Favorite Albums of 2016: Mid-Year

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u2popmofo

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What are your fav albums so far this year? Tell me now. Right now. Not tomorrow. Not in an hour. Not in a minute. Not in a second. Right here and now. It means everything.
 
It has been a great year for music but a lot of stuff is struggling to stick, which is annoying me. That said, my favourite albums of the year thus far, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, are...

David Bowie - Blackstar
Kendrick Lamar - untitled. unmastered.
Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
Jesu/Sun Kil Moon - s/t
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Paul Dempsey - Strange Loop
 
I'll have my list soon. Got to take another look at the lineup I saw on the Vans Warped Tour as that's where virtually all my selections come from. :up:
 
WTF BIGMAC I SAID RlGHT NOW?!!!!!111!!!!1!!!11!!one1!11!!!!!
 
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It has been a great year for music but a lot of stuff is struggling to stick, which is annoying me.
Agreed. My favorites, as of today:

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Wild Nothing - Life of Pause
David Bowie - Blackstar
Weezer - Weezer (White Album)
High Highs - Cascades
Savages - Adore Life
Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway

23 albums in, but there's lots of catching up to do once summer's over.
 
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It's been a good year so far but not quite as exciting as the first half of last year. The top two is pretty firm, but the ranking of the rest is a bit uncertain.

1. Memoryhouse - Soft Hate
2. Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas - Mariner
3. Sulk - No Illusions
4. Horror My Friend - Stay In, Do Nothing
5. Yumi Zouma - Yoncalla
6. The Hotelier - Goodness
7. Fjørt - Kontakt
8. White Lung - Paradise
9. Rob Crow's Gloomy Place - You're Doomed. Be Nice.
10. School of Seven Bells - SVIIB
11. Borknagar - Winter Thrice
12. Pity Sex - White Hot Moon
13. Minor Victories - Minor Victories
14. Big Ups - Before a Million Universes

Also a nod to Turnover's "Humblest Pleasures" / "Change Irreversible" single, where the b-side outshines the a-side, and Major Leagues' Dream States EP, because "Someone Sometime" and "Leave" are incredible songs.

And some albums that are growing on me:

DIIV - Is the Is Are (some lovely songs but way too long an album)
Eagulls - Ullages (hard to live up to the debut and less distinctive in sound but still good)
Fallujah - Dreamless (prog metal I don't find utterly tedious?)
The Joy Formidable - Hitch (too long, and god that stupid out-take at the start of track 3 is really annoying)

Albums I need to listen to a bit more:

Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Deep Heat - Still Life
Hammock - Everything and Nothing
Ladyhawke - Wild Things
Mt Mountain - Cosmos Terros
Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow
Tiny Moving Parts - Celebrate
True Cross - Pure Divorce
Yndi Halda - Under Summer
Yuck - Stranger Things
 
The shear amount of new music you listen to every year is impressive Axver. :up:

Gotta be Radiohead and Kendrick for me. Also liked Kanye and Blaqk Audio.
 
Having a job where I can listen to my own music all day helps. But I feel pretty sluggish compared to LM!
 
I've got a google doc with all the shit I want to listen to. It's too long and overwhelming. And then you listen to an album and you go "this is really good" but then you forget about it and never listen to it again.

Might spin the Yumi Zouma right now tho.
 
Personally, I think this year has been ridiculously good so far. Here are my 10 favorite ones so far:

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Beyonce - Lemonade
David Bowie - Blackstar
Kendrick Lamar - untitled. unmastered.
Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
Anderson Paak - Malibu
Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing
PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project
James Blake - The Colour in Anything

Pretty sure I'm forgetting some obvious stuff (maybe the Parquet Courts album belongs in the list too).
 
A few songs into the new Blood Orange album and I'm certain this can be in the discussion.

I listened to it for the first time today. I loved the first half, but was disappointed with the end. I need to give it some more spins.
 
My faves so far in alphabetical order:

Bat for Lashes: The Bride
Chairlift: Moth
David Bowie: Blackstar
Kendrick Lamar: untitled unmastered
Kevin Morby: Singing Saw
Marissa Nadler: Strangers
Parquet Courts: Human Performance
Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool
Tim Hecker: Love Streams (probably my #1 at the moment)
White Lung: Paradise
 
I need to listen to the new Blood Orange and Avalanches (on Apple Music now!) before I can make my list. I expect at least one of them to crack the top 20-25, if not both.
 
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I don't have to because I have a free trial. :up:

Picked up Apple Music for the new Drake album...which absolutely sucked and I only listened to once. The service itself is fine though.
 
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Here's my list to date, cut down from 137 albums. Click the album title to hear a track from the album; sometimes it's a favorite, sometimes it's a lead single, largely.dependent on what's available or likely not to get pulled. There's virtually nothing from Untitled Unmastered or Lemonade on youtube.

1. David Bowie -
2. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
3. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
4. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
5. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
6. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
7. The Avalanches - Wildflower
8. Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution
9. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide To Earth
10. case / lang / veirs - case / lang / veirs
11. Swans - The Glowing Man
12. PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project
13. Chairlift - Moth
14. Denzel Curry - Imperial
15. Parquet Courts - Human Performance
16. Leon Vynehall - Rojus (Designed to Dance)
17. Beyoncé - Lemonade
18. Bat for Lashes - The Bride
19. KING - We Are KING
20. Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future
21. Niechęć - Niechęć
22. Damien Jurado - Visions of Us on the Land
23. The Hotelier - Goodness
24. Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone
25. The Field - The Follower
 
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Finally caught up with the Rihanna album (I've never heard any of her earlier work), and goddamn that is some great shit.

Sad that it hasn't been mentioned already, would def be in my Top 5.
 
I actually haven't listened to lots of album in an extensive manner but from my casual listens and collection of snippets of knowledge, here's my list (they are not ordered in goodness/badness).

Vektor: Terminal Redux (not breaking new grounds but i love it)
Kendrick Lamar: Untitled, Unmastered
Brian Eno: the Ship
Underworld: Barbara, barbara, we face a shining future (possibly my favorite? I'm not sure)
Radiohead: AMSP
Polica: United Crushers
Anderson Paak: Malibu
Nails: You Will Never Be One Of Us
Death Grips: Bottomless Pit
parquet Courts: Human Performance

also i am going to listen to Swans' Glowing Man and Tim Hecker's album sooner than later. also I'm intrigued by this album from Cough. named Still They Pray.
 
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Alphabetical order:

Allen Toussaint - American Tunes
Anohni - Hopelessness
Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties
Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town
Bullion - Loop the Loop
Case / Lang / Veirs - Case / Lang / Veirs
Colin Stetson - Sorrow - A Reimagining of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony
Daniel Romano - Mosey
Deerhoof - The Magic
Eleanor Friedberger - New View
Freakwater - Scheheradze
Kacy & Clayton - Strange Country
Karl Blau - Introducing Karl Blau
Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
Laura Mvula - The Dreaming Room
Lucinda Williams - The Ghosts of Highway 20
Nails - You Will Never Be One of Us
Nicholas Godin - Contrepoint
Paul Simon - Stranger to Stranger
Ray Lamontagne - Ouroboros
Robert Pollard - Of Course You Are
Savages - Adore Life
Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Tindersticks - The Waiting Room
Underworld - Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future

That's already 25 albums right there I would normally be quite please to have in a top 15 of most years. And I didn't include Tortoise and DJ Shadow, while both these albums are really only disappointing me (at the moment) because of past brilliance.
 
Here's my list to date, cut down from 137 albums. Click the album title to hear a track from the album; sometimes it's a favorite, sometimes it's a lead single, largely.dependent on what's available or likely not to get pulled. There's virtually nothing from Untitled Unmastered or Lemonade on youtube.

1. David Bowie -
2. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
3. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
4. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
5. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
6. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
7. The Avalanches - Wildflower
8. Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution
9. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide To Earth
10. case / lang / veirs - case / lang / veirs
11. Swans - The Glowing Man
12. PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project
13. Chairlift - Moth
14. Denzel Curry - Imperial
15. Parquet Courts - Human Performance
16. Leon Vynehall - Rojus (Designed to Dance)
17. Beyoncé - Lemonade
18. Bat for Lashes - The Bride
19. KING - We Are KING
20. Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future
21. Niechęć - Niechęć
22. Damien Jurado - Visions of Us on the Land
23. The Hotelier - Goodness
24. Lemon Demon - Spirit Phone
25. The Field - The Follower
This is handy.

Also glad Leon Vynehall got a mention.
 
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