Best Albums of 2017

I mentioned last year that I had signed up for a streaming music service. I kept that going and it led to me listening to by far the most new music I've ever heard in a year. Both new as in I hadn't heard it before, and new as in actually newly released. I listened to over 40 new albums, and culling that list down to 10 was actually pretty difficult. This is the music that hit me the hardest in 2017.

Best of 2017

10. SZA - CTRL


I listened to a couple different R&B artists, and SZA is the one who stood out the most. She has a great voice and great control over it, and her album is experimental in its choice of sounds and instrumentation where others stick to the same basic stuff.

9. Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory


I've been hearing good stuff about Vince for a little while, but his album was definitely different than I expected. He's a talented rapper, but what really stood out here was the production. It's pretty unusual, often sounding more like UK bass than hip-hop. It stays catchy though, with a few tracks that jump into your brain and stay lodged there.

8. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me


There have been sad albums before, but A Crow Looked at Me is maybe the most starkly heartbreaking I've ever heard. Phil Elverum wrote and recorded this after he lost his wife to cancer, and at times it feels more like a therapy session than an album. I thought the music itself was mostly just pretty good, but his honest emotion really elevates it to a very memorable space.

7. St. Vincent - Masseduction


At this point I'm convinced that St. Vincent is incapable of releasing anything other than very good albums that synthesize a variety of styles and influences into a sound that is distinctly and exclusively hers. I expected it to be good, and it was!

6. Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up


Fleet Foxes is kind of standing in here for the many indie rock bands I like that put out new albums in 2017. Crack-Up was my favorite of the bunch, weaving their familiar folk-tinged sound into a bunch of new songs which always take me to a pleasant plane of existence.

5. Lorde - Melodrama


I've generally avoided listening to mainstream pop for some reason, but I decided to throw that out after being repeatedly intrigued by Lorde's songs when I've heard them. There's not much I can honestly point to that distinctly separates her from indie pop I like, after all. Melodrama is a damn good album, with great production and Lorde's unique voice working in tandem.

4. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.


After the transcendence of his last two proper albums, Kendrick releasing one that is merely very good almost feels like a letdown. Most of the tracks are solid, but while I'm used to him making full start to finish experiences, DAMN. feels like a collection of songs, some of which are better than others. It speaks to how great he is that despite these feelings I still have it this high on the list.

3. King Krule - The Ooz


As I was listening to King Krule's strange and exciting new album, I stumbled upon a comparison that made a lot of sense. He's basically a millennial Tom Waits. The deep voice, the constant experimentation, the weird influences, it fits surprisingly well. Nothing I've heard really sounds like King Krule, and I like it quite a bit.

2. The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding


I have previously compared Arcade Fire to an indie rock Bruce Springsteen. I stand by that for some of their work, but it seems to fit even better for The War on Drugs. They mix heartland and modern influences to create dense, textured songs that combine the best bits of both genres. This is the kind of band that I hear for the first time and wonder why it's taken so long for them to get on my radar.

1. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream


I've heard a few LCD Soundsystem singles before, but I was totally unprepared for this album. It combines a lot of what I like about electronic music with what I like about post-punk, and the synthesis works like gangbusters. A handful of my favorite songs of the year are on this album. It's damn good. I'm glad the guy un-retired.

Delayed Entry

This is the best album that wasn't released in 2017 but I didn't hear until then.

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

This was a tough choice, as I heard a bunch of classic albums and found several new favorites for every decade of popular music. I have to go with Highway 61, though. It is what got me to understand why people are crazy about Bob Dylan, possibly the most revered individual of the last 60 years of music. It's not just influential and famous, it's really freaking great to listen to today.