Top 10 Albums of 2017

Best Albums of 2017


Mutant Standard (not to be confused with the The Evening Standard) is a nook, a minuscule cranny of the world wide web. A site devised for a singular purpose... Delivering my top 10 albums released within our latest rotation around the sun.So put down your copy of 1984 glitter up, grab a prawn sandwich and dive in...

10.Pharmakon // Contact (Sacred Bones Records)

It only takes a lengthy stare into the sea of sweaty fingers immersing Pharmakon’s face on the cover, to grasp a thematic gage of her volatile third record. Lust for touch and emotional manipulation are explored, however Contact’s lyrics are barely digestible above the gnarly zaps and explosions of power electronics. Instead, Pharmakon moulds music for the inferno through mechanical onslaught and ear torture porn in what is perhaps the most terrifying project of 2017. 

9.Charli XCX //Number 1 Angel (Asylum Records)

Following up last year's PC Music showcasing EP Vroom Vroom, Charli XCX ventures further into their wonky post-modern universe, with a collection of "sticky icky" bubblegum pop songs. Where Vroom Vroom was a swanky  Lamborghini thrill ride, Number 1 Angel presents emotionally expansive narratives concerning fame, infatuation and Saturday nightclub pick up politics.

8.NMESH // Pharma (Orange Milk Records)

The latest addition to Nmesh's lengthy discography is an odyssey of spontaneity.A scintillating take on the post-vaporwave aesthetic. Katy Pery, James Brown, Right Said Fred and Pink Floyd all sampled on a perplexing collage of mutated rhythms, and explicitly erratic chop ups.

7.Pan Daijing //Lack 惊蛰 (PAN)
Taking on the concept of a"theatre of our minds" Berlin-based Pan Daijing voyages through the darkest channels of the human psyche.Harsh noise bursts tear through the embers of an all in all sinister record, before halting with a poignant conclusion.Lack 惊蛰's surrealist nature and incalculable moments of improv send it dangerously close to perfection.

 6. Kirin J. Callinan // Bravado (Terrible Records)

Australian singer-songwriter and grandiose showman Kirin J. Callinan is something of an enigma, an intersection of a swashbuckling macho man and a flamboyant drag performer. His sophomore album is a miscellaneous collection of tracks parodying and at times homaging everything from EDM to Radio 2 rock. With guest features from Connan Mockasin, Alex Cameron, and Weyes Blood.The record is sexy, sleezy.facetious and at times flat-out strange.Embedded in tongue and cheek irony, Bravado is as ostentatious as the character who conceived it.

5.Lorde //Melodrama (Lava/Republic)

In a world of ubiquitously pristine pop music, Lorde builds upon the trending ultra-clean instrumentation as an asset, creating a world of ear-pleasing stylistic electropop backed with her atypical charm. The rich textures and quirk fueled vocal deliveries pull her artistry beyond the realm of a relatable bedroom produced darling, and further towards the territory of decade-defining pop artist.

4.Laurel Halo // Dust (Hyperdub)
Progressive electronic sub-genres are often pigeonholed to the landscapes in which they would likely belong. Some, the gritty scores of smog-filled industrial estates, some portray aquatic or even intergalactic tranquility. Dust's lead singles paint the record to be a neon filtered exotica playlist, but a delve deeper reveals undertones of a darker nature. Tear away the West African xylophones of Moontalk and the infectious slippery hooks of Jelly and reveal something altogether more melancholic.

3.Lingua Ignota // All Bitches Die (Self-Released)

One of two albums released by the Lincoln-based industrial musician Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), the aptly titled All Bitches Die is a cacophony of carnage. The project is a telling memoir of the domestic violence Hayter has previously been victim to, sonically illustrated with the unlikely combination of death industrial and modern classical. Emotional intensity reigns throughout, from the puce screams it opens with, to the very final lyric “my rapist lies beside me.”

2.Klein // Tommy EP (Hyperdub)


Klein’s Hyperdub debut is as jarring as it is hypnagogic and. A formless collection of dissonance fit with capricious detours. While Tommy’s sound craft turns its trajectory even further away from typical genre tropes then her self-released projects, the presence of R&B a pop lurk like a phantom in the shadows. Klein takes infectious melodies and hooks and destroys them with pitch shifting, modulation, and off-key gloomy atmospherics. Welded together by the rudimentary sound programme audacity, the amertusih flair of the EP makes for one of the most unique projects of the decade.

Couldn't write about all the records I loved so here are some shout-outs to other fantastic albums this year ...

Perfume Genius // No Shape
TZUSING // TZUSING
Chelsea Wolfe // His Spun
Jlin // Black Origami 
Japan Blues // Sells his Record Collection 
Brockhampton // Saturation (I and II)
The Caretaker// Everywhere at the End of Time (Stage 2 and 3)
Vince Staples // Big Fish Theory 
Actress // AZD
Alex Cameron // Forced Witness
MHYSA// Fantasii
Richard Dawson // Peasant 
Aaron Dilloway // The Gag File
$hit and $hine // Some People Really Know How to Live
How
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1.Arca// Arca (XL)

Alehrandro Ghersi’s work as Arca exists as an anomaly, his intricate compositions spearheaded with synthetic caterwauling flourishes have always pricked up the ear of the modern day futurist. His music has never bound to static limitations - propulsive and vivacious like a Carrà or a Boiconici painting. On his self-titled Arca encapsulates his sonic extravisties into an off-kilter yet easily digestible pop record. Perhaps Ghersi’s most complete project, Arca does not bare the weighty length and lack of focus of Mutant or Xen and is bolstered by his operatic vocals that and harrowing Spanish sang words.

Words : Aimee Armstrong