Looking for recommendations for good music from the past year. I generally like a pretty broad spectrum of genres - rock, indie, pop EDM, rap, folk, metal, pretty much everything except country.
To directly answer the question, albums I’ve recently bought that were released in 2017 and enjoyed include:
Colors by Beck
Sleep Well Beast by The National
Everything Now by Arcade Fire
Cry Cry Cry by Wolf Parade
The Far Field by Future Islands
Half-Life by Rostam
Mostly indie / alternative atmospheric stuff I guess although Beck’s album is really upbeat in a refreshing sort of way.
I’m not really sure how strict you are about “2017” but other relatively modern things I’ve recently discovered include Dan Mangan albums (Club Meds and Nice, Nice, Very Nice in particular). I also recently finished watching the new Twin Peaks shows and came away feeling very much in sync with David Lynch’s music choices. The soundtrack album is wonderful, and I’ve dived into some of the featured artists. Total Depravity by The Veils is my current favorite album found through that, but I think that was 2016.
The one thing I have to add about the Twin Peaks soundtrack is that it has to be the most eclectic album in terms of styles that I’ve ever heard. I think pretty much everything in your list had some representation, including country!
My favorite albums of 2017, alphabetically by artist:
Antisocialites, Alvvays
Hug of Thunder, Broken Social Scene
DAMN., Kendrick Lamar
Melodrama, Lorde
I See You, The xx
A lot of albums that I was excited for this year disappointed me – a couple of them were mentioned by Driver8, however, so opinions obviously vary. A few that didn’t disappoint, on the other hand:
Whiteout Conditions, The New Pornographers
Colors, Beck
MASSEDUCTION, St. Vincent
Finally, a couple of albums I personally liked but don’t want to try to defend as belonging on a best-of list:
Ti Amo, Phoenix
I Love You Like a Brother, Alex Lahey
Some of my favorite pop/rock/indie/whatever songs of 2017:
- The Weeknd w/ Daft Punk - “Starboy”
- The Weeknd w/ Daft Punk - “I Feel It Coming”
- Portugal. The Man - “Feel It Still”
- Lady Gaga - “Million Reasons”
- Kesha - “Praying”
- Macklemore w/ Kesha - “Good Old Days”
- Halsey - “Bad At Love”
- Fitz & the Tantrums - “Hand Clap” (released in 2016, but it feels very 2017 to me)
- Rihanna - “Love on the Brain”
- Ed Sheeran - “Perfect”
- Machine Gun Kelly w/ Camila Cabello - “Bad Things”
- Ariana Grande w/ Nicki Minaj - “Side By Side”
- Katy Perry w/ Skip Marley - “Chained to the Rhythm”
- Miley Cyrus - “Malibu”
I can’t stop listening to** Beautiful Trauma by Pink**. Her voice is amazing.
Out In The Storm by Waxahatchee : Silver
*A Crow Looked At Me by Mount Eerie: Real Death
*
Pure Comedy by Father John Misty : Leaving LA
A few of my 2017 favorites:
Alice Merton, “No Roots”
Amy Shark, “Adore”
Dreamers, “Sweet Disaster”
Kings of Leon, “Reverend”
Lumineers, “Angela”
Portugal the Man, “Live in the Moment” (“Feel It Still” was a little too cutesy for me, but I liked this one)
Vance Joy, “Lay It On Me”
Speaking of Portugal the Man (as distinct from Portugal, the country), is this the start of some sort of trend in band names? We already had The Band Perry, avoiding confusion with Katy Perry or the platypus Perry.
Thanks for the tips. Sleep Well Beast by The National is actually one of my favorites from last year. I also enjoyed a number of songs by The Weeknd / Daft Punk and The Chainsmokers.
Hopefully this weekend I’ll actually find some time to listen to some of these suggestions.
A dozen songs I remember enjoying this past year:
Phoebe Bridgers - “Motion Sickness”
Merk & Kremont - “Sad Story (Out Of Luck)”
Alex Cameron - “Runnin’ Outta Luck”
Lorde - “Green Light”
The Lunar Laugh - “Work In Progress”
Tuxedo - “Second Time Around”
White Reaper - “Judy French”
Alvvays - “In Undertow”
HAIM - “Want You Back”
The New Pornographers - “High Ticket Attractions”
Beaches - “T-Shirt”
Night Demon - “Welcome to the Night”
I think I’ve had Lizzo’s Truth Hurts on repeat since September.
Courtney Barnett put out a new album with Kurt Vile and while I love Courtney I couldn’t get in to this album but maybe you can. It gets decent reviews. Lotta Sea Lice.
I’m going to push the limit a bit. This was released in Dec, 2016. So, it was still fresh enough in 2017!
(Donald Glover’s) Childish Gambino - Awaken My Love. The funk and groove is strong with this one. If you’re into any of the above (Glover, Gambino, funk, or groove), this work is not to be overlooked.
Todd in the Shadows just came out with his Top Ten (and also-rans) for the year:
6-10
1-5
I second this. The whole album is a bit of a departure from his/their typical delivery. I found it fresh, though some of it gets a little predictable. “Easy Tiger” spoke to me louder than the other P.TM songs mentioned here.
Judah & the Lion’s album Folk Hop 'N Roll was technically released in December 2016, but hit the charts in 2017. It’s pretty good.
Imagine Dragons’ *Evolve *is pretty popular, although not my personal favorite cup o’ tea.
ETA: I don’t suppose the man Portugal is former MLB pitcher Mike Portugal?
All five albums they released last year were excellent, but there’s just something special about King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s Rattlesnake.
How about one that misses 2017 by about two weeks? This song’s been on ‘repeat’ in my head for a week now: Sylvan Esso - “PARAD(w/m)E”
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound has gotten heavy play from me over the last year.
A second vote for homeboys, Sylvan Esso. Give “Die Young” a listen, too. From 2017. Meath’s vocals, combined with (producer) Nick Sanborn’s electronica, keep this stuff deep, as well as fresh.