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User
Reviews 11
Approval 100%
Soundoffs 4
News Articles 1
Band Edits + Tags 11
Album Edits 9
Album Ratings 389
Objectivity 70%
Last Active 05-01-17 3:22 pm
Joined 02-24-16
Review Comments 178
| McCluskey's Best Albums of 2016
12 might seem like an odd arbitrary number to pick for a end-of-year list, but these are what I believe to be the most exceptional records that I came across this year—no more, no less. | | 12 |  | Tangents (AUS)
Stateless
The best kept secret of the year, to be sure. This relatively unknown band's sophomore record offers a compelling blend of live, improvisational instrumentation with electronic contributions and tinkering. RIYL: the idea of amalgamating jazz, krautrock, IDM, and ambient into one, unified whole. | | 11 |  | Jenny Hval
Blood Bitch
This bizarre conglomeration of songs—some of which are borderline pop numbers, while others are wild experiments—from one of the greatest females in music right now presents a thorough investigation of the concept of desire through the lens of a fictional vampire narrative. | | 10 |  | Preoccupations
Preoccupations
Though it isn't able to eclipse the might of their last, under a new name, with a new sonic sheen, fka Viet Cong channel their anxiety and despondency into yet another expressive and intelligent post-punk/indie-rock effort. (Check out my full review for this thing for more detail.) | | 9 |  | Horse Lords
Interventions
Employing an ostensibly straightforward line-up of guitar, bass, drums, and sax, this is a mesmerizing display of prowess and cohesion: intricate grooves and rhythms are in a patient, perpetual state of shifting and interlocking. It's a gripping answer to the seemingly ridiculous question, "what would happen if you fused math-rock and free-jazz?" | | 8 |  | Roly Porter
Third Law
A vivid sci-fi instrumental masterwork that, in its quieter moments, aims to set the imagination ablaze with awe and wonder, while in its more cacophonous ones, provides some of the most viscerally arresting music of the year. RIYL: Ben Frost.
(Sorry, Vektor. While your record was undoubtedly excellent, it was just too histrionic for these ears to give a full nod on this list.) | | 7 |  | Kendrick Lamar
untitled unmastered.
The only rapper I could have imagined putting out a B-side record that would ultimately contend for the best hip-hop album of the year is Kendrick Lamar. With that said, aside from its out-of-the-blue release, this record came as no surprise. | | 6 |  | Gorguts
Pleiades' Dust
A winding 33 minute-long suite, this stunning single track EP is merely a validating reminder that, for me, Gorguts is the best metal band going right now. | | 5 |  | Swans
The Glowing Man
Swans' alleged last record from their current line-up. While disappointingly not quite as wholly obliterating as 'To Be Kind' or 'The Seer', it still manages to muster a pummeling meditative journey of its own nature, one with a more ethereal touch. A heartfelt goodbye to this incarnation of Swans, you were my favourite band, ever. | | 4 |  | Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
A departure from the molly-bangers of 'Old' and a return to the comically demented hell-holes of 'XXX', but this time, he's delving deeper into them than ever. Hang on to your hats, it's a wild ride.
(Again, peep my review for this record, if you will.) | | 3 |  | A Tribe Called Quest
We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service
Both lyrically and sonically, Tribe's ultimate swansong somehow manages to at once draw from their classic golden-age era, address our unsettling present, and look ahead into an uncertain future. It's one last masterclass from one of the greatest hip-hop groups to ever do it. RIP, Phife. | | 2 |  | Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool
Nine albums in and Radiohead are somehow still pushing themselves into new ground with this masterpiece. Especially of note here is the attention-to-detail, concise songwriting, overall album flow, variety, and of course, the strings—oh, the strings! God bless 'em, they've done it yet again. | | 1 |  | David Bowie
Blackstar
What more is there really to be said about this masterpiece? At the tail end of a long and illustrious career, essentially on his death-bed, Bowie was still pushing the boundaries of his facilities with this experimental and intricate album—one that would eerily foretell his unfortunate passing. RIP. | |
BlushfulHippocrene
12.08.16 | Sweet list, man, props for 12 and 9. Never heard of 8, but it looks interesting. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | I highly recommend it, especially if you get down with sci-fi. It quite unjustly flew under the radar this year, and in retrospect, I really should have given it a review on here. Sigh... oh well. | FullOfSounds
12.09.16 | Very well-put descriptions | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | Are we related? My last name's McCluskey too. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Eh, thanks FullOfSounds.
That's a weird coincidence Balls. Is it of Irish descent for you as well? | 50iL
12.09.16 | Needs more Vektor.
Still cool list tho ;) | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | Yeah. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Haha, fair, I do address that though! It's an excellent album no doubt, but in essence it's just too damn cheese for me to fully back. Just couldn't do it. And eh, it'll be on every other god damn list, so nothing's lost, haha. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | @BallsToTheWall
Tru. I have yet to determine if Mc is Irish and Mac is Scottish, or Mac is son of and Mc daughter of. I've heard both. | 50iL
12.09.16 | Haha fair enough then | FullOfSounds
12.09.16 | Mc is Irish | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | I'm apparently Scottish and Irish. My real last name is McCloskey but due to a misspelling during my Grandpa's heyday it became McCluskey and he just rolled with it. | Tyler.
12.09.16 | Radiohead are pushing themselves into the ground | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Grampa McCloskey not givin' a single hoot back in the good ol' days. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Tyler you gave King of Limbs a 4.5 but A Moon Shaped Pool is only a 3? Nothing against KoL, but how dare you man | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | I'm from Florida and ultimately I my family tree extends north but there's apparently a shit load of McCluskey's in Pennsylvania. My grandmother had like nine siblings from there. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | @Tyler.
You 4'd BoC's whole discography just about, then 5'd M.I.A.'s latest: in summary, I'm very conflicted about your taste haha | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Shit, son. I'm Nova Scotia, Canada, hilariously. Not too many of us out here; only one other family I've heard of | mindleviticus
12.09.16 | haha same here ^ | mindleviticus
12.09.16 | good list btw lots of good stuff | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | I raise my glass of whiskey to you sir. | BonJobey
12.09.16 | whata band name | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | God damn! Holla!!! Drinks for everyone. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | This is getting ~ TrIpPy, MaNe ~ | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Let us all get plastered on Jameson's while watching an endlessly looping amalgam of Conor McGregor's fight career. | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | Haha. I can dig it. I stll can't believe how his last fight ended. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | Part of me feels Alvarez was paid off. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | But that's a whole other can of tangential worms. | BallsToTheWall
12.09.16 | I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case tbh. You'd expect a champion to put up a hell of a fight. | kylemccluskey
12.09.16 | I felt the same about the Aldo fight as well: whenever he comes up against a reportedly impassable foe (save for Nate Diaz), he always ends up just walking magically through them, albeit more believably with Eddie, and all they have to say after is, 'I just threw away the game plan—I blew it". It's suspect af, I say. Real talk. |
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