Honorable Mentions
Jay Som- Everybody Works
White Reaper- The World's Best American Band
Moses Sumney- Aromanticism
The National- Sleep Well Beast
Waxahatchee- Out In the Storm
LCD Soundsystem- American Dream
Father John Misty- Pure Comedy
Charly Bliss- Guppy
Top Twenty
20. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard- The Five Fucking Albums They Released in 2017
I'm cheating a bit here by not singling out a particular album, but come on, these psych rockers said they'd release five albums in 2017 and then actually did it. And all of the albums were pretty good! I suppose Flying Microtonal Banana was my favorite with Polygondwanaland a close second. Their show at Lincoln Hall was also one of the best I saw this year.
Another high-quality collection of brooding post-punk songs by one of the most underrated rock bands out there.
18. Thundercat- Drunk
Probably the most humorous album I heard this year, and also one of the funkiest. The Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins-featuring "Show You the Way" is an obvious highlight, but there are a lot of jams on here.
Really beautiful album that sounds a lot like its title. Great to zone out to at night.
16. Slowdive- Slowdive
Excellent reunion record by these shoegaze legends. Not easy to take a 22 year break and come back with an album that improves your catalogue, but Slowdive pulled it off.
15. Priests- Nothing Feels Natural
This band sounds like a cross between Sonic Youth and Sleater-Kinney, while still managing to be fresh and exciting. One of the best debut albums of the year, and their extremely energetic show at Beat Kitchen was another highlight of my 2017 concert-going.
14. Jens Lekman- Life Will See You Now
Lovely indie pop album. Few songwriters pull off the "melancholy lyrics with bright melodies" juxtaposition as well as Jens.
Lovely indie pop album. Few songwriters pull off the "melancholy lyrics with bright melodies" juxtaposition as well as Jens.
13. Perfume Genius- No Shape
An intriguing collection of lush, densely-orchestrated art pop songs.
12. Fleet Foxes- Crack-Up
This album was divisive among fans of the band's previous work due to its unconventional (and often jarring) song structures. If you spend enough time with Crack-Up, however, it reveals itself to be a fascinating album brimming with interesting ideas, albeit not as endlessly replayable as their first two albums.
This album was divisive among fans of the band's previous work due to its unconventional (and often jarring) song structures. If you spend enough time with Crack-Up, however, it reveals itself to be a fascinating album brimming with interesting ideas, albeit not as endlessly replayable as their first two albums.
11. Run the Jewels- Run the Jewels 3
Another satisfying album of impeccably produced music by the best duo in rap.
10. Tyler, The Creator- Flower Boy
Never could get into Tyler's music previous to this album, but he took a huge step forward here. The songs are stylistically diverse and downright pretty at times. The album also features my favorite Frank Ocean appearance of the year, on the wonderful "911/Mr. Lonely."
9. King Krule- The Ooz
Is jazzy experimental post-punk your thing? Probably not! But if it is, this is your album. Just don't expect to get into it on your first few listens- took me four or five to appreciate its slow-burning brilliance.
8. Lorde- Melodrama
Is jazzy experimental post-punk your thing? Probably not! But if it is, this is your album. Just don't expect to get into it on your first few listens- took me four or five to appreciate its slow-burning brilliance.
8. Lorde- Melodrama
The follow-up to Pure Heroine may not have had a ubiquitous hit à la "Royals," but Lorde managed to improve on her debut in every way. Brilliant pop songwriting.
7. Vince Staples- Big Fish Theory
Staples's house-music influenced sophomore album is essential listening for fans of both electronic/dance music and rap.
6. Julien Baker- Turn Out the Lights
Heartbreakingly sad but emotionally cathartic album by a supremely talented young singer-songwriter. If you can sit through "Appointments" with dry eyes, you are probably an alien or something.
5. Big Thief- Capacity
Never would have guessed this album would make my top five when I first heard it, but I kept returning to it this year. Frontwoman Adrianne Lenker is an outstanding singer and lyricist, and her stories from her traumatic childhood resonate deeply.
4. SZA- CTRL
SZA became hands down the breakout star of 2017 thanks to this instant R&B classic- impressive given how difficult it is to get smart speakers to play the correct damn artist (no, Alexa, I did not say "Sizzler").
3. The War on Drugs- A Deeper Understanding
I did not think The War on Drugs would ever create another album as good as Lost in the Dream (my favorite album of 2014, for those keeping score at home) but they came pretty dang close! A Deeper Understanding is even more meticulously crafted than its predecessor, and continues to showcase the band's talent for writing blissed-out rockers and lighters-in-the-air ballads that should resonate with any rock fan no matter their age.
2. Mount Eerie- A Crow Looked At Me
I am not going to mince words here: this is the saddest album I have ever heard. Songwriter Phil Elverum's wife was diagnosed with cancer months after giving birth to the couple's first child in 2015, and tragically died at age 35 the following summer. Elverum recorded A Crow Looked At Me in the ensuing months, in the same room where his wife died and using her old instruments. Elverum states bluntly on the album's powerful opener "Real Death" that "Death is real/Someone's there and then they're not/And it's not for singing about/It's not for making into art." Elverum is acutely aware that grieving for his wife through his songwriting is a futile exercise, that nothing will truly make him feel better. Nonetheless, Elverum lays his emotions bare and the result is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Despair permeates every moment of the album, accented by sparse musical arrangements ("barely music," Elverum called it in an interview). This is not an album I am able to listen to very often, and cannot "enjoy" like most of the other music on this list. But A Crow Looked At Me so effectively captures a dark, sorrowful part of the human experience that when I do listen it is a fully immersive and deeply moving experience; this album cannot be background music. Despite Elverum's declaration that he had no desire to make art in the face of personal tragedy, he created a masterwork of grief and loss that hit me harder than nearly everything I heard in 2017.
1. Kendrick Lamar- DAMN.Before 2015, all my year end "best album" lists had nary a hip-hop release on them, save for the occasional Kanye West cameo. Then Kendrick Lamar released To Pimp a Butterfly, and I decided to take a break from listening to guitar bands and see what the hype was about. I remember driving to work listening to the album for the first time, quickly realizing I was hearing something special. I had previously (and ignorantly) dismissed rap as one-dimensional, tuneless music. To Pimp a Butterfly shattered that notion. It was the most creative, thought-provoking album I had heard in a long time. With DAMN., Lamar has made another masterpiece and cemented his standing (in my mind, at least) as the best musician on the planet.
While To Pimp a Butterfly paid tribute to the jazz and funk songs of Lamar's youth, DAMN. employs a starkly different sound- showing his unique spin on what rap should sound like in 2017. Working closely with hit-making producer Mike Will Made-It, Lamar manages to connect with the pop masses (every song on the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100!) while compromising none of his artistic ambition. DAMN. announced its arrival with the chart-topping first single "Humble," the most overt "banger" of his career. With "Humble," Lamar shows that he can make a song completely in line with 2017 rap trends, and he can do it better than anyone (its incredible music video further hammers this home). "DNA," too, illustrates Lamar's pure skills as a rapper; its jaw-dropping final third ranks as a career highlight. Elsewhere on the album, Lamar shares a more introspective side. There's "Fear," where he vividly describes terror he has felt at different stages in his life. On "Pride" (my personal favorite), Lamar grapples with being "the best rapper alive" with a desire to maintain humility. "Love," meanwhile, is a straight-up gorgeous ballad destined to be a fixture on wedding playlists. The album concludes with the stunning "Duckworth," with Lamar reflecting on the unbelievable series of events that led to him emerging from troubled beginnings to become a global superstar (and how, when their lives fatefully crossed decades ago, choices made by his father and the head of his record label likely spared him from an untimely demise). Taken as a whole, DAMN. is a remarkable album with many layers; I'm still digesting it nine months after I first heard it. Nothing in 2017 sounded better or more vital.
Best of 2017 Playlist
Here is a playlist of some of my favorite songs of the year, featuring all of the above artists and more!
