Animal Flag - Everything Will Be Okay: An improvement, but not as good as their newest.

Animal Flag - Flood of Sunlight: Glad I listened to the newest album first because I might have otherwise tuned out.

Ryan Allen - Basement Punk: I think we have a difference of opinion on both punk and basement.

52 Hertz - Demo/Somnolence/Twosome: Mostly forgettable but not worthless alternative(?) rock.

Neil Young - Peace Trail: I could get behind more of this.

You Blew It! - 2016 - Abendrot: '90s emo lives!

Wovenhand - Star Treatment: Always worth a listen.

Jack White - Acoustic Recordings: What a great collection.

Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat To Earth: A little slow moving for where I was at the time.

Watsky - x Infinity: Keep making music please.

Turnstile - Move Thru Me: Unsurprising hardcore. Sometimes that is just fine.

Touche Amore - Stage Four: I always forget about how great they are between album cycles.

Super Unison - Auto: Worth listening to on a regular basis.

Suffocate For Fuck Sake - In My Blood: Cribbing parts of City of Caterpillar and Converge is one way to get my attention.

Somos - First Day Back: Some strong tracks, but the production holds it back a bit.

Solange - Seat At The Table: Could not get into it.

Smoke DZA & Pete Rock: Don'e Smoke Back: Best old-school hip-hop album of 2016?

Sleigh Bells - Jessica Rabbit: How the music industry has changed since they came on the scene. They now sound dated.

Xenia Rubinos - Black Terry Cat: I can skip it.

Rolling Stones - Blue And Lonesome: Wow!

Planes Mistaken For Stars - Prey: Decent return.

Pinegrove - Cardinal: Really surprised this made so many year end lists. Deserving, just surprising.

Papa M - Highway Songs: Sounds like demos to a new Slint album. Please?

Angel Olsen - My Woman: Such an incredibly haunting voice.

Neurosis - Fires Within Fires: Mostly as expected.

Kevin Morby - Singing Saw: Really want to give it a second listen.

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct: Runs too long, but even shorter would not be very interesting to me.

Cass McCombs - Mangy Love: Not sure why I tried.

Leithause and Batmanglij - I Had A Dream: Make more please.

Mikey Erg - Tentative Decisions: Loved this album despite no context for who he is.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years: Play it really loud.

Culture Abuse - Peach: One of the best punk-related albums of 2016.

Common - Black America Again: Musically safe, lyrically adventurous.

Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love: I am not a big funk listener, but this was so good.

Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here: Not familiar with their classic work probably hurt my enjoyment of this.

Youth Funeral - I Would Do It All Again: Screamo is alive and well.

Vanishing Life - Exile/Surveillance: I love Walter, but this is my least favorite project of his.

Two Tongues - Two Tongues Two: What a disappointment, first single aside.

Trash Talk - Tangle: Monotonous.

Teenage Fanclub - Here: On the list of bands I should like based on other's opinions but I struggle to get into.

Strokes - Future Present Past: A return to form was the billing. Not sure I cared the first time around.

Vince Staples - Prima Donna: Not sure I can justify the hype.

Regina Spektor - Remember Us To Life: Not her strongest outing.

Jeff Rosenstock - Worry: Never has album art resembled so closely how I feel listening to the album.

Slaughter Beach, Dog - Welcome: Want more Modern Baseball? Get this now.

John Samson - Winter Wheat: Following Oberst and Price, the singer-songwriter fatigue began to set in.

Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter: Country album of the year.

Preoccupations - Preoccupations: Expecations can tamper with a first listen. Such is the case here.

The Pixies - Head Carrier: Another in the streak of consistency.

Conor Oberst - Ruminations: A slow burner, but ultimately worth it.

Nurse - EP: Still searching for a great modern hardcore band.

Mono - Requiem For Hell: Been a while since a post-rock kept me as engaged as this did.

The Monkees - Good Times!: Calling it a Monkees album seems like a stretch, but calling it good is not.

Microwave - Much Love: More nuanced than their debut.

Paul McCartney - Pure McCartney: A single disc is all that is needed.

Led Zeppelin - The Complete BBC Sessions: Required for fans.

Kings of Leon - WALLS: Continuing their trajectory towards arena, radio-friendly rock.

Joyce Manor - Cody: Their best album yet.

Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues: Another great album.

Gringo Starr - The Sides and In Between: Good in a sea of great this year.

Green Day - Revolution Radio: Not revulationary, but certainly radio friendly. But, still, Green Day is great.

Kevin Devine - Instigator: A few podcasts later and I am fully invested in his music.

Dear Hunter - Act 5: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional: I need to listen to them more. Or all the time.

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition: Hip-hop album of the year.

Bon Iver - 22, A Million: Their time away has allowed me to grow with them sonically.

Beach Slang - A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings: Not sure I get all the hype.

Animal Flag - LP: Looking forward to a lot more.

American Television - Reaction: Great opener for Piebald with a great record.

American Football - LP2: Good enough.

Self Defense Family - Colicky: Post-punk with a definite Joy Division affinity.

Dolly Parton - Pure & Simple: Sounds so genuine, even after all these years.

Okkervil River - Away: Sounds, for the first time, complacent.

Frank Ocean - Blond: Listening to an artist at the top of his craft.

Lydia Loveless - Real: Good, but not worth the hype.

Garrett Klahn - Garrett Klahn: It is not Back and to the Left, but still worth a listen.

Kindling - Everywhere Else: Shoegaze, if that is your thing.

Sam Coomes - Bugger Me: Great beginning but quickly looses steam.

clipping - Splendor & Misery: Space rap opera needs more than one, or two, listens.

AJJ - The Bible 2: Earnest folk-punk that is something above the rest.

Against Me! - Shape Shift With Me: New Wave:White Crosses :: TGDB:SSWM

Wreck and Reference - Indifferent Rivers Romance End: Cool concept, but wears thin quickly.

Hank Wood and the Hammerheads - Stay Home!!: Great punk songs to be heard live.

Various - Hamilton Broadway Cast Recording: Great execution, but hard to keep focus for 2+ hours.

Tragically Hip - Man Machine Poem: Disappointed they broke up, but excited to dig into the back catalog.

Thank You, Scientist - Stranger Heads Prevail: A bit superfluous in places, but they should tour with Kamasi Washington.

Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog: Interesting pedigree but I could not get into it.

Chaim Tennenbaum - Chaim Tannenbaum: Sounds like something out of the '50s.

Son House - Heroes Of The Blues: Blues, to me, is always in the shadow or Robert Johnson, but this is still worth a listen.

Skipjack - A Soundtrack To A Eulogy: Boring, formulaic pop-punk.

Shai Hulud - Just Can't Hate Enough: Always breaking the rule that the singer defines the band.

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Blind Worms, Pious Swine: 12 albums released this year. Can someone make a best of?

Pkew Pkew Pkew - Pkew Pkew Pkef: If fratcore is not a thing already, they just invented it.

Of Montreal - Innocence Reaches: Always worth a listen.

100 Demons - In The Eyes of the Lord: Recommended to me as a fan of early Hatebreed. Did not disappoint.

NOFX - The Decline: Pretty much all I need.

The Lippies - The Lippies: Excellent, relentless modern punk.

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk Given the reverence, I think I need more time with it.

The I.L.Y.s - Scum With Boundaries: Interesting, pop-oriented turn.

Hella - The Devil Isn't Red: Moments of greatness, just not enough of them.

Faintest Idea - Increasing The Minimum Rage: Nope, too much ska for one album.