2017 music

I was in a bit of a music rut this year, turning down the chance to listen to unfamiliar contemporary artists in favor of revisiting nostalgic albums from 20 years ago and seeking out music genres I either missed the boat on (Britpop) or wasn't around for (Post-punk). A plethora of recent "Best of 2017 ...so far" articles have inspired me and I've discovered a few new albums from our collection that I think ICPL users should check out!

Jlin - Black Origami : An electronica album that is full of nervous energy and samples heavily from global music. On first listen I thought it would be too busy to be something I would casually throw on during a work session at my computer, but by the third track I was won over by the busy trance-like beats. Jlin rarely uses party-style electronica driving bass lines, instead she gets your head bobbing to a wide variety of percussion instrument samples (handclaps, drumlines, african drums) woven with repeated vocal snippets. If you're having trouble connecting to the album, I recommend at least watching the choreography in this video for her song "Carbon 7 (161)", jaw-dropping.

Big Thief - Capacity : Their 2016 album Masterpiece was one of my favorites last year, nothing new or particularly inventive but it had such passion and the big, dirty guitar countering singer Adrianne Lenker's warbling hit me just right. There's not as much of that basement rock sound on Capacity but the melodies and songwriting are terrific. Favorite tracks for me include a Nebraska-style road saga, "Shark Smile" and "Mary" which should be the final track to that mix-tape you make for your friend who is moving away.