Best of 2016: Albums

If nothing else, 2016 delivered a lot of great music. A bunch of my favorite bands and musicians released new slabs of vinyl or compact discs so that made me happy. There were a few newcomers and reissues in there as well. I've kept the CD trend rolling from the last year or two. It's a more practical and affordable format in all honesty. I'm a little surprised I didn't find an indie rock band with guitars that plays short, catchy songs this year. As tired as that type of sound can be, I usually stumble on to at least one because I do like to hear melodies to balance out the other stuff. I know I left a couple of albums out, but I wanted to keep the list at a manageable size. As always any album had to be released in the calendar year and I had to listen to it a lot. And if you are one of those types who needs a definitive album of the year, then that honor goes to Unicorn Hard-On's Dream Machine.

The list goes band/album/label for those with questions of that nature.

01. The Body - No One Deserves Happiness - Thrill Jockey
02. MV Carbon - The Sun Will Turn On You - Discombobulate Records
03. Suzanne Ciani - Buchla Concerts 1975 - Finders Keepers
04. Cellular Chaos - Diamond Teeth Clenched - Skin Graft Records
05. Cloud Becomes Your Hand - Rest In Fleas - Northern Spy
06. Sarah Davachi - Dominions - JAZ Records
07. The Dead C - Troubled - Ba Da Bing Records
08. Max Eilbacher/Alex Moskos/Duncan Moore - SEF III - Ehse Records
09. Ekin Fil - Being Near - Helen Scarsdale Agency
10. Glitterbust - s/t - Burger Records
11. Good Willsmith - Things Our Bodies Used To Have - Umor Rex
12. Horse Lords - Interventions - Northern Spy Records
13. Machine Listener - Endless Coil - Tusco/Embassy Press
14. Prostitutes - Ghost Detergent - Spectrum Spools
15. Matthew Ryals - We Could Make The Ride Better For Everyone - Behind Glass Records
16. MJ Guider - Precious Systems - Kranky
17. Secret Boyfriend - Memory Care Unit - Blackest Ever Black
18. Umberto - Alignation - Not Not Fun
19. Unicorn Hard-On - Dream Machine - Untergang-Institut
20. Venetian Snares - Traditional Synthesizer Music - Timesig
21. Zaïmph - Between The Infinite And The Finite - Yew

Best of 2016: Cassettes

There were a lot of good tapes released in 2016. It was a little difficult narrowing things down, but once I hit twenty I stopped adding to the list. I know I left a few quality releases off that maybe on a different day would have been on here. I also tried to keep it one cassette per label, although Hausu Mountain is on here twice and could have easily had more. Not Not Fun and Umor Rex are slightly underrepresented and Constellation Tatsu probably should have had at least one tape on the list. As always any tape had to be released in the calendar year and I had to listen to it a lot. And if you are one of those types who needs a definitive cassette of the year, then that honor goes to Denying The Other by Radiator Greys on Hausu Mountain.

The list goes band/album/label for those with questions of that nature.

01. Lea Bertucci - Axis/Atlas - Clandestine Compositions
02. Bodyshrine & Streetcleaver - split - Noise Dad Tapes
03. CAO - Marginal Virgin - Opal Tapes
04. Kate Carr - It Was A Time Of Laboured Metaphors - Helen Scarsdale Agency
05. Cloning - Gimerack - Refulgent Sepulchre
06. Forest Management - Acclimation - Amethyst Sunset
07. Ice - Scream Club - More Records
08. Maar - Absolute Delay - Umor Rex
09. Yves Malone - Today Is The Last Day Of The Rest Of Your Life - Field Hymns
10. Jake Meginsky - Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes - NNA Tapes
11. Sean Pierce - Transit - Motor Collective
12. Plagues - Of Ash & Relic - New Forces
13. Pod Blotz - The Voltaic Eye - Nostilevo
14. Quiet Evenings - Oak & Lead - Adversary
15. Radiator Greys - Denying The Other - Hausu Mountain
16. Scraps - T.T.N.I.K. - Not Not Fun
17. Sound Out Light - Currents - Lillerne Tapes
18. Stroker - The Bitch - No Rent Records
19. TALsounds - Lifter + Lighter - Hausu Mountain
20. Witchbeam - Accidental Sirens - Mistake By The Lake