Twenty nineteen was a solid year for music, but an odd one at that. While there were plenty of interesting and worthy releases to select for a “best of” list, critics seemed to flock heavily around a few mainstream records and run with it (more so than any other year I’ve witnessed). I (swear I really really) tried to buy the ticket and take the ride on the hype train, but ultimately was left mumbling “(lana del) no way!” to myself most of the time. So instead, this year you’ll just have to indulge yourself with the albums that I felt made this year sound special.
As mentioned above, there was a great deal of consensus among critic’s for the top albums of the year. And I mean, A LOT. It was pretty wild. Don’t believe me? Then check out the aggregate lists put together by Metacritic and Album of the Year with the links below.
The albums that everyone were going (lady) ga ga over are probably worth your time. And hell, you’ll probably like them! Every one else seemed to. And while I tried and tried to understand why so many people found these albums special, they just didn’t do it for me. And more specifically, I just don’t enjoy listening to them. And that’s ok! Everyone is different. Fortunately for you, I’ve been paper mache-ing these year end top album lists now for many many years so I’m pretty immune to the influence of the music media machine. So, my hope is that means you’ll find a few more new sounds to discover and enjoy below than years past. Or, maybe you’ll just come to the consensus that I’ve finally broken my ears after far too many years of concerts and festivals…Honestly, it’s probably a little of both.
Metacritic’s 2019 Music Critic Top 10 Lists
AOTY 2019 Music Year End List Aggregate
So this year I decided to Kondo my top albums list and get rid of the clutter so to speak. Or to use the proper nomenclature, I cut down my list to only include the records that truly sparked audio joy in my year lol. So even though I listened to more albums than ever this year you’re only getting a list of 50 records below. Deal with it.
And as usual I’m sure I’ll soon look back on this with regret for leaving out all the gems on my “best albums” spreadsheet from #51 onwards that are more in the grow-er, not show-er mentality (and are going to hit home in the coming months). But y’know, the same could be said every year and that’s just how the rules go for that ever evolving board game we live in called life….err, maybe that one was different. Honestly I don’t even remember how that game goes. So here we are, back off the rails of the hype train and ready to blast into hyperspeed like the train in back to the future, except in this case the future is the recent year that passed, 2019. So climb into the delorean and let’s find you some new music to rock (paper, scissors?) your socks off. Here’s what soaked my sandals in this last lap around the sun…
So that’s it! And in case you have a strange hatred for images and are just all about living the text life, well then here ya go…
50. Letherette – Brown Lounge Vol. 5 |
49. Panda Bear – Buoys |
48. Flying Lotus – Flamagra |
47. Ulla Straus – Big Room |
46. Souleance – French Cassette |
45. V.A. – Self Discovery for Social Survival OST |
44. Golden Daze – Simpatico |
43. Wilco – Ode to Joy |
42. Chris Cohen – Chris Cohen |
41. Axel Boman – Le New Life |
40. Mac Demarco – Here Comes The Cowboy |
39. Big Thief – U.F.O.F. / Two Hands |
38. Teebs – Anicca |
37. Oli XL – Rogue Intruder, Soul Enhancer
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36. Tyler, The Creator – IGOR |
35. Fruit Bats – Gold Past Life |
34. Babe Rainbow – Today |
33. Men I Trust – Oncle Jazz |
32. Angelo de Augustine – Tomb |
31. Hovvdy – Heavy Lifter |
30. Hand Habits – placeholder |
29. Fennesz – Agora |
28. (Sandy) Alex G – House of Sugar |
27. ASUNA & Jan Jelinek – Signals Bulletin
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26. Flume – Hi This Is Flume (Mixtape) |
25. Akasha System – Echo Earth |
24. Andy Stott – It Should Be Us |
23. Baltra – Ted |
22. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Bandana |
21. Lee Gamble – In a Pareventral Scale EP |
20. Florist – Emily Alone |
19. Crumb – Jinx |
18. Tool – Fear Inoculum |
17. Denzel Curry – ZUU |
16. Weval – The Weight |
15. Toro y Moi – Outer Peace |
14. O’Flynn – Aletheia |
13. DJ Python – Derretirse |
12. Robag Wruhme – Venq Tolep |
11. Avey Tare – Cows on Hourglass Pond / Conference of Birds EP
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10. Faye Webster – Atlanta Millionaires Club
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9. Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising |
8. Cate Le Bon – Reward |
7. Barker – Utility |
6. Vanishing Twin – The Age Of Immunology
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5. Aldous Harding – Designer |
4. Helado Negro – This Is How You Smile |
3. Julia Jacklin – Crushing |
2. Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs |
1. Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA |