Best of: Top 50 of 2017: My favourite songs of 2017

During 2017 I've probably listened to the least music than I have in the past decade. Most of my favourite tunes of the year came from shows I've seen, bands I'm familiar with and many tunes that just happened to hit my ears the right way. Many of the loves of this year have not been deep and meaningful; they've been brief and fleeting one night stands of aural bliss. Forgive me.

Take a look at my other Best of 2017 lists: My 25 Favourite Concert Photos of 2017 and My 20 Favourite Albums of 2017.

50. "And Saints" Sleigh Bells

49. "Syncope" Bitch Falcon

48. "Love Stuck" Mother Mother

47. "Boyish" Hippo Campus

46. "Skyline" Broken Social Scene

45. "Slicked" Weaves

44. "20th Century Strategies" Public Animal

43. "Magnificent (She Says)" Elbow

42. "Play the Field" Partner

41. "Can I Sit Next To You" Spoon

40. "So True" The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

39. "On Hold" The xx

38. "Feel it Still" Portugal. The Man

37. "Humble" Kendrick Lamar

36. "Stars and Moons" Dizzy

35. "Arc of Bar" Japandroids

34. "Television Romance" Pale Waves

33. "Powerlines" Lowest of the Low

32. "Pharaoh" Louise Burns

31. "Violet" The Districts

30. "Glitter" Charly Bliss

29. "If We Were Vampires" Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

28. "Kills to be Resistant" Bully

27. "Ill Ray (The King)" Kasabian

26. "My Name Is Ruin" Gary Numan

25. "Kill for Candy" Dreamcar

24. "New York" St. Vincent

23. "Beautifully Unconventional" Wolf Alice

22. "Holy Mountain" Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

21. "Anti-Anthem" Sumo Cyco

20. "Hook, Line & Sinker" Royal Blood

19. "High" Sir Sly

18. "Day I Die" The National

17. "Brass Beam" Waxahatchee

16. "DNA" Kendrick Lamar

15. "Planet Hunter" Wolf Alice

14. "Near To The Wild Heart Of Life" Japandroids

13. "There's A Honey" Pale Waves

12. "Blood In The Cut" K.Flay

11. "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" The National

10. "If Before I Wake" The Districts

9. "Lingua Franca" Casper Skulls

8. "Don’t Delete The Kisses" Wolf Alice

7. "Freeze Me" Death from Above 1979

6. "Running" Bully

5. "Black Wave" K.Flay

4. "Never Been Wrong" Waxahatchee

3. "Silver" Waxahatchee

2. "Heavenward" Wolf Alice

1. "Sadboy" Wolf Alice

And if you want to check out my 2017 concert photos of the bands from by best of list, please click the following links:

Wolf Alice

Waxahatchee

K.Flay

Bully

Casper Skulls

Pale Waves

Japandroids

Sumo Cyco

Kasabian

Charly Bliss

Louise Burns

The Lowest of the Low

Partner

Elbow

Mother Mother

Bitch Falcon

And older shots of these awesome bands:

Wolf Alice at The Phoenix, Adelaide Hall and Drake Underground

Bully at Field Trip

Death from Above 1979 at Panamania and Riot Fest

Casper Skulls at Lee's Palace, again at Lee's Palace and The Garrison

The Districts at Lee's Palace, The Horseshoe and again at The Horseshoe

The National at Field Trip and at Riot Fest

Royal Blood at Lee's Palace

Sumo Cyco at Cherry Cola's

Kasabian at Sound Academy

Louise Burns at Handlebar

The Lowest of the Low at Toronto's Festival of Beer

Dizzy at Hillside

Partner at The Silver Dollar Room and The Garrison

Elbow at The Danforth Music Hall

Public Animal at The Garrison and The Horseshoe

Weaves at Lee's Palace

Mother Mother at NXNE

Best of: Top 20 of 2017: My favourite albums of 2017

I just have to have music in my life, especially live music. It makes my heart right and gives me balance, and helps me feel like a complete being.

Here are the albums that meant the most to me in a year when I have been sadly more absent from the care and feeding of this web site, and from music appreciation, than I’ve been in years.

There’s a melody that reaches into your soul, a voice that speaks to your values and your very humanity, a beat that makes you smile uncontrollably, and a hook that brings a tear to your eye; a joy that makes you feel whole. It’s love that comes through your ears from the unstoppable passion of another, through their music.

I can’t listen to everything; especially not in a crazy busy year like 2017. A year when work left me mentally exhausted most days meant I couldn’t get all the concert-going and photo-editing in that I wanted and much of my commute-listening was while otherwise mentally occupied with little things like driving. But undaunted I go into the yearly tradition of listing out the albums that made the biggest impression on me in 2017, in order, my absolute favourites at the top.

Take a look at my other Best of 2017 lists: My 25 Favourite Concert Photos of 2017 and My 50 Favourite Songs of 2017.

Wolf Alice Visions of a Life

Waxahatchee Out in the Storm

The National Sleep Well Beast

Bully Losing

Japandroids Near To The Wild Heart Of Life

K.Flay Every Where Is Some Where

St. Vincent MASSEDUCTION

The Districts Popular Manipulations

Kasabian For Crying Out Loud

Royal Blood How Did We Get So Dark?

The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding

Charly Bliss Guppy

Diet Cig Swear I'm Good At This

Kendrick Lamar DAMN

Partner In Search of Lost Time


The xx I See You

Casper Skulls Mercy Works

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Who Built The Moon?

Sumo Cyco Opus Mar

Weaves Wide Open

And if you want to check out my 2017 concert photos of the bands from by best of list, please click the following links:

Wolf Alice

Waxahatchee

Bully

Japandroids

K.Flay

Kasabian

Charly Bliss

Partner

Casper Skulls

Sumo Cyco

And older shots of these awesome bands:

Wolf Alice at The Phoenix, Adelaide Hall and Drake Underground

The National at Field Trip and at Riot Fest
Bully at Field Trip

The Districts at Lee's Palace, The Horseshoe and again at The Horseshoe

Kasabian at Sound Academy

Royal Blood at Lee's Palace
Diet Cig at The Drake Underground

Partner at The Silver Dollar Room and The Garrison

Casper Skulls at Lee's Palace, again at Lee's Palace and The Garrison

Sumo Cyco at Cherry Cola's

Weaves at Lee's Palace

The Ex 2017: Dear Rouge - Concert Pictures

Dear Rouge are a super-fun band. Singer Danielle McTaggart takes command of the stage and you can't help but keep your eyes glued to her as you sing the hooks and dance like mad on a summer night. That's what we all did when Dear Rouge performed at The Ex this past summer.

This was actually my second time shooting the band. My pics from their performance at Riverfest Elora are here.

I loved the big hits in the set like "Black and Gold" and my personal favourite "Tongues" mixed in with new songs that sounded great with big choruses and giant hooks. I'm looking forward to hearing the new tunes as they're released.

They also brought out Zach from The Zolas to do a cover of Bowie's "Let's Dance" during the encore.

Listen up:

"Boys and Blondes"

"Tongues"

"I Heard I Had"

"Black To Gold"

"Best Look Lately"

The Ex 2017: The Zolas - Concert Pictures

Another of my favourite bands, The Zolas, played the CNE Bandshell stage at The Ex this past summer. You could describe their set as a greatest hits set since they're working on new songs and they were opening for Dear Rouge for this gig.

If you managed to miss all the other Zolas gigs I've covered, just click on the following links for shots of them at The Opera House, Riverfest Elora, NXNE Portlands, and Lee's Palace.

I always love a Zolas show and this one was no different. Hope you like the pics, and the set list of tunes below. If you haven't seen the band live, I highly suggest that you do. It's always a great time singing along and dancing to their tunes.

"Molotov Girls"

"Get Dark"

"Fell in Love with New York"

"Ancient Mars"

"Male Gaze"

"Strange Girl"

"Frieda on the Mountain"

"Invisible"

"CV Dazzle"

"Swooner"

The Ex 2017: I Mother Earth - Concert Pictures

I Mother Earth are easily one of my favourite bands. The Canadian hard rockers produced some of my favourite tunes when they released Dig and I used to rock out to tunes like "Rain Will Fall" at The Phoenix on Saturday nights. Their next album Scenery and Fish would become a desert island classic for me. I love every inch of the innovative and alternative rock they produced. Music that's sprinkled with interludes that never veered into prog-rock pomposity and that's energized by latin percussion, not to mention the band's massive musicianship. As I described it in my post on the album's twentieth, "The guitar playing is unique and addictive, Edwin's vocals are unparalleled and the rhythm section propels the band forward as though rocket powered while keeping the groove intact."

Since they've gotten back with original singer Edwin, I've seen them twice. First at the anniversary show for Scenery and Fish at The Phoenix (click through for those photos), and then this past summer at The Ex. Both times they were incredible and I'd see them anytime, pretty much anywhere.

Their set was wall-to-wall highlights and favourite tunes and it's a wonder I got any photos as I rocked out and sang along in the photo pit. The interlude in "Another Sunday" featured amazingly intricate and groovy percussion, incendiary guitar work, and soaring vocals. IME produce such a unique sound; bringing rock musicianship up several levels. "Earth, Sky and C" featured a natural highlight with a monarch butterfly landing on the bass and hanging out for a good while.

They finished up the main set with perhaps the first IME song I ever heard, "Rain Will Fall", followed by an encore of "Levitate". The only thing we could have wished for was more.

Here are my favourite tunes from the band's amazing set. Ok, so it's their entire set. I love this band!

"Not Quite Sonic"

"Like A Girl"

"Used to be Alright"

"Pisser"

"No One"

"Raspberry"

"Another Sunday"

"Earth, Sky and C"

"One More Astronaut"

"Rain Will Fall"

Encore tune "Levitate"