Wednesday, December 28, 2016

2016 in Music

What's lazier than not posting on a blog in over a year?  Making the post a list without any additional explanation.  Yep, here's my list of best albums in 2016, a Top 25 + 25 Honorable Mentions.  Bonus is a link to my Spotify playlist of some of my favorite songs of 2016.  The irony of my devoting dozens (hundreds?) of hours to deciding what albums and songs make the cut, only to just throw the "winners" out here when I'm done, is not lost on me.


25.  Outer Spaces - A Shedding Snake
24.  Escondido - Walking With a Stranger
23.  Matthew Logan Vasquez - Solicitor Returns
22.  Lumineers - Cleopatra
21.  Okkervil River - Away
20.  Matt Kivel - Janus
19.  Haley Bonar - Impossible Dream
18.  Shovels & Rope - Little Seeds
17.  Robert Ellis - s/t
16.  Little Green Cars - Ephemera
15.  Andrew Bird - Are You Serious
14.  Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack
13.  Sunflower Bean - Human Ceremony
12.  King Charles - Gamble for a Rose
11.  Angel Olsen - My Woman
10.  Mudcrutch - 2
9.  Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate
8.  Villagers - Where Have You Been All My Life?
7.  Brian Fallon -Painkillers
6.  The I Don’t Cares - Wild Stab
5.  Quilt - Plaza
4.  Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
3.  Adia Victoria - Beyond the Bloodhounds
2.  David Bowie - Blackstar
1.  Nada Surf - You Know Who You Are


Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

Avett Brothers - True Sadness
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Third World Pyramid
Felice Brothers - Life in the Dark
Fruit Bats - Absolute Loser
Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like a Levee
Ray LaMontagne - Ouroboros
Lucius - Good Grief
Junius Meyvant - Floating Harmonies
MONEY - Suicide Songs
My Golden Calf - Perfume Brute
Oh Pep! - Stadium Cake
Esme Patterson - We Were Wild
Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
The Record Company - Give It Back to You
Daniel Romano - Mosey
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - PersonA
Shearwater - Jet Plane and Oxbow
The Suffers - s/t
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Let Me Get By
Vandaveer - The Wild Mercury
Various - Day of the Dead
Weezer - The White Album
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
Woods - City Sun Eater In The River Of Light
Wussy - Forever Sounds