Feature / Music / Year End 2016
2016: A Year In Review

January 16, 2017

2016: A Year In Review
2016: A Year In Review

Our favorite grower albums of the past year

There's so much new music -- for everyone, not just those of us lucky to be drowing in overflowing inboxes that beg us to listen to the stuff. It's hard to sit down and listen to it all.

One of the best parts about music, and any artform, is its lasting impression. The way its affects changes and grows along with you as a person.

In an era of plenty, not every record that doesn't make an instant impact gets a second or third spin. It's a sad truth, but we at Scene Point Blank have a few that favorites that really grew on us over the past year.

  1. James Blake

    The Colour in Anything

    James Blake's follow up to the Mercury prize winning Overgrown is a record that upon first listening, seems overlong and a little self-pitying, but over time Blake reveals much about himself and the album takes on new life as a record about hope and happiness. 

  2. Shallow Cuts

    Empty Beach Town

    I've been a longtime fan of the members' other bands, but Shallow Cuts felt on first listen like a more melodic version with less nuance to set it apart. A wrong impression, quite frankly, as what comes through on Empty Beach Town is more about that overwritten stuff "between the lines." This record is about heart.

List in no particular order.

- Loren

Anthrax photo courtesy of http://anthrax.com.

Skip to page View as a single page

— words by the SPB team • January 16, 2017

Main photo by David Wilson.

2016: A Year In Review
2016: A Year In Review

Pages in this feature

  1. Opening page
  2. Five albums I missed in 2016
  3. Our favorite grower albums of the past year
  4. The Best Hip-Hop of 2016
  5. Top 5 UK Metal Records
  6. Worst Cover Art Of 2016

Series: Year End 2016

Our annual round-up of the best music of the year 2016.

More from this series

Related features

Scene Point Blank's Favorites: Year End (2016)

Music / Year End 2016 • January 16, 2017

As years go, 2016 was a cruel one. We lost tons of musical heroes: Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones and other iconic performers departed. Before they left us, though, we were treated to a few final pieces of music. Likewise, once-dormant bands returned to prove that their best wasn't … Read more

Pass The Mic: Artists on 2016

Music / Year End 2016 • December 30, 2016

It's the second half of our annual Pass The Mic feature and this time we're handing the microphone over to the bands and artists who brought us great music in 2016. We ask them to reflect on the year gone by and to share with us the sounds that shaped … Read more

Pass The Mic: Record Labels on 2016

Music / Year End 2016 • December 19, 2016

Now in its tenth year, Pass The Mic is a SPB tradition where we ask the artists and record labels producing some of our favorite music to comment on the year in music: what albums they enjoyed, what bands they discovered, what their label released and what they're excited for … Read more

More from this section

Anathema Editions

Music / History 101 • August 11, 2026

Did you know it’s been 10 years since Anathema Editions put out its first release? To make the moment, we reached out to founder Terence Hannum to share some label history. In keeping with our “History 101” concept, SPB asked for anecdotes about 4 of the label’s releases and then … Read more

Scene Point Blank's Favorites: The Year So Far (July 2026)

Music • July 13, 2026

That's right: we're halfway through 2026 already, although whether that means this year is a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full kind of year... well, the jury's out. But we'll let you know in December. Despite another six months of chaos, war, conflict and uncertainty, one thing in life remains static and reliable: … Read more

Demos You Want To Check #4

Music / New Kids On The Block • July 7, 2026

The musical landscape is ever changing. New genres are popping up, new hypes burst out of nowhere and die out and new bands present themselves to the world. How on earth are you expected to keep up, right? Well, it never hurts to help! So here we are, your humble … Read more