The 100 Best Albums of 2016

Every year, when I start thinking about year-end music lists, I wonder who am I actually making a list for and why do I do this? Then I remember being 8 years old and using my parents' old school type writer to type out top 10 lists related to any number of music topics, realizing no one would ever see them. I did it for me. It was fun. Music is something I was obsessively passionate about, even when I was 8 years old. Pounding out typed lists of my favourite 10 Metal Bass Players or my favourite 10 Kool & The Gang Songs. They would end up in file folders, often never to be viewed again. It was fun for me.

Almost 40 years later, I remain obsessively passionate about music, and I still type out lists about music, but I get to share them with a few people. This blog started as a request of sorts, from friends who do not have the time or interest to track new music anymore, but still enjoy hearing something new and interesting. So I still do it for me and it is still fun, but a few other people look forward to it as well now, and that is sort of cool. I continue to be self conscious about my writing, but I do the best I can. I am a proud music nerd, who knows more about a lot of music than most and about as much about it as some. The internet is a humbling place for the creature that is the music nerd, and thankfully I have found a handful of other people with whom I share overlap in taste and they ensure I never feel too big for my boots. I am not a music writer. I am just a guy who drinks and knows things. Especially music things.

The other thing that has not changed is my voracious appetite to consume as much new and interesting music as possible. What has changed, for a host of reasons, is the ability to act on and satisfy that appetite in ways that were never possible when I was a kid. I had more records when I was young than most kids, because all my allowance and paper route money got spent on music. What is also much different is the ability to see all the different lists other people and sites come up with throughout and at the end of the year. For my part, I don't purposely look for obscure or hard to find stuff, but sometimes that happens. I do tend to not listen to a lot of super available mainstream music these days, which means my lists don't tend to showcase many popular high profile artists. It's just not my thing, so thankfully there are already kazillion other sites who capture stuff like Beyonce, for people who enjoy it and need to see it on a list.

2016 was a year where I further embraced my love for alternative music, in the traditional sense, where it used to mean stuff that was weird and unusual. The bulk of my listening continues to be UK based artists and definitely with a slant toward art rock and pop. I re-embraced hip-hop somewhat this year, taking the time to find more artists that fit in my super narrow wheelhouse of smart underground alternative styled rap. As always, I often fell back on melody based indie pop and hook driven power pop, and found a nice share of synth pop and harder driving electronic music. I still shy away from blues based stuff, or anything rootsy and folksy. Hopefully when I'm 85 and sitting on a porch, I will be listening to Bauhaus albums and ranting about what a boring old fart Bob Dylan is.

Last year I narrowed my album list to 50, in the interest of focus and brevity. This year, I was having a hard time giving props to all the wonderful stuff I heard, without taking it back up to 100, so here we are. There is a science that goes with the gathering and listening to 200+ albums throughout the year, much like the science that goes into the final list. At the end of the day though, there is probably not a lot of tangible difference between an album I put at 74 and one I put at 86. Sort of like when the arseholes at Pitchfork rate an album 9.3 rather than 9. I am hoping to follow this list, with a few blog posts that offer a bit of specific commentary around some of my favourites and what they meant to me on the music year 2016. Time will tell if that happens or not. I hope if you are reading this, that you find something you like that you might not otherwise have come across without this post. It's a lot of work to do this, but it is absolutely not work for me. It is also a lot easier than it used to be using a type writer.

	Artist	Title
100	Mexrrissey	No Manchester
99	Blossoms	Blossoms
98	Steve Porcaro	Someday / Somehow
97	Operators	Blue Wave
96	Common	Black America Again
95	Portrayal	To The Black Sea
94	Teenage Fanclub	Here
93	Maxwell	blackSUMMERS'night
92	Yeasayer	Amen & Goodbye
91	The Blessed Isles	Straining Hard Against The Strength of The Night
90	Anohni	Hopelessness
89	Witching Waves	Crystal Cafe
88	Kyle Forester	Kyle Forester
87	The Amazing	Ambulance
86	Mayer Hawthorne	Man About Town
85	Holy Fuck	Congrats
84	The Darcys	Centerfold
83	Shearwater	Jet Pane and Oxbow
82	Eliot Sumner	Information
81	Ladyhawke	Wild Things
80	Ka	Honor Killed The Samurai
79	White Lies	Friends
78	Animal Collective	FloriDada
77	Moderat	III
76	The Real Numbers	Wordless Wonder
75	Warpaint	Heads Up
74	Hooton Tennis Club	Big Box of Chocolates
73	Crocodiles	Dreamless
72	The Moth & The Flame	Young and Afraid
71	Pet Shop Boys	Super
70	Bob Mould	Patch The Sky
69	The Lemon Twigs	Do Hollywood
68	Dinosaur Jr	Give A Glimpse of What Yer Not
67	Merchandise	A Corpse Wired for Sound
66	Paper Lions	Full Colour
65	Solange	A Seat At The Table
64	Mind Spiders	Prosthesis
63	Wild Nothing	Life Of Pause
62	Kestrels	Kestrels
61	American Football	American Football (LP2)
60	Cullen Omori	New Misery
59	Suuns	Hold/Still
58	Skepta	Konnichiwa
57	Simian Mobile Disco	Welcome to Sideways
56	Soft Kill	Choke
55	The Radio Dept.	Running Out Of Love
54	Against Me!	Shape Shift With Me
53	Duotang	New Occupation
52	ABC	The Lexicon of Love II
51	Eagulls	Ullages
50	jennylee	right on!
49	Apollo Brown & Skyzoo	The Easy Truth
48	Syd Arthur	Apricity
47	Troller	Graphic
46	Denmark Vessey	Whole Food
45	Angel Olsen	My Woman
44	EZTV	High In Place
43	Light Fantastic	Out Of View
42	Toy	Clear Shot
41	Blood Orange	Freetown Sound
40	Savages	Adore Life
39	Phantogram	Three
38	Kendrick Lamar	untitled unmastered
37	Amber Arcades	Fading Lines
36	Alex Cameron	Jumping The Shark
35	Exploded View	Exploded View
34	Survive	RR7349
33	Zoos of Berlin	Instant Everything
32	Methyl Ethyl	Oh Inhuman Spectacle
31	The Field	The Follower
30	PJ Harvey	The Hope Six Demolition Project
29	Aphex Twin	Cheetah
28	Swet Shop Boys	Cashmere
27	Preoccupations	Preoccupations
26	Kristin Kontrol	X-Communicate
25	Radiohead	A Moon Shaped Pool
24	Factory Floor	25 25
23	Public Access T.V.	Never Enough
22	Xander Harris	California Chrome
21	D.D Dumbo	Utopia Defeated
20	DMAs	Hills End
19	Underworld	Barbara Barbara we face a shining future
18	Anderson Paak	Malibu
17	Jessy Lanza	Oh No
16	Jagwar Ma	Every Now & Then
15	David Bowie	Black Star
14	Diiv	Is This The Are
13	Junior Boys	Big Black Coat
12	Kaytranada	99.9%
11	Omni	Deluxe
10	School of Seven Bells	SVIIB
9	A Tribe Called Quest	We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service
8	Hockey Dad	Boronia
7	Tuns	Tuns
6	Suede	Night Thoughts
5	Local Natives	Sunlit Youth
4	Trashcan Sinatras	Wild Penulum
3	The KVB	...Of Desire
2	Field Music	Commontime
1	Wild Beasts	Boy King

The 50 Best Albums of 2015

Man...I don't know. This was a strange year. It feels like there were a whole lot of "good" to "very good" albums released, but very few "great" to "amazing" ones. The bands or artists who had good momentum leading into their third or fourth albums, seemed to rise to the challenge to make some great records. Some elders showed they could still hold their own, making better than expected records. Then there were some new kids who made some positive noise, and it will be interesting over the next couple years to see what they do with it.

For my part, I started the year once again hoping to focus my listening, by not throwing the net so wide. I listen to less music than some people, but more music than most people. I have become increasingly adept at hearing something quickly and knowing if it is going to work out for me, and moving along. That is not to say some albums don't grow on me in due course, but more than in previous years, there were so many albums this year that my ears thought were cool for a good time...just not a long time. Hence why this fun little project sees us back at a Top 50 this year versus a Top 100. 

Generally speaking, I feel comfortable that my sequencing and ranking methodology up to 50 with any pop culture list, works well and mostly without too much bias or outside influence. After 50, it can get a bit dodgy. So the fact that I really only truly liked about 70 albums this year, made it tricky to get down to 50, but pretty easy to stay inside 100. 

As always, melody, harmony, song craft, attention to detail and listenability generally make these albums winners for me. I could have thrown in a few metal and hip-hop albums I liked in 2015 I suppose, but it would have been disingenuous and only served the purpose of optically balancing the list. Plain and simple, I like well put together songs. They can be guitar songs or synth songs. They can be fuzzy, heavy, or jangly. They can be dreamy, gothy, mathy, quirky or bouncy. 

All I really ever want to hear from an album, are a bunch songs where somewhere cared, someone was honest, and someone gave something a try.

	Artist	Title
50	Ghost Culture	Ghost Culture
49	Metz	II
48	Protomartyr	The Agent Intellect
47	Local H	Hey Killer
46	The Cribs	For All My Sisters
45	Mercury Rev	The Light In You
44	Gaz Coombes	Matador
43	Dave Gahan & Soulsavers	Angels and Ghosts
42	Grimes	Art Angels
41	The Charlatans	Modern Nature
40	New Order	Music Complete
39	PINS	Wild Nights
38	Battles	La Di Da Di
37	Sleater-Kinney	No Cities To Love
36	Godspeed You! Black Emperor	Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
35	Susanne Sundfor	Ten Love Songs
34	Built To Spill	Untethered Moon
33	Peace	Happy People
32	Low	Ones and Sixes
31	Swervedriver	I Wasn't Born to Love You
30	Veruca Salt	Ghost Notes
29	Tuxedo	Tuxedo
28	Little Boots	Working Girl
27	Blur	The Magic Whip
26	Young Galaxy	Falsework
25	Beach House	Depression Cherry
24	Surfer Blood	1000 Palms
23	Beach House	Thank Your Lucky Stars
22	Yukon Blonde	On Blonde
21	The Libertines	Anthems For Doomed...
20	Wolf Alice	My Love Is Cool
19	Errors	Lease Of Life
18	Kurt Vile	b'lieve i'm goin down...
17	Telekinesis	Ad infinitum
16	Dan Deacon	Gliss Riffer
15	Foals	What Went Down
14	Viet Cong	Viet Cong
13	The Dears	Times Infinity - Volume One
12	Crocodiles	Boys
11	Girls Names	Arms Around A Vision
10	Bjork	Vulnicura
9	Panda Bear	Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
8	Dutch Uncles	O Shudder
7	Tame Impala	Currents
6	Hot Chip	Why Make Sense?
5	Ceremony	The L-Shaped Man
4	EZTV	Calling Out
3	Lower Dens	Escape From Evil
2	Everything Everything	Get To Heaven
1	Mikal Cronin	MCIII

Top 100 Songs of 2014

Weird year for songs. 2014 felt like a solid year for well rounded and interesting albums, but less so for stand out on their own type tracks. At least more than last year perhaps.

That said, there were still some really fantastic songs written in 2014. I had planned to double or triple up on songs by certain artists, rather than having 100 songs by 100 different artists on this list, but opted for the latter after all.

Probably more songs over 5 minutes than I have had on here in any previous years, but let's not overthink that bit.

This list is also compiled as a playlist here for Rdio users.

	Song	Artist
100	Wonderland	ceo
99	Hang Up	Peter Murphy
98	Nott	Samaris
97	Enemy	Merchandise
96	Feel	The Soft Moon
95	Alone	The Foreign Resort
94	Feel Real	Movement
93	Castles	Glass Towers
92	Silly Games	Tricky
91	Two Weeks	FKA Twigs
90	Turn Me Up	Twin Shadow
89	Deep In My Heart	The Drums
88	Shelter Song	Temples
87	Waterfall	Fear of Men
86	Paper Heart	Chloe Howl
85	Tribe	Theophilus London
84	Illume	Lust For LIfe
83	You've Got A Lot On Your Mind	Sloan
82	Frozen Britain	James
81	Pony Ride	Neil Finn
80	You & I (Forever)	Jessie Ware
79	Frequent Flyer	Chromeo
78	Miko	The Chain Gang of 1974
77	Fall In Love	Phantogram
76	Every Stone	Manchester Orchestra
75	Trainwreck 1979	Death From Above 1979
74	Controller	Cheatahs
73	Left Hand Free	alt-J
72	Simple and Sure	The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
71	Figure It Out	Royal Blood
70	Are You Gonna Be Someone?	Knight
69	Luna	Bombay Bicycle Club
68	Coming Up For Air	Zoot Woman
67	Dancehall Domine	New Pornographers
66	Forever Be	Kelis
65	D.R.E.A.M.	Phraroahe Monch
64	minipops 67	Aphex Twin
63	Coming Down	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
62	Garden Grays	WIldcat! Wildact!
61	Here So Rain	Black Submarine
60	Satellites	EMA
59	Torrent	Asgeir
58	Daddy's Car	Eno - Hyde
57	Artifice	Sohn
56	This Haze	Patterns
55	Paradise	White Hex
54	After The Disco	Broken Bells
53	West Coast	Lana Del Rey
52	Land Of The Blind	Information Society
51	Spirals	Teledrome
50	Climb To Me	Pattern is Movement
49	Paris	Little Dragon
48	Sacred	Erasure
47	Crumbler	Jungle
46	Capitol	TR/ST
45	Close Your Eyes (and Count To Fuck)	Run The Jewels
44	I Try To Talk To You	Hercules & Love Affair
43	Mess On A Mission	Liars
42	Love Stops Here	The Juan MacLean
41	Uptight Downtown	La Roux
40	Heavy Seas of Love	Damon Albarn
39	Feels Like Fire	Ryan Adams
38	Boys In Her Fanclub	Sweet Apple
37	Don't Wanna	Howler
36	Dynamo	Johnny Marr
35	Milwaukee	The Both
34	Weightless	Neneh Cherry
33	In Infancy	Museum of Love
32	Do It Again	Royksopp & Robyn
31	Uptown Funk	Mark Ronson
30	Dress Up	School Of Language
29	A Million Voices	Engineers
28	Time Between	Bear In Heaven
27	Faust	I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
26	Gouge	Eternal Summers
25	fuckmylife666	Against Me!
24	Godiva	Eugene McGuinness
23	I Don't Know You Anymore	Bob Mould
22	Sprinkles	We Are Scientists
21	Tough Luck	Eagulls
20	Long Hair	Drowners
19	Happy Idiot	TV On The Radio
18	Rimbaud Eyes	Dum Dum Girls
17	Do You	Spoon
16	New York Morning	Elbow
15	Digital Witness	St. Vincent
14	Can't Do Without You	Caribou
13	It's Been So Long	Toy
12	Dripping	Blonde Redhead
11	The Bullfighter Dies	Morrissey
10	Doves	Future Islands
9	Anywhere	Interpol
8	Broken Glass Park	Simple Minds
7	Got Well Soon	Breton
6	Treat	Kasabian
5	Unkinder (A Tougher Love)	Thumpers
4	The Mistakes	Army Navy
3	A Simple Beautiful Truth	Wild Beasts
2	Like An Animal	Cymbals
1	So Now You Know	The Horrors