WHUS Staff Picks for the Best Albums, Artists and Songs of 2016

Hey everyone, it’s DJ Hails here (AKA Sahil Laul) and as the year wraps up, it’s time for the staff at the station to reveal their top picks for albums, songs, and artists of the year! Along with crowd favorites such as Frank Ocean’s Blonde and A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, there were many unique picks such as Ry X’s Dawn and Radio Dept’s Running Out Of Love. Whether you’re a music enthusiast or just a dabbler, hopefully you can find some great new music from 2016 that you will love on these lists! Hope everyone had a great 366 days. Happy New Year from all of us at WHUS!

Sahil Laul (Music Director)

Favorite Albums of 2016 (In Order)

Ry X – Dawn
Kaytranada – 99.9%
The Avalanches – Wildflower
Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
James Blake – The Colour in Anything
Bon Iver – 22, A Million
Drake – Views
Rihanna – ANTI
Haelos – Full Circle
KONGOS – Egomaniac

Craig Ruddy (Hip-Hop Director)

Favorite Albums of 2016 (No Order)

Chance The rapper – Coloring book

Snoop Dogg – Coolaid

Isaiah Rashad – The Suns Tirade

Anderson Paak – Malibu

Apollo Brown & Skyzoo – The Easy Truth

Kailey Townsend (Operations Manager)

DJ Kale’s Top Album’s I Actually Purchased, Listened (all the way through), and Loved

Solange – A Seat at the Table
Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
Angel Olsen – My Woman
Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – I Had a Dream That You Were Mine
Frank Ocean – Blond(e)
Whitney – Light Upon the Lake
Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman
Basement – Promise Everything
Noname – Telefone
Kaytranada – 99.9%

Brian Eldridge (Live Production Director)

Baroness – Purple

Though it was released just before Christmas last year it is essentially a 2016 album, and also my favorite, most played album of the year. Favorite track: “Morningstar”

Metallica – Hardwired… to Self-Destruct

My favorite metal band of all time found their way this year with their most consistent, natural sounding album in the last 20 years. Favorite track: “Moth Into Flame”

Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Getaway

Red Hot Chili Peppers managed to change their sound for their new album in a great way, bringing us their strongest release since all of the kids in my middle school were obsessed with Snow ((Hey Oh)). Favorite track: “Dreams of a Samurai”

Mo Lowda & The Humble – Act Accordingly

Our friends from Pennsylvania brought us a short, eerie story earlier this year that has become 14 minutes of music I keep coming back to. Favorite track: “Part 2”

Kendrick Lamar – untitled unmastered.

Untitled is more of a coda to TPAB than a sequel, but it gives us an even deeper insight into the musical genius going on at that time. Favorite track: “untitled 08”

Bon Iver – 22, A Million

Half of the album explores beautiful soundscape, while the other half explores the beauty in minimalism, creating, in my opinion, the group’s most interesting and strongest work yet. Favorite track: “715 – CR∑∑KS”

Bruno Mars – 24K Magic I love where pop music is going, and this is a strong indicator of that. Disco and funk for the win. Favorite track: “Perm”

Golden Bloom – Searching for Sunlight

I was fortunate enough to learn about this awesome indie pop band last year when they visited WHUS to play us a few songs from this equally awesome album. Favorite track: “Great Unknown”

Avenged Sevenfold – The Stage My old favorite band from middle school took some time off and matured into a very strong, almost proggy group, with a great result. Favorite track: “Paradigm”

Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3 Despite just coming out this week, this album already needs to be recognized as one of the best things to come out of 2016. Favorite track: “Hey Kids (Bumaye)”

George Bennett (Assistant Music Director)

Favorite Albums of 2016 (No Order)

Boxed In – Melt
A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service
Palace – So Long Forever
STRFKR – Being No One, Going Nowhere
Animal Eyes – Where We Go

Favorite New Artists in 2016 (No Order)

Max Pope
Magic City Hippies
Hippo Campus
Whitney
NAO

Joel Atkinson (DJ)

Favorite Albums of 2016 (In Order)

Radio Dept – Running Out Of Love
Heron Oblivion – s/t
Tess & Dave – s/t
Cavern of Anti-Matter – Void Beats/Invocation Trex
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum
Beverly – The Blue Swell
Via Vegrandis – II
Karl Blau – Introducing Karl Blau

Chad Pope (DJ)

Favorite Albums of 2016 (In Order)

MONEY – Suicide Songs
Pinegrove – Cardinal
DIIV – Is the Is Are
Abi Reimold – Wriggling
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Angel Olsen – My Woman
Mitski – Puberty 2
Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness
Mothers – When You Walk a Long Distance You Are Tired
Lucy Dacus – No Burden

Ian Judge (DJ)

Favorite Albums of 2016 (In Order)

Frank Ocean – Blonde
Kanye West – The Life of Pablo
Noname – Telefone
The Weeknd – Starboy
D.R.A.M – Big Baby D.R.A.M
Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!”
Nxworries – Yes Lawd!
Chance The Rapper – Coloring Book
JMSN – It Is
Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition

Favorite Songs of 2016 (In Order)

Childish Gambino – Baby Boy
The Weeknd – Starboy
Steve Lacy – Some
Ty Dolla $ign – Stealing
DJ Khaled – Holy Key (feat. Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar & Betty Wright)
A Tribe Called Quest- We the People
Common – A Bigger Picture Called Free (feat. Syd & Bilal)
Solange – Cranes in the Sky
A$AP Rocky – Telephone Calls (feat. Tyler, The Creator, Playboy Carti & Young Gleesh)
Chance The Rapper – Blessings (Reprise)
Mac Miller – Congratulations (feat. Bilal)
Frank Ocean – Skyline To