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DISCUSSION FORUM

Yes I've gone pretty much insane. I didn't even think I would go for a top 300 again this year because of how much time I've spent not listening to music, until I looked at my iTunes library and realised it wouldn't be hard to make such a list. While there is considerably less J-Pop power metal in this year's list, I can still promise it to be as weird and diverse as usual.

As usual I won't play the bottom 300 songs, I'll just zip through them at regular intervals.

If you wish to join the festivities, it starts at 4pm AEDST today and streaming from http://myradiostream.com/station/flashplayer.php?s=s6&p=14748

Yet again I don't know when I'll actually start the stream, but I'll figure that out soon.
400-301

400Ed SheeranCastle On The Hill
399Wolf AliceSpace & Time
398LastlingsInsane
397WidowspeakThe Dream
396Braille FaceRun For Your Life
395Willow BeatsBe Kind to Yourself
394Calvin Harris (feat Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams & Big Sean)Feels
393Lana Del ReyLove
392SaskwatchDecember Nights
391BjörkThe Gate
390Hazel EnglishLove Is Dead
389AristophanesHumans Become Machines
388Cut CopyBlack Rainbows
387Marika HackmanMy Lover Cindy
386CultsRecovery
385ELKIBeautiful Mess
384King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardBarefoot Desert
383Fever RayTo The Moon And Back
382BanksUnderdog
381J Balvin & Willy WilliamMi Gente
380Zuri AkokoPsyche
379PhoenixTi Amo
378BiyoFantasies
377Dua Lipa (feat Miguel)Lost In Your Light
376SZAAnything
375The KillersRun For Cover
374KimbraEverybody Knows
373ODESZAMeridian
372The Smith Street BandShine
371Ciaran McMeekenWhich Way Shall We Go?
370The Japanese HouseSaw You In a Dream
369Gorillaz (feat Jehnny Beth)We Got The Power
368Leisure SuiteDon't Wait
367ParamoreHard Times
366Foo FightersArrows
365Ric RufioSo Wonderful
364Tired LionDumb Days
363Taylor SwiftCall It What You Want
362Tia GostelowHunger
361Lucianblomkamp (feat Trim)Still No
360FrancesLove Me Again
359Touch SensitiveLose It All
358Peking Duk & AlunaGeorgeFake Magic
357KasabianComeback Kid
356Tei ShiSay You Do
355Little DragonThe Pop Life
354Royal BloodHole In Your Heart
353CultsRight Words
352Queens of the Stone AgeFortress
351Tyler, The Creator (feat Frank Ocean)Where This Flower Blooms
350Gorillaz (feat Popcaan)Saturn Barz
349DaughterDreams of William
348Portugal. The ManFeel It Still
347Cashmere Cat9 (After Coachella) (feat. MØ & SOPHIE)
346Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitHope The High Road
345Post Malone (feat 21 Savage)rockstar
344The NationalCarin at the Liquor Store
343Kendrick Lamar (feat Zacari)LOVE.
342DeJ LoafChanges
341Gang of YouthsDo Not Let Your Spirit Wane
340Arcade FireElectric Blue
339Tired LionBehave
338Ben Wright SmithHellion Heeled
337JoyrideAunty Tracey's Cookies
336Vera BluePrivate
335Zoë Fox and the Rocket ClocksFists
334Queens of the Stone AgeVillains of Circumstance
333BROCKHAMPTONHOTTIE
332Jason DeruloIf I'm Lucky
331The AcesTouch
330Astrid SSuch A Boy
329RhyeCount To Five
328Jess LockeDangerous
327LordeThe Louvre
326Kronic (feat Leon Thomas)Rendezvous
325Set Mo (feat Woodes)I Belong Here
324LordeWriter In the Dark
323At The Drive-InGoverned By Contagions
322FutureMask Off
321Sampa the GreatRhymes To The East
32021 SavageBank Account
319Sara DiamondStay A Little
318Cardi BBodak Yellow
317Ariel PinkDo Yourself a Favor
316Ceres (feat Wil Wagner)Stretch Ur Skin
315BØRNSFaded Heart
314Jax Jones (feat RAYE)You Don't Know Me
313Braille FaceFaraway
312Angus & Julia StoneCellar Door
311Wolf AliceSky Musings
310Charli XCXBoys
309Jax Jones (feat Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don)Instruction
308Big ShaqMan's Not Hot
307At The Drive-InPendulum In A Peasant Dress
306HAIMLittle Of Your Love
305WoodesRun for It
304Maty NoyesLondon
303Queens of the Stone AgeThe Way You Used to Do
302SZA (feat Travis Scott)Love Galore
301Caiti BakerBeliever

Last edited:
300-201

300JAY-Z (feat Beyonce)Family Feud
299PnauSave Disco
298SaskwatchThen There's You
297AlvvaysIn Undertow
296N*E*R*D & Future1000
295WafiaOnly Love
294MiguelTold You So
293French Montana (feat Swae Lee)Unforgettable
292Gang of YouthsAtlas Drowned
291Brand NewSame Logic/Teeth
290LordeLiability
289Royal BloodShe's Creeping
288Marika HackmanBoyfriend
287GoldfrappAnymore
286DZ DeathraysShred For Summer
285JAY-Z (feat Frank Ocean)Caught Their Eyes
284CayetanaMesa
283LordeSupercut
282Annie BassDon't Want
281Paul KellyRising Moon
280JamiroquaiCloud 9
279Katy PerryHey Hey Hey
278SZAThe Weekend
277Benjamin BookerRight On You
276King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardI’m Sleepin’ In
275Royal BloodLights Out
274Tyler, The Creator (feat A$AP Rocky)Who Dat Boy
273Tired LionHawaiifive0
272Kendrick LamarFEAR.
271St. VincentNew York
270MakthaverskanEden
269Middle KidsNever Start
268Alex LaheyLotto In Reverse
267Joey Bada$$TEMPTATION
266The Smith Street BandBirthdays
265Laura MarlingWild Fire
264Augie MarchBootikins
263LordeSober
262Jess LockeUniverse
261Joey Bada$$ (feat ScHoolboy Q)ROCKABYE BABY
260Wolf AliceFormidable Cool
259Slowly SlowlyAliens
258Kendrick LamarThe Heart Part 4
257BROCKHAMPTONJELLO
256Gang of YouthsAchilles Come Down
255SlowdiveStar Roving
254Perfume GeniusWreath
253Laura MarlingNouel
252Dizzee RascalWot U Gonna Do?
251Tired LionWhere Were You?
250Kendrick Lamar (feat Rihanna)LOYALTY.
249alt-J3WW
248Royal BloodLook Like You Know
247HuskySplinters In the Fire
246LUMEMagnets
245Statik Selektah (feat Run The Jewels)Put Jewels On It
244Joe GoddardHome
243The PresetsDo What You Want
242Ecca VandalFuture Heroine
241King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardOpen Water
240Wolf AliceYuk Foo
239The NationalGuilty Party
238BROCKHAMPTONGOLD
237Cloud ControlTreetops
236Everything Is Recorded (feat Sampha)Close but Not Quite
235Mew85 Videos
234HuskyShark Fin
233Run The Jewels (feat Trina)Panther Like a Panther (Miracle Mix)
232ThundercatFriend Zone
231Kendrick LamarPRIDE.
230The Money WarHold On
229Ecca VandalBad Habit
228JAY-ZKill Jay Z
227Haiku HandsNot About You
226BROCKHAMPTONJUNKY
225King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardNuclear Fusion
224LCD Soundsystemamerican dream
223Alex LaheyI Haven't Been Taking Care of Myself
222KelelaLMK
221Father John MistyTotal Entertainment Forever
220Run The Jewels (feat Tunde Adebimpe)Thieves! (Screamed the Ghost)
219Franz FerdinandAlways Ascending
218Tired LionCilantro
217FORD MISKIN (feat Samsaruh & Theophilus London)Do It Better
216alt-JAdeline
215Lucy RoseIs This Called Home
214Methyl EthelL'Heure des Sorcières
213KeshaPraying
212CultsTalk in Circles
211JANEVA (feat ZenSoFly)Humble Beginnings
210PolarisThe Remedy
209Arcade FirePut Your Money on Me
208Sloan Peterson105
207Laura MarlingNothing, Not Nearly
206Glassjawshira
205Ali BarterThe Captain
204Tired LionJapan
203GoldfrappMoon In Your Mouth
202Ruby FieldsI Want
201Hayden James (feat GRAACE)NUMB

Last edited:
200-101

200DZ DeathraysTotal Meltdown
199When I Was Young
198Le Youth (feat MNDR)I Could Always
197PixxWaterslides
196Queens of the Stone AgeHead Like a Haunted House
195Royal BloodHook, Line & Sinker
194Billie EilishMy Boy
193JamiroquaiAutomaton
192DaughterA Hole in the Earth
191Cold War Kids (feat Bishop Briggs)So Tied Up
190Run The JewelsStay Gold
189Tired LionFresh
188WongoParadise (feat. San Mei)
187GorillazAndromeda (feat. D.R.A.M.)
186London GrammarEveryone Else
185NoMBeWait
184GoldfrappOcean
183Jessie WareSelfish Love
182SAFIACellophane Rainbow
181AlvvaysDreams Tonite
180Sloan PetersonRats
179JAY-ZThe Story of O.J.
178BeneTough Guy
177HuskyGhost
176LordePerfect Places
175The NationalDay I Die
174Tove StyrkeMistakes
173Run The JewelsA Report to the Shareholders / Kill Your Masters
172Alexandra SaviorShades
171Cherry GlazerrLucid Dreams
170Little DragonSweet
169BROCKHAMPTONSWAMP
168YUNGBLUDI Love You, Will You Marry Me
167Perfume GeniusSlip Away
166Lana Del Rey (feat A$AP Rocky & Playboi Carti)Summer Bummer
165SOHNProof
164Bonobo (feat Nick Murphy)No Reason
163The War on DrugsThinking of a Place
162Everything EverythingCan't Do
161Fleet FoxesCassius, -
160King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardThe Lord of Lightning
159Brand NewOut Of Mana
158Milky ChanceBlossom
157Carly Rae JepsenCut to the Feeling
156ChelaBad Habit
155Kendrick LamarELEMENT.
154Flume (feat Kučka)Hyperreal
153Wolf AliceSt. Purple & Green
152E^STLife Goes On
151Queens of the Stone AgeThe Evil Has Landed
150Brand NewCan't Get It Out
149SpoonHot Thoughts
148Fleet FoxesThird of May / Ōdaigahara
147BROCKHAMPTONFIGHT
146Sarah BlaskoPhantom
145Sampa the Great (feat Nicole Gumbe)Black Girl Magik
144DeJ LoafNo Fear
143Gang of YouthsFear and Trembling
142Yellow ClawGood Day (feat. DJ Snake & Elliphant)
141Spinifex Gum (feat Briggs)Locked Up
140LastlingsUrges
139Middle KidsOld River
138George MapleKryptonite
137SigridStrangers
136FazerdazeMisread
135Brand NewWaste
134Billie EilishCopycat
133BROCKHAMPTONHEAT
132SZA (feat Isaiah Rashad)Pretty Little Birds
131SaskwatchFinger Painting
130SlowdiveDon't Know Why
129TemplesStrange or Be Forgotten
128Rainbow ChanLet Me
127Gang of YouthsSay Yes to Life
126Emily Haines & The Soft SkeletonMinefield of Memory
125The xxSay Something Loving
124AirlingNot a Fighter
123Wolf AliceVisions of a Life
122Miguel (feat Kali Uchis)Caramelo Duro
121Nothing But ThievesAfterlife
120Drake (feat Jorja Smith & Black Coffee)Get It Together
119MakthaverskanIn My Dreams
118London GrammarRooting For You
117RY XBad Love
116Carmouflage RoseLate Nights
115King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardDown The Sink
114SLUMBERJACK (feat Vera Blue)Fracture
113GoldLink (feat Mya)Roll Call
112DJ Khaled (feat Rihanna & Bryson Tiller)Wild Thoughts
111BROCKHAMPTONSISTER / NATION
110Lance Ferguson (feat Kylie Auldist)2+1
109MGMTWhen You Die
108TemplesI Want To Be Your Mirror
107Alex LaheyEvery Day's the Weekend
106Ecca VandalClosing Ceremony
105The KillersThe Man
104Laura MarlingSoothing
103Grace MitchellNow
102Gang of YouthsThe Heart Is a Muscle
101LordeGreen Light

Last edited:
100-1

100The NationalThe System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
99King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardSleep Drifter
98Tired LionCinderella Dracula
97K.FlayBlack Wave
96NiiaNobody
95The Money WarStars
94Calvin Harris (feat Frank Ocean & Migos)Slide
93SZADrew Barrymore
92Alex LaheyI Want U
91At the Drive-InIncurably Innocent
90BROCKHAMPTONSTUPID
89Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitAnxiety
88Wolf AliceBeautifully Unconventional
87Paul KellyFirewood And Candles
86WaaxWild & Weak
85Arcade FireEverything Now
84TemplesMystery Of Pop
83LCD Soundsystemcall the police
82Father John MistyBallad of the Dying Man
81Blanke (feat Samsaruh)Blue
80N*E*R*D & RihannaLemon
79Everything Is Recorded (feat Syd & Sampha)Show Love
78Julien BakerAppointments
77StormzyBig For Your Boots
76Nothing But ThievesBroken Machine
75Kendrick Lamar (feat U2)XXX.
74BROCKHAMPTONSWEET
73The NationalTurtleneck
72Billie EilishIdontwannabeyouanymore
71Gang of YouthsLet Me Down Easy
70SamsaruhBeautiful Killer
69Laura MarlingDon't Pass Me By
68Beach HouseChariot
67Billie EilishBellyache
66SløtfaceMagazine
65Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitCumberland Gap
64MarmozetsHabits
63SløtfacePitted
62Gorillaz (feat Danny Brown & Kelela)Submission
61ÁsgeirAfterglow
60Nothing But ThievesI'm Not Made By Design
59Emily Haines & The Soft SkeletonPlanets
58Ric RufioWater to Wine
57Gorillaz (feat Vince Staples)Ascension
56Gang of YouthsThe Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows
55Kelsey BulkinWest Coast Drama
54Emily Haines & The Soft SkeletonPerfect on the Surface
53BROCKHAMPTONQUEER
52Perfume GeniusDie 4 You
51DrakePassionfruit
50Ecca Vandal (feat Sampa The Great)Your Orbit
49Manchester OrchestraThe Gold
48Mac DeMarcoOn the Level
47SpoonCan I Sit Next to You
46Jess LockeViolent Turn
45sleepmakeswavesTundra
44MGMTLittle Dark Age
43CultsOffering
42Future IslandsRan
41JAY-Z4:44
40King Gizzard & The Lizard WizardCrumbling Castle
39Sampa the Great (feat Estelle)Everybody's Hero
38Father John MistyPure Comedy
37IndianaBad Luck
36Pascal Michael StiefelYour Contract Has Expired
35The War on DrugsHolding On
34Joey Bada$$ (feat Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight & Meechy Darko)RING THE ALARM
33Manchester OrchestraThe Alien
32Tyler, The Creator (feat Kali Uchis)See You Again
31BROCKHAMPTONZIPPER
30Laura MarlingAlways This Way
29St. VincentLos Ageless
28Rita OraAnywhere
27N*E*R*D & Kendrick LamarDon't Don't Do It!
26Baker Boy (feat Yirrmal)Marryuna
25MilouxParis
24Ecca VandalBroke Days, Party Nights
23BROCKHAMPTONGUMMY
22Emily Haines & The Soft SkeletonFatal Gift
21Camp CopeThe Opener
20Nothing But ThievesAmsterdam
19GyroscopeCrooked Thought
18DaughterBurn It Down
17Methyl EthelUbu
16Ainslie WillsRunning Second
15Gang of YouthsWhat Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?
14Selena GomezBad Liar
13Gretta RayTowers
12Jessie WareMidnight
11Kendrick LamarHUMBLE.
10Lil Uzi VertXO TOUR Llif3
9Wolf AliceDon't Delete the Kisses
8Kira PuruTension
7Kendrick LamarDNA.
6Run The Jewels (feat Kamasi Washington)Thursday in the Danger Room
5Kendrick LamarLUST.
4BROCKHAMPTONBOOGIE
3Wolf AlicePlanet Hunter
2Melody's Echo ChamberCross My Heart
1SamsaruhGolden to Thrive

Last edited:
pumped!
2017

I left my sorrow behind in 2015.

It's surprising for me to read what I wrote last year where I said that things have been going well for me. It would have seemed like a peak for me too not soon after as I didn't start the year well. Once again I had to drop out of my studies which at least had the upshot of giving me more time for reading. I got to consume a lot of stuff outside of music that really impacted me, as well as hone my speedrunning craft to the point of me setting a world record back in October that is still standing as I write this now. And through all that I've made new connections all around the world, with people who respect me for my aptitude rather than treat me as a weirdo for it. I still get extremely anxious in social situations, but I've been making further steps than ever before to get accustomed to it.

I have to admit that music has taken a slight backseat because of this. When I spend hundreds of hours recording myself playing video games or reading visual novels, something's gotta give, so I didn't really get to digest as many new albums as I'd like to. I haven't been able to make a favourite albums list of 2017 yet because it's too hard to really sort them, and nothing feels like I can say it's my #1, just a lot of strong contenders that don't *quite* have that all-encompassing feel of say, a "Lemonade" or a "To Pimp A Butterfly".

Also here's me talking about video games https://pastebin.com/Tr1jKggg
100. The National - The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness

Hello my old friend, accompanied this time by darkness. In all seriousness though, while The National are pretty much famous for always sounding the same (I actually heard "Cardinal Song" the other day and thought it was from this album) but they do occasionally show fluorishes of change. Case in point with this lead single where the band's rhythm section gets a rare case to shine; this song even has a guitar solo and it's rad. The National don't do upbeat too often, but they often nail it.

Previous empires:
2003Cardinal Song#99
2005Mr. November#60
2007Mistaken For Strangers#37
2007Fake Empire#76
2010Bloodbuzz Ohio#42
2010Anyone's Ghost#81
2010Conversation 16#93
2013Pink Rabbits#61
2015Sunshine On My Back#71
99. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Sleep Drifter

In 2017, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released 5 albums. In 2017, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released 5 albums. In 2017, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released 5 albums. In 2017, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released 5 albums. In 2017, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released 5 albums. What's impressive though is just how much variety they managed to plug out. Not everything works but it's always interesting to see the latest thing they've done. They did start out strongly with a great album in "Flying Microtonal Banana", which would segue me to talking about microtonal tunings if I remotely understood it. I sure can understand the feeling of drifting in and out of sleep though, and this is an infectious tune that's only gotten better. It's also not often that you get to put a song on your newest EOY that's coming from a band's 5th newest album.
98. Tired Lion - Cinderella Dracula

Tired Lion have been populating the other portion of my list for a couple of years without quite breaking through. In 2017 they finally put out an album, which was great, and yet still without that killer track to really take them to the top. This is perfectly suitable for the time being though. Classic quiet/loud dynamics with a huge hook to make it stick out. And of course Sophie continues to be one of the most charismatic lead singers in the country so it's a recipe for success.
97. K.Flay - Black Wave

K.Flay is a rarity for being a woman who gets played on US alternative radio. Not all the way to the top because y'know there's always an Imagine Dragons song around the corner. "Black Wave" stood out to me because while she's always made rock-leaning tracks, I don't think I've come across one that shreds quite like this. The chorus is a rollicking ride that she's fully in control of.
96. Niia - Nobody

This is absolutely the Niia of that moderately sized Wyclef Jean hit from about 10 years ago. One of the most surprising tracks to catch my ear, but one that fits right at home in 2017. Niia delivers strongly on her performance on this tightly produced track.
95. The Money War - Stars

This feels like it would be right at home on triple j about 5-10 years ago which is my way of saying that it sounds like The John Steel Singers + "The Suburbs". Though they've garnered some airplay in the past year, this track sadly never really caught on, though it's my favourite of theirs. I also got to see them live at a free show and be perhaps the only person who was interested and had heard of them since pretty much everyone was just there for Birds Of Tokyo, and I got to say hi after the set, which was nice.
94. Calvin Harris (feat Frank Ocean & Migos) - Slide

You just can't count the man out I guess. See it as cynical demographic targeting if you will, the important thing is that Calvin Harris went back to making dance music that's actually fun, by golly it's been a while. I was a bit apprehensive at first when I heard about the track, as it seemed a strange place for every artist here to be at, and I wasn't sure whose strengths would be squandered. Fortunately that wasn't the case. Frank Ocean's crooning is as smooth as ever, and Migos do very well at keeping the party atmosphere with consistently strong verses.

Previous entries (Calvin Harris):
2008Dance Wiv Me (with Dizzee Rascal)#31
2009I'm Not Alone#82
2011Feel So Close#65
2014Pray To God (feat Haim)#42

Previous entries (Frank Ocean):
2011Swim Good#48
2011No Church In The Wild (with Jay-Z & Kanye West)#50
2011Novacane#55
2011Made In America (with Jay-Z & Kanye West)#84
2012Pyramids#7
2012Sweet Life#8
2012Super Rich Kids (feat Earl Sweatshirt)#63
2016Pink + White#58
2016Nights#95

Previous entries (QUAVO!):
2016Pick Up The Phone (with Young Thug & Travis Scott)#54
93. SZA - Drew Barrymore

I was obviously late on everything this year. Many of you will know that I spent much of December and January finally catching up on many of the albums I didn't have time for in the year, and there will be quite a bit of stuff appearing here thanks to those endeavours. Leading off that list of tracks is the lead single to SZA's delightful album "Ctrl", which proved to be quite a surprise success but with good reason. There's just no end to the creative melodies on display, with this track also showcasing a mammoth hook.
92. Alex Lahey - I Want U

If you know Alex Lahey, you probably know her for her loud, upbeat tracks with long titles. "I Want U" is none of those things and really sticks out on her discography for it. It really feels like a call back to a bygone era that I can't really place, with fuzzy guitars and warm vocal harmonies. It's a surprisingly sincere love song from someone who otherwise makes bratty, ironic songs about being a basket case (which I do also enjoy to be clear).
91. At The Drive-In - Incurably Innocent

When I get to my next retrospective EOY, At The Drive-In will definitely be prominent, but before we get to that, here's an early teaser. There's no real narrative to get behind for a band reforming after a long hiatus and putting out music that isn't far removed from their previous stuff, particularly in a year so heavily characterised by disappointing returns. This however manages to tap that ferocity, keeping the fire from "Relationship Of Command" burning. I'm fully behind this once again operational station.
90. BROCKHAMPTON - STUPID

The cult of BROCKHAMPTON is a curious case of massive underground swells that the main gatekeepers aren't involved in and thus have nothing to do with it. This is why even though they're inescapable on my feeds they have very little in the way of impressive stats in this era of drudging audiences over to specific songs to push desired agendas. This is something I can understand too, because BROCKHAMPTON are wild & in control, and as soon as you give a spotlight to something like that, you have no way of tempering what could come about it. Mind you, it's very easy to redact all of that when you consider some of the examples of stuff that does get recognised. But why bother pondering all that when you could be getting down to this sweet music.
89. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Anxiety

I find it interesting when people list songs in their EOY that they can make a personal connection to through the lyrics. It's something I'm not able to do often because there aren't many songs that I know of written about the trials and tribulations of being on the spectrum, and even then, by sheer nature of being a spectrum, there's a fat chance that it'd be a similar case to mine. But anxiety? That's something I can totally get. Especially pertinent with how my 2017 went, which makes me a bit sad I didn't hear this song sooner. Jason Isbell is just a great songwriter who, if you'll pardon the cliche, just gets it. Anxiety is tough to talk about because there's nothing pleasant about it, just internal suffering and feeling like you're letting yourself down. As someone who regularly needs the comfort of my own space, the line 'just give me a minute, 'cause I'm way up in it' really resonates with me.
88. Wolf Alice - Beautifully Unconventional

This is a song that sounds a little bit like the greatest song in the world...'s tribute, if you catch my drift. Ironically it's pretty conventional for Wolf Alice, as a rather straight forward track without any real detours. Despite all this, it manages to sound rather distinct.

Previous visions:
2013She#30
2014Moaning Lisa Smile#25
2015Fluffy#8
2015Giant Peach#44
87. Paul Kelly - Firewood And Candles

One of the more surprising things of 2017 is that the highest selling Australian album of the year was an album of original material from Paul Kelly. Maybe I'm biased from doing my catalogue chart but it really has felt like a welcome watershed year for him. I haven't quite worked out how it happened either apart from him just having written some really solid tunes this time around. There's a lot to love but I have to lean to the obvious cut of "Firewood And Candles", which has an immediate level of charm that could easily slot it into his canon of classics.
86. WAAX - Wild & Weak

You can't say they're not consistent. Seemingly starting to make a name for themselves lately which is nice to see. Once again we've got some nice & catchy rock with some lovely & fun pronunciation of chorus words. Either way, who doesn't love a bit of alliteration with a side bonus of words of the same length. Well I wish for it to work for you.

Previous entries:
2015I For An Eye#19
2015Holy Sick#90
2016This Everything#43
2016Same Same#89
85. Arcade Fire - Everything Now

You can't say they're consistent anymore. "Everything Now" feels like Arcade Fire's "Drones", a project that briefly had some promise, only for it to fall on its face due to some sort of in-house delusion making for some baffling decisions. And in both cases I will love to make fun of those decisions while still taking away some favourites and also still having something wind up on my list up here. At least this song works, with all its major keys, instrumental solos, and of course everyone's favourite thing about Arcade Fire: when they talk about consumerism and...actually I'm infinitely content with not finishing that sentence.

Previous fidget spinners:
2004Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)#1
2004In The Backseat#3
2004Crown Of Love#4
2004Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)#7
2004Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)#11
2004Wake Up#14
2004Rebellion (Lies)#17
2007No Cars Go#6
2007Black Mirror#14
2007The Well And The Lighthouse#39
2007Intervention#55
2010The Suburbs#5
2010Ready To Start#7
2010Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)#30
2010Modern Man#67
2011Culture War#95
2013Reflektor#1
2013Normal Person#32
2013Afterlife#53
2013You Already Know#73
2013Here Comes The Night Time#82
84. Temples - Mystery Of Pop

I must have been having a bad day the first time I listened to Temples' second album. Having gone back to it, it's really full of all the charm of their debut, because if there's one thing Temples know how to do, it's stuff their songs with all sorts of melodic ear candy. What better to exemplify it than this song that is not content with having just one chorus, but follows it up with a relentless instrumental break where you're lulled in by a sweet melody with loud clapping behind it.

Previous structures:
2014Mesmerise#37
2014Move With The Season#88
2014The Golden Throne#99
83. LCD Soundsystem - call the police

What, there aren't enough indie bands with lacklustre comebacks in this list?! To be honest I didn't find anything bad with "american dream", but it does really sound like a band out of ideas because all the greatest moments on the album are times where I'm reminded of songs they've written before. I mean what is "call the police" if not "All My Friends" with diminishing returns? That isn't to say I don't like it a lot, because you have to chip a lot away from "All My Friends" before you're in trouble.

Have you seen my records?!
2002Losing My Edge#7
2005Tribulations#38
2007All My Friends#1
2007New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down#8
82. Father John Misty - Ballad of the Dying Man

Possibly the funniest song of the year for me just because I've never felt so personally attacked, as someone who spends much of their day scrutinising a section of popular culture over the internet and being internally judgemental of others' actions. This is just a healthy reminder that everything we're doing is ultimately worthless and won't amount to anything. You can't take this as sadism though because it's so delightfully ridiculous in its presentation, there's just something so inspired about the idea of someone knowingly spending their last moments alive checking their news feed.

Previous entries:
2012Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings#2
2012This Is Sally Hatchet#34
2012Nancy From Now On#41
2014Bored In The USA#77
2015Strange Encounter#49
2015The Ideal Husband#92
81. Blanke (feat Samsaruh) - Blue

I might be the most inclined person to say this but Samsaruh had a pretty good year in 2017. Here she is lending her impressive pipes to this monster of a banger by an Australian producer I know very little about except that his e moves in silence like cake. To be honest he is the star of this show just because the vocals are serving more as an instrument than as a real source of pop hooks, which is why a good chunk of it isn't actually words. And what can I say, I love a banger.
80. N*E*R*D & Rihanna - Lemon

SPEAKING OF BANGERS. Here's the surprise comeback single I didn't know I wanted. N*E*R*D are kind of in a weird middle point where they don't get huge commercial success or huge critical success, so this song isn't really spearheading anything major, but gosh it's a fun ride when it's happening. Rihanna pretty much steals the show with a verse loaded with pure swagger, but even without her, this song is just loaded with hooks to make you start bouncin' around, bouncin' around, bouncin'.

You can catch me doing as such.

Previous entries (N*E*R*D):
2002Rock Star#41
2004Maybe (Sander Kleinenberg Remix)#16
2004She Wants To Move#33

Previous entries (Rihanna):
2007Don't Stop The Music#63
2007Umbrella (feat Jay-Z)#100
79. Everything Is Recorded (feat Syd & Sampha) - Show Love

Everything Is Recorded is a weird entity in music because it's really just the moniker for the head of XL Recordings, and thus seemingly a chance to show off his roster and what they can do. I almost wonder if he's just gonna surprise everyone and drop an Adele collaboration. For the time being though, the songs I've heard have been low key, and tend to feature Sampha, which is good because it means I get to properly represent him in this list considering that my favourite songs on "Process" are the ones that were released in 2016. Teaming up with Syd works great here who brings in a great chorus as she's known to do. Also Sampha mentions seesaws which were very important to me in 2017 because *spoilers to something*
78. Julien Baker - Appointments

I could probably be a big fan of Julien Baker if I listened to her music. It's songs like this that make me totally understand the cult following she has, as her emotive & intimate brand of sorrow really hits the spot here. It sounds like it could fit perfectly on the Life Is Strange: Before The Storm soundtrack, not just for the musical motif but for the poignant lyrics, anchored by the particularly powerful line 'Maybe it's all gonna turn out alright, and I know that it's not, but I have to believe that it is'.
77. Stormzy - Big For Your Boots

This song is not remotely poignant, and is instead built upon the foundation of some clever wordplay to suggest that someone is getting out of hand and thus needs to be kicked in the face. This is the exact kind of visceral feelings that I come to grime music for though, so everything fits like a...boot? It really puts Stormzy's persona in perspective that he can flex with such bravado in a song where he also admits that he adores Adele, and that everyone should. Stormzy is just one of the most immensely likeable music stars of today, both in and out of his musical endeavours.
76. Nothing But Thieves - Broken Machine

Nothing But Thieves are one of the biggest new bands around playing straight up no-frills rock music, and I think because of that I found it hard to really warm to them with their first album, which had its moments but never really popped off. So a surprise to me in 2017 was how much I was connecting with their tracks this time around. Perhaps their best asset has always been lead singer Conor's falsetto, which gets some work done here, occasionally interrupted by apropos glitchiness. Everything is subverted for the chorus where the music turns up and the vocals get louder (though more distorted). After that, the arrangement of the song starts to shine through all the little tricks they do to keep the rest of the song fresh even with repeated elements. I also still want to see someone do an edit of the Beck episode of Futurama with this playing instead of "My Broken Friend", because it's the only thing I can think of when listening to this song.
75. Kendrick Lamar (feat U2) - XXX.

I have to admit that I was really skeptical when I saw this on the tracklisting for "DAMN.". At this point it was already showing signs that this could be a really big commercial album for Kendrick, and who knows what sort of nasty things that could entail. My first thought was actually that U2 didn't 'feature' on the song so much as there was going to be some cheesy sample of one of their songs that was so prominent that it needed them sampled. Thank goodness we didn't have any hugely popular rappers doing cheesy samples of old hits last year. Everything was alleviated when I got to hear the song and it was far from what was imagined, with political lyrics very much in tune with U2's work making them fit in better than expected, but more importantly it's just a colossal police siren banger.

Previous entries (Kendrick Lamar):
2012Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst#10
2012good kid#26
2012Real (feat Anna Wise)#51
2012F**kin' Problems (with A$AP Rocky)#77
2012Swimming Pools (Drank)#83
2012Backseat Freestyle#89
2012Poetic Justice (feat Drake)#92
2012m.A.A.d city (feat MC Eiht)#97
2014Never Catch Me (with Flying Lotus)#22
2014i#29
2015The Blacker the Berry#1
2015King Kunta#6
2015These Walls (feat Anna Wise, Bilal & Thundercat)#10
2015Alright#27
2015How Much A Dollar Cost#46
2015Complexion (A Zulu Love) (feat Rapsody)#52
2015Wesley's Theory (feat George Clinton & Thundercat)#62
2016No More Parties In LA (with Kanye West)#25
2016Freedom (with Beyonce)#32

Previous entries (U2):
2002Electrical Storm#21
74. BROCKHAMPTON - SWEET

The Hottest 100 hasn't happened yet but regardless of how it turns out, I think it will prove the serious commercial viability that BROCKHAMPTON have provided they actually get airplay. It'd be really nice in general if there was more popular hip hop that isn't all just dour. When BROCKHAMPTON is on, it's always just a fun time. "SWEET" acts as a good primer on their code of conduct. While we don't have Kevin fantasizing over Zayn or Shawn Mendes, we do have Joba getting nostalgic for being broke and hopeless while listening to *NSYNC. Also Merlyn's unintentional(?) Kanye West impersonation for all of 2 seconds is just magical. And Ameer trolls mostly just me by ruining his assonance on the last line of his verse. Of course the next line in the song is 'It's funny how things can change', but maybe I'm reading too much into it all. Kevin's saying Licoriss though hey?

Previous entries:
2017STUPID#90
73. The National - Turtleneck

These are two words that don't go together very often but this is absolutely a National banger. Honestly it's a bit weird that they don't have more songs like this because this really captures the loose energy of their live shows wherein Matt is usually possibly drunk. I've never wanted a turtleneck more in my life.

Previous entries:
2003Cardinal Song#99
2005Mr. November#60
2007Mistaken For Strangers#37
2007Fake Empire#76
2010Bloodbuzz Ohio#42
2010Anyone's Ghost#81
2010Conversation 16#93
2013Pink Rabbits#61
2015Sunshine On My Back#71
2017The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness#100
72. Billie Eilish - idontwannabeyouanymore

Billie Eilish is an interesting figure in pop because while her songs are often light & breezy, her subject matter almost never is. This song is a slight subversion to it all just because I'm pretty sure for once that she's not insinuating murdering someone, but she does have a pretty ballad about insecurities that makes a sudden whiplash when it calls out slut shaming. But it's a pretty song.
71. Gang of Youths - Let Me Down Easy

It's hard to deny that Gang Of Youths are a weird band when their most accessible song is one that is mostly about having a good time against adversity but also mentions solipsism, as well as a completely unironic shout out to Whitesnake of all bands. But when it hits you, it just hits you like that.

Previous entries:
2016Strange Diseases#99
70. Samsaruh - Beautiful Killer

Samsaruh is only 19 but she's already accomplished quite a bit with her music career; this isn't even her first moniker. Not only that but she even produces her own music. It works well here too because this is quite the dynamic track. I've seen plenty of people say it sounds like a Bond theme. Accompanied by some really engaging vocal arrangements, it's another instant winner.

Previous entries:
2017Blue (with Blanke)#81
69. Laura Marling - Don't Pass Me By

Laura Marling's latest album "Semper Femina" came out at the right time for me to really latch onto it. If it were the latter half of the year I might not have even gotten around to it. There are so many great moments but "Don't Pass Me By" is one of my favourites for how much it has on the table. While it's a largely sombre song, the bridge changes the tone completely with a beautiful falsetto moment.

Previous entries:
2008Ghosts#63
68. Beach House - Chariot

My favourite thing about Beach House's B-Sides & Rarities album they released in 2017 is that in one of the main press interviews for it, the band made reference to a comment implying that it's pointless because all Beach House songs sound like B-sides, and basically said 'yeah, they're right'. Incidentally, there is very little new music contained on that collection as it's mostly just everything of theirs that hasn't been properly released (although it does include hidden tracks on their albums) all packaged together. There are two new songs and my pick of them is "Chariot", which was recorded during the "Thank Your Lucky Stars" sessions but doesn't really fit on that album. It's more the kind of wistful optimism of some of their earlier albums, which is always a welcome thing.

Previous entries:
2006Auburn and Ivory#58
2008Heart Of Chambers#12
2008Gila#94
2010Walk In the Park#55
2010Zebra#96
2010Norway#99
2012Myth#3
2012Lazuli#4
2012Wild#56
2012Troublemaker#70
2015Space Song#11
2015Elegy to the Void#30
2015Sparks#47
2015The Traveller#55
2015PPP#75
67. Billie Eilish - Bellyache

When I reviewed one of her tracks I compared it to Higurashi When The Cry because there's something so strikingly familiar about a quirky teenage girl who possibly murders her friends. Otherwise to make a nicer comparison, it feels like 2017's "Alaska", a newcomer with great pop sensibility and distinctive hooks under her belt.

Previous entries:
2017idontwannabeyouanymore#72
66. Sløtface - Magazine

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sløtface are an always welcome group thanks to their knack for writing songs that are just sheer fun. I won't pretend I don't regularly zone out of song lyrics even with some of my absolute favourite songs, but Sløtface always know how to keep your attention. They seem to only be improving in that matter over time, considering that this song makes "Empire Records" feel a bit inert (I still love it ftr) compared to this wild, bouncy ride.

Previous entries:
2016Empire Records#28
65. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Cumberland Gap

I am most familiar with Jason Isbell because he's quite funny on Twitter. Arguably the personality he shows makes him a country version of BROCKHAMPTON because US country radio is so focused on having the next 20 #1's at any given time scheduled that they're never prepared to serve up surprises. Or maybe this song about how rural southern life just isn't all it's cracked up to be is just too dangerously off-brand. Instant favourite for me though, the lively performance for both Jason and his band just hits the spot.

Previous entries:
2017Anxiety#89
64. Marmozets - Habits

Another band who stepped it up for me in 2017. I was familiar with Marmozets through their first album getting some triple j airplay, and while I was never fully won over on them, I always thought Becca was a really compelling vocalist with a ton of presence. Admittedly not enough for me to recognise her when I heard this song on the radio for the first time, where her solo spots on the song really helped make the song poke out to me. That isn't to say that the rest isn't great though, as Marmozets slightly watered down math rock still sounds like nothing else on the radio. There's a little fret board slide in the last chorus that doesn't need to be there but I love that it is.
63. Sløtface - Pitted

What more needs to be said about the 2nd most internally memed song of the year by me and the two friends of mine who are most prone to also do so? And this time around the song is clearly gaming for this to be done with its silly stories of dorky "Hotline Bling" dancing in a toga. It obviously harkens back to the simpler times of 2016 when Bowie & Queen Bey were rightly celebrated to the fullest, and that Roger Moore was still alive to make those Marry, F**k, Kill games a little less awkward.

Previous entries:
2016Empire Records#28
2017Magazine#66
62. Gorillaz (feat Danny Brown & Kelela) - Submission

I put off listening to the Gorillaz album for a long time because it was super long and I very rarely go out of my way to listen to anything that involves the ragin' binman. So I only heard the 4 lead singles and thus missed this massive tune that was tucked away in there. Kelela's well on her way to a big breakout I feel, and her vocal pipes are used quite effectively. I can't pretend however that the main star of the show here for me isn't Danny Brown though, whose verse starts off in the best possible way, sounding like he's spitting over the top of a dentist drill. Once that fades away it's the delightful beat that is a perfect fit for his always manic delivery.

Previous entries (Gorillaz):
2001Clint Eastwood (feat Del The Funky Homosapian)#10
200119-2000#30
2005DARE (feat Shawn Ryder)#42
2005Dirty Harry#94
2010On Melancholy Hill#23
2010Doncamatic (feat Daley)#38
2010Rhinestone Eyes#59
2010Stylo (feat Mos Def & Bobby Womack)#63

Previous entries (Danny Brown):
2013Dip#74
2016When It Rain#16
2016Frankie Sinatra (with The Avalanches)#30
2016Ain't It Funny#60
61. Ásgeir - Afterglow

I feel like Ásgeir just didn't have any way to replicate the 'woah, where did this guy come from?!' impact of his last album, where his album was able to *climb* into the ARIA top 10 solely from the huge reception to getting a triple j feature album. I myself found it hard to really get excited for the project, but hearing this song was an instant reminder of why I fell in love with "In The Silence" three years ago. It's all beautiful melodies and that divine falsetto.

Previous entries:
2014Going Home#47
2014Here It Comes#48
2014King And Cross#51
60. Nothing But Thieves - I'm Not Made By Design

It seems like 2017 was a constant shock of finding more and more songs from the Nothing But Thieves album that I ended up loving. This one actually gets played on the radio and is how I cottoned onto it. While the song has its nicer, quiet moments, it's the throttling guitar riffs that open the verses that get me pumped.

Previous itches:
2017Broken Machine#76
59. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Planets

METRIC! Obviously a band I make my adoration of no secret. And that has as much to do as their hugely anthemic brand of synth rock as it does Emily's idiosyncratic vocal delivery. Only one of those really comes into play here with this track being as stripped back as you'll hear anything in this countdown. It's an appropriately spacey ballad that was slow to catch on for me, but once it did, I was in heaven.
58. Ric Rufio - Water to Wine

Ric Rufio is a gren drum artist that hasn't quite taken off with significant airplay yet so I suppose I can be glad that he finds his way onto those New Music Friday playlists instead. The first song I heard from him, "So Wonderful", caught my ear for its quirky hook arrangement, which could be uneven at times but generally worked. "Water To Wine" is a bit more conventional, and reminds me of a bygone era that I can't quite place. The percussion is invigorating, and his voice is really strong, like a Daniel Johns who's mastered the effectiveness of his higher notes at a younger age.
57. Gorillaz (feat Vince Staples) - Ascension

I like it but I find it so strange that "Saturn Barz" is the most popular song on this album. Maybe it's just not me down with the vibes of today, but I just feel this or "Andromeda" feel like more mass appealing. OK maybe not everyone loves yelling out 'THE SKY'S FALLING BABY, DROP THAT ASS 'FORE IT CRASH'. I'm not supposed to understand people anyway.

Previous entries (Gorillaz):
2001Clint Eastwood (feat Del The Funky Homosapian)#10
200119-2000#30
2005DARE (feat Shawn Ryder)#42
2005Dirty Harry#94
2010On Melancholy Hill#23
2010Doncamatic (feat Daley)#38
2010Rhinestone Eyes#59
2010Stylo (feat Mos Def & Bobby Womack)#63
2017Submission (feat Danny Brown & Kelela)#62

Previous entries (Vince Staples):
2015Norf Norf#63
56. Gang of Youths - The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows

There's something to be said about success despite blatant disregard for conventions in brevity, both in title & content. It would be really stupid to base my entire blurb on the basis of the relative performance of this in the Hottest 100 when all I know is that it's a super close race and we really don't even know at this point whether or not it's their most popular song. I would say though that if this did manage to pull it off, it makes sense as it definitely fits the mold of crescendo driven rock monster that triple j audiences are known to go for. It was just 10 years ago that "Knights Of Cydonia" was voted to the top after all. For me it was the song that restored my faith in the album roll out as the previous singles had (at the time!) not won me over the way this did.

Previous entries:
2016Strange Diseases#99
2017Let Me Down Easy#71
55. Kelsey Bulkin - West Coast Drama

I know very little about Kelsey Bulkin except that she was once part of a duo that I'm not very familiar with either and has only recently branched out with solo material. This is another entry into the canon of 'I really need to listen to the radio more because I miss so much stuff'. This particular track is a really gentle lull through complicated feelings, complete with "Seasons (Waiting On You)" style synths. Needless to say, this song was clearly made for me.
54. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Perfect on the Surface

This track is characterised by beautifully creative arrangements & progressions. One of those songs where you grow to learn when the hooks are coming but don't lose any of the satisfaction that comes through it. Often vocals are layered on top of each other to startling effect.

Previous entries:
2017Planets#59
53. BROCKHAMPTON - QUEER

Despite the title, this is not a song primarily driven by 'the one gay', though he does do the hook and said it's the best song on the album. I'm kind of surprised it didn't get more airplay because there's a lot in this that reminds me of Flume's work, some of the production behind the rapping (especially on Dom's verse) is very much akin to "On Top". Also Merlyn again takes the role of yelling over the top things that of course works perfectly.

Previous entries:
2017SWEET#74
2017STUPID#90
52. Perfume Genius - Die 4 You

With 4th album "No Shape", I finally found a way to click with Perfume Genius. Though this will be the only song you'll be hearing in full tonight, know that the album is full of a diverse range of evocative tracks. But for the most part it's the intimate ballad here that really sinks into me. Another one of those tracks that's already won me over before it shows its full hand, and it's a eerily produced affair all the way.
51. Drake - Passionfruit

I kind of just love that this song is called "Passionfruit", and fully gets away with it because there are enough words in the chorus that sound similar that you're never gonna forget which one this is. Not to mention that it just fits this light & breezy tune perfectly. The beat is so hypnotic that the outro could continue on forever without many complaints.

Previous entries:
2012F**kin' Problems (with A$AP Rocky)#62
2012Poetic Justice (with Kendrick Lamar)#92
2013Hold On, We're Going Home (feat Majid Jordan)#66
2015Hotline Bling#21
50. Ecca Vandal (feat Sampa The Great) - Your Orbit

I have previously taken to Ecca's louder, more angry tracks. Here's something on the other end of the spectrum with more of a free-flowing R&B vibe. That free-flowing aspect is one of the strongest qualities because there's an almost ad-lib vibe to her delivery that makes the whole thing sound so delightfully playful.

Previous entries (Ecca Vandal):
2015Battle Royal#70

Previous entries (Sampa The Great):
2016Second Heartbeat (with Urthboy)#23
2016Black Dignity#49
49. Manchester Orchestra - The Gold

Manchester Orchestra have certainly carved out a niche as that band who always lands in here with their lead singles. Their brand of earnest rock always plays well for me, with a soaring chorus and colourful musical interjections. Always sounds like a triumph towards the end.

Previous entries:
2009I've Got Friends#4
2011April Fool#53
2014Top Notch#31
48. Mac DeMarco - On the Level

Mac DeMarco just does his thing as always. This one just happened to hit the spot for me in a way his songs haven't quite in the past. As great as the synth hook that pokes out is, I get a lot out of just the general vibe of the song, which is calming without ever turning dull.
47. Spoon - Can I Sit Next to You

*insert meme about Spoon being consistent* But really Spoon are always welcome with whatever they put out. Seemingly never running out of ways to expand upon their sound with strong results. "Can I Sit Next To You" is powered by a really tight guitar lick and never fails to bring some joy out of me. The abrupt string interruptions sound great too.

Previous entries:
2002The Way We Get By#84
2002Someone Something#94
2007The Underdog#20
2007My Little Japanese Cigarette Case#46
2010The Mystery Zone#45
46. Jess Locke - Violent Turn

Even with a triple j feature, Jess Locke's "Universe" was never going to turn her into a household name. But I for one am always glad to see fresh takes on straight up indie/garage rock like it so I welcome the platform. There's a certain lethargy to "Violent Turn" that sells it for me. The guitar just plugs away with the occasional variation as Jess croons her misery.
45. sleepmakeswaves - Tundra

sleepmakeswaves coming for their 2nd bid for the top instrumental track but spoiler alert: they actually haven't pulled it off this time. That's not through lack of trying though, as "Tundra" proved a fresh return for them in 2017 that shows there's still a lot you can do with this sort of loud instrumental post rock. Maybe it's the old Guitar Hero player in me but I can't help but get excited by all those rapid fire moments, accompanied by huge swelling moments. It feels a necessity for the song to finish the way it does, giving you a much needed breather.

Previous entries:
2014Something Like Avalanches#16
44. MGMT - Little Dark Age

For the first time in a while, I'm genuinely excited about a new MGMT album. While I won't project my subjective opinion on how experimental the band should be allowed to get, it definitely feels like they've reeled back in to strong effect. Here we've got MGMT going almost full on '80s gothic pop, Andrew even looks a lot like Robert Smith in the video. As is usually the case, those heavy arpeggiated synths are godly, leading to what is already one of my all time favourite songs of theirs.

Previous entries:
2008Kids#2
2008Time To Pretend#15
2008Weekend Wars#39
2008Of Moons, Birds & Monsters#87
2008The Youth#96
2009Pursuit Of Happiness (with Kid Cudi)#75
2010Flash Delirium#6
2010Siberian Breaks#77
2010It's Working#88
2013Alien Days#98
43. Cults - Offering

Cults have never made it onto my list because their breakout single "Go Outside" gave me a bad perception of what they had to offer with their music. Really if I ever re-redo my 2013 list, they'll certainly feature with "I Can Hardly Make You Mine". That song allowed me to be more openminded with their newest album, and the lead single in particular struck a chord with me in a similar way to that previous song. The way they punctuate these soft choruses with heavy percussion works great. I particularly like the instrumental bridge where I feel compelled to try and fit the hook in there over the backing vocals.
42. Future Islands - Ran

Future Islands gained a much larger following thanks to a certain song, so it probably sees fit that they capitalise on it with the next lead single, which is full of much of the same anthemic qualities as "Seasons (Waiting On You)".

Previous entries:
2014Seasons (Waiting On You)#27
41. JAY-Z - 4:44

This is not the Jay-Z we know, because it's arguably the most personal and tragic that he's ever portrayed himself. Gone is any of his weighty braggadocio, as here he admits that he's clearly in no position to do so. It makes for the obvious follow on from Beyonce's "Lemonade" album last year, where much of the discussion was on whether or not it was performance art or a legitimate putting on wax of some serious marital issues. But then heck, for all I know, this isn't legitimate either, but if it's not, Jay is one fine actor. "4:44" was one of the biggest surprise comebacks of 2017, and the title track stands as a centrepiece, holding the foundations of the album concept and being generally great at it.

Previous entries:
200399 Problems#14
2003Crazy In Love (with Beyonce)#80
2004Never Let Me Down (with Kanye West)#61
2005Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (with Kanye West)#1
2007Umbrella (with Rihanna)#100
2011Ni**as In Paris (with Kanye West)#10
2011No Church In The Wild (with Kanye West)#50
2011Made In America#84

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40. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Crumbling Castle

While I may have missed a chance to get some 'rattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattlesnake, rattles me' action, I don't want to be missing out on this 'crum, bulling, crum, bulling castle' King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard basically refuse to play by the rules, which is why the lead single to their 4th album released in 2017 makes up about a quarter of the whole thing at over 10 minutes long. It's just a delightful odyssey that really marks the occasion of all the delight they supplied that year. And then it descends into chaos with the monstrously sinister outro.

Previous entries:
2017Sleep Drifter#99
39. Sampa the Great (feat Estelle) - Everybody's Hero

Because we're seemingly not done with 2008 nostalgia, yes, it really is that Estelle. Although it's quite hard to tell how she's involved here because she doesn't have a verse of her own, and there aren't even audible backing vocals for most of the song. So either way, it's just Sampa again doing what she does best with these gloomy tunes where she can show off both her rapping & singing chops.

Previous entries (Sampa The Great):
2016Second Heartbeat (with Urthboy)#23
2016Black Dignity#49
2017Your Orbit (with Ecca Vandal)#50
38. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

Here, Father John Misty once more goes into the sarcastic mockery of a certain division of people which is about as far as I should go in talking about it in that sense. There are just in general some great, condescending lines in here but he chooses to end the song on a partly nihilistic, partly heartwarming note that all we really have is each other.

Previous entries:
2012Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings#2
2012This Is Sally Hatchet#34
2012Nancy From Now On#41
2014Bored In The USA#77
2015Strange Encounter#49
2015The Ideal Husband#92
2017Ballad Of The Dying Man#82
37. Indiana - Bad Luck

Someone needs to tell Indiana that there is no reason not to put music on Spotify or at least iTunes, especially as it means that so many people have not encountered this delightful tune. Continuing what we saw with her first album, this is even more huge synth palettes while Indiana doesn't just rest behind it ("SUCK IT!").

Previous entries:
2014Solo Dancing#13
2014Heart On Fire#90
36. Pascal Michael Stiefel - Your Contract Has Expired

"A Hat In Time" is a video game that was crowdfunded many years ago and finally arrived in 2017 to very strong reception considering the usual affair for those sorts of games. One aspect where it excels and is relevant to mention here is the soundtrack, with tunes that are perfectly fine to listen to on repeat for the lengthy periods of time that you may be forced to do so. But the shining examples are in the boss themes. Boss fights in the game are quite exhilerating already and it helps when you're getting amped up like this. Suffice to say, it's easy to see why people make "Megalovania" comparisons for this one, with frantic guitars to accompany your intense bullet hell experience. If that Undertale comparison isn't enough, there's even a blue attack.
35. The War on Drugs - Holding On

Coming from the Future Islands school of following up, we've got this War On Drugs song which I can largely say the same about. Really they need this track as one easily digestible moment on the very lengthy "A Deeper Understanding". It may not take 8 minutes to get there, but all the emotional swell can still be found in this track.

Previous entries:
2014Red Eyes#1
2014Under The Pressure#86
34. Joey Bada$$ (feat Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight & Meechy Darko) - RING THE ALARM

This is a bit of a surprise for me because I hadn't really heard this song a month ago. As much as I enjoyed "B4.DA.$$", I never really got around to checking Joey Bada$$'s latest album when it was released, something that many have attributed to the fact that Kendrick Lamar's "DAMN." was released a week later. While I still would prefer that previous album, "ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$" has plenty to offer, and clearly through this listing, higher highs. And that's with this song that features a cavalcade of artists I know nothing about. But this is really great. If the menacing beat isn't enough, the first verse invokes that classic "6 Foot 7 Foot" line, and then at the end there's the calling out of both whack MC's and the audience that perpetuate them just because the stuff slaps.
33. Manchester Orchestra - The Alien

This has the jarring case of being a mostly light & acoustic track with some heavy storytelling. A story of a man who tries to commit suicide walking into ongoing traffic and ending up living, only to be confronted with the demons of his past and ultimately face regret for his decision. The titular feature is brought up at opportune times so that it fits the narrative, which is something I almost always love.

Previous entries:
2009I've Got Friends#4
2011April Fool#53
2014Top Notch#31
2017The Gold#49

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32. Tyler, The Creator (feat Kali Uchis) - See You Again

This isn't a song I really missed in 2017 but it took until after for me to give it the attention it deserved. Likely you were introduced to Tyler, The Creator when he was eating cockroaches and fantasizing about assaulting Bruno Mars. Suffice to say that this is a very different song to "Yonkers" as we get a full on love ballad. It takes a matured Tyler to say some of these charming things (although I sometimes find it hard to believe that it's him on the chorus and not another guest), and Kali Uchis' vocals here are just divine.
31. BROCKHAMPTON - ZIPPER

I keep wanting to make more joke Twitter polls where I poll the best lyrics of the year but subtlely only include BROCKHAMPTON lyrics because there's just so much to choose from. But in the end, how can you look past Merlyn's ridiculous Fantano double entendre, where there's even an appropriate pause to let you take in what was just said. Truly the culmination that 2017 was building up to. Outside of that, this is just a catchy as hell song with its kooky piano and also another entry to the 2017 canon of 'WOO!' with even more enthusiasm than "Ric Flair Drip".

Previous entries:
2017QUEER#53
2017SWEET#74
2017STUPID#90
30. Laura Marling - Always This Way

This was the song that single-handedly got me invested in hearing this new album. The sorrowful guitar tones give a certain tension to the song's chorus that I instantly gravitated towards. I have outlandishly over the top songs on this list but let it be known that it can go the other way as well.

Previous entries:
2008Ghosts#63
2017Don't Pass Me By#69
29. St. Vincent - Los Ageless

Delightfully boisterous tune here. "MASSEDUCTION" is a pretty uneven album where some of the best moments are kept on tracks that don't come together fully, but fortunately that's subverted for this song that's pure delight all the way through. That's how you do a chorus right there. How can anybody listen to this and not lose their mind?

Previous entries:
2014Digital Witness#74
2014Psychopath#93
28. Rita Ora - Anywhere

Q4 offering up the wildest of surprises. Because I bloody love this...Rita Ora song, didn't see that coming. It was pretty instant for me too, as I was already enamoured by the melody before it even got to the chorus. This is perhaps because it's been noted to sound like Robbie Williams' song "Road To Mandalay" which I had only recently established before this song came out as a song I like more than it seems like I should. Everything in this song does make sense for that though, with the massive chorus seemingly taking inspiration from "It Ain't Me" and expanding it to be even bigger.
27. N*E*R*D & Kendrick Lamar - Don't Don't Do It!

The previous two released N*E*R*D singles were monstrous bangers, but if you go into this song expecting more, you're kind of thrown a curveball as it spends nearly a full minute in relaxed mode. But this is a song largely about a police shooting and gets pretty wild once it really tackles that. It's not quite "Alright" (though incidentally I've ranked it in the same place), but it definitely has that anthemic quality about it. It also has Kung Fu Kenny delivering strongly for a rapid fire verse.

Previous entries (N*E*R*D):
2002Rock Star#41
2004Maybe (Sander Kleinenberg Remix)#16
2004She Wants To Move#33
2017Lemon (with Rihanna)#80

Previous entries (Kendrick Lamar):
2012Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst#10
2012good kid#26
2012Real (feat Anna Wise)#51
2012F**kin' Problems (with A$AP Rocky)#77
2012Swimming Pools (Drank)#83
2012Backseat Freestyle#89
2012Poetic Justice (feat Drake)#92
2012m.A.A.d city (feat MC Eiht)#97
2014Never Catch Me (with Flying Lotus)#22
2014i#29
2015The Blacker the Berry#1
2015King Kunta#6
2015These Walls (feat Anna Wise, Bilal & Thundercat)#10
2015Alright#27
2015How Much A Dollar Cost#46
2015Complexion (A Zulu Love) (feat Rapsody)#52
2015Wesley's Theory (feat George Clinton & Thundercat)#62
2016No More Parties In LA (with Kanye West)#25
2016Freedom (with Beyonce)#32
2017XXX. (feat U2)#75
26. Baker Boy (feat Yirrmal) - Marryuna

Seeing Baker Boy's music be so warmly embraced makes me happy. Australian hip-hop has had a bad reputation for as long as I've known it. Some of that I think is an unfair dismissal of something purely for sounding unusual to the ears, but there's also the very understandable criticism that it's a haven for suburban white kids who don't have much to say. That's been steadily changing in the last 5 or so years as Australia's diverse hip hop community is finally making a big impression. It feels so appropriate that "Marryuna" is the word in his native Yolngu Matha language meaning 'to dance with no shame', which really is a message of solidarity that anyone can relate to. Also proof that more songs need didgeridoo solos.
25. Miloux - Paris

I know very little about Miloux that isn't countained in the sentence 'she's from New Zealand'. Though she's a newcomer, she definitely has the confidence & swagger of a veteran. There are shades of cynicism in her delivery that sells it well. Not to mention being one of the best produced singles I've heard all year which all wraps up together as something that you know I li-like.
24. Ecca Vandal - Broke Days, Party Nights

OK so as you know, Sia doesn't need dollar bills to have fun tonight, but what if she REALLY loved "Cheap Thrills", like a lot more. That's what this song has always sounded like to me. I don't know if I would enjoy this song less if I didn't have that amusing contrast but then there's a lot to love about the sheer aggression even if you don't pay mind to the content. The song also has the interesting side note that I got to tell Ecca about her popularity here, meaning that she is (probably) the only artist to ever be aware of being #1 on the ACI.

Previous entries:
2015Battle Royal#70
2017Your Orbit (feat Sampa The Great)#50
23. BROCKHAMPTON - GUMMY

You know that last song was a bit too loud so let's calm it down with some classical music, ever since "Perfect Symphony" blew up, I've been looking more into music to itch that gentle scratch, which is where we find the symphonic "GUMMY" to be placed high in this..*BZZZZZZZT*

It's an absolute banger. As an opening statement for "SATURATION II" it's hard to think of a better mode of operations. Incidentally it's a song about the value of friendship, which can't be expressed any better than Merlyn shouting 'CASH DON'T MEAN SHIT' over the first chorus. This is all punctuated by amazing G-funk reminiscent synths and it's beautiful.

Previous entries:
2017ZIPPER#31
2017QUEER#53
2017SWEET#74
2017STUPID#90
22. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Fatal Gift

Maybe the reason I like this song so much is because it just sounds like a Metric song. Heck, it WAS a Metric song, so I guess it serves as a way to ease fans into the different solo material. But like many great Metric songs, it's anchored by a killer synth melody and some growing intensity that really starts to flair up near the end. Much like a certain other song on this list, a lot of the song is the same lyrics over and over again, which is easily shrugged over because of how much wild variation is happening behind it.

Previous entries:
2017Perfect On The Surface#54
2017Planets#59
21. Camp Cope - The Opener

In 2016, Camp Cope put out the song "Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" which briefly tackled the notion of misogyny and how it's shrugged off because that's just how things are. Now with "The Opener" it's a full on assault of the industry as a whole. It's the kind of song that only they can really make because how else would the line of 'look how far we've come not listening to you' resonate if you didn't have it coming from a successful band who don't remotely play by the rules. It was just earlier this month that the song hit a new shade of reality as they were playing the very male dominated Falls Festival line up (apart from Julia Stone, no women were higher on the bill than 'DAE The Horses lulz?') and changed the lyrics, only to spark a controversy through the festival organisers themselves and only further proving the song's point. I just love how swiftly Georgia can transition from snarky cynicism to outright vitriol. Tell me again how there just aren't that many girls in the music scene.

Previous entries:
2016Done#63
2016West Side Story#68
2016Lost (Season One)#96
20. Nothing But Thieves - Amsterdam

A bloody ripper of a lead single, 5 hoops out of 5. While a lot of their previous material was rather restrained, they let it all out here with a gargantuan chorus that I just keep going back to again, and again, and agaaaaaain. In fact my excessive liking of songs that say 'again and again' is something I noted nearly 10 years ago so it's fun to see it come back around like this.

Previous itches:
2017I'm Not Made By Design#60
2017Broken Machine#76
19. Gyroscope - Crooked Thought

Speaking of rock songs that slap and then some. We've got a long awaited return for Gyroscope, who were close to my favourite band from the period between when I heard "Snakeskin" for the first time and when they wrapped up their album campaign in 2010. That was just 3 years and they'd been silent for the 7 years following. And so in that time, the popular triple j psyche has understandably moved on. Not me though, coward, I will never log off. Honestly it's like they've never left, and the spirit of massive screaming hooks across those oscillating guitar riffs is alive and well with this song. Our local council clearly need to book Gyroscope for a show here so I can once again be the one dude belting out all the songs.

Previous entries:
2005Beware Wolf#37
2005Dream vs. Scream#41
2005Fast Girl#86
2007Snakeskin#4
2008All In On One#19
2008These Days#20
20081981#59
2010What Do I Know About Pain?#9
2010Live Without You#11
2010Baby, I'm Gettin' Better#50
18. Daughter - Burn It Down

In 2017 I got to return to Arcadia Bay, this time with less time travel powers and more tabletop RPGs. The Life Is Strange: Before The Storm prequel was quite a nice experience though. Admittedly it's hard to get *too* invested in the grand scheme of things because it's a prequel so we know that Chloe and Rachel won't...oh, well I know that PissHead took off to an extent. To fit the super introspective indie vibes of this prequel, Daughter were commissioned to compose the soundtrack, and make up a good chunk of the ambient motifs you hear a lot of. I can only imagine it's a weird experience listening to their soundtrack album if you're a Daughter fan who isn't in the loop about the game, it's kind of weird to read reviews that are detached of the context. There are some genuinely great singles on there though, notably this track which was released before the first episode came out, but didn't appear in the game until the final part was released last month. It's a very angsty song as it's written in Chloe's mindset, the mindset of someone who's had everyone they cared about taken away from them and replaced by everyone they couldn't loathe more. This is a big theme in the prequel because it's all much more recent and in the process of happening, and this really captures that mentality where her childhood innocence is destroyed.
17. Methyl Ethel - Ubu

It's the meme soooooooong. But really if we look past that, this song is all about that insanely tight bass groove. The song starts pretty casually, but over time it warps into this distorted field of madness where you start to question whether or not it was a viable decision to visit the barber recently. I don't think it even occured to me at first that the chorus doesn't come in until around the 2 minute mark and then that's nearly all the lyrics you'll ever hear for the next 3. Because just like "Fatal Gift" before, it's so easy to just get lost in all the surrounding chaos.
16. Ainslie Wills - Running Second

There's that common mantra of how no matter how good you think you are, there are thousands, if not millions of people who are better than you. It's something that's rung true to me ever since primary school, and my unquestioned godliness at mathematics by my peers was trivialised when I saw how I compared to people around the country. This song really captures that mentality, though not in a defeatist way, but rather a calling for you to just accept that you are you. It's rather appropriate as well that the song came out as I was getting into speedrunning, and could only take baby steps of progress, accepting that I was never gonna really hit the big leagues. Incidentally that did end up happening but I always think of this song when I ponder some of those records I just can't manage to bother. Ainslie is a seriously underrated songwriter in this country, both in her lyrics and the way she writes melodies. Although from my perspective this song doesn't fit her because more than half of the songs of hers that have entered my chart have hit #1 :p

Previous entries:
2015Constellations#22
2015Drive#87
15. Gang of Youths - What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?

It was clear that Gang Of Youths were set for big things if only for the fact that even the EP they released last year hit #2 on the charts and got some serious traction. When this song was released, I knew I was in for a good ride. With just how catered this song is to my sensibilities of post-punk revivalism where this song manages to sound like Interpol and The National, I think I'm just amazed at how many more people came along for such a ride. This is not the sort of rock song that gains traction in the 2010s, let alone land however high this is gonna be in next week's Hottest 100. I'm so glad it is though. Between this & "Ubu"'s popularity, I can help feel like I still 'get it' so to speak. That's not to say that I'm jaded and cynical about new music as a whole, but I'd started to accept that what I like is largely in its own niche and not on the big stage. There are few feelings greater than knowing that so many people are getting the same emotional response out of a piece of music than you are.

Previous entries:
2016Strange Diseases#99
2017The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows#56
2017Let Me Down Easy#71
14. Selena Gomez - Bad Liar

I was walking down the street the other day, trying to distract myself, so I put my iPod on shuffle, and then I heard this song, and for 3 and a half minutes everything was good. It's pretty much the best setting for this song because the "Psycho Killer" skeleton just makes it a great song to walk to. Selena just sounds like she's having so much fun with this song, and it's interesting just how weirdly written it is. Obviously I wish it were more successful than it was because if there's one disappointing thing about following the music charts it's just how rarely left turns are rewarded in favour of pandering to the easiest degree.
13. Gretta Ray - Towers

Our returning champion hails not too badly on this second time through. So while I don't make the same deep connection as I do with "Drive", is still is an exquisitely written song. There's the obvious hallmark of going bigger with the production values, but they don't over-crowd the song and serve well to direct the emotional tension. Big things coming in the future I imagine.

Previous entries:
2016Drive#1
12. Jessie Ware - Midnight

What a monster of an opening statement right here. Jessie Ware's previous album had given her, her biggest hit to date with a dreary ballad which distracted from her vocal chops. On "Midnight" they're right in display and used to great effect on its mammoth of a chorus. Another one of those songs where I thought I was on board from the start but then there was an even bigger salvo ready to knock me out cold. You don't even get a proper comedown from that chorus because the 2nd verse's instrumental is much more warped & twisted, as if to say that she's not playing around anymore.
11. Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.

What more can I say? Kendrick told us to get our shit together by April 7th and then released this song a week earlier and made it clear that no punches were being pulled. Incidentally when this first came out I wasn't even paying attention to the song because I was paying all my attention to the incredibly produced video with all its great visual editing & sequences. As for the song itself, Mike Will outdoes himself with the huge piano motif while Kendrick manages to cover so much in just 3 minutes. If anything, the biggest target of the song is all the media outlets that weren't ready for this song's popularity, radio & Spotify seemingly trying to brush it under the rug hoping it goes away, but it still hasn't.

Previous entries:
2012Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst#10
2012good kid#26
2012Real (feat Anna Wise)#51
2012F**kin' Problems (with A$AP Rocky)#77
2012Swimming Pools (Drank)#83
2012Backseat Freestyle#89
2012Poetic Justice (feat Drake)#92
2012m.A.A.d city (feat MC Eiht)#97
2014Never Catch Me (with Flying Lotus)#22
2014i#29
2015The Blacker the Berry#1
2015King Kunta#6
2015These Walls (feat Anna Wise, Bilal & Thundercat)#10
2015Alright#27
2015How Much A Dollar Cost#46
2015Complexion (A Zulu Love) (feat Rapsody)#52
2015Wesley's Theory (feat George Clinton & Thundercat)#62
2016No More Parties In LA (with Kanye West)#25
2016Freedom (with Beyonce)#32
2017Don't Don't Do It! (with N*E*R*D)#27
2017XXX. (feat U2)#75
10. Lil Uzi Vert - XO TOUR Llif3

Probably the most misunderstood song of 2017. One of the more frustrating aspects of trap music's booming commercial viability is the loud subset of people who refuse to give it proper appraisal. Far too many people look at the undignified presentation and make it out to be the worst just like that. If you need an aneurysm, just go to the song's shoutbox on RYM and look at the people losing their minds that people like a song like this. Even the charts are doing their best to keep it down, whether by inaccurately tracking it, including the exclusionary club that is airplay, or all that nonsense the OCC is doing now.

This is a fantastic song. When the last thing I heard from Lil Uzi Vert was his verse on "Bad and Boujee" I had no reason to have any expectations coming into this but I was utterly mesmerised. Lil Uzi's delivery hits both touchstones of being xanned out and writhing in pain, with it all going back to that immortal refrain, 'all my friends are dead', which whether or not you take it literally or in a Nas's "The World Is Yours" kind of way, really hits the core of a broken man. It's been noted that this song undercuts its depression by being largely flexing but I disagree. This sort of wavering tone is a very accurate depiction of what depression is.
9. Wolf Alice - Don't Delete the Kisses

Wolf Alice have written nostalgic songs before. They've written sincere nostalgic songs before. But it's the top notch writing in this one that really takes it over the top. The song captures the occasional mundane attributes of young love, but it's still in the perspective of the couple, who have not really lived out full lives, to have their romance feel like the most important thing in the world. There's a certain charm in the way that the chorus starts with indecision, but by the end of the song, it's just full committal to the coupling. This song is a delight, even to me who has no way to relate to such feelings.

Previous entries:
2013She#30
2014Moaning Lisa Smile#25
2015Fluffy#8
2015Giant Peach#44
2017Beautifully Unconventional#87
8. Kira Puru - Tension

"Tension" is a nice name for this song, as a sort of sticky word that gives it a distinct personality. The song thrives on such a mood with how it goes about things, the chorus being the ultimate tension reliever. The song reminds me a fair bit of "Bad Liar" with the bounce in the verses which made it click with me very quickly. This song however also features intensely loud drums to further click things in place, in addition to some already delightful drum fills in the chorus. Basically I can sum it up as a series of very correct production choices to surround one of the catchiest tunes of the year. Kira just last year featured in the 150s on my EOY list alongside Urthboy (back when I didn't know how to spell her name, to her chagrin), so you really never know who's gonna turn into a heavy hitter next.
7. Kendrick Lamar - DNA.

I think it slightly gets brushed over because in the moment, this was popular largely from momentum from the album, but this is a really full on track to appear as high on the charts as it did. On one hand it's a retaliation to the far right backlash from 2015, and at the same time it's continuing to celebrate that same blackness that "Alright" was amping up at the time.

It's one thing to talk up your heritage and natural born talents, and it's another thing to prove it, and I really don't know how you could go against these bars, after bars, after bars. You think you've got the picture in the first verse and then everything gets flipped for the 2nd verse solidifying it as an unstoppable banger. Gimme some ganja.

Previous entries:
2012Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst#10
2012good kid#26
2012Real (feat Anna Wise)#51
2012F**kin' Problems (with A$AP Rocky)#77
2012Swimming Pools (Drank)#83
2012Backseat Freestyle#89
2012Poetic Justice (feat Drake)#92
2012m.A.A.d city (feat MC Eiht)#97
2014Never Catch Me (with Flying Lotus)#22
2014i#29
2015The Blacker the Berry#1
2015King Kunta#6
2015These Walls (feat Anna Wise, Bilal & Thundercat)#10
2015Alright#27
2015How Much A Dollar Cost#46
2015Complexion (A Zulu Love) (feat Rapsody)#52
2015Wesley's Theory (feat George Clinton & Thundercat)#62
2016No More Parties In LA (with Kanye West)#25
2016Freedom (with Beyonce)#32
2017HUMBLE.#11
2017Don't Don't Do It! (with N*E*R*D)#27
2017XXX. (feat U2)#75
6. Run The Jewels (feat Kamasi Washington) - Thursday in the Danger Room

There really was a fair bit to love on "Run The Jewels 3" even if this is the only track I'm playing in full today. Suffice to say that this song reminds me a lot of "Early" in how it's structured. The lyrical themes are largely different as this song tackles facing a friend on the edge of death (or just beyond it) and the complicated feelings surrounding it. El-P has even admitted that the song was nearly excluded from the album because of how personal it is. It's punctuated by Kamasi Washington dropping a dope af verse and...nah you know he's playing the sax and it's great.

Previous entries (Run The Jewels):
2013Sea Legs#13
2013A Christmas F**king Miracle#27
2013DDFH#100
2014Early (feat BOOTS)#9
2014Blockbuster Night Part 1#49
2014Close Your Eyes (And Count To F**k) (feat Zack De La Rocha)#68
2014Oh My Darling Don't Cry#71
2014Lie, Cheat, Steal#78
2015Born To Shine (with Big Grams)#67
20162100 (feat BOOTS)#71
5. Kendrick Lamar - LUST.

It's not common to say that this is my favourite song on "DAMN." but it just taps a certain nerve for me. Maybe it helps that BADBADNOTGOOD & KAYTRANADA are involved. I know I've said it a lot but the beat to this song is so good. It's dark & gloomy to fit the tone of the song, and it has this weird style of drum programming where nearly everything sounds like it's being played in reverse. When the proper snares do come in, they're choppy enough to really poke out. There's also a good string interlude, and a random Ratboy section that really fits in too.

Previous entries:
2012Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst#10
2012good kid#26
2012Real (feat Anna Wise)#51
2012F**kin' Problems (with A$AP Rocky)#77
2012Swimming Pools (Drank)#83
2012Backseat Freestyle#89
2012Poetic Justice (feat Drake)#92
2012m.A.A.d city (feat MC Eiht)#97
2014Never Catch Me (with Flying Lotus)#22
2014i#29
2015The Blacker the Berry#1
2015King Kunta#6
2015These Walls (feat Anna Wise, Bilal & Thundercat)#10
2015Alright#27
2015How Much A Dollar Cost#46
2015Complexion (A Zulu Love) (feat Rapsody)#52
2015Wesley's Theory (feat George Clinton & Thundercat)#62
2016No More Parties In LA (with Kanye West)#25
2016Freedom (with Beyonce)#32
2017DNA.#7
2017HUMBLE.#11
2017Don't Don't Do It! (with N*E*R*D)#27
2017XXX. (feat U2)#75
4. BROCKHAMPTON - BOOGIE

I'm not convinced that I won't look back on this and still think I've not put this song high enough. It feels like the perfect send off to this 6 month "SATURATION" saga, as a song that wastes no time out of the gate as an instant party starter. There's even a call back to the first track on the first album, with Joba's insanely great chiropractor line. It really feels like a massive posse cut, though mainly because Kevin has so many different deliveries that it sounds like there are twice as many people on the song as there actually are.

It had to be them really https://imgur.com/Bsn4PTt

Previous entries:
2017GUMMY#23
2017ZIPPER#31
2017QUEER#53
2017SWEET#74
2017STUPID#90
3. Wolf Alice - Planet Hunter

When I'm not making stuff of my own, or reading visual novels or whatever, I'm often watching a certain group of YouTubers who upload gaming videos more or less as an excuse to upload hours upon hours of silly banter. I mention this because it's probably the highest concentration of Men At Work discussion outside of any official Men At Work channels, and through that, I've grown to love the song "Overkill".

Not long after the fact, Wolf Alice put out their 2nd album, which features this song on it. I took an instant liking to it only to later realise that the main chords of the song are almost identical to that of "Overkill", making me ponder whether or not that's how my love for this song was established. It probably isn't but it does help a bit. After all, there's more to the song otherwise I wouldn't be putting it so high. This is a song about disillusionment and sorrow that comes with growing up. In the past I've felt that ballads haven't been the band's strong point but the writing has really been leaving an impression on me this time around. The big synthscapes here sound like an improved version of what The Jezabels were doing on their last album, while the song eventually just descends into shoegazey territory that I'm always here for.

Previous entries:
2013She#30
2014Moaning Lisa Smile#25
2015Fluffy#8
2015Giant Peach#44
2017Don't Delete The Kisses#9
2017Beautifully Unconventional#87
2. Melody's Echo Chamber - Cross My Heart

It's been rough times for Melody's Echo Chamber lately. Going back to arguably when this album campaign should have started, with the song "Shirim" being released and then almost completely disappearing from the internet a couple weeks later with no official word given, Melody eventually saying that the song can't go on the new album because it's cursed. And then when we finally did have an album roll out ready, Melody was involved in a very bad accident and was incapacitated for most of the rest of the year, though fortunately she's doing a lot better now.

While this has been happening she has just been putting out stellar music though. It's unfortunate admittedly that a lot of the attention drawn to the self-titled album bogs down to 'oh Kevin Parker did this?', and there are a lot of frustrating claims that she just doesn't have it when not working with him. I obviously profoundly disagree, and I'd argue that her music has gotten more adventurous and interesting since. Nowhere is that more apparent than [s]in our top 10[/s] on "Cross My Heart". Rather than just soaking in the reverb, this song goes places for all of its 7 minutes. Oh it's sounding familiar? Let's have some breakbeat, that too much? Flute time baby! It's just such a delight. Melody's music has helped me so much over the years, and I hope 2018 can go well for her.

Previous entries:
2012Some Time Alone, Alone#14
2012I Follow You#58
2012You Won't Be Missing That Part Of Me#79
2014Shirim#67
1. Samsaruh - Golden to Thrive

Is this me establishing the pattern of being obvious every second year and being unpredictable every other year? Does the very notion of having predictable unpredictability discredit the whole point? Is any of this as important as noting what a gem this song is? As has been the case with my end of year #1's, this really was love at first listen, which happened when I was half asleep and had to scroll through triple j's Twitter feed to find out who it was because I couldn't spell her name.

It's admittedly hard to articulate it. Though I'm not setting myself up for much diversity when this is the second year in the row that I'm giving the top spot to a teenager on triple j Unearthed and their debut single. The other one had a lot more words to dissect while this is (once I found out what they actually were) a much more straight forward dissection on the fact that there will always be people who think less of you, whether through internal bias or misperception, so the best way to live is to do so being sound in heart & soul. There's something to be said of the art of brevity when the song puts it all out in just 17 unique lines of lyrics in the whole song.

As I mentioned with her last song, she produced the song herself. While it's her voice that punctuates the song for the most part, a lot can be said of the way the music leads into everything. I also want to point out that the chorus of this song is arranged in a very unusual way. There's a delay of one quarter note on the 2nd hook, which means both deliveries land on different notes. This has the side effect that if you try to recite the song in your head and don't know what the 2nd half of the line is, you'll get tangled up as soon as you get to 'you were thinking...'. It's something the song probably needs to keep it from being super repetitive. I also find it interesting the way that the momentum is abruptly halted after the chorus. I've seen her perform the song live with dance producers and have a drop put there, which honestly works quite well, but I'm also glad that the song is as it is, and doesn't overstep what it's doing (which sounds ironic considering what I said of the last song). For the bridge of the song she gets to show off her great vocal chops only to lead into one last chorus that's bigger than everything that came before it.

I feel as though it's not since "Faces" that I've ever had a song that so deeply feels linked to me. And that one proved very fruitful in the ensuing years for output that I gravitated to, so I can only hope the same thing happens here. If her busy social media updating says something it's that she seems to have the willingness to succeed, or rather, in a similar manner of my EOY #1 transition, the drive to thrive.

Previous entries:
2017Beautiful Killer#70
2017Blue (with Blanke)#81
I said this before of course but what a wonderful #1. It's so great that Golden to Thrive was a personal #1 for me too, doesn't always work out that way but fantastic when it does. Too many highlights to mention, but obviously LUST. and Planet Hunter finishing in the top 5 is excellent. Remiss of me to not mention that it started off with a bang. Was anticipating Laura Marling to do better but there were certainly some surprises, can't believe Lil Uzi actually made the top 10! Great list
missed out on some below 100 stuff last time so

good to see Do It Better, Praying, NUMB, When I Was Young, I Could Always, Automaton, Andromeda, Cellophane Rainbow, Perfect Places, Sweet, Cut To The Feeling, Hyperreal, No Fear, Locked Up, Urges, Kryptonite, Not A Fighter, Fracture, Wild Thoughts, The Man, Now, The Heart Is A Muscle and Green Light. I didn't expect to like the #101 *that* much and now I'm a bit sad. Very good list though, I enjoyed listening to the forty percent or so that I did listen to


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