The Week in Music: Paste’s Favorite Albums, Songs, Performances and More

This week at Paste, we continued to take stock of the calendar year, rolling out our rankings of the 50 best songs of 2017 (a sequel to our 50 best albums of 2017 list). But we stayed current too, digging the new albums by Bitchin Bajas (pictured above) and Noel Gallagher, and grooving to new songs by Sufjan Stevens and Strand of Oaks. We welcomed banjo virtuosos Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn (among others) to our New York recording studio for a live session, and we featured overlooked ‘70s rock heroes Big Star, who managed to have their biggest year ever in 2017 despite not being a band anymore. Catch up with Paste’s favorite albums, songs, live performances and feature stories of the past week.

BEST ALBUMS
Bitchin Bajas: Bajas Fresh
The instrumental bliss-out band Bitchin Bajas (pictured above) were all set to exist in relative obscurity—the kind reserved for residents of the sonic fringe, makers of weird art, interstellar sound travelers. Then, last year, the Chicago-based trio made a collaborative album with odd-folk legend Bonnie “Prince” Billy, whose high profile dragged them into the knowable zone for a larger number of folks. With more ears on the hook, Bitchin Bajas have returned with their best work yet. The perfectly titled Bajas Fresh is a dynamic set of patterned tones, docile drones and burbling dervishes that prove there is real momentum to be found in meditative music. —Ben Salmon

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: Who Built The Moon?
“You gotta get yourself together,” Noel Gallagher sings on album opener “Fort Knox,” its massive beat and ring-the-alarm strings signaling that he intends to do just that, as he paints with a broader sonic palette than he has in years. The honking sax and glam-rock rave-up of “Holy Mountain” sees him chasing a bird who “smelled like 1969” (does that mean she smells like patchouli? Richard Nixon?), and he backs it right up against a heady swirl of Primal Scream/Rolling Stones horn punches and gospel-tinged backup vocals on “Keep On Reaching.” It’s a bracing one-two punch that, with every vicious stomp of Jeremy Stacey’s kick drum, batters away the accepted notion that this Gallagher only does mid-tempo acoustic numbers. —Madison Desler

BEST SONGS
Sufjan Stevens: ‘Tonya Harding’
Sufjan Stevens demonstrates his fascination with disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding by releasing two versions of this song in different keys (D major and Eb major) that make her the heroine. Both versions are ethereal, the former supported by an electronic backbeat, and the latter driven by twinkling piano lines. “Tonya, you were the brightest / Yeah, you rose from the ashes and survived all the crashes / Wiping the blood from your white tights,” Stevens croons. He also shared a video for the D major version, set to footage of Harding’s performance at the 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. —Lisa Nguyen

Strand of Oaks: ‘Passing Out’
Much was left on the cutting room floor when Tim Showalter was preparing Strand of Oaks’ Hard Love for release earlier this year. It wasn’t that the tracks that didn’t make the cut weren’t good enough; they were just deemed “too weird” for the official release. Now, Showalter is giving them a second chance with Harder Love, a collection of unused and alternative takes. “Passing Out” is warm and mellow, acting as the day to Hard Love’s night. It takes a sharp turn away from simmering, hedonistic psychedelia, and drives into folky territory with a lighthearted melange of guitars and relaxed vocals. —Lisa Nguyen

Art Feynman: ‘Shelter’
Earlier this year, Here We Go Magic member Luke Temple released Blast Off Through The Wicker under the name Art Feynman, exploring Afrobeat grooves and Krautrock anthemics, searching for something to stimulate both hip flexor and hippocampus. Now he’s quickly turned around a new EP, Near Negative, ahead of a brand new full-length next year. “Shelter” is a lo-fi dancefloor shaker that envisions a cheerful kind of response to a disaster. Temple/Feyman actually makes it sound fun to go seeking shelter as the shit goes down. —Robert Ham