A Round of Sound

40) Adia Victoria – Beyond The Bloodhounds

39) Frankie Cosmos – Next Thing

38) Camp Cope – Camp Cope

37) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree

36) Preoccupations – Preoccupations

35) Weyes Blood – Front Row Seat To Earth

34) William Tyler – Modern Country

33) PUP – The Dream Is Over

32) Porches – Pool

31) Gallant – Ology

30) Hinds – Leave Me Alone

29) Hiss Golden Messenger – Heart Like A Levee

28) Japanese Breakfast – Psycopomp

27) Touché Amoré – Stage Four

26) Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

25) Savages – Adore Life

24) White Lung – Paradise

23) Shearwater – Jetplane and Oxbow

22) School of Seven Bells – SVIIB

21) The Hotelier – Goodness

20) Blood Orange – Freetown Sound

19) Cymbals Eat Guitars – Pretty Years

18) David Bowie – Blackstar

17) Kaytranada – 99.9%

16) Pinegrove – Cardinal

15) ANOHNI – HOPLESSNESS

14) Big Thief – Masterpiece

13) Run The Jewels – RTJ3

12) Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost

11) Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – I Had A Dream That You Were Mine

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10) Parquet Courts – Human Performance

[Rough Trade; released 4/8/2016]

Parquet Courts continue to crank out a consistent supply of garage rock tunes, flavored with surprising intelligence; a dichotomy that makes them one of the most interesting bands around.

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9) Whitney – Light Upon The Lake 

[Secretly Canadian; released 6/3/2016]

Made up of members from the disbanded Smith Westerns, Whitney released the year’s finest debut album, besting anything the former group ever released.

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8) Kevin Morby – Singing Saw 

[Dead Oceans; released 4/15/2016]

The third album from the former Woods bass player, and the singer-songwriter appears to have mastered his version of alternative-folk.

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7) Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide To Earth 

[Atlantic; released 4/15/2016]

Country music I can get behind; smart, inventive, and Nirvana covers.

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6) Angel Olsen – My Woman 

[Jagjaguwar; released 9/2/2016]

Eschewing her lo-fi folky roots, Oslen’s ambitious My Woman expands her sound in massive ways creating a forceful album; her best and most confident work yet.

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5) Bon Iver – 22, A Million 

[Jagjaguwar; released 9/30/2016]

Justin Vernon’s first Bon Iver release since 2011 continues to evolve his “bearded guy in a cabin” sound to more experimental realms basically leaving the former completely behind.

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4) Frank Ocean – Blonde 

[Boys Don’t Cry; released 8/20/2016]

The long awaited follow up to Channel Orange (my #1 album of 2012), Blonde is a grower and certainly isn’t going to change any of the minds who find Ocean’s music “boring”, but it’s a masterpiece nonetheless, more nuanced than his previous work.

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3) Mitski – Puberty 2 

[Dead Oceans; released 6/17/2016]

One of my more anticipated releases of the year, Mitski’s came through with a powerful collection of complex and anxiety driven rock songs channelling St Vincent in sound and spirit.

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2) Anderson .Paak – Malibu 

[Steel Wool; released 1/15/2016]

The breakout artist of the year, Anderson .Paak has basically stolen the show on anything he’s appeared on recently (Compton, Kaytranada’s 99.9%, NxWorries), but with Malibu he confirms his emergence as one of hip-hop’s greatest auteurs.

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1) Car Seat Headrest – Teens Of Denial 

[Matador; released 5/20/2016]

The first proper release for Will Toledo on Matador records fulfills the potential we saw on last year’s Teens of Style. When things got me down in 2016, this was the album I always found myself coming back to over and over, and the one I couldn’t do without.

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