I admit, this was the list that prompted me to start a music blog in the first place. I may have loved and listened to music my entire life, but 2016 was the very first year that I payed close attention to every single genre of music from January 1st to the date this was posted. From punk to metal, hip-hop to R&B, country to bluegrass, and experimental to contemporary; if it sounded good, or it at least got enough attention from everyone that I felt it warranted a listen, I wanted a piece of it.
If there’s anything we can gain from the past year, it’s that 2016 was an unspeakably wonderful year for music but not so much anything else. Maybe there’s a correlation there that’s supposed to make sense. I’m not entirely sure, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. All that matters right now is I am DYING and uh ITCHING to share this list with you.
This list is pretty much 100% subjective, but it is however versatile and that’s what I am most proud of when sharing it with you, the reader. This was the year I can say with utmost confidence that I’ve broadened my pallet as much as I could. If you don’t agree with this list, that is perfectly fine. If you think I am wrong for this list, then you can go fuck yourself.
Not much more to say, so let’s jump right into it:
50) 21 Savage & Metro Boomin – Savage Mode
With the help of Metro Boomin’s expensive-sounding high quality production, 21 Savage shares his story of violence murder trauma and becoming a ‘savage’ in a very sleek and mesmerizing fashion. Definitely give this a listen if you’re into dark and melodic minimalistic hip-hop music production and care less about lyricism or lyrical depth.
49) NAILS – You Will Never Be One Of Us
If there is any metal artist who can fit an intense fast-paced smorgasbord of power and instrumentation on a record that’s less than 2 minutes long, I don’t think anyone does it better than Nails. These guys are a hardcore punk/metal outfit that have been at it since the start of the decade, and though I definitely don’t listen to metal as much as I did 5-ish years ago, the ones that stand out to me are generally the ones I still listen to casually. Give this album a go, and honestly this band’s entire discography a go as well, if you want to feel a song repeatedly pummel your face into the ground for no more than 90 seconds.
48) Jack DeJohnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matthew Garrison – In Movement
I admittedly didn’t find out about this three ever working together until earlier this year so my background knowledge is limited, but Dejohnette’s track record, working with artists like Miles Davis and Pat Methany whilst being musically active for more or less half a century, caught my attention when the name ‘Coltrane’ appeared on the same album as his name was on. Freaking digging this thing. The patterning, the cymbal-work and the eloquent and uniform instrumentation; none limit the trio to the genre of jazz however you still appreciate the traditional roots these artists stem from and that context only helps their music sound better.
47) Kid Cudi – Passion Pain and Demon Slayin’
This is likely Kid Cudi’s best project to date, but to be honest I can’t promise you that. If there’s anything Kid Cudi’s fans know, its that his music is never easy to digest or even understand the first couple of listens. Sometimes it’s just flat out bad music. I have listened to this thing maybe 2-3 times all the way through, and I still don’t fully grasp the project but that’s also what keeps bringing me back to it. My favourite track on here is Rose Golden feat. Willow Smith, but I think that’s just because it’s such an easy track to listen to; no abstraction, no bullshit, just two beautiful voices that happen to compliment one another admirably. Give this album a listen if you’re looking for a challenge. You might also just hate it, and I can 100% understand why if you do.
46) The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation
The alternative technical metal band’s final project ends their career with a bang. As I’ve never been a huge fan of these guys before, I can say with confidence that Dissociation was my favourite album by the band, and with good reason. Give this album a listen if you don’t believe elements of metal and jazz music can sound pleasant when meshed together. I fully intend to listen to their other 5 projects from start to finish (I listened to Option Paralysis in 2010 and didn’t care for it, but I was also 17 which says a lot) and see if the context changes the listening experience at all.
45) Explosions In The Sky – The Wilderness
Yet another artist I personally find to have released their best album this year: EITS comes through with an ambient, post-rock project that is able to move the listener with minimal instrumentation and likely minimal effort as well. Sounding like nothing but noise on the outermost layer, this project forces you to feel out an immense portion of their music that you couldn’t otherwise appreciate without challenging yourself and your ear. Though I think this is their best project to date, I would never not recommend an EITS album to someone looking to start more or less a musical journey that begins outside of their comfort zone.
44) Esperanza Spalding – Unconditional Love
Another artist I only found out about this year, even though I think she won a grammy a few years ago; I didn’t even plan on giving this thing any of my attention in the first place, not because I had low expectations for it but there wasn’t anything about it or Esperanza that caught my attention. Give this album a listen if you’d be into mid-paced pop-esque jazz music that fluctuate vocal octaves beautifully and comfortably. And if you can’t give the entire album the time of day, seriously, listen to the song ‘Unconditional Love’ if you want a eloquently simple music experience.
43) Solange – A Seat At The Table
Though this is not a complicated project in any way, it is very good at being what it is and doing what it aims to do: sharing a narrative and communicating hardship. Good music often presents itself in the form of an artist who has not only grown but manifested his/her growth through each album he or she releases. You will definitely appreciate this album more if you are a long time Solange fan, but if not you are in the clear as this album is a rich, vibrant and colourful R&B album that’s easy on the ears.
42) Matmos – Ultimate Care II
If you ever had any doubt that you could make a coherent and musically-sound album using only a washing machine, let Matmos put you in your place. These guys are an experimental electronic duo notorious for turning anything and everything into a source of artistic inspiration. From Pitchfork’s Chris Randle:
“It’s not such a strange instrument for Matmos. Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt, partners in all things, have wrung electronic music out of surgical tools, a cigarette burn, Björk reciting Wittgenstein, and quivering crayfish. Lots of it you can even dance to.”
Based only off how strange and niche of a concept all of this is, I would confidently recommend this album to you. It may be a washing machine you’re listening to, but the music itself was good enough to make it onto my top 50 albums of 2016.
41) Bladee – Eversince
Even though Bladee hasn’t been an artist where in the past you expected something of substance or seriousness to come of his work, Eversince signifies Bladee’s growth and capability of being apart of something a bit more direct and maybe even commercial. I have loved this guy since day 1, he’s been one of my favourite internet/cloud rappers for years now and this album didn’t have me feeling any differently. I will say however, that I think his features on other artist’s records are vastly superior to most of his solo work. He is a difficult hip-hop artist to recommend as you either love him or hate him, but if you’re willing to test the waters, by all means give this album a shot.
40) Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
I can say with confidence that this album is far from as polarizing as their 2011 album ‘The King of Limbs’ (basically meaning that Radiohead fans didn’t care for it), however it is likely their hardest to take all in and digest. I won’t recommend this to you if you’re a Radiohead fan, because if you are a Radiohead fan you listened to this album within the first 5 minutes of it being released earlier this year. However, if you want a heavy daunting visceral-sounding experience then do not skip out on this thing. It is objectively one of the best albums of this year, but it got my 40th best album because I’ve personally never been a very big Radiohead fan.
39) Julian Lage, Arclight – Live in Los Angeles
If you haven’t seen the live performance of this in LA on Youtube or Reddit or wherever you can find it, seriously just do it. Here we have another jazz trio that gives us the traditional roots of jazz and blues music combined with the passion of someone like Jon Gomm and the smoothness and technicality of someone like Carlos Santana. Clean, positive and charming jazz music that demands next to nothing of you or me. One of my favourite purist Jazz projects of the year.
38) Nicolas Jaar – Sirens
This guy is relatively new yet inconsistent with his releases; it’s been 5 years since his debut release ‘Space is Only Noise’ and in the music industry that is a long enough time to ruin your entire career if you are stagnant enough. Despite this, I was referred to by my buddy about a month ago and was pleasantly surprised with how much music Jaar packed into this 6 track project. It is worldly, thought-provoking, and its use of silence as spacing and contrast is absolutely stunning. I would argue that Nicolas Jaar is ahead of his time by a few years, and would recommend this to you if you’re not afraid to try out some electronic and alternative instrumentation and moderately-demanding listening.
37) Gojira – Magma
With the release of this stylistic combination of Lamb of God’s ‘New American Gospel’ and Altar of Plagues’ ‘Teethed Injury and Glory’, I listened to the world of metal yelling in unison ‘Best metal album of the year! Best metal album of the year!’ upon this album’s release.
And you know what? I fucking agree 100%. Magma is my pick for metal album of the year.
This thing is packed to the brim with dark minimal emotion and melody, sort of like Meshuggah but far more comprehensible and forward thinking while still maintaining elements of mathematic time signatures and riffs. It feels like one of the only metal outfits today that are playing and recording metal music that catches me off guard, like those insanely high pitched riffs off the song ‘Stranded’. There is a tendency in metal to divide the genre into subgenres as quickly and uniform as possible, however I can eagerly recommend this album to you if you like any and all different kinds of metal. Simply put, this thing fucking rules. Like I said, this is my pick for metal album of the year by a hard mile.
36) Scott Walker – The Childhood of a Leader (OST)
After the release of his 2012 full-length project ‘Bish Bosch’, I officially have no idea what to expect of Scott Walker. That in itself was one of the weirdest things I had ever heard in my 23 years alive, so it was impossible for me to have even the slightest standard for his music. He has been making music longer than I have been alive, and has made one of the most unseemly transitions in modern musical history. And now Scott is back producing the OST for a movie about a 9 year old dictator, and his ability to create film scores is as eerily captivating as his ability to make and produce albums. This is a project difficult to recommend because I don’t know what it is exactly, even though I do know it’s music and I do know it’s good. I’d tell you to try Scott Walker regardless, but I’d tell you that you might actually like this OST if you’re into high-quality eerie, dissonant trailer and cinematic music sounding like a more corrupted Hans Zimmer.
35) Skepta – Konnichiwa
This is a very interesting album for me, as it’s one of the very first ‘Grime’ hip-hop albums I was ever exposed to. It has a lot of low points so to speak that do a poor job of pulling me in, yet have some songs and verses where Skepta completely catches me off guard and leaves me in awe; case in point the song Corn on the Curb ft. Wiley and Chip was one of the most unorthodox rap songs of the year in my opinion. This guy is credited for leading the UK onto a semi-narrow path of cultural heed and modernism since the founding of the genre by Dizzee Rascal. This was a very relevant hip-hop album but certainly not the best. Give this thing a go if you’re patient and appreciative of both hip-hop music and its culture.
34) Yung Lean – Warlord
I’ve always loved Yung Lean but never fully understood why. I found out about this album through the singles ‘Hoover’ and ‘Highway Patrol’, and oh my dear God are they both ever good. Say what you will about his vocals or his aesthetic, those two songs are incredibly catchy, and Bladee’s verse on Highway Patrol is oddly poetic. The album itself is good but not special, as I preferred ‘Unknown Memory’ and songs like Yoshi City and Blinded to most of this album. But still, I recommend this to fans of Yung Lean and cloud rap in general, and I definitely recommend everyone checks out those two singles: they do a good job at acting as glue for this album, are beautiful and definitely not what you’d expect from a couple of Swedish kids making rap music.
33) Injury Reserve – Floss
This experimental hip hop trio has made one of the most exciting underground rap albums of late 2016 and put out one of the most progressive and charming bangers I’ve heard in a very long time. ‘Oh Shit!’ is definitely one of my favourite rap songs of 2016 and is also one of the most lyrically satisfying. My only complaint about this album is I’d argue it almost starts off too strong, as their best and most catchy track on the entire project is track #1. That is not to say that the rest of the album is bad, but there are times where you can’t help but feel as if you expect a bit more considering the bar was set so high to begin with. Despite my goofy complaint, this thing bangs and is good at it. I could hand this album to anyone who enjoys hip-hop music to at least some capacity and expect them to find something they enjoy about it.
32) PARTYNEXTDOOR – P3
Feeling proud almost by default of any successful artist hailing from the Greater Toronto Area, Party was the very first artist signed to Drake’s OVO record label and has in my opinion released his best project of three to date this year. Songs like ‘Brown Skin’ and ‘Come And See Me’ are responsible for the confidant-sounding ethereal and dreary vibe that comes with the OVO sound, and are further appreciated when you are living in downtown Toronto or Mississauga and can feel the energy of the city in contrast to the energy of OVO’s music firsthand. And sure, maybe I’m biased as someone who’s lived in downtown Toronto for years but I think OVO’s artists not only do a good job at producing good music overall, but they also do a wonderful job at capitalizing on elements of production and simplistic yet impressive lyricism that feel out and define their people and their cities’ sound.
31) Clarence Clarity – Same
Internet artist Clarence Clarity released what was easily one of my top 10 favourite albums of 2015, ‘No Now’, and has graced us with both this EP and the hope that he will release another full length project in the near distant future. The album ‘No Now’ was quite literally undefinable, but in a much less serious and less daunting fashion than anything by Scott Walker. It was playful, it was fun, it couldn’t possibly take itself seriously and it didn’t need to because the music itself was so good that it could have stood on its own two legs with literally nothing to communicate but colourful, abstract mess after mess after mess. This EP here is no different, except it is quite literally 5 songs titled ‘SAME’ that are EXACTLY THE SAME SONG, 5 TIMES. This is probably neither genius nor mad, but aforementioned, it doesn’t need to be anything. This EP is a fraction shorter and slower than ‘No Now’, but that isn’t saying a great deal; the music is still undefinable, it still sounds like what a bag of candy and a trampoline would sound like if you can even describe music to be that fun, and it’s still well-produced beyond belief. Give ‘No Now’ and ‘Same’ a listen… if you like to listen to things.
30) Childish Gambino – Awaken, My Love!
Writer, actor and musician Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino has released what most would agree is his most ambitious project to date. For me, it’s tough to say if it’s my favourite as I loved ‘Because The Internet’ when it came out, and to this day I still admire that album dearly. However I can say pretty easily that Childish Gambino’s transition from rap to soul, r&b and surprisingly funk seems to have been the appropriate fit he needed in the music world to go above and beyond the likable, articulate and well-spoken persona from shows like Community and Atlanta, and transition into the modern musical force that brought us ‘Me and Your Mama’, one of the catchiest and most unexpected singles of the year. Give this album a shot if you’re looking for admirable and enjoyable funkadelic experience or even if you just want to appreciate Donald’s progression as an artist firsthand.
29) Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker
I will admit two things right off the bat: 1. I am not a Leonard Cohen fan, I never have been and I never will be. Nothing against his music, but I personally don’t really care for it. 2, I am a big believer in context influencing art. With any art form, the piece is dependant on the artist and not the other way around. If I have a blank canvas, I am the one who decides to paint it the colour I want; if I am a blank canvas and I am at an absolute loss in life, I am the one who paints myself with the array of colours I want. Leonard Cohen took his canvas and dipped it entirely in the blackest of black paint you can fathom. This album was a confrontation of Cohen’s death that was in the making for long long before this album started being produced. It’s an album about love, light, death, spirituality, ambiguity and dimension. You could argue that this album was being written for the entirety of Cohen’s entire life, and we got it days before his passing. Concluding his career and lifetime, I recommend this to anyone who’s prepared for a dark, difficult baritone listen.
28) Lil Uzi Vert – The Perfect Luv Tape
Here is yet another more ethereal, cloud hip-hop artist who happens to be my favourite XXL freshman of 2016. A lot of people really don’t like this guy, saying things like him and other ‘mumble’ rappers like him are ruining the hip-hop genre. These same people are usually the ones who will say things like ‘Yeah I’m a true fan of rap, Biggie and 2Pac are my idols!” But the problem with this, is in the current year it is perfectly fine and understandable to acknowledge and respect the founders of a genre of music (or anything really) but to say that they are your FAVOURITE hip-hop artists of all time tells me you find shallow appeal in the actual music created by these people. It has been 26 years, and you’re telling me the founders are still your favourites? Seriously, have an open mind. Don’t fear change, even when we all do. Hip-hop has always been a genre of music about conscious change. Lil Uzi Vert certainly isn’t the most profound lyricist but stylistically he symbolizes this change that defines the genre and that means more to me than most things mean to the ‘classics’ dickriders. Give this album a listen if you want a colourful, positive brightly-produced hip-hop album that steers away from at least some of the stereotypes that have traditionally come as baggage with the genre.
27) D.R.A.M – Big Baby D.R.A.M
This album is similar to the last Lil Uzi Vert album I just talked about in the sense that it doesn’t take itself seriously and is charming as a result. It also doesn’t need to take itself seriously as the production is stellar and the unorthodox instrumentation is enough to draw your attention away from all the other artists who can’t be bothered to switch or fuse their styles up in 2016. The song Misunderstood ft. Young Thug is one of the year’s most versatile hip-hop songs with an unusual modus operandi, while the Song Broccoli ft. Lil Yachty is one of the happiest and catchiest. I am loving this thing from start to finish, and I can’t help but feel you will too.
26) Bones – PaidProgrammingII
Going into PaidProgrammingII, I expected to come out liking it but I did not expect to love the shit out of it as much as I do. I listened to it about 6 months ago and was taken back by a few things, most notably that it was 25 tracks long, that it was free, and at how creative and musically active this guy is and was; this is his like 40th project to date (not joking) and all his music is intentionally free of charge. This is primarily a hip-hop album but it’s a lot of things honestly; it’s dreary and nostalgic, it’s unconventional vocally and behind Bones’ rusty and rough exterior the music itself is avant garde and powerfully beautiful. ‘PeteyPablo’ is the one of the darkest and most underrated hip-hop tracks I’ve heard in a very long time; the track alone could barely stand toe to toe with Danny Brown’s ‘Really Doe’ but could definitely still stand nonetheless. Give this a listen if you’re a fan of dark unminimalistic and underground hip-hop music… or anime.
We are half way done everyone! Take a break now if you need it. I sure do; buying Christmas presents for people and planning/writing this all out are the only two things I’ve done with my holidays. I must say, though I’ve written 3885 words total so far, I have really found that I enjoy doing this whether 5 people or 500 people end up reading this once it’s finished and ready. I really hope you enjoy reading all of this as much as I enjoy writing it. Thanks again for swinging by.
Now onto the bottom half of the list:
25) Yung Lean – Frost God
Yes, take it as you will that Yung Lean is the only artist that released two projects in one year and both made my top 50 albums of 2016 list. I honestly think this was an amazing year for Yung Lean, and I think Frost God might be his most diverse and masterful release to date. I won’t say much that hasn’t already been said on the Warlord review, however I will say that this is a much more colourful yet serious and musically intense project; a lot of the production feels like it borrows from someone like Noah 40 on Drake’s ‘Views’ while still maintaining the production style of Yung Gud and Yung Sherman on songs like ‘Hennessy and Sailor Moon’ which by the way is an absolutely GORGEOUS sounding song that does its job pretty perfectly; it’s busy, it’s lively, it makes you smile and doesn’t need to make you think. Though my favourite Yung Lean song will likely always be ‘Kyoto’ as I believe it’s pretty much perfect, I’m around 90% sure this is my favourite Yung Lean project from start to finish.
24) clipping. – Splendor & Misery
I can promise you that you’ve never heard a band quite like clipping. and you’ve most certainly never heard an album quite like Splendor and Misery in your life. This album, if you even want to call it an album, is a hip-hop space opera that’s also a deconstructionist narrative. They are an non-synthetic outfit that makes music strictly from analog sounds and recordings; from shooting a gun to pushing a trash can down the stairs, the trio will turn any and all noise into musical sounds. Splendor and Misery is a story that “follows the sole survivor of a slave uprising on an interstellar cargo ship, and the onboard computer that falls in love with him.” It is weird, industrial, hard-hitting and above all, really really good. I compare these guys to Death Grips a lot, one of my favourite artists of this decade, but even then they’re so thematically different that you almost need to just listen for yourself and find for yourself whether its something worth your time and energy.
23) Kendrick Lamar – Untitled Unmastered
After 2015’s forward thinking, genre-moving landmark that was To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar releases 8 unreleased B-side tracks that are not only good but good enough to make my top 25 albums of 2016. That says a lot I think. These tracks are not consistent and do not present any themes that aren’t political or psychological, but in my opinion don’t need to be. This collection of demos recorded between 2013 and 2016 has received universal acclaim and rightfully so. Untitled 02 was my personal favourite track of the 8, as it was dark, personal, haunting and Yung Exclusive’s production cut deep in the best way possible. Give this things a listen if you were a fan of TPAB or of Kendrick Lamar in general.
22) Joey Purp – iiiDrops
THIS IS MY MIXTAPE OF THE YEAR. If you haven’t heard of Joey Purp or his mixtape that came out earlier this year, do yourself a favour and go listen now. This got a lot of attention when it surfaced but its hype died out way too quickly I felt, what with releases of other projects and other worldly events happening in general. This thing is crisp, expensive-sounding and absolutely high-quality for a hip-hop artist as up and coming and uncommercial as Joey Purp. Songs like Gobody are dark and in your face bangers while songs like Photobooth stand out like no other song, pretty much ever! I mean it, Photobooth was in my top 10 favourite songs about half way through the year because it was the first of its type of sound that I had ever experienced. This mixtape does have very few niches but when it does have niches I find they are nothing short of spectacular.
21) David Bowie – Blackstar
Ziggy Stardust himself leaves all of us with his final rise and fall. There is a lot I could talk about here seeing as this album was written and produced during Bowie’s waking hours, and was written with the intent to confront death and share this confrontation with the world, however I will do my best to talk only about the music. This album put simply, was very good but not my favourite artistic work by Bowie. From the title track to Lazarus, the music integrates themes of detachment, emotion, excitement and atrocity into what sounds like Bowie communicating his readiness and arguably eagerness to die one final time. The synth leads are pure and seep into the rest of the music seamlessly, the percussion work is not complex and Bowie’s vocals are as cryptic and exhibitioning as they always were. The last song titled ‘I can’t give you everything’, notably the last David Bowie song ever, bursts into an array of musical colours as a means to complete the Blackstar era of his life and symbolizes his genuine transcendence into heaven. Sad to think that Bowie’s last song was titled that when he’s already given the world so so much. Given the context, this is Bowie’s most sad and touching release to date and a wonderful musical landmark for everyone tuning in.
20 A Tribe Called Quest – We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service
This is the sixth and final ATCQ project after the recent passing of Phife Dawg in March earlier this year. With the other artists who released their final projects due to a death in the group, I will say that this project is not ranked this highly because of it. I would even go as far to say that this is not a very special ATCQ album musically, but I think that’s why I liked it so much; the group makes good music. They always have, and nearly 2 decades later, they continue to do so with past recordings, snippets and studio time in Q-Tip’s home studio following their performance on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show one year ago. The album starts off relatively unfocused but treads uphill very fast and continues to tread uphill for more or less the rest of the album. Great, great, really really great hip-hop record regardless of the context from the group members. Favourite tracks are ‘We The People’ and ‘Solid Wall of Sound’. I confidently recommend this to any artist looking for a strong 90s revitalization of rap that doesn’t sound overdone or stale in the slightest.
19) Noname – Telephone
I have been digging this thing for months now! This thing is warm, firm, welcoming and informal and I love it. I know it’s technically rap but it’s not rap any of us are used to and that’s where a lot of the charm of this project stems from. This is one of the most jazzy and positive mixtapes of the year and very difficult not to appreciate if you don’t like or even love it. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to feel like they’re relaxed, happy, stoned or all of the above.
18) Beyonce – Lemonade
If there’s any celebrity who could get away with releasing an album about being cheated on and have the entire first world sympathizing simultaneously, it’s Beyonce Knowles Carter. Say what you want about her or Jay-Z or about the theory that this album was just a huge publicity stunt and there was no cheating to begin with: there is currently no better, no more passionate album about the subject. Not only that, but I’d be bold enough to say that this is either Beyonce’s best or 2nd best album to date. Hold Up is extremely relatable for insecure women and men alike, Don’t Hurt Yourself is quite possibly the best Jack White feature I’ve ever heard in my entire life, Freedom ft. Kendrick Lamar is one the best and most intense modern blues songs of this decade, and Formation… is Formation. I did not consider myself a Beyonce fan up until this album, and now I can’t get enough.
17) Various Artists – La La Land (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Sorry everyone, I know this isn’t a REAL album, boo bloody hoo. But the truth is, I couldn’t not put this OST on my list. For what the music is, and for what the actors and actresses have been able to become as a result of the music they’re apart of, I think this is one of the most cumulative and beautiful film scores I’ve heard this year. All the duets with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are stellar, composition by Justin Hurwitz is on point, and the film itself is so musically in tune with its narrative and progression that the entire end result could very well be my pick for film of the year. Not that that matters here or anything.
16) Tim Hecker – Love Streams
For those that did not know, Tim Hecker’s 2013 album ‘Virgins’ was one of the best albums I’ve heard in my entire life. With respect to the idea of a piece of art’s ability to make you feel something once you’re exposed to it, Virgins is in my opinion the #1 album of all time. I have yet to feel something affect my entire mind, my body, my entire life as much as that album did, and the song ‘Live Room’ was actually what inspired the name of this blog! So what does this have to do with Love Streams? Love Streams was worse than Virgins, by a lot, and it is my 16th favourite album of 2016. In comparison, it is far less tight, less compressed and less direct than Virgins was but that isn’t a standard we should be holding every project by Tim Hecker to. It is far more hazy, mezmerizing, and resembling of a calm but profound build-up where Virgins was our lives’ inevitable yet satisfying peak. The song Violet Monumental is one of my favourite instrumentals of this year; it makes you feel a lot and sometimes its not entirely clear what you’re even feeling to begin with. I recommend this to anyone with a strong sense of musical profoundness, and I wholeheartedly recommend the album Virgins to all of you.
15) The Weeknd – Starboy
2016 was a huge year for Abel, and well before this album dropped. When I had first heard the track Starboy, I was content with the vocals, lyricism and Daft Punk’s production but not blown away by the single itself. It really took this entire album for me to delve deeper and deeper into The Weeknd’s music, and I’m really glad it worked that way instead of growing fond of the singles before the rest of the tracks. From the title track, to the fast-paced and quintessential tracks ‘Party Animal’ and ‘False Alarm’, to the surprisingly pleasant Future feature on the track ‘All I Know’, to the just about perfect ‘Die For You’, you just can’t go wrong. The cymbals are crips, the 808 work is of the highest quality, and the reverb on Abel’s vocals is in such good taste it’s uncanny. Give this album a listen if you liked Starboy but your ‘Top 40’-ass was too lazy to pursue listening to the rest of his non-singles.
14) Death Grips – Bottomless Pit
What could very well be my favourite artist of the decade, Death Grips is back with their punk hip-hop and industrial-infused array of musical genres all on this new project. If I could define Death Grips with one word, I couldn’t. I could never do something like that. They are one of the most successful experimental and ‘anti’ artists of the entire 2000s and are able to express whatever they want however they want to do it. This album is musically abrasive, grotesque and unquenchable. It starts off quite literally as a punk project with the opening track ‘Giving Good People Bad Ideas’, goes straight industrial with ‘Hothead’ and ‘Spikes’, gets harder and grungier with ‘Warping’, and then turns into an undefinable and colourful melody with ‘Eh’, which by the way is a fucking hilarious song about not caring about anything ever. The entire album follows this pattern of not having a pattern, and it’s so uncomfortable but you just can’t turn away from it. This thing is everything I had hoped it would be, and that is pretty much just a powerful and artistic mess. Give this thing a listen if you like your music as experimental as you do absolutely off the walls insane.
13) Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
This is one of those projects that could fill even the most dull and lethargic people of the world with love, vibrance and endless radiance. Chance The Rapper released the most positive and musically strong and ideal rap albums of the year. I would argue that it had the best opener of 2016 with All We Got ft. Kanye West, which is a song that couldn’t possibly have more music packed into it; it is quite literally packed to the brim with so much music that, for what it is, it could not become more musical. The theme of positivity and fun, fun harmony continues throughout most of the album with tracks like ‘No Problem’ ft. Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz, ‘Blessings’, and ‘Mixtape’ ft. Young Thug and Lil Yachty. Even Jeremih’s and Francis and the Light’s features on here are wonderful. They’re all wonderful. This thing is wonderful start to finish. If you don’t listen to hip-hop music and were interested in starting now, don’t listen to this album because it will spoil the majority of the genre for you. I cannot communicate enough good things about Coloring Book to you, so just listen for yourself and enjoy every last bit of it.
12) Flume – Skin
The grammy-nominated album and artist makes my #12 spot, and it admittedly fought pretty hard with Chance’s Coloring Book for it but I think this ordering was apt. Some were very critical of this guy’s musical style DJing and producing, but I honestly think this is electronic music unlike anything we’ve ever heard before. It flows, pauses, continues and switches itself up in ways that never stop catching your attention. It has elements of traditional electronica with vocal features that compliment the music where appropriate yet it finds away to host literally no traditional electronic songs at all. And the features are all impressive and fantastic: Kai, Beck, Allan Kingdom, Raekwon, Little Dragon, Vince Staples… the only feature I didn’t lose my mind over was Tove Lo’s and the song she was on titled ‘Say It’ wasn’t even bad. The song ‘Numb and Getting Colder’ ft. Kucka is like a sequel to Stereo Love, and the song Smoke and Retribution ft. Vic Mensa bangs so god damn hard. If you want an electronic album that’s a perfect mix of 50% experimental and 50% 100% versatility, you need not look further. Despite this, Skin was not my vote for electronic album of the year but a very special album a bit further down my list was.
11) Young Thug – My Name is Jeffery
I was so distressed to have to put this album somewhere that wasn’t in my top 10 albums of 2016, and with good reason. I’ve said this before and I will say it again with utmost confidence and seriousness: Young Thug is the Louis Armstrong of our generation, minus the trumpet. There is no bolder, no more identifiable of a sound, and no more stylistically independent and alternative-thinking as Young Thug in the entire genre of hip-hop. On the very outermost layer, he sounds like he’s unable to speak and the farthest thing from music, but it’s almost as if with the more time and patience you give his approach to music and to his albums, the more you are okay with the lyrics, or lack thereof, that you’re getting. And it only helps that this is pretty much objectively the best thing Young Thug has ever made. Every song is named after a person Thug draws inspiration from, and the best of these songs are Wyclef Jean, Riri and yes… Harambe. The only thing about this album I did not like was the horribly generic and empty-sounding Travis Scott feature on ‘Pick Up The Phone’ but the album does a very good job at making me forget all about that and continuing to just loving the shit out of it. This album might not be for you, even if you are an established fan of hip-hop music, so go into this with the most open of minds.
10) Swans – The Glowing Man
Swans is my favourite rock band of all time, and I think both Swans (and Tool) are the best experimental rock bands of all time, period. Not only is this album my pick for rock album of the year, but I think this is Swan’s best album to date; better than To Be Kind and even better than The Seer which was previously my favourite Swans album. This is everything we love about Swans and extrapolated farther than I could have ever thought: more technical, more mesmerizing, more synchronized, better mallet work, more progressive, and the most powerful progressing of minor chords you’ve ever heard on a set of guitars. Seriously guys and girls, I used to think that Opeth was the darkest and most progressive artist I’ve ever heard, and though I still do enjoy Opeth I couldn’t possibly see them in the same light again after experiencing the music of Swans firsthand. Give this thing a listen if you have the time and attention to let dark and finalistic music grow on you and change you.
9) Iglooghost – Little Grids
The Live Room Out 