Top 20 Albums (etc) of 2016

[adevyish]

(A backdated post of things I wrote at the end of 2016 but never posted on here.)

20. Pet Shop Boys; Super

As an album of dance floor hits it’s pretty good, but its songs don’t have the same smartness the best PSB songs do. “The Dictator Decides” and “Into Thin Air” both fall into my favourite sub-genre of PSB songs, political dystopia love songs; these two along with “Twenty-Something” sound like amazing PSB b-sides. (Some of their best tracks are b-sides, so this is not a diss.) “Groovy” and “Say It To Me” are both solid bops. Overall, it’s a weaker album than their previous offering Electric.

19. Suiyoubi no Campanella (Wednesday Campanella); Uma

WedCamp manages to maintain their weird house sound despite moving to a major label. There are some truly good house breakdowns on here but I feel that their previous album Zipang has more standout weird jams, whereas this is more a straight house banger.

17. White Lung; Paradise

The guitar riffs on this are amazing and do a great job of setting the album’s a foreboding, desperate atmosphere. I like punk/metal that doesn’t sacrifice its melodies to its anger, and White Lung certainly fits the bill. Great headbanger album but some of the tracks are too short, and I think they could experiment with their sound further.

17. Broods; Conscious

“Free” was an amazing lead single and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Broods is great at building tension in tracks to end with amazing recapitulations as in “Conscious” and “Full-Blown Love”. My favourite part of the album has to be the middle eight in “Couldn’t Believe”. Unfortunately the album’s dark electropop sound is interrupted by “We Have Everything” which feels like some label exec asked Broods to make more radio-friendly songs.

15. Rüfüs (Rüfüs du Sol); Bloom

Only heard tracks from this album in the past week but it’s very good. Really enjoy the house production with the choral vocals and the melodic hooks are a treat though it’s nothing too groundbreaking. Does start to get a bit repetitive as an album.

15. Paper Lions; Full Colour

Paper Lions have moved from a folk sound to a more retro pop rock sound and it works well for them, but I don’t know if it necessarily rings authentic. There are some great production moments and vocal harmonies on this album. My favourite track is “End of July”, a nostalgic track perfectly suited for slow summer bonfire dances.

14. Shiggy Jr.; All About Pop

Solid chill pop rock with a bit of retro funk j-pop vibe. The video for “Koishitara Baby” is definitely in the top 10 music videos of 2016. A great first album but I do want to hear them explore more sounds in the future.

13. Carly Rae Jepsen; E•mo•tion Side B

More retro pop jams from this former Trees pastry chef. Solid production and songwriting and some absolute magical lyrical moments, but there’s no tracks that really stand out to me like there were on the Side A.

12. Luna; Free Somebody (ep)

Solid jams but suffers from the usual SM problem of trying to fit too many genres into one CD. “Free Somebody”, “Keep On Doin’”, and “I Wish” are great tracks but I’m docking marks for “Galaxy” detracting from the general funky disco vibe.

11. Hannah Georgas; For Evelyn

For Evelyn builds on Georgas’ previous album with more lush soundscapes and tales. “Don’t Go” especially is full of beautiful touches. Georgas’ skill is in combining foreboding electropop with upbeat tempos and melodies.

10. Kinoko Teikoku; Ai no Yukue

Melancholy shoegaze rock where every track tells a different story. The title track is a great sad graduation track with a beautifully discordant outro. Some amazing tracks but overall too slow/quiet for my taste.

9. Bangtan Sonyeondan; Wings

As BTS have gotten bigger they’ve strayed further from their hip-hop roots but I think overall they do a good job of maintaining their sound while making songs that have more mainstream appeal. “Blood Sweat Tears”, both musically and aesthetically, is the sign of a boyband coming into themselves. “Boy Meets Evil” is a great foreboding statement intro and “2! 3!” is a great chill hop track. That said I think the Hwayangyeonhwa EPs were more solid overall.

8. Tokyo Police Club; Melon Collie and the Infinite Radness (2 eps)

Solid EP set with a fitting title that expands on their 2014 album Forcefield especially the great opener on that album, “Argentina (Pts I, II, III)”. TCP manages to pull off the garage/university rock sound without sounding too forced or too juvenile, and delivering well-woven and relatable lyrics. There’s some excellent ornamental instrumental and middle eights as well; the soft choral-like countermelody on “Hang Your Heart” is especially nice.

7. Shinee; 1 of 1 (+ repackage)

Some solid Swedish-Korean pop collaboration here. “Tell Me What to Do” is a dance track with great instrumental and vocals—the post-middle eight chorus is amazing. I’m glad that Shinee is finally getting singles that showcase their vocals (not to diss “Ring Ding Dong” but I’m especially dissing “Ring Ding Dong”). “1 of 1” and “Don’t Let Me Go” are both solid retro-inspired pop tracks. As usual could do with less Choi Minho attempting to rap and I don’t like ballads that much.

6. Faky; Candy (ep)

The best Japanese girl group release of 2016. The title track of this reminds me of Little Mix’s “Move” and comes with slick music video. “Afterglow” and “Are You OK?” are both jams and “Pretty” is unusually confrontational for any j-pop act, never mind a girl group. Really hoping to see an LP from them next year.

5. Darcys; Centrefold

A lot was made of the Darcys’ rebranding from art rock band into a dance pop duo. Jason Couse’s voice lends itself well to dance rock and the band are still writing solid songs, but it doesn’t quite hold up to the experimental tracks on their last rock album Warring. Their original guitar sound still comes through strong in dance jams like “I Want It All”.

4. Utada Hikaru; Fantôme

Utada is back! My major issue with this album is a lot of the tracks sound like they would belong on a Utada album from the ’00s. Part of this is because Utada was far ahead of her time but now the times have caught up to her.

“Michi” is a solid forward-looking track as is “Nijikan Dake no Vacance” feat. Shiina Ringo. Lush production makes “Ore no Kanojo”, “Kouya no Ookami”, and “Manatsu no Odori Ame” stand out, and the dominating electric guitar on “Nagareboshi” reminds me of one of my favourite underrated Utada tracks, “Show Me Love”. I feel like “Hanataba” and “Ningyo” both take away from the statement of the album, but overall it’s a very solid album.

(Honorable Mention) Bangtan Sonyeondan; Hwayangyeonhwa: Forever (compilation)

This album is a repackage of two EPs from 2015 but as it, and its corresponding Japanese album, came out this year I’ll sneak it onto the 2016 list. Most of the singles off this are solid (although I don’t like “Run”).

There are vocal tracks on this album, like “Butterfly (Prologue Remix)” and “House of Cards”, but they have a production rooted firmly in hip-hop that lets them belong on the same album.

The hip-hop–heavy tracks, meanwhile, have a chill old-school beat. The sample on “Move On” is [100], although the rap outro is cheese whiz. “Converse High” does a great job of showcasing both BTS’ vocal and rap talent.

3. Gozen Sanji to Taikutsu; Seinen no Shiseikan (demo ep)

I can’t properly review this as this is not readily available for purchase but I did hear much of it live. The mash of electropop, eroguro, and enka rock is what i imagine cali≠gari at their peak would sound like now in 2016. I hope they get signed to a good indie label in 2017.

2. Agust D; Agust D (mixtape)

This was released as a mixtape but in all other ways is an album. There’s a rawness to the anger and despair in this mixtape that few artists can pull off with any authenticity. The outro track “So Far Away” feat. Suran is definitely my track of 2016, combining hopelessness, a haunting chorus, and a beautiful guitar riff outro. The off-beat raps and technique showiness in “724148” is enjoyable to listen to. I can’t stop laughing at the chorus on the title track.

(Honorable Mention) Ice Choir; For Listen To This! Mixtape

This mixtape of 80s j-pop is so incredible I just have to include it on here.

1. Galileo Galilei; Sea and the Darkness

Leave it to a band that’s breaking up to put out their best album. Happy-sad, deceptively simple j-rock with retro and folk influences. The album has a deliberate garage production that lends a realness to its words and emotions. “Blues” is a perfect breakup song (about the breakup of the band), and I respect any band that does a 1-minute guitar-driven outro. Other standout tracks include “Ghost”, “Tori to Tori”, “Aoi Chi”, “Bed” feat. Aimer, and “Sea and the Darkness II” for making a saxophone outro work.