20. Goodness by the Hotelier
19. Blue Wave by Operators
18. Blisters in the Pit of My Heart by Martha
17. Wake Up Laughing by Music Band
16. Everything You've Come to Expect by the Last Shadow Puppets
15. Shape Shift with Me by Against Me!
14. Midnight Run by Connections
13. Beyond the Fleeting Gales by Crying
12. A Sailor's Guide to Earth by Sturgill Simpson
11. Jet Plane and Oxbow by Shearwater
Top Ten Albums of 2016
10. Pretty Years by Cymbals Eat GuitarsI've come to realize that I tend to enjoy Philly bands a little more than I typically would if they were from anywhere else. There's hometown pride, sure, but there's also that sense that, ya know, these kids had similar experiences to me. It helps me relate to the subject matter. So when Cymbals Eat Guitars starts a song with "Stepped down from the SEPTA to the empty street," I can picture myself doing the same. Anyways, this is all to say that Pretty Years is a bomb ass rock album that I like.
9. City Sun Eater in the River of Light by WoodsHonestly, if you lined up all nine (nine!) of Woods' albums, and shuffled 'em up, you might be hard pressed to tell them apart. Woods has one sound—chill, laid back folk rock tunes with that fantastic falsetto—and they do it well. But Woods ages like fine fucking wine. It doesn't matter how many times they repeat themselves, the shit gets better and better every album.
8. Album by the Sun DaysI was accused online of having a top ten list that is very white-dude-with-guitars heavy. And that's true! And I don't know how to feel about it. But the Sun Days were pointed to as the sole exception. So thank you, Sun Days. Not only did you give us the bright, sunny jangle-pop-rock album we needed this year, but you also were able to give me an out when accused of being musically sexist.
Beach Slang is the band I turn to on those bus rides home at four in the morning, when I need something to translate the feelings I have after a great night. There is no band in the world better at saying "I am drunk and I've never been this alive" with their music.
6. Ruminations by Conor OberstI can't remember the last time that an album featuring zero drum tracks made it onto this yearly list. Maybe never? Anyways, that should go to show you how important drums are to me in music, and should further show you how good a record has to be in order to overcome that. Overcome it Oberst does on this fun little album.
5. Blackstar by David BowieAre you exhausted of reading about this album yet? How about how every music critic uses this hook: the music is really good, and even better when you look at it in the context of it being Bowie's final transmission from this mortal earth. That's pretty good, right? And it's true! At times, the album is downright haunting, and to think that Bowie was truly using this as his own obituary makes it that much more powerful.
I weirdly thought of Barney Stinson the first time I heard this album. I recall, in a How I Met Your Mother episode I'm too lazy to look up, Barney describes how to compile the perfect mixtape. He said that some people will start strong and then slow it down, but he starts strong and goes stronger and doesn't stop. That's how this album is. There are no slow songs. This psych rock record is fucking relentless. One song bleeds into the other, and every song is so stuffed with ideas, that it take multiple listens to get it all straight. I thought about using this as a workout album, but I dunno I how would be able to run in 5/4 time.
Julien Ehrlich has one of the most strained falsettos you'll ever hear. I can't even believe it's real sometimes. Yet somehow, it works. And he (also the drummer), along with rest of the band, takes us through ten tracks of pure AM rock joy. From the sweet nostalgia of "Golden Days" to the road trip-ready groove of "No Matter Where We Go," this was the go-to summer album. I posted up on the beach at Wildwood with a cooler of beers and Light upon the Lake this summer. It was a good ass day.
2. Cardinal by PinegroveI don't know if it would be appropriate, but I will probably end up spending the next few paragraphs explaining why Cardinal is not #1 this year. Because let the record show, this is one of the best albums of the fucking decade. Unless 2017-2019 are crazy fruitful, this album might even end up Top Five of the '10s. But in 2016, it's #2.
I guess the main reason is that it is not challenging. This is a wonderfully pleasant record. Every song is crafted in fine detail. Each musical measure is like an old friend. It goes down easy. I've listened to this album probably 500 times in the past six months, and it never gets old.
A record can be judged many ways. One way is look at each song individually, and ask, what would you rate this song on a scale from 1-10? If an album is all 9s and 10s, then it approaches perfection. I don't think I've ever listened to an album that is all 9s and 10s, but Cardinal comes damn close, closer than any album in a very long time. ("Waveform" is probably a 7, but that's it.)
That's one way to judge an album, and in that way, this album is #1. But that's not how we judge albums here, and that's not how albums should be judged at all, I'd argue. An album is more than the sum of its parts. An album should have an overarching theme. An album should make you think. An album should challenge you and frustrate you and puzzle you, and a truly great album should be hard work, so when you finally crack the code and get the album, it will mean all that more to you.
Cardinal isn't that. I got this the first time I listened to it. But then, I dunno, sometimes it's nice to just kick back and enjoy music. Pinegrove hit that spot for me this year. Cardinal is a fucking masterpiece. The eight songs on here are just stone cold great. That's it.
I know I way overexplained all this. I'm sorry. Please, let me just start over and make it short. Pinegrove released an album this year that is half pop-emo, and half banjo-Americana, and all poetic lyrics and emotional vocals, and it works from start to finish. I will never get sick of this album.
I hate saying this, because it's something that dumbass 20-somethings say because it's trendy, but here ya go: I'm a dumbass 20-something that has no idea what he wants to do in life. I am imperfect. I find joy where I can but often feel pain due to my own shortcomings. I compensate by drinking way too much on the weekends and making a fool of myself, and waking up the next morning and doing it all again. I'm not complaining, and I'm not saying my life is bad. It's a good life. But it's complicated. Teens of Denial is THE album for these themes. Living these themes, I could relate, heavily. This is why it sits here at number one.
It doesn't hurt that lead singer Will Toledo plays a fiery brand of indie rock that gets under your skin and stays there. Like all of the best music, just because the subject matter is depressing doesn't mean the music has to be. And shit, there are plenty of music moments throughout the 70 minutes of Teens of Denial that totally knock your socks off—the drum solos in between trumpet blasts on "Vincent," the looping prepositional phrases ending "(Joe Gets Kicked Out...," every moment of the epic disaster "The Ballad of Costa Concordia"—that even without the personal nature of the lyrics, you'd have enough here for the best of the year.
My favorite album since The Monitor, Teens of Denial is more than a collection of great songs. It's a statement summing up the exact malaise I feel sometimes at 28 years old. It's fierce and it's mean and it's fucking exhausting, and like all great art, it makes me fucking feel. I'm so thankful for Car Seat Headrest this year.
(Check out the top songs of the year HERE.)
