Here’s a potentially controversial thing to say: 2016 was a great year for music. Okay, apart from the numerous deaths of iconic artists and all that, but as far as releases went there were plenty to choose from. I had a longlist of 50 records for this bad boy and the standard was for damn sure better than 2015. There were only four dead-set guarantees for the top ten (which I’ll keep to myself) however the tier below that was absolutely stacked.

With that, there were some superb albums that didn’t make the cut and it sucks to be them right now, missing out on the only Best of the Year list that really matters. First off, no Untitled/Unmastered because I don’t really count that as an album, sorry Kendrick. It really was brilliant though – especially #8 with Thundercat letting loose on the bass. Also the new Stones one sounds amazing but I’ve hardly had a chance to hear it yet. There’ll be a review, don’t panic.

Then there were records like Kanye West’s one and PJ Harvey’s, both undeniable geniuses and both albums that sounded like works of wonder on first listen… except there was something about them that made them hard to come back to. Especially Life of Pablo, I dunno if it was the constant tinkering or what but ‘Waves’ was the only song I ever really felt like listening to once I’d been through it a few times. It was a bit too deliberate, a bit too cerebral to live up to the stuff he’s done in the past – even Yeezus, tbh. And Radiohead’s album I plain didn’t like that much. There are plenty more wonderful albums that weren’t really my thing as well, for better or worse.

As for Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want It Darker’ and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ ‘Skeleton Key’? I just couldn’t do it. Bowie’s album was enough, wrestling with those two as well is going to take a lot longer.

By the way, there’s no scientific reasoning here. There’s no rating system or anything like that. The ten are chosen in no particular order and by nothing other than intangible feel. Things that might have swung a record here or there include the desire to re-listen to it, the number of songs that have gotten stuck on repeat at one time or another and general coolness and attitude. Whatever all that means. Here goes nothing (something):

Honourable Mentions:

Angel Olsen – My Woman
ScHoolboy Q – Blank Face LP
Various Artists – Day of the Dead
Allah-Las – Calico Review
Death Valley Girls – Glow in the Dark
GOAT – Requiem
Misty Miller – The Whole Family is Worried
Terrace Martin – Velvet Portraits
William Tyler – Modern Country
Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
Dinosaur Jr. – Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
Kyle Craft – Dolls of Highland
The I Don’t Cares – Wild Stab
Mitski – Puberty 2
Drive-By Truckers – American Band

WILDCARD'S TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2014

WILDCARD'S TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2015

Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression

“Wild animals they do/Never wonder why/Just do what they goddamn do”

There’s only one Iggy. Music’s number one badass of the last 40 years has hinted that this will be his last proper album but if so it’s a great way to go out. Specifically with that final track ‘Paraguay’ and how that one blows its top for the finale. This one has all those same themes that have always stuck with Mr Pop, albeit the danger factor has decreased a bit over the years – which he makes up for with healthy cynicism, from the wonderful Bukowski impression on ‘Gardenia’ to the senator-statement-slick ‘Sunday’. The album came about as Iggy Stooge holed up in Joshua Tree with Josh Homme and a few high profile mates and they cut this thing all together, the result being the closest Iggy has ever come to the Berlin/Bowie years (which was a deliberate aim, there’s even a song called ‘German Days’). It’s also just a great album full of top notch songs. Homme deserves heaps of credit, it’s been said that Iggy’s best work has always come with a strong collaborator and here he’s peeled off maybe his best album in 30 years.

Frank Ocean – Blonde

“I thought that I was dreaming/When you said you loved me”

Or is it ‘Blond’? Part of the wonder of this album is how it deals with duality, no doubt stemming from Frankie’s own bisexuality. There are two versions, two covers, there’s a companion magazine, a companion visual album and soundtrack and a bridge at the exact centre of the record too. Blonde is an album that took a long time to arrive, coming four years after Channel Orange and with a massive number of false alarms along the way. As such it seems a lot of people expected this major statement of a record and instead they got this minor introspective piece but oh man is it something. This is the most raw, the most honest, the most beautiful, the most poignant, the most moving, the most gripping album of 2016. There’s the elegiac chipmunk waltz of ‘Nikes’, the ode to scarce serenity of ‘Solo’, the cherished memories of ‘White Ferrari’, the stunning guest feature of Andre 3000 on ‘Solo Reprise’… I could go on and on but you’d rather just listen to it again, right? In my eyes, this is the masterpiece record of the year.

Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial

“I didn’t want you to hear/That shake in my voice/My pain is my own”

A late entry onto the list, I loved everything I heard about this band from the obvious Pavement/90s alt influences to the bandcamp rise of the group but I resisted this record for ages because they’ve got such a dumb name. Even for indie rock, that’s a week handle guys. Eventually I came around and it’s a good thing I did because tunes like ‘Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales’, ‘Destroyed by Hippie Powers’ and ‘1937 State Park’ have not left my head since. Will Toledo writes with empathy and honesty but that’s only half of it. He also writes songs with the kind of creative indifference for convention that reminds me a little of Alex Chilton, to be honest. Yet despite that feeling of spontaneity he and the band still stumble on wicked hook after wicked hook. Shame about the name but I bloody love the album.

Anderson .Paak – Malibu

“I learned my lessons from the ancient roots/I choose to follow what the greatest do”

Probably the breakout star of 2016, .Paak was unlucky not to sneak his collab NxWorries record onto this thing as well. That one (which is him and producer Knxwledge) is effortlessly breezy. Malibu has a little more depth to it – which is the point of each of them, so no worries on NxWorries. However, yeah, it’s Malibu that lives on more vividly. The opening couple tracks, ‘The Bird’ & ‘Heart Don’t Stand A Chance’, are fire as Anderson lets out a bit of Stevie Wonder, candidly confronting his own life and childhood but never without the inherent joy that he brings to his music. There’s always a silver lining. .Paak does a bit of everything: he sings, he raps and he plays the drums like a champ as well which all blends into an album that defies simple description, crossing genres with ease. ‘Put Me Thru’ strikes on a genuine groove and ‘Silicon Valley’ is uber-sexy. Above all else it’s funky. Hell yeah is it funky, I’ve been hearing ‘Come Down’ on those NBA broadcasts all season and it hasn’t gotten old yet.

Cate Le Bon – Crab Day

“Love is not love/When it's a coat hanger/A borrowed line or passenger”

Another delightfully off-kilter set of psych/pop from Wales’ finest (all due respect to Sir Tom Jones, who held that title for a couple decades). Le Bon is supremely reliable and following her work as DRINKS in 2015 with Tim Presley, another of garage rock’s great minds/guitars, she was back with another solo effort this time, sculpting new soundscapes for that lovely voice (and accent) and trippy new lyrics full of creative weirdness and insight. ‘Wonderful’ is the best single on the album, though ‘Find Me’, ‘We Might Revolve’ and ‘Love is Not Love’ all hit on wicked grooves while ‘What’s Not Mine’ and its punchy jamming closes things with a lovely dose of the cosmic nonsense that Cate is so known for.

Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book

“I don’t make songs for free I make ‘em for freedom/Don’t believe in kings, believe in the Kingdom”

A grand statement of an album made by an independent artist and released for free. Chance doesn’t play the game like most people play the game. Coloring Book is a work of majesty, where joys and blessings rain down upon us. He is an optimist at a time when we could use a bit of that. Even when he’s singing about sending his boys down to the record label to sort a few misgivings it’s still ridiculously gleeful, let alone when his ex-girl got pregnant and became his everything – his words. ‘Same Drugs’ is a stunner, with its Peter Pan allusions. Tunes like ‘Angels’ and ‘Blessings’ are infectiously great. ‘Juke Jam’ and ‘All Night’ give it a kick in the back end. His list of collaborators is flawless as usual and also typical is that he gets the best out of them too. There are children’s choirs and gospel singers. There is Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber and Kanye West. There is Chicago from start to finish and it’s all good.

Parquet Courts – Human Performance

“It's a drive-by lullaby that couldn't get worse/A melody abandoned in the key of New York”

Last year’s Monastic Living was an exercise in weirdness, alright. Like Metal Machine Music if it were played through your old Gameboy. Even with a fully open mind I struggled to listen without grating teeth now and then but it sounds like they got the sabotage out of the way to clear the path for this, probably PC’s… erm, cleanest sounding album. Which tells you a lot because the opening track is called ‘Dust’. No compromise here from indie rock’s spiritual flagbearers, there are odd jams, terse guitar lines, chanted vocals and plenty of attitude. ‘Berlin Got Blurry’ is a masterpiece, songs like ‘Outside’, ‘Keep It Even’ and ‘Human Performance’ all go tastily themselves. Parquet Courts have always written fantastic tunes though not usually so cohesively. Dig this, mate.

David Bowie – Blackstar

“Something happened on the day he died/Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside/Somebody else took his place and bravely cried: I’m a Blackstar”

Dark and surreal, strange and mystical… we should have known that the grave could never contain Bowie. Technically this came out a couple of days before he died – released on his 69th birthday – but the album is clearly infused with the wisdom and passion of a dying man. It’s incredible, really. The man turned his own death into a work of art. Ah but to treat Blackstar as a performance piece would be dismissive, it’s also a magical musical achievement – transgressive and far out. The jazzy rhythms keep an edge to everything, the cryptic lyrics continue to offer up tiny clues while the saxophone threatens to fly all the way off the handle but never does. One last trip, one last guileful disguise. What an absolute gift to leave us mortals with.

HINDS – Leave Me Alone

“I want you to call me by my name when I’m lying on your bed”

Jangly rock and roll from the Madrid quartet, the same kinda retro sounding beach sounds that also gets me with a band like Allah-Las (see ‘Honourable Mentions’). Leave Me Alone is their debut long player and they sure bring the goods. ‘Bamboo’ is the best of them but there are quality tracks the whole way through, ‘Easy’ is a jam. So are ‘Castigadas En El Granero’, ‘And I Will Send Your Flowers Back’ and ‘Warts’. The guitar lines are sharp and they carry the songs along on the breeze plus I love the multi-vocals, which cover the spectrum from solo to harmonised to call-and-response. Carlotta Cosials and Ana Garcia Perrote share singing duties, they do so in English but with Spanish accents intact. This is one that deserves even more love over summer, it’s an ideal soundtrack.

Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor's Guide to Earth

“Grandfather always said God's a fisherman/And now I know the reason why”

Some would call him the saviour of outlaw country but Sturgill ain’t about all that. His new record sees him writing directly for his young son, channelling his time in the Navy way back when and spinning that into a concept album about a sailor out at sea in a way to capture the life of a musician on the road. There’s heartfelt life advice and a healthy disdain for traditional boundaries – which screams outlaw but despite some beautiful pedal steel and that twang in his voice, this is not a genre record. Even if it is, the overall sound is more like Memphis soul with the horns and the breakdowns. It’s a thrillingly unique album, piercing in its beauty and wisdom, defiant in its attitude. ‘Breakers Roar’ and ‘Oh Sarah’ are tearjerkers. ‘In Bloom’ is potentially the best Nirvana cover you’ve ever heard.