It's hard for me to look at any lists because any time I don't see Frank Ocean as number one I get sad. Too much bias.
Oh man, lots of choices there. Sturgill is probably the must-hear, at this point. He's gotten a ton of buzz (for good reason) and got nominated for Album of the Year, which was arguably the most surprising nomination in the history of that category. Beyond that, my first rec would be Lori McKenna. I think you'd really appreciate her songwriting.
Agreed. I have yet to post a list, but it's easily in my top five. Admittedly, their newer material isn't for everyone. But I love it.
1. Every Time I Die - Low Teens 2. Parquet Courts - Human Performance 3. David Bowie - Black Star 4. White Lung - Paradise 5. Deftones - Gore 6. Blood Orange - Freetown Sound 7. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool 8. Death Grips - Bottomless Pit 9. Angel Dust - Rock The Fuck On Forever
1. The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It 2. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues 3. Lydia Loveless - Real 4. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book 5. Bon Iver - 22, a Million 6. Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave 7. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion Side B 8. Blood Orange - Freetown Sound 9. Maren Morris - Hero 10. M83 - Junk 11. Vince Gill - Down to My Last Bad Habit 12. Your Boy Tony Braxton - Adult Contempt 13. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle 14. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo 15. Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere 16. Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Things We Are Made Of 17. Bruno Mars - 24k Magic 18. Kvelertak - Nattesferd 19. Mavis Staples - Livin' on a High Note 20. Frank Ocean - Blond 21. Francis and the Lights - Farewell, Starlite! 22. Foxes - All I Need 23. Pinegrove - Cardinal 24. Dawes - We're All Gonna Die 25. Drive-By Truckers - American Band 26. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman 27. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth 28. Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers 29. Beyonce - Lemondade 30. Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct 31. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker 32. Sam Beam and Jessica Hoop - Love Letter for Fire 33. Donovan Woods - Hard Settle, Ain't Troubled 34. The Honeycutters - On the Ropes 35. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years 36. Matt Pond PA - Winter Lives 37. The Hotelier - Goodness 38. Tegan and Sara - Love It to Death 39. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam - I Had a Dream That You Were Mine 40. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals - Call It What it Is 41. Two Tongues - Two 42. John Legend - Darkness and Light 43. B.J. The Chicago Kid - In My Mind 44. Jeff Rosenstock - Worry 45. Solange - A Seat at the Table 46. Green Day - Revolution Radio 47. John K. Samson - Winter Wheat 48. Case/Lang/Viers - Case/Lang/Viers 49. Bad Rabbits - American Nightmare 50. Daughter - Not to Disappear Just Missed: Anderson Paak Gallant Michael Kiwanuka The Mowglis Alicia Keys Honorable mentions: Allen Toussaint, The Monkees, Norah Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Esperanza Spalding, Margot Price, Kris Allen, Mac Miller, Sims, Courtney Marie Andrews, Jamila Woods, Drake, Andy Shauf, Sara Watkins, The Weeknd, YG, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard, Miranda Lambert, Future, Lights, The Suffers, David Bowie, Bonnie Raitt, JoJo, The Avett Brothers, K. Michelle, American Football, Ingrid Michaelson, White Lung, Radiohead, Yellowcard, Bearstronaut, Two Door Cinema Club, A Tribe Called Quest, Deer Leap, AlunaGeorge, White Denim, , Laura Mvula EPs (no order): Friends in America - Be in Love Glen Hansard - A Season on the Line Royal Teeth - Amateurs Abra - Princess Vince Staples - Prima Donna Pallbearer - Fear and Fury The Chainsmokers - Collage Andrew James - Shoreline Tokyo Police Club - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Radness (Part One) The Starting Line - Anyways
Nice! Lots of stuff I like on here. I'm familiar with most of these artists, but there are still a handful of albums I never got around to. Also, cool to see that Kris Allen album in the honorable mentions. Was pretty convinced I was the only one who had listened to that. It didn't make my list, but I'm always pleasantly surprised by his stuff.
What did you miss? And yeah he's really grown with each album to be a really solid artist. Never going to blow you away, but makes quality records.
8. Blood Orange - Freetown Sound 12. Your Boy Tony Braxton - Adult Contempt 17. Bruno Mars - 24k Magic 18. Kvelertak - Nattesferd 19. Mavis Staples - Livin' on a High Note 22. Foxes - All I Need 26. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman 28. Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers 30. Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct 34. The Honeycutters - On the Ropes 36. Matt Pond PA - Winter Lives 39. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam - I Had a Dream That You Were Mine 40. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals - Call It What it Is 41. Two Tongues - Two 43. B.J. The Chicago Kid - In My Mind 44. Jeff Rosenstock - Worry 45. Solange - A Seat at the Table 47. John K. Samson - Winter Wheat 48. Case/Lang/Viers - Case/Lang/Viers 49. Bad Rabbits - American Nightmare Most of these have been on my list for awhile, and a few are on my computer. Oddly, my favorite two artists on this list are problem Corinne Bailey Rae and Matt Pond PA, and I don't think I knew either of them released records in 2016. So I'm looking forward to checking those out. Which others would you recommend I give top priority?
Craig check out that John k Samson album. Not sure how into his voice you'll be, but he's a spectacular lyricist and I think you'll appreciate that
Hmm. - The Staples record. M. Ward gave it that vintage, warm production I think you could get down with. - Honeycutters I honestly thought was your rec. They're country. You should be all over it - Ben Harper could be your jam maybe? Organic, good playing. The kinds stuff El Jeffe Craig used to dig - John K. Samson is just an oustanding songwriter. Pretty much a novelist. And it's acoustic - Case/Lang/Viers would be up your alley too. Neko Case and kd lang are both basically alt-country
Cool, I'll check those out, starting with The Honeycutters probably. The name definitely sounds familiar, but I don't think that was my rec because I definitely haven't heard this album! Ha I'm familiar with Ben Harper, and Case/Lang/Viers showed up on a bunch of country lists at the end of the year, so they're on my radar.
It was a good year for random collab albums between case/lang/veirs, Sam Beam and Jessica Loop, Colvin and Earle, Nxworries, etc.
craiiiiig you didn't even listen to solange or blood orange or jeff before making your list? making me sad i get some of the others but those records were in such high profile this year i'm just surprised
God damnit @George I wish I had heard Atlas earlier, cause there is NO WAY this wouldn't have been on that list I just posted.
The Beam/Hoop record would have been in my top 50, if I'd done one. No excuse on Solange, just ran out of time. Blood Orange I heard a track or two on Chris's summer mixes and wasn't overly impressed. And I remember being pretty lukewarm on Rosenstock's last one, so this album wasn't very high on my list of stuff to check out. I intend to listen to all three now that things have slowed down a bit, though.
I actually thought the Beam/Hoop record would land in the honorables, but it just kept winning head-to-head matchups, even following his weird muse, Beam is such a wonderful writer.
I mean I'm devastated that they are done but if John keeps putting out records as good as this I'll be totally okay with it.
i really love the blood orange record, it's sort of like frank ocean in which it's a really moody, really great R&B record. really focused on the women involved in the record too, the song "best to you" if you haven't heard it was one of my best of the year. rosenstock's record is leagues above the last and i loved it, but you still need to like the punky edge to it. the last nine songs are all basically one song, all stringing into each other, but it's crazy how he can work a ska song into a hardcore song into basically a huge shoutalong ballad in three straight songs. it's just one of the more forward thinking, ambitious punk records i've heard in a while
I know you've enjoyed his last couple more than I have, particularly Ghost on Ghost, which kind of lost me. This one won me back over a bit, though I don't think he's ever going to quite regain the magic of Our Endless Numbered Days for me. That record probably has five of my all-time favorite songs on it.
Yeah but that's like saying Bruce won't get back to Born to Run. I mean, sure, but there's still a lot to love.
I definitely got more interested in the Rosenstock record as I was putting together the Chorus EOTY stuff. Whoever did the write-up for that one described it in a way that piqued my interest.