Thread for all 2016 albums of the year lists

it's kind of dispiriting knowing that is the deliberate point and that there's absolutely no impetus to change it

they have all somehow managed to develop this kind of idk, trite bloviating cultural narrativization that actually has very little interest in zeitgeist. whatever it is it is not music criticism

It's either that the voter base is listening to the same albums and virtually no non-album material, or that the singles vote is all long-tail there are just no other singles to serve as rallying points. Both options suggest there's been a failure of journalism somewhere along the line. It all suggests that the national office crew isn't going out and partying together that much at all.

the "single" itself is a total different animal even from 5 years ago

Yeah but there are still bangers and scene anthems and so forth. If your tracks list is entirely based of your favourite tracks from your favourite albums it suggests a complete lack of engagement with individual scenes.

it's like any EOY list, and it's even worse w/film probably where an even more limited set of films takes up a greater percentage of the conversation, and it's really a discussion of which 10 films out of 25 will make your list. maybe it's not worse than films, though, because there are so many more films to choose from. idk.

is there even a "single" from the solange or chance albums? I have no idea!

but we've developed a nu-rockism around pop artists [prockimism?] that the "good" pop artists are album artists and the "bad" pop artists are singles artists

N O N E of these critics lists are going to ride for the actual hit pop singles of the year that didn't come from album artists — Lukas Graham, Sia, Gnash, Meghan Trainor, DJ Snake, Kent Jones, DNCE, etc

Like the whole "Meghan Trainor is bad, I listen to REAL pop music like Carly Rae Jepson" is such a dogshit conceit that just completely flies in the face of what makes a good pop single

Like there's a reason "No" charted higher than any Beyonce song, and it's not because INDUSTRY PLANT SHE IS THE BAD POP

I can think of one reason

I didn't really get the visceral hatred of "No" tbh

idk how "critics don't engage with scenes and the tracks that resonate in those scenes" turned into "critics don't ride for chart pop" but

(I mean, I do get hating Megan Trainor's quack-voice, but that didn't seem to be what anyone was objecting to)

Consensus is a sampling artifact.

whiney's talking taste turkey as if it were even still applicable to the big lists, where there is evidently no longer any sensibility at play other than prestige tv recaps for the clickiest event albums

perhaps a good time to note that a full quarter of last year's ilm 77 (freed from rolling wizard despotism by the great liberator no less) was just grimes miguel kendrick crj sundfor

I think most people , even fans of those acts, complained about nominating/voting for album tracks into the 77.

If only there was something we could do about that.

well the problem is the amount of actual singles released as such....

You could just vote for the pop songs that arent on albums right enough.

Like Honey G from x-factor will likely have a single eligible for next years poll ;)

gerrymandering the vote to look cooler isnt the point

totally. But I also know everyone will be complaining about loads of solange/radiohead/kanye/frank ocean et all in the 77.

in short: no ones ever happy :D

And I think most people enjoy the countdown the way it is

and as a eoy pollrunner could I perhaps take this chance to remind everyone voting in metal poll ends tomorrow and we only have 18 ballots so far so all ballots from one album to fifty are equally welcome!

[url=http://ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=104977&action=showall&bookmarkedmessageid=6155782]METAL ALBUMS POLL 2016 VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD. [Voting ends Friday December 16 11.59pm GMT][/url

LargeUp's dancehall list is out:

1. Vybz Kartel, “Fever”
2. Rihanna feat. Drake, “Work”
3. Konshens, “Bruk Off”
4. Popcaan, “We Still A Win (World Cup)”
5. Alkaline, “City”
6. Drake feat. Popcaan, “Controlla”
7. Jahmiel, “Where Were U”
8. Popcaan, “Ova Dweet”
9. Vybz Kartel, “Western Union”
10. Mavado, “Progress”
11. Charly Blacks, “Gyal You A Party Animal”
12. Dwayne “DJ” Bravo, “Champion”
13. Chi Ching Ching, “Breadfruit (Roast or Fry)”/ Popcaan, “Wicked Man Ting”
14. Spice, “Indicator”
15. Chronixx, “Sell My Gun”
16. Alkaline, “After All”

The 10 Best Experimental Albums of 2016 by The Observer

Bloodmist, Sheen / Pale Horse, Badlands (5049)
Body/Head, No Waves (Matador)
David Grubbs, Prismrose (Blue Chopsticks)
Chuck Hammer, Blind on Blind (AVA Interact)
Daniel Higgs, The Fools Sermon, part 1 (Ideologic Organ)
Alan Licht, Currents (VDSQ)
Merzbow/Keiji Haino/Balazs Pandi, An Untroublesome Defencelessness (RareNoise)
Rob Noyes, The Feudal Spirit (Poon Village)
Okkyung Lee & Christian Marclay, Amalgam (Northern Spy)
Thor & Friends, Thor & Friends (LM Duplication)

Thor & Friends, Thor & Friends (LM Duplication)

please tell me this is the guy from Zombie Nightmare

agree w/ rob that largeup's list is factually accurate

Does everyone get the link to Trainor's 'No' on YouTube as the top result for searching 'no' on Google? Shit is messed up.

meghan trainor is a quack voiced dipshit peddling regressive politics. "no" would be great if anyone else - maybe fellow ricky reed protege lizzo! - was singing it but pop radio is SUPER RACIST ATM so here we are.

Thor & Friends, Thor & Friends (LM Duplication)

please tell me this is the guy from Zombie Nightmare

Nope, the guy from Swans/Shearwater/a bunch of other things. Haven't heard the album but they were very good live.

please tell me this is the guy from Zombie Nightmare

That Thor had an album last year, Metal Avenger, and played the Alehorn Of Power fest recently!

11. Charly Blacks, “Gyal You A Party Animal”

is this counted as 2016? i've heard it SO MUCH this year but when i looked it up it was from mid-2015

it's really amazing obv

They acknowledge that in the write-up. It's a year of impact call though the riddim is from 2014

Nope, the guy from Swans/Shearwater/a bunch of other things. Haven't heard the album but they were very good live.

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.)

oh well this is good anyway. i like marimba.

my list:

http://tarfumes.typepad.com/tarfumes/2016/12/best-albums-of-2016.html

i thought alkaline's "one more time" was even better than "city"

good list tarfumes

Ah I just remembered what EOY feature I was thinking earlier that does the niche/general lists quite well imho. It was NPR, I think?. Have you guys linked to it already?

http://www.npr.org/series/482024024/best-music-of-2016

The general best of albums and songs is kind of what we've seen already elsewhere with a few surprises. But the individual lists are great.

Although I remember last year it was only one article divided by sections. Best classical, best electronic and so on I might be misremembering or it wasn't NPR the list I was looking for.

i thought alkaline's "one more time" was even better than "city"

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Friday, 16 December 2016 01:09 Bookmark

largeup list is never really about aesthetic judgement and esp not this year

in any case choosing one alka fave is like how ppl agonise between thugger tracks, but for real

"one more time" was the alkaline standout for me too

https://popstylemusic.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/charly-black-one-sheet.jpg?w=700

found this handy bumpf to help explain the success of 'party animal'. as you can see ja gave it 0 fucks

FROM THE BEACH PARTY TO THE DANCE FLOOR IN ONE FELL SWOOP!

the real bird sound power

Bummed about the lack of love shown to Kiran Leonard's flawed-but-remarkable Grapefruit. That album is really something, IMO.

belated again so picking up a couple threads:

1) I don't really experience music socially, but that's only because in any given year the music I love the most, no one else gives a shit about nor can I make them. not even in a role where that is presumably my job.

2) the distinction isn't just albums artists vs. singles artists, but also celebrities vs. non-celebrities (even non-Designated Villains like Trainor, people such as Dua Lipa or Zara Larsson, don't get critics to give a shit about their songs), suburban-coding vs. non-suburban-coding (i.e. Rachel Platten), Songs For Olds vs. Songs Not For Olds... also not new, it's the same thing as critics latching onto the first solo justin timberlake songs and ignition at the expense of at least half that year

and sure, the immediate cause of 1) is many lists being compiled via individual ballots, but that consensus has to come from somewhere; if a song doesn't get the full song-and-meme treatment early on it's probably fucked

was shocked to see that Tracks poll hot favourite 'Black Beatles' got to #2 in the barely-relevant-but-still singles chart

well there was a meme

it was so depressing when I realised that was the reason for it (also means I feel no inclination to vote for the song in any individual tracks context)

zara larsson made some superb pop this year, "ain't my fault" was a v underrated banger

"no" would be decent b-tier pop in someone else's hands but meghan trainor sounds so flat and bland on it. the song itself might not deserve visceral hatred but it reminds you of all the stuff she's done that absolutely does