Musicians That Made My 2017 Bearable

2017 was a turbulent year for me, but one thing that will always have the ability to change my mood is listening to my favourite music of the moment. I owe a lot to the bands I am about to mention for never failing to put a smile on my face, whether that be on my treacherous walk to uni, or a helpful aid while I’m losing the will to live in the library. Thank goodness for music eh.

London Grammar 

There’s not much that Hannah Reid’s ethereal voice cannot solve. This band and their albums of dreamy tunes can do nothing but chill me out, no matter what kind of day it’s been. Their second album in particular, which was released this year much to my delight, treats the ears with track after track of loveliness, with Reid’s quiet musings on love and life making you think deeper about everything going on around you. Honourable mentions of specific tracks have to be ‘Oh Woman Oh Man’, ‘Non Believer’ and ‘Everyone Else’ from the Truth Is A Beautiful Thing album, whilst old school classics from 2014 album If You Wait such as ‘Hey Now’ and ‘Wasting My Young Years’ still make their way into my regular listens. I owe this band for singing me to sleep and chilling out even the most stressful of situations.

The Strypes

2017 saw one of my favourite bands of all time, The Strypes, release their third studio album, much to my delight. With second album Little Victories going down in history as one of my favourite all time albums, I was sceptical as to whether they could live to my self-inflicted hype again, and honestly, it took me a while to be convinced by new album Spitting Image. Whilst making my mind up on the new tunes, I returned to my old favourites, such as ‘Queen Of The Half Crown’ and a song that I can confidently place in my top ten favourite songs ever ‘’A Good Night’s Sleep And A Cab Fare Home’. However, when I took the time to really get into the new bops, the lovely Irish lads had done it again. Songs such as ‘Garden of Eden’ and ‘I Need A Break From Holidays’ never failed to brighten up my day as I coasted through the latter half of 2017. I’m very excited to see what the coming year will bring for this band, and hopefully this is the year I cry with glee at the their songs in person at a gig.

Lana Del Rey

2017 was the year I had the pleasure of seeing the American goddess that is Lana Del Rey. The year was already exciting Lana-wise due to the release of album Lust For Life, and seeing those songs, as well as the old favourites sung live is something I’ll never forget. Specific mentions for songs that I couldn’t get enough off during the year were ‘Cherry’, ‘White Mustang’, ‘Tomorrow Never Came’ and ‘Beautiful People With Beautiful Problems’, all from the new record. As for the oldies that have been a part of my playlists for many years previous to 2017, pretty much all of the Ultraviolence album (a modern day masterpiece, let’s be real), as well as ‘Ride’, ‘Body Electric’ and ‘Religion’. Lana cannot do much wrong in my book, and I cannot begin to imagine how many times I’ve turned to her music during the year, and I’m sure that’s only set to continue.

alt-J

Just when I thought none of my other favourites could possibly release new music, alt-J came through with new stuff in the form of album Relaxer. Much like The Strypes, the first few listens of the new tracks didn’t really impress me, and admittedly, I don’t personally rate the album as highly as the other two, mainly due to the timeless ‘Breezeblocks’, ‘Left Hand Free’, ‘Tesselate’ and ‘Fitzpleasure’ being up there in my estimations. Relaxer does have its moments however, opener ‘3WW’ is dreamy and a care-free listen, whilst the pace is upped by ‘In Cold Blood’ and ‘Deadcrush’. What alt-J do best is create a foot-tapping beat in every song they make, making it very hard to not add them to my playlist while I’m walking to uni, going for a run, or just sitting on the bus. Fair play to them, they know how to write a bop.

Radiohead

I’ll try and keep this short because I could really go on and on. Radiohead are a band I can’t believe I haven’t listened to my whole life. I actually beat myself up for not catching on sooner, but 2017 was the year that I saw sense. My year started with me being quite a casual fan of Thom Yorke and co., listening to the popular songs mostly. My interest increased when I knew I’d be seeing them live, and after that, well I lost my mind a bit. If I tried to list songs that stood out to me this year we’d be here all day, but I’ll try and name a few; ‘Let Down’, ‘Just’, ‘Talk Show Host’, ‘Myxamatosis’, ‘15 Step’ and ‘No Surprises’. However, saving the best for last, 2017 saw the 20th anniversary of OK Computer, meaning previously unreleased music came out, and oh my god. I overplay a lot of music that I love, but two of the unreleased songs in particular have honestly been the only things in my ears for about the last two momnths of 2017, and I’m not bored of them yet; they are ‘Man Of War’ and ‘Lift’. Why they slept on these songs for 20 years without releasing them is beyond me, and frankly its cruel. I honestly wonder what mediocre music I would have been listening to had this not been released, and I think I’m annoying everyone by talking about them so much but they are WONDERFULLY crafted pieces of music that make me beam from ear to ear when I listen to them so, I have no apologies to make.

Honourable Mentions: Harry Styles, Wolf Alice, Fleetwood Mac, Robert Plant, Circa Waves, Peace,  Dua Lipa (just for ‘New Rules’ - the most empowering song ever written), Blondie, and The Vaccines.

Music really was important to me in 2017 for both good times and bad, and I only hope by the end of 2018 I have discovered even more amazing music that makes me smile as much as ‘Man Of War’ currently does.

Thanks for reading

H x