Overlooked Records 2016

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overlooked albums 2016 Japanese BreakfastJapanese BreakfastPsychopomp
(Yellow K)

Spawned from an intense case of writer’s block and a backyard dumpling party, Japanese Breakfast materialized via a clique’s creative activism and fixed determination. Giving themselves one month and thirty 24-hour deadlines, Slutever half Rachel Gagliardi and Little Big League frontwoman Michelle Zauner would collectively record June in the summer of 2013. The ambitious song-a-day project would be released roughly a year prior to Zauner’s mother’s cancer diagnosis. After retreating to her parents’ home in Oregon, the musician’s future pursuits would document the following year of her mother’s devastating passing. This year’s Psychopomp is beautifully tragic—both eulogic and hopeful, burning with an unparalleled amount of passion and intimacy. The album never stylistically adheres to a specific influence, as Zauner embraces elements of airy shoegaze on opener “In Heaven,” a dance floor disposition on “The Woman That Loves You,” and her indie-rock roots on “Heft.” Zauner’s work as Japanese Breakfast may be a sidestep from her basement-gig work with Little Big League, but it’s a step in a truly stunning direction. – Patrick Pilch


best mixtapes of june 2016 joey purpJoey PurpiiiDrops
(Self-released)

Joey Purp’s sophomore mixtape might have been a bit overshadowed by one released earlier this year by his Savemoney Crew contemporary, Chance the Rapper, and that’s OK—it is a great set of songs. Joey Purp’s iiiDrops is significantly different, however. Where Chance adapted his lyrical dexterity to a joyful gospel sound, Purp’s release is gritty and old-school, his mixture of violent imagery, socially conscious messages, sex raps, playful wordplay and outstanding production calling to mind classic albums by the likes of Nas or Jay Z. That might be a lot of pressure to put on a fairly young rapper, but the proof in the pudding is in his music, the exceptional sounds of an MVP in the making. – Jeff Terich


best hip-hop releases of September 2016 KaKaHonor Killed the Samurai
(Iron Works)

After releasing an outstanding 2015 album under the alias Dr. Yen Lo, Kaseem Ryan aka Ka didn’t take much time to rest before offering up a new full-length. His fourth as Ka, Honor Killed the Samurai is a characteristically dark and mysterious hip-hop record. In years past, he received frequent comparisons to Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA for both his fascination with samurai mythos and chess, and Honor Killed the Samurai, by its title alone, should prove that hasn’t changed. Yet the sound of the record is miles away from the legendary Staten Island rap troupe, his sonic approach increasingly more experimental and atmospheric. The album’s pair of opening tracks, “Conflicted” and “Just,” never approach a traditional boom-bap, and the eerie third track “The Cold and Lonely” gets most of its backing from a laid-back jazz rhythm section and maybe the most unsettling use of sleigh bells ever. Ka did receive some infamous press coverage this year from the New York Post, taking aim at the rapper—whose full-time job is actually saving lives as a firefighter, for fuckssakes—for lyrics described dubiously as “anti-cop.” Chalk that up to another incident in a long list of failings of the press in 2016, but Ka’s latest is another outstanding release in a year of hip-hop triumphs. – Jeff Terich


overlooked albums 2016 KamaiyahKamaiyahA Good Night in the Ghetto
(Self-released)

Kamaiyah was 20 years old when she released her debut album, A Good Night in the Ghetto, in March. That alone isn’t enough to make it one of the best of the year, but it is, and her age only compounds just how much of a revelation its feelgood vintage g-funk sounds and everywoman raps turn out to be. A Good Night in the Ghetto is a hip-hop mixtape for all seasons and all situations. It’s a natural party record by virtue of its synth-funk production, but it’s also full of moments that are just real: sex, death, falling asleep after getting too high to drive and simply celebrating the moment. A Good Night in the Ghetto more than lives up to its name. And chances are, if this record’s on, it’s going to be a good night. – Jeff Terich


overlooked albums 2016 Anna MeredithAnna MeredithVarmints
(Moshi Moshi)

British composer Anna Meredith is classically trained, and it shows. The arrangements on her debut album Varmints are sophisticated and complex, rarely adhering to simple pop song structures, at least as we typically would recognize them. However, Varmints isn’t a contemporary classical album. What it is is much harder to put into simple terms, but the progressive electronic compositions and art pop songs she constructs are far more fascinating and satisfying than mere exercises in genre purity could provide. “Nautilus,” the album’s dynamic opener, bangs with what sounds like a symphony of trap horns. “Scrimshaw” is IDM gone symphonic. “Taken” finds pop melody in intricate layers of loops and power chords that sound almost—dare I say it—grunge? And “R-Type” marries electro-prog indulgence to sheer, celebratory urgency. One need not earn a degree in classical composition to appreciate Meredith’s intricate creations, but there’s so much going on that it’s worth a seminar unto itself. – Jeff Terich


overlooked albums 2016 Modern BaseballModern BaseballHoly Ghost
(Run for Cover)

Modern Baseball co-frontman Brendan Lukens had a pretty intense year leading up to the release of Holy Ghost, having gone to treatment for depression and addiction, which was captured on the Tripping in the Dark short documentary film. They’re not a band that’s quick to hide their scars or laugh away their wounds—you don’t get to be heroes of the so-called “emo revival” by putting on a happy face. The thing of it, though, is that their music is so damn fun that it’s hard not to come away from Modern Baseball’s most intensely emotional and personal moments without a feeling of satisfaction, catharsis or hell, even just feeling good. Holy Ghost is split into two halves, the first comprising songs written and sung by Jake Ewald and the second by Lukens. The distinction is notable; Ewald’s spacious compositional style on “Hiding” and Lukens’ immediacy in “Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind” provide a strong contrast, though the flow and sequence still works simply because this is a band that comes together most strongly as a whole, grasping those worst personal moments and turning them into two-minute celebrations. – Jeff Terich


best albums of 2016 so far Kevin MorbyKevin MorbySinging Saw
(Dead Oceans)

Texas-born singer/songwriter Kevin Morby’s still pretty young—he’ll turn 30 during the 2018 primaries—but he’s had a pretty good run so far, releasing three solo albums as well as records with The Babies and Woods. With Singing Saw, however, he’s surpassed those bands’ output significantly, delivering an album that feels fresh while echoing voices of the past. Morby’s own voice has been compared to a young Bob Dylan, and it’s not far off. His songwriting style carries a similar mixture of grit and poetry, along with the atmosphere and mystery of Leonard Cohen. The title track is a meditative folk epic that builds up from gentle plucks to a distorted psych-rock raga. “Dorothy” is a more straight-up rock ‘n’ roll number that evades pretense while it turns up the amplifiers. And “Water” is the feel-good album-ending sing along that ties it all together. Singing Saw is the sort of album that was made to hear on two sides of vinyl—a collection that carries on his heroes’ legacies while adding his unique signature in each groove. – Jeff Terich


overlooked records 2016 RespireRespire Gravity and Grace
(Zegema Beach/Parking Lot)

Lovers of hardcore (skramz, natch), black metal and shoegaze: If you missed this album you have done yourself a grave disservice. Gravity and Grace is a work of obliterating intensity, and soul-rending emotional delivery that is carefully adorned with contemplative passages of purposeful silence, triumphant horn motifs, and bellowing guitars with plodding titanic percussion. A cathartic, existentialist masterpiece. – Brian Roesler


overlooked albums 2016 Ryley WalkerRyley WalkerGolden Sings That Have Been Sung
(Dead Oceans)

Chicago singer/songwriter Ryley Walker writes songs that exist in multiple worlds at once. They’re intricately arranged indie folk songs, jazz-influenced dirges and torch songs, elaborately rhythmic post-rock songs, sometimes simultaneously. He’s open about his influences—Gastr del Sol changed his life—and that seeps into his songwriting style as well. Golden Sings That Have Been Sung feels like ’90s-era post-rock’s long awaited pop moment, where hooks and choruses meet elegantly layered arrangements. It’s a beautiful record that never fully commits to being one thing or the other. And why should it? You don’t really know how good the idea of a post-pop song is until you really hear it. – Jeff Terich


overlooked albums 2016 Violent Human SystemVHSGift of Life
(Suicide Squeeze)

Punk and post-punk have become almost interchangeable in the modern era. The latter’s gotten noisier and heavier since Ian Curtis compelled us to dance to the radio, and the former’s considerably weirder than the days of Black Flag’s TV parties. Seattle’s VHS (Violent Human System) is a prime example of just such a blurry, chaotic boundary, their propulsive punk songs fraught with the darkness of Protomartyr and Australian peers Total Control while maintaining a ferocity that sure as hell doesn’t feel post-anything. As such, the eight tracks on their new record veer in and out of melodic misanthropy and chaotic accessibility, whether on a power-chord raveup like “Wheelchair” or a Cure-indebted goth-punk bruiser like “Crooked Echo.” Gift of Life is noisy, menacing, dark and weird, just as all the best punk and post-punk albums alike should be. – Jeff Terich

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