End of Year recap: 2016 Albums/releases in Review

[cestuneblague]

Alright since 2016 is just about done I guess it's time for a final anaylsis/round-up of everything going on with 2016 albums. And well it was certainly an interesting, slightly chaotic year year marked by it's kind of grim gravitas (that goes for the outside world as well) that did lead to a range of some fascinating works and obviously a few poignant farewells.

So I think in comparison to the last couple of years, while I think 2014 had a lot of interesting albums by new artists that perhaps were more of a sign of greater things to come and the most talked-about and highly-revered albums were... polarizing, to say the last and 2015 definitely saw a return of the more Big Album Release, where attention seemed to be focused more on some grand or intensly emotional works from more established artists, 2016 was kind of a mix of those two feelings, but also had it's own quirky trends.

I think obviously the many icons who passed this year and left a sort of farewell album (whether intentional or not) as well as artists who experienced unthinkable personal tragedy definitely left one of the biggest impressions on the 2016 musical landscape, and I do think 2016 def was still a year for the veterans or more-established artists than a lot of definitively great or explosive attention-grabbing albums from first or under-the-radar second-timers. While obviously there were albums from long-time and comeback artists like Radiohead, Nick Cave, A Tribe Called Quest, Frank Ocean , Jenny Hval, Oranassi Pazazu, Aesop Rock, Drive by Truckers and David bowie & Leonard Cohen's final releases that got a lot of praise & attention (and a few minor lightning rod releases like Bon Iver and The Avalanches' 16-years-in-the-making album), in my personal opinion I think a lot of what the best of 2016 had to offer were a lot of talented artists that have released a few promising, tantalizing works in the past really coming into their own this year, from Mitski to Angel Olsen to Sturgill Simpson to Ian William Craig to Solange to Danny Brown to Jeff Rosenstock to YG to Kveterlak to Blood Orange to Cass McCombs to Andy Schauf to Kero Kero Bonito... all quite wonderful, if nothing I would call truly great.

And again that might be what I found slightly dissapointing about 2016 album-wise, in mainly that I could find a lot of things I really enjoyed or found really fascinating with each listen but nothing I found absolutely divine and as-close-to-perfect-as-can-be as a complete whole... though perfection is always overrated. And again I still haven't heard a few key releases so that view could change.

And I guess going for individual genres, albums more overtly highlighting socially-conscious themes were a bit of a mixed bag, going from good to nearly capturing the zeitgest perfectly in albums like A Seat at the Table, American Band and Still Brazy to albums like... The Hope Six Demolition Project. Itch. I think it was definitely a good year for country, from more ambitious works less tied to the usual expectations of the "country sound" like A Sailor's Guide to Earth and beautifully performed intimate singer/songwriter based albums like Midwest Farmer's Daughter, though I didn't think it was a year exactly overflowing with new, revelatory modern classics quite like 2013 was. In the ambient, house, electronic fields I def think went strong but again not a whole lot of things I would call absolutely brilliant (I guess that's kind of a theme here). HIp-hop Im not quite listened enough to paint a wider picture of the year but definitely some intense, exciting, conversation-starting works that came out in 2016. I do think 2016 was still strong in the more guitar-influenced singer/songwriter albums from still relatively young artists, especially from the female voices: My Woman, Puberty 2, Up Against The Bricks (let's not make this a conversation about what defines gender), Beyond the Bloodhounds, Marked for Death as well as albums from long-term solo stars like Mangy Love, Freetown Sound and probalby the most ambitious and intriguing debut of the years (though it's very hard to call it a "debut" since he's had multiple compilations released already) in Teens of Denial. In pop it was "Lemonade" and everything else (sorry, "Dangerous Woman" fans).


So yeah I guess what are you all thoughts on 2016, I feel like even with a couple hundred plus albums heard there are still so many more albums and so many different viewpoints that can arise that it'd be interesting to hear everybody's take and even find new avenues for exploring albums, both for 2016 and beyond.


Oh and I am going to start a BEAMA's hype thread, hope to get it done this year in a much more low-tech fashion than year's past, and will probably ask for a volunteer (or volunteers) to help get it done, so hopefully that will be accomplished sometime before Trump's term is up.


Anyways, hope y'all have a happy new year, will probably not be anywhere near here till 2017 is several days old, but everybody stay safe and don't do anything Skinny wouldn't do.

[Tap]

I'm still collecting data and will write a huge blog post about everything soon, but I had a really fantastic year with music. Outside of my number 1 (which is absolute number 1), the rest of my top 10 is all stuff that I felt was top-tier in a way where their placement felt semi arbitrary, and I typically only feel about my top 3 or so (with even more things that I've found late and could grow to that level). And beyond that there was so much stuff that was just really great, just a huge bounty of things for me. Not to mention the older things I discovered, though my attention was definitely focused heavily on the current year, there's still a few other things that really made an impression on me, and other things I've just started getting acquainted with that I think I'll have a nice long fulfilling relationship with while I try to figure out what their deal is. There have been many times where I've thought back to the episode of Delocated where Jon's son wants to have a ska mitzvah (a ska themed bar mitzvah) and the song Jon sings where the lyrics are just "I am having a good time" (but with a really ska delivery) because that's me. I am/was having a good time.

[LordMark]

Here are my current top 5 albums of 2016. I haven't yet heard Skeleton Tree or Teens of Denial, so this list could easily change.

1.

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A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead

2.

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Afraid Of Heights by Billy Talent

3.

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Weezer (The White Album) by Weezer

4.

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Hollow Bones by Rival Sons

5.

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Blackstar by David Bowie

[Daydreamer]

For currently the first 3 are
1. Blackstar
2. Skeleton Tree
3. A Moon Shaped Pool

Will post a detailed version when I complete my top 10

[cestuneblague]

Oh Yeah I forgot an option: 2016 was YUUUUGGEEEEEEEEE!!!! (check our hands)

[Mercury]

Last option ftw. Diversity of viewpoint is good.

Oh and with that in mind 2017 I will be trying to really make it a point to grow and accomplish new things. I was on fucking cruise mode all of '16. Don't feel like I made any big leaps. As a result last night was brutal, I was just pissed about all the things I failed to do or even try to do all year (and for some years in some cases.)

So to get back on to more a music-related subject, I will try my darndest to keep close track of what music and albums are coming out each week and attempt to listen to 2 to 4 new albums each week while doing my daily tasks. Also I'll get back to Britney avatars and exclamation points and obsessing over anniversaries. But that last would seem to be in direct opposition to my original decision to try NEW things... Damn this is tough!

Happy fucking new year people! Hard to believe I've been on this site for 4 years and 1 week now. I remember Christmas 2012 when I decided to sign up and rate every album in BEAs top 1000 that is heard. That was super fun.
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[mickilennial]

It was another year where there were a lot of great and mediocre albums. People will say its not a very good year because they haven't really looked into it behind surface thoughts or brief ventures to the esoteric. People will say the same thing they have always said on BEA and RYM and so forth. 2017 will be the same.

[Space-Dementia]

I was wondering how far you guys think the top albums of the year will climb up the overall chart. It's always fun to make predictions. I'm thinking that by June, A Moon Shaped Pool is gonna be around 200th, Blackstar 250th, Skeleton Tree and Teens Of Denial around 500th, and Blonde and 22, A Million will probably be around 700th. I doubt anything else will be in the top 1000 by then, but we'll see.

[dihansse]

This year I was very busy listening to albums of other years than 2016 but there were however a great deal of albums I really liked: albums by older artists (Wilco, Metallica, ), great albums by new or still fairly young artists (DIIV, Kevin Morby, Car Seat Headrest, etc) but most of all this year was marked by loss: loss of own life (Bowie and Cohen), loss of a loved one (Nick Cave) and loss in general (Radiohead).

As in the rest of this decade this year is again marked by lots of music that seems to be made to fall asleep: slowed down rhythms, over use of auto-tune and the likes. But that seems to be changing and thanks to above mentioned and other albums, this is the best year of the decade to me.

This is my personal top chart of the year up to now:
Top 41 Music Albums of 2016 by dihansse