Album of the Year 2016

Paul_C

I haven't bought much in the way of new music this year, looking at Uncut's Top 75 Albums list I only own one, which is A Moon Shaped Pool, so that will have to be it.

If I'm allowed albums I bought this year but not released this year then A Moon Shaped Pool is #3 and #1 is a tie between

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There (2014) and The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (2009), both of which I've listened to repeatedly and enjoyed hugely.

I listened to A Moon Shaped Pool again the other day and while I don't dislike it, it definitely isn't my favourite.

octatonic

Meshuggah - 'The Violent Sleep of Reason'.
They are an incredible band at the absolute top of their game.

GavRichList

Moderat III - Moderat
RR7349 - S U R V I V E 

my favourites off the top of my head 

EricTheWeary

Had a look at a top list from which I own one so Adore Life by Savages it is then. I'm okay with that. 

MagicPigDetective

Edit: here's one I prepared earlier, as I do my top ten list every year

My top 10 albums of 2016 in no particular order

Eagulls: Ullages

Night Beats - Who Sold My Generation

Dinosaur Jr - Give a glimpse of what yer not

Joanne Shaw Taylor - Wild

Minor Victories - Minor Victories

Teenage Fanclub - Here

Suede - Night Thoughts

Bob Mould - Patch the sky

Deftones - Gore

David Bowie - Blackstar

plus Lush - Blind Spot as best EP

Loobs

I really enjoyed that Punch Brothers record. Apart from that I don't think I listened to a whole lot of stuff released in 2016. 

The Bowie record was good too. 

edit: punch bros was from 2015. Doh. 

axisus

Best album by miles for me was Folklore by Big Big Train

Moss

Because I'm sad like that, I have an official top 20:
Kate Tempest - Let Them Chaos
Glass Animals - How To Be A Human Being
Pinkshinyultrablast - Grandfeathered
Yak - Alas Salvation
Fews - Means
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
David Bowie - Blackstar
Roosevelt - Roosevelt
Mogwai - Atomic
The Julie Ruin - Hit Reset
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Whitney - Light Upon The Lake
Daughter - Not To Disappear
NZCA LINES - Infinite Summer
Sunflower Bean - Human Ceremony
The Avalanches - Wildflower
Telegram - Operator
S U R V I V E - RR7349
65daysofstatic - No Man's Sky - Music for an Infinite Universe
Teleman - Brilliant Sanity

DiscoStu

Only album I've bought this year is A Moon Shaped Pool and I love it.

2016 has seen a big change to how I listen to music. Having spent most of the year in a sales role, driving round the country and staying in hotels, I've been listening to a lot of radio and streaming music via Spotify. I've heard loads of great new stuff but mostly single tracks rather than albums. It's been good!

ICBM

My albums of 2016:

All Saints - Red Flag
David Bowie - Blackstar
Jake Bugg - On My One
The Jezabels - Synthia
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - This Unruly Mess I've Made
Yoko Ono - Yes, I'm A Witch Too

And the winner is…












...probably Yoko .

If you're only familiar with her notorious caterwauling noise-art from forty years ago, try this. You'll be surprised. It's actually a collection of reworkings of some of her older material in collaboration with various other artists, and it's genuinely interesting and enjoyable.

Actually the only one that's not very good is All Saints, but I doubt that will be a shock .

Winny_Pooh

I keep putting off listening to Black Star (cos its dead Bowie and its a bit intense and sad) and Moon shaped pool (because the last two albums were a disappointment) . I have enjoyed the Iggy Pop album though.

Philly_Q

I don't think I have an album of the year 2016.

I haven't bought very many new releases, and the 2016 albums I have bought by bands I like - Witchcraft, Spiritual Beggars, Mars Red Sky, Blood Ceremony - have been pretty disappointing.

I got the Metallica album, which is OK but nothing to write home about.  I got Bob Mould's album but haven't even listened to it.  And I think that's about it.

Roll on 2017, I guess....

zepp76

Blackberry Smoke: Like an Arrow.

Blues Pills: Lady in Gold.

DarnWeight

It's not an easy listen by any means, but Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Skeleton Tree is really exceptional, so it'd have to be that one for me.

Enjoyed the following an awful lot, too...

PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project
Future Of The Left - The Peace And Truce Of...
Deap Vally - Femejism
Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

bbill335

Loads of killer LPs this year. Top 3 are White Denim, Wolf People and Ty Segall's Emotional Mugger, and Ty gets the #1 spot. 

Octahedron

Oh gosh this is going to be a hard one... 

From that Uncut list I haven't even heard of most of them. And why is it the top 75? Why not 10, 20, 50, 100? Normal numbers like everyone else! 

For me... It's really hard to pick a favorite... New release, exclude reissues yaddayaddayada my hot contenders in no particular order (and there's a lot of them):

Metallica - "Hardwired...
Alter Bridge - "The Last Hero
The Living End - "Shift"
Crobot "Welcome to Fat City"
Airbourne "Breakin' Out of Hell"
Buffalo Summer "Second Sun" 
Anthrax "For All Kings"
The Dead Daisies "Make Some Noise"
Grand Magus "Sword Songs"
Spiritual Beggars "Sunrise to Sundown"
Laurence Jones "Take Me High"
Hands Like Houses "Dissonants"
Periphery "Periphery III: Select Difficulty" 
Cheap Trick - "Bang, Zoom, Crazy, Hello
Megadeth - "Dystopia
Blink-182 - "California
Sum 41 - "13 Voices
Kings of Leon "Walls"
Bird of Tokyo "Brace" 
Jimmy Eat World "Integrity Blues" 
Billy Talent "Afraid of Heights" 
Kyng "Breathe in the Water"
Green Day - "Revolution Radio
Joe Bonamassa "Blues of Desperation"
Weezer - "Weezer (white album)
The Screaming Jets - "Chrome" 
Massive "Destination Somewhere" 
Biffy Clyro "Ellipses" 
Dream Theater "The Astonishing"
Good Charlotte "Youth Authority" 
Scorpion Child "Acid Roulette" 
Tax The Heat "Fed to the Lions"
Monster Truck "Furiosity" 
The Treatment "Generation Me" 
The Quireboys "Twisted Love" 
Joanne Shaw Taylor "Wild"

stickyfiddle

Honestly, I haven't found much I've loved this year. Bowie's final record is masterful but a bit intense, for obvious reasons. 

The Radiohead one I liked reasonably well initially but it hasn't grown on me like their others. 

Band of Horses need a mention - "Why Are You Ok" is fantastic. Likewise Bon Iver's "22, A Million".

And Tedeschi Trucks' Let Me Get By is a lovely vibe if not a classic. 

New stuff from Biffy Clyro, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Wolfmother are all meh rehashes of earlier ideas. @Octahedron's list also has Weezer and Jimmy Eat World that I haven't heard yet though, so i'll look those up.

richardhomer

This thread has really reminded me how little new music I listen to - I think Blackstar's the only one I've heard....

thomasross20

richardhomer said:

This thread has really reminded me how little new music I listen to - I think Blackstar's the only one I've heard....

Me, too... 

Philly_Q

Good list @Octahedron.  I'm glad you found so many to like!  

The second Scorpion Child album would also go on my list of disappointing follow-ups.  The Megadeth and Anthrax albums I just haven't been able to motivate myself to listen to...  Crobot I did enjoy, I must listen to it again. 

peteri

Interesting to see Joanne Shaw Taylor, I've got all her albums and must have seen her live a 1/2 dozen times (in fact if you watch the live DVD and get frustrated at the fella with the big potato head blocking half the screen - that's me!).

But haven't listened to Wild so much, amazing guitarist - and great live, but can someone please get her to sing so you can hear the lyrics, I just can't take her 'in the style of the club singer' vocals anymore which is a real shame.

For me - The Bros Landreth, just lush