- Air Protection Office – Escaping Distances (Ekar)
- Autolux – Pussy’s Dead (30th Century)
- Devendra Barnhart – Ape In Pink Marble (Nonesuch)
- Juliana Barwick – Will (Dead Oceans)
- Jherek Bischoff – Cistern (Leaf)
- Black Marble – It’s Immaterial (Ghostly International)
- Botany – Deepak Verbena (Western Vinyl)
- City Yelps – The City Yelps Half Hour (Emotional Response)
- Chris Cohen – As If Apart (Captured Tracks)
- Cross Record – Wabi Sabi (Ba Da Bing)
- Cube – My Cube (Left Hand Path)
- Essaie Pas – Demain Est Une Autre Nuit (DFA)
- Exploded View – s/t (Sacred Bones)
- Gaslamp Killer – Instrumentalepathy (Cuss)
- The Hecks – s/t (Trouble In Mind)
- Higher Authorities – Neptune (Domino)
- Marielle V Jakobsons – Star Core (Thrill Jockey)
- Damien Jurado – Visions Of Us On The Land (Secretly Canadian)
- Kikagaku Moyo – House In The Tall Grass (Guruguru Brain)
- Klaus Johann Grobe – Spagat der Liebe (Trouble In Mind)
- Mary Lattimore – At The Dam (Ghostly International)
- Cate Le Bon – Crab Day (Drag City)
- Lithics – Borrowed Floors (Water Wing)
- Morgan Delt – Phase Zero (Sub Pop)
- Naked Lights – On Nature (Castle Face)
- Nonkeen – The Gamble (R&S)
- Omni – Deluxe (Trouble In Mind)
- Plaid – The Digging Remedy (Warp)
- Powell – Sport (XL)
- Mark Pritchard – Under The Sun (Warp)
- Public Memory – Wuthering Drum (Felte)
- Say No! To Architecture – s/t (Ghosthunter’s Club)
- Sonny & The Sunsets – Moods Baby Moods (Polyvinyl)
- Space Dimension Controller – Orange Melamine (Ninja Tune)
- Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Ears (Western Vinyl)
- Takenobu – Reversal (s/r)
- Thor & Friends – s/t (LM Dupli-Cation)
- Tobacco – Sweatbox Dynasty (Ghostly International)
- Vanishing Twin – Choose Your Own Adventure (Soundway)
- 10th Letter – The Revenge (Psych Army Intergalactic)
Reissues/Compilations
- Bocal 5 – Musique Électronique (Dark Entries)
- Ahmed Malek – Musique Originale De Films (Habibi Funk)
- Pedro Santos – Krishnanda (Mr. Bongo)
- Various Artists – (The Microcosm) Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 (Light In The Attic)
- Various Artists – Sky Girl (Efficient Space)
- Various Artists – So-Low (Vinyl Factory)
- Various Artists – Tanbou Toujou Lou: Meringue, Kompa Kreyol, Vodou Jazz, & Electric Folklore from Haiti 1960 – 1981 (Ostinato)
- Various Artists – Venezuela 70: Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth: Venezuelan Experimental Rock In The 1970s (Soundway)
Best Live Performances of 2016
- Lupe Fiasco – Mezzanine, 1/20
- Chicano Batman – The Independent, 1/23
- FKJ – The Regency Ballroom, 3/26
- Bombino – The Independent, 4/23
- Four Tet – Mezzanine, 5/6
- Gold Panda – The Independent, 8/25
- Kendrick Lamar – FYF Fest, 8/27
- LCD Soundsystem – FYF Fest, 8/28
- Kamasi Washington – Outside Lands, 8/6
- Fantastic Negrito – Outside Lands, 8/7
- Shiba San – Symbiosis Gathering, 9/23
- Hundred Waters – Symbiosis Gathering, 9/25
- Gaslamp Killer – Symbiosis Gathering, 9/25
- DJ Shadow – 1015, 9/30
- James Blake – Fox Theater, 10/17
- Kishi Bishi – The Filmorek 10/21
- Samora Pinderhughes – The Way Church, 11/21
- Rising Appalachia w/ Arouna Diarra, Dustin Thomas – Great American Music Hall 11/26
- ESP – Brix 581, 12/23
- Justice – The Armory, 12/31
Top 20 Songs for 2016 (in no particular order)
- Holyesque – “St.” At Hope’s Ravine (Beyond the Frequency)
- Hinds – “Castigadas En El Granero” Leave Me Alone (Mom + Pop)
- Coathangers – “Perfume” Nosebleed Weekend (Suicide Squeeze)
- Parquet Courts – “One Man No City” Human Performance (Rough Trade)
- Goon Sax – “Boyfriend” Up To Anything (Chapter)
- Deerhoof – “Plastic Thrills” The Magic (Polyvinyl)
- Tacocat – “The Internet” Lost Time (Hardly Art)
- Esme Patterson – “Feel Right” We Were Wild (Grand Jury)
- Pookie and the Poodlez – “Gonna Make Him Mine Tonight” Young Adult (Southpaw)
- Mitski – “Your Best American Girl” Puberty 2 (Dead Oceans)
- Seratones – “Sun” Get Gone (Fat Possum)
- Sofi Tukker – “Drinkee” Soft Animals (Heavy Roc Music)
- Weaves – “One More” Weaves (Kanine)
- Lisa Prank – “Best of Everything” Adult Teen (Father/Daughter)
- Death By Unga Bunga – “I Wanted Everything” Fight! (Jansen)
- Heron Oblivion – “Beneath Fields” Heron Oblivion (Subpop)
- Sneaks – “Tough Luck” Gymnastics (Merge)
- LVL UP – “Hidden Driver” Return To Love (Sub Pop)
- Baronial Hall – “Compartment D” Single (soundcloud)
- Whitney – “No Woman” Light Upon the Lake (Rough Trade)
Top 10 Albums Of 2016
- Foodman – Ez Minzoku (Orange Milk)
- /f – The Fourth Bully (Psalmus Diuersae)
- Babyfather – “BBF” Hosted by DJ Escrow (Hyperdub)
- Yves Tumor – Serpent Music (PAN)
- James Ferraro – Human Story 3 (SCM-01)
- Lolina – Live in Paris (Unknown)
- The Nativist – Various Options (Paxico)
- Huerco S. – For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also For Those Who Have) (Proibito)
- Macula Dog – Why Do You Look Like Your Dog? (Wharf Cat)
- Russell E.L. Butler – Visions of the Future (Jacktone)
Favourite Releases of 2016 in alphabetical order
- Kristine Barrett – Ancestors (s/r)
- Jherek Bischoff – Cistern (Leaf)
- The Body / Full Of Hell – One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (Neurot)
- Shirley Collins – Lodestar (Domino)
- Common Eider King Eider – Extinction (Cold Spring)
- Faun Fables – Born of the Sun (Drag City)
- Fovea Hex – The Salt Garden I (Die Stadt / Janet)
- Free Salamander Exhibit – Undestroyed (Web of Mimicry)
- FRKSE – Desecration Anxiety I (Auris Apothecary)
- Henryk Górecki – Symphony No. 4, “Tansman Episodes” (Nonesuch)
- Kristin Hersh – Wyatt at the Coyote Palace (Omnibus Press)
- Hypnopazūzu – Create Christ, Sailor Boy (House of Mythology)
- Marielle V. Jakobsons – Star Core (Thrill Jockey)
- Andrew Liles – A Million Infant Breaths (Dirter)
- Matmos – Ultimate Care II (Thrill Jockey)
- Mini-Mekons & Robbie Fulks – Jura (Bloodshot)
- Marissa Nadler – Strangers (Sacred Bones)
- Sarah Neufeld – The Ridge (Paper Bag)
- Nurse With Wound – Dark Fat (United Jnana)
- So Beast – Kira (Time Sensitive Materials)
- The Stargazer’s Assistant – Remoteness of Light (House of Mythology)
- Thor & Friends – S/T (LM Duplication)
- Emily Wells – Promise (Thesis + Instinct)
- Emily Jane White – They Moved In Shadow All Together (Talitres)
- Worm Ouroboros – What Graceless Dawn (Profound Lore)
Favourite Reissues
- Carla Bozulich – Red Headed Stranger (Folktale)
- Tor Lundvall – Nature Laughs As Time Slips By (Dais)
- Colin Potter – The Scythe (Deep Distance)
- Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Grand Opening & Closing / …of Natural History / In Glorious Times (Blood Music)
Favourite Small Things
- Anne Briggs – Four Songs (Fledg’ling Records)
- Contrastate – True Believer / The 10/40 Window (Dirter)
- Grouper – Paradise Valley (Yellow Electric)
- Tele Novella – Heavy Balloon (Yellow Year)
2016 Albums That Rocked Her World In Strict Alphabetical Order
- A Tribe Called Quest – We got it from Here…Thank you 4 your Service (Epic)
- Acid Arab – Musique de France (Crammed Discs)
- Laurie Anderson – Heart of a Dog (Nonesuch)
- Aphex Twin – Cheetah EP (Warp)
- Julianna Barwick – Will (Dead Oceans)
- Blood Orange – Freetown Sound (Domino)
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree (Kobalt)
- Patrick Cowley – Muscle Up (Dark Entries)
- De La Soul – And the Anonymous Nobody (AOI)
- Deerhoof – The Magic (Polyvinyl)
- DJ Katapila – Trotro (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
- Carolina Eyck – Fantasias for Theremin and String Quartet (Butterscotch)
- Feels – s/t (Castle Face)
- Flamingods – Majesty (Soundway)
- Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch (Sacred Bones)
- Julie Ruin – Hit Reset (Hardly Art)
- Helen Money – Become Zero (Thrill Jockey)
- Roy Montgomery – R M H Q: Headquarters (Grapefruit)
- Moon Hooch – Red Sky (Hornblow)
- Tig Notaro – Boyish Girl Interrupted (Secretly Canadian)
- Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression (Loma Vista)
- Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (XL)
- Kurt Stenzel – Jodorowsky’s Dune (Cinewax)
- Tobacco – Sweatbox Dynasty (Ghostly International)
- Tuxedomoon & Cult With No Name – Blue Velvet Revisited (Crammed Discs)
- White Lung – Paradise (Domino)
- Wrekmeister Harmonies – Light Falls (Thrill Jockey)
- V/A – Gays Hate Techno 2.0 (s/r)
- V/A – The Get Down (RCA)