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attn-all-pickpockets · 2 years ago

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top 5 txf episodes

I loved this prompt but also it was very hardddd, I mostly chose ones that I never shut up about lmao

"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"

This is my girl, this is my ride or die. I was in the Northeast when the first category 1 hurricane hit in like 50 years and I had to drive through the outer bands in a rental car with a spare tire on it and when we got home I made everyone watch this because it's my comfort episode that accompanies me through moments of triumph as well as crisis. Scully befriending the depressed old man psychic is such a great storyline for Scully and this whole ep really lets her shine. Scully has such a kindness and playfulness that she typically only shows with Mulder, but her fondness for the deadpan comedy stylings of Bruckman made her fond of him and her heartbreak when he dies is such a perfect scene. Also I just think of her smile and "there are hits and there are misses, and then there are misses :)" a lot.

2. "Leonard Betts"

If someone asked me what is the episode of The X Files that feels like the quintessential episode, I would say "Leonard Betts", which I think some would think as a weird choice. But this episode is what this show was at the height of its popularity to me. It aired after the Superbowl and the cold open is one of its best with a beheading, followed by the corpse waltzing right out of the morgue. The banter between Mulder and Scully is top notch and full of perfect Mulder quips ("blinked or winked?") and incredulous Scully deliveries ("Mulder, they're worms") and even if the scientific explanation of "evolutionary cancer" is deeply ludicrous from a scientific perspective, it is a great x-file. And the ENDING of finding out Scully has cancer is such a gut punch, just a phenomenal hour of tv.

3. "Paper Clip"

This is on here because I love the Anasazi/The Blessing Way/Paper Clip trilogy so much and I have to shout it out. I will always cape for early mythology because I think the fact that became a muddled mess makes people forget how damn good it was to begin with. So much of the early character work was done in these episodes and they're so compelling. Bringing in real history with Operation Paper Clip and connecting Mulder's father to the people Mulder is trying to investigate was a great move (that they didn't totally deliver on imo, but "sins of the father" is a great idea at the very least) and expanding the scope and complicity in the conspiracy really put what Mulder and Scully were up against in perspective. Mulder relenting and choosing to go out of hiding for Scully so she could see her sister and their conversation in the hospital room after Melissa died are some of my favorite moments of the show.

4. "Folie a Deux"

It's hard to pick a Vince episode and this could just as easily be "Pusher" (which was the episode that got me to seriously ship msr) or "Bad Blood" or almost any other episode he wrote, but "Folie a Deux" is special to me. Mulder's mental wellness and people's belief that he's crazy has been an angle that has always been present and Vince framing this as a joint delusion on Mulder and Scully's part is so fascinating and a fantastic bit or writing to me. Mulder is so discredited and dismissed in this episode and the only person who listens to him is Scully and that's a perfect distillation of their dynamic and the show itself. Also the episode is Marxist to me.

5. "Jose Chung's From Outer Space"

I thought to myself "well I can't have two Darin episodes on here" but…of course I can! This is one of the greatest episodes of TV of all time. Not just of sci-fi or network or pre-00s TV, of all TV ever made. This is one of the episodes that sets The X Files apart from its clones or other cop procedural shows and it's that it can switch genres and tones and bring this post-modern, storyline hopping masterpiece out and no one thinks twice about its place in the show or season. A lot gets said about how funny it is and the melancholic tone Darin brings to his writing, but I find myself so impressed by they way the writing and directing work to make the timeline jumping work and not end up confusing the viewer. I'll eventually talk about this more, but the shot construction to create anchor points between a re-enactment and the scene of the narrator telling this story to Mulder and Scully is so great.

#the x files #ask

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vdoesbookrecs · 6 years ago

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Mini analysis - A Long Way Down

Blurb: ‘Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?’

For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer’s pretty simple: he has, in his own words, ‘pissed his life away’. And on New Year’s Eve he’s going to end it all ... but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash martin’s private party. They’ve stolen his idea- but brought their own reasons.

Yet it’s hard to jump when you’ve got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices of pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living?

‘Extremely funny ...and wise’ -Sunday Times

‘A page-turning plot and rich, funny characters with several big laughs on every page...Hornby’s best yet.” -Library Review

‘Hornby pins down the age in which we live with precision and comic brilliance’ -Guardian

‘Hugely enjoyable’ -Irish Times

‘Masterful ...some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading’ -Johnny Depp

‘Impossible to put down... enthralling’ -Ruth Rendell, Guardian

‘Hilarious yet heartbreaking’ -In Style

‘Generous and wise. Right rom the opening pages, a smile played continually across my face’ -GQ

‘Darkly comic’ -San Francisco Chronicle

‘Brilliant, smart and funny... a cello suite about how to go on living. It’s hard to imagine a novel more darkly and sublimely devoted to life’ -Boston Globe

‘Hornby’s portrayal of four characters who accidentally meet on top of a tower block, all ready to jump to their death on New Year’s Eve, manages to be sensitive and emphatic, but damn funny as well. My new Hornby favourite’ -Adam Philips, Observer

I’ve always been suspicious of books that have more reviews than blurb printed on the cover, and this confirms all my darkest fears and theories.

Structure and Intention: There are no chapters, instead the book is divided into three parts of about equal length. These three parts are further divided into sections where each of the four characters narrates a part. These individual narrations are between a half and about five pages long, change frequently, and are indicated by the name of the character set over the text in all capitals. The events of the book roughly follow Aristotele’s model for the ideal drama:

(note: I wanted to link the source and the website this is from apparently doesn’t exist anymore, sorry) At the very beginning we’ve got our exposition - four characters who all want to commit suicide meet. We are informed about the place (Topper’s House, London), the time (around midnight), the characters (Maureen, Martin, Jess, JJ) and get first information about them (mostly their motivations for trying to throw themselves off a building). Then we’ve got our falling action - at the end of the first part, a pact is formed: The characters agree to meet again on Valentine’s Day, and not kill themselves until then. Then we’ve got our climax (the witnessed suicide on Valentine’s) at the very end of the second part, after quite a bit of rising action (the newspaper fiasco, the interview on Martin’s show, the vacation...). Then one could argue that Maureen and Jess’ visit to Martin’s ex-wife can be seen as an element of retardation. I personally don’t, because that whole thing can be seen as leading up to The Intervention, leading us directly to our conclusion (which is a happy one and thus, if this was a play, would make the book a comedy, which I find very fitting.) What’s interesting about the structure is also that part I and II both end with a turning point: In part I we’ve got the Valentine’s Day Pact delaying the suicide, in part II they witness a suicide and subsequently realize that they aren’t capable of killing themselves. The author’s intention becomes clear in the last part of the book: the characters all slowly get better. The last sentence sums this up perfectly: JJ says about the London Eye that “It didn’t look as though it was moving, but it must have been, I suppose”, which can also be applied to the characters dire situations throughout the whole book: It doesn’t look like it’s getting better, but it is.

Characters:

1) Martin (age: probably mid-forties)

Family situation: Was married to Cindy, with whom he has two daughters (Polly and Maise), currently together with Penny Chambers, his old co-host. Martin is a serial adulterer who’s marriage ended because he was caught having sex with a fifteen-year old girl who was under the influence of cocain. His type is described as blond, young, and big-breasted.

Character traits: Martin is educated and a member of the upper bourgeoise (rich enough to afford a BMW and a very nice flat in London, not rich enough to lose his job and still uphold his standard of living without any problems). He is pessimistic, but at the same time has a very media-friendly personality (egoistic, likes to be the center of positive attention, charismatic, vain, self-assured). Though he is very shallow and lazy, he has a strong sense of obligation.

Situation: Had sex with a fifteen-year-old and went to prison for an unspecified amount of time (my best guess is about two to three months - he’ s still recognized on the street, he mentions recent articles about himself, his girlfriend was still waiting for him when he got out, so it couldn’t have been that long). As a consequence to his...sexual escapades....he lost his job as a breakfast TV presenter (his show was called Rise and Shine With Penny and Martin). He also has an alcohol problem.

Secret wish: To not have to be held accountable for his wrongdoings

Seeks: Redemption

2) Maureen (age: 51)

Family situation: Is a single mom (her fiancé broke off the engagement before she even knew she was pregnant, and she never had or even wanted another romantic or sexual encounter). She is the sole caretaker of her son Matty (19), who is wheelchair-bound and so severely (mentally?) disabled that he cannot communicate with anyone and basically just...vegitates.

Character traits: Maureen is deeply religious, but often doubts the teachings of the catholic church. As a consequence of her faith she has a strong sense of guilt and duty, and sees her son as the punishment for all of her sins (but mainly for the premaritial sex). She is very timid and has low self-esteem and cries very easily. Some passages allude to her being diagnosed with depression.

Situation: Maureen has absolutely no friends and isolated from all aspects of social life (except for Sunday church) due to her family situation.

Secret wish: To be free from Matty.

Seeks: Human contact

3) Jess Crichton (age: 18)

Family situation: Is the daughter of the Junior Minister of Education; her older sister, Jennifer, disappeared shortly after obtaining her driver’s license and is presumed dead. The car she was driving was found at a popular suicide spot and her body was never found. Jess’ relationship with her parents is very tense, as she blames herself for Jen’s disappearance and, consequently, for her parents’ misery.

Character traits: Jess has a hard facade and often acts unpredictable or crazy. Underneath that facade she is a vulnerable and grieving young girl who feels deeply guilty because she is convinced she is the reason her sister left the family and clings to any and all human contact. She is deathly afraid of people leaving her. She is very insecure and often ‘reinvents’ herself in order to please those around her. Despite this she is not afraid to speak her mind, often in vulgar terms. She describes herself as ‘fucked up’ and self harms.

Situation: Jess is convinced her sister isn’t dead and is living a happy life somewhere without her. She is very detached from her parents, though she secretly longs for a happy family life. She is starved for affection and clings to it wherever she can find it, which leads to her stalking Chas, the boy who took her virginity. She in convinced that they had a deep and meaningful relationship that he destroyed, despite only ever going on two dates and Chas not even defining their relationship as boyfriend-girlfriend type.

Secret wish: For her parents to swoop in and magically fix everything that’s been going wrong since Jen disappeared.

Seeks: Reassurance

4) John Julius a.k.a. JJ (age: mid twenties to early thirties maybe? it’s pretty unclear)

Family situation: JJ’s family situation is unknown; the only meaningful relationships mentioned in his past are his ex girlfriend, Lizzie, for whom he immigrated to England from the US, and Ed, his former bandmate and childhood friend, who quit the band and is living in the US.

Character traits: JJ is an introspective, melancholic and philosophical artistic personality. He is very philosophical despite being a relatively uneducated high school dropout and enjoys intellectual stimulation, particularly in the form of books. He loves four things: music, books, his bandmates, and his ex, three of which have left him.

Situation: JJ is an illegal immigrant. His band broke up despite obvious success and his girlfriend, who was the reason he came to the UK in the first place, broke up with him.

Secret wish: To be famous with his band

Seeks: Self-expression

Language: All four characters use typical language in their monologues. Martin typically uses words from the fields MEDIA. LAW and PROFANITY and very long and elaborate adjectives and adverbs. He uses rather long sentences with multiple subclauses and often employs rhetorical questions. His educated, engaging and cynical tone stands in contrast to his frequent use of profanity. Overall Martin’s tone is rather sophisticated, sometimes lofty, but not implausible as spoken English. Maureen typically uses words from the fields RELIGION and OUTDATED SLANG. Striking is her complete lack of profanity. She uses rather simple syntax, lots of insertions, often ends her sentences with ‘isn’t it’ and there are often periods instead of question marks at the end of her questions. This leads to her seeming slow (as in slow-moving), old-fashioned, uptight and prudish. Overall her style is rather standard but seems stiff in comparison to the others. Jess typically uses words from the fields PROFANITY and SLANG. She uses lots of ellipses, rhetorical questions, and relatively short sentences. Her language sees fast-paced, intense, and often jumpy. Her style is somewhere between colloquial, which she is a bit too structured for, and standard, which she is a bit too jumpy for. JJ typically uses words from the fields LITERATURE, BAND/MUSIC, and PROFANITY. He uses very long sentences with elaborate subclauses which often feature rhetorical questions, and questions and literal speech or his thoughts as insertions. His language is philosophical, thoughtful and ‘deep’, the style is standard to colloquial.

Personal Opinion: It’s shit don’t read it.

Ok but in all honesty this book is shallow, doesn’t accurately portray depression or being suicidal, features a character whos only regret about sleeping with a minor who was unable to give consent due to being drugged out of her mind, and also, fifteen, (this is what they call rape fellas!) is that he didn’t get away with it (also this is never addressed? there is no outside perspective given on this? no one ever says anything about this in their parts, everyone seems ok with Martin being a convicted and guilty sex offender? what the f), and, in all honesty, the writing is...rather mediocre. Like, it isn’t bad per se, but in my opinion it’s on no way deserving the praise it gets.

Note: I...have so much more stuff I could say about this book. If you want a series of very detailed diagrams depicting character relationships or something like that, let me know because I’ve got it all.

#nick hornby #a long way down #bookblr #book #books #reading #analysis #mini analysis #the shame shelf

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athousandheartsattack · 7 years ago

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I started paying real attention to music in 1989. I was at summer camp and I taped two U2 albums, War and Unforgettable Fire, on someone’s boombox that had two cassette players so you could make tape copies (also, later on that same summer, I bought The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry, my first purchased cassette). I was 14 years old. I listened to Unforgettable Fire a lot, War not so much (I got into that album much later) but at the time I gravitated towards The Cure more. It isn’t until Achtung Baby (an album that, over 25 years later, still gets tons of play in my home) that I fell in love. Every U2 album released since then has, on first listen, been a letdown. They’ll never make Achtung Baby again. It is a messy, beautiful, dark, noisy masterpiece. Let’s do the post AB rundown: Zooropa has a few classics but also has many (too many) throwaway tracks. Pop is admirable in its bold attempt at, basically, anti-pop pop, but I still can’t make up my mind about whether or not it’s any good (I like it, though I spent years unable to stand it). All That You Can’t Leave Behind was well received because it basically wasn’t Pop, but it’s a bland album that has very few keepers (I’m a guy who cannot stand Elevation, but there’s no denying Beautiful Day is great). How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is a great late U2 offering (what a great album title!) and while it’s uneven – especially in the back half – it has some truly amazing songs and renewed my faith that the band was capable of greatness. Then they release No Line On The Horizon, which is their worst album by a mile. It opens AMAZINGLY well, the first few moments of the title track are a burst of great, noisy guitar and really dynamic singing and everything works so goddamn well and then they shit the bed with a chorus that stops the momentum of the song dead. The album never recuperates. It has songs that range from “it’s ok, I guess” to “awful”. I love this band, but there you have it. Here’s the funny thing, though: that album is bookended by the release of two U2 classic singles: Window In The Sky, a fantastic single released in 2006 that was never on any album, and the powerful Invisible, released in 2014 as a single and later showing up as a hidden song on the deluxe edition of their next album, Songs Of Innocence. Again, both of these tracks are top of the shelve U2. Just when you think that’s it, they’re out of ideas; they give you a nugget of gold to prove you wrong. This brings us to Songs Of Innocence, and album best described as fine. It has some good songs, no classics, and a few throwaways on the b side. So the post Achtung Baby U2 is a band that is easy to love (they keep coming up with great singles) and easy to be let down by (other than Atomic Bomb – which comes closest to being a fully great album - most of those albums are good to great EPs padded up to long players with a handful of disposable tracks…)

And this all leads us to Songs Of Experience, their best, most even album since Achtung Baby. Not as good as AB, but what a relief to hear a U2 album with no skippable tracks. Not a one. The quality varies, they’re not all classics, but there’s nothing on here that makes me ashamed of liking that band (I’m looking at you, Stand Up Comedy). So let’s have at it, shall we?

It’s earnest. I think that’s what I like the most about it. It wears it all on its sleeve. It’s fragile and vulnerable and scared and angry and in love and thankful and happy and romantic and loving. So it’s cheesy. It’s corny. Three songs have the word “love” in the title. There’s a lot of talk about the power of love all over these songs. To me that’s a good thing. I like cheesy, my friends know this. Show me a teen movie third act victorious prom scene and I will cry, guaranteed. So I’m fine with someone one belting out that Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way. You, however, might not be. This is my review. Go be cynical somewhere else.

Another thing that will maybe put some people off is how clean and safe the album is. This is a white glove album. Nothing here will upset anyone. U2 have done stuff in the past that, umm, flustered some folks (I won’t get into any of that here, this is about the music) so I think they had a very strong desire to please. That being said, this is superb, efficient song writing. So let’s talk about the songs. All of them. Yes, this will be that type of review.

The album opener is called Love Is All We Have Left. It’s great. It reminds me of Unforgettable Fire era U2, more specifically its B side. It’s a subdued, short song (under three minutes) with no drums and no guitar (unless it’s heavily filtered and I didn’t recognize it as such). Just strings, voice and studio fidgiting. It’s lovely and earnest and full of grace. Maybe it’s cheesy. It’s a fantastic start to the album. It also has the only weird, out of left feel move on the entire album: on the second verse the voice is auto-tuned. I love it. It feels a little like Bon-Iver, maybe. It works, and when the voice returns to swoon us into its chorus, it’s all the more effective. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, though.

That is followed by Lights Of Home, which is kind of part Rolling Stones, part White Stripes, with a great gospel bridge at the end. Simple chords with no showy effects. I think it would have fit nicely on Rattle And Hum, an album I really like. The Haim sisters are on this track. I really like the gospel bit.

You’re The Best Thing About me is the weakest song on the album, but it has such a great, catchy and infectious chorus that I can’t skip it. I’m just not crazy about how it starts, but I like everything after those first 30 seconds. There’s a lovely bit of The Edge singing (who, by the way, does stellar backing vocal almost throughout the album) towards the end, something about someone needing to be loved quietly, which I think is beautiful.

Get Out Of Your Own Way is stadium-sized U2. A big, Beautiful Day-style anthem full of hooks that, like some other songs on this album, could be faulted with trying a little too hard, but I like that. It’s better than not trying at all (and in U2’s defence it has never felt, in 40+ years of making music, like they didn’t care about the music they are making. These guys try, like, all the damn time). That song ends (and the next one starts) with a powerful guest spot by Kendrik Lamar. I’m just mentioning this. Maybe you like him? He’s there.

American Soul is GREAT. I loooove how that song starts: Kendrik Lamar says what he has to say and then some big, fat, dirty chords are banged out of a guitar, it feels like White Stripes again, with the drum pounding in time. Just two chords. Bam-Bam. Then silence. Then two more. BAM-BAM. Then two more again. Then the song takes off. An angry, anti-Trump, pro-refugee, pro America (the inspiring, idea of America, not the travesty of that dream that’s on the news every fucking day). That song is the first of two songs that borrow from Songs Of Innocence. In this case the chorus is taken straight from a bridge in the song Volcano. It is used better here, in a song that is better than Volcano. This happens again on the album closer, we’ll get to that in a bit.

Summer Of Love is a great little diddy, with a beautiful vocal melody and simple chords stripped once again of the big fat pedals effects that The Edge is normally so fond of. The song is great, it never goes for epicness, it never tries to be more than what it is. Just a lovely little song. Well written, everyone in the band understanding where this thing needs to go (this is true of the entire album: it is played by a band whose members are all on the same page about tone and feeling and purpose, it shows). I have a criticism, though. In the middle of the song there is a switch. It’s good. The guitar becomes a bit distorted (just a bit, calm down) and the vocals become more dramatic for a bit and then the song returns to its status quo in a formidable bit of manoeuvering and strings come in and it’s all good, but that initial switch is a bit weird. It feels like another song was tacked onto the one you’re listening to. It’s a rushed bit of mixing. But that doesn’t kill the song, it’s just a transition that maybe could’ve been smoother. Or maybe that’s how they want this to sound, who am I to judge?

Red Flag day is one of the stand-out tracks from the album (certainly from the A side – the B-side of this album is unbelievably strong). This song sounds like War-era U2. It feels rebellious and youthful. The guitar and bass hooks are so fucking good. Very propulsive. Again, very simple chords, very little effects. Just good song writing.

I love the next song so much, but some people won’t stomach it I think. It’s called The Showman (Little More Better) and it sounds like early Beatles. For real. It’s a light, insanely catchy little pop gem that hasn’t failed to put a smile on my face since my first listen. Maybe U2 aren’t supposed to do Beatles-type songs, but here I am, glad that they did.

The Little Things That Give You Away is a highlight for me. It could fit on Achtung Baby (after So Cruel or something). It starts off slow and builds up to one of the most classic, chill-inducing U2 moments on the album. It starts like something on Unforgettable Fire, with vague (but beautiful) echo-y guitar melodies that support the gorgeous vocal work. The chorus is achingly melancholic, and the final bridge builds and builds until you realize your feet aren’t touching the ground anymore. Definitely a keeper.

Landlady is a love letter from Bono to his wife. It has a classic U2-sounding guitar, think Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree, a lovely vocal melody, and a lot of respect, love and gratitude. It’s another one that doesn’t strive for big anthemic swells of melody, it is content to just be as beautiful as possible. What is interesting is that they could have easily made that song bigger, the final third begs to escalate, but the restraint is more powerful.

The Blackout is another rocker like American Soul. It is very much Adam Clayton’s song (the bass is so good). It has a good sing-along chorus but everytime you get back to the verse the song shines more. It’s fist-pumping, feet-stomping rock and roll. They have been trying to write that song for a long time, it seems (what with the Vertigos, the Get On Your Boots and so on) and here it feels like they know what they have is special.

Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way, the penultimate song on the record, will test you. It is really, sublimely cheesy. I like it a lot. I find that there is something defiant in being so boldly hopeful in these difficult times, to place all you have on the unstoppable, all-consuming urgency of love. The song is filled with gorgeous melodies, but there is, in particular, a chant that happens towards the end of the song that is so joyful, so buoyantly optimistic in the face of adversity, that it lifts the entire thing a mile into the sky. This is, once again, really big U2.

The album closes with 13 (There Is A Light). This is the second song to borrow from Songs Of Innocence, this time they re-purpose the entire chorus of Song For Someone, and once again I believe the end result is more powerful. This song mirrors the tone of the album opener. It is more atmospheric, with Bono quietly crooning to a slow subtle emotional build that pays off in beauty but not flamboyance. The song never gets big, it gets softly magnificent. Its restraint is resplendent. It’s a perfect way to end the album.

#U2 #songs of experience #Review #Music

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themarsupials · 7 years ago

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100 Best Songs of 2017, pt. 4

25. Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder

“Showcases the spontaneity and communal spirit that have carried BSS from the start: every piece of the song, from Feist's discursive lyrics to the circuitous rhythm and flickers of U2-like guitar, all seem to contour around each other, moving as one without falling into lockstep.”

24. West Thebarton – Moving Out

“A charging coming-of-age ode to the peaks and pitfalls of sharehouse living. Marrying the explosive urgency of Eddy Current Suppression Rin and the ruthless growl of The Saints into something irresistible and distinct, it’s been their smashing opening number since it was written.”

23. Grizzly Bear – Three Rings

“Even for a Grizzly Bear song, “Three Rings” is a lot to unpack. Its sequence of starts and reversals, intricate symphonics, and untidy free jazz fit together like a Rube Goldberg machine.”

22. Dirty Projectors – Up in Hudson

“Longstreth’s attempt to control the narrative: Yes, he and [Amber] Coffman broke up, and yes, it’s cool. In unusually candid prose, over a velvety, horn-licked near-eight minutes, he details their courtship: seeing her onstage, recruiting her to be in the band, feeling time stop during their first kiss, writing her “Stillness Is the Move.””

21. King Krule – Half Man Half Shark

“A delightfully ramshackle blend of punk ethos, bluesy progressions and Archy Marshall's strangled, gravelly shout-singing.”

20. Thundercat – Friend Zone

“A gorgeous pearl of groove, with hints of underwater funk not unlike Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s.”

19. Pierre Kwenders – Sexus Plexus Nexus

“Draws from Congolese rumba, contemporary electronic pop, 1980s retro, smooth jazz, and ’70s funk. This results in a cornucopia of sound filled with goodies from a wide breadth of eras and cultures.”

18. Jay Som – 1 Billion Dogs

“It’s every bit as fuzzy as the title suggests; demonstrate[s] [Duterte’s] knack for nailing full-band compositions that could hold their own in the ring with any ’90s alt-rock hit. The guitars in this one are loud enough to blow your face off, but Duterte’s presence behind the mic is a lighthouse in the storm, showing the way to the squiggly solo at the end.”

17. Priests – Pink White House

“Singer and lyricist Katie Alice Greer doesn’t merely vent frustration with the election, the two-party system and the gender binary; she also indicts liberal complacency as she spits out a litany of consumerist comforts, from Netflix to SUVs, and coos sarcastically about “my American Dream.” With Clinton in the Oval Office, “Pink White House” would’ve been a tough critique from the left; now it sounds like a postmortem of neo-liberalism.”

16. Siamese – Computer Patient

“As a taste of what to expect from their debut EP, it’s an exciting single to listen to. The single itself is tight in arrangement, with 90’s alt-rock influences ringing strongly. With both feet firmly in the now however, Siamese are upbeat and the songwriting nous they’ve showcased on “Computer Patient” is impressive.”

15. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy

“Tillman undercuts his lyrics with subtle chord shifts, landing on resolutions and notes that punctuate his thoughts. By the time he goes full-on white-boy-soul at the end—which, given that he once featured a laugh track on his record, could very well be satire—he actually sounds completely earnest. For all his meme-filled music videos and forays into comedy, Father John Misty sounds like he's not fucking around anymore.”

14. Tropical Fuck Storm – Mansion Family

“Written by The Nation Blue’s Tom Lyngcoln, shudders with a kindred malaise. “I can feel a cold change is coming,” Liddiard intones, and as the tension mounts, the new day dawning foreshadowed in the lyrics feels like cause for dread.”

13. Downtown Boys – A Wall

“One of the most electrifying rock’n’roll tracks in recent memory by any band. It opens with a snare crack like the first gunshot of a war, then a chugging one-note bassline that you can feel in your chest, then the pleasant surprise of a lilting saxophone arrangement.”

12. Priests – Nothing Feels Natural

“Begins with an ominous surf-rock shimmer, but rather than shifting into a frenzied tirade, Greer surprises us by maintaining the subdued melody, allowing for more melancholic singing. Typically, Greer’s voice ricochets from verse to verse, spitting out her words with anger, rocketing others into the sky. But here, her voice is lower-toned, and mournful, as she ponders if she will ever change.”

11. The Smith Street Band – Birthdays

“The Smith Street Band don’t change too much, they just get better at being The Smith Street Band. ‘Birthdays’ sees the band tread new ground with a synth driven bridge and guest vocals from Melbourne singer-songwriter Jess Locke, but it is undeniably both a progression and also a song that captures the same magic that is apparent in the rough recordings of South East Facing Wall six years ago.”

10. Nilufer Yanya – Golden Cage

“With its upbeat, jazzy nature, the instrumentation of the track reflects the feeling of being blinkered to a bad or difficult situation, looking at things with rose-tinted glasses and turning a blind eye. But that swelling positivity tumbles away, leaving Nilüfer to try and break the spell while accompanied by harsher, starker guitar strums and slightly more melancholic brass melodies.”

9. Lonelyspeck – Happy New Year

“It features their most perfect, intimate vocal moments yet – and has these lowkey moments that swing between sounding like Ariana Grande and birthday. A very perfect place to be. Lonelyspeck is a very very very talented person who will be an important part of what pop music sounds like in 2017. They’re forever experimenting, and we’re forever excited.”

8. LCD Soundsystem – Tonite

“Murphy and his gaggle of robo-harmonisers sardonically read too much into mindless pop songs over squelching synths, while continuing his trademark meditations on ageing. (Now, he introduces himself as a “hobbled veteran” in a genuinely laugh-out-loud passage).”

7. Tropical Fuck Storm – Chameleon Paint

“it’s a tripped-out mid-tempo piece of art-punk-psych-experimental-rock madness.”

6. Heaps Good Friends – Let’s Hug Longer

“It's hard to make something that is the right balance between cute and sexy. You did it. It's sublime. It's a bag of cookies in bed. Tuck me in, baby.”

5. Thundercat – Show You The Way

“A strong return from the bass virtuoso, showing that he can bridge the gap between two disparate eras with ease, while strengthening the case for Thundercat the singer—who more than holds his own against two vocal powerhouses.”

4. Feist – Century

“Its battle-ready drums and tightly wound guitars are blunt, slamming into you from the opening moments. Feist’s vocals peak along with the crashing instruments, looking towards a bleak future.”

3. LCD Soundsystem – Call the Police

“A sour, simmering survey of modern America that references resurfacing antisemitism and the brain-scrambling effects of online chatter while name-checking Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed and Bowie’s Berlin period. One of Murphy’s signature lump-throated vocal melodies swells throughout.”

2. Perfume Genius – Slip Away

“…The best song Kate Bush never wrote, is not only a defiant call to ignore the haters (consider it Hadreas’ ‘Shake It Off’), but draws attention to a driving force behind the album’s entire aesthetic in Hadreas’ line about being “carried by the sound.””

1. Jens Lekman – How We Met, The Long Version

“The entire affair is likely the most fun Lekman has had on record to date, but that’s just one side of the story here. Lyrically, this is classic Jens: wry, highly specific, self-aware, and a bit sweet. With a crush percolating, person A comes up with a flimsy excuse to see person B (in this case, to borrow a bass guitar). Then bam, B plants a surprise kiss on A—and the rest, as they say, is history. A satisfied Lekman croons as the song closes, “We made it happen.” Considering the song’s early rough draft, it’s fair to say he did.”

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