Catching up on 2019 Music - A Pre-List Making Thread to push favorites, discuss critical consensus and prognosticate on eventual best-ofs for the year

Oh nm. High five!

Then you'd likely enjoy that Edmund Finnis album I mentioned, although it's on the more academically composed end of the spectrum.

Here's a shared playlist for people to add a single song from their 10 to 20 fave albums for group consumption; offer your best!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14GK8Gg5sTOLApaq6tj39H?si=gr6r3c7SQnuhpU5OvM2bLQ

these are the best received albums of the year according to this meta site:
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/ratings/6-highest-rated/2019/1

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
2. Fontaines D.C. - Dogrel
3. Employed to Serve - Eternal Forward Motion
4. Indoor Pets - Be Content
5. Dave - Psychodrama
6. Lingua Ignota - Caligula
7. Richard Dawson - 2020
8. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
9. Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
10. FKA twigs - MAGDALENE
11. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
12. JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs
13. Rapsody - Eve
14. Kano - Hoodies All Summer
15. Big Thief - Two Hands
16. Little Simz - GREY Area
17. Whitechapel - The Valley
18. The Murder Capital - When I Have Fears
19. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
20. Queen Zee - Queen Zee
21. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
22. Jamila Woods - LEGACY! LEGACY!
23. Tyler, the Creator - IGOR
24. Baroness - Gold & Grey
25. Vanishing Twin - The Age Of Immunology

I'm impressed the FKA twigs album is so well received when it hasn't come out yet

Added a bunch of fun tracks to the ulysses playlist

lol I only know ten of those, mostly by name only. I've only actually heard Big Thief and Baroness, and only then because of my radio show. I'm officially old and out of touch, which is fine.

thanks moodles; encouraging more people to do the same. i guarantee i will listen to any single track you put from your fave album on there!

ok not sure if this is my FINAL top ten but i added tracks to the playlist anyway

Big Thief - UFOF
American Football - American Football (LP3)
These New Puritans - Inside The Rose
Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You)
Jambinai - ONDA
Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin?
Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild
The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
Shinichiro Yokota - I Know You Like It
Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
Sakanaction - 834.194

honourable mentions to the new Bill Orcutt / Richard Dawson / Black Mountain / the other Big Thief

ah maybe i fucked up, were the playlist instructions meant to be 'one song ONLY' per user taken from ONE of your top 10/20?

no, one song per album

just to avoid flooding the playlist with any one album

This Brittany Howard track on the playlist is skill.

just added a bunch. really got to narrow down my list haha, my best-of-2019 albums list is probably 70-80 releases long

whole brittany howard album is awesome

Toshio Hosokawa - gardens

Well, this was an unexpected surprise! Googled it from your shortlist, it's amazing and had me sitting right up instantly (shivers, too). ty Pom!

My pleasure! Some would say his music is consistent to a fault but I can never get enough of it.

Added 10 things to the playlist. Broke the 'one song' rule in one instance because I hate abrupt cut offs in playlists where the track segues into the next one. But the second song is short. And it's Dawn, for whom rules are made to be broken innit.

Burna Boy, Samthing Soweto, Jamila Woods, Dawn Richard and Ariana Grande would be in my top ten too. Here’s the other five, plus an extra handful:

💧DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small • Scorpion Kings
💧Various Artists (incl. Beyoncé) • The Lion King: The Gift
💧Lady Donli • Enjoy Your Life
💧Makhadzi • Matorokisi
💧Sha Sha • Blossom EP

💧Airic • Isgubh Sa Airic, Vol. 1
💧King Promise • As Promised
💧O Team (Nerú Americano x Os Santiegos) • O Team EP
💧Sho Madjozi • Limpopo Champions League
💧TNS • Madlovoku - King Of African House

(Jeff W, maybe you could post your list here too?)

Hmmm I post lists on too many ILM threads as it is. 🙂

My Q1, Q2 and Q3 faves are listed on the Rolling 2019 favourites thread. Q4 will follow there in December.

just to know what albums you added to the playlist without having to close read the playlist (and not everyone has Spotify anyway)

Lots of nice additions so far. Giving these ones a more in depth listen:

The Comet Is Coming
Blanck Mass
The Japanese House
Barker
Marika Hackman
Le SuperHomard
Gabe Knox

Added some tracks from:

Mariam the Believer - String Variations
Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
Fire! Orchestra - Arrival
Paco Sala - Our Love is the Gold
Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe

I liked Purple Pilgrims and Wędrowcy~Tułacze~Zbiegi. I watched that Gluts video and it was a straight up trans fantasy, but they don't seem to think of it that way?

― tantric societal collapse (rushomancy), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 14:27 (yesterday) link

I don't know anything about a Gluts video

my standout favourites this year:

Erika De Casier - Essentials
Lambchop - This (is what I wanted to tell you)
Burna Boy - African Giant
Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
Nilufer Yanya - Miss Universe

also want to rep for Samthing Soweto - Isphithiphithi

I don't know anything about a Gluts video

― the oxford book of chaos (Drugs A. Money)

it's on youtube

vote for Paddy McAloon/Prefab Sprout - I Trawl The Megahertz for best reissue

that Rapsody album is a good find that I meant to listen more closely to but didn't; thanks!

My 2019 playlist - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6mK1y1yTYRFEPwT5TSQz1E?si=02o043HeRXmPi4_8fuYUkQ

Added one track, by Twen, who I've not seen mentioned on ILM. Very crude description would be Cocteaus mashed up with Stone Roses, which obviously is a combination nobody ever wants to hear. Also, the album cover is terrible and they have their chorus pedal set to 11 throughout. And yet it's one of my favourite things I've heard all year.

Kind of digging this Twen. Is this dream pop? It's weird - according to Wikipedia, dream pop is an influential '80s style which includes stuff like Cocteau Twins. I don't remember hearing that term having much currency in the '90s, when I read a lot of music journalism. Now it seems every other new indie band is called "dream pop". Twen doesn't sound much like the Cocteau Twins to me. Maybe more like Siouxsie and the Banshees or Afghan Whigs. I guess Siouxsie were considered post-punk and the Whigs were grunge, but that seemed to be more a function of what was popular when they came on the scene than what they actually sounded like. Actually there's a lot of stylistic diversity on this Twen album. Now it reminds me a bit of that Gauntlet Hair album (wonder what became of them).

Things I haven't seen mentioned yet itt that stand a good chance of appearing on my EOY list:

Tomeka Reid Quartet - Old New
Oh Sees - Face Stabber
Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out of Sight

dream pop was quite popular around 1990, i thought it was a kind of precursor to shoegaze. besides the cocteau twins lush were put into that drawer. haven't listened to twen yet but i have huge difficulties to name any worthwile albums from 2019. i haven't listened to a lot though. i liked the two big thief albums, the weyes blood was nice, i love her voice, the erika da casier is a good late night listen, not to forget the new joan shelley. but there was not one exceptional album i heard. besides those i am pretty blank. btw aviary was also one of my faves from last year, together with double negative and an album by a german punk band.

Thanks y'all for putting Twen on my radar, this is seriously cool. There is a looseness to the playing that makes for a nice contrast with the fussiness of the arrangements/production. Can't think of many bands that have covered similar ground... maybe Deerhunter

pushing some favorites:

R.M.F.C. - Hive Vols 1 and 2 - "The Clue" - Devo gets mentioned as a touchstone - not the later "Beautiful World" type stuff but the early "Mongoloid" robotic nasal vocal stuff - but there's also plenty of good old-fashioned gut-bucket fuzz of the proto-punk garage rock variety I associate with bands like The Saints.

Nightwatchers - Le Paix Ou Le Sable - "UPCist to the Bone" - Might seem at first like kind of meat 'n potatoes political pop punk, but the songs are kind of interestingly constructed, at least to me, with different sections that don't always repeat like you'd expect, and the harmonizing vocals and urgent rhythm section are fully committed.

New Oh Sees is great! Loving the collaborative playlist — about 1 song in 3 or 4 is right up my alley. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14GK8Gg5sTOLApaq6tj39H?si=gr6r3c7SQnuhpU5OvM2bLQ

i'm also enjoying this Twen lp a lot.

Underworld - Drift Series 1
Omma - 1905
Floating Points - Crush
Shinichiro Yokota - I Know You Like It
Meemo Comma - Sleepmoss
Boreal Massif - We All Have An Impact
The Highwomen - s/t
CFCF - Liquid Colors
Barker - Utility
Iona Fortune - Tao of I Vol 2
Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
Joan Shelley - Like the River Loves the Sea
Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee
Maja S.K. Ratkje - Sult
Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?
Mdou Moctar - Ilana (The Creator)
Outro Tempo Vol 2 - v/a
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places
Big Thief - U.F.O.F. & Two Hands
The Comet Is Coming - Trust In the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
Chromatics - Closer to Grey
John Coltrane - Blue World
Anthony Naples - Fog FM
The Radio Dept. - I Don't Need Love, I've Got My Band

bumping to request playlist updates

Here is a non-hierarchical list of some Albums I Liked This Year.

Blockhead - Free Sweatpants
Wand - Laughing Matter
Lena Raine - Oneknowing
Budos Band - Budos Band V
The Mountain Goats - In League With Dragons
Thom Yorke - ANIMA
Purple Mountains - s/t
Datach'i - Bones
The Comet is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery

Need to spend more time with, but really impressed:

Tim Heidecker - What the Brokenhearted do...
Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿
Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Albums I really liked this year include:

SACRED PAWS - Run Around the Sun
Ra Ra Riot - Superbloom
M83 - DSVII
Kirin J Callinhan - Return to Center
Bibio - Ribbons
Covey - Some Cats Live, Some Cats Die
Sunbeam Sound Machine - Goodness Gracious
Generationals - Reader As Detective
GOON - Heaven is Humming
Slough Feg - New Organon

Which I added a track from each to the playlist, except SACRED PAWS as there was already one from it on there. I also really liked the ones many people have mentioned by Weyes Blood, Big Thief, and Purple Mountains. I need to branch out a little more though and check out stuff that's uh... non-indie, non-folk, and non-rock so this is great to have an EOY playlist!

Just added Curiosity Door by Cloth. An intimate but spacious, special thing that sounds like it could gain its makers a wider audience if placed in the right movie or TV perfume ad. Closest analog I can think of is The XX but maybe you can do better? Their very fine debut album is out today but I've had it a week having heard them on Spotify and pre-ordered it ages ago. Perfect winter listening.

Chanctonbury Rings by Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus w/The Belbury Poly

One of the more original and successful Ghost Box releases in recent years. Features spoken word recollections of a heath with particular supernatural resonances set to music by Kraus and Belbury Poly. It does an excellent job of realizing the full potential of the Ghost Box project. If you are looking for that Wicker Man experience, check this out.

By the time we roll out albums poll I'm hoping this list will be 3x as long

3776 - Saijiki
75 Dollar Bill - I Was Here
Acid Mothers Temple - Hallelujah Mystic Garden pt 2
Big Red Panda - Voyage
Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
Budos Band - V
The Comet is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
Cosmic Dead - Scottish Space Race
Cuzcos - Ruptura
Dawn Richard - New Breed
De Lorians - De Lorians
Derby Motoreta's Burrito Kachimba - Derby Motoreta's Burrito Kachimba
Dexter Story - Bahir
Duke - Uingizaji Hewa
Fat White Family - Serf's Up
Fly Pan Am - C'est Ca
The Gluts - Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip
Here Lies Man - No Ground to Walk Upon
Hibushibire - Turn On, Tune In, Freak Out!
Ikebe Shakedown - Kings Left Behind
Jabru - Ill Conceived
Jay Mitta - Tatizo Pesa
JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs
Khana Bierbood - Strangers from the Far East
Kogumaza - Fugues
Lastryko - Tetno Pulsu
Mdou Moctar - Ilana: The Creator
Nik Turner - The Final Frontier
Paisiel - Paisiel
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
Pinkish Black - Concept Unification
Purple Pilgrims - Perfumed Earth
Roy Montgomery & Emma Johnston - After Nietzsche
Royal Trux - White Stuff
Saba Alizadeh - Scattered Memories
Sault - 5
Sault - 7
Sisso - Mateso
Slauson Malone - A Quiet Farewell, 2016-2018
Spellling - Mazy Fly
Sunwatchers - Illegal Moves
The Telescopes - Exploding Head Syndrome
Teeth of the Sea - Wraith
Terminal Cheesecake - Le Sacre du lièvre
These New Puritans - Under the Rose
Thurston Moore - Spirit Counsel
Tropical Fuck Storm - Braindrops
Wędrowcy~Tułacze~Zbiegi - Marynistyka suchego lądu
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
White Denim - Side Effects

I like this list. A bunch of these are already on the spotify list, but you should add more.

Bibio's "Lover's Carvings" (WXAXRXP Session Mix) is super sweet folk pop and i've been playing it on repeat for a month or two.
this is a track i'd like to push for the ILM singles poll and i'd appreciate it if you give it a listen. becomes a variant on itself at 1.40. lotsa cowbell!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG8weLOZ8kU
https://open.spotify.com/track/4BLykUDLpJbhlJwjWBD7aV?si=rAee3pP8Tt29OO21SDAx9w
https://music.apple.com/us/album/wxaxrxp-session-ep/1478291421
https://store.tidal.com/us/album/122531244
https://www.amazon.com/Lovers-Carvings-WXAXRXP-Session/dp/B07Y2FSWNW

I love Lover's Carvings, and that is a very good version.

i don't see any posts mentioning the Blick Bassy or Helado Negro albums

the helado negro album is special, very warm and heartfelt and a great headphones listen.

Yes to Helado Negro. Also Lady Donli, and Burna Boy, and Jimmy Duck Holmes

add me to the list of twen fans. also really enjoyed the shinichiro yokota record. thanks for sharing !

put tracks by EXEK, william hooker, koma saxo, upperground orchestra, and CZ wang on the shared playlist. oh, and loren connors / daniel carter just now (didn't figure it was on spotify).

not on spotify are two john zorn recordings, from the "hermetic organ" series, vols. 6 and 8 (the latter being very high on my list).

lastly, and sorry to be a bummer, but i haven't seen anybody mention the new jimmy "duck" holmes record yet, so allow me to briefly register my deep dissatisfaction with dan auerbach's production work.

want to co-sign this ... o.nate's the only other person I've seen mention it anywhere ... i love it:

R.M.F.C. - Hive Vols 1 and 2 - "The Clue" - Devo gets mentioned as a touchstone - not the later "Beautiful World" type stuff but the early "Mongoloid" robotic nasal vocal stuff - but there's also plenty of good old-fashioned gut-bucket fuzz of the proto-punk garage rock variety I associate with bands like The Saints.

Streaming here: https://erstetheketontraeger.bandcamp.com/album/ett-067-r-m-f-c-hive-volumes-1-2-lp

there are actually a lot of really good lo-fi hardcore bands from the last decade that have kind of an early devo sound to them... CCTV, the Coneheads, probably also some bands that aren't out of gary

then again DEVO was from Akron so maybe you have to be stuck in that sort of town to make that kind of music

can't hurt

This Moon Duo record is the only Moon Duo record I actually like.

Is it wrong of me to like Devil Master's "Satan Spits on Children of Light" as much as I do?

Wow, the Moon Duo as album I'd great! Reminds me of Flow Motion era CAN. I particularly enjoy the synth sequences on "Lost Heads".

Is there anything else from this year I should check out if I like this?

Lol, my phone is wacky. Should say "the Moon Duo album is great"

A late entry for my album of the year, discovered through a brief mention on the ILM jazz thread, is Hütte & guests play the music of Robert Wyatt by Max Andrzejewski´s HÜTTE. The Turkish singer Cansu Tanrıkulu has a wonderful voice, the whole set is fantastic.

To respond to my own question about an album that might please fans of Aviary: Pies sobre la tierra by Mabe Fratti (from Guatemala) is a very nice 30 minutes ambient pop album with some ethereal vocals, modern classical and traditional music touches, in case that's attractive to you.

The real thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BzeqXKAXdQ

This ended up being my end of year compilation:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0mkWcqt5wQM6yNKnomWqco

Nonsensically-timed as ever, here are 161 of the best albums of 2019

10 000 Russos - Kompromat
3776 - Saijiki
75 Dollar Bill - I Was Here
Abronia - The Whole of Each Eye
Acid Mothers Temple - Hallelujah Mystic Garden pt 2
Alameda 5 - Eurodrome
Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next
Ashinoa - Sinie Sinie
Ausmuteants - Ausmuteants Present: The World in Handcuffs
Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them
Big Red Panda - Voyage
Black Flower - Future Flora
Blackwater Holylight - Veils of Winter
Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild
Boris - LΦVE & EVΦL
Botanist - Ecosystem
Budos Band - V
Calacorm - Calacormic Visions Demo
Centrum - För meditation
Cherubs - Immaculada High
Chris Forsyth - All Time Present
Clinic - Wheeltappers and Shunters
clipping. - There Existed an Addiction to Blood
Collider - -><-
The Comet is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery
Cosmic Dead - Scottish Space Race
Cuzcos - Ruptura
Dawn Richard - New Breed
De Lorians - De Lorians
Demon Head - Hellfire Ocean Void
Desert Sessions Volumes 11 & 12
Dexter Story - Bahir
Dhidalah - Threshold
The Dream Syndicate - These Times
Dreamtime - Tidal Mind
Drugdealer - Raw Honey
Duke - Uingizaji Hewa
Dvanov - Подполья
Elder - The Gold & Silver Sessions
Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Nocebo
Fat White Family - Serf's Up
Fet.Nat - Le mal
Flaural - Postponement
Fly Pan Am - C'est Ca
Follakzoid - I
Free Ride - Free Ride
Fuerza Nueva - Fuerza Nueva
The Galileo 7 - There Is Only Now
Glenn Branca - The Third Ascension
The Gluts - Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip
Gnoomes - Mu!
工工工 [Gong Gong Gong] - Phantom Rhythm 幽靈節奏
Grace Ives - 2nd
Have a Nice Life - Sea of Worry
Hawkeyes - Last Light of Future Failure
Here Lies Man - No Ground to Walk Upon
Herxheim - Cultuvating Throne of Fur demo
Hibushibire - Turn On, Tune In, Freak Out!
The Honey Pot - Bewildered Jane
Hyperculte - Massif Occidental
Iconili - Quintais
Ikebe Shakedown - Kings Left Behind
Imperial Wax - Gaswerks Saboteurs
Innercity Ensemble - IV
Jabru - Ill Conceived
Jay Mitta - Tatizo Pesa
Jim Jones and the Rughteous Mind - CollectIV
Jorge Elbrecht - Coral Cross - 002
Jorge Elbrecht - Gloss Coma - 002
Julie's Haircut - In the Silence Electric
Jute Gyte - Birefringence
Kaleidobolt - Bitter
Khana Bierbood - Strangers from the Far East
Kim Gordon - No Home Record
Kogumaza - Fugues
Kooba Tercu - Kharrüb
Kostnatění - Hrůza zvítězí
L' Épée - Diabolique
L7 - Scatter the Rats
LaBrecque/Barakat - Terminal Desert
Lankum - The Livelong Day
Lastryko - Tetno Pulsu
Lee Scratch Perry - Heavy Rain
Lightning Bolt - Sonic Citadel
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
Liturgy - H.A.Q.Q.
Live Skull - Saturday Night Massacre
Lorelle Meets the Obsolete - de Facto
Major Stars - Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy
Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard - Yn Ol I Annwn
Mdou Moctar - Ilana: The Creator
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Modern Nature - How to Live
Moon Duo - Stars Are the Light
Moon Tooth - Crux
Motorpsycho - The Crucible
Multishiva - Savupäivä
Nebula - Holy Shit
Nervous Curtains - I Tried to Fight It But I Was Inside It
Nik Turner - The Final Frontier
Oh Sees - Face Stabber
OOIOO - nijimusi
p.rosa - Bioconcrete
PH - Osiris Hayden
Pharaoh Overlord - 5
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
Pinkish Black - Concept Unification
Plastic Crimewave Syndicate - Massacre of the Celestials
Pony Bravo - Guru
Psychedelic Speed Freaks - Psychedelic Speed Freaks
PUP - Morbid Stuff
Purple Pilgrims - Perfumed Earth
Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
Quantum Fantay - Yemaya Orisha
Rakta - Falha comum
Reptile Tile - Reptile Tile vs. Human Man
Reveal - Scissorgod
Richard Dawson - 2020
Roy Montgomery & Emma Johnston - After Nietzsche
Royal Trux - White Stuff
Rustin Man - Drift Code
Saba Alizadeh - Scattered Memories
Satanique Samba Trio - Mais Bad
Sault - 5
Sault - 7
Sisso - Mateso
Skaphe & Wormlust - Kosmískur Hryllingur
Slauson Malone - A Quiet Farewell, 2016-2018
Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
Snapped Ankles - Stunning Luxury
Sordide - Hier Déjà Mort
South Penguin - Y
Spellling - Mazy Fly
Stephen Mallinder - Um Dada
Sun Drug - Joyfreaker
Sunn O))) - Life Metal
Sunwatchers - Illegal Moves
Taras Bulba - One
The Telescopes - Exploding Head Syndrome
Teeth of the Sea - Wraith
Terceiro Olho de Marte - Herbarium parabolicae ou língua secreta das sementes
Terminal Cheesecake - Le Sacre du lièvre
Theon Cross - Fyah
These New Puritans - Under the Rose
Thurston Moore - Spirit Counsel
Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
TOY - Happy in the Hollow
Trey Anastasio - Ghosts of the Forest
Tropical Fuck Storm - Braindrops
Vanishing Twin - The Age of Immunology
Wand - Laughing Matter
Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis
Wędrowcy~Tułacze~Zbiegi - Marynistyka suchego lądu
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
White Denim - Side Effects
White Ward - Love Exchange Failure
Writhing Squares - Out of the Ether
Wyrmwoods - Spirit & Teeth
Xoth - Interdimensional Invocations
Yawning Man - Macedonian Lines
Zu - Terminalia Amazonia

Nice list. I think my favorite of the year actually ended up being the Murlocs' Manic Candid Episode which I don't think I've seen on any other list. Great soulful country-inflected garage-psych. The Tourist Activities' EP was another release that snuck up on me at the end of the year, kind of jangly Smiths-influenced female-fronted mope-indie with a bit of surf-rock in the guitar tone at times.

simpler times.

Yeah for real