THE TOP 100 SONGS OF 2016: PART ONE (#81--100)...

Given the political nature of 2016, a lot of artists continued where last year left off. A lot of big stars doubled-down on their protests against police injustice and incoming hubris of President-elect Trump. The bridge between pop and other genres continues to blur while rock continues to disappear in its purest form. That said, here is part one:











81. Ugly Flower Pretty Vase (Moonface & Siinai): what is so unnerving about Spencer Krug is how easily he can sum up the depressed state humans go through when the chips are down, then reflect that through simple skepticism that things will ever change.






82. Drowning (Mick Jenkins feat. BADBADNOTGOOD): using the line uttered by Eric Gardner before cops choked him to death, Jenkins still full into #BlackLivesMatter territory, cinematic pop.





83. Riot (Childish Gambino): getting nu-funk just right.





84. Aviation (The Last Shadow Puppets): Turner, pares down his punk but when the instrumentals kick in, its a stunningly funky effect.






85. Rough Going (I Don’t Let Up)(Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam): two old school dudes reinvent themselves.






86. Gratuitous Abysses (Of Montreal): Kevin Barnes trying to reconnect to his craziness and it works here.






87. Out My Way (Bitter Raps) (Boogie): while a lot of trap rap artists fumble to cash in on the culture they want to reflect as grimy realness, Boogie captures it here and the skankiness of one line alone ("unless she's wifey/ I don't lick her...).






88. The 45 King (Blu):immediately reminds one of Jigga's "Hardknock Life", similarly striking a fine line.






89. C’est La Vie Way (Wolf Parade): the genius of Krug: sleepily going in on a French phrase with guitars. Shouldn't have worked but it does.






90. Love On The Brain (Rihanna):Rhi Rhi grabs a multitude of influences--the opening strains echo R.E.M's "Everybody Hurts"--and turns in her best balland, underscoring the vast improvement in her vocal work.






91. Outsiders (Suede): the Brit pop group proves that they're far from finished with this blissful effort.






92. Cardinal Cross (Mount Moriah): its difficult to breathe freshness into the alt-country genre, but here is an encouraging step.






93. Conqueror (Aurora): the Scandinavian pop win streak not letting up.






94. Old Habits Die Hard (Allie X): successfully juxtaposes dance chill and pop.






95. Reminder (Moderat): snazzy update on the Thom Yorke-esque wail incorporation of electronic music.






96. All My Tears (The Frightnrs): while Jamaican musicians continue to neglect ska, others have moved in to reinvent it with glorious sadness.






97. Planet Sizes (Steve Mason): silky smooth blue-eyed soul.






98. Rendezvous Girl (Santigold): when Santi White gets the late 1980s hard groove just right, it can still be magic.






99. Lake Superior (The Arcs): Dan Auerbach shows that he can switch lanes to front this new project, a much different tack from The Black Keys. Here he's tripping on the light fantastic.






100. Glore (Radkey): sure, hard rock is on its way out but Radkey's banging the shit outta it before its through.

Top 10 Most Overrated Albums of 2016:

It's never nice topping this list with a recent deceased so I'll keep it to a minimum:





1. Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker: yeah, I do feel shitty criticizing what turned out to be his final opus but I still don’t see why critics have hailed this among the year’s best. This was merely Cohen reciting words with some music attached.





2. Kaytranada 99.9%: has some nice beats but even when the guests turn verses in, I’ve heard better 90s house/hop efforts.





3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds The Skeleton Tree: a record overshadowed by the death of his son last year, and you can hear the grief throughout. Cave works best when there is bitter recollection juxtaposed to spry production and that’s what is missing.





4. Car Seat Headrest Teens Of Denial: the emo appeal is there but Car Seat Headrest’s attempt at spinning one idea in twelve tracks wears one out eventually.





5. The 1975 I Like It When You Sleep…: I call it lukewarm pop!





6. Anohni Hopelessness: starts out well enough but as it goes on, loses firmness.





7. Tim Hecker Love Streams: yet another Hecker lyric-less album, yet another round of universal praise.





8. Swans The Glowing Man: while it hasn’t popped up that often in early year-end lists so far, all the mainstream critic indices continue their inexplicable love affair with this band.





9. The Avalanches Wildflower: sixteen years away is a lifetime, maybe that’s why the album sounds so dated.





10. Drake Views: the biggest-selling hip/hop star in the world and the album couldn’t have been more ordinary.

Top 10 Most Disappointing Albums of 2016:

In all the years I've compiled this list, this is technically the first time a former best albums year-end winner has ended up on it (i did have Kanye West last year but that was because we expected an album and didn't get one). To make matters worse, there are three former AOTY champs here, the top two in fact have never missed my best albums list but that what glorious uncertainties are all about. It's a stunning list, maybe signaling a change of the guard scenario.

With a heavy heart, here's the list:








1. M.I.A. AIM: and so it finally happened: Maya’s fall from uncompromising third-world hero to just another wannabe guerrilla artist. Maybe it’s not so extreme but given her high standard, AIM should be the starting point of a career not the potential middle uncertainty that it sounds like. What drowns AIM is the fact for every two steps forward it makes, there are two backward ones, especially her childish lyrics.






2. Animal Collective Painting With: at first I was hopeful but as negative reviews started to roll in, my heart sank. Painting With is the first time the boys phoned the joy of music-making in and though its not terrible by any means, the extreme high esteem in which this band is held, we expect nothing but perfection every time.






3. Divino Nino The Shady Sexyfornia Tapes: to be fair, not a follow up-proper to their brilliant Pool Jealousy but when you’ve hit dizzying heights, you get judged more harshly.





4. PJ Harvey The Hope Six Demolition Project: here’s a stunner: the iconic Brit went all morose nine years ago with White Chalk but rebounded with the mesmerizing Let England Shake in 2011. This new opus merges both directions but the fire somehow failed to spark.





5. Santigold 99 Cents: eight years after her breakthrough, Santi White is still trying to straddle that pop/dance divide and its sounding too puerile and not enough serious.





6. Of Montreal Innocence Reaches: still struggling to rediscover his lost mojo but Kevin Barnes is getting better but, alas, in 2016 others are doing Of Montreal better than he can.





7. Kate Tempest Let Them Eat Chaos: two years after presenting a refreshing juxtaposition of poetry and music, Tempest suffers the sophomore blues.





8. Andrew Bird Are You Serious: an undeniable prodigy but he continues to have difficulty stringing consistency, track-by-track on his albums.





9. Ty Segall Emotional Mugger: maybe his exhaustive release finally caught up with him but this one just seemed average at best.





10. James Blake The Colour In Anything: second misfire in a row, this time Blake—as evident by the album cover—has lost the once firm direction he had. Like The Weeknd, his sound is monochromatic but starting to lose any joy or unstilted moments.

2016 BEST NEW ARTISTS...

Another year of artists that I'm just discovering. Here are the best:







Anderson .Paak: the new Superman of black urban music, Paak has literally been every where, on every project and delivered a stunning soul album all by himself in the process. I look forward to what further feats he'll give us next year!





and now the rest in no particular order...




Mitski: four albums in and she's now really started to take off.





DVSN: Canadian horn dogs Daniel Daley & Nineten85 are picking up the pieces where The Weeknd once trod.





Bayonne: Roger Sellers doing nuanced electronica the way Animal Collective should.





Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam: nothing like two young pros teaming up for an exciting venture.





Gallant: how quick critics have forgotten about him, but dude's album remains silk.





Lemon Demon: Neil Cicierega is not a household name but mark my words, he's the new Kevin Barnes (Of Montreal)--you heard it here first.





The Frightnrs: many years ago Marlon James noted how Jamaicans had abandoned ska and rock steady...and here, out of a tragic A.L.S diagnosis, comes a band that's taken up the mantle.





St. Lenox: the brainchild of Andrew Choi, producing a debut that works like an earnest yet stellar history lesson.





St. Lucia: though he released his debut three years ago, Jean-Philip Grobler really caught my attention with the pop candy "Home", one of the standout songs of the year.