2019 in music
Dec. 17th, 2019 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamyOK, I guess it's time to sum up the year. I still have some reading and movie-watching to do, but I don't think I'll fall in love with any more albums before New Year's, so... Here's my top 15 songs and/or albums (which neatly fits onto a 74-minute CDR, if you're so inclined and still remember what those are). With Youtube links of course.
Anything I missed? Anything you agree or disagree with?
Fat White Family - Feet (Serfs Up!)
Sleazy disco with stabbing strings about, well, 2019. After the way they acted when I saw them live a couple of years ago I'm astonished that FWF are still alive, nevermind making tight, playful, pissed-off albums like this one.
The Coathangers - F the NRA (The Devil You Know)
Remember, kids, political songs need to be subtle.
Jenny Lewis - Red Bull and Hennessy (On The Line)
On The Line is about addiction, death and having to parent your own parents as a kid. It's also one of the lushest, Fleetwoodmaciest albums you'll hear this year. Jenny Lewis makes that work.
The Comet Is Coming - Summon the Fire (Trust In the Lifeforce)
Because of course the most danceable album of the year is driven by distorted saxophones. And to think some people still think jazz is sophisticated.
Julia Jacklin - Don't Know How To Keep Loving You (Crushing)
In years without a new Courtney Barnett album, we need two Australian singer-songwriter chicks to balance it out. Here's the first. Crushing is such an insidious album, just sneaking in and planting its shadowy little songs.
Fontaines DC - Boys In The Better Land (Dogrel)
Probably song of the year for me. Grian Chatten spitting out his contempt syllable by syllable in that Dublin brogue over Velvet Undergroundy guitars that just keep on turning up the heat with each go-round...
Highwomen - If She Ever Leaves Me (Highwomen)
Yes, it's a gay country song, and I love how straightfaced (sorry) it is about it. This is an excellent album by supergroup standards, I chose this song because it's one of the least ambitious on it - it's just great songcraft.
Anderson .Paak - King James (Ventura)
As is this, in an entirely different vernacular. Anderson .Paak keeps sliding along that line between modern r'n'b, 70s funk and hip hop, and he makes it all sound so damn easy even when he tackles heavy subjects.
Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II (Patience)
2019: the year the feel-good hit of the summer was a song about bingedrinking away your sorrows with the chorus "I still love you, you stupid fuck!"
Billie Eilish - bad guy (WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO)
I'm too old to know if this is a banger, a bop, or a jam. I say it's a genius little pop song and let the kids laugh at me.
Titus Andronicus - (I Blame) Society (An Obelisk)
Because punk rock needs more Repo Man references.
Big Thief - Not (Two Hands)
Nevermind that Neil Young's new album was yet another disappointment. I'm sold on BT's circular Crazy Horse-like groove even before Adrienne Lenker starts screaming her head off and shredding her guitar to bits. (And they put out two excellent albums this year?!?)
Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs (Beware of the Dogs)
Here's the other Australian. Stella Donnelly has a crystal clear Stratocaster tone and the sweetest voice and is pissed off as hell. It's a combination that works.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Hollywood (Ghosteen)
It took time for me to warm to Ghosteen. At first it just felt too private, like snooping on a grief councellor; Nick Cave barely singing over barely-there music for an hour plus about unimaginable loss. But the way it builds towards this cathartic but still painful finale is kind of beautiful.
Angel Olsen - Chance (All Mirrors)
Another album that took me a while; I missed the guitars, all those lush strings and synths felt like a buffer between me and the songs. But this torch song caught me up at the end and made me go back again and again to the rest of the album until it got me.
Anything I missed? Anything you agree or disagree with?
Fat White Family - Feet (Serfs Up!)
Sleazy disco with stabbing strings about, well, 2019. After the way they acted when I saw them live a couple of years ago I'm astonished that FWF are still alive, nevermind making tight, playful, pissed-off albums like this one.
The Coathangers - F the NRA (The Devil You Know)
Remember, kids, political songs need to be subtle.
Jenny Lewis - Red Bull and Hennessy (On The Line)
On The Line is about addiction, death and having to parent your own parents as a kid. It's also one of the lushest, Fleetwoodmaciest albums you'll hear this year. Jenny Lewis makes that work.
The Comet Is Coming - Summon the Fire (Trust In the Lifeforce)
Because of course the most danceable album of the year is driven by distorted saxophones. And to think some people still think jazz is sophisticated.
Julia Jacklin - Don't Know How To Keep Loving You (Crushing)
In years without a new Courtney Barnett album, we need two Australian singer-songwriter chicks to balance it out. Here's the first. Crushing is such an insidious album, just sneaking in and planting its shadowy little songs.
Fontaines DC - Boys In The Better Land (Dogrel)
Probably song of the year for me. Grian Chatten spitting out his contempt syllable by syllable in that Dublin brogue over Velvet Undergroundy guitars that just keep on turning up the heat with each go-round...
Highwomen - If She Ever Leaves Me (Highwomen)
Yes, it's a gay country song, and I love how straightfaced (sorry) it is about it. This is an excellent album by supergroup standards, I chose this song because it's one of the least ambitious on it - it's just great songcraft.
Anderson .Paak - King James (Ventura)
As is this, in an entirely different vernacular. Anderson .Paak keeps sliding along that line between modern r'n'b, 70s funk and hip hop, and he makes it all sound so damn easy even when he tackles heavy subjects.
Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II (Patience)
2019: the year the feel-good hit of the summer was a song about bingedrinking away your sorrows with the chorus "I still love you, you stupid fuck!"
Billie Eilish - bad guy (WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO)
I'm too old to know if this is a banger, a bop, or a jam. I say it's a genius little pop song and let the kids laugh at me.
Titus Andronicus - (I Blame) Society (An Obelisk)
Because punk rock needs more Repo Man references.
Big Thief - Not (Two Hands)
Nevermind that Neil Young's new album was yet another disappointment. I'm sold on BT's circular Crazy Horse-like groove even before Adrienne Lenker starts screaming her head off and shredding her guitar to bits. (And they put out two excellent albums this year?!?)
Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs (Beware of the Dogs)
Here's the other Australian. Stella Donnelly has a crystal clear Stratocaster tone and the sweetest voice and is pissed off as hell. It's a combination that works.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Hollywood (Ghosteen)
It took time for me to warm to Ghosteen. At first it just felt too private, like snooping on a grief councellor; Nick Cave barely singing over barely-there music for an hour plus about unimaginable loss. But the way it builds towards this cathartic but still painful finale is kind of beautiful.
Angel Olsen - Chance (All Mirrors)
Another album that took me a while; I missed the guitars, all those lush strings and synths felt like a buffer between me and the songs. But this torch song caught me up at the end and made me go back again and again to the rest of the album until it got me.
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Date: 2019-12-18 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-18 12:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-19 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-18 02:35 am (UTC)I tend to play catch up, listening in depth to this year's music the following year. Which means I've still been enjoying Oxnard and only listened to Ventura once or twice. But it's almost time..
Are you a hip-hop person? What did you think of Tyler, the Creator's latest?
no subject
Date: 2019-12-18 12:02 pm (UTC)I'm a... let's say sporadic hip hop person. I don't keep up with everything, but I like what I like and occasionally find more that I like. Listening to the new Tyler album right now and it's excellent, thanks for the tip!
no subject
Date: 2019-12-19 10:53 pm (UTC)