"Give me the deeper understanding of who I am..." is a quick snippet of lyric I've found myself returning to on a near-daily basis in 2017. This is taken from one of my favorite songs/albums of the year and gives way to the title of said album (The War On Drugs - A Deeper Understanding). Personally speaking, if this year has brought anything overtly positive, I would have to say: I'm healthy, I'm surrounded by family and friends, and I have the ability to create my own happiness (which is typically through music, surf, travel (van!), art, and food).
But, like many, I feel endlessly helpless and frustrated by an increasingly difficult American landscape. One that feels foreign, bitter, and unjust to me. The bottom seemingly continues to drop.
I certainly have no prescription to remedy the situation, and quite frankly, have wrestled with this damn end-of-year essay for some time now; but I think an upper hand lies in the desire and drive to control what you can. Because if we've learned ANYTHING at all this year, it's that life is full of uncontrollable factors. As I write, my beloved Southern California is reeling from devastating wildfires. Neighbors, firefighters (heroes), plants, animals, and property are at the mercy of a force greater than the sum of their parts. For me, that example emphasizes the fact that I don't know if everything will be ok or work out, but in the meantime, I'm going to at least try to set sail in a direction of my choosing.
English poet John Milton said, "He who reigns within himself, and rules passions, desires, and fears, is more than a king." Easier said than done, but I think it's well within reason to own your own reality. And, who knows, maybe if we all shine our personal light a little brighter, we'll begin to understand each other a little bit better. Especially if we take the first step and truly understand ourselves.
With the preamble out of the way, let me pontificate for a moment on the fantastic year that was music. We heard from artists we haven't seen in quite awhile (Slowdive, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, LCD Soundsystem, Broken Social Scene), we also embraced younger artists exploring rich new territory (King Krule, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Julie Byrne, Vince Staples). It was a banner year for tunes and my list was rather hard to whittle down, but I managed ;)
I hope you and yours find a slice of peace & joy this holiday season. Thank you for enriching my life over the years. As always, please send along your favorites of the year, I would love to see/hear what you've been up to. All the best in 2018.
Cheers,
T-Hale
Top 10 Songs of 2017
(counting down 10 to 1)
Best Albums of 2017
*This is a meditative, Sunday morning album, if there ever was one*
*A study in past, present, and future hiphop. What a legend*
*The OOZ is a world unto itself. I recommend getting lost in it after some late night revelry*
*An album born of an artist who is both worth admiring and embracing as a new generational voice progressing an age-old art*
*Morby pens an enjoyable ode to city life and its energetic power*
*This is a prescient album that encapsulates the current American landscape through thoughtful songwriting and wry humor*
*A lush and ornate album with relatable themes from the masters of sophisticated indierock*
*This album ran up my list as the months wore on. Unfurls like an epic and takes some studying to fully grasp*
*On this record, you’ll hear expansive, hook-laden ‘American rock & roll.’ It sounds of a timeless era and the plaudits you’ve probably heard are accurate. Any other year, I'd bet 20 bucks it would be my #1*
*A cascading, dreamscape of an album. All the more impressive given their 20+ year break. They created the mold for artists like Beach House, Deerhunter and others. This is how it's done to perfection*
Honorable mentions:
