Top 10 Albums of 2016

Abra – Princess
From the bottom-of-the-ocean moans of "Come 4 Me" to the twinkly beat on "Thinking Of U" (does she know Icetep?), Abra always has a trick up her sleeve.

Bon Iver – 22, A Million
Easily my favorite Bon Iver release yet. It shifts me into calm, throws me back to Eaux Claires, and -- like I wrote in my goofy feature "Bon Iver by the numbers" – tends to make me cry. Looking at you, "715 - CREEKS."

Carly Rae Jepsen – Emotion Side B
The warm synths and Whitney Houston cowbell may sound guileless enough, but I lived way too much of this album this year. Thank you, CRJ, for getting me through.

Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book
It's been so cool to watch Chance The Rapper go from the Myth 14 months ago to Rock the Garden and U.S. Cellular Field. A lot of stars aligned to get him there, but Coloring Book is what elevated him from rising Chicago rapper to world-renowned musician.

Childish Gambino – "Awaken, My Love!"
Last year, I dedicated one of my slots to a symbolic tenth album, saying that I hadn't listened to the new Grimes, Thundercat, or Ellie Goulding enough to know if they should be on my list. Verdict: I loved the Grimes, never got into the Thundercat, and picked and chose from the Goulding. Art Angels obviously took the prize.

This year, I'm in a similar situation. I've loved Donald Glover since Community and Camp, and I'm betting I'll love this album. I've only heard it twice, but "Redbone" hooked me, and I haven't heard Glover sing like this since Culdesac's "Got This Money." If I end up not loving "Awaken, My Love!," well, there's always A Tribe Called Quest and John Legend.

Charli XCX – Vroom Vroom
Pitchfork couldn't decide whether or not to take this jarring, "ferociously trite" EP at face value. I went right ahead. Four songs full of absurd production and attitude problems, Vroom Vroom came out just before I headed to Granada for a month. Its reckless frenzy helped me walk off culture shock.

Francis and the Lights – Farewell, Starlite!
One time my fingers hurt because I couldn't stop snapping to "I Want You To Shake." Francis debuted this album at Eaux Claires 2016, and he played it again at Chance The Rapper's Magnificent Coloring Day; I was lucky enough to see both shows, and I can't wait to be at another.

Flume – Skin
I insist that Flume changed EDM with his sugarcoated synth bass (just ask the artists on my "Flume much?" playlist). When Skin came out, I parked in Dinkytown and absorbed it all at once. A couple of weeks later, I hushed "Numb & Getting Colder (feat. Kucka)" at a stoplight; the driver next to me yelled, "Turn it back up!"

Gallant – Ology
You know when tracks flow into each other so smoothly you think it's effortless? That's this album. Even as a new groove lies around each of the 16 tracks' corners, little fat slows down the momentum. You actually feel like he deserves the grandiose album closer ("Chandra," followed by brief fade into distortion "Last").

I love the wubby R&B in "Talking To Myself," plus the Sade groove of "Percogesic," but Gallant's real magic is his falsetto ("Skipping Stones," "Weight In Gold"). See him live if you can -- I thought no one could pull off his album's every note, but he spent his show at the Turf Club proving me wrong.

ZULUZULUU – What's the Price
Thanks to ZULUZULUU, this list is a true A to Z. Their debut album captured my heart this year, especially during the Philando Castile aftermath. Excerpt from my piece on What's the Price:

Lately, I've been thinking about "courageous" -- how "cor" as an Old French root word means that "heart" is embedded in the word. There is no bravery without emotional honesty, if we go by the word -- no heroism without inner strength. In our militarized world, ZULUZULUU are courageous to me, pouring their creativity and boldness into an album with cast iron's strength.

During this past month, if you sat with me while I made breakfast in the morning, you'd hear What's the Price on my counter stereo. If you rode in my car during errands, you'd hear "Fades" on repeat. If you were wondering what my headphones were bumping while I cried over Philando Castile's death, this was the album. Wherever I've been, What's the Price has been there with me, and I can't thank ZULUZULUU enough.

Top 10 Songs of 2016

Ness Nite – "Yes"
"Yes," off Ness's debut EP Nite Time, was the first song I fell in love with this year. Three hundred something days later, the backmasked opening chords still make me stop and shiver.

Xenia Rubinos – "Don't Wanna Be"
I regret missing her Icehouse show. I'm thoroughly charmed by this song's jazzy coolness, AND it does that thing where the song fades back in as a bonus interlude.

Beyoncé – "Formation"
The day after Prince died, I ill-advisedly went to see Holidae perform at Icehouse. I'd stayed up at First Avenue the night before, stopped into work in the morning, and caught only a few hours of sleep in the afternoon, but I couldn't bear to miss this gig, especially since Sophia Eris and Manchita DJed. As the duo kept the tunes coming after the show, I felt ready to fall over. Until.

Beyoncé's "Formation" jumped onto the speakers, and I felt an energy surge. Ever since that moment, I've been in love with the tune, which paved the way for Lemonade, an amazing world tour, and contemporary music domination. All hail the queen.

Lizzo – "Good As Hell (Bad Royale Remix)"
It feels right to put Lizzo after Beyoncé. Bad Royale's dancehall production only makes this warm, triumphant Barbershop 3 cut glow brighter.

P.O.S – "Sleepdrone/superposition (feat. Allan Kingdom, Astronautalis, Eric Mayson, Kathleen Hanna, Hard_R, Lydia Liza, Lizzo, Nicholas L. Perez)"
This song feels like a bizarre garden: some rambling plot of land with weird beauty at every turn. P.O.S plants sharp words on love and disease, enlisting Allan Kingdom, Astronautalis, Eric Mayson, Kathleen Hanna, Hard_R, Lydia Liza, Lizzo, and Nicholas L. Perez for guest verses and a refrain. Thick buzzes from the Sleepdrone machine guard the walls like ivy, while Liza's laughter soaks the dirt in sunshine.

Kimbra – "Sweet Relief"
As Nyasia pointed out during our great conversation, Prince would've loved this funky song. Kimbra surprise-released it to tide over fans between The Golden Echo (one of my top 10 albums of 2014) and album number three, but I wanted more right away.

Dessa – "Congratulations"
I was just lamenting the fact that Hamilton's original cast recording came out in 2015, because I've spent a good deal of this year in Lin-Manuel Miranda's revolutionary world. And voilà: The Hamilton Mixtape came through with my favorite musician giving voice to my favorite Schuyler sister. "Congratulations," Dessa scoffs, explaining just how the title character has ruined his life.

Angel Olsen – "Shut Up Kiss Me"
Rock isn't even my favorite genre, but this song's hunger gets me every time.

Kanye West – "Ultralight Beam"
The best cut off The Life of Pablo. A huge stepping stone for Chance The Rapper. I wrote many more thoughts about TLOP, Chance, and Kanye here and here.

Top Three Music Moments of 2016

• Florence Welch sprinting toward me in a gauzy blue dress as she ran across the Xcel Energy Center floor

• Spending September 1-4 at First Avenue; on the 1st, I talked to Prince fans lining up for the first Revolution show. On the 2nd, I got to watch the band. The 3rd saw me and Emmet Kowler driving downtown just to listen to Kimbra sing Prince's music -- from outside Conrad's door. And on the 4th, I watched Ms. Lauryn Hill dazzle a Mainroom crowd with K.Raydio by my side.

• This one finds me in First Avenue again: sitting by the merch booth, drinking birthday champagne during James Vincent McMorrow's set. Couldn't have been more at peace.

The Current Hosts' and Staffers' Top 89 of 2016

Brett Baldwin • Bill DeVille • Jay Gabler • Leah Garaas • Jade • Cecilia Johnson • Lindsay Kimball • Mary Lucia • Jim McGuinn • Sean McPherson • Shelley Miller • Dan Nass • Mike Novitzki • Matt Perkins • Brian Oake • Jill Riley • Jake Rudh • Nate Ryan • David Safar • Derrick Stevens • Andrea Swensson • Luke Taylor • Anna Reed • Mark Wheat • Mac Wilson

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