Red Mosquito

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TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2019:

20. black midi - Schlagenheim
I left this off my original list because, though it is obviously thrilling, I'm just rarely in the mood to listen to it. But when I do, it just clicks; this is raw and unhinged as well as super technically accomplished and music-theory-y. Rarely do those things click this well.

19. Charly Bliss - Young Enough
Charly Bliss deliver a more focused but just as catchy collection of guitar-based (though keyboards have started featuring more prominently) power-pop. “It’s gonna break my heart to see you blown to bits.”

18. Damsel Talk - Darling Darling and Other Stories
Damsel Talk assembles an incredible group of jazz instrumentalists and finds a place for them in her world of zany theatricality.

17. Loli Molina - Lo Azul Sobre Mí
This album feels like achieving weightlessness for 34 minutes. Monochromatic? Sure, but so heartbreaking and pretty.

16. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
Angel Olsen takes a monumental leap forward with a lush, beautiful album that is dramatic, cinematic, and full of gorgeous sounds as well as wonderful, expressive singing.

15. Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows
Great Grandpa hone their songcraft into something more accessible but just as great; melodic indie rock with big drums, big guitars, powerful vocals, and lyrics about millennial anxiety.

14. Mugre - Gracias por Cuidar el Equipo
Six punky, bratty mini-masterpieces of varying degrees of raucousness. Syncopated handclaps, chunky power chords, lyrics about hornyness, it’s great.

13. Maggie Rogers - Heard it in a Past Life
Big pop with big synths and big choruses. Heavy emphasis on rhythms as well as melodies. The whole thing is great but the chorus to “Retrograde” does things to me.

12. Carola Zelaschi - Panal
A wonderful instrumental album that goes from delicate orchestral arrangements to roaring guitar rock.

11. Melanie Williams & El Cabloide - Comprensión1
A thrilling blast of cross-genre weirdness, featuring elements of krautrock and synth-pop, with shoegazey vocals and math-rocky guitars at the very heart of it.

10. Beabadoobee - Loveworm / Space Cadet
I find it hard to separate these two releases by Beabadoobee, an act I initially wrote off as “trying to sound like a late-eighties Sarah Records band” but who captured my heart with the hooky, jangly, doe-eyed “She Plays Bass” and whose two brief 2019 releases play like a single excellent 12-track album.

09. pronoun - I'll Show You Stronger
I found this album via Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist, and I’m so glad I did. “Stay” captured me immediately. The album is loud, uproariously emotional, and catchy as all hell. Alyse Vellturo does a weird, trembly thing with her voice that I really like, sounds like something in the middle of a mental breakdown.

08. Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
Much has been said about Billie, arguably the biggest name in music right now. I am finding it hard to think of a time when widespread acclaim matched so evenly with quality of output. This is a wonderful, richly idiosyncratic debut, with a lot of great cinematic moments. I expect great things from her.

07. Bob Mould - Sunshine Rock
Bob Mould reaches Hüsker Dü heights for the very first time in his solo career. This album is rocking, filled with catchy melodies and emotionally stirring moments; the title track is my favorite rock song of the year.

06. Bill Frisell - HARMONY
I think Bill Frisell has become the most reliable name in music for me; every new release somehow manages to knock me off my feet. HARMONY is a thoughtful, evocative piece of work that sounds expansive while also holding together as its own thing. Jazz guitar at its best.

05. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
A gorgeous set of lush, emotional ballads, drenched in strings, otherworldly sounds, and Blood’s plaintive voice. Sometimes recalls some of Elton John’s more psychedelic work.

04. Linda Oh - Aventurine
Linda Oh’s follow-up to the gorgeous Walk Against Wind is a collection of ornate, quietly expressive musical paintings, anchored by an ensemble of world-class players.

03. Ruiseñora - Viaje al Centro de la Selva Eléctrica
Ruiseñora mix autochthonous rhythms with power-chord punk and elements of dub and even samba; an expansive, explosive collection of instant classics.

02. Kelsey Lu - Blood
Bold, eclectic, elegant, deeply emotional, and musically adventurous, Kelsey Lu’s debut full-length is nothing short of a contemporary masterpiece.

01. Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated
I went through several versions of this list where this album hovered around the top 5 before finally saying "fuck it" and being honest with myself. There are other albums that I identify as more nuanced, more technically accomplished, more heterogenous in its content, but it’d be ridiculous to pretend like Dedicated didn’t dominate my listening in 2019. It is a gorgeous album, filled with the highest caliber of pop craftsmanship, chock-full of memorable melodies, ear-candy arrangements, and CRJ’s uncanny ability to inhabit every song like she’s living out the lyrics in real time. A masterpiece. “No Drug Like Me” is my favorite song of 2019.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Palehound - Black Friday
Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dog
FKA Twigs - MAGDALENE
the tenth - Dunes
Carolina Donati - Lo Que Quedó
Laura Stevenson - The Big Freeze
James Blake - Assume Form
Silvina Moreno - Algo Bueno
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Purse EP
Feli Colina - Feroza
Clairo - Immunity

washing machine wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Album Of The Year:
Wilco Ode To Joy
I was vocal in my disappointment with this when it first came out. But its release happened to coincide with my hitting about 10 months of sobriety, and about six weeks of being a parent. The lack of sleep was starting to take hold over my brain (and my marriage) just as winter was setting in here, and I was having this odd repeated experience of feeling totally hungover in the morning, without having consumed any intoxicants. The joys and fears of parenthood mixed with my pervasive grogginess, and the whole record clicked one day: The existential dread of White Cross, the druggy awakening of Bright Leaves, the subdued enthusiasm of Everyone Hides, the mangled negativity of We Were Lucky, the pull to connect in Quiet Amplifier...

I don't expect other Wilco fans to love this one as much as I do, but it became the perfect soundtrack for a singular period in my life, and I'm super glad to have it in their catalog.

It's been a long time since I'd given up hope that a Wilco record would hit me emotionally first and intellectually second, but this one did it. Your write-up resonates with me, and for a few of the same reasons. I'm happy we have this album and I'm happy that I've been able to experience it with another RMer through similar circumstances.

theplatypus wrote:06. Bill Frisell - HARMONY
I think Bill Frisell has become the most reliable name in music for me; every new release somehow manages to knock me off my feet. HARMONY is a thoughtful, evocative piece of work that sounds expansive while also holding together as its own thing. Jazz guitar at its best.

Birds in Hell wrote:

theplatypus wrote:06. Bill Frisell - HARMONY
I think Bill Frisell has become the most reliable name in music for me; every new release somehow manages to knock me off my feet. HARMONY is a thoughtful, evocative piece of work that sounds expansive while also holding together as its own thing. Jazz guitar at its best.

I’m already a Frisell fan but I slept on this release until this week. What a blunder; I suspect it will become of my favourite works of his. It’s just gorgeous.

tragabigzanda wrote:Album Of The Year:
Meitei Yabun (2018)
This arresting EP is best described as "IDM meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Perfect for making tea in the morning while the household sleeps. Just...here: