Best Ever Albums

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

eyezayzay — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 23:29:30 GMT

Author: eyezayzay

Posted: 01/18/2018 04:29

Offset had an incredible year so I had to give it to him and 21 Savage.
Slowdive's release was my second favorite.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

JOSweetHeart — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 19:09:14 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 01/18/2018 00:09

To me, the best album releases came from Alison Krauss, LeAnn Rimes, and Trace Adkins.

God bless you and them always!!!

Holly

P.S. Of course, for me, 2017 ended up being another discovery year I guess you could say considering my newest favorite being another person from the past and all, I love my late beautiful precious Steve Sanders of the Oak Ridge Boys SO much!!! 😢 😢 😢

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

RoundTheBend — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 23:50:45 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 01/17/2018 04:50

Tap wrote:

So there's still a few more days but I have been having a great time.

Holy shit. That was impressive.

I'll be honest, the whole reason I joined this site was I was grasping at straws to find good music after 2011. I was starting to get sick of my favorite artists of times past still making great music and wanted to find something new. BEA brought a whole world of great music I hadn't listened to yet and a bunch of noise (imo). It's hard at times to find stuff I find good. It's sometimes too much work to be worth it to me.

I know a lot of people give Arcade Fire a hard time for their release this year, and my first listen was the same reaction. Somehow this song got under my skin a way that really hit home. Self hatred and endless entertainment (infinite content), etc. It's something I struggle with personally, so it started to actually strike a chord with me. It's still easily not a fantastic release, but not nearly as bad as I think some are taking it.

Anyway, this song actually got me wanting more new music and for the first time since joining this site I discovered 100 or so albums for the year. It probably has more to do with the fact that I put effort into this year more than the actual music out of this year (I think a another user commented (Skinny?) when asked what year yielded the best music and the response was like, the past 60 years each had great music).

Any way, long story short I had a hard time spending time/effort into discovering new music and this year was great for me. I feel like I found some new artists who really are good/have great potential. Some artists I wasn't crazy about before released great records this year.

This list is in no way comprehensive, but way more than the usual 20 albums in a year that I will look at and more than half of those 20 are from artists I already like. I consider this a win.

This chart isn't complete yet, but here's a start (the last 10-20 or so I actually probably will remove because I didn't REALLY like them... they either were good, but not my cup of tea, or just terrible).

Top 100 Music Albums of 2017 by sethmadsen

Then here's an incomplete list of songs I like and why:
how do you sleep? by LCD Soundsystem - this song builds fantastic and was a grower for me.
Wow by Beck: It has that silliness you expect from Beck (Giddyup!)
Magnificent by Elbow: bass/rhythm section is great and that voice is always a treat
Swims by Mount Eerie: Geez this hits so hard on my memories of losing a loved one, so raw
DNA. by Mr. Lamar: masterfully written- staring racism in the face, and I love how solid the performance is
Creature Comfort by Arcade Fire: I blame this song for me wanting to evaluate 2017 - excitement for new music
Pure Comedy by Father John Misty: good lord is this song insightful
I Wanna Be Your Mirror by Temples: The layered melodies and vocal performance is infectious
Captain Hook by Vulfpeck: clever silliness is sometimes rare to come by: GitHub/Bootsy Collins... it good
Going Backwards by Depeche Mode: hard to pick the best commentary on that album, first few tracks great
House of the Rising Sun by Alt-J: This isn't just a cover - fantastic recreation on a whole new level
Stand by My Girl by Dan Auerbach: I was sold with: "gonna stand by my girl, if not she's gonna kill me" haha
Like The Piano by Sampha: this hit home that feeling a musician has with their instrument like no other. Good.
All Night by Big Boi: infectious pop song, and its good to hear him still rapping
Pills by St. Vincent: great commentary on our love for pharmacology
Soothing by Laura Marling: really cool textures played around with here musically, really dig
Bloodhound Rock by JD McPherson: at first I thought this guy was a hack, but he has great command of the style

Then my lame diary on my reactions (which are objectively wrong):
https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19264

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

CharlieBarley — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 19:45:03 GMT

Author: CharlieBarley

Posted: 01/13/2018 00:45

Semper Femina by Laura Marling is my favourite album of 2017. It's ace.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

zdwyatt — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 11:57:24 GMT

Author: zdwyatt

Posted: 01/12/2018 16:57

SquishypuffDave wrote:

Fever Ray's self titled is one of the best things I've ever heard. I listened to her new one a couple of times, and I probably won't be revisiting it again.

Ugh, yes. Huge disappointment. 🙁

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

guilhermesoi — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 10:19:57 GMT

Author: guilhermesoi

Posted: 01/12/2018 15:19

01. Songs Of Experience by U2
02. Who Built The Moon by Noel Gallagher
03. Melodrama by Lorde
04. As You Were by Liam Gallagher
05. After Laughter by Paramore

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

JOSweetHeart — Tue, 2 Jan 2018 21:47:52 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 01/03/2018 02:47

I never would've predicted the year going the way that it went for me musically. I never would've guessed that another deceased singer was going to find their way to me, but my late beautiful precious Steve Sanders of the Oak Ridge Boys did.

God bless you and his family always!!!

Holly

P.S. My other late beautiful precious has not been forgotten for the record. Earlier today I was listening to Billy Joe Royal and it was as awesome as it can be to hear him again. (Not meant to sound insulting...What do you say when its another deceased person that you are talking about?)

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Daydreamer — Tue, 2 Jan 2018 05:28:49 GMT

Author: Daydreamer

Posted: 01/02/2018 10:28

I still don't have a solid top 10 for the year, but I'll have it soon.
As for my overall thoughts about the year, it definitely does have nice depth and variety and some of my favourite artists releasing pretty solid albums. But I feel it doesn't have enough killer albums, and in that aspect it's much worse than 2016 for example. The only truly great album from this year is A Deeper Understanding.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Komorebi-D — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 21:20:01 GMT

Author: Komorebi-D

Posted: 12/30/2017 02:20

The Ooz by King Krule

I think for me personally this was one of the year's bigger surprises. I feel like Archy Marshall really etched out his own space here that none of his peers are close to tapping into. It's a tapestry that showcases the in-between of genres, emotions, characters and backdrops of where the narratives transpire. And it's quite a sizeable progression when compared to 2013's 6 Feet Beneath The Moon.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Komorebi-D — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 21:10:03 GMT

Author: Komorebi-D

Posted: 12/30/2017 02:10

SleepDealer wrote:

Reassemblage by Visible Cloaks

This one is the only really notable release for me - it has inspired me to track down loads of great and sometimes hard to find electronic and ambient music from Japan in the 1980s.

I checked out this one out a few weeks after it came out and was kind of shocked that no-one was talking about it. It's a phenomenal piece. Plus it's one of the ones that has made me constantly reconsider my own chart for this year.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Nyoink77 — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 20:43:58 GMT

Author: Nyoink77

Posted: 12/30/2017 01:43

Very interesting album, I seem to lose sense of time a bit with this, being surprised each time I realize that a track has ended!

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

SleepDealer — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 14:46:21 GMT

Author: SleepDealer

Posted: 12/29/2017 19:46

Reassemblage by Visible Cloaks

This one is the only really notable release for me - it has inspired me to track down loads of great and sometimes hard to find electronic and ambient music from Japan in the 1980s.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

mickilennial — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 14:18:55 GMT

Author: mickilennial

Posted: 12/29/2017 19:18

Gotta chart for it, innit.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Decurso — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 14:10:24 GMT

Author: Decurso

Posted: 12/29/2017 19:10

My top 10

1.Body Count-Bloodlust
2.Alice Cooper-Paranormal
3.Asaf Avidan-The Study on Falling
4.The Cambodian Space Project-Spaced Out in Wonderland
5;The Creepshow-Death at My Door
6.Steel Panther-Lower the Bar
7.Mastodon-Emperor of Sand
8.Far From Alaska-Unlikely
9.Expander-Endless Computer
10.Ego Kill Talent-Ego Kill Talent

Overall, I heard very little this year that blew me away, but also very little that wasn't at least above average.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Tap — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 20:55:41 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 12/29/2017 01:55

So there's still a few more days but I have been having a great time. So far this year, 918 of the 2197 times I've listened to something, it has been a 2017 release, and 389 of 2197 were times I've listened to something released before this year that were new to me. This includes re-listening, of course, I didn't hear 918 releases from this year. But for my listening, around 41% of the time this year I was listening to a 2017 release, and if you include the other new to me things, 59% of my listening this year was spent listening to things I hadn't heard previous to this year.

I have heard around 260 2017 releases, and 162 things from before 2017 that I hadn't heard. For 110 2017 releases, I only gave them 1 listen. And for the ones I hadn't heard before, I only gave 1 listen to 82 of them. For the stuff from before 2017, I think there's a lot of them that I want to spend more time with but just didn't get around to. The 2017 ones are more likely to be ones where I went "oh yeah this is not my thing at all, goodbye"?

So I didn't really dwell on disappointments, I'm ok with taking the long way on some albums and not wasting much time on the ones that failed to connect with me. There were 51 things that were new to me (2017 and earlier) that I listened to 7 or more times, and those are the things that really gave the year it's character for me. These represent 25% of my listening this year and are the things I will remember for this year (things released previous to 2017 are in itallics)

Kara-Lis Coverdale - Grafts - 20 listens
Visible Cloaks - Reassemblage - 19 listens
Jaap Vink - Jaap Vink - 19 listens
Guerilla Toss - GT Ultra - 19 listens
Joshua Abrams - Simultonality - 16 listens
Taiwan Housing Project - Veblen Death Mask - 16 listens
Konrad Sprenger - Stack Music - 15 listens
Laurel Halo - Dust - 15 listens
Felicia Atkinson - Hand In Hand - 14 listens
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Kid - 14 listens
Julius Eastman - Joy Boy - 14 listens
Bud Powell - Jazz Giant - 13 listens
Jib Kidder - Pay 2 Play - 13 listens
Bordreuil / Rowden - Hollow - 13 listens
Kassel Jaeger - Aster - 13 listens
Krzysztof Penderecki - Kosmogonia - 12 listens
Oto Hiax - s/t - 12 listens
Keith Rowe/Michael Pisaro - 13 Thirteen - 12 listens
Pep Llopis - Poiemusia La Nau Dels Argonautes - 11 listens
Machine Girl - ...BECAUSE I'M YOUNG ARROGANT AND HATE EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR - 11 listens
Black To Comm - Alphabet 1968 - 10 listens
Jurg Frey - L'âme est sans retenue III - 10 listens
Hecker - A Script For Machine Synthesis - 10 listens
Cabo Boing - Blob On A Grid - 10 listens
USA/MEXICO - Laredo - 10 listens
Sote - Sacred Horror In Design - 10 listens
Jason Lescalleet - The Pilgrim - 9 listens
John Handy - Recorded Live At Monterey Jazz Festival - 9 listens
Aaron Dilloway - The Gag File - 9 listens
Nicole Mitchell - Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds - 9 listens
Graham Lambkin/Taku Unami - The Whistler - 9 listens
Gérard Lavender - The Public Image - 9 listens
Bellows - Strand - 9 listens
Palm - Shadow Expert - 9 listens
The Hydra - Studio Time - 9 listens
Galcher Lustwerk - Dark Bliss - 9 listens
M.E.S.H. - Hesaitix - 9 listens
Stakker - Eurotechno - 8 listens
Mesias Maiguashca - Oeldorf 8 - 8 listens
Kassel Jaeger & Jim O'Rourke - Wakes On Cerulean - 8 listens
Will Guthrie - People Pleaser - 8 listens
JC - HEAVY_LAYERS_0.5.wav - 8 listens
NYZ - FLD RCDR - 8 listens
Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity - 7 listens
Richard Horowitz - Eros In Arabia - 7 listens
Avey Tare - Eucalyptus - 7 listens
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Late Monoliths, 2011-2013 (Disc 1) - 7 listens
Berangere Maximin - Frozen Refrains - 7 listens
Olivia Block - Olivia Block - 7 listens
Bhob Rainey - From Null Lands Led, Starrily - 7 listens
Nadah El Shazly - Ahwar - 7 listens

Important note: I will listen to 13 Thirteen at least once more before the year is out so it can get to 13 listens because I think that's funny. And Jurg Frey - L'âme est sans retenue I is not on this list because it only has 4 listens but it is 6 hours long so it's one that I've spent a lot of time with.

And honestly there's a lot of the things I listened to less than that that made a big impression on me this year, like Arthur Blythe - Illusions. And some random things that I'd already spent plenty of time with, like Laurel Halo - Quarantine, that got 8 listens mostly in the first quarter of the year and it was a big part of the sound of that time for me, even if it already had been a big part of 2012. But yeah, I focused on what I loved while still taking time for chances, and I think I was rewarded greatly. Musically, I had the best time in 2017.

edit: I'm listening to Illusions again so that one sneaks in there now too with 7 listens.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

LordMark — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:14:47 GMT

Author: LordMark

Posted: 12/29/2017 00:14

Personally, I think that 2017 was a disappointing year in music. Last year gave me A Moon Shaped Pool, Afraid of Heights, Teens of Denial, and Weezer (White Album). This year, all I got was Slowdive's surprisingly excellent self-titled 4th album.

Elsewhere, Queens of the Stone Age and Kendrick Lamar released disappointing follow-ups to ...Like Clockwork and To Pimp A Butterfly, respectively. And don't even get me started on Arcade Fire's Everything Now, an awful album which might very well have killed their career.

The mainstream music sucked, and I've really grown tired of depressing indie rock music.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Temporary33 — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 10:48:39 GMT

Author: Temporary33

Posted: 12/28/2017 15:48

Not a lot of appeal in the year. I barely listened to anything, but liked that album from mount eerie a bit. Just taking a look at rym's list, a lot of hip hop which I've just defaulted back to favorites anyways for. Slowdive released something, but the band members all have really weird faces. If you look at the picture of them they kind of look like aliens.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

Lowkey — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 07:45:32 GMT

Author: Lowkey

Posted: 12/28/2017 12:45

It has been a good year for music, but there were not many standout albums. Brockhampton easily had the biggest 2017 and have three of the best albums of this year. The National and Bell Witch have my top 2 of the year and atmospheric music took the big win this year.

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

rkm — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 01:37:45 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 12/28/2017 06:37

And then, in the closing breaths of 2017, just when I thought I had my list of 35 nailed down, I find this brilliant album full of Byrdsian jangle and George Harrison slide guitar over delicious melodic guitar pop confections.

Silverlake by Pugwash

Re: Your own top 2017 albums & overall thoughts for 2017

rkm — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 01:14:13 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 12/28/2017 06:14

I can't say that I had any particular expectations about 2017 to pleased with or disappointed about. A couple of years ago I found that I didn't really feel connected to any new music that was happening. It was easy to believe that music was dead, or rubbish. After all, the music industry isn't exactly thriving.

The truth was that I'd stopped consuming music via the traditional methods (radio etc.), but had done nothing to seek out new music myself, short of the odd recommendation from a friend.

This year I've probably listened to more new music than any other year. I've religiously trawled through reviews of new releases every Friday and listened to all sorts of new stuff. I've probably listened to 200 albums from 2017.

The wash up is that there's plenty of great new music, and many of my favourite things rank very low on BEA. My tastes are probably slightly broader than they were, but then again much the same as they've always been. About a third of the albums on my list are by artists that I didn't know about before, and I wouldn't have discovered them if I didn't out some work in.

I think it's very difficult to make generalised comments about music in 2017, because there is so little common-cultural-ground. We experience everything on demand as individuals, and share very little. Everything is more and more subjective and disconnected.

I have a personal limit I've set, of not letting my year lists exceed 35. My reasoning is that I want to listen to the music enough to have a personal connection to it. An important function of music for me, is attaching memory to it. This means that I've ditched a lot of good music that I've liked, in favour of music that I like slightly better.

1. Slowmotionary - Ethan Gruska
2. Semper Femina - Laura Marling
3. Prisoner - Ryan Adams
4. Crack-Up - Fleet Foxes
5. A Deeper Understanding - The War On Drugs
6. Little Fictions - Elbow
7. MASSEDUCTION - St. Vincent
8. The Way Is Read - The Staves & YMusic
9. The Search For Everything - John Mayer
10. Songs Of Experience - U2
11. Go Farther In Lightness - Gang Of Youths
12. Chronicles Of The Great Irish Famine - Declan O'Rourke
13. Carry Fire - Robert Plant
14. You Don't Own Me Anymore - The Secret Sisters
15. Out Of Silence - Neil Finn
16. Shade - Living Colour
17. Prometheus & Pandora - Sananda Maitreya
18. Not Even Happiness - Julie Byrne
19. Stranger In The Alps - Phoebe Bridgers
20. Native Invader - Tori Amos
21. Dark Matter - Randy Newman
22. Live In London - Foy Vance
23. Live At The Barn - The Wood Brothers
24. Live From The Fox Oakland - Tedeschi Trucks Band
25. Endless - Richard Osborn
26. Elwan - Tinariwen
27. Reflection - Brian Eno
28. Here On Earth - Jenny Scheinman
29. Hudson - Jack Dejohnette / Larry Grenadier / John Medeski / John Scofield
30. Up And Coming - John Abercrombie Quartet
31. Preverbal - Matthew Stevens
32. I Am A Man - Ron Miles
33. Body And Shadow - Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
34. A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village Vanguard - Ambrose Akinmusire
35. Truth, Liberty & Soul: Live In NYC: The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive! Recording - Jaco Pastorius