Alex Brown's Top Ten LPs of 2017

This was quite the year, but here we are! The end of it all, when we bloggers post our favorite releases of the year. Earlier, I posted my list from #50 to #11, which you can view here (I made the post public so everyone could see it), but in this piece are my ten favorite LPs. We got some really stellar music from a wide variety of genres, so let’s get right into this thing.


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#10:
​ “Pop 2” by Charli XCX

I get really annoying with posting my lists because I wait until the last minute to have them up. LPs like this one are why. “Pop 2” just came out last Friday, and it is by far one of the craziest pop-flavored LPs I have ever listened to. The production on this thing is absolutely out of this world. As soon as this thing starts with “Backseat,” you know you’re in for a wild, 40-minute ride. Features from Mykki Blanco and Carly Rae Jepsen only make this thing stronger. Of course, none of this is to detract from the vocal performance of Charli XCX herself, which on tracks like “Lucky” are just a force to be reckoned with.

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#09:
​ “SATURATION II” by BROCKHAMPTON

BROCKHAMPTON is the best artist I discovered in 2017. This group put out THREE stellar LPs within a six month timespan, which is more than you can say about most artists. Each one of these LPs contained some of the most forward-thinking hip-hop I’ve heard in a long time. This LP is the group at their most contained and focused. You have bangers such as “JUNKY,” as well as mellowed-out tracks like “SUMMER.” You even have songs that combine the two perfectly, like “QUEER.” All are incredibly well-composed and make this LP fun and thought-provoking. I don’t know what you’re doing if you missed out on BROCKHAMPTON, but you have to check them out if you haven’t.

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#08:
“Luv Is Rage 2” by Lil Uzi Vert

Easily one of my most anticipated LPs of the year, Lil Uzi Vert finally released the follow-up to his 2014 mixtape, and oh man did I love this thing. I wrote a lot about it in my review for the LP, which you can read here, but to summarize, the LP takes a look into the darker side of the famous life, exploring Uzi’s breakup with his longtime girlfriend on tracks like “XO Tour Lli3” and “The Way Life Goes,” as well as his bad habits on “No Sleep Leak” and “UnFazed.” We also get some features from artists such as Pharrell Williams and The Weeknd that really make the listening experience to this LP all the more enjoyable. Despite its darker themes, the sugary production keeps the tone light and accessible. It’s nowhere near the banger machine that the first mixtape was, but I can say that the songwriting is a lot stronger. Absolutely excited to see where the trap game’s rockstar is going to go next.

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#07:
​ “A Crow Looked At Me” by Mount Eerie

There are no words that do justice to this LP, which covers the year he and his daughter lived following the loss of his wife. If you thought “Stage Four” by Touche Amore was a depressing exploration of grief, you’re going to find yourself wondering what life is after a single listen to this LP. I have no other words for this one. Phil, you hit us right in the damn heart.

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#06:
​ “last” by ostraca

I stumbled across this band when I saw that the fine folk at ABC No Rio were doing a show at the Silent Barn in July three days before it happened. Reading up on ostraca, I decided to check this LP out, and holy fucking SHIT did this thing blow my expectations out of the water. In under a half hour, this trio unleashed the most relentless, gut-wrenching screamo I’ve heard this decade so far. As soon as “Waiting for the Crash” kicks off, I feel like breaking everything in my house and crying for hours. This thing is full of relentless blast-beats, mathy guitar riffs, and some of the most passionate screams I’ve heard in music, with some really heavy guttural vocals. This is easily one of the best bands I’ve found out about in the more hardcore side of things. You can read my review for their amazing show with bands like Flesh Born and Soul Glo here.

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#05:
​ “SATURATION III” by BROCKHAMPTON

Finishing off the “SATURATION” trilogy, BROCKHAMPTON released their most triumphant LP. We got some bangers on this one, like “BOOGIE,” but then we also got some insane epics on here, such as “SISTER/NATION” and “TEAM.” The group promoted this as their “final” LP, which has since been proven to be bullshit, but if it was, I would not be complaining. This thing sounds like a finale. I’m not going to repeat myself anymore, so I’m going to close this off with saying that BROCKHAMPTON is truly the best boyband ever.

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#04:
​ “...You Are Mostly Nowhere” by name.

I got into these guys because our own Brian Lesmes took it in his hands to review the LP here. This is the closest thing we’ve gotten to a true progressive mathcore masterpiece. This thing has its spastic, chaotic moments, as well as its proggy interludes that manage to keep everything in pace and make way for some of the most rewarding heavy sections imaginable in a song. The songs themselves are broken up into sections, making the listening experience a lot smoother than they would be otherwise. Please read his review, as it does more justice for this LP than I ever could, but you should seriously not sleep on these guys.

Well, here we are. My Top Three LPs of 2017! I’m going to call these ones up by their incredibly well-deserved medals.

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BRONZE:
“(Scum Fuck) Flower Boy” by Tyler, the Creator

You can read my review for the LP here, but to make it brief, let me just say that I did not like a single project by Tyler before this one. “Bastards” did nothing for me. “Goblin” makes me cringe. “Wolf” is mediocre at best. “Cherry Bomb” is literally a Death Grips knockoff. I don’t even know what made me decide to check this one out. However, I did, and oh my fucking God is it one of the most beautiful LPs I have ever listened to. There aren’t many hip-hop LPs that can make me shed a tear, but this one had me bawling. Sure, you got some killer bangers on here, like “Who Dat Boy” and “I Ain’t Got Time!”, but songs like “See You Again” and “November” hit my nostalgia hard. This is the first time I feel like Tyler took himself seriously as an artist, and he crafts one of the greatest LPs I have heard all year. You know this year is weird when an artist I’ve praised for years like Kendrick Lamar doesn’t even make my Top 50, but an artist I flat-out did not fuck with for years like Tyler, the Creator grabs the bronze medal. Truly, well fucking done, Tyler.

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SILVER:
​ “What Passes for Survival” by Pyrrhon

I said it in my review, and I’ll say it again: after years of listening to death metal, Pyrrhon is the first death metal band to ever recieve a perfect score from me. This is because Pyrrhon is the first band to push the boundaries of death metal further than Gorguts. This LP takes technical death metal and adds elements of mathcore, noise-rock, and sludge metal, creating this disgusting, gritty atmosphere that has just never been done in death metal as perfectly as it has been done here. This LP succeeds by going outside the box and perfecting a genre that could not be perfected. This is a band that makes me fucking proud to be a New Yorker. Pyrrhon, you guys deserve so much more respect than you get.

    The bronze medal went to an artist who grew exceptionally. The silver medal went to an LP that I think is the best in its genre. What could possibly top those two? I’ll tell you: an LP that saw an artist grow from someone I respected to someone I loved, and became my favorite in its genre. An LP that I knew was going to be something special from the moment I heard its first single. An LP that made me realize how much I had grown as a person and a writer. Through all the shit I went through this year, this LP gave me something to smile about. This LP makes me proud of an artist younger than me who released a record that completely changed how I thought about music. Without further ado…

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GOLD/ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
“Melodrama” by Lorde

    If you know me, you probably saw this coming. This LP perfectly explores the mindset of someone young going through a dark period of their life, much like “Luv is Rage 2,” but with an even clearer outlook on the situation. Lorde deals with a breakup and the darker sides of fame beginning with “Green Light,” about a girl clearly struggling with emotional turmoil. As the LP progresses, we learn more: on “Writer in the Dark,” the focus on her ex-boyfriend becomes obsessive. “Sober” and “Liability” focus on her struggles with fame, with being treated like a toy and a commodity. The LP closes with “Perfect Places,” where Lorde makes peace with her self-destruction: there are no “perfect places” anyway. I can go on and on about this LP and its genius, but I did most of that in  my review, which I feel is still the most insightful and involved piece I’ve written. Thank you, Lorde, for getting me through a rough summer and all but initiating my critical career. Melodrama changed my life for the better.

    Well, that’s my list! This was a pretty solid year for music, and I am beyond excited to see where we go next year.

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- Alex Brown