This year’s new albums never quite grabbed me like the new releases in ’16 did (Frank, Solange, Chance, Schoolboy, Kanye), but there were certainly some gems. And in that void of new music, I ended up going back and exploring a ton of different music from all over the place, which was really fun and enlightening. Check out my favorite albums of the year, new and old, and the top songs I listened to in 2017, below.
2017
First of all, you can check out the top songs I listened to this year here. Now let’s get to the albums.
Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
SZA – Ctrl
Do I really need to write about these two albums? Probably the two best albums of the year, both coming from Top Dawg Entertainment. Two of my favorite albums that came out last year were also from TDE. They know what they fuck they’re doing.
Tyler, the Creator – Flower Boy
I liked Odd Future and Tyler when they were first coming out and I was in college. I liked the brash punkness of it mixed with some Jackass vibes. But besides helping usher Frank Ocean into the world, I kind of lost track of them. After hearing Tyler’s production on Blonde. (Skyline To), and then one of his new singles off the album (911/Mr. Lonely), I added it to check out. And I only really got around to it about a month ago, but I’ve been playing it ever since. There’s some great features on this album and both 911 and Where This Flower Blooms feature Frank. I went back and listened to the albums I missed by him and I’ve loved his progression away from abrasive punk to more beautiful, vulnerable music, culminating with this album.
Thundercat – Drunk
JAMS! Soft rock R&B is maybe the best way to describe it? I don’t even think it’s describable though. He’s singing about Dragonball Z, Michael McDonald, the plague of social media, and much more, all in catchy, up-beat grooves. Thundercat is the man and yet another connection to TDE: he played bass and helped produce Kendrick’s last 3 albums.
Steven Universe OST
I fell in love with Steven Universe this year, and have already talked about the show. The show is so good, in part, because of how phenomenal, catchy, and emotionally moving the songs are. The soundtrack came out this year and it’s always a joy to listen to, especially if I need a pick me up.
Honorable Mentions
Jay-Z 4:44
Vince Staples – Big Fish
I love Jay-Z and Vince Staples, and liked their new albums a lot, but after playing them each for a week or two, I promptly forgot about them until I started putting this list together. So while I’m happy they released new music (especially Jay-Z putting something out that good for the first time in awhile) I have to leave them as honorable mentions.
Pre-2017
I pay $10 a month for Spotify, and it’s probably the best money I spend. I love being able to find basically any song or album and queuing it up to check out. I did that a lot this year, adding a ton of albums I’d never listened to. I watched a lot of What’s in My Bag and Crate Diggers towards the end of this year too. What’s in My Bag opened up a ton of obscure recommendations from some of my favorite artists, while Crate Diggers dove into the process of sampling and making beats, which opened me up to all the old funk and soul records they used. These are all albums I discovered or re-discovered this year and played the hell out of.
Nirvana – Unplugged
Loved this when I first heard it as a teenager, love it now.
Kamasi Washington – The Epic
Epic is right. Out of this world jazz, pulling from all sorts of different influences. Hard to describe this one, but I’m pretty sure it’s a masterpiece.
Blackalicious – Blazing Arrow
Banging rap, sick samples. Never heard it before and it blew my mind.
Blondie – Parallel Lines & Autoamerican
I have both of these on vinyl and wanted to revisit them after seeing Blondie’s early influence and appreciation of the emerging hip hop scene in Hip Hop Family Tree. Both are great.
Brian Eno – Apollo
Beautiful ambient music, to relax to, to write to, to clean the house to, and more.
Common – Be
One of Kanye’s best produced albums, and Common’s best album.
Isaiah Rashad – The Sun’s Tirade
I missed this in 2016 but played the hell out of it this year. Another great rap record from last year, and another TDE production!
Noname – Telefone
This one I did enjoy in 2016, but continued to listen to this year and enjoyed it even more.
The Internet – Ego Death
What a great fucking band, that plays real instruments, yet can seamlessly transform their sound into hip hop beats with their instruments. This was one of my favorite discoveries of the year. Their other album Feel Good is awesome too.
Marvin Gaye – Here, My Dear
I’d always heard this was maybe Marvin’s best, and after listening to it again this year it really hit me. Beautiful, raw, honest. And sounds so damn good.
Steely Dan- Can’t Buy a Thrill
JAMS! Every single song on this album is a soft rock masterpiece. I have this on vinyl and played it a lot. Steely Dan’s also been sampled a lot by hip hop, from De La Soul to Kanye. Speaking of samples…
Gangstarr – Daily Operation
Skull Snaps – Skull Snaps
Ohio Players – Pleasure
After watching Crate Diggers, I was going back and forth between a lot of old rap and then the older funk records they pulled samples from. DJ Premier is obviously a legend, but I never really listened to Daily Operation. Both the beats and the lyrics from Guru blew me away. The next two are some of the most sampled records of all time and for good reason. Pleasure was a perfect introductions to the Ohio Players. Skull Snaps bangs, if the name didn’t tell you already.
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Keep your ears open, and if you think I’d dig something based on this list, let me know!