Music, and particularly punk rock, has always been a place where I could find solace and try to, if not make sense of, relate with people about life’s ups and downs. We have some uncertain times ahead, let’s all just not be assholes.
Anyway, can’t wait for a new Bad Religion album, am I right?
Top twenty for twenty sixteen:
Def Jam/ Roc Nation
What? Just me? Ri Ri’s got a killer voice and ANTI album is her most cohesive album to date. But really, the reason it makes the list is highlight “Higher,†one of the most beautifully raw vocal performances I’ve heard in some time, let alone on a major label pop album.
Domino
Painting With is overly experimental and poppy at the same time. The combination works for me, at this point, probably more than anything they’ve ever done. (To some, I understand that’s blasphemy.) But who else makes music with so many layers? Whether or not “FloriDada†makes any actual sense, it’s fun. And we need fun. Plus it sets the tone for an album made for ADD-riddled music fans.
18. Direct Hit!: Wasted Mind
This is pop punk at its best: upbeat yet depressing and real. Drugs and jaded tendencies register personally. Maybe a little too much? But it’s catchy as hell. Looking at Direct Hit! from Brainless God to Wasted Mind shows exactly how Fat Wreck capitalizes on a ripe apple at the right time. This is another excellent addition to both the band and label’s catalogue.
17. NOFX: First Ditch Effort
The best NOFX record in some time is easily their most honest. It’s dark and real in a way that NOFX has never been before, although there have been hints over the last few releases. Newly sober Fat Mike was not so sober during the recording and the result makes that even more poignant. First Ditch Effort comes across like a purge and shows they still do it better than virtually anyone.
The first half of Developing A Theory Of Integrity immediately clicked. I’d never heard MakeWar before, but it’s pretty easy to trust Red Scare delivering grade A melodic punk. There’s no reinvention of the wheel here but sometimes there’s no reason for it. These guys have a bright future ahead of them.
15. Chris Farren: Can't Die
Antarctigo Vespucci’s Leavin’ La Vida Loca was my favorite album of 2015. Here Farren maintains a similar tone. His music is earnest and his lyrics literal. His humor is dark and tongue in cheek. Chris Farren Can’t Die? Come on, that’s brilliant. Combined with the album cover, he let’s you know what you’re getting right up front: well written, somewhat melancholy indie punk.
14. Touche Amore: Stage Four
This record is heartbreaking. Jeremy Bolm’s ability to scream his heart out in such a personal, descriptive way has always been Touches trademark but here it takes on new weight. Documenting the passing of his mother, Stage Four is such a special, beautifully moving tribute. Listening to “Skyscraper†without tearing up is next to impossible.
G.O.O.D. Music
The release of Pablo was a mess. The reignited beef with Taylor Swift was unnecessary. It’s certainly not his best album. But god damn it, I love it. Each song is complex and interesting. His anxiousness is always apparent. Only he could make a record of this scope. One of the songs is called “I Love Kanye†and is just him delivering spoken word poetry about himself! He may be an egomaniac, but when he’s delivering a product like this...
12. Anderson .Paak: Malibu
OBE
This guy is already huge. As an LA kid on the East Coast, this record from its title to its atmosphere screams home to me. It’s funky and soulful and a feel good record in a time that is anything but. His voice is silky smooth, only sometimes outshined by the snap of the tight snare. He also put out a grittier full length with producer Knxwledge. He’s everywhere right now and doesn’t look to be slowing down.
Bad Seed LTD.
This is another difficult record. It’s sparse and dark and one of the best of Nick Cave’s lengthy career. It was released with a documentary, One More Time with Feeling, about the loss of Cave’s fifteen-year-old son and the effect it had on the album. Whether or not it directly addresses the death, it’s impossible to avoid. Skeleton Tree paints itself with imagery. And him singing, “This is the moment. This is exactly where she is born to be,†on “Rings of Saturn†may be the single greatest lyric this year.
Well, duh. I’m just happy a new Descendents album exists. It has no right to be this good except these guys don’t really know how to make anything bad. It’s more of the same while sounding fresh. One could argue these guys perfected pop punk, and listening to Hypercaffium Spazzinate, it’s hard to disagree. Hopefully it doesn’t take another twelve years for a follow up.
9. PUP: The Dream Is Over
Their self-titled debut was phenomenal and I wouldn’t expect anything less than greatness from these way-too-hardworking punks. The Dream Is Over manifested itself after a long year that included singer Stefan Babcock’s doctor telling him to stop singing and using the title to describe the band’s future. These guys are a real bright mark for the future of punk rock, so hopefully the doctor’s wrong.
This is the highest debut album on my list. This folky emo band really knocked it out of the park. The opening one-two punch of “Old Friends†and “Cadmium†sucked me in and the other six songs really make it a valuable listen. Evan Stephens Hall’s ability to write timeless songs is the backbone of the band, making Cardinal another addition to the emo revival’s rich storytelling.
Alkaline Trio and The Lawrence Arms are easily my two favorite bands. I still remember being in disbelief in 2006 when they announced this project. Ten years later, I feel the same excitement. The addition of Dave Hause: genius. Brendan Kelly charges these stories of shitheads with more passion and humor than ever before
6. White Lung: Paradise
Domino Records
This is White Lung’s fourth great album in a row. Sorry, 2010’s self-titled, and Deep Fantasy are all criminally underrated. It’s exciting to see this band finally get some recognition for their incredible work. Kenneth William’s guitars continue to layer over each other at a nauseating pace weaving a soundscape for Mish Barber-Way. There’s been a lot made over the cleaner sound on Paradise but the band meets the challenge producing their best record yet.
5. Joyce Manor: Cody
Joyce Manor only gets better with each short release. Cody, their most realized, most mature album to date, still features plenty of the youthful aggression. But the added weight can be felt. “Last You Heard of Me†refuses to get out of my head and doesn’t even have a chorus. Joyce Manor subscribes to the book of minor adjustments make major changes and it’s paying off.
Another criminally underrated band. Nosebleed Weekend is filled to the brim with in your face surf-punk rock. The music isn’t overly complicated but that’s the charm. Crook Kid’s sugary sweet vocals contrast Rusty Coathanger’s raspy snarl, which is the band’s not-so-secret weapon. The Coathangers ooze such a natural punk rock, fuck you attitude that so many take years trying to master.
Justin Vernon essentially quit Bon Iver, finding nothing left to inspire him under that moniker. Well thank god he found something. 22, A Million with its odd song titles and pretentious nature shouldn’t necessarily work. But because Vernon is an expert craftsman, who has since ditched the lone acoustic guitar that made him famous, he makes something more exceptional than ever before. Electronics, vocal shifts and Vernon’s intricate obsession to detail take over ending up as the strange yet gorgeous 22, A Million.
Total Treble
I think we were all happy to get Against Me! back with Transgender Dysphoria Blues. While I enjoyed that album, this one has raised the bar even higher. It’s fuzzy, dirty punk with giant hooks that could, and will, be played in arenas all over. Laura Jane Grace and co. are able to accomplish that feat without sacrificing a single thing. “Norse Truth,†a behemoth of a song, finds Grace spitting vitriol with more confidence and fury than ever before. This is such an incredible, personal record possibly only topped by Grace’s own memoir.
This isn’t just my favorite album of the year. It may be the best one I’ve heard in the last five. I don’t know why. I didn’t particularly care for anything Will Toledo released before this. But everything about Teens of Denial clicked with me. He tells full stories in his songs like Dylan but bathes in noise rock like Sonic Youth. It’s the extended intro in “Vincent,†the youthful catharsis of “Destroyed By Hippie Powers,†the agony of admittance in “Cosmic Hero,†the wordy, confused bridge in the eleven-minuteâ€The Ballad of Costa Concordia.†That list could go on forever. I’d call this a perfect album, something I don’t remember ever thinking so immediately before.