Now that Scotch Sampler has made it through an entire calendar year, I'd like to present "Scotch's favorite Samplers of 2016". I've selected some of my favorite songs and musicians, while excluding the performers that were covered in previous posts. Here I highlight the most interesting music I enjoyed during the year. There's a lot of other great stuff out there, but I can't include them all. Let's get started.
Blackstar was Bowie’s final album. The video is disturbing, but it’s clear that he embraced his fate.
David Bowie – Lazarus
Banks & Steelz is a collaboration between
Interpol front-man
Paul Banks and
Wu-Tang Clan’s
RZA. Their album “Anything But Words” contains this hit.
Banks & Steelz – Giant
The talented Regina Spektor’s new album is “Remember Us to Life”. Here’s one of the hit singles.
Regina Spektor – Small Bill$
Hamilton Leithauser+Rostam is Hamilton Leithauser (the former frontman of The Walkmen) and Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend. Their album “I Had a Dream That You Were Mine” was led by the single “A 1000 Times”, which the radio stations literally played a thousand times, and the song repeats the title lyrics about a thousand times as well. So, I’m really sick of that song. But I like this one, which was used in an iPhone 7 ad.
Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – In a Blackout
Phish put out a new studio album in 2016 named “Big Boat”. This song got a lot of radio play. It’s about the end of the world.
Phish – Breath & Burning