Your Favorite New Musicians Of 2016 (So Far)
Clockwise from upper left: Big Thief, Japanese Breakfast, Margaret Glaspy, Overcoats Courtesy of the artists hide caption
It's only June and this year is already jam-packed with remarkable new artists who've released some of 2016's most memorable music. These are artists who released their very first songs or first full-length albums so far this year.
Last week we asked for your picks for the best new artists from 2016's first half. We tallied the votes and have your top 10 listed below, alongside quotes that some of you submitted with your votes. The artists you picked cross genres, from the scuzz-y slacker rock of Lucy Dacus to the tender country music of Margo Price. But the thing that links them all, what you told us matters most to you, is a sense of authenticity.
But first, Bob and Robin share their favorites: the wound-tight, propulsive sound of Weaves and the quiet, textured tunes of Ry X.
Songs Featured On This Episode
Bob's Pick: Weaves
- Song: One More
- from Weaves
One of Bob's favorite new artists of 2016, the Toronto-based art rock group Weaves makes music that sounds like winding a rubber band on a little toy airplane and letting it go. "One More" is a perfect bunch of reckless abandon. It's a track that's a little wild and a whole lot of fun.
Robin's Pick: RY X
- Song: Beacon
- from Dawn
RY-X is one of Robin's favorite new artists of 2016. "Beacon" is a moody, broody track that feels transporting. It's layered in so many textures and ends in a glorious conclusion.
1. Big Thief
- Song: Masterpiece
- from Masterpiece
"A mesmerizing debut. Their sound seems perfected from years of experience despite being a new band. The lyrics are beautiful, sharp and piercing, the band compliments the songwriting perfectly and swirls psychedelically around the breathtaking croon of Adrianne Lenker. Every one these songs make me choke up."
2. Margaret Glaspy
- Song: You And I
- from Emotions And Math
"Her voice vibrates into your body and gets stuck there for days. Her songs make you feel like you know her and leave you yearning for more."
3. Overcoats
- Song: Nighttime Hunger
- from Nighttime Hunger
"The chills they give me; the fact that I can't look away when they perform; their complex and irresistible harmonies; the vulnerability to their words and the dance-y beats they put behind them."
4. Whitney
- Song: Golden Days
- from Light Upon the Lake
"Things that listening to Whitney is like:
- Smoking a J on your grandfather's farm where there's no cell phone reception
- Playing with a dog in slow motion
- Your memories from two years ago played through a sepia filter so it looks that Adele video
- Campfires during daylight hours
- Waffle House at 3 a.m. talking with somebody you used to date but later redefined your sexual orientation and now you're catching up with them
- Driving through the entire state of Montana"
5. Maggie Rogers
- Song: Alaska
- from Alask
"Have to thank social media for this one. I'm not a dance clubber. Just a foot tapper, head sway-er. Her voice is mesmerizing. Musicality so layered and complex. Will keep watch for this one."
6. Lucy Dacus
- Song: I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore
- from No Burden
"Lucy Dacus' album, No Burden, was the soundtrack to the long, slow Boston winter for me this year. I bet I have listened to it start-to-finish about 100 times. Her smart, witty but yet simple lyrics really resonated with me as I entered a new stage in my life, wandered the frozen streets of the Northeast, and felt out a new not-yet-defined relationship. I like to call her a cross over between Courtney Barnett & Wilco.
'Without you I am surely the last of our kind.' What a heartbreaking, simple, compelling line. A+"
7. Mothers
- Song: Too Small For Eyes
- from When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired
"There's a real boldness in the sort of mid-tempo-discordant vibe they have. Kristine Leschper's lyrics are genuinely off beat. So many artists try to manufacture quirky art-school lyrics and they generally come off sounding horribly artificial. Kristine Leschper's words make the song feel not quite right. Like something's wrong and you empathize with every emotion even when you can't quite identify what the emotions are."
![Cover for Midwest Farmer's Daughter [LP]](https://media.npr.org/assets/music/programs/asc/2016/06/06.29.16/MARGOPRICE_CVR-54e51b004c1533be4cf8c56a762c93b6e952e51e-s200-c15.webp)
8. Margo Price
- Song: Since You Put Me Down
- from Midwest Farmer's Daughter [LP]
"She takes ownership of her stories. You can tell that her songs are true to her and her voice can straight up turn sand into glass."
9. Honeysuckle
- Song: It's Getting Late
- from Honeysuckle
"So many contemporary bluegrass and folk outfits that get big have a cloying sweetness to them, or a cynical predisposition towards a radio-friendly pop sensibility. Not so with Honeysuckle. Their sound is unpretentious and unabashed, as if each song is meant for one set of ears only. They don't shy away from moments that are as technical as they are mesmerizing, and here their musicianship really shines through. Trampled By Turtles is about to be stomped by a flower y'all."
10. Japanese Breakfast
- Song: In Heaven
- from Psychopomp
"With so many artists trying to emulate the '90s today, [Michelle Zauner] seems to capture the authenticity of that sound while blending it with her own personal approach to music to give way to something new altogether. Not a re-creation or a wannabe, authentically true to herself. Recently signed to Dead Oceans and if that's not a stamp of approval, I don't know what is!"