Top Songs of 2017: 1-20

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20. “Deadcrush” 

Alt + J 

RELAXER

19. “Mask Off”  

Future 

FUTURE

Modestly preferred over the remix w/ Kendrick.  

18. “High Ticket Attractions” 

The New Pornographers 

Whiteout Conditions

17. “Bad Liar” 

Selena Gomez 

First Bieber, now Selena. Blame this one on sampling the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer".

16. “Coloring Outside the Lines” 

MisterWives

Connect the Dots

  

15. “America” 

Logic w/ Black Thought, Chuck D, et al.  

Everybody

To get political, Sir Robert Bryson Hall II (Logic's real legal name!) brings along The Roots and Public Enemy. Kanye gets hit as badly as Trump. 

14. “Nothing to Find” 
The War on Drugs 

A Deeper Understanding

Much like with their prior album, A Deeper Understanding makes a lot of appearances on year-end top 20 song lists with at least four or five different tracks getting highlighted. Strong, consistent work from Ganduciel & co. 

13. “May I Have This Dance (remix)” 

Francis and the Lights w/ Chance the Rapper

The original version of this song was from 2016's Farewell, Starlite! (this exact spot on last year's list was taken up with "Friends" from said album) but the remix w/ Chance and the fantastic video merit 2017 consideration. Even if Francis is cribbing maybe a little too much from his video template at this point.

12. “Now and Then” 

Sjowgren 

We know very little about this band, who have released only a handful of singles to date. But we did just learn that they are apparently from California, not Sweden. Självklart. 

11. “HUMBLE.” 

Kendrick Lamar 
DAMN.

Best video imagery of the year, and another album that sees many of its excellent CAPS LOCK tracks spread among top song lists.  

10. “The Wanting” 
J. Roddy Walston & The Business 
Destroyer of the Soft Life

We'd love to see a new age of "modern classic rock". While The War on Drugs seem to strive for the anthems of Springsteen, J. Roddy does a great job echoing the rollicking feel of T. Rex or even .38 Special. 

9. “Ran” 
Future Islands
The Far Field

No one sells genuine feels like Sam Herring. "And what's a song without you / when every song I write's about you"

8. “I Know a Place” 
MUNA
About U

Such a strange, great way to say "weapon" (way-pon).

7. “The Maze” 
Machester Orchestra 
A Black Mile to the Surface

A father writing a song from the perspective of his newborn child. Probably would have seemed pretty corny a decade ago. As a father of two, it hits. "Wish me a wonder / wish me to sleep / you don't have to wander to hear when I speak / there is nothing I have when I die that I keep / it's amazing"

6. “Unforgiving Girl (single version)” 
Car Seat Headrest

A pretty fascinating example of how a song can evolve with further tinkering. The original version on 2016's Teens of Denial was fine but, like a some of CSH's work, less than the sum of its parts. Re-released as a heavily reworked single in 2017, we finally feel like they are on the exact same page, at the exact same time. 

5. “Tin Can” 
Kevin Morby
City Music

A song that kept climbing the list with repeated listens. Fantastic instrumental interludes. "I am a prisoner here / but I don't mind"

4. “Call it Dreaming” 
Iron & Wine 
Beast Epic

Sam Beam, sounds more like the Sam Beam of Our Endless Numbered Days here than he has in a long time. "And we get a chance to say / before we ease away / for all the love you've left behind / you can have mine" 

3. “Feel it Still” 
Portugal. The Man.  
Woodstock

A blog favorite (top 30 appearances in 2011 and 2013), these guys richly deserve this track's overnight success, 12 years in the making.

2. “Shark Smile (single version)” 
Big Thief 
Capacity

Very much a modern, folk-y version of "Last Kiss", with a perfect "too" in the chorus. Single version streamlines the song by dropping the first minute of noise. A very good sophomore album. 

1. “american dream” 
LCD Soundsytem 
american dream

There are a lot of white dudes in the second decade of their career near the top of this list. Probably not a coincidence and no one captures the yearning better than James Murphy. The disenchanted hipster approaches middle age and is wise enough to know what he is lacking but still not wise enough to find it. If we lived vicariously through the wanderlust of musicians in our shared youth, we are content to do the same as we age together and they grapple searching for the meaning we think we've found. A song worthy of its lofty title. 

"in the morning everything's clearer / as the sunlight exposes your age / but that's okay"

"find the place where you can be boring / where you won't need to explain"

"you just suck at self-preservation"

"but now more will go with age, you know / so get up and stop your complaining"

"look what happened when you were dreaming / then punch yourself in the face"

"'its a drug of the heart and you can't stop the shaking / 'cause the body wants what is it's terrible at taking"