2016 was such a great year for music. My output considerably slowed down here due to work and life, but I’m very happy to be a part of Chorus.fm. It’s been incredible to see the transition from AbsolutePunk.net into such a beautifully designed site and community space. I’m truly excited for Jason and everything he will accomplish with this site and feel honored to be on board. As always, these are my favorite albums of the year.
Top Albums of 2016
1. Touché Amoré – Stage Four
2. Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost
3. Pinegrove – Cardinal
4. The Hotelier – Goodness
5. Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues
6. The 1975 – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it
7. Beartooth – Aggressive
8. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
9. Balance and Composure – Light We Made
10. Every Time I Die – Low Teens
11. Moose Blood – Blush
12. Microwave – Much Love
13. American Football – American Football (LP2)
14. Bon Iver – 22, A Million
15. You Blew It! – Abendrot
16. Oathbreaker – Rheia
17. Hesitation Wounds – Awake For Everything
18. Yellowcard – Yellowcard
19. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
20. Thrice – To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere
21. Daughter – Not To Disappear
22. Departures – Death Touches Us, From the Moment We Begin to Love
23. All Get Out – Nobody Likes A Quitter
24. Deftones – Gore
25. The Devil Wears Prada – Transit Blues
26. Emarosa – 131
27. Blink-182 – California
28. From Indian Lakes – Everything Feels Better Now
29. Joyce Manor – Cody
30. Green Day – Revolution Radio
Honorable Mentions
(Alphabetical)
A Day To Remember – Bad Vibrations
Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman
Basement – Promise Everything
Brian Fallon – Painkillers
Carly Rae Jepsen – EMOTION: Side B
Mitski – Puberty 2
Norma Jean – Polar Similar
Old Gray – Slow Burn
Polyenso – Pure in the Plastic
PUP – The Dream Is Over
Relient K – Air For Free
Saosin – Along the Shadow
Sum 41 – 13 Voices
Tegan and Sara – Love You to Death
Albums I Need To Spend More Time With or Have Yet To Hear
(Alphabetical)
A Dead Forest Index – In All That Drifts from Summit Down
Angel Du$t – Rock The Fuck On Forever
Architects – All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage
Beyoncé – Lemonade
Boris – Pink
Bossk – Audio Noir
Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial
Chrome Over Brass – Chrome Over Brass
Creative Adult – Fear of Life
Culture Abuse – Peach
Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition
Death Index – Death Index
Descendents – Hypercaffium Spazzinate
The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation
Emma Ruth Rundle – Marked For Death
Frank Ocean – Blonde
Harm Wülf – Hijrah
Helms Alee – Stillicide
Jeff Rosenstock – WORRY.
Kevin Devine – Instigator
Kid Cudi – Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’
Lori McKenna – The Bird & the Rifle
Miranda Lambert – The Weight of These Wings
Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow
Planes Mistaken For Stars – Prey
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Rihanna – ANTI
Russian Circles – Guidance
Sumac – What One Becomes
Super Unison – Auto
Wovenhand – Star Treatment
Wreck and Reference – Indifferent Rivers Romance End
Favorite Song
The 1975 – “Somebody Else”
Runner-Up: Sturgill Simpson – “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)”
Favorite Books
I read 50 books this year, but not a lot of them were new. Of the 2016 books I did read, these were my favorite: End of Watch (Stephen King), The Widow (Fiona Barton), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany), and The Nest (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney).
Favorite TV Shows
I watched a lot of TV shows this year, but most of that was playing catch up non-current TV series. I enjoyed Stranger Things immensely and also recommend Love. The new seasons of Black Mirror and Silicon Valley were also great, and I was hooked on The Night Of.
Favorite Podcasts
(Alphabetical)
The 4th Pull Podcast
100 Words or Less
The Airborne Mind Show
Barbell Shrugged
Beyond the Barbell
brUTE Strength
Encore
Icon Athlete
Jocko Podcast
Joe DeFranco’s Industrial Strength Show
The Joe Rogan Experience
Lead Singer Syndrome
The Mind Muscle Project
Missaligned
Nerdist
Off Camera
Power Athlete
Pursuing Health with Julie Foucher
The Rich Roll Podcast
The Sound and the Story
The Tim Ferriss Show
Total Human Optimization
Variable Bitrate
Welcome to Geekdom
The WODcast Podcast
WTF with Marc Maron
-Ryan Gardner
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