Top 10 Albums of 2017

I haven't done this in a long time but there are a lot of albums I really liked this year so I will to have name them:

(10) Big Thief - Capacity
(9) Prince - Purple Rain (deluxe edition)
(8) Charlotte Gainsbourg - Rest
(7) Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life
(6) Run the Jewels - 3
(5) Cloud Nothings - Life Without Sound
(4) Mt. Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
(3) St. Vincent - Masseduction
(2) LCD Soundsystem - American Dream
(1) The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

I have not done this since 2009 and haven't written about any albums since 2010.  The final posts included Wolf Parade and LCD Soundsystem, and their follow-up albums were both considerations for this list (Cry Cry Cry is a strong return, better than At Mount Zoomer, but weaker than Expo '86 and ultimately not in the top 10).  The new LCD is better than This is Happening, I think, but maybe just because of the vague promise of more to come from a great group.  Broken Social Scene also had their long-awaited follow-up to Forgiveness Rock Record, which I also think is an improvement.  Liars put out a new album that would also be in my top 20.  I would also put the Destroyer album ken on that list.  It would be an interesting top 20, but it would showcase my inferior musical tastes.

Note that these are my top 10.  They do not represent any critical consensus, and showcase the predictability of my tastes.  That is, if Stephen Malkmus had an album this year, it would likely be here.  Few would put the Japandroids or Cloud Nothings on this list, but they are literally my two favorite bands to arise in the 2010's.  When I was able to see them as part of a double bill at the Vic Theater in November (in a week that also included seeing the Breeders, Arcade Fire, and LCD Soundsystem--surely one of my best efforts, though I could have seen Slowdive, too), my dreamz came true.  Both of their albums were underrated by Pitchfork, which obviously is influential to my listening habits.  Truth be told Near to the Wild Heart of Life is a so-so album with two amazing songs, the title track and "No Known Drink or Drug," which I would put at #3 and #4 in top 10 songs.  I do think the new Cloud Nothings, Life Without Sound, is much better overall, but certainly their weakest effort yet.  I hope that doesn't make them lose confidence because they are one of the premiere bands working today and it's a great album, their last two albums were just slightly more amazing.  And actually, if you take "Wasted Days" off Attack on Memory and "Now Hear In" off Here and Nowhere Else, this album is equally good as those.

Capacity by Big Thief is my last addition to this list and it's a no-brainer.  They're a great new band.  It's a fantastic album.  The type of album that I'm glad Pitchfork champions as Best New Music.  I probably wouldn't be drawn to check it out otherwise.

I put Run the Jewels on here because I feel like I need to have a token hip-hop album (I would have put Danny Brown on it last year for Atrocity Exhibition, and his brief cameo on 3 places it here).  I listened to a few of the top albums Pitchfork named, and they were all fine.  I liked Tyler the Creator and SZA and Vince Staples.  In case you haven't heard them, I think half of the reason they are so critically-acclaimed is because they possess the Kendrick Lamar seal of approval.  At this point, Kendrick Lamar has to be the most critically-acclaimed musical artist in history.  I think he's fine, but he's not like, Prince.  (Though Bowie famously loved Kendrick's previous LP, also the #1 album of the year in 2015).

Many may complain that Purple Rain is on this list because it actually came out in 1984, but I listened to it a lot and it's one of the few albums that I think is a perfect 10.  The bonus tracks and remastered audio elevate it beyond the original product--specifically, the transitions between "Computer Blue" and "Darling Nikki," and "I Would Die 4 U" and "Baby I'm a Star."

Mt. Eerie's A Crow Looked at Me is probably the most depressing album of all time.  It's so beautiful and heartbreaking, instantly cementing itself as the most powerful thing that Phil Elverum has ever released, his most inspired work since the Microphones The Glow, Pt. 2.  Not an easy listen.  It bears more than a passing resemblance to Skeleton Tree, Nick Cave's emotionally devastating meditation on grief from last year.

It is quite different, however, from Charlotte Gainsbourg's Rest, another album framed by grief and the loss of a family member.  Rest certainly has a moment or two of soul-searing sadness, but it is infused with this weird catchy electro-pop sheen that turns the album into more of a celebration than an elegy.  Okay it's not exactly celebratory, but it is suitable listening for more situations than just burying your head in your pillow and sobbing.

I put the St. Vincent album on here because I love Annie Clark and pretty much anything she does.  We are close to the same age.  I love watching the covers she played of "Bad Penny" and "Kerosene" from that show in 2011 at Bowery Ballroom celebrating all the bands from Our Band Could Be Your Life.  She's such a badass, and she puts on a great show.  I thought it was really weird when she went out with Cara Delevigne and then Kristen Stewart and was often in the "Entertainment" section of the Google News headlines I would see: "Look at the crazy thing they did!  Are they engaged?" This album seems to be about her experiences as a pseudo-mega-celebrity and the emptiness and vapidity of modern culture.  It continues her streak of peerless work, though it lacks some of the vulnerability and emotional highs of her last two albums.

LCD Soundsystem is a little high, maybe, but it was the most anticipated album of the year for me (and akin to The Last Jedi, which I saw last night, it was amazing).  Really this is a very long album with many dark and moody stretches, but "Call the Police" is my 2nd favorite song of the year, and just as much of an instant classic as "All My Friends" was 10 or 11 years ago.  Mostly, I was upset that I missed the end of LCD Soundsystem back in 2011, and I do not begrudge them for changing their mind on the band as a going-concern.  Plus any album that basically exists because David Bowie said it should exist should get a pass.  Terrible album cover though.

But for me, it's no-contest: A Deeper Understanding is the album of the year.  I had never really listened to the War on Drugs, and I have since realized that their previous album is also a stunning achievement.  But this album is basically perfect.  "Holding On" is my #1 song of the year.  The production on this album is just so pristine that it even sounds magical coming from the flimsy speakers of my old Moto G android.  "In Chains" is arguably an even better song.  It should definitely win the Grammy for Best Rock Album, and it doesn't deserve to be boxed into that genre.