Mason’s favorite music of 2016
Caveats:
1) I’m too old and poor to try and hear everything anymore. I missed a lot of good records I know I’d love, but my attention has been focused elsewhere. I stream/buy what I like, and sometimes fate brings me new music that I find I like too.
2) I didn’t even get to hear everything that I do like. I missed some really high-profile releases, and didn’t even catch all the new stuff from bands I love. No doubt they’d be on this list if I had a chance to dig in further but somehow I haven’t.
3) This is a snapshot of December 2016. Catch me on a different day and I’ll be talking about different records.
4) I consume most of my music in the car or, more often, while running. That means I favor up-tempo records with strong melodies and rhythms. I appreciate other music, too, but my running means I’ve got a bias that’s reflected here.
With that:
Albums that didn’t make this list but that I wanted to mention:
Dori Freeman, “Dori Freeman” — We listened to this a little but not enough. I predict we’ll soon revisit the Galax native’s debut and it’ll join the ranks of Anna & Elizabeth and Gillian Welch’s discographies in terms of steady play.
Kendrick Lamar, “untitled unmastered.” — Tracks left on the cutting room floor during “To Pimp a Butterfly,” & like that album it contains dense, jazz-infused tracks woven around a tight thematic thread.
Good Cat Bad Cat, “It Feels Fantastic!” — Best Roanoke hardcore release in many years. I hope this band can continue forward, as I hear so much potential in these tracks.
Khthoniik Cerviiks, “SeroLogiikal Scars (Vertex of Dementiia)” — Raw black metal wrapped in bizarre imagery and acid flourishes.
Favorite 15:
15) Allan Kingdom, “Northern Lights”
I took a while this spring deciding whether I liked this or not, and in the meantime listened to it obsessively. “Northern Lights” did quite not hold my attention as spring gave way to summer and fall, but it’s a solid mixtape with several standout tracks.
14) Naðra, “Allir vegir til glötunar”
This album came to me via a Black Metal & Brews mid-year round-up, and it existed solely in imagery and sound until Grim Kim Kelly wrote about it in Noisey’s year-end list. Lack of context has never bothered me, and Naðra’s debut found itself in regular rotation during commutes.
13) Sturgill Simpson, “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”
“Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” established Sturgill Simpson for me as not just outlaw revival, but as an honest, adventurous voice in country music. I didn’t like “Sailor’s Guide” quite as much, partly because of its concept — I live fatherhood, so as a listener I preferred Metamodern’s woozy drugginess by way of living vicariously — but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it represents a step forward, both in songwriting maturity but also in growing his sound.
12) Twilight Fauna, “Fire of the Spirit”
Twilight Fauna exists in a special place, in that I’ve got to be in the right mood to truly appreciate it. Within that space, however, “Fire of the Spirit” stands as the fullest expression of Twilight Fauna’s peculiar aesthetic to date. It’s beautiful and evocative.
11) Torrid Husk/End, “Swallow Matewan”
I came to “Swallow Matewan” as part of my exploration of Appalachian black metal. I’d previously listened to Torrid Husk’s “Mingo,” and their side of this split advances their sepia-toned atmospheric sound with a fuller sound and better production. End hails from Greece but features Nechochwen’s Aaron Carey on vocals.
10) Lil Yachty, “Lil Boat”
As with Allan Kingdom, I hedged quite a while on whether Lil Yachty is actually any good. My conclusion, to paraphrase Frank Zappa: If you like it, it’s good. I really dig these backing tracks, dense with sound and video-game samples, and the catchiness of the vocals cannot be denied. While I remain skeptical of Yachty’s persona, I also come from the KRS-One school that expects rappers to challenge their elders. On one hand, I appreciate his “freestyle” (air quotes because it was obviously written ahead of time, not pulled from the top of the brain) over “Flava in Ya Ear” but on the other, I noticed the DJ cued up the Bad Boy remix of that song, which leads off with a Biggie Smalls verse. All the same, “Lil Boat” changed how I hear hip-hop.
9) Skepta, “Konnichiwa”
It’s like grime never went away after “Run the Road.” I’m heartened by its revival, especially if it results in more albums like this and Kano’s “Made in the Manor.” Grime deserves a place at the hip-hop table.
8) Storm of Sedition, “Decivilize”
A steady diet of anarcho-crust keeps the mind sharp and the blood pumping. Credit Grim Kim for this discovery.
7) D.R.A.M., “Big Baby D.R.A.M.”
I somehow missed “cha-cha” when it came out, but found dram last year through the Donnie trumpet album and his goddamn EP. Bubbly, smooth, his music is the audio equivalent of champagne, with an of-the-moment digital quality showcased in songs like “WiFi,” his duet with Erykah Badu.
6) Anderson .Paak, “Malibu”
The first time I heard this album, I thought, “This is the sound of ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ bearing fruit.” “Malibu” immediately sounds like a natural extension of that record’s particular jazz sound, but with a performer more naturally suited to shift between rapping bars on verses and singing the hooks on the chorus. “Malibu” is such a smooth record, filled with funk and humor and love and all the things that also make soul music so great.
5) Chance the Rapper, “Coloring Book”
It’s been a blast to hear Chance grow up. Well-thought-out, inspirational and, yes, colorful, “Coloring Book” shows a Chance who already has made his mark (just look at the list of features here), poised on the precipice of icon status and worldwide fame. As great as this mixtape is, though, I do prefer the hard-rhyming, less secure, hungry Chance of “Acid Rap.”
4) Inter Arma, “Paradise Gallows”
Richmond metal band built on “Sky Burial” and “The Cavern,” two of my favorite metal albums of recent years, to construct a broader sound that goes both wider and deeper than either of those already adventurous albums. The clean vocals stopped me short on the first listen, but they subsequently became part of the rich soundscape that still continues to reveal its many mysteries.
3) Swet Shop Boys, “Cashmere”
Plush beats, near Eastern samples and whipsmart political rhymes from Heems (former Das Racist), Riz MC and Redinho. This short album hit a perfect balance in the way it blended a sense of humor into dead-serious topics. It didn’t hurt that it’s catchy as hell.
2) Anohni, “Hopelessness”
Another solid blend of catchy melodies with intensely political sentiment. This is an album that went hard after Obama for his use of drones to take out enemies halfway across the globe. “4 Degrees” still stands as one of my tracks of the year, pairing heavy percussion that recalls Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” with an anthemic synth line and depressive lyrics about endangered species and climate change. It’s a catchy, lyrically heavy record that fit perfectly in this politically charged year.
1) A Tribe Called Quest, “We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service”
After years of immersion in “Low-End Theory” and “Midnight Marauders” how could this not be my top album? The choice of the Tribe’s return to form came not from nostalgia or a desire to hear Phife, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes rhyming together once again (although that’s no doubt what drove my placement of a rehashed Busta/Q-Tip mixtape in my top 15 a few years ago), but from the joy that this album created on hearing it for the first time, and the renewed appreciation that builds every time I hear it. I wouldn’t say this is Tribe’s greatest album, but for a reunion record that came 18 years after their last release, the chemistry and craft that infuses this record is amazing.
