By Emmanuel Legrand
It's been a good year for music, although there were no obvious masterpieces (maybe Bowie's Blackstar and Nick Cave's Skeleton Tree will earn this status in a while). I had a lot of pleasure listening to a wide range of music styles over the year, but I found the most satisfying listening experiences with music from the fringes, especially electronic music. Acts like Arnaud Rebotini, Mark Pritchard, Nicolas Jaar, Ólafur Arnalds or Nils Frahm rarely grace the cover of magazines but their music is rewarding if not at times challenging.
There were lots of great albums by female solo acts such as Agnes Obel, Angel Olsen, PJ Harvey, Fiona Brice, to name but a few. And if you were not afraid to hear languages you're not familiar with, there were quite a few outstanding records from the likes of Baabal Maal, Bombino, CéU or Fumaça Preta.
Of course, there were quite too many good musicians and artists who left this world in 2016. But their music is alive and well, and we'll keep tuning in.
Enjoy the music and best musical wishes for 2017.
Top 50 albums of 2016
(in no specific order, and there's actually 52)
Agnes Obel Citizen Of Glass PIAS
Anakronic Electro Orkestra, David Krakauer Anakronic / Krakauer Balagan Box
Angel Olsen My Woman Jagjaguwar
ANOHNI Hopelessness Secretly Canadian
Arnaud Rebotini & Christian Zanési Frontieres Blackstrobe Records / !K7 Records
Baaba Maal The Traveller Marathon Artists
The Besnard Lakes A Coliseum Complex Museum Jagjaguwar
Black Mountain IV Jagjaguwar
Bombino Azel Partisan Records
Bon Iver 22, A Million Jagjaguwar
Brian Eno The Ship Warp
Cass McCombs Mangy Love Anti-
CéU Tropix Urban Jungle Records
David Bowie Blackstar ISO/Columbia
DIIV Is the Is Are Captured Tracks
DJ Shadow The Mountain Will Fall Mass Appeal Recordings
Drake Views Young Money/Cash Money/Republic
Dylan LeBlanc Cautionary Tale Single Lock Records
The Field The Follower Kompakt
Field Music Commontime Memphis Industries
Fiona Brice Postcards From Bella Union
Frank Ocean Blonde Boys Don't Cry
Fumaça Preta Impuros Fanáticos Soundway Records
Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura Band Havana Club Rumba Sessions Brownswood Recordings
Hiss Golden Messenger Heart Like a Levee Merge Records
Jack Garratt Phase Island
Jamie Lidell Building a Beginning Jalulin
Joan As Police Woman & Benjamin Lazer Davis Let It Be You Reveal Records
Kendrick Lamar untitled unmastered. Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope
La Femme Mystere Born Bad Records
Lambchop Flotus City Slang
Leonard Cohen You Want It Darker Columbia
M83 Junk Naive
Marissa Nadler Strangers Bella Union
Mark Pritchard Under The Sun Warp
Max Jury Max Jury Marathon Artists
Metronomy Summer 08 Because Music
Money Suicide Songs Bella Union
Neko Case, k.d. lang and Laura Veirs case/lang/veirs Anti-
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree Bad Seed
Nicolas Jaar Sirens Other People
Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm Trance Frendz Erased Tapes
Pavo Pavo Young Narrator in the Breakers Bella Union
PJ Harvey The Hope Six Demolition Project Island
Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool XL Recordings
Ray LaMontagne Ouroboros RCA
Sonzeira Tam Tam Tam Reimagined Brownswood Recordings
Steve Hauschildt Strands Kranky
Tricky Skilled Mechanics False Idols / !K7
Wilco Schmilco Anti-
William Tyler Modern Country Merge Records
Woodkid & Nils Frahm Ellis Erased Tapes
The Weeknd Starboy XO/Republic
Check some tracks on Spotify.
