TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2016 01 DAVID BOWIE BLACKSTAR 02 RADIOHEAD A MOON SHAPED POOL 03 KENDRICK LAMAR UNTITLED. UNMASTERED. 04 THE BLACK QUEEN FEVER DAYDREAM# 05 UTADA HIKARU FANTÔME# 06 PANIC! AT THE DISCO DEATH OF A BACHELOR^ 07 TERRACE MARTIN VELVET PORTRAITS 08 CARLY RAE JEPSEN E•MO•TION SIDE B# 09 ANDERSON .PAAK MALIBU 10 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS THE GETAWAY GREAT ALBUMS 11 DEFTONES GOREv 12 HAELOS FULL CIRCLEv 13 KAWEHI INTERAKTIV 14 LIGHTS MIDNIGHT MACHINES 14 THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM MONOLITH OF PHOBOS# 15 CHANCE THE RAPPER COLORING BOOKv 16 IGGY POP POST-POP DEPRESSION 17 WEEZER THE WHITE ALBUM GOOD ALBUMS 18 MAYER HAWTHORNE MAN ABOUT TOWN 19 THE FALL OF TROY OK IN QUEUE XX DANNY BROWN ATROCITY EXHIBITION XX FRANK OCEAN BLONDE XX SCHOOLBOY Q BLANK FACE LP XX PHANTOGRAM THREE KEY # Signifies a new entry ^ Signifies a rise in ranking, taking into account new entries v Signifies a drop in ranking, taking into account new entries
Top Albums of the Year 1. Frank Ocean- Blonde 2. Moose Blood- Blush [Up 1 Spot] 3. Chevelle- The North Corridor 4. Kenny Chesney- Cosmic Hallelujah* 5. Kanye West- The Life of Pablo 6. Beartooth- Agressive 7. Dance Gavin Dance- Mothership* 8. Red Hot Chili Peppers- The Getaway 9. Saosin- Along The Shadows 10. Real Friends- The Home Inside My Head [Up 12 spots] 11. Crown the Empire- Retrograde 12. Frank Ocean- ENDLESS 13. Crystal Castles- Amnesty (I)* 14. Dierks Bentley- Black 15. Cole Swindell- You Should Be Here 16. Kendrick Lamar- Untitled, Unmastered 17. Asking Alexandria- The Black 18. Ariana Grande- Dangerous Woman 19. Daughter- Not to Disappear 20. Kygo- Cloud Nine 21. The Chainsmokers- Collage* 21. Cassadee Pope- Summer 22. Cash Cash- Blood, Sweat, and 3 Years 23. Taking Back Sunday- Tidal Wave* 24. Sum 41- 13 Voices* 25. Birdy- Beautiful Lies 26. Keith Urban- Ripcord 27. Whitney- Light Upon The Lake* 28. The Joy Formidable- Hitch 29. Flume- Skin 30. Explosions In the Sky- Wilderness 31. The World Alive- Dark Matter 32. The Summer Ser- Stories For Monday 33. Pinegrove- Cardinals 34. Basement- Promise Everything 35. Lacey Sturm- Life Screams 36. Chance The Rapper- Coloring Book 37. Colbie Caliat- The Malibu Sessions* 38. Simple Plan- Taking One For The Team 39. One Republic- Oh My My* 40. Danny Brown- Atrocity Exhibition* 41. Rouge Wave- Delusions of Grand Fur 42. A Reason to Breathe- An Ocean Inside Me 43. Steven Wilson- 4 1/2 44. Rihanna- ANTI 45. Dan + Shay- Obsessed 46. Trophy Eyes- Chemical Miracle* 47. I See Stars- Treehouse 48. Mike Snow- iii 49. Jennifer Nettles- Playing With Fire 50. Frankie Ballard- El Camino 51. Blake Shelton- If I'm Honest 52. Issues- Headspace 53. Yellowcard- Yellowcard* 54. Sick Puppies- Fury 55. Smile Empty Soul- Shapshifter 56. Dire Fire- Two Worlds 57. Like Pacific- Chasing Shadows 58. Peirce The Veil- Misadventures 59. This Wild Life- Low Tides* 60. Angels and Airwaves- Chasing Shadows 61. M83- Junk 62. Anderson .Paak- Malibu* Still Need To Listen To The Dillinger Escape Plan Bowling For Soup Solange GRiZ I Prevail Gallant Blood Orange Cole Swindell EP Darke Complex Isaiah Rashad To Close To Touch
GREAT ALBUMS Metallica - Hardwired To Self Destruct Sum 41 - 13 Voices Ignite - A War Against You Red Hot Chilli Peppers - The Getaway David Bowie - Blackstar GOOD ALBUMS Turbostaat - Abalonia Massendefekt - Echos Billy Talent - Afraid Of Heights Green Day - Revolution Radio OK ALBUMS FJØRT - Kontakt Royal Republic - Weekend Man
New Top 10: Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere Metallica - Hardwired To Self Destruct The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation Dark Tranquillity - Atoma Every Time I Die - Low Teens The Devil Wears Prada - Transit Blues Norma Jean - Polar Similar Heaven Shall Burn - Wanderer
My Top 10 1. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo 2. blink-182 - California 3. D.R.A.M - Big Baby D.R.A.M 4. Kendrick Lamar - untitled umastered. 5. Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct 6. Shawn Mendes - Illuminate 7. Travis Scott - Birds In Da Trap Sing McKnight 8. Drake - Views 9. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman 10. Young Thug - JEFFERY
Damn I've been slacking with music recently. I've been really enjoying Anything But Words by Banks and Steelz and The White Album by Weezer.
THE BEST The Black Queen - Fever Daydream David Bowie - Blackstar * Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition Death Grips - Bottomless Pit Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence Haken - Affinity Plini - Handmade Cities Preoccupations - Preoccupations * Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool Vektor - Terminal Redux THE GREAT Animals as Leaders - The Madness of Many * Blood Orange - Freetown Sound * Bon Iver - 22, A Million The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered. Periphery - Periphery III: Select Difficulty Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the Gallows Slice the Cake - Odyssey to the West Thrice - To Be Everywhere is to Be Nowhere Steven Wilson - 4½ The Weeknd - Starboy * THE GOOD Beyoncé - Lemonade Deftones - Gore Dream Theater - The Astonishing Frank Ocean - Blonde* Gojira - Magma Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust John Carpenter - Lost Themes II Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep of Reason Obscura - Akroasis Opeth - Sorceress * Sioux Falls - Rot Forever Ulver - ATGCLVLSSCAP THE OKAY / DISAPPONTING / BAD Black Crown Initiate - The Wreckage of Stars * Drake - Views Kanye West - The Life of Pablo ANTICIPATING / STILL NEEDS LISTENING Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION: Side B The Dear Hunter - Act V: Hymns With the Devil in Confessional Flume - Skin Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts Mark Pritchard - Under the Sun Swans - The Glowing Man The Virginmarys - Divides * = New Additions / Ranking Change
Best: "White Album" - Weezer "Endless Light" - O' Brother "The Astonishing" - Dream Theater Great: "Gore" - Deftones "Past Present Future EP" - The Strokes "Dissociation" - Dillinger Escape Plan "A Moon Shaped Pool" - Radiohead Good: "Post Pop Depression" - Iggy Pop Yeah... That's it. Not much stuck out to me this year. Maybe I'll go through and find some more but that's it.
Gibs' Top Ten Albums of 2016: 10. Haken - Affinity (Prog Rock / Prog Metal) After 3 years since the release of their previous record, The Mountain, it was great to have Haken release a new album, one of the better up-and-comers in the Prog world. Though it is not nearly as good as The Mountain (a modern Prog classic in my opinion), it's still a damn fine record, one that has some of the band's best tracks yet. Highlights: Earthrise, The Architect 9. Ghost - Popestar (Heavy Metal) It feels a bit odd including merely an EP in a top ten list, especially one that features mostly cover songs, but it's just that damn good. With each subseqeunt release, Ghost are proving that they are one of the best Metal bands in the genre right now. "Square Hammer" by large is one of the best tracks of the year, and the other 4 covers are magnificent. This would be a lot higher on this list, if it were a full-length release. Highlights: Square Hammer, Missionary Man (Eurythmics cover), Bible (Imperiet cover) 8. Preoccupations - Preoccupations (Post-Punk / Indie Rock / Noise Rock) Formerly known as Viet Cong, Preoccupations are a post-punk band, this being their second record. I had not heard their debut before this record, but I don't suppose that's really necessary. Though they very much wear their influences on their sleeve (Joy Division), they still are creating music that is very unique, and very good. A definite recommendation. Highlights: Memory, Fever 7. Death Grips - Bottomless Pit (Experimental Hip-Hop / Noise Rap) This album is great, but I feel like it isn't covering much new ground for the band. It has some very interesting new ideas for a few tracks, but ultimately doesn't have the courage to explore them any further beyond those songs (a case very similar to the latest Bon Iver record). Despite this, it's a fantastic release, and one recommended for anybody remotely a fan of these guys. Highlights: Giving Bad People Good Ideas, Hot Head, Spikes 6. Vektor - Terminal Redux (Prog Thrash Metal) Terminal Redux is one of the most memorable Extreme Metal records since 2014's The Satanist, from Behemoth. The instrument technicality displayed throughout this record is insane, and the music is as badass and head-banging inducing as any good Metal record should be. Some people may be telling you that a certain November release by a famous metal band might be the best Thrash Metal record of 2016, but it isn't. This is. Highlights: Pillars of Sand, Charging the Void 5. The Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence (Prog Metal / Prog Rock) Being the massive HevyDevy fanboy I am, I can't help but feel like this record is so high on my list due to bias, but I don't really care. The album contains some of Devin Townsend's best work in quite a while, and is probably the best release in the "Project" series thus far. Highlights: From the Heart, Stormbending, Higher, Truth 4. David Bowie - Blackstar (Art Rock / Jazz) I suppose their isn't anything I new I could say that hasn't already been said about this album. Though it hasn't found many replays for me this year, it's a brilliant final record for a brilliant artist. May he R.I.P. Highlights: Blackstar, Lazarus, I Can't Give Everything Away 3. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (Art Rock / Alt. Rock) Don't you just love it when a band drops an album out of nowhere? I do. This is a damn fine record, one deserving of all the praise it has recieved. Probably their best since Kid A. Highlights: Daydreaming, Glass Eyes, Ful Stop 2. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition (Experimental Hip-Hop) This record came out of nowhere for me. I had no idea who Danny Brown was. I heard the track Really Doe, and wasn't that impressed (a track that has grown on me significantly). Ultimately, I gave this album a chance because it was really cheap at Best Buy, was named after my favorite Joy Division track, and because Anthony Fantano gave such an enthusiatic review for it. On my initial of the first few tracks, I found it good, but nothing particularly grabbing. However, this album clicked for me thesecond I heard the track "Ain't It Funny," a monster of a song. I am a Death Grips fan, and I consider this album some of the weirdest hip-hop ever recorded, in a very good way. It's becoming clear by each subsequent year that some of the most creative voices in contemporary music are within the hip-hop community. Highlights: Ain't It Funny, When It Rain, Golddust 1. The Black Queen - Fever Daydream (Synthpop / Electronic) The best way to describe this record is if the mood and vocals of a Nine Inch Nails record had a baby with Violator-era Depeche Mode. The Black Queen features Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Steven Alexander, and Joshua Eustis, known for his work with Nine Inch Nails. This was a record I didn't quite know I wanted until I heard it. Though Danny Brown's latest record is probably the most creative record this year, this one takes the cake for me because (other than being fantastic music), of its constant replaying in my music collection this year. Highlights: Ice to Never, The End Where We Start Honorable Mentions: 1) Blood Orange - Freetown Sound 2) Plini - Handmade Cities
I bought slightly more music this year than any past years, I think, and there are still a couple more things that might drop before December is through that I'll maybe get. Out of just over 20 purchases (albums and EPs only, so not counting single tracks), only 3 were physical items, which represents a massive change from my buying habits even just from last year. My top favourite album from 2016 has been Banks' "The Altar", the only album that I liked from front to back. Flume's "Skin" and The Weeknd's "Starboy" are tied at distant second. I put my top 10 favourite songs from this year in a Spotify playlist here.
My two favorite albums were A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead and Terminal Redux by Vektor. Wish there was more in the way of hip hop and rnb. My favorite lyrics were in "Ultralight Beam" by ?, "Fulstop" by Radiohead, and "A Minute to Breathe" by Reznor and Atticus Ross
My final top 10: 1. Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (Metalcore/Mathcore/Prog-Metal) R.I.P. Tom Searle (Architects guitarist), a truly gifted and talented musician. He died this year after a three-year battle with cancer. 2. Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere (Rock/Post-Hardcore) 3. Heaven Shall Burn - Wanderer (Melodic Death Metal) 4. The Devil Wears Prada - Transit Blues (Metalcore/Experimental) 5. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation (Mathcore) 6. Metallica - Hardwired To Self Destruct (Thrash Metal) 7. Dark Tranquillity - Atoma (Melodic Death Metal) 8. Every Time I Die - Low Teens (Metalcore/Southern Metal) 9. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool (Rock/Alternative/Experimental) 10. Norma Jean - Polar Similar (Mathcore/Metalcore) honorable mentions (all of them were really close): Brian Fallon - Painkillers Amon Amarth - Jomsviking Insomnium - Winter's Gate Wormed - Krigshu Bury Tomorrow - Earthbound Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound Wolves At The Gate - Types & Shadows
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2016 #5: BON IVER - "22, A Million" Standouts: "22 (OVER S∞∞N)", "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄", "715 - CR∑∑KS", "33 "GOD"", "____45_____" #4: DEATH GRIPS - "Bottomless Pit" Standouts: "Giving Bad People Good Ideas", "Hot Head", "Eh", "80808", "Bottomless Pit" #3: FLUME - "Skin" Standouts: "Never Be Like You (ft. Kai)", "Numb and Getting Colder (ft. Kučka)", "Wall Fuck", "Say It (ft. Tove Lo), "Smoke & Retribution (ft. Vince Staples and Kučka)", "Take a Chance (ft. Little Dragon)", "Free" Sidenote: MOST LISTENED TO ALBUM OF THE YEAR. #2: DANNY BROWN - "Atrocity Exhibition" Standouts: "Tell Me What I Don't Know", "Really Doe (ft. Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt)", "Lost", "Ain't It Funny", "Golddust", "White Lines", "Pneumonia", "Dance In The Water", "When It Rain", "Get Hi (ft. B-Real)", "Hell For It" Sidenote: MOST LIKELY ALBUM TO FUCK SHIT UP TO OF THE YEAR. #1: DAVID BOWIE - "★" Standouts: "Blackstar", "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore", "Lazarus", "Girl Loves Me", "Dollar Days", "I Can't Give Everything Away" SONGS OF THE YEAR 2016 #1: DAVID BOWIE - "Lazarus" #2: FLUME - "Never Be Like You (ft. Kai)" #3: BON IVER - "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄ (Extended Version)" VIDEO OF THE YEAR 2016