Peak TV has been a frequent term thrown around for the past few years to explain the overwhelming amount of content there is out there for consumers. Maybe we should start talking about Peak Music as well. The sheer amount of music available has been stressful for longer than it has been for TV, but this year in particular felt even more like there was just too much music from favorite acts and acclaimed newcomers to keep up with. There are albums that I would have certainly gotten to in previous years, but I just couldn't this year. Such are the concessions we must make as culture lovers in the year 2017.
If there was one narrative that dominated music -- or at least one that music critics tried to push the hardest -- it was the return of mid-2000s indie rock. Bands like Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Dirty Projectors, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, The National, and Wolf Parade all made albums in 2017, some after a long absence, and all with varying levels of success. It seemed like many of these bands were even trying to reckon with their place in the current conversation. The zeitgeist may have partially moved past this brand of indie rock, but as somebody who grew up on the stuff, it was a mostly pleasant return.
And in the mainstream, rap had another major year. To the dismay of many purists, rap is the new pop, with the branch of "mumble rap" experiencing unprecedented radio play and streaming numbers. Songs like Post Malone's "Rockstar" and Lil Uzi Vert's "XO Tour Llif3" hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and it seemed like every month there was a new rap sensation of a similar vein that was capturing the ears of the wider public. Regardless of how you feel about those songs (I'm not particularly crazy about either of the aforementioned tracks), it's nice to have rap of any classification get this kind of recognition.
So no matter which corner of the music world you chose to focus on, there was alot to chew on this year. Let's celebrate all it had to offer.
The rules: Things are a little interesting this year. Going by my usual criteria, the window of eligibility would be anything released between January 1, 2017 and now. However, one of the biggest albums of this year was actually digitally released early at the very end of 2016. So in order to still be able to recognize this record, I'm making the distinction of including things physically released in 2017. Otherwise, everything is the same as usual. This list can include albums, mixtapes, EPs, and anything in between.
