40. Hamburger Helper – Watch the Stove

Yes, an April Fool’s joke ended up in my end of the year albums list. But let’s face facts, this thing bangs. Since the rise of social media, businesses, politicians, and other authority figures have tried so hard to earn that sweet meme money that comes from connecting with the youth, with varying degrees of success. And then Hamburger Helper redefined social media marketing forever with their five track mixtape Watch the Stove. Just when everybody was thinking that a social media team would forever be looked at as the “cool” parent that so desperately wants to relate, Hamburger Helper connected with an audience in a way that I never thought possible. The opening track “Feed the Streets” could legitimately be thrown into the middle of a college party playlist, and nobody would notice that it’s a track about cooking beef stroganoff. Hell, “All these haters salty/I’m too seasoned homie” is legitimately a good line. Who knew that a love letter to trap music could come from the most unlikely of places, a meme rap album from a budget seasoning company.

Notable Tracks: Feed the Streets, Hamburger Helper

39. A Day to Remember – Bad Vibrations

A Day to Remember has been making the same album since 2010, a couple of safe rock anthems, a couple of mosh pit tracks with growling vocals, a soft ballad (or two for good measures), and then a track about hating where you are and having trust issues then calling it a day. While stagnation is what made rock music fall to the back of the pack as a music genre over the last decade and a half, I’ll take a rock group sticking to what they know over the terrible pop-punk revival that has made a half-assed effort to come back into the forefront this year. A Day To Remember doesn’t do anything new with Bad Vibrations, but if you liked their efforts in 2009 on Homesick, then like me, you’ll enjoy this victory lap.

Notable Tracks: Justified, Turn Off The Radio, In Florida

38. Futuristic & Devvon Terrell – Coast 2 Coast

NOTE: This album was a 2015 release, but since it came out on Christmas last year, I’m counting it as a 2016 project.

Futuristic is an artist I’m often going back and forth on. He has as much talent as any rising star in hip hop, and he’s made some great work like The Rise which maintained a fine balance of bangers and more personal tracks. Other projects like his more recent As Seen on the Internet feel like a step in the wrong direction which felt much less ambitious by comparison. With that being said, Coast 2 Coast is an incredible collaboration between the Arizona rapper and his counterpart Devvon Terrell. While Terrell tends to occupy a more RnB/pop space, he rises to the challenge and manages to keep up with Futuristic on some of the albums more rap centric tracks (most notably “Sub Me In” and “Uh!”). Coast 2 Coast is a talent show case for the two young artists. While Terrell feels much more diverse throughout this album, Futuristic does well by sticking to his area of expertise with his machine gun delivery and clever, albeit sometimes cheesy, punchlines.

Notable Tracks: Sub Me In, I Want It All, Uh!

37. Koi Child – Koi Child

Australian rap/jazz group Koi Child released their first official album after receiving the assistance of Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. The self-titled album is a spectacle of jazzy beats that range anywhere from psychedelic, chill, to even downright aggressive. Parker’s influence on the album is abundant and clear with the dizzying synth sounds on songs like “Black Panda” and “Wumpa Fruit”. Koi Child is fun, the tracks have attitude, and the delivery of the raps on the album work very well. The one issue I have with Koi Child is the production often drowns out the lyrics, making it difficult to make out what’s being said. All in all, this is an excellent debut album and an intriguing group to come out of the international music scene.

Notable Tracks: Wumpa Fruit, 1-5-9, Black Panda

36. Travis Scott – Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight

(NOTE: I have not listened to Rodeo as of the writing of these comments, I’m aware that most people prefer Rodeo to Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, but I can’t compare the two here.)

I love the dreary, hazy vibe that Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight brings into the hip hop scene. While Scott’s lyrics leave a lot to be desired, the production on this album does a great job of communicating the emotions of uncertainty that he looks to bring out in his lyrics. I think there is a ton of excess on this album that I could definitely do without, and about two dozen too many poorly timed “it’s lit” adlibs, but I often find myself coming back to tracks from Birds because of the stellar production. Birds starts out strong with a Travis Scott intro and Andre 3000 feature on “the ends,” but it loses my interest until the second half of the album with “sweet sweet”. I think that if this album had a little bit of stronger focus, and if Scott spent a little time trimming the fat, we could be looking at a much tighter, stronger album. Songs like “lose,” “goosebumps,” and “pick up the phone,” all do a great job of capturing the feelings of uncertainty that Travis Scott seems to want to portray with this album, but the messaging can get lost on songs like “coordinate” and “beibs in the trap”.

Notable Tracks: the ends, sweet sweet, lose, goosebumps

35. Warpaint – Heads Up

I’m fairly new to Warpaint and their work as of this year, so while I can’t say how Heads Up stacks up with their previous efforts, it’s a highly accessible record for indie-rock enthusiasts. Theresa Wayman’s soothing vocals go well with the often muted guitar chords, subdued drums and steady baselines that make up any given song on this album, tracks like “Dre” and “The Stall” are great examples of this. Warpaint’s clear strength is their ability to develop subtle song, but on several tracks, the group constructs these slow burns of tracks that become fiery payoffs. For the best examples, check out “By Your Side” and “Don’t Let Go”. Warpaint’s approach to fem-fronted rock is catchy and addictive to listen to whether they play it subtle or bring the noise.

Notable Tracks: By Your Side, Don’t Let Go, Dre

34. Bon Iver – 22, A Million

22, A Million is like if you took “Lost in the World” off of My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted, Fantasy and turned it into a whole record. It’s a much more electronic direction than previous Bon Iver efforts, I would say that the risk pays off in some songs (“715 – CR∑∑KS”, and “666 ʇ”) while on other songs it falls flat (“29 #Strafford APTS” and “21 MOON WATER”). Justin Vernon’s experimentation with voice distortion is a great experiment throughout, specifically on “10 d e a t h b r e a s t” and “715 – CR∑∑KS”. I know I’ve already mentioned “715 – CR∑∑KS” twice before, but I can’t get over how great a track this one is. Vernon’s melancholy writing pairs well with the tone of the vocal and the indecisive delivery. All this ties together in a spectacular fashion as Vernon comes to the conclusion that he has lost his faith and feels abandoned by said revelation. 22, A Million is a little too inconsistent to rank high on this list, but when it hits, boy does it deliver.

Notable Tracks: 715 – CR∑∑KS, 10 d e a t h b r e a s t, 666 ʇ

33. Elzhi – Lead Poison

On the surface, it makes sense that a Detroit rapper would release an album titled Lead Poison in relation to water crisis in Flint, Michigan. But rather than being inspired by external events, Elzhi, turned inwards to create this project. In an interview about Lead Poison, Elzhi said “[Lead Posion] was really a representation of me feeling like I was bottling things up inside, which I consider to be poisonous. And the only way I knew how to get it out was through writing; that was my outlet.” The most creative song of the year is “Hello!!!!!!” a nearly five-minute track about an artist’s connection to his listener. He asks us whether we actually listen to the earnest thoughts that musicians put onto their albums, or if it’s nothing more than background noise. As an aspiring writer, I can relate to Elzhi’s thoughts. Will anybody end up reading my work (hell am I the only person that will ever read this sentence?)? Will they only use it for their own benefit to prove an argument, or will they take time to understand my perspective?

Notable Tracks: Medicine Man, Two 16s, Hello!!!!!!

32. Open Mike Eagle – Hella Personal Film Festival

Open Mike Eagle is one of the underground hip hop scene’s best kept secrets. On Hella Personal Film Festival, he teams up with the production of Paul White to put out a sonically light but content dense project. The producer/emcee pairing could not be better on this project, Paul’s eccentric, lo-fi beats work well with Open Mike Eagle’s playful delivery and the unique perspective he brings to hip hop. On “Check to Check” Mike raps over a robotic, fuzzy, beat about the obsessive way modern society lives between each time we check our phones (and the speech to text rap at the end is hysterical). “Smiling” is another entry into this year’s already stacked list of tracks about race relations, but rather than taking the melodramatic approach, Mike covers the small but significant inequality he experiences by interacting with average Americans just for being a black man. For as incredible as this album is, the album loses me on the back half, right around “Protectors of the Heat” and onward. If you like rap that is a little out there in its production and its content, then Open Mike Eagle’s Hella Personal Film Festival is the project for you.

Notable Tracks: Admitting to Endorphin Addition, I Went Outside Today, Check to Check, Smiling (Quirky Race Doc)

31. Regina Spektor – Remember Us to Life

Regina Spektor released Remember Us to Life with little fanfare at the end of September. Much like its release, this album is unassuming, yet confident in its presentation that the music itself was enough advertisement to find its audience. Spektor’s diversity and talent as a songwriter and musician are both plenty evident as she paints vivid imagery throughout the song “Grand Hotel” of this opulent, but intimate setting. Songs like “Small Bill$” and “The Trapper and the Furrier” display some great observational concepts and do a great job of fleshing the idea out to be comparable to thoughtful, modern day parables. Remember Us to Life is another strong entry into an already respectable catalogue for Regina Spektor. If you like clever, thought provoking music that’s also a pleasure to listen to, than Spekor is your gal.

Notable Tracks: Bleeding Heart, Small Bill$, The Trapper and the Furrier