May brings many things: the flowers promised by April showers, my annual IRS audit, and a handful of friends still on the physical and financial mend from yet another Coachella. It’s also time to rip another page off our cubicle Chippendales calendars and acknowledge that we’re now one-third done with 2017. It’s hard to believe it’s already been four months since we were decking halls and arguing about year-end lists, but it may be even more difficult to pace ourselves through another three legs of this current race. Carbo-load, everyone.
At least the Grim Reaper doesn’t seem to be stalking artists as he did a year ago – thank goodness. However, when I look into the mirror in the morning, I have that 1,000-millimeter blogger’s stare – the one that tells me that I’ve already seen plenty of shit flash across my computer screen in 2017: 100 days of a reality-television president, major festival announcements and surprises, and the triumphant return of some of the brightest names in popular music. Hell, the only thing I haven’t seen is Lady Gaga hurl herself off the top of a football stadium on live television. <whispers: Wait … what?> Like I said, it’s early, but we’ve seen some shit.
On the music front, we can’t make it a month without royalty reemerging. Still swept up by Lady Lorde once again ascending her pop throne in March? Well, April saw King Kendrick storm the palace gates to reclaim his DAMN. hip-hop crown. Gorillaz vied for kings of the jungle last month with a slew of singles, and April witnessed The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel stake a new claim to the title of kingpin with his latest marathon track. There’s always something to gripe about, of course, but given all that’s gone down, complaints of tedium won’t be taken seriously. To quote the late, great Harvey Danger: “If you’re bored, then you’re boring.”
So, here are 10 songs from April that do far more than not bore us or merely cap off the first third of 2017. These songs raise the bar and set the stakes for everything left to come. Now, let’s pour one out for April and hope that May can live up to the hype. Again, carbo-load, people.
–Matt Melis
Editorial Director
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