Listen, we don't want to seem like we're getting a big head over here, but another of our 2017 releases just landed a NUMBER ONE slot.. this time it's Alvvays' sophomore album Antisocialites taking home the gold medal for Exclaim!'s Top Pop & Rock Album of 2017!!!!
Cue airhorn x2:
"Following a scrappy, loveably rough-around-the-edges debut in 2014, Toronto's Alvvays upped the stakes on Antisocialites. They still love fuzz and reverb, but this time around they cleaned up the production quality and added spacious synth arpeggios to the familiar palette of jangling six-strings and Molly Rankin's mellifluously drawled vocals. Most importantly, the songwriting is absolutely impeccable: from distorted twee scorchers ("Plimsoll Punks," "Lollipop") to mournful ballads ("Forget About Life," "Already Gone"), Alvvays have perfected their pop craft here. If you were looking for a warm, perfectly written indie rock record in 2017, it didn't get any better than this."
Jay Som's Everybody Works makes an appearance as well coming in at #7:
"One of indie rock's most warm, satisfying moments in 2017 has to be the call-out response of "But I like the bus!" during the first verse of Jay Som's "The Bus Song," a track that later perfectly blends delicate guitars amidst warped tones with hushed vocals that exude playfulness and intimacy with a sense of muted realism. Everybody Works, Jay Som's (aka Melina Duterte) fully-realized, proper debut is an incredibly vivid and articulate lo-fi pop album; from the tenderly intoxicating "(BedHead)" to the sleek "One More Time, Please," Duterte's introspective songwriting is refreshingly unpretentious yet aesthetically confident."