2016 in Review: Album of the Year Lists

2016 was a year of eras drawing to a close, especially in the world of music. Bowie's legacy of expression, of imagination; Prince's embodiment of passion, sex, love, and freedom; Cohen's unrefined truth. So many pillars of earth's musical architecture have been shaken and broken. For many of us, this crumbling of an age was paralleled by a nasty election cycle with a nastier end, heralding what seems like the end of a political tenure based on inclusion and hope and humanity. It was a year that made it hard to retain the belief that the arc of history bends toward progress.  

The grief that 2016 doled out hit everyone differently. For some, coping meant laughing at the shit-show moments. For others, it meant acknowledging and nurturing the scars that 2016 revealed and often reopened. Some were able to hold onto the moments brimming with light, like Chance The Rapper's reaction to running into Beyonce at the VMAs (have we forgotten what pure happiness looks like?), or Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas diving across the finish line to win gold in the women’s 400-meter Olympic final. Some people emerged as heroes capable of leading others down a path of healing. And others remain stuck in a prison of fear.

Hopefully, 2016 taught us all to interact with one another as individuals, freely offering love and connection based on human merit, and avoiding generalizations based on ignorance. As these lessons accumulate like scar tissue over the hurt of this year, it behooves us to remember what loss feels like moving forward.

But there were certainly things to celebrate in 2016, and many of them were in music. With releases from David Bowie, ATCQ, Leonard Cohen, Teenage Fanclub, a Tom Petty project called Mudcrutch, and Iggy Pop, an "artist of the year" list could almost be mistaken as being penned in 1990. We felt tremors of an imminent resurgence of jazz and funk in mainstream rap through beautiful releases from Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino, and gospel influences shining through the music of Chance The Rapper and Noname (and Kanye?). And then there's Anderson .Paak, whose music is a confluence of all these strands, and he just sort of straddles them all flawlessly.

We heard new music that felt like it’s been in our blood forever, like the instantly-familiar releases from Radiohead and Bon Iver. We got a killer and personal record from Beyonce. We got our long awaited Frank Ocean album, and man, it was worth the wait. There were incredibly transformative releases that carved new ways of thinking with their nuance and intuition, like the albums from Solange and Blood Orange. And a few gritty, brilliant hip hop albums have us reordering our favorite rappers list, like Ab-Soul, Danny Brown, and Isaiah Rashad. And bands like Poured Out, Dwell, and Problem of Pain broke what felt like new ground in the heavy music landscape.

To help paint a picture of all the bright spots in music this year, we've enlisted the help of a few of our friends. Year-end lists hold special significance this year because they remind us there are artists out there who are stepping under this collapsing structure and not only holding it up, but rebuilding it in unforeseen and incredibly exciting ways. There is quite a bit of good in this world, y'all, and quite a few people who have brilliantly risen to the challenge of fixing some of the shit that happened in 2016.

 Thanks for a great year, contributors. 

Best Case Picks

Austin Sisson -
"Please don't confront me with my failures,
I have not forgotten them."
RIP, 2016, A.D. We hardly knew ya. Looking forward to X-Mas and X-Files but not X-Ambassadors.

1. Alex Cameron - Jumping the Shark
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
3. Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing
4. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
5. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
6. Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future
7. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo
8. Savages - Adore Life
9. Cass McCombs - Mangy Love
10. Mitski - Puberty 2

Honorable mentions: Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool, Lambchop - FLOTUS; Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.

Nate Burdette. Will write for blue moo ice cream. Product of Linkin Park. Likes to sleep in jeans. Favorite color (white) not representative of status of soul.  

1. David Bowie - Blackstar
2. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
3. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
4. Frank Ocean - Blonde
5. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
6. GUM - Flash in the Pan
7. Deathsong - Deathsong
8. Noname - Telefone
9. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
10. Problem of Pain - Burn What My Hands Wrought

Honorable Mentions: Preoccupations - Preoccupations; Teenage Fanclub - Here

All photos by our buddy Sam Stone. Sam gifted us with these unpublished photos he took this year, and we're thrilled to use them. Thank you, Sam. Check out his work.  

Guests Picks

Jack Sipes, musician, currently experiencing writer's block, accidental opinionated jerk 

1. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
3. Frank Ocean - Blonde
4. David Bowie - Blackstar
5. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank you 4 your Service
6. Porches - Pool
7. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
8. Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!"
9. Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
10. Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN

Honorable mentions: Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo; Preoccupations - Preoccupations 

Brandon Stith, Homage and Grizzly chewing tobacco spokesman 

1. Porches - Pool
2. Poured Out - To the Point of Death
3. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
4. Angel Du$t - Rock the Fuck On Forever
5. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
6. Knocked Loose - Laugh Tracks
7. Microwave - Much Love
8. Pinegrove - Cardinal
9. The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
10. Tyson Motsenbocker - Letters to Lost Loves

Kinsley Koons

1. Beyonce - Lemonade
2. Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN
3. Mitski - Puberty 2
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
5. Margaret Glaspy - Emotions and Math
6. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
7. Matt Corby - Telluric
8. Solange - A Seat at the Table
9. Rihanna - ANTI
10. Dyan - Looking for Knives

Honorable mentions: Wet - Don't You; Kevin Morby - Singing Saw

Dan Carr, the white guy Dave Chappelle imitates 

1. From Indian Lakes - Everything Feels Better Now
2. Local Natives - Sunlit Youth
3. Andy Hull & Robert McDowell - Swiss Army Man Soundtrack
4. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
5. Polyenso - Pure in the Plastic 
6. Caleb Groth - Ocelot
7. Bon Iver - You know the title because it's on everyone's list
8. Thrice - To Be Everything is To Be Nothing
9. Frank Ocean - Blonde 
10. The Soil and The Sun - Actual Replica vol. 1 (this is only tenth because it's a two song EP)

Kenny Sipes, founder of the Roosevelt Coffeehouse

1. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2. David Bowie - Blackstar
3. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
4. Explosions In The Sky - The Wilderness
5. Banks & Steelz - Banks & Steelz 
6. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
7. Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!"
8. Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch 2
9. Chris Bathgate - Old Factory
10. Crowder - American Prodigal

Ethan Sipes, Deathsong

No order:

• Every Time I Die - Low Teens
• Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound
• Problem of Pain - Burn What My Hands Wrought
• Dwell - Innate
• Bon Iver - 22, A Million 

Jude Shuma, musician, sage

1. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
2. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity
3. Jim James – Eternally Even
4. Frankie Cosmos – Next Thing
5. Weyes Blood – Front Row Seat To Earth

Kunal Verma, hot love and emotion endlessly 

1. Noname – Telefone
2. Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book
3. Whitney – Light Upon the Lake
4. J. Cole – 4 Your Eyez Only
5. Anderson .Paak – Malibu
6. Bas – Too High To Riot
7. Pinegrove – Cardinal
8. Frank Ocean – Blonde
9. Mac Miller – The Divine Feminine
10. Spillage Village – Bears Like This Too Much

Nick Van Heest, Chicago writer

1. Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
2. Frank Ocean - Blonde
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
4. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
5. DIIV - Is the Is Are
6. The Avalanches - Wildflower
7. Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
8. Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth 
9. Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing
10. Kanye West - The Life Of Pablo

Jake Beaver, drummer and vocalist in Problem of Pain

1. Oathbreaker - Rheia

       In no order:

Dwell - Innate
Hesitation Wounds - Awake For Everything
Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion B Side
Wet - Don't You
Dogwood Tales - Self Titled
Solange - A Seat At The Table
Heavens Die - The Hands of Man
Poured Out - To The Point of Death
Slow Bullet - Still Close Enough To Go Back

Sam DeBurgh, Slow Bullet 

1. Cotopaxi - Having All The Fun
2. Bazan - Blanco
3. Culture Abuse - Peach
4. Nothing - Tired Of Tomorrow
5. Dwell - Innate
6. Problem of Pain - Burn What My Hands Wrought
7. Drake - Views
8. Sex Prisoner - Tannhauser Gate
9. Tory Lanez - I Told You
10. Heavens Die - The Hands Of Man

Honorable mentions: Crying - Beyond the Fleeting Gales; Oathbreaker - Rheia

Steve Hendrickson, the best buddy

1. Travis Scott - Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
2. The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you're so beautiful yet so unaware of it
3. Exalt - The Shape You Took Before the Ache
4. Bad Suns - Disappear Here
5. Post Malone - August 26
6. Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow
7. From Indian Lakes - Everything Feels Better Now
8.  Radiohead - A Moonshaped Pool
9. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
10. Dwell - Innate 

Keith Scowden, a petite boy in a big world

1. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial 
2. David Bowie - Blackstar 
3. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
4. Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN
5. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
6. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
7. Sunflower Bean - Human Ceremony
8. Preoccupations - Preoccupations 
9. Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
10. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition 

Honorable mentions: Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing; A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service

David Fuller, musician, future writer, human stick bug, professional jerk-off

1. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2. David Bowie - Blackstar
3. Radiohead- A Moon Shaped Pool
4. Gold Panda - Your Good Times Are Just Beginning
5. Frank Ocean - Blonde
6. Preoccupations - Preoccupations 
7. The Avalanches - Wildflower
8. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition 
9. Cross Country - Trials 
10. Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN

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Daniel Powers, husband, riff farmer, pit spectator. Find me at Taco Bell yelling with my mouth full.

1. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book 
2. Tigercub - Abstract Figures in the Dark 
3. Every Time I Die - Low Teens 
4. Bruno Mars - 24K Magic 
5. Sumac - What One Becomes 
6. Church Tongue - Heart Failure 
7. Poured Out - To the Point of Death 
8. Dwell - Innate
9. Phantogram - Three 
10. Rihanna - ANTI

Nate Snitchler, vocalist in Due Gloom

1. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service
2. Childish Gambino - "Awaken, My Love!"
3. Every Time I Die - Low Teens
4. Old Gray - Slow Burn
5. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
6. Frank Ocean - Blonde
7. Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost 
8. Touché Amoré - Stage Four
9. PUP - The Dream Is Over
10. Church Tongue - Heart Failure

Berihune Adam: "I'm about to be a great producer soon but I ain't shit now so stay tuned"

1. Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!
2. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
3. ScHoolboy Q - Blank Face LP
4. Frank Ocean - Blonde
5. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank you 4 Your service
6. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition 
7. Noname - Telefone
8. Ab-Soul - Do What Thou Wilt. 
9. Kevin Abstract - American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story
10. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book

Jules Lee, student photographer 

1. Jon Bellion - The Human Condition 
2. The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware
3. Grouplove - Big Mess
4. Jetty Bones - Crucial States
5. Keaton Henson - Kindly Now
6. Banks - The Altar
7. The Head and the Heart - Signs of Light 
8. Mac Miller - The Divine Feminine 
9. NF - Therapy Session
10. Bon Iver - 22, A Million

Ryan Getz, founder of Tuned Up
Tuned UP is a down to earth music promotion brand aiming to stimulate conversation amongst the everyday music fan. Tuned Up has a blog, podcast, and event arm. 

1. Tycho - Epoch
2. Polyenso - Pure in the Plastic
3. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues
4. Comrades - Lone / Grey
5. Civilian - You Wouldn't Believe What Privilege Costs
6. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
7. Julianna Barwick - Will
8. Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound
9. Thrice - To Be Everything Is to Be Nothing
10. Kishi Bashi - Sonderlust

Chris Baker - Artist & Designer

1. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
3. Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book
4. Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN
5. Anna Meredith - Varmints
6. Majical Cloudz - Wait & See EP
7. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
8. Kanye West - THe Life Of Pablo
9. Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing 
10. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool