Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Please don't stop the music

Here we are again, three years, one pandemic, a handful of wars, hundreds of species extinctions, 8 ppm of atmospheric CO2, and tons of great music later.

Why does the music matter? Well, even though I haven't kept up writing about it, I wouldn't have gotten through lockdowns and feelings of the world ending without it. I've danced alone in my bedroom for days on end, sung at the top of my lungs during foggy forest hikes, and played piano and guitar until my fingers bled. I've connected with strangers on the internet over release livestreams, streamed my favorite artists playing acoustically for their fans or fundraising from their living rooms, and discovered entire exciting new genres and spheres of music online. In intermittent gaps of 'normalcy', I've experienced how profoundly I've missed the existence of live music, what a powerful experience it is to have music wash over you in a crowd of people sharing brainwaves. Artists lost their livelihoods, clubs and venues shut down, and 'corona relief funds' made their way to the small, prominent tip of the iceberg of musicians, leaving every aspiring new face, every newly started exciting project, every leftfield idea to flounder before ever getting afloat. Lest we forget, I'm here to remind you that music and the unbridled creativity of musicians are more important than ever for maintaining and furthering our collective humanity.

OK, with that opening bla-bla manifesto out of the way, what's with the return of this blog? What will be happening on here? Well, I won't promise too much, but first I'll start by summing up the years in music that I've missed with some makeshift top-lists. I won't have time or willpower to write about all of them - maybe I will pop out a review every now and again if I'm particularly inspired - but they kind of need to exist for continuity's sake. Next, I intend to keep more of a continuous, low-effort style of updates on what's coming out, what I'm listening to, what I'm experiencing. This seems better than "saving" any writings until a busy year-end phase, lowers the bar for "how good" whatever I'm writing about has to be, and just overall seems more sustainable of a format.

So, without further ado, here are my top albums of 2019. Take note that I took the liberty to grant it the power of hindsight - I had a half-finished list kicking around from the end of the year, but it had some glaring omissions and some not technically necessary entries, so I've edited it somewhat. Some you may have heard so much about that they're old news already, some you may have liked but forgotten about already, and some you may have never caught on to in the first place. These are all for you!

Oh, and before I forget, the never-posted and long-anticipated top slot of 2018's list was Jenalle Monaé - Dirty Computer. I had this album on number one for so long that I didn't really know what to say about it any more. I could give it the first place spot just for the lyrics on "Django Jane", "Americans", "Pynk" and "I like that" alone. I could give it the first place spot just for the accompanying 48 minute Dirty Computer "emotion picture", an incredibly epic full-album music video. Rather than me trying to finish (and you reading) my review for this album, why don't you just watch that. It still holds up! And we're still waiting for more music from the inimitable Ms. Monaé.



So, here it is, 2019's list - with choice picks from each album:

  1. (Sandy) Alex G - House of Sugar. Just an absolute gem of an album where Alex turns up the production quality but sacrifices none of the intimacy and poignancy of his lo-fi days. It's one I dance to, cry to, and keep coming back to to this day. Also his live show in February 2020 was my last one before, you know, the thing, so maybe I'm biased.
    • Southern sky
    • Cow
    • Gretel
    • In my arms
  2. 100 Gecs - 1000 Gecs. The inimitable, genre-defining, boundary-crossing album that started it all. The hate has been piled on, but so has the love. With an Igorrr-level pace and density of new ideas, these 23 minutes are all you need... except I can't wait for 10000 gecs to drop any day now.
    • xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx
    • 745 sticky
    • money machine
  3. Caroline Polachek - Pang. This one really grew on me. Incredible vocal performances, great production, and amazing songwriting, spanning from tear-jerkers to absolute bangers. Alternative pop at its best.
    • Door
    • Look at me now
    • So hot you're hurting my feelings
  4. Brad Mehldau - Finding Gabriel. My favorite jazz album of the last few years. Mehldau's piano playing is second to none, but here he incorporates choirs and electronics that really elevate it to a spiritual level.
    • St. Mark is howling in the city of night
    • O Ephraim
    • The Garden
  5. James Blake - Assume Form. An underrated album in my opinion - easily my favorite of his. It's varied but focused, exciting but familiar, hitting the sweet spot every time.
    • I'll come too
    • Where's the catch?
    • Into the red
  6. Thom Yorke - Anima. Mesmerizing, powerful, it creates a whole world of its own in an entirely unique soundscape. More similar to Atoms for Peace's Amok than Thom's other solo work, he gave it his all here and it shows.
    • Twist
    • Impossible knots
    • Dawn chorus
  7. The Comet is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery. I had tickets to see these guys live in Zurich literally the weekend that everything shut down in March 2020. I hope I get the chance again some day, because damn, they can play the roof off a room. Instead I've been crazy-dancing to their stuff at home for the last two years.
    • Blood of the past 
    • Summon the fire
    • Super zodiac
  8. Yann Tiersen - All. Epic, cinematic music from the famous film composer who here uses the tiny languages Breton and Faroese to create a sense of community, belonging and hope. Uplifting, beautiful and grand.
    • Erc'h
    • Pell
    • Tempelhof
  9. Little Simz - GREY Area. The record that catapulted my new favorite rapper into fame. She topped herself both before and after, but this one remains absolutely iconic.
    • Venom
    • Offence
    • Flowers
  10. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell! Career highpoint for a defining voice in the last decade's pop scene. She's less pop here than ever. The long dreamy sequences are just otherworldly.
    • Venice bitch
    • hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it
    • The greatest
2019's best album: (Sandy) Alex G - House of Sugar



And some unranked honorable mentions:

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