THE TOP MINI-ALBUMS AND EPs

13

Steve Lacy’s Demo

Locket

Mister Mellow

Swim Inside the Moon

RINA

grey

AND NOW… the HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Animal Spirits

Everywhere at the End of Time Stages 1–3

Cigarettes After Sex

NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES

I’m Not Your Man

Who Told You to Think​?​?​!​!​?​!​?​!​?​!

City Music

Laila’s Wisdom

What Now

Boo Boo

Tales From the Drought

A Shadow in Time

Fin

Narkopop

Take Me Apart

New Energy

Love What Survives

Lotta Sea Lice

SATURATION III

The Twin

Drunk

Big Fish Theory

Aromanticism

Utopia

Routines

AND NOW… the TOP 25 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

25. Oneohtrix Point Never

Good Time (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Favorite Tracks: The Pure and the Damned, Good Time, Leaving the Park

24. A. Savage

Thawing Dawn

Favorite Tracks: What Do I Do, Winter in the South, Ladies From Houston, Thawing Down

23. Big K.R.I.T.

4eva Is a Mighty Long Time

Favorite Tracks: Confetti, Big Bank, Get Up 2 Come Down, Aux Cord, Mixed Messages, Drinking Sessions

22. Offset, Metro Boomin & 21 Savage

Without Warning

Favorite Tracks: Ghostface Killers, Rap Saved Me, Ric Flair Drip, Nightmare, Disrespectful

21. Fleet Foxes

Crack-Up

Favorite Tracks: I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar, Third of May, If You Need to, Keep Time on Me, On Another Ocean (January/June)

20. Open Mike Eagle

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

Favorite Tracks: Legendary Iron Hood, (How Could Anybody) Feel at Home, Happy Wasteland Day, 95 Radios

19. Japanese Breakfast

Soft Sounds From Another Planet

Favorite Tracks: Road Head, Boyish, The Body Is a Blade, Here Come the Tubular Bells

18. Tyler, the Creator

Flower Boy

Favorite Tracks: See You Again, Who Dat Boy, 911/Mr. Lonely, Enjoy Right Now, Today

17. SZA

CTRL

Favorite Tracks: Supermodel, Love Galore, Drew Barrymore, Pretty Little Birds

16. Kelly Lee Owens

Kelly Lee Owens

Favorite Tracks: Anxi., Lucid, 8

15. Iglooghost

Neō Wax Bloom

Iglooghost, the newest prodigy from my favorite label BRAINFEEDER, comes through with a bonkers debut LP after years of toiling in anonymity with a few promising albeit inconclusive EPs. Seamus Malliagh, the man behind the moniker, is a teen graphic design student from the UK who works on this project in his spare time. Malliagh creates a distinct visual and sonic aesthetic that would be impressive for a professional far beyond his years. While not perfect by any means, the production here is as refreshing as any other album I’ve heard this year

Favorite Tracks: Pale Eyes, Super Ink Burst, Bug Thief, Peanut Choker

14. Angelo Badalamenti

Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Soundtrack

David Lynch and Angelo Badlamenti are gods. The original run of Twin Peaks changed the landscape of TV and had the best soundtrack of all time. Over 25 years later, the boys return to Twin Peaks once more, no worse for wear. I would recommend watching the show itself before diving directly into the soundtrack because the visuals obviously give a lot of context to these compositions.

Favorite Tracks: American Woman (David Lynch Remix), The Chair, Heartbreaking, Slow 30’s Room, Saturday (Instrumental)13

13. Mount Eerie

A Crow Looked at Me

Phil Elverum has been making amazing and emotionally tender folk(ish) for over 20 years with his trademark ability to find beauty in the balance between beautiful sparsity and densely layered noise. This record is different.

Geneviève Castrée Elverum, Phil’s wife of 13 years and Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and musician, passed away in July 2016 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. This album covers Phil’s mourning process. Simply played with little more than a guitar, Phil sings about this devastating circumstance plainly from the heart. This is the “Requiem for a Dream” of albums: you will hear it once, cry from deep down in your gut, and then, most likely, choose to never to experience it again.

Favorite Tracks: Real Death, Ravens, Swims, Toothbrush / Trash

12. Perfume Genius

No Shape

Prior to this album, I did not understand the appeal for Perfume Genius. While Mike’s production was also immaculately glossy, I couldn’t get behind his glammed up vocals. This record, however, re-defines the Perfume Genius sound. The production is elegantly dressed with glitzy synths, harmonious strings, and euphoric crescendos. The songwriting, presented in falsetto somehow fragile and forceful, covers important themes of love, sexuality, and social standing. In a time where outside perspectives need to be more widely heard, I believe there are very few 2017 records more important than this one.

Favorite Tracks: Otherside, Slip Away, Die 4 U, Run Me Through

11. Protomartyr

Relatives in Descent

This is not an album for everyone. Do you wake up feeling deep dread in anticipation of facing a society you hate? Do you enjoy feeling gutted, angry, cold from the inside out? Have you ever gotten drunk and had your first instinct was to destroy something, perhaps valuable or cherished? If you answered no to these questions, you are probably not Joe Casey, lead singer of Protomartyr.

This third full length effort, first for Domino records, from these Detroit locals finds them at their finest: whittling tightly wound post-punk garage songs ready to explode into a grungy cathartic goop at any moment. Joe Casey and his booming baritone instantly bring to mind the pioneer of the genre Ian Curtis of Joy Division, but his songwriting carries over the improved pop-sensibilities of bands like the Strokes or Interpol. The songs here are depressing, sure, but also nihilistically freeing.

Favorite Tracks: Here Is the Thing, The Chuckler, Night-Blooming Cereus, Corpses in Regalia

10. Migos

Culture

I’ve jokingly described this album to my friends as a “post-modern masterpiece.” I really don’t know what I even mean by that, but for some reason, that’s the phrase that stuck in my head. In the times of trap, the qualities of hip hop that were once championed have fallen to the wayside in favor of style: bold production, catchy flows, and trademark adlibs. This album is the culmination of the new wave. Considering the trend of rappers fattening their albums with unnecessary tracks or features, Migos’ Culture is energizing with its lean, calculated approach to crafting the ultimate party starters.

Favorite Tracks: What the Price, T-Shirt, Slippery, Deadz, Get Right Witchya

9. Alvvays

Antisocialites

Alvvays first album was an indie darling back in 2014. I never quite got the appeal of the saccharine-sweet lo-fi pop diddies, but it was still better than most of the stuff in the indie pop space at the time. I had a faint inkling of this album coming down the pike, but I truly got on board when the single “Dreams Tonite” was released. I was in an Air BnB in Florence with no AC, blasting the song on repeat as I laid on the bed trying to stave off the sweats. The song, much like the rest of the album, is a refreshing cool breeze of pop perfection. This album is tightly written, well performed, and genuinely packed with emotion.

Favorite Tracks: Dreams Tonite, Not My Baby, Lollipop (Ode to Jim), Forgot About Life

8. King Krule

The Ooz (2017)

This was one of my harder rates of the year. This album, on first listen, is a d(ooz)y. Running 66 minutes across 19 tracks, The Ooz is a test in sonic stamina. Archy throws everything in his toolbox at listeners for his sophomore full length effort. There are very few albums this year, if ever, that have encompassed as much fluid genre experimentation as this here album. Here are some words that could be used to describe at least one of these songs:

Art Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Trip Hop, Jazz-Rock, Post-Punk, Nu Jazz, Alternative R&B, Ambient Dub, Experimental Rock, Rockabilly, Jazz Punk, Spoken Word.

Nothing I said here can justify the vast song palette presented here. Just listen to it, you’ll either love it or hate it — and that’s okay.

Favorite Tracks: Biscuit Town, Dum Surfer, Cadet Limbo, Emergency Blimp, Half Man Half Shark

7. Kendrick Lamar

DAMN.

There really isn’t much to say about this that hasn’t already been touched upon by thousands of publications. Kendrick Lamar is the best rapper alive. Period. End of Story.

Dropping the cosmic jazz vibes for a streamlined LA G-Funk meets Memphis trap sound, Kendrick comes through with another spectacular album.

On first listen, this album did not impress me nearly to the level that TPAB or GKMC did. It’s not immediately groundbreaking in the production style or even in Kendrick’s flows. I thought “this is a good, but not great album.” Then i thought about how if any other artist besides Kendrick had released it, my mind would have been blown. That’s a testament to how far ahead of the game Kung Fu Kenny truly is.

After several more listens, I absolutely fell in love with this project. With all the rumors of a second album coming, I didn’t even care. It wasn’t like when ENDLESS dropped and it didn’t feel quite complete or when FUTURE happened and was really mediocre regardless of what came next. This album is a well thought out statement. I view this as Kendrick’s “FUCK THE FAME” album, he proved he could master the “classic rap” style with his own quintessentially compton personality.

This album spans the spectrum of smooth, soulful sex jams, shocking political and social callouts, and some straight up bangers. the production is cohesive, yet each song has its own vibe. The features are used sparingly, but INCREDIBLY. Seriously, some of the best use of outside musicians since TPAB. Steve Lacy, James Blake, and BADBADNOTGOOD brought their A game on these beats. Zacari, Rihanna, and the U2 features all worked better than I expected. The no name guy who raps at the beginning of FEAR. was one of my favorite moments on the album. Kendrick fucked with a lot of cool vocal effects here as well, with some slight pitching and the reversed words (the chanting on FEAR is haunting and HYPE AF at the same damn time).

Favorite Tracks: DNA, FEEL, FEAR, HUMBLE, DUCKWORTH

6. Slowdive

Slowdive

Plenty of bands this year had “comeback” albums. Most of them failed, sometimes spectacularly. Slowdive had arguable the largest comeback, having not had a release since 1995’s Pygmalion. To the surprise of most, the group picked up right where they left out: transporting listeners to the blissed out dream of the 90s once again, this time with a modern twist. You will be hard pressed to find a better late night listen from this year. Hazy and emotionally stirring tracks like Star Roving and Sugar for the Pill have been staples in my late night transit soundtrack. The main complaint I’ve read is that this wasn’t ‘shoegazey’ enough. To those people, I say get over it and enjoy the record for what it is instead of what it could’ve been according to your imagination.

Favorite Tracks: Star Roving, Slomo, Sugar for the Pill, No Longer Making Time

5. Lorde

Melodrama

Lorde is unquestionably the best pop star in the world right now. I had pretty high expectations for this one given how much I loved Pure Heroine, despite how little it made sense in context with the rest of my music taste. At first, I was slightly disappointed in the record. It felt too poppy, too overproduced — basically too Jack Antonoff. Antonoff-jerk aside, I began to realize how well designed this album is from a songwriting perspective. Each track tells a stand-alone story, but also fits well in the overarching theme and narrative of the record itself. Oh, did I mention it’s catchy? It’s catchy as fuck. Not too many pop artists could get me to willingly blast their music care-free with the windows rolled down while singing along at the top of my range-less lungs. Whatever it is, Lorde has got it.

The fact that she already has 2 landmark albums at 20 years old is absolutely astounding. Her ability to craft a song far exceeds her years.

Favorite Tracks: The Louvre, Hard Feelings / Loveless, Supercut, Perfect Places

4. The National

Sleep Well Beast

Is there a more consistently great band than the National right now? They had four hit albums in a row dating back to 2005 before the release of Sleep Well Beast, which only serves as further evidence of the National’s claim to the indie rock king’s crown. After the instrumentally sparse and trade-markedly depressing Trouble Will Find Me, Sleep Well beast dials up the experimentation. Here we find Matt waxing poetic as usual, but in a more splintered, poetic way than in the past. The production is immaculate, with each track bringing a new twist to the table. Calling something cohesive is often a backhanded compliment, but in this case I mean it in the best possible way. Excluding the outlier “Turtleneck,” the track listing for this album is really tight thematically and atmospherically. While this record may not convert non-National fans, it accomplished pretty much everything a current fan could’ve wanted.

Favorite Tracks: Walk It Back, I’ll Still Destroy You, Guilty Party, Dark Side of the Gym

3. Phoebe Bridgers

Stranger in the Alps (2017)

In a vast sea of singer-songwriter-guitar types, Phoebe Bridgers cuts through the clutter with her debut album named hilariously, after the Big Lebowski TV censorship, Stranger in the Alps. In a word, Strangers in the Alps is authentic. You can tell Phoebe means every melancholically biting word she sings beautifully. This album is probably my “grower” of the year. Initially, I found it pleasant, but nothing close to groundbreaking or even worthy of the buzz I had been hearing.

It took some trauma of my own to really come around to this. Now that it’s clicked, I cannot stop listening. Her words echo in my head long after they’ve finished playing through my headphones. They walk with me around the city, they sit with me at work, they lay in my bed at night. Whether I like it or not, I cannot get Phoebe Bridgers off my mind. Despite the specifics divulged in these confessional musings, Phoebe’s message to the rest of the depressed community is universally relatable.

In addition to her heavenly voice, Phoebe contributes some subtle, yet killer, instrumentation. From soft ambient synths whirling around the background to the vintage, unmistakable twin peaks style baritone bass, the many elements of the backing music work effortlessly together to form around Phoebe’s voice — pushing it to the forefront and highlighting her fragility perfectly without overwhelming it.

Favorite Tracks: Smoking Signals, Demi Moore, Killer, Motion Sickness, You Missed My Heart

2. Sampha

Process

I had high expectations for this album, as I’ve been waiting for a full length Sampha project ever since I first heard him on SBTRKT’s debut in 2011. His voice was immediately magnetic, and I had to comb through every one of his features. I really couldn’t get enough. When Saint Pablo dropped in the middle of last year, the hype levels were getting out of control. in the back of my mind, I was thinking there is no way this can live up to my expectations — you’re bound for the disappointment you’ve experienced with so many releases in the past.

then Timmy’s Prayer dropped. then Blood on Me. finally, No One Knows Me (like the Piano.) All three of these singles were 10/10s for me, and racked up 50+ playcounts before the album even dropped.

Maybe he really can do it, I thought late last year.

He did it alright. At a perfect 10 track length, the album never drags. I never have the feeling of wanting to skip a track. Everything flows well together, but the production and subject matters change up enough to stay fresh. This is one of the most vulnerable and cathartic R&B releases of the past several years, only surpassed by Blonde in my opinion.

Favorite Tracks: Blood On Me, No One Knows Me, Kora Sings, Reverse Faults, 100C Plastic

1. (Sandy) Alex G

Rocket

If you know me well, you probably saw this coming. I have been ranting and raving about this album all year, basically just waiting for something else to come out and top it so I could shut up already. That day never came.

You can tell a lot about an album based on its cover. I know, I know, they always say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but, in music, I think sometimes you have to do just that. Back in the day, before the ubiquity of streaming, cover art was sometimes all a potential consumer had to go on before deciding whether or not to purchase an album. Covers don’t have quite the same importance nowadays, but I’d like to think artist still take their choices seriously.

At a glance, the cover of (sandy) Alex G’s newest record Rocket (painted by his sister Rachel) is unassuming and relatively banal. A goat stands in a pasture with candy cane balloon letters hovering overhead. Much like (sandy) Alex G’s music, the quirks of this cover become more apparent the longer you inspect. You first might notice the two sets of horns: one straight and pointy, traditionally expected from a standard goat. Another set menacingly furls behind like a ram, and points directly at the viewer. Next, your gaze drifts down to meet the goat’s eyes. They are misshapen, unlevel, and weird looking even by goat standards. Its ears are even more deformed and asymmetrical. What is this all about? Why is there a goat in the middle of a field, and what does it have to do with Rocket?

Alex G has always felt a kinship to the spirit of collaboration. He has a set of close friends in Philadelphia that have all worked, recorded, and, in some cases, even lived together. Emily Yacina is chief among them, and provides beautiful harmonies all over this record. Another big addition to the family is violinist Molly Germer. Funny enough, Molly is actually Alex’s girlfriend. She adds a fresh element to this record that separates it from Alex’s previous work. I strongly believe her addition to the team lead to the more folksy sound on Rocket. Her heavy usage on this album is even more curious is when you dive into the contents of the storyline.

This album is about growing up: discovering who you are, finding out what love means, and learning where you fit in the relationships around you. In order to get clarity within our relationships and own personal issues, we must take a step back and take a bird’s eye view to make sense of the situation.

Yes, this is an album — a collection of many different songs spanning many different styles — but it is important to view these songs as broad strokes of a bigger painting. From the earthy instrumental of the opener “Poison Root”, with barking dogs buried in the mix and a nice bouncy banjo line, to the jovial piano of “Proud” to the dueling melodies and off-kilter harmonization of “Bobby” to the bubbling, raging industrial wall of sound on “Brick” (I could keep going), Alex’s music pulls from a variety of influences. While he is generally lumped into the indie rock or lo-fi categories, Alex is so much more than that. He combines elements of noise, synth, country, folk, singer-songwriter, and some of the best and distinct guitar solos you’ve ever heard. This album represents a breakthrough for the young artist — Alex has carved out his own personality within the modern songwriting pantheon. He creates surrealistic pastiches in his songs that I have not found in any other artist. With an abject fragmented phrase here or a light hearted ditty there, sandy can get my mind turning in a way that I’d only found in literature prior to discovering him.

Going back to the cover, we can talk a step back and see what this painting means. This goat, with all his flaws, stands strong, proud, and alone, representing the final state of our narrator. He has rocketed past this relationship and is shooting for greener pastures/planets and seeing everything with a wider, grandiose perspective.

Favorite Tracks: Bobby, Witch, Brick, Powerful Man, Guilty