Top 15 Music Releases of 2016

Despite all the bad things during the year I think the music released was some of the best I've heard in a long time. Here's my top 15 music releases judged by how long they were stuck on replay, brought joy to my life and helped me make it through this crazy year. Enjoy and may this great music continue into 2017 and beyond!

    
1. Slothrust
Everyone Else
The NYC trio with there second release on Dangerbird records with 10 tracks ranging from hard-hitting garage rock of my favorite "Rotten Pumpkin" (a possible tribute to Donald Trump?) to the quieter "Horseshoe Crab" and "Like A Child Hiding Behind Your Tombstone" Quote by lead vocalist Leah Wellbaum “These songs are about bodies of water, dreams, isolation, and the absurdity of the human experience,”


   

2. The Coathangers
Nosebleed Weekend
Rockin from Atlanta GA  with there fifth release on Suicide Squeeze records the trio consists of guitarist and part-time vocalist Julia Kugel drummer Stephanie Luke and bassist Merideth Franco. Nosebleed Weekend is 13 tracks of straightforward no nonsense garage/pop punk with excellent overlapping three part harmonies that kept this album on repeat and full blast in my life to this day. My fave tracks: Watch Your back, Make It Right, Hyia




3. The Frights
You Are Going To Hate This
Hailing from San Deigo Ca. quoting from New Noise: "You Are Going To Hate This is a hormonally charged garage-surf-punk mess of driving rhythms and reverb-drenched riffs with 50’s rockabilly references that are as fresh as the faces of San Diego’s The Frights. It’s all held together by front man Mikey Carnevale’s vocals, pivoting effortlessly from hook-up to breakup, from croon to wail. Dates with Bad Religion and Fidlar threw gasoline on a growing fan fire that now fills 500+ cap rooms in San Diego and Los Angeles and fuels sold-out tours from Seattle to Phoenix. The Frights’ Dangerbird Records debut brilliantly captures the unbridled energy of the band’s live show while letting their exuberantly dirty doo-wop shine"




4. Childish Gambino
Awaken, My Love
AKA Donald Glover who stars in "Atlanta" the critically acclaimed FX series I fell in love with and had to binge watch. Awaken My Love is Glovers third release and possibly his best and brilliant so far. A mix of psychedelic soul, R and B definitely tributes to Prince, George Clinton, Sly Stone to name a few. This just came out this month and I immediately fell into its musical trance i'm still soaking in it. Listen for yourself.



5. Summer Cannibals
Full Of It
The quartet from Portland Or. with front-woman Jessica Bordeaux bringing punk rock back with a vengeance. Pitchfork writes:
"The 11 songs on Full of It barely break the three-minute mark, and wed incendiary fretwork to bottom-end that rolls like a boulder down a marble run. They can do stadium ragers (“Go Home”), suspenseful Sonic Youth-indebted menace (“Just a Little Bit”), sludgy girl-groupisms (“Say My Name”), euphoria (“The Lover”), and on “Not Enough,” the brittle conversation between Boudreaux and Marc Swart's guitars evokes early Sleater Kinney. Summer Cannibals balance the abjection of their lyrics by playing like they're auditioning to ride the flame-belching rig in Mad Max: Fury Road" Truly a band to keep an eye on especially this KICK ASS version of FULL OF IT!



6. Diarrhea Planet
Turn To Gold

 
7. Prophets Of Rage
The Party's Over



8. Death Valley Girls
Glow In The Dark



9. Marika Hackman
We Slept At Last

 
10. MONO
Requiem For Hell




11. Explosions in the Sky
The Wilderness 



 
12. Radiohead
A Moon Shaped Pool




13. The Claypool Lennon Delirium
Monolith Of Phobos

 
14. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Corazones



15. A Minute To Breathe
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross 
OST Before The Flood (Nat Geo Documentary)