1. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool 2. Touche Amore - Stage Four 3. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep... 4. David Bowie - Blackstar 5. Skepta - Konnichiwa 6. The Hotellier - Goodness 7. Money - Suicide Songs 8. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues 9. Conor Oberst - Ruminations 10. Angel Du$t - Rock The Fuck On Forever 11. Bon Iver - 22, a million 12. Drake - VIEWS 13. Into It. Over It. - Standards 14. Beach Slang - A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings 15. Pup - The Dream Is Over
Just by taking a quick glance at these lists I am regretting having overlooked so many albums this year. I would need at least two years to digest all the great music that has been released in 2016.
c'mon teebs let's not give the list that took until the last on the list to notice anyone but a white male some credit, we're better than that here.
I liked a lot of albums that were not by white males this year, but they are in a genre that I don't really feel like is talked about much on this site so I kind of stray away from talking about it.. jazz... You probably don't know this about me but I have a bachelors degree in jazz performance on guitar, and am fully aware that the genre would not exist without african american influence in the early 20's especially in New Orleans and St. Louis. Brandford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Herlin RIley all put out really good jazz records this year. Some of my favorite artists of all time include Wes Montgomery, coltrane, Miles, Red Garland, Paul chambers, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley (super underrated) Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie,... I direct a middle school jazz band and spend time educating children on the genre and the history of it and why these artists are important. Oh and on top of that I spent 4 days in New Orleans doing nothing but observing the culture and music in the city literally spent all of my time in jazz clubs or observing music on the street. I'm only writing this because lately it seems that I have gotten somewhat of a reputation that I ignore art from people of color and it just isn't true, its just I listen to them in a different genre then what is spoken about on this site. I get that I could be better for sure, but this is like the third time I've been called out on this topic this week, when there is a lot people don't know a lot about me.
ignore him, the list was full of great albums. more diversity in music is always great but theres no need for him to look down on people who arent as "woke" as he is. im guilty of it sometimes to but theres a time and a place, as well as a proper way to have that convo. "we're better than that here" isnt it.
@teebs41 I like Jazz a lot, I know a lot of the classics and I know artists like Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding amnd Kamasi Washington, but I it's hard for me to go deeper because it's so dense and impenetrable, I always get overwhelmed. You got some advice?
Have you checked out the chorus.fm jazz thread? My best advice is to just slowly get into it. Pick one or two artists to track and go from there. Also go see a lot of live music if you can. If there are any jazz clubs around you check out who is playing there and check it out.
I know it's not technically 'Jazz' which I unfortunately can't get into since playing Trombone in high school, but there's a lot of Jazzy rock types out there like Gary Clark Jr., Vintage Trouble, and Little Hurricane that might be worth checking out too...all 3 are very different but have pretty 'twangy' guitar stuff you might dig.
Gary Clark Jr. is a wizard on guitar. Wasn't a huge fan of his last record, but I liked the one from a few years ago.
I'm jealous of how his brain works...I'd give just about anything to have his talent. I'm not huge into his albums so much either, but i'll binge watch his performances on youtube quite a bit. Learned about him from the Foo Fighters Sonic Highways thing...
I don't think I ever made it that far into Sonic Highways. Meant to watch all of it, just never got around to it. Might have to pick up where I left off. I think Blak and Blu was very strong. Probably a little longer than it needed to be, but it definitely showed off his guitar chops and the songwriting was pretty solid too. The one from last year (can't even remember the name) went in a very different direction which I couldn't get into.
Gary Clark's last album was definitely a disappointment. Black and Blu was really all over the map musically, something that I really appreciate, but I understand how he would want to make a more focused album. The problem overall was that the focused direction was TOO same-y and the songs didn't stand out from each other. It's a plesant listen, but I didn't find anything memorable and it's a bit of a chore to get through the whole thing
Album - Roar - Impossible Animals (March 27, 2016) Album is so good. Absolutely overlooked on here, I think a lot of people would really like it. One reason I don't make my EOTY list until later in the year
Same here, one of those pieces I appreciate artistically, but not something I often go back to. Good in a playlist, or background music...
The New Orleans episode is almost completely jazz based...talks about Gary Clark Jr. playing on stage at a very young age, has some interviews...good for history buffs. Even though the end product wasn't that great for Sonic Highways (the album itself) I still love the historical aspect of the project. It's what music should be all about IMO...the story behind the tune, influences etc.
Just copying mine over, from the other thread. 1 - Billie Marten - Writing Of Blues And Yellows 2 - Frank Ocean - Blonde. 3 - Local Natives - Sunlit Youth 4 - Band of Horses - Why are You Ok? 5 - The Avett Brothers - True Sadness 6 - The 1975 - I Like it When You Sleep... 7 - American Football - LP2 8 - Joseph - Im Alone, No You're Not 9 - Owen - The King Of Whys 10 - The Gentle Hits - The Gentle Hits 11- Pinegrove - Cardnial 12 - Bon Iver - 22, A Million 13 - Owel - Dear Me 14 - Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book 15 - Sara Watkins - Young in all the Wrong Ways 16 - Michael Kiwanuka - Love and Hate 17 - Angel Olsen - My Woman 18 - Charles Bradly - Changes 19 - The Head and The Heart - Signs of life 20 - Mothers - When you walk a long distance you are tired First time i've ever done one of these, i'm not seeing her on to many lists, but you guys should absolutely check out Billie Marten, that album is so beautiful and dark, perfect for this time of year.
I liked the album, but it didn't have a ton of staying power for me. I really loved the show, but I was downloading the episodes because I didn't have HBO at the time. Now I actually do have HBO, so I wonder if I can find those and watch them.
The Billie Marten album is incredible. It's perfect music to listen to in bed when I can't be bothered to get up on a freezing winter morning.