2019 – The Year in Review – Top Albums & Songs

Yes, I managed to listen to over 120 albums in 2019. Streaming music subscription services can be a wonderful thing (for consumers, at least). Believe it or not, I still actually purchase music in physical formats, as well.  At any rate, distilling those 120+ albums down to a serviceable “list” of favorites was no mean feat. Behold, my Top Albums of 2019:

15. Peter Caws & Parkington Sisters – The Book of Hylas

Sometimes, through weariness or discouragement, no new thing arises.
Sometimes, through pressure and anxiety, many old things overwhelm.
Learn to wait, for the stirring or for the subsiding.
Learn to wait, for the turmoil to be still, for the stillness to speak.
Let memory recall times of taking refuge, times of setting forth anew.
Bring to mind times of comfort or times of purpose.
You have passed this way before.
You have left markers along the way – look for them.

Peter Caws is University Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at The George Washington University. Fun fact: he is the father of Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws. The Book of Hylas is a set of meditations on life and how to live it, recited by the elder Caws, and set to music by Boston-based Parkington Sisters. Clocking in at 13 minutes, this is surely the shortest “album” I have ever short-listed for a Year In Review.

14. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride

Baby, I know pain is as natural as the rain
I just thought it didn’t rain in California

After a lengthy six year gap, Vampire Weekend returned with their long-awaited fourth LP, Father of the Bride. P4K says it showcases them embracing a full-on jam band vibe. I can’t disagree. Plenty of hooks and ear-worms are here to be pulled out of context, but the album works quite well as a whole. At once cheerful and lamentable.

13. The Get Up Kids – Problems

It’s not about hopeless
Not a song of despair
Just about choices and making them fair

Their first album in 8 years, and second since “breaking up” in 2005 and then reforming in 2008, Problems finds The Get Up Kids right back at the height of their considerable powers. They haven’t lost the energy and creativity, although they may have lost one member. Another album that benefits from being experienced whole.

12. Sharon Van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow

Turning the wheel on my street
My heart still skips a beat

Sharon Van Etten has long been a hardworking supporting act and a talented and proficient solo artist. With Remind Me Tomorrow, she embraces a much broader palette than she employed in the past with her singer-songwriter chops. Production values are up, nostalgia and retro-electronic flourishes feature heavily, and her songwriting is ornamented and adorned in ways both unexpected and refreshing.

11. Bon Iver – i,i

When we were children we were hell bent
Or oblivious at least
But now it comes to mind, we are terrified
So we run and hide for a verified little peace

Bon Iver has always been a superbly singular artist and his falsetto-whisper-croon lilt delivery a vehicle for inscrutable pathos and lonesome heartache. Justin Vernon has worked with some of the industry’s biggest names and yet has managed to carve a channel all his own. i,i in many ways feels like the natural continuation of his sonic odyssey, thus far. Lush and idiosyncratic, this is another album that benefits from whole immersion.

10. Angel Olsen – All Mirrors

You know best, don’t you, now?
Don’t you, now? Don’t you, now?

Angel Olsen’s sweeping epic All Mirrors has aplomb and grandeur aplenty. Widescreen cinema balladry. Olsen delivers the goods.

9. Efterklang – Altid Sammen

My soul in that case, at times
Min sjæl i det bIå, til tider

We are in love now, we are in love
Vi er forelsket nu,  vi er forelsket

Always us, together to share us
Altid os, sammen om at dele os

We are infinite
Vi er uendelig

The Danish outfit’s fifth proper album, the first in seven years, is an ornate and densely-layered work. Altid Sammen (meaning “always together”) is replete with orchestral arrangements and exiguous sonic experimentation. The album is sonorous and rewards total immersion. The vocals are entirely in Danish. I have no idea what they’re singing about.

8. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Ghosteen

And if we rise my love
Before the daylight comes
A thousand galleon ships will sail
Ghostly around the morning sun

Without a doubt the most emotionally gut-wrenching release of the year. A 2xLP exegesis on grief and mortality. Nick Cave’s most personal work, ever. Simply devastating.

7. Bibio – Ribbons

Pretty ribbons
And lovely flowers

Stephen Wilkinson is back with his signature blend of acoustic instrumentation and digital warble, creating arrangements in much the same fashion I imagine a skilled florist does. Exceedingly chill and carefree, Ribbons is an album that practically begs to be the soundtrack to your next nature hike.

6. The Mountain Goats – In League with Dragons

I’m gonna burn it all down today
And sweep all the ashes away

The Mountain Goats play D&D. That’s it. That’s the review.

5. Townes Van Zandt – Sky Blue

Oh but when good times
Come fallin’ over me
Breath turns to melody
All I need’s gonna fall
Away like dreams

A collection of new material, old material, and a few covers originally recorded with Bill Hedgepeth in 1973, Sky Blue is a welcome addition to the prolific troubadour’s back catalogue. An artist I first came to hear and revere by way of T Bone Burnett and the Coen Brothers, Townes Van Zandt remains a legend of American Country Western music. His writing is poetry that exists on another plane of existence, and yet remains as weary and grizzled as the most down-to-earth Texas troubadour, busking his way across the American Southwest.

4. Big Thief – U.F.O.F.

And you don’t need to know why when you cry
You don’t need to know why
You don’t need to know why when you cry

The first of two albums they would release in 2019, U.F.O.F. finds Adrienne Lenker not letting off the gas, ever traveling forward. This album was recorded in a large, cabin-like room. This is a band to watch over… watch over and marvel.

3. Bombadil – Beautiful Country

Suzy don’t forget
Forget to move on

Bombadil have previously featured on my Year in Review lists on more than a few occasions. This year they dropped a brand spanking new album without too much fanfare. It’s exquisite. By degrees, the band is leaving the boondocks behind.

2. Big Thief – Two Hands

It’s not the room
Not beginning
Not the crowd
Not winning
Not the planet
That’s spinning

Well, darn. Big Thief released two magnum opus records in 2019. I will not be sorry for including both of them on my list, here. Jesus Christ how do they do it?

1. Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage – Bad Wiring

Were you going somewhere sooner or later
Or just pushing all the buttons on the elevator
You gotta’ have free will to live your pre-planned life
You gotta’ pay the bill or you get unsubscribed

Admittedly, I had no idea that this was going to be my favorite record of the year. But it is. And I have absolutely no reservations about saying so. Jeffrey Lewis has long been a musician I follow. He’s… what do you want to call it, “Anti-Folk” or some such? His songwriting is biting and incisive, the auditory equivalent of an erudite Reddit thread piercing your brain. He’s done entire albums covering obscure punk rock bands, also entire records covering Jewish counterculture poets, and don’t forget the songs about LSD and sexual legends of the Chelsea Hotel. He’s very much borne of a New York City mythology spanning decades including the years when I am not yet alive. The existential pathos of his work cannot be replicated. This album is like a Rick & Morty episode that flies above the heads of the show’s misogynistic fanbase and yet they still applaud. Brutal, crushing, existential self-awareness seems to be a hallmark of Lewis’ work.

Well I guess we’re not supposed to be wise
If everything that learns also dies

Honorable Mentions: Andrew Bird, Kevin Morby, Bruce Springsteen, Angelo de Augustine, Jessica Pratt, Weyes Blood, Jade Bird, HEALTH, FKA Twigs, Whitney, Holly Herndon, American Football, Lana Del Rey, Why?, Over the Rhine, Pedro the Lion, Helado Negro, Clairo, Josh Ritter, Purple Mountains, Vagabon, Ssion, Chromatics, and Beirut.

Apple Music Playlists:

Top of 2019 – Albums

Top of 2019 – Top Songs

Complete List of 2019 Albums:

1. !!! – Wallop
2. A.A. Bondy – Enderness
3. American Football: American Football (LP3)
4. Andrew Bird –  My Finest Work Yet
5. Andy Stott – It Should Be Us
6. Anemone – Beat My Distance
7. Angel Olsen – All Mirrors
8. Angelo de Augustine – Tomb
9. Apparat – LP5
10. Bat for Lashes – Lost Girls
11. Battles – Juice B Crypts
12. Beirut – Gallipoli
13. Beth Gibbons, The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Krzysztof Penderecki – Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
14. Bibio – Ribbons
15. Big Thief – Two Hands
16. Big Thief – U.F.O.F.
17. Bill Evans – Smile With Your Heart: The Best of Bill Evans on Resonance Records
18. Bombadil – Beautiful Country
19. Bon Iver – i,i
20. Bonobo – fabric presents Bonobo
21. Bruce Springsteen – Western Stars

22. Cate Le Bon – Reward

23. CHAI – PUNK
24. Cherry Glazerr – Stuffed & Ready
25. Chromatics – Closer to Grey
26. Ciara – Beauty Marks
27. The Cinematic Orchestra – To Believe
28. Clairo – Immunity
29. Com Truise – Persuasion System
30. Danger – Origins
31. Deerhunter – Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?
32. Drugdealer – Raw Honey
33. Ernest Hood – Neighborhoods (Reissue)
34. Efterklang – Altid Sammen
35. Ex:Re – Ex:Re
36. Faye Webster – Atlanta Millionaire’s Club
37. Fennesz – Agora
38. Fever Ray – Live at Troxy
39. FKA Twigs – MAGDALENE
40. Floating Points – Crush
41. Floating Points – Late Night Tales: Floating Points
42. Flying Lotus – Flamagra
43. George Winston – Restless Wind
44. The Get Up Kids – Problems
45. Glok – Dissident
46. Guided by Voices – Zeppelin over China
47. Guided by Voices – Warp and Woof
48. Hand Habits – placeholder
49. Hauschka – A Different Forest
50. HEALTH – VOL. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR
51. Helado Negro – This is How You Smile
52. Holly Herndon – PROTO
53. Hoshina Anniversary – Nihon No Ongaku / 日本の音楽」
54. Insanlar – Demedim Mi
55. Jacques Greene – Dawn Chorus
56. Jade Bird – Jade Bird
57. Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage – Bad Wiring
58. Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs
59. John Vanderslice – The Cedars
60. Josh Garrels – Chrysaline
61. Josh Ritter – Fever Breaks
62. Joy Orbison – Slipping – EP
63. Kacy & Clayton – Carrying On
64. Kanye West – Jesus is King
65. Karen O & Danger Mouse – Lux Prima
66. Kelly Moran – Origin EP
67. Kevin Morby – Oh My God
68. Kim Gordon – No Home Record
69. Lali Puna – Being Water EP
70. Lana del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell
71. Lightbath – Selected Public Works, Vol. 3
72. Lily & Madeleine – Canterbury Girls
73. Mira Calix – Utopia EP
74. Mount Eerie – Lost Wisdom, Pt. 2 (feat. Julie Doiron)
75. The Mountain Goats – In League with Dragons
76. Mort Garson – Mother Earth’s Plantasia (Reissue)
77. The National – I Am Easy to Find
78. The New Pornographers – In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
79. Nick Cave & the Bad Seesds – Ghosteen
80. Nils Frahm – All Encores
81. Nilüfer Yanya – Miss Universe
82. Nivhek – After its own death /  Walking in a spiral towards the house
83. North Mississippi Allstars – Up and Rolling

84. Oso Oso – Basking in the Glow

85. Over the Rhine – Love & Revelation
86. Panda Bear – Buoys
87. Pedro the Lion – Phoenix
88. Peter Caws – The Book of Hylas (featuring Parkington Sisters)
89. Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains
90. Robert Ellis – Texas Piano Man
91. (Sandy) Alex G – House of Sugar
92. SASAMI – SASAMI
93. Sharon Van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow
94. ShitKid – [Detention]
95. Sigur Rós – 22° Lunar Halo
96. Sigur Rós – Variations on Darkness
97. Solange – When I Get Home
98. Ssion – o
99. Stella Donnelly – Beware the Dogs
100. Steve Hauschildt – Nonlin
101. Switchfoot – Native Tongue
102. Tamaryn – Dreaming in the Dark
103. Tegan and Sara – Hey, I’m Just Like You
104. Temples – Hot Motion
105. Tim Heidecker – Another Year in Hell EP
106. Tim Hecker – Anoyo
107. Timo Andres & Sufjan Stevens – The Decalogue
108. Titus Andronicus – An Obelisk
109. Toro y Moi – Outer Peace
110. Townes Van Zandt – Sky Blue
111. Tycho – Weather
112. Vagabon – Vagabon
113. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride
114. Vangelis – Nocturne
115. Various Artists – For the Throne (Music Inspired by Game of Thrones)
116. Various Artists – Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990
117. Weezer – Weezer (Black Album)
118. Weezer – Weezer (Teal Album)
119. Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising
120. Whitney – Forever Turned Around
121. Why? – AOKOHIO
122. Yeasayer – Erotic Reruns
123. Ziúr – Atø