A Round of Sound

50) Fazerdaze – Morningside

49) Future Islands – The Far Field

48) (Sandy) Alex G – Rocket

47) Thundercat – Drunk

46) Makthaverskan – Ill

45) The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – Always Foreign

44) Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers

43) Spoon – Hot Thoughts

42) Waxahatchee – Out In The Storm

41) Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins

40) Alvvays – Antisocialites

39) Hundred Waters – Communicating

38) The Mountain Goats – Goths

37) Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder

36) The xx – I See You

35) White Reaper – The World’s Best American Band

34) Priests – Nothing Feels Natural

33) EMA – Exile In The Outer Ring

32) Japandroids – Near To The Wild Heart of Life

31) Protomartyr – Relatives In Descent

30) Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires – Youth Detention

29) Laura Marling – Semper Femina

28) Wolf Parade – Cry Cry Cry

27) Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger In The Alps

26) Sylvan Esso – What Now

25) Charly Bliss – Guppy

24) Moses Sumney – Aromanticism

23) Allison Crutchfield – Tourist In This Town

22) Sheer Mag – Need to Feel Your Love

21) Alex Lahey – I Love You Like a Brother

20) SZA – Ctrl

19) Jay Som – Everybody Works

18) Cherry Glazerr – Apocalipstick

17) Sorority Noise – You’re Not As ____ As You Think

16) Sampha – Process

15) Torres – Three Futures

14) Slowdive – Slowdive

13) Algiers – The Underside of Power

12) The National – Sleep Well Beast

11) Kevin Morby – City Music

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10) The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding

[Atlantic; released 8/25/2017]

The major label debut for the Philadelphia band is a familiar and worthy follow up to my 2014 album of the year.

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9) Brand New – Science Fiction 

[Procrastinate! Music Traitors; released 8/17/2017]

I struggled deciding if I was going to include Brand New’s first (and probably last) album since 2009 in my rankings given the revelations surrounding Jesse Lacey, but ultimately chose to include it based on its merit alone, while still acknowledging the repulsiveness of its lead singer.

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8) LCD Soundsystem – American Dream 

[Columbia; released 9/1/2017]

Not much of a so-called retirement for James Murphy, but he doesn’t skip a beat after a six year hiatus.

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7) Vagabon – Infinite Worlds 

[Father/Daughter; released 2/24/2017]

The year’s finest debut comes via the New York by way of Cameroon singer-songwriter.

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6) St. Vincent – Masseduction 

[Loma Vista; released 10/13/2017]

The least guitar driven of Annie Clark’s discography still showcases her patented glitch-pop anxiousness, this time with more heart than perhaps any of her prior work.

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5) Perfume Genius – No Shape 

[Matador; released 5/5/2017]

The fourth album from Mike Hadreus is a gorgeous marriage of grandiosity and tenderness.

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4) Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.

[Aftermath; released 4/14/2017]

Kendrick Lamar releases the year’s best hip-hop album which always seems to be the case when he gives us something new.

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3) Big Thief – Capacity 

[Saddle Creek; released 6/9/2017]

Powerful and personal folk-rock songs from Adrienne Lenker follows up the band’s promising debut, a top 15 album for me in 2016.

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2) Julien Baker – Turn Out The Lights 

[Matador; released 10/27/2017]

The earnest second album from the young singer-songwriter is a cathartic bombshell.

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1) Lorde – Melodrama 

[Republic; released 6/16/2017]

“But when we’re dancing I’m alright.”

In 2015, I called Art Angels from Grimes the album poptimist could finally stand behind as one that melds the contradicting nature of commercial appeal and critical acclaim. However, looking back on it, that album was just on the periphery enough to stay on the experimental side of mainstream. Not so with Melodrama, the tremendous and transcendent sophomore record from Lorde, my album of the year in 2017.

With Jack Antonoff’s help, Lorde has evolved the minimalism of her debut into blown-out pop, but not at the expense of her unique fragility and charm. Conceived as a breakup album, Melodrama certainly isn’t forging new ground in that regard, but the heart and soul Lorde puts into the 12 tracks while balancing pure pop bliss exemplifies a level of confidence and craftsmanship that just doesn’t come around that often.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2018 at 1:14 pm and is filed under All, Music, Top Albums of 2017. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.