The Needle Drop's Top 50 Albums of 2017

The Needle Drop's Top 50 Albums of 2017

Original Source →

50.

May 10, 2017
Critic Score
80
2 reviews

Jersey producer Sinjin Hawke makes his full-length debut with a beautiful set of nuanced bangers.

49.

September 8, 2017
Critic Score
66
18 reviews

Death From Above slay with a hard rock-inspired direction on their latest album, Outrage! Is Now.

48.

June 23, 2017
Critic Score
75
7 reviews

Maryland trio Dying Fetus comes through with one of the best brutal death metal albums I've heard since their last album back in 2012.

47.

March 24, 2017
Critic Score
85
17 reviews

Little Rock doom outfit Pallbearer returns with more bite and an even greater prog influence on their third album Heartless, their most varied and epic effort yet.

46.

February 3, 2017
Critic Score
83
38 reviews

Sampha's debut album was worth the wait.

45.

April 14, 2017
Critic Score
93
43 reviews

DAMN. is one of Kendrick's most intriguing releases yet, delivering a series of tracks that are chaotic, layered, and deeply conflicted.

44.

November 3, 2017
Critic Score
85
22 reviews
Metalcore legends Converge return with their 9th installment of blisteringly detailed rage.

43.

June 2, 2017
Critic Score
84
7 reviews

MA stoner rock/doom metal outfit Elder impressively reinvents itself with a more progressive sound on Reflections of a Floating World.

42.

December 24, 2016
Critic Score
86
37 reviews

Run the Jewels returns with their most politically charged effort yet.

41.

October 6, 2017
Critic Score
81
28 reviews
Kelela's debut album is a great representation of how cutting edge the alternative R&B genre can be.

40.

September 22, 2017
Critic Score
85
7 reviews

Rapsody releases her most solid project to date with the smart, classy, and catchy Laila's Wisdom.

39.

April 28, 2017
Critic Score
78
38 reviews

2017 keeps the strong singer/songwriter releases coming with Feist's Pleasure.

38.

January 13, 2017
Critic Score
85
12 reviews

Code Orange successfully pushes the metalcore envelope on their first album for Roadrunner Records.

37.

April 7, 2017
Critic Score
75
19 reviews
Joey Bada$$ comes through with his most mature album yet, passionately dissecting the state of black people in present day America.

36.

June 16, 2017
Critic Score
81
41 reviews

Fleet Foxes triumphantly emerge from hiatus with their most progressive effort yet.

35.

September 8, 2017
Critic Score
75
32 reviews
Alvvays' sophomore album offers some of the best dream and jangle pop I've heard in years.

34.

January 13, 2017
Critic Score
79
12 reviews

Godfather is a grime album with a potency level only a vet such as Wiley could provide.

33.

September 29, 2017
Critic Score
83
25 reviews

Loaded with poetic post-punk dirges, Protomartyr's Relatives In Descent is the Detroit band's most dynamic and well-written release yet.

32.

September 15, 2017
Critic Score
76
22 reviews

The retrospective Dedicated to Bobby Jameson finds Ariel Pink going back to his old musical stomping grounds and crafting some of his best songs yet.

31.

March 10, 2017
Critic Score
86
10 reviews

Brutalism, the debut album by UK five piece IDLES, may not reinvent the punk rock wheel but is loaded with some of the most fiery performances and brutally honest lyrics I've heard in years.

30.

September 8, 2017
Critic Score
76
10 reviews

New York rapper and underground fashion icon Princess Nokia expands her 2016 EP into a 16-track monster via Rough Trade Records. One of the most eclectic rappers out right now.

29.

March 3, 2017
Critic Score
80
14 reviews

Ibibio Sound Machine's Uyai is the grand and adventurous Afro-Funk album I wanted their self-titled debut to be.

28.

February 24, 2017
Critic Score
73
24 reviews

The new King Gizzard album, while not a thorough experiment in microtonal tuning, is a fun and intense psych rock experience.

27.

May 19, 2017
Critic Score
74
4 reviews

Thanks to some clearer production, more up-front performances, and a zany new wave influence, GT ULTRA is the most I've ever enjoyed a Guerilla Toss album.

26.

February 10, 2017
Critic Score
71
6 reviews

Though Being You Is Great... contains some of Quelle Chris' most obtuse material, it is also the Detroit MC's most ambitious and cohesive album yet.

25.

October 6, 2017
Critic Score
79
4 reviews

Doom metal trio Primitive Man returns with one of the most nihilistic albums in the genre. For anyone who enjoys some pain with their pleasure.

24.

Uncommon Nasa - Written at Night
August 4, 2017
Critic Score
75
2 reviews

New York rapper/producer Uncommon Nasa explores potently nocturnal and political themes on his 4th studio album, Written At Night.

23.

billy woods - Known Unknowns
June 9, 2017
Critic Score
87
3 reviews

Known Unknowns is NY hip hop artist Billy Woods' punchiest effort since History Will Absolve Me.

22.

June 30, 2017
Critic Score
81
33 reviews

Mr. Carter kills his ego and spills the beans on his most intimate album yet.

21.

May 19, 2017
Critic Score
78
26 reviews

The Mountain Goats' latest is a gothic-themed concept album, a foray into the world of guitar-less music, and one of the greatest testaments to John Darnielle's chops as a storyteller.

20.

August 25, 2017
Critic Score
75
22 reviews

(Thee) Oh Sees is a well-oiled psych rock machine on Orc.

19.

June 2, 2017
Critic Score
84
15 reviews
Richard Dawson's sprawling and rustic tunes bring back a sense of olde English folklore and mysticism that isn't often heard in contemporary music.

18.

November 17, 2017
Critic Score
82
24 reviews

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' final record is a celebration of everything that made the soul revivalists great since their inception in the early '00s.

17.

September 15, 2017
Critic Score
79
12 reviews

Brick Body Kids is Open Mike Eagle at his most low-key, but it's also his most cohesive and emotionally potent work so far.

16.

June 9, 2017
Critic Score
83
23 reviews

SZA delivers a strong full-length debut that explores the emotional complexities of being the other woman.

15.

September 29, 2017
Critic Score
80
10 reviews

Iglooghost makes his full-length Brainfeeder debut with the impressive and fantastical Neō Wax Bloom.

14.

July 21, 2017
Critic Score
80
21 reviews

Tyler, the Creator blossoms as a rapper, producer, and lyricist on Flower Boy, his most beautiful and well-crafted album to date.

13.

Xiu Xiu - FORGET
February 24, 2017
Critic Score
74
15 reviews
Xiu Xiu returns after a seriously prolific streak with a new collection of original material via Polyvinyl Records.

12.

September 8, 2017
Critic Score
73
13 reviews
On his sophomore album, Sydney singer/songwriter Alex Cameron consistently delivers catchy hooks and hilarious lyrics while channeling a soft rock aesthetic.

11.

May 19, 2017
Critic Score
86
9 reviews

Thanks to Thin Black Duke's lavish orchestration and tour-de-force vocal performances from frontman Eugene Robinson, eminent underground rock outfit Oxbow has delivered a comeback album that leaves me lost for words for all the right reasons.

10.

May 5, 2017
Critic Score
84
35 reviews

No Shape is Perfume Genius' grandest and most eclectic musical statement to date.

9.

June 23, 2017
Critic Score
84
25 reviews

Algiers blow the sophomore slump out of the water with The Underside of Power, a more intense and versatile album than the band's self-titled debut.

8.

ROSALÍA - Los Ángeles
February 10, 2017
Critic Score
75
2 reviews

Contemporary flamenco artist Rosalía makes her stunning full-length debut.

7.

June 9, 2017
Critic Score
74
5 reviews

Australia's Kirin J Callinan delivers one of this year's most colorfully eccentric pop records with Bravado.

6.

Neil Cicierega - Mouth Moods
January 23, 2017
Critic Score
90
2 reviews

Mouth Moods is Neil Cicierega's most masterful mashup of meme music yet.

4.

October 27, 2017
Critic Score
82
8 reviews

The Mississippi quadruple threat is back with an epic double album that puts him at a new level.

3.

March 24, 2017
Critic Score
90
20 reviews
This album is about death.

2.

August 25, 2017
Critic Score
81
9 reviews

Brockhampton offers more of the same with the second installment of their Saturation trilogy, which is fine because the group's sound is still so refreshing and cutting edge.

2.

June 9, 2017
Critic Score
76
4 reviews

On Saturation, Brockhampton jells in a way no other group their size has in quite some time. Definitely my frontrunner for hip hop project of the year at the moment.

2.

December 15, 2017
Critic Score
79
11 reviews

West Coast boy band Brockhampton round out their Saturation trilogy with their most versatile and melodic album yet.

1.

April 7, 2017
Critic Score
81
42 reviews

Father John Misty delivers an ambitious and grand statement on the human condition with Pure Comedy, one of 2017's most necessary albums.

Original Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-MFIbWsK4
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11mo
No Lorde, Jay-Z above Kendrick???
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