Best music of 2016...so far

We're at the halfway mark of 2016, and it has already proven to be one of the most surprising years for music in recent memory.

In the first six months we've heard long-awaited releases from Beyoncé, Kanye West, Rihanna and David Bowie, and been surprised by offerings from Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar. Musicians like The 1975, Ariana Grande and M83 all finally emerged from the studio with different takes on the pop landscape.

So much interesting music means it's easy to miss some top-notch stuff. So here's my list of the year's best albums so far. I can't imagine what the second half of the year will hold.

Best albums of the year so far (arranged alphabetically) 

1. Why Are You OK - Band of Horses 

2. Lemonade - Beyonce

 

3. In My Mind - BJ The Chicago Kid

4. The Colour in Anything - James Blake

5. Teens of Denial - Car Seat Headrest 

6. Coloring Book - Chance The Rapper

7. Turn to Gold - Diarrhea Planet

8. Sept. 5th - dvsn

9. Ology - Gallant 

10. Goodness - The Hotelier

11. Standards - Into It. Over It.

12. untitled unmastered. - Kendrick Lamar

13. Cleopatra - The Lumineers

14.  Pennied Days - Night Moves

15. i like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it - The 1975

16. Malibu – Anderson .Paak

17.  Cardinal - Pinegrove 

18. White Hot Moon - Pity Sex

19. A Moon Shaped Pool - Radiohead 

20. The Heart Speaks in Whispers - Corinne Bailey Rae

21. Anti - Rihanna 

22. A Sailor's Guide to Earth - Sturgill Simpson

23. Love You To Death - Tegan and Sara

24. The Life of Pablo - Kanye West 

25. Still Brazy - YG

And song of the year so far goes to...

Album of the Week: Tobias Jesso Jr. Goon

You don't hear piano as the lead instrument much these days.

For a while there, Coldplay and Keane were the lead ambassadors of the notion that the piano is still a viable rock instrument, but Coldplay transitioned to the guitar and string sounds championed by U2, and Keane…well, I'm not sure what happened to Keane.

There was a time in the 50s and 60s when the piano was the primary songwriting instrument (hell, it might still be, I'm no musician) for some truly, truly classic songs.

Tobias Jesso Jr. would have fit right in during that era, but on his debut album, Goon, he manages to create music that feels both of its time, and timeless.

Jesso channels a variety of classic rock songwriters on Goon, from Carole King and Harry Nilsson to Jackson Browne and Randy Newman – all writers who were able to produce shimmeringly lovely music from a simple palette. On all but two of the 12 songs on the album, the piano and Jesso's boy-next-door voice are front and center, and he sings with an untrained earnestness that marked so much of the aforementioned artists' best work.

Jesso knows how to push his voice when he wants to – check out the way his comes this close to breaking near the end of "How Could You Babe" as he pleads for understanding from a former flame.

The man is staggeringly capable of writing a hook – "Can We Still Be Friends" has a King piano line that is immediately accessible and infectious, and Jesso pairs it with his best young Paul McCartney plea. "Leaving LA" is another impossibly catchy piano-driven number that quietly builds to a gorgeous choral climax.

"The Wait" and album closer "Tell The Truth" prove that Jesso is as skilled on the guitar as he is on the piano - both are incredibly catchy finger-picked acoustic numbers that sound like they could've come from either Browne or James Taylor in their heydays.

Jesso isn't a complete throwback artist, however, and while he certainly embraces the pop stylings from the 60s, he isn't afraid to bring his own flourishes to the songs.

On "Hollywood" Jesso manages to channel both Newman and Death Cab for Cutie's "Why You'd Want to Live Here" without any of the expected bitterness. It's just him and his piano, singing like he's the only guy in some dive bar on the strip, about to give up on Los Angeles and crawl away. When he brings the horns in at the end of the song, they bleat and blare like they're the first line is his shambling pity parade. There's a little bit of Radiohead in the way the horns cut across Jesso's piano – it's wildly emotive without using any words.

"Crocodile Tears" is hilarious, tongue-in-cheek ode to a ball-breaker who leaves him in ruins that features the best Elton John piano-work this side of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the electric guitars are straight out of a George Harrison solo – a little strange at first, but it completely fits the song.

Looking back at what I've written so far, you've probably noticed how much I'm referencing other artists in this piece. This could lead you to think if you're already fans of the source material, there's no need to sample Goon. And that's wrong.

Perhaps the most impressive feat on this simple gem of an album is the way Jesso manages to funnel all these influences through his lovesick worldview. He sounds like the young man he is, wiser than his years, but still dumb enough to keep falling in love with the wrong people. In time – one hopes – he'll learn wisdom, but as Goon ably proves, he's further ahead than most.

Goon is out on True Panther Sounds.

Album of the Week: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Chasing Yesterday

Noel Gallagher is one grumpy sod.

He's a well-documented grumbler, taking shots at everyone from his brother Liam to artistsof all stripes, and at 47 he doesn't show any signs of stopping (check out this interview Rolling Stone if you doubt me).

That was fine, funny even, during Oasis' early run, when the band churned out three fantastic albums in a row, but as their quality steadily dipped – leading to their eventual dissolution in 2009 – his braggadocio started sounding much more like bitterness. Nostalgia has always been a key part of the sound he helped create with Oasis, and their influences run the classic rock gamut – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, a little Kinks and some Stone Roses thrown in for good measure.

All of this makes Chasing Yesterday the perfect title for Gallagher's second solo effort as Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – in a way, this is a pursuit he's always been on, whether he wanted to admit it or not. And while he isn't shy about flaunting his influences on the album, he's expanded his sound and stepped (for a time) away from the arena rock he has down pat.

Gallagher brings out the Beatles references early – the first lyrics on opener "Riverman" are "There's something in the way she moves me to distraction" – like he's trolling the listener and critics alike. If anyone is going to bring up the Beatles, he seems to be saying, he's going to do it first. It's a self-aware move that shows, to me anyway, a bit of Gallagher's sense of humor about how he's perceived. Or, it could be because he really loves "Something" – who doesn't, after all?

The best song here is the album's second track, "In the Heat of the Moment." The song channels everything Oasis did best – the catchy riff and the chorus that just about begs to be shouted out at the top of your lungs. It's classic in the best sense of the word, because he adds some flair that you'd never have heard on an Oasis track before – ringing bells and female backing vocals that add a bit of doo-wop to the vibe.

I've always been a sucker for Oasis' slow songs, and Gallagher delivers a lovely little ballad with "The Dying of the Light," a song that name-checks the famous Dylan Thomas poem over a tinkling piano line and acoustic guitars straight out of "Wonderwall."

Perhaps the most complete culmination of Gallagher's influences comes on "While the Song Remains the Same." The Zeppelin reference aside, it features some of John Paul Jones' ambient exploration as it unfolds, and more than a bit of Keith Richards' guitar shuffle.                    

Gallagher's tastes have certainly grown in the past few years, or else he's more confident in letting some of his alt-rock leanings show. "The Right Stuff" is cribbed from The Bends era Radiohead, with a little early Coldplay tossed in on the bass line. "Riverman" features a saxophone solo near the end that wouldn't feel out of place on a Pink Floyd album. And "You Know We Can't Go Back" features the same driving beat that helped to make LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends" the best song of the 21^st century. Even if Gallagher doesn't write lyrics with half the wit and heartbreak James Murphy does, it's still an immediately infectious song that gets into your head and just rattles around there.

Gallagher isn't exactly breaking the mold with Chasing Yesterday, but he's also not content to make the same sounding song over and over. There aren't many artists willing to explore new sources and sonics looking down the barrel of 50, and even if the results don't always soar, it is refreshing to hear Gallagher give it a go. He has yesterday firmly in hand – now he needs to go after tomorrow.

Chasing Yesterday is out on Sour Mash