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uncannedmusic · 7 years

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||| 21 of 2016 ||| Our Favorite Albums of Last Year

"Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music," goes one of Leonard Cohen’s lovers in “Chelsea Hotel #2.” That may be about as hopeful as we can muster in a 2016 retrospect. Maybe we got our hopes up and forgot for a minute that doom is still eventual, inevitable. Great progressions, great setbacks, the same remote smudge on the universe. But we have the music.

It was another reassuring, optimistic year in recorded sound. The continued hybridization of musical traditions is an interior method with adventuresome, exterior motives and we’ve bound bravely into a new era of music-making. In that regard, it really isn’t such a bad time to be alive. Here's the proof: a list of 2016 standouts that receive the highest recommendation from your dear friends at Uncanned Music.

21) Mary Lattimore - At The Dam (Ghostly International, March 04 2016)

The harp has long been known as the most “heavenly” instrument. But as played by Mary Lattimore--in long, looping, droning, aimlessly explorative passages--it seems more suited to a sort of purgatory than the commonly-accepted concept of heaven. Please don’t mistake--this is no charge of a lack of beauty. At The Dam is suspended in a state of all-encompassing bliss that is true paradise for the non-progressive spiritualist, a static instrumental meditation in fully-present grace. It simply never feels like it exists at any sort of end or is even working its way towards any sort of end. It lacks the finality and intentionality required for passage into “heaven.” It is simply a collection of singular, infinite dazes that start and stop within themselves constantly and at indeterminate points, totally devoid of time concept, relinquishing its blessed listeners from the tyranny of destiny. -SM

20) Wei Zhongle - Nice Mask Over An Ugly Face (Pretty Purgatory, August 15 2016)

“Hungry freaks, daddy!” Outlandish Chicago four-piece’s latest mini-album is a substantial swerve to the left incorporating a deranged funk stent in their avant-folk primitivisms. The result is early Liars dipped in Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil or maybe a mescaline-rationed Brandon Boyd trapped in Bollywood Park. The finest outcome, though, is that Wei Zhongle’s wry outsider sensibility invites this kind of indulgent miasma of reactions. Nice Mask Over An Ugly Face is a 19-minute-clocking deviant wail of euphoria. -JD

19) Battle Trance - Blade of Love (NNA Tapes, August 26 2016)

Blade of Love is a striking force that evokes the power of nature--primal, elemental, raw, traversing extremes of delicate beauty and chaotic dissonance. Through seamless and inventive use of extended techniques, a quartet of tenor saxophonists (!!) perform lone takes that cut straight to the heart. How this album succeeds at touching on a very human and emotional level is a testament to the strength of composer Travis Laplante’s vision. -DA

18) Savoy Motel - Savoy Motel (What’s Yr Rupture?, October 21 2016)

Savoy Motel’s debut release has the choogle of T Rex’s Electric Warrior but slimmed down, teeth bare and extremely high. Fronted by Cheap Time’s Jeffrey Novak, this young supergroup of new-Nashville scene veterans refreshingly lacks the clearly inflated ego of most current Nashville bands. Taut funky rhythm guitar from Mimi Galbierz (Heavy Cream) is topped by pleasurably decadent wet-noodle fuzz leads by Dillon Watson (D. Watusi) and, while chunky drumming from Jessica McFarland (Meemaw/Heavy Cream) keeps it all moving, her vocal contributions threaten to upstage the whole show. Novak’s songwriting is as strong as ever and he coos with the sleazy charisma of a cult leader. It turns out, however, that the charming boogie of his newly recruited band is what makes Savoy Motel his most interesting project to date. -DA

17) Anderson .Paak - Malibu (OBE, January 22 2016)

Here is another hard-working veteran getting their due. However from the perspective of an uninitiated mainstream music listener, it seemed like Anderson .Paak was everywhere, out of nowhere, in 2016. The premiere voice on both of NxWorries’s fantastic Stones Throw 2016 releases, as well as a featured guest on The Blank Face LP by Schoolboy Q and the (probably-should-have-made-this-list) new album from A Tribe Called Quest, .Paak gets his propers from us for his sophomore effort as a lead artist, Malibu. A highly-enjoyable listen, Malibu showcases .Paak’s talents as a singer, songwriter, producer AND drummer across a catchy collage contextually themed (in the spirit of his 2014 debut, Venice Beach) around the beauties and tragedies of his Southern Californian lifestyle. -SM

16) Huerco S. - For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) (Proibito, April 26 2016)

Recent Brooklyn-by-way-of-Kansas City transplant Brian Leeds is the experimental electronic producer known as Huerco S. A few years of vacillating between ambient strictures and a sturdy leftfield techno preoccupation led to April’s For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have), one of 2016’s finest experimental pursuits. A monument to headphone meditation therapy, on For Those of You…, Huerco S. discovers the personality of compounded textures and their vibrant and natural ability to express rhythm independently of traditional percussion. For Those of You… is a sonic immensity elegantly fashioned from the frailest but most voluminous strands. -JD

15) The Avalanches - Wildflower (Astralwerks, July 08 2016)

All of the mixed reactions over The Avalanches’ return after a 16-year gap between records caused Wildflower to get a bit lost in the shuffle last year. Though there seems to be a faint pulse of Big Beat resurgence in the air, Wildflower barely seemed to raise an eyebrow. Perhaps we didn’t have enough time to digest the extensive 21 tracks or we couldn’t humor the romping joviality amid the looming sociopolitical fears. Context aside, Wildflower wields some of the best electronic pop tracks of the year. The symphonic collages are buoyant, sunny, beach blanket sensations strung together by chutes and ladders of soul samples. The hope is that our outlook will improve enough at some point for us all to appreciate them. Or, as The Avalanches might suggest, it may require a move to Australia. -JD

14) Jackie Lynn - Jackie Lynn (Thrill Jockey, June 10 2016)

Haley Fohr/Circuit Des Yeux’s outlaw alter-ego Jackie Lynn is confident and smooth; a futuristic cowgirl crooner who’s almost nostalgic yet clearly malcontent and on the move. Playful synthetic beats and softly twanging guitar creating a welcoming world crowned by Fohr’s distinctive voice and rich storytelling. With the expert assistance of the Bitchin’ Bajas bizarro Wrecking Crew, this album is Circuit Des Yeux’s most finely produced work. Jackie Lynn is steely cool but something dark is off here. She has the aura of David Bowie’s character in The Man Who Fell To Earth. Before you can unravel the secrets of her story, she is gone. Hopefully, though, we will hear from her again. -DA

13) Moor Mother - Fetish Bones (Don Giovanni, September 30 2016)

Camae Ayewa, aka Moor Mother Goddess, aka Moor Mother on her 2016 breakout Fetish Bones, beats around no bushes with her poetry. She decries police brutality, systemic racism and the centuries-deep plight of black people over dense bouts of percussive noise. At times, the sonic qualities recall art-punk and Bauhaus-inspired noise-rap outfits like Dalek and Death Grips, at other times the harshest industrial pulses of My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult and Pigface. A hard-working organizer and leading voice in Philadelphia’s underground/DIY scene for some time, Ayewa’s partnership with Don Giovanni Records combined with the cultural climate of 2016 generated a massive audience for her far-from-easy-to-digest music, earning Fetish Bones highlights in major publications like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. No argument here; certainly one of the most important documents of the year. -SM

12) Solange - A Seat at the Table (Columbia, September 30 2016)

If 2016 was the year the icon died, it was also the birth of a new class of artistic leadership. A Seat at the Table is Solange’s graduation from pop chanteuse to soul royalty. With the humble empowerment of the opening lines, “fall in your ways so you can wake up and rise,” Solange identifies the timeliness of spiritual and emotional guidance. Her melancholy on “Cranes in the Sky” is material and her romantic navigations on “Borderline (An Ode to Self Care)” are erudite and virtuous. Solange’s register, moreover, is one of calm contemplation. It, in combination with A Seat at the Table’s delicate pulse of piano-led modern R&B is a gracious statement of purpose and a firm plea for empathy. -JD

11) Africans With Mainframes - K.M.T. (Soul Jazz, May 06 2016)

Longtime Chicago orbiters Noleian Reusse and Jamal Moss (aka Hieroglyphic Being) blast into the Soul Jazz universe with a relentless acid house hardware assault. As driving and exploding as it is mesmerizing and entrancing. K.M.T. is a cybernetic machine gun suite that shoots both bullets of love and bullets of fire. -SM

10) Badbadnotgood - IV (Innovative Leisure, July 08 2016)

On IV, these jazz-school outcasts turned breakbeat superstars have reigned in their act to achieve a more refined cohesion of groove and style, a tasty mellow piece of modern mood-jazz. This record sounds dope--like a 21st century remodel of Morricone’s finest 70’s lounge themes. The juicy production would make David Axelrod smile. After their illustrious collab w/ Ghostface Killah (2015’s SOUR SOUL), BBNG sound like they have less to prove. More comfortable in their own skin and playing host to memorable guest features including Kaytranada & Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring, IV is their best album yet. -DA

9) Jamire Williams - ///// EFFECTUAL (Leaving Records, December 02 2016)

Heard from the front as the lead artist of ERIMAJ, and from the side as a drummer for the likes of Christian Scott, Robert Glasper, Jeff Parker, and many more, Jamire Williams’s distinctively colorful, minimal and textural percussion has always projected a more finely artistic vibe than the average modern jazz drummer. His elegant rhythmic expressions are distinctively present in all the aforementioned, often swaying over swinging, sounding like a bastard child of Thelonious Monk on traps. For his first eponymous release, Jamire worked with producer Carlos Niño to channel the spirit of Jack DeJohnette’s solo percussion recordings of the 1970s. ///// EFFECTUAL is a collection of purely focused portraits, along the lines of DeJohnette’s Pictures, but utilizes an updated palette (beatboxes, hard-compression, hovering synths) to paint more contemporarily communicable abstract sound canvases. -SM

8) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree (Bad Seeds Ltd, September 09 2016)

Dismissal is a common response to late career offerings from prolific artists. Expectations of softer treads on well-worn territory are safe, simple ways to disengage as a listener. In the case of Nick Cave’s #16 studio album with the Bad Seeds, however, dismissal is a certain mistake. Skeleton Tree is exemplary of Cave’s brittle and transcendent songcraft. Cave as balladeer hasn’t struck so emotionally rife and raw as he does on “Rings of Saturn” and “I Need You” in over a decade (see: Abattoir Blues / Lyre of Orpheus). He has, once again, improved brilliantly on the form. Madman balladry may be well-worn but the difference is that Cave’s treads press deeper with contour and detail and illuminate the lively oeuvre of one of our dearest masters. -JD

7) Rob Mazurek & Jeff Parker - Some Jellyfish Live Forever (Rogue Art, February 19 2016)

The first duo recording from these longtime collaborators is a masterwork of strange and sublime beauty. Curious melodies are set to explore and delight a minimally textured Eno-esque palette of guitar, cornet and electronics with effortless command of tone and space. The alien movement of jellyfish is an apt image here; the rhythmic pulse seems infinitely repetitive yet changes occur subtly and/or suddenly over time. Placid and hypnotic, tension looms in tacit danger and dissonance. A fitting soundtrack for eternity in a submerged world. -DA

6) Jay Daniel - Broken Knowz (Technicolour, November 25 2016)

House music’s relentless mechanized beat is a polarizing force which often alienates instrumentalists and perhaps drummers in particular. Jay Daniel’s November debut is a history in reverse--the electronic producer retreats to the drum kit for rejuvenation and thusly lights the way forward. The acoustical warmth of Daniel’s loops and his rigid minimization of layers casts the spotlight onto the elements of the beat and makes Broken Knowz one of the most generous gateways into dance music to date. -JD

5) Carlos Niño & Friends - Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening! (Leaving Records, April 22 2016)

The majestic mellow of Venice Beach scene sage Carlos Niño has been steadily seeping into the experimental electronic, jazz and future soul sounds of Los Angeles, and the vision of its omni-present aura is nowhere more materialized than on Flutes, Echoes, It’s All Happening! Niño’s opus takes a more spiritually guided approach to blissed out orchestration in the veins of Martin Denny and Yanni, or Enya and Esquivel. But it’s most like the way Alice Coltrane & Pharaoh Sanders would interpret those purveyors of New Age and Exotica. -SM

4) Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered. (Aftermath, March 04 2016)

We chose not to include To Pimp A Butterfly in our 2015 list. What was immediately clear as the album of a generation did not need mention on our humble year-end recap. The addendum and expansion that is untitled unmastered. was dropped so quickly on its heels and with so little fanfare it was almost shocking--needless proof of the deep talent Kendrick & Co. have to offer. This record is just badass and so fun to listen to. Its unfiltered quality feels authentic and immediate. We are living in a trying time that calls for action and, in guiding form, Kendrick wastes no time overthinking it. He just delivers. -DA

3) Elza Soares - A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo (Mais Um, June 10 2016)

Bygone Brazilian pop icon Elza Soares embodies A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo (“The Woman At The End Of The World”)--extraterrestrially fashioned and coming in ablaze at seventy-something-years-old, a raging backdraft of feminine fire. She cuts no slack, unapologetically rallying and railing against oppressive patriarchal norms and the slew of imminent social issues accompanying 2016’s troubling influx of Brazilian neo-fascism. Elza’s pertinent messages are delivered passionately over brooding avant-garde dirty samba grooves, a perfect pairing. For tonal and textural fans of Toms Ze and Waits. -SM

2) Mica Levi & Oliver Coates - Remain Calm (Slip, November 25 2016)

Though the 13 Neo-classical passages of Remain Calm may have been suited as a film score like Mica Levi’s other recent work (namely Jackie and Under the Skin), there’s a deliberate singularity to the article as a whole. Composing looped electronics and vocal samples next to Oliver Coates’ bellowing cello drones is placidly hair-raising. On Remain Calm, Levi and Coates finesse tonally grim noirs with lush acoustics signalling a prevailing existentialism within a cold and malevolent landscape. The linguistics of track titles (“Bless Our Toes,” “Dolphins Climb Onto the Shore for the First Time”) and the clipped vocal utterances reveal a resoluteness of human spirit while the network of influences reveal a lucidity of musical history and social consciousness. Remain Calm is remarkable, transcendent and unveils two collaborators working at the peak of their creative powers. -JD

1) Horse Lords - Interventions (Northern Spy, April 29 2016)

This Baltimore quartet have been revising the ‘rock band’ format since 2012, escaping the genre’s binds and mashing up a selection of 20th/21st century avant-gardeisms with faraway folk styles in their just-intonated Sahara Desert cruising machine.

Interventions is a blazing technicolor display of the ideas they’ve laid out in black & white before, a building and stripping of polyrhythmic layers tightly woven into their unique brand of groove. Mesmerizing left field jammers are broken up by could-be snippets of the members’ minimalist solo works; explorative ‘interventions’ that critically punctuate the album. Horse Lords distill challenging and diverse elements down into music that is incredibly palpable. All of that to say, the record is still fun. There is a head-nodding booty-shaking catchiness throughout. A refreshing reboot of rock music, Interventions is a hypnotically immersive listen. -DA

::: FURTHER READING :::

Uncanned Music’s BEST OF 2015 (new albums)

Uncanned Music’s BEST OF 2014 (new albums, reissues, compilations)

Uncanned Music's BEST OF 2013 (new albums)

Uncanned Music's BEST OF 2013 (reissues/compilations)

Uncanned Music's BEST OF 2012 (new albums)

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