Member Since: 4/4/2014
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The Guardian: Best 2016 albums so far
Anohni – Hopelessness
Quote:
This protest album dared to tackle everything from Obama to climate change, and sparkled through the production of Hudson Mohawke and Oneohtrix Point Never.
What we said: Perhaps that’s the most peculiar thing about Hopelessness: when Anohni sings about mass graves and drone strikes, it doesn’t feel like a lecture. It can be strangely empowering. For all its bleakness, Hopelessness leaves you feeling anything but.
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David Bowie – Blackstar
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Bowie’s swansong dazzled critics upon release, and seemed even more poignant when he died shortly afterwards – leaving messages of goodbye in his songs.
What we said: You’re struck by the sense of Bowie at his most commanding, twisting a genre to suit his own ends … It’s a rich, deep and strange album that feels like Bowie moving restlessly forward, his eyes fixed ahead: the position in which he’s always made his greatest music.
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Beyoncé – Lemonade
Quote:
With this empowered sixth album, Bey turned the spotlight on the flaws in her marriage – with shocking and powerful results.
What we said: On much of Lemonade, Beyoncé sounds genuinely imperious. She’s not the only major pop star willing to experiment and push at the boundaries of her sound, but unlike efforts by others, Lemonade feels like it was made by someone very much in control. On Lemonade, Beyoncé sounds very much like a woman not to be messed with.
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Drake – Views
Quote:
The rapper could claim to be the defining pop artist of the moment with this eclectic – often humorous – collection of songs.
What we said: Views isn’t a perfect album – some judicious pruning of the less impactful tracks would make it more easily digestible, and there are certainly moments when you start to wish Drake would cast his gaze a little further afield than his own navel – but nothing about it suggests that his position is anything other than unassailable for the foreseeable future.
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James Blake – The Colour in Anything
Quote:
The electronic producer’s third album was an accomplished portrayal of digital anxiety and millennial unease – wrapped in that gorgeous voice.
What we said: Nowadays, your vocal style is your calling card more than ever – and Blake’s is not only distinctive, it’s peerless. It’s magical in its evocative powers, and like Arthur Russell, he can summon a sort of joyful sadness that seems to transcend the song itself.
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Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
Quote:
Sprawling, inconsistent and with the tendency to make its creator look like a plonker, Kayne’s seventh album still had high points that only he could reach.
What we said: When The Life of Pablo is good, it’s very good indeed. What it isn’t is consistent. Perhaps it’s the sound of a man overreaching himself. Perhaps it’s the document of a mind coming increasingly unglued: you can find plenty of evidence here to support that interpretation
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Rihanna – Anti
Quote:
Rihanna’s eighth album could be unsure of itself – but it was a rare instance of a mainstream star daring to experiment, and the results sometimes paid off.
What we said: In a risk-averse world, there’s something brave about Anti, and at its best, its daring pays off: it remains to be seen whether it represents a momentary swerve off-piste or what you might call a complete Ri-Ri-invention.
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Full list and reviews: https://www.theguardian.com/music/mu...e_iOSApp_Other
Opinions? Dangerous Woman and Twenty88 are missing IMO but it's a good list overall. (besides the obvious bias towards Views)
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