Ten cool music things that happened in 2016

Mounting distractions throughout 2016 have made me question doing "best of" lists more than any previous year.  I don't see a point in reiterating that Deerhoof and Santigold had great albums this year (because of course they fucking did!).  I've been doing best albums of the year for 11 straight and thinking listing ten albums on a blog nobody reads, in a playlist driven generation... hmm maybe it's time I finally change things up.

So here is a different list, and something positive in a year that is in desperate need of positivity.  Here are ten cool things in music released in 2016!

You guys... the last half of that Jeff Rosenstock album!
Most of WORRY! is Jeff Rosenstock doing what he does best in a fairly predictable manner.  He's still a one-of-a-kind voice for disheveled and jaded punkers punched in the gut by adulthood, but I was feeling some diminishing returns after 20 minutes.  At the album's sappiness peak, "Blast Damage Days", things start to change up.  WORRY! turns into a machine gun of songs, with all the fat trimmed.  They just spit out a good hook and relevant lyric, then bam, right to the next.  It's something I haven't heard done this well since Bad Religion's No Control or Energy by Operation Ivy.

Click this picture of Jeff Glumpet to hear what I'm talking about.

And it isn't just a barrage of retro punk and ska.  "HELLLLHOOOOLE" and "The Fuzz" take you from extreme highs to lows.  All the frustrations and emotions from every song pile up, and set up the lyric "love is worry" better than any single ballad could have.  Ending this chaos with "Perfect Sound Whatever" puts a fantastic "it is what it is" kind of bow not only on the album, but Jeff's whole songwriting and production style.  This clusterfuck of songs is one of the coolest things he's ever done.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation rewrites a fan favorite album from the ground up.
At this point in their career, this is the kind of band that would usually be putting out those heartless remastered anniversary collections.  Instead, AKFG took the risk of messing with one of their most beloved albums, 2004's ソルファ.  I actually love when bands do this, even if they don't end up creating a better product.  In this case though, they may have...

They punch up their ballads with some extra instrumentation, and add extended bridges and intros to some songs (as they have been performed live for the last decade).  ソルファ was the band's first challenge to themselves to be more than an indie pop-punk band, and these veteran takes do those original songs justice.

The Radio Dept. told ya so.

"We Got Game" is still doing a number on me.

It was already interesting enough that The Radio Dept. finally shed their dream-pop facade and made an overt political album, but now that the same issues in Running Out of Love are very real threat to America... boy does this album suddenly become more relevant to a lot more people.




"We know this world is good enough, because it has to be."

Click on this very nice Canadian
to hear a song.

Hey, we all need a hug this year.  Thankfully, John K Samson released Winter Wheat.  His first album since the breakup of The Weakerthans.  In any other situation, Winter Wheat would still be a great album; with JKS' typical songwriting of deep character focus and evocative details.  These past few months, though... When I wanted to turn off the world, but couldn't, Winter Wheat has been my go-to.

Polysics finds another way to blow our minds.

For years, I've been criticizing my favorite band for losing their edge.  What's This??? reclaims it, in a big way.  While this album has its problems (most being too many songs), the first 17 minutes scramble brains with an audaciousness I haven't seen from the band in a dozen years!  For the first time since originally diving into their early discography, I found myself saying "man... I don't know if I can hang with this".  That feeling of sensory overload is wonderful to have again.

Danny Brown hacks rap.

Atrocity Exhibition is gonna be in a lot of 2016 articles, and with good reason.  The gonzo production really sticks out in its genre.  There have been a lot of cries of "This is the craziest thing I've heard all year!"  Obviously, they didn't listen to that Polysics album, but hey, for rap, it does break the mold a bit.  It's got a good 15 minute stretch in the middle, but I'm not wild about this album.  This is why I'm so happy to write this instead of a top ten.  Danny Brown wouldn't have made my top ten, but there is some stuff on here that is cool and worth pointing out.  Like this music video!!

Omar Rodriguez Lopez gets nostalgic


ORL released another stretch of solo albums this year.  It's far too much music to consume, but the one release worth checking out is Arañas en la Sombra.  It's made of old Mars Volta recordings, and features a lot of core Mars Volta members.  I still have warm and fuzzy feelings about the madness that was The Mars Volta in 2001-2008, so this album has been a welcome deja-vu trip.

Kenichi Asai has another banner year.
Living rock deity, Kenichi Asai, usually is reliable for one good record a year.  2016's quota was met early in Sherbets' Crashed Sedan Drive (review here).  What is noteworthy is the announcement of his new band, THE INTERCHANGE KILLS!

Now, aside from a great band name, and a solid lead single in "Messenger Boy" (full album in 2017); what really got me excited is the recruitment of ex-Number Girl bassist, Nakao Kentarō.  Number Girl is the kind of band I always look for excuses to rave about.  At their worst, they were this amazing mashup of Fugazi, Superchunk, and Pixies.  At best, a very ahead of the curve punk-hardcore outfit.  Whenever any members of this short lived band show up in anything, my interest increases by 800%.

The "other" Stranger Things.

Click this adorable picture of Yuck to read
some more nice things I said about their record

Listen, I liked the Netflix show, Stranger Things.  I'm looking forward to season 2.  The album, Stranger Things, deserves some credit though!  No, it's not the show's soundtrack.  It's a shoegaze pop alum by Yuck.  Built To Spill's Untethered Moon was my favorite 2015 album, and Stranger Things is the closest sounding thing to it this year.




METAFIVE puts out the best damn album of the year.
OK, I won't totally abandon top ten.  I'll pick a number one; METAFIVE - META.

This Japanese electronic pop supergroup has been an obvious pick for most of the year.  Towa Tei brings his usual color and flair (wisely reigned in by his cohorts), Cornelius contributes his brilliantly simple and efficient compositions, Leo Imai has a perfect English voice to make the whole thing digestible, and Takahashi Yukihiro (of Yellow Magic Orchestra) holds the whole thing together with veteran precision.  I hope this group sticks around for years.