01 Feb 2017

My Albums Of The Year List: 2016

Filed under: AOTY | music

I started a tradition of posting my AOTY list at the end of January the following year to be different and left some of them marinate in my mind. There’s always a rush to get the lists out and there’s really no need.

I’ve added a new feature this year by splitting all the albums I’ve listened to into three categories - 😀, 😕 and 🥴. 😀 albums are the ones I enjoyed, 😕 are the ones I didn’t and 🥴 are the ones I wasn’t 100% sure about.

(Oh, and they’re not in order. I’ve stopped doing that too.)

😀

• Scott Xylo - Analogue Eyes, With Digital Minds
• Craig Hartley - Books on Tape, Vol. II
• Anderson Paak - Malibu
• blue (aka isle child) - a boy and his dog
• David Bowie - Blackstar
• De La Soul - and the Anonymous Nobody
• Imperial & K.I.N.E.T.I.K. - Adventures In Technicolour
• Kaytranada - 99.9%
• Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered
• Yumi Rose - Heaven Only Knows
• Dave Douglas - Dark Territory
• Uri Caine - Calibrated Thickness
• Branford Marsalis Quartet - Upward Spiral
• Ray Obiedo - Latin Jazz Project, Vol. 1
• Bearcubs - Chroma
• Yussef Kamaal - Black Focus
• Sadevillain - Sadevillain EP
• Snarky Puppy - Culcha Vulcha
• PhybaOptikz - Shades of Alejandro
• Gregory Porter - Take Me To The Alley
• A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here…
• The Olympians - The Olympians
• Sarathy Kowar - Day To Day
• Joshua Redman - Nearness
• Angel Olsen - MY WOMAN
• Solange - A Seat At The Table
• Swet Shop Boys - Cashmere
• Childish Gambino - Awake, My Love!
• Julian Lage - Arclight
• Lady Gaga - Joanne
• Alfredo Rodriguez - Tocororo
• Alicia Keys - HERE
• Bruno Mars - 24K Magic
• John Legend - Darkness & Light
• Common - Black America Again
• Lee Fields & The Expressions - Special Night
• Marquis Hill - The Way We Play
• Justice - Woman
• Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
• Vaults - Caught in Still Life
• Robert Glasper, Miles Davis - Everything’s Beautiful
• Theo Croker - Escape Velocity
• Ben L’Oncle Soul - Under My Skin
• Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing
• clipping. - Splendor & Misery
• Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid
• Jay Som - Turn Into
• Jamie Lidell - Building A Beginning
• Ryuichi Sakamoto - Nagasaki: Memories Of My Son
• Reginald Omas Mamode IV - Reginald Omas Mamode IV
• Motion Graphics - Motion Graphics
• Black Milk - The Rebellion Sessions
• Alexis Davis - The Other Numbers
• Raycord - Exotic Jazz
• Xiomara - Seven Nineteen
• Little Simz - Stillness In Wonderland
• Apollo Brown - The Easy Truth
• Mndsgn - Body Wash
• Vulfpeck - The Beautiful Game
• NxWorries - Yes Lawd!
• Hodgy - Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide
• Tech N9ne - The Storm
• Rihanna - Anti
• Phonte & Eric Roberson - Tigallerro
• Deerhoof - The Magic
• James Blake - The Colour In Anything
• Quantic presents Flowing Inferno - 1000 Watts
• Alsarah & the Nubatones - Manara
• Josef Leimberg - Astral Progressions
• Brutalist - Brutalist Mixtape

😕

• M.I.A. - AIM
• Joyce Manor - Cody
• Romare - Love Songs: Part Two
• The Weeknd - Starboy
• Logan Richardson - Shift
• YG - Red Friday
• Kanye West - TLOP
• deadmau5 - W:/2016ALBUM/
• Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book

🥴

• Esperanza Spalding - Emily’s D+Evolution
• Mitski - Puberty 2
• J Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only
• BROOKZILL! - Throwback To The Future
• Samiyam - Animals Have Feelings
• Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene 3
• Frank Ocean - Blonde
• 9th Wonder - Zion
• Elzhi - Lead Poison

My previous AOTY lists: 2014, 2012, and 2011