#my guy. bowie is known to reinvent himself and his music.

[falldogbombsthemoon]

I just remembered how a (not anymore) friend once said that every bowie song sounder the same.

At first, I was pissed. Now I just think that's hilarious

[niamflopped]

The Sunday Times

How Harry Styles reinvented the playboy

No mud-slinging exes or disgruntled girlfriends here — the heartthrob singer is championing respectful relationships

Sarah Ditum

Sunday April 02 2023

Like every former boybander in search of a solo career, Harry Styles had to create a new identity when One Direction split in 2016. But he didn’t just reinvent himself for the post-1D era. Styles, 29, has also been credited with reinventing manhood for a modern-day audience.

“Harry Styles is rewriting the rules of masculinity on his terms,” raved the women’s magazine Grazia in 2021. The New York Times heralded Styles last year for his “liberated” take on gender. That liberated take, though, hasn’t precluded him from reportedly having lots (and lots) of girlfriends.

According to reports this week, the model and actress Emily Ratajkowski is the latest in a string of famous and gorgeous women with whom Styles has been linked. There was the late Caroline Flack, who was presenting The Xtra Factor, the sister show of The X Factor, when Styles was a contestant in 2010 (she was 32 and he was 17). After that he went out with the comedian Emily Atack for a short time.

Styles’ last public relationship was with the actress and director Olivia Wilde, who he met when he worked on the film Don’t Worry Darling.

He also dated Kendall Jenner. His relationship with Taylor Swift was brief, but creatively fertile: her album 1989 is rumoured to be shaped by their romance. There was a scattering of Victoria’s Secret models in between. Most recently, he was involved with the director Olivia Wilde (who cast him in the film Don’t Worry Darling) in the middle of a messy break-up with the father of her two children, the actor Jason Sudeikis.

There’s something quite retro about Styles’s romantic history, matching the dreamy Seventies influence in his music. His capacity for hooking up with the most impressive beauties of his era recalls the great shaggers of the 20th century — men like Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty and David Bowie, all of whom seemed to have had a cheerful kid-in-a-candy store attitude to sexual possibilities afforded by celebrity.

But serial dating can look tawdry rather than glamorous in the 21st century. Think of the general shudder greeting the actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s endless procession of young girlfriends, none of whom seem to last beyond their 25th birthday.

So how does Styles do it? He has always rejected the playboy label, and his version of maturity is different from the laddish one espoused by previous teen idols turned adult stars. See Robbie Williams, obliterating his Take That pinup status in 1995 by partying with Oasis at Glastonbury. Or Justin Timberlake, making vulgar comments about his ex Britney Spears in 2002 to kill off his nice-guy ’N Sync image.

Styles is known for his flamboyant looks and defying masculine conventions.

No such boorishness for Styles. He is, instead, the gold standard of modern sensitivity. He wore a dress on the cover of Vogue, and a sheer blouse and pearl earring to the Met Gala in New York. In the film My Policeman, he played one half of a tender gay romance, and he’s lent his support to causes including Black Lives Matter and LGBT rights. At one concert, he supported a fan in coming out to her mother, leading the whole audience in a chant of: “Tina, she’s gay.”

This image has helped to make him staggeringly successful: his 2022 album Harry’s House broke streaming records, won best album at the Brits and the Grammys and spawned a 15-night residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Coupled with his delicate handsomeness, this may explain the queue of girlfriends.

Like his ex Swift, Styles has pointed out that he doesn’t actually date more than the average person his age — he just attracts more attention when he does. In the case of Ratajkowski, one photograph of the two kissing in the street in Tokyo has been worldwide news for days.

Styles also dated Kendall Jenner. He likes to remain on good terms with his exes.

In response, Styles maintains the gentlemanly habit of rarely discussing his love life. It’s not far off the old music industry wisdom that heartthrobs should avoid relationships to keep themselves notionally available to their fans. But it also protects him. Having been famous since he was 16, Styles has had to learn to draw a line between his public and private selves to survive. And it protects the woman he’s with from jealous fans, who perceive any girlfriend as a rival to be attacked. A corner of his fandom can be “crazy” and “mean”, he has said.

Styles’s respect for his partners is in line with contemporary manners. Timberlake initially gained credibility for trashing Spears but by 2021, at the peak of #FreeBritney outrage, upset fans pushed him into a grovelling apology nearly 20 years on. Chivalry is back in fashion.

Styles also gets points for his apparent fearlessness around women who are impressive on their own terms. While the age gap with Flack raised eyebrows at the time, he’s subsequently been linked to multiple older, accomplished women.

Unlike a lot of famous men, he seems happy to be with an equal — or even, in the case of Swift, her muse. He also keeps things amicable post-break-up and has made friendly appearances with Swift and Jenner.

Beatty is also known for keeping his exes close. “What happens is fame gives you access, so you’re lucky enough to be exposed to these very admirable women,” the actor said in 2016. “Not just physically beautiful, but great people and talented and intelligent people.”

Harry Styles hasn’t reinvented masculinity but maybe he’s rediscovered the trick that separates a great lover from a playboy: he actually seems to like women, as well as wanting to sleep with them.

[wellthatwasaletdown]

https://www.tumblr.com/wellthatwasaletdown/713601858580742144/how-harry-styles-reinvented-the-playboy

I couldn't read the whole article because it's not free. But I find it funny how the title says "reinvented the playboy" while the sub headlines says he's "championing respectful relationships". Like you can't call someone a fuckboy and says he's a champion at RESPECTFUL relationships the very next thing. The oxymoron used is weak af

Here you go.

From here:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-harry-styles-reinvented-the-playboy-9h36p6pd2

The Sunday Times

How Harry Styles reinvented the playboy

No mud-slinging exes or disgruntled girlfriends here — the heartthrob singer is championing respectful relationships

Like every former boybander in search of a solo career, Harry Styles had to create a new identity when One Direction split in 2016. But he didn’t just reinvent himself for the post-1D era. Styles, 29, has also been credited with reinventing manhood for a modern-day audience.

“Harry Styles is rewriting the rules of masculinity on his terms,” raved the women’s magazine Grazia in 2021. The New York Times heralded Styles last year for his “liberated” take on gender. That liberated take, though, hasn’t precluded him from reportedly having lots (and lots) of girlfriends.

According to reports this week, the model and actress Emily Ratajkowski is the latest in a string of famous and gorgeous women with whom Styles has been linked. There was the late Caroline Flack, who was presenting The Xtra Factor, the sister show of The X Factor, when Styles was a contestant in 2010 (she was 32 and he was 17). After that he went out with the comedian Emily Atack for a short time.

Styles’ last public relationship was with the actress and director Olivia Wilde, who he met when he worked on the film Don’t Worry Darling.

He also dated Kendall Jenner. His relationship with Taylor Swift was brief, but creatively fertile: her album 1989 is rumoured to be shaped by their romance. There was a scattering of Victoria’s Secret models in between. Most recently, he was involved with the director Olivia Wilde (who cast him in the film Don’t Worry Darling) in the middle of a messy break-up with the father of her two children, the actor Jason Sudeikis.

There’s something quite retro about Styles’s romantic history, matching the dreamy Seventies influence in his music. His capacity for hooking up with the most impressive beauties of his era recalls the great shaggers of the 20th century — men like Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty and David Bowie, all of whom seemed to have had a cheerful kid-in-a-candy store attitude to sexual possibilities afforded by celebrity.

But serial dating can look tawdry rather than glamorous in the 21st century. Think of the general shudder greeting the actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s endless procession of young girlfriends, none of whom seem to last beyond their 25th birthday.

So how does Styles do it? He has always rejected the playboy label, and his version of maturity is different from the laddish one espoused by previous teen idols turned adult stars. See Robbie Williams, obliterating his Take That pinup status in 1995 by partying with Oasis at Glastonbury. Or Justin Timberlake, making vulgar comments about his ex Britney Spears in 2002 to kill off his nice-guy ’N Sync image.

Styles is known for his flamboyant looks and defying masculine conventions.

No such boorishness for Styles. He is, instead, the gold standard of modern sensitivity. He wore a dress on the cover of Vogue, and a sheer blouse and pearl earring to the Met Gala in New York. In the film My Policeman, he played one half of a tender gay romance, and he’s lent his support to causes including Black Lives Matter and LGBT rights. At one concert, he supported a fan in coming out to her mother, leading the whole audience in a chant of: “Tina, she’s gay.”

This image has helped to make him staggeringly successful: his 2022 album Harry’s House broke streaming records, won best album at the Brits and the Grammys and spawned a 15-night residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Coupled with his delicate handsomeness, this may explain the queue of girlfriends.

Like his ex Swift, Styles has pointed out that he doesn’t actually date more than the average person his age — he just attracts more attention when he does. In the case of Ratajkowski, one photograph of the two kissing in the street in Tokyo has been worldwide news for days.

Styles also dated Kendall Jenner. He likes to remain on good terms with his exes.

In response, Styles maintains the gentlemanly habit of rarely discussing his love life. It’s not far off the old music industry wisdom that heartthrobs should avoid relationships to keep themselves notionally available to their fans. But it also protects him. Having been famous since he was 16, Styles has had to learn to draw a line between his public and private selves to survive. And it protects the woman he’s with from jealous fans, who perceive any girlfriend as a rival to be attacked. A corner of his fandom can be “crazy” and “mean”, he has said.

Styles’s respect for his partners is in line with contemporary manners. Timberlake initially gained credibility for trashing Spears but by 2021, at the peak of #FreeBritney outrage, upset fans pushed him into a grovelling apology nearly 20 years on. Chivalry is back in fashion.

Styles also gets points for his apparent fearlessness around women who are impressive on their own terms. While the age gap with Flack raised eyebrows at the time, he’s subsequently been linked to multiple older, accomplished women.

Unlike a lot of famous men, he seems happy to be with an equal — or even, in the case of Swift, her muse. He also keeps things amicable post-break-up and has made friendly appearances with Swift and Jenner.

Beatty is also known for keeping his exes close. “What happens is fame gives you access, so you’re lucky enough to be exposed to these very admirable women,” the actor said in 2016. “Not just physically beautiful, but great people and talented and intelligent people.”

Harry Styles hasn’t reinvented masculinity but maybe he’s rediscovered the trick that separates a great lover from a playboy: he actually seems to like women, as well as wanting to sleep with them.

[stokan]

The 20 Best Things of 2016

Fun fact: Many good things actually happened in the year 2016. It’s true! It wasn't all death and Trump, although as you’ll see, those two factors hang heavy over even the best of things. But just like every year, 2016 still managed to produce its fair share of great art, cultural triumphs, and viral delights. Leaving out, obviously, things from 2016 that it seems like I’ll probably love but have yet to experience (OJ: Made in America, Search Party, 20th Century Women, Fences, etc.), and TV shows I’ve already written about in years past (OITNB, Transparent, You're the Worst, Veep, etc) here are my top 20 favorite things from 2016, listed in no particular order:

1. Beyonce - “Formation” video

How upset old white people were about this should give you some idea of just how great it is.

When I was growing up, the biggest music video from the biggest female pop star of the day involved her dancing around suggestively in a Catholic school girl outfit. Trump may have won the election, but progress still remains undefeated.

2. Kendrick Lamar’s Grammys Performance

(Of course this isn't anywhere on the internet for me to link to. Because Neil Portnow.)

Kendrick’s performance was the performance that Kayne always thinks he is giving. It’s a performance that made everyone else who took the stage on Music’s Biggest Night seem like talent show contestants.

I don’t want to tell artists how to use their fame, but this is how they should use their fame.

3. Last Week Tonight - #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain

SPOILER ALERT: He didn't make Donald Drumpf again. In fact the viral success of this piece and lack of any resultant effect on Trump whatsoever does raise some big questions about the effectiveness of comedy in actually changing anyone’s mind about anything in 2016. But yet, like death from a thousand paper cuts, it definitely drew a little blood. And even though I really wish John Oliver had stuck with guns and only referred to Trump as Drumpf for the rest of the year, it was still a more thorough and effective attack ad than anything the Clinton campaign managed to put together, and that was basically their whole job. John Oliver can never be president, but the world is going to be a better place as long as he keeps trying to help decide who will be.

Also, says everything about 2016 that this piece now feels like it came out ten thousand years ago.

4. La La Land

Hey, remember joy? And love? And having hopes and dreams? Well La La Land sure does! The best and worst thing you can say about it is that it’s a pre-Trump movie. Maybe the last one ever in fact. But for my money, Damien Chazelle’s quest to Make Musicals Great Again is exactly the tonic we need right now. And it seems fitting the Oscars after the death of Debbie Reynolds are going to be headlined by a colorful and happiness-inducing musical about show business, complete with its own dream ballet. Sometimes the best way to reinvent an art form is to just do it the same way its always been done, only better and at the right time.

5. Olympic Swimming

When the Olympics began I barely cared. I was raised on the Olympics, but in 2016 there’s so much else going on it felt like maybe time has passed the Olympics by. And then the swimming started. And Ledecky destroyed all challengers. And Phelps proved that calling him the greatest swimmer of all time is still underrating him. And Simone Manuel made history. And Lochte Lochted. And Anthony Ervin spun an all-time Olympic athlete backstory into Olympic gold. And for a week there was nothing in the world more compelling than watch people swim laps in a pool.

So turns out the Olympics are the Michael Phelps of sporting events - the second you think they’ve slipped a bit is when they have you right where they want you.

6. LVL Up - “Pain”

Point: Rock and roll is dead

Counterpoint: “Pain” by LVL Up

7. Stranger Things

I hate the 80s. I hate supernatural shows and horror-based shows and “genre” shows in general. I hate homage as the starting place for a work of art. I hate culture’s obsession with nostalgia and youth. And yet I loved Stranger Things. It felt like nothing else on TV while feeling like so many other things all at once. It’s the show Lost wishes it could have been, and what JJ Abrams wishes he had made instead of Super 8.

Also: I hate that there’s going to be a season two. I hate that dialogue around the show seemed so #TeamBarb when clearly any sane right-thinking person is #TeamNancy all the way. I preemptively hate all the imitators Stranger Things is going to spawn. And I hate the Stranger Things backlash that’s inevitably coming and coming hard. But right now, in this moment, let’s all embrace a wonderful television ride and not worry about the demigorgons in the woods coming to put slugs in its mouth.

#KeepHawkinsWeird

8. Flossie Dickey

Sometimes you find true love where you least expect it. Like in an interview with a 110-year woman at a nursing home.

9. Sam Donsky on The Ringer

(Speaking of soul mates…)

In the age of Trump it’s more important than ever that we have writers brave enough to ask the tough questions. Like: Who would win the Oscar for Best Baby? What is the best night any celebrity has ever had at Madison Square Garden? And why does David Benioff always thank his wife by her full name?

From analyzing the Kim/Kayne/Taylor tapes like they're the Zapruder film, to asking 74 questions about a film no one saw or liked, 2016 was the year Sam Donsky officially made himself into this generation’s Woodward and Bernstein, if Woodward and Bernstein were mostly known for dissecting dumb pop culture on the internet. We may never fully understand why Trump won, but, also, what’s up with Chris Pratt’s vests?

10. Black-ish - “Hope”

A perfect piece of writing and a perfect argument for the continued existence of network TV.

That being said though, 40 years ago this would be a classic TV episode people would talk about for generations. Now, it didn't even get nominated for an Emmy. Maybe network TV is just beyond saving.

11. The People vs. OJ Simpson

It’s almost a cliche at this point to point out how many societal issues the OJ Simpson case touched on, but watching this miniseries unfold was a great reminder that looking at the the past is usually the best vehicle for exploring the present. To choose just one example, the scene where the jurors argue over what to watch on TV is a perfect encapsulation of how something like a Trump victory could some day be possible. And if Marcia Clark isn't a perfect Hillary Clinton avatar then I don’t know who is. My only complaints about a perfect eight hours of television are that it wasn't longer and that Sarah Paulson and Courtney B. Vance aren't eligible for Oscars.

12. Samantha Bee’s Donald Trump Conspiracy Theory

Look, I don't want to say that Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is the best and most important show on TV. That is has the best joke writers in the business. That it has the righteous anger and indignation that this year called for. That it’s going to be our guiding light for the next four years. And that it’s proof that giving The Daily Show to Trevor Noah was one of the dumbest decisions in recent television history. All I’m saying is that some people are saying that, and who am I to disagree? If I was going to make claims that outlandish, I guess the first pieces of evidence I would direct you to are this already iconic Donald Trump conspiracy and the show’s Harriet Tubman segment. But I’m not one to make accusations about things using facts and evidence. I’m no expert; I’m just a guy. A guy standing in front of samanthabee.com asking it to to love him.

13. David Bowie - “Lazarus” video

The ultimate mic drop.

They say Native Americans used to make use of every part of the buffalo. David Bowie was like that, only the buffalo was his life.

14. SNL

“Farewell Mr. Bunting”

Having enough trust in your audience and your vision to attempt this sketch is super inspiring. Getting people in 2016 to wait through two and a half minutes of build up in a viral video before it pays off feels like a miracle. And getting the feeling back in my face when I finally finish laughing at this is going to be really great.

“Black Jeopardy” This is what comedy can do when its at it’s best. It cuts to truths about America more clearly and cleanly than 1,000 think pieces ever could. Are comedy sketches eligible for the Nobel Prize in Literature now?

“Hillary Clinton/Hallelujah” And this is what comedy can do when it’s not comedy at all. When historians 200 years from now want to know what the days just after the election of Donald Trump felt like all they need to do is watch this. The best thing SNL has ever done.

15. Songs That Made Me Unsure Whether I Should Be Sad, Dance, Or Both

Christine and the Queens - “iT”

I have absolutely no idea what this song is about. All I know is it sounds like the feeling of being alive. Between this song and Marion Cotillard’s eyes the French really continue to have the whole beautiful sadness thing figured out.

Eleanor Freiberger - “My Mistakes” The best Rilo Kiley song of 2016. The world can change however it wants; as long as it keeps giving me new versions of the exact song I’m totally good.

Mike Posner - “Took a Pill in Ibiza” The exact opposite of me is an EDM-influenced song about taking drugs in a nightclub in Ibiza. Yet here we are. Turns out that existential melancholy translated into Douche from the original Neurotic Intellectual is still pretty damn relatable. And yes I realize this song came out in 2015, but this will always be the sound of 2016 to me.

16. Moonlight

Moonlight feels like a miracle. That a serious drama without any name stars about a poor, gay, black man coming of age could be made at all, yet alone breakthrough into the popular consciousness. That a cast this natural and flawless could be found, like an album where every song that comes on makes you go “no THIS one is my favorite!”. That there are two different sets of three actors so similar and so good that when I see them together doing press it hurts my brain because I can’t process that they were not ACTUALLY the same person at three different ages. That two people making small talk at a table in a diner could have a whole audience on the edge of their seats. That a no-name director with one prior little-seen credit could create the most powerful and well-made movie of the year. None of these things seems possible or plausible, and yet they're all true. This movie is a miracle. And its success gives me hope. To quote critic Dana Stevens, in the pitch-black year of Trump, Moonlight was a “crack in the wall that allowed light to shine through”.

17. Atlanta

In 2016, what even is TV? It’s basically anything now. And it’s everything. It’s whatever it wants to be. And no artist has yet risen to meet the challenge and possibility of our post-Louie world better than Donald Glover has. In 2016 Atlanta is TV, and TV is Atlanta. There are no rules. There is only what you can dream up.

What will season two of Atlanta be? It could be literally anything and no one would bat an eye.

18. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

Chance the Rapper is so millennial it hurts. Chance the Rapper definitely has strong feelings about safe spaces and Bernie Sanders. Chance the Rapper has never even considered doing something ironically. Chance the Rapper makes Lin-Manuel Miranda look like a cynical pessimist. Hell, Chance the Rapper named himself Chance the Rapper. And as a millennial, Chance the Rapper is the future.

And the future sounds amazing.

The future is like if Old Kanye had been raised on new Kanye and was actually good at rapping. (As the old saying goes: every generation gets the Late Registration it deserves) The future is like if Picasso painted with emojis. The future is earnestness being the new aggression. The future is Future being the past.

Hip-hop is dead, long live hip-hop.

19. “A Closer Look” on Late Night With Seth Meyers

I almost left this reoccurring segment off my list of the best of 2016 because it’s become such a constant part of my life that I assumed it had been around longer than just this year. Who knew when Jon Stewart retired that the new iteration of The Daily Show would be called Late Night With Seth Meyers? Or as I call it: Essential.

20. Revisionist History Podcast

Facts and knowledge really took a beating in 2016, but turns out both are still great if you just re-examine them rather then throw them out all together. Perhaps looking more deeply into our assumptions about the world can help us better understand human nature and the reality we all share. Who knew?

Of everything I experienced in 2016 this podcast is the thing I reference most frequently. I’m fun at parties.

[dillydallydance]

Let’s say I synced my year on the lunar calendar, which will give a kind of excuse for this year’s delay in publishing lists (an exercise that still tickles my rational/irrational relationship to music).

This year saw the beginning (and then a complete neglect) of dddance+microclimat office playlists. The year in music then revolved much more than usual on single songs, one-hit discoveries, music blogs, spotify+deezer recommendations, etc. A few numbers explanation: In a way the list could have been quite long, but here are the 100 most played/curious songs. Ranking mattered only for the first 75, so it starts in alphabetical order. This is a much different exercise than ranking albums: I focus on replays, songs I shared, songs that were contagious to others.

Here is the playlist in full:

via SPOTIFY

ALSO ON DEEZER HERE

Adult Jazz – Eggshell

Bess Atwell - Cobbled Streets

Cass McCombs - Opposite House

Drake - One Dance

Explosions in the Sky - Desintegration Anxiety

Flume - Smoke & Retribution (feat. Vince Staples & Kučka)

Francis and the Lights - Friends (feat. Bon Iver)

Griefjoy - Scream Structure

Her - Five Minutes

Honus Honus – Santa Monica

Justice - Safe and Sound

La Femme - Le Sphynx

Lady Gaga – Joanne

Mark Pritchard - Beautiful People (feat. Thom Yorke)

Masasolo - Really Thought She Loved Me

Midnight Faces - Heavenly Bodies

Miya Folick - I Got Drunk

Nicolas Jaar - Killing Time

Niki & the Dove - So Much it Hurts

Plants and Animals - No Worries Gonna Find Us

Two Door Cinema Club - Bad Decisions

We Are Wolves - Wicked Games

Wilco - If I Ever Was a Child

Wild Beasts - Get My Bang

Wild Nothing - Reich Pop

75. Adele - Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

Always start the list with a pretty good joke. I know this album is 2015, but this single is 2016, and I danced on that in the office, sang it in a Karaoke in Tokyo and here I am a single-only Adele fan !

74. Rihanna - Work (feat. Drake)

73. Leonard Cohen - You Want it Darker

72. Larry Gus - At Your Desk

71. Moby & The Void Pacific Choir - Are You Lost In The World Like Me

70. Childish Gambino - Redbone

69. Car Seat Headrest - Fill in the Blank

68. Suuns – Translate

67. Radiation City – Separate

66. Preoccupations – Anxiety

65. Massive Attack - Voodoo in My Blood (feat. Young Fathers)

64. Bat For Lashes - Sunday Love

63. Animal Collective - Golden Gal

62. Islands - The Joke

61. James Blake - I Hope My Life

60. Kendrick Lamar - untitled 06 | 06.30.2014

59. The Avalanches – If I Was a Folkstar

58. Yeasayer - Gerson's Whistle

57. Peter Bjorn and John - Breakin' Point

56. Palace Winter - Positron

55. Prism Tats - Death or Fame

54. Deakin - JUST AM

53. Funeral Suits - Tree Of Life 

52. Los Porcos - Do You Wanna Live?

51. Dinner - Turn Me On

50. Bibio – Petals

49. Local Natives - Past Lives

48. Izzy Bizu - Someone That Loves You

47. LUH – I&I

46. The Kills - Doing It To Death

45. Blood Orange - “Best to You” (ft. Empress Of)

44. Cullen Omori - Synthetic Romance

43. Metronomy - Back Together

42. Methyl Ethel - Idée Fixe

41. PJ Harvey - The Wheel

40. Father John Misty - Real Love Baby

39. Mind Enterprises – Girlfriend

38 Devendra Banhart - Middle Names

37. Money - You Look Like a Sad Painting on Both Sides of the Sky

36. James Supercave - Virtually a Girl

35. Christine and the Queens - It

34. Beyonce - Formation

33. Austra - Future Politics

32. The Palms - Push Off

31. Michael Kiwuanuka - Love & Hate

30. Porches - Be Apart

29. The Weeknd - Starboy (feat. Daft Punk)

28. Globelamp - Controversial/Confrontational

27.The 1975 - Somebody Else

26. The XX - On Hold

25. Yoko Ono - Soul Got Out of the Box (feat. Portugal. The Man)

24. Anohni - Drone Bomb Me

23. Kanye West – FML

22. Júníus Meyvant - Color Decay

21. Operators - Cold Light

20. David Bowie - Blackstar

19. Julien Doré - Le Lac

18. Rae Sremmurd - Black Beatles (feat. Gucci Mane)

17. Jarryd James - Do You Remember (feat. Raury)

16. Andrew Bird - Left Hand Shake (feat. Fiona Apple)

15. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam - In a Black Out

14. Georgia - Move Systems

13. Empress Of - Woman Is a Word

12. Beck – Wow

11. The Last Shadow Puppets – Aviation

10. Glass Animals - Life Itself

Glass Animals discuss How to be a Human Being with sass and swag, tackling the ridicule of some scenes of “life itself”, with a sense of derision felt equally in lyrics, synths and guitars. You can bounce your ass off as he admits “I can't get a job so I live with my mum / I take her money but not quite enough / I make my own fun in grandmama's basement / Said I look mad, she said I look wasted”.

09. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Hot Coals

This band involves quite a bunch of people, but rarely do they connect as much as they do on "Hot Coals", a jazzy, expansive number that breezes through a tickled intro, sexy and lively arrangements, percussive transitions, a piano-horns climax and a quiet landing that revolves around one of Alex Ebert’s rare displays of seriousness and humility (he’s usually quite annoying). The line "Stay the fuck in my heart" is aggressive, while the massive build-up is softly supporting it. The song is in full possession of the band’s collective skills.

08. Damien Jurado - Exit 353

Visions Of Us On the Land marks the end of a prolific album trilogy. Jurado’s voice is unique: tearful and brittle on acoustic songs. It’s also interrogative and existential, when he tackles the grandeur of of a spiritual journey, as on “Exit 353”. “You were with me all along / I let go and you held strong” is a transcendent contrast to the final part of the song where he acknowledges, in a loop, “I was alone there / I was alone then”. His state of grace, on the land, in the country, or within himself, becomes ours in a true grasp of communal beauty.

07. Loney Dear – Hulls   +    SOHN – Rennen

I don’t know how to characterize Loney Dear’s music, especially as I discovered him with “Airport Surroundings”, a song quite at odd with the rest of his catalogue. But this guy can haunt with all sorts of minimalism (hear the early “Harm” and “Distant”). ‘Hulls’ does that in a ferocious way, disturbing with piercing pulses and sharp words about estrangement. It climaxes subtly, sharing in part the tortured violence of not being loved back.

“Rennen” from Sohn picks up the same mood as with his previous album, Tremors. It’s isolated (this time literally, as Christopher Taylor secluded himself in Northern California to record his new album). It’s icy, nocturnal and pretty damn soothing. As the rest of the album again shows him to be clumsy in motives and styles, his voice is self-assured of its beauty, and emerges as one of the most pristine foreground to the kind electronic anxieties he puts forward.

06. Radiohead Burn the Witch – Daydreaming - Decks Dark - Present Tense

I always use the stupid first-grade imagery of music that makes you float, but if a band truly has the power to challenge gravity’s configuration, Radiohead reshuffle again the palpable arrangements of upright rock/electronic music, with guitar, bass, synth and drum sounds all muddled to uplift Yorke’s newfound transparency. It’s not to say that the band settled on a desirable balance between clarity and ambiguity, but a few, scarce moments of contrast bring the most rewarding seconds on the album: as “Identikit” is set afloat by Ed’s back vocals (and that choir!), Jonny conflicts the tones up and down with one of his crudest electric solo (see also the final of “Decks Dark”, with raw bass and guitar lines framing an highlight on the album). It’s Jonny too that, bringing magnificent string orchestrations, makes the record sound pastoral and idyllic even in its gloomiest moments. The contrasts are truly atmospheric, and serve as a support to a clear theme of “lightness”, persistent in the lyrics (am I really writing about Radiohead and lightness?). “Present Tense” offers such mutation in the singer’s cynicism, in a way that one can actually believe him when he sings “Don’t get heavy / Keep it light and / Keep it moving”, backed with some of the loveliest and charming music ever penned by the band (choir vs. echoed vocals vs. old-fashioned continental fingerpicking). Such words ultimately make me the most liberated too, as if I’ve watched old cousin struggle for more than 20 years, reaching a point where he embraces enlightenment: “With my spirit light / Totally alive / Totally released”.

05. M83 – Solitude

The retro-looking music of M83 always toyed with a form of adolescent, dream-like purity. It’s lovely when it’s innocent and doesn’t make sense. The whole world discovered that it could also be exhilarating with 2011’s “Midnight City”, or saturated with immature happiness on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. M83 gives the music for those who want to feel small and silly in a big world. But this year’s Junk also proved that the cool-irony gets clumsy when that vintage obsession is overblown. Yet, “Solitude” is all that: it’s excessive and immoderate. It’s superb, grandiose, melodramatic, and lavish. And to the credit of Gonzales, it’s also immensely skilled and savvy.      

04. The Tallest Man on Earth – Rivers

A sweeter voice, less Dylan, evermore Matsson. Fingerpicking magic. The song is delicate and poignant. The bareness of its first half is slowly lifted by soft horns and subtle piano notes. This guy is steadily good.  

03. Whitney - No Woman

At the moment when I feel that indie music has not many ways left to re-characterize itself (indie is a ‘character’, right?), two former Smith Westerns guys come out with the perfect indie-folk song, making that indie thing as relevant as ever. And they do so without reinventing a single ingredient: a vacillating falsetto, inexpensive Em-A-G chords known for bringing down cynicism in an instant, a mythic-american narrative of isolation and drifting the land looking for a sense of purpose. It’s solitude without pathos (thanks to those horns). It’s sad and beautiful. It’s humble and hopeful. It knocks you down in less than 4 minutes, simple, competent and candid. I shared this song the most this year, usually with the same immediate response: “yeah, I’m hooked too”.

02. Frank Ocean - Pink + White

The fact that I’m not so passionate about R&B or soul music kept me unreasonably distant from Frank Ocean. It trickles down also (shamefully) as an involuntary estrangement with some of the most relevant black voices elevating the contemporary cultural discourse. I mean, I can go to sleep to Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and wake up to Kendrick’s “Alright”, but I missed out on the latest of D’Angelo, Miguel, and yes, Solange and Beyonce. “Channel Orange” is revered on every sides of the universe, but it surprisingly never gave me the thrills. I read of how much of a talented singer-songwriter he is, and can’t deny any of the praises thrown at his relevance and his voice. But a few blogposts from him also hinted at a profound humanity, which kept me curious to whatever he (seldom) chooses to sing about. And here I am in 2016, finally joining the collective applauses, abusing of his ineffable empathy, worshiping the true beauty of his sensibility. Compared to the previous album, the R&B tag isn’t that obvious, probably due to the album’s deliberate minimalism. He dissolves any need for labels, cuts instead his flesh open, and makes his bowels sing along some of the most creative melodies of the year. It’s raw yet meticulous, comforting yet secretive, avant-garde yet immediately rewarding. Blond ended up as one of the albums I replayed the most this year. The combination “White Ferrari” and “Seigfried” are so well crafted in introspection and intimacy, it’s like you can hear him bleed (also, thanks Jonny Greenwood). I’m guilty of choosing also the duo of “Ivy” and “Pink+White” in particular, especially as the latest is the most immediately likable song here. But damn, how willingly am I grooving along the pristine voice, breezing with the chill and sensuous summer melody. It’s 2016’s song for walk-grooving on bass and piano tempos, set adrift on dreamlike lyrics and imageries. This is smooth smooth smooth. I’m glad I’m now fully onboard with this Ocean guy.

01. Bon Iver - 33 "GOD"

What the fuck is this guy singing about? “Holocene” was arguably one of the prettiest songs of the last decade, but there is this line about “laying waste on Halloween” that makes it surprisingly mundane. The whole ‘mood’ of such songs aligns with the Divine, yet any attempt to dissect it (maybe no one should) shows rather a collection of references to everyday places and times. It is an undeniable signature of Justin Vernon that whichever mediums he works with (may it be the resonance of elementary guitar chords, the cold echoes of autotune, or stretched electronic pulses), human-scale alienations will dominate, and will be collected into a transcendent ‘mood’. And for me Vernon is exactly that: not much of a skilled musician, but a skilled collector, a curator. Fragments of sounds and words are built in such a universal and relatable image-space; vaporous lines draw contours of quotidian episodes; passages are momentarily crafted between memories and estrangements. He gives order to what are merely fleeting impressions of the world. In “33, ‘GOD’”, when Vernon juggles aptly from sacred allusions (“I could go forward in the light”) to everyday realisms (“Well I better fold my clothes”), his questions, struggles and uncertainties briefly take shape as an engaging and responsive ghost figure. The most enduring appeal of Vernon is to do so without veering into overconsciousness, without sounding like a self-professed guru of ‘crystal healing’ bullshit (or in the case of this song, “bird shit”). Like most, I breastfeed shamelessly on the allusive accessibility of the opening piano line, or the immediacy of words like “I’d be happy as hell if you stayed for tea”. But later these tangible trajectories quickly dissolve in foreground/background disorienting dialogues. Vernon’s vision traces a mythical path in such conflicting suggestions, a path that varies with each listening, and probably will vary with the next albums to come. His voice, as always, will remain the only trustable, guiding structure.

In only 10 years, Vernon positioned himself as that father figure, for me and the music industry. Has it been only 3 albums? He gave voice to many with his own festival in Eau Claire, and assured his presence through numerous collaborations of all scales (from Kanye to this year’s Francis and the Light). Bon Iver were once revered as an easy folk band, but it appears ‘logical’ and ‘in line’ with this ascension that “22, A Million” is their most experimental and obscure record. It’s quite claustrophobic in fact compared even to the cabin made “C Em Am Em” sing-along progressions. This voluntary opacity isn’t a surprise also for bands struggling with 2nd or 3rd albums, panicked with stardom (or grammys). The result is too often a naive form of conceptual obscurantism, a way to shout something like: “People give me credits, but I’m not obvious. I’m genuine. I’m fucked up. I’m a dark creator.” To be honest, it is slightly the case here: the album’s cryptic visuals and song titles are mysterious (or fucked-up) for about 2 minutes, but perdure as uninteresting, unnecessary packaging gimmicks. Still, the album, and “33, ‘GOD’” in particular, ranks on the good side of the catchy-experimental trend, as Vernon got us accustomed to use his pervasive vulnerability as the code-cracking tool to float over the opacity of his text. It is an intimate, subtle, relationship, and here again his trademark voice will succeed to draw you as close as always.

LISTEN TO THE COMPLETE PLAYLIST HERE

via SPOTIFY

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