Nothing Else Matters: 2016 top 15

Honorable Mentions:

 The Strokes - Future Present Past

The Strokes are the only band on my radar that have never released what I consider to be a bad album. Although this is just barely enough new music to even be called an EP, I enjoyed it immensely as it continued their journey further down the new wave/synth pop road.  If this was a full length album it would be nestled inside my top 10. 
If you only want one song: "Drag Queen"




Daniel Romano - Mosey

Country is a road less traveled for me but once I heard the first song “Valerie Leon”, I was hooked.  At times it’s a bit self indulgent and weird for my tastes but there are plenty of enjoyable tracks here to get down on, if you’re into that sort of thing of course. 
If you only want one song: "Valerie Leon"

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

Seems this was THE under-the-radar album to like this year if you wanted to be cool.  Splattered all over year end lists and praised endlessly by my local radio station, it is indeed good.  It is not THAT good.  Clocking in at 70 minutes, it is bloated with unnecessary bullshit that drowns out the truly excellent songs. If they had cut this fucker in half it would’ve been amazing.  I have no tolerance for albums this long anymore.  I am a curmudgeon.  I know.  But it has some seriously killer songs.

If you only want one song: "Vincent"



CRX - New Skin

Nick Valensi as a frontman? Who knew?  The best way I can describe this is that it’s the equivalent of a run of the mill Strokes album.  Which is perfectly fine with me.  Josh Homme production is audible (if he had sang Broken Bones I would’ve guessed it was a QOTSA song), but otherwise it maintains that core Strokes sound.  I’m very impressed that between this, AHJ’s solo stuff, and Julian's solo stuff, they all can maintain a line of overlap despite oftentimes producing drastically different music. A very, very, good album.

If you only want one song: "Ways to Fake It"



Public Access T.V. - Never Enough

4 kids from NYC drop out of high school and pursue good old fashioned rock ‘n roll full time. They crash and burn, blow all their money, and end up homeless with drug addictions. I made up the second part.  Killer riffs and catchy vocals that are sure to hook anybody reading this list.  PLEASE check this out.  It pains me that this didn’t make the top 10.

If you only want one song: "End of an Era"




And here’s the list!

10: Dawes - We’re All Gonna Die

I could make a killer top 10 list of my favorite all time Dawes songs, but up until now they never made an entire album that I truly loved.  This was it.  I don’t know what exactly changed (could be me in all honesty), but I do enjoy the hell out of this one.  Catchy melodies, some nifty guitar work, and of course that Taylor Goldsmith voice that I can’t get enough of.

If you only want one song: Ugh. Tie: "One of Us"/"Roll With the Punches"



9: Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway

If you want to call it nostalgia I’ll tell you you’re wrong.  This is truly a great effort and a nice rebound from what in hindsight was a disappointing post JF album, I’m With You.  Potentially a Danger Mouse miracle, this album is good top to bottom.  There’s literally only one song I skip.  It is lacking in the guitar department for sure, but it's superb in many other aspects.  I’m not sure what the future holds for my favorite band of all time, but I’m no longer scared about it.

If you only want one song: "Detroit"


8: Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

A beautiful album that truly toes many musical lines and mixes several different sounds effectively and efficiently.  First of all, he can flat out sing his ass off.  His lyrics are poignant and well delivered.  It has a classic country sound but still comes across hip, modern, and cool at the same time (perhaps the Dap Kings involvement is who to thank).  In any event, it is a must listen.  Bonus points for an awesome album cover. 

If you only want one song:  "Brace For Impact"




7: White Denim - Stiff

As the foremost expert on White Denim, I can say that I was severely disappointed about the departure of guitarist Austin Jenkins following Corsicana Lemonade.  His riffs and solos transformed their breakout album, D, into a forceful fast paced attack that absolutely floored me for the better part of 2 weeks nonstop.  Stiff is a reminder that James Petralli still runs the show and can handle an axe just fine.  Not quite up to par with the aforementioned albums but still super good.

If you only want one song:  "Had to Know (Personal)"


6: Pete Yorn - Arranging Time

As a self admitted sucker for the solo pure pop singer-songwriter, I was a bit annoyed that nothing by Pete Yorn before this really grabbed me, but this one sure did.  Reasons are unclear.  It seems to be a bit more produced; the sounds are flushed out very well and it’s not just a dude and a guitar and a faceless drummer. I think more than anything when I heard this I was in the right frame of mind to let Pete have sex with me. 

If you only want one song:  "In Your Head"




5: BROS - Vol. 1

Ah yes, and here are the Sheepdogs (for all intents and purposes of course). The Currie brothers told the other boys to eat shit apparently, and this is what happened.  And boy is it excellent.  Their trademark 70’s-ish sound is perpetuated and of course Ewan still graces us with that voice.  Just a great great throwback 70’s rock album.

If you only want one song: "Tell Me"



4: Mayer Hawthorne - Man About Town

Neo Soul is a genre that I also love under a blanket with the lights off when nobody is around to call me out on it.  Mayer pretty much just tries as hard as he can to look like Robin Thicke and slay as many woman as he can with his music.  He surely succeeds at the first and I have to assume also the second.  This album is best enjoyed with a snifter of Cognac and a sexy big booty bitch next to you. I mean theoretically of course. 

If you only want one song: "Love Like That"




3: Ray Lamontagne - Ouroboros

Ohhhhhhh boy did this motherfucker get me.  Ray is like many artists/bands, in that they  have made 10-20 songs that I truly love but never an album that has me coming back to it repeatedly.  That shit has changed.  Created with Jim James from the start, it was initially conceived as two single 20 minute songs (side A and B).  The trademark Ray vocal is all over it of course, as well as the reduced drumming and bass, and the murky, dirty, guitar that is present mostly on side one.  I cannot get enough of this album.

If you only want one song: "Hey, No Pressure"


2:  Marco Benevento - The Story of Fred Short

After the first line of the first song, “I wanna see you in the afternoon, tomorrow” I was already all in.  Melodic pop tunes with drum machines and synths?  Hey there, how’s it going?  Tracks 5-11 were allegedly trimmed down from a 4 hour piece of music he made one night and connected together to form a continuous “song”.  Absolutely fantastic all the way through.  You cannot go wrong here.  Thanks to Ironfish for the recommendation.

If you only want one song:  "All the Other Dreams"




1: Whitney - Light Upon The Lake

If you told me Smith Westerns were going to break up and THIS was going to happen I would’ve asked for the breakup to be as soon as possible.  Pop music in the most beautiful way possible AND the guitar player can handle his share AND the lead singer is the drummer which is weird and his voice is super unique.  Absolutely perfect from beginning to end, no way else to cut it.

If you only want one song:  "No Matter Where We Go"

Murning Down the House: 2016 in Review

8. Phantogram's album, Three, comes in at number 8 on my list. I have a thing for female vocals over electro-pop beats. 

Standout tracks: "You Don't Get Me High Anymore" and "Cruel World"








7. Head and The Heart's album, Signs of Light, has just enough radio friendly folk pop harmonies to come next.  It makes me want to fire up my Macbook at my local Starbucks. 

Standout tracks: "All We Ever Knew" and "Rhythm & Blues"

6. Bruno Mars' 24K Magic makes it to number 6 on my list. If you have throwback beats and a good voice, then I'll listen. I was expecting one or two songs that I could get into. I ended up enjoying most all of the songs on the album. 

Standout tracks: "That's What I Like" and "Finesse"

5. Coming in at number 5 on my list is Miike Snow's album, iii. I've been a fan of this group since their self titled release in 2009. I was a huge fan of that album. Another synth pop artist to add to the list. Andrew Wyatt's vocals do it for me. 

Standout tracks: "Genghis Khan", "My Trigger", and "Heart is Full"

4. Number 4 on my list is RHCP's The Getaway. I'll defer to the Ironfish review on this. 

Standout tracks: "Go Robot, "Dark Necessities", "Goodbye Angels" and "Sick Love"

3. Another synth pop artist making my list. Empire of the Sun is an over the top Australian group that has been around for a bit. I first got into them with their 2009 album Walking on a Dream. I'm a sucker for catchy layered vocals. This new release, Two Vines does it for me as well. Great album to listen to with some nice HiFi surround audio. The group gets some help from a couple members of Bowie's Blackstar Band, as well as Lindsey Buckingham. Standout tracks: "High and Low" (great remixes out there to this), "Two Vines", and "Zzz"

2. Whitney's album, Light Upon the Lake comes in at number 2 for me. This was a tough decision. It could easily have been my number 1. My affinity for Common made me reconsider. I'll defer again to the Ironfish write-up on this album. 

Standout tracks: "The Falls", "Golden Days" and "No Matter Where We Go"

1. Common's Black America Again is my number 1. I have always been a big fan of Common. This is a powerful record that came out at an opportune time. Common's skills are unparalleled. This album has a great mix of powerful and relaxed introspective lyrics. He is on my Mt. Rushmore of hip hop artists. 

Standout tracks: "Black America Again" (feat. Stevie Wonder), "Love Star", and "Pyramids" ("Pyramids" runs away with top track with no question.)

One Way 2016 Didn't Suck

The angle that 2016 was a horrible year has been brow beaten to death, but that doesn't stop it from being true. From the passing of a cadre of famous musicians to the ever present demise of democracy, it's hard to put up a legit argument that this wasn't a truly brutal year for mankind. Never in my life have I woken up with a pit in my stomach as often as I did in the last 360 odd days. 

That's what made the release of so much excellent music all the more essential. Whereas music always has the ability to buoy your sorrow or give you an escape hatch from doom, this year it was legitimately necessary. The time travel good music allows you to do, nostalgically looking back or mystically vaulting you forward is a truly unique experience. Each of the albums below was able to connect with me in a way that lifted me out of the mental muck and mire for the time it filled my ears. More than ever, that mattered.

Honorable Mentions

Drive by Truckers - American Band

Legit Protest mixed with Southern Redemption - It seems to me that music has lost the ability it had in the 60s and 70s to be authentic protest music, mostly because artists have a hard time coming across as authentic when the cynics and critics are so quick to jump on them for their views. Thankfully, the Truckers have never had an authenticity problem. Cooley and Hood deliver here in a way that raises an eyebrow to the concept that all southerners feel a certain way. These Alabama boys have never been shy about voicing what could be an unpopular view. They truly don't care because if it's how they feel, that's what you'll get. If you know DBT, you know what the album sounds like; snarling intertwined guitars, a rock steady rhythm section, excellent storytelling and a witty look at a country turned on it's head. 

Tracks: "What it Means", "Ever South", "Baggage"

Marco Benevento - The Story of Fred Short 

Joy of Accidental Discovery shared with Friends - AppleMusic has been a blessing and a curse. The unadulterated access to millions of songs is as joyous as it is overwhelming. Like a YouTube wormhole, you can be sucked down into a world of influences, offshoots and connections. Sitting on the couch with a friend, we were in the midst of chasing one of those rabbits when we came to Mr. Benevento. Never a name I'd heard before, it only took a paragraph of the bio for me to grab the album. A funky mix of synth bleeps and boops dripping with dancy drums, it's not an album that I normally would not have even listened to, let alone shared. Thankfully I did (and I'm fairly certain it's going to end up on another of these lists as a result) and ended up better off for it.

Tracks: "Dropkick", "Heavy Metal Floating Upstream", "All the Other Dreams"

Mudcrutch - 2

Hope for Extended Existence and Comforting Familiarity - The harmonica that starts off the first few seconds of the album is almost as immediately recognizable as the voice that follows it. The second album from Petty's original Gainesville, Florida band doesn't feel like it should exist. But not only is it here, it improves on the presumed one-off fun of their first, delivering a nuanced and varied product where the songwriting is as shared as the influences. It feels like popping on a companion to Southern Accents or Hard Promises where the Heartbreakers had been handed the reigns. Coming off a summer where I was listening to all of those 80s Petty albums on vinyl already, this album is the perfect encapsulation of (to borrow from the Sheepdogs) future nostalgia. 

Tracks: "Dreams of Flying", "Save Your Water", "I Forgive it All"

Weezer - The White Album 

Transportation to Sunny Days and a Certain Age - The minute the verse slides into the chorus in "California Kids", I'm propelled by nitrous oxide injected nostalgic memories to the house of a friend of mine in 1994. He was new and though we never really kept in touch (charming bastard went onto be significantly cooler than me) we watched the "Buddy Holly" video for the first time. The harmonies and oooohs mixed with that truly transcendent guitar crunch is enough to make anyone 11 again. Weezer couldn't seem to get things right for a good bit there and I'm not sure it was all their fault. Either way, like a 5th grade version of myself, they transported to simpler times for this album and it really works. It doesn't sound like a rehash, it just sounds like what they do best. 

Tracks: "California Kids", "Thank God for Girls", "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori"

CRX - New Skin

Different Strokes delivered with Talent Confirmation - The most recent album to make my list, I've swallowed this album whole repeatedly in it's highly digestible 30 minute probiotic form. Coming at the peak of the election cycle, it was a most necessary distraction. The energy is truly frenetic and varied, half the time sounding like I am trapped inside a Street Fighter video game soundtrack and the other half bouncing on a lost island vibe. After the other Strokes guitarist made my list last year it's pretty impressive that Nick Valensi was able to venture out on his own as a solo artist and do just the same. 

Tracks: "Ways to Fake It", "Walls", "Slow Down"

The Real Deal 

10. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth 

Fatherhood Morphing with Country Soul - Rarely have I ever come across a single track that can solidify that an album makes my list and convince music fans of all ilk to give an album a full chance. "Welcome to Earth (Pollywog) " is that track though. Shared with me by a good friend for the first time at an outdoor table of a bottle shop, played through the horrid tinny iPhone speakers, I knew something sounded pretty cool. This was not a friend who usually shared new music with me, but he had been on a roll lately and had my trust as a guy that knew good music when he heard it. Coming home and hearing it for real led to three more consecutive plays and then the immediate purchase of the vinyl. Whether it was the way I could relate to the message of exuberant joy after having a son that Sturgill conveyed or the killer Stax-era horns sprinkled about that I enjoyed more I wasn't sure. More than likely it was an intoxicating combo elixir that I hope manages to permeate all areas of country music for years to come. 

Tracks: "Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)", "Keep It Between the Lines", "Call To Arms"

9. Teenage Fanclub - Here

Renewed Hope Sprinkled onto Familiar Sounds - This is one of my favorite all time bands. Yet the Fanclub hadn't put out anything I felt was up to par since 2005s Man Made. 11 years later, I went into my first NPR First Listen stream with little to no expectations for that to change. These guys were in their 50s and had given me more than I could ever want by this point. With age had come a removal of their trademark guitar wail. That was bound to continue, well right up until the solo on the first song, and then again I heard it on song two and wait a minute, what was going on here? To be clear, it's not quite a return to form and perhaps I am overshooting just how good it is because I was so excited to hear them do their thing again. Regardless, there are gorgeous walls of guitar and angelic Scottish vocals that wash over you throughout all of Here. That's all I've ever wanted. 

Tracks: "Darkest Part of the Night", "I'm in Love", "Live in the Moment"

8. Yuck - Stranger Things

Ability to Endure with Expanded Boundaries - How stoked do you think these guys were that they happened to name their album the same thing as the breakout Netflix hit of the year? That had to earn them a bunch of extra listens right? Thankfully they deserved it. These guys had put out a real stinker of a second album after having lost their lead singer and main songwriter. They had fully changed their sound and lost every bit of what I liked about them. Lo and behold, like an 80s nostalgia filled TV show, they brought back everything that made me happy, with glorious results. Bringing the jangle of REM and the abovementioned Teenage Fanclub and smashing it into the crunching wail of 90s indie guitar is the recipe for a musical stew sure to delight my ears. Song after song brings you the subtle and the intense in the classic sound that 90s rock perfected. Yet again, here was I was with a band where I had given up hope. Sure, they had a great debut album that resulted in a full album's worth of excellent b-side material, but that was just going to have to do. How many other bands can lose their main man and endure? #9 and #8 on my list give me solid hope that when things look grim, all is not lost. 

Tracks: "Hold Me Closer", "As I Walk Away", "Yr Face"

7. St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Sea of Noise

Retro Soul Delivered with True Exuberance - Shared with me a few years back by another good friend, St. Paul and the Broken Bones sounded to me like a fun band with a killer singer who might make a song or two I would enjoy. I never was able to wrap myself around them in a way that I wanted to when I heard Paul Janeway belt it out. But then along came Sea of Noise, and suddenly they had a funky retro soul sound that fit like a glove and gave Janeway the perfect vessel to deliver his "sound doesn't remotely match the look" vocals. Whatever witches brew he uses to make that voice, I'm not sure that I can list many better pure singers out there. The band is gorgeously soulful, restrained when needed, pulsing when the time is right but it's his voice that makes this album special. Drenched in horns and 70s keys, song after song cruises along with a funky vibe and actually breathes with life. For three albums in a row here, I went in expecting very little from the band and came away with a newfound respect for second (or third) chances. 

Tracks: "Flow With It (You Got Me Feeling Like)", "Midnight on Earth", "Brain Matter"

6. BROS - Vol. One

Walking with a Funky Strut at all Times - A few years ago, the Sheepdogs had a lineup shuffle. They removed their guitarist and brought in the lead singer's brother Seamus to replace him. This lead to the #4 album on my 2015 list and the first major label success from the Dogs. Little did I know that a mere few months later it would lead to another incarnation of that same sound with the two brothers, Ewan and Seamus creating an offshoot that would take their already 70s filled sound and steep it in an actual menagerie of fringe and patchouli. It's not entirely clear why these brothers have been attempting to replicate the southern rock music of an era 10 years before they were both born, but I'll be damned if they don't do a great job of it. Clocking in at a mere 30 minutes, Vol. One has been described by Ewan as "the music I wanted to hear in my head as I was walking down the street" and it truly delivers just that. I've always loved the idea of having your own little "feeling good" mental soundtrack and this comes as close as anything I've ever heard to do just that. Bring on Vol. Two.

Tracks: "Tell Me", "Scooby Doobie", "Sometimes You've Got to be Sad"

5. Dinosaur Jr. - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not

Crunchy Guitar Glory with Continued Brilliance - Take your typical guitar heroics, add in the usual thundering bass strums,  and throw in a dash of metronomic drums and you've got a Dinosaur Jr. album. Every three years it's rinse, wash, repeat with these fellas. Though they still don't seem to get along, it doesn't seem to matter. Somehow they manage to utter only a few sentences to each other yet still craft an impeccable rock album time after time. This one is no different. I feel like I could take the review of ANY of their post reunion albums (where somehow they have a larger output than their original run) and it would be an apt description for this one as well. Perhaps that's a sign that they don't change up enough. Outside of the continued inclusion of some subtle keys, you could play the shell game and not know what year most of these tracks were from. But as an unabashed massive fan of that sound, I never seem to tire of it. J. Mascis is one of the few people out there who I will track down every single thing he plays guitar on to hear, knowing his distinctive soaring leads and volcanic solos will never let me down. Long may he run. 

Tracks: "Be A Part", "Good to Know", "love is..."

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway 

Surprising Sophomore Attempt Unveiling a Clear Truth - There are a few parallels to draw here between this and the Yuck album. Coming off a previous disappointment (I'm With You was just never able to escape the fact that Frusciante was missing) and not having that key member (the aforementioned Johnny F.) there wasn't too much hope on my part that I was going to come away loving what came to be. Chad and Flea were always going to be able to lay down a killer bottom end. Josh was able to be a serviceable, and at times better than that, replacement guitarist.  There are countless funky tracks that hit me in just the right way. The thing that surprised me the most, and may come as the ultimate shock to all of my fellow RHCP fans reading this list, was that in my opinion Anthony has become the true key member. A few years back I was entertaining the idea of a new front man but after many, many listens to this most recent output, it's his indelible vocal melodies, phrasings and infectious hooks that stand out. To be fair, his lyrics are awful for the most part and there is absolutely no doubt autotune is used liberally here (in the way it was meant to be, by the way, not to make him sound like a robotic alien). It may not be that way for all, but for me it's the spoon that stirs the drink.

Tracks: "Goodbye Angels", "Sick Love", "Dark Necessities"

3. LVL UP - Return to Love

90s Indie Reinterpreted Through Modern Ears - By far the biggest surprise of this list lands at #3. Having never heard of the band before I stumbled across a Rolling Stone review that favorably compared them to other bands I enjoy. Whenever I'm in this situation, I just hope for a couple tunes I can grab onto, perhaps even share with a pal. Return to Love though was one of those rare occasions where the album fell into heavy rotation for me for a few solid months. It's an amalgam of everything I love about the 90s, produced with a modern ear. The feedback wails a little clearer, the muddled vocals somehow come across a little muddier and the guitar skronk is even wonkier. The secret, as always, is the hidden talent to bury melody amongst all of this other mess. The hooks stick, the humming starts and it's a few days before my wife is begging me to please get something else in my head. There's no telling what is next for these New York youths but for the time being, if they can just cruise at this lvl, they're going to end up on this list many times in the future. 

Tracks: "She Sustains Us", "Blur", "Spirit Was"

2. Dawes - We're All Gonna Die

Completely New Direction with Glorious Results - One of the few times in the history of this list that a band manages to appear two times in two consecutive years. Dawes put out All Your Favorite Bands, a return to their live sound, just last year. Since then they toured incessantly, brought in a second guitarist, split with their keyboardist (over "musical differences"...right), added a new guy on keys, replaced that second guitarist on tour and banged out a new album with an almost entirely new sound in the midst of it all. Produced by long ago former pre-Dawes band member Blake Mills, We're All Gonna Die is equal parts soul, country, folk, shuffle, rock and funk combined with elements of their original 70s Laurel Canyon sound. Based on the early reviews of the sound itself, I was nervous. After hearing the first two singles, I was still nervous. To be honest, it took me a few listens to understand what was going on. When I finally wrapped my brain around it, I had found the album that I never knew the band could make. It's opened up a place for them to travel, and a world for them to explore that I never thought they would reach at this stage of their career. We ARE all going to die. But at least we get to listen to music like this first.

Tracks: "Less Than Five Miles Away", "One of Us", "Roll Tide"

1. Whitney - Light Upon the Lake

Offshoot of Past Glory Gives Great Hope for Future - Repeated themes reappear. A band breaks up in some way (see: Dawes, RHCP, Yuck), creates an album that clocks in at merely 30 or so minutes (see: Bros, CRX) and or I don't expect much (see: Teenage Fanclub, RHCP, Yuck, St. Paul) only to have them blow me away (see: every album above). Whitney is a product of the sad demise of the Smith Westerns, with the band splitting into two parts. Cullen Omari, the lead singer and songwriter put out his own album right around the same time. It exists, but that's about all I have to say about it. Whitney on the other hand took the lead guitarist and the drummer from the old band and formed something that I have not been able to stop listening to long enough to quantify. It's possible that there has NEVER been an album that I've played on repeat more than this one. With it's concise size, breezy transitions and impeccable production, it slides from one listen to the other like a greased up can of WD40. If there is one album on this list that you end up spending some time to go check out, this must be it. Many of the albums here came out with inauspicious circumstances and much like the feeling going into 2017, I wasn't expecting much. But time and time again, I was pleased, surprised and thrilled to see what happened instead. There's no guarantee that will happen as we turn over the calendar one more time, but just knowing that it's possible might be all we need.

Tracks: "No Matter Where We Go", "No Woman", "Red Moon"