Okay, I get it …. it’s almost April and I’m trying to do a recap of 2019. The audacity! Here’s the excuse: early 2020 was a very busy time. It would appear I overextended myself with extracurriculars… and also the day job really ramped-up. This post was like an itch I just couldn’t scratch, constantly being put off to my chagrin. However, it was always my intention to do a re-cap, because it’s not a great feeling to leave things unfinished. And then all of a sudden, with State and City orders to sit my butt down in my apartment, I had some time magically unfurl in front of me to finally get to this! Thanks quarantine!
What Was 2019?
2019 was nothing to do cart wheels about. 2020 is already showing a ton of promise with Tame Impala’s new record, 070 Shake breaking onto the scene, and a few other folks like Caribou, Grimes, King Krule, U.S. Girls, and Lil Uzi Vert releasing some really great records. In hindsight, 2018 was also a really strong year both for EPs and LPs, as I had to delineate my recap for 2018 into those two forms just to give a smidge of justice. 2019 is like a skinny dweeb in the middle seat of a plane, wedged between two fat dudes, his shoulder blades pressed narrowly into his chest cavity. Hope he’s got a few good shows on that phone, because he’s not moving. Nevertheless, I really hope that skinny loser breaks free over the course of the flight, because what tends to happen for me is I discount a year as a bad one, and then there’s all this new discovery of music way into the future. Then I have to remark five years down the road, “that was released in 2019? Maybe it wasn’t that bad of a year!”. Here’s to hoping that’s the case.
I’ve already found a couple great bands this year who created some pretty quality 2019 albums, including Lightning Bug’s winsome reverie called October Song, released in September, and FEELS brand of Garage Rock in Post Earth (also check out their self-titled 2016 album, which is even better). A straight-shooting Punk band from Ireland called Fontaines D.C. also piqued my interest this month- they had a really strong debut album in 2019 called Dogrel. It’s promising to discover primarily Indie Rock and good ol’ boilerplate Rock N’ Roll artists early in 2020. However, not sure they overtook any of the artists on my Best Albums of 2019 list, but they were really nice discoveries in the nascent future known as post-2019 – a claustrophobic time I wish fast forwarded.
Fingers crossed for a strong 2020 in the raucous, the innovative, and the aggressive, especially for Rock music, because I am honestly reaching a threshold when it comes to Singer-Songwriters and folksy Indie songstresses. I was certainly praising the emergence of all these talented female artists, especially in my year 2017 and 2018 recaps, but after four or five years of that current developing and singing their praises, I think we’ve reached inundation. You can see it with all of the music critics, online platforms, and pundits’ ‘Best of’ lists for 2019, but I’m not hearing any game changers. Frankly, I’m getting a bit antsy, and really angling for a tide shift. That’s not to discount some of the great artists that made fantastic albums this year like Big Thief (who miraculously released two quality LPs this year), Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Alex G. However, we really need new elements injected into the Indie Rock and Singer-Songwriter scene because it’s been five consistent years and it’s starting to get a bit stale, or at the very least, losing its edge. I mean, Jessica Pratt sounds like a chipmunk on acid in Quiet Signs and Cate Le Bon’s Reward sounded more like punishment. If I wanted to hear what a wounded deer limping through the forest sounds like, I would go up to the mountains.
The other artists consistently making the ‘Best Of’ lists had some good records, but weren’t really doing anything new. Don’t get me wrong, things don’t have to change just for the sake of change, but as artists, the growth of the music didn’t match some of the new acts on the scene that made commendable albums. For example, FKA Twigs seems to be clawing for the potent mix of seduction and vulnerability that made LP1 (2014) a pinnacle release. Ever since that album, the sound has grown desperately melodramatic – relying less on great music production behind the voice and more on the rambling histrionic inflections. Lana Del Rey’s album had a great title, Norman Fucking Rockwell, which makes us all feel like we want to be cool enough to get the inside joke, but other than the name of the album, it wasn’t better or different than her previous albums Lust for Life (2017) or Ultraviolence (2014). Same goes for other lauded releases by Solange and Weyes Blood – they were just humming around neutral without enough peaks to jog me out of a vegetative listening state. In particular, Weyes Blood’s album Titanic Rising almost put me to sleep and lacked all of the dynamic energy of their previous (and much better) album Front Row Seat to Earth (2016). I love Angel Olsen and appreciate she took a leap with All Mirrors, which sounds like a concerted effort to push the envelope. Nevertheless, it just didn’t feel like it landed.
R&B, Soul, and Rap are still going strong, and the presence of female artists in those genres is only getting stronger. This truth is reinforced in most of the ‘Best Of’ albums out there as well as on mine. There are so many fantastic artists within these genres that it became a difficult decision to exclude some just for the sake of balance and parity on the list. Sudan Archives’ Athena, Swedish singer Snoh Aalegra’s Ugh Those Feels Again (Again, a great album title), Roses Gabor’s Fantasy & Facts, or one of my favorite artists, Kaytranada’s BUBBA – ugh, close but no cigar. Then there were a couple very memorable releases from artists that I tried to approach objectively. Purple Mountains’ self-titled album had some really great tracks (like “All My Happiness is Gone”) but taken as a comprehensive album, it’s got some soft spots. The same could be said about Alex G’s House of Sugar or Denzel Curry’s ZUU – they have standout tracks, but as a whole, didn’t make for the tightest of albums. If it weren’t for all the annoying interludes and segues in Ari Lennox’s Shea Butter Baby, I would’ve put that right up there. Alas, the sound bite interlude is a risky game to play – you either live by the interlude or die by it, especially when taken within the context of an album’s cohesion.
It’s important for future reference to have this Best Albums of 2019 list, as well as to have some sort of belated recap. The year deserved some sort of treatment. I mean, I kind of feel bad for that dweeb gasping for air in seat 32B. That skinny guy still has value, he still has done a few good things in the year 2019. Who knows, maybe in the future I’ll get a better glimpse of who exactly was wedged in there and maybe I’ll realize there was more to see, but right now things are a bit obscured by the fat guys that are 2018 and 2020. Also, I wanted to make sure there was some sort of documentation to go back to for the good stuff, albeit fewer and farther between, of that past year (if not just to prove me wrong again). Yes it’s almost April, I know, but just one man’s opinion on……
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2019
25. Dreamville – Revenge of the Dreamers III (July 2019)
Dreamville isn’t just a supergroup, it’s a massive cultural enterprise. Their third album as a collaborative of producers, MCs, singers, and musicians is the most honed and ambitious of the record productions yet. This is not a touring group or a musicians’ enclave, but rather a collaborative comprised of many of the artists associated with Dreamville Records, which was founded by J. Cole and his manager Ibrahim Hamad, coming together to celebrate their great influence as a generation of musicians. Dreamville has quickly become incredibly powerful across the landscape of Hip-Hop and Rap, the artists seeming to have touched from end to end the vast world that is modern R&B and Hip-Hop. JID, Bas, J. Cole, Ari Lennox, EarthGang are all very important artists either self-producing or cross-pollinating and synching up with other vital musicians of their genres. It’s important to keep an eye on all of the artists, but especially Bas, JID, and EarthGang, as they have been busy producing and featuring on so many critical works of music in the past couple of years. “Down Bad” is a throwback track that feels equal parts current and classic. However, it was the more subdued, restrained R&B-inflected tracks like “Got Me” and the superb “Sacrifices” that really raised the eyebrows.
24. DIIV – Deceiver (October 2019)
There was a comment on one of DIIV’s YouTube videos that caught my eye for summing up this release pretty well. “They have evolved appropriately, that’s rare for bands nowadays.” I couldn’t agree more. DIIV started off like the neglected stepkids of more popular beach-bum indie rockers like Real Estate and Beach Fossils. They had the sunny reverb-heavy sound that was ubiquitous in the mid 2010’s, but it wasn’t bad music – it just seemed to be a timeworn sound. Deceiver comes not as a newfangled formula, but as a very welcome exploration of a great band needing to find new territory. This album is forceful and unrepentant in its Shoegaze and Alt-Rock leanings, yet that doesn’t matter when you execute the sound so well and at the same time make a unified album from beginning to end unyielding in statement, even if we feel like we’ve heard it before maybe a couple decades back. I found the timing really perfect for an album like this, and one produced with great care and attention to detail.
23. Toro y Moi – Outer Peace (January 2019)
Chaz Bear, at 33 years of age, is a bit of a veteran in the game. His brilliance as an Electronic and R&B producer-performer started very early and was proven in rapid succession when he released three phenomenal albums right out of the gate: Causers of This (2010), Underneath the Pine (2011) (an absolute gem in my opinion), and Anything in Return (2013). They were warm, dreamy, psychedelic pieces of Pop-Electronica glory and had all of the elements relevant to music at the time; starting with a genre-mashing approach to Indie music combined with elements of Electronica. Toro y Moi also had a penchant for making sharp production sound just dirty enough that it had the DIY-appeal of early 2010s Lo-Fi. After some sonic tangents after those albums, including the dubious releases Boo Boo (2017) and Soul Trash (2019), Chaz is back in his element with this album. What I enjoyed most about Outer Peace is the taut 30:30 running-time, and the no fusses or frills approach to getting back to his form of basics, which is complex and expertly produced Indie-Electronica. The music video above also shows some of the stylistic and thematic flairs embodied in the music he creates.
22. Oso Oso – Basking in the Glow (August 2019)
Similar to DIIV, there is a definite need in this day and age for some good old fashioned Rock records with no strings attached. Long Beach’s Oso Oso have slowly been acquiring a following for creating fun-friendly Rock music with some overt Pop gestures. Basking in the Glow is a really crisp and expertly produced Pop-Rock record that capitalizes on the desires of current Indie music-goers to have some faintly nostalgic, sun-drenched optimism in a market flush with weepy and wispy Singer-Songwriters making Folk Art projects out of the genres that once tried to challenge boundaries. If we aren’t pioneering new Rock sounds, we might as well make some strong affirmations that make us happy to be alive. Oso Oso have achieved the distillation of this “rebellious” sound with this one.
21. Sharon Van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow (January 2019)
It was a welcomed surprise to see Sharon Van Etten come out with an LP in 2019. It was a bit of a shock to come to the realization it’s been seven years since the fantastic album Tramp (2012) was released. Potent tracks like “Give Out” and “Serpents” became the benchmark for all other female artists when it came to caustic yet vulnerable lyricists in Indie Rock exercising their demons. Sharon releases this album in a time when there is an inundation of mostly women, but also men, making music that she probably inspired. In some ways I think we are at a threshold and could really use a good cleanse in the form of some other types of sounds, because the constant barrage of howling, pleading, and plaintive vocalists with their somber or forlorn songs reaches a point where there’s some form of desensitization. Van Etten came back with this album proving she is just a little better than most at doing what so many are doing now. She makes battered love songs in her incomparable voice, with lyrics just a bit more pointed than others can muster. Nothing will compare to her 2010 album Epic, in my opinion, however a track like “Seventeen” is a first class song that may become her most memorable.
20. LITTLE SIMZ – GREY AREA (MARCH 2019)
Sometimes I get goosebumps when I hear tracks like “Offence” because the style is so slick, the production cool and brash, with just the right balance between the Be-Bop styles of Rap more at home in Europe and the NYC/East Coast attitude of 90’s Hip-Hop. At 26, Little Simz has matured in leaps and bounds over just five years since entering the scene. There were whispers of her talent you would hear sporadically, like a little mention on NPR, or a video shout-out on Uproxx – now she makes a statement album like this in 2019. The London-based rapper harnessed all of the skill to create Grey Area, which is simply a marvel in stylized production that reinforces, and never contradicts, her signature style as an MC. What makes her such a rare talent is the unpredictable way she’ll approach a track, a chameleon-esque style allowing her to adapt to the many different modes of music provided. The flow can often be mercurial, with an ever-changing cadence and rhythm. Some tracks she slows down and sings, in a soulful R&B manner that works on many levels with the backing tracks. Other tracks are choppy and fast, testing her skills to keep up. She often excels with the quickened pace, sometimes passing by the beats laid out in front of her. One of the best qualities of this album is the undeniable focus, the decisive 10-track album says everything it needs to say in a very deliberate and purposeful 35 minutes.
19. Nerija – Blume (August 2019)
2019 was a tremendous year for Jazz albums. There’s been a slow rebirth in the genre rising in an under-primed oven over the past decade. This past year felt like a nice capstone to a decade where Jazz was becoming more prolific, yet seemed to be struggling with identity. Colin Stetson and Esperanza Spalding pushed progressive paths, sometimes striking brilliance yet also often making the genre appear too difficult or esoteric. Kamasi Washington deserves a ton of praise for straddling two sides between the obscure and amiable sides of Jazz, and has released material gaining recognition from a broader audience. The Comet is Coming, Yazz Ahmed, and Glitter Wolf all released great Jazz albums this year as well. The best part is they all seem very comfortable in their own skin. I’ve always gravitated to Jazz that embraces the honest beauty in the music, not a cold and calculating pedagogy or abstract expression that makes Jazz feel like some exclusive club for intellectuals. The reason Nerija’s Blume was on the list over the other quality Jazz albums released last year is for a couple reasons. First, the album is simply a gorgeous statement. Second, look at the members of that band! It is incredibly exciting to see such a talented and diverse group of people come together to make a record. It’s equally exciting to think of all the many vast groups of people who may be inspired to join together in the future because of an eclectic (yet completely in-sync) group like Nerija.
18. Big Thief – U.F.O.F. (May 2019)
Although I feel I’ve heard better from Big Thief, particularly the days of “Shark Smile” on Capacity (2017) or “Animals” on Masterpiece (2016), the fact Big Thief released two fantastic albums in 2019, both brimming with a winsome Folk quaintness, is something that probably needed to be commended. Most critics indeed ended up doing that, either placing one or the other of the albums (the other one being Two Hands) or both albums on their lists. I do miss when they did Folk Rock, as I appreciated when they let those amps carry some of the load, however, U.F.O.F. does really fit the bill when I’m in the mood for hushed Folk that serves like a nice warm cup of afternoon tea on a sunny blissful day. When I want to drearily get caught is some sort of trance, U.F.O.F. does a lush job. Even though I can’t take very many more of these kinds of albums right now, as mentioned before I am getting close to overload, I cannot fight off the mesmerizing qualities of this album and its strange ability to put me in some paralyzingly subdued mood almost instantaneously.
17. Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury (September 2019)
I’ll keep saying it, I always succumb to a good concept album. Sturgill Simpson moves to the beat of his own drummer and I appreciate him for it. The genre of Country, or at least, Modern Country, is a stale club singing the same old platitudes with the same exhausted southern tinge. It’s understandable that for many folks in that circle, Simpson is a fringe player misunderstood and often condemned. Sound & Fury didn’t get a lot of recognition this year, and in many ways this is also understandable, yet still disappointing. This might be a novelty album – an outlier release wherein Sturgill was just been having fun with some limited themes, however, I will say it is more crucial in the vein of Country music for this sort of audacious exploration to take place. More forays into the uncertain should be encouraged when the artists within the genre are so often complacent with small steps or simply assuaging those of the status quo. Sound & Fury was one of my favorite albums of the year for a multitude of reasons: the first being it’s a single cohesive vision for an album, which has a definite sonic theme along with an uncanny visual style naturally tied to it. You can see in the music video above the perfect manifestation of the music as a visual come to life. The sound is Road Warrior, its dystopian, its violent and overbearing, and yes, its machismo. It’s not going to score a lot of popularity points within Sturgill’s community but you have got to appreciate an artist in Country music making bold moves to incite a wellspring of new and different ideas.
16. Andrew Bird – My Finest Work Yet (March 2019)
That was a very ballsy album title. However, it has to pique one’s interest when the guy who has released over 15 albums, albums like Armchair Apocrypha (2007) and Noble Beast (2009), to say in his 40s this is his best. With such a big boast, I really tried not to like this album, yet I couldn’t help but agree, yes, this may be his “finest work yet”. Digging a bit into the story behind the creation of this record, you come to find out the title is tongue-in-cheek and was a running joke in the recording studio. A few listens in I also started to listen to the lyrics behind all the acoustic guitar strumming and trademark “Bird whistles” to realize the subject matter of the album in quite pointed. Bird addresses climate change and our increasingly toxic political atmosphere in several of the songs, “Bloodless” and “Proxy War” being two notable standouts. Again, there is a predominant theme emerging within this list of veteran artists releasing very focused and honed albums that aren’t overly long, and not too short either. Coming in a 10-tracks, 42:31 running time, My Finest Work Yet, makes broad brush strokes and never lingers on fussy wordplay or pedantic forays – something Bird could’ve been accused of on past albums. This one is brilliant for its brevity while still achieving an end goal of something finely wrought and thought-provoking. “Manifest” may also be his greatest song yet.
15. Mannequin Pussy – Patience (June 2019)
Yes, you read that correctly, that is the name of an actual band. You may expect a Heavy Metal, or Thrash Metal type of band with this sort of garish name, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find their variety of brash and renegade to be a bit more refined than expected. Patience is technically an EP with its run-time under 25 minutes, but they certainly weren’t advertising this as an EP. Rather, Patience was treated like an LP, and certainly has enough ideas and high-quality material to be considered on par with an LP. Based in the Philly area, Mannequin Pussy wear their rugged Alt-Punk origins on their collective sleeve. They play loose and fast with the Noise Rock influences as well, switching from heavy to melodically calm with the same level of success as their forebears Pixies or Dinosaur Jr. The strongest aspect of this band is the songwriting abilities of lead singer and songwriter Marisa Dabice, who uses that potent songwriting in unison with a range of vocal styles that maintain a sense of unhinged energy throughout the album. Dabice is very skilled at bending her vocals when needed; she’ll go from angsty and hostile to plaintive and soft around the edges from verse to verse. “Drunk II” is a good example of that ability to switch gears at the ready and “Fear/+/Desire” does well to bolster their Alt Rock and more shoegazey bona fides. The pacing of the album is also really impressive, moving between short Alt-Punk tracks under 2 minutes to some extended tracks displaying a young band’s ability to craft songs on both sides of the spectrum.
14. Goldlink – Diaspora (June 2019)
*Fun fact – this album cover is of singer Justine Skye, and was taken by Hailey Bieber (the Biebs wife!)
Much like Dreamville, GoldLink brings a wide array of musicians into the fold. Additionally, he has a real knack for capturing the best aspects of all the featured artists. The construct of the album is also similar to what many of the most successful current R&B artists are creating these days, which is to say they move between Rap, late-night R&B, Jazz, and Soul rather effortlessly. GoldLink isn’t the greatest of rappers, but he “links” talented producers and musicians together, under the banner of his vision, to make an intoxicating mood and a unique style. He does bring, in general, a more subdued sound than his peers and seems more willing to let a darker atmosphere wash the tracks. Personally, I embrace a sound like this as opposed to the gleam of the West Coast sound, which seems to always hold the undercurrent of lustrous bravado embedded in the Los Angeles scene. GoldLink hails from the D.C. area, which may explain why Dance, Electronica, and a gritty treatment appears to pervade the sound. Tracks like “U Say” are very exciting for bringing more explicit Jazz influences into the production, and the way Tyler the Creator’s feature spot is incorporated is another aspect to celebrate. Diaspora is the quintessential late-night R&B album of the year, and is important for rounding up talents like Pusha T, Khalid, Wizkid, Jay Prince, WSTRN, and Maleek Berry into one strong concise statement on the flourishing state of these genres in popular music. “No Lie” is another standout track for shifting tone mid-song, proving that GoldLink and his cadre of producers may not be the greatest rappers but they are strong in developing strong themes.
13. Clairo – Immunity (August 2019)
Clairo is a YouTube sensation proving not to be just a passing act. 2018’s Diary 001 was a big splash EP most notable for the viral (sorry, I’m just gonna use that word anyways despite the bad associations right now) hit “Pretty Girl” that took YouTube by storm. For me, the track “4EVER” was the real gem of the EP as it took the bedroom Pop and added a heavy dose of Lo-Fi Soul. At 21 years of age, Clairo stunned with this debut LP release. She created a mature sound rather quickly, and crafted a beautiful album with the help of ex-Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, a skilled Electronic producer and solo act in his own right. Their collaboration on this album proved very successful, and not just for a couple stand out tracks like with the EP. Immunity is a stellar album throughout, and seems to develop into a more focused and confident release as one gets farther into the album. The 1-2-3 punch of “Bags”, “Softly”, and “Sofia” in the middle of the album is a tour-de-force of this young artist’s abilities. There’s a strong chance we will be seeing this artist around for quite a few more years.
12. Yak – Pursuit of Momentary Happiness (February 2019)
The story of the creation of the album is long and weird. Originally a British band started by singer Oliver Henry Burslem and bassist Andy Jones, they released a debut album Atlas Salvation in 2016 and then faced some difficult times. Basically, Burslem has a ton of talent and was seen for it by the likes of Australian bands Tame Impala and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, as well as fellow British bands like Spiritualized. Constantly encouraged to make music and harness that talent, Burslem spent a lot of time squandering his money on drugs and booze before finally getting the wake-up call living in a van (probably down by the river) with most prospects lost. Pursuit of Momentary Happiness is an appropriate statement for the feeling he had before this album’s redemption – he was drinking for momentary happiness and missing the big picture. The big picture is certainly this album because this is a big sweeping and epic release for Yak. The album captures so many ideas that it can be nearly overwhelming, but somehow it barely hangs on to the rails to make itself into an unbridled and brilliant record. So many disparate influences make an appearance on this album, yet the clearest genres are Garage Rock and Psychedelic Rock. This is a big, ginormous Rock record shifting from anthemic in one track, to feeling totally cheeky and zany (much like the music video above). Either way we hope the pursuit of momentary is over, and we can see a sustained evolution of this band in the future.
11. Floating Points – Crush (October 2019)
The brainchild behind Floating Points is an actual neuroscientist. This may very well explain the genius of an album like Crush, which is cerebral in a deliberate and methodical sense. This is not a casual-listening album; no, this should be listened to in the same deliberate fashion the album’s creator treated the production. Before you know it, you are ensconced in the sound, fully mesmerized and absorbed by the nearly tactile quality of its measured and detail-oriented sound. Floating Points debut album Elaenia (2015) received widespread acclaim, and this their third album is equally ambitious and brilliant, but has a much different approach. The first album had more “organic” sounds, i.e. guitars or studio drums, whereas Crush seems focused on making ethereal sounds from the precision of computer equipment and repetitious trance-like beats akin to the Krautrock of their lauded ancestors. With this album, Floating Points takes a patient, long-distance approach to Electronica, stripping the sound down and allowing it to very slowly rise and build with limited instruments. Before you know it, each track has reached some semblance of a climax, sneaking up unbeknownst to listeners – a brainiac’s version of reduced Ambient. The album feels like a single-composition or a long-playing song constructed of several different “acts”. However, this reduction is an oversimplification of what is assuredly a complicated process. That’s part of the brilliance of the album – always attempting to obscure the complexity with simple patterns.
10. Freddie Gibbs & madlib – Bandana (June 2019)
This may not be the best Rap album of the year, or even a really great album in terms of construction and cohesion, yet it is the best material from legends in the game. Most especially, this is an album that proves Freddie Gibbs might be the best MC out there right now. It took Freddie Gibbs a long time to refine his craft and evolve into the supreme lyricist he is now. At 37, he is not a spry-chicken, but his flows do absolutely belie this fact. The humble, workmanlike attitude of this MC is reflected in the sound, which comes at you without conceit or pretense, in the assertive form of a man who has been doing this long enough to know how to make everything work – like a tradesman on a construction site who knows his tools inside and out. How can you not praise an album that took the infamous producer Madlib and combined him with rapper Freddie Gibbs? This combination is verifiable gold, and thankfully for us they both came with their best stuff. As mentioned, Gibbs continues to develop and practice to the point of mastery, and Madlib’s beats and samples were on-point with this release. “Palmolive” takes Gibbs and the other preeminent MC out there (Killer Mike), oh and Pusha T, to make a killer track. “Freestyle Shit” and “Flat Tummy Tea” are two other standout tracks on an album that runs similar to Madlib’s others, cross-woven and blended with sound bites and interludes, movie and song samples, to make an interesting patchwork. Madlib does all of this to tremendous effect, but what really makes Bandana is we’ve got Freddie Gibbs on every single track.
09. Aldous Harding – Designer (April 2019)
To be honest, this music unnerves me a bit – don’t let the calm and seemingly restorative pastoral image trick you! Actually, it’s an odd sensation to feel this way, because it can be tranquil and quite lovely music at times. Knowing that Hannah Sian Topp, aka Aldous Harding, the New Zealand-born Singer-Songwriter behind this music, is a pretty odd person makes me suspect. She combines some unsettling visuals with her music (like the strange music video above) and therefore makes me feel like there is something sinister behind all of this. Should I take this idyllic Folk sound as some vision of Utopia or is this the “soundtrack that wasn’t” for last year’s Midsommar movie? Seriously, I get the feeling like this album is the musical equivalent of that movie: its sweet and charming on the face but holds some ominous undertones. Similar to the movie, the subterfuge is later uncovered, and this pleasant little slice of bliss is torn of its facade to reveal a terrible deception. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit paranoid right now, but you have to admit she looks like a character in that movie and is a verifiable weirdo. So why is this album on the list if it upsets me in some deep-seeded, inexplicable way? Well, it is a lovely record when you come down to it and I think the contradictions embedded in what appears to be a simple Folk record is kind of brilliant. Also, she reminds me of Joni Mitchell, that’s not a bad thing either.
08. Helado Negro – This Is How You Smile (March 2019)
I couldn’t believe this wasn’t Devendra Banhart the first time I heard ” Imagining What to Do.” The expansive Psych-Folk elements are eerily reminiscent of an artist like Banhart or Vetiver. And similarly to Aldous Harding, Helado Negro, the stage name of Robert Carlos Lange, is making tranquil and blissful music that calms the soul and indeed does put a smile on one’s face. Unlike Aldous, however, I do believe there is nothing sinister underneath these sounds – this is all well-meaning and hushed bedroom Folk with completely benevolent intentions. What’s more, this is the perfect album for this day and age- a great quarantine album to rest the eyes to on a couch. I suppose another element that separates Lange from his Folk kin is the Latin influences he has embedded within the unique sound. He is bilingual, the son of Ecuadorian parents, and proudly displays this is the lyrics and sound on the record. The use of steelpans is a subtle addition on a couple of the songs and another nice example of the special additions within a charming album. As a piece of art, this is an affirming and uplifting record that should be highlighted for these attributes, along with the sterling production and songwriting.
07. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bridge (May 2019)
Father of the Bride is the sound of a band well into adulthood. None of those Post-Punk leanings from the first two records show up here, making 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City sound like the completely practical transition record from their early sound to this, their mature sound. It’s interesting to think about in the expanse of six years between this and Vampires, and to wonder how this record may have sounded if Rostam Batmanglij was still in the band. Would they have maintained that uncanny Baroque/Chamber Pop sound or would they have naturally progressed to this nearly Adult Contemporary style? There’s no crystal ball here, just a hunch that this more mainstream direction might be one reason Rostam moved on. However, no matter how much of a departure this album sounds like, this is really good music proving this band has the talent to go nearly anywhere. It’s wholesome, it’s slice of life music, and it’s going to be on the radio for a long time. And the major record label involvement (Columbia) certainly gave them the ability to produce the highest-quality album. What’s entirely different this time around for the band is they took cues from others in popular music and brought in a lot of feature-spot artists and one-off collaborators. Guest spots include Danielle Haim, Steve Lacy (my favorite!), Dave Macklovitch of Chromeo, Mark Ronson, and even Hans Zimmer. Ezra Koenig clearly used his great clout as a spotlight artist to bring in a diverse group of musicians to help form an album as varied as the rotating cast of characters. This isn’t your college years Vampire Weekend, this is your minivan soccer mom Vampire Weekend (radio-friendly tracks like “Harmony Hall” and “This Life” reinforce), but this is still great music; memorable and well-crafted in a different way than their past efforts.
06. Jamila Woods – Legacy! Legacy! (May 2019)
On Jamila’s second full-length album, the gloves come off. Her debut Heavn, much like this one, was critically-acclaimed but was often imbued with a level of innocence and saccharine charm. Legacy! Legacy! immediately establishes the tone with “Betty”, in particular those powerful lyrics, “Oh, I’m different, I’m a cup of mild sauce. Sweet tongue, but don’t get me in a paper cut, I’ll fight you with my eyes, oh, when they call me shy…… I am not your typical girl. Throw away that picture in your head”. These lyrics sum up the approach on this record, which is incredibly successful; she is acknowledging that sweet and shy girl who released Heavn, but warning it’s time to take her more seriously, because she has fangs under that first smile. The songs are powerful statements on race and womanhood, and seem to roll from one song to the next with increasing fierceness and conviction. The string of songs from “Betty” to number six “Eartha” is an intimidating collection of empowered R&B tracks, mostly produced with a slicker and more aggressive style by Slot-A. This album dispels all the misconceptions about Jamila being a pushover – she is a strong voice in R&B who will hopefully continue to bring a much needed voice, one that at first blush sounds sweet, but is usually laced with some venom.
05. Brittany Howard – Jaime (September 2019)
The unchallenged voice of Brittany Howard, who we all should know from her band Alabama Shakes, was unleashed on this her debut solo record. She crashes into this album with the big opener “History Repeats”, a Funky departure from her past work with the Shakes. Nevertheless, taken as a single artifact, this album is similar to her work with the group. There are some fresh styles incorporated and a more personal, honest, and intimate songwriting style but this builds on the work she has already done pre-solo. The rawness of the emotions continue throughout the album, as she makes quite an impression adapting that soulful voice to a great mix of musical expressions, from the Gospel-inflected “Stay High” to outright-banging “13th Century Metal”. The songs most reminiscent of her work with the Shakes like “Georgia” and “Goat Head” are beautifully-crafted, on par with all the ballads she has done with the band. Her presence in Rock and status as one of the biggest and most commanding voices is indisputable. She is on the vanguard of genre-bending Rock in a time when it is sorely needed. Although I still think her work suffers from a scattershot approach when listening to the album as a whole (e.g. you really don’t need to listen to her records in order, they feel shuffle-worthy, which isn’t necessarily a good thing), and the mixing is always questionable, that may be a double-edged sword to her music-making approach. Her appetite for blending Blues, Funk, Hip-Hop, and Jazz makes the cohesion of any of her albums difficult, but that may just prove her talent cannot be contained in some sort of clean and tidy sequence.
04. Nilufer Yanya – Miss Universe (March 2019)
Nilufer’s music is case in point for the reason I’m a bit harsh when it comes to the current landscape of Indie Rock. She proves there is a different path to go that isn’t sad and weepy or idle and wispy. This is her debut album, made at age 23 or 24, and she’s simply re-writing what can be done in Indie Rock and all associated genres. When a record like this comes along with its deliberate avoidance of all the current formulas or trite musical stylings, it makes me wonder why not just skip all these sad languid records and listen to a future-sounding record that has just as urgent and relevant songwriting but without the all too familiar musical backbone. It didn’t hurt that she comes out of the gate with “In Your Head”, a rocker with Lo-Fi Indie clang and rough edges – a sound pretty refreshing in the current context. Much like Brittany Howard, Nilufer moves through disparate genres with ease and makes her voice a pliable instrument adapting to all the different expressions (listen to “Heavyweight Champion of the Year”, the final track, for the range of those vocals). Another intriguing aspect of her voice is its resemblance to Sade, yet instead of a cool Caribbean sound, she applies it to Alt-Rock, Pop-Rock, Soul, and Trip-Hop. Although some of my favorite tracks are certainly more Sade-esque than she may care to admit, such as “Heat Rises” and “Melt”, appropriately placed back to back. Her background may inform this broad embrace of musical styles: she is British-born, with Irish, Turkish, and Barbadian heritage. No doubt the varied types of music she was exposed to as a child in a home with so many different records playing influenced a brazen challenging of musical genres. Miss Universe, is another one of those innovative records from a British artist that will hopefully push forward-thinking musicians to release works challenging the status quo. Much like Clairo, this is a young female artist who will hopefully be on the scene for a long time to come, forging fusions of sound and making new genres.
03. Steve Lacy – Apollo XXI (May 2019)
I’ve already said this a million times, but Steve Lacy is just a genius. That’s it, he’s brilliant and this is a beautiful soulful album. The fact that it’s not on anybody’s ‘Best of’ lists is a damn shame. Everything has already been said in this post.
02. Sault – 5 (May 2019)
All we have are rumors and hearsay about Sault and who they are, where they come from, and why they choose to remain shrouded in anonymity. Once I found out this is a musical group without a face, just releasing music on the internet without any context or explanation, I was made all the more intrigued. There’s an incredibly intoxicating element to the mystery around a sound that is so fully-formed, and unified throughout the album. DVSN did the same, keeping their identity a secret, however Sault is relenting in sharing themselves whereas DVSN has finally revealed their origins in the fertile Toronto R&B scene. The reality is Sault’s music is so good it only makes me want to find out more. There are some suspicions about the source, but this is all conjecture. The fact the hypotheses range from Michael Kiwanuka’s production and music circle in London to Kanye West in Chicago makes the elusiveness of the group all the more verifiable. Many have made comparisons to groups like ESG (if you have never heard ESG’s album Come Away with ESG, you are in for a treat) Sly and the Family Stone, and Can, but in truth this is something altogether unique. Yes the sound is classic and nostalgia-heavy, but the way 5 was made a comprehensive vision, with perfect song transitions, segues, and cohesion, makes it stand apart from the Funk, Disco, and Soul groups that no doubt are being referenced. Sault reminds me of the The Avalanches, in their ability to craft albums as a comprehensive work of art, yet the sound is so perfectly coalesced it transcends the Cut & Paste genre. It would take a lot of energy to ponder the origins and source of the music, so maybe it’s best just to celebrate the album. Sault did post another album later in 2019, another cryptic release under the name 7. Where is 6? Why was 5 first? This is all an enigma meant to draw more appeal, and it’s certainly working. 7 was good, but 5 is an absolute masterpiece.
01. Tyler the Creator – Igor (May 2019)
As I mentioned in a previous post, the transformation of Tyler the Creator has been something to behold. Everyone is taking note, and you see either “evolution” or “transformation” used frequently when describing Tyler Okonma simply because it’s impossible to ignore the way his sound has built from a hut to a castle. He has had one of the more rich and colorful decades of any artist, with a path as unexpected as it is welcome. Just chart it and you will be amazed all he has done in the 2010s, starting with his group work as part of the Odd Future collective. Many can vividly recall the first time they heard his track “Yonkers”, from the incendiary Alt Rap record Goblin in 2011. From Goblin he continued with the equally abrasive yet expansive Wolf (2013), but then out of left field came Flower Boy in 2017. Flower Boy was an incredible departure from most of his earlier work, and seemed to mark a tide shift transferring from Alt Rap of yesteryear to a Soul and R&B inflected sound his Odd Future cohorts were espousing. Tyler’s fifth studio album is a seamless record so perfectly tied together it really must be listened to from beginning to end without shuffling or skipping. The transition from track to track, the structure of the album and organization of it, was clearly orchestrated. The album title itself is curious, and may explain the way the music ebbs and flows, shifts in an elusive fashion difficult to peg…like Igor? I don’t know, this may be a leap. Either way, Igor feels deliberately mercurial in nature, making the accomplishment of a cohesive and fully-formed album all the more impressive. Even more astounding is the way the larger R&B community has embraced this brand of music, and the transformation of an artist who was quite possibly discounted as a mongrel early on, who has become a venerable, seasoned artist in a short time.
