QC10 - Jesse's Top 15 Albums from 2008-2017

Editor's Note: After 10 years of submitting top 10 lists, frequent contributors are going back and picking out the albums that they still love.

Kelli Schaefer – No Identity (2017)

As if Led Zeppelin was led by art school feminists studying how to absolutely shred. Or something. Silliness aside, touchstones are more like Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. They are transcendent live.

Japandroids – Celebration Rock (2012)

I can practically smell the sour beer, cigarettes & pepperoni as I crank it up again and again.

Divers - Hello Hello (2015)

It’s embarrassing, but this was just the first of three Party Damage Records on my list that year. No label ever dominated my record player like this since I first discovered STAX.  Rough and passionate, Divers mix heartland punk and slow burning indie rock.

Battleme - Future Runs Magnetic (2013/2014)

It wasn’t even a contest this year. After being blown away live, these songs kept those moments fresh on my stereo, again and again.

Radiation City – Synesthetica (2016)

Fully realizing their breathtaking potential as they imploded personally. So many layers of art pop awesomeness.

Frightened Rabbit – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks (2010)

Their mastery of celebratory self-loathing is peerless.  Scott Hutchison’s death this year cut deep for so many reasons.

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends (2013)

Long-time favorite keeps the streak alive. With each stylistic shift I love them even more. One of four albums that made my annual top 10.

Deathlist – Deathlist EP (2016)

A personal & potent EP from Portland’s busy renaissance bassist. Listened to this EP a ton. She is consistently creating and collaborating on many of my favorite songs each year.       

Waves of Fury – Thirst (2012)

Does it get better than blaring horns over blasted vocals? No. Some of wildest, best, careening off-the-brink garage soul-punk you can imagine.

Lucero - 1372 Overton Park (2009)

It's the perfect mix of Memphis horns, country grit, and rock n' roll.

Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker (2014)

Although not written about this year’s civil rights struggles, they could be. I hear the same anger, frustration, and confusion resonate in his soulful garage rock.

Hockey - Mind Chaos (2008/2009)

They perfectly combine my love of gritty soulful vocals, funky baselines, and indie rock. In small way, we may have even contributed to breaking this band.

Sheer Mag – I, II, III EPs (2015/2016)

The blownout lo-fi might deter some, but to me it sounds like that hidden gem on a friend’s overdubbed radio mixtape. Cranking up this album makes any day feel like Friday night and every beer taste like a High Life. Thanks Larson!

The Autonomics - Debt Sounds (2017)

Ignore the Saturday morning Snapchat cover, this is road-honed, pogoinducing, virile rock n roll.

Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall (2009)

Paranoid, dark, and gleeful. This may be more melodic, but it's far from mellow. Loved all his albums. Always shifting, I wonder what he would have come up with next. Another painful loss.

Jesse's Favorite Albums from 2016

1. Radiation City - Synesthetica

Fully realizing their breathtaking potential. So many layers of art pop awesomeness.  
  

2. Sheer Mag - III             

Cranking up this album makes any day feel like Friday night and every beer taste like a High Life.

3. Frightened Rabbit - Painting Of A Panic Attack             

Their mastery of celebratory self-loathing is peerless.     

4. Candace - New Future             

Just packed with killer dreamy shoegaze. And as you'd hope, it's fantastically noisy live.  

5. Martha - Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart          

They draw me in with their popping duets, but deceptively clever in their quirkiness.
    

6. Pink Mexico - Fool     

Buzzing surf pop that is both harder and catchier than the last one you heard. Playing it loud and often.

7. Mercury Girls - Ariana

Two absolutely stunning singles of c86-style indie pop.

8. Deathlist -Deathlist

A personal & potent EP from the Summer Cannibals' bad ass, renaissance bassist. Easily one of my favorite EPs this year.

9. Minden - Sweet,Simple Things        
   

Their tightest, funkiest, and most dynamic songs to date. And so silky smooth.    

10. Holy Vision -King Cash         

Binging hard on this shimmering and banging alt. pop. So good. 

11. Y La Bamba - Ojos Del Sol

Libre's buoyant bilingual harmonies inspiring basking in the warm Saturday morning sun. Glad Y La Bamba are back with their gorgeous indie folk.

12. Mo Troper - Beloved             

Youthful, testy, and dimed out power pop, reminiscent of Superdrag classics.  
 

13. Augustines - This Is Your Life              

Pull me along on their stumbling late night anthems in a way that U2 and their ilk never could. Take a shot, spread your arms, and soar.      

14. Lucius - Good Grief 

Art pop masters let their identical hairdos down and get noisy.  

15. Landlines - Problems 24/7

Long anticipated and stellar collection of slacker surf pop.

16. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth  

Driving straight past his Nashville ascendance, this Waylon-loving iconoclast headed west to Memphis for a countrified soul epic.

17. Summer Cannibals- Full Of It             

Damn, these songs are explosive. Feeling this righteous anger more than ever.   

18. The Record Company - Give It Back to You  

Only knock against this great retro soul/blues album is I started rocking half the songs so long ago that they sound fresh again. Luckily, the new songs are some of the best.              

19. Photo Ops - Vacation             

I hear some Fleet Foxes in these guys, just smelling less of campfire, which could mean they both just build on sweet Beach Boy indebted harmonies.

20. TV Girl - Who Really Cares

I dig TV Girl's pursuit of pop alchemy, floating their wry observations over DJ scratches and an organ riff, and punching it all up with sampled hooks. Like adding an indie pop twist to classic singles by the Avalanches or Wiseguys.

Eric’s Favorite Albums from 2016

1.  Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack    

Love me some Frightened Rabbit. The National's Aaron Dessner's fingerprints are all over this album, and the partnership is a hauntingly beautiful one. Somehow, this album is both deeply sad and uplifting at the same time. Seeing this album performed live flawlessly was also an amazing experience.      

2. Paul Cauthen - My Gospel     

Great throwback country album; cut from the same cloth as Merle and Waylon. This album probably benefitted the most from being released late in the year, because its been front of mind for the last few weeks, and I can't stop listening.   

          

3. Augustines - This is Your Life

Of course, by now I'm super predictable with my Augustines love, but even after nearly a decade of Augustines/Pela fandom, I still find the passion and emotion in their songs to be nothing short of addicting. If they are truly calling it quits for good, I will forever miss putting their albums in my top ten lists.              

4. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide to Earth    

 

Another country throwback who can channel the great ones with his own creativity. Clearly, the album is revered in and out of the country music scene and its really not surprising why. 

      

5. Photo Ops - Vacation

I think most people needed a good feel-good album during this rather dark 2016, and Vacation was that album for me. Echoing the harmonies and patience of Pet Sounds, this album washes over you like a warm summer day and lifts the spirits like an ice cold High Life.

6. Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate        

One of the more thought-provoking and emotional albums of the year for me. Kiwanuka gives his powerful tracks time to develop, which may turn some people off, but damn does he do a good job of capturing the mood. This is a brilliant album. 

7. Lake Jons - Explore EP              

I don't usually put EPs on my top ten albums list, but this one did an exception job of winning me over with just six stellar tracks. Watch out world, Finland's coming!     

        

8. The Record Company - Give It Back To You    

Rock and roll, people, doesn't lie. The Record Company gets down to business with some bluesy, rockin' tracks that come straight at you like some of the best bands from the 70s.  

9. Kings of Leon - WALLS             

KoL bounces back from the mailed-in Mechanical Bull album with WALLS. Do I love WALLS beginning to end? No. However, the 7 or 8 tracks that I do like are good enough to carry this album into the Top 10 for me. What can I say, I just like Kings of Leon.  

10. The Bones of J.R. Jones - Spirit’s Furnace      

Folksy, bluesy, and catchy... you put this on, and people will want to know who it is, how you found him, and when he's coming to town.     

11. Pete Yorn - ArrangingTime  

"She Was Weird" was my favorite track, but there are a lot of memorable songs packed into this album. A very pleasant collection of organized, multifaceted tracks.     

12. The Cave Signers - Banchee

One of favorite "acquired taste" bands. I kept forgetting about and then remembering this album, and listened to it a ton at work. The Cave Signers are certainly not for everyone, but this album works for me.           

13. Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes - Bemidji     

        

Another EP! "Always/Never" is the track that drew me end, but the rest of the album makes you want to stay. I definitely over-listened to this album.    

14. Kishi Bashi - Sonderlust        

I am a huge Kishi Bashi fan and love his live show. This album dropped off a little bit for me from his prior releases, but his talent and songwriting are still astounding.   

15. Kaleo - A/B 

The best tracks off this album have been out as singles for quite some time, so I didn't feel as excited by the full album when it dropped. With a little more polish, this band should be able to do amazing things in the upcoming years.

Paul's Favorite Albums from 2016

1. The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it     

     

Of all the albums released in 2016, this was the one that caught me off guard. It's 80s synth-pop-influenced but it combines that sound with an alternating mix of mean-spirited cynicism and beautiful bare sincerity. Whatever it was about this album, it got its hooks in me and stayed on repeat for at least a month... and now I'm listening to it again. I regret nothing. 

2. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool      

The relentless driving strings on Burn The Witch may make for the best opening to an album in 2016, but get past that and you'll find a quieter album that is content to lurk in the background without overwhelming the listener. The quiet allows the impassioned singing of Thom Yorke to shine in a way that somehow gets lost on more complex Radiohead albums. This is truly one of their best.    

3. Beyonce - Lemonade

All hail Queen Bey! A surprise album drop full of deeply personal but instantly catchy songs? Yeah, that was pretty damn cool, but did you see that video??? That thing is stop-you-in-your-tracks beautiful. Oh, and Jay-Z, you better watch yourself or you're going to end up with a six-inch heel stuck in your back. 

4. Tegan and Sara- Love You To Death   

Check your cynicism at the door for this one. Love You To Death is an album full of songs about the best parts of love, told through synthesizers with a distinctly 80s Madonna vibe. If listening this album doesn't give you that new-relationship feeling, you may be broken inside. 

5. Frank Ocean - Blonde              

It's quiet. It's experimental in the way the best Kanye West albums can be. It's beautiful. I'm not sure anything could have ever topped Channel Orange but this comes damn close. Of everything that came out in 2016, this is the album I feel like I'll get the most out of by listening to it again.    

6. Radiation City - Synesthetica

Oh, Radiation City, you've gone and made an amazing album! Beautifully paced; it holds back just enough to allow those moments when it lets loose with the soaring vocals to truly stand out. How will you ever top this? Oh, you're going to breakup and never make another album together? Yeah, seems reasonable.      

7. Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack   

           

No one sells depression and pain better than Scott Hutchinson. If you need richly toned songs about lives half-lived, crumbling relationships, and regrets, this album should be your first stop.  

           

8. Candace - New Future             

The perfect amount of reverb. Crunchy and droning guitars. Vocals that almost fade into the background. This is shoegaze at its best.      

9. Summer Cannibals - Full Of It

Fast, fierce, and over in 33 minutes.       

10. Tove Lo - Lady Wood             

This is dark pop that hits hard. If I went out to a club and True Disaster or Cool Girl, I'd wonder what the hell was wrong with DJ.

11. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo          

Kanye West, I'm mad at you. You put out an amazing album and then did everything you possibly could do to 1) not let me hear it (I'm not signing up for your streaming service) and 2) make me never want to hear you speak again. You get relegated to the overflow list. Please be a better person next year.                    

QuickCrit's Top 25 Albums of 2016

1. Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack


“No one sells depression and pain better than Scott Hutchinson. If you need richly toned songs about lives half-lived, crumbling relationships, and regrets, this album should be your first stop.”- Paul

“The National's Aaron Dessner's fingerprints are all over this album, and the partnership is a hauntingly beautiful one. Somehow, this album is both deeply sad and uplifting at the same time.” -

Eric

“Their mastery of celebratory self-loathing is peerless.” - Jesse

“On heavy rotation.” - Nesto

2. Beyonce – Lemonade


“The Lemonade film is the most amazing example of music and video I have ever seen. I cannot watch/listen to it without tearing up. I think that it is the women of the world who are going to get us out of some of the terrible bullshit going on these days. I’m with HER.” - Larson

“All hail Queen Bey! A surprise album drop full of deeply personal but instantly catchy songs? Yeah, that was pretty damn cool, but did you see that video??? That thing is stop-you-in-your-tracks beautiful. Oh, and Jay-Z, you better watch yourself or you're going to end up with a six-inch heel stuck in your back.” - Paul

“If you have not watched Lemonade, stop what you are doing and do so. You can come to my house and watch it. Be warned that I cry every time I watch.” - Serena

3. The Avalanches – Wildflower


“I listened to Since I Left you so much that I was honestly fine if nothing else ever came out of the Avalanches camp. Their ability to create familiarity out of that which is unfamiliar is astonishing.” - Eric

“Worth the wait!! Also the video for Because I'm Me is a joyful celebration of black bodies.” - Serena

“I'll be unpacking this album for all of 2017 too.  Dense with carefully curated samples and something like 14 years in the making.” - Tex

4. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo


“I’m a pretty mellow guy for the most part. However, if you try to tell me this isn’t art I hope you’re ready for me to talk at you for an hour.” - Larson

“Kanye West, I'm mad at you. You put out an amazing album and then did everything you possibly could do to 1) not let me hear it and 2) make me never want to hear you speak again.” - Paul

“Name one genius that ain't crazy, amirite!?” - Serena

5. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth


“Driving straight past his Nashville ascendance, this Waylon-loving iconoclast headed west to Memphis for a countrified soul epic.” - Jesse

“A country throwback who can channel the great ones with his own creativity. Clearly, the album is revered in and out of the country music scene and it’s really not surprising why.” - Eric

“Nods to Motown are throughout, but there's really not a single sound to pin down, it's truly an album worth listening to in order, in its entirety. And his Nirvana cover kicks serious ass.” - JT

6. Augustines - This is Your Life


“Even after nearly a decade of Augustines/Pela fandom, I still find the passion and emotion in their songs to be nothing short of addicting. If they are truly calling it quits for good, I will forever miss putting their albums in my top ten lists.” - Eric

“Pull me along on their stumbling late night anthems in a way that U2 and their ilk never could. Take a shot, spread your arms, and soar.” - Jesse

“An appropriate finale scene.” - Nesto

7. DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will Fall

“I have routinely listened to "Nobody Speak" really loud while dropping my kids off to school (Kindergarten and First Grade). I suggest you do the same.” - Larson

“no words diks, right” - Dan

8. Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool


“An album that is content to lurk in the background without overwhelming the listener. The quiet allows the impassioned singing of Thom Yorke to shine in a way that somehow gets lost on more complex Radiohead albums. This is truly one of their best.” - Paul

9. Radiation City – Synesthetica


“‘Fully realizing their breathtaking potential. So many layers of art pop awesomeness.” - Jesse

“Oh, Radiation City, you've gone and made an amazing album! Beautifully paced, it holds back just enough to allow those moments when it lets loose with the soaring vocals to truly stand out. How will you ever top this? Oh, you're going to breakup and never make another album together? Yeah, seems reasonable.” - Paul

10. Sheer Mag – III


“Cranking up this album makes any day feel like Friday night and every beer taste like a High Life.” - Jesse

“Not an album. I know right?! These guys can do in 4 songs what it takes some bands 4 albums to do. If you aren’t moved by “Worth The Tears” I doubt you and I have much to talk about.” - Larson

11. Martha - Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart


“I am in love with the trend of new young bands playing 90s style music with more technique and production. This band reminds me of a mash-up of Idlewild lyrics and fury with Hefner complexity and Boy/Girl vocals. I love this album.” - Larson

“They draw me in with their popping duets, but deceptively clever in their quirkiness.” - Jesse

12. Paul Cauthen - My Gospel


“Great throwback country album; cut from the same cloth as Merle and Waylon. This album probably benefitted the most from being released late in the year, because it’s been front of mind for the last few weeks, and I can't stop listening.” - Eric

“Is most listened to in Houston, Stockholm, Manhattan, and Austin. Win.” - Nesto

13. Candace - New Future


“Just packed with killer dreamy shoegaze. And as you'd hope, it's fantastically noisy live.” - Jesse

“The perfect amount of reverb. Crunchy and droning guitars. Vocals that almost fade into the background. This is shoegaze at its best.” - Paul

14. David Bowie – Blackstar


“I didn't like this album. I loved the man. I listened to this album more times than ANY other album this year and it's the only album that made me cry again and again...” - Rain

15. Kishi Bashi – Sonderlust

“Everybody wants a honeybody someday.” - Nesto

“I am a huge Kishi Bashi fan and love his live show. This album dropped off a little bit for me from his prior releases, but his talent and songwriting are still astounding.” - Eric

16. The Lumineers – Cleopatra


"They're trying really hard to replicate the "Hey Ho" earworm, and after hearing O-O-phe-LIA for a few months over and over I really did wind up liking it. In fact, if I listen to it shuffled with the debut, it all just kind of blends together." - JT

17. Bat For Lashes - The Bride


“I listened to this album while trying to fall asleep on Tuesday November 7th 2016, or what I like to refer to as the worst night of sleep ever. It helped.” - Larson

18. Manatee Commune - Manatee Commune


“The song ‘Second Guess’ was a standout track in a late night KEXP listening session. So clean and chilled out and technical without losing the human element. Listen to it start to finish and I bet you’ll want do it again.” - Larson

19. Photo Ops – Vacation


“I think most people needed a good feel-good album during this rather dark 2016, and Vacation was that album for me. Echoing the harmonies and patience of Pet Sounds, this album washes over you like a warm summer day and lifts the spirits like an ice cold High Life.” - Eric

“I hear some Fleet Foxes in these guys, just smelling less of campfire, which could mean they both just build on sweet Beach Boy indebted harmonies.” - Jesse

20. Summer Cannibals - Full Of It

“Damn, these songs are explosive. Feeling this righteous anger more than ever.” - Jesse

“Fast, fierce, and over in 33 minutes.” - Paul

21. The Record Company - Give It Back To You


“Rock and roll, people, doesn't lie. The Record Company gets down to business with some bluesy, rockin' tracks that come straight at you like some of the best bands from the 70s.” - Eric

“Only knock against this great retro soul/blues album is I started rocking half the songs so long ago that they sound fresh again. Luckily, the new songs are some of the best.” - Jesse

22. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter

“It's country because it has to be when the singer lived in a trailer, lived in a tent, went to jail, grew up on her daddy's farm before he lost it, and mentions whiskey in more than half the songs. And if you ever wondered what Loretta Lynn would have sounded like if she recorded a disco funk song with BB King cutting a solo in the middle of it, then check out "Four Years of Chances." - JT

23. The Head and the Heart - Signs of Light


“Major label signing and a major directional shift for Head and the Heart, from moody Northwest folk of the 2010s to sunny SoCal harmonies of the 1970s. It took me about a half dozen listens before it clicked, but once it did, I was hooked.”' - JT

24. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity


“I saw these Australian weirdos play and it felt at times like the place was going to explode. The non-stop energy of this band combined with zero fucks given of the crowd made for an incredible experience. They have songs with names like "Gamma Knife" and "Evil Death Roll"!!! Plus the album sequenced to play in a loop. Do it.” - Larson

25. Lucius - Good Grief


“Art pop masters let their identical hairdos down and get noisy.” - Jesse