ZuluZuluu edges out Haley Bonar in our best-of-2016 Minnesota album poll

Between P-Funk's and Sun Ra's spacey '70s jams and more recent albums by OutKast and Janelle Monáe, Afrofuturism is nothing new in music. But it felt like a fresh and timely art form within the Twin Cities music scene in 2016, thanks to ZuluZuluu.

A collective more than a band, the psychedelic neo-soul/hip-hop sextet dropped in traces of all those aforementioned artists and our musical patron saint Prince in a seven-song, 29-minute debut EP that local music writers have collectively declared the best Minnesota album of 2016. While ZuluZuluu's "What's the Price?" was loaded with infectious cosmic grooves good for tuning out the din of 2016, the lyrics offered an alert, visionary, utopian exploration of African-American identity and art in a year that saw race issues boil up locally and nationally.

ZuluZuluu is only the second act to top both our 14th annual Twin Cities Critics Tally — a compilation of 24 music pundits' year-end top 10 lists — and City Pages' Picked to Click poll as the best local newcomer.

The first to do so was Minneapolis singer/rapper Lizzo, for her classic debut "Lizzobangers" in 2013. No surprise, Lizzo pops up again in TCCT 2016. She was named best live performer, while her feel-good summer jam, "Good as Hell," was voted song of the year. Critical props also were showered on TCCT mainstay Haley Bonar's album "Impossible Dream," an unusually close runner-up, earning more votes than many of our past No. 1 albums.

While those artists deservedly shared the spotlight in 2016, critics overwhelmingly agreed that the biggest reason the Twin Cities music scene seemed so alive this year was the communal, hopeful, artful reaction to Prince's death. These albums do his legacy proud.

2. Haley Bonar, "Impossible Dream"

A Minnesota music vet at age 33 — her first record dropped when she was 18 — Bonar has grown from a softly strumming folkie to the leader of two full-volume, adventurous rock bands, and from a big-idea-floating college dropout to a bigger-hearted mom. Her musical and personal evolution intersect beautifully on her sixth album, which she coproduced with guitarist Jacob Hanson. Songs like "Kismet Kill" and "I Could Change" answer the summons to grow up like a call from an annoying telemarketer. ("I could be happy if I let myself be happy," she sings in the latter.) At least the lush, ebb-and-flow guitar and synth arrangements heard throughout the record sound decidedly grown-up. (186 points)

"It hurts to be alone," Johnny Solomon sings in "Balboa Bridge," a suicide-contemplating diamond of a deep cut, buried eight songs into his sweet-sounding pop/rock band's second full-length album. Far from alone, Solomon had plenty of company in recent years climbing out of his personal pitfalls, including his wife and harmony partner Molly, their well-gelled bandmates and producer Kevin Bowe. Together, they spent two years working on an overdue follow-up LP that balances loud and quiet moments beautifully, like a 40-minute version of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence." (108 points)

On first listen, it sounds like the Doomtree rapper has mellowed during his crew's extended hiatus. Sims' first full-length LP in five years boasts slower, weirder beats than his previous efforts, and his rapping sounds more subdued and aloof. On closer inspection, though, the lyrics prove as hyperactive and ambitious as ever, loaded with personal drama and bulging with quizzical references to high-concept thinkers Franz Kafka and Bill Gosper, and lowdown punks P.O.S. and the Cro-Mags. (69)

Veteran soul man Knight and his younger sparkplug crew outgrow the revivalist tag on their second studio album with a strong batch of original tunes. They prove they can bring a lot more than funk, too, with richly layered, slower-grooving gems and tender ballads such as "The Cry." (60 points)

12. Night Moves, "Pennied Days"

Willowy-voiced cosmic strummer John Pelant gets ace help from producer John Agnello (Kurt Vile, Dinosaur Jr.), applying a hazy but elegant sonic backdrop to his '70s-flavored, George Harrison/Harry Nilsson-style twang-pop songs. (58 points)

After a series of restarts and lineup changes, Gary Louris gets his groove back and quite literally grooves like never before on his formerly alt-country band's first album in five years. It's a decidedly rockier and almost entirely twang-free collection, coproduced by Peter Buck of R.E.M. fame and heavily spiked with keyboardist Karen Grotberg's plunking, harmonious presence. (50 points)

"I pledge allegiance to the land despite the U.S.A.," David Huckfelt sings in "Where Something Wild Still Grows," a telling lyric as he and fellow Iowa-bred songwriting troubadour Benson Ramsey turn in another fine collection of windswept, environmentally informed tunes reminiscent of Bob Dylan's Daniel Lanois-produced albums.

Officially a local again, the real-life Sean Tillmann is officially uncategorizable on this decidedly varied, Julian Casablancas-produced collection. The album opens with a synth-tinged remake of a Louisiana swamp-pop song, rolls through several bouncy electro-pop tunes, then the show­stopping soul ballad "How Did I Get Through the Day?" and a full-on punk-rock rager. There's a deeper undertone throughout, about climbing out of a hole, and loving No. 1. (47 points)

Brothers Mike and Jim Blaha keep their low-bottomed guitars cranked and crunchy, but they slow down the rhythms just a tad to delve into sludgier, psychedelic punk territory, reminiscent of the Stooges and Mudhoney. (46 points)

After focusing on his more straight-rocking band the Cloak Ox in recent years, esteemed mad scientist Andrew Broder revives Fog with the subversive sonic curve balls expected from past records — a burst of saxophone here, a warped vocal part there, scratchy rhythmic loops throughout. But he also offers an unexpected, dramatic personal tone that shows off his mad songwriting skills.

The stunt man of Twin Cities rock 'n' roll went out on a daring limb emotionally, turning a bout of loss and struggle into a mantra-filled collection that's defiantly hopeful and encouraging. He added an ambitious, Arcade Fire-like, fist-pumping sonic flavor, too, with "Hole in the Night" and the title track especially sounding like arena anthems. (40 points)

The poetic, thought-provoking and sometimes backhandedly humorous feminist lyrics were a given, considering this Minneapolis rap legend's history and the record's long list of women guest vocalists, including PaviElle, the Lioness and Lydia Liza. More surprising was the fact that her first full-length in five years rocks so hard, eschewing the more electronic flavor of younger rappers for classic mayhem and power. (38 points)

Voters choose their top 10 albums, which are then weighted through a point system, ranging from 20 points for their No. 1 albums to 2 points for No. 10. Unranked lists are awarded 10 points per album. Best songs and live-act categories are top-five lists that range from 10 points to 2 for ranked lists, or 5 apiece for unranked lists.