2016 was fucking grim. A series of catastrophic reversals punctuated by obituaries and scandal. The illuminati aren’t just at the gates, they’re on your timeline, messing with your preferences and compromising your history. Any minute now, they could autoplay into song, and music — final form of fashion in an age of noise, icon generator, always more than music — becomes another means of normalization, hard-limiting subjectivity, and sidechaining choice.
The cover artist’s response: sometimes static, sometimes fluid. A little ironic, but not as much as you’d think. An incision into life. A mute commentary that sniggers with echo. A confused ecstasy that comes from living in worlds beyond the reach of our icons and our experts, our snowflakes and our followed. Something so absurd it makes sense of our failure, glorifying it without dignity, framing it within elegant, anxious networks of ambiguity and falsehood. Something alien, distant, opulent, and inconsolate.
A matter of texture and transcription. A matter of laughter in the face of hope. A matter of woke excess. A matter for this list to organize, in fact.
20
Cherushii - Manic
Artist: Sabrina May
[Self-Released]
19
Jonny Trunk - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Artist: Liam Sparkes & John Morgan
[Trunk]
18
Golden Living Room - Post-Internet
Artist: Michael Green
[Phinery]
17
The Caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time
Artist: Ivan Seal
[History Always Favours The Winners]
16
Drake - Summer Sixteen
Artist: Filip Pagowski
[OVO Sound]
15
Blood Stereo / Hair & Treasure - Split LP
Artist: Karen Constance
[Discrepant]
14
DJWWWW - Arigato
Artist: Keith Rankin
[Orange Milk]
13
James Ferraro - Human Story 3
Artist: James Ferraro
[Self-Released]
12
Josephine Foster - No More Lamps In The Morning
Artist: Jove
[Fire]
11
NV - Binasu
Artist: Keith Rankin
[Orange Milk]
10
Jake Tobin - Sorta Upset!
Artist: Jake Tobin, Kevin Mahoney, and Ben Mendelewicz
[Haord]
09
DJ Khaled - Major Key
Artist: Jonathan Mannion
[Epic]
08
Aesop Rock - The Impossible Kid
Artist: Alex Pardee
[Rhymesayers]
07
Form A Log / Moth Cock - Split LP
Artist: Samuel Nigrosh
[Hausu Mountain]
06
James Horner - Aliens OST
Artist: Curtis Godino
[Mondo]
05
Mr DougDoug - These Magical Numbers
Artist: Doug Kaplan
[Self-Released]
04
eMMplekz - Lath for Lath’s Sake / Not Actual Game Footage
Artist: Jaye Ho
[Mordant Music]
03
Babyfather - BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow
Artist: Optigram (design) / Dean Blunt (concept)
[Hyperdub]
02
James Blake - The Colour In Anything
Artist: Sir Quentin Blake
[Polydor]
01
Father - I’m A Piece Of Shit
Artist: Max Reyes
[Awful]