Welcome to The Harmonic Series, a music review column - exclusive to Steemit - where I’ll be discussing music across many different styles and genres from metal, to electronic music, to jazz and beyond! I’ll be talking up exciting new releases, some of my personal classics, and anything else that I think is worth checking out. Some of the reviews I share will be brand new, and some will be from my personal archives.

Read my first review for a brief mission statement on how I conduct my reviews and what to expect from the series!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year: the day on which I assess which 10 albums had the biggest impact on me, and lay out why - subjectively and objectively - in hopes that you, the reader, might find something of significance to yourself, or get as much out of these albums as I have. So without further adieu, here are my top 10 albums of 2017, in order of increasing significance:

#10: Cotter Champlin - Parallel Vertices (Self-released)

Jazz

A fellow Purchase alum and good friend, jazz guitarist Cotter Champlin makes his debut with this trio album featuring Billy Sheak on drums and Mikey Migliore on bass. Recorded in just one session of three hours, Champlin displays his inventive technical chops, idiosyncratic sense of harmony - chiefly inspired by Allan Holdsworth, and his refreshingly sweet melodic sensibilities, all performed tightly and without overindulgence. The sparseness of the trio format provides ample room for his intricate harmonies to flourish, and the interplay between the three musicians never feels cluttered or unbalanced. Being as much of a prog and metal fan as I am, if not more so, Cotter also takes a healthy influence from acts like Animals as Leaders and Chon, contributing to the growing bond between heavy, technical music and harmonically deep jazz improvisation currently taking place, and providing his own unique iteration of what those elements can produce.

#9: Jute Gyte - Oviri (Self-released)

Black Metal, Contemporary Composition

Hyper prolific St. Louis musician Adam Kalmbach hits a stride with the latest offering of this solo project, and the final piece in his Ship of Theseus trilogy, of which each album deals with themes of identity, existential dread, and creeping nihilistic dissociation from self and reality. Though it’s a subtle change, it seems his production style has finally clicked together into a form that does justice to the density, complexity, and ferocity of his 24-EDO microtonal black metal whirlwind. Almost beyond compare in his singularity, Kalmbach incorporates a wealth of process based compositional techniques, such as ensembles of guitars moving against each other in complex tempo-ratio relationships, chance-generated melodic patterns, long-form polymeter, and additive rhythms. Like his deep influences in contemporary composition and the far reaches of extreme metal, his literary and philosophical allusions lay a strong foundation in his lyricism for depth to match the music itself. Oviri is the best work yet from this visionary, whose output is perhaps the best case for extreme metal being legitimately an heir to the compositional traditions classed as Art Music.

#8: Elder - Reflections of a Floating World (Stickman Records)

Stoner Metal, Progressive Rock

Elder’s most recent offering brings a new lushness and aura of mystery to their mythical long-form stoner-prog. Half Black Sabbath, half Led Zeppelin, and yet 100% fresh and invigorating, Elder manage to take the fundamentals of riff and lick based guitar music and flesh them out thoroughly into epic, driving songs with no shortage of melodic and rhythmic payoffs. Reflections of a Floating World charts out a mythological transformation of self through awakening and confrontation with higher truth, with suitably grand writing and orchestration to match. The addition of a fourth member on keyboards adds just the right amount of texture for this evolution of their sound into something that leans more and more towards progressive rock form and scope, and delivers everything one could want from this band going forward.

#7: Toro y Moi - Boo Boo (Carpark Records)

R&B, Synthpop

I was first exposed to Boo Boo through the full-length music video made to accompany the album, and that’s still the main way I engage with it. Though divided into songs, there’s a continuous flow that makes this album an experience best had all at once. Warbly synths, tight percussive bass lines, and dreamy reverbs come together for a concentrated retro-west-coast sound, updated with modern songwriting sensibilities, lyrics aimed right at the heart of the millennial romantic, and tunes that stick hard. From the danceable grooves to the more contemplative, ambient ballads, Toro y Moi takes the listener through an adeptly paced daydreaming journey, evoking a sense of reassurance through resolution of its lyrical and musical themes. Boo Boo is a peerless summer afternoon soundtrack, and if you listen on the highway during the early hours of the evening - like the video - you might find yourself tapped distinctly in to the feeling of it all.

#6: Milo - who told you to think??!!?!?!?! (Ruby Yacht)

Hip-Hop

I’ve been a fan of Milo since his 2011 mixtape I wish my brother Rob was here, and he’s been one of a handful of artists who I feel have grown up in their craft parallel to my own growth as a listener. On 2015’s So The Flies Don’t Come, it was clear he had matured a lot since I’d last tuned in to his work, in ways aesthetic, thematic, and technical. This time around, he’s made a similar impression on me, taking the depth of content and multilayered meaning through wordplay to a whole new level. In his early days, Milo was (somewhat erroneously, I’d argue) classed roughly as “nerd rap,” but as time has gone on it’s become increasingly clear that his music goes far beyond the eye-roll-inducing, obvious pop-culture references (e.g. Star Wars, Nintendo) implied by that label; his interests have shifted towards - or perhaps were always moving towards - literature, philosophy, and artistic elements of high and deep culture.

This isn’t simply pretentious flag-waving however, it’s clear that he has a real, personal connection with the subject matter he alludes to. References as diverse as Nabokov, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Margaret Atwood, and Thelonious Monk can be found, and all in one song to boot, and on another, a sample of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring sets the stage for one of his trademark hazy, lo-fi beats. His vocal performances too have again improved, with his laid-back flow and steady cadence painting his growing confidence on the mic as if he’d had it all along. Once again, this intriguing young artist one-ups himself deftly, for an incredibly tight, enjoyable record.

#5: Brendan Byrnes - Neutral Paradise (Split-Notes)

Electronic, Microtonal, Synth Rock

I think it was just in the last couple years when I first heard this microtonal musician-producer’s debut album, the opalescent, shimmering Micropangaea. Being hit with another so soon after discovering him was a great treat. Byrnes’ mix of fantastical, otherworldly electronic pieces and highly infectious synth-rock jams create a subtle narrative journey, with the setting being implied through the titles as some alternate-reality or future LA, and its outskirts.

As a synesthete who perceives color in association with sound, Byrnes’ uses his vast knowledge of alternate tuning and temperament systems - such as unusual divisions of the octave like 19- and 17-EDO, and many just intonation variants - to field a wide variety of sonic palettes, selected for the particular feeling they contribute or evoke in each song. This gives him an incredible expressive range and creates a definite long-scale sense of morphing from one place to another, as if in a dream. Though there’s only a few, the pulse-pounding, head-bobbing full band tracks are all strong highlights, and being placed mostly near the front of the album, they allow the listener to ease into the stranger and more ambient sections later on. If you let yourself sink into Neutral Paradise, it will take you on a surreal and highly memorable, imaginative trip.

#4: Thundercat - Drunk (Brainfeeder)

Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop, Electronic

This was highly unexpected. Even though Thundercat - who took the #1 spot on my 2011 top 10 list with his debut The Golden Age of Apocalypse - is an artist I watch intently, I somehow only found out about Drunk’s release a month after the fact. I had been sort of down on Thundercat because neither his sophomore album Apocalypse nor his mini-LP The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam lived up to Golden Age. Thankfully, Drunk obliterated my ambivalence. This is both a return to form of the rich, warm, modern-retro production style I loved so much on his first album, and a potent refinement of his jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and electronic songwriting style. The album is packed with 23 tracks and is the longest release yet by the virtuosic bassist-songwriter, but not a minute of it feels stale or ever loses my attention. Pacing that many tracks so well is a feat in itself, but the sheer quality of each means that any one on its own could catch my ear, almost like they’re all hit singles.

As usual, Flying Lotus - practically a brother to Thundercat by virtue of their constant and close collaboration - handles production here, adding his signature crunch, thump, shake, and glimmer to the album. There’s a handful of seemingly left-field and surprisingly high-profile features on here, hinting at Thundercat’s ascending popularity; Pharrell and Kendrick are notable guests for their stature and contemporary popularity, but Kenny Loggins’ appearance on the so-cheesy-it-works ballad Show You The Way takes the cake - and arguably, steals the spotlight. This is the kind of music you can’t not enjoy. Throw Drunk on with a few friends over and see for yourself.

#3: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. (Top Dawg Entertainment)

Hip-Hop

Kendrick needs no introduction, but the self-evident nature of his masterful artistry and craft don’t by any means preclude me from being astonished by the increasing quality of everything he releases. It seems that both Lamar’s scope and his depth are perpetually on an upwards trajectory, and accordingly, DAMN. is likely the best release of his so far. As usual, no tracks feel like filler, owing equally to the powerfully unifying themes underlying the album, and to Kendrick’s flawless songwriting and production.

Stylistically, this is his take on the production and musical aesthetic palettes of the contemporary mainstream hip-hop world; as with his elevations of golden-age hip-hop on Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and funk-tinged left-field backpack rap on To Pimp a Butterfly, he brings new life and unprecedented depth to the style, raising the bar to his own incredible standard. Part of Kendrick’s genius is his apparently innate understanding of mythological narrative, and through his mastery of language both new and old, he expertly weaves meaning and implication between abstract, universal narrative levels and discrete, specific stories, culminating in a product that bridges the gaps between starkly honest personal experience and the broad tides of culture and society. DAMN. is something of true greatness, and should not be missed.

#2: Tera Melos - Trash Generator (Sargent House)

Prog-Punk, Math Rock, Noise Rock

This is easily one of the most exciting releases for me in a long time. Tera Melos makes a positively triumphant return with their first album since 2013’s X’ed Out - an album that initially left me feeling somewhat deflated. Trash Generator is so good, however, that it actually retroactively makes me enjoy X’ed Out even more. Though the band seemed to take their time with this one, it really paid off. I recall frontman Nick Reinhart once musing in an interview something like “we want to make a stripped down simple album and then a totally fucked-up, off-the-walls, crazy album,” and where X’ed Out was clearly the former, this is just as clearly the latter. Contrasting the almost candy-coated surf-punk anthems on that former release, Trash Generator is a culmination and exaltation of the twisted, dark chordal and melodic palette that has always been a signature element of their sound, and the spastic sound-barrage via pedal-manipulation guitar style that Reinhart has pioneered, if not single-handedly invented.

You won’t find many consonant scale patterns or pleasant 3rd and 6th harmonies here - diminished and augmented patterns reign supreme, with plenty of parallel 5ths and 4ths moving at strange vectors against erratic, hard hitting, and sometimes minimal drum and bass grooves. Angular is probably the most cliché term to use in writing about math-rock, but it’s fully justified here. Surprisingly, all this still amounts to incredibly memorable, hard hitting, and distinct songs, with hooks that make you wonder “how the fuck is this so catchy?” Thematically this album coheres well with the esoteric, surreal, and often bizarrely comical aesthetics of the rest of their music, and the lyrics are darker and weirder than ever. At this point in time, Tera Melos are not only a band with their own sound, they’re a band with a sound all their own, and Trash Generator is the best case for their originality yet.

#1: Yowie - Synchromysticism (Skin Graft)

Math Rock, Experimental, Contemporary Composition

For all the incredible music I’ve encountered this year, it’s really hard to imagine any of it quite matching up to the conceptual scope and subsequent success in practical execution of this third album from St. Louis’ Yowie, a band made up of some of the most skilled, dedicated, mastermind musicians working in such an niche style. Even considering the indescribable, bizarrely coherent, freak-out sound of their previous two albums, there’s really no precedent for what they’ve done on Synchromysticism. Owing to the drummer’s expertise as a clinical psychologist, and his knowledge of how phenomenology interacts with perception and cognition, these five hyper-composed pieces of music - written in as many years - each evoke a dizzying mixture of, to quote their Bandcamp page: “feelings of euphoria, perplexity, dread... and an inexorable urge to dance.”

Though they seem to groove hard and consistently on first encounter, looking past the surface yields a confusing welter of polymetric iterations, lines that never quite repeat the same way, and rhythmic interactions of the most tangential, obscure nature. Make no mistake, this is music designed for jamming out, but that’s part of the genius of its engineering. Yowie didn’t even pick up instruments in the same room until each song was written how it needed to be, note for note. Their composition process, in short, involved a whiteboard, many variations of the same basic ideas, democratized group deliberation over parts, and multiple sheets of graph paper - for the purpose of charting out the full iteration of a drum part written in three different meters simultaneously. Once they had the music put together in the best way to evoke their objectives of cognitive influence, they began their process of painstaking rehearsal - mastering the performance of these pieces, which cleverly disguise their entirely unintuitive performance demands with a thick, elastic pulse; and then they recorded it live in the studio, with no overdubbing.

Despite the astounding discipline and rigor involved in constructing this music, the end result feels so organic and sounds so seamless that it takes the bar for math rock - as a seed concept with deep potential for creativity - and raises it higher than anything I’ve heard prior, and likely higher than anyone - save perhaps Yowie themselves - will be able to reach for quite some time. Synchromysticism sounds like nothing else, makes you feel things you’ve never even imagined, and shakes up parts of your brain you didn’t even know were there. This is seriously groundbreaking music, and if any of what I’ve said about it seems even a little interesting to you, you owe it to yourself to put down everything else and take a half-hour to give it a good listen with no distractions.

Honorable Mentions:

There were a few things I struggled to cut when writing this list, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least give them a hat tip, so here are some links to other great 2017 releases:

Yussef Kamaal - Black Focus (Jazz; Brownswood Recordings)

Krallice - Go Be Forgotten (Black Metal; Gilead Media)

Clap! Clap! - A Thousand Skies (Electronic; Black Acre)

Nate Smith - Kinfolk: Postcards From Everywhere (Jazz; Waterbaby Music, Inc.)

Pain Perdu - Nouvelle Lune (Chiptune; Cheapbeats)

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed my year end list, please upvote, follow, resteem, and tell me your thoughts in the comments! I use the tag #harmonicseries to keep track of these reviews, so check there for any new additions. Until next time, keep listening.