Tonight we are throwing our hat in the best of 2017 ring with the tracks I have enjoyed the most this year. Truth be be told there has been so much interesting and just flat out musical music in 2017, that I may do second show next week to pick up some artists I ran out of room for in tonight’s show. In particular the Americana artists I enjoyed this year are missing from tonight’s show (mainly for stylistic reasons) so I may do that second show to give those artists and their tracks some deserved additional air time.
Looking back at the year, two trends really stand out. First women seem to be continuing to carry forward the guitar/songwriter tradition and a lot of what passes as “indie/alternative” music in 2017 was written by the likes of Katie and Allison Crutchfield, This is the Kit and Sacred Paws and Marika Hackman, all who released tremendous albums this year.
The other big trend of the year was what I called IEPM, International Experimental Pop Music. Artists like Bjork and Camille released excellent records this year in this vernacular, but there were a bunch of women (yes once again it’s the ladies who seem to be throwing off a lot of music that I think of as creative) of Spanish and African descent who are working in the music traditions of their heritage but with an experimental twist from what we traditionally think of as “World Music”. Think Juana Molina, Ibeyi, Sundan Archives and Meklit.
What is missing from my show tonight, is hip hop and the rock bands. There is a bunch of great hip hop music in 2017 (including of course Kendrick’s Dmann) but a lot of it didn’t lend itself to a show that emphasizes the almighty single. Hip Hop was very much an album art this year. As to the rock bands, well it’s hard times for four guys and a drum set, but a lot of this music is lurking in the the female indie bucket. Give Sacred Paws a listen. Bands like Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, and yes even War on Drugs, didn’t get much of my attention this year.
And then there is the wonderful anomaly that is Kesha’s Rainbow album. Full of singles, full of creativity and full of pop. Just great.
To close out, about tonight’s actual radio show, the tunes I’m playing are the singles, the tracks I have especially enjoyed this year. Not every artist that has a song in tonight’s show would have an album in my best albums of 2017, though, many of them would. To that last point, here’s my list of artists from tonight’s show that make a top ten listing. Enjoy the show tonight. DJottoJD:
1. Rumput, Rumput
2. Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Canzoniere
3. Sacred Paws, Strike a Match
4. Sudan Archives, her EP and the “Water” single
5 Juana Molina, Halo
6. Magnetic Fields, 50 Song Memoir
7. Orchestra Baobab, Tribute to Ndiouga
8. This is the Kit, Monster Freeze
9. Camile, Oui
10.Kesha, Rainbow
Meklit, “I Want To Sing For Them All (feat. Andrew Bird)”
from When the People Move, the Music Moves Too
Six Degrees - 2017
New Cool Collective, “Padee (feat. Thierno Koité)”
from New Cool Collective Big Band (feat. Thierno Koité)
Dox - 2017
Christopher O'Riley, “From the Morning”
from Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake
World Village - 2007
djottojd December 27th, 2017
Posted In: Music Shows