My Top 25 Favorite Albums of 2019

Ah, getting my 2019 "best of" list posted in February of 2020 is still late, but certainly an improvement on the timing of my 2018 review.  As has become customary, please mosey on over to this Spotify playlist which will gift you with 80+ songs that caught my attention this year.  Let's get on with it. 

 

First, In Memoriam: 2019

Ginger Baker

As it inevitably happens, the music world lost some legends in 2019, including Cream/Blind Faith drummer extraordinaire Ginger Baker, original garage-psych agitator Roky Erickson (of 13^th Floor Elevators fame), tragic indie legend David Berman (Silver Jews, and just this year, Purple Mountains), Keith Flint of Prodigy, enigmatic avant-garde crooner Scott Walker, and bassist Peter Tork of The Monkees.

Kim Shattuck

A few other passings hit me harder.  Kim Shattuck of The Muffs (and in the 80s, Pandora) left us too early at 56 after a largely hidden battle with ALS.  After receiving the diagnosis, she declined rapidly, having trouble walking and talking by the end of 2017.  She was nonetheless determined to complete The Muffs seventh and final album, No Holiday.  In her last year and half she was unable to move or speak at all, yet she still directed her bandmates to carry out her vision through assistive communication devices, based on already recorded demos.  According to Adam Schary, a friend who was recruited to do Kim’s guitar parts, “She literally couldn't move, but her ears were so good. I'd record a part and then get a text saying, ‘You're a bit out of tune.’ There she is, in the other room, and she can't move, and she’s telling me I'm a little flat. Crazy.” Which makes the new album, released a mere 16 days after her death, particularly heart-wrenching.  If you did not know Shattuck’s story, you’d call it a great pop-punk record, like a harder edge Go-Go’s, fun, catchy, and with a touch of subversiveness.  With her struggle in mind, it takes on a whole different tenor.  As a long time Muffs fan, this last album was gift.  Kim Shattuck was awesome.

Ric Ocasek

Ric Ocasek!  I can’t say Ocasek has held much importance to me since his days in The Cars – I honestly don’t know a note of his solo work.  But there is something about a childhood idol passing on that is sad and jarring.  I was (and remain) a big Cars fan.  Their self-titled debut and follow up Candy-0 were part of my earliest musical memories, at least in terms of having the album in my hand, putting it on the turntable, and listening all the way through.  “Moving in Stereo” in my 1970s stucco-walled basement with Andrew Honor.  Gah.  Those early Cars records are timeless.

Ranking Roger

And so long Ranking Roger.  General Public’s sunny, toe-tapping universal pop hit “Tenderness” (1984) led me to some ill-advised wearing of pink shirts, black leather ties, and fedoras; but more importantly led me to the way-cooler English Beat, the wider two-tone movement, and the world of ska, rocksteady, and reggae.  The English Beat became an all-time favorite band of mine, and while Dave Wakeman came off as more the leading man, Rankin’ Roger was the soul of the band.  And while we all skanked to the unstoppable Beat, we learned about love, unity, and the scourge of Thatcherism. 

Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston – outsider artist, naïve popster, and tragic victim of life-long mental illness – passed away at 58 of a heart attack at his home in Waller, Texas.  I can’t possibly do his story justice in this space, so I highly recommend the touching documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston.  In short, he produced off-kilter homemade art and super lo-fi music with such heartfelt (and oddball) authenticity that it was somehow heartbreaking.  Hearing Daniel belt out “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances” by himself on a basement pump organ, likely imagining himself in front of a stadium audience (“Sing it!  Everybody!”), is simultaneously sad and uplifting.  When he wasn’t incarcerated in psychiatric institutions, Johnston was prolific, humbly starting with a relentless hocking of early homemade tapes wherever he could.  His profile grew a decade later when Kurt Cobain was seen by millions wearing a Hi..How Are You? t-shirt (a 1983 Johnston album).  The cynic might suggest that it was merely Cobain’s endorsement, rather than talent, that put Johnston on any pop culture map.  While this is probably true in part, loads of successful musicians point to him as an important influence.  I saw him live opening for Yo La Tengo in the mid-2000s, with just him, an out of tune guitar, and a music stand for his notes, and it was frankly awkward and cringey for the most part.  But then I listen to his recordings and there is a strange purity and fragility that compels me to attention.   After the life he lived, I yearned for him to be happy and at peace.  Rest in it, Daniel.

Mark Hollis

Mark Hollis, co-leader of Talk Talk, was a visionary genius.  The music world had already lost him, with him retiring from music in 1998 with the release of his only solo record.  But his absence seems a little more recent to me.  I was a massive fan (who wasn’t?) of the band’s early new wave hit “It’s My Life” (#185 on my Top 500), which still completely stands up.  The follow up album, 1986’s The Colour of Spring, pulled me in with another hit “Life’s What You Make It” (#29) , but I stayed for the experimental, jazzy ambient pieces that filled the rest of the album (which then got me interested in Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, and David Sylvian).  For some unexplainable reason, I didn’t search out the rest of the Talk Talk discography – Spirit of Eden (1988) and Laughing Stock (1991) – until about 5 or 6 years ago.  These are both treasures, albeit challenging listens at first.  And I only picked up his solo record after he died.  Although it’s 20 years old, it’s brand new music to me.  And what a voice!  Wholly unique.  I wish we had more music to celebrate his life with.

[Fuck…as I’m writing this Neil Peart has died.  He will deserve a separate dedicated eulogy in another post]

Top Ten Favorite Songs from 2019 

I failed to do a full-fledged top 10 list of songs last year and that bugged me.  So I am forcing the issue this time around, although I lack confidence.  So many great tracks.  But for what’s it worth, roughly in order, here are my Top 10 favorite songs of 2019:

1. Future Ruins – Swervedriver

2. Andromeda – Weyes Blood

3. Dreamlike and on the Rush – New Pornographers

4. UFOF – Big Thief

5. New Familiar – Steve Gunn

6. Naïve Castle – Wildhoney

7. 147 – Starhorse

8. Cow – Alex G

9. Paraguay My Love –The Ocean Blue

10. Skin Game – DIIV

My Top 25 Albums of 2019

I’m probably more removed from capital-P “Pop” than I have ever been.  I hear rumours that the guitar is dead.  While it has clearly fallen out of favor on common Spotify pop hits playlists, it is absolutely thriving in peripheries of indie rock. 2019 brought me hordes of new shoegaze/dreampop bands; punk/post-punk/post-rock appears to be alive and well; and there is still, to my ongoing surprise, copious acoustical folk that still manages to grab at my ears.  And any year with a new Swervedriver album (and to a lesser extent and new Ride album) is a superior year. 

What marks 2019 as particularly special (if you’ll indulge me, kind reader), was the release of my own album – For Fear, under my artist alias Green Palm Radiation.  I would never stoop to inserting it in my Top annual list, of course – that would be weird and self-indulgent.  But I certainly listened to it more than any other album and think it’s really quite good.  It’s pretty under the radar as for as these things go, but some minor press has been positive and affirming.  If you like the sort of music described here, go have a listen at my Bandcamp or on Spotify. 

Ok, enough about that.  And now…my Top 25 favorite albums of 2019

25. Bill Callahan – Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest

I have found ol’ Bill Callahan a little hit or miss over the years.  I had no idea if I liked (or should be liking) early Smog (e.g., the naïve arty minimalism of Julius Caesar) and I’m still undecided.  Certain albums, like Knock Knock (best album cover ever, by the way) have been inconsistent, with insanely good gems surrounded by mediocre, sometimes ponderous filler.  In his solo forays, I found Apocalypse pretty terrible (6.0/10), whereas the earlier Woke on a Whaleheart was grade-A soul folk (8.5/10).  Callahan’s latest outing is, happily, pretty darn excellent.  While perhaps not putting his most melodic foot forward to start, he finds his groove halfway through with the confessional “Writing” and it’s all golden baritone story-telling from there.  To quote the man himself, in song: “It sure feels good to be singing again, from the mountains, and the mountain within”.   It has been a long 5 years since his last release.  Welcome back, lonesome cowboy Bill.  Choice track: “747”.

24.  Submotile – Ghosts Fade on Skylines 

 

This was a semi-random find courtesy of Big Takeover writer Elizabeth Klisiewicz.  Knowing Klisiewicz’s love of the shoegaze, I gave a listen and was immediately pulled in by the Joy Division meets Lush approach and the wonderfully variegated wall of sound therein.  Funny, though, because Ghosts Fade on Skylines dropped in and out of my Top 25 with repeated listens.  Sometimes I was thinking “positively brilliant” and other times I was thinking “meh, sorta messy and directionless”.  Submotile have a vacillating signal-to-noise ratio that appears to correlate to my state of mind, mood, and attention. Ultimately I decided that a record that is fabulous when I give it my undivided attention remains great despite those times when it is apprehended as background clutter.  Throw this on some good headphones and pursue immersion and you may just find your new favorite post-rock record.  Choice track: “Tramonto”.

23.  Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I Made A Place 

As with Bill Callahan, it is nice to have Will Oldham back, especially for a bonafide Bonnie “Prince” Billy outing.  While he has been his typically busy self with all sorts of projects, there is something a little extra special when the BPB moniker is involved – and it’s been about eight years since we’ve been graced with an album of originals (since 2011’s Wolfroy Goes To Town, I believe).  And like compatriots Callahan, Phil Elverum (Microphones, Mount Eerie), and Liz Harris (Grouper, Helen), Oldham inhabits a darker, alternative, and more challenging sphere within the folk tradition.  This somehow holds true even when he offers straight-up country sing-a-longs (e.g., lead track “Memory Box”).  I’m not sure why – he just seems to consistently imbue a mystical/mysterious countenance in his songcraft that makes me listen differently.  Maybe it’s simply because I know this is the same man who wrote “I See A Darkness” and “Knockturne”, and who starred in John Sayles’ Matewan at 17 years old.  In any case, Oldham’s unique strengths are on full display here – sublime acoustic guitar work, hauntingly sweet vocal delivery, and that particular brand of tragi-comic story-telling.  Choice track:  “Squid Eye”.

22.  Whoop-Szo – Warrior Down

I happened upon the mighty Whoop-SZO at the 2014 Hillside Festival (Guelph, ON) and have been keeping close tabs on them ever since.  Their music at the time was a heady combination of doom metal, shoegaze, and psychedelia, with roaring guitars and an intense stage presence (I highly recommend their first two albums, Niizhwaaswo and Citizen’s Ban(ne)d Radio).  That furious combination remains on display with 2019’s Warrior Down, although the guitar histrionics are tempered a bit, allowing for greater space and melody; they compare favorably to Jesu, Alcest, and The Bevis Frond.  The band eclipses its past work this time around by weaving together a powerful and saddening narrative of the suffering of Canada’s Indigenous peoples to colonialism, systemic racism, and marginalization.  The band has strong Anishinaabek roots and tragic lived experience (for example, “Gerry” documents the murder of bandleader Adam Sturgeon’s cousin by an RCMP officer).  Warrior Down is a heart-wrenching journey, made all the more stirring by its incendiary delivery.  Choice Track: “Amaruq”.

21. Angelo De Augustine – Tomb

Since the release of Swim Inside The Moon (#8 of 2017), as well as teaser single “Carcassonne” (a Top 5 track of 2018), I’d been waiting patiently for De Augustine’s follow up.  Tomb maintains the approach – beautiful acoustic arpeggios, heart-churning melodies, and the sweet sadness of De Augustine’s other-worldly falsetto.  When I am in a particularly receptive mood, this record rates even higher.  Other times I find that that I weary a bit of his heartbreak, his relentless vulnerability, and unwavering penchant for regret.  I may even get annoyed – like how many relationships have faltered under your watch?  Are you just a shitty partner but an exemplary songwriter?  But that’s a problem borne of my cynical moods and, generally speaking, this is a beautiful record.  A bit more going on here production wise as well, with added piano and electronic accoutrements that lift it above the sound achieved by an acoustic guitar and bathtub reverb (which was amazing on Swim, but you can’t keep doing that I don’t think).  De Augustine appears to be the heir apparent to Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens. If you feel melancholy, hurt, or just like to listen to emotionally vulnerable troubadours, this is the record for you.  Choice track:  “You Needed Love, I Needed You”.

20.  Pernice Brothers – Spread The Feeling

Joe Pernice has given us lots to love throughout his solo discography and those of Pernice Brothers, Chappaquidick Highway, Scud Mountain Boys, and The New Mendicants – a trove of power pop gems, Laurel Canyon country, orchestral folk, and Californian sunshine pop. Now located (randomly, oddly) in my neck of the words (Toronto, Ontario), Joe has given us the first Pernice Brothers album since 2010’s Goodbye Killer.  With such a established pedigree, it is somewhat strange and disheartening to see him so far on the periphery of the industry – Spread The Feeling is available only via bandcamp (no Spotify, no Itunes), as a digital LP and through a short-run of vinyl/CDs from Pernice’s own label Ashmount Records.  Maybe this is a good thing for Joe, but I can’t help but feel a sense of injustice that he is putting music out on the margins when it so deserves to be heard.  On Spread The Feeling we get treated to endlessly hooky guitar pop that’s as good as anything he has done, a confection that combines Guided By Voices, Mojave 3, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, David Kilgour, and a multitude of other contemporary greats.  Choice track: “Mint Condition”.

19. Star Horse – You Said Forever

Ah, that’s the sound – that jangly, reverbed, gauzy goodness that brings me straight back to the late-80’s/early 90’s sound of Slowdive, Lush, The Cure, Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, The Sundays and so many others.  Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, Star Horse got my attention with the excellent 2015 single Slower Now b/w Wherever You.  It nailed that bliss-poppy sweetness that made me a rabid fan of bands like Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Soft Science. I wanted more, and it seemed of a heck of a long time for a long-player to emerge, but here we are finally with You Said Forever.  If you have a soft spot of ethereal boy/girl harmonies backed with atmospheric, dreamy guitars, check this out.  Choice track: “147”.

18. Brittany Howard – Jaime

As soon as I witnessed/heard “Hold On” – the impossibly amazing single by Alabama Shakes that shook us all back in 2012 – I knew I would be avid follower of the band.  Truth be told, the balance of the Shakes’ output never quite reaches the height of that single, but it’s always been good to great.  Now we have bandleader Brittany Howard putting out Jaime as a solo venture.  I see Howard as Alabama Shakes – it’s hard not to – so it seems strange that she would feel a need to go it alone.  But the Shakes have always been a band, an artistic unit, and a collaborative effort.  On Jaime, Howard seems eager to be more adventurous and ambitious, moving away from the roots rock playbook of her band.  She succeeds, as the songs transcend the Shakes’ work, showing a broader surveying of funk, Motown soul, jazz, and RnB.  These are genres that depart pretty significantly from my preferred tastes (at least on record – l’m a pretty open book in live contexts).  This tells me that Howard is a unique force, pulling me into a record that I’d be likely to dismiss based on categorical descriptions alone.  And while her brand of soul commands my attention, Howard then drops a song like “13^th Century Metal”, an urgent political monologue about human rights and justice backed with a hyperkinetic organ, vinyl static, mournful horns, found sounds, and relentlessly funky drums.  “We are all brothers and sisters!”  What a powerful album. Sing it, Brittany!  Choice track: “History Repeats”.

17.  Daniel Land – The Dream of the Red Sails

Daniel Land is another one of those artists who I consistently follow, but whom I do not otherwise see covered too much in the press.  This is a benefit of Bandcamp membership, I suppose – I buy a record in 2012 and get an email alert for a 2019 release.  After 6 or so albums (some with The Modern Painters) and a pile of singles/EPs, Land’s sound has not changed one bit, which is fine by me.  What we have here is another attractive collection of beautiful and gossamer mood-pieces, close in approach to Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, Daniel Lanois, and This Mortal Coil.  These are calming, rainy day songs, conducive to introspective floating, wandering, and sleep.  The vocal melodies are also nicely upfront and well done, giving some much need structure to the atmosphere.  If you wish to drift away awhile, Daniel Land can take you there.  Choice track: “Under A Red Sky”.

16. Mountain Goats – In League With Dragons

After mining stories to do with teenage goth culture (2017’s Goths) and professional wrestling (2015’s Beat The Champ), John Darnielle returns with another narrative concept album, this one referencing fantasy RPG gaming.  It hardly matters to me what his subject matter he chooses to explore. Whimsical or farcical, Darnielle is an absolute master at weaving tales of the human condition, always engaging, always thick with metaphor and metaphysics, regardless of the vehicle.  I would argue, however, that the songs on his last couple of albums have not been particularly strong.  There have been lots of good ones, but I have been waiting for him to return to the heart-stopping album-length excellence shown on Tallahassee (2002) and The Sunset Tree (2005).  In League With Dragons approaches this high water mark and I suspect with repeated lessons, as I come to know/feel the fables within, it will only grow in my estimation.  I’ve probably said it elsewhere, but John Darnielle is a peerless lyricist and deserves to be bestowed the title of Poet Laureate – an honor which is actually being petitioned to the U.S. government by his dedicated fans. On League of Dragons, the musical composition is beginning to catch up to these lofty accolades.  Choice track: “In League With Dragons”.

15.  Deerhunter – Why Hasn’t Everything Disappeared

Deerhunter is a really challenging band to nail down.  If I say “I like Deerhunter”, I don’t really know what I’m saying.  Over the course of 7 or 8 albums, they have (wonderfully) jumped from genre to genre like kids in a candy store, effortlessly traversing 90’s shoegaze, 80’s synthpop, and 60’s informed garage psych.  One moment you’re comparing them to DIIV and Slowdive and the next you’re invoking The Stones and the Velvet Underground.  This is all welcome to me, because they always do fabulous interpretive work.  Why Hasn’t Everything  is yet another great record, this time brewing an orchestral concoction of brit-pop, Village Preservation-era Kinks, Revolver-era Beatles, early Moody Blues, and the retro-revival sounds of Elephant 6-releated bands (Apples in Stereo, The Minders, Ladybug Transistor, Olivia Tremor Control).  I suppose that’s plenty of reference points.  The take-away is that this record is timeless and percipient, feeling simultaneously 50 years old and brand-spanking new.  Choice track: “Death In Midsummer”.

14. Beirut – Gallipoli

My goodness, time flies.  I have a hard time reconciling the fact that Beirut’s last album No No No was released all the way back in 2015.  As my #13 pick of that year, I was welcoming them back into the fold, as there had not been a release in the previous four years (2011’s The Rip Tide).  I guess we must expect these long layovers from the no longer 20-something Zach Condon.  While I could use twice as many Beirut albums, the wait is still worth it, because I can’t think of another band that fills this tremendously unique niche of “Albuquerquean crooner backed by Balkan waltzes with a dash of synthpop”.  I got a chance to see the live show this year and it was a heart-warming thing of beauty.  Old-world meets new-world, ancient and cosmopolitan, a unifying force of musical cultures.  People with Condon’s vision and execution are rare and precious.  Long live Beirut!  Choice track: “Gauze Für Zah”

13. Olden Yolk – Living Theatre

I have been a fan of the band Quilt since their self-titled debut on Mexican Summer, a great record of jangly, 60’s-inspired, lightly psychedelic tunes.  Founder, Shane Butler, formed Olden Yolk with Caity Shaffer in 2018 as a side project and it is even better.  While it initially feels fairly similar to Quilt, this new incarnation is noticeably richer, warmer, and better produced.  Hitting their stride three songs in with the amazing “Cotton & Cane”, there is a gratifying shift from Velvet to Paisley Underground, and clear debts being paid to The Go-Betweens, The Church, and Echo and Bunnymen.   The link to the 60’s endures, as well.  “240 D” could be a Harrison penned Beatles outtake from the White Album; “Blue Paradigm” sounds like early Jefferson Airplane.  With lead vocals being shared with Shaffer, I am also reminded of Vashti Bunyan and Linda Perhacs.  More please!  Choice track: “Cotton & Cane”.

12. Alex G – House of Sugar

House of Sugar starts off inauspiciously with off-key caterwauling that leads into frustratingly misaligned synth burbles – it makes me want to mute my stereo.  But then a minute and half in, it recovers into some semblance of structure and I find myself transfixed.  Such is the eccentric oeuvre of Alex Giannascoli, bedroom pop experimenter and wacky folk songsmith.  Eight or so albums into his surprising discography, Alex G remains fresh, and weird, and wonderful, marrying simple acoustic rhythms to found sounds, quirky percussion, and homespun vocals.  While at times too experimental for casual listening, there are still numerous melodic gems to latch onto here.  It may be impossible for Alex G to compose a straight ahead folk song – there’s always something skewed, or tattered, or opaque about all his songs – but that’s his strength.  While this music will never be mainstream, anyone keeping tabs on contemporary DIY innovation and indie semiotics will agree that Alex G is true royalty of this past decade.  Choice track: “Cow”.

11.  Wilco – Ode To Joy

A new Wilco album has always been a safe bet for me.  Ever since 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco has transcended the alt-country label to explore a wide bandwidth of genres.  Every album is great to outstanding.  Hence, I was little concerned a third of the way into 2019’s Ode To Joy, which I was hearing as tepid and uninspired.  Things turn around with the subtly hypnotic “Quiet Amplifier”, leading into a trio of deceptively simple songs that rank among my favorite Wilco has ever composed. “Everyone Hides” sounds like the best Paul Westerberg song he never wrote; “White Wooden Cross” sounds vaguely Hawaiian, and is a lilting, breezy, nostalgic gem; “Citizens” sounds like a top-tier Iron and Wine song.  Ultimately, this is uncomplicated stuff – no showy orchestration, no studio trickery, no guitar pyrotechnics typically proffered by guitarist Nels Kline (“We Were Lucky” excepted).  But you know how that is with legendary players.  Their three-chord throwaways somehow make everyone else look like rank amateurs.  Choice track: “White Wooden Cross”.

10. Yves Jarvis – The Same But By Different Means

Un Blonde’s 2016, Good Will Come To You, was #3 on my list of that year and maybe the most unique entry of the bunch.  Un Blonde is now Yves Jarvis, the new moniker of Canadian Jean Sebastian Audet.  On The Same But By Different Means, Audet continues to showcase his inimitable mastery of organic atmosphere, rich vocal interplay, and soulful meditation.  There truly is nothing like it in the landscape of music right now.  Throughout there are amazing touchstones to soul, as if channeling 70’s Stevie Wonder, and coupled with shapeshifting cycles of sound that remind me of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks or certain Nick Drake jazzy dirges.  Like his last album, the production puts Audet (more like 5 or 6 of him) right in your ear, as if the song has very directly been composed for you.  While this album could have been made in 1975, it also feels uniquely contemporary, like it needed history behind it to emerge in the present.  Another tremendous accomplishment.  Choice track: “Curtain of Rain”.

9.  Wand – Laughing Matter

Wand’s Laughing Matter was a new find for me this year.  I’ve certainly seen their name floating around for some time, but was surprised to find this is their fifth full length.  What a great surprise.  Some cursory research tells me that their first three albums were tagged as garage psych with metal tendencies, perhaps explaining why I hadn’t yet sought them out.  On Laughing Matter (and 2017’s Plum, apparently) their sound has opened up dramatically into varied experimental pop and art rock, and to great effect IMO.  I often thought Radiohead was so unique in their sound and vision that they could not be imitated, and perhaps very few artists would even muster a try.  I have to say that Wand (at least on this album) have maybe come the closest.  Most obvious are the vocals of Cory Hanson, which sound impressively like Thom Yorke’s (although with a smidge less fragility; and with the added bonus of gorgeous female vocals courtesy of Sofia Arreguin).  That’s hardly the only ingredient to Radiohead, of course, but Wand’s arty, introspective, and wonderfully unpredictable sound is equally comparable, especially in relation to The Bends, Ok Computer, and Kid A.  If you told me Johnny Greenwood was handling the guitar on Laughing Matter, I would believe your lies.  There are also the familiar long passages of structured jams with layers of sound effects and atmospherics.  Emotionally, that oddly attractive feeling of moody despair permeates.  I don’t want to overstate things – no band will ever be Radiohead; but that a band could be favorably compared at all is a compliment of the highest order.  Choice track: “High Planes Drifter”.

8. DIIV – Deceiver

I thought DIIV’s 2012’s debut Oshin was a good record, but not great.  Among the gazillion bands to keep up with over successive years, I let DIIV fall by the wayside, missing 2016’s Is The Is Are.  When 2019 began to come to a close, I kept seeing their album Deceiver on year end lists, especially circling around the shoegaze cognoscenti.  This threw me a little, having thought of them as a jangle-pop band indebted to 80s new wave.  Had I missed something?  I had!  Holy shit, this is a great record!  Like Preoccupations, DIIV effortlessly reproduce the classic sounds of 80’s gothy new wave but add the wall of sound shoegaze of the early 90’s.  Equal parts Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive, Deceiver is a sonic triumph.  And I have yet to delve into the lyrical content, which (I’m told by reviewers) swirls around the burdens of drug addiction and recovery.  This is also apparently the first album conceived by the band as collaborative whole, which seems to have clarified and strengthened their sound.  It goes without saying that DIIV has moved up my ladder of bands to be excited about.  Choice track: “Skin Game”.

7.  William Tyler – Goes West

With yet another stellar release William Tyler remains the king of the castle in the rarefied world of neo-classical guitar.  His roots remain firmly planted in John Fahey Americana and the light psychedelic minimalism of Robbie Basho and Leo Kottke.  We are once again treated with gorgeous, meditative finger-picked instrumentals, aptly supported by drums, steel guitar, and atmospheric synths.  Even with no lyrical content, the imagery this music conjures is palpable and cinematic -- sun-soaked meadows, forests, trees, innocence, intimacy…it’s truly beautiful.  And I love that he lives on an indie-rock label, Merge Records (likely facilitated by his membership in alt-country gentle-people Lambchop), because he might otherwise be inappropriately marginalized on some dinky new age label.  Choice track: “Venus in Aquarius”.

6. Steve Gunn – The Unseen In Between

If not for his vocals, Steve Gunn might sit snugly right next to the aforementioned William Tyler.  He is another amazingly talented contemporary guitarist.  But there is far more going on within 2019’s The Unseen In Between, setting it apart from the comparatively muted pastoralism of Tyler.  In addition to the immensely satisfying guitar riffs, Gunn adds a bluesy/rootsy soul to the mix with his canyon wide vocals.  Lots of other instrumentation fills in and brightens the song landscapes.  Jammy electric guitar solos regularly appear, always taking the feels up a notch.  It's the perfect record for a drive cross-country, away from regret and toward optimism.  I highly recommend taking Steve Gunn on a ride.  Choice track: “New Familiar”.

5. Vampire Weekend – Father Of The Bride

Ok, this was a weird surprise that I am still having trouble processing and describing.  I’ve been a casual fan of Vampire Weekend, digging a handful of songs off each of their popularly acclaimed albums since their self-titled debut in 2008.  I picked up Father of the Bride and pretty much shrugged after the first listen.  I probably wasn’t listening too intently and I dismissed it for awhile.  Upon revisiting I was just…floored!  I was torn in two directions at once.  First, I couldn’t help but be a little turned off by the extreme pop sheen of the production.  This sounds snobbish to say out loud.  I’m not sure how to describe my problem with it, but the production and vocal delivery just seemed to present the songs on a silver platter, ready-made for the masses.  But on the other hand, the song structures, timing, instrumentation, shifts, breaks, rhythms – it’s sheer genius.  It’s discombobulating.  It’s as if Ezra Koenig is the reincarnated love child of Paul Simon and George Michael, when the two ruled the pop-world with Graceland and Listen Without Prejudice. The cycling acoustic guitar runs on “Harmony Hall” are so perfectly performed, they sound rendered by MIDI (gosh, I hope they're not).  This is great and disconcerting at the same time.  “Rich Man” would sound like authentic Hawaiian slack key, were it not for the polished pop, Squeeze-like vocals of Koenig, an expertly played string quartet part, and the flange-treated guitars.  It’s all perfectly done, so much so that half the time it rubs me the wrong way.  But the other half I am amazed.  Choice track: “This Life”.

4. Big Thief – U.F.O.F; Two Hands

While commonplace in the 60s and 70s, it is rare thing indeed when a band releases two records within a calendar year.  I think the last example I can think of (not including side projects) was Beach House, who put out Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars in 2015.  By all rights records should be easier and quicker to make in contemporary times, what with the near universal accessibility of digital recording.  But I suspect artists may hold back, wanting an album to simmer out in the world before obviating it with a new release – such are the attention spans of listeners these days.  Not so for Big Thief, who offer up Two Hands and UFOF in 2019.  They are of such similar high quality that I felt I had to consider them together (with the added benefit of freeing up an additional Top 25 slot).  They are different in character, though.  With it’s elegant acoustic dirges, UFOF feels very much like a continuation of lead Thief Adrianne Lenker’s stunning solo album, Abysskiss, that held the #5 spot last year.  On the other hand, Two Hands sounds much more in line with Big Thief’s other two albums, Masterpiece (2016) and Capacity (2017), with a fulsome band sound, lots of jagged electric guitars, and big flourishing choruses. Lenker is what unites the two albums, with her distinctive voice and emotionally rich lyrics.  Despite the varying tenor of both blums, you could mix and match songs from either and still have a cohesive Big Thief album.  Choice tracks: “Forgotten Eyes” and “U.F.O.F.”.

3. Swervedriver – Future Ruins

What’s this you say?  A new Swervedriver record that is not summarily slotted into the #1 spot?  When I first heard it, I was convinced it could not be toppled, but I was listening through rose-infused earbuds, methinks.  Upon repeated listens, I could not deny the fact that Future Ruins, their sixth full-length and second since reforming, is my least favorite of their releases.  However, the yardstick we are using here is from an entirely different universe of measurement, as my least favorite Swervedriver album absolutely destroys most competitors and receives a lofty rating of 8.8/10.  Suffice to say, Future Ruins is an excellent album.  It just seems to fail to reach that tipping point of songs that absolutely blow my little mind.  Nonetheless, everything is attractive and catchy, and the layered guitar parts have that usual peerlessness in terms of tone/mix/dynamics. It’s all gold, really, but the songs are not quite as formed into the bejeweled beauties I’ve selfishly grown accustomed to.  The high points are high indeed, with the title track “Future Ruins” currently occupying my song of the year -- a slow, druggy, enveloping admonition of the current shitty state of the world.  “The Lonely Crowd Fades In The Air” gives us that classic Ejector Seat Reservation (1995) era of 60’s-informed psych pop.  And a Swervedriver album would not be complete without a long-form psychedelic dronefest, this time courtesy of closer “Radio-Silent”.  The band seems to be going strong with founders Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge at the helm, ably backed by Mick Quinn on bass and hard-hitting Mikey Jones on drums.  They have now been together longer since reforming (2008 to present) than they had been over their initial 1989 to 1998 run.  May they never leave us.  Choice track: “Future Ruins”.

2.  The New Pornographers – In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights

How do they do it?  I had a look back at The New Pornos’ full-length discography and their consistency is possibly unparalled, at least in my personal estimation.  From 2000 to 2019 they have released eight albums, five of which landed in my annual Top 10, and all of which garnered a rating of at least 8.0/10.  Here is how they stacked up:

2000:  Mass Romantic – 8.7 (#10)

2003:  Electric Version – 8.7 (#7)

2005:  Twin Cinema – 9.1 (#5)  (I might make the case that 2005 was the best year in music, ever)

2007:  Challengers – 8.4 (#23)

2010:  Together – 8.0 (unranked but my guess is somewhere in #25-#30)

2014:  Brill Bruises – 8.5 (#8)

2017:  Whiteout Conditions – 8.5 (#25)

2019:  In The Morse Code of Brake Lights – 8.8 (#2)

I’m trying to think of a band in the last 30 years that has put out so many albums, back to back to back, that have maintained such excellence to my ears.  Besnard Lakes come close with six albums (plus side project The Soft Province) that are all consistently grade-A.  But that might be it.  If you consider the numerous side projects of Carl Newman, Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and Katherine Calder, the sheer output of quality music is bananas.  What a powerhouse of perfect pop they are!  A supergroup that has somehow stayed a group for two decades.  It’s worth mentioning that their eighth album is my second favorite overall, with Twin Cinema setting the high bar in 2005.  They just keep going, never mailing it in.  Another fabulous outing with a songs I’ll be listening to for the rest of my life.  Choice track:  “Dreamlike and on the Rush”.

1. Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising

Back in 2014 I picked up The Innocents, the debut album of Natalie Mering’s Weyes Blood.  My first reaction was that it was interesting at points but ultimately a little too dour and hamstrung by directionless melodies (albeit skillfully sung). Like a middling Julia Holter record.  I bypassed 2016’s Front Row Seat To Earth, but in the past couple years I rediscovered and reappraised The Innocents, now in my mind a good to great album that recalls Enya and Dead Can Dance, with a sort of medieval new age atmosphere and sometimes on the margins of Joanna Newsom’s freaky folk.  I thought it wise to check out 2019’s Titanic Rising and, miraculously, we find ourselves sitting here at number one.  I did not see this coming.  This here is a complete reinvention, so well done I can scarcely believe it.  I am always struck (or at least semi-interested) in genre/era throwbacks; if done well they can be positively transportative.  When Black Mountain emulated Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath on 2010’s Wilderness Heart, for example, I felt dazed and confused and back in high school.  Same goes for Preoccupations, who replicated goth/new-wave so perfectly on last year’s New Material, I was taken back to the all-age dance clubs of Toronto of the mid-80s.  Is it surprising that no one has done…THIS? --- a pitch perfect reproduction of 70s A.M. radio hits, that sort of soft, orchestral AOR rock that draped the background of my childhood reality.  Why would anyone do this?  It would flop, right?  It would be boring, an uninspired anachronism that we simply don’t need to hear anymore.  To my surprise, wrong, wrong, WRONG!  This album tugs at my heart, tells me my age, and puts me in dirty overalls, boat-sized cars with sun roofs, lakeside cottages, and in our badly wall-papered kitchen eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  I can see the  mono speaker panasonic radio and the rotary telephone on the wall, with the long tangled cord to accommodate my Dad's propensity to pace while talking.

Natalie Mering is suddenly and astonishingly the rebirth of Joni Mitchell and Karen Carpenter, singing like a 70’s radio goddess in flowered slacks and big hair, so sweetly, effortlessly, and anthemically.  Her honeyed voice was always there, of course, and so it falls to the musical arrangements and production to complete this magical time-travel trick.  This is Fleetwood Mac, The Mamas and Papas, Little River Band,  Carly Simon, Seals & Crofts, Cat Stevens, and the Electric Light Orchestra.  Absolutely lush, perfectly balanced, sugar-sweet, but with that sad longing lilt that made us all fall in love with The Carpenters.   At the mid-point of the album, the title track suddenly acknowledges her other darkwave/new age influences, and sets up “Movies”, a track that could easily be mistaken for early 90’s Enya.  It’s beautiful.  “Mirror Forever” retains this foundation, sounding like Kate Bush in her most restrained moments, with a dash of Peter Gabriel.  Then its back to more 70’s A.M. radio hits to close out the album.  As you might have discerned by now, I am absolutely smitten with this record. I think it is an amazing accomplishment and a high water mark for 2019 and perhaps even the decade.  HIGHLY recommended, especially if you were conscious 40 years ago.  It will warm your cold old heart.  Choice track: “Andromeda” (but just listen to the whole album beginning to end).

A Selection of Other Great Albums in 2019

A number of records fell outside my Top 25 by mere tenths of ratings.  Here is a short-list of albums that each garnered 8.0 to 8.2 out of 10 by my estimation. In other words, these are also really amazing and deserve a look-see.

American Football – American Football. More angular and spacious song cycles from the old indie underground.

The Appleseed Cast – The Fleeting Light of Impermanence. Emo-favorites emerge again with another dynamic record of love, loss, and crushing guitar chords

Black Swan Lane – Vita Eterna.  Lesser-known but prolific post-rock/new wavers give us a floaty album worthy of Echo and the Bunnymen and The Chameleons.

Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock.  Punk grandfather keeps chugging along with satisfying indie rock that is more Sugar than Hüsker Dü.

Calexico / Iron & Wine – Years To Burn.  Another beautific collaboration by indie-folk luminaries Iron & Wine and Tex-Mex troubadours Calexico.

Hand Habits – Placeholder.  Stripped down, meditative indie folk/rock following the same recipe as Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail.

Light Conductor – Sequence One.  A collaborative psychedelic drone record, mostly instrumental, from Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes) and Stephen Ramsay (Young Galaxy).  Heavily influenced by Spacemen 3/Spiritualized/Spectrum and maybe the ambient works of Aphex Twin.

Patrick Watson – Wave.  Wide-eyed orchestral mood pieces that land somewhere in between Antony and the Johnsons, Jeff Buckley, and Jens Lekman.

Pup – Morbid Stuff.  Pretty polished pop punk that veers dangerously close to Sum 41 territory.  But the energy, chops, and hooks simply cannot be denied.

Rheostatics – Here Come The Wolves.  A welcome return by Toronto heroes with a bouncing batch of eclectic new songs that stand up against their best output.

Sebadoh – Act Surprised.  The first album in six years (and only second since 1999) from this group of lo-fi indie rock royalty.  While still loud and fuzzy, the tracks here have the same improved production feel that was introduced on Harmacy (1996) and The Sebadoh (1999).

Kudos also to Fleeting Joys, Vicious Blossom, Lula Wiles, Ride, Purple Mountains, Mannequin Pussy, Girlpool, Nick Cave, Angel Olsen, Palehound, Hovvdy, and Belle and Sebastian, who all put out great LPs in 2019.

Finally, there were a few EPs and singles of note.  As part of Slumberland’s singles subscription series, Wildhoney put out Naïve Castle b/w Kiss Me, with the A-side landing on my top 10 songs of the year.  In that same series, I also enjoyed Smiles’ Gone For Good b/w This Boy, probably because it sounds exactly like Teengage Fanclub.  Swervedriver unexpectedly put out a 12 inch single for Record Store Day 2019 containing a cover of The Supreme’s “Reflections” (b/w a Gene Clark cover) and it’s pretty great.  Sufjan Stevens graced us with two beautiful new tracks in celebration of Pride Month, “Love Yourself” and “With My Whole Heart”.  Spanish noise-/bliss-poppers Linda Guilala continued to thrill me with two 2019 singles, Será Más Fácil and Estado Natural.  I’m loving everything they put out these days, unsurprising given their strongest touchstones are Stereolab and Lush. 

Disappointments and Misfires of 2019

Not sure about putting negativity into the last paragraphs of this post, but it has become tradition to talk about what went wrong - the records that left me wanting from bands I hold in high esteem.  First, Vivian Girls.  Ugh...what went wrong with Memory.  After a hiatus, the new record is pitiable -- awful production, meager hooks.  I was excited for these women to come back with a fuzzy indiepop tour de force.  I also had super high hopes for Piroska, a supergroup composed of members of Lush, Elastica, and Modern English.  What I heard were pedestrian chord progressions and boring melodies.  Feels like a missed opportunity. Mac Demarco, your schtick has worn thin, my man, at least for me.  There have been definite high points in the past few Demarco records, but now I am just sort of annoyed with Here Comes The Cowboy.  Not anyone's fault, that.  Finally, general underwhelmedness listening to 2019 offerings by Elbow, Toy, Wintersleep, Versus, Black Mountain, Tycho, and Dandy Warhols.  Hope they can change it up next time around.  Expecially Black Mountain, whom I revere.

That is it!  Expect more frequent posts in 2020.  Lots to look forward to, including new Wolf Parade, Dan Deacon, and Caribou.  And a gazillion more, as per usual.  Follow my Spotify channel, profile greenpalmrad!