Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
After the Burial-Evergreen
Periphery-Periphery IV: HAIL STAN
Shadow of Intent-Melancholy
Slipknot-We Are Not Your Kind
Tove Lo-Sunshine Kitty
15.Ariana Grande-thank u, next:
After a few spins, thank u, next left me feeling pretty cold. While it was a cohesive and well-produced effort, I felt like it lacked variety, was light on earworms and didn't sufficiently utilize Grande's extensive vocal range. After a few more, that indifference quickly blossomed into admiration. The subdued hooks are a perfect match for the melodic trap beats, the quality of tracks is consistent throughout and above all, it does a terrific job of giving the world a window into her mind during a particularly tumultuous year in her life. It's a highly effective act of musical healing that shows off Grande's maturity and talent in equal measure.
Favorite Tracks: 1.bloodline 2.NASA 3.bad idea
14.Danny Brown-uknowwhatimsayin?:
A breather was kind of necessary after the emotionally-draining journey through Danny Brown's personal hell that was Atrocity Exhibition and that's exactly what uknowwhatimsayin? provides. While there are serious moments ("Shine", "Combat", "Dirty Laundry") scattered throughout, it predominantly consists of Brown laying down aggressive bars behind delightfully abstract production from the likes of Q-Tip, Flying Lotus and Paul White. This significantly less heavy tone leads to a record that is both easy to digest and a fitting entry into Brown's uniquely eccentric catalog.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Savage Nomad 2.Negro Spiritual (feat. JPEGMAFIA) 3.Dirty Laundry
13.Sturgill Simpson-Sound & Fury:
While he has no ties to the genre, Sturgill Simpson embodies the punk aesthetic as well as anyone making music right now. He's the kind of artist that ignores what he did in the past or the trends audiences are responding to at that particular moment in time and just does whatever the hell he wants to when he crafts new material. Case in point: He just followed up the country soul/R&B effort (2016's A Sailor's Guide to Earth) that allowed him to achieve a ton of crossover commercial success with a woozy groove-driven psychedelic blues rock record that sounds like a dance party being held in an acid den at the dawn of the Apocalypse. His dedication to his own singular experimental vision is incredibly admirable and I hope whatever genre overhaul he undergoes next will produce something as electrifying as Sound & Fury.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Sing Along 2.All Said and Done 3.Remember to Breathe
12.FKA twigs-Magadelene:
If I had gotten to spend more time with it, there's a strong chance that the long-awaited comeback record from the unclassifiable British singer/songwriter would be much higher on my list. Her use of electronic-influenced production that slowly builds in intensity by the second paired with her fearless introspective lyrics and angelic, almost operatic vocals makes Magadelene a thrillingly powerful listen that cuts deep.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Mary Magadelene 2.Holy Terrain (feat. Future) 3.Fallen Alien
11.Moon Tooth-Crux:
This Long Island-based quintet refers to their music as "aggressive progressive". That expert opinion is a perfect description of what occupies nearly every moment of their sophomore LP Crux. Throwing huge, heavy riffs that takes cues from everything from sludge to thrash into a blender with soaring falsetto vocals and some prog melodies allows Moon Tooth to embody pretty much the entire metal spectrum without ever sounding disjointed or disingenuous.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Rhythm and Roar 2.Trust 3.Thumb Spike
10.Young Thug-So Much Fun:
Embracing a pretty straightforward trap sound (or at least the closest hip hop's proudest weirdo will ever come to it) has resulted in Young Thug's finest release since 2016's Jeffrey. As great as his signature eccentricity is, it was nice to see him dial it back a bit to make an accessible, high energy record full of terrific upbeat production and big hooks that lives up to its name.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Mannequin Challenge (feat. Juice WRLD) 2.Hot (feat. Gunna) 3.Cartier Gucci Scarf (feat. Lil Duke)
9.Anderson. Paak-Ventura:
The absurdly talented singer/rapper/drummer has never sounded better than he does on Ventura. Paak's ode to old school funk/soul is a beautiful collection of bittersweet love songs that makes brilliant use of his smooth vocals, endless charisma and knack for picking great guest artists (Andre 3000, Smokey Robinson, Lalah Hathaway, Brandy, Sonyae Elise) that come in and really elevate tracks.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Jet Black (feat. Brandy) 2.Chosen One (feat. Sonyae Elise) 3.Yada Yada
8.Banks-III:
Seeing a number of songs from this record performed live in September allowed me to develop a much deeper appreciation for it. By utilizing the most consistently nuanced, dynamic production of her career to-date, Banks receives the vividly detailed backdrop that was needed to bring a bit of a new edge to the emotional, alternately swagger-and-pain-filled electropop sound she's damn near perfected throughout her small but impressive discography.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Till Now 2.Propaganda 3.Gimme
7.Thank You Scientist-Terraformer:
Lineup changes are always a scary proposition for a band. Adding new members can potentially change everything from the dynamic within the group to the way fans respond to the music. Thank You Scientist was faced with an especially terrifying transition when a trio of founding members suddenly exited the band shortly after the release of their third LP Stranger Heads Prevail in 2016. Thankfully, losing nearly half of the people that were responsible for them becoming an acclaimed act with a devoted cult following had no ill effects on the New Jersey-bred rockers. In fact, Terraformer features some of the most sprawling, catchy and satisfying jazzy prog epics they've ever concocted. Big shoutout to Joe Fadem, Sam Greenfield and Joe Gullace for stepping in and helping a great American institution survive.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Swarm 2.Everyday Ghosts 3.Son of a Serpent
6.SeeYouSpaceCowboy...-The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds:
These dealers of relentless chaos easily topped my list of discoveries in 2019. Their full-length debut The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds is a mathcore powerhouse that swiftly alternates between the worlds of aggressive and melodic with the grace and confidence of a band that's been around for decades. Hopefully this will go down as the first chapter of a long and successful career.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Put on a Show, Don't Let Them See You Fall 2.Disdain Coupled with a Wide Smile 3.Disseration of an Idle Voice
5.Children of Bodom-Hexed:
Children of Bodom has been around for a long-ass time and like a lot of grizzled veteran acts, they had fallen into a vicious cycle of putting out competent yet ultimately uninspiring releases that looked like it had no end in sight. Then after 15 years, it suddenly did. Hexed saw Bodom enthusiastically dive back into their big bag of cornball melodeath/power metal tricks (blistering riffs, big, stupid keyboard lines, their signature dueling guitar/synth solos) and the result is a dizzying, gloriously nostalgic ride that reminded me just how fucking fun this band is when they're firing on all cylinders. The entire lineup save for frontman/lead guitarist Alexi Laiho and rhythm guitarist Daniel Freyberg departed about a month ago, so this likely won't turn into a long-term resurrection, but even a brief return to their vintage form was more than I could've ever hoped for at this stage of their career.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Kick in a Spleen 2.Relapse (The Nature of My Crime) 3.Under Grass and Clover
4.Whitechapel-The Valley:
Continuing the theme of unexpected 2019 comebacks was Tennessee extreme metal outfit Whitechapel. However, unlike Children of Bodom, Whitechapel achieved success by taking their music into a completely different direction that would've seemed unfathomable during the Somatic Defliement/This is Exile days. The Valley is a melancholic concept album about the trauma vocalist Phil Bozeman underwent as a child that sees the group showing off a previously unseen introspective side in their lyrics while also adding clean vocals, extended melodic sections and sludge/doom riffs to their crushing deathcore attack. It's not always an easy listen as Bozeman details a variety of difficult subject matters over the course of its 10 tracks including his mother's battle with schizophrenia and the abuse he endured from his stepfather, but it's a tremendously powerful one that fully realizes the songwriting strength that they had only flashed in spurts in the past.
Favorite Tracks: 1.When a Demon Defiles a Witch 2.Hickory Creek 3.Doom Woods
3.Denzel Curry-ZUU:
Where last year's TAB1300 displayed his versatility, ZUU shows off Curry's gift for making infectious bangers that go unbelievably hard. This fully-freestyled love letter to the 25-year old rapper's hometown of Miami is loaded with massive trap/southern anthems that will assault subwoofers ("Birdz", "P.A.T"), set clubs on fire ("Wish", "Automatic") or simply inspire good times ("Ricky", "Carolmart") in any setting.
Favorite Tracks: 1.BIRDZ (feat. Rick Ross) 2.RICKY 3.WISH (feat. Kiddo Marv)
2.Alleageon-Apoptosis:
Apoptosis tones down the prog elements that were heavily featured on their superb, epic-length 2016 LP Proponent of Sentience in favor of a more streamlined death metal sound that features more blistering technical guitarwork, huge melodeath riffs and guttural low/piercing high screams. Scaling back on dynamism isn't usually a formula for improvement, but Alleageon's ability to relentlessly bombard the listener with addictive, gloriously high octane extreme music shows that better results can come from a less complex approach.
Favorite Tracks: 1.Metaphobia 2.Exothermic Chemical Combustion 3.Tsunami and Submergence
1.Lana Del Rey-Norman Fucking Rockwell!:
Lana Del Rey and producer Jack Antonoff capped off a decade of pop music that they were in instrumental shaping by crafting a masterpiece that their peers are going to have a very hard time topping. The marriage between Antonoff's vibrant musical canvas that features psychedelic guitars and lush strings in addition to his usual array of booming piano lines, and Del Rey's seemingly limitless vocal range is just stunning to behold. It's exactly the dreary yet hopeful record that Del Rey's entire career has been building up to and there couldn't have possibly been a better time in history to release it than 2019 when the world needed its message of holding onto hope in a world plagued by pain and suffering more than ever.
Favorite Tracks: 1.California 2.Norman Fucking Rockwell 3.Cinnamon Girl
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