Best New Music Of 2016

The new sound of 2016. We’ve got a fresh new playlist for you – Kanye, Sia and beyond.

It’s a new year, and you may want a new playlist. May need one. We’re going to help you build it. There is a lot of new music dropping, and we’ve got two great critics with us to scan the horizon for what’s here, what’s coming. From Jack Garratt, from Sia, Porches, Kanye, Nevermen, King. If you don’t know these tracks, keep listening. We’ll introduce you! This hour On Point, from TEEN to Dvsn, new music for a new year.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Maura Johnston, editor of the online culture magazine, Maura Magazine. Former music editor for the Village Voice. (@maura)

Reggie Ugwu, deputy music editor for BuzzFeed News. Former indie music reporter at Billboard. (@uugwuu)

Pitchfork: The 27 Albums We're Most Excited For in 2016 -- "The best part of the New Year, by far, is having a legit reason to get excited for stuff. You haven’t been disappointed yet! You’re still nailing that New Year’s resolutions, and you have a year’s worth of cool music to look forward to. Here are a bunch of vital artists who are supposed to drop records in 2016; we know more about some than about others, but all of them are giving us reasons to think it will be another great year for music."

Boston Globe: 16 artists to look forward to hearing in 2016 -- "Blending rich vocal harmonies with a 21st-century update of the electrified R&B that dominated the Quiet Storm era, this trio has been hotly tipped by soul royalty like Prince and Babyface. 'We Are King,' the group’s debut album (Feb. 5), is five years in the making. It was worth the wait: On tracks like the gently electrified 'The Greatest,' Berklee alums Paris Nicole Strother and Anita Bias have the type of vocal interplay that even longtime duet partners might envy, while Amber Strother’s sumptuous backing tracks sound classic yet forward-thinking."

The Verge: This is your next jam: 10 albums to watch for in 2016 -- "For music fans, the week separating Christmas and New Year’s Day typically serves as a welcome break from the rest of the year’s torrent of new releases. If you want to go through and spend time with albums you missed or shortchanged earlier in the year, that’s your prerogative; if you want to hunker down with whatever you consider classics, you can do that too. I like to spend this week looking forward into the new year. What am I going to hear in January and February? Who’s going to follow up on the promise of a solid lead single? Who’s preparing a surprise or two?"

King -- "We Are King," Feb. 5

The 1975 -- "I Like When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It," Feb. 26

Kanye West -- "Swish," February 11

Missy Elliot -- "Block Party," (TBD)

Black Mountain -- "IV," April 1

Scritti Politti -- TBD, TBD

Sia -- "This Is Acting," Jan. 29

Bent Shapes -- "Wolves of Want," March 11

Washer -- "Here Comes Washer," Jan. 22

Haim -- TBD, TBD

Miles Davis and Robert Glasper -- "Everything's Beatiful," April 4

Nevermen -- "Nevermen," Jan. 29

Teen -- "Love Yes," Feb. 19

Kanye West -- "Swish," February 11

Frank Ocean -- "Boys Don't Cry," TBD

Solange Knowles -- TBD, TBD

Rihanna -- "Anti," TBD

Jack Garratt -- "Phase," Feb. 19

Haim -- TBD, TBD

Porches -- "Pool," Feb. 5

Chance The Rapper -- TBD, TBD

A$SAP Ferg -- "Always Strive and Prosper," TBD

Dvsn -- TBD, TBD