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The Kansan picks its top 5 albums of the year
KANSAN STAFF
@KansanNews
2016 has been quite the year for music. Throughout the year it seemed like something good released nearly every week, which is why making this list of only five albums was so hard. But after nearly two hours of debate, we narrowed it down to what we believe are the five best albums of 2016. Visit kansan. com to see top-10 lists from individual staff members.
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5. SOLANGE - A SEAT AT THE TABLE
Solange surprised us all with the work of art that is "A Seat at the Table." The songs on the album fit together perfectly, the flow is so smooth that you could continue listening but not realize that you've moved to the next track. Solange provides beautiful vocals over glistening production in each track.
The features are perfect as well, they all seem to work in Solange's favor. Lil Wayne on "Mad" was great for example. She also explores multiple ideas of appreciating blackness as she sings about black people's place in the world and that the music that she is making is to them. All of the work she put into "A Seat at the Table" was clearly shown and much appreciated.
Solange provides beautiful vocals over glistening production."
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4. KANYE WEST - THE LIFE OF PABLO
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What a beautiful mess Kanye West made with this album, in so many different ways. First, it was in the delivery of the album — the delays (one because of Chance the Rapper, according to West), the obscure details leaking on Twitter, then some of those details — including the tracklist — not being correct. West took the sudden release that has become popular in recent years and capitalized off of it, making his fans and music mavens crave every little detail coming from him and his camp.
As for the music itself, "Ultralight Beam" is a masterpiece, and one of West's best-released tracks. Yet some other tracks, namely "Father Stretch My Hands" and "FML," are some of the sloppiest, least-produced tracks in all of West's discography. And that's fitting, considering 2016 was exactly that kind of year for West as well - haphazard and sporadic, yet still utterly astounding.
West was already a star before 2016, his every move followed, but the way he rolled out this album — in a way no other album has been rolled out before, with alterations to songs a month after the initial drop put him under a microscope that he had never quite been under before.
3. BON IVER - 22, A MILLION
"22, A Million" is just as bold as it it beautiful. The third and long-awaited LP from Bon Iver went far above what was expected of it. Not only was the album able to showcase the band's multigenre ability, but it also showed how creative and precise it can be with its musical production. The album abandons all the elements of gritty folk music and implements elements of electronic,
EDM, and digital distortion. Though it may well be classified as the years weirdest indie rock project, it's one of 2016's best albums, in both artistic and musical terms.
2. FRANK OCEAN BLOND
Four long years after the revolutionary "Channel Orange," R&B star Frank Ocean finally released "Blond." Words cannot describe the brilliance that went into the release. Ocean's already
AEMISORY
FIRE CARE CORE
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powerful voice matured over the four years it took to create the album, adding to the beautiful piano and wavering guitars. The combination of the dreamlike instrumentals with the smooth voice of Ocean resulted in an ethereal sound. Ocean placed his emotional heart and soul into each track and did what he did best — story-telling.
The combination of the dreamlike instrumentals with the smooth voice of Ocean resulted in an ethereal sound."
Love, loneliness, childhood, all are heard through the emotional ballads; "Ivy" discussing his first love and mistakes made while growing up, to solo in which Ocean bares out his soul, singing about how he feels alone. The smooth, powerful voice of Ocean helped propel the album to not only one of the greatest albums of the year, but arguably the best work the artist has released.
1. A TRIBE CALLED
QUEST - WE GOT IT
FROM HERE... THANK
YOU 4 YOUR SERVICE
Fans waited 18 years for a new A Tribe Called Quest album and never has such a long hiatus been so worth it. "We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service" is arguably the group's best work yet.
On the album they manage to take their original 90s alternative hiphop sound and keep it fully intact whilst adapting their content to today's musical and social landscape. This flawless execution is aided by combining contributions Elton John, Andre 3000, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar. This creative melting pot produces a sound that is new and unique and modern yet so undeniably Tribe.
2016 was a rough year from social and political turbulence, to tragic losses of countless legends including the Tribe's own Phife Dawg and the group's final album is a musical diamond created from the year's immense pressure. Whether we all know it or not, "We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service" was the album that 2016 needed.