Listening Schedule 2016

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