Best of 2016
Here we are at the frontier of 2017.
We are now putting the finishing touches to the mixes for the debut Wilderness Hymnal full-length - but in a year of exaggerated creation and death, there’s also been the usual plethora of great music to account for. In case you’re interested, these are my top ten records that kept me afloat and inspired the most. A few of these undoubtedly influenced some of the production of the record.
- JW
1. Latitudes – Old Sunlight
https://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/old-sunlight
London band Latitudes continue to evolve and shatter the conventions of the stagnating post-metal genre they emerged from. Merging elements of black metal, hardcore, doom and atmospheric metal within progressive arrangements, this is the strongest collection of riffs and melodies of their career to date. Colossal.
2. DM Stith – Pigeonheart
https://dmstith.bandcamp.com/album/pigeonheart
David Stith’s definitive statement – gorgeous, bizarre, shapeshifting pop that finds a common ground between lush guitar-folk, wonky synthpop, vocal harmony clouds and percolating found-sound tapestries.
3. Bent Knee – Say So
https://bentknee.bandcamp.com/album/say-so
A dazzling collection of songs from the Canadian collective that is equal parts chamber-pop and madcap prog-rock opera. The musicianship is intimidating, to say the least.
4. Tanya Tagaq – Retribution
https://play.spotify.com/track/3HI8AuFOxx8VNjH1PvI6EI
The groundbreaking Inuk throat-singer also made her definitive statement this year, creating a rich, apocalyptic and arresting array of songs that take an unflinching look at the rape of the land and indigenous women. Exuberant, inimitable, devastating.
5. PG.Lost – Versus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fE3sUxzzbA / http://pelagic-records.com/product/pg-lost-versus-download/
Proof without a doubt that instrumental heavy music can be lyrical and memorable. Retaining certain post-rock hallmarks while experimenting with new textures and approaches, the Swedish band show they are leagues ahead of any other band in the genre.
6. Hexvessel – When We Are Death
https://play.spotify.com/album/7gXw0mN3HL0t7lpKdWoBEj?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open
Mat McNerney’s Finnish forest folk troupe take a time machine to the psychedelic 60s on this rollicking third album and career highlight.
7. Jenny Hval - Blood Bitch
https://jennyhval.bandcamp.com/album/blood-bitch
Jenny Hval submerges her elastic voice in misty sound collages and shadowy electronic pop in a rare celebration of menstruation and the other bloody realities of female identity.
8. Wardruna – Runaljod: Ragnarok
https://soundcloud.com/wardruna/sets/runaljod-ragnarok
The concluding part of Einar Selvik’s trilogy of cinematic records celebrating the runes of the Norse Elder Futhark. Ancient and modern blend in Wardruna’s evocative, richly orchestrated and unique vision of Scandinavian folk.
9. Promise & the Monster – Feed The Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3I0-0xlhR4
Vintage and modern sounds collide on Promise & the Monster’s third LP of wintry psychedelic folk. Gorgeous and densely detailed, with malice and the shadow of violence often leering beneath the surface.
10. Noura Mint Seymali - Arbina
Gutsy and memorable desert blues from this Mauritanian outfit, centred around Seymali’s impassioned update of the griot vocal tradition.
Notable Mentions:
-Stian Westerhus - Amputation
The avant-garde Nowegian composer and guitarist wrings fascinating constellations of sound from his instrument, and for the first time employing his battered, beautiful singing voice to impose order on the chaos. Noisy, weird modern classical switches to experimental pop in a heartbeat.
-Xylouris White – Black Peak
Esteemed Cretan lute player Giorgos Xylouris joins drummer Jim White of the Dirty Three in that great rarity - two titans of their fields truly concocting a new sound.
-Sarathy Korwar – Day To Day
A modern merger of jazz and electronics with the traditional folk music of the prodigious percussionist’s Indian Sidi ancestors.
-Alcest - Kodama
A powerful return to the emotional heft and high contrasts of the hybrid black metal / shoegaze sound pioneered by this French band during the 2000s.