It's the new year; it's 2017.

Wild.

I still vividly remember December 31, 2015 when I was frantically writing my 2015 review to post it in time for the new year. I took this year's review a bit more in stride, as we can see. Three weeks in, here are my favorite albums of 2016:

Andrew Bird
Are You Serious

While I knew of Andrew Bird and was familiar with a few songs, most notably "Sovay," it wasn't until I heard the groovy "Capsized" premier on WFUV that I was really taken by his musicality and excited to dive deeper. The next song that I heard from the album was "Left Handed Kisses" and, you see, I'm a sucker for a well crafted duet such as this tender and fervid collaboration with Fiona Apple. 

The album is full of upbeat tracks, a new venture for Bird, and it examines interpersonal dynamics from a playfully analytical perspective, zeroing in on details and recanting moments with the likes of: 

"Used to have just one foot out the door
Yeah, I always wanted more
I always was the one
You thought would never marry
Used to be willfully obtuse
(or is the word abstruse?)
Semantics like a noose
Get out your dictionaries"

Take a listen below:

case/lang/veirs case/lang/veirs

I saw this power trio live in Prospect Park last summer and it was a soul-soothing pill of euphoric harmonies and raunchy stage banter. It felt like a casual, carefree night in your friend's backyard, shootin' the shit and singing your favorite tunes 'round the fire pit.

I certainly hope to see these three ladies again. 

Beyonce
Lemonade

This was the most widely talked about album of the year and respectfully so. It's gripping on all fronts: instrumentally, lyrically, vocally and visually with the videos that accompanied its release. My favorite track is "Don't Hurt Yourself" which she wrote with Jack White. In October, I saw Queen Bey at MetLife Stadium; here's a clip of that performance:

YouTube credit: roco814

Glass Animals
How to Be a Human Being

After their breakout debut Zaba, there was great anticipation for their sophomore album. In sum: it landed and it landed well. The album holds onto the delightfully abstract, synth-riddled sounds of Zaba while crafting more narratively driven lyrics sourced from strangers the band met over their two-year tour and the circumstantial tales these human beings shared with them. 

Lucius
Good Grief

Diverging from the folk rock sounds of Wildewoman, their sophomore album takes root in upending pop with catchy-as-hell melodies paired with lyrics that push beyond elementary rhyming schemes and the omnipresent theme of blaming a former lover for leaving. They trade generalities for poetic specificity and autotune for their unwavering harmonies. Oh, and they throw some sleigh bells on the end of (the album version of) "Almost Makes Me Wish For Rain" which makes my heart swells in smiles. Here's a live cut --

Chairlift
Moth

This album is a lively soundscape of dreamy synths, euphoric vocal effects, and a bubbling brass section that's most certainly marching beside me as I dance down the streets of Brooklyn in my bomber jacket and leopard-rimmed shades. It's lead single "Crying In Public" most certainly pulled me into the album, yet it's the upbeat songs that kept this album on play for weeks on end. Here's "Moth to the Flame" --

Margaret Glaspy
Emotions And Math

This album feels familiar. The sounds and imagery each song puts forth conjures up a range of emotions: nostalgic, sad, longing, hopeful, rowdy, gritty, lonely, lofty, courageous, spunky, ambulatory, audacious, vulnerable, valiant. It's a magnified glass on the seemingly innocuous, meaningless moments of life that burrowed into the subconscious and then rushed to the surface at the sound of her guitar.

When it plays, a mood board constructs in my head. There's asphalt, static, sitting in the grass below an overcast sky, steering wheels, white sneakers, telephone cords, the rough of carpet behind your knees, kitchen curtains set behind the sink, feet kicked up upon the couch armrest. 

This album makes me feel. It makes me see. What more could I want?

James Vincent McMorrow We Move

With his third album, Mr. McMorrow explores a new landscape, shifting focus from emotional conjuring to lyrical narrative. Don't get me wrong, these songs still elicit emotion (I sang my lungs tired to this album for 3 weeks straight), yet the emphasis is no longer on a sonic atmosphere to engulf you. Rather, its on how the instrumentation compliments and propels the narrative. For McMorrow, this means turning up the tempo, delving into electronics and putting his love of R&B into practice with punctuated beats and groovy baselines at the album's foundation

The Kills
Ash & Ice

Allison Mosshart is one-third of my spirit animal.
We'll leave it at that.

Bon Iver
22, A Million

As soon as the album started, the sonic landscape sent my mind adrift into the emotions it elicited, no longer deciphering the lyrics or noting melody and, instead, rummaging the chambers of thought I'm often wary to tread.

It wasn't until three songs in that "715 - CREEKS"'s vocal distortion, oscillating between heated delivery and spent whispers, jarred me back to consciousness. 

In B, un—rationed kissing on a night second to last
Finding both your hands
As second sun came past the glass
And oh, I know it felt right
I had you in my grasp

This album is a playground of poetry, piano and electronics that leaves me both spent and fulfilled.

Alas, my top listen of the year.

Twenty sixteen was a great year for music and with all that is swirling through our heads, hearts and Twitter feeds in the early days of 2017, I only see the musical world getting richer in output.

Here's to the music that's yet to be made; the songs that are going to spit fire on our souls.

xxChris