Best New Album of 2016

Just went the the website, and the have a CD up for order now.
And looks like the whole film is up too for viewing.

 

That Kula Shaker record is pretty good. Spinned it a couple of times yesterday. Good pressing too...

 

Parquet Courts - Human Performance
Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression

 

My top 10 for 2016 as it stands (in no particular order)



(L-R)
Leonard Cohen - You want it Darker
a dark, haunting effort from the legendary poet turned singer, been listening non stop since I picked up a CD copy a few days ago

Band of Horses - Why are You Ok
My favourite BoH release since 'Everything all the Time'

Mithras - On Strange Loops
British Extreme metal band Mithras are a new find for me, but have been around for a few years now. Dark, ambient. pummelling. FFO Ulcerate, Voivod, Vektor etc

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
The further Radiohead get from guitars and 'rock music', the more I like them

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Dark, druggy hip-hop. Miles better than his previous album, almost as good as 'XXX'

Touche Amore - Stage Four
Driving, heartfelt post-hardcore, emotional album that tells the story of singer Jeremy Bolms' mother and here fight with cancer.

Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder
Might be my favourite release of this year altogether. After 20+ years, Darkthrone still can knock out excellent grim, frozen landscape soundtracks such as this album. Best enjoyed with a beer and ample headbanging

Wilco - Schmilco
Almost ignored this release, if it weren't for the Joan Cornelia cover. I am new to Wilco (only other album I have heard is Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) but this album is immensely listenable, gets decent rotation.

Case/Lang/Veirs- s/t
Bought on a whim and glad I did. Silky, gliding harmonies, excellent songwriting, great effort from these incredible musicians.

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
Love him or hate him, Kanye is an innovator. Took a while to grow on me, stands up well against his previous efforts.

 

I've been a David Bowie fan through out the years and all the changes. With the release of Blackstar and David's death I made an obligatory purchase and gave it a single obligatory listen and on the shelf it went. Through all the praises of the mainly people it just sat there, until now. I'm giving another listen with a different mind through a different ear. I think I must admit to giving it the short shrift of indifference. But now I begin to hear the exceptional that others have been hearing. More rocks of respect are pushed upon my David Bowie hill.

 

Holy smoke, Acrylics put out a new album! Entitled "DADA Minor", and it came out about a month ago. I heard it on Tidal, and I presume it's on the other streaming services, too. Acrylics are a Brooklyn-based husband-and-wife duo, and they put out an excellent album in 2011, "Lives and Treasure", which got virtually no attention but is one of my favorites of the decade. The new one is in the same vein and, at first listen, it's really good. The best description I can come up with is that it's indie adult contemporary pop: very pop and very laid-back, with lots of sparkling sounds, but also brisk and lively and sprightly. There is no warm bath of synths to put you to sleep. Their last record sounded practically contrarian when compared to the stripped-down indie rock of the early '10s. On the other hand, the new one fits in quite well with the more pop sensibilities of indie music the mid-'10s:

Acrylics, "Keeper Finder"

 

Another amazing record from this year. I came across a couple of tracks in Jeff Tweedy's Summertime playlist on Spotify a month ago (lots of great stuff in there, incidentally). I got hold of Masterpiece last week and it's been on high rotation since. It's kind of like all my favourite indie music from the 90's is converging this year but with such fresh and bold statements - Big Theif, Angel Olsen, Steve Gunn, Mitski...what a great, great year for new stuff. One of the best that I can remember.

Big Thief - Parallels (opbmusic) »

 

Not sure if it's been stated, but Allen Toussaint - American Tunes

 

Sarah Jarosz - Undercurrent

 

Released today:

Big Smoke- Time Is Golden

 

I keep coming back to the new Monochrome Set again and again......Bid's best effort since the band re-formed.

Here's just a taste:

 

How did I miss this?? Thanks!

 

New Brian Jonestown Massacre, just heard this today, had no idea this was coming, Third World Pyramid, sounding pretty nice ...

 

Yello is a real blast from the past. It took a while to figure out what album I owned back in the 8os, Claro Que Si.

 

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but Strangers by singer songwriter Marissa Nadler is currently getting a lot of plays at casa zombie. Recorded in 2015 but released May 2016, it's like a smokier, less theatrical version of Anna Calvi. Winding guitars, soft rolling drums, Nadler's wistful vocal, and a generous smothering of atmosphere make for a wonderful listen on dark nights. Track highlights are All The Colours of the Dark and Janie in Love.

 

Where can one get this group on cd or vinyl?

 

Yep! I love this one. July was my favourite album in 2014, and this one's definitely in my top 10. You compare her with Anna Calvi, but when I hear Marissa's music I hear Lana Del Rey's slightly scary darker cousin.

 

Some of my favorites so far:

Chris Forsyth - The Rarity of Experience
Claypool Lennon Delirium - Monolith of Phobos
Dawg Yawp - S/T
GoGo Penguin - Man Made Object
The Greyhounds - Change of Pace
If These Trees Could Talk - The Bones of a Dying World
Jeff Beck - Loud Hailer
Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation - Mirage
Luther Dickinson - Blues and Ballads
Meatbodies - S/T
Snarky Puppy - Culcha Vulcha
Tedeschi Trucks - Let Me Get By

 

Another brand new release, Q4 2016 is already proving to be highly rewarding! This is the new album from Iceage vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt's Bowie/Cave inspired Marching Church. Enjoying it on first listen!

 

Thanks for this one, will definitely be investigating them further on Spotify. They fit in perfectly with the current releases by EZTV and Ultimate Painting.

 

That's a good one because according to Discogs and Wikipedia the artist hasn't released a new album since 2012. Needless to say I have never heard of him either

 

That's the only one on your list I've heard so far, but it's a big favorite of mine too. Another pretty good year on the psych scene, probably a few psych records in my top 10 right now, including Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, The Early Years, Lola Colt, and maybe Limiñanas (love that French psych-pop-rock, very cool stuff). A few others hanging around that need some more listening too.

 

The new one, "DADA Minor", so far seems to be downloads and streams only for right now. Their outstanding 2011 album, "Lives and Treasure", is available on both CD and LP from Friendly Fire:

Friendly Fire Recordings :: Acrylics »

There's a couple of freebie MP3's (including "Night Watch", one of the best tracks on that album) at the Friendly Fire site. The CD and LP of "Lives and Treasure" are also available on Amazon.

Edited to add: Should also note that their debut EP, "All of the Fire", was released on vinyl on Terrible Records and is available both in Terrible's online shop and at Amazon:

Acrylics | Terrible Records »

 

Is this album available in 24bit?

I downloaded the previous one from Qobuz, but this time I found 16bit only.

 

The new Dans Dans-album "Sand" is outstanding, as usual