2016 - My Top 40 Albums
See title. |
| 1 |  | Pinegrove
Cardinal
An album that has connected with me emotionally and has always been there for every mood of 2016; whether I'm walking to exams I'm unprepared for or coming back from a night of partying and everything in between. 5.0 |
| 2 |  | Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool
Every song is layered, brings something to the table, and is straight up good. Experimenting is overrated anyways. 4.5 |
| 3 |  | Whitney
Light Upon the Lake
Critics of Whitney say they don't really bring anything new to the country/folk influenced indie-flannel rock, but what they do bring is a short and sweet set of songs perfect for summer. 4.0 |
| 4 |  | Bon Iver
22, A Million
I think the fact that I mostly listened to this at night really helped elevate the general vibe. Probably Bon Iver's weakest LP yet, but it's still pretty good. 4.0 |
| 5 |  | Brent Cobb
Shine On Rainy Day
A nice country album that nobody really knows about. There's nothing super exciting going on here except for some st8 up gr8 roots music. 4.0 |
| 6 |  | Jeff Rosenstock
Worry.
My first foray into the world of Jeff Rosestock and his affiliated bands. I can see why he's hyped. 4.0 |
| 7 |  | Kendrick Lamar
untitled unmastered.
I don't think any of these songs would've been particularly at home on TPAB, but I'm glad he decided to release them anyways. Every non-interlude song is strong. 4.0 |
| 8 |  | Kaytranada
99.9%
Vibez. 4.0 |
| 9 |  | Anderson .Paak
Malibu
Paak fucked up releasing this in January. This thing is full of pretty tite and sunny soul music. 4.0 |
| 10 |  | Sturgill Simpson
A Sailor's Guide To Earth
I think Sturgill could've fleshed out and expanded upon some of his ideas here. The concept is a little too straightforward and I'm more of a fan of his subdued music rather than his Southern rock side. 4.0 |
| 11 |  | Big Thief
Masterpiece
Similar to Hop Along (Big Thief's labelmates on Saddle Creek) Big Thief puts out an album of fairly straightforward rock songs. But they good rock songs. |
| 12 |  | Conor Oberst
Ruminations
Sparse and sad. 4.0 |
| 13 |  | Chance the Rapper
Coloring Book
There's a few songs that have no business being on here (Mixtape, All Night) but otherwise I'm a fan of the happy gospel Chance. 4.0 |
| 14 |  | Drive-by Truckers
American Band
Who knew country musicians could have liberal values. 4.0 |
| 15 |  | Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels 3
Run the Jewels push forward their sound just enough even though they don't do anything too different from their previous LPs. |
| 16 |  | Weezer
The White Album
Catchy but annoying. Annoyingly catchy. 4.0 |
| 17 |  | Kanye West
The Life of Pablo
When Kanye is on, he's on. If he managed to cut away some of the fat and mess he could've had another stellar record. It's amazing how he's been able to create and ride trends for the past 15 years. 4.0 |
| 18 |  | The Jezabels
Synthia
Schmexy synths. 4.0 |
| 19 |  | The Hotelier
Goodness
In the minority in thinking that this is better than their previous. 4.0 |
| 20 |  | David Bowie
Blackstar
I think this is a 3.5 for me if this album wasn't looking death right in the eyes. 4.0 |
| 21 |  | Souveneer
Merit Badge Season
This is some white girl poppy folk, but good white girl poppy folk. 4.0 |
| 22 |  | Wilco
Schmilco
Even though the title did little to suggest that Wilco would put out a record that took everybody by surprise, they put out a record that caught nobody by surprise. 3.5 |
| 23 |  | Frank Ocean
Blonde
The skits ruin this album, it's such a shame. 3.5 |
| 24 |  | Car Seat Headrest
Teens of Denial
Like Blonde and TLOP, the nucleus of Teens of Denial is very good, there's just a bit too much filler. 3.5 |
| 25 |  | Case/Lang/Veirs
Case/Lang/Veirs
3.5 |
| 26 |  | Kevin Morby
Singing Saw
3.5 |
| 27 |  | Carly Rae Jepsen
E MO TION Side B
Carly Bae Jepsen B sides to Emotion sound exactly like you would expect a B sides to Emotion to sound. 3.5 |
| 28 |  | Frankie Cosmos
Next Thing
I wish some of the songs were more fleshed out. 3.5 |
| 29 |  | William Tyler
Modern Country
Surprisingly engaging for an instrumental album. 3.5 |
| 30 |  | Various Artists (Country)
Southern Family
Some damn good songs and some duds. 3.5 |
| 31 |  | PUP
The Dream Is Over
3.5 |
| 32 |  | Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
I feel like Danny raps about the same shit. I had previously heard XXX and the subject matter is the exact same. I'm not really convinced to give Old a listen. 3.5 |
| 33 |  | Banks
The Altar
If I needed a walk-up song I would use Trainwreck. 3.5 |
| 34 |  | Aesop Rock
The Impossible Kid
Aesop can flow and produce with the best of them, but the album starts to sound pretty similar by the 10th track. 3.5 |
| 35 |  | Daughter
Not to Disappear
3.5 |
| 36 |  | Thrice
To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere
Ehhh, I feel like this is a fairly subpar Thrice outing. 3.5 |
| 37 |  | Flatbush Zombies
3001: A Laced Odyssey
Generic rap, but this time no samples. 3.0 |
| 38 |  | ANOHNI
HOPELESSNESS
This is why Trump won. [jk don't get offended] 3.0 |
| 39 |  | J. Cole
4 Your Eyez Only
I feel like J. Cole is close yet so far from realizing his potential. 3.0 |
| 40 |  | Noname
Telefone
The beats are a little bit too samey for me to really get into this. 3.0 |
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