That's very cool. He's always come across as incredibly smart and very thoughtful so it'll be interesting to see him take on more serious stuff. I will report back with findings.

The Sleater-Kinney record and Surf are also absolutely great. Surf seems to have gotten kind of forgotten in all these lists because it feels like a fairly slight record, but it was probably tied with CRJ for the most fun record of the year.
I still haven't heard the Eat Pray Thug or White Men Are Black Men Too, but…

Wow, that's lower than I was expecting! Any record that can make me cry that consistently gets a top ranking from me. What's in your top 5 or 10?

I don't even like star wars and I'm mad at this dude for being a dumb idiot about it.

Same question to you, btw.

Take the day off! Who needs money anyways?

You should come! It's only $30!

I think that's one of JD's secret tricks: Extremely simple, straightfoward lyrics that just absolutely tear your heart right out.

Oh man, yes to both! I'm also a big fan of

"Yes sir, that's me, I'm him" is the single best moment of the album, but it totally doesn't work out of context.

Highlight of the year is probably either: "Climb the turnbuckle high/ take two falls out of three/ blackout for local TV"

Yeah, I'm kind of in the same position. I am not a fan of his whole persona, and a lot of the time he comes across as so self-centered and kinda gross that it's really hard to like him. but he has a knack for crafting phrases (lyrically and melodically) with a great deal wit and beauty.
The second half of the record…

I wish I had been that responsible last night, but no, we had to go ahead and watch the last 3 episodes of Jessica Jones instead of sleeping.

Whatever year we class it as: It's a really incredible record that I have listened to 100s of times this year.

Ha! Thanks. I thought maybe it was a bit much! Did you check out Take Care?

On the upside, World Of Warcraft is coming from the guy who made Moon, so I'm still holding out a bit of hope for it. Plus there's something to the cartoon-y design of the Orcs that I find appealing.

I keep seeing Black Messiah on lists, and it's an absolutely fantastic record, but didn't it come out in 2014?
Also, I've tried and tried but I still can't help but find Tame Impala just…boring.

If You're Reading This is, for my money, a largely forgettable and boring release, with only a couple of tunes worth listening to. It's main draws are contextual, in that it represents a move away from the sound that made Drake famous, and political, in that he dropped it without hype or build up, making people think…

Can't wait to finally catch the latest critically acclaimed Innaratu on a plane in February and get SUPER MAD about it. It'll be a lovely throwback to 2015.

Agreed. Arrow's self-serious sensibility, and dour-for-dourness' sake always reeked to me of a desire to be A Serious Show that trumped their desire to write compelling, fully fleshed out characters and plots. The Flash opened with (at least) 5 fully formed, fun, believable characters. They're more interested in…