On the Right Side of 2016

   I'd rather not focus on the non-musical events of 2016 for this post since, strictly judging the year based on the musical releases, 2016 was a pretty good year.  With the exceptions of the dearly departed Leonard Cohen and Sharon Jones, I only included acts who hadn't appeared on my best of 2014 and 2015 compilations.  This was kinda tough as I had to leave out Angel Olsen's My Woman, but one must abide by some rules.  In the spirit of honoring those who died during the year, I've also re-upped the Bowie tributes, the Leonard Cohen-Patsy Cline-Cat Power compilations, and the Sharon Jones-Detroit Cobras compilation.

   Update: So only 24 hours after posting this, I found out that Bap Kennedy died in early November.  I'll just say he was an underappreciated singer-songwriter from Dublin and let my post on him from five years ago provide a little more depth about him.  RIP Bap.


Disc One

You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen Thousand Mile Night Jonah Tolchin The Soul Of A Man Tom Waits Fast Fuse Blues Paul Burch Two Kids Laura Gibson Snowflake Carl Broemel Days Spent Floating (In The Halfbetween) Okkervil River Dusty Trails (Demo) Lucius Faint Mystery Trixie Whitley Red Moon Whitney Royalty Capes De La Soul Trouble in Here The Frightnrs Put Me Thru  Anderson .Paak Chicken Picken Circuit Des Yeux O Mistress Mine (Clown's Song From Twelfth Night) Paul Kelly Stanley Park Aoife O'Donovan Desperate and Depressed Margo Price Fickle Sun (iii) I'm Set Free Brian Eno

Disc Two

22 Bon Iver Dyin' Bed Maker Kacy & Clayton Light in the House The Cave Singers Temptation M. Ward Okoroba Family Atlantica Firmeza (feat. Rodrigo Campos) Elza Soares I'm Still Here Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Roadside Memorial Allah-Las My Darling, Blue Skies John Doe Georgia Stars case/lang/veirs Lullaby Dori Freeman Number One with a Bullet Freakwater Let Me Get There Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions Squash Squash Blood Orange Clementine Jam Orchestra Baobab Good to Be Back Home Charles Bradley One Way to Pray Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop Tea, Milk & Honey Oh Pep!