Jas' EXCEPTIONALLY modest 2nd quarter of 2016
So I somehow managed to get halfway through the year and only listen to 50 albums. Fuck it, that's half a decent year end list, so on the right track I suppose. Umm, I guess I'm not unhappy right now, so that's cool. I suppose this is the fun half of the year we're heading into now anyway; final year of high school for me so w/e, birthday coming up and I'll finally allowed to drink legally (but fuck the system amirite?). So yeah I guess I've got a list of stuff. This is stuff from 2016 that I've checked out since my last list. Honestly, so far, this year has been soooooooo much better than last year in terms of music I've enjoyed, really happy with it so far, AOTY is going to be hard. |
| 26 |  | Death Grips
Bottomless Pit
whoops, forgot this existed. It should be 10th after Dalek.
experimental hip hop
4/5 |
| 25 |  | The Gerogerigegege
Moenai Hai
the first two tracks are really good but the songs are just too long for my liking and they lose their charm.
avant-garde/musique concrete (I believe the first song is?)/noise rock
2.5/5 |
| 24 |  | Drake
Views
I'm fully convinced that Drake is actually his own inside joke. Like, how can you contradict yourself so blatantly in the space of one album. Sadly, thought the production is very, very nice and Drake does get it right sometimes, a lot of the time he's a fucking loser. Hotline Bling, the bonus track that was out as a single a year before this, ended up being my favourite song.
hip-hop
2.5/5 |
| 23 |  | Thao And The Get Down Stay Down
A Man Alive
Unfortunately I just do not get this at all. The vocalist is very umm... different and it's not really my thing and musically there just isn't a lot that does anything for me.
indie-rock
2.6/5 |
| 22 |  | Echo Beach
Greetings from Echo Beach
Far too brief and undeveloped, but what is here is good, definitely potential in this.
shoegaze/post-punk/indie rock
2.9/5 |
| 21 |  | Elizabeth Rose
Intra
Relatively enjoyable album for what it is. goddamn she's cute tho
pop
3/5 |
| 20 |  | Fallujah
Dreamless
guilty pleasure. Also love the album artist's stuff.
melodic death metal (I think?)
3.1/5 |
| 19 |  | Paul Simon
Stranger to Stranger
Not much to offer musically that he hasn't already but holy shit, this guy literally has not lost his voice at all, sounds exactly the same as at least Graceland era.
Simon sans Garfunkel/folk
3.1/5 |
| 18 |  | Gojira
Magma
Good album. A little samey, but all of their stuff kinda feels like that for me honestly.
some subgenre of metal
3.4/5 |
| 17 |  | Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas
Mariner
Cult of Luna are one of the limited few post-metal groups I actually enjoy, and I quite enjoyed this one, but still suffers from the monotony and overly ambitious length that really irks me about post-metal
post-office
3.4/5 |
| 16 |  | Sturgill Simpson
A Sailor's Guide To Earth
Very sailory and earthy. Really glad to hear country, especially modern country that isn't complete shit. The Nirvana cover is awful though and really ruins the flow of the album.
alt country
3.5/5 |
| 15 |  | Sutcliffe Jugend
The Muse
A very attractive dark ambient album with a bit of spoken word bits and industrial sprinkles. Tolerable length too, it's actually surprisingly revisitable.
dark ambient/industrial
3.5/5 |
| 14 |  | MMOTHS
Luneworks
Pretty and relaxing, some great electronic stuff from a relatively young producer.
electronic/downtempo
3.5/5 |
| 13 |  | Swans
The Glowing Man
As the lack of enthusiasm from everyone that isn't Anthony Fantano would suggest, yeah there isn't really anything special about this one. Basically sounds exactly like To Be Kind but without any of the bangers like "A Little God in My Hands" or "Oxygen", so needless to say it can get pretty patience trying. It's all worth it for the studio version of Frankie M though.
post-rock/experimental
3.5/5 |
| 12 |  | PJ Harvey
The Hope Six Demolition Project
Not as infectiously catchy as Let England Shake, but just as politically charged and solid enough from one of the baddest bitches in the game.
alt
3.7/5 |
| 11 |  | Millicent Waffles
Broken Lantern in the Graceless Elps
Experimentation with tapes yields one of the most engaging things AnimalsAsSummit has made. He also has like 60,000 other releases from this year that I will get around to and you should to assuming you have the stomach/patience for this sort of thing.
avant-garde
3.9/5 |
| 10 |  | Volcanic Queen
Moments Captured in a Different Light
Interestingly enough, a lot of this years strongest releases seem to be coming from the userbase. Nice concise ambient EP, the first song reminds me of the "String Loop Manufactured During Downpour" section of GY!BE's "Providence", really cool.
ambient/user project
4/5 |
| 9 |  | Dalek
Asphalt For Eden
Fucking bomb production and lyrics. From what I understand, this is something of a return to form for the group.
Hip-hop
4/5 |
| 8 |  | Ricinn
Lian
Similar bands: Chelsea Wolfe, Diamanda Galas
brb, marrying.
But actually, while it's nowhere near as adventurous as the similar bands section would imply (and really the only thing Laure has in common on this album with Diamanda is her range is fucking enourmous), it's still a fantastically dark and invigorating album with incredible potential. Can't wait to see where Laure takes this.
4/5
gothic/doom/scary lady |
| 7 |  | Oomori Seiko
Tokyo Black Hole
Continuing the trend of people entering Japanese artists into the database with their names in the traditional Japanese family name first way so that I get fucked off when I search "Seiko Oomori" and it's not in the database, Seiko Oomori returns with one of the better pop albums of the year.
art pop/pop rock
4.1/5 |
| 6 |  | Marissa Nadler
Strangers
Just fucking marry me please?
indie-folk/singer-songwriter kinda like a not very dark chelsea wolfe kinda thing idk.
4.1/5 |
| 5 |  | Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool
Even though it's still like their 7th best album, I still enjoy this immensely. Can we just talk about how heart-breaking it is to hear True Love Waits at the end of the album knowing about Thom's divorce? Even the version of the song is brutal, not my favourite recording of it for sure, but contextually it's perfect. It sounds like such a futile performance, that they recorded this song that's existed since The fucking Bends and only now does Thom fully understand how it makes him feel and truly connects with the song's protagonist, which i guess is him now.
Alt
4.1/5 |
| 4 |  | Vektor
Terminal Redux
Yeah wow so I don't even really like thrash but yeah idk
thrash/i guess prog-metal too i'm not sure. why do I keep doing genres, i don't know what I'm talking about?
4.2/5 |
| 3 |  | James Blake
The Colour in Anything
Would be a definite contender for AOTY if it wasn't so goddamn long. Maybe I'll get used to the length more as the year goes by though, firmly in the top 10 for me rn anyway. I Need a Forest Fire is one of my SOTYs atm too. Also did not notice the naked lady in the tree until i bought this.
electronic/soul/rnb
4.2/5 |
| 2 |  | Gold Panda
Good Luck And Do Your Best
This album sounds like a good morning.
ummm, idk, microhouse? is that right?
4.4/5 |
| 1 |  | Kayo Dot
Plastic House on Base of Sky
Probably the least boundary pushing and most accessible thing Toby Driver's ever released, but, I can't get over just how nice it sounds. Really dig the atmosphere.
Toby Drivercore but with synths
4.4/5 |
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