Year in Review and Best of 2017 Part 3 - Music

Time to talk music! If you missed them, check out my previous Year in Review articles for movies and games. As with last year's music piece, this is more of a bonus article. I lack the language to write in depth about music and my scope is limited to around a dozen albums a year. I'd love to get album recommendations so I can check out great stuff I missed! Each album has links to my favorite tracks when available.

Year in Review and Best of 2016 Part 3 - Music

If you haven't had a chance to read them, I poured out thousands of words about every 2016 movie I watched and every 2016 game I played earlier this month. 2017's already felt surreal on both a global and personal scale; the global elements are obvious to anyone living through it right now, with the personal being much more pleasant! My daughter was born a little over three weeks ago, entering this world a little early and making quite a show of it. We're thankfully all doing well now.

Life's slowly getting back to normal and I've taken a moment to finish up my 2016 Year in Review series with a look back at the new music I checked out. As with last year's piece, this is more of a bonus article. I lack the language to write in depth about music and my scope is limited; I missed out on many of the year's big releases. I spent more time continuing to listen to Marina and the Diamonds' three albums than branching out much this year. Still, it's fun to try!

Year in Review and Best of 2015 Part 3 - Music

I wrote extensive pieces looking back on all of the 2015 movies I watched and games I played, which just leaves us with one more article to go: A look back at the new music I checked out. This is more of a bonus article than anything else, both because I didn't get a chance to check out a ton of new albums this year and because I lack the language to really write in depth about music. It's still fun to try, though!

Since this list is shorter, I'm just going to write a little bit about each album alphabetically, rather than setting up tiers. My favorites should be obvious either way.

Metal Gear Solid V Remix: Songs To Raise Dogs To

The soundtrack to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is my favorite of the year. It's a mix of original, synth-heavy songs composed by Ludvig Forssell and licensed songs from the 80's, including Midge Ure's wonderful and haunting rendition of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World. While playing the game and listening to its tracks, I couldn't help but go through my own playlists and mix tapes and say, "What else would work here?"

I've picked a bunch of songs that I feel would fit either thematically or amusingly into the game's world. Some of these were recorded a couple of years after the game's 1984 setting, but it's a game full of technological anachronisms, so what's a few songs out of time? Besides, the soundtrack includes Take on Me, which wasn't released until 1985 anyway. But overall, I just want to listen to and share some good music.