The Chorus.fm Staff’s Top Albums of 2016 • Page 9

People should check out Gambles (songwriting spirit of Waits, Cohen and Dylan with a very important album for "today", produced by BOOTS) and Cosmic Vagina (dark, ambient, electronic, downtempo etc.).

 

Know what's wild? I just remembered that a Say Anything album came out this year. That literally no one here (staff) remembered (or liked?). Just interesting to think about.

I also couldn't make it past a few listens of that Taking Back Sunday album.

 

I do need to go back to that album though. Just got lost in a busy summer of releases for me.

This makes me very happy.

 

Man, I couldn't stop listening to it!

 

Thanks! It took many years of unread formats to find what worked.

Steal away!

 

Yes this basically. I enjoyed it but not enough to push it anywhere near top 30

 

Nice, I'll check that out for sure. Also, I don't know if we'd talked about this but I really love that Maren Morris album - would've made my list for sure if I hadn't listened to it for the first time on December 30th.

 

This is almost certainly the case.

 

Glad to hear that! It almost made this list. Was probably 10 or 15 points off. I would have liked to see that. I don't think enough people around here gave that album a shot.

 

Thanks! I hope you enjoy it

 

i definitely feel like it's a toss-up when you talk about big coverage equating to real-life success. some artists who are publication darlings do really well in terms of album sales and touring and have grown into acts that seem like they'll be able to support themselves for a long time. julien baker comes to mind here. i think pinegrove can be a band like this as well.

on the other hand it's surprisingly easy for bands to get great press but fail to translate that into album sales / tour draws, which clouds how fans perceive their career. i don't get the vibe that hotelier are as comfortable as most of this thread seems to think, though i do understand the idea that they're totally fine with that / don't expect as much in terms of compensation from their art / prefer to tour with bands they like than bands that might lead them to bigger venues.

 

full tour? the la dispute/title fight coheadliner when it comes to sheer size of venues. joyce manor was maybe a slight step down.

 

i don't think anyone is calling hotelier "comfortable" meaning they can tour forever and live a cushy lifestyle. but they're also still very embedded within their DIY culture and i'm not sure they really expect too much more than that

 

I saw the hotelier 4 times last year so I am doing my part ha

 

Very good list chorus.
I'm glad these albums made it: Kevin Devine, B&C, Microwave, Danny Brown
Great albums missing from the list: Car Seat Headrest, Brian Fallon, Mitski, TBS

 

Oh yeah, damn, I'm surprised Fallon didn't make the cut

 

This was cool. I especially liked the part about our tastes basically being the product of the one big "favorite" that they revolve around. I definitely feel that way about the music I love. Basically everything I like or write relates back to Bruce or Butch in some way.

 

I like dark, melodramatic, theatrical pop music cos MCR.

 

I'm glad you liked it! It was a pretty cool revelation to have. I'm sure some people might disagree with the concept of it, but I think it's a pretty cool framework for thinking about our likes/dislikes, if nothing else.

 

Sturgill is awesome, glad to see him here

 

I definitely thought about this concept when I did my Born to Run 40th-anniversary piece last year. I basically realized that Bruce's narrative writing is the reason I got into country music, and the his tendency to write more in a prose style than in a poetry style is the reason I prefer literal narrative/character-driven songs to songwriting that's really packed with metaphors and flowery language. Funnily enough, that preference also extends to the kind of music criticism I like!

 

man i completely forgot about moose blood until one of the songs came up on my spotify daily playlist. i ~liked~ it enough when I first listened to it but i went back and man it's really bad. mostly the lyrics.

 

I must say, concerning literal narratives versus flowery language, this isn't just a preference. You're also simply right. hahahah. Personally, I've realized that my "standard-bearers," being who they are and how they've shaped me, are more or less the reason I can't stand "bad" singers. If an artist's vocals aren't pretty + on-pitch, it's almost guaranteed that I won't be able to listen anymore to that artist.

 

O'brother released their best album this year, im surprised this site isn't bigger on that band. It holds up so well.

 

Different topic but I don't really know how to tag people. Super neat to see Donovan on someones list. Great album, saw him earlier this year and it was fantastic. You heard the newer EP?