
AllMusic 2017 Year In Review
AllMusic Best of 2017 -
From festival headliners like Kendrick Lamar, Lorde and Depeche Mode to rising acts such as Whitney Rose, Sheer Mag and Angaleena Presley, 2017 delivered outstanding releases from musicians of all recognition levels and font sizes. We're happy to unveil our editors' top 70 albums of the year, followed by another genre-specific list every weekday until the new year.
Aimee Mann delivers the slowest, saddest album she could imagine with this strangely comforting collection.

Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin
Telemann: Concerti per molti stromenti
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin presents lively performances of Telemann's concertos for various instruments, including the rare calchedon.

Ann Hallenberg / Il Pomo d'Oro
This is one of those rare recordings that break entirely new ground yet remain a pure pleasure.

The Icelandic artist rebounds from Vulnicura's despair with lighter-than-air songs about thriving after loss.

Cantica Symphonia / La Compagnia del Madrigale / Giuseppe Maletto / Ensemble La Pifarescha
Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine
Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine receives an ecstatic performance from Giuseppe Maletto and three early music ensembles.

Haley Fohr interprets a powerful moment of cosmic inspiration on her sixth full-length as Circuit des Yeux.

Nearly six years in the making, the Massachusetts metalcore/punk legends' ninth studio LP serves up a punishing barrage of sonic exclamation points.

Second album from the retro-soul artist tops his fine debut, adding a psychedelic edge to his solid songs and powerful vocals.

Intense, visceral, and relevant, the synth rock vets take aim at global affairs and demand action over fear and panic on a stellar 14th set.

Striking and powerful third album from these leftist punks raises the stakes and provides rallying cries for troubled times.

An awesome debut from the uncompromising instrumental rock quartet challenges, realigns, and perhaps redefines post-metal's boundaries.

Karin Dreijer explores the need for intimacy -- and its consequences -- with some of her most colorful and powerful music.

François-Xavier Roth / Les Siècles
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis & Chloé, Complete Ballet
François-Xavier Roth and his period instruments ensemble Les Siècles re-create Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé with the sounds of its 1912 premiere.

A stunning debut album filled with lovely pop songs, introspective folk ballads, and gentle psychedelia from a trio of young women from North London.

After embracing synths on her 2014 album, The Silver Globe, Weaver delivers a psychedelic gem coated in vintage keys, jangling guitars, and sonic exploration.

Blending orchestral arrangements with kaleidoscopic electronics, Smith crafts a highly advanced form of futuristic new age pop.

Pared as it might seem, the rapper's fourth proper album is just as rich as the platinum releases that preceded it.

The Los Angeles band creates a stunning live-to-tape audio-visual album playing classic boleros, rancheras, and more in the plazas, bars, and theaters of Mexico City.

After a short "retirement," the band returns with a set that blends melancholy synth ballads with wall-rattling dance rock, aka business as usual.

An emphasis on self-reflection signifies a tonal shift on the singer/songwriter's third strong full-length.

On their seventh studio album, the Georgia quartet re-enlist producer Brendan O'Brien and return to the concept album.
![Max Richter: Three Worlds – Music from Woolf Works [Limited Edition]](https://cdn-gce.allmusic.com/images/lazy.gif)
Max Richter: Three Worlds – Music from Woolf Works [Limited Edition]
The composer's music for a ballet inspired by Virginia Woolf's novels is a brilliant testament to both artists' skills.

Recorded shortly after the death of Phil Elverum's wife, Geneviève Castrée, this is a beautiful, harrowing expression of grief.

Vocal performances shine on an unapologetically retro fourth LP, her first with producers Niles City Sound (Leon Bridges).

Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds
The flutist/composer delivers a narrative concept that explores the intersections of duality in a startlingly unique musical language.

The Georgia trio's second album is a post-punk delight, with cleaner sound and more powerfully confident performances.

Overcoming yet more lineup changes, Paramore return with a buoyant, '80s new wave-tinged fifth album.

The master singer and songwriter creates a rich, ambitious collection of stories that rest comfortably with his best work.

Riccardo Muti / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra deliver a convincing performance of Bruckner's unfinished Ninth that feels complete.

Recorded at Chicago's Museum of Modern Art, four of the artist's trios play separately and in various combinations to deliver a monolithic and inspired document.

Strong debut album of hard-rocking AOR sounds from a tough Philly quintet led by the monitor-shredding vocals of Tina Halladay.

Two pioneers of U.K. bass music culture team up for their second full-length, a truly remarkable album of tense, heavy, futuristic dub.

This inward-looking sixth LP from the Norwegian singer/songwriter is rooted in empathy; even at its most cynical, the warmth of its core radiates outward.

Solana Rowe's first true LP, less inhibited and more colorful than her previous work, wields distinct power even when it transmits internal conflict.

Ridiculous, romping album of snide synth glam by a pretend band come to life featuring members of Fat White Family and the Eccentronic Research Council.

An open-hearted, vulnerable, and wide-scoped creative leap from the self-produced Odd Future co-founder.

Vijay Iyer / Vijay Iyer Sextet
The pianist draws upon late-'60s Miles Davis and Mwandishi-era Herbie Hancock for this daring, exploratory sextet date.