2016 In Review: My Favorite Music
2016 may have been a disaster of a year in many regards, but it was not lacking when it came to music releases. There were a lot of albums I enjoyed immensely, many I liked but didn't listen to enough, and countless that I'll have to catch up on in 2017. I can't make an "objective" list because I missed out on a lot of releases, but below are my 21 favorites from 2016, as well as several runners-up that I didn't spend enough time with; links to reviews and how to listen are included. (For some more encompassing year-end lists, check out those from some of my favorite critics: Seth Colter Walls; Ted Gioia; Alex Ross; the New York Times classical music team.)
Case/Lang/Veirs // case/lang/veirs (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Stephen Hough // Dvorak and Schumann: Piano Concertos (Amazon | Apple Music)
Brandy Clark // Big Day In a Small Town (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Nels Cline // Lovers (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Leonard Cohen // You Want It Darker (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov // The Tchaikovsky Project: Pathétique and Romeo & Juliet (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon, Shai Wosner // Hadyn & Ligeti: Concertos and Capriccios (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society // Real Enemies (Bandcamp)
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein // Stranger Things, Vol 2 (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Julius Eastman // femenine (Frozen Reeds)
Bill Evans Trio // Some Other Time: The Lost Session From the Black Forest (Amazon | Apple Music)
Erroll Garner // Ready Take One (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Fred Hersch Trio // Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Amazon | Apple Music)
Brad Mehldau & Joshua Redman // Nearness (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska // Sibelius: Symphonies No. 3, 6, & 7 (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Noname // Telefone (Apple Music | Soundcloud)
Corinne Bailey Rae // The Heart Speaks in Whispers (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Alan Gilbert // Messiaen: Des canyons aux étuiles... (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Paul Simon // Stranger To Stranger (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Tyshawn Sorey // The Inner Spectrum of Variables (Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Andris Nelsons, Barbara Hannigan // Abrahamsen: let me tell you (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Selected Runners-Up:
Maria Bamford // 20% (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
David Bowie // Blackstar (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Chance the Rapper // Coloring Book (Apple Music | Soundcloud)
Jonathan Finlayson and Sicilian Defense // Moving Still (Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp)
Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith // A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke (Amazon | Apple Music)
Steven Lehman & Sélébéyone // Sélébéyone (Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp)
- Meredith Monk // On Behalf of Nature (Amazon | Apple Music)
Newspeak, Alan Pierson, et. al. // Little/Vavrek: Dog Days (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
John Raymond // Real Feels (John Raymond)
Anne Sofie von Otter & Brooklyn Rider // So Many Things (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)
Radiohead // A Moon Shaped Pool (Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify)