Best Music of 2019

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Quietus Albums Of The Year 2019 (In Association With Norman Records) | The Quietus

‘Best In Show!’ by Lisa Cradduck You could be forgiven for thinking that this chart is pointless. I sympathise if you do and in fact, a few months ago, I came very close to pulling out of having anything to do with it. Why does a site that doesn’t believe in scoring music even have […]
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Year after year they put out my favorite year end lists, mainly because I only ever know about 25% of the albums involved. So much new to me music to comb through
 
Woob_woob said:
thequietus.com

Quietus Albums Of The Year 2019 (In Association With Norman Records) | The Quietus

‘Best In Show!’ by Lisa Cradduck You could be forgiven for thinking that this chart is pointless. I sympathise if you do and in fact, a few months ago, I came very close to pulling out of having anything to do with it. Why does a site that doesn’t believe in scoring music even have […]
thequietus.com thequietus.com

Year after year they put out my favorite year end lists, mainly because I only ever know about 25% of the albums involved. So much new to me music to comb through
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‘But ranking albums is even worse in some respects and I’ve always suspected that people who have a pathological need to rank things are remarkably afraid of dying. The overwhelming and slightly demented need to impose order onto a world that is essentially chaotic and constantly shifting. “I will make sense of it all and define my place in it before I go!”’

Whelp was not planning on reckoning with this part of my psyche tonight
 
Two quick observations via these end of the year lists which I've only glanced at.

A) Really bummed the Skinny decided to go only 10 deep this year. They and A Line of Best Fit are my go to sources for the U.K. side of this music thing. Regularly find quality shit that US pubs ignore on their end of the year list. For example, pretty sure they are how I discovered Kate Tempest and Let's Eat Grandma's debut albums.

B) Michael Kiwanuka's new album is sitting at an 89 on metacritic and is absolutely stunning in it's beauty. (Just updated my list to include it). Yet I'm not seeing it on any of these...

Edit: I just checked Albumoftheyear.org.... It's sitting at 29 on their aggregate. But every list that contains it is from the other side of the pond. Inexplicable.
 
Right, here's my rough Q4 list before I listen to my top 20 properly to work out an order for the entire year (Q1-3 here)

1. Muriel Grossmann - Reverence
2. Compro Oro - Suburban Exotica
3. Hootie & the Blowfish - Imperfect Circle
4. Sault - 7
5. Piotr Damasiewicz - Polska
6. Levitation Orchestra - Inexpressible Infinity
7. Pyjaen - Pyjaen
8. KVL - Volume 1
9. Lucy Dacus - 2019
10. Ronin Arkestra - Sonkei
 
And a few other random lists that this forum made me make (I've never been one for lists before). I tried with reissues mostly to avoid straight up re-releases (especially of famous stuff) and stick to new releases of old stuff where I could

Best reissues 2019
Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor
Janis Joplin - Woodstock
Lloyd McNeill - Treasures
Ziad Rahbani - Abu Ali
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Live at Womad
Nirvana - Live at the Paramount
Emma Baloka - Freedom
Bingo Hand Job - Live at the Borderline
Bob Dylan - More Blood, More Tracks
Star Band de Dakar

Best compilations 2019
The Time For Peace Is Now
Sunny Side Up
Alefa Madagascar
Soul Slabs Vol 2
Jambu e Os Miticos

Best pick-ups 2019, second hand or new
Poly-Rythmo - Echos Sonores de Benin
Fruko y sus Tesos - El Violento
Prince - 4ever
Etoile de Dakar - Absa Gueye
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
 
debianlinux said:
Nice list. My gripe with Chromatics was the overuse of covers and the sameyness of the sound throughout the album. The reviewer here even stated it was about the signature sound. Ranked entirely too high for a top 50 list, imho, but it is a solid record.
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I go the total opposite direction and find their covers and ongoing, though mildly evolving aesthetic to be my favorite things about them.
 
I think this would be my top 20:
1. Billy Woods - Hiding Places
2. Wand - Laughing Matter
3. Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!
4. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Bandana
5. The Comet is Coming - Trust in The Lifeforce of Deep Mystery
6. Benny the Butcher - Plugs I've Met
7. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Fishing for Fishies
8. Little Simz - Grey Area
9. Better Oblivion Community Center- BOCC
10. Westside Gunn - HWH7
11. Crimeapple- Wet Dirt
12. Empath - Active Listening: Night on Earth
13. YBN Cordae- The Lost Boy
14. Greet Death - New Hell
15. Maxo Kream - Brandon Banks
16. Bon Iver - i,i
17. Blood Incantation- Hidden History of the Human Race
18. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Ancestral Recall
19. Thee Oh Sees - Face Stabber
20. Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild
 
This would end up being my Top 20.
  1. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Fishing for Fishies
  2. Pijn & Conjurer - Curse These Metal Hands
  3. Westside Gunn - Hitler Wears Hermès 7
  4. Billy Strings - Home
  5. Iglooghost/Kai Whiston/Babii - XYZ
  6. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places
  7. Asthma Castle - Mount Crushmore
  8. Clowns - Nature/Nurture
  9. Wand - Laughing Matter
  10. Crimeapple - Wet Dirt
  11. Witch Vomit - Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave
  12. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana
  13. Crypt Trip - Haze County
  14. Frankie and the Witch Fingers - ZAM!
  15. Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿
  16. Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance
  17. Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue
  18. Wiki - OOFIE
  19. Lowest Creature - Sacrilegious Pain
  20. Tyler Childers - Country Squire
 
wokeupnew said:
Why are so many people/publications' best of lists sleeping on this new National album?
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It is weird. Every list I’ve looked at, I thought, hey where is The National? Look, yes I am biased, but in general IAETF was pretty well received. I feel like both this one and SWB have gotten good praise from publications who kinda felt they were done with the band. Personally, I think IAETF is one of their most creative and rewarding works in some time.

wokeupnew said:
I think Sleep Well Beast was more critically acclaimed because the first half (System, Day I Die) are very radio/single friendly, even though I don't really like those songs as much as everyone else does. Whereas this new album has a lot of different vocals/textures and is not structured like an easy to digest album.
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Yeah the big singles on SWB do nothing for me now, but I like the rest of it. IAETF though lacks big catchy singles (mostly) and seems like a denser listen.
 
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