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My Favorite Albums of 2017

2017 might have been a pretty bad year for Mets fans like myself. It was also pretty “bleugh” for American politics and media as well. Fortunately, it was a pretty great year for music, so I’m going to celebrate the good and leave the bad behind. Here are my favorite albums that I found in 2017, in no particular order.

Lotta Sea Lice, Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile

I’m an unabashed Courtney Barnett fan (Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is one of the best albums of the last decade, don’t @ me). I’m also an unabashed Kurt Vile fan. So I consider Lotta Sea Lice a match made in slacker rock heaven. Neither Barnett nor Vile dominate the album with their style, but it’s instead a perfect blend of their respective styles. May “Contiential Breakfast” serve as the anthem of lazy Saturdays for years to come.

Waiting On A Song, Dan Auerbach

Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and The Arcs fame evidently can’t take a year off — despite no new material from either band, Auerbach kept busy by founding a new record label and recording a new solo-effort to kickstart it. Waiting On A Song is a little weak in that it lacks cohesiveness, but it more than makes up for it in catchiness, with ear-worms like “Shine On Me” and “Undertow”.

I Love You Like a Brother, Alex Lahey

I had loved Lahey’s debut LP, B-Grade University, as it’s standout track, “You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me” was an absolute banger. When Lahey’s full-length album, I Love You Like a Brother, dropped this year, I gave it a listen as soon as I found it on Spotify, and was blown away by it. It’s a terrific mix of Aussie rock, and her screwy and self-deprecating lyrics hit the mark every time. As someone who’s only just finding her footing across the (Pacific) pond, Brother is a great way for Lahey to introduce herself.

Science Fiction, Brand New

Crack-Up, Fleet Foxes

I wasn’t attuned to Crack-Up at first, unlike Fleet Foxes’ previous efforts which immediately jumped into my head and never left. It took me several listens to truly appreciate the beauty of this album, but I got there eventually, and holy cow is this a great album. Someday, I’ll turn to my wife and say, “You are beautiful — but not as beautiful as ‘Third of May / Ōdaigahara’ on repeat for an hour”. Robin Pecknold captures all the wonder and awe of the Pacific Northwest, as the album delicately mixes tales of love, woe, and mysticism. This is indie music at it’s finest.

Woodstock, Portrugal, the Man

If “Feel it Still” doesn’t get you dancing, your music bone must be broken. The latest from Alaskan indie-rockers PTM takes no prisoners during a pop-culture-death-march, bumping sick beats the whole time. While the sound is a little too pop-esque at times, PTM retains enough of their identity on the record to keep you bumping and grooving to the death of America.

DAMN., Kendrick Lamar

If you haven’t heard someone call “DAMN.” one of the best rap albums in recent memory, you’ve been living under a rock for the past year. Lamar is, as always, at the top of his game, and he rolls from the highs (“XXX.”) to the lows (“FEAR.”) and back again, while displaying his mastery of wordplay and irony in the modern world. Kung Fu Kenny strikes again.

Painted Ruins, Grizzly Bear

You know it was a good year for music when Fleet Foxes AND Grizzly Bear dropped new stuff. Ruins wasn’t the next Veckatimest, but nothing could be — it was just the next Grizzly Bear. After a more acoustic feel to their previous effort, Shields, Grizzly Bear went down a more electronic route and their listeners were immensely rewarded — it’s another step in the evolution of a band on the cutting edge of indie, and a welcome one.

The Nashville Sound, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

I know, Country music? What? But it’s okay — it’s alt-country, the “alt” makes it okay. Actually, scratch that, Jason Isbell makes this okay. From the first track, “Last of My Kind”, Isbell takes you on a journey though a fractured South, addressing everything from racial tensions in “White Man’s World” to drug abuse and fractured relationships in “Chaos and Clothes”. Isbell’s wit and soft voice guide you through one of the best albums of the year, and one of the best country albums in recent memory.

Blonde, Frank Ocean

Blonde will be album of the year every year until the end of time, I don’t care if it wasn’t released in 2017. Go listen to it again, darn it!

Beast Epic, Iron and Wine

That’s right, I put one album by a white-indie-folk-guy-with-a-big-bushy-bear-who-performs-under-a-name-that-isn’t-his-own on this list, but not the other one! Sorry, Father John Misty — I wasn’t feeling Pure Comedy that much. Anyways — Iron and Wine dropped another perfectly crafted collection of acoustic pieces. This album feels like the soundtrack to a peaceful autumn evening sitting on the porch, watching the birds fly south in the fading orange glow. No wonder the album’s lead single was “Call It Dreaming” — it feels like a dream, a pleasant one at that.

This Old Dog, Mac DeMarco

Everyone’s favorite cigarette smoking, gap-toothed indie-slacker turned in another stellar album while learning a few new tricks — DeMarco shows far more intimacy than ever before, and 7-minute-masterpiece “Moonlight on the River” shows him taking his craft to new heights. DeMarco will probably never grow up in real life, but on this record, he displays a musical maturity beyond his years.

Soft Sounds from Another Planet, Japanese Breakfast

If love songs about robots are your thing, you’ll love Japanese Breakfast’s sophomore effort. These romantic ballads from the future flow perfectly together, and tracks like “Boyish” and “Til Death” show off Michelle Zauner’s brilliant writing: “Steering on hostile waves of panic/Like fighting a wheel that pulls to the right/I don’t deserve you but I’m giving it my best/Extol your sacrifice with fine caviars and aspics”. Japanese Breakfast’s unique style may sound strange to the unacquainted, but let it grow on you, and you’ll be all the better for it.

Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, Open Mike Eagle

Contrast this album with DAMN., which feels like an exercise in maximalism, Open Mike Eagle does more with less on Brick Body Kids Still Daydream. Quiet, reflective, and nostalgic, Eagle tells the story of the Robert Taylor Homes, an infamous housing project in Chicago, and weaves sympathetic rhymes that make you miss the buildings as much as his Auntie did.

Antisocialities, Alvvays

Somehow, we survived three years without a new Alvvays album, but I don’t know if we can make it that long after Antisocialities dropped this September. The Canadian jangle-poppers showed no evidence of a sophomore slump, picking up where their self-titled debut left-off — “Saved By A Waif” is the perfect example of the tightly-crafted, quirky indie-pop that put Alvvays on the map, while the album’s closing track, “Forget About Life”, flexes the emotional muscles of the band’s songwriting.

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