Most of the music reviews come at year’s end. Great. That’s when most people are desperate to catch up on everything they missed in the previous year. I’m fine with that, sitting here with a large stack of unopened vinyl waiting to be heard. But between work life and real life – in the ‘in-between times’ when I get to focus on the really important things like new music – that time can be elusive at best. I’ve written about music this past year for myself, but haven’t published much. For now, here’s what I thought of 2017, Most of this music is from Wales, which is as much a state of mind as it is a singular spit of seaside land, and everyone of these records is worth its purchase price five times over.
2017 best albums
1. Public Service Broadcasting, ‘Every Valley’
My album of the year is an intense subterranean submersion that transports us back to The Valleys of South Wales, during the decline of the mining industry and the communities that supported it. While not a Welsh music group, Public Service Broadcasting enlist several well-known Welsh artist including 9Bach’s wonderful Lisa Jên Brown, James Dean Bradfield, and the entire Beaufort male choir.
It’s a powerfully charged album expertly composed, arranged, and realised in a make shift Welsh studio that does its level best to immerse listeners in the miner’s experience both below and above ground. In fact, within two tracks Every Valley achieves its full effect with great elan. Hearing Richard Burton’s powerful voice intone, ‘The arrogant strut of the lords of the coalface,’ and ‘…they were the kings of the underworld’ helps set an immediate tone of immense pride and defiance that carries through the album.
But even with the occasional sparkling sounds and lighter fare, it’s still an near hour-long steady and miserable descent into anger, depression, sorrow with just a flicker of hope. Dense, often brooding, this isn’t a satisfying album in the least, but one that educates and reminds us of human costs of corporate greed that too frequently repeats itself. For that reason and a myriad others, ‘Every Valley’ is an album that demands your attention and delivers a lasting gift.
2. Elinor Rose Dougall, ‘Stellular’
Maybe the most fully realised pop album in a few years. Concise, tight, delightfully laden with quirky hooks and unexpected lyrics and choruses – Elinor Rose sets her brilliantly controlled vocal range atop a bed of spooky retro synths, luscious guitars and snapping drums. ‘Stellular’ easily lifts Elinor Rose above all others this year.
3. The Immediate, ‘Manbouy’
Best guilty pleasure and rock album of the year. Sporting a 90s sound with a 70s rock ethic, ‘Manbouy’ is sufficiently sweet but sharply wound like barbed wire around a packet of your favourite Jammie Dodgers. Unabashedly authentic with stabs of poetic brilliance, the album is semi-autobiographical in its storytelling, and the production values push the sound fully into your face where nothing gets missed. To say this album packs a deliciously tight punch is a bit of an understatement. I’m not going to say much more about this excellent album except to say that The Immediate are one of North Wales’s finest. Expect a deeper dive into ‘Manbouy’ in the very near future.
4. Toby Hay, ‘The Gathering’
Like David Ian Robert’s St Clears from a few years ago, Toby Hay takes to the folk genre with the grace of a well-healed time traveller, and the results are…oh, just listen. Fans of folk, bluegrass and the like will think they’ve just uncovered a lost treasure in this simple instrumental acoustic ensemble. But it’s all fresh, current, and there’s a good chance to see Toby perform live right now in South Wales.
5. Cian Ciarán, ‘Rhys A Meinir’
No words, just listen. Really. This is what Super Fury Animals keyboardist does in his spare time between tours, causes, and life. There’s not enough music like this being produced today. Reckon that Cian and Will Gregory could join forces and destroy all preconceived notions of modern classical music in this wonderful orchestral retelling of the classic Welsh tale. Fine, then. The cats out of that bag. Yes, this is modern classical music in all its glory and it’s a fantastic work.
6. El Goodo, ‘By Order of the Moose’
Want a mystery band that produces perfect pop from across four decades? El Goodo have delivered the most sublime of efforts – a mixture of 60s pop brilliance that wraps bubblegum with spaghetti Westerns, Beach Boys, and classic Brit pop. Please, don’t read anything into this coming in as my ‘Number 6’. In reality, this is just another one of ten best albums of the year.
7. Colorama, ‘Some Things Just Take Time’
Carwyn Ellis is back at it and even if it feels like a throwback to 1970s John Denver, it’s still one-hundred-percent Colorama-certified brilliant. Slow your pace down, pour a cup of tea, shut your eyes for a few minutes and enjoy the simplicity of life only as Carwyn can create it.
8. Gallops, ‘Bronze Mystic’
When a band can run against prevailing music trends and get nominated for the Welsh Music Prize, best listen up. Gallops specialise in pulsating instrumentals that are straight out of 2024 and a compositional mix that ranges from the cinematic to the surreal. Surrender your ears to an urgent dose of syncopated synth sounds, sharp drumming, and majestic walls of guitar.
9. Panda Riot, ‘Infinity Maps’
Chicago has a wealth of dreampop sounds emanating from it, and Panda Riot are leading the way along with bands like Airiel. Where shoegaze bands frequently get lost in their own sonic devices, Rebecca Scott and Brian Cook never forget the composition or lyrics. ‘Infinity Maps’, the band’s overdue second effort is a satisfying sonic deep dive with Rebecca’s dreamy vocals layered over one of the densest walls of guitar fuzz to be found. In between the core tracks are Brian’s instrumental splices of sonic brilliance. No matter who composes all of these lush sounds, the band has a genuine democratic feel to it with José Alejandro Rodriguez regulating a tight delivery on drums and percussion and Cory Osborne rumbling in on bass and hyperactivity duties. I can’t wait for the vinyl release of this album.
10. All the other albums that I didn’t mention. There was so much good music this year.
One last single from 2017…maybe saving the best for last.
Little Rêd, ‘Hell’
Ellie of Ellie Makes Music has taken a new direction in 2017 after making some of the most earnest and lovely tunes as an acoustic performer. And while she’s transformed her folk sound somewhat into a bolder and more lush dreampop landscape, Little Rêd is still Ellie along with that lovely voice and folk driven composition underneath. I expect we might get an EP from her in 2018. I can’t wait. She’s the one to watch in the coming years and I can’t help but cheer her on to bigger things.
Post Script – Here are two more songs endorsed by Peter Dysart from 2017:
Pony Fringe, “Forgotten Lullabies”
I bought this after one listen, and yes, it came as a cassette. Opening with deeply reverbed guitar and traditional Chinese erhu played on a synth, this song sets an instant hook even before the dreamy vocals drift across a mixture of guitars and synths. And those vocals, faerie harmonies locking in their wonderful magic. Looking for more from these Pony Fringers.
SUNS, ‘Blood Money’
Swansea is awash in heavy rock guitar sounds in recent years, making SUNS a bit of a standout. With the guitars still ringing out, it’s the undulating rhythms and hypnotic vocals that lift this song up, with echoes of The Cult, Banshees, and a brilliant reel of a Gaelic riff spun out on guitar at the end. If you deny yourself the beauty of guitar rock, you’ll miss out.
