It's My Party - Selections from Said the Gramaphone's Best of 2016

Time once again to select a set from the new “Said the Gramaphone” year-end collection (the whole list is here: http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/best_songs_of_2016.php ) ... It's My Party: the 2016 version.

Those of you who’ve heard the Lux et Amor session have already had the pleasure of the Bon Iver track; pleasure enough, I’m betting, to not mind hearing it again. Beyond that, I was most moved by songs with a folkie vibe this time around: from the basic guitar/voice arrangement of Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé's French-language offering, or the sweet lazy sounds of Maggie Rogers, Whitney, & Georgia Ruth, to the layered, textured sweep of Drowzy, Snowblink, & Shearwater ... to my ear, these all represent the folk music ethic in some way. That doesn’t mean everything’s quiet & soft: hi-energy tunes from Sinead Harnett, Jenny Hval & Leanne Betasamosake Simpson will woke you.

And in these times, a special mention goes to Leonard Cohen's You Want It Darker.