MOJO's Top 50 Albums of 2016

MOJO's Top 50 Albums of 2016

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47.

September 30, 2016
Critic Score
68
11 reviews

45.

March 4, 2016
Critic Score
84
32 reviews

The short length and minimal production means Untitled Unmastered occasionally lacks the dynamics of Lamar’s previous work, but it remains an enthralling postscript to his masterpiece.

44.

March 18, 2016
Critic Score
77
10 reviews

43.

March 18, 2016
Critic Score
79
9 reviews
Played loud, and listened to intently, it's the Bonnie Prince's most vital new release in more than a decade.

42.

May 6, 2016
Critic Score
81
38 reviews

Hopelessness sees Anohni take a harder radical line--her rich, red velvet voice set not in the pastoral piano landscapes of lauded past albums, but in the contemporary electronic stylings of two producers: Glasgow DJ Hundson Mohawke and his Warp label contemporary, Brooklyn's Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never.

41.

June 3, 2016
Critic Score
77
21 reviews
The main strength of this album is how the guitar playing, which is superb throughout, feels inextricably bound to the structure and shape of the melodies.

37.

May 6, 2016
Critic Score
79
34 reviews
A challenging listen. But such is Blake's sonic invention and flair for extricating beauty from the murk, it's well worth sticking with.

36.

September 9, 2016
Critic Score
75
31 reviews

Schmilco in particular is best consumed as a contemplative whole.

35.

February 5, 2016
Critic Score
75
26 reviews
When ‘maturing’ sounds as satisfying as this, it can be welcomed without reservation.

34.

David Crosby - Lighthouse
October 21, 2016
Critic Score
72
8 reviews

33.

January 22, 2016
Critic Score
78
35 reviews

They might not be able to change the past, but Night Thoughts is the work of a band very much at home in the here and now, all the while looking forward. Still something else, still something wonderful.

32.

The Still - The Still
April 22, 2016
Critic Score
80
2 reviews

30.

June 10, 2016
Critic Score
72
15 reviews
The remainder, penned by the group, musician fans and long time cohorts, feature Tork, Dolenz and Nesmith and for the most part recapture the enchantment of the original group.

29.

August 12, 2016
Critic Score
78
22 reviews
Thee oh Sees have never done ‘Thee oh Sees’ quite as well as they do here, a riot of lucid cacophony, androgyny, glowing vignettes of loveliness, and two drummers caught in the most sublime lockstep.

28.

September 2, 2016
Critic Score
86
39 reviews
Olsen never gives into indulgence, however, her songs keeping their shape, their direction and their impact to the end.

27.

June 17, 2016
Critic Score
81
29 reviews
For all its grace and subtlety, this is a vigorous, life-affirming record.

26.

August 26, 2016
Critic Score
78
22 reviews

25.

May 6, 2016
Critic Score
81
22 reviews

24.

May 20, 2016
Critic Score
82
30 reviews
Toledo's ability to craft songs that swerve from fuzz-pop to jaded melancholia making him a cut above his underground contemporaries.

23.

April 15, 2016
Critic Score
82
26 reviews

Morby has delivered largely run-of-the-mill roots rock, but Singing Saw is more measured.

20.

Bob Dylan - Fallen Angels
May 20, 2016
Critic Score
74
26 reviews
What Dylan gives us in these recordings is something of a sentimental memoir.

19.

Modern Studies - Swell To Great
September 12, 2016
Critic Score
60
1 review

18.

Syd Arthur - Apricity
October 21, 2016
Critic Score
76
7 reviews

17.

August 5, 2016
Critic Score
75
42 reviews

Much of Give A Glimpse has the warm familiarity of a beloved sweater, but none of it sounds rote or autopilot. Mascis might be tending the same patch, but there's fresh flowers sprouting from that soil.

16.

September 30, 2016
Critic Score
87
48 reviews
Courageous, wilful, fractured and something of a triumph.

15.

The Cult - Hidden City
February 5, 2016
Critic Score
65
12 reviews

13.

September 9, 2016
Critic Score
75
27 reviews
Here never becomes too cosy, there are also plenty of sparkling textural buzzes and blips to ensure that Teenage Fanclub's traditional consistency remains impressive rather than soporific.

12.

April 23, 2016
Critic Score
90
38 reviews

With its wealth of sonic adventure, its thoughtful merger of the personal and the political, and its four choice guest spots (Jack White; Kendrick Lamar; James Blake; Abel Makkonen Tesfaye AKA The Weeknd), Lemonade is a dazzling example of pooled talent coalescing around an iconic doyenne. There can be little doubt on whose head Prince’s crown should now sit.

11.

May 8, 2016
Critic Score
87
49 reviews
All told, another luxurious wallow in art and agitation.

9.

April 15, 2016
Critic Score
77
47 reviews

There's an occasional clunkiness and Let England's Shake's visionary fever is lacking. Yet there's an authority in Harvey's voice, her brisk musical and lyrical stride demanding the listener keep up.

8.

June 3, 2016
Critic Score
82
28 reviews
Simon's new music sounds inventive, surprising and catchy to boot.

7.

August 20, 2016
Critic Score
86
42 reviews

It’s a beguiling, meandering sprawl that rewards total immersion.

6.

March 18, 2016
Critic Score
77
41 reviews

Post Pop Depression is every bit as startling, both in sound, and end-of-days openness.

5.

October 21, 2016
Critic Score
89
32 reviews
This is one of his most intense albums. It feels personal too.

4.

November 4, 2016
Critic Score
81
27 reviews

FLOTUS is highly processed, highly textured--and yet for the most part, it sounds surprisingly natural and unforced.

3.

September 9, 2016
Critic Score
91
40 reviews

Skeleton Tree is an extraordinary piece of work, one that might impact upon you profoundly if you choose to bed-down in its dark corridors of hurt.

2.

July 15, 2016
Critic Score
82
25 reviews

Kiwanuka’s talent reasserts itself on a broader canvas through 10 compelling compositions that chart the life and thoughts of a young man growing up fast and in public, all expressed in ways anyone can empathise with.

1.

January 8, 2016
Critic Score
86
45 reviews
David Bowie’s genius here has been in jettisoning his regular cohorts, whose safe pairs of hands might have taken these songs to a less visceral, more orthodox place, instead of this new frontier from which to contemplate innerspace.
Original Source: http://www.mojo4music.com/24818/mojo-278-january-2017-kate-bush-interview/
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