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.
"I'll probably be in the bins at Newport Pagnell services." fretmeister
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They are an incredible band at the absolute top of their game.
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my favourites off the top of my head
My top 10 albums of 2016 in no particular order
The Bowie record was good too.
edit: punch bros was from 2015. Doh.
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
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!
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 .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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....
Blues Pills: Lady in Gold.
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
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"
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.
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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.
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