01/18 - Time's Fickle Card Game With You And I

Alright, let's get another year of concise, brilliant playlists off on its merry way. Five tunes for the starting blocks:

Battles - Race: In

Ironic, as it took me almost two weeks to start the year fully. Hardly a race in. But from here on we'll gather speed, and build to enormous heights, just like this sublime album does.

Atoms For Peace - Before Your Very Eyes

Songs got lost on this album because of its slightly underwhelming non-organic overall impression, but taken on its own, this is a banger, about grabbing life by the balls.

Run The Jewels ft. BOOTS - 2100

A year on from its release, this is still one of the supreme albums in the universe. El-P's first verse is such a dark head banging bit of defiance. And Killer Mike's chaser is pure rap wisdom:

I'm here to tell you don't let em tell you what's right wrong
Make love, smoke kush, try to laugh hard, and live long
That's the antidote
You defeat the devil when you hold onto hope
'Cause kinfolk life is beautiful
And we ain't gotta die for them other men
And I refuse to kill another human being
In the name of a government
'Cause I don't study war no more
I don't hate the poor no more
Gettin' more ain't what's more
Only thing more is the love
So when you see me
Please greet me with a heart full
And a pound and a hug

Silent Strike - It's Not Safe To Turn Off Your Computer

Yas to the beats at 2:50. Romania brought the electronic goodness in 2017.

The Red Star Singers - Still Ain't Satisfied 

I did a little job researching feminist music before christmas, and this is one of the obscure goodies I found. Let's keep the ground rumbling and power structures crumbling in 2018. Halfway won't do!

Oh and for tradition's sake. These were my top 5 albums of 2017. Still loads that I haven't listened enough to yet (I keep forgetting there's a new Fever Ray album to dig into!!).