November 28, 2016
Here are QRO’s top-rated album reviews of the year:
| Beach Slang – A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings Beach Slang indeed brings A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings. Read more… |
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| Bear Hands – You’ll Pay For This Bear Hands have long not been like the other Brooklyn bands that they came up with, neither straightforward indie-rock, nor out-there-experimental. Read more… |
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| Bon Iver – 22, A Million The phenomenal success of Justin Vernon, a.k.a. Bon Iver, has been something to behold. Read more… |
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| David Bowie – Blackstar Blackstar may be his swan song, but the singular and extremely important artist went out on a high note. Read more… |
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| The Boxer Rebellion – Ocean by Ocean The Anglo-indie outfit soars on sadness, and reaches new heights/depths with their latest. Read more… |
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| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree Nick Cave’s Son Arthur’s ghost hangs over a record that is a uniquely powerful expression of grief. Read more… |
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| Jason Collett – Song and Dance Man Everybody clap your hands for the Song and Dance Man, Jason Collett. Read more… |
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| Courtesy Tier – Everyone’s OK Bringing back the emotional vitality of blues-rock is Brooklyn’s Courtesy Tier. Read more… |
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| The Cult – Hidden City The Cult has condensed and simplified their art in pursuit of their true spiritual panacea. Read more… |
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| Cymbals Eat Guitars – Pretty Years Cymbals Eat Guitars are in what could be described as the ‘consistent’ phase of an indie-rock band’s tenure. Read more… |
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| DIIV – Is the Is Are Is the Is Are has finally arrived, and is a worthy, if over-long, accomplishment. Read more… |
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| Dinosaur Jr – Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not The question with new Dinosaur Jr isn’t, “Will it be good?” but rather, “Good or great?” And so far it’s always been great. Read more… |
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| The Felice Brothers – Life In the Dark It could be said that The Felice Brothers are following ground that they’ve already tread up in their backwoods of the Catskills, but that’s a minor quibble when they do it this well. Read more… |
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| Andy Frasco & The U.N. – Happy Bastards If I was organizing a party and I wanted to make it a really good party, I’d get Andy Frasco & The U.N. ‘round to play a few tunes. Read more… |
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| Frightened Rabbit – Painting of a Panic Attack The windswept moors & islands of Scotland have always lent themselves to noble tragedy, to say nothing of the nation’s history and weather. Read more… |
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| Future – Purple Reign Future’s Purple Reign mixtape suddenly fell out of the sky one day and the fans are still processing it. Read more… |
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| Gramatik – Epigram: Deluxe Edition Gramatik delivers a deluxe edition of Epigram with remixes & more. Read more… |
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| The Gunshy – Porterhouse These days, getting a working class authenticity in rock ‘n’ roll isn’t easy. Read more… |
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| The I Don’t Cares – Wild Stab It’s great to see Paul Westerberg back in the saddle. Read more… |
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| Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression Nearly half a century since his first of many major label releases, Iggy Pop has reemerged yet again. Read more… |
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| Islands – Should I Remain Here At Sea? Should I Remain Here At Sea? rounds out the catalog of a talented band with impressive style and poise, sounding happy and ironic. Read more… |
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| Islands – Taste Islands has a deep back-catalog and a broad enamoring indie-rock appeal to most due to their tropical approach. Read more… |
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| James – Girl At the End of the World Whenever the world ends, it would be a much nicer end with James in it. Read more… |
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| The Joy Formidable – Hitch With Hitch, The Joy Formidable has reached for more. Read more… |
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| Kings of Leon – WALLS Kings of Leon could have released a bad album – it might even have been expected. Read more… |
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| Letters To Cleo – Back To Nebraska EP Back in the nineties, Letters To Cleo were one of the many alt-rock bands to explode out of the Boston area, getting particular prominence thanks to their catchier brand. Read more… |
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| The Monochrome Set – Cosmonaut It is hard to either fathom or quantify the genius of The Monochrome Set. Read more… |
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| Bob Mould – Patch the Sky Bob Mould’s put another solid block in his career. Read more… |
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| Pixies – Head Carrier When a new Pixies album comes out, people will inevitably be both thrilled and prone to disappointment if it does not do justice to their sound. Read more… |
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| Puro Instinct – Autodrama Puro Instinct burst on to the scene with Headbangers in Ecstasy in 2011, an amazing combination of songwriting vocals and guitar skill. The follow up, Autodrama, is not perfect, but still good. Read more… |
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| Ra Ra Riot – Need Your Light Need Your Light keeps Ra Ra Riot’s newer electronics, but more effectively integrates their older inspire. Read more… |
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| Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool Radiohead is years into being the biggest alternative music act in the world, and have not taken that designation lightly. Read more… |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Getaway The Red Hot Chili Peppers seem to have melded very well in the two incarnated albums since replacing John Frusciante with Josh Klinghoffer, and though they have never been afraid to experiment, what is most impressive is their core energy. Read more… |
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| RJD2 – Dame Fortune The newest RJD2 ‘Dame Fortune’ is exceptional, and distinct from his contemporaries’ recent work. Read more… |
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| Savages – Adore Life A clear step forward. Read more… |
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| School of Seven Bells – SVIIB School of Seven Bells deliver a strong swan song. Read more… |
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| Split Single – Metal Frames Remember when indie-rock didn’t have to do anything but be indie-rock? Read more… |
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| Spookyland – Beauty Already Beautfiul Spookyland’s Beauty Already Beautiful has a really great title, really rhythmic guitar, and jangly patterns. Read more… |
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| UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mikey – Unplugged An acoustic covers album, almost guaranteed to be a bad idea in any other type of music, is not necessarily bad thing for a reggae band. Read more… |
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| Umphrey’s McGee – Zonkey Umphrey’s McGee are to any modern listener or musician strange, but also really good. Read more… |
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| Underworld – Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future Underworld has long had a disappearing act, knowing when to go big, but also when to go home. Read more… |
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| White Denim – Stiff White Denim bringing fizz and fuzz in Stiff, which is great and plays an important role, the type of album that one just wants around to listen to over and over. Read more… |
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| White Lies – Friends If you’ve liked White Lies, Friends can be a reassuringly great old friend. Read more… |
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| Wintersleep – The Great Detachment Wintersleep once again deserves Amerikan attention. Read more… |
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| Wire – Nocturnal Koreans Wire’s new album comes with keyboard and much anticipation, mostly over sub-par, middle of the road (for Wire), records and good touring. Read more… |
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| Yeasayer – Amen and Goodbye Yeasayer has managed to be consistently original and indescribable. Read more… |
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