“Lemonade” – Beyonce
Jordan Petersen
In keeping pace with the infamous surprise release of her 2013 self-titled album, Beyoncé released “Lemonade” this year with little warning. Paired with a 60-minute film, “Lemonade” is a powerhouse of a pop album that brings together rage, revenge, discovery and self-assurance into 12 incredible songs. These themes are channeled into a strong and poignant statement on black femininity, serving as both an affirmation to the struggles of black women in America as well as a protest-piece to an America that is largely unconcerned with these struggles.
Stylistically “Lemonade” is all over the board, featuring elements of hip-hop, soul, R&B, blues, rock and country-western. In the midst of this smorgasbord of sound, Beyoncé’s commanding voice remains the constant and connective thread that holds the whole thing together. Given the weight of its themes and its precise execution, “Lemonade” will surely go down as one of Beyoncé’s most provocative and compelling statements.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: “HOLD UP” “DON’T HURT YOURSELF (FEAT. JACK WHITE)” “FREEDOM (FEAT. KENDRICK LAMAR)”
“Coloring Book” – Chance the Rapper
Cotter Koopman
Chancelor Bennett has had a breakout year since landing a verse on Kanye West’s “The Life Of Pablo” opener “Ultralight Beam.” Chance immediately reflects the karma on his third mixtape with “All We Got,” a steady building, bombastic anthem featuring vocoder groans from West. The album rides a wave of gospel passion into summer hit “No Problem” and beyond.
Throughout “Coloring Book,” Chance commonly alludes to complex Biblical stories such as Jacob wrestling God as extended metaphors for his own faith, racial identity, and new fatherhood. The album manages to cozily couple a reprise of the popular worship song “How Great is Our God” with guest appearances from mainstream hip-hop greats like Lil Wayne, Future, and Young Thug among many others. Chance’s dizzying wisdom and conversations with God maintain a charm and optimism in a time when a black boy from Southside Chicago has plenty to be upset about. Chance says it best in his curtain call, “Blessings”: “They never seen a rapper practice modesty.” It’s probably the only gosh-darned record featuring 2 Chainz that your youth pastor would endorse.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: “NO PROBLEM” “ALL NIGHT” “BLESSINGS”
“A Moon Shaped Pool” – Radiohead
Matthew Schepers
Radiohead released “A Moon Shaped Pool” in 2016 after thirty-one years of being together. They have proved themselves to be aging gracefully. The songs on “A Moon Shaped Pool” have been described as some of the band’s most melancholy, beautiful, and pensive. Radiohead recorded much of the album with the London Contemporary Orchestra, combining their electronic art-rock with gorgeous string arrangements written by guitarist Jonny Greenwood. “AMSP” is colored by lyricist and frontman Thom Yorke’s recent split with his partner of twenty-three years, but doesn’t limit itself to autobiography. Radiohead is no stranger to being political, and their perspective on “AMSP” feels downright clairvoyant. Global information streams have never been more open, and it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore humanity’s ugliness: In the apocalyptic “Decks Dark,” Yorke sings, “You run to the back and you cover your ears / it’s the loudest sound you’ve ever heard / We are helpless to resist / Into your darkest hour.”
2016 saw bodies of those fleeing civil war washing up on the beaches of the wealthy and indifferent. Global CO2 levels exceeded 400ppm for the first time in human history. Politics of hate and fear won in the United Kingdom and United States; Brexit and Donald Trump are not going away. “AMSP” reflects on these cataclysms maturely and thoughtfully, but is never complacent or staid. Many of the songs contain some sort of commentary, though it can be ambiguous to whether Yorke is addressing the public sphere or a jilted lover. In standout track “Present Tense,” Yorke coos, “In you I’m lost.” He may be suggesting unifying love or defeated alienation. “A Moon Shaped Pool” is textured, human, and worth poring over for months to come.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: “DAYDREAMING” “DECKS DARK” “PRESENT TENSE” “TH GLMNG”
“Blond” – Frank Ocean
Jordan Petersen
Emerging from his Tumblr cave and shrouded in myth, Frank Ocean released the long-delayed follow up to 2012’s “Channel Orange.” “Blond” is a more distant collection of songs than “Channel Orange” was, but that is not to say that it is less engaging or impressive. This time around, Frank opts for mood and atmosphere over balladry. Across 17 songs featuring dreamy guitars, synths and organs, Frank creates the contemplative sounds of his love-yearning mind. Most of these songs are not for the dramatics of heartbreak or new love, but rather for the more ambivalent and quiet spaces in between.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: “NIKES” “SOLO” “WHITE FERRARI”
“22, A Million” – Bon Iver
Matthew Schepers
“It might be over soon.” Bon Iver’s third album, “22, A Million,” opens with hope and optimism in first track “22 (OVER S∞∞N).” The following track “10 d E A T h b R E a s T,” the opening track’s dire and sonically punishing foil, quickly launches into gloom. The Tao image of the yin and yang immediately comes to mind, with “22 (OVER S;&infin∞N)” and “10 d E A T h b R E a s T” representing light and dark, an essence of both good and evil, respectively.
“22, A Million” is centered around a crisis of faith that breaks artist Justin Vernon down to his core. One only has to look at the album art to feel it: rife with Christian, Buddhist, Taoist and occult imagery, the album art makes profane what many hold to be sacred: bodies hang crucified on telephone poles, and Bodhisattvas (individuals who defer enlightenment to help others on Earth in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition) are seen smoking weed. “22, A Million’s” central thesis revolves around Vernon’s internal struggle. Whiplashing between despair in “715 – CR∑∑KS” and euphoria in the bombastic “33 _GOD_,” Vernon falls to temptation in “666 t” turns his life around while falsely hoping for enlightenment and inner peace in “8 (circle),” before realizing his own damnation in the saxophone laden “____45_____”: “I’ve been caught in fire… I stayed down.” In the album closer, “00000 Million,” Vernon finally gives in to defeat, a willful submission to pain and suffering: “Well it harms, it harms me, it’ll harm. I let it in.”
Following Bon Iver’s beautiful 2011 record “Bon Iver,” the deeply personal “22, A Million” takes a turn to the strange and the dark, begging the void for even a pinprick of light.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS: “33 _GOD_” “666 T” “00000 MILLION”
