HCTF's best of 2017 (10-6)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

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HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. The long list of memorable releases boasted about 50 albums. Tough decisions were made narrowing it down. As per usual it's a mixed bag of genres: rock in its various incarnations (garage, hard, post, prog), avant-garde, jazz, pop, folk, funk. Also of note: four live albums made the cut.

Today: countdown from number 10 to 6.

Please keep in mind to shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. And shut the fuck up while the band is playing.

Gunther’s Grass: Bastille Day & Other Lullabies

BEST OF 2017
6
HCTF

Gunther’s Grass are a trio playing gnarly drones a the crossroads of avant-garde and free jazz. Its members have at the forefront of the Bay Area experimental scene and on their new album Bastille Day & Other Lullabies they travel across the globe, from Turkey to the Ukraine, Cambodia, Indonesia, France and the southernmost tip of the South American mainland.

This is not the kind of music that comes to mind to pop in the player of a rented car en route to visit the sites. The trio builds structures that appear to be impregnable or even unscalable at first, but on closer inspection offer handholds and hidden routes. Surrender to the flow with an open mind and the soundscapes unfold. It's like making your way to the jungle to find the structures that have been overgrown with dense vegetation.