My Favorite Albums of 2019
Some personal highs and lows for me in both the realms of pop culture and everyday life this year. I’m glad to be reeling in the end of the decade and to be in a place in my life where I can look ahead with positivity and a fresh start with 2020. There were plenty of significant firsts for me the past ten years — from graduating high school, going to college, and getting my first “real” job to all of the hiccups and roadblocks that come your way during those times. I’m happy and grateful to say that quality music has been a constant to me during those struggles and triumphs and can’t wait to see what the next ten years have in store.
Honorable Mentions
Tyler, The Creator — IGOR
100 gecs — 1000 gecs
Danny Brown — uknowwhatimsaying¿
L’Orange x Jeremiah Jae — Complicate Your Life with Violence
Guster — Look Alive
10 | PUP — Morbid Stuff
I’ll go ahead and admit I wasn’t a big fan of PUP’s 2016 release, The Dream is Over. However, while that may be the case, they’ve come back three years later with a much more rounded out and consistent experience that’s pleasant to listen to from start to finish. The hard-hitting, up-tempo kicks and guitars are here with a vengeance, but the punk and general “fuck you” attitude move this album up a few notches for me.
Favorite Tracks: Kids, Scorpion Hill
9 | Jay Som — Anak Ko
While leaving behind some of the more melodic elements from Everybody Works, Jay Som still proved she can create powerful and infectious songs that are just as memorable. I loved the more poppy tracks such as “Superbike,” but there were plenty of others that became just as much of a standout.
Favorite Tracks: Superbike, Nighttime Drive
8 | Mannequin Pussy — Patience
I fell in love with this in-your-face record with some poppy, punchy attitude. This album is a blast and well-executed attempt at pop-punk with some great melodies and arrangements. I’ve seen only a handful of references to this record, but I’d love to see more maturation and could imagine a cohesive and tightened up record doing well in the coming years.
Favorite Tracks: Fear/+/Desire, Who You Are, In Love Again
7 | Maxo Kream — Brandon Banks
Listening to Maxo Kream, you start to get a good understanding of what his everyday life is. From the introduction of his friend being in jail on “Meet Again” to his dangerous tales on “Murda Blocc,” you get a sense that Kream has been dealing with gang violence and crime for most of his life. What makes this such a great album, though, is that these stories are all well layered and told through Kream’s flow. Not only that, fantastic beats pop through the background and are abundant. The experience breathes life and visuals into each listening session and sets it apart from many hip-hop records of the year.
Favorite Tracks: Meet Again, Spice Ln., Murda Blocc
6 | Helado Negro — This is How You Smile
With This is How You Smile, Roberto Carlos Lange can seamlessly transition from English to Spanish and back again without skipping a beat between songs. All the while, the sonic elements that make the album so lush and layered are retained and propel Lange’s lyrics further. I’m excited to hear more from this project and am pleasantly surprised by the number of tracks that I can’t get out of my head.
Favorite Tracks: Fantasma Vega, Please Won’t Please, Running
5 | glass beach — the first glass beach album
A late addition to the list, but for a good reason, as I have not been able to stop listening since discovering it. I have not quite heard an album that has sounded this plain distinct and playful in a while. I have seen from Queen to Joji, pop to punk, and everything in between used to describe this record. I have become part of the camp that thinks any sort of effort to categorize it would be fruitless. What I can be sure of though is that I am consistently having a blast listening to the sonic elements from start to finish.
Favorite Tracks: classic j dies and goes to hell part 1, neon glow, cold weather
4 | BROCKHAMPTON — GINGER
A somewhat stripped down and more thoughtful release from BROCKHAMPTON, the boy-band that released three straight albums, which became my favorites of 2017. We can’t discuss GINGER without mentioning the removal of Ameer Vann. There is a sense of maturation in not only the group’s sound but also the lyrical content. One could surmise this is due to how Vann’s absence has affected each of the group members personally, such as Dom’s revelatory verse on “DEARLY DEPARTED.” While 2018’s iridescence felt rushed in many ways, GINGER feels like a more controlled and pensive response that has resulted in the group’s most grown and well-realized album.
Favorite Tracks: NO HALO, ST. PERCY, IF YOU PRAY RIGHT, SUGAR
3 | (Sandy) Alex G — House of Sugar
Alex G has been a strange-case to me for years. His melodies are always on point, but some of his previous albums have failed to create one cohesive experience (see “Brick” on Rocket). However, this has almost turned itself on its head and become a draw to his work for me. He plays with melodies and the sounds of his album until they become distinctly and unmistakably his music. There are influential works of folk and indie-pop here to give this album some staying power.
Favorite Tracks: Gretel, In My Arms, Hope, Southern Sky
2 | Purple Mountains — Purple Mountains
Under unfortunate and terrible circumstances, David Berman passed away this year after releasing one of the greatest testaments to songwriting in folk and indie-rock that I have heard in years. Posthumously, his work on the record is being deservedly recognized and covers his struggles with depression, loneliness, and heartbreak. All of the songs are breathtaking in their arrangements, and frank delivery of these themes and it will surely be an album that sticks with me.
Favorite Tracks: All My Happiness is Gone, Nights That Won’t Happen, Snow is Falling in Manhattan, Darkness and Cold
1 | oso oso — basking in the glow
The general emo genre has gone through a renaissance in the past decade. However, banal and abundant pessimism and bitterness have marred some of the lyrical content and even sound of previous records in the genre. Cue Jade Lilitri’s newest oso oso album. As the title would suggest, much of this album is glowing and radiant in its tone. However, what makes this my top album of the year is the pragmatic and genuine lyrics. Lilitri isn’t afraid to explore and reflect on what made a relationship not work out or how his actions may have affected the outcome of a situation, such as early on in the album where he muses “My eyes lit up when I saw it, the view from where you sit.” Each song is a contemplative and authentic reflection on love, life, and making sense of the world around us. Not only that, but the overall sound of the album as a whole is one of an optimistic outlook on life; things aren’t necessarily all bad, and if you fuck-up, there is always room to grow and understand how you can better yourself for the future. Maybe that’s just a message we all need going into this coming decade.
Favorite Tracks: the view, basking in the glow, one sick plan, a morning song, priority change
