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User
Reviews 48
Approval 99%
Soundoffs 4
News Articles 5
Band Edits + Tags 13
Album Edits 52
Album Ratings 5250
Objectivity 66%
Last Active 12-21-19 12:44 am
Joined 07-07-13
Review Comments 1,851
| 2017 Half-time with Daddy
It's been a year full of fairly good albums with very few stellar ones, but here's hoping the second half of the year picks up the slack with new albums coming from The National, Hammock, War on Drugs and Coroner if their new album actually comes out this year as planned. Anyway, here's the 50 albums I've enjoyed most this year, hope you find something groovy you missed or w/e, descriptions on the top 20 and wherever else I felt like it, recs are encouraged and appreciated | | 50 |  | Sufjan Stevens
Carrie and Lowell Live
I’ve tried to cut live albums / re-releases etc from the list, however there are 2 obvious pieces that should be mentioned. Sufjan’s latest live album is an absolutely essential accompaniment to the original C&L. The altered track order changing the flow, as well as completely overhauling some of the tracks leads to a very different album. Of particular note is my personal SOTY, the revamped ‘All of Me Wants All of You’, which features a catchy electronic backdrop and gorgeous post-rock peaks and troughs that build towards a beautiful gang vocal crescendo and then an absolutely ridiculous psychedelic synthesizer solo that renders the track unrecognizable from the viewpoint of the original. While the closing 15min let the album down a bit as a whole, this is one of the best live albums I’ve ever heard. | | 49 |  | Radiohead
OKNOTOK 1997-2017
The second obvious addition being the bonus tracks and b-side compilation here. As someone who never really dove into all the bonus tracks, this is essentially a full new disc of excellent Radiohead tracks. While I certainly don’t rate it as highly as Sput generally seems to, some of the tracks (and music videos) are killer and essential to any Radiohead fan. | | 48 |  | Mutoid Man
War Moans | | 47 |  | Sorrow Plagues
Homecoming | | 46 |  | Mors Principium Est
Embers of a Dying World | | 45 |  | Heretoir
The Circle | | 44 |  | Freddie Gibbs
You Only Live 2wice | | 43 |  | Nokturnal Mortum
Verity | | 42 |  | Loss
Horizonless
Shame the album wasn't as good as the gorgeous album art. Still solid though | | 41 |  | Ulsect
Ulsect | | 40 |  | Perfume Genius
No Shape | | 39 |  | Falls of Rauros
Vigilance Perennial | | 38 |  | Anathema
The Optimist
While I’m glad they tried something a bit new, I still feel it’s a step down from their past few albums. | | 37 |  | Alt-J
Relaxer
The backlash on this album came so hard and fast, I don't know what happened. It's solid guys come on | | 36 |  | Mastodon
Emperor of Sand
On the other hand, I’m not really seeing how people say this is a big jump in quality over their recent works. It’s just more decent mid-tempo proggy Mastodon, though that's not a bad thing. | | 35 |  | Full of Hell
Trumpeting Ecstasy | | 34 |  | Endon
Through The Mirror
Noisy as hell Bannon-produced insanity. | | 33 |  | Elder (USA-MD)
Reflections of a Floating World | | 32 |  | Stevens / Dessner / Muhly / McAlister
Planetarium
This is still going to take a long while to properly digest, no clue where it'll end up by the year's close. | | 31 |  | Blanck Mass
World Eater | | 30 |  | Brockhampton
Saturation | | 29 |  | Igorrr
Savage Sinusoid | | 28 |  | Danger
太鼓 | | 27 |  | Artificial Brain
Infrared Horizon
I can see why people adore it but I'm just so rarely in the mood for this approach to dm, hasn't had much of a chance to grow on me | | 26 |  | Havukruunu
Kelle Surut Soi | | 25 |  | Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.
Grew right off me over time, but still plenty of high points. Curious to see where he’ll go from here. | | 24 |  | Darkest Hour
Godless Prophets and The Migrant Flora | | 23 |  | Fen
Winter | | 22 |  | The Smith Street Band
More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me
These guys are heroes everywhere you go in AUS. It’s a shame it’s already been so overplayed and has started growing off me | | 21 |  | Pallbearer
Heartless | | 20 |  | '68
Two Parts Viper
This album may be moved up in the very near future, as they’re coming to town in a couple of weeks and from all accounts they are absolutely unreal live. However, on the merits of the record alone, it scrapes into the top 20. Scogin’s mastered this slower, more dynamic style of writing that he started pursuing on ‘68s last album, and while it stumbles occasionally, the tracks where everything clicks (No Apologies, or the phenomenal closer) are some of the best pieces of music Scogin has penned. | | 19 |  | Max Richter
Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works
The Blue Notebooks is one of my favourite classical albums, and here Richter finally moves back to that minimal approach. If Mount Eerie didn’t choose 2017 to release one of the most soul-crushing albums I’ve heard, the reading of Woolfe’s suicide note to the backdrop of crashing waves and mournful strings would be the most affecting musical moment of the year. | | 18 |  | Pain of Salvation
In the Passing Light of Day
Another excellent comeback from what most expected to be a career-ending illness. I hadn’t thought I’d see another PoS album, and the fact that we got a killer just makes it that bit sweeter. I don’t think I’ll ever get the cheesy chorus to ‘Meaningless’ out of my head. | | 17 |  | Takuya Kuroda
Zigzagger
One of those albums I grabbed on a whim after seeing the vibrant album art pop up in my YouTube feed. Upbeat, smooth jazz that never fails to put a smile on my face. | | 16 |  | Venenum
Trance of Death
Just another very solid, dissonant black/death monster of a record. This style is a bit saturated at this stage, but Venenum are one of the bands that do it very well. | | 15 |  | Alter
Pendulum
S/O to the dub boys for hitting me with this, definitely one of the better new shoegaze bands on the block. | | 14 |  | Immolation
Atonement
Now this is the kind of dm I'm often in the mood for, predictably solid dm from the masters. Glad they bounced back with this kind of ferocity after Kingdom. | | 13 |  | Forest Swords
Compassion
An incredibly compelling, almost tribal electronic record that I’m convinced is the best album of the year while I’m listening to it. However, the one issue is that the haunting and deliberately indistinct atmosphere means I forget what the album even sounds like an hour after I’ve spun it. However, putting that aside, it has one of the richest varieties of sounds you’ll hear on an electronic record, moving through a whole tapestry of styles and emotions throughout the album with admirable finesse. Very likely to move up the list with time. | | 12 |  | Do Make Say Think
Stubborn Persistent Illusions
This was a band I never actually got around to listening to until this came out, so not only did I get this phenomenal album, but I got a bunch of them. So given that none of their albums really had a chance to grow on me and I experienced them all at more or less the same time, I can definitely say that this one has had the most immediate impact. | | 11 |  | Persefone
Aathma
‘Aathma’ isn’t necessarily a step forward for the band, however it is a refinement. They’ve taken all of the mistakes that held the last 2 albums back in a minor capacity, cleaned them up and honed their songwriting to focus on the bands best traits. While it’s not as diverse and consistently engaging as their masterpiece ‘Core’, it extends one of the most consistent discographies in metal and cements their place as Andorra’s premiere musical act (not that they have much competition there…) | | 10 |  | The Menzingers
After the Party
Continues in the vein of ‘Rented World’, with just a few more catchy sing-alongs and more light in the dark to give it a more immediate impact. Probably my most-listened to album of the year. They’ve struck the perfect mixture of fun and serious that makes it really feel more like a soundtrack to your life, with all the ups and downs. | | 9 |  | Ulver
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Every time I start thinking Ulver has covered as much ground as they could have, they master another genre like it’s what they’ve played for years. I loved ‘Messe’ and was admittedly worried at the Depeche Mode-esque pre-release track, but they absolutely nailed it yet again. I don’t even know what to say each time they release a new album anymore. | | 8 |  | Fleet Foxes
Crack-Up
This album didn’t sit very well with me on initial listens. After spinning Third of May countless times before the album’s release, the rest seemed lacklustre and homogenous. However, after catching the majority of the album live and seeing the intricacies in the pieces up close, and then returning to the album with an ear for this, I completely flipped my opinion on it. For all those that gave it a couple of cursory listens and scratched it off as a stumble, I implore you to return to it and give it time. Similar to my ‘Goths’, it continues to grow on me with every listen, and I could easily seeing it making top 5 by the end of the year. | | 7 |  | The Ruins Of Beverast
Exuvia
Dark, ritualistic atmospheric black metal from the master. Most of us were a bit worried after ‘Takitum Tootem!’, Meilenwald’s first real stumble, but thankfully those worries were unfounded, as he then dropped his best album since 2006. The overbearing tribal tones in the aforementioned EP are toned back and integrated seamlessly into RoB’s signature black metal aesthetic from a decade ago. Mix this in with arguably the best production in his discography makes for one of the strongest one-man black metal albums in recent memory. | | 6 |  | Slowdive
Slowdive
Eschewing the trend of comeback albums following the same formula as the classics but failing to hold up next to them, ‘Slowdive’ cleverly takes a different approach. While they’ve toyed with extended pieces before, ‘Pygmalion’s longer tracks were often barren and empty, relatively directionless in the more ambient moments. Here, the longer bookends avoid stalling their motion, with Slomo moving every which way in its twinkly progression and Falling Ashes constantly moving in a defined direction throughout its build. While it doesn’t have the highs of Souvlaki, it’s a very consistent and impressive comeback album that can hold its own against a brilliant catalogue of work. | | 5 |  | The Mountain Goats
Goths
A brilliant return to form for one of indie’s premiere storytellers. One of the strongest facets of The Mountain Goats music has been their narrative depth, where every time you return there is something new to learn about the characters, or a lyrical gem that you missed last time. And while ‘Beat the Champ’ failed to hold up over time, Goths hasn’t come close to wearing off after countless listens. | | 4 |  | The Great Old Ones
EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy
EOD took everything from their previous album and just kicked it up another notch. The atmosphere is thicker, more apocalyptic, and the batshit insane moments really feel like you’re trapped in the madness of this Lovecraftian narrative. If you’re a fan of similarly madness-inducing sludgy atmospheres in black metal and you haven’t listened to this yet, you’re doing yourself a disservice. | | 3 |  | White Ward
Futility Report
Never would I have expected an album like this to top metal for the year, and while it’s a tad premature, it’ll be tough for anything to topple it. In a genre notorious for its lack of variety, these guys blindside you at every turn. Throwing noir-ish ambient jazz segments, stereotypical post-black tremz and blasts, melodic passages and even some oddly fitting break beats into a melting pot with sloppy transitions shouldn’t work, but god damn is it refreshing to hear. The moments where all these different sounds come together with saxophones riding the cacophony and giving direction to the black metal assault are some of the most satisfying moments of 2017. | | 2 |  | Alfa Mist
Antiphon
Exactly the sort of mellow jazz I love. There isn’t a whole lot to talk about here, except that it ticks all of my boxes for this style. Interesting and varied enough to engage you yet silky and relaxed enough to make the perfect background vibes (which is ideal for my work/study situation). I doubt anything will best Keep On as the smoothest track of the year. | | 1 |  | Mount Eerie
A Crow Looked At Me
I understand when people don’t enjoy this as much from a musical perspective, but for these types of albums I’ve always felt it’s more about the capacity of the album to affect you emotionally. Other similar albums hinging on a particular event in the artists life will use blanket, universal statements to enable the listener to identify a bit more with the grief from their own personal experiences. ‘A Crow Looked At Me’ is refreshingly different in how uncomfortably personal it is. He’s not talking about death in a broad sense here, he’s talking about Genevieve’s death. Relatable or not, some of the horrible grief-stricken one liners that drop throughout this album will stay with me far longer than anything else from this year, and that in itself warrants a place near the top of 2017. | |
ComeToDaddy
07.01.17 | Maybe I should've left this a day or two so the new Vince Staples and Captain, We're Sinking could properly sink in but hey, it's the first of July so this is the best time for a half-way list. Recs would be appreciated boys, especially metal because the year has felt largely lacking in that field | Sunnyvale
07.01.17 | Great list. 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 are all contenders for my top ten so far this year. I'll be sure to check some of the albums here that I haven't heard. | BlazinBlitzer
07.01.17 | Amazing list! So much cool stuff on here, especially 31, 18, 16, 5, 4, 3, and 1. | ComeToDaddy
07.01.17 | Cheers fellas. Hope you find something you dig Sunny | Calc
07.01.17 | cool list! pretty sure 17 came out last year though | ComeToDaddy
07.01.17 | Truueee good call, that one slipped by me. Only got a hold of it early this year so thought it was a 2017 one, though it deserves a bit of attention so I wont delete it | Joeman82
07.01.17 | Dude I wish they played any of The Smith Street Band in the states. No one even knows about them in my neck of the woods beside the people I told. Awesome album. Also, that '86 album might be my favorite of the year so far. | ComeToDaddy
07.01.17 | Man I was stoked when they started really taking off but copping Death To The Lads every other day is killing me. They're 100% deserving of the popularity though, standup guys | ComeToDaddy
07.01.17 | I'll refer to myself as big daddy next time just for you ;) | Pangea
07.01.17 | Great list | Taxt
07.02.17 | Nice list, I didn't know there was a new Endon record | L4titudes
07.05.17 | Nice one man. I'm pretty pumped to check out 2. | Conmaniac
07.05.17 | props for 1 and 15 (: | ComeToDaddy
07.05.17 | @taxt, tbh I haven't even listened to Endon's older stuff, is it worth it?
@ L4, hope ya dig it matey, definitely deserves more attention than it's gotten so far this year | AndManyMore
07.06.17 | Completely forgot about EOD. Thanks for the reminder. Also, 3 looks pretty good. |
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