The 2019 end of the year music lists thread

i'm glad that even tho the phenom of annual listmania continues unabated, the pitchfork list did not immediately dominate the discourse (at least in this thread lol, haven't been paying much attn elsewhere)

http://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-songs-of-2019/

01: ALDOUS HARDING - The Barrel

02: CLAIRO - Bags

03: JPEGMAFIA - Free the Frail (feat. Helena Deland)

04: LANA DEL REY - hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it

05: BIG THIEF - Not

06: PLAYBOI CARTI + YOUNG NUDY - Kid Cudi

07: BIG THIEF - Jenni

08: JESSIE WARE - Adore You

09: JAI PAUL - He

10: BURIAL - Old Tape

11: TEEBS - Studie (feat. Panda Bear)

12: CLAUD - Easy

13: GEORGIA - About Work the Dancefloor

14: CHARLI XCX + CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS - Gone

15: HAND HABITS - can’t calm down

16: ARIANA GRANDE - NASA

17: PANDA BEAR - Playing the Long Game

18: KIM PETRAS - 1,2,3 Dayz Up (feat. SOPHIE)

19: DANNY BROWN - Dirty Laundry

20: STORMZY - Vossi Bop

21: ERIKA DE CASIER - Space

22: BILLIE EILISH - When the Party’s Over

23: JULIA JACKLIN - Don’t Know How to Keep Loving You

24: MOLLY SARLÉ - Human

25: FREDDIE GIBBS + MADLIB - Cataracts

26: LIL NAS X - Old Town Road (remix)

27: WEYES BLOOD - Movies

28: CARLY RAE JEPSEN - Want You in My Room

29: TYLER, THE CREATOR - Earfquake

30: FKA TWIGS - Cellophane

31: NORMANI - Motivation

32: ANGEL OLSEN - Lark

33: CHROMATICS - Twist the Knife

34: YOUNG THUG - Hot (feat. Gunna)

35: GRIMES - So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth

36: SQUIRREL FLOWER - Headlights

37: JAPAN, MAN - Stop Staring

38: HELADO NEGRO - Running

39: OKLOU - Forever

40: EBHONI - TGM

41: ZSELA - Noise

42: ALICE BOMAN - Don’t Forget About Me

43: GRAND PAX - Bunk

44: NILÜFER YANYA - Heat Rises

45: TOPS - Seven Minutes

46: SHARON VAN ETTEN - Seventeen

47: KORNÉL KOVÁCS - Purple Skies

48: GRACE IVES - Mirror

49: HANA - Cowgirl Bebop

50: CAROLINE POLACHEK - Door

51: SANDY - Not There

52: CZ WANG + NEO IMAGE - Just Off Wave

53: JENNY HVAL - Ashes to Ashes

54: ΣTELLA - Samba

55: HEAVEN - Truth of Dare

56: CHANNEL TRES - Brilliant Nigga

57: PECAS - T-Shirt

58: TORO Y MOI - drip bounce _ 7_24_18

59: JAMES MASSIAH - Natural Born Killers (Ride for Me)

60: PROJECT PABLO - Sofware

61: LIA LIA - Boba Boba

62: BEAUTY QUEEN - The Only One

63: PURE BATHING CULTURE - All Night

64: BELLA BOO - Your Girlfriend

65: OTHA - Tired and Sick

66: BLUE HAWAII - Still I Miss You

67: AVALON - Papi Chulo

68: STEVE LACY - Playground

69: POTTERY - Smooth Operator

70: 03 GREEDO + KENNY BEATS - Disco Shit (feat. Freddie Gibbs)

71: VOGUE DOTS - Melatonin

72: ARIANA GRANDE - Ghostin

73: SCHOOLBOY Q - Numb Numb Juice

74: SOFIA KOURTESIS - Trains & Airports

75: (SANDY) ALEX G - Gretel

The 10 best jazz albums of 2019, according to me (via Stereogum):

― shared unit of analysis (unperson)

huh you know i don't think any of those had hit my radar

i listened to a fair bit of the jazz stuff that popped through on bandcamp. for some reason kind of got into guitar jazz. ben monder's "day after day", olli hirvonen's "displace", stein urheim's "simple pieces & paper cut-outs". i don't know why those grabbed me this year. anyway i missed hearing the jaimie branch somehow, i like it!

How did I not know there was a new Monder release?

I really liked branch's first Fly or Die album but somehow just never got around to the new one. I will!

Various end of year lists courtesy of Exclaim: https://exclaim.ca/all/best-of-2019

great list sean
bandcamp one has given some great finds in recent years for me

pfork list is up. needless to say it fails the clipping test

It's… bland. Shockah.

01: ALDOUS HARDING - The Barrel

correct

the only suspense was over whether FKA Twigs would be 1 or 2

that's weird, i knew ldr would be no. 1

(for an overlong and poorly-paced record but ymmv)

The biggest surprise is seeing Fennesz at number 8 on that list.

A pleasant surprise imo.

Assuming an unmovable top 10, Weyes Blood got robbed.

lana del rey a perfect number one for pitchfork

idgi either.

unmusical lifestyle brand features in unmusical lifestyle brand magazine

otm

(to be parsed as a rockist fistbump in 3, 2, 1…)

that ldr album is classic rock as fuck. long, self-indulgent genre exercises, recycled melodies, careful cultivation of skin-deep mystique, throwaway cover that nonetheless offers respite from the drudgery, press tantrums, and the conservative-yet-trendseeking music press at her beck and call. she is at or near the top of every list, and she must be defeated

yeah i'm gonna say that an album with a nine-minute slowcore song on it is not necessarily the poptimist prize-winner

It's more the charges of extramusical branding that could be construed as rockist.

clipping fall short of some authenticity metric pitchfork seem to mysteriously unveil when a certain type of artist strays out of a certain lane. see also Algiers, whose recent Can The Sub Bass Speak single put it much better than me

I'm not wild about the sequencing on the LDR album as I've mentioned elsewhere, but it still has like 9-10 of the best songs she's ever written, and her best lyrics and production by some distance.

p4k gave the clipping album a 4.5, so i'm not shocked it didn't make their best albums list

clipping is not good. The music is acceptable at best, and that dude's voice is really annoying.

The best thing about the album is the chance that some people might learn about Annea Lockwood.

dogshit opinion

I'd almost be disappointed if P4k's top 50 didn't disappoint, but is it me or are their eoy lists getting narrower in scope every year? "Ok we'll throw in this years metal darling, some Sherburne picks to cover dozens of genres check.jpg, and we're p much there good job all round guys".

04) MEN I TRUST | Oncle Jazz

kudos to gvb for recognizing this amazing album i need to make a thread for

i've liked a lot of their singles, but haven't checked the alb out yet. mostly because of a) the length, and b) the title.

Please do!

some good picks in resident advisor
https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3540

They're from Montreal and their keyboard player is Romanian? Sold.

xp

Love the Nkisi and Madteo albums on RA’s list

Haven't heard the Madteo but the Nkisi is awesome.

Looking forward to checking out both. Glad RA mentioned Barbieri and Caretaker, too. As well as Octo Octa, but that was (deservedly so) expected. Surprisef CFCF isn't on their list!

i was gonna take my time getting to the twigs album but ra having it as their top pick on an otherwise unranked list is prob the one thing that'd change that

surprised malibu isn't on the RA list

Surprised/not surprised how much the Men I Trust album sounds like late-summer 1985, half-listening to the top 40 countdown, watching my sister do hand stands up against the wall as the sun bleaches another summer's end.

i made a thread and accidentally posted it to ile lol thraed of smooth jazz dream pop opus ONCLE JAZZ by montreal band MEN I TRUST

I'm not wild about the sequencing on the LDR album as I've mentioned elsewhere, but it still has like 9-10 of the best songs she's ever written, and her best lyrics and production by some distance.

ra having it as their top pick on an otherwise unranked list

cringe tbh

either rank that shit properly or full equality

regardless it does make it easier to pick it as something to listen to

it'd be better if it wasn't an album already getting so many props tho

love to grade on a curve

I mean I don't consider "contains an album's worth of her best material" faint praise!

I freely admit I'd consider lax sequencing a worse crime in the pre-streaming days but now? enh

"the best songs she's ever written" is not going to be super compelling to those of us who think almost all of her songs are dogshit

I mean, sure?

The Atlantic put out an unranked list:

FKA Twigs, Magdalene
Burna Boy, African Giant
Megan Thee Stallion, Fever
Torche, Admission
Maxo Kream, Brandon Banks
Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?
Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell
Chris Farren, Born Hot
Ari Lennox, Shea Butter Baby
Barker, Utility
Sleaford Mods, Eton Alive
Summer Walker, Over It
Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated
DaBaby, Kirk
100 Gecs, 1000 Gecs
Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride
The Highwomen, The Highwomen
Bad Bunny, 100XPre

Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated

haven't seen this too much--getting the Haim follow-up treatment?