Jesse's Top 15 Albums from 2017

The Autonomics - Debt Sounds   

Ignore the Saturday morning Snapchat cover, this is road-honed, pogo-inducing, virile rock n roll.

Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life

Epic, noisy, and their easiest songs to sing along to live.

Sunbathe - Sunbathe          

Can't stop listening to these lovelorn and wistful lyrics wrapped in heavenly guitar riffs wavering between surf and shoegaze. 

Star Club - Sixth Avenue Motel    

Love the sax, love the grimy, sexy mood. Feels like late night, post-punk, beatnik soul. Or something.

Benjamin Booker - Witness        

The garage soul album I needed this year. The title track is a masterpiece featuring Mavis Staples.

Sheer Mag - Need to Feel your Love       

Oh hell yeah! It’s the power ballads that set this album apart, demonstrating the depths of their chops go well beyond killer riffs cranked up to 11.

Petite League - Rips One Into The Night

Everything I could want in an indie pop album - ridiculously catchy hooks, passionate strumming, kick flips, bite marks…

The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Wild          

They got a sound - passionate vocals over an intensely strummed acoustic evoking wide open landscapes, inevitably inducing head nodding, beer sloshing. Yes, I love it.

Matthew Logan Vasquez - Does What He Wants         

Plays like a cohesive mix tape, shifting from disco to folk, soul to indie rock, all held together by poignant lyrics delivered with a mischievous smile.

Algiers - The Underside of Power          

The first three tracks are pure fire - soul punk politik. It gets weird, skronky, and desolate on Side 2. Staring into the void might be where we are at these days.

Alvvays - Antisocialites    

Plimsoll Punks’ dreamy pop slays me - such sweet disdain.

Portugal. The Man - Woodstock 

Consistently at the top of my year end lists. Still grappling with rise their to fame, but can’t deny those are some catchy ass singles.

Battleme - Cult Psychotica           

Seasoning serves them well. Wry observations delivered with a smokers rasp, huge crunchy alt. rock riffs mixed with barroom boogie.

Heat - Overnight     

First album of the year on constant rotation. Perfect follow up to their awesome EP.

Deathlist - Deathlist LP

Textural and melancholy, raw and rhythmic. She is consistently creating and collaborating on many of my favorite songs. 

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing (2011)

I was sitting around a large table of folks at the Connecticut Yankee awhile back, greasing the pipes for The Builders and The Butchers and Murder By Death concert at BOTH, when a friend said, "You know a band I think you should check out? The Rural Alberta Advantage." So I did, and here I am writing this review. I have to admit, I was on the fence at first... And the fence was pretty tall and thick. Nils Edenloff's vocals are not exactly welcoming, beautiful or mainstream, but they had me at "Drain the Blood." Again, initially I was riding that proverbial fence regarding Departing, but in the same manner a few listens turned me into an avid fan of Hometowns, I was drawn into the folky, slightly quirky rhythms, nasally vocals and sing-along choruses. As for Departing, "Two Lovers" is great, "Under the Knife" is remarkably catchy, "Tornado '87" is this album's pull-you-in jam much like "Drain the Blood" was on the last album and "Barnes' Yard" makes my foot-drums go crazy. I'm not going to promise that you'll think this album is a winner at first listen, but give it a few spins, and if those high-notes hit a chord, I'm sure you'll become a fan just like me.