ONLY NOISE: A Year In Song

Certain songs have a way of tangling themselves in our days, weeks, and months, eventually embedding themselves in our psyche, forever to be associated with the particular time and place in which they meant the most to us. Here, Madison looks back on 2017 by recounting the songs that dominated each month of the year – sometimes because of the anticipation of a live show, sometimes after crate-digging yielded a new discovery, and sometimes, maybe too often, because they helped mend a broken heart. – Ed.

January: Austra, “Future Politics”

This song represented two facets of optimism at the start of a bleak year. One was that my generation, once so blasé and apolitical, was finally mobilizing and becoming informed. The second was that pop music felt like it would be radicalized in 2017. Austra made me feel like dancing was an act of dissent, and while I know intellectually that is an illusion, it was a welcome notion after the election of Donald Trump. It’s difficult to resist this track’s rubbery drum pads and laser beam synths, qualities that made the title track from Future Politics seem like the anthem for an era of awareness when it came out. While I can’t say it solved anything, at least Austra’s lead single had us looking to the future in time when the present seemed unbearable.

February: Sam Cooke, “Get Yourself Another Fool”

Ah, February: a month synonymous with frigid weather, annual depression, and Valentine’s Day. The latter has always been the bane of my existence, though this past annum has been slightly less miserable now that I am no longer designing lingerie (a cruel profession as a single woman). In February 2017, I was feeling bitter and slighted, and so I nursed my wounds with Sam Cooke’s “Get Yourself Another Fool” from 1969’s Night Beat. Its dry piano and walking bass line provided the perfect poison for a biting break up song. Just what I needed to hear come February 14th.

March: Xiu Xiu, “Wondering”
Solomon Burke, “I’ll Be Doggone”

March was a bonkers month. I got laid off from a job that would rehire and fire me within the next two months. I met a dream man who would break my heart in the next three. I ate frankincense at a drag queen party. The freedom, romance, and fear of March 2017 can only be summed up with two songs, the first being the irresistible pop cacophony of Xiu Xiu’s “Wondering.” The lead single off of this year’s Forget LP was a perfect combination of wild fury and glittering disco melodies to get me through an unmoored month.

Mid-March I found myself jobless and smitten in the dream man’s dining room. He handed me a beer and cued up Solomon Burke’s 1969 recording of “I’ll Be Doggone,” a song that despite its age, followed me for the remainder of 2017. I played it while cooking, tidying, and getting ready for a night out. Sometimes I would blast it when no one was home just so I could sing along. It was without a doubt the best old song I discovered this year. The fact that its discovery can only be attributed to one person in my life is unfortunate, but that’s just the joy and danger of music and memory.

April : Happyness, “Falling Down”

I’d been anticipating Happyness’ sophomore LP ever since I heard their debut, so when this year’s Write In was more somber than expected, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. After about a billion plays however, the record clearly fell under the “grower” category. Throughout Write In’s many rotations on my turntable this spring and summer, I fell in love with its opening track “Falling Down.”

“Falling Down” sounds like a late night observation, seen through too many layers of smoke and booze. Its hazy build of rhythm guitar is lulling, and remains so even when the drums finally kick in. It is a song that takes its time, and when bassist Jon EE Allan unleashes his half-awake croon and the squealing synths take over, the wait really pays off.

May: Blanck Mass, “Please”

“Please” is not only the sonic outlier on Blanck Mass’ third LP World Eater – it might just be Benjamin John Power’s magnum opus. This song dominated my May (and the remainder of 2017, truthfully) after I saw Power perform it at the Red Bull Music Academy for Sacred Bones’ 10-year anniversary gig. I was bewitched by his set, and though I loved the abrasive, blood-curdling songs in Power’s repertoire, “Please” was a dose of calm and beauty amidst the chaos – its gorgeous vocal melodies conflicting with shrapnel soundscapes and a choir of AI angels. “Please” is at once sorrowful, joyous, and frightening, which suited the state of 2017 all too well.

June: Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians

Summer is a strange time to seek out no wave compositions while everyone else is listening to “Despacito,” but I did so out of pure necessity. June was the beginning of a hellacious summer, one that commenced with heartbreak and culminated in underemployment and family catastrophe. I needed a break from evocative music, from songs that reminded me of a specific person, place, or time. I was on a quest for a song that made me feel nothing, and I found it in Steve Reich’s lauded hour-long piece. Its wash of polyrhythms and blips of human voice made a mosaic of sound – something that let me focus on every individual tile and the whole picture simultaneously, creating a calm that is the closest I’ve ever come to meditation.

July: Ocean Music, “When I Went to California”

This song was unfortunately stuck in my head for most of July. It isn’t unfortunate because it’s a bad song – it’s a good song – but one tied to an ill-fated evening. It was the kind of night typically reserved for rom-com screenplays, only with a far worse outcome.

It was a Tuesday. I thought it’d be nice to take myself out to a neighborhood club I’d never been to before. A date with myself, the sad last stab of a single lady nursing heartbreak. I wore lipstick. The headlining band was called Ocean Music, and their name sounded vaguely familiar, though I could not figure out why. I particularly enjoyed their sleepy ballad, “When I Went to California” as I listened to their Bandcamp offerings. It was enough to get me out of the house midweek.

I sidled up to the bar, ordered a Tecate, and before I could take a sip a man said my name. Only, it was my name with a question mark behind it, like, “Madison?” This is never a good sign. It was the man who’d just dumped me, and he was the opening act. I had, though accidentally, gone to his show, a mistake made even more comically tragic considering my profession. I stayed for the entire gig out of politeness and then left without saying goodbye. This song played as I walked out the door.

August: Leonard Cohen, “On the Level”

I spent most of August in the kitchen of my sister’s Washington farm. As reciprocity for feeding, housing, employing, and entertaining me all month, I thought it was only fair to do the goddamn dishes. The wooden shelving across from her kitchen sink is home to a Bose CD player, which has been occupied by Leonard Cohen’s final album You Want It Darker since he died in 2016. “On the Level” is one of my favorite songs on that record, and I now directly associate with my sister’s doublewide cast iron sink. When I was alone on dish duty I would crank the volume on the Bose and belt, “They oughta give my heart a medal, for lettin’ go of you,” scrubbing our coffee mugs to the beat.

September: Benjamin Clementine, “Phantom of Aleppoville”

This stirring piece of music was on heavy rotation during my late summer walks. The only problem with listening to Benjamin Clementine’s avant-pop-jazz masterpieces while shuffling around in public is that they inspire immense urges to dance. I cannot tell you how many spontaneous bursts of limb thrashing I resisted while listening to “Phantom of Aleppoville” beyond the walls of my apartment. It was difficult to remain disciplined, especially midway through the song when Clementine bursts into tango piano flair and spirited shouts. I managed to keep it together in public, but if you looked close enough you would see my hips twitching ever so slightly.

October: Diamanda Galás, “Pardon Me I’ve Got Someone to Kill”

I can’t imagine a better artist to listen to throughout October than the High Priestess of Darkness herself, Diamanda Galás. Before I even thought of naming her the Queen of Halloween, I was just excited to see Galás’ Halloween night set at Brooklyn’s Murmrr Theatre. In the lead-up to All Hallows Eve, “Pardon Me I’ve Got Someone to Kill“ was the perfect song to sing at the Weinsteins of the world – a kind of feminist power anthem cloaked in black magic.

November: Animal Collective, “Leaf House”

In the weeks before Animal Collective’s Avey Tare and Panda Bear reunited at Knockdown Center, I needed a refresher course on their 2004 record, Sung Tongs, which they would be playing in full for the first time live. I must have listened to opening track “Leaf House“ a hundred times in November, following its dizzying rhythms through subway tunnels and side streets en route to and from work. During the rush hour grind this song seemed to mirror and quell the chaos of the city simultaneously.

December: Bill Evans Trio, “Come Rain Or Come Shine”

I bought Bill Evans Trio’s Portrait In Jazz LP as a birthday present to myself in mid November, but I didn’t really get around to listening to it in full until late November and December, during which time it never left my turntable. It would seem from these blurbs that I am partial to opening tracks on albums, and the same applies to this record. Its first song, “Come Rain Or Come Shine” is exemplary of Evans’ diverse, elegant, and downright gorgeous playing. Watching this video of his trio performing the song in 1965, Evans’ facial expressions make it plain to see his immense passion for the music he so effortlessly makes.

AF 2017 IN REVIEW: Ten of the Year’s Best Albums By Trans Artists

In (yet another) year where coverage of trans lives vacillated between stories of hyper-visible trans people – wealthy “success” stories, wearied activists and advocates, public artists struggling through waves of aggression and hate – and mournful eulogies (22 trans women of color were murdered in 2017), it’s easy for some to forget that trans lives are, after all, lives. Paying attention to the minutia of trans days – the boredom filled, plans made, and art created – means extending empathy to those that many see only as dead or decorated bodies.

Binaried interest in trans lives is mirrored and facilitated by the two days each year set aside to think about them – Trans Day of Remembrance and Trans Day of Visibility. But trans folks need to be more than remembered or rendered visible. They need to be supported daily, given access to the resources and tools needed for survival. And so much of the art I loved in 2017 was made by trans folks.

Defining “trans artist” as an individual musician or band with one or more trans or non-binary members, I’ve collected ten 2017 albums I want to share with everyone I know. As I wrote about these releases I love, my chest expanded to be tender and open – my self filled with the deep and satisfying strength which comes from meaningful art. In other words, I felt very !!!!! while writing this list, and I hope listening to these artists will spark the same feeling in you.

Aye Nako – Silver Haze

Listening to Aye Nako feels like being hit in the gut and wrapped in warmth at the same time. The band makes hard-working, gritty music which is both empathetic and unapologetic, and Silver Haze – which takes on anti-blackness, safety, childhood friendship, and feeling disconnected – is no exception. Mars Dixon and Jade Payne split vocals on songs which are challenging and complex. Earlier this year, I got the chance to speak with Aye Nako about their new album. And months after Silver Haze was released, I’ve taken to carrying a black tourmaline in each of my back pants pockets.

AhMerAhSu – Rebecca

Rebecca is dreamy and compassionate. On it, Star Amerasu tackles addiction, transphobia, and grief with a remarkably soft and open approach. It’s a forgiving album, treating both speaker and listener more kindly than we often treat ourselves. Each time I turn to Rebecca, I am struck once again by the grace and lightness that AhMerAhSu imbues in her work, as well as the technical and exacting beauty of her production. The songs on Rebecca are silky and deftly spun; worth both learning from and leaning on.

Rainer Maria – S/T

Rainer Maria’s first release in eleven years, S/T is more than a reunion album. Like some of their earlier work, S/T features haunting vocal give-and-takes from Kaia Fischer and Caithlin De Marrais, accompanied by fantastically heavy instrumental arrangements. Every time I listen to this album, I feel the same kind of driving satisfaction I imagine I might get after punching a TERF in the mouth. S/T is intense and surprising, blooming new sonic details with each listen.

Shamir – Revelations

Revelations is Shamir’s first release on Father Daughter records, and marks a shift in the artist’s sound. The album is expansive and meandering, unfolding complicated, fractured emotions through lyrical development. Compared to earlier albums, instrumentation and production takes a backseat on Revelation, but Shamir’s voice more than makes up for it. It’s a deep well of an album; one that I return to, over and over again, to draw out hurt, joy, and inspiration.

Vivek Shraya – Part Time Woman

2017 was Vivek Shraya’s year! On top of releasing Part-Time Woman, Shraya’s first book of poetry, Even this Page is White, won a 2017 Publisher Triangle Award, her upcoming book I’m Afraid of Men was slated for publishing in Fall 2018, and she was featured on Tegan and Sara’s anniversary album, The Con X (as was Shamir, and about a dozen other queer artists worth checking out). Part-Time Woman, which features musical support from the Queer Songbook Orchestra, is smart and biting. Shraya skewers what she calls “the labour expected in order to be seen and valued as a woman,” exposing mechanisms of violent transmisogyny through her lyrics.


Adult Mom – Soft Spots

Soft Spots is warm and weepy; an album that I can’t help but hold close. Steph Knipe’s approach to their songs is careful and enduring, resulting in songs which cradle the listener. I had the chance to see Adult Mom play in San Francisco last summer, and the feeling of fullness and great joy I felt during that show reappears with each listen of Soft Spots. 

Worriers – Survival Pop

Listening to Worriers makes my whole body ache, and yet, somehow, it’s still fun. Survival Pop is like candy for folks who love pop punk, but also love listening to music about being non-binary. Though Lauren Denitzio’s lyrics are relentless, and occasionally even painful in their pointed honesty, the album is buoyed by fast and enthusiastic drum and guitar parts. Survival Pop is an album that asks to be danced to with abandon, desperately even. At the same time it sets itself up to be an educative tool for your mom.

Freya – The Brightest Ones

Released on Trans Day of Visibility, 2017, The Brightest Ones is soothing and imaginative. It offers world-building lyrics backed by sparkling electro-acoustic arrangements, as well as an endearing sense of personal intimacy. On her website, Freya notes when and where each song was written, offering a tender glimpse into the artist’s process.

Hirs – How to Stop Street Harassment

Hirs describe How to Stop Street Harassment as “ten songs about wanting to be left alone while minding our business being in public.” If you miss G.L.O.S.S. (and don’t we all?) this is the 2017 release for you. Hirs is a rotating collective of trans, queer musicians, and How to Stop Street Harassment is a brilliant manifesto in support of street safety for trans folks.

She/Her – Marigold

Chicago duo She/Her are triumphant on Marigold, wielding dysphoric and troubling lyrics with strength and precision. She/Her takes their time on the album, committing to varied instrumental movements and, in some cases, longer songs which build until it seems they might break. The opening instrumental track “Locust Street” is a gorgeous surprise which sets up the band’s attention to texture throughout the album.

AF 2017 IN REVIEW: Our Favorite Albums and Singles of the Year

While there’s been many a jaded thinkpiece about the import of music critics (usually begging the question What are they good for?) and the ubiquity of year-end lists can feel shallow at times, we can’t stress enough the importance of what it means to share music among friends. It’s a huge part of developing our tastes early in life – everyone has that one super cool bestie who introduced you to your favorite band in middle school – and as we get older, if music remains a source of passion in our lives, it becomes something we bond over as new relationships form.

Here at Audiofemme, we think of our readers as friends, so we made a list too. It’s not definitive, it’s not authoritative, and it’s (hopefully) not pretentious – just a round-up of the albums and singles that soundtracked the year for our regular writers (and, of course, your editors). We hope it will result in discovery as one year becomes the next; perhaps that album you missed back in February will get you through this winter, here and now. Music exists on a continuum, and even though the releases were highlighting now all came out within a particular calendar year, we don’t have to put them aside as we turn the page. Stay tuned for more features over the next week recapping 2017, and in the meantime, take a listen to some of our most beloved tunes.

EDITOR LISTS

  • Annie White (Executive Director)

    Top 10 Albums:
    1) Zola Jesus – Okovi
    2) the xx – I See You
    3) Jlin – Black Oragami
    4) King Krule – The OOZ
    5) Perfume Genius – No Shape
    6) Kelela – Take Me Apart
    7) Julien Baker – Turn Out The Lights
    8) Slowdive – Slowdive
    9) SZA – Ctrl
    10) Priests – Nothing Feels Natural
    Top 5 Singles:
    1) Aimee Mann – “Goose Snow Cone”
    2) Rostam – “Don’t Let It Get To You”
    3) Lorde – “The Louvre”
    4) Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow”
    5) Charlotte Gainsbourg – “Deadly Valentine”

  • Lindsey Rhoades (Editor-in-Chief)

    Top 10 Albums:
    1) Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me
    2) The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
    3) Slowdive – Slowdive
    4) Sophia Kennedy – Sophia Kennedy
    5) SZA – Ctrl
    6) Circuit des Yeux – Reaching for Indigo
    7) Kelly Lee Owens – Kelly Lee Owens
    8) Big Thief – Capacity
    9) Havah – Contravveleno
    10) sir Was – Digging a Tunnel
    Top 10 Singles:
    1) Land of Talk – “Inner Lover”
    2) Xiu Xiu – “Wondering”
    3) The National – “Nobody Else Will Be There”
    4) Jlin – “Holy Child”
    5) Marika Hackman – “Boyfriend”
    6) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – “An Intention”
    7) Wolf Parade – “Valley Boy”
    8) Syd – “Body”
    9) Perfume Genius – “Wreath”
    10) Pixx – “Toes”

STAFF LISTS

  • Madison Bloom (Only Noise)

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Happyness – Write In
    2) Timber Timbre – Sincerely, Future Pollution
    3) Aldous Harding – Party
    4) Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
    5) Perfume Genius – No Shape
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Aldous Harding – “Imagining My Man”
    2) Blanck Mass – “Please”
    3) Benjamin Clementine – “Phantom of Aleppoville”

  • Ashley Prillaman

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Valerie June – The Order of Time
    2) Portugal The Man – Woodstock
    3) Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
    4) Big Thief – Capacity
    5) SZA – Ctrl
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Valerie June – “Astral Plane”
    2) Amber Mark – “Lose My Cool”
    3) Big Thief – “Shark Smile”

  • Kaiya Gordon (Playing Columbus)

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Princess Nokia – 1992 Deluxe
    2) SZA – Cntrl
    3) Paramore – After Laughter
    4) Aye Nako – Silver Haze
    5) Big Thief – Capacity
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Cardi B – “Bodak Yellow”
    2) St. Vincent – “New York”
    3) Japanese Breakfast – “Machinist”

  • Sara Barron (Playing Detroit)

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Daniel Caesar – Freudian
    2) Jamila Woods – HEAVN
    3) Moses Sumney – Aromanticism
    4) Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett – Lotta Sea Lice
    5) Kevin Morby – City Music
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) St. Vincent – “New York”
    2) Snoh Aalegra – “Fool For You”
    3) Cigarettes After Sex – “Sweet”

  • Elizabeth Wakefield

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Bambara – Swarm
    2) Angel Olsen – Phases
    3) Bjork – Utopia
    4) Surfbort – Bort 2 Death
    5) Liars – TFCF
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Alexander F – “Swimmers”
    2) Weeping Icon – “Jail Bilz”
    3) Uni – “What’s the Problem?”

  • Tarra Thiessen (Check the Spreadsheet)

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Francie Moon – So This is Life
    2) The Big Drops – Time, Color
    3) Angel Olsen – Phases
    4) Lola Pistola – Curfew 
    5) Thelma & The Sleaze – Somebody’s Doin Somethin
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Bizarre Sharks – “Tremendous”
    2) Ty Segall – “Black Magick”
    3) Fruit & Flowers – “Out of Touch”

  • Jamila Aboushaca

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) ODESZA — A Moment Apart
    2) Royal Blood — How Did We Get So Dark?
    3) Cut Copy — Haiku From Zero
    4) Khalid — American Teen
    5) Lana Del Rey — Lust For Life
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Rostam Batmanglij — “Gwan”
    2) Cut Copy — “Standing In The Middle Of The Field”
    3) alt-J — “In Cold Blood”

  • Natalie Kirch (Pet Politics)

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Def Grrrls – GRLS
    2) PILL – Convenience
    3) Fruit & Flowers – Drug Tax
    4) THICK – It’s Always Something
    5) Fraidycat – Other Better Places
    Top 3 5 6 Singles:
    1) Holy Tunics – “Victoria”
    2) Alexander F – “Call Me Pretty”
    3) Grim Streaker – “Miami Girl”
    4) Lost Boy ? – “Mr. Dribble Drab”
    5) Haybaby – “Yours”
    HONORABLE MENTION: Bad GP – “The GP Stripes Theme Song”

  • Suzannah Weiss (High Notes)

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Laura Marling – Semper Femina
    2) Galantis – The Aviary
    3) Robin Schulz – Uncovered
    4) Sleigh Bells – Kid Kruschev
    5) Björk – Utopia
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Marshmello ft. Khalid – “Silence”
    2) Martin Garrix ft. Troye Sivan – “There for You”
    3) Dua Lipa – “New Rules”

  • Mandy Brownholtz

    Top 5 Albums:
    1) Alvvays – Antisocialites
    2) Waxahatchee – Out In The Storm
    3) Future Islands – The Far Field
    4) Priests – Nothing Feels Natural
    5) King Woman – Created In The Image Of Suffering
    Top 3 Singles:
    1) Alvvays – “NotMy Baby”
    2) Yumi Zouma – “December”
    3) Charly Bliss – “Glitter”