16 Albums for 2016
Dan Wilmer, Alexandria, VA
Egad, what a year. Good music helped…a bit.
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1. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial. I like a lot of the other albums on this list, some a whole bunch. This is on a whole different level. “Fill in the Blanks” offers a punky rev-up to get things started, while mod-influenced songs like “Connect the Dots” seem destined to be featured in a future Wes Anderson movie. But the real highlights are tracks like “Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales,” and “Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using Drugs With Friends,” perfectly crafted anthems that demand to be played over and over.
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2. Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. There have been a few bright spots in the Outlaw Country arena the last couple of years — Loretta Lynn’s late career resurgence, Jamey Johnson, and Sturgill Simpson to name a few. Margo can hang with all of them. There’s not a bad song on this album. My faves include: “Hurtin’ on the Bottle,” and “Four Years of Chances.”
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3. Robbie Fulks – Upland Stories. With all the political upheaval, it’s been a little hard to listen to folk and bluegrass – I guess it’s a red vs. blue state allegiance thing. Despite this (or maybe because of it), I probably listened to Upland Stories more than any other album this year. The album’s more intimate moments are its highpoints like “Fare thee well, Carolina Girls,” “Alabama At Night,” and “Baby Rocked Her Dolly” but it’s all great.
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4. Whitney – Light Upon the Lake. My buddy Dan introduced me to this absolutely lovely 1960/1970’s Laurel Canyon inspired indie folk album. “No Matter Where We Go,” “The Falls,” and “Follow” all feature beautiful guitar work, Bee Gee harmonies and a production that shimmers.
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5. Bombino – Azel. Omaro “Bombino” Moctar is a revered Nigerien guitarist who teamed up with superfan Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth to make Azel. The coupling yields a wonderful showcase for a guitar virtuoso that spans blues, reggae and world music. Highly recommend.
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6. Grant Lee-Philips – The Narrows. I hadn’t listened to Grant Lee-Phillips in almost 20 years before The Narrows came along – literally 1998’s Jubilee. This singer-songwriter’s latest album is just beautiful start-to-finish. I’m particularly partial to “Tennessee Rain,” “Cry Cry,” “Rolling Pin,” and “San Andreas Fault.”
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7. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – I Had A Dream That You Were Mine. The ex-Walkman front man’s collaboration with Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij. I came back to this one a bunch.
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8. Alejandro Escovedo – Burn Something Beautiful. I’ve been a pretty big AE fan over the years, particularly his A Man Under The Influence album from 2001. This is one of his best, in part due to contributions from R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, the Fastbacks’ Kurt Block, and Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5. Standout tracks include: “Suit of Lights,” “Heartbreak Smile,” and “Beauty and the Buzz.”
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9. Lydia Loveless – Real. Lydia Loveless is one of my favorite up-and-comers on the Alt Country scene. Her songwriting is getting stronger and stronger and she makes a real leap on her latest album from Bloodshot Records. “Same To You” and “Longer” are both good places to start.
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10. School of Seven Bells – SVIIB. This is a beautiful shoegaze / electronic album that was produced posthumously, three years after band leader Benjamin Curtis succumbed to Lymphoma. “Ablaze” and “Open Your Heart” are the singles.
11. The Drive-By Truckers – American Band. I listened to “What It Means” from American Band a ton this year. For me, this album and its attempt to confront “The Real America” with some uncomfortable truths was some of the best storytelling of this hard, twisted year:
He was running down the street when they shot him in his tracks
About the only thing agreed upon is he ain’t coming back
There won’t be any trial so the air it won’t be cleared
There’s just two sides calling names out of anger and of fear
If you say it wasn’t racial when they shot him in his tracks
well I guess that means that you ain’t black, it means that you ain’t black
I mean Barack Obama won and you can choose where to eat
but you don’t see too many white kids lying bleeding on the street…
12. Saint Motel – Voyeur (2012) / My Type (2014) / Saintelevision (2016). One of the year’s absolute highlights was heading over to the Firefly Festival for a day’s worth of summer music goodness. I loved Saint Motel’s set and caught their infectious festival rock again later in the year at a jammed 930 Club. The My Type EP is packed with hits like “Cold Cold Man” and “Ace In The Hole.” But my favorite is their pitch-perfect cover of The Who’s “A Quick One While He’s Away” that appears on the 2014 compilation I Saved Latin: A Tribute to Wes Anderson.
13. Beach Slang – A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings. My High School self would have loved, loved this rocker with a capital R. I don’t get the comparisons to the ‘Mats, but this is good fun.
14. The Rolling Stones – Blue and Lonesome. What?!? The first really good Stones album since 1981’s Tattoo You?
15. The Jayhawks – Paging Dr Proust. Another thoroughly enjoyable outing by the Alt Country stalwarts.
16. Shovels & Rope – Busted Jukebox (2015) / O Be Joyful (2012) / Little Seeds (2016). Finally got around to diving into this duo’s catalog. They’ve been called “a countrified White Stripes”.