Pickled Priest Mixtape: Our Favorite Songs of 2017

No need to pan(dem)ic!

Revisiting a year that happened so recently presented itself as a drag—one I actively avoided—but in fact it was a blast embedding ourselves back in 2017 again. Our list shows how songs ebb and flow with time, with numerous changes occurring since I first made my year-end list just eight years ago. That makes sense, though, because I'm always adding songs I missed, underrated, or overrated the first time. I now wonder what this list will look like twenty years from now. I hope I'm here to find out.

PICKLED PRIEST'S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2017

SIDE A

26 "Something for your M.I.N.D." | Superorganism

Phenomenon check: Have you ever listened to a song on your computer while, unknown to you at the time, a second song (advertisement, newscast, whatever) is playing simultaneously in the background somewhere? Maybe from some website or pop-up you left open? Sometimes you may not even realize there's a double input thing happening. After a while, when things aren’t quite adding up, you diagnose what’s going on and shut down the stray input, leaving the song to play as intended. It's at that moment, however, when you realize you kinda liked the song better the other way, when both sources were playing at the same time. Well, that’s how Superorganism’s “Something for Your M.I.N.D.” makes me feel, except the song has no renegade input to shut down. It’s all self-contained in this one amusingly peculiar track, complete with stray sounds, computer glitches, woozy tape flutters, and other random inputs to be named later. It’s a modern day noise concoction with an insidious hook and a cool female vocal that rides above the underlying track bed. A marvelous little creation.

25 "Mississippi" | The Secret Sisters

On an earlier record (Put Your Needle Down from 2014), the Secret Sisters recorded a song titled “Iuka” about the daughter of an abusive, controlling father who travels to the titular Mississippi city to elope with her boyfriend and leave her tumultuous past life behind forever. It’s a nail-biting tale. You’ll cheer for her as she plots to get away from her tormentor and find true happiness once and for all. Well, the Secret Sisters aren’t the type of songwriters who tie everything up with a pretty bow, I'm sad to report to you Hallmark movie fans. Three years later came “Mississippi,” the sequel to “Iuka,” and it’s—spoiler alert—a harrowing, haunting conclusion. Cleverly, the sequel features the same story told from her enraged father’s perspective, hot on the trail of his daughter and her lover, and suffice it to say, he’s not interested in walking her down the aisle either. In one of the most devastating refrains I’ve ever heard, we listen in on the father's ominous warning to his daughter who has betrayed him, “Brought you in this world and I can take you from it just the same.” It never ceases to send a shiver down my spine. Once again, however, the Sisters don't leave the song there. The build-up to his threat tells us the real story of her father’s life, one fraught with parental abuse, alcoholism, misfortune, and personal tragedy. He admits his little girl is all he has left in this world and he can't bare the fact she’s leaving him behind even though he knows exactly why. He can’t have that at any expense. It’s no excuse for the horrible events to come, but to quote Bruce Springsteen's "Johnny 99", “there’s more than all this that put that gun in my hand.”  

In case you'd like to hear "Iuka": Part 1 of the saga.

24 "Jump for Joy" | Jake Xerxes Fussell

Jake Xerxes Fussell has made a name for himself by reviving and reanimating long lost folk songs in his own understated yet reverential way. He injects these songs with fresh, simple arrangements, then adds crisp, finger-picked guitar and his modest but pleasing everyman vocal, which fits the material perfectly. During the transformation process, his approach sometimes imbues the songs with an altered context or feeling—it’s fascinating to return to the source material and see what he was working with at the beginning, especially because most have never heard the originals before. He’s become a bit of a national treasure as a result, an archivist and revivalist but not a thief, an old soul carrying on the rich history of passing songs down to new generations. I have each of his records and always will mainly because I know the next batch will hold something of interest and I won’t risk missing out. As noted, he leans into folk primarily, but no song is technically off limits as witnessed with “Jump for Joy” a Duke Ellington song from 1941. On the surface, a lovely ditty about finding joy in personal freedom, but if you’re the rabbit hole type like me, you might want to explore the underlying themes of religion and mortality that are clearly present and intended. All I know is that when I hear his version I find my own little blast of low-key joy promised by the title.    

23 "Sin Dones" | Juana Molina

“Sin Dones” finds Juana Molina in her laboratory of sound in Brazil, carefully and thoughtfully building her latest creation. It would be easy for her to pack every available track with as much sound as possible, using every inch of her canvas in the process (an all too common occurrence in 21st century popular music), but her main talent is understanding the pliable nature of the groove. Deep, funky grooves are wonderful, no doubt about it, but grooves can also be subtle and slow building, the payoff tantalizingly held back. I savor the restraint of "Sin Dones" which only makes it that much more enthralling when she does kicks it up a notch with an intensified infusion of Brazilian rhythms at the three-minute mark. A master of her craft.

Side Note: Essential listening is the live version of the song found on ARNMAL, her 2020 album recorded at a festival gig in Mexico City. Understanding her surroundings, the throngs gets treated to a supercharged version of the song that is equally euphoric in its own way.

22 "Gold Junkies" | Melanie De Biasio

Melanie De Biaisio shocked the world—actually, just me—in 2013 when her album No Deal topped my year-end Best Albums list. It was the ultimate late night record, a short, smoky affair perfect for a pre-bedtime wind-down. Its atmosphere was beyond intimate, almost as if Melanie was singing in the corner of my bedroom, tucked behind the armoire (we don't even have one, I just like the visual). She made me wait a few years for her second LP, Lilies, but it wasn’t more of the same. This time, she was a bit more experimental and expansive with her sound without losing that seductive quality that thrives in the after hours heat. “Gold Junkies” in particular sounded like it should've been on the soundtrack to some movie about a team of silky smooth thieves knocking off Fort Knox. It’s late-night driving groove and Melanie's whispered vocals will make you feel like you’ve been tasked with driving the getaway car.   

21 "Roulette" | Steelism ft. Ruby Amanfu

I hate when a band puts out a great album and then you never hear from them again. This happened with the Nashville instrumental group Steelism when they dropped their second record, Ism, in 2017 and then went out for a ride and never came back. Too fucking bad, it’s an amazing little sleeper gem of a record (their cover charge is four adjectives minimum). Made up of Ohio guitarist Jeremy Fetzer and London-raised pedal steel player Spencer Cullum, they melded several styles of Americana to create one of my favorite lesser-known records of the 20-teens. Initially, the two musicians bonded over their love of soundtrack music (Morricone, of course) and great instrumental groups of the 1960s (including Booker T and the MGs, Ventures). For Ism, they even tapped some vocalists to augment their sound. Enter Priest fave Ruby Amanfu, who added a Shirley Bassey-esque vocal to "Roulette" that scans as nothing less than a future Bond theme. See boys, vocals ain't so bad after all.

Editor's Note: For a second dose of "instrumentals with vocals," check out “Shake Your Heel” which features a shimmy shimmy performance from Tristen that might've ignited a new dance movement if released in 1963.

20 "I Found Love" | Bette Smith

It's somewhat rare for a cover to find its way onto one of my yearly mixtapes, but here's a worthy exception. Originally found on Lone Justice’s 1986 album, Shelter, “I Found Love” has always been a killer song, even when bogged down by overly slick 80’s production, thanks to Maria McKee, who could really belt out a song in her prime (which included her wildly underrated solo career). And speaking of belting out songs, leave it to the great Bette Smith, a reincarnation of those classic soul shouters of the late-60s, to rip into this one with the requisite gusto. In her hands, it becomes a wicked R&B dynamo packing enough force to blow the door off a bank vault.

Side Note: Back in 2017, Bette was seen sporting an absolute killer yellow jumpsuit onstage that positively demanded you listen to her music or fear the ramifications.

19 "Height of My Fears" | Ha Ha Tonka

Missouri’s Ha Ha Tonka are one of the most underrated Midwestern rock bands going and have been for some time now. They consistently over-deliver catchy melodies, heartfelt vocals, and routinely well-written songs that manage to strike a universal chord. It sounds easier than it is I assure you, especially considering the non-stop flow of likeminded bands I’ve long forgotten about. “Height of My Fears” is one of many great songs from 2017’s Heart-Shaped Mountain that you will likely identify with on some level. It’s about how the mind can snowball your worries to a dangerous level if you’re not careful. Ironically, it’s also the place you can see where you went wrong. So perhaps there's still time to alter your perspective before you fall. If you do, there’s no guarantee you’ll recover.

18 "Friendship (Is a Small Boat in a Storm)" | Chicano Batman

Rent yourself a yellow Camaro with an 8-track player because it's time for another dose of Chicano Batman, an L.A. group that blends Latin and Tropicalia in a way that'll make you think you've been transported back to a 1970s-era record store. Here, with a positive message, killer falsetto, and an authentic vibe that would surely please members of Santana, Malo, and even War (among others), they evoke a more innocent time and place, where peace and love seemed entirely possible. If any band is more needed right now, in 2025, than Chicano Batman, I'd be surprised. Get Commissioner Gordon on the line, pronto.

17 "Cut Connection" | Jesca Hoop

I'm living the dream

In the dream, I'm buried alive

Two bed grave

One bath, car in the drive 

Nothing in Jesca’s world is business as usual. You can call her milieu alternative-folk or art-pop or unconventional-indie or avant-garde-Americana, but whatever Jesca Hoop dabbles in is wholly original in execution. Perhaps we don’t call it anything at all. Like Fiona Apple (who plays harmonica on this song) Jesca is her own thing and “Cut Connection” is the perfect way to illustrate her singularity. With the cadence of a computer suffering from a programming glitch, it stumbles forward, relying on a repeated command as its hook...

Cut connection

Cut connection

Cut connection

It’s what might happen if you let AI compose your next breakup text.

16 "Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me" | Ron Gallo

Let's get a house, you and me and your 12 cats

We'll put mirrors on the ceiling, we'll have a bunk bed by the bath

You'll line my mattress with nails, one for every time something psycho came out of your mouth

Your cavern eyes are preying, your scarlet lips half saying

A sales pitch for the circus in your mind

You think you’ve been in a fucked-up relationship? This song might make you feel better about your circumstances. Ron Gallo, acerbic (and skinny) as a punk, dark as a goth, and electric as Highway 61 Revisited, sports a full white afro on the cover of Heavy Meta, looking very much like the modern equivalent of Mick Farren circa Vampires Stole My Lunch Money (see below). And like Mick, Ron writes with a snarling bite and a wicked sense of black humor, snapping off lyrics like The pop tarts climb the pop charts / The blood clots block your heart parts / And no one really has anything to say* like it's just another soul-crushing day at the office. He's devilishly amusing at times, but you may also be concerned for his well-being, too. It's the paradox that made Heavy Meta so compelling and one of the most essential records of 2017. "Young Lady, You’re Scaring Me" is just one demented example of the album's raw brilliance.

*Taken from the song "All the Punks Are Domesticated" from Heavy Meta.

Mick

15 "A Private Understanding" | Protomartyr

As far as I know, the only active band that is stylistically similar to Detroit’s Protomartyr is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. That’s a pretty big compliment coming from Pickled Priest, especially considering our constant raving about all things Cave on this website. But it’s appropriate. As with Cave, you never know what is going to come out of the mouth of Protomartyr frontman Joe Casey, nor can you easily discern from where his inspiration channels. He seems unable to shut off unwanted or superfluous inputs. When he says he doesn’t “want to hear those vile trumpets anymore” during "A Private Understanding" he isn’t being literal, he’s talking about the static this world generates, all competing for his attention. He tries to makes sense of it all, but again, like Cave, some things tune in with more clarity than others, occasionally molding into the general shape of a theme without landing outright on anything completely rational. It’s a gift. Not many people can reference a book from the 1700s, the Flint water crisis, and a story about Elvis Presley all in the same song and make it cohere somehow. If you’re an active participant in this world, you remain open to all inputs, and sometimes that’s beneficial and sometimes it’s not. For Casey and his band, that’s when the magic happens.    

14 "Spent the Day in Bed" | Morrissey

With Morrissey, it’s best just to listen to the songs and ignore out his bad press. I have found there is often some very practical guidance contained within his music even if the rest, uh, not so much. Spending the day in bed? Sounds like a good way to reboot every once in a while. It’s hard to argue with the logic of ignoring the world while administering some self-care. It's a fact you can best help others once you’ve taken care of yourself. That’s why flight attendants tell you to put your oxygen mask on before you fuck with those hanging in your kid's faces. Another key point: when in bed, turn off the news. It’s not going to help your state of mind to hear a 24-hour spiel packed with fear-mongering, bad politics, and doomsday prophecies. Morrissey's counsel wouldn’t have the impact it does with me without a clever melody, unexpected tempo shift, and a not one, but two, hooks. Nobody else does it quite like he does, so I choose to find the parts that work with me, leave the rest behind, and go from there. So to bed I go.

SIDE B

13 "If All I Was Was Black" | Mavis Staples

The ability of the Staple Singers to sing about racial inequality while simultaneously demanding responsible action from their own community is what made them such a powerful force back in the day, so it’s no surprise that decades later Mavis Staples continues to send that same message with the same positive spirit. It’s in her DNA—always has been and always will be (at least in her lifetime). Of course, it shouldn’t have to be said, but her resolve is steadfast on “If All I Was Was Black” as she asks for all of us to see below the surface, deep down to the love she has to give and her “natural gifts,” which are both readily apparent to anyone who spends more than a few minutes in her presence.

12 "Pure Comedy" | Father John Misty

I burn down your cities, how blind you must be

I take from you your children and you say, 'How blessed are we?'

You all must be crazy to put your faith in Me

That's why I love mankind

You really need me

—“God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind)” by Randy Newman

He’s not quite Randy Newman, but no modern artist is better at skewering the absurdity of the human condition than Father John Misty. And like Newman, he does so with a wicked sense of humor, carefully chosen words, and a knack for finding a pretty melody to go along with it. He’s not always successful, but when he is, like on “Pure Comedy,” we’re treated to some hilarious and uncomfortably accurate observations that call pretty much everything we believe into question. While he's at it, he shoehorns zingers like “The miracle of birth leaves a few issues to address / Like, say, that half of us are periodically iron deficient” into his spiel so casually you might overlook the degree of difficulty involved.

11 "God of Nicaragua" | Feral Ohms

Surely in the 99th percentile of bands that live up to their names is Oakland trio Feral Ohms, tragically a one-and-done project led by ex-Comets on Fire leader, Ethan Miller, a guy who understood how to harness speed, ferocity, and energy in a confined space. The band’s self-titled LP from 2017 sounds like the MC5 if they were founded in the 21st century to resuscitate alternative rock. “God of Nicaragua” is a three-minute juggernaut seemingly birthed inside Fermilab’s particle accelerator after hours.

10 "Legend of the Wild Horse" | Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton

There’s the meaning of a song and there’s the feeling of a song. Here, the former is about breaking free of restraints and then realizing there’s a downside to that as well. The latter side, where Emily sings “I’ll be your warrior” repeatedly throughout the chorus, has the effect of a soul stirring hilltop declaration. It’s a feeling that can stand alone as a dramatic all-purpose rallying cry, in this case a highly personal one. I will fight for myself no matter what happens. In case that’s not clear, Emily clarifies her metaphor in the song’s final “the walrus was Paul” moment as she calmly sings “I am the wild horse.” At that moment, both sides come together brilliantly.

09 "Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl" | Hurray for the Riff Raff

The Navigator, first of three consecutive masterpieces from Hurray for the Riff Raff, is about pride. Pride of culture. Pride of place. Pride of self. You can discriminate, you can gentrify, you can take love for granted. But you can't take away what makes a country, a neighborhood, or a person who they are. That is non-negotiable. Enter "Nothing's Gonna Change That Girl," which makes that very clear. For the first two-thirds of the song, a touching ballad, for its final third, a celebration. It's almost like the song got what it needed to say off its chest and just wants to dance now.

08 "Plimsoll Punks" | Alvvays

If punk is an attitude then the music doesn't have to be typical punk rock to qualify. And if punk is an attitude punk can be Canadian! And it can be in the form of a pop song, too! Perhaps not, but these Toronto "punks" are counting on that being true. They've even said that "Plimsoll Punks" (named after a decidedly un-punk shoe style—see below) was their answer to one of my favorite punk songs, "Part Time Punks," a 1980 single from London's Television Personalities, another song that called out some punks as being posers. Only punks some of the time, when their parents weren't watching. So let's expand the definition then, why don't we?

07 "Come See Me" | Jeb Loy Nichols

My #1 album from 2017 was also one of the biggest left-field surprises I can remember. Jeb Loy Nichols' Country Hustle simply won me over with its understated, casual country funk. I have always preferred my country mixed in with other genres (soul, blues, funk, jazz, rap, you name it) and to this day artists from other worlds continue to fuck with that Nashville sound in all kinds of creative ways. Thankfully, it's one of the most pliable genres. And it works both ways. Country singers can incorporate other genres as well. It's debatable if Jeb Loy Nichols is a country singer at all, more of an American melting pot in reality, but "Come See Me" is a perfect example of different styles coming together to create a whole new look and feel.

06 "If We Were Vampires" | Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

If this song choked me up any more than it does, I'd need the goddamned Heimlich Maneuver. I've been married a long time, but the idea that eventually one of us is going to be alone, at least for a while, is both inevitable and unthinkable at the same time. (Unless we go in a car accident or something, I suppose.) I don't know if any other songwriter has written about this concept with quite the same open-eyed clarity and unflinching honesty. Deep down, in the minds of every couple, one is secretly hoping they are the first to go. Is that selfishness or selflessness? It's a fine line.

05 "New York" | St. Vincent

In my opinion, St. Vincent's greatest song. And she's got a lot of great ones. It's that rare song that captures the majesty of New York City and the crushing loneliness of being just one person in a giant sea of humanity. Imagine being in such an environment and then losing your tether, the one person who knows you best, the one person you thought you could count on to always be there. It's one of the great New York songs without being specifically about the city New York and it's one of the great love songs without being specifically about love. But the combination of the two elements elevates each to something towering and humbling at the same time.

04 "God in Chicago" | Craig Finn

I'm from Chicago, so this song strikes a personal note for me, but it would've been just as powerful if the characters were visiting New York or Dallas or San Francisco. I can't think of many spoken word songs I value as highly as this tale by master storyteller Craig Finn. The story is efficiently told with just the right amount of detail—we don't even know the names of the main characters, but we don't need them to get wrapped up in the melancholy mission they're on, one partly about making a little money, but mostly about getting away from sadness and responsibility for a couple days. The final line of the song, when the two return to real life again, is a killer. This is a story I've heard a hundred or more times now and each time I hear it, I find myself hanging on every word, appreciating every emotional brushstroke.

Recommendation: Don't watch the video. For a song like this, you should create your own version of these events, not the vision created by someone else's mind.

03 "Near to the Wild Heart of Life" | Japandroids

For you kids out there, you may not know it now, but someday you're going to need a band to remind you what it was like to be young and wild and free. That band for me is Japandroids (no, not Triumph, although I love them, too). "Near to the Wild Heart of Life" stole its title from James Joyce's classic novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man which shows they don't fuck around when recounting the glory days of youth. In fact, the song is all about that time in life when you've got to leave everything you know behind in order to take a shot at something new. The best time to do that is when you're young and have less to lose. This song is about that and more.

02 "Live in the Moment" | Portugal. The Man

I'm not a big fan of songs that operate in the generic personal motivation space. You know the kind. The ones seemingly written with a specific use in mind, be it a sports montage, running shoe advertisement, spinning class, or a video game soundtrack. There may be some shame in cashing in, but when the checks start clearing, I image that feeling dissipates quickly. Portugal. The Man's "Live in the Moment" could certainly fall into this category if you lock onto the chorus only. It's massive, produced to explode from your speakers. It's a reminder to make the most of each moment of this life. If that isn't a slogan to sell some Nike shoes, what else is? Just do it. But the beauty of P.TM is that not everything is as it seems when you drill down into the actual meaning of their songs, which are often based on a distrust or refutation of religion itself. "Live in the Moment" seems to follow the "Modern Jesus" framework by offering up a catchy song wrapped in a powerful message. That message: This life is all we've got people, so make the most of it while you're still above ground, because once you're gone, you're just fertilizer for daisies after that.

01 "Call it Dreaming" | Iron & Wine

And in the end

The love you take

Is equal to the love you make

—"The End" by The Beatles

"Call it Dreaming" is pure poetry. It's so filled with meaning and wisdom, it's almost too much to digest in one sitting. In fact, I've spent years contemplating each line, savoring it like a sacred text. It's as good on the written page as it is in the context of Sam Beam's beautifully spare music. It's one of those rare songs I knew I couldn't live without from the first time I heard it. Like the captioned Beatles lyrics, now iconic to say the least, Beam's "Call it Dreaming" has a similar principle at its core: While you are here, make the most of your time; make sure to find, relish in, accept, and convey love while you have the chance. In a way, the premise sounds a lot like the mantra behind Portugal. The Man's "Live in the Moment," but Sam takes it even further, with each line delivering an almost Biblical level of intention. A song like this didn't even need a chorus to resonate powerfully, but Sam Beam has given us one for the ages, one of my favorite written this century.

Where the time of our lives is all we have

And we get a chance to say, before we ease away

For all the love you've left behind

You can have mine

________________________

OK, enough of the 21st century for now. Let's move forward to the past!

Cheers,

The Priest