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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2016. Our next list is from DJ Mike Bennett. As per usual, there was more great music out in 2016 than anyone would have the time to listen to. I voraciously checked out tons of stuff, listening to roughly 180 new albums during this year. In particular, this was a tremendous year for the Chicago hip hop and R & B scene, with Chance The Rapper at the center of a marvelous musical universe that included Joey Purp, Jamila Woods, Eryn Allen Kane, Saba, Vic Mensa and others. As we transition from the Obama years to the horrors of Trump, music will serve as a balm, an escape, an agitator, and, most importantly, a motivator. I hope 2017 is brimming over with more delights. |
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2016. Our next list is from volunteer Al Gabor.
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by Eddie Sayago
By now, you have heard “Santa Baby” (either Eartha Kitt or Kylie Minogue, or heaven forbid, that version by Madonna) for the 300th time. You may be one of those unfortunate souls who have holiday songs piped in from speakers at the office or during your late-night shift at a chain store. These five songs are a break from listening to another lesser version of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” that’s playing on the all-holiday station right now. No one is ever going to come close to Brenda Lee in that department, and I wish artists would stop trying.
Special thanks to fellow CHIRP volunteers Craig Reptile, Bradley, and Jenna for your recommendations.
This energetic fusion of late-era disco, calypso, and early electronica was originally featured in a compilation titled A Christmas Record, released by New York-based EZ Records in 1981 that featured their most popular acts. (The album’s most famous track is “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses.) The story behind the artist here is another gift in itself, for Darnell’s life could be another blog or a dozen. A native of the Bronx, Darnell paved the way for club culture and its music to reach the mainstream in the US before moving to the UK, fronting numerous bands and having many identities before giving up the lifestyle and settling down.
Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2016. Our next list is from DJ and blog editor Tyler Clark. I think most of us are in agreement that 2016 sucked shit (which also happens to be the name of my band's forthcoming single). It's a sentiment that's been so widespread for so much of this calendar year that it's even spawned its own thinkpieces, but even the recognition of our collective hyperbole doesn't change the fact that this year was pretty beastly. Even if you limit yourself to the year in music, you have to contend with not only the deaths of David Bowie and Prince and Sharon Jones and Leonard Cohen, but also Paul Kantner and George Martin and Ralph Stanley and Rudy Van Gelder and Leon Russell and Mose Allison and Greg Lake and all those doomed DIYers at Ghost Ship and... I'll stop now, but not because I've run out of terrible things to rehash. Rather, I'll stop because you get my meaning, because if you're reading this when it's published, that means you've lived through the past 348 shitty days, too, and you know that the worst parts of them extend way beyond losing the guy who wrote "Raspberry Beret." We're in some dark days, but that doesn't mean there weren't pinpricks of light here and there. They've made lists of those, too, and they'll make you feel a little better for a few minutes. If you're a music fan, so will the stunning records that came out this year. Maybe I'm just looking for a silver lining, but 2016 definitely feels, in complete spite of itself, like the best year for music that we've had in quite a while. That's not a huge consolation, geopolitical realities considered, but it's something, and I'll take something over nothing every time. Check out my Top Ten, and see if you agree. |