The 2019 end of the year music lists thread

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?

Chris Farren, Born Hot

wacky to see the fake problems guy in this crowd

i like the LDR album a lot but it feels very strange the way she's suddenly gone from critically underrated to critically overrated. not just this record but born to die doing very well in end of decade lists despite still being pretty mediocre. NFR is certainly her best work but not really close to an AOTY contender for me.

everyone wants a hero

I'm certainly appreciating that Ari Lennox more now than I did over the summer.

i hope to see more publications putting out unranked lists

me too ^

also, i think an unranked list + one or two or three "this is the very best of the bunch" / ranked section is perfectly reasonable.

i often feel like my top 2, 3 or 4 are obvious and everything after that is splitting hairs.

it does feel like an unranked list sort of year

https://remezcla.com/lists/music/50-best-songs-by-latinos-in-2019/

A little of everything but mainly reggaeton

https://afropop.org/articles/afropop-runs-down-2019

Stocking Stuffer list in alphabetical order with Burna Boy, Mdou Moctar and more

Textura again doesn't have much overlap with anything else:

01. Christopher Tignor: A Light Below (Western Vinyl)
02. William Brittelle: Spiritual America (New Amsterdam Records / Nonesuch)
03. Stein Urheim: Simple Pieces & Paper Cut-Outs (Hubro)
04. Hevreh Ensemble: A Path of Light (Ansonica Records)
05. Kamancello: Kamancello II: Voyage (Kamancello)
06. Toby Hay: New Music for the 12 String Guitar (The state51 Conspiracy)
07. Leo Svirsky: River Without Banks (Unseen Worlds)
08. Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon)
09. Isnaj Dui: Sight Seeing (Fbox Records)
10. Frode Haltli: Border Woods (Hubro)
11. Sontag Shogun: It Billows Up (Youngbloods)
12. Michael Robinson: Tunis Phantom (Azure Miles Records)
13. Zachary Paul: Meditation on Discord (Touch)
14. Akira Kosemura: Diary 2016-19 (Schole Records)
15. Paniyolo & Akio Watanabe: Passage of Sky (Schole Records)
16. J. Pavone String Ensemble: Brick and Mortar (Birdwatcher Records)
17. Lumen Drones: Umbra (Hubro)
18. Deadbeat & Camara: Trinity Thirty (Constellation)
19. David Ian Roberts: Traveling Bright (Cambrian Records)
20. Comit: Remote Viewing (ASIP)

Classical, jazz and ambient lists are separated.

FACT best tracks of 2019
https://www.factmag.com/2019/12/10/the-best-tracks-of-2019/

100 gecs - Money Machine
8ULENTINA - Deep Summer
Aïsha Devi - I'm Not Always Where My Body Is
Anz - No Harm
Call Super + Parris - Chiselers Rush
Claude Fontaine - Cry For Another
De Grandi - Paris Nord-Est
DJ Lag & Okzharp - Steam One
DJ Plead - Ruby
Ellll - Pepsi
False Witness - Red Curtain Daybreak
Felix Lee [Feat. Yayoyanoh] - Focused
FKA Twigs - sad day
Frank Ocean - In My Room
Guapdad 4000- Flossin
India Jordan - Warper
Jai Paul - Do You Love Her Now
Joy Orbison [Feat. Infinite & Mansur Brown] - Burn
Kelsey Lu - Due West
Karen Gwyer - Faces on Ankles
Kehlani - Too Deep
Kim Gordon - Air BnB
Lady Lykez [Feat. Lioness] - Muhammad Ali (remix)
Leonce - Penetration Testing
Lil Nas X [Feat. Billy Ray Cyrus] - Old Town Road (remix)
Medulasa - Forever
Murlo - End Of The Road (Sinjin Hawke & Zora Jones’ Flashback)
Nkisi - Destruction Of Power
Noname- Song 32
Normani - Motivation
ose - is it love?
Peder Mannerfelt - Sissel & Bass (Cera Khin Mind Destruction remix)
Pop Smoke - Welcome To The Party
Powder - New Tribe
Precolumbian & Estoc - CCT1
Precolumbian & Estoc - CCT2
Quest?onmarc - Monolith
Rhyw - Biggest Bully
Riobamba - Muerte
Rui Mo - The Heat
Scarlxrd - GXING THE DISTANCE
Shygirl - BB
Special Request - Vortex 150
Taso & Siete Catorce - 2 for $20
Thoom - Wound as Pocket
tobi lou - I Was Sad Last Night I'm OK Now
Tom Blip & Swordman Kitala - Kitala Beat
Tzusing & Hodge - Electrolytes
Young Thug [Feat. Lil Uzi Vert] - What's the Move
Young Baby Tate - CAMP
Von Bikrav - Casse des Murs

man it's just wild sometimes to think about how much music there is. that Textura list is marked "General" and yet I have never heard of a single one of those artists.

Another good jazz list, from VinylMePlease:

http://magazine.vinylmeplease.com/magazine/best-jazz-albums-2019/

I've heard all but two of these albums, and the Jamael Dean one sounds particularly interesting.

I listened to some of the Dean the other day, definitely worth checking out. Maybe a touch too much exactly what you'd expect from "jazz album on Stones Throw" but well executed

It's a Canadian 'new music' site with ime a distinct aesthetic that is a little tricky to describe; contemporary classical and jazz releases that share qualities with ambient music but are more chopsy than post-rock? Kamancello are from here. I had stopped following. I should check this one out.xps re Textura

I like a lot of the Textura jazz picks, but yeah, those albums all have more in common than not, and "share qualities with ambient music but are more chopsy than post-rock" covers it pretty well. I would also describe it as the kind of jazz where everyone on the bandstand, including the drummer, needs a music stand.

Their ambient is all "everything is going to be ok" ambient, not so much "everything is fucked and we're all going to die" ambient. I have time for both tbh.

man it's just wild sometimes to think about how much music there is. that Textura list is marked "General" and yet I have never heard of a single one of those artists.

― Evans on Hammond (evol j)

i was going to say the same on first glance except i namechecked the stein urheim upthread!

that's kind of my goal in terms of music. to react to 90% of everything a given person will mention with blank stares and then they hit on that one thing that they're going to assume nobody else has heard of and i've heard it.

i listened to their #1 pick, the tignor, and i liked it. i hadn't heard of his tuning fork thing before - if it was ever a schtick, i don't think it is now. probably it makes him more marketable but we all need to get people's attention somehow.

i try to be attuned to terroir when it comes to music - my approach implicitly demands it - and it's a new york thing but i'm ok with that. i could easily spend all my time listening to music only from new york, it's a world unto itself with all sorts of interesting things happening, so i try to limit myself. having heard two records on the textura list and liked both of them, i'm consciously not going to listen to anything more because at some point i have to live my fucking life.

Frode Haltli's Border Woods is norsk avant-folk for the accordion-minded – always a delight.

Glad to see Kelsey Lu on the FACT list, surprised that isn't getting more EOY love.