2017 Favourites List (LPs + EPs)
Personal favourite EPs and LPs I heard in 2017. Checked about 80 albums this year, here's the top quarter.
AND as I generally use Sputnik as my primary means of discovering new shit, this list is gonna just pretty much be a summary of various trending albums throughout the year lol. Oop.
Honourable Mentions: Sufjan & Co.'s Planetarium, Open Mike Eagle's Brick Body Kids, The National's Sleep Well Beast, Mastodon's Cold Dark Place EP, & BROCKHAMPTON for all 3 of the Saturations. |
| 20 |  | Ariel Pink
Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
This record is a blast. AP has one of the most unique approaches to pop music.
Top Tracks: Another Weekend, Kitchen Witch, Feels Like Heaven |
| 19 |  | Jonwayne
Rap Album Two
TED Talk is one of the hardest openers you'll hear from a record this year. The one thing I did not expect on first listen to was the weight of the subject matter on the back half of this thing. Love it.
Top Tracks: These Words Are Everything, Blue Green, TED Talk |
| 18 |  | Stolas
Stolas
More energetic prog rock, even if it is a bit of Volta worship. That's okay with me because I fucking love Volta.
Top Tracks: Bellwether, Anecdoche, Damage Division |
| 17 |  | Julien Baker
Turn Out The Lights
Absolutely beautiful album and a standout among a year full of great singer-songwriter releases.
Top Tracks: Appointments, Claws In Your Back, Sour Breath |
| 16 |  | Low Roar
Once in a Long, Long While...
This record took a very long time to grow on me, as did 0 though so I should've expected it. Not as good as 0 by a long shot but still quintessential Low Roar. I never get tired of this guys sound, shit really does something to me lol. Hits hard.
Top Tracks: St. Eriksplan, Gosia, Bones |
| 15 |  | The World Is a Beautiful Place...
Always Foreign
May be an unpopular opinion, but this is my favourite TWIABP record for sure. Lyrics on this thing are very interesting and impassioned and the climaxes hit hard.
Top Tracks: Marine Tigers, For Robin, Hilltopper |
| 14 |  | Fleet Foxes
Crack-Up
Very solid folk-rock reminiscent of the classics with a bit of a modern experimental twist.
Top Tracks: Fool's Errand, Third of May / Ōdaigahara, Kept Woman |
| 13 |  | Hail the Sun
Secret Wars
A massive step up from their last LP, this EP provides a kick-ass burst of volatile energy that kicked my dick in the first time I heard it. Dope shit here, my friends.
Top Tracks: Spite, 1109 |
| 12 |  | Kendrick Lamar
DAMN.
Not as good as the records that preceded it, but I think some people shit on it unfairly. It has its lows but the highs are just as brilliant as Kenny has ever been.
Top Tracks: FEAR., DUCKWORTH., LUST., XXX. |
| 11 |  | Arcane Roots
Melancholia Hymns
Fucking killer modern prog rock! This record just excites me to my core.
Top Tracks: Off The Floor, Arp, Indigo |
| 10 |  | Remo Drive
Greatest Hits
Wonderful and fun pop-punk with youthful energy abound. Excited to see where these guys go.
Top Tracks: Eat Shit, Summertime, Yer Killin Me |
| 9 |  | The Dear Hunter
All Is As All Should Be
Best EP of the year imo. TDH is without question in my top 5 bands ever, and they never disappoint. It is rather surprising how well the songs lend themselves to the incredibly unique concept of the EP. Very consistent flow, which is especially commendable.
Top Tracks: All Is As All Should Be, Blame Paradise, The Right Wrong |
| 8 |  | Milo
Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!
Hip-hop AOTY. Milo has such a brilliant style and his full-lengths only keep getting better.
Top Tracks: Magician (Suture), Embroidering Machine, Landscaping |
| 7 |  | Pile
A Hairshirt of Purpose
Love these dudes. Hairshirt is more conceptual and experimental than anything Pile has put out before, which renders it a little more inaccessible than the rest of their catalogue, but if you sink your teeth in and really settle with it there's a whole lot under the surface to be uncovered.
Top Tracks: Slippery, Dogs, Fingers |
| 6 |  | Mount Eerie
A Crow Looked At Me
Fucking sad. Album is more an experience than anything, and as cliche as that phrase has become I think it really applies here.
Top Tracks: Emptiness, pt.2, When I Take Out The Garbage At Night, Toothbrush/Trash |
| 5 |  | Glassjaw
Material Control
I would describe this as "art-punk" but that sounds pretty stupid. Fuck it, I don't give a shit.
Album delivered after a 15 year wait, who woulda thunk. Some didn't like it because the whole record is pretty much just complete sensory overload for almost its entire runtime, but that's exactly what I love about it. Fuckin thing never lets up.
Top Tracks: cut and run, closer, strange hours, golgotha |
| 4 |  | Converge
The Dusk in Us
Bona-fide legends at this point and the most consistently great hardcore band around. Record is unsurprisingly fantastic, even if it plays a little tightly to the Converge formula.
Top Tracks: A Single Tear, Wildlife, I Can Tell You About Pain, The Dusk In Us |
| 3 |  | Brand New
Science Fiction
If this is the end, what a way to go out.
Despite allegations against Jesse Lacey affecting some peoples appreciation of the new record and the band as a whole, I personally believe that art should be viewed independently from its creator. He may be a shitty dude, but that doesn't detract from the fact that this record is beautifully written and executed.
Top Tracks: In The Water, Same Logic/Teeth, 137, Batter Up |
| 2 |  | '68
Two Parts Viper
I fucking love '68. Scogin has such reckless abandon when he writes, it's amazing. Anything goes. This record is so much fun and No Apologies still kicks my ass. Also What More Can I Say is SOTY.
Top Tracks: Whether Terrified Or Unafraid, No Apologies, What More Can I Say, No Montage |
| 1 |  | Manchester Orchestra
A Black Mile to the Surface
Nothing this year packed the same emotional punch for me as this record did. There are moments on here that still floor me after so many listens and I absolutely love the unique concept. Bravo MO for creating their best record so far (my opinion don't shit on my face).
Top Tracks: The Silence, The Alien, The Moth, The Gold |
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