Dork's favourite fifty albums of 2017: 40-31

There have been so many super albums this year, when we first started putting together his very list, there were over a hundred we thought should be in the top fifty, but that’s not how numbers work. So, we hit delete on a whole bunch and this is what was left. Nice one.

Some notes: this is part one of our fifty favourite albums list. We’re not saying these are the best fifty albums released in 2017 – we’ve focused very much on what Dork mostly ‘does’ here (sorry, Kendrick – Ed). If we were being accurate, we’d call if ‘fifty of our favourite albums of 2017’, but that seems a bit of a muddle, so we’re being brave and assertive. Basically, music is great. Music isn’t a competition. We love these records. Hope that helps.

If you need to catch up, you can find numbers 50-41 here.

‘Sick Scenes’ pushes Los Camp!’s most distinctive qualities to the fore. Speedy guitars and self-loathing battle each other to the finish line via an obstacle course of gang vocals, football analogies and Cure-worthy atmospherics, used to tell some close-to-home tales about love, depression and the ‘is this really it?’ anxiety.

From the opening blasts of the hip swinging ‘Little Of Your Love, every strand of Haim’s infectious personality comes streaming through. There’s no lightspeed jump from ‘Days Are Gone’, sure, but then to start messing with that magic formula would be to disrupt a winning recipe. Some things are worth the wait.

With each album, Everything Everything have pushed things forward, and ‘A Fever Dream’ stands as their most defiant yet. Never settling within its own skin, it pulls and soars with a message aimed squarely at taking 2017 head-on.

Alex Lahey’s debut is gloriously direct. Engaged, full throttle and packed with hooks, every word is written in 100 point neons.

Grab tickets to Alex Lahey's Dork Live! tour next year here.

The Cribs aren’t stupid. Well over a decade as one of the UK’s most consistently great bands means they know where their strengths lie, and it’s never been in flashy, slick sounds or carefully positioned radio sheen. ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ is The Cribs playing their strongest hand.

Opener ‘Love’ may well be Lana’s greatest triumph. A goosebump-upon-goosebump tinged voice in the darkness, it’s as timeless as anything she’s offered to date but beautifully vulnerable at the same time. Playing in increasingly brave worlds, Lana stands stronger than ever, the spark of light shining bright from within.

People never seem to expect much of the bass player - which is near-on criminal, especially if they can unravel something quite as bountiful as ‘The Pace Of The Passing’. While Ed Nash’s job in Bombay Bicycle Club may ring through, his debut solo album is a breathtaking journey into a blossoming paradise that only Toothless could create.

The Horrors fifth album ‘V’ is full of surprises. Yes, it does a lot of things you expect The Horrors to do and does them very well, but the magic is in the moments when the band do something that little bit different, adding sparkle and depth to an already vital voice.

If debut ‘White Noise’ was a stunning bolt into frame, then ‘All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell’ is the moment that PVRIS redefine the frame around them into one that’s exclusively theirs. It’s a record that will become a national call book - and sets them well and truly apart from the pack.

Gripping and bubbling with electro flourishes, Pixx’s debut is a rich and daring album that pours into human emotion with an effortless ease. Touches of indie immediacy make it a record of dazzling importance, one that crystallises everything Pixx has been promising from the start.

Taken from the December/January issue of Dork, out now. Check back for 30-21 tomorrow (Wednesday 6th December).