20 KEY SONGS OF 2017 SO FAR

SUMMER IS COMIN IN WITH SOME GREAT TUNES

Eyewear likes lists, and loves music. Hence our regular updated best of music lists. 2017 has been a difficult year, and a tragic one, but there is no harm in seeking some solace, some respite, some beauty or expression of concern, in song.

There are many fine artists we love who do not make this list, like Blondie, Goldfrapp, Pile, Paramore, Spoon, Fleet Foxes, Sleaford Mods, Alison Moyet, Drake, Little Dragon, The National, the xx, but here are 20 popular music tracks - all available on Spotify - that have struck us as diverting, compelling, and undeniable this year. These others may well make our final list at year's end. At close to mid-year, and summer's height, however, here is the playlist we have for you, now.

1. 'All Things Pass' - The Jesus and Mary Chain
As good as their best, a classic indie pop song.

2. 'Beehive' - Mark Lanegan
Dark, indie, imagistic, potent, and brilliant - a classic.

3. 'Bon Appetit' - Katy Perry, Magos
Saucy dance pop from a masterful duo.

4. 'Cherry Pop' - Anteros
New Wave rock with a thrilling '77 twang.

5. 'Don't Know Why' - Slowdive
Hauntingly luminous shimmering dream pop.

6. 'Fire' - Beth Ditto
She's great, and this song is hot.

7. 'Howl' - Black Asteroid, Zola Jesus
Want crow-dark indie? Coming right up.

8. 'In Cold Blood' - alt-J
Weirdly catchy drama from quirk-meisters.

9. 'International Space Station' - British Sea Power
Anthemic indie pop in the peppy-OMD mode.

10. 'Junk Food Forever' - The Amazons
Soaring rush to the main stage for snot-nosed youth.

11. 'Kinda Bonkers' - Animal Collective
Brooklyn's presiding geniuses of song-surprise are back.

12. 'Lions' Den' - Pumarosa
You thought Siouxsie was intense?

13. 'Love' - Lana del Rey
Pure Lana, pure class. Swoon.

14. 'Nothing Feels Natural' - Priests
Masterful alt-rock response to awful 2016/17.

15. 'No Security' - Skepta
Powerful rap/ hip-hop that speaks to our time.

16. 'Paper Love' - Allie X
J-Pop tune, and oddball bliss.

17. '(Pressure) In Decay' - The New Division
Homage kids reinvent 80s synthpop.

18. 'Say My Name' - Tove Styrke
Dizzyingly wonky dance pop.

19. 'Scum' - Depeche Mode
The best anti-Trump song yet.

20. 'Weak' - AJR, Louisa Johnson
Joyously camp showstopper celebrating cheating.

Comments

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

Poetry vs. Literature

Poetry is, of course, a part of literature. But, increasingly, over the 20th century, it has become marginalised - and, famously, has less of an audience than "before". I think that, when one considers the sort of criticism levelled against Seamus Heaney and "mainstream poetry", by poet-critics like Jeffrey Side , one ought to see the wider context for poetry in the "Anglo-Saxon" world. This phrase was used by one of the UK's leading literary cultural figures, in a private conversation recently, when they spoke eloquently about the supremacy of "Anglo-Saxon novels" and their impressive command of narrative. My heart sank as I listened, for what became clear to me, in a flash, is that nothing has changed since Victorian England (for some in the literary establishment). Britain (now allied to America) and the English language with its marvellous fiction machine, still rule the waves. I personally find this an uncomfortable position - but when ...

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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