Ryan's Favorite Releases of 2017

2017 was about as strange of a year as any other I have lived through; for me personally however, it was a massive year of change. While things around me (and possibly things about me) shifted throughout this time, my love for music did not. Thankfully Julia included two of my favorite releases in her own list so I could really narrow it down to a Top 3.

1) Precious Art by Rozwell Kid  (West Virgina, US)

I have always liked Rozwell Kid. Their songs are more often than not silly in nature, well written, but above all else fun. As is typical with albums I love immensely, I wasn't super into Precious Art when I heard it back in June. Then as the weeks went on a track would come on shuffle and I'd think, "Hey, I actually like this song." Within a couple of months I had listened to the album front to back at least two dozen times and I started to pick up things that I wasn't aware of my first few listens through. It still has that silly, less than serious attitude of previous works. The best example has to be the song "Wishman." It's my favorite Dad-Joke except put to music. "I asked the Wishman to make me a dog. He said 'your wish is my command' and I said 'Woof! Woof! Woof!" It's hilarious. It's the conversation I have with my father on a daily basis, "Dad will you make me a sandwich?' 'Poof! You're a sandwich!" With that said there are hidden gems that, while they seem as matter-of-fact as "Wishman" are profoundly heartbreaking and punch me right in the feels. "Booger" is the prime example. As I hear it, the song centers around a person waiting for their lover to call them because that's all they really care about in life is this other person. So they're just picking their nose waiting when finally they get the call. They get so excited they smear their booger all over the phone screen. Then they break up, and the only memory of this person is that booger smeared across the screen. It's funny, it's sad, it's everything Rozwell Kid does best. On top of the album itself was the show. I had never seen them and as the night progressed I wound up getting them to sign this record for a friend of mine who couldn't make it. Then they played "Wishman" three times in a row, and on the fourth time through let an audience member change the animal from a dog to another animal. The guy chose a cow, then the whole crowd Mooed; following that they were Mooed the rest of their night in Denver. Rozwell Kid was hands down the best show of 2017 and released the best album of 2017.  Be sure to grab it from their Bandcamp page or through the SideOneDummy store.

2) VOIDS by Minus The Bear (Seattle, Washington, US)

I have listened to VOIDS more than any other album this year. In the years I've spent invested in music I've noticed a trend: the addition of a new drummer more often than not leads to massive changes. It makes sense, drumming is the backbone to everything, so why wouldn't it change things around it? I also wasn't expecting them to release something this late in their career that I would love and enjoy even more than their previous releases. My love for VOIDS isn't in how well they have evolved musically (but rest assured they have) it's in how much they seemed to mature after Infinity Overhead. If this album were released 4 years ago it probably would have been at the top of my list. It relates so well to where I was in life at that point in time. It makes me feel that longing and devotion to another person that I had so long ago. It's all of my nostalgia captured in a 46 minute long segment. I listen to it front to back almost religiously, and every time I do I nearly break into tears. "What about the boat?" is likely my favorite track they have ever made. It has that old Minus The Bear sound but it's been coupled with these heavy complex emotions surrounding the lyrics. If you haven't hopped on the bandwagon yet, you can visit their website or browse through the Suicide Squeeze store.

3) Mortals by Down I Go (Stockholm, Toronto, Chicago)

I have already written a full review on here previously which you may scroll through if you are so inclined, but they must be on the list. It is my favorite band at their utmost best, and I think I have finally started to pinpoint why. Down I Go aren't a band. I mean, they are, but not in a traditional sense. They live in different countries. Where most bands write in the same room these gentlemen seem to feed off of their distance. The fact that they will in all likelihood never share a stage together (as saddening as that is) means that they have the freedom to explore sounds and ideas that they perhaps wouldn't have thought of doing if they actually did occupy the same space. You don't need to be a fan of heavy music to be a fan of theirs; all you really need is to focus. There are so many harmonies riddled through 4 songs that I still have a hard time believing their vocalist is THE ONLY person who does the vocals. Every layer is him. It makes my brain hurt. Hell, it even hurts my throat hearing him scattered about each of the harmonies, screams, and growls. Like them on facebook, follow them on Twitter, or do the world a favor and buy their music and merchandise so that they can have the money to self-produce more works of art such as this.