WE DON’T TALK ABOUT 2016
Hi. Hey. Hello. I haven’t written an article for the Org since my Best of 2015 list ran, but rest assured, I am a very important person on the Internet. A real kingmaker. My judgment is sound. My path is true. My list is a safe space for punk, metal, and Beyonce. It starts and ends with records by dead men. Stay weird, kids.YOU ARE A GOOD GUY AND NOT A ZOMBIE – THE LPS
20. Black Tusk: Pillars of Ash
Relapse Records
Jonathan Athon's final record with Black Tusk is perhaps their most fun yet. Blissfully, shreddingly metal, but it's still got this sense of humor, especially on the fittingly titled punk freak out "Punkout." Unlike Warren Zevon's The Wind or George Harrison's Brainwashed, there's not anticipation of or rumination on death, and there's something beautiful about that. Black Tusk were always the most quintessentially metal of the Savannah bands, and Pillars of Ash is a fitting tribute to Athon.
19. Mean Jeans: Tight New Dimension
Fat Wreck Chords
Ramonsey pop punk jams about beers and outer space and Michael Jackson. One of the songs almost assuredly ends just like blink-182's "All the Small Things" on purpose.
18. Against Me!: Shape Shift With Me
Total Treble
Way slower and sadder and Replacements-attuned than Transgender Dysphoria Bluea, Shape Shift With Me is this jumbled, ugly mess of a break-up record that dares you to love it. And after many, many car rides spent shouting along to the likes of "Crash" and "All This (And More)," I suppose I do.
17. Deftones: Gore
warner Bros.
Deftones have always successfully combined Morrissey and Quicksand into a distinctive metalgaze haze, and Gore shows there's still plenty more room for them to explore. Of all the '90s metal bands, Deftones sound the most relevant. From 1995's Adrenaline all the way up to now, everything in their discography is shockingly contemporary.
16. Abbath: Abbath
Season of Mist
Black metal icon Abbath Doom Occulta might not be in Immortal anymore, but he's still cranking out demonic thrashers. Much like the venerable Ronnie James Dio, Abbath named his next band after himself. And also like Dio, Abbath doesn't shy away from power metal theatrics. Black metal isn't always the most pristine-sounding of genres, but Abbath is such a well produced, clean record that you almost forget it's also crazy fast and dissonant and evil.
15. PUP: The Dream Is Over
Side One Dummy Records
The world is lousy with punk songs about how touring sucks. But how many of them are funny, or even charming? "If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will" is all that and a bag of (all dressed) chips, and it's just the first track on The Dream is Over. From there, Pup drop one turbo charged jam after another, listing all the reasons why being in a band is the dumbest thing ever but marrying that sentiment to some of the biggest hooks they've ever crafted. May all their hardships yield such stellar works.
14. John Carpenter: Lost Themes II
Sacred Bones
Carpenter is probably my favorite movie director, but his second career as an electronic pioneer is pretty dope too. Lost Themes II delivers 11 more proggy, synthy dirges in the vein of Goblin. Now that he's logged some touring in as well, Carpenter seems less focused on composing for piano and more for a band setup, giving II a more live feel. While the album kind of trails off at the end, it still stands nicely with Carpenter's classic scores for Halloween and Prince of Darkness.
13. M83: Junk
Mute
Remember when M83 was a shoegaze act? You'd never know when spinning Junk, a record that deviates from mastermind Anthony Gonzalez's best known traits at every turn, and yet somehow still sounds quintessentially like an M83 record. Junk is a sprawling hodgepodge of Daft Punk, yacht rock, electronica and pop. It's soulful and swirling and all over the place, yet it's not even a double-album (that would be Hurry Up, We're Dreaming). This one soundtracked many a fun summertime drive.
12. Bob Mould: Patch the Sky
Merge Records
Mould's trio of albums for Merge, culminating with the release of this year's Patch the Sky, rank among his best work yet. Given his years with Sugar and Husker Du, that's really saying something. Dissonant yet melodic, hazy yet poppy, Patch the Sky bounces around like a pop-punk record despite ostensibly being a shoegaze one. Hooray for guitars. Hooray for loud songs about sadness. Hooray for everyone.
11. Horseback: Dead Ringers
Relapse Records
Jenks Miller could record 40 minutes of toots and I would put it on this list. Happily, he used a guitar instead. Dead Ringers combines the dissonant drone of Half Blood and the psych-folk of Piedmont Apocrypha, serving as an ideal introduction to Miller's awesomely swirling guitar dirges. So heavy but so trippy, man.
10. Wrong: Wrong
Relapse Records
Just because there wasn't a Torche record this year doesn't mean their presence wasn't felt. Wrong features members past/present from Torche, Kylesa and Capsule, and their sludge metal credentials translate into yet another awesomely joyous collection. Call the band whatever you want, bra. The important thing is that the riffs compel me.
9. Alcest: Kodama
Prophecy
Alcest wrote a black metalgaze album about Miyazaki movies. Bless their hearts; bless their riffs. Kodama is a heck of a lot heavier and sludgier than 2014's Shelter. It's dreamier and more guitar-driven and louder and indebted to Disintegration and Siamese Dream and freaking anime. Like Bob Mould, Alcest has managed to put out a stellar series of shoegaze jams every two years, and my skull is so, so grateful.
8. Kvelertak: Nattesferd
Roadrunner Records
It's pretty darn nutty how seamlessly Kvelertak transitions from black metal blast beats to classic rock guitar solos and back again. It's sweeping and epic but also truly brutal. Do you like Thin Lizzy AND Vattnet Viskar? What about fun? Do you like fun? 2016 was the year all my favorite musicians died but at least the guitars sounded good.
7. White Lung: Paradise
Domino Records
White Lung got all dressed up on Paradise. It's more melodic and shows a studio sheen. Frontwoman Mish Way sings more than she screams. But it's still the fastest, angriest, all around best hardcore record of the year. The increased audio fidelity makes it easier to appreciate guitarist Kenneth Williams' explosive, erratic runs. Plus, it helps disguise their socio-political rants as pop songs. So sweet! So pissed! So freaking fast!
6. Nothing: Tired of Tomorrow
Relapse Records
The Cure, Radiohead, Ride, Autolux, sad guitars but loud drums. Tired of Tomorrow is just such a perfectly sequenced shoegaze record that I can't skip around. I gotta experience it from start to finish and forfeit the rest of my day to it, essentially making this the So I Married an Axe Murderer of records. If you hate your feelings, maybe savor that loathing with these '90s throwbacks.
5. Tiger Army: V
Rise Records
The last time Tiger Army was around, Dubya was still president. The world has changed a couple times over since then, but their singular psychobilly sound remains timeless. V--- boasts some bells and whistles (and theremin) but at the album's core, this is a back-to-basics approach compared to the lush goth/darkwave of Music From Regions Beyond. While I regret that they retired the "Tiger Army never die!" chant, I'm also super stoked on "World Without the Moon," a love song about the actual moon.
4. The Falcon: Gather Up The Chaps
Red Scare
I loved the Falcon circa 2006, but I never expected A) that Brendan Kelly would use the name again, B) that the resulting album would be their best release yet, or C) that Dave Hause would show up. All of these surprises are delightfully welcome. Gather Up the Chaps merges Kelly's favorite topics (drinking too much, failing too much) with some of his best hooks. Hause and bassist Dan Andriano take the mic for a track each and deliver some of their best material in years. Everyone's a winner and everything is fine and we are all one.
3. Mikey Erg: Tentative Decisions
Don Giovanni Records
When the Ergs! broke up, I assumed Mikey Erg would rally back with a solo record ASAP. The band was endlessly creative (buying all those seven-inches and splits in real time was a feat), to the point that I couldn't imagine him staying silent for long. While he stayed plenty busy with the Slow Death, Star Fucking Hipsters, Worriers, and like 40 other bands, it wasn't until Tentative Decisions dropped this year that Erg got to showcase his own songwriting. This is the belated sequel to Upstairs/Downstairs that I so desperately needed. This is emotional power pop on par with anything Stiff Records ever put out.
2. Beyonce: Lemonade
Sony/Columbia
Beyonce's second visual album dominated my house for most of the year. A concept album about betrayal and reconciliation, it managed to be more experimental and diverse than Beyonce despite boasting some of her best pop songs. There's a country tune ("Daddy Lessons"), a ton of awesomely catchy songs about being spurned ("Pray You Catch Me," "Don't Hurt Yourself," "Sorry"), and the best feminist anthem of the year ("Formation" forever). Not since Michael Jackson has someone so completely dominated the music video format. It may not be as creatively bonkers as Moonwalker, but it's a whole mess of fun. The only thing keeping Lemonade from claiming album of the year for me is that Beyonce didn't die to make it.
1. David Bowie: Blackstar
Sony/Columbia
I got Blackstar the day it came out, Jan. 8, but I didn't listen to it before Bowie's death. After his passing was made publicly known, I went on a month-long tour through my copious collection, starting with the early novelty singles collection Starting Point and ending up at 2014's The Next Day deluxe edition. Only then was I able to listen to Blackstar, and it's repeatedly dominated my year since then. Featuring seven lengthy cuts of post-punk/jazz fusion, Blackstar is a emotionally honest record from an artist renowned for his theatrical alienation. Bowie is supposed to be otherworldly and unknown, every biographical detail cloaked in myth, so hearing him come to grips with his own mortality over the course of 41 minutes struck me. When Prince died a few months later, I automatically juxtaposed him with Bowie: Blackstar was the last record Bowie released in his lifetime, but he made arrangements for how his work would be presented for years after this "goodbye" album came out. Prince, an equally influential musician who even more fiercely advocated for artistic control, died suddenly and without any plan for protecting his output. Blackstar reminds me of Station to Station and Outside. It reminds me why Bowie soundtracked every aspect of my life from my self-loathing teenage years to now. It reminds why music makes me feel normal. Even for a guy who consistently questioned social norms, it's amazing to me Bowie could still go out on such a challenging, yet rewarding, release. It's hard to acknowledge that Bowie died back in January, because I've spent the whole year with him.
A SHORT METAL THING AND SOME SEVEN-INCHES
3. The Ergs!: Goddamn Death Dedication
Whoa Oh Records
The Ergs! reunited just when America needed them the most: for the Fest.
2. Cayetana: Tired Eyes
Asian Man Records
Cayetana continues to mix some post with their punk, and I'm so excited to see where they go from here. "Freedom 1313" is a thundering, haunting beast of a tune that's unlike anything else in their discography so far.
1. Tombs: All Empires Fall
Relapse Records
TOMBS! Oh man I love Tombs. I love the goth drops they poured on their black metal, just enough to add splashes of melodic color. This band has continually improved on itself with every full-length, and while All Empires Fall is not quite the same fully realized statement as LP Savage Gold, it's certainly brutal enough to keep me feeling normal.