The seventh best single of 2016, according to Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll, is the title track to Leonard Cohen’s final album, You Want It Darker.
As with David Bowie’s #1 spot on the album list, you have to figure Cohen shows up this high because he shook off this mortal coil. He’s a critical favorite anyway, but nothing invites praise like dying.
Tied for the fifth spot on Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll of the best 2016 singles is Mitski’s ‘Your Best American Girl.’ Mitski’s fourth studio album, Puberty 2, shows up at #15 on the albums list.
Who is Mitski, you ask? Well, I did, anyway. She is a half-Japanese, New York-based singer-songwriter. This track is about meeting an American man and realizing they aren’t compatible enough to stay together.
I’ve heard of A Tribe Called Quest but I don’t know if I’ve ever heard their music. The hip-hop group put out five albums in the 90s before splitting, then reunited last year to release their sixth, titled We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service.
The album was very well-received and shows up in the third spot on Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop poll.
The track ‘We the People’ is at #5 on the singles poll (following Rae Sremmurd’s ‘Black Beatles’ at #4).
It was a banner year for the Knowles family. While Beyoncé took the top spot on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop singles list, her sister Solange landed at #3 with ‘Cranes in the Sky.’
Solange also claimed the fifth spot on the albums list for her record A Seat at the Table. Stellar showing, no doubt, but I kind of feel bad that Solange put out a critically-acclaimed, career-defining album the same year her sister put out an even more critically-acclaimed, career-defining album. It’s like Venus making it to the finals at Wimbledon only to lose to Serena.
Each January I like to check out the annual Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll, now in its 44th year, to get a sense of what critics thought of the previous year in music.
It usually leans a little more toward infuriating than illuminating, as critics tend to flock toward the same obvious choices. If Kanye West farts on record, it has a 100% chance of making the top ten in this poll. That said, I have also discovered some great songs there that I wouldn’t have otherwise heard.
Meet Me In Montauk 