Best of 2017

Introduction

Remember that optimism I attempted to express in the preamble to my list of 2016? Well... it now requires a bit more struggling, straining to swim toward shore with an undercurrent persistently tugging at the ankles. Solid ground seems a pipe dream and progress can be made only with the sacrifice of neighbors and friends experiencing the same struggle. Given the turn toward something closer to general pessimism it seems much more appropriate that I listen to the music I have chosen for the following list of reviews. It is angry and hateful, misanthropic and cold, and it helps to temporarily wash the frustration from present thought. We can look at January 1st as a symbolic fresh start to get us up in the morning, but Trump is still our president, success only comes to parasites feeding on the willfully ignorant or disadvantaged, artists are discouraged from innovation and encouraged to create trite, innocuous fodder, and the environment which sustains us has fallen past all tipping points on its inevitable descent toward abject wasteland. I will not deny the possibility of turning the ship around, but let's be honest about exactly what we're toasting our champagne to at the close of 2017.