1. David Bowie: Blackstar
The year began with the sound of David Bowie, sounding as alien and inventive as he ever had. The mysterious and wondrous title track that opened his new album, “Blackstar,” arrived first in the form of a 10-minute video — a beautiful science-fiction film in miniature, really. Bowie, who was as famous for transforming his look as he was for transforming his sound, appeared in the new video with one of his most haunting guises. A swath of fabric resembling a bandage or part of a mummy’s wrapping was wound around his head, covering the eyes. Buttons substituted for the eyes, like blind dots drawn on the face of a blind man. Halfway through the epic song, Bowie sang:
Something happened on the day he died
Spirit rose a meter and stepped aside
Somebody else took his place, and bravely cried:
I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar…
And then of course, just two days after the album Blackstar was released, Bowie died of cancer. The news was a surprising shock, and it cast the Blackstar album in a new light. Suddenly, that record, which I’d already find beguiling, read like Bowie’s farewell note to the world. “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” he sang in another song, “Lazarus.” Bowie didn’t sound alien so much as he sounded angelic. His death — and the outpouring of grief and tributes from his fans — set the tone for a year that was filled with mourning. Many noted public figures passed away, including the musical icons Prince and Leonard Cohen as well as many other great talents — the death of Sharon Jones hit me particularly hard.
Truth be told, I set aside Blackstar for several months after Bowie’s death. When I returned it later in the year, it sounded otherworldly and timeless — an art-rock masterwork — but also the perfect soundtrack for this strange and unsettling year. It’s my choice for my favorite album of the year. And for once, my No. 1 album is a front-runner in the critical sweepstakes (judging from Rob Mitchum’s spreadsheet compiling various publications’ “album of the year” lists).
davidbowie.com
2. Cate Le Bon: Crab Day
This Welsh-born singer-songwriter’s record masterfully mixes twitchy guitar riffs, herky-jerky krautrock rhythms and Kurt Weill-esque cabaret tunes into her own distinctive music. The way Le Bon sings the curious chorus “I’m a dirty attic,” it sounds like both a confession and a defiant proclamation. catelebon.com
dragcity.com
3. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Skeleton Tree
Another album of mourning, this is Cave at his most pensive and soulful, recorded as Cave wrestled with grief in the wake of his teenage son’s death. The film One More Time With Feeling showed Cave and his bandmates at work on this album, documenting its difficult birth. Through this music, Cave seems to be searching for a way to heal his sorrow. Like the best of sad music, somehow it made me feel better to hear it.
nickcave.com
4. PJ Harvey: The Hope Six Demolition Project
Harvey continues evolving as an artist, taking her sound in new directions as she addresses the world with socially and politically conscious lyrics inspired by trips to Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, D.C. The arrangements — recorded during a residency where visitors observed the sessions through one-way glass — sound as if they’re built around the quirky phrasings of how Harvey sings her words. And when the backup singers chime in, the tunes take on the rousing power of protest anthems and gospel numbers.
pjharvey.net
5. Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool
It would be a strange thing for Radiohead to release an album and for me not to include it in my top 10. Simply put, Radiohead has been one of the world’s best rock bands — and one of my favorites — for many years now. I’m not sure that the group broke much new ground with this record, but it continued creating the sort of melancholic and mysterious music I’ve come to expect from Radiohead. It’s artful and haunting.
radiohead.com
6. The Flat Five: It’s a World of Love and Hate
One of my favorite live acts in Chicago finally got around to making a record, and it was delightfully odd — and just plain delightful. (Read my album review.)
theflatfivechicago.com
bloodshotrecords.com
7. Robbie Fulks: Upland Stories
This Chicago country and folk musician — so damn talented as a guitarist, singer, songwriter and raconteur — followed up his fantastic 2013 album Gone Away with another superb collection. It’s a wonderful distillation of what he does best: telling stories filled with wisdom, humor and distinct characters, each sketch just a few minutes long, but so memorable and melodic. (I was present at the Hideout when this video of “Alabama at Night” was recorded, and you can see me near the end, clapping in the audience.)
robbiefulks.com
bloodshotrecords.com
8. Charles Bradley: Changes
This soul singer, whose success as a recording artist came late in his life, opens his latest album with a spoken monologue, calling himself “a brother that came from the hard licks of life” and proclaiming that America, for all its faults, “represents love for all humanity and the world.” That leads into a short version of “God Bless America,” setting the tone for the rest of the album. Bradley pours everything he’s got into these powerful tunes. On Oct. 4, the 67-year-old Bradley announced that doctors had discovered a cancerous tumor in his stomach, forcing him to cancel a concert tour. Let’s hope he gets the medical care he needs and keeps making music.
thecharlesbradley.com
daptonerecords.com
9. Jeff Parker: The New Breed
The rhythms, textures and arrangements on this record set it apart from the other jazz music I’ve heard. Parker, a guitarist and composer who’s also a member of the experimental rock band Tortoise, creates intriguing sonic landscapes here. The album features bassist and recording engineer Paul Bryan (known for his work with Aimee Mann), saxophonist Josh Johnson and drummer Jamire Williams, with Parker’s daughter Ruby Parker singing on one song. It feels like a story is unfolding over the course of these songs, something like the soundtrack to a film with shifting images of a city. At least, that’s what runs through my mind.
jeffparkersounds.com
intlanthem.com
10. Twin Peaks: Down In Heaven
These young Chicagoans are a rock band in the truest sense of the term — trading off lead vocals, piling on the guitar riffs and other musical flourishes, and writing catchy songs that hark back to the classics of the 1960s. They do it all with exuberance and smarts.
twinpeaksdudes.com
Runners-up
Angel Olsen, My Woman
Horse Lords, Interventions
Kevin Morby, Singing Saw
Oh Boland, Spilt Milk
Teenage Fanclub, Here
Drive-By Truckers, American Band
case/lang/veirs, case/lang/veirs
Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
Lydia Loveless, Real
Ryley Walker, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
Wussy, Forever Sounds
Big Thief, Masterpiece
Mekons, Existentialism
Ultimate Painting, Dusk
Wilco, Schmilco
Mitski, Puberty 2
M. Ward, More Rain
Chivalrous Amoekons, Fanatic Voyage
Whitney, Light Upon the Lake
Teletype, Spontaneity
Chook Race, Around the House
Black Mountain, IV
Bonnie Prince Billy, Pond Scum
Kitchen’s Floor, Battle of Brisbane
Cross Record, Wabi-Sabi
Colin Stetson, Sorrow: A Reimagining of Góreckis 3rd Symphony
Henryk Górecki, Symphony No. 4: Tansman Episodes
Eric Bachmann, Eric Bachmann
Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker
Lucinda Williams, The Ghosts of Highway 20
The Handsome Family, Unseen
Those Pretty Wrongs, Those Pretty Wrongs
Waco Brothers, Going Down in History
Fruit Bats, Absolute Loser
Car Seat Headrest, Teens of Denial
Savages, Adore Life
Michael Kiwanuka, Love & Hate
Eleanor Friedberger, New View
Freakwater, Scheherazade
Thee Oh Sees, A Weird Exits
Zerodent, Zerodent
Klaus Johann Grobe, Spagat der Liebe
Steve Gunn, Eyes on the Lines
Doug Tuttle, It Calls on Me
Bob Mould, Patch the Sky
Chance the Rapper, Coloring Book
John Prine, For Better, Or Worse
Konono N°1 and Batida, Konono N°1 meets Batida
Morgan Delt, Phase Zero
Bad Sports, Living With Secrets
Rob Mazurek & Emmett Kelly, Alien Flower Sutra
Guided By Voices, Please Be Honest