How much new music did I listen to in August 2017? Let's find out!

August is usually a month of slow news everywhere but in the music community. Some of the bigger releases began rolling out over the month, and it’s a couple weeks that are also full of music festivals. Yet, I still managed to listen to a fair amount of new music, even if much of it was firmly in the “I respect this but am not personally blown away by this” range. So, here’s a snapshot into my month.

As always, here’s a guide to my rating system.

Total number of new/upcoming releases listened to in August 2017: 47

Number of those releases that rated 7-10: 2

Number of those releases that rated 4-6: 34

Number of those releases that rated 1-3: 11

Highest rated album: It’s a tie! Partner’s In Search Of Lost Time and LCD Soundsystem’s American Dream scored highest! Which isn’t a surprise given my thoughts on the Canadian duo and the dance-rock combo outta NYC.

New band I’d never heard of that caught me off guard: Secret Drum Band’s Dynamics is an album of all drums, all the time—it has a kinda tribal feel with some jazz flourishes. Mostly importantly, it just grooves, though.

Most surprising discovery: That The Cribs managed to secretly record their latest album 24-7 Rockstar Shit in Chicago with Steve Albini and actually managed to keep it a secret until the LP’s unexpected release!