NME's Best Albums Of 2016 (So Far)

NME's Best Albums Of 2016 (So Far)

Original Source →

ANOHNI - Hopelessness
May 6, 2016
Critic Score
81
38 reviews
Making relevant, accessible, uncringey protest music in this day and age is such a difficult task that most artists have decided not to bother. Anohni has been brave enough to take that risk, and the most vital album of recent times is the reward.

Beyoncé - Lemonade
April 23, 2016
Critic Score
90
38 reviews

‘Lemonade’'s first four tracks are a thrillingly honest sucker-punch from a famously guarded pop star.

Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
May 13, 2016
Critic Score
86
27 reviews
Fizzingly fun, this third mixtape sees Chance finessing but certainly not hampering, his freewheeling nature.

David Bowie - ★ [Blackstar]
January 8, 2016
Critic Score
86
45 reviews
Warped showtunes, skronking industrial rock, soulful balladeering, airy folk-pop, even hip-hop – it all has a place on this busy, bewildering and occasionally beautiful record.

Drake - Views
April 29, 2016
Critic Score
67
36 reviews
‘Views’ should be a slog. But remarkably, his signature brand of downbeat introspection remains gripping.

Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression
March 18, 2016
Critic Score
77
41 reviews
Iggy’s vocals and lyrics are astounding – he’s like an angry young man all over again, and is far more gnarly and potent than any of his contemporaries. It’s an intelligent, sassy garage rock record that’s obsessed with two things: sex and death.

February 14, 2016
Critic Score
77
36 reviews
More an obscure self-portrait than a Picasso masterpiece, ‘The Life Of Pablo’ retains its author’s status as the most interesting man in music. But he makes it seem like harder work than the effortlessness we’re used to.

Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
March 4, 2016
Critic Score
84
32 reviews
There are few unfamiliar messages and it’s all dense and considered, but never overwrought or explicitly angry. What really emerges is Kendrick's nuanced worldview: he knows he’s a big deal but resents his wealth and ego, and is constantly considering his standpoints on faith, police brutality and black America.

Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
April 15, 2016
Critic Score
82
26 reviews

Using twilight walks into the mountains as inspiration and the shabby house he shares with his girlfriend, his guitars and an old piano as his base, Morby cooked up a glorious third album.

Låpsley - Long Way Home
March 4, 2016
Critic Score
74
21 reviews

At 47 minutes, ‘Long Way Home’ may seem lengthy for a debut, but it feels cohesive without boxing Låpsley into a limited sound. With ’80s-style drum fills, epic choruses and up-tempo disco coexisting so comfortably, album two already feels like a tantalising prospect.

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
May 8, 2016
Critic Score
87
49 reviews

Thom Yorke and co remain reluctant saviours of rock, and 'A Moon Shaped Pool' doesn’t so much grab you by the throat as creep into your house in the night and paint your walls an enigmatic shade of blue.

Rihanna - ANTI
January 27, 2016
Critic Score
70
38 reviews
It’s not quite the revelatory departure we might have hoped for, and has the rich but unfocused feel of something worked on perhaps too long with obsessive fervour, but it’s also subtle and interesting; an intriguing soundtrack to an era of change.

Skepta - Konnichiwa
May 6, 2016
Critic Score
81
22 reviews
‘Konnichiwa’ is a landmark in British street music, a record good enough to take on the world without having to compromise one inch in the process.

Sunflower Bean - Human Ceremony
February 5, 2016
Critic Score
73
22 reviews
On debut album ‘Human Ceremony’, they fuse Led Zeppelin’s raunchy riffs with the blissful mid-’80s indie of Felt, the best bits of ’80s alt-pop (The Cure) and krautrock (Neu!) and, in front-duo Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen, have the kind of boy-girl chemistry last seen in the White Stripes.

Tegan and Sara - Love You to Death
June 3, 2016
Critic Score
79
33 reviews
Eight albums into their career, Canadian twins Tegan and Sara have made their definitive record.

The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
February 26, 2016
Critic Score
69
35 reviews
When a band conquers the charts with a fun but inoffensive debut album, you don’t expect them to return with a 17-track follow-up that tempers pop tunes with swampy post-rock instrumentals and references mental health, religion, addiction, loneliness and fame. But The 1975, whose self-titled debut hit number one in 2013, aren’t concerned with playing it safe.

The Last Shadow Puppets - Everything You've Come to Expect
April 1, 2016
Critic Score
70
29 reviews

As a partnership they continue to provoke intriguing responses from each other, with Kane upping his game significantly from his last solo record and Turner seemingly less inclined to couch himself in irony.

White Lung - Paradise
May 6, 2016
Critic Score
76
31 reviews
Seamlessly bringing together beauty and brutality, ‘Paradise’ is an album which proves that after four decades, punk isn’t just alive and well, but that it still has the power to take your breath away.
Original Source: http://www.nme.com/photos/nme-s-best-albums-of-2016-so-far/408870
Comments
Sign in to comment
No one has said anything yet.
Connect with AOTY
Like Us
Follow Us

February Playlist