The Best Albums of 2016
Anxious Sound
10
The Wink
Tim Presley
12-Song LP
Released September 16 on Drag City
Favorite tracks: O'Guardian A, Can You Blame, Aura Aura
09
January Tape
Cut Copy
5-Song Cassette
Released October 28 on Cutters
Favorite tracks: Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 5
08
A Moon Shaped Pool
Radiohead
11-Song LP
Released May 8 on XL
Favorite tracks: Burn the Witch, Daydreaming, Decks Dark, Identikit, Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief
07
Too
Klara Lewis
9-Song LP
Released May 27 on Editions Mego
Favorite tracks: View, Too, Else, Want, Beaming, Once, Us
06
The 1966 Live Recordings
Bob Dylan
296-Song Collection
Released November 11 on Columbia
Favorite tracks: Fourth Time Around (Live from Sydney 4/13/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from Sydney 4/13/66), She Belongs to Me (Live from Dublin 5/5/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from Dublin 5/5/66), Fourth Time Around (Live from Belfast 5/6/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from Belfast 5/6/66), Fourth Time Around (Live from Bristol 5/10/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from Bristol 5/10/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from Cardiff 5/11/66), Fourth Time Around (Live from Birmingham 5/12/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from Birmingham 5/12/66), Fourth Time Around (Live at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK - May 26, 1966), Tell Me, Momma (Live at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK - May 26, 1966), Fourth Time Around (Live from London 5/27/66), Tell Me, Momma (Live from London 5/27/66), To Ramona (Live from Pittsburgh, PA 2/6/66)
05
Relaxing Death
Useless Eaters
12-Song LP
Released June 3 on Castle Face
Favorite tracks: Industrial Park, Cold Machine, Hogs in the Bush, Relaxing Death, Goodnight to the Thieves
04
Exploded View
Exploded View
11-Song LP
Released August 19 on Sacred Bones
Favorite tracks: Lost Illusions, One Too Many, Orlando, Stand Your Ground
02
Preoccupations
Preoccupations
9-Song LP
Released September 16 on Jagjaguwar
Favorite tracks: Anxiety, Monotony, Zodiac, Memory, Stimulation, Fever
01
What One Becomes
Sumac
5-Song LP
Released June 10 on Thrill Jockey
Favorite tracks: Image of Control, Rigid Man, Clutch of Oblivion, Blackout, Will to Reach
Sumac is Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists) on drums, Brian Cook (Russian Circles, ex-Botch) on bass, and Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, ex-Isis) on guitar and vocals; three musicians with impressive resumes whose distinct playing styles complement one another perfectly. Sumac may have begun as Turner's singular vision, but the two albums to date, The Deal (2015) and What One Becomes, proclaim a brilliant command of atmosphere, mood, and negative space that suggests it could only have emerged from the sonic collision of these three specific players. Each contributes something irreplaceable to the band's dynamism.
Like its predecessor, What One Becomes is an exhilarating, no-nonsense collision of opposing forces: darkness and light, catastrophe and grace. It's rare to find a metal album that is fraught and introspective, but What One Becomes is what it sounds like. This record has a gravity that often makes escape feel impossible. Its heavy, deliberate pace consumes the listener completely. The result is more an experience—tension and release made audible—than a mere collection of songs, and, for me, its unique and prodigious impact was unequaled by any other album in 2016.
