2016 Album of the Year poll

here we are. pick your #1 of 2016.

these are all records that were cited in the nominations thread 4 times or more. this seemed like a healthy cutoff, and also allowed for less than 50 choices which is the max for a single poll question. there were some cool picks that didn't make the cutoff, alas. some of the top contenders were as expected, although Danny Brown and Huerco S got a lot of love also.

only one choice is possible in this poll, as we've already pooled together the top x based on citations. this isn't so much about which record was the most generally appreciated in 2016 - though there will be a winner in the end - but more about which records were most important to individuals and if there is a pattern there. I'm interested to see if this will result in some more diversity.

leggo

noice.

elseq gonna win dis

Biosphere. Best thing of 2016. Fact.

Voted for Bon Iver cause i'm dumb and impressionable. Really like the album though

I really like that Convextion record, someone in CHATMM turned me on to that.

  On 1/2/2017 at 12:56 PM, usagi said:

I really like that Convextion record, someone in CHATMM turned me on to that.

I guess it's too obvious who will win this year in this way, would've liked to vote on more than one. Convextion, EOD, Autechre and Swans would be my picks from this list in that case... EODS it is!

The album that inspired me the most this year was Blackstar. Nothing has been as beautiful, as haunting as Blackstar this year.

It really is a masterpiece and the context around it makes it even more special of course !

Traditional Synthesizer Music's my favorite thing I've heard this year. Best Venetian Snares album in a long time, and the bonus disc had some great shit on it as well.

I want to vote for something other than elseq, which i think was bloated though a welcoming experiment, but there's nothing in the list to point my finger at with affirmation. Not sure if there's anything outside of it

MNLTH - Laser 80 arrived just a few days before New Year's. I think a few here agree it should be nominated.

EODS

my fav is Kettel- Wingtip

Of the list above, I voted for Datach'i. Definitely my most-listened record of the year from the options given, pretty flawless record throughout.

  On 1/2/2017 at 6:57 PM, ladalaika said:

Of the list above, I voted for Datach'i. Definitely my most-listened record of the year from the options given, pretty flawless record throughout.

Damn good album. 

Really tempted to with Lone here...Levitate was just such a badass return to form for him. Ive listened to it a ton this year. Except now I've just heard No More Dreams for the first time and thats fighting hard for me too.

Not voting for Elseq just because it's too obvious, and it's really not an "album" by any stretch. Though it is definitely the biggest mindfuck of 2016

  On 1/2/2017 at 7:46 PM, NI64 said:

Really tempted to with Lone here...Levitate was just such a badass return to form for him. Ive listened to it a ton this year. Except now I've just heard No More Dreams for the first time and thats fighting hard for me too.

 

Not voting for Elseq just because it's too obvious, and it's really not an "album" by any stretch. Though it is definitely the biggest mindfuck of 2016

Maybe it's just you I heard it from, but i've definitely heard this sentiment echoed elsewhere before. I don't really get it. As far as I can tell it's an album, the only thing that kind of "complicates" it is that it's broken up into 5 different parts and the track lengths often exceed 10 or even 20 minutes at times. But there's no abundantly clear stylistic departure from one part to the next. It's an album. It's a long ass album, but it's just an album. 

The album that had me the most stoked this year is Bibio A mineral love. Whatever you say, it's funky, cheesy, amazing sounding and never fails to put a smile on my face. Best album this year for me.

these r my favourite from th list:

µ-ziqry30trax 1991no more dreams andy stott - too many voices

autechre - elseq 1-5 biosphere - departed glories clark - the last

panthers datach'i - system david bowie - backstar demdike stare

- wonderland eod - ends future sound of london - environment

6-6.5 huerco s. - for those of you who have never (and also those

who have) jega - 1995 konx-om-pax - caramel roly porter - third

law the caretaker - everywhere at the end of time the orb - cow /

chill out, world! 

  On 1/2/2017 at 8:15 PM, Chesney said:

The album that had me the most stoked this year is Bibio A mineral love. Whatever you say, it's funky, cheesy, amazing sounding and never fails to put a smile on my face. Best album this year for me.

Yeah a bit gutted its not on the list, i may have listened to that more than any of the others on this list.

Underworld, Caretaker, Datachi, Autechre, Swans and Demdike Stare were all solid from that list.

Venetian Snares just pops it though - a fantastic album of solid ideas and musical achievement. The bonus disc is great too.

Same could be said for Datachi but I think knowing Snares back catalogue it was rather special of him to pull this out.of the bag.

Autechre is probably my most listened to "album" this year - but it's slightly bloated in places and I now tend to make my own playlists out of it depending on what mood I am in.

lots of great albums but is an easy win by ae.

gotta say allowing only 1 vote per person when there's already a clear winner from the getgo isn't the best of ideas

So hard to choose from this list, but it's Datach'i for me. I've heard some really, REALLY good albums this year (many of them listed here) but System sticks out with head and shoulders imo. It was either that or Huerco S., Venetian Snares (which was imho just a 'lesser System') or Pilotredsun (def favo discovery of the year).

that Pilotredsun album was really cool. I was pleased to discover (thanks to a WATMMer, can't recall who) that it was the guy behind those wacko videos.

He's a WATMMer himself btw! :-) not too active for as far as I know