This past weekend I had a conversation with a former B-Side contributor about the merits of my favorite fruitless activity: compiling my coveted year-end albums list. As someone who takes this pointless endeavor way too seriously, I end up reading a lot of music sites’ year-end-lists. This year they all began with the [su_permalink id=”http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/11/top-50-albums-of-2016/” target=”blank”]exact[/su_permalink] [su_permalink id=”http://www.nme.com/list/nme-best-albums-2016-1869261″ target=”blank”]same[/su_permalink] [su_permalink id=”http://www.spin.com/featured/the-50-best-albums-of-2016/” target=”blank”]sentiment[/su_permalink]: 2016 was fucked up, but the year still delivered some great albums! It’s no surprise that the lefties running western music websites feel that 2016 was fucked up, and when we all eventually spent time with ourselves in November, it’s likely many of us turned to music to help us get through some internal turmoil.
But in what year does anyone claim that great music wasn’t released? I think these sites were off the mark; rather than saying that great albums were released this year, I’d argue that many of these albums could have only been released this year.
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Both Beyonce and Solange Knowles released critically acclaimed and politically minded albums in 2016. [Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Balmain.]
But these albums are inextricably linked, and not just because their creators are family. At their respective cores, Beyonce’s album is about navigating her struggling marriage while Solange’s touches on the experience of being a Black woman in America. And while both infidelity and Black womanhood existed before 2016, both records are undeniably post Black Lives Matter pieces of music. And both will surely serve as anchors in the canon of post-Trump racially conscious protest music I anticipate will inundate indie music sites for the next four years.
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Kanye West kept the music media glued to his unpredictable antics throughout the year. [Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic]
Then there was Chance the Rapper’s third mixtape, Coloring Book. It featured gospel music, was about Chance’s adulthood and newfound faith, had some nice jazz instrumentation and choral arrangements, and, oh yeah, got that coveted[su_permalink id=”http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21909-coloring-book/” target=”blank”] 9.1 from Pitchfork.[/su_permalink] But like Pablo, the record was wildly inconsistent; an album’s worth of songs like “Blessings” may have been a masterpiece, but instead we got filler like the Bieber-featuring amorphous piece of PBR&B crap that is “Juke Jam”, and the generic dance number “All Night”. I get it — the mainstream music media slept on Chance’s phenomenal 2013 release Acid Rap, and thus every publication from Rolling Stone to The Atlantic to [su_permalink id=”http://www.billboard.com/photos/7597536/billboards-50-best-albums-of-2016-critics-picks” target=”blank”]fucking Billboard[/su_permalink] had to proclaim his excellence as quickly as possible. Look at him! He’s young and political and got the [su_permalink id=”http://www.bet.com/music/2016/12/06/grammy-nominations-2017.html” target=”blank”]Grammys to bend their rules and nominate him[/su_permalink] (because winning a Grammy is a coveted accomplishment for an independent artist, apparently). And also, who would shit on an album about God and getting #turnt, right?
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D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli (ft. Lil Yachty)” injected a feel good smash hit about smoking weed into an otherwise dark, trap-filled pop scene. [Still from “Broccoli (ft. Lil Yachty)”]
On the indie front, Radiohead released their ninth LP, A Moon Shaped Pool, and it was very good. I’m not sure why everyone was betting against them — they’ve long been one of the most consistently inventive bands out there — but despite the [su_permalink id=”http://berkeleybside.http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1134-how-radiohead-became-for-a-time-the-worlds-biggest-political-band/” target=”blank”]ridiculous hype[/su_permalink] surrounding its release and subsequent warm reception, this was decidedly not the year for Radiohead (or really, white guy guitar rock in general). Climate change may be the greatest threat facing mankind, but in 2016, everyone was way more concerned with immediate political issues. And the artists who addressed sociological dilemmas spoke much louder than the fifty-year-olds sadly accepting the planet’s underwater fate.
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Car Seat Headrest, fronted by Will Toledo, emerged as the brightest new force in rock music. [Ian Young/Bay Bridged]
While all three artists had previously released excellent music, their ascendance to the indie rock throne came with a changing of the guards. Previous standard bearers like The Strokes, Wilco, Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, and Animal Collective (whose record [su_permalink id=”https://berkeleybside.com/anco-exhibits-refined-palette-in-painting-with/” target=”blank”]I initially enjoyed[/su_permalink] but has subsequently cooled for me), all proved that they’re past their prime as interesting voices in the genre. I thought the breakthrough of another bandcamp indie rock artist, as well as B-Side favorite, [su_permalink id=”https://berkeleybside.com/mitski-japanese-breakfast-demonstrate-the-highs-and-lows-of-life-on-tour/” target=”blank”]Japanese Breakfast[/su_permalink], warranted more attention, but hey, what do I know.
Anderson .Paak was perhaps the year’s busiest musician, delivering two full length projects (Malibu and [su_permalink id=”https://berkeleybside.com/nxworries-make-sweet-safe-love-on-yes-lawd/” target=”blank”]Yes Lawd![/su_permalink] as NxWorries) and making every song he was featured on, from Kaytranada’s [su_permalink id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaWesK-nWts” target=”blank”]“Glowed Up”[/su_permalink] to Mac Miller’s [su_permalink id=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR3GQfryp9M” target=”blank”]“Dang!”[/su_permalink] at least twice as good. I’d even say he was hands down my favorite vocalist of the year. Kendrick Lamar proved just how much better he is than every other rapper out there, delivering eight untitled tracks that continue to impress me more on each subsequent listen. Indie favorite Bon Iver’s new album, 22, A Million, continued his streak of interesting releases that don’t quite sound like anyone else, but the occasionally off-putting electronics made it his least accessible album to date, and he too was quickly swallowed up by the election.
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Anderson .Paak’s crafty musicianship, boundless positivity and dexterous vocal performances made him one of 2016’s biggest success stories. [Still from Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert]
Two beloved, legendary artists, David Bowie and Leonard Cohen, delivered albums within days or weeks of dying, and both were very well received; Bowie’s Blackstar in particular is looking like the champion of the critics aggregate list over on [su_permalink id=”http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2016/” target=”blank”]albumoftheyear.org[/su_permalink]. As much as I respect these artists, as a twenty-three year-old who hasn’t explored much of their back catalogs, I would hesitate to express my opinions given the lack of context I have.
And finally, we have what the B-Side chose as its favorite album of the year, a decision I fully support: Frank Ocean’s [su_permalink id=”https://berkeleybside.com/frank-oceans-blonde-is-lightyears-ahead-of-2016/” target=”blank”]Blonde[/su_permalink]. The album is a masterpiece, through and through. The lyrical themes and arc of its plot are masterfully woven; the arrangements are profound and gorgeous despite their stark minimalism. And Frank’s unexpected detours and song structures further serve to build an private world in which the album exists. Any track on here could be somebody’s favorite, and the words that encompass them feel both intensely personal to Frank and intensely intimate to the listener.
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Frank Ocean delivered the year’s best album.
In a year of loud, powerful voices making their intentions known (Kanye, Beyonce), the message that resonated with me the most came from an enigmatic introvert trying to figure out why he keeps fucking up his relationships and why he’s so nostalgic for a past riddled with unhappiness. Despite the collective call to arms following the election, Frank’s heartbreaking falsetto comforted me more than any rallying cry could. It was reassurance that I’m living in an age in which albums this good are being written and released. It single-handedly elevated my optimism for the future of music.
“I should be payin’ them, momma, I should be payin’ ya’ll honest to God,” Frank sang on Blonde’s final track, ‘Futura Free’. No man, you shouldn’t. You’re the best out there. You’re selling hope — hope that beyond this year, albums like yours will exist. We should be paying you.
Written by HR
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