10. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. (Top Dawg / Aftermath / Interscope)

After the introspective and thoughtful good kid, m.A.A.d. city in 2012 and then 2015’s jazz and funk-influenced To Pimp A Butterfly, an ambitious and ferocious masterpiece of provocation, the kind of expectations projected onto Kendrick Lamar’s fourth album made for the kind of pressure that very few artists ever experience. DAMN. was created against a backdrop of escalating police violence and the prospect of the Trump White House.

More direct and righteous than anything he had created before, Kendrick met commercial rap radio head-on while inhabiting his new persona of ‘Kung Fu Kenny’. Assembling a stellar cast of producers, visual artists and musical collaborators – ranging from Rihanna on the extremely accessible ‘LOYALTY.’ to U2 on ‘XXX.’, the tracks were fizzing with invention and passion but felt more concentrated than the artful abstractions of its predecessor. Kendrick himself has expressed his satisfaction with DAMN., which he feels is a perfect combination of all three of his previous records – the consciousness of …Butterfly, the hard-hitting beats of good kid… and the creative freedom of Section.80. (EB) (LISTEN)

9. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream (DFA / Columbia)

After all the column inches that surrounded their disbandment six years ago, a fourth LCD Soundsystem album is something that we were promised would never happen. Its very existence has divided hardcore fans and casual observers alike, because the issue was one of symbolism and legacy. As well as being any good, American Dream also had to be worthwhile or, at the very least, not tarnish the reputation of the group’s preceding three records. For me, personally, the original LCD albums were my Star Wars trilogy – I felt the same way leading up to it as all those fans did in the weeks before The Force Awakens arrived.

Appropriately, American Dream felt like a new chapter in the same book, rather than the beginning of an entirely different one. There were no new tricks as far as the typical James Murphy playbook went – instead of overhauling things, it felt like a kind of greatest-hits package, an edited highlights reel of former glories with songs that sounded a bit like other great songs they’d done the first time around. Murphy, now nearing his fifties and a parent to a young child, was seeing the world in a different light than before – ‘I Used To’ and ‘Other Voices’ mused on the passing of time and the death of musical idols; ‘How Do You Sleep?’ was an excoriating broadside at former friends; singles ‘Tonite’ and ‘Call The Police’ will be live set highlights for years to come. American Dream exceeded expectations and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Murphy’s original output. (LISTEN)

8. The xx – I See You (Young Turks)

When Jamie Smith released his instantly acclaimed solo debut In Colour in 2015, the future suddenly seemed unsure for fans of The xx. Initially interpreted as a step away from his long-term affiliation with his parent project, the eventual announcement of The xx’s third album I See You hadn’t exactly been a sure thing, coming the best part of five years after Coexist.

Shattering any doubt of its completion, I See You’s arrival happily united all xx factions. By managing to fuse both The xx’s sonic minimalism with In Colour’s intricate use of sampling, I See You provided the ideal springboard for the group to leap from. For a while, it may have seemed like the trio had unwittingly cornered themselves in a box of stylistic boundaries, however I See You managed to take everything quintessentially associated with The xx and place it right back at the forefront of modern pop music. (OR) (LISTEN)

7. The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic)

Following up on the dreamy majesty of Lost In The Dream, certainly the biggest word-of-mouth success from the indie scene in the decade so far, was never going to be easy, but A Deeper Understanding was one of those rare instances in which keeping things exactly the same pays dividends. Making full use of the extra resources that came with making the leap into the majors with Atlantic, Adam Granduciel spent countless hours and days in the studio, obsessively recording, re-recording and tweaking.

As a result, the tracks were simple and catchy enough to enjoy on a surface level, casual first listen, but endless levels of detail and three-dimensional production revealed themselves when you peeled back the layers. The vintage, Springsteen-esque synthesisers and heavily reverbed guitars were still present, but added was an almost physically tangible sense of care and attention. It felt like a road-trip through the vast expanses of the inner self, with Granduciel revisiting many of the themes of anxiety and ennui that made Lost In The Dream such a striking work. Just like its predecessor, A Deeper Understanding was just such a beautiful place to revisit, in which to simply be. (LISTEN)

6. Arca – Arca (XL)

It has been a busy 2017 for Venezuelan producer Alejandro Ghersi: known for his mastery of music production, he contributed to Kelela’s Take Me Apart as well as co-produced Björk’s iridescent new album Utopia, both of which were innovative statements in their genres. More importantly, he took yet another bold step towards becoming a leading figure in today’s experimental electronic music scene with his newest – the eponymous Arca, following up from his industrial and violent 2015 release Mutant.

Cold, glitchy and eerie, the album showed off Ghersi’s solidified and well-rounded sound as the tracks on Arca scatter, shiver and tremble with threatening bass and hysterical synths in signature Arca fashion. While Ghersi operatically cried, warbled and bellowed in Spanish, the warm timbre of his vocals work in contrast with the often mechanical soundscape of tracks like ‘Reverie’. These vocals added a touch of vulnerability to the brashness of the sound and emote the undeniable, potent emotional material that this release carries in itself. Arca explored identity and becoming your true self in borderline morbid visuals like the shedding of one’s skin in the opening track ‘Piel’, while themes of love appear in the form of longing for your lover to the point of madness in ‘Anoche’ and mentioning themes of abuse in ‘Reverie’. Simultaneously rigid and fluid, the album was like a pulsating, living organism, as if Arca himself came into form during its making, taking the listener along on the extraordinary experience, clawing his way out through sound. (AS) (LISTEN)

5. Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy (Columbia)

Over his first three albums, Californian hip-hop icon Tyler, The Creator showed he had potential, but his fourth album Flower Boy seemed to be where that really culminated and took shape. Handling the songwriting and production himself, it not only showed his skill as a rapper, but also his impressive musical capabilities, with his most diverse and vibrant instrumentals yet. His honest lyrics made Flower Boy a stunning self-portrait that was surprisingly revealing and introspective, while also being insanely fun and catchy. (WD) (LISTEN)

4. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked At Me (P.W. Elverum & Sun)

Rarely does an artist confront death in the way that Washington-based songwriter Phil Elverum did on his eighth LP A Crow Looked At Me. Focussing on the tragic passing of his wife and mother of his four-month-old daughter following a fight with cancer, Elverum’s warmly intimate acoustic guitar passages are accompanied by the Washington-based artists sobering, honest and almost completely un-song-like lyrics. The result, on unflinching tracks like ‘Real Death’, is unnervingly intense and utterly heart crushing.

A beautiful album that is perhaps best appreciated in solitude, A Crow Looked At Me ultimately serves as a reminder to cherish those we love and be grateful for our existence, as it can be cruelly and quickly taken away from us. (WD) (LISTEN)

3. St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION (Loma Vista / Concord)

Following the masterpiece artistic statement of her 2014 self-titled album, St. Vincent manages to break new ground yet again on MASSEDUCTION. As usual, we were treated to near unparalleled guitar virtuosity, an abundance of sub-textual commentary, and an entirely reinvented aesthetic. Displaying her aptitude for the performing arts, Annie Clark shows off some 2017 pop diva realness, employing Jack Antonoff to produce the release, yet never losing her trademark underlying scathing sarcasm, accompanying her every step along the way.

The album went from forlorn city ballads (‘New York’) to shimmering synthesizer jingles (‘Pills’, ‘Sugarboy’), pulling off each one almost flawlessly and once again reaffirming Clarke as one of the great cult artists of this generation. Coming from the liminal space between St. Vincent the artist and Annie Clark the celebrity, MASSEDUCTION was endlessly ambiguous in its intentions, providing glorious conversational fodder for art over-thinkers worldwide, and the world is better for it. (EW) (LISTEN)

2. Lorde – Melodrama (Universal)

Lorde’s Melodrama was definitely one of the most anticipated pop releases of the year; however, it was hard to guess whether Ella Yelich-O’Connor would be able to surpass the success of 2013’s Pure Heroine – namely, the task of replicating the colossal impact of generational anthems like ‘Royals’. As it turns out, the young New Zealander came back with many songs like ‘Green Light’ and ‘Homemade Dynamite’ which made pop music sound fresh again and definitively cemented Lorde’s position as one of the genre’s most promising talents. Melodrama serves as a canvas for her imaginative songwriting, dominated by contemplation of loneliness, heartache, and solitude.

At the same time, the album is full of energy and dramatism, intensified by Lorde’s youthful spirit and an array of experiences which being young in 2017 entails. If that wasn’t enough, it seems that now Lorde’s presence in the pop music realm will mean much more than had been expected – the singer has been quickly evolving from an up-and-coming artist to what might be this generation’s next icon and a figure of universal admiration. The proof of that is Melodrama, which is not only one of the top albums of 2017, but also a very clear sign that a new star was born. (AR) (LISTEN)

1. Sampha – Process (Young Turks)

When Sampha Sisay released Process back in February, the world rightly took notice. It had been a long, nearly five-year journey to get there, but with a flawless voice, intriguing instrumentals and poignant production, Process truly was worth the wait. It was a testament to patience paying dividends, with each track offering something new to the mix and not a single second being wasted throughout. Whether it be the restrained opener of ‘Plastic 100°C’, the minimalist ‘Kora Sings’ or the sumptuous ballad that is ‘(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano’, the record’s neo-soul never failed to captivate.

With Process, Sampha has established himself as the most in-demand vocalist in the world; it’s a record with true crossover appeal that has something for everyone (just look at the success of ‘Blood On Me’). Sampha has not only managed to become a critic’s darling but he has won the casual listener as well. In a pop world increasingly dominated by relentless, in-your-face energy and generic trap beats, Sampha has managed to craft a unique corner for himself, and in doing so, is a more than worthy winner of The Student Playlist Album of the Year in 2017. (JT) (LISTEN)

What do you think the greatest album of 2017 has been? Tell us what you think below!