Since 2014, I’ve tried to keep track of songs that have impacted or defined my year. See 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Songs that will make me think back to that time when I listened to it a lot and think “huh, that’s what my life was like back then, huh?” Maybe that’s a good or a bad thing. Maybe it’s neither, because more than likely it’s just a song that came out that year. Or maybe it’s a song that reflects a phase I went through at the time (early 2019 was dominated by Prefab Sprout – check their three songs in the first 10). I spend nearly my entire day listening to music. Mostly in headphones, soundtracking my time on the computer, cooking, walking around the city or in basic leisure time.
These are the songs that soundtracked my ups, downs and turn-arounds in 2019 in chronological order along with listening stats, other media consumption and a list of every album from 2019 I listened to this year ::
I saw a lot of shows this year. The most out of any year period. There were multiple weeks where I went to a concert every night. Was it healthy? Maybe. I probably didn’t eat very well those weeks. I definitely stopped going to the gym once my schedule got loaded up with shows every night. That’s my fault. But was it fun? Oh hell yeah. I had a ton of fun this year going to shows. SO many artists seen for the first time (128 in fact) thanks to the advent of SXSW and Merge 30. NYC is a beautiful place and allows me to see this many shows. I should really start doing show coverage, but I’m lazy it turns out. Check out what my top 10 favorite shows I saw this year were below, along with seeing all the artists I saw throughout 2019 + stats.
Gonna keep it quick since I’m publishing this so late in the year and I have a good amount of words below. Once again, I’ve picked my 100 favorite songs of the year and ranked my top 10. It’s a pretty fluid ranking with a definite #1 and #2. Like I mentioned in my albums post, I felt like music this year was swallowed whole by my decade list prep, which is a darn shame. Looking back at a lot of these songs from throughout the year, it turns out I actually did have a good time listening to things. Either way, I hope you do as well.
Here it is, my recap of 50 of my favorite records from 2019. This was a strange year for me music-wise. It seemed like a ton of people were calling this the best year for music this decade, or close to that, but I didn’t feel that way at all. Maybe I’ve just been burnt out from constantly listening to new music on my own, or perhaps from working on my decade list for nearly the entire year. I felt like I was just drifting between release days, always being pulled away from an album I like to listen to something new. Obviously that’s my fault – I think I listened to nearly 600 different albums this year.
Did I have fun listening to music in 2019? Sure, but maybe not as much fun as other years. I’m so happy to hear that plenty of records deeply connected with people this year though. For me, it just felt like going through the motions. Oh well. Don’t want to get too down in the dumps here. Below are 50 of my favorite records of 2019. I ranked it, but it doesn’t really mean anything in the end. Just a handy categorization. You should listen to and buy every record on this list without bias. AND the honorable mentions. I’ve included (mostly) Bandcamp links next to each list item and linked each album artwork below as well. You have no excuse, you rat bastard!
The final list extravaganza of the decade has begun! As usual, here’s a little appetizer of EPs from the year to get your appetite for listening to records + reading my silly descriptions revved up.
Every year I’m split between publishing a Favorite EPs list and not. On one hand, I love talking about music that I’ve enjoyed. On the other hand, have enough EPs really spoken to me that I feel compelled to write about them? In the case of this year, I only had a few and it was looking bleak. Pottery was a deep fav for most of the year and half of this list arrived in November. With all the decade prep I was doing, I was not paying attention to EPs. Nevertheless, I resolved to go through with it – YOLO, right? I’m glad I did. In the last few days I’ve listened to great records from KOKOROKO, Dry Cleaning, Christelle Bofale and NOIA, among others. If anything this list just as, if not more important than the albums and songs list because it seems like so many of the artists on here are hopefully poised for huge 2020s. My eyes and ears are on them now, and I hope yours are too.
Each image below links to a Bandcamp / purchase page – support the artists!
Honorable Mentions: – Kate Bollinger – I Don’t Wanna Lose EP [Self-Released] – BANDCAMP
– Pearla – Quilting & Other Activities EP [Egghunt Records] – BANDCAMP
– Spike Fuck – The Smackwave EP (Reissue) [Partisan Records] – BANDCAMP
We’re in the final stretch of 2019 and by proxy, the decade! How has November stacked up against the rest of the year? Pretty well! We have an excess of ten records here, mostly because a lot of what I’m posting here really excites me. Many of the records listed here set up a lot of bands for breakout 2020s. EPs from new projects like Ducks Unlimited, Margaux and Malibu (although she’s been in my sights since Mono No Aware in 2017), a hugely hyped metal record from Blood Incantation and apparently new things coming from Andy Stott. We’re about to get into ALL the recap biz soon, so check these out before that happens!
Andy Stott – It Should Be Us EP [Modern Love]
A mad scientist’s morbid experiments are rummaging in the dark air ducts above.
Arthur Russell – Iowa Dream [Audika Records]
A big city takes on the quaintness of a small town once you roam and groove around in it long enough.
Blood Incantation – Hidden History of the Human Race [Dark Descent]
A giant hand emerging from the ocean, shooting geysers of magma into the stratosphere.
Ducks Unlimited – Get Bleak EP [Bobo Integral]
Running away from the police in slow motion, jumping over hedges and knocking champagne glasses out of wealthy acolytes’ hands.
FKA twigs – MAGDALENE [Young Turks]
A large chrysalis crash lands from space onto a barren area of earth and ferociously sprouts dense vegetal growth; an all-encompassing forest of vines and flowers.
Girl Ray – Girl [Moshi Moshi]
The wondrous, early morning joy of a road trip with friends sustained.
Lapalux – Amnioverse [Brainfeeder]
A cloud of microscopic beings take care of you after being sucked into space, teaching you how to breathe without oxygen and harvest cosmic energy in the far reaches of the galaxy.
Malibu – One Life EP [UNO NYC]
A high-speed snapshot of a sheath of water enveloping an olympic swimmer, bulging up from the surface of a pool and reflecting the harsh lights of the natatorium.
Margaux – More Brilliant Is The Hand That Throws The Coin EP [Massif Records]
A sliver of the winter sunset slices through the clouds, into your bedroom window and right into your outstretched palm while resting on the floor.
Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron – Lost Wisdom Pt. 2 [P.W. Elverum and Sun]
Emptying your pockets after a long trip and finding a flower someone gave you still intact.
+ 3 more records that I came upon late & still wanted to feature: Griselda – WWCD [Shady]
I’ve been working on this playlist to collect all my favorite songs of the 2010s for well over a year. It initially began in my iTunes, but I quickly realized that there’s more to life than what’s in my immediate iTunes library. After moving to Spotify and trawling around there, it ballooned from a little over 300 songs to almost 1500, and it’s still growing as I get suggestions from friends and continue my quest to listen to more records from the decade.
It’s mostly just widely-accepted indie classics, favorite electronic, and a few wildcards thrown in. It’s organized by year and then alphabetically. Yes I had to do all that manually. It’s best to just pick a song and shuffle it from there. Think of it as a big, old playlist that you’d put on your iPod back in the day and just let go for weeks. The art of the shuffle. Although that may not be the culture nowadays, that still means a lot to me. I’ll be refining this list down to 200 soon, so keep your eyes pasted on the blog to catch that.
I’m not even gonna try typing it all out here, but that’d be pretty cool, wouldn’t it? Don’t worry, I’ll have a long-ish playlist to type out soon 🙂
Here are some songs that AREN’T on Spotify that you should listen to as well! Note that these are going off my personal iTunes library, which I’ve been accumulating songs on since 2007 (in this current library). I haven’t kept as good track as I should when it comes to things streaming and what’s not, but here’s what I have right now. Lots of Joanna Newsom and Elite Gymnastics, but also a few others that are definitely important to me and my music consumption this decade. I’ll definitely be adding to this as I find more songs, this is just the initial harvest from my library. Who knows what I’ll find next.
One thing that I think has been lost as the 10s has progressed is the high-profile, or publicized, indie remix. There were whole albums dedicated to remixes of songs off a particular album, usually done by other similarly large artists / buzzy up and comers. Music blogs ate these cuts up (including yours truly) – more fodder to post with attractive names. Sometimes it’s a dream collab – a dreamy artist putting their take on a similarly dreamy song, someone bringing their sense of groove to another groovy song? The possibilities were endless. Looking back, I see Grimes remixing Washed Out, Toro y Moi remixing Cut Copy, Hot Chip remixing Gorillaz, etc.
These days I gotta expect it’s still happening but on a much smaller scale, since I haven’t seen any massive remix compilations come out with the same amount of focus put upon it by their fanbase or by the media. I know Björk has been pretty consistent in getting exciting new names to remix her stuff, and maybe a few others come to mind, but it’s safe to say the art of the remix has dropped off strikingly, starting in around I’d say 2012 or 2013. In 2011 I even posted a list of my favorite remixes from that year. Is it because the roll of the dice isn’t worth it sometimes? There are bad remixes, maybe folks didn’t want to roll the dice on posting about a poor flip. Maybe the sheer amount of unique music coming out right now is just too high to even consider posting about remixes unless it’s by someone incredibly huge. There are also barely any music blogs left, less places for publicists to make home for a stray remix or two. A multitude of factors, I’m sure.
I know EDM / electronic remixes have legs for days and find themselves in mixes more often than not, even in 2019, but I guess I’m talking about songs more like the one I’m posting here, MGMT’s “Electric Feel” remixed by Belgian duo Aeroplane. I heard it on KCRW this past week and was instantly teleported back to the late 00s and checking Hype Machine nearly every day to listen to the hottest new tunes. Aside from the fact that the original song is closely tied with the indie boom of the time, the nu-disco sound of the remix really cements it in 2008. I feel like stuff like this just isn’t being made anymore. Maybe that’s for the best, allowing us to return to groove gems like this without fatigue. You gotta love that sneaky, mischievous bass line and dedicated hi-hat. In 2019, this doesn’t seem ironic-sounding. In 2008, was it ironic? Were people genuinely grooving with this like I am right now? Back then, I feel like not everyone was irony poisoned like they are now. Either way, I’m getting off topic. This is a groovy as hell blast from the past (11 years ago, WOW!) and I hope it gets you to revisit some of your favorite remixes.
I somehow got put onto the eccentric pop stylings of Japanese group Wednesday Campanella. Led by magnetic personality KOM_I, their album Superman has been in constant rotation for me for the last month. I know a lot of folks dig ultra-crafty pop music that incorporates inventive electronic elements into it, and all of those folks should check this out ASAP. Lead single “Aladdin” (first song on the album if your track list is in Japanese) is a showcase for everything good about Superman. High energy, sounding totally unique and infectiously exciting. Like I said earlier – I have not been able to stop listening to this album. Check it out now.
Earlier this year, I started my slow dip into Brazilian funk, boogie, bossa and mpb. I’m not exactly sure what the spark was here, but it began with me checking out Tim Maia’s 1980 self-titled album, as well as Cassiano’s Cuban Soul – 18 Kilates in March. I couldn’t stop listening to them, with their oxymoronic heavy and lightweight grooves. Cassiano’s “Onda” specifically entranced me for most of this year, with its Marvin Gaye-like qualities and canned ocean sounds, there was no way I’d dislike it.
From there I slowly branched out. Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben Jor, Caetano Veloso all gracing my ears for the first time. I had listened to Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges before, but began growing a deeper appreciation for them. As the year progressed, more current music steered my interest away from continuing to discover new (old) Brazilian groups & singers. Then a rogue recommendation of Arthur Verocai’s self-titled record brought me right back in. I’m gonna make a non-controversial, widely-accepted opinion in that Arthur Verocai is a perfect album.
After seeing someone shazam a Verocai song at a bar and then talking to my friend about my skimmings of Brazilian funk and popular music, I decided I should just make a playlist. Not only for other people to listen to, but as a gateway to remind myself of great artists that undeniably deserve a deeper dive, and further listens from there. I’ve found (to no one’s surprise) that the world’s music nerds and DJs have long idolized Brazilian music, particularly funk, as some of the best in the world. I’m happy to finally get on the train and use my limited voice to help spread the world elsewhere, especially to folks that don’t really listen to much, let’s put it “non-white” music.
The following playlist is not sequenced in any way – I recommend either shuffling or listening straight through. I’m probably going to add more songs into it as I find them. This is more of a growing list of pristine Brazilian grooves to make you feel happy. That’s what it does for me – loosens the vice grips on my brain and allows me to waft free amongst plush strings, fat bass, tight drums, and incredible grooves. There’s SO much that isn’t on Spotify as well, so if you or I find anything that’s gotta be heard (much like Cuban Soul – 18 Kilates; not on streaming!) we gotta talk about it.
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
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January 9: Dry Cleaning – Secret Love SAULT – Chapter 1 Winged Wheel – Desert So Green
January 16: A$AP Rocky – Don’t Be Dumb Jana Horn – Jana Horn Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore – Tragic Magic SASSY 009 – Dreamer+
February 6: Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter in Summer Daphni – Butterfly Fabiano do Nascimento – Aquáticos Joshua Chuquimia-Crampton – Anata Mandy, Indiana – URGH Puma Blue – Croak Dream Ratboys – Singin’ To An Empty Chair
February 13: Charli XCX – Wuthering Heights Colin Stetson – Nethering Danny L Harle – Cerulean KMRU – Kin The Olympians – In Search of A Revival
February 20: Altin Gün – Garip Apparat – A Hum of Maybe
February 27: Buck Meek – The Mirror Fabiano do Nascimento – Vila GENA – The Pleasure Is Yours Gorillaz – The Mountain Gus Englehorn – The Broken Balladeer Heavenly – Highway to Heavenly LB aka LABAT – Feel So Good Around U Maria BC – Marathon Mitski – Nothings About to Happen to Me Nothing – a short history of decay Shane Parish – Autechre Guitar
March 6: Hater – Mosquito Natalie Jane Hill – Hopeful Woman Scout Gillett – Tough Touch Shabaka – Of The Earth waterbaby – Memory Be a Blade
March 13: Alexis Taylor – Paris In The Spring Colleen – Libres antes del final Crack Cloud – Peace and Purpose Cut Worms – Transmitter Kim Gordon – PLAY ME The Notwist – News From Planet Zombie Ora Cogan – Hard Hearted Woman
March 27: Fcukers – Ö Holy Fuck – Event Beat José González – Against the Dying of the Light Robyn – Sexistential
April 3: Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire Makthaverskan – Glass and Bones Sunn O))) – sunn O)))
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