Running the numbers this year. These are the albums that I played the most, and some of the reasons why.

5. Sylvan Esso, What Now - Maybe not as consistent as their debut, but the highs are higher. Singles for days: Radio, Die Young, Kick Jump Twist, Just Dancing.

Sylvan Esso, Die Young (video):

4. Sneaks, It's a Myth - Minimal electronic music with female vocals & 80s/90s references. Yup. Hot jams: Look Like That, With A Cherry On Top, Hair Slick Back, Inside Edition, PBNJ.

Sneaks, Look Like That (youtube audio):

3. Protomartyr, Relatives In Descent - The Book Of Revelations by St. Joe Casey. It's an album that was partially written in 2016, and it played out in Trump's America in 2017. It's dark. It's disturbing It's pessimistic. It kind of funny. It offers advice. Maybe.

Protomartyr, Don't Go To Anacita (video):

2. LCD Soundsystem, American Dream - I still love James Murphy. He probably should have stayed retired, but no he shouldn't have. Tell 'em, Nancy. You warned me about the cocaine. David Bowie died, and we were all sad, but James worked with him so he was probably sadder than you. He was. Songs that grew on me: Emotional Haircut, I Used To, Change Yr Mind, Tonite, Other Voices. The first double a-side single was good, too, but omnipresent by now.

LCD Soundsystem, Tonite (video)

1. Run The Jewels, RTJ3 - So what if it came out Christmas Eve 2016? It was physically released in 2017, and I kept coming back to it all year long: when I was sad, when I was angry, when I couldn't believe the fucking political theatre. Just go listen to the whole thing front to back again. You will find something new.

Run The Jewels, Call Ticketron (video):

Honorable mentions: Slowdive, S/T; Rainer Maria, S/T; Ride, Weather Diaries; Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, French Press EP; The Courtneys, The Courtneys II; Fever Ray, Plunge; Cherry Glazer, Apocalipstick; Moon Duo, Occult Architecture, Vol. 1; New Pornographers, Whiteout Conditions; Spoon, Hot Thoughts; Cold Beat, Chaos By Invitation; All Them Witches, Sleeping Through The War; Blanck Mass, World Eater; Alvvays, Antisocialites.