Songs

iLoveMakonnen, Give U What U Need (Acoustic)
Nothing new here; this has always been iLoveMakonnen's finest work, and I've had it in rotation more-or-less continuously since it was released. There's something to be said for the foresight of the (Acoustic) suffix re: developments in rap in the year 2017, but to dive too dive down that rabbit hole is to deny Makonnen's originality; Give U What U Need works as a general bearing for rap's current direction, but it remains easily five years ahead of things.

Future, Blow a Bag
I KNOW I CAME FROM POVERTY
I GOT MY NAME FROM POVERTY
I KNOW FOR SURE, FOR SURE
IF MY GRANDAD WAS LIVIN'
I KNOW HE'D BE PROUD OF ME

I think about this everyday, word to Mount Kimbie.

Anita Baker, Same Ole Love
80's R'n'B videos on Youtube reliably have both the best and worst comments to be found on this good internet, and I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a factor in me keeping this track in such heavy rotation. The video itself is great too; stylishly, if unintentionally low-fidelity, and I haven't been able to get the resultant faceless roller-skater image out of my head for weeks. In the end, though, I like this song for the same reason that everyone else in the world does - it's a jam, and the absurdly crowded hook works to perfection, so syllable-dense that it's almost like the highest form of an advertising jingle.

Pat Metheny Group, Last Train Home
A lot has been said about the havoc that aspiration - to acclaim, to profit, to coolness - wreaks on creativity, and the entire Pat Metheny catalog is a testament to the value of making music in a vacuum of good taste. It's definitely cheesy now, it was probably cheesy then, and it's always been incredible. What better form could a jazz album from 1987 take? Some recycled hard bop bullshit from a self-identified cat who thinks of the John Col- in John Coltrane as mostly a formality? Not ever, no way. I bought this record blind off the strength of literally everything Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays ever touched, and I can't remember ever feeling joy like I did when the vocals came in (circa 3:23) on my first listen.

Style Council, You're the Best Thing
Another very good mostly-blind record store purchase, another totally undeniable hook (and video, lmao).Cafe Bleu is a fine record, but this is one of very few tracks that I wish I had a 12 single of for the sheer convenience of running it back.

Joan Armatrading, The Weakness in Me
I stole my obsession with this total classic from a very good friend, who described it as the one I love, to which I have wept many times over. I have nothing of value to add to that, but I do have this: on a recent nighttime trip across Utah, I kept myself awake by cold-calling old friends that I hadn't talked to in a while. Once I hit a remote enough area that cell service was all but gone (by which point it was also quite late on the East Coast), I popped Walking Under Ladders into the CD player, set this track to repeat, and sang along for at least a hundred miles.

DJ Screw, Genesis - It's Gonna Get Better
Screw did a couple versions of this, but the one off Man Pooh, unfortunately unavailable online outside of the full tape rip, is definitive. It's got to get better.

Kodak Black, No Flockin Freestyle
Without this video, the 2017 rap landscape would be utterly unrecogniz- *signal cuts out*

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Albums

Fleetwood Mac, Tango in the Night
My best discovery this year. I don't know anything else about Fleetwood Mac, but this has to be the best-sounding album ever made. I'm not really a stickler for fidelity, but in terms of audio engineering alone this thing is a blast to listen to. To say nothing of the music itself; the album is full of anthems, massive stadium productions that exist in direct opposition to the sadder, sparser, drum-machine-driven stuff that ended up forming the better part of the late-80s canon. There are at least three tracks on here that made me strongly re-consider moving on from my current karaoke go-to, Tom Jones's What's New Pussycat.

Shy Glizzy, Young Jefe 2
Possibly the best rap album released in 2016; possibly the peak to-date for the man who finally got some well-deserved shine this year off his contribution to Goldlink's Crew. I'm not sure that anyone understands how to reconcile song structure with rapping your ass off like Shy Glizzy.

Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man
When listening to Leonard Cohen's sharp, cutting man-and-guitar balladry from his renowned early period (a hypothetical act that I've never actually done), I often thought pretty cool stuff 'nard, but what about strings, female vocal accompaniment, and the most 1980s synth and drum arrangements imaginable? Turns out, Leonard answered (from the grave - RIP) - I'm Your Man is the sort of album, probably inexplicable in the context of the artist's discography, that we get when someone sticks around too long and feels the need to incorporate the now into the then for which they were heralded. It's really good! A quick listen with a couple hits, and if you're not wild about Jazz Police then I'm pleased to inform you that it's unique among the tracklist.

Dej Loaf, #AndSeeThatsTheThing
This is a two year old EP with five songs (six, if you're listening on Spotify) that somehow supplied three or four of the songs I listened to most this year. There's Desire, which has previously been featured here. There's Been on my Grind, the existence of which renders Tee Grizzley entirely redundant. There's Back Up, a flip of a very classic DJ Clent track that's good enough to more than justify paying the Big Sean toll. There's Hey There, a very cute duet with Future that would've gotten a lot more traction if people thought of Future as human. There's one other track too, but by the time I get there I'm usually already replaying one of the first four.

The Cure, Disintegration
I'm mad as hell that one of the only music writers that I actively dislike said some predictably stupid shit like the leaves have changed colors, which means that I will only listen to Disintegration for a month and turned out to be totally right. I've got a vague sense that there's a specific type of person that's really into The Cure, and I'm now exactly that. Cure-iously enough, I haven't really gotten into any of their other records, although my investigation has admittedly been pretty cursory. As far as I can tell, Disintegration is quite like the rest of them but slower by half, the easiest shortcut to my musical heart.

Bryan Ferry, Bete Noire
Contrary to what you may have heard, the worst thing that happened this year was me getting really into Bryan Ferry less than a week after he played a show in Denver.

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Hot Lines

The ...I felt that phrasing of musical appreciation has been pretty completely ruined by Twitter, but nevertheless:

When Joni Mitchell said I'm drinking sweet champagne, got the headphones up high / can't numb you out, can't drum you out of my mind... I felt that.

When I bought a physical copy of Visions of the Country and found out that Robbie Basho was saying from the center of the Earth / to the valley down below / I am with you sweetwater / where 'ere you go... I felt that.

When in this video, which remains the definition of rap, 21 Savage said Young Savage man I got my car washed up / pulled up on a motherfucking [completely indiscernible] as the camera cuts to Denzel Curry, Lil Yachty, and Lil Uzi Vert having the time of their lives... I felt that.

When Boosie said Suck it suck it lick it lick it / then I'm gon' stick it / had a bad experience / I ain't suckin' no titties... I felt confused and a little curious.

But when Boosie said I wake up I look in the mirror / I put on my clothes and I leave / if my life is beautiful please / tell me why I need the trees... I felt that.

Lastly, when Dej Loaf said I been on my grind all week / I ain't been gettin' no sleep / but that shit don't matter to me / my mama said it should matter to me / she said your health is everything... I felt that.