The Best Albums of 2017: Honorable Mentions

Was 2017 not the worst year in American history? Well, let's take a look at the chart...

1. 1860-1865 (tie)
2. 2001
3. 1968
4. 1929
5. 1941
6. 2017

So no, but it is sixth, which is pretty bad when it's out of two hundred forty-one. But enough "politics" (i.e., a topic no one cares about but me), on to the best albums of the year.

Some artists kept 2017 in mind when recording their albums, others danced the pain away, but in either case, we got some seriously great music out of a bad situation.

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Hey avid listeners, harsh critics, background-noise-while-I'm-doing-schoolworkers, and people with ears who hear music everywhere (and I suppose also eyes, since you're reading this)! This article marks the first ever BALTIMORE MUSIC FESTIVAL! A thing I literally just came up with that's like the Cannes Film Festival, but for music!

Does that make it less pretentious? Of course not! Just please wait until you see the list before assuming snores will ensue.

Anyway, there were far too many albums to have just a top ten, and I kept discovering music as the deadline for this article was approaching so it's over thirty artists now.

Without further adieu, here are 2017's Honorable Mentions, in alphabetical order:

Arca
Arca
Electronica/Experimental : Listen

Joey Bada$$
All-Amerikkkan Bada$$
Conscious Hip Hop : Listen

Big K.R.I.T.
4eva Is a Mighty Long Time
Southern Hip Hop : Listen

Big Thief
Capacity
Indie Rock : Listen

Bjork
Utopia
Art Pop/Avant-Garde : Listen

Converge
The Dusk in Us
Hardcore Punk : Listen

Death From Above (apparently sans "1979")
Outrage! Is Now
Hard Rock : Listen

EMA
Exile in the Outer Ring
Folk-Noise : Listen

Father John Misty
Pure Comedy
Indie Folk : Listen

Feist
Pleasure
Indie Pop : Listen

The Horrors
V
Post-Punk : Listen

Ibibio Sound Machine
Uyai
Afrobeat : Listen

Idles
Brutalism
Punk : Listen

Jay-Z
4:44
Hip Hop : Listen

Jlin
Black Origami
Electronic : Listen

Kelela
Take Me Apart
Electro-R&B : Listen

King Krule
The OOZ
Indie Rock/Trip Hop : Listen

Lorde
Melodrama
Pop : Listen

Mount Eerie
A Crow Looked at Me
Indie Folk/Minimalism : Listen

Nine Inch Nails
Add Violence EP
Industrial Rock : Listen

Perfume Genius
No Shape
Art Pop : Listen

Protomartyr
Relatives in Descent
Post-Punk : Listen

Queens of the Stone Age
Villains
Stoner Rock : Listen

Rosalía
Los Ángeles
Folk/World : Listen

SZA
CTRL
R&B : Listen

Thundercat
Drunk
Jazz Fusion : Listen

Tyler, The Creator
Flower Boy
Alternative Hip Hop : Listen

Wolf Alice
Visions of a Life
Noise Rock : Listen

Chelsea Wolfe
Hiss Spun
Sludge Metal : Listen

Xiu Xiu
Forget
Art Rock/Experimental : Listen

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Stay tuned, readers. The rest of this week, we'll be releasing our Runners Up and Albums of the Year listicles!


--S^E