AAAAAAAAAAAAAND WE’RE BACK. Another 12 months slipped away, and what a 12 months they were. Did you guys catch that election? What about that Dr. Phil interview with Shelley Duvall? Boy, we are truly in it now aren’t we!? Well, whatever your stance is on the happenings of 2016, surely we can all agree that it’s been SOME kind of year, not just another snoozer like 2015 or 2014. Nope, we got shook this year, for better or for worse (IMHO: worse), and like every other internet blogazine purging up content, it’s time to make sense of what the shit just happened. So buckle up, apply some listening powder to your ears, and get ready for TMT’s 2016 Year-End Listicle Bonanza.
Of course, if you’ve spent any amount of time reading this site (and if you haven’t, I promise we usually sound smarter than this), you know that eclecticism is the soul of what we do. Meaning, we can’t agree on ANYTHING. So, instead of foisting you with some faux-consensus-bastard-child numbered list of songs, we’ve whipped up five themed mixes collecting some of our favorite head spaces of the year: We’ve got fist-bumpers for your next rally at the GYM. We procured keys to help you unlock the VOID. We caught bruises walking through the ALLEY. We took snapshots from our family vacation to the CLIFF. And we found the real moments shredding our vocal cords out the COUPE. Just like that — no false hierarchies, just good clean fun.
If it’s a bit much to take in, don’t worry: we’ve got a very numbered list of albums coming just around the corner, several essays here and there, our favorite labels, cool music videos, and MORE. 2016 is over, baby. It’s all downhill from here!
PART 1: “GYM” mixed by C Monster
Jessy Lanza
“VV Violence”
[Hyperdub]
“VV Violence” is an angry song. But like anger, it can’t help but fall to idle bemusement. It cuts and cuts until it’s numb from cutting. It gestures away from the meeting of faces, where meaning hovers in the periphery escaping apprehension, toward a dancefloor (maybe somewhere in Detroit) where bodies can mix without error in interpretation. Its motor might be violence, but it moves along with an attitude approaching indifference, with flashes even of ecstasy. My favorite pop song of a year marked by its very own serendipity and fury, it reminds us that dancing in a loud room and fighting to be heard don’t have to be divided labors.
Sicko Mobb
“Expensive Taste (feat. Jeremih)”
[Self-Released]
The RISD-grad brutalist humorist collagists, known for their bludgeoning avant scrapes and boinks, spilled beer all over their homemade PC and came up with a freaking artbro anthem. A sexy revving-your-motorcycle intro with space alien sound effects; an electronic Lego-block rock groove, a layer of twang and yogurty Pere Ubu/Louie Louie vocals, followed by a proper ass-kicking guitar riff — the hell? A detuned victory lap fanfare glazed with weirdo counterpoint saw them off into a green and magenta sunset.
Click to the next page to hear the “VOID” mix by Alex Brown.