TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (20-11)
Shaun Cordingley
Welcome back to theguysfrom.com's Top 50 Songs of the Year. We are getting into the Top 20 today, which means that if this is your first visit to the Top 50, you've already missed 30 great songs from the last year, but worry not, you can check them out here:
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (50-41)
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (40-31)
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (30-21)
Now I know you're not hear to read a preamble, so let's talk about music:
20
Light
Lynette Williams
First Featured on TGF on May 12
A beautiful, spare indie soul/folk track with emotional, and thoughtful lyrics, sung by a brilliant storyteller/musician in Lynette Williams. I love that this track is just vocals and acoustic guitar, getting everything else out of the way, and just letting her song breathe. This does not always work, but when everything is as good as it is in "Light" it becomes something really special.
19
Blossom
Curtis Roach
First Featured on TGF on November 6
Easily the shortest track we have ever talked about on theguysfrom.com, "Blossom" is a hip hop track that feels different from so much else out there (largely thanks to the euro-lounge feel the sample provides), but Curtis Roach is fast becoming one of my favourite indie hip hop artists (and he releases a lot of cool tracks)--he's got a great ear for beat, he's an awesome wordsmith, and he always feels like he's enjoying his music, and that is never more apparent than in "Blossom".
18
Green
SKIES
First Featured on TGF on August 31
Indie rock/pop-rock duo SKIES is duo that we have talked about a couple of times on theguysfrom.com, and I just love their sound. The vocals are always flawless, and they produce their tracks to help feature the vocals so wonderfully across the board, but "Green" stands out for me because of the dramatic feeling/tempo shifts the song takes that give the whole thing a strong progression, while never stopping itself from being a bit of catchy, sweet pop-rock.
17
Don't Take the Money
Bleachers
First Featured on TGF on April 6
I have always really enjoyed Bleachers, so it should come as no surprise that we talked about "Don't Take the Money": it's fun, eclectic alt-rock by one of the most interesting lyricists working today. It's catchy, it's high-energy, and it's pretty much everything I look for in a track from Bleachers at this point.
Oh, heads up, Bleachers' videos always tell a full-out story, so it's a bit different than the album-version of the song, but it's totally worth watching (and if you dig it, obviously grab the track)
16
What I Love
Punctual
First Featured on TGF on July 20
Speaking of fun videos....
"What I Love" is an excellent summer jam: funky, with a heavy lean into EDM, this is a track that has been produced perfectly, and in such a way that it is hard not to dance along with it. This is a track that makes you feel good, and brightens anyone's day, and honestly, it's hard not to love that unabashed joy that is at the heart of "What I Love".
15
Joshua Tree
Cautious Clay
First Featured on TGF on December 5
Cautious Clay (still one of my favourite artist names of the year) has created such a great, chill out song in "Joshua Tree" by combining an ambient/downtempo electronic track, with stellar R&B vocals, and a kicking 1980's-style saxophone solo. This is one of those songs that I knew was going to make this list the first time I heard it, and I know that I will be keeping an eye on Cautious Clay to see what he releases in the future.
14
Man in Tie Dye
No Suits
First Featured on TGF on November 28
Fun, funky, and somehow able to be both a "chill with friends" track and a "strutting down the street" track, "Man in Tie Dye" is unabashed fun in a song. I always feel good listening to (and after listening to) "Man in Tie Dye", and any track that is able to make you feel good about loving yourself, and your music is one that we all need.
At least, I know I do.
13
One Night Only
The Struts
First Featured on TGF on July 25
I have been talking about The Struts since...I think the second week of theguysfrom.com, and their track "Could Have Been Me" was our song of the year in 2015, so it should come as little surprise that their latest single gets in on this list. The Struts are classic arena rock reborn....basically if you are a fan of Queen, and you are not listening to The Struts (by now) then you a really missing out, and "One Night Only" is a perfect example of the fun, energetic, classic-style rock that The Struts make.
12
(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano
Sampha
First Featured on TGF on January 17
This is such a beautiful track. The piano is gorgeous, and serves as the perfect foil to Sampha's vocals. His earlier work trends more electronic (still softer, but more electronic than the warm organic tone of "Like the Piano"). This song is like a hug, tinged with a bit of sadness as you (if you're like me) are going to feel a bit nostalgic, maybe a bit wistful, but in a good way by the end.
11
Hometown
Jen Miller
First Featured on TGF on August 4
Originally, back in August, I think I summed up my feelings on Jen Miller's "Hometown" about as well as I could ever hope to:
She (Miller) has taken elements of soul, R&B, gospel, EDM, and indie folk and smushed them all-together into a track that feels like an artist who is now getting comfortable with what she wants to do, and is starting to excel at it; "Hometown" should be this indie artists coming out party...it literally gets better every time I listen to it, and as per usual with Miller, her vocals are the glue that holds everything together.
I still agree with all of that, and that is why "Hometown" is so far up this list.
So many great songs....
Obviously I'm not going to give you the Playlist of the Top 50 until Friday, but if you cannot wait, you can always check out the TGF Top 21 Songs of 2016 and TGF Top 15 of 2015 on Apple Music, or you can check out the December Apple Music Playlist, and the December '17 Spotify Playlist now.
See you tomorrow, one last time, for our Top 10 Songs of 2017, as well as the Apple Music and Spotify playlists that have each and every track (in order).
-S (@Shauncord)
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any "Daily Song Drop" songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new and different music that we are enjoying, or re-expose them to artists they may have forgotten about.
Above the description of the song will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website, so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.