These music lists are always the hardest to write an intro for, because there are so many genres and narratives, it's hard to sum it all up into one cohesive statement. 2019, at least for me, was a continuation of trends already known to be true, particularly in the rise of poptimism and the diminishing of traditional indie rock. This year, rap and pop music take up a whole 50% of my top 20 list, which is higher than it's been since I've started making lists. Unfortunately, that still doesn't mean there is any Billie Eilish on here. I apologize to the zero teens reading this.
The rules: Everything is the same as usual. The window of eligibility for this list is anything released between January 1, 2019 and now. This list can include albums, mixtapes, EPs, and anything in between. I'm praying that nothing substantial comes out in the twilight hours of the year. You never know with surprise releases these days...
Honorable Mentions (25-21)
Though The Hold Steady represent a style of music that's gone out of fashion, Thrashing Thru the Passion is excellent and more vital sounding than any band's seventh album should be. Sli'merre by Young Nudy & Pi'erre Bourne often features some laughably simple rapping but none of that matters, because it's a showcase for some truly out of this world production. The team of Freddie Gibbs & Madlib return for a second round with Bandana, a classic piece of rap excellence. People knocked Dedicated for not being as perfect as the last album from Carly Rae Jepsen, but once it grows on you, it's another set of the kind of buoyant pop that she does so well. This was the year that the world finally fully turned on Chance the Rapper, but The Big Day is still full of the acrobatic, joyful music people came to love him for.
The sonic language of modern hip hip has also become the main source of inspiration in today's pop music, but few sound more comfortable over 808s, flat snares, and skittering hi-hats than Sabrina Carpenter. Singular: Act II, the follow-up to last year's even better Singular: Act I, is full of snappy, hip-hop inflected bangers like "In My Bed" and "Pushing 20." But in this installment, she really shines when she slows it down for straight R&B on album highlights "Tell Em" and "Exhale." Carpenter always finds interesting angles to deliver her lines, not singing over the music so much as curling around it. Every Disney and Nickelodeon star seems to have an aspiring music side hustle and most of them aren't worth much, but every few draft classes gives you a genuine talent like her.
Highlight songs
1. Tell Em
2. Exhale
3. In My Bed
"Sitting at the bar, I told you everything/You said 'Holy shit, you almost died.'" So begins the fifth album from Sharon Van Etten, and not only is it the best opening line of the year, but it's a perfect indicator of the economy and power of her writing. The actual events she's talking about are usually unclear, but the sensations are prominent in all their knotty glory. For once, though, it's not her intense, emotional songwriting that's the star of the show on Remind Me Tomorrow. Van Etten explores completely new musical terrain on the album, trading the guitar-driven direction of her previous work for the fuzzy electronics of "No One's Easy To Love" and a haunting, atmospheric, almost trip-hop sound on "Memorial Day." She still finds a way for some of the tracks to have a conventional immediacy too, like on "Seventeen" and "Comeback Kid," both of which conjure up a moodier vision of Bruce Springsteen songs. Pivoting to synths has never sounded more exhilarating.
Highlight songs
1. No One's Easy to Love
2. Seventeen
3. Memorial Day
After taking a year off, the most frequent artist to appear on this list was back at it again in 2019. One would think that Young Thug would have no more left to give us. After all, he's remade a certain corner of mainstream rap in his own image, and now the genre is littered with yammering weirdos gliding over sticky trap music. But in a sea of imitators, So Much Fun proves that there's nothing like the genuine article. The album lives up to its title, offering an onslaught of effortless hooks, particularly on songs where he's paired with up-and-coming super producer Pi'erre Bourne. We may be past the period where Young Thug was evolving and inventing new flows at a rapid rate, but this age of stability looks good on him.
Highlight songs
1. Surf
2. Bad Bad Bad
3. I Bought Her
If you last properly checked in with Charli XCX on Sucker, her previous official album, you've missed alot. In the time since then, she's teamed up with the experimental collective, PC Music, and pushed the limits of pop music on the excellent Vroom Vroom EP, Number 1 Angel, and Pop 2. The long-awaited Charli serves as a bit of a catchup course, blending her mainstream and outre tendencies together. She's still capable of straightforward smashes like "1999," but she also is able to chase them with them with futuristic pop freakouts like "Click" or "Shake It." As a result, Charli plays to all of her strengths comfortably.
Highlight songs
1. 1999
2. White Mercedes
3. Gone
At some point Danny Brown was bound to scale back. For the entire decade, he had been pushing his music to wilder and more hedonistic heights, culminating with the glitchy rap bugout of Atrocity Exhibition. Now with his signature hair cut short and his even-more-signature gap teeth fixed, we got the closest thing to a mature Danny Brown on uknowhatimsayin¿. It's a helpful reminder that behind the genre-stretching beats and his manic yawp, Brown is a great rapper. The sound of the album is no less impressive, it's just more insular and groove heavy, thanks in part to executive producer Q-Tip, who also worked on some of the beats. uknowhatimsayin¿ is a compact blast at 11 tracks and 33 minutes, and if this is what Danny Brown settling down looks like, then bring on the next phase of his career.
Highlight songs
1. 3 Tearz
2. Best Life
3. Negro Spiritual
Even if the term "pop-punk" generally sets your hairs on end, it's hard to deny the power of Oso Oso. Their third album, Basking in the Glow, is their best and most accessible yet, providing short, relentlessly catchy tracks that defy any genre ghettoization. The songs on the album feel spring-loaded, winding up around these tight little hooks until it all explodes in one cathartic burst. What stands out the most is how well-produced it is. So many distinct sounds leap out at you over the course of its 35 minutes: the contrast in tone between the two guitars that interplay on "dig," the heft of the drums on the title track, how dense one acoustic guitar sounds on "one sick plan," the way the bass sits high in the mix on "the view." Ultimately, no matter how much trends change in the music world, I'll always have a soft spot for guitar music, and Basking in the Glow was one of the absolute best the field had to offer in 2019.
Highlight songs
1. impossible game
2. wake up next to god
3. dig
Whether they felt it or not, there was a massive weight of expectation placed upon Vampire Weekend pending the release of their fourth album. Not only was it their first release in six years and their first following an album that even convinced skeptics of their greatness, but it was also their first without vital creative voice Rostam Batmanglij. A record made under those circumstances was always going to be divisive, but the band seems to steer into the skid on Father of the Bride, an album with more feature spots than a rap mixtape, songs inspired by jam music, and a track with flamenco guitars. Despite all that, the risks on the album mostly work, giving just another angle for the group's pristine song structures and sharp wit. Father of the Bride feels like it's in direct conversation with our current times, often trying to figure out how to contend with personal happiness when the world around you is falling apart. And as always, they make the insular sound relatable and engaging.
Highlight songs
1. Harmony Hall
2. How Long?
3. Spring Snow
There is no question that North Carolina rapper DaBaby won 2019. From his viral XXL freestyle to his countless feature verses on other people's songs, it's hard to turn in any direction without seeing or hearing him. It's easy to understand why he's become an overnight sensation when you listen to Baby on Baby, the debut album that immediately announced his confidence and personality. The impish humor, the rubbery flow, the bare-bones beats, and the assault of hooks make it pound-for-pound the most fun rap album of the year. We've been weathering the storm of the goopy, singsong trend in rap music, and here comes DaBaby arriving like a beacon of light.
Highlight songs
1. Pony
2. Joggers
3. Goin Baby
Big Thief released two albums this year, both of which received massive critical acclaim and launched them even further into the indie rock stratosphere. While U.F.O.F. seems to be most people's favorite, Two Hands was the one that resonated with me much more. U.F.O.F. felt a little spacey and removed for me, but Two Hands is much closer to the rootsy emotional terrain that made me love them so much on Masterpiece and Capacity. They exhibit incredible control on songs like "Not," which remains tightly coiled for about four minutes of repeated mantras before completely unspooling for a gorgeous guitar solo. And lead singer Adrienne Lenker is still one of the best writers working today, fitting a lifetime's worth of pain and ethereal imagery in her lines. No matter which of their two 2019 albums you prefer, there's no doubt that Big Thief had a hell of a year.
Highlight songs
1. Shoulders
2. Forgotten Eyes
3. Not
When thank u, next first came out at the beginning of the year, many people positioned it as the Amnesiac to Sweetener's Kid A, a collection of leftovers released shortly after the real feast. Hopefully as time has gone on people have come around to the idea that not only is it a fully formed album, it's also better than its predecessor. What you're hearing are not tossed-off B-sides. What you're hearing is a regal album, the sound of someone completely relaxed, flexing with confidence and command. The record finds Grande more soul-searching and emotional -- take a drink every time she references "how much she's been through" -- and that one-of-a-kind voice is the perfect vessel for conveying those restless feelings of anxiety. It may not reach for the rafters as much as Sweetener, but these sophisticated, slinky songs have a way of settling into your skin after repeated listens. If we have to have an inescapable pop star dominating the landscape, we're lucky to have one making music as good as thank u, next.
Highlight songs
1. ghostin
2. needy
3. NASA
Phoebe Bridgers is a great musician on her own, but she unlocks something truly special when she collaborates with others. We saw that last year with the excellent boygenius EP she made with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, and we got more evidence this year with Better Oblivion Community Center, the result of her teaming with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame. Oberst's signature croak has never done much for me, but it pairs beautifully with Bridgers' gorgeous voice. And musically they meld strengths as well, the textured sound of Oberst's work and the emotional clarity of Bridgers' merging together perfectly. This self-titled debut is a work of pure and simple songcraft, with warm, winsome songs that breeze by in 37 minutes. The kind of folky indie rock that these two are making tends to get undervalued in this day and age, but it would be a mistake to overlook an album this lovely.
Highlight songs
1. Chesapeake
2. My City
3. Dylan Thomas
Mannequin Pussy's breakthrough album Romantic was a little too loud and extreme for my sensitive ears, but Patience strikes a perfect balance. There are still tracks like "Cream" and "FUCAW," which are short, furiously delivered songs with heavy rhythms and piercing guitars designed to blow out your eardrums. But they go down so much easier when placed alongside straightforward rock home runs like "Patience" and "Drunk II." The way the album jerks around with that loud/slightly-less-loud dichotomy is disorienting and exhilarating. Mannequin Pussy is a great reminder that the bands with the worst names make some of the best music.
Highlight songs
1. Drunk II
2. Patience
3. Cream
It's funny how outside factors can contribute to the marketing and presentation of an album to the people. Because she's a young white girl, Clairo's music scans as indie pop, and she gets the kind of coverage that she probably wouldn't get otherwise. But listening to Immunity makes one thing clear: this is R&B music. There's something very classic buried in the songs that she writes, where with a little tweaking to tracks like "Softly" or "North" you can hear strains of Motown and doo wop. And her voice has a quiet soul to it, able to translate an array of complicated feelings in its delivery. Ultimately in the landscape we're in, genre signifiers don't matter, and whatever gets more people to hear Immunity is a net positive.
Highlight songs
1. North
2. Bags
3. Sinking
It doesn't take that long into All Mirrors for Angel Olsen to let you know she's not messing around. In fact, it's at exactly one minute and 18 seconds into album starter "Lark." After opening with an almost imperceptible whisper of the line "To forget you is to hide," the song builds up slowly for a minute before cracking wide open, her voice louder and the instrumentation booming. And from there the album never lets up in intensity, such that even the softer songs are suffused with an alien beauty. After flirting with it for a few songs on My Woman, her fourth album is a full embrace of synths, but it's not the pop turn you think of after hearing that phrase. All Mirrors is ethereal and dramatic, with swelling strings and all. The end result is still thrilling, devastating music as always, Olsen just takes a different route to get there this time around.
Highlight songs
1. Spring
2. Endgame
3. Too Easy
If you ever see videos or pictures of Stella Donnelly, she's always got a big smile on her face. It can be a little jarring trying to reconcile her music with her persona, because if there's one thing to take away from Beware of the Dogs, it's that it's not exactly cheery. Her debut album tackles a number of heavy topics, from misogynist old men ("Old Man"), to a friend's sexual assault ("Boys Will Be Boys"), to the current conservative wave in her home of Australia ("Beware of the Dogs"). There's a palpable sense of emotional immediacy to it all too -- you can even hear her sniffling as she goes into the final chorus of breakup song "Allergies." But it's not all bleakness though. She's got a sly, evocative touch to her writing that makes it go down easier. Beware of the Dogs feels like one of the essential albums in capturing the prevailing sense of being alive in 2019, of having to navigate this strange hell with a strong will and a wry smile.
Highlight songs
1. Lunch
2. Allergies
3. Tricks
If JPEGMAFIA wanted to be a straight up rapper's rapper, he probably could be. There are moments on this album -- moments like the entirety of "Papi I Missed U" or the first verse of "PTSD" -- where he locks in and reveals that he has one of the nastiest flows in the game. But he's far too restless to stay in that mode. Instead, he interrupts his rapping with head-turning beat switches; interludes of random studio chatter; sonic collages; barrages of barked lines; and, no joke, a cover of TLC's "No Scrubs." At first it can feel frustrating, but then you realize it's what makes this quilt of musical anarchy compelling. It's an album where opposites can stand comfortably next to each other -- it's hilarious and angry ("one shot turn Steve Bannon into Steve Hawking"), it's abrasive one second and shockingly gorgeous the next. Sure, he could focus on one thing and be great, but who would want that? Peggy simply can't be pegged down.
Highlight songs
1. Papi I Missed U
2. PTSD
3. Free the Frail
Greta Kline puts out so much material at such a consistent rate -- over 70 officially released songs in the last five years -- that she's always flirting with wearing out her welcome. If you're only a casual listener, you might feel like she hasn't changed her sound enough over her last four releases. But the changes are there, they're just subtle. Diehards get to experience maximum joy when they hear her try new things on Close It Quietly, like that interlocking guitar flourish in the middle of "So Blue" or the spindly "Never Would," which sounds like something from the 90s alt-rock boom. Plus, when you capture such a perfect mixture of wonder and melancholy that she does, not many alterations in the formula are needed. Close It Quietly is another incredible collection from indie music's most prolific and reliable songwriter.
Highlight songs
1. So Blue
2. Wannago
3. Marbles
Rap has become so atomized in the last few years that it can no longer be considered one genre, but instead a series of local styles that sometimes overlap. The latest scene to bubble up and gain traction is Detroit's subgenre of knucklehead trash-talkers who rap over chintzy beats, and the shining star of that movement by far is Sada Baby. Here's the thing about Sada Baby: he's an absolute madman. You'll know pretty quickly if you're in love with him or completely out. (I knew he was for me when I heard him rap and he said "I ain't never had time for no arguments / Big ass shotgun look like Lauri Markkanen.") He's essentially an unholy synthesis of some of rap's most indelible characters -- the daffy humor of Cam'ron, the kamikaze cadence switching of Young Thug, the raucous energy of early Cash Money records, and the relentless display of pure rapping ability that mixtape-era Lil Wayne possessed. Bartier Bounty is so thrilling because no matter how many times you listen to it, the album still finds ways to surprise and dazzle you. Simply put, Sada Baby is the most exciting rapper working right now. Don't sleep on him, or else he might steal your girl and brag about it in his next song.
Highlight songs
1. Dumbass
2. Cheat Code
3. On Gang
It's usually kind of a bummer when an exciting guitar band transitions to a more poppy sound. So the prospect of Charly Bliss, whose Guppy was one of the best debut albums in a long time, going the "let's add synths" route was not promising. All of those concerns were unwarranted though, because while Young Enough is a slicker album, it remains a Charly Bliss record at its core. The giddy fun and ceaseless catchiness is still there, and the surprisingly moving bits of self-examination are still buried underneath too. This feels like the platonic ideal of the sophomore record a band makes when they get a little more attention -- it's bigger and cleaner without sacrificing personality. And if you're itching for that Guppy sound, the Supermoon EP they released a few months ago is the perfect fix.
Highlight songs
1. Young Enough
2. Camera
3. Chatroom
A catastrophic, dead-in-the-water lead single and a general sense that the public was over Taylor Swift nearly sank it, but the sheer quality of Lover in totality makes you forget all about that. The seventh album from the pop titan is another display of how much of a musical polyglot she is. The 18-track length gives her the space to provide everything you could want: the bulletproof pop songs ("Cruel Summer"), the detail-rich diaries ("Cornelia Street"), the heart-rending emotional acuity ("Soon You'll Get Better"), the girlish moments of glee ("Paper Rings"), the cornball kitsch ("London Boy"), and even some experimental flourishes ("False God," "It's Nice to Have a Friend"). The sharpness, wit, and poetry all over the album is a reminder of why Taylor Swift is one of our greatest living songwriters. And once you shake off all the narrative baggage, Lover is one of her best yet.
Highlight songs
1. False God
2. Paper Rings
3. It's Nice to Have a Friend
Well, that wraps things up for my best albums of 2019 list. I love reading other lists, so feel free to share yours in the comments. Or if you want to share your thoughts on my list, then you can do that too! Most of the highlight songs contain Youtube links if you want to listen to them, but I've also created a Spotify playlist if that's your preferred method. You can find it below. And if you want a complete ranking of all the albums that were in consideration for this list, along with some other data you might find interesting, you can find them on this Google Doc.
Previous lists
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
Here are my five favorite records of 2019 but to be fair I didn't listen to nearly as many as ya
ReplyDelete1) Charli XCX - CHARLI
2) Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
3) Solange - When I Get Home
4) Tyler the Creator - IGOR
5) Taylor Swift - Lover
Next five...
Denzel Curry's record had my favorite hip hop production of the year. I also didn't click much with the first Big Thief record, but the second one was just so much more, I don't know, ALIVE! I didn't give it as much time as some other records because it slipped right by me when it came out, but I too was way more enthralled with *thank u, next* than with *Sweetner*; guess that the Pete Davidson break up was for the best. Also I thought that MAGDALENE may have been the best album of the year when I first heard it..., then promptly forgot about it. Still like it a lot. And since I said "next 5", *Bandana* didn't live up to Piñata in my estimation but still was great.
Also some songs I completely forgot to shoutout that I loved not off these albums: "Sheet Music" by Vince Staples and "Can't Wait", the Akergirls track off the Her Smell OMP soundtrack EP.
Going to be giving the Charly Bliss another spin, as well as the Clairo one, and the Vampire Weekend one. And some of the ones I hadn't ever listened to.
I feel like a real fool for not giving Norman Fucking Rockwell! more than one or two full listens. One of the most acclaimed albums of the year and I'm just sitting around saying "eh it's so long, I'll give it more time eventually." But this week I'm finally really going to sink into it.
DeleteAlso STRONG recommend for Sada Baby if you haven't listened yet. I won't rest until I've converted the whole world into Sada Baby stans.