Crazy, funky, psych and disco fueled madness by a Turkish psychedelic folk band hailing from Amsterdam.
One of the best bands i caught during SXSW, UK post punk outfit Black Midi managed to amp up an unbelievable amount of hype for themselves with hardly a bit of sound to be found anywhere online. Equal parts math rock and punk rock bombast, their debut is a brain melter.
It was a really big year for darkwave synth pop, and it really all kicked off with Boy Harsher's phenomenal sophomore album.
Danny Brown continues to be my favorite rapper, and it's not even close.
It seems like it's been awhile since i got into something that plays as a straight up rock n' roll record, and Indiana band The Cowboys just nailed it on their latest.
An endlessly catchy mix of pop rock, shoegaze, and doom metal, and i love it.
Sometimes i'll see music described as Tarantino-esque, and yep, that's what Ghost Funk Orchestra sound like, a hypnotic mix of funk, soul, and psych to soothe us savages.
Noisy, grungey post punk from Canada.
We not only got a new Hante. album this year, we also got an unexpected new release from Helene de Thoury's newly reunited project Minuit Machine. Dark and moody synth pop for everybody!
On their Bandcamp page right this minute, for a thousand dollars, you can purchase Atlanta, Georgia band Je Suis France's latest album and get the band to fly by chopper to your house, land on your roof, and "play a set of heavy riffage" just for you. You should do it. Just be sure to invite me.
For some reason i was just really into European bands playing Turkish psych and folk this year.
I managed to catch this Swedish duo's first ever live performance, a lo-fi groove of dreampop for soft, candle lit nights and sunny, breezy afternoons.
Liz Harris is pretty much infallible now, her output as Grouper, or Helen, or Nivhek, or anything being just entrancingly, achingly beautiful.
Angel Olsen legit gets better with every single release, which is amazing because she was fantastic to start with. And i've got to say that the addition of synths to her work has *chef's kiss*.
Karen O and Danger Mouse crafted a truly beautiful pop album this year, one of those albums you want to listen to from start to finish every single time you put it on.
A whole lot of artists i dig on released multiple albums this year, including Detroit's crunchy post punk band Paint Thinner. Both of their records are great, but this one had me first.
Brooklyn noise rock duo Russian Baths released their debut this year after a couple of stellar EPs, and it's a dark, haunting, raucous, and glorious piece of work.
Black metal + post rock or shoegaze has certainly become a thing over the last few years, but mysterious artist Sadness goes right on ahead and adds some drone and ambient new age into the mix as well, creating an enormous sound that's equally ear splitting and beautiful.
Sault may just be one guy, a producer extraordinaire, or maybe it's a collective of studio musicians, or maybe it's both. Whatever Sault may or may not be, the minimalist fusion of krautrock, funk, and soul is something to behold...and dance to.
Haunting, ethereal, droney folk from Ireland.
I checked out Spotlights because a fellow music enthusiast i know was infatuated with the band's latest earlier this year. I gave it a spin. And another. And another. The whole thing plays like a staggering, earth shattering space rock opus with every knob turned to 10, walls shaking, ears piercing, heart thumping, a doom fueled post rock epic for the cosmos. So damn good.
Another act to release dual albums this year, the latest from synth pop artist TR/ST (formerly just Trust) is really more of a two different sides of the same album kind of thing, some i'm including both for my purposes here. I love these dark synths, and probably will forever.
Sharon Van Etten basically released her career defining work this year with what might be the best song of the year on it as well with "Seventeen." A ton of praise has been thrown at this record and it's all deserved.
LA psych rock band Wand released their most ambitious album this year, taking bits and pieces of pop music from across the board to create something dense and moody, a statement album, an epic.
Nothing got more play in my ears this year than UK darkwave synth pop-black metal hybrid Zetra's demo cassette. The three tracks use said darkwave and black metal elements, along with some shoegaze, some industrial, and some ambient drone to make music that feels almost specifically engineered for me. So, i'm basically like their number one fan now. The duo also released a rehearsal recording this year (that's also excellent), and they've got a proper full-length release on the horizon for 2020. I for one cannot wait.
And there you have it, my favorite albums of the year. Come back tomorrow for my favorite songs.
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