December 30, 2016
2016 was a terrible, terrible year – but there was still some great music:
| 15 | Dinosaur Jr Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not No reunited act has been this consistently great. Read review |
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| 14 | Car Seat Headrest Teens of Denial Taking you on a tense and exciting journey. |
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| 13 | Dawes We’re All Gonna Die Alt-country for life. |
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| 12 | A Tribe Called Quest We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service The inspiration for so much of today’s hip-hop greatness returns to deliver in full one more time. |
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| 11 | James Girl At the End of the World Manchester’s finest keep pumping out sing-a-longs for every era. Read review |
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| 10 | Iggy Pop Post-Pop Depression This collaboration with Josh Homme marks the end of Iggy’s touring, if not recording, days – in style. Read review |
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| 9 | Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker Of course Leonard Cohen would say goodbye with elegance, wit, and emotion. |
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| 8 | Frank Ocean Blonde A major star lets us fully into his own private world. |
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| 7 | Bon Iver 22, A Million This is a record of Justin Vernon baring who he is, even after all of his success. Read review |
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| 6 | Pixies Head Carrier Raising the bar in their second life. Read review |
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| 5 | Whitney Light Upon the Lake An amazing – and fully realized – debut. |
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| 4 | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree A uniquely powerful & powerfully unique expression of grief. Read review |
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| 3 | Red Hot Chili Peppers The Getaway Mature yet catchy pop goodness full of life reflections with an LA twist. Read review |
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| 2 | David Bowie Blackstar A wonderful tale of how the artist known as Bowie, Ziggy, and many other names closes a life chapter. Read review |
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| 1 | Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool Strings join in on the experimentally diverse odes to lost love and world events. Read review |
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