The Kuhronic Top 50 Albums of 2016
Originally “published” January 1st, 2017
While it’s painfully obvious that the scythe of 2016 has been extremely hard on the music world at large, claiming two of the foundational pillars of my musical understanding, Bowie and Prince, within it’s first quarter; the quality of albums released this year has also been ridiculously high. Many of the anticipated albums that weren’t released last year finally arrived (Radiohead, Frank Ocean x2, Metallica, Kanye), but of course the most blatantly absent of them all has still not seen the light of day (*cough cough* Tool). Late career highlights were released by The Tragically Hip and Leonard Cohen that ended up being their swan song statements, and even A Tribe Called Quest pulled off an unexpected victory lap.
History illustrates that adversity and dark times tends to produce incredible music, so the scourge of 2016 and the impending Trump bullshit will undoubtedly inspire some great albums in 2017; and that is always something to look forward to. But before all of that, here are the results for the Kuhronic Best Albums of 2016.
50. Nevermen — Nevermen
49. Wild Nothing — Life of Pause
48. Bon Iver — 22, A Million
47. Santigold — 99c
46. RJD2 — Dame Fortune
45. Primal Scream — Chaosmosis
44. Gogo Penguin — Man Made Object
43. Gord Downie — Secret Path
42. The Weeknd — Starboy
41. DJ Shadow — The Mountain Will Fall
40. Kanye West — The Life of Pablo
39. Badbadnotgood — IV
38. Iggy Pop — Post Pop Depression
37. Kendrick Lamar — Untitled Unmastered
36. Blood Orange — Freetown Sound
35. Mr. Lif — Don’t Look Down
34. The Avalanches — Wildflower
33. Deftones — Gore
32. Aesop Rock — The Impossible Kid
31. DIIV — Is the Is Are
30. Angel Olsen — My Woman
29. Swans — The Glowing Man
28. Leonard Cohen — You Want it Darker
27. M83 — Junk
26. Anohni — Hopelessness
25. Metallica — Hard Wired… To Self Destruct
24. The Last Shadow Puppets — Everything You’ve Come to Expect
23. The 1975 — I Like it When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
22. Preoccupations — Preoccupations
21. Anderson .Paak — Malibu
20. Glass Animals — How to be a Human Being
19. Danny Brown— Atrocity Exhibition
18. A Tribe Called Quest — We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
17. The Tragically Hip — Man Machine Poem
16. Rob Crow’s Gloomy Place — You’re Doomed. Be Nice
15. Eagulls — Ullages
14. Warpaint — Heads Up
13. Run the Jewels — RTJ3
12. Dinosaur Jr — Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not In
11. Weaves — Weaves
10. Operators — Blue Wave
09. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Skeleton Tree
08. White Lung — Paradise
07. Frank Ocean — Blond
06. Descendents — Hypercaffium Spazzinate
05. Savages — Adore Life
04. Billy Talent — Afraid of Heights
03. Suede — Night Thoughts
02. David Bowie — Blackstar
01. Radiohead — A Moon Shaped Pool
Almost Made It’s:
Car Seat Headrest — Teens of Denial
The Claypool Lennon Delirium — Monolith of Phobos
De La Soul — And the Anonymous Nobody
Death Grips — Bottomless Pit
Holy Fuck — Congrats
July Talk — Touch
The Legendary Pink Dots — Pages of Aquarius
Stephen Marley — Revelations Pt.2: The Fruit of Life
Merchandise — A Corpse Wired For Sound
Mitski — Puberty 2
PJ Harvey — The Hope Six Demolition Project
Skepta — Konnichiwa
Esperanza Spalding — Emily D+Evolution
Wild Beasts — Boy King
Woods — City Sun Eater in the River of Light
Best Live Album:
The Notwist — Superheroes, Ghostvillains and Stuff
