With my Top 30 Albums of the Year behind us, I have to shout out the albums that didn't make the final list but were each in the running during the decision making process. There were so many albums to consider and so many that I hadn't even managed to get round to listening to. However, of the ones that I did, here are a few that I would be doing a disservice by not mentioning. In no particular order...

• Tierra Whack - Whack World
• Twenty One Pilots - Trench 
• Phony Ppl - mō'zā-ik
• Chloe x Halle - The Kids Are Alright 
• JMSN - Velvet
• Sons Of Kemet - Your Queen Is A Reptile 
• Aminé - ONEPOINTFIVE
• Boy Azooga - 1, 2, Kung Fu!
• Jorja Smith - Lost & Found 
• Zilo - The Nature Of The Beast
• Rejjie Snow - Dear Annie 
• August Greene - August Greene
• Ex:Re - Ex:Re
• YG - STAY DANGEROUS 
• Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs
• Now, Now - Saved
• Snail Mail - Lush
• Patrick Paige II - Letters Of Irrelevance
• Kelela - TAKE ME A_PART, THE REMIXES
• Joy Postell - Diaspora
• Can't Swim - This Too Won't Pass
• Kendrick Lamar - Black Panther The Album
• Kasey Musgraves - Golden Hour
• Django Django - Marble Skies
• serpentwithfeet - soil

Well, that's it for this year's top albums but along the way there was a whole heap of unbelievable music released. Tonnes more contenders and a bunch of records that I didn't even get to listen to that may have been able to make the cut had I gotten round to it. Not all can be mentioned, but here is a list of this year's most notable honourable mentions in no particular order.

• Bicep - Bicep
• Feist - Pleasure
• Bonobo - Migration 
• Declan McKenna - What Do You Think About The Car?
• BROCKHAMPTON - SATURATION I & III
• Can't Swim - Fail You Again
• Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes - Modern Ruin 
• Wolf Alice - Visions Of A Life 
• J HUS - Common Sense
• Jordan Rakei - Wallflower
• Marika Hackman - I'm Not Your Man
• Meg Mac - Low Blows 
• King Krule - The OOZ
• Sylvan Esso - What Now 
• Foo Fighters - Concrete And Gold 
• Ibeyi - Ash 
• Mount Kimbie - Love What Survives
• Sinead Harnett - Chapter One
• Miguel - War & Leisure
• Kweku Collins - grey 
• Jaden Smith - SYRE
• Haim - Something To Tell You
• Charlotte OC - Careless People
• Mr Jukes - God First 
• N.E.R.D - NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES
• Smino - blkswn
• The National - Sleep Well Beast
• Khalid - American Teen
• Toro y Moi - Boo Boo

Check out a favourite track from each of these albums (+ a couple extras) on a handy playlist here. 

One of my most played artists of the year according to Spotify, and also album to one of my favourite opening songs of the year - in at number 18 is How To Be A Human Being by Glass Animals. 

Continuing on the countdown at number 25, another Mercury nominated album - Love In The 4th Dimension by The Big Moon. Another debut making its way onto my list of top albums this year and another new discovery actually. I caught "Cupid" whilst listening to the radio earlier this year, and had to shazam it because I was enjoying it so much. Now, several months later here we are, with a whole record full of shazam-able tunes.

After doing a little more research on them I have to say that I was pretty shocked that they were a new band. Although they don't sound super polished per se, they gel together so well and so naturally; I would've been less shocked if this was their third album. It's been a little while since I've listened to Indie/Alternative music like this that's really stuck with me, and this year both TBM and Marika Hackman's (also very fantastic) records have been on repeat quite a bit.

I was lucky enough to catch the ladies' set at a Sofar Sounds gig a few months ago, and often I find that stripping back an artist's songs is an easy way isolate the parts of their songs that you like the most. It also means that there is no prduction magic to hide behind. This is where the album really shone for me. I knew I liked it before but some of the songs came across as even more powerful as acoustics. It's almost impossible to choose favourites on the album, it's just jam packed full of bangers. Each one has an innovative lyric or an infectious riff, something that just sticks in your mind even after first listen. So instead of favourites, here's a list of the tracks I think that I've played the most on the album - "Sucker", "Pull The Other One", "The Road", "Bonfire".

I'm just happy that I can say that this is really only the beginning for The Big Moon. I suspect that I'll be seeing a whole lot of them over these next few months, and may even see them on another list of mine in the next few years.

After finding out about Declan last year on BBC's Sound of 2017 longlist I wanted to catch him as soon as possible before he blew up; so when I saw that he was playing in one of my favourite Birmingham small music venues (Hare & Hounds) it was an absolute no-brainer. It also didn't hurt to have this show start off my gigs of 2017.

Supporting on the night were Leeds-based band Clay. I'd not heard of them prior and I have to say I'm a little surprised and disappointed that I hadn't - I definitely need to do more research on new Indie bands/artists because bands like these should be all over my radar. Straight off the bat they had a sound that could easily fill up a much bigger space than they were playing and each of their personalities came through clearly on stage even before they each spoke. Great stage presence and good banter from the lead singer. In terms of music, they do Indie Pop pretty well and their live material translates way better than their studio. Most memorable track for me was "6AM", but all in all, they provided good vibes to kick off the night.

Following a great mix of tracks in the interval ranging from Madonna to ABBA to Dizzee Rascal; Declan and co stepped on stage full of confidence and quiet excitement and I couldn't help but feel like I was in a scene from the movie Sing Street (if you haven't seen it yet, do, it's an amazing watch). Now with my new knowledge of Declan McKenna, I only knew a few of his songs but my favourite beforehand was "Isombard" so in my head I was thinking "yeah, he'll probably finish with that". Before I could even finish thinking about the setlist, I was hearing the opening notes of "Isombard" drowned out by the crowd's cheers and being swept up by the leaping bodies. From that moment on, I knew I was in for a fun set. As the show went on the crowd only got more and more raucous and a clear divide was beginning to form in the room between the "young adults" and the "younger adults" but nonetheless as I teetered between the two I felt good energy across the room. By the end of the set, half of the crowd was jumping about on stage as party balloons floated around searching for flailing hands. Stand-out new listens for me were "Humungous" and "Paracetamol" - I can't remember the last time in the past couple years that I came across an indie artist Declan's age or to be honest of any age, with such ear-catching songwriting abilities. He's a true creative and I am absolutely buzzing for his debut album to drop this year.

Overall Rating - 7.5/10


Here are some pictures from the night... 

So this is the first music video I think I've ever seen from this band but after what I've just seen my goodness I hope it's not the last!

AS ELEPHANTS ARE - Crown