Best EPs of 2016
You say I'm late, I say I'm exactly on time.
I realise that my timing aand descriptions ain't perfect, but aye, I did finish it at least. Now on to the albums-list...and all of its 101 items...it's gonna be a long night tonight, fellas. |
| 38 |  | Drei Affen
Drei Affen
Suggested by FullOfSounds and AsleepInTheBack
Brutal, crushing and unexpectedly deafening monstrosity of release. I did not expect this much at all. I don't really want to rearrange my list because of this one release, because it would be pretty damn high up. |
| 37 |  | Slow Bloom
Slow Bloom
Suggested by Kris.
I enjoyed this quite a bit and I am definitely looking forward to the band's further releases, but this EP really seems to me more like a taster of the band's abilities they could not put on album yet. So I did enjoy it a lot, but I believe they are capable of more. |
| 36 |  | Rest (IT)
Rest
Let's kick things off with a straight forward Metal debut EP. It is a decent release that does not break any new grounds, but is entertaining nonetheless. |
| 35 |  | Tombs
All Empires Fall
And let's continue with another rather simplistic Metal EP. The only reason for Tombs to be this low is the fact that they somehow managed to be somewhat tedious occasionally throughout the record, but otherwise this is a solid Metal release and nothing much beyond that. |
| 34 |  | Pallbearer
Fear and Fury
Pallbearer's muddiness and heavy sound is what is most striking about them. They certainly know how to make you feel slightly dizzy with their sharp musicianship. |
| 33 |  | Lemaitre
1749
In an age of redundant EDM, Lemaitre tried to come through with a quality material that would be both catchy enough to trend and compelling enough not to be just another throwaway piece of redundancy. |
| 32 |  | Kaspar Hauser
Kaspar Hauser
Lo-Fi has always been a somewhat intriguing genre to me, but one that needs a particular care in order to work properly. It's nice to hear new acts that are mastering the genre this well. |
| 31 |  | Full of Hell
Amber Mote In The Black Vault
It seems to me that it takes longer time reading the title out loud that in it actually listening to this unholy pile of rapidfire brutality. |
| 30 |  | Com Truise
Silicon Tare
Going back to EDM, but this time a little more musically conceptual and relying on experimentation. |
| 29 |  | LSD and the Search for God
Heaven Is a Place
Indeed, you might find this EP to be as superficial as it can get, but I strongly believe that it is an exaplary precedent of whata proper Lo-Fi Psychedelica should sound like, wild and distorted. |
| 28 |  | Wildernessking
Levitate
Mystical Future leftovers…yeah, what else do you need to know? |
| 27 |  | Slice the Cake
Odyssey to the Gallows
An introduction to Odyssey to the West that features some of the most soul-crushing spoken (and screaming word) word performance of the year. |
| 26 |  | Ocean Jet
The Word Never Dropped
Ocean Jet finally came to their own and went full out with maximum ambitions and bombastic sound (not that they weren't showing signs of that before). Thus transforming their brand from a somewhat intriguing Synth-Darkwave into a straight out explosive Electropop. |
| 25 |  | G.L.O.S.S.
Trans Day Of Revenge
Wouljalike some punk, mate? And one tackling current social issues? Here ya go. |
| 24 |  | Sheer Mag
Sheer Mag III
Sheer Mag continue their journey of turning everybody into lovers of distrotion and angry Lo-Fi Punk (by the way, is it just me or do they actually incorporate a lot of Shoegaze into the mix), and they might soon succeed if they carry on this way. |
| 23 |  | Holy Ghost!
Crime Cutz
Electronica mostly goes over my head. Unfortunately, I've had hard time understanding any incarnation of the genre. That is why I admire every release of the genre I enjoy so much. Thank you, Holy Ghost! for delivering one of them. |
| 22 |  | The Yips
Got Power/Want Some
These folks describe themselves as Ouija Rock...whatever that is, it sounds an awful lot like a slightly catchier Garage-Punk. |
| 21 |  | sir Was
Says Hi
This guy stated on his Bandcamp page that it took his 15 years to find courage in making music. Let's just be glad that he found it at last. |
| 20 |  | Grand Mexican Warlock
III
I have a soft spot for Psychedelic Rock, I admit that. But how can you not when stuff like this is around. |
| 19 |  | Skeletonwitch
The Apothic Gloom
This kind of Sludgy Thrash Metal has always been more of a hit-and-miss for me. It can be quite corny and flat, but when it's doen right, it may get stuck in your head for all eternity. And, oh boy, did Skeletonwitch deliver in that way. |
| 18 |  | Cambrian Explosion
The Moon
The most typical Heavy-Psych one can find. Oddly enough, it's also possibly the most memorable one. |
| 17 |  | Barbed Wire
Barbed Wire
For those of you who are arguing that Rock'n'Roll is dead. |
| 16 |  | Spirit Adrift
Behind - Beyond
Spirit Adrift's teaser EP to a full-length that I have a sin of not having heard yet. Don't be scared of the songs' runtime, they justify it completely. |
| 15 |  | Gorguts
Pleiades' Dust
Yet another Gorguts epic. It's nice to have a band like Gorguts, from whom you can always expect a solid release, no matter whether it is a full-length or a 30 minutes long track, masked as an EP. |
| 14 |  | Uniform
Ghosthouse
From stability in chaos, let's move to an utter insanity and brain-melting, blood-pumping and adrenaline rushing experience. If you thought that Street Sects push the boundaries of possibility when it comes to Industrial Punk music, you haven't heard this yet. |
| 13 |  | Somewhere South of Here
With Her Came the Birds
You know, I like Emo. Not as much because it is that much of a fantastic music genre, but rather the angsty teenage rebel in me isn't dead yet (damn dude, you're pushing fifty, grow up already). And also because this is one of the few genres that can serve as a perfect translation of one's anger and rampageous disposal of life (and let's just forget those days in 2006 or when was that, when kids used to put thick eyeliners on and wear black'n'pink clothes...that never happened). What I'm trying to say is that this is a hard-hitting and moving EP and I am genuinely curious as to what the band is going to do next. |
| 12 |  | clipping.
Wriggle
On this EP, clipping. lost their usual production weirdness (well, not entirely) and headed towards a bit more straight-forward approach. They succeeded by a mile and delivered some of their easily most memorable material to date. |
| 11 |  | Tender Defender
Tender Defender
Some of the catchiest Pop-Punk songs I've heard in a long time. |
| 10 |  | Hanni El Khatib
Savage Times Vol. 1
I couldn't decide which of the five EPs in the Savage Times series I should put on the list, so I just went with every single one sharing the same spot. |
| 9 |  | Dead to Me
I Wanna Die in Los Angeles
Suggested by Satellite
Ooooh boy, an album a lot like Tender Defender, but much less Pop and much more PUNK, goddammit! This is a fun, energetic, moving and instantly memorable Punk that I'd love to hear more these days. I wish Dead to Me all the luck in the world and I'm curious as to what are they going to release in the future.
P.S.: Thank you, @Satellite, for this suggestion. |
| 8 |  | Iglooghost
Little Grids
Iglooghost come back to show us how to do the weird Electronica and prove to everybody that he is indeed one of a kind when it comes to wholly unique production technique. |
| 7 |  | Oddisee
Alwasta
I always have a certain problem with Oddisee's full-lengths. They never seem to be particularily engaging. But on a shorter scale, the dude can pull off a hell of a dense and magnetic record. |
| 6 |  | Chelsea Wolfe
Hypnos / Flame
While this technically isn't an EP, but a double single, that doesn't change the fact that Chelsea Wolfe continues to prove her talents. |
| 5 |  | Son Lux
Stranger Forms
Son Lux released a handful of leftovers from their lastest enigmatic album. And it is just as gorgeous in a completely unpredictable and magnificent. |
| 4 |  | Massive Attack
Ritual Spirit
There was no need for Massive Attack to reunite and release new stuff, but now that they did, I ain't complainin'. |
| 3 |  | Biblical Proof of UFOs
Fireballs of Love
This is sad, folks. BPoUFOs never recieved any credit for their music at all. They've been around since the 90s (!), just think about that. But they've een releasing solid material again and again. And on this latest EP of hteirs they show just how much they are capable of. The songs are subtle, but fierce; rapid, but emotional; fun, but thoughtful. It's a great EP, please check it out. |
| 2 |  | Cecil Otter
Dear Echo
Cecil Otter's emotional delivery and surprisingly fantastic and grandiose production create a worthwhile Hip-Hop listen that was sadly overlooked by a lot of people. |
| 1 |  | Titan X
Titan X
Mmmmmmmmm, this EP, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, this EP, man, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, man, this EP. Chances are that as you're reading this, I am listening to Signs of Time for like a 10000x time, because man that track, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, that track, man, oohhhhhhhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhh, man that track. (I realise that this is possibly the worst write up I ever commited...outside of that thing I wrote about the Havoc and Alchemist collab record.) |
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