My Favorite Albums of 2017: Honorable Mentions

2017 was an interesting year in music for me. There wasn't one single album that made me say "This is my favorite album of the year". There were however a lot of very good albums though which I enjoyed very much. My preparation for compiling this list included going back, and re-listening to all of the albums I had on my original rough draft I wrote up in mid-December, along with re-listening to big tentpole albums of the year. And now my favorite albums of 2017.

Honorable Mentions: 

Arcade Fire: Everything Now


This is a very controversial album amongst diehard Arcade Fire fans. Some like it, most hate it. I feel like it is their weakest album thus far, but there is enough interesting stuff on it to make me want to listen to it every once in a while. (It's not as bad as everyone says it is.) Additionally the songs off of "Everything Now" are fantastic live, and I'm curious if "Everything Now" is one of those records that we re-visit in five to ten years and go "Whoa! That record is incredible!"


Moby & The Void Pacific Choir: More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse

Moby's second effort with the Void Pacific Choir is just as hard hitting and political as the first album "These Systems Are Failing". It's good, but this album feels like its mainly composed by B-sides. Still good, just feels like more of the same.


Chris Thile, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer: Bac Trios

In 2017, Chris Thile released three albums. The first is a jazz album with pianist Brad Mehldau which is very interesting. (In fact I'm still trying wrap my head around it.) But his second release is much more traditional. It features bassist Edgar Meyer and the world's greatest cellist Yo-Yo Ma, covering arguably the greatest classical music composer ever Johanna Sebastian Bach. It's an incredible album. You can tell that Thile, Ma, and Meyer are having a blast playing together. If you are interested in exploring the world of classical music, this is a great first record. If you are interested in Thile's music outside of his work with the Punch Brothers, this too is an excellent introduction to his other musical interests.

The Shins: Heartworms

This is a very good Shins record. I'll admit, I feel like if this came out later in 2017, instead of March 2017, it would be higher up on the list. James Mercer always puts out interesting music, and this album is no exceptions.

Esperanza Spalding: Exposure

Always one to experiment, Esperanza Spalding follows up her 2016 masterpiece Emily's D+ Evolution with a very interesting concept. Entitled Exposure and recorded over the course of 77 hours, while being streamed on Facebook live, the viewer is able to be the fly on the wall of her creative process, as she and her band wrote and record a brand new record. The album truly exposures the creative process. Properly released in mid-December, I haven't had too many listens to it yet. However, I feel like this would of made the top ten if it were released soon in 2017.