My Top 10 Albums of 2017

I’m a little late with the list this year. And that’s a shame, because this was one of the best years for albums in a long time. Maybe that’s because Spotify Premium enabled me to listen more thoroughly to more albums than I had in past years, or maybe artists were just making better music…I don’t know. So without further ado, here’s a list of the 10 albums and songs I enjoyed most in 2017:

My Jams of 2017 (a longer playlist of songs I got stuck in my head throughout the year)

“Shut Up And Dance” may have been the global smash hit that helped Walk The Moon make it big, but honestly, aside from that single, I thought the rest of their sophomore album Talking Is Hard was garbage. It was a relief then when I heard What If Nothing, if not exactly a return to the form of their killer self-titled 2012 debut, then at least a step back in the right direction. It’s front-loaded to be sure, but while there may not be any “Shut Up And Dance”-level singles, there’s plenty to like here. “One Foot” is a fantastic pop song (I love the gang vocals and the “oooh oooh ooohs”). I like the way they break out the guitars and let their hair down to rock out on “Headphones” (my favorite track). I like the off-tempo rhythm of “Kamikaze,” and the Queen-esque vocoded eccentricity of “Sound of Awakening”. Here’s hoping there’s more like this to come.

Best tracks: “Headphones,” “One Foot,” “Surrender,” “Kamikaze,” “Sound Of Awakening,” “Can’t Sleep (Wolves)”

As of 2012, I had pretty much written The Killers off. Hot Fuss was one of my favorite albums of all time, but their disappointing third studio album Day & Age had been overproduced and forgettable, and their fourth studio album Battle Born reduced them to little more than a mediocre Springsteen tribute band. But fast forward five years, and Brandon Flowers & co. are back, and sounding better than ever. The Killers seem to have rediscovered themselves on Wonderful Wonderful — their best effort since 2006’s Sam’s Town — and they’ve honed and refreshingly updated their throwback blend of 80s synth pop and good old fashioned mid-American rock n’ roll — perhaps best exhibited on “Run For Cover,” my favorite track on the record. Throughout the album (but particularly on “The Man,” a wry tongue-in-cheek reflection on The Killers’ early fame), Flowers takes a step back and reflects on his own maturing and the band’s journey over the past decade and a half. After a few missteps, Wonderful Wonderful is an indication that they’ve righted the ship, I look forward to seeing what these guys do next.

Best tracks: “Wonderful Wonderful,” “The Man,” “Rut,” “Run For Cover,” “The Calling”

Baltimore-based indie band DRMCTHR went through a lot of changes, challenges, and losses since their phenomenal debut LP Wonderlust — a name change (they had to drop the vowels for legal reasons), the departure of several original band members (only vocalist Chelsea Tyler and guitarist Bryan Czap remain), a break-in that resulted in the theft of much of their equipment, the loss of relationships and friendships, and that visceral pain is evident on every track of Hold Me Now. Tyler holds nothing back, and her exquisite vocals are unbearably, devastatingly raw, desperate emotion and helplessness dripping from every line. This album is a brutally honest cataloging of an extremely dark chapter in their lives. Yet the songwriting is so good, it makes you feel a bit like you’re watching a car crash — you can’t turn away even if you wanted to. It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.

Best tracks: “Strangers,” “Get Lost,” “Apartment,” “HYL,” “Gun,” “Believe”

Yes, this is peak Imagine Dragons. It’s a collection of made-for-radio singles. It’s mostly mindless mainstream pop. But I can’t deny that the band’s third studio album is chock full of fun, super catchy songs that make you want to dance and sing back at the top of your lungs in sold-out stadiums…and I love it. Despite radio and TV’s attempts to kill “Believer” by making it one of the most overplayed songs of 2017, I still think it’s one of the best songs of the year. The jungle beat of “I Don’t Know Why,” the rapid-fire hip hop delivery of the verses on “Whatever It Takes,” the instantly-stuck-in-your-head sample-laden chorus of “Thunder”…look, sure, it’s uneven. There’s some filler and a few misfires. But when this album is good, it’s great.

Best tracks: “I Don’t Know Why,” “Whatever It Takes,” “Believer,” “Thunder”

I’ll just start by saying Matt Berninger is one of my all-time favorite vocalists — his voice carries a weight that demands attention. The man could probably sing children’s nursery rhymes and I’d spend hours contemplating their profound truths about the human condition. Berninger and The National have clearly perfected their signature brand of dark, gloomy, slow-tempo indie rock, and it’s easily identifiable in many places in Sleep Well Beast (“Nobody Else Will Be There,” “Born To Beg,” “Guilty Party”–all excellent songs). But the album shines in large part because it doesn’t stay inside that box. The National show that they aren’t afraid to turn the amps up and be a plain old rock band too. They sound rather un-National-like on driving tracks like “Day I Die,” “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness,” and “Turtleneck.” They also aren’t afraid to experiment with more electronic sounds and programming (“Walk It Back,” “Empire Line,” “I’ll Still Destroy You,” “Sleep Well Beast”). These are risks, but they pay off, and as a result the album seems like a sign of a band reenergized and revitalized, yet comfortable in their own skins.

Best tracks: “Day I Die,” “Walk It Back,” “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness,” “Turtleneck,” “I’ll Still Destroy You,” “Guilty Party,” “Carin at the Liquor Store”

“Maybe I’m just an algorithm with a given name,” vocalist Daniel Armbruster sings softly on the opening title track, in between waves of crashing, dissonant explosions of synths and drums. I don’t think any artist this year quite as astutely put their finger on the discontented pulse of today’s modern society than electropop duo Joywave did with their sophomore album Content, which plays with the dual meanings of the word to brilliant effect. The album is filled with cutting, wickedly clever turns of phrase and biting social commentary — none better than the savage shredding of millennial entitlement mentality that is “Little Lies You’re Told.” But it’s a fascinating album musically as well — take for example the unexpected and strange (but lovely) turn to slow-burning lounge jazz of the closer “Let’s Talk About Feelings.” A great album that begs to be replayed.

Best tracks: “Content,” “It’s A Trip!” “Rumors,” “Little Lies You’re Told,” “Let’s Talk About Feelings”

I had the good fortune to see these guys perform live this past fall, shortly before the album’s release, and man do they put on one hell of a show. Royal Blood’s sophomore follow-up to their breakout self-titled 2014 debut is an impressive step forward for this Brighton, UK rock duo. They don’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to their signature sound–bassist Mike Kerr still manages to somehow manipulate his face-melting riffs into sounding like a full five-piece band, and drummer Ben Thatcher’s aggressive, take-no-prisoners style is on full display. But in terms of songwriting, How Did We Get So Dark?, inspired by the end of Kerr’s long-term relationship, takes a huge step forward in terms of sophistication and maturity. Highly recommended.

Best tracks: “Lights Out,” “I Only Lie When I Love You,” “Where Are You Now?”, “Hook, Line & Sinker”

“This is the first Mutemath album with no guard rails.” That’s how frontman Paul Meany described Play Dead, and I think it’s pretty dead on. I’ve always appreciated Mutemath–in my opinion the most musically talented and innovative band currently making music–for pushing boundaries, taking risks, and never settling. This is a band that never makes the same record twice. But with Play Dead, they took it to a new level. The borderline absurd synth-bass riffs on the opener “Hit Parade” sort of set the tone — conventional song structures and chord progressions are virtually nowhere to be found. It’s as if they took every crazy idea that anyone had — “Let’s do a hip hop beat! How about a dubstep bridge!? Ping pong ball sample!!”–and just went with it (for real…just see “Achilles Heel” or “Stroll On”). Incredibly–and this is a credit to their talent–it (mostly) worked. The production is phenomenal, and while Darren King–perhaps the most gifted drummer of this decade–sadly left the band shortly after the album was released, his contributions have never sounded better than on Play Dead. Ambitious, complex, and dense, it’s Mutemath’s least accessible album to date and definitely takes a few listens to get into, but your patience will be rewarded.

Best tracks: “Hit Parade,” “Stroll On,” “Break The Fever,” “Placed On Hold,” “War,” “Achilles Heel”

Probably Manchester Orchestra’s finest album to date, A Black Mile is in a lot of ways the antithesis of their 2014 effort Cope (a pounding, heavy, and at times monotonous rock album). Symphonically intricate, with sophisticated arrangements and lush instrumentation, this album takes listeners on a far more interesting sonic journey. Frontman Andy Hull has never sounded better, and his lyrical exploration of the joys and challenges of grown-up challenges like fatherhood poignant. The band can still go big: the screeching synth leads and crunching guitars on “Lead, SD” — the epic centerpiece of the record and my favorite track — or the soaring chorus of “The Wolf”, but the album’s quiet moments (“The Alien,” “The Parts”) may be its best.

Best tracks: “Lead, SD”, “The Moth,” “The Wolf,” “The Alien,” “The Parts”

There wasn’t really any question. Brand New’s first new album in 8 years–and almost certainly their last–was worth the wait. Nightmarishly dark, impossibly cryptic, and savagely honest, Science Fiction is an emotionally exhausting descent into the deepest depths of Jesse Lacey’s tortured psyche. Woven around audio clips taken from recordings of anonymous patients’ psychotherapy sessions, the album introduces some intriguing folk (“Waste”) and blues (“451”) influences to the band’s trademark post-punk sound. Sadly, the album’s initial critical acclaim and commercial success — it was Brand New’s first album ever to hit #1 on Billboard — was closely followed by the very upsetting, but not entirely surprising, public accusations by several women of sexual misconduct by Lacey over many years, resulting in a public apology from Lacey and the cancellation of the rest of Brand New’s tour. Lacey’s many demons ultimately proved to be his downfall. Still, I can’t deny that Science Fiction is a masterpiece, a labyrinth that will take me years of repeated listens to fully unravel.

Best tracks: “Lit Me Up,” “Can’t Get It Out,” “Waste,” “137,” “Same Logic/Teeth,”, “451”

Magic Valley – Goodbye June (Spotify) – These guys absolutely shred. One of the best rock albums I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Words I Never Said – Ella Vos (Spotify) – Just love her sound and her voice.

Melodrama – Lorde (Spotify)- Not as catchy as Pure Heroine, but Lorde establishes herself as one of the most talented pop artists of this decade.

Sleeping Through The War – All Them Witches (Spotify) – This Nashville-based indie blues-meets-psychedelic rock band has put out an album full of complex, ambitious songs that demands to be replayed.

What Now – Sylvan Esso (Spotify) – A bit of a sophomore slump after their stellar self-titled debut, but they set the bar high. Still, there are some great tracks in the first half.

Waves EP – Constellations (Spotify) – Met these guys after seeing them open for Mae earlier this year – crazy talented for a band so young (all were under 21). Their debut EP is definitely worth a listen.

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Top 11 Songs of 2017: (Spotify)