13. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Genre: Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Experimental Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Mansun, Smashing Pumpkins, Portishead
An amazing return to form five years after the arguably uninspired King Of Limbs. Thom's voice is always a key focal point, but Greenwood's gift of soundscaping and arrangement ain't nothing to sneeze at either. The album at times feels like a compilation of every previous phase: the acoustic-oriented early years colliding with the fractured electronic experimentalism of Kid A and the better parts of 'King Of Limbs'. Nothing here quite hits the high points of the group's best material ('There There', 'Paranoid Android', 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi', etc.), but haunting cuts like 'The Numbers' and the enchanting arpeggios of 'Daydreaming' make this record come alive like a flame in the dark.
12. Drakkar Nowhere – Drakkar Nowhere
Genre: Psychedelia, Indie-rock, Power Pop, Krautrock
Put On A Playlist With: The Zombies, Badfinger, early Yes, Elliott Smith, Can, Brainticket
Found this gem on Bandcamp awhile back, and what a diamond it is! It covers the vast cosmic spectrum of psychedelic power-pop, early Krautrock and progressive rock with interstellar ablomb. This is an album full of care and flourish: from the glorious Jellyfish-esque 'Any Way' to the Hammond-drenched hooks of 'Higher Now' (which features former yacht-rock maestro Ned Doheny), this record was my most listened to in the latter part of summer 2016 and is perfect for those of you missing that era even just a smidge.
11. Twelve Foot Ninja – Outlier
Genre: "Alternative" Metal, Experimental pop-metal
Put On A Playlist With: Faith No More, Dog Fashion Disco, System Of A Down, Deftones
Australia's answer to Mr. Bungle came swinging hard out of the gate this year with sophomore outing 'Outlier', and anyone who loves mid 90's Faith No More or a pimped out, heavier take on Incubus's S.C.I.E.N.C.E. will feel like they had the best snort of musical cocaine ever with these guys. They swing in the best way possible and mix in the usual jazz-funk Calypso madness with their spastic form of heavy metal, but the real fun is on the REAL left turns of stuff like 'Dig For Bones', which features a chiptune breakdown...or if you just want yet another banger to add to your Alternative Metal playlist along with Deftones latest like 'Oxygen'.
10. Jacob Collier – In My Room
Genre: One man progressive-pop-jazz wunderkind
Put On A Playlist With: Stevie Wonder, Prince, David Bowie, the other gods on Musical Mt. Olympus
Biggest surprise of the year: this guy is 22 years old...sings, composes, plays, produces and does pretty much everything one can do. Designs his own instruments and studio setups. And it's all here on this debut album. There are people saying this guy is the next Prince or Stevie Wonder as far as comparable talent goes, the kind of person that comes around maybe once every couple generations. And based on the sheer compositional depth of a lot of where I hear on In My Room...I think I can believe the hype.
Last edited by Anteater; 12-11-2016 at 09:28 PM.
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