The 2019 end of the year music lists thread

Jon Caramanica NY Times

2019 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

1. 100 gecs
2. Bad Bunny
3. Polo G/NBA YoungBoy
4. Kim Petras
5. Romeo Santos
6. Lana
7. Kalie Shorr
8. Baby Keem/Guapdad 4000
9. Kanye
10. 10k.Caash
11. Ariana
12. Summer Walker

RS list not the worst!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/arts/music/best-albums.html

Both Jon Pareles and Jon Caramanica listed here plus the jazz list too

Some ppl here liked the Concrete Islands list last year, so here is the expanded 2019 edition.

https://concreteislands.com/concrete-islands-albums-of-the-year-2019/

Albums of the year:

50. Pictogram – Trace Elements (Miracle Pond)
49. Alexander Tucker – Guild of the Asbestos Weaver (Thrill Jockey)
48. Handspan – The Dark Is Rising (The Dark Outside)
47. Drew Mulholland – Three Antennas in a Quarry (Buried Treasure)
46. The Utopia Strong – The Utopia Strong (Rocket Recordings)
45. Grand Veymont – Grand Veymont (Outré)
44. Dean Hurley – Anthology Resource Vol II: Philosophy of the Beyond (Sacred Bones)
43. Dog in the Snow – Vanishing Lands (Bella Union)
42. Vanishing Twin – The Age of Immunology (Fire)
41. Rozi Plain – What a Boost (Memphis Industries)
40. Loraine James – For You & I (Hyperdub)
39. The Slow Engineer – Where Comes the Dark? (Polytechnic Youth)
38. Beirut – Gallipoli (4AD)
37. Charles Rumback & Ryley Walker – Little Common Twist (Thrill Jockey)
36. Mark Fisher & Justin Barton – On Vanishing Land (Flatlines)
35. Gabe Knox – ABC (Polytechnic Youth)
34. Jonathan Sharp – Divided Time (Castles in Space)
33. The Shining Levels – Music Inspired by the Novel: The Gallows Pole (Outré)
32. Burd Ellen – Silver Came (self released)
31. Special Interest – Spiraling (Anxious Music)
30. The Heartwood Institute – Tomorrow’s People (Polytechnic Youth)
29. Various – Weaponise Your Sound (Optimo Music / Weaponise Your Sound)
28. The Detox Twins – Dead Horse Ghost (Polytechnic Youth)
27. Carter Tutti Void – Triumverate (Conspiracy International)
26. De Ambassade – Duistre Kamers (Knekelhuis)
25. Penelope Trappes – Penelope Redeux (Houndstooth)
24. Madder Rose – To Be Beautiful (Trome)
23. Tomorrow Syndicate – Citizen Input (Polytechnic Youth)
22. Listening Center – Retrieving (Polytechnic Youth)
21. Clesse – Clesse ( Café Kaput)

20. Western Edges – Prowess (Sound in Silence)
19. Jorja Chalmers – Human Again (Italians Do It Better)
18. Kim Gordon – No Home Record (Matador)
17. HTRK – Venus in Leo (Ghostly International)
16. Cosey Fanni Tutti – TUTTI (Conspiracy International)
15. Kinbrae – Landforms (Truant Recordings)
14. Dalham – Heat Death (Castles in Space)
13. Julie’s Haircut – In the Silence Electric (Rocket Recordings)
12. The Home Current – Civilian Leather (Castles in Space)
11. Pye Corner Audio – Hollow Earth (Ghost Box)
10. Polypores – Flora (Castles in Space)
09. Vic Mars – Inner Roads and Outer Paths (Clay Pipe Music)
08. Patience – Dizzy Spells (Night School)
07. Oliver Cherer – I Feel Nothing Most Days (Second Language)
06. The Golden Filter – Autonomy (4GN3S)
05. Moor Mother – Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes (Don Giovanni)
04. Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains (Drag City)
03. Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus with The Belbury Poly – Chanctonbury Rings (Ghost Box)
02. Andrew Wasylyk – The Paralian (Athens of the North)
01. Free Love – Extreme Dance Anthems (Optimo Music)

Archival releases:

12. Stereolab – Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (Duophonic / Warp)
11. Burial – Tunes 2011 to 2019 (Hyperdub)
10. Rupa – Disco Jazz (Numero Group)
9. Fad Gadget – The Best of Fad Gadget (Mute)
8. Shakti – Verboden Dromen (Stroom)
7. Algebra Suicide – Still Life (Dark Entries)
6. Ela Orleans – Movies for Ears (Night School)
5. A Certain Ratio – ACR:BOX (Mute)
4. Various – The Daisy Age (Ace)
3. Elisa Waut – Elisa Waut (Numero Group)
2. Fernando Falcão – Memória das Águas / Barracas Barrocas (Optimo Music / Selva Discos)
1. Patrick Cowley – Mechanical Fantasy Box (Dark Entries)

I was shocked to see Moon Tooth there! top 10 album for sure!

yay @ spotting Lambert on the RS list top ten.

Love the Concrete Islands site/ethos so I'm not surprised to see the overlap with my own EOY list

I recognize only a sliver of it, but the Concrete Islands list looks good indeed.

That RS list is great! Finally, a #1 that I can get behind! ;)

no clipping = invalid

I keep getting Moon Tooth confused with Moon Hooch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqLU3Rp1fZo

Moon Hooch is more Hoochy
Moon Tooth, more ... Toothy

Glad to see Ted Gioia list Mississippi’s Jimmy Duck Holmes on his album list. While not quite as raucous as Fat Possum label RL Burnside releases from the past, Holmes has a unique charm to his blues sound that work.

I think the Burial 2011 to 2019 album is so beautifully sequenced. It is an an archival recording but I love all of these tracks and hearing them all together in this way makes this the album of the year for me

It's funny, just a few weeks before the compendium was announced, I'd realized all the recent EPs/12"s were on Bandcamp and boyght them all based on people repping them here. So I've gotten really used to them chronologically--I'll have to give it a shot as Burial himself has sequenced it...

I'm also agreeing with more stuff in the RS list than I thought I'd ever be. I'm not sure if that means a turnaround for Rolling Stone or for me. I suppose it might be part of growing older: get to 40, start thinking about your retirement savings, begin going to doctors more often and find yourself in agreement with RS and Mojo.

File this list under "weird": https://www.vulture.com/article/best-albums-2019.html.

I mean I can agree with some of these but Sturgill, Brittany Howard and Wilco on top?? It reminds me of that RS list from a couple years ago with U2 and the odds and ends Springsteen album at #1 and #2 respectively.

10. Griselda Records, W.W.C.D.
9. Sturgill Simpson, Sound & Fury
8. The Highwomen, The Highwomen
7. Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell
6. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Bandana
5. Brittany Howard, Jaime
4. FKA Twigs, Magdalene
3. Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride
2. Solange, When I Get Home
1. Wilco, Ode to Joy

File that list under 'jaded rock critics trying to be hip and faceplanting'

I didn't know Wilco released an album this year

Stereogum's metal list:

10. Dysrhythmia, Terminal Threshold
9. Serpent Column, Mirror in Darkness
8. Remete, Into Endless Night
7. Blood Incantation, Hidden History of the Human Race
6. Idle Hands, Mana
5. Esoteric, A Pyrrhic Existence
4. No One Knows What the Dead Think, s/t
3. A Pregnant Light, Broken Play
2. Arch / Matheos, Winter Ethereal
1. Haunter, Sacramental Death Qualia

https://www.popmatters.com/best-albums-of-2019-2641547956.html

has clipping in it so passes DJP's credibility test

unfortunately another to buy into the lana del rey myth but i'm resigned to that at this point

20. Jenny Lewis - On the Line
19. Rapsody - Eve
18. Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
17. Jordan Rakei - Origin
16. Hot Chip - A Bath Full of Ecstasy
15. Underworld - DRIFT Series 1
14. Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
13. Baroness - Gold & Grey
12. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
11. Little Simz - GREY Area
10. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
9. Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
8. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
7. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
6. Jamila Woods - LEGACY! LEGACY!
5. Dave - Psychodrama
4. Fontaines D.C. - Dogrel
3. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
2. slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain
1. FKA twigs - MAGDALENE

https://www.allmusic.com/year-in-review/2019/allmusic-best-of-2019

https://www.kcrw.com/best-of/best-of-2019/best-albums

1. Brittany Howard

https://crackmagazine.net/article/annual-report-2019/the-top-50-albums-of-the-year-2/

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2019/

still just don't get it with "cellophane," there are at least 3-4 better songs on that album alone, and it's not even one of my favorites of the year.

pubs should just start putting their thumbs on the scale (if they don't already) and making the #1 something's truly emblematic/representative of the year. for 2019 imo that means either "Old Town Road," "bad guy" or, if you want to go indie, Big Thief's "Not."

it me:

Said the Gramophone 100 best tracks list
http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/best_songs_of_2019.php

1. Julia Jacklin - "Don't Know How To Keep Loving You"
2. Vampire Weekend - "This Life"
3. Sarkodie ft Akan - "All Die Be Die"
4. Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens - "Gone"
5. Molly Sarlé - "Human"
6. Lil Nas X ft Billy Ray Cyrus - "Old Town Road (remix)"
7. Purple Mountains - "Nights That Won't Happen"
8. Nilüfer Yanya - "Paradise"
9. Rosalía ft Ozuna - "Yo x Ti, Ti x Mi"
10. Jonathan Personne - "Comme personne"
11. Joseph Shabason - "Broken Hearted Kota"
12. Clairo - "Bags"
13. Leif Vollebekk - "I'm Not Your Lover" [
14. Maggie Rogers - "Overnight"
15. Lana Del Rey - "Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - But I Have It"
16. Zlatan - "This Year"
17. Haim - "Summer Girl"
18. Corridor - "Domino"
19. Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron - "Love Without Possession"
20. Hatchie - "Without a Blush"
(then 80 more)

Mine

6 PARTITAS (HILARY HAHN, ANTÓN GARCÍA ABRIL)
A GOOD TIME (DAVIDO)
ABSOLUTE ZERO (BRUCE HORNSBY)
AFTER ITS OWN DEATH / WALKING IN A SPIRAL TOWARDS THE HOUSE (NIVHEK)
AGORA (FENNESZ)
AKRASIA (DJ SPORTS)
ALL MIRRORS (ANGEL OLSEN)
BASKING IN THE GLOW (OSO OSO)
BECOME DESERT (JOHN LUTHER ADAMS)
C.1300-C.2000 (JEREMY DENK)
CLEAR / WASP (SKUDGE)
COMING UP FOR AIR (GALAXIAN)
CRUSH (FLOATING POINTS)
DNT STP MY LV (INDIA JORDAN)
EMILY ALONE (FLORIST)
GAY MAN'S GUIDE TO SAFER SEX + 2, THE (COIL)
GHOSTEEN (NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS)
GRAPEFRUIT REGRET (KARENN)
HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE (BLOOD INCANTATION)
HOUSE OF SUGAR ((SANDY) ALEX G)
I AM EASY TO FIND (THE NATIONAL)
I,I (BON IVER)
IKI (TOYOHIKO SATOH)
IT SHOULD BE US (ANDY STOTT)
JAIME (BRITTANY HOWARD)
KISLOTY FOREVER (SCHACKE)
LIFE METAL (SUNN O))))
LIMINAL GARDEN (DOLPHIN MIDWIVES)
LIVE AT FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON (COLIN CURRIE, STEVE REICH)
LIVE AT WOMAD 1985 (NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN & PARTY)
LOOM DREAM (LEIF)
MAGDALENE (FKA TWIGS)
MOTIAN MUSIC (RUSS LOSSING)
MOVIMIENTO PARA CAMBIO (PELADA)
MY WORLD MY WAY (E-SAGGILA)
NO HOME RECORD (KIM GORDON)
NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL! (LANA DEL REY)
PATIENCE (MANNEQUIN PUSSY)
PRACTICE OF LOVE, THE (JENNY HVAL)
PUNK (CHAI)
PURPLE MOUNTAINS (PURPLE MOUNTAINS)
QUIET SIGNS (JESSICA PRATT)
RAVE 'TILL YOU CRY (BOGDAN RACZYNSKI)
REELING, THE (BRÌGHDE CHAIMBEUL)
REMIND ME TOMORROW (SHARON VAN ETTEN)
REWARD (CATE LE BON)
SCHLAGENHEIM (BLACK MIDI)
SHAWNEE, OHIO (BRIAN HARNETTY)
SHEPHERD IN A SHEEPSKIN VEST (BILL CALLAHAN)
SHOUTING OVER DEEP BLUE WATER BLUES (ARRINGTON DE DIONYSO)
SINNER (MOODYMANN)
SLIPPING (JOY ORBISON)
SPIRIT LADY (MICHAEL ROBINSON)
SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 AND 4 (FLORENCE BEATRICE PRICE, JOHN JETER, FORT SMITH SYMPHONY)
THIS IS HOW YOU SMILE (HELADO NEGRO)
TITANIC RISING (WEYES BLOOD)
TOUS DES OISEAUX (ELENI KARAINDROU)
TUMBLIN (NAO OTSUKA)
TWO HANDS (BIG THIEF)
U.F.O.F. (BIG THIEF)
VIOLINVOCATIONS (HUGH MARSH)
ZOOM (CUCINA POVERA)

Bandcamp is rolling out their top 100 albums of the year, 20 per day. Here's Part 1.

100. The Gotobeds, Debt Begins At 30
99. Various Artists, The Time for Peace is Now
98. Tourist Activities, Off My Mind
97. Pleasure Leftists, The Gate
96. Wizard Apprentice, Dig a Pit
95. Christelle Bofale, Swim Team
94. Penelope Trappes, Penelope Redeux
93. Julia Shapiro, Perfect Version
92. Shafiq Husayn, The Loop
91. Kassa Overall, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz
90. Ami Dang, Parted Plains
89. Reese McHenry, No Dados
88. Various Artists, Nigeria 70: No Wahalo: Highlife, Afro-Funk & Juju 1973-1987
87. Lena Raine, OneKnowing
86. Salami Rose Joe Louis, Zdenka 2080
85. DIÄT, Positive Disintegration
84. Lafawndah, Ancestor Boy
83. Nérija, Blume
82. French Vanilla, How Am I Not Myself?
81. Rakta, Falha Column

You may want to specify the composer on some of those, e.g. 'SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 AND 4 (FLORENCE BEATRICE PRICE, JOHN JETER, FORT SMITH SYMPHONY'.

xp

(Popmatters) has clipping in it so passes DJP's credibility test

Will definitely dig around the Bandcamp hundred, always plenty to discover

You may want to specify the composer on some of those, e.g. 'SYMPHONIES NOS. 1 AND 4 (FLORENCE BEATRICE PRICE, JOHN JETER, FORT SMITH SYMPHONY'.

For sure. I’m an idiot so I really don’t know when (and how) I should do this. Any tips would be genuinely appreciated. If you’re curious, I did this, like I’ve done my lists from that past few years, by just dumping the release name and release artist from Discogs.

Ah, that makes sense. For non-classical music, I usually go with 'Main Artist - Album Title' and for classical music I switch to 'Composer - Album Title (Performer(s))' if the composer is the main artist and 'Performer(s) - Album Title' if they're not.

Provisional (I'll run them again after the year actually ends) lists by country and genre for 77 countries and 2,011 genres, plus 3 global lists, from 2019 Spotify listening data:

http://everynoise.com/2019_around_the_world.cgi

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

https://www.stereogum.com/2067204/best-jazz-albums-2019/franchises/2019-in-review/

10. Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom, Glitter Wolf
9. Branford Marsalis Quartet, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul
8. Matana Roberts, Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis
7. SEED Ensemble, Driftglass
6. Victor Gould, Thoughts Become Things
5. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Ancestral Recall
4. Theon Cross, Fyah
3. Jeremy Pelt, Jeremy Pelt the Artist
2. Yazz Ahmed, Polyhymnia
1. Jaimie Branch, Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise

that top 100 spotify global singles list is pretty bleak
glad to see you updating sean; look forward to exploring

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