You don’t have to read this.

Tier 1: Essential Joey Music: I am in love with all of these records and will be playing them for years to come.

The Hotelier – Goodness (emo)

What is emo? For the past, I guess it’s been 7 years now?, the word emo has started to be thrown around so much it feels inconsequential; a tag lazily applied to any band that makes a listener feel as if they’ve succeeded in conveying genuine emotion. It’s had its champions like Ian Cohen and its crybabies like Washed Up Emo and has clearly attracted more limelight and positive, constructive discussion than it has in a long time, proving that, yes, there was and perhaps is an emo revival. When it comes down to it, emo, whether welcomed or not, has worn many different hats, whether describing the slowed-down intrapersonal hardcore punk approach of Embrace, the twinkly guitars and cracked voices of American Football-headlined Midwest emo, the more accessible pop sensibility and straightforward lyricism of the mainstream 3rd wave Jimmy Eat Worlds, or the branching, ever-evolving shapeshifter melodic emo of today’s acts like The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die or Pity Sex. When it comes down to it, The Hotelier embodies the highs of every one of these waves/phases/subgenres/what-have-you. The Hotelier is the embodiment of what every emo band has had the highest hopes to achieve. The Hotelier is an emo band, and a very, very good one. So let’s talk about it.

2013’s Home, Like Noplace is There was a hurricane – an unforgiving, uncompromising hailstorm that dealt with loss of life, the trials of gender identity, drug abuse, suicide, and watching feeling slip away, all in the course of 9 tracks. It was the best record released that year, and also the most outwardly honest with the listener – this is not a coincidence. I remember the impact this album had on me distinctly: after hurting many people I cared about, without a solid support group trying to adapt to life in a developing island country, I found Home. I would listen to it after class in the gym, leave my headphones on while driving to my apartment, and leave them on until the album finished before going inside. It resonated and it healed. It understood without asking for anything in return. It repeated what I said in a way I never heard it before.

These words would be used at the beginning of the spoken word intro to the 2016 follow-up Goodness, which would be the best record released that year, too. When a band creates an instant classic within a genre, it’s bound to be met with disdain if even the slightest detail is different on the next effort. The Hotelier is not immune to this. People called the first single Piano Player too slow and didn’t think it was bombastic enough, and the album cover, featuring nonsexual nudity of multiple older men and women, was lambasted as a desperate ploy for attention. Neither of these things would be true, though both were to be expected. Upon release of the album, the response would be underwhelming or, at worst, hostile, many angry at the “more reserved” approach as compare to Home. But what many forget or ignore is that what makes emo a great form of music and art is that it’s human; though the yearning and passion might remain, emotions grow blunted and mature. To deny this in favor of staying true to the ideals outlined by a genre would go against exactly what emo is and stands for. To follow this muse and create art within this mindframe is to keep emo great.

Goodness is great because of the range of emotion that’s put forward. Fans of earlier material will be plenty satisfied with the sound and approach of the record, as well as midsection track Settle the Scar, which draws from an emotional headspace as Home – the track was originally recorded under the band’s previous name stylization The Hotel Year on a split with 5 other bands. Lyrically, songs are laced with all kinds of feeling; Christian Holden begs a loved one to stay and themselves to sustain in Piano Player, You in This Light reconciles the heartbreaking loss of a former romance with new warm respect and platonic love, and Two Deliverances addresses inner turmoil and the strain it can have on a possible romantic relationship: ”Do I hear your tunes or acknowledge wounds that I got from rubbing elbows with a sharpened edge?” The first song to hit me in the gut was Opening Mail for My Grandmother, a ballad of praise for an elderly family member, regardless of differences, with the inevitability of death in the foreground. Sun preys upon the need for warmth and light, while keeping the feelings of others in mind, as Holden shies away from becoming a crutch to someone with mounting problems of their own. But the obvious standout is song-of-the-year Soft Animal, an example of a perfect song within the genre of emo. After a group vocal attack featuring Felix Walworth of Told Slant and members of one of my favorite newer bands Loone (both of these bands I had seen on tour this year with The Hotelier), Holden begs a small deer, assuming the simple identity of just another creature, to make Holden feel alive, align his multiple personalities, prove to him there is a god. These are some pretty heavy requirements to demand from a newborn deer, but it reflects not only the Taoist principles found within Goodness, but the overwhelming hopelessness and cry for help that can be elicited from longtime inner turmoil. After the second chorus, the guitar chords accelerate from quarter notes to sixteenth notes – this is my favorite moment in music to this date.

In an interview earlier this year, when asked about the best advice he’s ever been given, Pinegrove vocalist Evan Stephens Hall responded, ”I took a James Joyce seminar and my professor said: ‘When reading Joyce, it’s never either/or. It’s always and.’ And that advice extends to just interpreting experience. It’s an adventurous perspective, and it also does not try to collapse or reduce or one-dimensionalize experience—there are many layers to everything that’s going on, and they’re not competing, they co-exist. And you don’t have to choose. In fact, to choose is a little bit foolhardy. Never either/or, always and... [points to his “&” tattoo].” This mindset applies not just to the exceptional albums put out by Pinegrove and The Hotelier in 2016, but to emo from bands whose members and fans are in their twenties as well. There is cold, but it’s met by sun – or, rather, it’s met by the protagonist begging for there to be warmth somewhere in a frigid world. Reality comes to Holden in piano ballad Fear of Good, as they sing, “the coat slips off my edged spine – it’s a weight no longer carried, and I’m freezing. So freezing.” There is loss, but it’s slowly countered by love. There is a dissolution of feeling and a steadfast yearning to feel again. There is doubt and uncertainty. But most importantly, there is honesty – as Ian Cohen says in his roundup of emo in 2016, “I don’t know” is the album’s most frequently used phrase. The tornado of sentiment that one feels throughout their late teens and early- to mid-twenties can leave one shaken and confused, but the most important thing to is come to grips with the uncertainty of life and the unknowingness of being. As closer End of Reel swirls toward completion, Holden croons “and it’s new, but I don’t know what to do, with the sight of you… brimming.” You’ll just have to figure it out on the fly.

Pinegrove – Cardinal (indie rock)

A record that really took a while to resonate with me, Pinegrove’s 2016 offering is the most refreshing release to come from the indie rock/emo scene in recent memory. Songs are carried by vocalist and guitarist Evan Stephens Hall, whose beautiful and intricate prose touches on pertinent topics for mid-twentiers with heads full of fog. Love is a subject, but so is the internal battle of self-expression, the search for human connection, and the coming-to-terms with know-nothingness. It may be the only album of 2016 to use the word solipsistic and reference Caravaggio, but at no point does it come off as self-serving or condescending. And though the feature is the lyricism and its effortlessness, the arrangements behind it are somehow even stronger: the stagger and swagger of Aphasia stumbles and glides along as the narrator navigates his inability to express himself, while Size of the Moon soars beautifully and Then Again stomps confidently. There are enough different tempos, melodies, and moods throughout Cardinal to keep anyone familiar with this sort of genre satisfied, which helps cement it as one of the most thoroughly triumphant records of the year.

Sioux Falls – Rot Forever (punk, indie rock, kind of close to emo I guess)

Portland band named after South Dakota city surprised me this year and put out one of my favorite record of 2016. The first track to grab me was Soaked in Sleep, a swirling, static-laden punk jam carried by harmonized vocals and a beautiful cooing outro. More plays proved to be more rewarding, revealing the beautiful romantic 20-something lyricism of Copy/Paste that I want played at my wedding and Brand New-The Devil and God era-esque vocal approach of softs and shouts, especially prevalent on In Case it Gets Lost and McConoughey. This record is super rough around the edges and maybe too long, and that’s exactly where its charm lies. Cracked voices, playful riffs, allusions to True Detective, overwrought falsetto are all foci of this record, making it 72 minutes of 20-something anthems. It’s beautiful.

Pity Sex – White Hot Moon (shoegazey emo)

With the departure of Britty, it was a matter of time before the inevitable break-up announcement, which made savoring White Hot Moon all the more important to me. Regardless of the end being nigh, the last Pity Sex offering was already their strongest and most concise record in their short career. Featuring the same fuzzy, shrouded feel as before but with sharper hooks, stronger vocals, and stouter chords, White Hot Moon is more than just a great addition to the band’s catalogue – it’s a great, welcome addition to the nebulous 4th wave emo scene. September combines a heart-aching guitar riff with Brennan and Britty’s dueling vocals, while the title track White Hot Moon sluggishly stomps like Drown Me Out of Feast of Love. Pin a Star contains the strongest Britty-led chorus, while Plum, though a touch forward, is the obvious tearjerker of the 12 tracks. I feel very lucky to have Pity Sex’s music in my life, and even more so considering they ended with their strongest effort.

Bon Iver – 22, A Million (folktronica lol)

I’ll preface this with my bias and admit the profound impact the last release by Bon Iver – was this really 5 years ago – had on me. Bon Iver, Bon Iver was something different than any other record I had heard at the time. Sure, my love for music was strong and growing stronger, but this record was what cemented music as something I truly cared about and cherished. I bought my first pair of headphones – a pair of Klipsch from an Apple store – because I wanted to envelope myself in ever sound and texture of this record. I bought the album and spun in every night for months on end. The beauty of the video for Holocene, the ethereal “hoo-oo hoooooo” in Michicant, the saxophone backbone – this record showed me just what music could be. It still gives me the same chills, the same warmth, the same feeling that I’m listening to something that is closest thing to perfect that I’ll hear.

5 years and a hiatus later, enter 22, A Million. Judging from the profound evolution between For Emma, Forever Ago, and Bon Iver, Bon Iver, it would be foolish to expect Justin Vernon and the band to try and make a sequel to their last record. That being said, the new approach and feel to this album still surprises: distorted vocal samples, bass swells, those track names and album art, and an overall more electronic feel take the reins from the start. It took me months of listening and a dedication to lyrics to appreciate this record, and I’m glad I took the extra time, as it finally clicked with me running in the cold December dusk alone in Nebraska. Slowly, each song opened itself up to me. Opener 22 (OVER S∞∞N) was spurred by Vernon’s failed soul-seeking trip to the Greek Islands where he became intimate with the fleeting feeling of the passing of time, recording “it might be over soon” and playing with various vocal effects, setting the tone for the album. 10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄ bursts onto the scene confidently stomping with bombastic bass thumps and a screeching Stevie Nicks sample before strings and saxophone and Vernon’s gorgeous falsetto. Album standout 715 - CR∑∑KS features Vernon acapella, using his studio engineer’s invention the Messina, which splits his melody into several harmonies. This track is one of my favorite Bon Iver tracks to date, featuring some of my favorite lyrics:

Toiling with your blood,

I remember something:

In B, un-rationed kissing on a night second to last

Finding both your hands as second sun came past the glass

And oh, I know it felt right

And I had in you in my grasp.

Oh, then how we gonna cry?

Cause it once might not mean something?

Love, a second glance; it is not something that we’ll need.

Honey, understand that I have been left here in the reeds,

But all I’m trying to do is get my feet out from the crease.

Lead single 33 “GOD” showcases that beautiful “we had what we wanted: your eyes” line with the playful piano line, as well as a central sample of Paolo Nutini’s Iron Sky. 29 #Strafford APTS feels more like the Bon Iver of For Emma fame, featuring finger-picked guitar, an S. Carey chorus, and a clipped third chorus. 666 ʇ displays a crazy drum fills and downright metal double bass melting into drum production, harkening back to Perth. I could do this all day: the saxophone in slow-burning 21 M◊◊N WATER, the Beth/Rest of 22, A Million in 8 (circle), the soulful Messina croon of ____45_____, and the warm coda of 00000 Million. Point is, every song has its own distinct personality and identity and offers something different than what the other tracks on the album offer, but still sound like Bon Iver songs. There is so much to talk about, whether it be the folktronica approach, the perfect use of somewhat obscure samples, the burgeoning saxophone and string sections, Vernon’s beautiful falsetto, the use of numbers throughout the record and their meanings, the abstract lyricism referencing self, the universe, religion, and internal struggle – believe me, all of it is layered, all of it is beautiful, and all of it is worth your time. I spent so much time trying to decide what to focus on. What deserves the most attention is the music.

Balance & Composure – Light We Made (emo, post-hardcore, indie rock and post-punk influence)

Following in the footsteps of similar bands that rode the same wave of loosely-defined emo (Turnover, Citizen, Title Fight, Pianos Become the Teeth), B&C take their sound, soften it around the edges, and add some new elements from some old influences to create their own identity. Glitchy drum programming now accompanies live drums, Jon Simmons shelves the angsty screams (save for in the shrouded background of Take a Walk) in favor of a new falsetto, and the bass lines give off a distinct 80’s post punk feel. These elements will, surely, piss off stalwart fans of the band from day one – think of the reactions to Ceremony’s The L Shaped Man, Title Fight’s Hyperview – but with Light We Made, B&C craft some of their most mesmerizing soundscapes. The rhythm of the verse and melody of the chorus of Postcard, dreamscape of Mediocre Love, and emo-invoking opening chords of Afterparty are standouts of this band’s entire catalog.

Told Slant – Going By (twee, indie folk, there’s some emo influence in there, you know)

I first got turned on to Told Slant when they played with The Hotelier in Oklahoma City. Beforehand, the low-fi approach and droll vocals didn’t quite land for me, but seeing non-binary frontperson Felix Walworth and their band perform their powerful ballads and slam their mounted bass drum had a major impact on me. Going By is a big step up from predecessor Still Water in every way – the sound is crisper, the harmonies complement each other better, and the banjo and guitar shine through brighter. This is raw emotional expression with no frills, serving as almost a secret language that needs no explanation. “Wappinger’s Creek: floating by you on ice skates, vodka mixed with pink lemonade; so much love without high stakes.” “You liked my green nail polish, and I liked your sharp black wallet. It wasn’t love, but I don’t know what to call it.” These are the bare-bones confessions of the nebulous feelings felt by 20-somethings reflecting on the ways they used to feel with a certain sort of buried longing.

PUP – The Dream is Over (punk)

My first impression of this record was wrong; I saw it as yet another run-of-the-mill punk record that verged on emo and didn’t make any lasting impression. Upon revisitation and repeated spins, I fell in in love with the latest offering from the Toronto band. There is a lot offered here – the youthful energy and tongue-in-cheek lyricism of pop-punk, the confessional and attack-on-self approach of emo, the chords and ferocity of hardcore punk. What makes this record work is the conviction and energy behind it – SVP contains ooos and group vocals alike, Doubts contains a spastic chorus that culminates in a beautiful delivery of “without youuuuu” in the final chorus, and Can’t Win is a coming-of-age sadjam that succeeds because of its conviction and honesty. There are a lot of bands making a some sort of emo that sound like a lot of bands before then, but PUP sounds like PUP, and it’s a welcoming and refreshing injection of originality in a scene that oftentimes feels stagnant.

G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge EP (hardcore punk)

Though the message has been strong since jump, the first effort from G.L.O.S.S. felt, to a point, like a recycled formula with a renewed axe to grind. The new offering from the tranny punks, released in the wake of the PULSE shooting, not only drives the point home with more force, but is composed of better drumming, production, and energy than its predecessor.

Joyce Manor – Cody (punk, pop punk)

Look, Never Hungover Again sat in my car’s CD player in St. Kitts for over 6 months straight and has Frances Quinlan on the cover – it’s going to overshadow the next Joyce material no matter how good it is. It took a while for me to get into Cody, but this time-period was greatly alleviated by the fact that it’s a Joyce Manor record, and thus clocks in at under 30 minutes. But at the end of the day, this is just another great output from a great band. The standouts here are pretty obvious, while the tracks that maybe aren’t as flashy help to hold the record up and make for a dynamic listen. Last You Heard of Me and Fake I.D. are obvious standouts, one that crescendos to confessional halt, the other claiming the title for catchiest hook that references Kanye West. Every listen proves more rewarding, as the key changes in Angel in the Snow and Make Me Dumb give me chills, while Over Before it Began is album’s showstopping ballad and Stairs literally contains the lyrics “I’m 26 and I still live with my parents.” It doesn’t matter what Joyce Manor record is better – they’re all Joyce Manor records, and you definitely have enough time to listen to them all.

David Bowie – Blackstar (rock)

What is there to say about an album like Blackstar? Yes, this is Bowie’s swan song, a last gasp before plunging into the abyss, a melancholy farewell. And in spite of all the reports following his death that he was geared up to write even more after this record, it feels as though he knew it all along. The tone of these songs sits like a drifting fog, Bowie’s voice deep and wraith-like, saxophone calling death from within. But this record is so powerful for more reasons than just being the last output from an indisputable genius. From the “look up here – I’m in heaven” opening call of Lazarus, to the Nadsat/Polari and snappy, face-punch chorus of Girl Loves Me, to the desperate lyricism yet uplifting melody of closer I Can’t Give Everything Away, Blackstar offers Bowie’s emotional makeup, dressed up in beautiful production but not masked by it. This is not just the last Bowie record – it is the best.

Mitski – Puberty 2 (indie-folk, singer-songwriter)

One of the more honest records of the year, the newest offering from Mitski is one of the more enjoyable records to come out in the last 5 years. With a somewhat lo-fi approach, Mitski bounces back and forth between fuzz rock sensibilities and acoustic ballads, without ever seeming less urgent. Your Best American Girl is at once confessional and triumphant, with the guitar hitting at the chorus giving me chills every time. I Bet on Losing Dogs is one of the most addicting somber melodies I can remember. But what makes this record so great is the sexual confessions Mitski lays on the line: opener Happy uses a double entendre of personified happiness coming inside of her, Thursday Girl confronts the need for physical love in order to achieve validation and the regret that arrives the next moment, and the aforementioned I Bet on Losing Dogs contains the jarring line “I always want you when I’m finally fine; how you’d be over me, looking in my eyes when I cum. Someone to watch me die. Someone to watch me die.” This record is personal and important and honest for reasons unlike many other records, and for that it is a massive success.

Woman is the Earth – Torch of Our Final Night (atmospheric black metal)

Hey, there’s even black metal in South Dakota! These dudes come together to provide some of the most emotional arrangements in black metal to date, while still offering up teeth-baring intensity. The final riff of Lungcrusher and soaring riff halfway through Brother of Black Smoke stand out as two of the year’s best, while Sorrow and the Floods and Broken Hands pack a heavy punch. This is a great record.

Krallice – Hyperion (US black metal)

Though last year’s Ygg Huur never quite clicked with me, these three songs from the USBM band are three of my favorite USBM songs in recent memory. Riffs are dynamic and massive, weaving in and out of each other – these songs move. Vocals sound as if they’re fighting to be unchained. The riff around 4:45 in The Guilt of Time is seething, while bass shines through in the passage 3:30 into the opening title track. There’s a lot going on here, all of it good.

Sleep Weather – Lake Joy (emo)

Combining the melodic post-rock riffage of The Appleseed Cast with a two-headed singing/shouting vocal combination, this little-known emo offering stands as one of the best surprises of the year. The songs flow effortlessly into one another while each commands their own identity, and build-ups are aplenty yet don’t serve as a crutch.

Parquet Courts – Human Performance (post-punk, rock)

I’ve been a big fan of these dudes since their breakthrough LP Light Up Gold, and the latest offering is the strongest and most cohesive since that record. The songs on the 5th LP by the NYC post-punk veterans (not including those released under pseudonym Parkay Quarts - sway and step at a meandering pace and attitude, reflective trials and tribulations that seem to be universal, yet uniquely urban. There are songs about omnipresent air pollution, claustrophobic love-loss, the abrupt closing of a frequently-attended Chinese place, and feeling foreign and yearning for familiarity once in a city that is no longer one’s own. The songs still lurk and burst with familiar Parquet Courts energy and gloom, but it feels like there’s more conviction this time, as if frontman Andrew Savage needs to get the tar out of his lungs.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani – FRKWYS Vol. 13: Sunergy (ambient, drone)

American Football – American Football (LP 2) (emo)

Everyone has their own story of when they first heard the first American Football LP and the effect it had on them. I’m no different. I’m not sure when I first heard the Urbana trio’s seminal Midwest emo LP, but I remember vividly the times it was the centerpiece of my most cherished memories.

I’ve been hawking interactive music community last.fm for over five years now, even after they sabotaged their own site by pushing a nonfunctional beta interface. I remember a certain prominent user’s top 8 artists – 8 grainy black and white photos, 7 belonging to 80’s and 90’s hip hop artists, and one – the top spot, double the plays of any of the other artists – another grainy black and white photo of three innocent white boys in a band called American Football. I didn’t know who they were yet and I didn’t know why they had such an effect on this random internet dude. A few days later, my car would be stolen out of a “secure” New Brunswick parking garage on the same day I would see my summer fling for the last time in my life. I had a job on campus as a dude who cleaned and readied dorms for the next crop of Rutgers students that I needed to get to, so I’d illegally rent a car, put that strange American Football LP on my iPod, and listen to it every day while moving dressers and vacuuming carpets for 10 hours a day. Call it fate.

Broken-hearted, melodramatic 20-something bullshit aside, Mike Kinsella and his boys had an even more profound effect on me than this. My friend Sean would own a house that would be a place for local and touring bands alike to play for New Brunswick broken hearts, and every show put on would be the highlight of whatever week it occurred. One specific night, I found myself with Sean watching a handful of bands I had never heard with a couple of 40s and nothing else in the world to do. A few bass notes started the next song and the excitement in the room was palpable as Sean put his arm around me and we started to bob forward and backward. He was singing the lyrics at the top of his lungs and I didn’t know them yet. At the time, I’d go home and see it as a missed opportunity – the song was Honestly?, the third and maybe best of American Football’s 9 tracks offered on their 1999 eponymous debut LP. But now, 6 years removed from that moment, as the highs have become few and far between, that 6-minute period of being arm-in-arm with one of my best friends, a 40 in my other hand, surrounded by local bands and beautiful people, it stands as one of the rawest, happiest moments of my life. In the words of John Darnielle, “and I felt young and alive.”

So, suffice it to say, after a 15+ year hiatus, American Football had some large shoes to fill for so many people, even if those shoes were previously their own. There are a lot of ways this newest record could land, from a triumphant return, to a desperate, lackluster cash-grab, to a lukewarm throw-away. I felt all three of these ways in my multiple-monthlong listen of the latest output of a band that had become such an integral part of who I was, and eventually settled on loving it, for some of the same reasons I love Goodness.

What this record doesn’t recapture is the raw, youthful, hearts-on-fire energy of its predecessor. But this serves as a strength – 17 years later, Kinsella has been worn down, as told through the songs of his solo project Owen and his also recently reformed band Owls. These songs are less about saying goodbye at the end of summer or leaving behind all of the people you love and more about coping with coming of age and the dulling of feelings. The house on the cover of LP1 became a universal symbol of emo lore and a punching bag for those on the outside. What LP2 does is take us inside of the house, as made clear by not only the cover art but also the lyrics contained within. “We’ve been here before, but I don’t remember a lock on the door” Kinsella sings, his voice much older, more reserved, more controlled, but less breathlessly filled with wild emotion. This is the same person who shouted “not to be overly dramatic…” in his band’s last album opener, foreshadowing exactly how he’d unapologetically be for the next 40 minutes. What the contrast in delivery and approach suggests is this: the burgeoning feelings of love and the desire to not lose it have been replaced by indifference, resolution, and bitter acceptance. I’ve felt the same way over the last period of my life, watching my emotions attempt to emulate those I felt when I had more youth and naivety, to no avail. Loves burned colder, emotions were dulled, longing grew stronger. “Leave me or don’t; I don’t care,” Kinsella sings, “Just let me know when you finally drag your body out of bed. I’ll get my things.” The approach to lyricism and instrumentation is a shadow of what was offered 16 years ago, which comes across as one of the boldest, most honest methods this year.

That isn’t to say LP2 is lethargic – there is plenty of energy to be found throughout this record. My Instincts are the Enemy bounces along with Kinsella yearning for his youthful desires: “I wanna taste a little bit of everything / But it gets me in trouble / To fill my plate with the vacant and obscene / With my nerves exposed; I can’t say no.” Following track Home is Where the Haunt is references the ghosts in the room, as Kinsella bellows “You can’t just forget all the other lives you’ve lived.” The similar youthful sadness can be found in spots, as songs feature melodramatic lines such as “I can’t believe my life is happening to me” and “I’m as blue as the sky is grey.” There are some chill-inducing passages to be found within, such as the spastic, gorgeous guitar riffing after Kinsella delivers the line, “you’re made of wet paper” in Give me the Gun and a beautiful coda at the end of slow-burner Born to Lose. Active fingers still pick twinkly riffs, percussion still jumps at odd time signatures, and the cover that features that same house from a different point of view is presented in the same familiar way, with the top and bottom bordered by thick bands of white and the fractured band name running off from one line to another. Throughout some murkiness and cobwebs, the listener can pick out that yes, this is still an American Football record.

Anyone whose life has been significantly affected by the last American Football LP is going to have a hard time grappling with and adjusting to the new sound of the band, regardless of whether or not this new album has more similarities with its predecessor than differences. But with the aging of the band comes the aging of its fans, along with the addition of some new ones picked up along the way. The mature, dulled feelings that Kinsella puts forth after early years filled with unbridled emotion are echoed through the mirrored growing-up of his stalwart fans. To be entrenched in your late 30s and shout about the end of a summer would seem like a forced cry out for childish kitsch (see: Beach Slang). The album closes with Kinsella gently cooing, “In the company of others, I’m reminded why your lifetime lover’s the temperamental kind.” Somehow, it feels just right.

Lucy Dacus – No Burden (indie rock, folk, singer-songwriter)

An album that seemingly came out of nowhere, Nu Burden is a major triumphant debut from Richmond songwriter Lucy Dacus. These songs don’t attempt to do too much, but what they do is done very well. I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore is the obvious standout with a strong vocal performance driven by a guitar backbone, while follow-up song Troublemaker Doppelganger is my personal favorite, featuring choppy, confident drums and a super beautiful bridge that showcases Dacus’ vocal chops and some beautiful harmonizing background vocals. Track 6 Dream State… features a similar approach with a more slow-burning head and this song’s lyrics are featured again in reprise … Familiar Place. A great debut from a small label, new artist, and one of my favorite albums of the year.

Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (death metal, grindcore, murder)

The heaviest band continues to offer the heaviest music, but there’s more to the latest from these dudes than just sheer force. The riffs punish but captivate and the vocals command more attention. This is a perfect album to get yourself pumped to do backflips. I am going to listen to this in the gym forever.

   Tier 2: I loved these records, played them a lot, still get excited to listen to them

Lycus – Chasms (doom metal)

Opener Solar Chamber opens up slowly, assuming the funeral doom status quo, before bursting relentlessly into a blast beat frenzy 4 minutes in. The eighth-note riffage 6 minutes into the title track before delving into a beautiful guitar solo stands as a major highlight, as the song ends with a beautiful string section. This is a funeral doom record that takes its time but doesn’t drag, allowing vibrant riffage, active percussion, growling vocals, and an emotive string section to take the wheel and give life to the arrangements.

Savages – Adore Life (punk, post-punk)

Though it hasn’t garnered the attention to adulation of 2013 debut Silence Yourself, the latest record by the all-female punk band might be better. The highlight is the riveting intensity of lead single Adore’s confessional and self-confrontational lyrics, coupled with a brooding bassline and emergent, triumphant crescendo, in which lead vocalist Jehnny Beth convinces herself to love life. It’s an odd assertion in punk, especially in today’s negativity-obsessed punk scene, but the song in tone and execution admits that, which makes it not only successful, but courageous. There’s a lot of great stuff going on outside this track, though, as the buildup in I Need Something New pays handy dividends, the chorus in When in Love hits like a bag of bricks, and the eerie high-pitched guitar shrill and down-low synths of Surrender beckon the listener to come back for more. This record is a success in more ways than one, and proves to be one of the most captivating records of 2016.

Chthe’ilist - Le Dernier Crépuscule (death metal)

Most know I’m not really partial toward death metal, but this record by the Canadian three-piece offers something much more than just that. Plenty of blast beats and tremolo to satisfy any bm craving, blistering dual-harmonic riffs and solos, and demonic growls characterize this record. Some funeral doom-esque synths are thrown into the matrix as well as outstanding production to allow each instrument its share of spotlight. This is a record that, in listening to it, it’s evident a shitton of time went into not only writing but also recording these tracks, and yet they flow seamlessly, unlike so much current overcalculated prog/math metal. But the highlight for me is when final track Tales of the Majora Mythos Part 1 punishes with a flourish of overlain howls, breakneck percussion, and frantic riffing in a wall of sound assault for over a minute before fading into a white noise vacuum, emulating what the inside of a listener’s head feels like after these seven tracks of insanity. This band has gotten a lot of press in anticipation of this full length’s release and it doesn’t disappoint.

The Album Leaf – Between Waves (ambient, indie rock)

I have a lot of love for Jimmy Lavalle – The Album Leaf soundtracked every all night study session of my 4 years of college and his collaboration with Mark Kozelek is what I consider to be the strongest of both artists’ catalogues. Lavalle raised by eyebrows when he announced his latest would be released on Relapse, one of my favorite labels for metal but not one I would consider an Album Leaf collaborator. The pairing turned out great – these are vintage Album Leaf tracks, and some of the strongest of Lavalle’s career. Most focus on percussion carrying the songs to a bubbling synth-laden chorus, but the strength in this record is in the layers. Between Waves and Never Far feature Lavalle’s voice carrying the torch, the former behind a pulsing synth and the latter behind a steady bassline. The most prominent standouts are the commanding chorus of Glimmering Lights and playful production of Lost in the Fog, two tracks I find myself playing multiple times a week. I love this artist and I love this album. I am lucky to have them both.

Downfall of Gaia – Atrophy (post-black metal, blackened doom)

Mixing beauty and ferocity seamlessly, Downfall of Gaia approach black metal exactly the way I like it.

Rotting Christ – Rituals (black metal)

Known for being one of the first to bring black metal to Greece / the Mediterranean, especially w their LP Thy Mighty Contract, Rotting Christ have apparently continued chugging out material while I turned a blind eye. I'm glad I didn't miss this one - this record is a massive, anthemic black metal experience, featuring pounding war drums, blistering riffs and double bass, and truly dark Greek chanting. Have they been doing this shit the whole time? Elthe Kyrie may be a little -core but its female shrieks and chorus riff are a catchy oasis in an album chock full of filth. Rituals might not fit into the subgenre niche of "war metal," but it is music to go to war to.

Human Hands – Morning Sun (emo, post-hardcore)

The riffs and approach that this band employs really click with me, as evidenced by my love for their last s/t LP. The guitar at times makes me think of if Neil Young was in an emo band – twangy yet emotional, yearning for something more. While I’m not sure this record will have quite as much sticking power as its predecessor which mastered the crescendo, it still stands as what will probably be my favorite emo record of the year.

Touché Amoré – Stage Four (post-hardcore, melodic hardcore)

Fans know the story by now, and listening to the album leaves to no doubts – the 4th full-length offering from the LA band revolves around the death of vocalist and lyricist Jeremy Bolm’s mother to stage four cancer. Thus, yes, the words hit home hard, though in a different way; though Bolm’s lyrics had previously hit a sweet spot for me, especially on 2011 LP Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, this one hits a different one. Previously, lyrics turned inward to the self and asked questions about wanderlust, love loss, forging one’s path, the need to show and accept love, and the inability to cope with the inescapable passage of time. This time, the lyrics are all about Bolm and no one else, which makes the record the most honest of the Touché catalog, though some listeners may not be able to connect on the same level. Besides the lyrical approach, there is a stylist change at work as well. The songs are certainly even longer than those on 2013’s Is Survived By, though the clean sections seem to be fewer. Soaring riffs and aggressive chords are still aplenty, but there is a noticeable addition of Bolm’s mumbled, almost post-punky clean vocals (these I dig), as well as a rather strange use of Tennessee singer-songwriter and Joey-favorite Julien Baker’s vocals, somewhat muted and hardly noticeable in closer Skyscraper (this I still kinda don’t dig). As with any record from Touché, some more of their best work is on display here.

Thee Oh Sees – A Weird Exits (psych rock, punk)

At this point, the Bay Area psych rock juggernauts Thee Oh Sees have released 11 albums, all with their own identities but following the same formula. This band rules so much to me – each offering includes incredibly brazen, hightempo songs with their ears pinned back (Gelatinous Cube), starkly contrasted with how well the band can slow things down and coat a track in sludge (Crawl Out from the Fall Out). Remember that brief “hiatus” these guys took in 2013? This is their first of 2 in 2016, after 2 in 2015, and it might be one of their best. Think they’ve made up for it?

Oranssi Pazuzu – Värähtelijä (psychedelic black metal)

It’s difficult to put into words what the fuck is going on in this bonkers record and I take that as a major positive as BM has been leaning toward staleness for me recently. This is a long record, full of driving percussion, doom-bringing punishing riffs, hypnotic synths, and visceral swamp creature growls. At times the approach mimics the effect that Botanist has on a listener, but much more is going on here. Lahja features spastic xylophone/chimes with weaving tom percussion. 17+ minute track Vasemman Käden Hierarkia builds from a bass-line to an all-out assault before reeling back into the shadows and crawling out again, this time slower, for the most memorable breakdown of the year. Closer Valveavaruus features electronic percussion akin to that found on the industrial BM side but key-work akin to that of synthwave. All in all, if you have time to dedicate to this record – it is a long one – do it.

Angel Olsen – My Woman (folk, indie rock)

If the entire approach of the latest LP from singer-songwriter Angel Olsen doesn’t throw fans for a loop, the first 5 at least certainly should, as they feature a synth-heavy ballad as an opener and a guitar-shredding anthem in lead single Shut Up Kiss Me. But under the change in sound is the same heartsick Olsen songwriter that fans came to adore, as each song features painful, longing love. Heart Shaped Face bares doubt of self-worth in the form of wondering if a lover ever loved the protagonist or just the thought of her, and Those Were the Days features the pining for a past where love seemed more real both in ideal and in practice with a former lover who has since moved on. The change in pace is refreshing, as Olsen had previously put out two stellar, minimalistic folk records and now finds a new medium in which to project her beautiful brand of sorrow.

Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker (folk)

We all knew this would be the last material we heard from Leonard Cohen before You Want it Darker even dropped, and hearing his resigned yet resilient voice growl “I’m ready, my lord” made it even more real. These tracks are dark in atmosphere but not in tone, as they stand more as a representation of the love he feels and has felt throughout his life and his complicated relationship with God. But Cohen sounds more ready for death than afraid of it, referencing metaphors such as “leaving the table” and “traveling light,” chanting “Hineni Hineni” in the opening title track, and resigning to not knowing the faces in your picture frame, as if he simply doesn’t belong here anymore. This is the last work we get to enjoy from one of the best songwriters to ever live, and it is a good one.

Owen – The King of Whys (folk, singer-songwriter)

I guess I wouldn’t really know if this is the best Owen album since I never really fully explored the discgraphy of Mike Kinsella’s solo project, but it is the best one I’ve heard. The melodies are beautiful, the lyrics are personal and heavy-hitting, and the delivery is heartfelt. For those who said the new American Football offering was essentially an Owen offering: well, you get two, and this one might be better.

Wife – Standard Nature EP (techno)

The dude from Altar of Plagues – the greatest of 3rd wave BM bands – continues on his ambient electronic project with a super delightful EP. 5 tracks and 18 minutes of beautiful bass heavy, vocal-sampling happy downtempo electronic jams that differ significantly from his previous effort. I’ll eat up whatever this project puts out.

Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (music)

I’ve been a Radiohead Stan all of my life, and any addition to the already incredible catalog is always welcome. Thom and the boys offer up some great new tracks here: Daydreaming is painfully beautiful, Glass Eyes is great, and, yes, True Love Waits is one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, finally (and perfectly) finding its proper home, not only as a closer on a Radiohead album post-Thom Yorke breakup, but on a piano, accompanied by nothing except his voice. It doesn’t have the crossover appeal of In Rainbows, the world-changing swagger of Kid A or OK Computer, or the knee-jerk catchiness of The King of Limbs (fuck you it was good), and certain songs don’t land for me, or, at the very least, are overshadowed by similar approaches executed better earlier in Radiohead’s career. But it’s new Radiohead music. I’m thinking I’m overrating this album, but then I remember that True Love Waits is on it so I’ll keep it here thanks

Fuath – I (atmospheric black metal)

Repetition-utilizing atmospheric black metal is completely my shit, and that’s exactly what is offered on these four tracks by USBM one-man project Fuath. Tremolo riffing and blast beats fit like hand in glove to hypnotize, and vocals perfectly compliment. Blood has one of the more emotional bm riffs I’ve heard.

The Body – No One Deserves Happiness (post-metal, doom)

1 part Haxan Cloak + 1 part SubRosa + 2 parts Sunn O))) + 1 part Silencer is the formula for the newest offering from the bludgeoning doom duo The Body. Featuring dark siren vocals complimented by high shrieks akin to those of Silencer, this is sure to be one of the strangest records to be heard by any listener, and you know daddy loves that shit.

Ast – Fraktale (black metal)

One of the more surprising black metal records of the year, seemingly coming from nowhere

Japanese Breakfast – Psychopomp (dream pop)

Featuring lush riffage and the angelic vocal delivery of Michelle Zauner, Psychopomp plants Japanese Breakfast right in the middle of great new singer-songwriters. In Heaven plays wistfully before allowing The Woman that Loves You to burn slowly and showcase some bombastic, bass-heavy 80s synth. Zauner isn’t afraid to let it fly on Jane Cum, but her approach isn’t to throw her talent and her ear for catchy melody in the listener’s face, as this record also features two droning but essential short instrumental tracks. Looking forward to more.

Russian Circles – Guidance (post-metal, post-rock)

One of the more beautiful post-rock/post-metal projects to come out in recent memory, Guidance perfectly blends delicate beauty and unabashed fury.

Kvelertak - Nattesferd (black metal, black’n’roll)

As much a Kvelertak record as any, the latest effort by the groovy Norwegians stays true to their tried and true blackened style but may be their most coherent and offer the most of the entire discography.

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial (freak folk, indie rock)

Since hearing the 4chan/mu/ touted debut and being underwhelmed by the sloppiness and maybe due to the band name summoning up childhood feelings of constant car-sickness, I never quite fell in love with the new indie rock superstar Will Toledo. Teens of Denial, however, changed that. With its barebones honest lyricism and strong chord-laden hooks, this is a captivating and truly different album, even if the songs are too long.

Porches – Pool (indie pop, indie rock)

Great beats and production, some very strong hooks. Be Apart is a standout this year. Eventually tapers and becomes somewhat static, but there are a lot of new sounds here and a certain charm that makes this record pretty enjoyable.

UADA - Devoid of Light (melodic black metal)

Receiving some shade from being a Mgła rip off in both image and style (which, yeah, I see your point), the Oregon trio puts out a blistering five song melodic assault to scratch any lingering itch Exercises in Futility left lingering. Second riff of S.N.M. punishes. Plenty of solos to appease any metal fan. Good

Oathbreaker – Rheia (post-metal, post-black metal)

Part post-bm, part post-rock, part beauty, and part fury, the latest offering from Deathwish veterans Oathbreaker show how to be associated with controversial genres without bring controversial in itself. These songs are different from others that have been considered when using these buzzwords – the relentless fury and unspeakable beauty are both there and take up their own space, but they somehow coexist so fluently regardless. Needles in Your Skin contains the best of example of this fury and beauty working in tandem, featuring a blisteringly dark riff behind vocalist Caro Tanghe helplessly pleading, “how could you go without me?” Rheia will appeal to metal fans and non-metal fans alike much like Deafheaven, but should be able to avoid the criticism from the metal community that Deafheaven (idiotically) commands.

The 1975 – I love it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it (pop, indie pop)

When I first heard this album at the beginning of the year, I didn’t dig it much at all – it was slower, contained more slow-burning ambient tracks, and reeked of a pop band that made great pop songs but wanted to be treated and viewed as more than just that. With more listens, Album With Terrible Title opened up to me, revealing the infectious choruses of UGH! And The Sound while still offering the infectious and not-as-pretentious-as-I-thought approaches of Please Be Naked and the title track. There are plenty of throwbacks and shout-outs to older material and the feelings felt in the lyrics of the band’s eponymous debut throughout this record, which makes me take it as more of a coming-of-age record than a “look what I can do” wankfest. UGH!, The Sound, Somebody Else (“fuck that get money” still is unforgivable), and The Ballad of Me and My Brain will scratch my itch. Let’s see what these dudes do next.

Somos – First Day Back (alternative, “emo”)

I tried to resist this record because this band always came across as the definition of okay to me, but I can resist no longer. Sophomoric as the sound may present itself, this record contains infectious hooks, pretty guitar work, some nice lyricism, and undeniable charm. The chords in the chorus to Reminded/Weighed down, riff and ethereal backing vocals in chorus of Thorn in the Side, and melody in Bitter Medicine stand out as some of the more enjoyable moments in music this year for me.

Arrows in Her – It Tired Me All the Same (4th-wave emo, indie rock)

It took a while for me to get used to the new, brighter production on this one, but finally being able to hear an Arrows full-length is so welcome. This record combines their two strongest tracks thus far from their split with Gifts with 7 new ones, focusing on snappy, twinkly picking and Damien’s familiar snarl. So great to see Broken World putting out music from these guys. Looking forward to them getting better.

Posture & the Grizzly – I am Satan (punk, sorta emo)

Basically, this band is like if Blink-182 was actually good. I love some tracks and what some tracks do, like the chorus of Balloons as Hands, the somber atmosphere of Delete Me, and the entirety of Elliott, Mandy, and Kill Me, but in between these I lose the connection. Looking forward to their next effort.

Abbath – Abbath (black metal)

Though the approach becomes a bit static near the end before the excellent closer Eternal, this is in all likelihood an even better result than having a new Immortal album this year. Refreshing drumming from Creature (though, yeah, he has already left the band), Abbath’s vocals are clearer than ever, and some nice bass-work by King. One to come back to.

Cemetery Piss - Order of the Vulture (blackened thrash)

"I wanna taste your cum. Fuck me like a loaded gun" guy from band named Cemetery Piss bellows before ending the song by yelling "CUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!!" This album is extremely my shit - I'm pretty sure the lyrics "sexual autopsy" are shoehorned into this thing somewhere too. But aside from the Shakespearean wordplay and impeccable name, this record is full of blistering riffs and black thrash goodness. It'll hold your attention even if you don't want to name your next cat Cemetery Piss.

Beyoncé – Lemonade (pop, RnB)

Lemonade seems like Beyoncé’s (successful) attempt to do everything better than everyone else – she becomes a bonafide rock star behind a wonky Jack White riff on Don’t Hurt Yourself and a belting southern belle country star on Daddy Lessons – which she sells so effectively because the story is her own true story. She takes a Yeah Yeah Yeahs chorus and makes it even more emotional and beautiful than the penning artists, and reassures you that she’s the absolute reigning monarch of RnB, hitting beautiful vocal lines in ALL NIGHT and providing a “fuck you” girl-power anthem with Formation, the song and video that drew endless disdain from racists, idiots, and people with awful music tastes (which is worst?)

Frankie Cosmos – Next Thing (indiepop, twee)

Greta Kline and the band double down on the cuteness and hooks to create the new Frankie Cosmos record to follow up on the 2013 release I became obsessed with riding around on St. Kitts. The production takes a step forward to gently accommodate for Greta’s tender delivery, akin to the sound of frequent collaborator Porches’ album Pool, also released this year.

Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow (shoegaze)

Unapologetic in its melancholy gloom, ToT delivers the Philly shoegaze band’s best work to date. Hooks are more effective (ACD, Our Plague), prettiness shines within the haze (Nineteen Ninety Heaven, Everyone is Happy) but tracks still bare their teeth (verse riff of ACD stands as one of my favorites this year). Fever Queen is a stand-out.

Nordjevel – Nordjevel (melodic black metal)

A really nice Norwegian black metal effort here from a debut LP. These dark boys unite to plaster together some beautiful melodic riffage, hypnotic production, and some visceral highs. Emperor fans will love this shit.

The Field – The Follower

The Range – Potential (electronic)

Though the standout from this full length from the Rhode Island producer is clearly the lead single and incredible banger Florida, slow-burners like Copper Wire and So help this record stay really strong throughout.

Frameworks – Time Spent / Smother (screamo, post-hardcore)

The two best songs ive heard from the Florida screamo band thus far. Looking forward to the full-length. EDIT: I also very much liked the full length

Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch (art pop)

Apparently focusing lyrically about female vampires and periods, Norwegian songwriter Jenny Hval puts out a super weird, captivating record that feels like a Laurel Halo record with a more linear approach to songwriting. There are spoken word sections, deep bass swirls, pulsing synths (Female Vampire), and some beautiful vocal melodies (Conceptual Romance, The Great Undressing). The more I listen to it, the more I love it. It’s worthy of the positive press.

Deftones – Gore (people say these guys are nu metal)

I’m a late appreciator of Deftones – I didn’t listen to anything until Koi No Yokama – but this record is a really nice blend of punishingly heavy riffs, and beautiful passaged, all backed by the same Chino Moreno snarl that lends it its backbone.

    Tier 3: I dig quite a bit

Lascar – Absence EP (post-black metal)

Fuzzy, beautiful post-bm with An Autumn for Crippled Children vibes. Tremolo picking throughout keeps tempo static, but the emotional riffing stands out. Good for those who like emotional post-bm (me). Looking forward to more.

Morphinist – Terraforming (atmospheric black metal)

Been waiting for some material to really love from this dude and the latest 4-track release delivers. This songs take their time building up but don’t sacrifice intensity. The clean guitar riff that leads II into the half time, swingy drums is the first exclamation point. I features soloing into blistering blast beats. Closer Shapeshifter slows the tempo and bludgeons with a more doom-focused energy. There’s plenty to love here for fans of all genres of heavy music.

Zeal and Ardor – Devil is Fine (avant-garde black metal and a lot of other shit)

Apparently blossoming from an experiment in which artist Manuel Gagneux crowdsourced which genres would be the oddest combined together, this is definitely one of the weirdest takes on the sound and atmosphere of black metal, but really, it works. The combination of slave hymnal vocals with blistering riffage is a truly evil one-two. Sometimes, the experimentation feels a bit too much – there are a couple lullaby-esque ambient tracks that are shoehorned in – but this is overall a success due to sheer weirdness.

Mork – Den Vandrende Skygge (black metal)

Guitar distortion sounds almost 8-bit, bringing tribute to early Darkthrone to mind, which creates a somewhat unique sound with the riffs employed. Some really nice tracks that don’t drone on too long. A more atmospheric, melodic take on Transilvanian Hunger? It’s a Norwegian black metal band named MORK – of course I like it.

White Lung – Paradise (punk, post-punk)

The newest installment from the Canadian punk quartet isn’t really more poppy – though Below is surely the closest to a pop song the band has ever made – but guitarist Kenneth William has stated himself on XMU that they wanted to incorporate more unnatural sounds to usher their music “into the digital age.” Whether that pleases you or pisses you off, this record does seem to be more claustrophobic but the band’s sound is still intact. Aggressiveness and shredding riffs are still everywhere to be found. It doesn’t hold up to Sorry or Deep Fantasy to me and Mish Way’s lyrics are a bit clumsier, but this is still a great band that makes great music.

Alcest – Kodama (atmospheric black metal, shoegaze alright)

Though I think Shelter was super underrated and a beautiful and welcome dream-pop/shoegaze effort from a band that had already stamped their seal on the atmospheric BM scene, sure, it was tough not to miss the heaviness of old. Kodama is able to find the perfect middle ground between these two Alcests, featuring plenty of beautiful melodies and key changes but bringing Neige’s raspy high screams and kicking up the distortion. Less people will get pissed off about this record.

Kozeljnik – Death Gives Unto Life (black metal)

Truly dark black metal from the one-man Serbian dude project. The second half of Bitter Libations to the Unnamed holds some of my favorite riffs of the year, alongside parallel deep cleans and screams.

Ion Dissonance - Cast the First Stone (chaotic metalcore, technical death metal, mathcore)

These guys still rip

Sarah Neufeld – The Ridge (neo-classical)

The violinist best known for her work in Arcade Fire and collaborative album with Colin Stetson last year churns out a beautiful neo-classical album with dreamy, gloomy arrangements and some great percussion. Reminiscent of the great Julia Kent record from 2015.

Orbs – Past Life Regression (experimental art-rock)

This band has always intrigued me simply for its lineup – featuring members from Fear Before, Between the Buried and Me, and the keyboard player from Abigail Williams/Cradle of Filth – and approach, though the first release didn’t quite land. This one if much better for me, featuring some beautiful arrangements and really putting the stellar key and guitar parts at the forefront. These two shred at their instruments but don’t come off as wanking, and the vocals of Adam are a welcome substitute for my beloved Fear Before. Dreamland II features the best arrangement of the album and some grotesque sexual imagery, providing one of the most memorable tracks of 2016.

Subrosa – For this We Fought the Battle of Ages (doom metal, sludge metal)

A somewhat more tender release than previous from the Salt Lake City doom band that features two violinists and a strong female voice, FtWFtBoA is the most captivating and melodic doom record in recent years.

Vektor – Terminal Redux (thrash)

If you really dig progressive thrash youll dig this record, but if you don’t really dig thrash youll still dig this record. Beautifully sounding record from these guys that has some shredding riffs that never let up and some great drum-work. Though the songs are long and the listen will take time, it’s worth it.

Jesu / Sun Kil Moon (uhh, sludge/post-metal and folk I guess, Kozelek)

Of all the Sun Kil Moon collaborations over the past few years, this one is certainly my least favorite, but being as it is still a Kozelek collab, I still dig it. Mark doubles down on the approach that got him so much praise via Benji, now pretty much just telling mundane tales in stream of consciousness, “then I did this” format, with results not being as rewarding as previous efforts. Whereas this style has provided for some incredible moments of insight and human emotion (Caroline from the collab with The Album Leaf and Mariette from the Desertshore collab come to mind, as well as Carissa from Benji), it more than often feels like this style is employed to fill space and project negative emotion in this record, with talk about being pissed at a fan who wants to own his shit on vinyl (maybe it was me) and at one point just yelling about what Bob Saget said during his own Comedy Central roast (congrats to whoever predicted Mark Kozelek would be yelling “SUCK MY HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR DICK” on an album in 2016 10 years ago). Oh shit, there’s also that part where literally sings about how he’s going to read a fan letter and give the writer royalties on the song and then reads the letter. Also there is a part where Kozelek sings about getting hit in the balls. Still, at a certain point you just have to let the dude do his thing and respect how dedicated he is to this direction. Plus, the arrangements are still pretty and emotional, there are still some very pretty moments of insight (“what does rekindle mean?” “to all bereaved parents…”) and I am a sucker for Kozelek material. I choose to enjoy it for what it is.

Weyes Blood – Front Row Seat to Earth (indie folk)

Drones on at times, but a very pretty, dreamy indie folk record.

DIIV – Is the is Are (dream pop, beach rock, indie rock)

This band still comes across as one of the most overhyped heroin bands ever, but I did really dig this latest record. Too long, but some really pretty, dreamy melodies, a great track in Dopamine, and some great hypnotizing vibes perfect for warm weather, Hefeweizens, and driving.

Deer Leap – Impermanence (4th-wave emo, post-rock)

The post-rock-influenced emo sound has been so overdone within the last few years that it’s difficult to appreciate a band that does it right. Deer Leap’s Impermanence reminds listeners that it’s still possible. Featuring beautiful, soaring riffs and a delicate vocal delivery, this album features a beautifully triumphant group chant of their sister band’s name (The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die) and, though jarring at first, it doesn’t come across as canned corn. This record won’t overwhelm anyone who is used to the sound and approach, but newcomers will love it, and devotees will cherish it.

Little Scream – Cult Following (indie folk, singer-songwriter)

I bought my first record at an Antlers show, and the opener of that show was a band (I thought) known as Little Scream. It was sort of odd, really; this was my first show that wasn’t a hardcore or punk show, and it was at First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. Everyone sat in the pews for Little Scream, who featured a beautiful set with a live string section before songwriter Laurel Sprengelmeyer finished alone on stage with her guitar and a rendition of her still most-popular song The Heron and the Fox. Later, the crowd would move forward and sit on the floor near the stage for The Antlers who would confusedly and politely ask the crowd to stand. It was one of the most moving show experiences of my life, from top to bottom. Years later, Little Scream finally has a follow up, and it’s very good. Love as a Weapon is certainly a change of pace, as the lead single is driven by sharp chords and a quick falsetto attack, while Dark Dance features a super catchy chorus. The latter half of the record recaptures much of the magic that The Golden Record offered, featuring beautiful dynamic ballads in Someone Will Notice and Wishing Well. Sandwiched between these two tracks is Wreckage, the first track from this record to grab me, due to it’s steady wavelike tempo and subdued, haunting vocal approach. Each time I hear this record I continue to like it more, as more layers are uncovered, much like its predecessor. A very quietly great album from 2016.

Wild Beasts – Boy King (indie RnB)

Present Tense, Wild Beasts previous effort from 2013, is one of my favorite albums of all time – I have to come to terms with that before judging this record. While it clearly doesn’t add up to previous efforts, we’re still endlessly lucky to have music from these guys. Boy King may not stack up sonically and doesn’t quite establish a mood and identity as strongly as Present Tense, but it goes down another path, standing as one of the sexiest records of the year. Big Cat and Celestial Creatures are strong. But what another last.fm user says rings true – what’s the deal with the low end on this record, or the lack thereof? And why did they use so many god damn effects on Hayden Thorpe’s already beautiful voice?

Black Tusk – Pillars of Ash (sludge metal)

If the upbeat sludge sound is for you, this is a record you’ll love. Dirty riffs, gloomy production, nice dual vocal approach. The art is killer too.

Slingshot Dakota – Break (indie pop, faux-emo)

Somewhat sophomorish, but some really strong hooks found throughout this record by the two-piece. Interesting somewhat lo-fi bedroom pop sound in the instruments though production is clean, strong female vocals, and some really nice pop melodies. The chorus to Stay was the first thing to jump out.

Ustalost – The Spoor of Vipers (atmospheric black metal)

Though somewhat difficult to muddle through due to the lo-fi production, there are some really nice, dissonant USBM riffs here beside ambient synthwork from one of the dudes from Yellow Eyes. Repeated listens prove worthwhile.

Wildernessking – Mystical Future (atmospheric black metal)

Nice South African Atmospheric bm

Wet – Don’t You (indie pop, RnB)

A really smooth, enjoyable listen from these dudes. This record has been getting a ton of flak from all over and many people claiming overhype, but I must have been somewhere because I have literally never heard of these guys. Deadwater is a great track, as is You’re the Best. Fans of Rhye will dig this.

Pop. 1280 – Paradise (dark industrial, cyberpunk)

Dark, bouncy, apocalyptic cyberpunk for people who want to be in TRON. In Silico is a great track.

Ulver – ATGCLVLSSCP (drone metal)

Regardless of the fact that the Norwegian band has been astray of black metal for years now, I’m always interested when they put out new material. Part ambient, part drone, a few parts post-rock blend together to form a really beautiful record, vacant of words until track ten (previously written).

Every Time I Die – Low Teens (metalcore)

No one writes ETID songs better than ETID, but 8 albums in, the songs are starting to bleed together. Petal is a great track.

Cirith Gorgor – Visions of Exalted Lucifer (black metal)

Nice Dutch bm that youll dig if you dig Marduk. Very similar in style, wall of sound approach with buzzsaw guitars. Demons

FT-17 – Marcellin s’en va-t-en guerre (black metal)

Some nice French black metal. Nice use of keys throughout, especially in 6th track L’armee des taupes where it juxtaposes nicely with the deep cleans.

Pillar Tombs of Aku – IV (raw black metal)

Truly good raw bm for people who dig the other bands on Black Cilice’s splits. Not quite as hypnotic and raw as Black Cilice with a bit more punk and bestial vibes.

Naðra - Allir Vegir Til Glötunarm (Icelandic black metal)

Great debut here from the Icelandic band that fans of Mispyrming will be into.

Urgehal – Aeons in Sodom (black/death metal)

Solid deathened-black metal album in which the poetic opener proclaims, “come on you fuckers! Come on! It’s now or never! Fuck you! We are Urgehal and we are here to fucking destroy you!”

Death Grips - Interview 2016 (digital hardcore?, electronic)

Flatlander digital hardcore record. Percussion assault delight.

Youth Code – Commitment to Complications (ebm, industrial)

This kind of stuff is usually not my bag – I had never really gotten into Combichrist, Nine Inch Nails, or any of the industrial side of black metal or metal in general. However, since this record has been touted by members of bands I enjoy on social media, I gave it a shot and was not disappointed. The drum programming is really nice, especially on stand-out track Anagnorisis. This is super visceral industrial hell tunage for being murdered by a machine.

John Carpenter – Lost Themes II (synthwave, dark ambient)

Though not as rhythm-driven as last year’s first installment, the latest Carpenter record continues the slick Kurt Russell leather jacket evil monster time vibes of its predecessor. It’s a Carpenter record baby.

The Sun Days – Album (indie pop)

I want it to penetrate through a bit more than it does for me, but that may happen more with increased listens. This record from the Gothenburg band is very saccharine, filled with dreamy guitar riffs and soaring vocal choruses that carry it. Fear is one of the best tracks of the year, but the approach sometimes feels overdone. Still plenty to love here.

Gatecreeper – Sonoran Depravation (death metal)

Arizona death metal newcomers offer up 9 massive, relentless tracks in their debut record, which feels like it could be a mid-career masterpiece. Crusty in pace and clocking in at around a half hour, it doesn’t try to do too much more than establish the presence of a new band that rips. It should be said: this is metal that dudes who like metal but don’t just listen to only metal (see: Joey) will dig: it’s mixed by Kurt Ballou of Converge at God City and released by Relapse Records.

Thränenkind – King Apathy (post-metal, post-black metal)

Led by major chord riffage and powerful vocals, the latest offering from the German band is enjoyable though sometimes forgettable.

Gouge Away - ,Dies (hardcore)

Aside from the cringe-worthy PETA song, a really nice debut album from the Florida hardcore band with some visceral shrieks.

Hesitation Wounds - Awake for Everything (hardcore)

It's nice to hear Jeremy Bolm working inside of a more hardcore-geared outfit consistently. His voice pairs with the approach too well.

TTNG – Disappointment Island (emo, indie rock, twinkle daddies lol)

If you heard the last effort from these dudes, you know what to expect here. They’re still crafting beautiful melodies and making tapping and time signatures seem easy, though the sound varies little. If you dig their last work, you’ll dig this one.

Yeesh – Confirmation Bias (noise punk)

There’s something strange about this record that pulls me in. It feels like nothing spectacular at surface level, but I’m not sure I’ve heard an album like this, whose sound falls somewhere within the noise rock stratosphere but whose approach to songwriting lies somewhere on the cusp of the emo side of punk. It’s a nice first effort from the Tiny Engines-signed band, and I’m intrigued to see what they do next.

Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues (alternative rock)

The last three Jimmy Eat World records were at best forgettable and at worst awful let-downs from a band that had affected millions of emo-hearted mother fuckers with Static Prevails, Clarity, Bleed American, and/or Futures. Thus, the latest offering from the Arizona niceboys is a solid alt rock record that is touted as better than it actually is because of how bad its predecessors were. Don’t get me wrong: I love some sections and tidbits of this record: the bright chimes in the chorus of Pretty Grids, the sugary, almost Chase this Light chorus of opener You With Me, the emotional layered vocals of It Matters. But taking a step back reminds me this just isn’t the quality of Bleed American, let alone that of Clarity. And to take But, look, this band doesn’t owe us shit this far into their career, and yet they still give us their first keeper since Futures. I’m happy with that.

Dikembe – Hail Something (indie rock, emo)

Doesn’t hit me as hard as Mediumship did, but I really love these guys’ approach to the genre. Bummer riffs, crunchy guitar, not afraid to take its time and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

  Tier 4: Not bad, but didn’t have a profound effect on me

Mount Moriah – How to Dance (alt-country)

The lack of effect on me as compared to previous album Miracle Temple may be due to the approach and sound being different and new to me when first introduced, but the latest offering from NC alt-country band Mount Moriah still stands as a solid effort, though much less rhythm-driven. Opener Calvander and closer Little Bear are standouts amongst what feels like lots of filler, but Heather McEntire’s intricate coo is enough to carry this record.

Whitney – Light Upon the Lake (indie pop, indie rock)

This record has been getting tons of praise (p4k BNM) and a shitload of airtime on Sirius XMU and for good reason – it’s a very easy record to digest, filled with very pretty guitar work from the dude from Smith Westerns and some nice falsetto vocal melodies from the dude from Unknown Mortal Orchestra. But when it comes down to it, it’s merely pleasant – it doesn’t take many risks, it stays inoffensive, and it runs 10 tracks through at 30 minutes. It’s a good first indie record for someone who wants to explore music further. That about covers it. (Golden Days is a nice song though).

Taking Back Sunday – Tidal Wave (alt-rock)

This is a collection of songs that are definitely by Taking Back Sunday.

Alex Smoke – Love Over Will (techno)

Nice abrasive minimal techno; title track is a standout; yeah, that album art is something.

Shearwater – Jet Plane and Oxbow (indie rock)

I spent months listening to this record and mildly enjoying it, waiting for it to click with me and give me something to work with so I could write about it. What I came up with is this: it’s a solid indie rock record. Thanks.

Ketzer – Starless (blackened thrash, black ‘n roll)

Calling this a blackened thrash album is somewhat inaccurate, yet probably the most accurate term I can use to describe it. There are some punky riffs, muted chugging, solos, and a corny part where the vocalist counts to ten (in a song called Count to Ten) but a lot of it is enjoyable blackened thrash. From last.fm user saggitalmortia: satan's boundaries unchained album is KVLT but now ketzer and new album starless very fucking shitty. fuck ketzer fuck off!!!

Vargafrost – Honour, Blood, Spirit and Love (black metal)

Pretty solid debut from a New Zealand black metal band, though the production and approach becomes static after a while, especially after 11 songs. It’s tagged as “heathen black metal” on last.fm though so that’s cool.

Mesarthim – Pillars (atmospheric space/black metal)

The strange appeal of this Australian space metal band lies with whatever the synth or keys are doing, which allows this latest release to be more predictable. Ive been listening to these guys since last year and their approach is certainly unique; songs drone on a mid-low tempo, riffs and vocals are cast aside into the back seat, and the keywork commands all the attention and thus the songs live and die by it. A good band if you like An Autumn for Crippled Children but you want like 10 times more keys.

Majid Jordan – Majid Jordan (R&B)

The Canadian R&B duo responsible for Hold On, We’re Going Home put out a smooth record with some nice jams, though the charm wears out after 12 tracks.

Frank Ocean – Blonde (R&B)

The overhyping of Frank Ocean is something I’m never going to understand. Channel Orange was a pretty record with a couple of very nice singles and was hailed as more than it was – why? Because he might have written a song or two about a dude? I mean, look, I’m saying this as a dude whose favorite song is Fond Farewell, which Frank literally sings the chorus to in one of the later tracks on this record. I’m going to try again a couple of times in the new year, but besides a nice chorus in Ivy and a pleasant melody in Solo, there isn’t enough here to warrant all this praise. Come on, Facebook Story is just some fake deep shit covered up in the veil of a foreign accent – that shit sounds like something that the guy who painted those pictures of Pokémon riding people’s backs to signify how MIND CONTROLLED BY OUR EVIL PHONES THIS MILLENIAL AGE IS would put in a literal facebook post. Be Yourself comes across to me as this wave-riding shit where you can just put any sort of voicemail message on a record and it will be praised as some kind of jaw-dropping decision by lanyard-wearing mother fuckers. Anyway it’s okay.

Cobalt – Slow Forever (black metal)

May call upon the wrath of the metal community when I say this – it’s just too long, and not diverse enough to command attention for 80 minutes.

Skáphe - Skáphe² (atmospheric black metal)

If you dig Mispyrming you’ll dig this record. Good but static.

Strokes – Future Present Past EP (indie rock)

Aight

Magrudergrind – II (grindcore)

A punishing, relentless grind assault from the veterans, but the songs don’t separate themselves from the pack. Go listen to Nails.

Névoa – Re Un (doom/black metal)

Some nice downtempo, low-end metal here from a pretty good band. Drones a bit with the last 2 tracks, but opener Communion is very strong.

Sumerlands – Sumerlands (heavy metal)

Throane – Derriere-nous, la lumiere (atmospheric/ambient black metal)

Some really sweet sounds and buildups throughout, but doesn’t quite stick for me.

Dance Gavin Dance – Mothership (post-hardcore)

There are still plenty of catchy riffs and dancey parts, but Tillian’s robotic vocals and shitty lyricism combined with Jon Mess’ still terrible lyricism (cocaine Christmas? Give it a rest, dude) are starting to grow stale.

Rae Sreemurd – Sremmlife 2 (hip-hop)

Black Beatles is one of the best and most covered tracks of 2016, and I love By Chance and Look Alive, but this feels like yet another pop-rap album that just drags on too long and, for some reason, joins a camp of similar releases that seem determined to lessen their appeal with too much length.

Animal Collective – Painting With (experimental/psychedelic artpop)

I appreciate the use of rhythm and the emphasis on using the voice as the focal instrument throughout the newest installment in AC’s catalog and can really dig certain isolated sections of this record, but the Pitchfork review of this record by Mike Powell hit on how I feel about it: “Each sound meticulously built and only faintly familiar, each second crammed with doodads, as though the band was worried either they or their audience might get bored.”

Battle Dagorath – I – Dark Dragons of the Cosmos (ambient/atmospheric black metal)

What you’d expect from the genre. Great album title though.

Wode – Wode (blackened doom metal)

A nice effort here from the UK band, but it doesn’t call me back like a few others from this year.

Suspiral – Delve into the Mysteries of Transcendence (black metal)

Some killer riffs and atmosphere; very noisy and very chaotic death-infused black metal for evil boys and girls. Wall-of-sound assault hell.

Grave Miasma - Endless Pilgrimage (blackened death metal)

For those who like really noisy, dark, putrid death metal doused in a wall of sound, this is for you. The approach allows the tracks to somewhat blend and, for me, this fucks with the appeal.

Utzalu – Germinal (raw black metal)

Like the title portrays, this some raw shit. If that’s your thing, you’ll love it.

Marissa Nadler – Strangers (ethereal dream folk)

I loved 2013’s July, but the newest offering feels like she relies on dreaminess and her falsetto too much, and it suffers from that for me and fails to make a mark.

Todtgelichter – Rooms (suicidal black metal)

Interesting in theory but scatterbrained in execution, this record brings to mind a lot of the efforts by Lifelover. When it clicks, it’s great, but this is a record that, like so many of its suicidal black metal precedents, just tries to do too much.

ANOHNI – HOPELESSNESS (indie-folk, electronic)

Since her announcement that she is a trans woman, Anohni (formerly Antony) has been garnering attention for her sociopolitical statements and the impending release of her first output since her name change. While the production and arrangements by Anohni, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Hudson Mohawke hand-in-hand with some beautiful vocal performances come together nicely, the lyrics in this record fit with them like a right foot in a left shoe, at times feeling like a 14-year-old’s first reaction to seeing racism or sexism in action. The songs here are socio-politically obsessed, and though that is in no way a negative quality, Anohni presents these ideas with not enough poetry to come across smoothly but not enough punch to land squarely. 4 Degrees, though anthemic, fierce, and relentless in approach, contains lyrics like “all those lemurs and all those tiny creatures” and “and all those rhinos and all those big mammals,” as if the artist just stepped out of her first kindergarten class. To be honest, most of this record sounds like what would be the chart-topper by a teenager in the Avatar universe.

There’s a line in Jenn Pelly’s review of this record that finally made me physically roll my eyes at something I didn’t want to. It is as follows: “Astonishingly, then, "Watch Me" is song about surveillance that might make you surveil yourself—an act of sousveillance.” Too many times throughout this record, things are stretched to make a point that may not be there. This kind of approach sounds a step above the schizophrenic delusions Elliott Smith experienced when he thought Dreamworks was following him.

Execution makes the claim that the title subject is “an American dream, like the Chinese, and the Saudis, the North Koreans, and the Nigerians.” The thing about this record is I think I agree with almost every point Anohni makes, but the delivery is so overwrought in blunt juvenile pseudo-poetry it makes me cringe. This doesn’t even include the wretched “Obama,” which, regardless of whether the listener is a fan of the president or not, cannot in any way be redeemed as anything other than a cringe-filled, terrible track that would have been torn apart across the internet if it had been put out by anyone other than Anohni. Sometimes the narrative is strong enough to allow an artist to get away with a truly wretched piece of art without deserved criticism.

I love the way this record sounds, and I love the way Anohni’s voice sounds on Crisis. I love the majority of the vocal performances. I agree with practically every point made by Anohni throughout this album and I am overjoyed that she is receiving copious support regarding both her transition and her music career. But that doesn’t just default this record into the “Great” category. It’s one that has promise in theory but oftentimes fails in execution. Ian Cohen may have said it best: “Last time you heard and LP that was so bad it made you laugh out loud, yet you still knew the narrative was going to make it a top-10 lock?” It is what it is, but as Anohni pleads so frequently throughout this album, that doesn’t mean that it should be.

Ecferus - Pangaea (atmospheric/melodic black metal)

A black metal record about anthropology and the creation of EARTH. It’s okay.

Caïna - Christ Clad in White Phosphorus (black metal)

Abrasive, industrial-tinged UKBM that takes a bit from the last Altar of Plagues record.

Atra Vetosus – Ius Vitae Necisque (melodic black metal)

A nice 22-minute track here from the melodic bm band out of Tasmania. Some nice, almost screamo-esque vocals and use of storm soundclips between the synth-heavy romantic riffing, though I may have heard this sound before. Looking forward to hearing more.

Bastard & Black Goat – Descend from the Blackened Skies to Spread the Words of Satan (raw black metal)

Classic bm sound akin to Hellhammer, Bathory. It’s nice, but you could also listen to Hellhammer or Bathory

Null / Self Defense Family – Split 7” (uhhh punk)

Null provides a sludgey, gloomy track while the SDF offers some trumpet and Patrick and Caroline (I think) telling each other that’s there plenty that he does wrong. It’s an experiment.

Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness (post-rock)

Drake – Views (hip-hop, pop)

Controlla was great.

Tiny Moving Parts – Celebrate (emo)

Much better than that cornball debut This Couch is Long and Full of Friendship and a step up from sophomore release Pleasant Living, Celebrate finally shows the Minnesota trio starting to write some solid songs. But when it comes down to it, so many bands just do it so much better.

The Last Shadow Puppets - Everything You've Come to Expect (indie rock)

Fronted by one dude from Arctic Monkeys and another dude from some other band, this duo has been tagged as a supergroup, as music terminology gets watered down further and further. Though it features a nice string section and starts with a strong track in Aviation, the tracks become static, featuring more than one too many ballads and not enough hooks to float the 11 kitsch-obsessed tracks. "Isn't it boring when I talk about my dreams?" croons Arctic Monkeys Guy. Yes, it is.

Graf Orlok – Crimetraveler (powerviolence, sort of)

If you used to listen to Killwhitneydead but now you feel more grown up youll probably dig this.

Yuck – Stranger Things (fuzz rock/pop)

Though not offensively bad or overwhelmingly boring, besides the dreamy vocals and infectious verses of As I Walk Away, Stranger Things fades into obscurity.

Mightiest – Sinisterra (black metal)

Eh

Bhavachakra – Bhavachakra (black metal)

Some nice riffs to be found in parts, but overall forgettable.

Teen Suicide – It’s the Big Joyous Celebration, Let’s Stir the Honeypot (indie rock I guess)

Idk man it’s really long and I only like some of the melodies so whatever

  Tier 5: These didn’t do it for me

Spektr – The Art to Disappear (industrial/experimental black metal)

There is a lot of disjointed shit going on in this release by the experimental black metal band with heavy industrial elements slung throughout, but none of it really hits for me. I do like some of the ideas, but it’s a lot of “that’s weird” and not enough “that’s fucked up and also it rules” for me. That being said, I never really delved into the industrial side of bm, so if that’s your thing, youll probably dig this.

Superheaven – Ours is Chrome 5.9 (grunge sort of)

If you like Citizen and Cloakroom but want more grunge feel youll dig this. I’ll stick with Citizen and Cloakroom.

Margaret Glaspy – Emotions and Math (indie rock, singer-songwriter)

Some of the riffs are pretty nice and she has a very nice voice, but the lyricism leaves something to be desired and the approach feels stale. This is a debut, though, that the young songwriter can hopefully build on.

Hiding Place – Hiding Place (alt rock)

If you dig Turnover youll dig these three songs. Nothing to write home about though.

Basement – Promise Everything (grungey emo)

Unfortunately for Basement, they emerge from their two-year hiatus to find their grungey nu-emo sound dominated by bands that do it better than they do (see recent records by Cloakroom, Citizen, Title Fight). Though there are passing moments that catch the listener’s attention, these are fleeting, and none of the songwriting has the bite of a song like Covet or the strong chorus of lead single off of last year’s 7” Summer’s Colour. This LP lands somewhere in between, and thus fails to stand out in any way.

Ridgeway – Untitled (dreamo)

Some passable hooks and pretty riffs, but how much longer are we gonna keep pushing this shoegaze-emo shit.

Sunflower Beam – Human Ceremony (indie pop)

Easier Said got a lot of airtime from XMU this year and showed some promise in sugary chorus-work and reverb-drenched guitar hooks, but the album itself floats somewhat characterlessly. An album that tries to be neo-psych and indie pop all the same, but should have dedicated itself to one side of the line.

Stillborn Fawn – Nord 5.4 (raw black metal)

Some raw black metal

Ifrinn – Ifrinn (black metal)

Eh

Naðra – Forn (black metal)

Eh

Lebensnacht – Raging Storm of the Apocalypse (black metal)

Boring and characterless black metal

Into it. Over it. – Standards (indie rock tbh)

Every time I listen to this band I feel like I’m listening to Death Cab without the personality or Mae without the hooks. At first I was a little bit into it, but after a few listens, I was over it!!!!!! Really, these songs are just standards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wild Nothing – Life of Pause (indie pop)

You know I really tried to like this record even after XMU played To Know You every single time I sat in the car but there isn’t much here. White noise.

Kevin Morby – Singing Saw (indie folk)

Are Woods fans the same species as I am? These songs sit characterless for me, devoid of any strong appeal in any way (voice, arrangements, hooks, anything). Didn’t care for Woods, don’t care for this.

No Joy - Drool Sucker

For some reason this band is trying to distance itself from the excellent sound and feel of Wait to Pleasure, their most triumphant record. These are just some songs

Twin Peaks – Down in Heaven

Dude there is so much music to listen to Im not gonna waste my time listening to some garage rock band named after a David Lynch series. I listened to it once and I didn’t really care.

Bicycle Sunday – Pale Marble Movie (faux-midwest emo)

Overwrought in cheesy appeals to teenage emotion; basically a band you will dig if you want even more watered-down Empire! Empire!

Old Gray – Slow Burn (screamo)

People really like this band. I don’t think Cam Boucher makes any music that’s any good (see: Sorority Noise). Overdramatic, overwrought, sophormoric spoken word, lyrics disjointed with the music. Not good.

Nicolas Jaar  - Sirens (downtempo, deep house)

I’m just gonna go ahead and take the L on this one and admit that I don’t really get this guy’s music. Thanks for reading.

Neurosis – Fires Within Fires (sludge metal)

I didn’t get it

Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – I Had a Dream that You Were Mine (indie rock)

Boring, simple arrangements and the shitty Walkmen dude’s voice makes me not care about this album that a lot of people apparently like.

Look Mexico – Uniola (4th-wave emo)

Here’s a band I couldn’t give a shit about. All of their songs are named after Vin Diesel quotes and their twinkle daddies approach is trumped by bands that do it much better than they do.

Ghost – Popestar (glam metal)

They’re starting to show their hand.

Emarosa – 131 (alternative rock)

It’s not even the fact that Jimmy Craig carried this band (clearly true, for the record); ever since Relativity, this band’s entire effort has gotten lazy in search of vocalist-carried commercial success, and 131 is the bottom of the barrel. Relativity was Emarosa’s creative peak, featuring janky, distorted guitar, bombastic percussion, and yes, that insane Jonny Craig voice. The self-titled effort found the band mixing the instruments lower and handing the keys to the vocalist, and it was successful because of the pure power of Craig’s vocals, which were a flash-in-the-pan gift for this godless scene. Once Jonny left, it was curtains – Versus was characterless bullshit with a new vocalist doing his best Jonny impression, and when listening to this record, I feel like I actually have to strain to hear the guitar parts because of how low they are in the mix. Bradley Warren isn’t a bad vocalist regardless of whether or not he’s a 14-year-old in spirit (he blocked me on twitter though I have never spoken to him because I said “let’s see how bad this Emarosa record is” and, I’m assuming, searched his band’s name and blocked anyone who didn’t want to make a shrine for him), but it’s impossible for me to hear him as anything less than Jonny Craig-light, and considering how overly weak-sweet-tea these instrumentals are – honestly, can you even make out one riff that’s not on Helpless? – this is the gulch a band searching for commercial success with no regard for their art deserves. Listen to it for your mental record, then dispose of it in the trash where it belongs.

SONGS OF 2016:

The Hotelier – Soft Animal

The Hotelier – Sun

The Hotelier – Two Deliverances

David Bowie – Girl Loves Me

Savages – Surrender

Lycus – Solar Chamber

Kralllice – Hyperion

Fuath – Blood

Porches – Be Apart

The 1975 – UGH!

Human hands – morning sun

Sioux Falls – Soaked in Sleep

Sioux Falls – Copy/Paste

Woman is the Earth – Brother of Black Smoke

The Range – Florida

Drake – Controlla

Yuck – As I Walk Away

Turnover – Humblest Pleasures

Somos – Thorn in the Side

Thranenkind – Vanishing Youth

Nothing – ACD (Abscessive Compulsive Disorder)

Morphinist – Terraforming II

The Sun Days – Fear

Pinegrove – Size of the Moon

Pinegrove – Aphasia

Pinegrove – Cadmium

Pinegrove - Visiting

Self Defense Family – Good Idea Machine

Sleep Weather – In the Bend

Told Slant – Green Nail Polish

UADA – Devoid of Light

White Lung – Hungry

The Body – Two Snakes

Mitski – Your Best American Girl

G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge

PUP – Doubts

ORBS – Dreamland II

Oathbreaker – Needles in Your Skin

The Album Leaf – Lost in the Fog

Everyone has their own story of when they first heard the first American Football LP and the effect it had on them. I’m no different. I’m not sure when I first heard the Urbana trio’s seminal Midwest emo LP, but I remember vividly the times it was the centerpiece of my most cherished memories.

I’ve been hawking interactive music community last.fm for over five years now, even after they sabotaged their own site by pushing a nonfunctional beta interface. I remember a certain prominent user’s top 8 artists – 8 grainy black and white photos, 7 belonging to 80’s and 90’s hip hop artists, and one – the top spot, double the plays of any of the other artists – another grainy black and white photo of three innocent white boys in a band called American Football. I didn’t know who they were yet and I didn’t know why they had such an effect on this random internet dude. A few days later, my car would be stolen out of a “secure” New Brunswick parking garage on the same day I would see my summer fling for the last time in my life. I had a job on campus as a dude who cleaned and readied dorms for the next crop of Rutgers students that I needed to get to, so I’d illegally rent a car, put that strange American Football LP on my iPod, and listen to it every day while moving dressers and vacuuming carpets for 10 hours a day. Call it fate.

Broken-hearted, melodramatic 20-something bullshit aside, Mike Kinsella and his boys had an even more profound effect on me than this. My friend Sean would own a house that would be a place for local and touring bands alike to play for New Brunswick broken hearts, and every show put on would be the highlight of whatever week it occurred. One specific night, I found myself with Sean watching a handful of bands I had never heard with a couple of 40s and nothing else in the world to do. A few bass notes started the next song and the excitement in the room was palpable as Sean put his arm around me and we started to bob forward and backward. He was singing the lyrics at the top of his lungs and I didn’t know them yet. At the time, I’d go home and see it as a missed opportunity – the song was Honestly?, the third and maybe best of American Football’s 9 tracks offered on their 1999 eponymous debut LP. But now, 6 years removed from that moment, as the highs have become few and far between, that 6-minute period of being arm-in-arm with one of my best friends, a 40 in my other hand, surrounded by local bands and beautiful people, it stands as one of the rawest, happiest moments of my life. In the words of John Darnielle, “and I felt young and alive.”

So, suffice it to say, after a 15+ year hiatus, American Football had some large shoes to fill for so many people, even if those shoes were previously their own. There are a lot of ways this newest record could land, from a triumphant return, to a desperate, lackluster cash-grab, to a lukewarm throw-away. I felt all three of these ways in my multiple-monthlong listen of the latest output of a band that had become such an integral part of who I was, and eventually settled on loving it, for some of the same reasons I love Goodness.

What this record doesn’t recapture is the raw, youthful, hearts-on-fire energy of its predecessor. But this serves as a strength – 17 years later, Kinsella has been worn down, as told through the songs of his solo project Owen and his also recently reformed band Owls. These songs are less about saying goodbye at the end of summer or leaving behind all of the people you love and more about coping with coming of age and the dulling of feelings. The house on the cover of LP1 became a universal symbol of emo lore and a punching bag for those on the outside. What LP2 does is take us inside of the house, as made clear by not only the cover art but also the lyrics contained within. “We’ve been here before, but I don’t remember a lock on the door” Kinsella sings, his voice much older, more reserved, more controlled, but less breathlessly filled with wild emotion. This is the same person who shouted “not to be overly dramatic…” in his band’s last album opener, foreshadowing exactly how he’d unapologetically be for the next 40 minutes. What the contrast in delivery and approach suggests is this: the burgeoning feelings of love and the desire to not lose it have been replaced by indifference, resolution, and bitter acceptance. I’ve felt the same way over the last period of my life, watching my emotions attempt to emulate those I felt when I had more youth and naivety, to no avail. Loves burned colder, emotions were dulled, longing grew stronger. “Leave me or don’t; I don’t care,” Kinsella sings, “Just let me know when you finally drag your body out of bed. I’ll get my things.” The approach to lyricism and instrumentation is a shadow of what was offered 16 years ago, which comes across as one of the boldest, most honest methods this year.

That isn’t to say LP2 is lethargic – there is plenty of energy to be found throughout this record. My Instincts are the Enemy bounces along with Kinsella yearning for his youthful desires: “I wanna taste a little bit of everything / But it gets me in trouble / To fill my plate with the vacant and obscene / With my nerves exposed; I can’t say no.” Following track Home is Where the Haunt is references the ghosts in the room, as Kinsella bellows “You can’t just forget all the other lives you’ve lived.” The similar youthful sadness can be found in spots, as songs feature melodramatic lines such as “I can’t believe my life is happening to me” and “I’m as blue as the sky is grey.” There are some chill-inducing passages to be found within, such as the spastic, gorgeous guitar riffing after Kinsella delivers the line, “you’re made of wet paper” in Give me the Gun and a beautiful coda at the end of slow-burner Born to Lose. Active fingers still pick twinkly riffs, percussion still jumps at odd time signatures, and the cover that features that same house from a different point of view is presented in the same familiar way, with the top and bottom bordered by thick bands of white and the fractured band name running off from one line to another. Throughout some murkiness and cobwebs, the listener can pick out that yes, this is still an American Football record.

A record that really took a while to resonate with me, Pinegrove’s 2016 offering is the most refreshing release to come from the indie rock/emo scene in recent memory. Songs are carried by vocalist and guitarist Evan Stephens Hall, whose beautiful and intricate prose touches on pertinent topics for mid-twentiers with heads full of fog. Love is a subject, but so is the internal battle of self-expression, the search for human connection, and the coming-to-terms with know-nothingness. It may be the only album of 2016 to use the word solipsistic and reference Caravaggio, but at no point does it come off as self-serving or condescending. And though the feature is the lyricism and its effortlessness, the arrangements behind it are somehow even stronger: the stagger and swagger of Aphasia stumbles and glides along as the narrator navigates his inability to express himself, while Size of the Moon soars beautifully and Then Again stomps confidently. There are enough different tempos, melodies, and moods throughout Cardinal to keep anyone familiar with this sort of genre satisfied, which helps cement it as one of the most thoroughly triumphant records of the year.

Since her announcement that she is a trans woman, Anohni (formerly Antony) has been garnering attention for her sociopolitical statements and the impending release of her first output since her name change. While the production and arrangements by Anohni, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Hudson Mohawke hand-in-hand with some beautiful vocal performances come together nicely, the lyrics in this record fit with them like a right foot in a left shoe, at times feeling like a 14-year-old’s first reaction to seeing racism or sexism in action. The songs here are socio-politically obsessed, and though that is in no way a negative quality, Anohni presents these ideas with not enough poetry to come across smoothly but not enough punch to land squarely. 4 Degrees, though anthemic, fierce, and relentless in approach, contains lyrics like “all those lemurs and all those tiny creatures” and “and all those rhinos and all those big mammals,” as if the artist just stepped out of her first kindergarten class. To be honest, most of this record sounds like what would be the chart-topper by a teenager in the Avatar universe.

There’s a line in Jenn Pelly’s review of this record that finally made me physically roll my eyes at something I didn’t want to. It is as follows: “Astonishingly, then, "Watch Me" is song about surveillance that might make you surveil yourself—an act of sousveillance.” Too many times throughout this record, things are stretched to make a point that may not be there. This kind of approach sounds a step above the schizophrenic delusions Elliott Smith experienced when he thought Dreamworks was following him.

Execution makes the claim that the title subject is “an American dream, like the Chinese, and the Saudis, the North Koreans, and the Nigerians.” The thing about this record is I think I agree with almost every point Anohni makes, but the delivery is so overwrought in blunt juvenile pseudo-poetry it makes me cringe. This doesn’t even include the wretched “Obama,” which, regardless of whether the listener is a fan of the president or not, cannot in any way be redeemed as anything other than a cringe-filled, terrible track that would have been torn apart across the internet if it had been put out by anyone other than Anohni. Sometimes the narrative is strong enough to allow an artist to get away with a truly wretched piece of art without deserved criticism.

Hello here is what I have listened to in 2016 thank you xo

Essential Joey Music – Hell Yeah Pimp

David Bowie – Blackstar 8.8 (rock)

What is there to say about an album like Blackstar? Yes, this is Bowie’s swan song, a last gasp before plunging into the abyss, a melancholy farewell. And in spite of all the reports following his death that he was geared up to write even more after this record, it feels as though he knew it all along. The tone of these songs sits like a drifting fog, Bowie’s voice deep and wraith-like, saxophone calling death from within. But this record is so powerful for more reasons than just being the last output from an indisputable genius. From the “look up here – I’m in heaven” opening call of Lazarus, to the Nadsat/Polari and snappy, face-punch chorus of Girl Loves Me, to the desperate lyricism yet uplifting melody of closer I Can’t Give Everything Away, Blackstar offers Bowie’s emotional makeup, dressed up in beautiful production but not masked by it. This is not just the last Bowie record – it is the best.

Krallice – Hyperion 8.2 (US black metal)

Though last year’s Ygg Huur never quite clicked with me, these three songs from the USBM band are three of my favorite USBM songs in recent memory. Riffs are dynamic and massive, weaving in and out of each other – these songs move. Vocals sound as if they’re fighting to be unchained. The riff around 4:45 in The Guilt of Time is seething, while bass shines through in the passage 3:30 into the opening title track. There’s a lot going on here, all of it good.

Lycus – Chasms 8.1 (doom metal)

Opener Solar Chamber opens up slowly, assuming the funeral doom status quo, before bursting relentlessly into a blast beat frenzy 4 minutes in. The eighth-note riffage 6 minutes into the title track before delving into a beautiful guitar solo stands as a major highlight, as the song ends with a beautiful string section. This is a funeral doom record that takes its time but doesn’t drag, allowing vibrant riffage, active percussion, growling vocals, and an emotive string section to take the wheel and give life to the arrangements.

Chthe’ilist - Le Dernier Crépuscule 8.0 (death metal)

Most know I’m not really partial toward death metal, but this record by the Canadian three-piece offers something much more than just that. Plenty of blast beats and tremolo to satisfy any bm craving, blistering dual-harmonic riffs and solos, and demonic growls characterize this record. Some funeral doom-esque synths are thrown into the matrix as well as outstanding production to allow each instrument its share of spotlight. This is a record that, in listening to it, it’s evident a shitton of time went into not only writing but also recording these tracks, and yet they flow seamlessly, unlike so much current overcalculated prog/math metal. But the highlight for me is when final track Tales of the Majora Mythos Part 1 punishes with a flourish of overlain howls, breakneck percussion, and frantic riffing in a wall of sound assault for over a minute before fading into a white noise vacuum, emulating what the inside of a listener’s head feels like after these seven tracks of insanity. This band has gotten a lot of press in anticipation of this full length’s release and it doesn’t disappoint.

Rotting Christ – Rituals 8.0 (black metal)

Known for being one of the first to bring black metal to Greece / the Mediterranean, especially w their LP Thy Mighty Contract, Rotting Christ have apparently continued chugging out material while I turned a blind eye. I'm glad I didn't miss this one - this record is a massive, anthemic black metal experience, featuring pounding war drums, blistering riffs and double bass, and truly dark Greek chanting. Have they been doing this shit the whole time? Elthe Kyrie may be a little -core but its female shrieks and chorus riff are a catchy oasis in an album chock full of filth. Rituals might not fit into the subgenre niche of "war metal," but it is music to go to war to.

Human Hands – Morning Sun 8.0 (emo, post-hardcore)

The riffs and approach that this band employs really click with me, as evidenced by my love for their last s/t LP. The guitar at times makes me think of if Neil Young was in an emo band – twangy yet emotional, yearning for something more. While I’m not sure this record will have quite as much sticking power as its predecessor which mastered the crescendo, it still stands as what will probably be my favorite emo record of the year.

Fuath – I 7.9 (atmospheric black metal)

Repetition-utilizing atmospheric black metal is completely my shit, and that’s exactly what is offered on these four tracks by USBM one-man project Fuath. Tremolo riffing and blast beats fit like hand in glove to hypnotize, and vocals perfectly compliment. Blood has one of the more emotional bm riffs I’ve heard.

Abbath – Abbath 7.8 (black metal)

Though the approach becomes a bit static near the end before the excellent closer Eternal, this is in all likelihood an even better result than having a new Immortal album this year. Refreshing drumming from Creature (though, yeah, he has already left the band), Abbath’s vocals are clearer than ever, and some nice bass-work by King. One to come back to.

Porches – Pool 7.5 (indie pop, indie rock)

Great beats and production, some very strong hooks. Be Apart is a standout this year. Eventually tapers and becomes somewhat static, but there are a lot of new sounds here and a certain charm that makes this record pretty enjoyable.

Nordjevel – Nordjevel 7.5 (melodic black metal)

A really nice Norwegian black metal effort here from a debut LP. These dark boys unite to plaster together some beautiful melodic riffage, hypnotic production, and some visceral highs. Emperor fans will love this shit.

Lascar – Absence EP 7.5 (post-black metal)

Fuzzy, beautiful post-bm with An Autumn for Crippled Children vibes. Tremolo picking throughout keeps tempo static, but the emotional riffing stands out. Good for those who like emotional post-bm (me). Looking forward to more.

Frameworks – Time Spent 7.5 (scream, post-hardcore)

The two best songs ive heard from the Florida screamo band thus far. Looking forward to a full-length.

This is Pretty Good Dude

Jesu / Sun Kil Moon 7.2 (uhh, sludge/post-metal and folk I guess, Kozelek)

Of all the Sun Kil Moon collaborations over the past few years, this one is certainly my least favorite, but being as it is still a Kozelek collab, I still dig it. Mark doubles down on the approach that got him so much praise via Benji, now pretty much just telling mundane tales in stream of consciousness, “then I did this” format, with results not being as rewarding as previous efforts. Whereas this style has provided for some incredible moments of insight and human emotion (Caroline from the collab with The Album Leaf and Mariette from the Desertshore collab come to mind, as well as Carissa from Benji), it more than often feels like this style is employed to fill space and project negative emotion in this record, with talk about being pissed at a fan who wants to own his shit on vinyl (maybe it was me) and at one point just yelling about what Bob Saget said during his own Comedy Central roast (congrats to whoever predicted Mark Kozelek would be yelling “SUCK MY HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR DICK” on an album in 2016 10 years ago). Oh shit, there’s also that part where literally sings about how he’s going to read a fan letter and give the writer royalties on the song and then reads the letter. Also there is a part where Kozelek sings about getting hit in the balls. Still, at a certain point you just have to let the dude do his thing and respect how dedicated he is to this direction. Plus, the arrangements are still pretty and emotional, there are still some very pretty moments of insight (“what does rekindle mean?” “to all grieving parents…”) and I am a sucker for Kozelek material. I choose to enjoy it for what it is.

Black Tusk – Pillars of Ash 7.1 (sludge metal)

If the upbeat sludge sound is for you, this is a record youll love. Dirty riffs, gloomy production, nice dual vocal approach. The art is killer too.

Wildernessking – Mystical Future 7.0 (atmospheric black metal)

Nice South African Atmospheric bm

Wet – Don’t You 7.0 (indie pop, RnB)

A really smooth, enjoyable listen from these dudes. This record has been getting a ton of flack from all over and many people claiming overhype, but I must have been somewhere because I have literally never heard of these guys. Deadwater is a great track, as is You’re the Best. Fans of Rhye will dig this.

Ulver – ATGCLVLSSCP 7.0 (drone metal)

Regardless of the fact that the Norwegian band has been astray of black metal for years now, I’m always interested when they put out new material. Part ambient, part drone, a few parts post-rock blend together to form a really beautiful record, vacant of words until track ten (previously written).

Cirith Gorgor – Visions of Exalted Lucifer 7.0 (black metal)

Nice Dutch bm that youll dig if you dig Marduk. Very similar in style, wall of sound approach with buzzsaw guitars. Demons

FT-17 – Marcellin s’en va-t-en guerre 7.0 (black metal)

Some nice French black metal. Nice use of keys throughout, especially in 6th track L’armee des taupes where it juxtaposes nicely with the deep cleans.

Urgehal – Aeons in Sodom 7.0 (black/death metal)

Solid deathened-black metal album in which the poetic opener proclaims, “come on you fuckers! Come on! It’s now or never! Fuck you! We are Urgehal and we are here to fucking destroy you!”

Eh idk man – Didn’t click with me

Shearwater – Jet Plane and Oxbow 6.9 (indie rock)

I spent months listening to this record and mildly enjoying it, waiting for it to click with me and give me something to work with so I could write about it. What I came up with is this: it’s a solid indie rock record. Thanks.

Ketzer – Starless 6.9 (blackened thrash, black ‘n roll)

Calling this a blackened thrash album is somewhat inaccurate, yet probably the most accurate term I can use to describe it. There are some punky riffs, muted chugging, solos, and a corny part where the vocalist counts to ten (in a song called Count to Ten) but a lot of it is enjoyable blackened thrash. From last.fm user saggitalmortia: satan's boundaries unchained album is KVLT but now ketzer and new album starless very fucking shitty. fuck ketzer fuck off!!!

Vargafrost – Honour, Blood, Spirit and Love 6.9 (black metal)

Pretty solid debut from a New Zealand black metal band, though the production and approach becomes static after a while, especially after 11 songs. It’s tagged as “heathen black metal” on last.fm though so that’s cool.

The 1975 – I love it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it 6.9 (pop, indie pop)

I am in love – IN LOVE – with this band’s self-titled record – it’s incredibly well-constructed, lush pop music with infectious guitar hooks and undeniable charm. On this record, yeah, sure, the band does more stuff, like experiment around with more ambient numbers and soulful ballads, and that’s fine for a young band, but the positive press surrounding this record relies on them being a boy band that simply is better than all the rest. But The 1975 was never a boy band akin to the likes of One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer – they were just (bizarrely) lumped in there because of their fanbase. The fact of the matter is this: The 1975 are unrivaled in their construction of super-saccharine hooks and choruses – just listen to UGH! – and they refuse to play to that strength on this record in favor of trying out some different avenues. That’s fine and all – this is a young band tinkering around and that should be encouraged, especially with such popularity and fandom of The 1975’s like – but I don’t come to these chavs to hear their best Brian Eno impression; I come to hear pop banger perfection like Chocolate, The City, or Settle Down.

Utzalu – Germinal 6.5 (raw black metal)

Like the title portrays, this some raw shit. If that’s your thing, you’ll love it.

Todtgelichter – Rooms 6.5 (suicidal black metal)

Interesting in theory but scatterbrained in execution, this record brings to mind a lot of the efforts by Lifelover. When it clicks, it’s great, but this is a record that, like so many of its suicidal black metal precedents, just tries to do too much.

Ecferus - Pangaea 6.5 (atmospheric/melodic black metal)

A black metal record about anthropology and the creation of EARTH. It’s okay.

Atra Vetosus – Ius Vitae Necisque 6.5 (melodic black metal)

A nice 22-minute track here from the melodic bm band out of Tasmania. Some nice, almost screamo-esque vocals and use of storm soundclips between the synth-heavy romantic riffing, though I may have heard this sound before. Looking forward to hearing more.

Bastard & Black Goat – Descend from the Blackened Skies to Spread the Words of Satan 6.4 (raw black metal)

Classic bm sound akin to Hellhammer, Bathory. It’s nice, but you could also listen to Hellhammer or Bathory

Graf Orlok – Crimetraveler 6.3 (powerviolence, sort of)

If you used to listen to Killwhitneydead but now you feel more grown up youll probably dig this.

Mightiest – Sinisterra 6.2 (black metal)

Eh

Bhavachakra – Bhavachakra 6.2 (black metal)

Some nice riffs to be found in parts, but overall forgettable.

No I didn’t like this no thank you friend

Spektr – The Art to Disappear 6.0 (industrial/experimental black metal)

There is a lot of disjointed shit going on in this release by the experimental black metal band with heavy industrial elements slung throughout, but none of it really hits for me. I do like some of the ideas, but it’s a lot of “that’s weird” and not enough “that’s fucked up and also it rules” for me. That being said, I never really delved into the industrial side of bm, so if that’s your thing, youll probably dig this.

Superheaven – Ours is Chrome 5.9 (grunge sort of)

If you like Citizen and Cloakroom but want more grunge feel youll dig this. I’ll stick with Citizen and Cloakroom.

Hiding Place – Hiding Place 5.8 (alt rock)

If you dig Turnover youll dig these three songs. Nothing to write home about though.

Basement – Promise Everything 5.7 (grungey emo)

Unfortunately for Basement, they emerge from their two-year hiatus to find their grungey nu-emo sound dominated by bands that do it better than they do (see recent records by Cloakroom, Citizen, Title Fight). Though there are passing moments that catch the listener’s attention, these are fleeting, and none of the songwriting has the bite of a song like Covet or the strong chorus of lead single off of last year’s 7” Summer’s Colour. This LP lands somewhere in between, and thus fails to stand out in any way.

Ridgeway – Untitled 5.5 (dreamo)

Some passable hooks and pretty riffs, but how much longer are we gonna keep pushing this shoegaze-emo shit.

Lebensnacht – Raging Storm of the Apocalypse 5.0 (black metal)

Boring and characterless black metal

Into it. Over it. – Standards 5.0 (indie rock tbh)

I guess it’s interesting, really, how many different reactions the death of a loved one can elicit. Some go into hiding and search within themselves, others pledge to love the world twice as much as ever before, and some still are stoic, unable to express or simply too numb to feel. Throughout his expansive musical career, Sufjan Stevens has written quiet indie-folk songs about stories found in the Bible, embarked on a mission to create Americana records filled with horn and windward flourishes about all fifty states (he finished 2 before scrapping the idea), scored and conducted an entire orchestral album about a motor traffic-cursed expressway, and masterminded a folktronica epic inspired by the apocalyptic artwork of a schizophrenic artist. He has gone on stage with an entire backing orchestra, wearing anything from a Boy Scout uniform with wings to a light up jumpsuit with bigger wings and softer feathers. As a fan of all of Stevens’ work, I have met much opposition to his approach from peers and mentors - he was a child with ideas too big, insincere in his approach, or simply annoying in his pretension. I loved all of the art, but I got it. 

When we heard from Stevens’ last, he was touring around songs with space themes - most named after planets - with an enormous backdrop of the solar system, looking as if he was once again reaching for even bigger subjects to write about. When the death of his mother struck, he disappeared for a while, and, though concerned, everyone wondered if we’d ever actually see material from him again. After months of grief, reflection, self-discovery, and eventual acceptance, what Stevens quietly and politely offered the world - after taking so much inspiration from it - was a piece of himself - 2015’s best and most honest record, Carrie and Lowell.

Though named for both Stevens’ mother and stepfather, there is no mistaking that this record focuses on the tumultuous relationship Stevens had with his mother, whom he had always grown to call by her first name. She had abandoned him and his siblings as a child and struggled with substance abuse throughout her son’s life, giving him more than enough reasons to harbor nothing but malice for their relationship. Instead, this record is filled with dedication to finding reasons to love and the insatiable hunger for maternal affection. Gone are the bursting geysers and foreign blips of Adz, the bombastic horn fanfare of Illinoise, the fluttering flutes of Michigan that had encompassed the very sound of Sufjan Stevens for so long. Gone is the talk of Vesuvius, Superman, buildings in Chicago. Abraham Lincoln, Djoriaha, and Royal Robertson are nowhere to be found here. Accompanied by minimal background instrumentation, this record is Sufjan with his guitar, and if he needs to harmonize, he’ll harmonize with himself. This isn’t a record about America or space or avant-garde art; this is a record about Sufjan Stevens. In an interview earlier this year with Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork, Sufjan offered this with no frills: “This isn’t my art project. This is my life.”

It would be impossible to suggest anything otherwise. Songs contain references to summers away in Oregon, being left by a mother at a video store, contemplative suicide in the bathtub of a Holiday Inn, having your first name confused with a Japanese automobile maker - these are subjects only Stevens can sing about and mean it. But what truly makes this fit right in as a Sufjan record is the troublesome relationship the artist has with God - fighting for a reason to believe in anything as a form of solace is what eventually saves Stevens from ending his own life in that hotel he’s thought about so much, though it’s clear in his delivery that his belief could very well be completely unfounded. That’s enough for him, and at times, it’s the only thing.

Beyond the heart-wrenching narrative, deeply personal storytelling, and whispery delivery, what makes this record the definitive Sufjan Stevens offering is its honesty. In “Fourth of July”, Stevens has a one-way dialogue with his recently deceased mother. The death of someone close to us can bring out the most painful soul-searching realizations, and oftentimes, there’s no art to what we think or feel. Sometimes dressing things up in superfluous frills can reduce the impact of a feeling. Sometimes there’s nothing more visceral and real than the realization that “we’re all gonna die.”