunes like Golgotha and Closer, which are predictably the highlights, and help Glassjaw keep their stripes with the purists. Material Control is a triumph, and a huge statement for the band's first full length release in 15 years.

02: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Gumboot Soup - A

I made a point of doing these blogs at least a month late because I've always been bothered by major publications lopping off the end of the year and releasing their top albums list in November. After all, what if the greatest album ever recorded gets released on December 31st? King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard put that theory to test by dropping Gumboot Soup on the final day of the year. And it's... Just about worth the wait!

Gumboot Soup is the band's fifth album of 2017. It's been described as a collection of tunes that wouldn't fit on the previous four records, mainly for stylistic reasons. Normally this would set off the one-track 30 minute improv jam cop-out alarm, but King Gizzard are a hugely prolific group of musicians. Their final release of  the year is just as snappy and entertaining as anything else they've given us this year. I'd actually go as far as saying it's the best of the bunch, because even though it's not fully representative of their 2017 output, it's a lot more accessible on the whole. The jazzy meanderings and 9 minute songs take a back seat for this round. It's an easy gate into the overgrown garden.

Intro track Beginner's Luck sticks straight in your head from the first listen, but once you've treated yourself to a few more spins, other pieces come to the fore. Down The Sink, The Great Chain Of Being, and Superposition are all songs that will inspire your creativity and have you reaching for your favourite Zappa records for months. There's far too many great moments on this album to mention, but my top cut is the marvellous psychedelic pop of Barefoot Desert, which positively glows with insight and energy. Gumboot Soup is a brilliant, smart record that is a fantastic sign off to 2017 for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.

03: Brockhampton - Saturation III - B

Coming out of nowhere, Brockhampton turned up to the 2017 rap party halfway through but still managed to get as wrecked as everyone else. Released in the space of six months, along with a companion film, the Saturation project spans 2.5 hours. It seems like an ambitious foray for what is the debut full-length offering from the self-proclaimed "internet's first boy band," but the burgeoning collective have appeared to find the whole thing totally natural. Saturation III is 2017's final slice of Brockhampton's easy alternative Hip-hop.

We're used to the drill, now. Saturation III is as tightly-packaged and well-considered as it's sister albums. It's tough to pigenhole so many rappers in one go, but their collective status plant their roots loosely in Odd Future and by extension, Tyler, The Creator's early progressive wordplay. That's just a vessel for their originality, though - In a world of battle-hardened MCs and galactic superstars, Brockhampton sit in their own compartment. Clean enough for mainstream rotation without losing any lyrical edge, accessible enough for casual listeners to dip into without being too sappy, the inclusive vibes of self-worth ripple across the surface gently, spiked with the confidence of a dozen-or-so young dudes who are inching into the spotlight.

Though the form is pleasant enough, you really really have to justify releasing three LPs in half a year. Brockhanpton don't even come close to producing enough quality material to fill out the space, and for that I have to mark it down. Saturation III on it's own is fair enough, but with the others, it's too much. I don't think Brockhampton are arrogantly releasing so much music - They are genuinely prolific. But with a fourth and possibly even a fifth record in the works for  2018, Saturation is an apt descriptor for this band's effect on the music world.

04: Jonny Greenwood - Phantom Thread - B

05: Tom Rogerson & Brian Eno - Finding Shore - B