top-ten

Julie Aras

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  1. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – ‘Third World Pyramid‘, A Records
  2. Night Beats – ‘Who Sold My Generation‘, Heavenly
  3. Metallica – ‘Hardwired…To Self-Destruct‘, Blackened Recordings
  4. Desert Mountain Tribe – ‘Either That Or The Moon‘, Membran
  5. And Also The Trees – ‘Born Into The Waves‘, And Also The Trees
  6. The Oscillation – ‘Monographic‘, All Time Low Productions / Hands In The Dark
  7. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – ‘Nonagon Infinity‘, Flightless
  8. Dead Horse One – ‘Season Of Mist‘, Requiem Pour Un Twister
  9. Tindersticks – ‘The Waiting Room‘, City Slang / Lucky Dog Recordings
  10. Black Mountain – ‘IV‘, Jagjaguwar

2016 was a year rich in emotion by the loss of music pillars (David Bowie, Prince, Leon Russel, Leonard Cohen, Bobby Vee, Pete Burns, Billy Paul, Maurice White, Glenn Frey, among others), but it was also a rich year with new albums. It is always difficult to figure out the top 10 annual albums, but here is my list…. To discover or listen again and again!

Michael Barnett

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  1. The Human Voice – ‘Silent Heart‘, Cyclic Law
  2. Cryo Chamber Collaboration – ‘Nyarlathotep‘, Cryo Chamber
  3. Sabled Sun – ‘2148‘, Cryo Chamber
  4. Apocryphos – ‘Stone Speak‘, Cryo Chamber
  5. Hymnambulae – ‘Orgelhuset‘, Hypnagoga Press
  6. God Body Disconnect – ‘Dredge Portals‘, Cryo Chamber
  7. Sophia – ‘Unclean‘, Cyclic Law
  8. Phelios – ‘Human Stasis Habitat‘, Loki Foundation
  9. Thangorodrim – ‘Taur-Nu-Fuin‘, Out Of Season
  10. Phragments – ‘All Towers Must Fall‘, Malignant Records

This year will go down in history as one of the most disliked in history. Sure we didn’t have international disasters like the start of WWII or the catastrophe on 9/11/01. But, between celebrity deaths, increasing awareness of global warming, and the rise of God Emperor Trump, things are looking to be shaping up 2017 as an even worse year. But all is not lost. Dark ambient music is taking the scene full force. There have been so many great albums this year coming from that little known genre that it was almost impossible to come up with a Top 10 and rank them. So lets assume the first four albums on my list are tied for first place. They all greatly deserve it. The Human Voice was probably the most unexpected gem from 2016. Coming out at the beginning of the year, ‘Silent Heart’ is an absolute masterpiece. Few albums induce goosebumps on every single playthrough, but with ‘Silent Heart’ this effect has almost become a normality for me. So, here’s to 2017 bringing in even more chaos and apocalyptic premonitions. It seems to be a fitting atmosphere for the creation of brilliant dark ambient albums.

Dimitra Christaki

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  1. Ash Code – ‘Posthuman‘, Manic Depression Records
  2. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – ‘Third World Pyramid‘, A Records
  3. Neil Young – ‘Peace Trail‘, Reprise
  4. Thee Oh Sees – ‘An Odd Entrances‘, Castle Face
  5. Départe – ‘Failure, Subside‘, Season Of Mist
  6. Gravitysays_i – ‘Quantum Unknown‘, Inner Ear Records
  7. Crippled Black Phoenix – ‘Bronze‘, Season Of Mist
  8. The Answer – ‘Solas‘, Napalm Records
  9. Nightstalker – ‘As Above, So Below‘, Oak Island
  10. Anciients – ‘Voice Of The Void‘, Season Of Mist

      + God In A Cone – ‘Agrypnia‘, Cadu

As 2016 heads to its end, leaves us with important losses music-wise, but on the other hand with some  great albums from others. In my Top-10 albums’ list, I believe that some of them are really assets and others  you should  definitely listen to.

Have a look  and enjoy …

Antonio Cristofaro

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  1. Leonard Cohen – ‘You Want It Darker‘, Columbia Records
  2. Hypnopazūzu– ‘Create Christ, Sailor Boy‘, House Of Mythology
  3. idie – ‘Sanctus Mortem‘, Self-released
  4. Con-Dom – ‘How Welcome Is Death To I Who Have Nothing More To Do But Die‘, Tesco Organisation
  5. Genocide Organ – ‘Obituary Of The Americas‘, Tesco Organisation
  6. Pan Sonic – ‘Atomin Paluu (A Film Soundtrack)‘, Blast First Petite
  7. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – ‘Skeleton Tree‘, Bad Seed Ltd.
  8. Puce Mary – ‘The Spiral‘, Posh Isolation
  9. Biosphere – ‘Departed Glories‘, Smalltown Supersound
  10. Kerridge – ‘Fatal Light Attraction‘, Downwards

Leap years always brought with them unexpected events. And even that 2016 has not been the exception. But despite heavy losses of rare stars (just remember the passing of Leonard Cohen but also Bowie and many others), this year has given us even remarkable musical gems. Pearls ranging from folk to noise, further to industrial and electronica and has also enabled us to enjoy the ultimate masterpieces of those stars. This short introduction will not succeed in transmitting by any means the emphasis of all the beautiful 2016 music, but I hope I can lead you towards musical landscapes that will open the new year. Merry Christmas.

Drew Dickinson

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  1. David Bowie – ‘‘, ISO Records / Columbia Records
  2. Suffocate For Fuck Sake– ‘In My Blood‘, Self-released
  3. FM-84 – ‘Atlas‘, Self-released
  4. Alcest – ‘Kodama‘, Prophecy Productions
  5. Aseul – ‘New Pop‘, Astro Kidz
  6. Frank Ocean – ‘Blonde‘, Boys Don’t Cry / XL Recordings
  7. The Midnight – ‘Endless Summer‘, Self-released
  8. STRFKR – ‘Being No One, Going Nowhere‘, Polyvinyl
  9. NYAI – ‘Old Age Systematic‘, Self-released
  10. Death Grips – ‘Bottomless Pit‘, Third Worlds / Harvest

For my Top ten I tried to make sure I did what I could to explore as many genres as I could, as it’s very easy to miss good releases if you aren’t paying attention. ‘Blackstar’ topping my list should be no surprise. How extraordinary this album is cannot be stressed enough. ‘In My Blood’ in the second place slot is a diamond in the rough, and is the most brutal and gripping album I’ve heard all year. Two synthwave albums made my list this year, which stands to show just how big of a year it was for the genre. I could have done a Top 10 with just synthwave/retrowave albums if I wanted to. This is a scene that has been flying under the radar and it deserves a hard look. Overall, the diversity of this list should be a clear indication of how my tastes have been this year.

Honorable mentions go to: The 1975 – ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’, White Lung – ‘Paradise’, Oathbreaker – ‘Rheia’.

Mike Dimitriou

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  1. Hante. – ‘This Fog That Never Ends‘, Synth Religion
  2. Hante.– ‘No Hard Feelings‘, Synth Religion
  3. Winter Severity Index – ‘Human Taxonomy‘, Manic Depression Records
  4. Covenant – ‘The Blinding Dark‘, Dependent Records
  5. New Model Army – ‘Winter‘, earMUSIC
  6. Diorama – ‘Zero Soldier Army‘, Accession Records
  7. In Letter Form – ‘Fracture.Repair.Repeat‘, Metropolis Records
  8. Saigon Blue Rain – ‘Noire Psyché‘, Self-released
  9. ION – ‘Unsound‘, Ion Music
  10. Bewitched As Dark – ‘LADY POISON‘, Self-released

This year’s musings that thrilled me, shook me, and got my pulse! It is impossible though not to mention Vore Aurora, that unfortunately are not on the list ‘cause they have released only singles (four in numbers) during the year; a band that surprised me and amazed me repeatedly!

Fidel Castro : Comandante, your heritage is far beyond the neo-liberal capitalistic fungus. Comrades, disobey, refuse, resist!

Happy new times for everyone…you know, loud!

Christos Doukakis

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  1. Moor Mother – ‘Fetish Bones‘, Don Giovanni Records
  2. Demdike Stare– ‘Wonderland‘, Modern Love
  3. David Bowie – ‘‘, ISO Records / Columbia Records
  4. Aztec Death – ‘Machine‘, Self-released
  5. Porter Ricks – ‘Shadow Boat EP‘, Tresor
  6. Black Earth – ‘Diagrams Of A Hidden Order‘, Malignant Records
  7. Anders Brørby – ‘Nihil‘, Gizeh Records
  8. Radiohead – ‘A Moon Shaped Pool‘, XL Recordings
  9. Mare Cognitum – ‘Luminiferous Aether‘, Fallen Empire
  10. ION – ‘Unsound‘, Ion Music

Yes we all know how horrendous that year was regarding various aspects. The majority of the team has rightly commented on this. On my side, I won’t bother recalling all the reasons, you, -we-, should be unhappy. At least not now. On the contrary, I will remind you (or even myself!) that Last Day Deaf (this baby you’re staring at the moment) was born and by all means it managed to crawl…if not walk…or even run sometimes! I won’t miss the opportunity to thank all the artists, labels and readers that trusted us from the very beginning (some artists before the site had even gone online!), but above all the beautiful people (and a very few not so beautiful) I have met physically and virtually, without whom the journey would have never been the same so far. Beautiful people we share the mutual passion for music, contributing, spending their precious energy to make LDD what it is, but also encouraging, exchanging views on various subjects, agreeing &  dissenting. Communication is the right word, that sums up almost everything. Looking forward to 2017 then, hopefully with the irreducable pathos for extending gradually the webzine (from musical) to a cultural one covering,- if not all-, most forms of art. It won’t be easy, but we’ll certainly give it a try!

On the Top-10 list now, I will focus a bit on the first three releases. Moor Mother is the breakthrough act of the year. Raw, explicit, marginal…Bridging ideally hip hop, experimental, noise & electronic. Moor Mother is an activist too. A political one! Perspicacious Don Giovanni Records did it once again. Demdike Stare released the electronic album of 2016, with high aesthetics and for the first time ‘cocking their eyes’  to the dancehalls. Beginning of 2016, and our beloved “Starman” escaped from Planet Earth having just released his valedictory ‘Blackstar’. His magnum opus…Thumbs up to producer Tony Visconti!

So the future, present & past is the Holy Trinity of the expiring year.

Makis Gevros

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  1. The Last Shadow Puppets – ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect‘, Domino
  2. Phonotribe Project– ‘II‘, Self-released
  3. White Lies – ‘Friends‘, Infectious Music
  4. Gravitysays_i – ‘Quantum Unknown‘, Inner Ear Records
  5. Posh Lost – ‘Posh Lost‘, Mirror Universe Tapes
  6. Night beats – ‘Who Sold My Generation‘, Heavenly
  7. A Tribe Called Quest – ‘We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service‘, Epic
  8. Obscura Nova – ‘Inverted Soul‘, Self-released
  9. Dance With The Dead – ‘The Shape‘, Self-released
  10. Beyoncé – ‘Lemonade‘, Parkwood Entertainment

Writing this piece for the review of 2016 I formed many images, either of science fiction or images of romance and mystic death. Let’s dwell on that last one, without asking ourselves what is death, a question answered by the greatest litterateurs and philosophers of our eons but without discovering the next stage of the funerary decomposition. I feel like the first humans that begun experiencing the gradual extinction of the great serpents, the dinosaurs. Definitely, in my goal to determine the size of rock stars like David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Lemmy Kilmister (last days of 2015) I could only describe them as the dinosaurs of the genre. But let’s not lament, it is something that doesn’t befit the rhythm of the pace of the present and the euphoric and the unforeseeable development of the future. I wish the young musicians and the already existing bands and artists would use them, or at least, have them as raw models for the evolution of their sound, the composition and the versification. Generally, we could say that this year had many ups and downs, reunions, re-releases and, in most cases, songs that came to stay. I hope something better for 2017. Long live the music!!! A special reference to Portishead’s ‘S.O.S.’ and Living Under Drones’ self-titled EP.

Thomas Gounaropoulos

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  1. The Lines – ‘Hull Down‘, Acute Records
  2. Zomby– ‘Ultra‘, Hyperdub
  3. Michael Kiwanuka – ‘Love & Hate‘, Polydor
  4. Yves Tumor – ‘Serpent Music‘, Pan
  5. Marie Davidson – ‘Adieux Au Dancefloor‘, Cititrax
  6. Andrew Weatherall – ‘Convenanza‘, Rotters Golf Club
  7. Babyfather – ‘BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow‘, Hyperdub
  8. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – ‘Skeleton Tree‘, Bad Seed Ltd.
  9. Jean-Michel Jarre – ‘Electronica 2 – The Heart Of Noise‘, Aero Productions / Columbia
  10. DMX Crew – ‘Escape-MCP‘, Abstract Forms

Apart from the great losses, 2016 will be remembered musically for various veteran releases (Nick Cave, Radiohead, Yello, Leonard Cohen, Jean-Michel Jarre etc.). Some of them lived up to their names and some of them did not, in any case a lot of smiles spread among dedicated fans’ faces. In addition to those comebacks we had a lot of follow up albums by bands that are trying to establish their music right now. What this year really lacked was fresh musical statements from yet unknown artists. With very few debut releases of this kind (Babyfather, Yves Tumor, among others) I think we can expect a “baby boom” in music industry the following years.

Mary Kalaitzidou

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  1. Slice The Cake – ‘Odyssey To The Gallows / Odyssey To The West‘, Self-released
  2. Russian Circles– ‘Guidance‘, Sargent House
  3. Inter Arma – ‘Paradise Gallows‘, Relapse Records
  4. Dark Tranquility – ‘Atoma‘, Relapse Records
  5. Serpent Noir – ‘Erotomysticism‘, Daemon Worship Productions
  6. Gojira – ‘Magma‘, Roadrunner Records
  7. 1000mods – ‘Repeated Exposure To…‘, Ouga Booga And The Mighty Oug Recordings
  8. Myrath – ‘Legacy‘, Nightmare Records
  9. Grand Magus – ‘Sword Songs‘, Nuclear Blast
  10. Paradise Lost – ‘The Plague Within‘, Nuclear Blast

This year has been weird in different ways and in many aspects of life. The music scene has lost important names whose legacy however will live on. But music and art in general exist as long as there are humans on this planet, the muse will never die. A true artist is distinguished from their persistence through time, no matter how hard the situation is, maybe especially when it is. I am not sure if big names are already born, like it was until two decades ago, but from the underground until the scene which has already emerged, we were offered great works which help us carry on mentally and hope for more in the year that follows.

Dimitris Koutoukakis

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  1. David Nesselhauf – ‘Afrokraut‘, Légère Recordings
  2. Calibro 35– ‘CLBR35 Live From S.P.A.C.E.‘, Record Kicks
  3. Durand Jones & The Indications – ‘Durand Jones & The Indications‘, Colemine Records
  4. The Jazzinvaders – ‘Find The Love‘, Unique
  5. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band – ‘55‘, Big Crown Records
  6. Anthony Joseph – ‘Caribbean Roots‘, Heavenly Sweetness / Strut
  7. Hannah Williams & The Affirmations – ‘Late Nights & Heartbreak‘, Record Kicks
  8. Brownout Presents Brown Sabbath – ‘Brown Sabbath Vol. II‘, Ubiquity Records
  9. The Bongolian – ‘Moog Maximus‘, Blow Up Records
  10. Linear John – ‘Hits With A Twist‘, Agogo Records

Well…that’s it! 2016 is very near to its end and you may say that this year was a good one or a bad one depending on how you see things. The truth is that, besides the good or the bad times, in 2016 was created such a good “groovy” music that leads you to one conclusion: this was a good year man!

In order to keep up with “groovy”, you have to fill up your mind and soul with all that musical stuff of r&b, soul, funk, afrobeat, disco, jazz etc…and the list is going on (like the beat). But groove is not a restriction, it’s something that gives you among others pulse, motivation, feelings but most of all it gives you freedom…so there it is give your own definition of it!   

Therefore, I deliver my point of groove with a Top ten album list for 2016 consisting of music where soul/funk, afrobeat, Caribbean – jazzy rhythms are alongside with cinematic funky, disco-jazz sounds and hard driving latin rock of old (heavy) school moments!!!     

For Part 2, of 2016 Staff lists, visit here.

Last Day Deaf