Best New Music of 2016

2016! What a year. Many have completely written the past 12 months off, and 2016 seems destined to go down in history as the most hated year of the 21st century. However, trials and tribulations tend to inspire great art, and I for one would much rather sing into the void at the top of my lungs and dance in the dark.

Though I also worried about the state of humanity this past year, I also spent a lot of time discovering amazing new tunes and sharing them with my friends on my weekly radio show, Sound Sounds. Thank you all dear listeners for streaming me on KXSC, my Facebook live sessions, and Mixcloud. Your joy at vibing off my vibes keeps me going!

It took well over a month for me to whittle down the thousands of tracks I listened to this past year, and the hundreds upon hundreds that made it into my radio show, to a definitive list. I loved so many songs, and removing any from selection sometime felt like letting go of a piece of myself. So, it with much careful thought and pride that I present, in no particular order, my:

Top 100 Songs of 2016




PLAYLIST
A.D.K.O.B. – Ghost
Anderson .Paak – Am I Wrong (feat. ScHoolboy Q)
Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me
Angelica Garcia – Orange Flower
Animal Collective – FloriDada
ATTLAS – Ryat
The Avalanches – Because I’m Me
Banks – Mind Games
Bay Ledges – Safe
Bearson – One Step At A Time (feat. Natalola)
Bishop Briggs – Wild Horses
Bon Iver – 22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]
Brand New – I Am A Nightmare
Brasstracks – Get Your Way (feat. Roses Gabor)
Brent Cobb – Solving Problems
Caitlyn Smith – Before You Called Me Baby
Car Seat Headrest – Fill in the Blank
Cat Clyde – Mama Said
Chris Bathgate – Big Ghost
Chris Staples – Park Bench
COIN – Talk Too Much
Courtney Barnett – Three Packs a Day
courtship. – Stop for Nothing
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Have a Heart
Dana Falconberry and Medicine Bow – Powerlines
Declan McKenna – Isombard
Diana Gordon – Woman
Domo Genesis – Dapper (feat. Anderson .Paak)
Droeloe – zZz
The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers – At Night
Earl St. Clair – Man On Fire
Elohim – Hallucinating
Explosions In The Sky – The Ecstatics
Flock of Dimes – Everything Is Happening Today
Flume – Never Be Like You (feat. Kai)
Frances Cone – Arizona
FRENSHIP – Carpet
The Front Bottoms – Tighten Up
Future Elevators – Modern World
Gabe Dixon – Crave
Gold Panda – In My Car
Hestina – Belong
How To Dress Well – What’s Up
ICHI – Hippo + 47
Ingrid Michaelson – Hell No
Jain – Heads Up
James Blake – I Need A Forest Fire (feat. Bon Iver)
Jamestown Revival – Midnight Hour
The Japanese House – Leon
Johnnyswim – Let It Matter
Joseph – White Flag
Kungs – This Girl (Kungs vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners)
Lake Street Dive – Call Off Your Dogs
Leo Stannard – My Friends Got Love
Leon Vynehall – Wahness
LOLO – The Courtyard
Louise Burns – Dusk Till Dawn
M.I.A. – Go Off
Maggie Rogers – Alaska
Margaret Glaspy – Emotions And Math
Matt Pond PA – The Glow
Mesita – Both
Miranda Lambert – Vice
Mitski – Your Best American Girl
Modern Baseball – Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind
Monica Heldal – Coulda Been Sound
Nick Murphy – Fear Less
Nightly – XO
Noname – Sunny Duet (feat. The Mind)
Oyster Kids – Creepy
Porches – Braid
Porter Robinson – Shelter (feat. Madeon)
Pusher – Clear (feat. Mothica)
The Range – Florida
River Tiber – West (feat. Daniel Caeser)
Romare – Who Loves You?
Ry-Lo – New Friend
Ryley Walker – The Roundabout
San Fermin – Shiver (feat. Sam Amidon)
Sara Watkins – Young In All The Wrong Ways
Shapes In Calgary – Happy Now
Shovels & Rope – I Know
Sjowgren – Seventeen
Sorcha Richardson – Ruin Your Night
St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Flow with It (You Got Me Feeling Like)
Star Parks – Theoretical Girls
Streets of Laredo – Devil And The Sea
Strong Asian Mothers – The More That I
Sylvan Esso – Kick Jump Twist
Tensnake – Tazaar
A Tribe Called Red – ALie Nation (feat. John Trudell, Lido Pimienta, Tanya Taguq, and Northern Voice)
Tycho – Epoch
Vacations – Day Dreamin
Vaults – Midnight River
Wilco – Nope
The Wild Reeds – What I Had In Mind
Will Joseph Cook – Girls Like Me
The Wind and The Wave – Grand Canyon
Young Mister – Pasadena
Youngr – Out Of My System

And, not in this list, because the word "song" doesn't really do it justice is "Hold Up" by Beyonce off her masterpiece Leomonade, a collection of expression and work that can't really be described as an album either. Bey and her musical art defy lists and cross artistic boundaries, so she gets a 2016 shoutout all of her own.



Wishing all who read this, my listeners and my friends plenty of joy and peace in 2017!

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