| 2016 started off with a trip to The 9:30 Club, not for a show, but for a retrospective fair. It was fun to see all their memorabilia and to finally check out the backstage and stage itself! Crash Test Dummies and Sonata Arctica came next, early in the year. Getting to hear Moby read from his memoirs at the 6th & I Synagogue was a treat although Blaqk Audio going on too early at U Street Music Hall was a bit of a disappointment. The Toasters in Baltimore was fun per usual! Winning Ricky Martin front row tickets the same week as Local H tour in Baltimore was crazy but it was so cool to see Joe perform again with Scott. Finally got to meet Little Boots at U Street Music Hall and topped off the year with a disappointing Maynard James Keenan book reading and a fun Dar Williams show, my first time at The Birchmere finally! What a crazy year! |
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| 2016 TOP 10 ALBUMS |
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 | Metallica took their time with this one having released their previous album eight years earlier. This one doesn't falter and is perfect the whole way through. My only gripe might be the lyrics occasionally being mediocre, but this is their best album since And Justice For All came out in 1988. Hardwired is a great track, as is Atlas Rise, Here Comes Revenge, Am I Savage, and Spit Out The Bone. What a great album!
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 | Listening to a new Regina Spektor album is like watching figure skating on TV, you hold your breath you're so nervous and you don't want her to fall one bit. This album delivers a perfect score, beautiful and complete. Bleeding Heart, Grand Hotel, Obsolete, so many great and classic Regina Spektor tracks! I love it!
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 | This album caught me totally offguard but it really is Agnes at her finest. Stone might be my favorite track, but they are all so good!
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 | I first listened to this album when he was still alive and thought he sounded so old! And I couldn't really get into it. But then when he died, I really understood, this was his swan song album, his last release to the world. It's an amazing piece of work. If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game. If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame, If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame, You want it darker, We kill the flame.
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 | I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new Relient K album. It was well worth the wait! Mountaintop is my favorite track. I think they sometimes change direction so I was nervous upon first hearing it, but it's so good and fits right into their discography. Phew!
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 | After having seen The Naked And Famous open for The Foals a few years ago, I really anticipated this album being really good. And it was! Higher, Backslide, and my favorite track, Rotten, I'll be listening to for many years to come!
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 | I wasn't as big of a Blue October fan until this album came out. Wow. Justin just sounds so happy here. Heart Go Bang, Break Ground, Time Changes Everything, and the title track Home just really bring the whole album together. Dancing in the kitchen in the pale moonlight, only care in the world is that our kids are all right, Daddy loves Momma and Momma loves him, Tomorrow we get to do it over again. Amazing album!
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 | This album reminds me a lot of These New Puritans Field Of Reeds. Just, wow. Totally unexpected, but glad I gave it a chance. Absolutely love this album. It almost has to be listened as a whole piece of work though. Identikit may be my favorite track!
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 | Hard to follow up on the genius album that was Into The Sun. Crazy, Supernova, and I Want It Back are pretty good, but as a whole this album has nothing compared to Into The Sun.
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 | I was really anticipating the new Sonata Arctica after having followed the last couple of albums, listening to them a lot and even seeing them live a couple of times. This new album was disappointing, but Closer To An Animal was a decent track.
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| 2016 HONORABLE MENTIONS |
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 | I was looking forward to another Blaqk Audio album from the AFI guys. Material was just okay. Nothing really special, but Anointed and Graphic Violence are pretty good tracks.
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 | DJ Shadow is always good. Depth Charge was actually a pretty good song.
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 | As a huge Faithless fan, I was looking forward to Maxi Jazz's blues band debut release. It was okay, nothing really special here. So disappointing.
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 | Sure And Certain is an okay track.
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 | The first couple of tracks were written way before the rest of the album and it really shows. The rest of the album sucks. I tacked those first four tracks to the end of The Paradigm Shift and it makes for a good, longer album.
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 | Weezer hasn't put out a decent album since Maladroit.
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 | The first couple of tracks were great and classic Red Hot Chili Peppers but after track 4 or so it gets really boring.
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 | Are You Lost In A World Like Me is such a great track and video too! The rest of the album was just okay.
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 | Probably the most disappointing Garbage album yet, I can't think of a single memorable track. Overproduced garbage, literally. Stick with their older albums up through Beautiful Garbage.
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