Year-end Recommendations 2016

I’m a little late in posting this, it has to be said. Why? Ohh... Lots of things got in the way. Lots of good music was heard in 2016, travelled a bit during the course of New Year and then there was the return to work...
Anywhoo... 2016 was an odd year. David Bowie passed away early on which was a major downer for me. I went to Vancouver - my first ever trip to Canada in fact - and caught SNFU live in their hometown. Then I headed back to the UK and saw... Nothing!! Caught up with lots of great friends of course, but in terms of gigs, it was quieter than a mortuary. Oddly, it was the first trip back that made me think the UK was no longer home, but it was also very, very hard for me to walk away from family and long-standing, loyal friends.
Best gig of 2016 had to be GRANT HART blasting a set of classic after classic songs with a New Zealand backing band. Joyous, uplifting stuff and old golden tonsils Hart still has it.
Anyway - year-end Top Sounds!! An awful lot of quality albums were released - and I guess there were HEAPS I haven’t heard. I should point out that some of the below were apparently released in 2015... The versions I cite however were released in 2016 and only came onto my South Pacific horizons in 2016.
So... Let the ceremony begin...

ALBUMS
1. RUTS DC - Music Must Destroy {Westworld}

2. TOYS THAT KILL - Sentimental Ward {Recess}

3. RED DONS - Dead Hand Of Tradition {Deranged}

4. SPECTRES - Utopia {Deranged}
5. ROUGH KIDS - s/t {Sorry State}

6. CULTURE SHOCK - Attention Span {Alternative Tentacles/ Blurrg}

7. CULT VALUES - s/t {Deranged}

8. STEVE ADAMYK BAND - Graceland {Dirtnap}

9. STEVE IGNORANT AND PARANOID VISIONS - Now... And Then {Overground}

10. SHIP THIEVES - No Anchor {No Idea}

Also rans: EXTERMINATORS - Product Of America {Slope}, RIKK AGNEW BAND - Learn {Frontier}, SHATTERED FAITH - Volume III {Hostage}, DANGER!MAN/ LUCKY MALICE - Handicap, WONK UNIT - Feel The Wonkness {Boss Tuneage}, DAYLIGHT ROBBERY - Accumulated Error {Deranged}, DRAKULAS - Raw Wave, BAD SPORTS - Living With Secrets, MIND SPIDERS - Prosthesis {Dirtnap}, PANSY DIVISION - Quite Contrary {Alternative Tentacles}, MEAN JEANS - Tight New Dimension, DIRECT HIT - Wasted Mind {Fat Wreck}, JOHNNY MOPED - It’s A Real Cool Baby {Damaged Goods}, LEE HARVEYS - Bullet For The President {FOAD}
 

SINGLES/ EPs
1. STEVE IGNORANT AND PARANOID VISIONS - The Height Of Ignorance {FOAD}

2. DEAD ENDING - Class War {Alternative Tentacles}

3. VIOLENT ARREST - Authors Of Our Own Demise {Artcore}

4. MEAN JEANS - Nite Vision {Fat Wreck}

5. RUTS DC - Psychic Attack {Westworld}

6. COLOR TV - Color TV {Deranged}

7. DOA - Fucked Up Donald {Sudden Death}

8. NOFX - Sid And Nancy {Fat Wreck}

9. DOMESTICS - Brutal Regimes {Kibou}

10. PANSY DIVISION - Blame The Bible {Alternative Tentacles}

Also rans: OAF - Oaf {Deranged}, NIGHT BIRDS - Who Killed Mike Hunchback {Fat Wreck}, PAGANS/ GIILLOTINES - Split {Just 4 Fun}, TRANSMITORS - Cuppa Jarra Brozza, MOTOSIERRA - Buzo Nuevo {Spaghetty Town}　
 

COMPILATIONS/ RE-ISSUES

1. VARIOUS - Action Time Vision {Cherry Red}

2. HOLLYWOOD BRATS - Sick On You {Cherry Red}

3. THE SUSPECTS - Voice Of America {Grave Mistake}

4. VARIOUS - Dope Guns And Fucking In The Street Vol. 1 - 11 {Amphetamine Reptile/ MVD}

5. VARIOUS - Mild In The Streets {Fat Wreck}

6. THEATRE OF HATE - Do You Believe In The Westworld {Cherry Red}

7. RIPCORD - Defiance Of Power/ Poetic Justice {Boss Tuneage}

8. TENEMENT - Bruised Music Vol.2 {Grave Mistake}

9. GRANT HART - Oeuvervue {Bang}

10. THE ENEMY - The Enemy {Westworld}
Also rans: FACE TO FACE - Reissues {Fat Wreck}, GBH - Hahaha, RUTS - Babylon’s Burning {Westworld}, COWS - Reissues {Amphetamine Reptile/ MVD}