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Intro! (or: some context to this list you’d be best off just skipping)

Anything to be said about 2016 has already been said. So here’s a list of releases (albums, EPs, singles, etc) that I enjoyed this year. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t get around to listening to that I wish I had. There’s a handful of things I listened to that I wish I hadn’t (jk).

Please, as always, explore this list with an open mind. Give a listen to anything that looks intriguing. Find something you’ve never heard of before and give it a spin. It’s a long list. In no particular order (well, alphabetical, I guess). Except for the 11 albums I enjoyed the most.

My qualifications for “the most” are: having sentimental value, listening to it at the right time, experiencing it live, associating it with good/sad/happy/bad times, anything. Something about these 11 albums clicked with me and that’s why they’re in the top 10+1.

I sincerely hope you find an album that resonates with you on this list. I’m a true believer in listening to music at the right time (and it’s never a time you planned on [or even expected {or sometimes even wanted}]).

To sum it all up, 2016 has treated me with some of the most diverse musical discoveries of my Professional Listening life. I want to share those with you.

(oh and there’s a spotify playlist with selections so you don’t even have to read this!)

Top 10+1! (or: these ones meant the most to me this year)

ANOHNI – Hopelessness (Secretly Canadian)

Autolux – Pussy’s Dead (30th Century)

The Avalanches – Wildflower (Modular)

Deerhoof – The Magic (Polyvinyl)

Elza Soares – A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo (Mais Um Discos)

GOAT – Requiem (Sub Pop)

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – Balance (Captcha)

No Men – Dear God, Bring The Doom (Gezellig)

Suuns – Hold/Still (Secretly Canadian)

Tobacco – Sweatbox Dynasty (Ghostly)

Wye Oak – Tween (Merge)

The Rest! (or: these releases are also good and you should listen to them)

Animal Collective – Painting With (Domino)

Anna Meredith – Varmints (Moshi Moshi)

Autolux – Live At Third Man Records (Third Man)

Baden-Baden – La Drogue (self-released)

Belako – Hamen (Mushroom Pillow)

Best Friend – Can You Believe It? (Gezellig)

Beth Orton – Kidsticks (Anti-)

Bilhão – Bilhão (Balaclava)

Black Moth Super Rainbow – SeeFu Lilac (Rad Cult)

Black Mountain – IV (Jagjaguwar)

BRVNKS – Lanches (Dull Dog)

Chippendale, Gustafsson, & Pupillo – MELT (Trost)

Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition (Warp)

Dave Harrington Group – Become Alive (Other People)

David Bowie – Blackstar (Columbia)

Death Grips – Bottomless Pit (Third Worlds)

Death Grips – Interview (Third Worlds)

Diarrhea Planet – Turn To Gold (Infinity Cat)

DJ HATRED – the last enemy that will be abolished is death (Gezellig)

DJDS – Stand Up And Speak (Loma Vista)

Dream Wife – EP01 (Cannibal Hymns)

Drug Apts – Drug Apts (Interference Patterns)

Erik Blood – Lost In Slow Motion (HomeSkillet)

Exploded View – Exploded View (Sacred Bones)

Fatima Al Qadiri – Brute (Hyperdub)

Fatou Seidi Ghali & Alamnou Akrouni – Les Filles de Illighadad (SahelSounds)

Feels – Feels (Castle Face)

Fort Romeau – Secrets & Lies (Live At Robert Johnson)

Freescha/Black Moth Super Rainbow – What in the Rad/Bad Fuckin Times (Rad Cult)

Fumiya Tanaka – You Find The Key (Perlon)

Good Sad Happy Bad – “Mash One” (self-released)

Listen here.

Holy Fuck – Congrats (Innovative Leisure)

Holy Wave – Freaks of Nurture (Reverberation Appreciation Society)

Jackie Lynn – Jackie Lynn (Thrill Jockey)

Julianna Barwick – Will (Dead Oceans)

Kanye West – The Life Of Pablo (GOOD)

Kedr Livansky – January Sun (2MR)

Kristin Kontrol – X-Communicate (Sub Pop)

La Femme – Mystère (Born Bad)

Lê Almeida – Mantra Happening (Transfusão Noise/Gezellig)

Lê Almeida – Todas as Brisas (Transfusão Noise)

The Lizard King – Whizz Whizz (self-released)

LNZNDRF – LNZNDRF (4AD)

Lust For Youth – Compassion (Sacred Bones)

M83 – Junk (Mute)

Maria Usbeck – Amparo (Labrador)

Marie Davidson – Adieux Au Dancefloor (Cititrax)

Mary Lattimore – At The Dam (Ghostly)

Massive Attack – Ritual Spirit (Virgin EMI)

Matthew Collings – A Requiem For Edward Snowden (Denovali)

Mikael Seifu – Zelalem (RVNG)

Ólafur Arnalds ‎– LateNightTales (LateNightTales)

Oliver Coates – Upstepping (PRAH)

Pascal Comelade & The Limiñanas – The Nothing-Twist (Trouble In Mind)

Peak Physique – I Belong To You (Gezellig)

Pinkshinyultrablast – Grandfeathered (Club AC30)

Postiljonen – Reverie (Best Fit)

Preoccupations – Preoccupations (Jagjaguwar)

Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (XL Recordings)

Raime – Tooth (Blackest Ever Black)

Rihanna – Anti (Roc Nation)

Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3 (Mass Appeal)

Ryley Walker – Golden Sings That Have Been Sung (Dead Oceans)

Savages – Adore Life (Matador)

Serpentwithfeet – Blisters (Tri-Angle)

Snøskred – Empty House (Riot Factory)

Sound of Ceres – Nostalgia For Infinity (Joyful Noise)

Stein Urheim – Strandebarm (Hubro)

Susanna – Triangle (SusannaSonata)

Teen – Love Yes (Carpark)

The Amazing – Ambulance (Partisan)

The Avalanches – “Bad Day” (feat. Freddie Gibbs) (Modular)

Listen here.

The Dwarfs of East Agouza – Bes (Nawa)

The Field – The Follower (Kompakt)

The I.L.Y’s – Scum With Boundaries (Third Worlds)

The Limiñanas – Malamore (Because Music)

Tindersticks – The Waiting Room (City Slang)

Tortoise – The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey)

TW Walsh – Fruitless Research (Graveface)

Various Artists – Absence (Flaming Pines)

Various Artists – Killed By Deathrock, Vol 2 (Sacred Bones)

Various Artists – New York Noise: Dance Music from the New York Underground 1977-1982 (Soul Jazz)

White Lung – Paradise (Domino)

Yndi Halda – Under Summer (Big Scary Monsters)