30 Best EPs of 2017
We’ve compiled the 30 EPs that spoke to use the most this year.
Welcome to our Best of 2017 upneries, in which we explore the year’s best albums, songs and extended plays.
Extended plays never get enough exposure. Not only can they whet the public’s appetite, but they often just make financial sense. “Conventional releases (e.g. full-length albums) are no longer a surefire plan of success and in many instances, studio records standing at nine or more tracks are not financially feasible,” B-Sides & Badlands wrote earlier this year in an investigative piece, featuring conversations with a slew of musicians. EPs for short, the projects typically contain 3-8 songs, seemingly a bridge-gap to an impending longer player. Regardless of the intention behind such a curtailed artistic statement, there are measurable artistic merits worth celebrating. 2017 witnessed an abundance of EPs, traversing folk, pop and rock, and we’ve got the low down on the best ones.
Below, we have curated 30 EPs which defined this year in music.
Lindi Ortega, Til the Goin’ Gets Gone (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Soundly Music
Release Date: March 17, 2017
Ortega has always sketched dark, troubled characters in her work, often inhabiting the roles herself or portraying the eerily voyeuristic narrator. When she had considered quitting music altogether ⎯⎯ “I was having a hard time paying my rent and getting groceries,” she said ⎯⎯ a song struck her like a bolt of lightning. The sinister hiss of “Final Bow” reenergized her, reminding her of her purpose and ability to move people. “I’ll sing one last song for old time’s sake,” she whispers into a ghoulish mix of echoing, layered piano. The full EP examines outcasts struggling to get by, as she examines on “What a Girls Gotta Do,” a story-song about a stripper, and her cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Waiting ‘Round to Die” is devastating and stunningly evocative.
Great Good Fine OK, III (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Duck L’Orange Records
Release Date: January 6, 2017
A third in a series, Jon Sandler and Luke Moellman hit new levels of danceable rage, jet-setting through spacey orbits and shiny balls of gaseous matter. Sandler’s intoxicating falsetto violently shades such standouts as “Get Away” and “Holding You,” clutching tightly to vigorous hooks and otherworldly, alien-like moods. With Moellman striding between classic-80s and new-wave-painted overtones, production style is zesty and easy-listening and goes down smooth like a shot of whiskey. “Thinking,” especially, is airy and melts together syrupy pop with ’90s-bent R&B. “You came in from the other side, took your time, made me feel live. Why’d you let me go?” Sandler ponders on bouncy opener “Take It or Leave It,” drenching the imposing beats with honeyed phrases.
5j Barrow, The Journey, Vol. 1 (buy)
Genre: Americana
Label: Independent
Release Date: October 6, 2017
Eryn Murman & Jason Hite have a natural flair for the dramatic; that grandeur serves them well. Hite’s cracked baritone curls around a traumatic narrative of one young woman’s pursuit to fall in love with blues ditty “Sarah Brown.” “Children gather ’round and let me tell you a tale of the lonely Sarah Brown,” they stage with striking calm before braying yelps slither out between flecks of banjo. The EP erupts with scorched balladeering, gutsy rhythms and reflections of heartache. “The feeling is difficult to describe / I swear it’s a sound I’ll hear when I die,” Murman bristles on “Lullaby.” Hite nonchalantly wears his heart on his sleeve with “Seagreen Dress.” “Let me pull you closer to me / As we waltz the room so everyone can see your seagreen dress,” he sings, painting the romance on thick. [Read the full review]
Alisan Porter, I Come in Pieces (buy)
Genre: Pop/Soul
Label: Moon Child Music
Release Date: August 11, 2017
Porter’s voice can cut glass. When she takes you to church, and she does so quite frequently on her new earthy, gospel-spun EP, particularly on such lofty numbers as “Deep Water” and “Change,” she beckons you to the altar of her heart. Taking your hands in hers, she assures you the turmoil will rest, the battle wounds will mend, the demons will fade and your mind will be wiped clean at sun’s set. It’s a miraculous, almost biblical, immersion. Porter’s EP is the sweltering, sticky zenith of a week-long revival. It’s the the Holy Spirit piercing the physical form to transmit a higher presence. It’s rebirth. It’s making amends. And Porter is just the lowly messenger, and a stunning one at that.
Genre: Pop
Label: RCA
Release Date: July 14, 2017
One fifth (er, fourth) of three-time Grammy-winning, platinum-selling a cappella group Pentatonix, Kirstin Maldonado (who goes by simply kirstin these days) splintered off to stretch her proverbial wings. The juggernaut pop outfit aren’t broken up, per se ⎯⎯ Avi Kaplan did, however, depart permanently earlier this year ⎯⎯ but the remaining members are dancing to the beat of their own drums a bit, expanding their stylistic ambitions and creative gusto. kirstin’s splashy solo debut not only allows her to truly shine ⎯⎯ her vocal framed stalwartly on such bedazzled cuts as lead single “Break a Little,” “See It” and “Bad Weather” ⎯⎯ she comes fully into her own across delectable EDM, house-lite and new wave-slathered pop hooks.
Party Nails, Come Again (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
Release Date: February 10, 2017
If The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Black Mirror‘s magical “San Junipero” episode had a threesome, their love-child would be Party Nails. “I’ve always been fascinated with that bittersweet, happy/sad thing,” she said, marinating her EP in sorrowful lyrics and hyped rhythms. That juxtaposition of pain/light encapsulates her own complex journey to greatness. From “Blow Me Away” to “Better” and the title cut, the five-track EP whisks by as spectacularly as Halley’s Comet: her vocal radiates in the afterglow of shimmering guitar beams, and you can’t help but believe every word she utters. “Oh, put on my party nails. They all stare at me,” she yowls on the groovy closer “One by One.” Pay attention, she’s gonna be huge.
Smallpools, The Science of Letting Go (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Kobalt Music
Release Date: August 4, 2018
Smallpools’ well-conditioned, glossy and decidedly-chill new EP appears to be as much a statement about their departure from RCA last year as it is about starting over. “It’s not like this exciting naive tornado like the first EP [2013’s self-titled], which I would say is…very bouncy and jubilant. There is a kind of calmness to this,” frontman Sean Scanlon described it. “Million Bucks” zeros in on clean-shaven escapism, while “Centerfold” (the scintillating centerpiece of the record) sinks into society’s beauty standards, facing one’s own flaws and becoming comfortable in your own skin. Underneath the drowning, cutting waves on “Mother,” Scanlon romances about an ex’s mother, akin to Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom.” [Read the full review]
Genre: Pop/Singer-songwriter
Label: Independent
Release Date: August 11, 2017
Dodie is a ravenous songbird. Flighty and feathery, the U.K. sensation, who has built quite the empire through intimate, charming YouTube clips, deals in mournful compositions on her second EP. She turns to minimalistic arrangements constructed on icy piano mixes and solemn viola waves ⎯⎯ to great effect. “I told you I was looking for some empathy / Well, you fooled me / Just a touch and a thought, and I was gone,” she hauls on the title cut, plucky and angsty. She also doesn’t get trapped by the dusky moodiness; “6/10” lingers on her haunting insecurity but pushes the limits of subtle, but bubbly, pop confections. “What goes on behind the words? Is there pity for the plain girl?” she yearns. Disc closer “Would You Be So Kind” juxtaposes the pain of liking someone and not knowing if they reciprocate against sun-baked guitar.
Sigrid, Don’t Kill My Vibe (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Island Records/UMG
Release Date: May 12, 2017
The Norwegian up and comer winds her way through a forested maze of cutting, resplendent songwriting and buoyant melodies. Whether she’s rising like a warrior with the fiery lead single and opener “Don’t Kill My Vibe” or weaving “Plot Twist” after another, she is intense and alert, cracking the code of delicious Top 40 hooks with deeply-rooted stories. Even on “Fake Friends,” there is a driving propulsion of well-crafted lines, including this key moment: “Let the flame die out and rip the bandaid off / so slow that you can feel it burning.” She never sacrifices lyrics for addictive choruses, either. She then throws a curveball with an acoustic rendering of “Dynamite,” closing out her wild, impulsive and daring debut EP.
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
Release Date: November 10, 2017
Ryan masterfully hatches tingling pop hooks on her first outing, snatching wigs along the way and situating herself as pop’s most promising upstart. “Sorry’s just another lie,” she opines on “Donate a Dollar,” the trembling closing tune. She’s often hypnotizing, as you’ll witness with a firestorm of colossal beats and sticky-sweet melodies across four meager entries. “No Parachute” brims with glossy adventure, perhaps her most immediate gemstone of the bunch, and “Lonely Party” unfurls coarse vulnerability and the EP’s central thread line ⎯⎯ “The life of misfits, oh, mind your business / ‘Cause we’re not waiting on ya, waiting on ya,” she bites. “We fail to please majorities, refuse to come to our lonely party.”
Jake McMullen, Giving Up (buy)
Genre: Pop/Alternative
Label: Independent
Release Date: May 12, 2017
Murky mumbles, aloof clashes liquefy under the fierce rays of McMullen’s off-kilter, unconventional timbre. Among a cavalcade of pop musicians coming out of Nashville, he exudes a strange, puzzling blackness. His rendition of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” can be jarring, but repeat listens elicit a magnetizing aura. “Falling” and the folky “How Do You Get It Back?” (which seems to run as a river does, tumbling down the mountainside) are exceptionally written and performed. He pours out blurry-eyed, out-of-focus snapshots of his existence. “I don’t think it’s good trying to fit yourself into one box to please somebody,” he said about heroic ambitions to destroy genre labels. He even dabbles in effervescent ’80s sparkle on the title track.
Julia Michaels, Nervous System (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Republic
Release Date: July 28, 2017
Today’s most in-demand pop artisan, Michaels’ aesthetic is bizarre but somehow tantalizing compound of Alanis Morissette and Gwen Stefani. She’s equal parts peculiar, enticing and gloriously-polished. She flips her tongue with barbed obscenities (“Pink” says hi) and then draws you in for a stinging, barely-audible confessional moments later ⎯⎯ “Don’t Wanna Think” is the apex of her craft. “I will make up some excuse about how that was meant for someone else / When the truth is I’m not over you…” the final revelation lingers on the lips, tip-toeing across the skin, the heart standing still, leaving your mind anguished and uneasy. Michaels is a vision.
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
Release Date: May 12, 2017
The New York City performer basks in catharsis on his first EP, utilizing his slippery vocal to bear the full weight of his well-dressed, sharp-witted lyrics. “Wait, there’s something in the water, shadowing on all of my doubts,” he warbles on “Beautiful Dysfunction,” which morphs from brooding ballad into fervent club banger. The slow quake of “RIP” and the drip-drop-drip-drippity-drop of “Levitate,” then, augment his vocal abilities and blossom full-heartily amidst thick-swirled production choices. “We don’t have to go on talking about who we are,” Sheare presses (on “Fences”) and sweeps between his chest voice and his signature, viscerally-charged falsetto: both magical and languid. He’s utterly distinctive and destined for MSG.
BANNERS, Empires on Fire (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Island Records
Release Date: November 3, 2017
His latest EP is a burn-prone disc so timely, it’s jarringly eery, sending chills down to your bones. Mike Nelson strikes a progressive balance, stemming from his unshakable genius with scalding melodies and rhythms. “Our empire is on fire,” he chants ⎯⎯ piano, percussion and guitar work winding, hellbent, around each other. The titular cut plays as both a piece on a disastrous relationship and an explosive retelling of today’s catastrophic 45 administration. Nelson allows the listener to rip and bend the lyrics to their will, exposing the exact strength of his finesse. Make no mistake: Nelson is a bewitching magician, not one to reveal too many of his sly tricks. He divulges a few subtle hints, of course, but leaves you feeling utterly satisfied and desperate for more in the same singular breath. [Read the full review]
Saint Slumber, Youth//1 (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
Release Date: April 28, 2017
Animalistic hankerings thrive between the winded reeds of the murky forest Saint Slumber have so thoughtfully and passionately nurtured. Their wide-ranging, scatter-brained debut EP is a fly-by-night amalgam of clunky garage-band rock, fevered electronica and youthful restlessness, nestled amidst a sharpened self-awareness and euphoric evasion. There is a quiet unease through which they view the world, meandering mindlessly from one moment to the next, not really knowing exactly what it means. That weighty core is rather unconventional, especially for such shimmery pop music, but that is what strikes such an affecting consequence. The group’s imposing debut frames their masterful skills without pause, indicating they are capable of even more colossal things. [Read the full review]
Maggie Rose, Dreams>Dollars (buy)
Genre: Country/Pop
Label: Independent
Release Date: May 19, 2017
Rose has more guts than most singers and songwriters in Nashville. Following a major label deal and one of 2013’s best, most criminally-underrated albums (Cut to Impress), she was then able to let go and reach new heights. She rides both the pop/country saddles, unapologetically, and it never feels half-backed or overwrought. It just feels special. Her second EP incorporates more of her country and gospel roots, after last year’s full-on pop detour with The Variety Show: Vol. 1. “I Won’t” sees her deliver one of her sharpest and most impassioned vocals, while “More Dreams Than Dollars” stealthily flavors with a R&B-backed melody and “Body on Fire” catapults directly into the sun. She’s on fire, and that is a fact.
Violet Skies, This Was Us (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Saiorse Records
Release Date: May 26, 2017
A by-product of Wales, Joni Mitchell fandom and the deterioration of a relationship, Violet Skies’ debut EP chronicles her journey in fascinating depth and intimacy. “I can’t stay in Soho. It reminds me of you,” she coos on piano ballad “Soho,” while “Island” is warm and enveloping. “Make me an island, cover my soul,” she howls. She mingles the virtuous penmanship of Mitchell and Sara Bareilles with the twilight of romanticism, from the budding stages into the corrosive aftermath, tailspinning her out of control. The use of vocoder on “Silence” and “No Night, No Day” is grisly but enlightened. Then, on “When the Love Runs Out,” her vocal in its (mostly) natural state is wistful, without crossing into saccharine.
Joseph of Mercury, Self-Titled (buy)
Genre: Pop/Alternative
Label: 2017 Wednesday
Release Date: September 1, 2017
Soaked in mysterious vintage varnish ⎯⎯ often harkening to Bowie and Elvis Presley ⎯⎯ Joseph of Mercury’s first body of work is cohesively-attached, masked in anguished lamentations about love, loss and lust. Even the way he spits out “baby, baby” on “Young Thing” possesses a lethargic, hazy Lana Del Rey-like swerve. His backstory remains largely one of folklore, but tasked with frail, exposing confessionals ⎯⎯ “I love it when you speak to me like we’ve never met / It makes me feel like strangers again,” he whispers on “Do You Remember,” a smoldering romp as opener ⎯⎯ Joseph W. Salusbury, as he’s known in real life, is a radical-eyed fox. [Read the full review]
The Easy Leaves, The Wheels (buy)
Genre: Americana/Country
Label: Independent
Release Date: May 26, 2017
In the shadow of such stalwarts as Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, and others of the Bakersfield Sound, Sage Fifield and Kevin Carducci uphold those traditions, beginning with their 2009 self-titled studio album. They piece together stories ripped directly from the American heartland, roughed up from years of whiskey, gravel-top and the trenches of grungy dive bars and saloons. Their new EP lurches along at a honky-tonk pace, as you’ll hear locomotive-style on standouts like the guitar-led “Made on the River” and “Highwaymen,” a sterling homage to The Highwaymen themselves. The title cut, then, reinvents the classic “On the Road Again” theme, booming down Nelson’s blazed path but with their own swagger. “Eleven Hours” concludes with restraint, woozy and heavy.
Bay Ledges, Fountain Tropical (buy)
Genre: Pop/Alternative
Label: BMG Rights Management
Release Date: August 18, 2017
“I don’t wanna speak too soon but I think I love you,” singer Zach Hurd blurts out on anchoring single “Safe,” a funky, ’70s-energized alt-pop excursion. Joined by his sister Georgia Hurd, the pair deliver bite-sized psychedelia across five, stylistically like-minded, voluminous cuts. Each one is soaked in gusty synths and guitar smacks, illustrating their vigorous, seductive ways. “June” skitters on a Karmin-titled stage, while “Perfect” reminds of a swarthier Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode. Closer “In Your Head” squirms between assorted soundscapes, from folk to new wave and slick, handsome rock…and back. Bay Ledges inhabit that balmy, dream-like state between reality and fantasy, injecting your sense with overloaded, fizzing stimuli.
Emily West, Symphonies (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Independent
Release Date: August 18, 2017
West’s latest EP is a rich, eviscerating and altogether hearty blend of such trailblazing torch singers as Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday and Judy Garland ⎯⎯ but she takes sharp lefts when you think she’s hurling straight ahead. “Don’t Ever Go to Paris (When You’re Lonely)” is excruciatingly brittle ⎯⎯ “when you see all the flowers, you’ll just want to lay down and die,” she languishes ⎯⎯ and supposes a more bitingly urgent rebuild of Lana Del Rey’s more complex creations. “Pirate Ships,” then, is the closest West comes to exploiting a more hook-aware piece, and “Stop Messing with My Heart” transports the listener to a smokey nightclub lounge Holiday may have very well graced in her lifetime. [Read the full review]
My Red + Blue, Keep It Moving (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: Sorted Noise Records
Release Date: March 31, 2017
Essential to today’s Nashville pop scene, he rises and falls over hard beats (the titular track), sultry caresses (“As Good as It Gets”) and Coldplay-sized arena-fillers (“Beautiful Life”). The red/blue duality of primary colors represent his West Coast roots and his evolution in Music City, a petri dish of folk, rock, country and jaunty pop, and he pulls from each tightly-pulled thread to construct his own towering monument. “I want to believe we still got something,” he sings on the alt-rock tribute “Me + You + the Night,” containing unwashed synths. “Hold on to the Feeling” feels reminiscent of Calvin Harris, purring with revved-up guitar and one monstrous chorus. “We’re gonna make this last,” he chants.
Genre: Folk/Pop
Label: O.K.A.Y. Music
Release Date: July 28, 2017
The irony of the band’s name should clue you in on their mission: shattering the glass ceiling. The trio let the patriarchy have it on their luscious, rootsy debut. Swelling with swampy folk shapeshifting and smooth wrinkles of glossy pop magnificence, the sturdy five-song disc stabs deep into the chest and wrenches away the most crucial of life forces as a way of deconstructing the system and jerking the straight white men from their lavish ivory towers. “You didn’t want me or my body / You didn’t even say you’re sorry / Now, you’ve left me high and dry,” they dress plaintively but assertively on the lead single, on which they don’t let an abhorrent lover have the last laugh. [Read the full review]
Genre: Pop/Alternative
Label: Independent
Release Date: May 19, 2017
Madelin conceives a massive takedown of the patriarchy with “Good List,” the set’s scornful and empowering clapback of being cat-called. Constructed over the course of three long years, themes of feminism and strength spill over onto the other four tracks. Despite naysayers ripping her tunes as “not pop enough,” she saw right through their intentions and did things her way. “I really see that’s bullshit, and I can make the music that resonates with me,” she explained. Elsewhere, she hits hard on such flare-ups as “Pinnacle” (a galloping alt-pop bolt) and the hip-hop-hinged “Crew,” complete with disruptive hand claps and a choir of children’s yelps. “High School Boys” throbs with electric guitar, ardent percussion and Madelin’s pure vocal.
Holy Wars, Mother Father (buy)
Genre: Alternative
Label: Independent
Release Date: November 3, 2017
Lead singer Kat Leon picks her teeth on gnarly songwriting ⎯⎯ “It’s over for you / They will eat you alive,” she exposes on “Cruel World” with matching production tapping into the most primal, destructive of instincts. That’s the broad, apocalyptic tone of the band’s new EP: raw, blackened from deathly hallows, unnerving, life-sucking. In the aftermath of her parents’ untimely demise, she had to expel those feelings, allow her heart to throb and to bleed, before she discovered some kind of atonement. “I lost my world,” she whispers on “Back to Life,” a spooky Evanescence-like power play. “I nearly lost my mind,” she later screeches. Mother Father will drop you to your knees in agony, too.
Michaela May, Rogue (buy)
Genre: Pop
Label: iKON Records
Release Date: June 9, 2017
What you get with May, a rough-hewn gemstone in the looming crown of pop music, is a twinkling amalgam of vast ’80s styles: from saxophone drips on the soulful “You & I” to “1954,” easily one of 2017’s should-be smashes. Her debut EP, the zippy, aptly titled Rogue, features maddening melodies, as with a Madonna-homage on “Sapiosexual” and a guitar-laden “Lost,” a feverish bookend to one helluva staggering lineup. “I’m lost. It’s breaking every part of me,” she meditates. A thin veil of synths, percussion and guitar characterize much of her work, both organic and manufactured. The atypical production style, down to the flickering synths inhabiting a heartbeat groove, “1954” out-schools Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran and The Chainsmokers.
Genre: Country
Label: Sony Music
Release Date: May 12, 2017
“Runaway Love” harkens to Kelly Clarkson’s “Don’t Rush,” a call-back to Ronnie Milsap, who courted both country and pop in the 1970s and ’80s. “Why Oh Why” could have easily been a Jon Pardi b-side ⎯⎯ glowing with that same 1990s luminescence currently returning to radio: neo-traditional in many aspects but wholly progressive in others. “Wired” expands their sound into accessible guitar-rich pop-country, and “Give Up Your Heart” echoes with the spirit of Kenny Rogers and Little Big Town, an acoustic guitar-only track with breezy, tight harmonies. With another trio called Midland notching their first hit single, Michael David Hall, Jake Singleton and Ryan Holladay have their work cut out for them. “Ms. Marianne” closes out the set, Brooks & Dunn-style.
Eve Minor, Shooting $tars (buy)
Genre: Alternative/Rock
Label: Independent
Release Date: June 24, 2017
When Minor howls into the ether on “Supervillian,” channeling Courtney Love, she knocks you on your ass. The haunting filter running over her new EP is detaching but that’s where the charm lies. She’s meticulously hooked into the DIY-style of producing and creating, tempered through tense and uncomfortable melodies and starry-eyed energy. Much like another alternative act called Family Pet making measurable impressions in the industry, Minor is earnest, desperately seeking her own salvation and will do anything to get it. “Queen of the Jungle” and “Last Day Here” are furiously masterful, pressed with penetrating piano and drums…and one frenetic, crazed vocal.
Carrie Lane, California Freaks (buy)
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: Faction Entertainment
Release Date: June 23, 2017
Tinged with regret and passage of time, Lane’s vocals swim between swampier Joss Stone and more supple Ellie Goulding ⎯⎯ an unorthodox mixture, for sure, but one that makes sense when framed beside her third EP. She battles lust (“Florida Keys”), love (“If I Can’t Be With You”), mental imprisonment (“Think About It”) and wayward rapture (“Drowning”). Four tracks is not damn near enough, especially when the singer is Lane, who can topple mountains and shatter glass. “I’m afraid I’m already lost in you,” she bats her eyes on “If I Can’t Be with You,” and on “Drowning,” she considers his affections are doing much more than roping her in: “you’re love is melting me,” she concedes. Next stop, full-length album, yeah?
Genre: Pop
Label: Universal
Release Date: June 30, 2017
Astrid S, a mythical siren of pop royalty, is slowing taking over the conversation: instead of following, she’s setting her own strides ahead of everyone else. “Breathe” is a top-tier jam, one of 2017’s most refreshing moments, and “Such a Boy” hits such an unstoppable groove even the likes of Zedd and Diplo could not have assembled on their good days. “Sushi” features such a bizarre but irresistible lyric, and meanwhile, “Bloodstream” vies for dark horse of the millennium. She later makes it rain on the title track, cooing in her little wispy way, “We don’t feel a thing, chardonnay running through our veins. We don’t have to go, go home. We can stay here, laid out on the floor.” She is completely on-trend while also establishing a brand new wave ⎯⎯ that’s what makes real artists with legacies.
Honorable Mentions: I, Us, & We’s Ceremonials, Mereki’s Beach, Majo’s Self-Titled and Hi-Lo Jack’s Old New Clothes.
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