Alas, here is my final post—my favorite 25 LPs I heard this year. It was blast presenting this here again (it’s at my blog, in one post also. I also return to the comment field for my lists there and leave the names of records I hear but missed for this deadline for that specific year, so it’s always good to check back every few months if you’re so inclined). I hope it highlights music you’ve loved, or are about to love due to its inclusion here. Happy listening, onward to 2020!
The initial post, 150-51, is here, with 50-26 here.
1. Lightning Bolt – Sonic Citadel
Here, on their first album in years, we find the boys in great spirits. Much has been said about the approachability of the tunes here, almost appearing as something of a Lightning Bolt Pop record. That’s contextual of course, as when you drop the needle the tunes anyone expecting Taylor Swift or Britney Spears is gonna be thoroughly disappointed, this is still the band who do some of the best noise chaos the world has ever bore witness to. Meaning, this is accessibility only on their terms, and the terms they’ve set are thunderous. Perhaps best of all is ‘Air Conditioning’, on the short list for one of my songs of the year; a staccato digital vocal glitch braces the listener for a humongous distorted bass riff, before the song gallops through several movements. Its title implies cooling out, but who can keep the windows shut in the face of this heat?
2. Mick Trouble – It’s the Mick Trouble LP
In some circles Mick Trouble’s long awaited debut was eagerly anticipated, the same circles who still spin Nick Lowe and Television Personalities LPs with great regularity. In other words, yours truly, and Mick Trouble more than delivers on the singles and EPs that preceded it, making it perhaps the greatest straight-ahead guitar Pop album of the year. That was a genre that we’d see a lot more of in years past, but here’s to those that say rock can’t play on the radio—an album chock full of potential singles and anthems without a bad one amongst ‘em, but you do have to make some specific call outs: ‘Tales of Hank Marvin’ if for no other reason than name checking Hank freakin’ Marvin, ‘A Council Boy’, which sounds like a great Mummy Your Not Watching Me inclusion that got inexplicably left off (ahem, it’s only the best Television Personalities LP), and ‘Similar Kicks’. That’s unlike anything I’ve heard in quite awhile, a joyous blast that sounds even happier musically then the lyric purports (which is similarly ecstatic). It was enough to thoroughly shake me from my December doldrums. Jed Smith played on that great Jeanines self-titled release this year too, so he had himself quite a time in 2019!
3. Orville Peck – Pony
I’d first heard this by mere chance, probably a testament to being released under the relatively large umbrella of influence Sub Pop has existed with for the last few decades. Their releases, if good, are bound to find enough traction in the litany of blogs anyone a part of the rock n’ roll cult frequents week to week. But this isn’t just good, it’s great, a brooding collection of dreamy, cowboy tunes set in something akin to Lynch’s universe of Twin Peaks. You’ll see Peck, the stage name of an anonymous character who wears a leather fringe draped mask below a red cowboy mask onstage, described as a modern Roy Orbison but with the additional gay subtext, strikes a decidedly 21st century stance. Wonderful, I’m not sure I listened to a record as much this year as this one.
4. Du Blonde – Lung Bread For Daddy
Du Blonde, the new working moniker for Beth Jeans Houghton, debuted the name for 2015’s very good Welcome Back to Milk, finally returning this Spring with Lung Bread For Daddy, a contemplative set of moving tunes. Welcome Back to Milk was often described as a raucous, sonically raw affair, an artist laid bare looking over the corpses of past entanglements. Lung Bread For Daddy I’d argue is both smoother and rougher, she amps up the anxious contemplation while smoothing over the garage noise for a more folky pysch vibrato. It pulls everything into a tight focus; ‘Baby Talk’ is a Horror movie organ and little else, while ‘Heaven Knows’ is brooding like those great early Scott Walker records, but if I had to pick I’d say that if I had a buck for every time I’ve spun ‘RBY’ this year I could fund this poor little blog that no one reads for a decade. It makes me so incredibly sad, like listening to the grave, past loved ones singing only to me with a specificity that’s equally chilling and thrilling.
5. Rema-Rema – Fond Reflections (reissue/compilation)
Rema-Rema, when thought of today, is mostly as a curious afterthought attached to guitarist Marco Pirroni between his much more notorious stints helping start Siouxie’s Banshee’s and Adam Ant’s Ants. It’s somewhat understandable—they only managed an EP, and then appeared on a compilation just as the band was breaking up. But, they’ve grown in cult circles to a degree (noteworthy for their EP being one of 4ADs first releases), enough for this compilation to appear this year, collecting what could have been something of a debut. It’s still sparse, there are a few live tracks here at from that EP, but this rights all into one full statement, finally positing the band as true originals. Something of a mix between early American noise rock and icy, cool English Post-Punk, the songs, hell just take the first two tracks (‘Feedback Song’ and ‘Rema-Rema’), blow from your speakers, bludgeoning all the way from 1980. I hope I sound and move this good when I turn 40.
6. Yak – Pursuit of Momentary Happiness
Listening to some of the lyrics on Wolverhampton bred Yak’s second record, Pursuit of Momentary Happiness you can almost think they’re uniquely positioned to see the current state of messy affairs as something resembling a glass half full. “He’s got the whole wide world in his hands” repeated numerous times on the albums standout track would lead one to this optimism, but of course the album is titled …Momentary Happiness and the song in question is called ‘White Male Carnivore’ so you understand a more predatory pitch. It’s as if the contemplation of last years remarkable duo LPs by Idles met Iceage’s here, a considerable feat when you get right down to it and it’s packed with tunes; ‘Pay off vs the Struggle’ is melodic and urgent, the title track laconic and dazed before washing itself in noise, while ‘Bellyache’ is all confrontational swagger, seeing these Englishman exhibit arrogance previously embodied by Liam Gallagher or Ian Brown, but by the time closer ‘This House Has No Living Room’ ends, you know they not only talk the talk, but they more than walk the walk.
7. Black Midi – Schlagenheim
One of the more heatedly anticipated LPs of the year, London’s Black Midi has teased listeners with a series of singles and one offs, culminating with ‘bmbmbm’, an anxious, bubbling track that snapped anxiety at several points with a ferocious barrage of math rock leaning noise. After this the buzz reached crazy levels, a mark their debut (which included ‘bmbmbm’) plus a whole slew of other tremendous freakouts, more than exceeded. I love ‘em, they’re like No Wavers DNA, but they jam out, a near perfect outfit for our summer festivals that they used to start to make inroads in America this year. In time, this might slowly become the most landmark rock release of 2019.
8. Shellac – The End of Radio (BBC Sessions 1994/2004 compilation)
Shellac is a band as much about the sonic space it inhabits as it is a traditional one that springs up every few years and releases a new LP. Traditional is a loose term obviously, its members by now all working men, using the band not as a profession to sustain their livelihoods, but one to explore their artistic ideas at their discretion. This is a rare thing for a band to claim, especially within our fractured digital distribution, no-rock-in-the-mainstream world of 2019, but alas, they’ve earned it over decades of tremendous releases. But, let’s not forget the first point on environments; here is a collection of scattershot releases from several BBC performances, juxtaposed showing just how much the band aged into this position of ‘we call the shots’ rock elder statesmen. One, they’re fiery, ornery and nearly unhinged, the other, still packing a wallop, but calculated, decisive and lean. Driving this home is a shout out to (at the time of one recording) the recent death of BBC radioshow host John Peel, where their independence is shown as a mere link in the chain as they dedicate the performance to him: music such as this needs not only banners, but those to carry those banners into high traffic areas. Rock will never die.
9. Meatraffle – Bastard Music
London’s Meatraffle purpose bands should have highly eccentric, but worthwhile names. The meat raffle was a thing in decades ago England, where you could win a slice of prime rib or steak at your local watering hole. It fits, as this music is eccentric, but grounded as well; jazz and hip hop have just as much a place here as a Post-Punk garage vibe drenched in flowery Madchester. This appears on its face a visceral, angry disc, but after a listen or two, you realized it’s all this wonderful groove (‘Meatraffle on the Moon’ even approaches dub reggae). Hooky dance music for the political rock set, and thus, a lot more human than most club hits nowadays. Here’s to hoping they get to make a record with Adrian Sherwood one day.
10. Urochromes – Trope House
Post-punk’s become a pretty chic sub-genre nowadays, most of it sticking pretty closely to a dub-centric, dance approach. Great examples exist, but much fodder does too, an indication that perhaps an over-saturation has happened in indy. It’s worth noting then when a more unique take on the sound happens, and with Trope House, Urochromes eschews typical cliches and instead delivers something occasionally approaching hardcore; ‘Style’ is all high speed metallic riffage, but not too fast, ‘Rumshpringa’ still reminds us that we’re still very much in Post-Punk. The Gate, meanwhile, deliver something akin to what we’d expect, that I’d spoken of earlier, but skip to ‘Dancing in the Dark’ if you think doing that expertly isn’t enough. This is driving, gothic melodrama that only our industrial wastelands like Cleveland or Manchester can produce. For the Gate, that’s Cleveland, and the tunes speak to looking out over Lake Erie, in the winter, not knowing where the horizon ends, instead eying a smooth gradient of grey.
11. Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble – Where Future Unfolds
Here, Chicagoan Damon Locks and the Black Monument Ensemble make an urgent plea to America that is as much an inquiry as it is a defiant stance; some tracks asking if the fissures severing this country can ever be healed or if anyone even cares, to openly stating optimism to these conclusions. I’m not so sure, but hearing these groove laden, expressively joyful tracks—‘Power’ is melodic and soulful, ‘From a Spark to a Fire’ throbbing and scorched, while ‘Statement of Intent’ a distorted attention call. It’s jazz for a new, cohesive age, here’s to hoping they’re right.
12. Modern Technology – Modern Technology
13. Flying Luttenbachers – Shattered Dimension
How many people does it take to create chaotic (and in Modern Technology’s case anarchic, angry) noise? Modern Technology use only 2, while Flying Luttenbachers continue their tremendous output post reforming a few years back. This isn’t to slight either—you don’t get points for making a bigger cacophony with fewer people, rather to point out how much ensemble playing can inspire intertwining tangents of noisy bliss. It’s often savage: the twisting, turning, tweaked out lines in ‘Sleaze Factor’ where the bass gropes and grabs or the building martial march of ‘Goosesteppin’’ (both on Shattered Dimension) or the oozing like distorted digital lava of ‘Modern Technology’ and ‘Project Fear’ that races for just over 2 minutes, banking into the corners, almost smashing itself every time. If you want to hear just how far rock n’ roll is going, as has gone, this pair isn’t a bad place to start.
14. Psychic Lemon – Freak Mammal
15. Big Brave – A Gaze Among Them
Every year I feature a few LPs of humming, blissful noise, and I’m not sure there is a record I experienced this year that better soothes me in a cascading blanket of gale force feedback like these two. Especially the Psychic Lemon, which early on catches the loop, and remains affixed squarely inside it for much of the rest of the record. Similarly, Big Brave’s newest hums and stomps, but also broods, making it the heavier record of the two. I love this stuff—it’s non-obtrusive enough for me to be able to concentrate while it’s on, but also screeching enough to not blend in the background when your mind wanders back to the speakers. Easily, some of the headtrips of the year.
16. Tennis System – Lovesick
It’s obvious that I really like this LP—it is appearing here top 20—but, if I’m totally honest, every time I spin it, it washes over me, and only ‘Cut’ remains. I love it all, but really go bananas for one, seemingly short 3 minute blast that is track 2. Perhaps it’s a long lost lesson of Pop, a form that was founded and sustained on the 45, an idea now long murdered by some pretty foolish people. Rock needs statements made quickly, and it needs fans that understand that 3 glorious minutes can better 50 well composed minutes. Give me ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ or ‘Reflections’ over Sgt. Peppers any day. ‘Cut’ is all you need, but thankfully Lovesick is brimming with real good other ones too, so you might very well pick something different (hell, ‘Alone’ probably works too).
17. Malcría – El Reino Del Lo Falso MLP
It’s not every day you get a hardcore LP this freshly original, but it’s even rarer still to get it from the sweltering smog of Mexico City’s rarified air. It’s a work of absolute genius, memorable tunes pitched in scraping intensity; ‘Si Es Fácil No Vale’ is a pummeling dirge, ‘Consumisimo Libertario’, a speed thrash workout. Best is ‘Nadie Es Especial’ that opens with a Joy Division-like bassline, only at considerable pace, and vocals sounding like they’re coming from a megaphone lobbed over a border wall. One of the songs of the year.
18. Tropical Fuck Storm – Braindrops
The Melbourne quartet (there’s that city again), follow up their magnificent debut with another tremendous record. I liked this one even better—it’s groovier, and the Prog touches are absorbed fuller, but when you check ‘em out live, you seen how much they boogie. In the words of Duff McKagen, “you can dance to this shit”.
19. Lindow Moss – Thirsting
Landmark blackened punk from Nottingham, Lindow Moss sound grimier then ever on Thirsting, where vocals sound more like rabid attack dogs than sung human voices. It won’t be for everyone, but it’ll surprise those that think rock n’ roll is gone. No, it just keeps going farther and farther than anyone probably imagined. Best is ‘Psychic Violence’ where a guitar burrows into your brain and the rest of the band snarls with a blood-thirsty croon.
20. The Body/Uniform – Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back
While the pairing has already yielding great offerings, their most recent is, for my grimy dollars, the best. When it first arrived, I compared it to what The Downward Spiral meant in the 1990s, ushering in all those wild, underground sounds right onto the mainstream porch. So, while the mainstream doesn’t really exist anymore for beautiful odes like these noisy ones, I’m glad the tunes still do.
21. Dehd – Water
Chicago’s Dehd made a bit of noise on their self-titled debut of 2016 (it sounded like a great lost relic from the 1960s), but here they go even farther by doing more of everything. It’s hazy, lo-fi guitar bristle, balancing somewhere out on the Western Range and urbanity, like jangle made next to a six-shooter. Oh, sometimes it’s just literally more, 4 additional tracks compared to Dehd, add new avenues to explore; ‘Baby’ is touching and childlike, ‘Happy Again’ upbeat and harmonious, ‘Water’ comes sounding soaking wet and lilting. Best of all is ‘Wild’, which might have been recorded in a basement for all I know but sounds so expansive, singing out to the heavens. You try to stay youthful and wild, and this would be your anthem (here’s to hoping a real terrible independent film doesn’t use it and ruin its memory).
22. Mekons – Deserted
Here’s a crazy thought—the greatest band of the 2010’s was an English band (now Chicago) that got their start in punk’s grand year of 1977. Most would ruffle their feathers at such a stance, but most haven’t properly kept up with the Mekons either, a band that just turns out a great, slightly different (sometimes wildly so) LP every year. Sometimes they manage two! This year, it’s Deserted, a beautiful gem of a record harkening back to their run of LPs where they helped birth the idea of alternative country, with 1985’s Fear and Whiskey. Here, that starts on ‘Into the Sun/the galaxy explodes’ and weaves in and out, including a run of several songs on the middle of the record. Best of all is the heartbreakingly beautiful ‘How Many Stars?’ which pits our band in the wilderness, staring up under a blanket of stars. You don’t see ‘em in the city, there’s so much smog, but in the sticks—where the Mekons have been relegated for most—they sparkle and gleam bright. You can even find your way with ‘em.
23. Cherubs – Immaculada High
24. Florida Man – Tropical Depression
Heavy music for those, like myself, that think Amphetamine Reptile was just about the best label for a few years there in the 90s when pudgy, throbbing heavy music was mistakenly called ‘Grunge’. Cherubs are one of the titans from that era, so, after a few records in from the reunion of a few years back, they’re now in mighty form (this is easily their best since Heroin Man, their masterpiece). Meanwhile, Florida Man are the new kids on the block, taking the torch and, while not reinventing the wheel, dishing out some stomping slabs of dense ooze (‘Weeded’ is a great introduction). Hell, their label itself—Sparta—is making a case as the best place to find such blasts nowadays.
25. Straight Arrows – On Top!
First a disclaimer: this may be a 2018 LP, as I’ve seen it stated as both a 2018 and a 2019 one. A small caveat, quickly deemed slightly irrelevant when you start spinning the thing. Essentially Mod freakbeat for Millennials, I hope they understand how rare something this good is, just ‘21st Century’ alone warrants its inclusion here (surely one of the tracks of this or any year), but you’re not even a quarter of the way through when that ends; ‘Headache’ destroys, ‘The One’ simmers, while ‘Turpentine’ rumbles and bounces in an echo chamber. Essential.