Some people may be tired of hearing about how terrible 2016 was, but I don\u2019t really care. It was not only bad on a global level; for me, it started with cancer and a major surgery, ended with cancer and chemo, and was punctuated by two pet deaths and some illnesses along the way. Thankfully, there were many musical highlights as bright spots. Of course, 2016 was also rife with big losses, beginning with the death of David Bowie and ending with the George Michael\u2019s passing, with the losses of Prince, Sharon Jones, and Leonard Cohen along the way. However, let\u2019s get to the good things: my top 10 albums and favorite music moments of 2016.<\/p>\n
10. Car Seat Headrest, Teens of Denial<\/i> (Matador Records)<\/strong> 9. The Avalanches, Wildflower<\/i> (Astralwerks)<\/strong> 8. Lucy Dacus, No Burden<\/i>\u00a0(Matador Records)<\/strong> 7. St. Lenox, Ten Hymns from My American Gothic<\/i> (Anyway Records)<\/strong> 6. Savages, Adore Life<\/i> (Matador Records)<\/strong> 5. Angel Olsen, My Woman<\/i> (Jagjaguwar)<\/strong> 4. Doprah, Wasting<\/i> (Prison Tapes)<\/strong> 3. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Skeleton Tree<\/i> (Bad Seed Ltd.)<\/strong> 2. Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker<\/i> (Columbia Records)<\/strong> 1. David Bowie, Blackstar<\/i> (Columbia Records)<\/strong> Arab Strap, Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow, October 15<\/strong> The Cure, Madison Square Garden, New York, June 18, 19, and 20<\/strong> Sebastian Bach, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, December 6<\/strong> Iggy Pop, United Artists Theater, New York, April 12<\/strong> BMX Bandits, Cake Shop, New York, April 8<\/strong> King Missile, Cake Shop, New York, May 29<\/strong> Rob Sheffield, Word Bookstore, Brooklyn, July 14<\/strong> Hey! Ho! Let\u2019s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk, Queens Museum<\/strong> Johnny Marr, Gramercy Theater, New York, November 15<\/strong> Eric Bachmann, HiFi, New York, January 28<\/strong> Some people may be tired of hearing about how terrible 2016 was, but I don\u2019t really care. It was not only bad on a global level; for me, it started with cancer and a major surgery, ended with cancer and chemo, and was punctuated by two pet deaths and some illnesses along the way. Thankfully, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2479],"tags":[398,1844,1894,1541,245,703,1705,1895,250,1893,920,1896,1071,1154,1815,88,1859,1119,1897,873],"class_list":["post-5430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-of-the-year","tag-angel-olsen","tag-arab-strap","tag-bmx-bandits","tag-car-seat-headrest","tag-david-bowie","tag-doprah","tag-eric-bachmann","tag-iggy-pop","tag-johnny-marr","tag-king-missile","tag-leonard-cohen","tag-lucy-dacus","tag-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds","tag-ramones","tag-rob-sheffield","tag-savages","tag-sebastian-bach","tag-st-lenox","tag-the-avalanches","tag-the-cure"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nCar Seat Headrest\u2019s Teens of Denial<\/i> opens with lyrics that seem especially fitting of this year: \u201cI\u2019m so sick of: fill in the blank.\u201d It\u2019s the band\u2019s first proper studio album of new music (2015\u2019s Teens of Style<\/i> was a compilation of tracks from prolific Will Toledo\u2019s 11 previous Bandcamp releases), and with guitarist Ethan Ives, bassist Seth Darby and drummer Andrew Katz joining Toledo, Car Seat Headrest\u2019s sound is obviously fuller, while the lyrics\u2014whether spoken, crooned or shouted\u2014maintain a sense of intimacy via a borderline confessional tone and introspective grappling with self-doubts and inner demons. Songs about depression\u2014\u201cFill in the Blank\u201d for example\u2014can sound surprisingly upbeat, and a bad trip story, \u201c(Joe Gets Kicked Out of School For Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn\u2019t a Problem),\u201d becomes tragicomedy. While there\u2019s often a Pavement-like pace to many of the songs, Car Seat Headrest is still incapable of creating something predictable on songs like the soaring \u201cDrunk Drivers\/Killer Whales,\u201d\u00a0 the meandering and beautiful \u201cCosmic Hero,\u201d and the epic \u201cThe Ballad of Costa Concordia,\u201d which contains both a melancholy ballad and an upbeat piano tune. At a time when there is so much to be sick of, Car Seat Headrest is a refreshing antidote.<\/p>\n
\nThe Avalanches\u2019 Wildflower<\/i> was 16 years in the making; the Australian electronic group started working on this record after the release of their acclaimed 2000 debut, Since I Left You<\/i>, and reportedly finished it the night before mastering the recording. Founding members Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi are joined by a rotating cast and countless guest stars like Camp Lo, who is featured on the soaring R&B track \u201cBecause I\u2019m Me,\u201d and Father John Misty on \u201cSaturday Night Inside Out.\u201d Many of the tracks\u2014\u201cSubways,\u201d \u201cThe Noisy Eater\u201d (featuring Biz Markie), \u201cColours\u201d (featuring Jonathan Donahue of Mercury Rev), and \u201cStepkids\u201d (featuring Warren Ellis of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Jennifer Herrema of Black Bananas and Royal Trux)\u2014seem to be extracted from a psychedelic pop dream, which is not that surprising when you consider Chater underwent a three-week ibogaine hallucinogenic treatment. Wildflower<\/i> shows that good things can come to those who wait.<\/p>\n
\nThe catchy hooks and witty lyrics (\u201cYeah, I’ll read the books and I’ll be the smartest. \u2028I’ll play guitar and I’ll be the artist.\u201d) of Lucy Dacus\u2019 anthem to awkwardness, \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Be Funny Anymore,\u201d garnered the attention of about 20 record labels before Dacus and her band decided on Matador for their debut, No Burden<\/i>. The Richmond-based singer-songwriter is a fresh voice, yet her lyrics and honey-tinged vocals often sound older and wiser than her 21 years, such as with the sad beauty of \u201cDream State\/Familiar Place\u201d and the worldly wise storytelling of \u201cTroublemaker Doppelganger.\u201d With No Burden<\/i>, which was essentially recorded in a single day, Dacus proves that she can be anything she wants: funny, smart, and an artist.<\/p>\n
\nSt. Lenox is Andrew Choi, a New York attorney by day who occasionally shows up to gigs still in his suit and a transplanted Iowan by way of Ohio who is also a Julliard-trained violinist. His second record, Ten Hymns from My American Gothic<\/i>, the follow-up to his 2014 debut, is a nod to his Midwestern roots and is a 70th birthday gift to his father, who immigrated to the U.S. from Korea. Choi tells tales\u2014lyrics don\u2019t rhyme but follow a rhythm\u2014with his soulful voice, often backed only by simple keyboards and a beat. A modern-day philosopher (really, he has a philosophy degree), St. Lenox paints vivid vignettes with only a few words, whether he\u2019s exploring his heritage (\u201cKorea,\u201d \u201cWhat I Think About When You Say South Korea\u201d), childhood (\u201cThe Public School System\u201d with the refrain \u201cYou\u2019re not better than me, rich kid\u201d) or the present (\u201cThurgood Marshall\u201d).<\/p>\n
\nAfter 2013\u2019s acclaimed Silence Yourself<\/i>, the Savages\u2019 blistering, assertive debut record, the post-punk British foursome returned in 2016 with Adore Life<\/i>, an even more powerful collection of tracks. It opens with \u201cThe Answer\u201d and the command of \u201cIf you don\u2019t love me, you don\u2019t love anybody\u201d\u00a0 followed by the assertion that \u201clove is the answer.\u201d That line sets the tone for the record; according to the liner notes, \u201cIt\u2019s about love, every kind of love.\u201d It\u2019s tough love on \u201cSad Person,\u201d while it\u2019s something more ferocious on \u201cT.W.I.Y.G.\u201d While hints of the band\u2019s influences are present throughout\u2014from Swans in some feedback-drenched interludes or Siouxsie Sioux in Jehnny Beth\u2019s vocals on \u201cEvil\u201d\u2014at the record\u2019s core is the sound of a band maintaining its trademark urgency and energy without being afraid to evolve.<\/p>\n
\nAngel Olsen became an indie-rock darling in 2014 with her sophomore collection of country-tinged tunes, Burn Your Fire for No Witness<\/i>, and a voice which, belying her name, displayed human vulnerability and strength. With My Woman<\/i>, Olsen returns with even greater intensity. On the first single, \u201cShut Up Kiss Me,\u201d she commands, \u201cShut up kiss me hold me tight \u201d almost as one word over an indie-pop melody with hints of\u00a0 \u201950s rock & roll and R&B that show up throughout the album, as on the torch song \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Be Mine.\u201d Olsen also ventures\u2014very subtly\u2014into new wave with the synth of \u201cIntern,\u201d as well as psychedelia on \u201cNot Going to Kill You.\u201d Her ease in trying on a variety of styles is displayed throughout the record, as on the loungey jazz of \u201cThose Were the Days\u201d and the hymnal beginning of \u201cWoman,\u201d while she still shows her folksy roots on cuts like \u201cHeart Shaped Face.\u201d Olsen is not exactly a musical chameleon, though, as her distinctive voice shines too brightly to blend into the background.<\/p>\n
\nDoprah, the New Zealand trip-hop duo of Steven John Marr and Indira Force, released an EP in 2014, but Wasting<\/i>\u2014with four more band members now in tow\u2014is the band\u2019s full-length debut. With Force\u2019s haunting vocals, \u201cI Will Be a Figure Eight\u201d picks up where Tricky and Portishead left off in the late \u201990s, while tracks like \u201cBorderline\u201d and \u201cLucid Visions\u201d venture into Bjorkian pop. While the entire album is an electronic gem, standouts include the dreamy \u201cSubaeruginusa,\u201d the eerie \u201cMachinery,\u201d the surreal \u201cSan Pedro\u201d and atmospheric \u201cStranger People,\u201d as well as the quirkily beautiful \u201cWool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWith Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds\u2019 16th album, Skeleton Tree<\/i>, the Australian teller of dark stories is possibly at his darkest. While much has been made of the devastating personal loss Cave experienced\u2014the death of one of his 15-year-old sons in a tragic cliff fall\u2014the recording of much of the record preceded the accident. From the eerily sparse \u201cMagneto\u201d and the slow-build of \u201cJesus Alone\u201d to the raw vocals of \u201cI Need You\u201d and the haunting beauty of \u201cGirl in Amber,\u201d heartbreak, sadness, and loss are often suggested not just by what is there\u2014a simple synth line or an acoustic guitar, for example\u2014but by the absence of sound, hinting at the disappearance of a loved one or hope. With lines like, \u201cYou cried beneath the dripping trees. Ghost song lodged in the throat of a mermaid,\u201d (\u201cJesus Alone\u201d), there is a noble, melancholy beauty throughout the record.<\/p>\n
\nUnlike David Bowie (see below), Leonard Cohen knew this year\u2019s album was a farewell, addressing death in interviews (\u201cI am ready to die,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u00a0hope\u00a0it\u2019s not too uncomfortable.\u201d) and in his lyrics (such as in the title track, proclaiming \u201cI\u2019m ready, my lord\u201d). Cohen\u2019s music was as distinctive for his deep half-spoken tone as for his poetic lyrics, which here touch on regret (\u201cTreaty\u201d) and heartbreak (\u201cIf I Didn\u2019t Have Your Love\u201d) in addition to mortality. As Cohen sings, \u201cI\u2019m leaving the table, I\u2019m out of the game,\u201d (\u201cLeaving the Table\u201d), we\u2019re reminded the world is a little bit darker without this musical luminary.<\/p>\n
\nWhen David Bowie died a few days after the release of Blackstar<\/i> last January, it seemed as if the album and the haunting video for \u201cLazarus,\u201d with Bowie singing lyrics like \u201cLook up here, I’m in heaven\u201d from a hospital bed, was a goodbye. A visionary throughout his career, Bowie never seemed fully of this world. He was Ziggy Stardust, the Man Who Fell to Earth, someone who could master different styles like pop, funk, soul and electronic music and turn it into his own. Blackstar<\/i> is a seamless album, with haunting melodies, simple beats, and a lonely saxophone throughout, while some of the showman comes through on \u201cDollar Days\u201d and \u201cI Can\u2019t Give Everything Away.\u201d Only recently was it revealed that Bowie didn\u2019t know this was to be his final album and that his cancer was terminal until three months before his death. Nonetheless, it possesses the kind of prophetic resonance that characterized so much of his life\u2019s work.<\/p>\nTop 10 Music Moments<\/h4>\n
\nIn June, my boyfriend sent an email titled \u201cGlasgow in October?\u201d with a link to Arab Strap tour dates, and I immediately replied, \u201cYes!\u201d We often send each other links to shows we\u2019d like to see abroad but don\u2019t have unlimited funds or vacation time. However, Arab Strap was reuniting for the band\u2019s 20th anniversary, and I\u2019d had the same conversation with my boyfriend 10 years earlier, when Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton were playing the band\u2019s farewell tours. Life is short and I was in between cancer treatments. Not only is Scotland one of my new favorite places, but seeing Arab Strap reunited and playing to a sold-out Glasgow crowd was unforgettable. Moffat confessed he had a nervous dream about the show during a post-soundcheck nap, but his vision didn\u2019t materialize. The crowd went crazy for \u201cThe First Big Weekend,\u201d but it was great to hear songs we\u2019d never thought we\u2019d hear live, like \u201cThe Shy Retirer\u201d and \u201cPacks of Three.\u201d It was well worth the trip and the decade wait.<\/p>\n
\nThe Cure is my favorite band, so when we heard they would be playing three nights at Madison Square Garden, we got tickets to two shows. We ended up seeing the band an additional night when we found last-minute eighth-row seats for the first show. Robert Smith seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself\u2014even doing a goofy voice at one point for \u201cWrong Number.\u201d Over the course of three nights, we saw 61 different songs, including perennial favorites like \u201cJust Like Heaven\u201d and \u201cLovesong,\u201d as well as delightful surprises like \u201cBananafishbones\u201d and \u201cThis Twilight Garden,\u201d as well as \u201cLast Day of Summer\u201d on the first official day of summer. Even better, on the second night, our hometown Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship seconds after The Cure returned to the stage for their first encore.<\/p>\n
\nWhile Sebastian Bach didn\u2019t sing at this discussion and signing of his autobiography, 18 and Life on Skid Row<\/i>, the consummate entertainer delivered laughs and stories in his Q&A with Brandon Stosuy, editor-in-chief of The Creative Independent. Told in Bach\u2019s voice, the book is entertaining and one of the better rock bios, and it was a treat to hear the man himself discuss Skid Row, the effects of grunge in the early \u201990s, Jesus Christ Superstar<\/i>, Supergroup<\/i> (with his favorite line a critic wrote, \u201cWell, it\u2019s a group,\u201d), and, of course, some of his wild tales, which he often punctuated with a smile and the admonition, \u201cIt was a different time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhile this Iggy Pop show in support of his Post Pop Depression<\/i> album was a typically great, energetic performance\u2014he quickly removed his jacket, danced around the stage and crowdsurfed\u2014the highlight was that I touched him. Or he touched me, really. As Pop jumped into the crowd and made his way down the aisle of the venue, I found myself inches from him. I\u2019m not one to fawn over singers, but as Iggy Pop stood before me, I timidly outstretched my hand in his general direction, and he held it to his chest for a few moments as he sang \u201cFall in Love with Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThis night was probably among my favorite shows at the Cake Shop, which sadly was another casualty of 2016. Duglas T. Stewart\u2014the primary member of Scotland\u2019s BMX Bandits since 1985\u2014and Chloe Philip were backed by members of The Hairs and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart for a set of the Bandits\u2019 trademark indie pop. Stewart\u2019s banter between songs was quick-witted, making for an even more memorable show.<\/p>\n
\nAccording to frontman John S. Hall\u2019s website, this was the first time in 20 years King Missile had played in Manhattan. The Cake Shop show included some of King Missile\u2019s finest, including \u201cCheesecake Truck,\u201d \u201cJesus Was Way Cool,\u201d \u201cTake Stuff from Work\u201d (with some things on the list, like a word processor, hilariously outdated), and, of course, \u201cDetachable Penis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nOn a sweltering summer day, a few dozen David Bowie fans\u2014some holding Bowie records or bottles of wine to share\u2014gathered down in the basement of Word Bookstore in Greenpoint, where writer Rob Sheffield discussed his book On Bowie<\/i> with fellow music journalist Amanda Petrusich. Sheffield, who always has good stories, shared some from his book research, which included combing through his VHS tapes for a clip of Bowie with Henry Winkler on The Dinah Shore Show<\/i>. The audience was invited to share favorite Bowie songs for a memorable evening that was part book discussion, part fan gathering, part post-Bowie loss group therapy session.<\/p>\n
\nThe Ramones exhibition at the Queens Museum examined the band\u2019s Forest Hill roots, as well as the band\u2019s influence on music, culture, and fashion. On display were handwritten lyrics, passport photos from tours, artwork from Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, comics, magazines, flyers, photos and, of course, leather jackets, as well as a room showing vintage concert footage, including video of the band\u2019s legendary 1977 New Year\u2019s Eve show in London.<\/p>\n
\nBook events played a big role in my music highlights this year. Presented by The Strand Bookstore, Johnny Marr discussed his autobiography, Set the Boy Free<\/i>, with Ian Svenonius (of Chain and the Gang, The Make-Up, and Nation of Ulysses). With guitar in hand (or in stand), Marr played a little bit to underscore various stories in the book. The conversation provided a lot insight into his days growing up in Manchester, noting that my hometown of Cleveland reminded him of his, and his first meeting with Morrissey as they formed The Smiths.<\/p>\n
\nIn January, Eric Bachmann played two shows to celebrate Merge\u2019s re-release of Crooked Fingers\u2019 first two full-length albums, one in Durham, North Carolina and one at the HiFi, where his Archers of Loaf had frequently played when it was Brownie\u2019s. The intimate setting was perfect, as Bachmann, backed by a small string ensemble, played the records in their entirety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"