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Hand crafted with love and html, special just for you, here’s my completely subjective compilation of the best songs of 2016:

+ click here to download or stream the vanmega 2016 audio almanac

This is the thirteenth year I’ve put out a year-end almanac. And just like in previous years the web / visual components of the almanac are great.  This is 100% due to the efforts of Leigh.  She created the liner notes microsite AND made it completely compatible and sexy for mobile devices. Did I mention she created the cover art too?  She the best.

Thanks for listening and sharing and stuff.

Update: Apple Music playlist here

Update 2: Spotify playlist here

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Previous almanacs:

I think I’ve pinned down my favorite 3 minutes of music is 2016.  The pseudo-surprise A Tribe Called Quest album that came out this fall was bitter-sweet (duh!) but it’s so good and so NOT a bunch of old dudes trying to ride contemporary trends. It’s perfect... except for the part where Phife died before the album came out (also duh!).  Tribe wrestles with this through out the album and it times the result is a tribute album and at other times it’s the original line up firing on all cylinders.

The track Black Spasmodic doesn’t actually take place in a specific moment. For the first minute and a half Phife leads while Q Tip backs him up in real time.  The second half of the track is just Q Tip by himself rapping about his posthumous relationship with Phife and his dedication to preserving his legacy through creating more music.  I realize that when I try to explain it sounds a bit cliche, but when it's actually delivered in the song it is WONDERFUL.

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My 2016 audio almanac will be out later this week.

Nearly forgot about that watch 16 movies in 2016 “resolution” I created for myself.  Again, I’m in no way qualified to be a critic of any movie, so I’ll keep it short.

10. Rock the Kasbah - I honestly watched this one about 3 - 4 months ago, and in turn I don’t have a detailed opinion on it.  I like Bill Murray, but I also recall thinking it wasn’t that great.

11. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot - This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. I was actually nice to see Tiny Fey not constantly riff jokes.  It was also good that the movie explored some of the psychological aspects of being an embedded journalist. Between this and Rock the Kasbah it’s obvious that there are some really hack “American out of their element in the Middle East” tropes in modern film. e.g. if a US jeep convoy is traveling on single track road in a remote desert it MUST be ambushed.

Ugh, this is very great. A mixtape composed of all the samples used in Endtroducing DJ Shadow.

The xx - On Hold

The internet is a portal of despair these days, so I’m going to blog about some things I like this week.

I like this new track by The xx.  Here’s why:

The xx are no longer sounding like their shadowy former selves.  They’re more confident and emotive. Also, the production style has completely crossed over into Jamie xx’s solo work esthetic... which is the best.

The Election Profit Makers Mixtape

Brought to you by David Rees of Get your War On fame.

How Yahoo derailed Tumblr

Hey, this is pretty good! Though it’s called a “Halloween mix” there’s nothing seasonal or corny about it.

Understanding the Millennial Obsession with Kanye West

“Ye’s popularity has less to do with the quality of his product and more to do with social media value”

This is actually a really good read and really cuts to the drivers behind zillions of people trying to carve out some sort of relevance on social media.

“The tour’s placement of Kanye on a floating and moving stage above the floor conveyed his ability to design in a way that is conducive to what we value in culture today. Millennials love sharing the exciting things that happen to them over social media. Thus, we are attracted to things that have the highest shock value because these things will give the most attention to our online brand. With this in mind, the Saint Pablo Tour set makes perfect sense. Kanye knew that this would provide the best opportunity for everyone in the stadium to get the best look at him, but more importantly, to get the best photo of him.”

Two things:

It’s a bummer than any piece of writing that includes “understanding the Millennial“ in the title immediately makes me cringe