Tiny Engines artists list their top LPs of 2017
Yesterday we posted Best of 2017 lists from Fat Wreck Chords bands, and today we’ve got some lists from another great label, the always-rising indie rock label Tiny Engines. Co-founder Will Miller sent a list, as did staffer Karl Kuehn (who fronts Museum Mouth), plus TE bands Club Night, Floral Print, Long Neck, See Through Dresses, Signals Midwest, Strange Ranger, Jouska and Thelma. Check out all of their lists (some with commentary) and streams of recent releases by all of those bands, below.
Head HERE to see which Tiny Engines bands have upcoming or ongoing tours, and stay tuned for the Long Neck and Runaway Brother albums that TE is putting out in early 2018.
—
Will Miller’s Top 30 Albums of 2017
favorite labels of the year – Polyvinyl & Western Vinyl
Alex G – Rocket (Domino)
Alvvays – Anitsocialites (Polyvinyl)
Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder (Arts & Crafts)
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – On The Echoing Green (Mexican Summer)
Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound (Carpark)
The Courtneys – The Courtneys II (Flying Nun)
Angelo De Augustine – Swim Inside The Moon (Asthmatic Kitty)
Fazerdaze – Morningside (Flying Nun)
The Feelies – In Between (Bar/None)
Four Tet – New Energy (Text)
Geotic – Abysma (Ghostly International)
Gunn-Truscinski Duo – Bay Head (Three Lobed)
Hand Habits – Wildly Idle (Humble Before The Void) (Woodsist)
Jay Som – Everybody Works (Polyvinyl)
Matt Jencik – Weird Times (Hands In The Dark)
L’Rain – L’Rain (Astro Nautico)
Land of Talk – Life After Youth(Saddle Creek)
Los Campesinos! – Sick Scenes (Wichita)
Palehound – A Place I’ll Always Go (Polyvinyl)
Joseph Shabason – Aytche (Western Vinyl)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Kid (Western Vinyl)
Sneaks – It’s A Myth (Merge)
Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory (Def Jam)
Teen Daze – Themes For A New Earth & Themes for Dying Earth (Flora)
Fred Thomas – Charger (Polyvinyl)
Scott Tuma – No Greener Grass (Dismal Niche)
Karima Walker – Hands In Our Names (Orindal)
The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic)
Waxahatchee – Out In The Storm (Merge)
The Weather Station – The Weather Station (Paradise of Bachelors)
Karl Kuehn’s Top 15 Albums of 2017
These are the albums I spent the most time with in 2017 (excluding TE releases)… and yes I know two of them are December releases, I have an obsessive personality
1. Kesha—Rainbow
2. Perfume Genius—No Shape
3. The Drums—Abysmal Thoughts
4. Waxahatchee—Out In The Storm
5. Jay Som—Everybody Works
6. High Bloom—Implied Sun
7. Vince Staples—Big Fish Theory
8. Charly Bliss—Guppy
9. Sampha—Process
10. Kitty—Miami Garden Club
11. Shamir—Revelations
12. Fever Ray—Plunge
13. Palehound—A Place I’ll Always Go
14. Coma Cinema—Loss Memory
15. Lemuria—Recreational Hate
I also made this playlist of 30 songs I really liked from this year:
—
Club Night’s Top 10 Albums of 2017
Pardoner – Uncontrollable Salvation
Big Thief – Capacity
Palberta – Bye Bye Berta
Protomartyr – Relatives in Descent
Chad Vangaalen – Light Information
Bad History Month – Dead And Loving It
Xiu Xiu – Forget
Palm – Shadow Expert
Jay Som – Everybody Works
Fred Thomas – Changer
Floral Print’s Top 10 Albums of 2017
Lake – Blois
pleasure suck – Spirit of the Beehive
What Have You Done To My Water? – Beverly Tender
Mellow Waves – Cornelius
Shadow Expert – Palm
Locket – Crumb
Take Me Apart – Kelela
Rally – Club Night
Climax Landers – Climax Landers
Nino Tomorrow – Ada Babar & Kasra Kurt
Long Neck’s Top 10 Albums of 2017
“The Hanged Man” – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
“Survival Pop” – Worriers
“Soft Spots” – Adult Mom
“Out In The Storm” – Waxahatchee
“Capacity” – Big Thief
“JoyFull Noise” – Vitamin Cea
“Elastic” – Amy O
“Tourist In This Town” – Allison Crutchfield
“Silver Haze” – Aye Nako
“Everybody Works” – Jay Som
This was so goddamned difficult to compile cos there was SO MUCH good music released this year!!! I wanna give honorable mentions to SZA, Sinai Vessel, Vagabon, The Menzingers, Japanese Breakfast, Great Grandpa, DUMP HIM, Cayetana, and Nana Grizol. They all released spectacular, beautiful, and powerful albums too and just because they’re not in this “top-10” list doesn’t mean I loved their releases any less!!
Sara Bertuldo’s (See Through Dresses) Top 15 Albums of 2017
bold is prob my favorite ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Austra – Future Politics
Big Thief – Capacity
Bully – Losing
Charly Bliss – Guppy
Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound
David Bazan – Care
Decibelles – Tight
Jay Som – Everybody Works
Land of Talk – Life After Youth
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya – DROOL
Ratboys – GN
Slowdive – s/t
Strange Relations – Editorial You
The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding
Wild Pink – s/t
Maxwell Stern’s (Signals Midwest) 2017 Favorites
Ten Things I Really Liked This Year In No Particular Order by Maxwell Stern of Signals Midwest, Meridian, Timeshares, Earth Telephone And Other Things I Probably Forgot:
– Iron Chic – You Can’t Stay Here
Bleakness has never been so anthemic. I have no idea how they made a record that sounds this huge in a tiny Long Island basement. Chic forever.
– HOUND x Longmont Potion Castle collabo
This is such a good idea and I’m pissed it wasn’t mine.
– Lee Bains III and The Glory Fires’ set at at Fest 16
Probably the punkest shit I saw all year. Unapologetically Southern, progressive, catchy and ass-kicking. Lee Bains is the truth.
– Shannen Moser – Oh, My Heart
Heartbreaking, sparse, subtly positive and persistent folk-pop. Catchy as hell, too. My favorite voice in Philadelphia. All hail the mighty Moser.
– Slaughter Beach, Dog – Birdie
This record feels like a Sunday spent drinking coffee and making long-overdue phone calls that lead to conversations that you feel surprisingly good about when you hang up. Crafty, clever, wordy songwriting. Between this record and their studio The Metal Shop, Jake and Ian are creating some really special things up in North Philly.
– Alvvays – Antisocialites
Perfect melodies. Flawless pop songs. Everyone I know loves this record and you probably should too.
– Ted Leo – The Hanged Man
So glad Ted’s back. These songs run the gamut of every sound he’s touched over his career, expanding on them in new and refined ways.
– Big Nothing – S/T EP
These are four of my favorite songs all year. Sugary, snotty, self-aware, and anxious punk song from three different songwriters firing on all cylinders and doing great things. Hard to believe this is their first release when it’s this good.
– Emperor X – Oversleepers International
Chad is a brilliant force of a human and the number of good ideas he probably has about music, art and meaningful civic discourse in one day is staggering. I caught him in a basement in West Philly in late spring and he held the audience in rapt attention with a blown PA and a synthesizer velcroed to an acoustic guitar.
– I Finally Got Into the Drive-By Truckers And I Can’t Believe It Took Me This Fucking Long
Seriously / sorry.
Strange Ranger’s Top 10 LPs of 2017
Spirit of the Beehive- Pleasure Suck
Alex G- Rocket
Girlpool- Powerplant
Kendrick Lamar- Damn
Chastity Belt- I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone
Brockhampton- Saturation II
Oneohtrix Point Never- Good Time Soundtrack
Vince Staples- Big Fish Theory
Coma Cinema- Loss Memory
Ratboys- GN
+ Carly Rae Jepson- Cut to the Feeling
Jouska’s Top 10 LPs of 2017
Spirit of the Beehive – “Pleasure Suck”
Horse jumper of Love – s/t
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya – “DROOL”
Emily Yacina – “Heart Sky”
Bad History Month – “Dead and Loving It”
Babylawns – “Sorry It’s Like This”
Bilge Rat – s/t
Floral Print – “Mirror Stages”
Palm – “Shadow Expert”
Frank Ocean – various singles
Natasha Jacobs’ (Thelma) Top 10 Albums of 2017
Ctrl by SZA – I love everything about this album. My favorite tracks are Anything and Supermodel. SZA’s lyrics feel so natural and even the most simple arrangements are effective.
form/a by Half Waif- I’ve really loved to see how Nandi’s music has evolved over the last few years. First track, Severed Logic was in my head for a long time. And the amount of fun she has while she performs is something I’d really like to live up to
Good Time Now by Lily Konigsberg & Andrea Schiavelli- This record showed a new side of Lily Konisberg who I’m a huge fan of, and also introduced me to Andrea Schiavelli who I’m excited to hear more from.
The Kid by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – If I have one goal for 2018 it’s to see her play live. She uses a synth from another dimension.
Lack by Pan Daijing- I went to Berlin for the first time and saw Pan Daijing perform at the infamous Berghain. I never knew a space could sound like that, and I felt so lucky to have been able to see her there. It was otherworldly.
Lily on Horn Horse by Lily Konisberg – I look up to Lily so much as an artist. She’s so versatile, playful and fearless.
Lust for Life by Lana Del Rey – This is all satire right? I refuse to believe it’s not. Is it ok that I love this?
Soft Sounds From Another Planet by Japanese Breakfast- I got into this record super late, like a few days ago but I’m baffled by the production.
The Visitor by Kadhja Bonet – This is my second time writing about this album because it deserves recognition.
Who Programs You by DEROVER – I had a class with Laura in music school. We don’t really know each other but she just released this album. It’s incredible and it needs to be heard!
