So if you don’t know how we play this game, it goes a little something like this: each day we select two albums released in 2016 and give them an extremely attentive spin. They won’t be the only two albums we listen to that day, but they’ll be the ones we really concentrate on. Because I am a bit of a psycho, I put a lot of thought into the pairings — I try to pick albums that feel complementary to me on some sub-rational level, or, more reasonably, ones that reinforce each others’ strengths. Then, once we finish the whole thing, we think back on the year that was, and choose our favorites.
This exercise has been getting us through the early days of winter for decades now, and even though I didn’t like 2016 any better than you did, I’m not so demoralized that I refuse to carry on tradition. If you approach the listening schedule with the proper spirit, it becomes an advent calendar with music inside — and music is just about the only thing that beats chocolate. In case you’d like to follow along at home, or just check out how a sexy rocking individual like me spends his frosty January, here’s your answer.
Some notable omissions: Angel Olsen is an artist who gets a lot of love from people who are passionate about pop, so I’m sure there’s something major I’m missing. But her music slides off my brain like an egg on a teflon pan. I do understand all the skill that went into Blank Face LP by Schoolboy Q, but I experienced its density as a sonic assault, and I’m not eager to revisit that listening experience. Joanne is an improvement over Artpop, yes; a car alarm at four in the morning would be, too. I don’t think she cleared the very modest bar she set for herself after demolishing our expectations. Finally, there’s Radiohead and, I… I just can’t. Sorry not sorry.
The rest of the year’s consensus picks are on there somewhere, as are some other records that you might not have heard of, but which tickled our fancy or illuminated something for us or just made a hot summer day pass like an ice cream dream. List-making is, ultimately, an exercise in memory reinforced: for me, and probably for you, these albums are deeply embedded in a specific place and time. Unfortch, for the albums on this particular version of the schedule, that time is 2016. Which isn’t their fault, so let’s not punish them for it. If you made it to the last page of the calendar and you’re still breathing, with a storehouse of recently-minted memories and experiences in tow, friend, that’s something to celebrate right there. Every year is worth enshrining — even the Year of Hard Lessons.
Okay, you ready? Let’s go:
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14
- A Tribe Called Quest — We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
- Esperanza Spalding — Emily’s D+Evolution
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15
- Kendrick Lamar — untitled unmastered
- Basia Bulat — Good Advice
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16
- Xenia Rubinos — Black Terry Cat
- How To Dress Well — Care
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17
- Metronomy — Summer 08
- Haley Bonar — Impossible Dream
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18
- Car Seat Headrest — Teens Of Denial
- Joey Purp — iiiDrops
MONDAY, DECEMBER 19
- Rihanna — Anti
- Frightened Rabbit — Painting Of A Panic Attack
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20
- Solange — A Seat At The Table
- Two Tongues — Two Tongues Two
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21
- Danny Brown — Atrocity Exhibition
- Mitski — Puberty 2
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22
- Vanishing Twin — Choose Your Own Adventure
- Tunji Ige — Missed Calls
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23
- Noname — Telefone
- Honeyblood — Babes Never Die
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24
- Margaret Glaspy — Emotions And Math
- Look Park — Look Park
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25
- Chance The Rapper — Coloring Book
- Alicia Keys — Here
MONDAY, DECEMBER 26
- Chairlift — Moth
- Sturgill Simpson — A Sailor’s Guide To Earth
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27
- Kamaiyah — A Good Night In The Ghetto
- Martha — Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28
- Lucy Dacus — No Burden
- Cymbals Eat Guitars — Pretty Years
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29
- Francis And The Lights — Farewell, Starlite!
- Tinashe — Nightride
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30
- Drake — Views
- Paul Simon — Stranger To Stranger
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31
- Jimmy Eat World — Integrity Blues
- Young Thug — Jeffery
SUNDAY, JANUARY 1
- Saba — Bucket List Project
- Quilt — Plaza
MONDAY, JANUARY 2
- Weezer — White Album
- Camp Cope — Camp Cope
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3
- Jamila Woods — HEAVN
- Okkervil River — Away
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4
- Eleanor Friedberger — New View
- Homeboy Sandman — Kindness For Weakness
THURSDAY, JANUARY 5
- Anderson.Paak — Malibu
- Pinegrove — Cardinal
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6
- Tegan And Sara — Love You To Death
- Pet Shop Boys — Super
SATURDAY, JANUARY 7
- Miranda Lambert — The Weight Of These Wings
- Nice As Fuck — Nice As Fuck
SUNDAY, JANUARY 8
- YG — Still Brazy
- Jeff Rosenstock — Worry.
MONDAY, JANUARY 9
- Lucius — Good Grief
- Beth Orton — Kidsticks
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10
- Allan Kingdom — Northern Lights
- Lori McKenna — The Bird And The Rifle
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11
- The Hotelier — Goodness
- Overlord — The Well-Tempered Overlord
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12
- Kanye West — The Life Of Pablo
- Panic! At The Disco — Death Of A Bachelor
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13
- Blood Orange — Freetown Sound
- Bon Iver — 22, A Million
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14
- Beyonce — Lemonade
- Of Montreal — Innocence Reaches
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15
- De La Soul — And The Anonymous Nobody…
- The Rocket Summer — Zoetic
MONDAY, JANUARY 16
- Bas — Too High To Riot
- Weaves — Weaves
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17
- case/lang/veirs — case/lang/veirs
- Say Anything — I Don’t Think It Is
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18
- Shearwater — Jet Plane And Oxbow
- Elzhi — Lead Poison
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19
- Butch Walker — Stay Gold
- Bruno Mars — 24K Magic
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20
- Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers — Rehab Reunion
- Maren Morris — Hero
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21
- Frank Ocean — Blonde
- Cousin Stizz — Monda
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22
- The Weeknd — Starboy
- David Bowie — Blackstar
MONDAY, JANUARY 23
- Steven Wilson — 4 1/2
- You Blew It! — Abendrot
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24
- CupcakKe — Cum Cake
- Modern Baseball — Holy Ghost
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25
- Carly Rae Jepsen — E-mo-tion Side B
- The Oh Sees — A Weird Exits
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26
- PJ Harvey — Hope Six Demolition Project
- Future Of The Left — The Peace And Truce Of Future Of The Left
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27
- J. Cole — 4 Your Eyez Only
- The Goon Sax — Up To Anything