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Top 100 songs of 2019.

I feel like this was a down year; I haven’t had this hard of a time filling out a top 100 songs list in any of the seven years where I’ve done one. That means there are a lot of artists on here 2-3 times, and I believe a record number of covers for one of my lists. If you can’t see the playlist below, you can access it here.

100. Hatchie – Stay with Me. Hatchie put three songs on list this year, all from her debut album Keepsake, which shows off her ability to cook up sweet melodies that work with her slight vocal range, recalling ’90s alternative acts like the Cranberries and the Cardigans.

99. Floating Points – Anasickmodular. Just the right amount of Floatin Points’ intellectual spin on EDM, especially given the fast-moving, shifting drum machine on this track.

98. Danny Brown – Best Life. This track, produced by Q-Tip, was the star of the veteran rapper Brown’s latest album, uknowhatimsayin¿, which made best-of-the-year lists from Billboard, Paste, and Pitchfork.

97. Supergrass – Next to You. I have a few covers on the top 100 this year, which is unusual but I think reflects that this was a down year overall for new music. Supergrass is an old favorite of mine, and this cover of a modest hit from the Police marked the release of Supergrass’ boxed set this summer.

96. Of Monsters and Men – Róróró. One of two memorable tracks from the Icelandic group’s rather disappointing third album, Fever Dream, and the one that best showcases lead singer Nanna’s voice.

95. Port Noir – Champagne. I don’t know what “the black soul choir” is, but I kind of like the potential double meaning there in this track from a Swedish hard-rock trio who’ve worked with a number of producers from the area’s extreme metal scene.

94. Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan. You’ll either love the repeated guitar line in this song or it will annoy you; I’m obviously in the former camp. It’s too bad nothing else on Dry Cleaning’s debut EP sounded like this.

93. Ride – Repetition. Ride aren’t so much shoegaze any more, but indie rock, and almost positive in their vibe. I wonder if they look at the audience when they perform now.

92. Longwave – If We Ever Live Forever. The title track from their comeback album, their first in eleven years, is a great bit of jangly indie-rock driven by some mournful guitar lines below a Ben Gibbard-esque vocal.

91. Rina Sawayama – STFU! The song is good, but the video elevates this to another level. The song is very NSFW, by the way.

90. LIFE – Hollow Thing. I enjoy their sneering modern twist on classic punk, although the hooks aren’t always there on their debut album A Picture of Good Health. This song shows they have the ear for it, so I’m hopeful we’ll get more tracks like this in their future. I look so good in black, I always do.

89. Temples – Hot Motion. The title track and opener from Temples’ latest album grabs you right from the start with that swirling five-note guitar riff, following by the gait of a shambling drum line, a great way to bring you into one of my favorite albums of the year.

88. White Lies – Tokyo. Dark synthpop, not quite up to their best track, “There Goes Our Love Again,” but still strong and the best song from Five V2.

87. The Raconteurs – Help Me Stranger. Jack White at his best: strong melody, pronounced guitarwork, a solid beat, tight from start to finish. The rest of the album was very meh, though.

86. Band of Skulls – Gold. I was disappointed by Love Is All You Love but this track is what I imagine their retro guitar aesthetic would sound like if Mark Ronson produced them.

85. White Reaper – Might Be Right. The soi-disant world’s greatest American band know just what they’re about: their third album, You Deserve Love, runs 10 songs … and 29 minutes. Power-pop jewels like this one – the second-longest track on the record – can wear out their welcome if they go too long, but this album is an exemplar of its familiar genre.

84. Pharlee – Darkest Hour. A new band from the ashes of several other San Diego-area outfits, Pharlee – sort of named after Chris Farley – features the snarling vocals of Macarena Rivera and some driving guitar work that reminds me on this track of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love.”

83. Flying Lotus featuring Anderson .Paak – More. I’ve never been a huge Flying Lotus fan, but this song’s abrupt shifts also give us some of Anderson .Paak’s best work yet for a genre-defying track that alternates between jazziness and a danceable groove.

82. black midi – Reggae. These British experimentalists had my #3 album of the year in Schlagenheim, but it doesn’t lend itself to singles – my favorite track from them in 2019 wasn’t actually on the album. This is probably the most accessible song that is on the LP, and gives you some sense of their avant-garde, inverted take on rock; it’s challenging but doesn’t push the boundary into abrasiveness like some of the album does.

81. Jade Bird – Lottery. My second-favorite track from the Welsh singer-songwriter’s self-titled debut album, after “Love Has All Been Done Before,” my #4 song of 2019. This track also showcases her Janis Joplin-esque vocals and has a solid hook in the chorus; the album was kind of uneven, without enough compelling hooks for that many songs.

80. Ten Fé – Won’t Happen. These soft-rock savants seem to effortlessly churn out radio-friendly pop tracks that would have been hits in a different era; their second album in two years, Future Perfect, Present Tense, is full of tracks like this one, melodic and well-rounded without cloying.

79. Fontaines D.C. – Too Real. I’m not in on Fontaines like most critics seem to be; there’s something about the vocals on their tracks that ring false to me and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s as if they’re trying so hard to sound like vintage punk, but the music is two generations too late. Of all of their songs I’ve heard, this one seems the most coherent, or at least has the least discord between the music and vocals, and I think the guitar work here would stand with some of the better stuff from …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.

78. Lightning Born – Renegade. Two and a half minutes is just about right for this little slice of New Wave of British Heavy Metal-infused rock, with Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean among the new band’s members.

77. Metronomy – Salted Caramel Ice Cream. Yeah, it’s kind of twee, but it’s really catchy, and I happen to love this flavor.

76. Ceremony – Further I Was. Get used to seeing post-punk revivalists Ceremony on this list, since my #1 album of the year put three tracks on the top 100 and could have put a fourth with “Say Goodbye to Them” or even “Years of Love.”

75. BONES UK – Pretty Waste. This might be the first time I have ever discovered and liked a new song because of a Grammy nomination, but that’s how I first heard about BONES UK, a trio now based in L.A. that earned a nod for Best Rock Performance for this hard-edged electronic/rock track that seems to descend every time it moves from verse to chorus.

74. Crows – Wednesday’s Child. The most accessible song from Crows’ solid, heavy debut album of post-hardcore, “Wednesday’s Child” reminds me tonally of Drenge, but with a wall-of-sound effect from multiple guitars and heavier distortion.

73. Big Thief – UFOF. Every critic seems to love this album, but it did almost nothing for me – it’s aggressively boring, a callback to the stillborn quietcore movement that nobody really wanted to revisit in the first place. The title track was the one song that stood out to me for an actual melody, something you could grab on to aurally that might bring you back to the song for another listen.

72. FKA Twigs – cellophane. The first single from MAGDALENE, released seven months in advance of the album, is mostly just her voice, often in falsetto, and the ghost of a piano, with electronic elements only appearing in the last third of the song, and barely at that. Her maturation as a singer and songwriter was first evident on the 2016 one-off single “Good to Love,” and this song made it clear how much she’d grown since her first record.

71. Holly Herndon – Frontier. Herndon’s third album PROTO includes a choral ensemble and the inputs of Spawn, a “nascent” AI trained via vocal tracks, a process audible on other songs on the record like “Canaan.” “Frontier” is a more finished product, Herndon’s (and Spawn’s) take on Appalachian Sacred Harp music, with the result sounding simultaneously futuristic and decidedly old.

70. Wye Oak – Fortune. Hoping this is a harbinger of another new album from the indie duo, both in timing and in sound, as this seems to sit between Civilian and The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs.

69. Hatchie – Without a Blush. We can quibble over genres, but this is a pop song, and I’m good with that. It’s bright and shimmering and that opener gets stuck in my head for days whenever I hear it.

68. Mourn – Jumping Someone Else’s Train. This Catalonian trio – it looks like they lost a member somewhere after their last album – deserves a wider audience for their raw, garage-tinged sound, but label problems held them back before their 2018 album Sorpresa Familia was released. They put out a four-song EP of covers this year, headlined by this cover of a Cure track, along with covers of songs by Come, dEUS, and Chris Bell.

67. Lower Dens – Hand of God. My favorite track from Lower Dens’ fourth album, The Competition, is almost … sunny? Bright? It’s still indie-pop with a heavy synth element, but there’s something undeniably upbeat here that isn’t present in a lot of their music.

66. Here Lies Man – Long Legs. HLM’s weird blend of stoner rock, world music, and jazz influences coes together very nicely on this heavy yet grooving track that really doesn’t miss the vocals it lacks.

65. Phantom Planet – BALISONG. Phantom Planet’s first new music in eleven years turned out to be a little pop gem with an earworm of a vocal, even though the song is about a butterfly knife (also called a balisong). They released a second single this year, “Party Animal,” that was forgettable, but there’s apparently a new album in the works.

64. The Ninth Wave – First Encounters. This Scottish post-punk band, which I presume took its name from the Russian painting by that title, followed the same playbook as Foals in 2019, releasing one album in two parts, although Infancy is shorter in total, running just 45 minutes across all 12 songs. This dark, gothic song seems to blend early new wave with the gloomy style of fellow Scots The Twilight Sad.

63. Inhaler – My Honest Face. That’s Bono’s son Elijah Hewson, if any of this sounded a bit familiar, and while the comparisons to Boy and October are kind of obvious, there’s enough contemporary indie to Inhaler’s sound that we shouldn’t dismiss them as a novelty or some sort of nepotism act. They’ve released a few singles so far, with this easily the best and most complete-sounding one to date.

62. Little Simz – Offence. Little Simz, just 25 years old, already has three albums under her belt, with 2019’s Grey Area earning her a Mercury Prize nomination. The London-born rapper has great vocal flow, both fast and precise, although the choices of backing music aren’t always ideal for her style; standout tracks include this one, “Selfish,” and “Pressure,” but to my surprise I didn’t care for her collaboration with Michael Kiwanuka on “Flowers.”

61. Hot Chip – Hungry Child. The longtime electronic stalwarts titled their latest album A Bath Full of Ecstasy, because why not. They may never reach the high of 2006’s “Over and Over” again, but they’re good for one or two plus songs per album, with this one and “No God” the standouts on this record.

60. The New Pornographers – The Surprise Knock. I think I take The New Pornographers for granted; even when an album isn’t the next Twin Cinema or Brill Bruisers, it still has a few subtle pop gems like this one, from their latest record, In the Morse Code of Brake Lights. I also liked “Colossus of Rhodes” and “One Kind of Solomon,” although on the whole I think it’s not one of their stronger albums.

59. Michael Kiwanuka – Hero. The first of three tracks from KIWANUKA, my #2 album of 2019, on this list, “Hero” is a great single in its own right, with two memorable guitar tracks and Kiwanuka’s use of an extra pause in the verses to give the song more tension.

58. High on Fire – Bat Salad. Turns out High on Fire is even better without Matt Pike yelling at us for an entire song.

57. YONAKA – Don’t Wait Till Tomorrow. The title track from YONAKA’s debut album revolves, as most of the album does, around Theresa Jarvis’ smoky, charismatic vocals, here boosted by marching drums and arpeggiated chords that add urgency despite a slower tempo.

56. Working Men’s Club – Bad Blood. A new indie act from the UK that the Guardian compared to The Fall and even Soft Cell, Working Men’s Club debut single reminded me more of Olivia Tremor Control and other Elephant 6 acts, although they’ve gone more synth-heavy with subsequent releases.

55. James BKS featuring Q-Tip, Idris Elba, & Little Simz – New Breed. Tough to argue with that guest lineup – I’m a sucker for any track where Q-Tip drops rhymes – and it’s a big sonic shift from James BKS’s previous songs “Kwele” and “MaWakanda.” He’s one to watch, and has Elba, who signed BKS to his record label, to boost his profile too.

54. Maisie Peters – Look at Me Now. The 19-year-old Peters, who first came to prominence when she posted her own songs to Youtube, released her second EP this year, the amusingly titled It’s Your Bed Babe, It’s Your Funeral, with more clever songs of teen angst and failed relationships, highlighted by this track and “This Is On You.”

53. Grimes & i_o – Violence. I’ve had mixed feelings on the singles leading up to Grimes’ newest album, Miss Anthropocene, due out in February, but perhaps it’ll work better as a whole. This is my favorite of the three singles, certainly the most coherent. Did you know Claire Boucher now goes by c, referring to the scientific term for the speed of light? Yeah, that’s … weird. Only Prince gets away with that shit.

52. Lauren Ruth Ward & Desi Valentine – Same Soul. Two great voices that sound great together. LRW seems to put out a new song every few weeks, while Valentine just released his debut album – the brief, 8-song Shades of Love, this week.

51. Dinosaur Pile-Up – Thrash Metal Cassette. Don’t act like you didn’t have one.

50. Broken Social Scene – Can’t Find My Heart. The other Canadian rock supergroup, Broken Social Scene put out two albums in the spring, Let’s Try the After, Volumes 1 and 2, with this track the best from either record (it’s on the second one).

49. Benjamin Gibbard – Keep Yourself Warm. The best thing Gibbard did this year was this cover for Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Midnight Organ Fight’, a project finished before Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison’s suicide that now stands as a tribute to his memory. This song wrecks me and Gibbard’s voice is the perfect tone for it.

48. Bat for Lashes – Jasmine. One of two tracks from Natasha Khan’s latest album, Lost Girls, on my list. The other is more soaring, while this one sounds like a pop hit from an alternate universe.

47. Just Mustard – Seven. These Irish shoegazers bring the dark guitar sounds of the first shoegaze era but with audible vocals from Katie Ball and sparser production that makes the wall-of-sound style even more foreboding.

46. Ride – Future Love. Speaking of the first wave of shoegaze, Ride has reinvented itself as a more mainstream act after their nearly 20-year hiatus; this lead single from the second album into their return, This is Not a Safe Place, is practically a pop song, and I mean that as a compliment.

45. Joy Williams – When Creation Was Young. The second song, and second-best track, from Williams’ second post-Civil Wars album, Front Porch, is this folk/bluegrass track that showcases her incredible voice in a simple song about timeless love.

44. BROCKHAMPTON – Boy Bye. The best track off their uneven album Ginger manages to squeeze in verses by three different rappers in a fast-moving song that runs just 142 seconds.

43. Artificial Pleasure – Boys Grow Up. If you haven’t figured out that I’m a sucker for any bands that harken back to the formative years of my music fandom by now, I can’t help you. There’s Heaven 17 in here, maybe a little less Spandau Ballet than some of the tracks off The Bitter End, and I always feel like they’re one female vocalist away from the Human League, and I’m here for it.

42. Sleater-Kinney – Hurry on Home. I might be in the minority on this, but I think Sleater-Kinney’s latest album, The Center Won’t Hold, is their worst, and I believe it’s entirely because St. Vincent produced it and turned them away from their post-punk/riot grrl roots. This song was the most authentic Sleater-Kinney track on the album. They were great live, at least.

41. Cœur de Pirate – Ne m’appelle pas. As in, “Don’t call me.” I love Béatrice Martin’s voice, and she has a somewhat European twist on alternative pop (yes, she’s Quebecois); she’d said she planned to stop using the Cœur de Pirate moniker but then released two one-off singles under the name this year.

40. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Boogieman Sam. KG&tLW released two albums this year, in totally distinct rock subgenres; the first of the two, Fishing for Fishies, was more blues-rock, while the latter, Infest the Rats’ Nest, is aggressively metal. This track was their best this year and comes from the former album, very blues/jam-band-esque but in a digestible length.

39. Foals – On the Luna. The first single from the first of the two albums Foals released this year has a driving urgency to it between the two-note keyboard riff and the thumping bass line. Between the two records, Foals probably produced one really outstanding album of solid rock tunes that bring energy and strong riffs with a few songs left over.

38. Jake Bugg – Kiss Like the Sun. I’ve been waiting for Jake Bugg to turn the tempo up since “What Doesn’t Kill You” dropped in 2013, and this is the track I wanted, with Bugg’s Dylanesque vocals and guitar sounds, but with some energy this time around.

37. TVAM – No Silver Bird. TVAM released this as a single for Record Store Day in April, and I had no idea it was a cover until I put it on a playlist in September (when it first appeared on Spotify) and tried to read about the song. The original is from 1968, by a little-known band called the Hooterville Trolley that released just a couple of singles. TVAM’s cover is far better produced, of course, but surprisingly true to the original’s psycheledic-rock vibe.

36. The Amazons – End of Wonder. Another enormous guitar riff from the Amazons, who seem to know exactly what kind of song gets my heart rate up. This makes me want to get behind the wheel and hit the gas.

35. Night Dreamer – Another Life. Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder and Wam Dingis keyboardist Mindy Song collaborated to form Night Dreamer, releasing this broody, mesmerizing single back in the summer ahead of their October EP release.

34. Sunflower Bean – King of the Dudes. The title track from their four-song EP, released in January, is a bit more of the usual from Sunflower Bean, who I think really polished up their sound on their early 2018 album Twentytwo in Blue.

33. Charly Bliss – Young Enough. The title track from their second full-length album is the longest on the record, and I don’t think it really needs to be five-plus minutes, but it’s clearly the best song on the album, with easily its best hook and the strongest showcase for singer/guitarist Eva Hendricks’ smoky, dewy-eyed vocals, which come off as cloying elsewhere on the record.

32. The Mysterines – Gasoline. Three chords and a healthy dose of rage from singer/guitarist Lia Medcalf. “I just love to hate you” feels like a rallying cry for the next generation of riot grrls.

31. Ten Fé – Coasting. If this were 1978, this song would spend three months in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Soft-rock is out of vogue, almost permanently, yet here’s Ten Fé unapologetically exhuming the genre and producing songs that rank up against the best from its heyday. This was the best track from their sophomore album Future Perfect, Present Tense, thanks to that little synth line out of the chorus.

30. WOOZE – I’ll Have What She’s Having. WOOZE is the new iteration of a band that was briefly called Movie, then changed their name to Screaming Peaches, that had a pair of songs in 2014 that I quite liked in “Mr. Fist” and “Ads,” both catchy, overtly poppy, and lyrically silly. This song is all of those things with a bit darker edge to the music and vocals, which I think helps offset how sugary the pop aspects are. The resulting balance is just fun, like pop music should be.

29. Of Monsters & Men – Alligator. The Icelandic quintet’s third album Fever Dream proved maddening in its sonic and melodic inconsistencies, as the band’s sound continues to evolve but without any clear direction (although you could argue that’s how evolution works). This lead single is by far the album’s best track, though, one of maybe three songs on the record where they manage to do something a little different musically while still producing a good hook.

28. White Reaper – Real Long Time. White Reaper aren’t breaking the mold, but what they do, a sort of hard-rock-edged version of pop, they do extremely well. The guitar lines that open this song are reminiscent enough of Thin Lizzy that Phil Lynott’s ghost might as well be hanging out in their attic Duke Ellington-style.

27. Potty Mouth – 22. I loved this all-female trio’s 2015 song “Cherry Picking,” but they got caught up in some label nonsense that delayed their second album, Snafu, till this past spring. It’s full of power-pop tracks led by this extremely catchy number (pun intended).

26. Foals – The Runner. Foals decided to rock out this year, with two albums, or one double album released in two parts, heavy on the crunch. This came from Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2, the heavier of the two records, more guitar-forward and muscular throughout the album.

25. Good Fuck – Flow Flow. Not sure why bands give themselves deliberately difficult names like this, but I can’t deny the hypnotic, sinister sound of this song, from the fuzzed-out guitars to the tritones behind some of the verses to the random shit that pops into the background of the song. I feel like there should be some dark ritual happening behind me whenever this song comes on.

24. Two Door Cinema Club – Once. This is the best thing 2DCC has ever done, easily, thanks to an exuberant chorus with double-time drumwork and cascading keyboards.

23. Tame Impala – Borderline. One of two singles released from Tame Impala’s delayed fourth album The Slow Rush, this track is surprisingly understated and almost poppy for Kevin Parker, but still has the kind of layered, reverb-flush production you’d expect from him. There’s a little chord change in each line in the verse, I think from major to minor, that works every single time because your mind expects something different.

22. Floating Points – LesAlpx. Electronica generally doesn’t do much for me, but neuroscientist Sam Shepherd, who records as Floating Points, manages to create instrumental EDM that is also melodically compelling. This was my favorite track from his 2019 album Crush.

21. Michael Kiwanuka – You Ain’t the Problem. This song opens Kiwanuka with hand-drummed sounds and the chatter of families dancing and talking outside, but right at the 30-second mark it slams you back a half-century into what sounds like peak Motown, a perfect introduction to an album that will span generations and genres while delivering great single after single. The off-beat vocal lines – he starts most lines in the verses on the second beat – help keep you a little unsteady as well.

20. The Amazons – Mother. It’s a slow build, but when the guitar hits, it comes like a dam bursting, which is the sound the Amazons have done well since “Black Magic.”

19. whenyoung – A Labour of Love. This song showcases vocalist Aoife Power’s voice as well as anything on their debut album Reasons to Dream when it gets to that memorable chorus line, “You build me back up, now I see it, a labour of love,” which sounds far better with her Irish accent.

18. Jorja Smith featuring Burna Boy – Be Honest. Smith’s debut album, Lost & Found, was on my top albums of 2018 post, mostly because of the power of her voice, which is very much on display again here in this one-off single that includes the Nigerian singer/songwriter Burna Boy contributing a dancehall verse.

17. YONAKA – Rockstar. YONAKA’s album Don’t Wait Till Tomorrow tackles some serious subject matter in its lyrics, but this ode to pipe dreams and being, what else, a rock star, just works because of Theresa Jarvis’ wide-ranging vocal styles.

16. Opeth – Heart in Hand. The album did nothing for me, but this song … right into my veins, please. Ornate, brilliant guitar work, a throwback power chord riff beneath it, multiple movements, and vocals that aren’t just clean but add to the symphonic character of the song. Fans will debate whether Opeth could still be called metal, or if they just peaked with Blackwater Park and have gone down ever since, but if they give me one of these songs every album I’ll be quite happy.

15. Hatchie – Obsessed. Hatchie has quite the knack for creating smart pop gems, with this the best song off her debut album, Keepsake. I wish her voice had more depth or character to it, but she can spin a melody and seems able to draw on influences from any of the last four decades of pop/alternative.

14. FKA Twigs – sad day. Such a mournful, beautiful song, with thoughtful and quotable lyrics (“would you make a, make wish on my love” repeats in my head every time I listen to this song), with her vocals interspersed by trip-hop elements that break up the dolorous mood of the verses.

13. black midi – Talking Heads. I’m not sure why these British avant garde rockers, barely out of high school, didn’t include this single on their debut album Schlagenheim, but I think it’s the best and most accessible thing they’ve done, which also lets you understand a little bit about their sound – which I can only describe as rock that sounds like it’s been turned inside out, or perhaps reflected through the x- and y-axes – before diving into the longer and often obtuse tracks from their album.

12. Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. Thetitle track from the modern new wave/post-punk band’s new album veers more towards the former of those two subgenres, with a synth track so retro it comes with mascara and a pastel blazer.

11. The Struts – Pegasus Saiya. This song, from the soundtrack to an anime series called Saint Saiya, is so unabashedly bombastic, like glam metal without the hairspray, with an incredible hook, that I liked it in spite of its overt homage to music that is thirty years out of date.

10. Jehnny Beth & Johnny Hostile – Let It Out. This song from the soundtrack to the documentary Xy Chelsea (about Chelsea Manning) features the lead singer of Savages and her partner and Savages’ producer; they’ve previously released two albums as John and Jehn but recorded this ambient, spacey track under their individual stage names.

9. Sundara Karma – Little Smart Houses. This song came out in February, and ten months later, it will still pop into my head at the most random times, especially the chorus that seems to spill over its boundaries with each line.

8. CHVRCHES – Death Stranding. I’ll take this over anything from CHVRCHES’ last and very disappointing album; I may be thinking wishfully, but it seems like Lauren Mayberry may be ready to go out on her own, and if this is the last single we get from CHVRCHES they’re going out on a high note, a song that wouldn’t be out of place on The Bones of What You Believe were it not for the higher production values.

7. whenyoung – The Others. An Irish trio fronted by the wonderfully-named Aoife Power, they’ll never escape comparisons to the Cranberries, but their sound is grungier and sharper around the edges, so much the better for when Power dials up her voice to the top end of her range as she does on the chorus here.

6. Bat for Lashes – Desert Man. Lost Girls was one of the albums that I considered for my top LPs of the year list, if I’d kept going past 15, and this is the standout track, the best thing she’s recorded since “Laura” way back in 2012, this time powered by her voice but backed by more than just a piano to give the song more texture. She does melancholy melodies as well as anybody right now.

5. Oh Wonder – Hallelujah. Thefirst 20 seconds are a bit precious, but stay with it because the build to the first real chorus pays off beautifully with the multilayered vocals and the drum machine behind it.

4. Temples – Holy Horses. God I love this guitar riff. The entire song is a bit ridiculous – holy horses? – but that swirling guitar line is my favorite of the year, and these psychedelic-rockers have the good sense to get out after three minutes before the riff wears out its welcome.

3. Ceremony – Turn Away the Bad Thing. The opener to my #1 album of the year, In the Spirit World Now, starts out with a driving bass line that demands that you sit up and pay attention while pulling you back to the late ’70s heyday of post-punk, only to envelop you fully the moment Ross Farrar’s voice drops in.

2. FKA Twigs featuring Future – Holy Terrain. I was way out on FKA Twigs’ first album, which I found full of trying-too-hard tracks that didn’t do enough to show off her tremendous voice, but her follow-up, MAGDALENE, really does so while featuring smarter lyrics and without sacrificing the trip-hop leanings she favored on the first record. I don’t know that Future adds a ton to this track, since it’s her vocals that carry the day, and the production of his one verse distorts his voice anyway.

1. Michael Kiwanuka – Rolling. Buoyed by a simple yet intoxicating two-part guitar riff, “Rolling” has an incredible, bouncing energy to it, with highly textured percussion, a wandering bass line to anchor it, and Kiwanuka never sounding more like Jimi Hendrix with more vocal depth. This is the song that hooked me on this album, KIWANUKA, my #2 LP of the year, a record that everyone should listen to regardless of your preferred genres of music because it crosses so many boundaries between them. Just let this track roll right into “I’ve Been Dazed,” as there’s no real transition and the two songs work well as a whole.

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Top 15 albums of 2019.

I’ve given up on my gimmick of trying to match the length of this list to the last two digits of the year, which of course made assembling the list harder each year, and I’d rather keep the list organic – these are the albums I really liked from 2019, period. I think it was a down year for music overall, and my top 100 songs of the year will reflect that too, but there were still fifteen albums I liked and went back to repeatedly, with the top two albums standing up against those from any year.

Previous years’ album rankings: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

15. Crows – Silver Tongues. Signed to the new label under punk band IDLES, Crows are two generations removed from punk’s heyday, with sludgy post-hardcore that sounds like a mad scientist crossed Thrice with Drenge. The best tracks include “Wednesday’s Child,” the closest thing to a single on this album; the droning crusher “Hang Me High;” and the bottom-heavy title track that opens the album.

14. Town Portal – Of Violence. Progressive, technical, entirely instrumental metal, with offbeat, intricate guitar work that I thought might be played on a Chapman stick (it’s not). It’s one of two records on this list that subvert typical standards of rock song rhythms and song structures.

13. Temples – Hot Motion. What a great opening troika of songs for this psycheledic trip – the title track, “You’re Either On Something,” and “Holy Horses,” the last of which features one of my favorite guitar riffs of the entire year. The album travels within a narrow path of that late ’60s and early ’70s subgenre of rock, but that kind of music has proven timeless and Temples’ version of it is suffused with good hooks.

12. Wheel – Moving Backwards. Bottom-heavy progressive metal from Finland, with an English vocalist, that features tight radio-friendly singles like “Vultures” and nine- to ten-minute opuses like the title track or “Tyrant,” all of which revolve around giant, crunchy guitar riffs on a foundation of strong bass lines and big percussion.

11. The Amazons – Future Dust. I wanted the Amazons to make more music like “Black Magic,” built around their obvious talent for crafting huge guitar riffs, and they’ve done so with this second album, which has more uptempo songs and lots of muscular guitar work. The best tracks include “Mother,” “Doubt It,” and “End of Wonder.”

10. Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Part 2. Better than Part 1, released six months earlier, the second half of Foals’ diptych is heavier and more consistent throughout, with some of the best grooves they’ve ever laid down. Standouts include “The Runner,” “Like Lightning,” and “Black Bull.” The ten-minute closer “Neptune” is interesting as well, if a bit indulgent.

9. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct. Death metal-shoegaze isn’t really a blend you’d anticipate, but Alcest pioneered it, and for their second straight album (after 2016’s Kodama) they’ve delivered a record of long, thoughtful, intense metal tracks, occasionally punctuated by blast beats and screamed vocals, but with plenty of clean singing and easily discerned melodies.

8. Ten Fé – Future Perfect, Present Tense. Ten Fé’s second album in two years is full of more soft-rock gold, including this song, “Won’t Happen,” “Echo Park,” “Here Again,” “Not Tonight,” and the ballad “To Lie Here is Enough.” The general sound would have fit in on AM radio stations in the 1970s, and they seem like spiritual descendants of 10cc, which blended artsier musical ambitions with enough soft-rock elements to make it on the radio, but Ten Fé manage to do this without sounding anachronistic while working in a slew of great melodies.

7. Hatchie – Keepsake. I liked some of her earlier singles (“Sure” and “Sleep” were both on her Sugar and Spice EP last year) better than what’s on this debut album, but it still includes a number of shimmering ’90s dream-pop tracks that remind me of the best of Lush and other female-fronted Britpop acts that borrowed or just emigrated from Shoegaze. I wish her voice were stronger, but she mostly stays within her range. Standouts include “Obsessed,” “Stay With Me,” and “Without a Blush.”

6. YONAKA – Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow. The Brighton quartet’s debut album doesn’t include either of their best singles from the last two years, “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya” or “Teach Me to Fight,” but is still full of great tracks and builds on themes of toxic relationships in Theresa Jarvis’ vocals. Standouts include the sultry “Creature,” the poppy “Rockstar,” the syncopated opener “Bad Company,” and the danceable “Fired Up,” but all of the tracks rely on Jarvis’ tremendous presence and smoky voice.

5. FKA Twigs – MAGDALENE. A whisper of an album, just nine tracks and 39 minutes long, and uneven in a few spots, although I’d say that’s unsurprising given FKA Twigs’ experimental style. Standouts include “sad day,” mournful closer “cellophane,” and her surprising collaboration with Future, “holy terrain.”

4. whenyoung – Reasons to Dream. A stunning debut album from this Irish trio that incorporates shoefgaze and dream pop to back lead singer Aoife Power’s potent vocals, eerily reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan but with more range. The album starts with a strong quartet of songs in “Pretty Pure,” “Never Let Go,” standout single “The Others,” and “A Labour of Love,” and never lags, peaking again with “In My Dreams” and with the gorgeous closer “Something Sweet,” which is indeed a confection but builds towards a big finish.

3. black midi – Schlagenheim. Schlagenheim is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It is dense, intellectual, and challenging, often asking you to rethink the basic tenets of melody and rhythm that have been part of rock music since its inception. It’s also pretentious and at multiple points seems to dare you to skip to the next song, especially with Geordie Greep’s weird intonations and sudden dives into extreme-metal screaming. The album doesn’t include their strong lead-up singles “Talking Heads” or “Crow’s Perch,” which would actually be its most accessible songs if they’d made the record. “Reggae” was my compromise choice for the playlist, because it shows off their tonal oddities and still adheres a little to some rock conventions. The closer “Ducter” has some of the album’s highest points, as does the eight-minute “Western,” but they are endurance tests as well. “Near DT, MI” is a two-minute burst of ideas, but you have to get past Greep screaming at you – and his lyrics typically make little sense. “Speedway” could be a better introduction to what black midi, named after an obscure form of music that can only be played by computers because there are so many notes that sheet music for the songs would appear smudged with black ink, are trying to express through dissonant chords and polyrhythmic drumming. It’s the most interesting and bold album of the year.

2. Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA. The Guardian called this one of the best albums of the decade; I might not quite go that far, but it’s tremendous and grows on me the more I listen to it. His previous album, 2016’s Love and Hate, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and got some airplay here on “adult alternative” stations, which … okay I have no idea what that means or why he’d fit there. There are elements of funk, classic soul, even some psychedelic rock, and his voice sounds a bit like Jimi Hendrix’s in pitch but with more depth. Standout tracks include “Rolling,” “You Ain’t The Problem,” “Hero,” and “Final Days.”

1. Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. The best new wave album in 35 years, Ceremony’s latest perfectly spans the gap between the most iconic post-punk albums (Gang of Four’s Entertainment!, Wire’s Chairs Missing) and the initial influx of new wave bands that introduced more synthesizers into their sound, like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. You can hear Ceremony’s punk roots throughout the album, but this is an overtly accessible album, full of tracks that would have been mainstays on college radio in 1981. The title track, “Turn Away the Bad Thing,” the rousing “Further I Was,” “Say Goodbye to Them,” the almost-punk “We Can Be Free,” the guitar-driven “Years of Love” are all worthy, and other than “Presaging the End” there isn’t a letdown on the 11-song, 32-minute album.

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→ November 1, 2019
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Music update, October 2019.

October may have been a weak month for new music, but it’s also quite possible I was too busy with finishing up the first draft of The Inside Game, going to the Arizona Fall League, and watching the playoffs to find new tracks as often as I usually do. I’m definitely behind on some promising albums that came out in the last few weeks, but here’s my list of the best new songs I heard this past month. If you can’t see the Spotify widget, you can access the playlist here.

Sleater-Kinney – ANIMAL. A non-album track from the now-duo, who I saw this past week in Philadelphia. They were great live, and rocked a lot harder than I expected given their sound on records.

Michael Kiwanuka – Rolling. The Guardian named KIWANUKA, the third album from this English singer/songwriter, one of the best albums of the decade, which got my attention. If you played me this soul/rock/funk song cold, I’d guess it was from 1972, and I’d wonder why I’d never heard it before given how fucking great it is.

Mourn – Jumping Someone Else’s Train. This Barcelona trio released Mixtape, an EP of covers from indie-rock artists who recorded before these women were born, including tracks by Come, dEUS, Chris Bell (of Big Star), and this song by the Cure.

White Reaper – Hard Luck. The world’s greatest American band released their third album, You Deserve Love, a week ago, but I haven’t had time to get into it yet. I’ve liked the songs I’ve heard so far, which very much follow the same punk-influenced, upbeat alt-rock pattern of their first two albums.

LIFE – Niceties. Tough name in the Google era, but LIFE are Brighton punks who are appropriately angry at the world, and who just released their second album A Picture of Good Health, which has a lot of songs that push the boundary into outright abrasiveness (or push right through it). This and “Hollow Thing” are the standout tracks.

CHVRCHES – Death Stranding. The Scottish trio’s contribution to the soundtrack of the video game Death Stranding is better than anything off their last album.

MisterWives – the end. MisterWives, which is really a vehicle for charismatic lead singer Mandy Lee, are really a pop band who’ve been mislabeled an alternative act because they haven’t broken through yet. I thought “Machine” might do the trick a few years ago. Maybe this very catchy, poppy track will be their breakthrough.

Foals – Like Lightning. I think my ultimate verdict on Foals’ two albums this year, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Parts 1 and 2, will be that they had enough material for one incredible album but spread the best tracks across two uneven LPs instead.

Great Grandpa – Bloom. My favorite track from the quintet’s new album Four of Arrows, “Bloom” has a little of all of the sounds Great Grandpa usually incorporates, but doesn’t skimp on the main hook or let the tempo flag (as on “Digger”).

Maisie Peters – Look At Me Now. By my count, the now 19-year-old Peters has released 17 songs across two EPs, including the new It’s Your Bed Babe, It’s Your Funeral, over the last three calendar years, although she’s received virtually no press or airplay in the U.S., which I think is a damn shame. This track, from the new EP, is a good example of her style, although it’s not quite as immediate as “Place We Were Made” or “Best I’ll Ever Sing.”

Tei Shi feat. Blood Orange – Even If It Hurts. I’m just so-so on the song as a whole, but good luck getting this chorus out of your head.

Floating Points – Anasickmodular. It was tough to pass up on “Bias,” also from Floating Points’ new album Crush, but I think this is a better track from neuroscientist Sam Shepherd’s latest album of electronica.

Longwave – If We Ever Live Forever. Longwave returned from a decade-long hiatus with last year’s “Stay With Me,” and they’re now back with a new album, with this as the title track. It’s more guitar-driven than last year’s song, but still has some of the bass/synth underpinnings that recall ’80s new wave and alternative.

Potty Mouth – Favorite Food. A battle with an intransigent record label forced Potty Mouth to go six years between its first and second albums, with the latter, SNAFU, dropping this past March, but they’re already back with another punk-pop single that just came out this morning.

Highly Suspect – Canals. The Grammy-nominated trio have just enough of a blues rock/metal foundation to keep pulling me in even when they seem to be actively trying to piss their listeners off. I love the guitar work in this one, which reminds me a lot of Royal Blood.

Alcest – Les jardins de minuit. This two-man French “blackgaze” (what a dumb term) metal project is back with Spiritual Instinct, a harder album than 2016’s superb Kodama and I think their heaviest since Écailles de Lune in 2010. There’s some blast-beat silliness on here, but the soundscapes Alcest creates through the rest of the track are immersive with brief moments of brooding heaviness.

Wilderun – O Resolution! This is some Blackwater Park-level shit, right down to the superfluous death growls, but I am totally here for it. I’m even getting a little Candlemass out of the backing vocals.

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→ September 3, 2019
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Music update, August 2019.

Some of it might be the presence of five Fridays in the month, but August was exceptionally strong for new music – I had over 30 tracks on the first draft of this list and ended up with 25 songs on a playlist that runs over 90 minutes. As always, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the playlist directly here.

Ceremony – Further I Was. The punk-turned-new wave band’s latest album, In the Spirit World Now, dropped this month and is one of my top ten albums of the year, with this, the title track, and “Presaging the End” among the standout tracks.

The New Pornographers – The Surprise Knock. Two good new songs from TNP, with this and “Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile,” ahead of their upcoming album In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, due out September 27th.

Ride – Jump Jet. The shoegaze pioneers’ second album in three years, This is Not a Safe Place, also came out last month, with this, “Future Love,” and “Repetition my favorite tracks from a solid if somewhat inconsistent record

Good Fuck – Flow Flow. If the goal was to create a band name that was both ungoogleable and something you couldn’t say on the radio, well, this is it … but damn is this song, a rec from reader and musician Andrew M., catchy as hell, between the guitar riff and the pulsing beat.

Vivian Girls – Something to Do. I never got into the Vivs or even heard much of their music before their breakup, but I’m enjoying their reunion so far, with loud and fast guitar tracks like this.

Artificial Pleasure/JYLDA – Boys Grow Up. An homage to classic New Wave with a strong dash of Britpop, here boosted by backup vocals by JYLDA. They’re quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan. I can’t decide if this band name is ridiculous, funny, obnoxious, or some combination thereof. Their sing-talking style is not really my thing, but this was the one track on their Sweet Princess EP that muted that aspect and let the music come through.

Declan McKenna – British Bombs. I did not like “Brazil” but I’m into this angry protest track over the UK’s role in the ongoing genocide in the Yemen.

Miss June – Anomaly. Power-pop from New Zealand who made a modest splash with “Best Girl” earlier this year and have followed it with Bad Luck Party, including this very mid-90s alternative radio kind of track.

Death Cab for Cutie – To the Ground. A slow-building, tense track from DCFC ahead of the release of The Blue EP on Saturday.

Sleater-Kinney – LOVE. Sleater-Kinney came back from a lengthy hiatus in 2015 with No Cities to Love, a rock album that was more polished than their previous efforts but still clearly their sound. Their new record The Center Won’t Hold was produced by St. Vincent, and it’s a departure, particularly in their use of electronic elements for the percussion; I’m not surprised Janet Weiss decided to leave the band after their “new direction.” Weiss was in a serious car accident in early August; fans donated over $60,000 to a GoFundMe to help pay her medical bills.

Two Door Cinema Club – Once. This might be my favorite 2DCC track ever; it certainly is the most immediately catchy of theirs.

John Coltrane – Blue World. This is the title track from a lost Coltrane album, recorded in 1964 for a French art film. I’m not a jazz aficionado by any means but if you asked me to put on a jazz album, it’d be Giant Steps.

Jorja Smith feat. Burna Boy – Be Honest. Smith’s Lost and Found was one of my favorite albums last year; this single, featuring the Nigerian rapper Burna Boy, might be a one-off but has already hit the top 20 in the UK, once again showing off the R&B singer’s strong, highly expressive voice.

Mike Epps with Big Boi and Sleepy Brown – We Goin’ Out. I only knew of Mike Epps as a comedian, but he’s released a few singles and even an album of rap songs; this song is just fun, bouncy like some mid-80s funk tracks, with the always-worthwhile Big Boi contributing a verse.

BROCKHAMPTON – BOY BYE. I haven’t checked out the whole album, Ginger, yet, but I’ve liked the two singles I’ve heard so far.

Floating Points – Last Bloom. More compelling, hypnotic, intelligent instrumental EDM from Floating Points ahead of his second album, Crush, due out in October.

Sleeper – More than I Do. I liked Sleeper quite a bit during their Britpop heyday, especially “Nice Guy Eddie” and “Statuesque,” and included the lead single from this album on my January playlist, but missed their comeback album The Modern Age, their first in 22 years. This track and that prior single both sound shockingly like their old stuff – amazing after a hiatus of that length.

Bat for Lashes – Jasmine. The always-compelling Natasha Khan releases her new album Lost Girls on September 6th.

Chelsea Wolfe – Be All Things. Wolfe’s weird blend of folk and metal caught my attention a few years ago with Hiss Spun, but the two lead singles ahead of Birth of Violence, due out September 13th, have eschewed the extreme metal aspects in favor of highly atmospheric vocals and slow-picked guitars.

Here Lies Man – Long Legs (Look Away). I generally like HLM’s style of blues-rock anyway, but this is very funky to the point that it feels like a dance track.

Sacred Reich – Salvation. Sacred Reich were always in the second tier of American thrash acts, never breaking through even to the extent of a Testament or Vio-lence. They reunited a few years ago, but their just-released Awakening is their first new album in 23 years, and first since the death of founding guitarist Jeff Martinek. It also won’t include their other founding guitarist Jason Rainey, who stepped down due to health reasons in February.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Mars for the Rich. King Gizzard just released their second album of the year, this one full of old-school metal tracks ranging from bluesy, tracks like this to some outright thrash paeans.

Alcest – Protection. Alcest’s Kodama was my top metal album of 2016 for its blend of death metal and shoegaze; this first track from the French duo’s upcoming LP seems to drift further back into the metal direction after they veered harder into shoegaze with their previous two releases.

Insomnium – Valediction. The Finnish melodic death metallers return with a track that is highly melodic, almost catchy, while also bringing their trademark melancholic lyrics and strong guitar work.

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→ August 5, 2019
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Music update, July 2019.

I always feel a bit disappointed when my monthly playlists are on the short side, like this one is, as if I didn’t look hard enough for good songs. There is so much music released each month that it seems like even a “bad” month should still have at least twenty or so great songs, right? I did look, though, and stalled out with this list, which probably includes a song or two I might have omitted had the list been longer (including a cover and an unreleased track from the 1980s). Anyway, as always, you can access the Spotify playlist directly if you can’t see the widget below.

Prince – Holly Rock. Prince wrote and produced the original “Holly Rock” for Sheila E., whose version appeared on the Krush Groove soundtrack, but this is the first time that his own recording of the song – which is more polished than the demos his estate has been releasing this year – has appeared in official form. It’s vintage Prince with a heavy funk influence and Sheila E.’s ornate percussion work.

Ride – Repetition. I wonder if it’s even fair to call them shoegazers any more; their sound across two albums and a few singles since their return from a 17-year hiatus has been far more upbeat and accessible. It’s a positive evolution, though; I liked their early stuff but have connected more with their post-hiatus output.

Lauren Ruth Ward and Desi Valentine – Same Soul. A very bluesy duet from one of my new favorite singers in Ward and a classic R&B singer in Valentine, who had a modest hit in 2016 with “Fate Don’t Know You.”

Of Monsters and Men – Róróró. The Icelandic band’s third album Fever Dream dropped two Fridays ago, and it’s a definite shift in their sound, with more electronic elements, a mixed bag of a handful of tracks that showcase Nanna Hilmarsdóttir’s voice and others that lose her amidst generic drum machine sounds and weak melodies. This, “Alligator,” and “Wild Roses” are among the highlights.

Frank Turner – The Death of Dora Hand. Turner’s new EP No Man’s Land has three very intimate acoustic tracks that almost feel like Americana (interesting, since he’s English) rather than his usual folk/punk style.

Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. Ceremony’s transition from hardcore punk band to direct descendants of Joy Division continues with this title track from their forthcoming album, due out August 23rd.

White Reaper – Real Long Time. White Reaper’s punk-pop sound hasn’t failed me yet – they have a real knack for strong, new hooks that always sound just a little bit familiar to me.

DIIV – Skin Game. This is DIIV’s first new track since founder/singer Zachary Cole Smith spent six months in rehab for addiction.

Ben Gibbard – Keep Yourself Warm. This is easily my favorite track from Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’, a cover album in memory of the Scottish band’s lead singer Scott Hutchison, who took his own life in May of last year.

Floating Points – Coorabell. The B side to his single “LesAlpx” is also brilliant – another pulsing, driving electronic track that stays accessible despite its experimental leanings.

Just Mustard – October. Speaking of shoegaze, this Irish band’s music might have fit better in that early 1990s movement than it does today.

Vivian Girls – Sick. The Vivs are back together … okay, I didn’t really know their work prior to bassist Katy Goodman’s solo project La Sera, but they’ve now reunited after a five-year absence with their pre-hiatus lineup.

The Struts – Pegasus Seiya. This song doesn’t sound like anything the Struts, who are kind of a glam/pop band with hard rock trappings, have done before – it’s like a strange homage to Judas Priest-era British metal, and I can’t get the thing out of my head.

High on Fire – Bat Salad. This instrumental, part of a three-song EP that includes covers of Celtic Frost and Bad Brains, first appeared for record store day in April, and just hit digital last month. It’s outstanding, and a good track for folks who like heavy guitar riffing but can’t deal with Matt Pike’s yelling vocals.

Opeth – Heart in Hand. Maybe my favorite song of the month, “Heart in Hand” (also released in a version with lyrics in their native Swedish) is a nine-minute prog metal opus that seems to draw equally on the complex progressive styles of 1970s icons like King Crimson while providing more 1980s-level thrash and metal riffing than Opeth has given listeners in their last two albums.

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→ July 3, 2019
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Music update, June 2019.

Solid month in June for new music from some old favorites, plus three singles here from albums released before June that I’ve especially enjoyed (whenyoung, YONAKA, the Amazons). The first song here gets the closest thing I’ve done to a full album review in many years, but it deserved the time. As always, if you can’t see the Spotify widget below you can access the playlist here.

black midi – Reggae. black midi are the critical flavor of the month after their debut album, Schlagenheim, appeared in June, to effusive acclaim … and it’s true, the album is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It is dense, intellectual, and challenging, often asking you to rethink the basic tenets of melody and rhythm that have been part of rock music since its inception. It’s also pretentious and at multiple points seems to dare you to skip to the next song, especially with Geordie Greep’s weird intonations and sudden dives into extreme-metal screaming. The album doesn’t include their strong lead-up singles “Talking Heads” or “Crow’s Perch,” which would actually be its most accessible songs if they’d made the record. “Reggae” was my compromise choice for the playlist, because it shows off their tonal oddities and still adheres a little to some rock conventions. The closer “Ducter” has some of the album’s highest points, as does the eight-minute “Western,” but they are endurance tests as well. “Near DT, MI” is a two-minute burst of ideas, but you have to get past Greep screaming at you – and his lyrics typically make little sense. “Speedway” could be a better introduction to what black midi, named after an obscure form of music that can only be played by computers because there are so many notes that sheet music for the songs would appear smudged with black ink, are trying to express through dissonant chords and polyrhythmic drumming. I don’t think it’s my favorite album of 2019, but it is the most interesting by far.

Sløtface – Telepathetic. These Norwegian punk-popsters are back with yet another frenetic, extremely catchy song with quirky lyrics.

YONAKA – Rockstar. YONAKA’s debut full-length Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow is full of catchy songs with smart lyrics about toxic masculinity and modern culture, but this is a diversion, a lighter song with great hooks.

whenyoung – A Labour of Love. The Irish trio whenyoung’s debut album Reasons to Dream is probably my favorite album of the year. I can’t escape the automatic comparison in my head to the first Cranberries album – Aoife Power’s accent evokes Dolores O’Riordan – but there’s more depth here, including tempo shifts and rapid jumps from low to high as you’ll find in this song.

Phantogram – Into Happiness. This is the first Phantogram song I’ve liked where Josh Carter sings; any other song by them that I’ve ever included on a playlist had Sarah Barthel singing alone. I assume this is a precursor to a new album, which would be their first since 2016.

The Regrettes – I Dare You. Critics seem to tag The Regrettes, led by 18-year-old singer/guitarist Lydia Night, as a punk band, but this song could just as easily have come from The Strokes’ catalog.

Metronomy – Salted Caramel Ice Cream. So I thought this was a different band, then pulled up the song on Spotify and realized I had the wrong group but really liked the track. It’s kind of wonderfully silly, and the electronic trappings mask the fact that it’s a basic 12-bar blues pattern.

Temples – Hot Motion. Temples has made my year-end top 100s twice before, with 2013’s “Colours to Life” and 2017’s “Certainty,” although if you know anything by them it’s probably their first hit, “Shelter Song.” The sound here is similarly retro, with a strong dose of psychedelia, with a jangly guitar riff driving the song.

Belle & Sebastian – Sister Buddha. This is the first single from B&S’s upcoming soundtrack to the film Days of the Bagnold Summer, a comedy due out in September from actor Simon Bird.

Floating Points – LesAlpx. Floating Points is neuroscientist and electronic musician Sam Shepherd, whose 2015 album Elaenia was a masterful work of experimental, sparse electronica. This new single seems more accessible and more in line with current trends in EDM, but it’s no less compelling.

Goodie Mob feat. Organized Noise – No Rain No Rainbow. Goodie Mob aren’t just founders of the Dirty South scene, they made the term mainstream in their 1995 song of that name. They’ve only released one album in the 15 years since Cee-Lo first departed the group (he returned in 2011), and this single appeared without any announcement of a forthcoming record. It’s pretty strong for a group that’s barely put out any music in two decades, although I can’t include them without at least acknowledging Cee-Lo’s problematic history: a woman accused him of slipping a drug into her drink and raping her, which led to him pleading no contest to charges of supplying her with ecstasy (but no charges for rape).

Spoon – No Bullets Spent. A solid album track from Spoon from their upcoming Everything Hits at Once: The Best of Spoon.

The Wants – Clearly a Crisis. A new Brooklyn alternative-rock trio, the Wants deliver a funk-tinged slice of post-punk on their newest single, like something captured in the fleeting moments before post-punk decayed fully into new wave.

LIFE – Hollow Thing. We’re really just calling everyone a punk band now, aren’t we? There’s a punk influence here, but this Hull-based quartet, who toured with actual punk band IDLES, are definitely more in the “snotty English rock band” vein – and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Thrice – A Better Bridge. Thrice’s A Deeper Wells EP includes cuts from the Palms sessions that didn’t make the album, but if anything I think I like several tracks from the EP more than the songs that likely took their place.

The Amazons – Dark Visions. Future Dust, the Amazons’ second full-length album, dropped in May, and it’s a big move forward from their debut, as the great guitar work from their 2017 single “Black Magic” is all over this new record.

Lightning Born – Renegade. Lightning Born features Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean, but this is more vocalist Brenna Leath and guitarist Erik Sugg’s show, with a clear ’70s classic metal influence all over this two-and-a-half minute track.

Pallbearer – Atlantis. American doom stalwarts Pallbearer haven’t announced plans for a new album yet, but they released this one-off track as part of the Sub Pop Singles series.

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→ March 4, 2019
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Music update, February 2019.

February is short enough as it is, and I delivered my last music update a bit late due to the prospect rankings, so I held off on this one until we got one more spate of new releases on March 1st, so the post would at least get to an hour’s worth of new music (without counting the ten-minute track near the end, because that’s cheating). As always, you can access the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

The Amazons – Mother. The Amazons’ self-titled debut album hit the British top ten in 2017; I thought “Black Magic” was outstanding, powered by a huge, muscular guitar riff, but the rest of the album was tepid by comparison and didn’t carry that sound forward. This new single is also driven by a rich, heavy guitar riff.

Foals – On the Luna. Foals put out two singles from their upcoming album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1, in the last month; this one is tremendous, peak Foals, heavy and dark and still catchy and danceable, like the lead single “Exits,” although the third single “Sunday” is gloomier and slower, so not quite my cup of tea.

Ten Fé – Here Again. More melodic, ’70s-influenced, slightly soft rock from the London-based quintet, who’ll drop their second album, Future Perfect, Present Tense, this Friday.

Sundara Karma – Little Smart Houses. That little record-skip stop in the verses is … an acquired taste? Affected? The chorus is great, though, a great harbinger for the English art-rockers’ second album, Ulfilas’ Alphabet, which just came out on Friday.

Metric – Risk. I love Emily Haines’ voice, but Metric’s music as a whole has been a mixed bag for me, and some of their strongest melodies have paired with their weakest lyrics – and it seems like Haines’ voice is more natural when the vocals are more like another instrument as opposed to a way to tell a story or recite a poem to music. Perhaps that’s just me, but I’ll put “Risk” in the yes column.

Little Simz – Offence. Little Simz, a British rapper of Nigerian descent, just released her third album, GREY Area, her first new music since she toured with Gorillaz after their Humans album came out. “Offence” was the lead single and first appeared back in September, with “Boss” (not quite as good) and “Selfish” (good, but with some problematic lyrics) following as singles before the album dropped.

Hatchie – Without a Blush. Hatchie has barely missed since she started putting out singles late in 2017, and she just announced her debut album, Keepsake, will come out on June 21st. I keep seeing references to her as “dream pop” and to her speaking of Mazzy Star, the Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine as major influences, but she crafts stronger melodies than any of those three and I still hear reminders everywhere in her music of the earliest stuff from the Cranberries.

The Mowgli’s – Talk About It. This is the fourth song by this six-piece American alternative act that I’ve included on a monthly playlist, and definitely the best since the first single I heard by the group, 2013’s “San Francisco” – similarly upbeat and catchy and cute without being cloying.

Sunflower Bean – Fear City. I think I’ve now included all four songs from Sunflower Bean’s new EP King of the Dudes, since they’re all great. They’ve become one of my favorite bands going between this and last year’s album Twentytwo in Blue.

Man of Moon – Skin. Scottish duo who appear to have listened to every New Order song ever recorded have put out a song that sounds a lot like vintage New Order.

Reignwolf – Black and Red. I felt like Reignwolf was a ‘buzz’ band a few years ago, but had never panned out; they were indeed hyped by the music press around 2013-14, and are just now getting around to releasing an actual album, Hear Me Out, which came out on March 1st, six years after their first single appeared. Fronted by Canadian guitarist Jordan Cook, Reignwolf does blues-heavy rock, with dramatic tonal shifts throughout this slithering lead single.

Ex Hex – Rainbow Shiner. Ex Hex, led by former Helium founder Mary Timony, released their debut album Rips in 2014 but then largely vanished until they put out a few singles last fall and this winter, all ahead of their upcoming second album It’s Real, due out March 22nd.

Tim Bowness and Pete Hammill – It’s the World. That’s Pete Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator, a band formed six years before I was born, joining Bowness, an English experimental musician who has been part of the rather obscure, long-running duo No-Man. (They had a top 40 dance track in the U.S. in 1994, “Taking It Like a Man,” of which I have zero memory.) I’m mostly drawn to that doom-metal guitar riff that seems stylistically out of place but that perfectly fits the song’s atmosphere.

Wheel – Tyrant. Yes, the song is ten minutes long; the Finnish progressive quartet’s debut album, Moving Backwards, just dropped, and has seven songs running a total of 48 minutes, with three tracks clocking in at nine-plus.

Saint Vitus – 12 Years in the Tomb. Saint Vitus is one of the most influential bands in both American metal and within the doom metal subgenre, forming in 1979 and taking their name from a Black Sabbath song, but they were never terribly popular and haven’t released anything new since 2012, so this song’s appearance was a surprise. Even more surprising is the return of original lead singer Scott Reagers, whose last appearance on wax with Saint Vitus came in 1995.

Alexisonfire – Familiar Drugs. Presented more out of newsworthiness than any endorsement of the song, which I think is just fair. This is the Canadian post-hardcore/extreme metal band’s first release of any new material since 2010.

Children of Bodom – Platitudes and Barren Words. These Finnish melodic death metal stalwarts release their latest album, Hexed, this upcoming Friday, and continue to show they can still dance on the edge of mainstream rock without falling into the abyss (as with In Flames, whose latest album has a bunch of great riffs and embarrassing vocals and choruses).

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Music update, January 2019.

Sorry this is a bit late, but I had to write a thing about some prospects. If you can’t see the Spotify widget you can access the playlist here.

White Lies – Tokyo. If this song doesn’t put you back in 1985, I’m guessing you weren’t old enough to listen to the radio back then.

Spielbergs – Distant Star. This Norwegian trio reminds me a lot of the Wombats, if the Wombats were more punk and skipped most production values on their records, and sure enough the Spielbergs recorded their debut album, This is Not the End, at the Oslo studio of the Wombats’ bassist. It’s pop-tinged punk with just the right hardness to its edge.

Potty Mouth – 22. Potty Mouth’s 2015 single, “Cherry Picking,” was followed by a five-song EP, one more single, and then three years of silence before this track appeared a few weeks ago. It’s very much in the same vein as “Cherry Picking,” power pop with heavier distortion on the rhythm guitar, and it comes with the delightful news that the band’s sophomore album, Snafu, will arrive on March 1st.

Thrice – Hold Up A Light (Edit). The album version of this track appeared on last year’s Palms, but I’m including it here since drummer Riley is a friend of the dish and I didn’t feature this song anywhere last year.

Satin Jackets with Panama – Automatic. Panama is Australian songwriter/producer Jarrah McCleary, who’s appeared on my lists a few times in the past, primarily with his 2013 standout track “Always.” This is his collaboration with German house/disco producer Tim Bernhardt, a.k.a. Satin Jackets, although if the vocals were McCleary’s I’d believe this was a Panama solo track.

Sunflower Bean – King Of The Dudes. The title track from Sunflower Bean’s four-song EP showcases Julia Cumming’s strutting, cocky vocals, just as its lead single “Come for Me” did last fall. There’s a moment in the second verse where she sounds like she’s channeling Haley Shea of Sløtface.

Jade Bird – I Get No Joy. Bird had my #3 song of 2018 with “Love Has All Been Done Before” and is back with this track, which isn’t quite as immediately catchy but still showcases her lyric writing and her Joplinesque vocals.

Swervedriver – Good Times Are So Hard To Follow. Swervedriver’s second album into their comeback, Future Ruins, dropped last month, with three or four solid singles and then a number of longer tracks, two clocking in over six minutes, that are solid but lack hooks – good songs in between the singles. This is one of the better singles on the record albeit not up to “Mary Winter” or “The Lonely Crowd Fades in the Air.”

Teeth Of The Sea – I’d Rather, Jack (Radio Edit). Teeth of the Sea’s Master was one of my top albums of 2013, but then they put out a short album in 2015 (Highly Deadly Black Tarantula, six songs, 37 minutes) that I completely missed. They returned with a seven-minute single last year, and now have put out this more easily digested four-minute track of experimental, instrumental music, which veers from movement to movement over a dark, brooding backdrop.

Big Boi – Doin’ It (feat. Sleepy Brown). I was pleasantly surprised by this Big Boi track, maybe my favorite thing he’s done in ten years, mostly because he sounds so good here.

Foals – Exits. Foals will release two albums this year, parts 1 and 2 of a record called Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, led off by this single, which is nearly six minutes on the album but 3:50 here. This is more “Inhaler” than “Mountain at My Gates.”

Voodoos – Natalie. These Glaswegian punk-popsters first debuted this track in 2017, but have since signed a record deal and re-recorded it; as much as I see Voodoos tabbed a punk band, this feels like it could have come from the mind of Alex Turner.

Beck – Tarantula. Beck reworked a forgettable 1982 electronica track by Colourbox (later covered and improved by This Mortal Coil) for a new album of songs “inspired” by the new film Roma, with vocal help here from Feist and Natasha Khan (a.k.a. Bat for Lashes).

Crows – Chain of Being. Signed to the new label helmed by IDLES lead singer Joe Talbot, Crows released this single of post-rock with a hint of shoegaze head of their debut album, Silver Tongues, due out later this year.

Wheel – Where the Pieces Lie. Wheel, a four-piece band based in Finland with an English lead singer, might hit the sweet spot for my taste in heavier music – the music is heavy, hard-edged, and challenging, all with clean vocals. I do have a soft spot for old-school thrash but the way Wheel’s tracks meander without abandoning their core heaviness, here most present in the chorus, is just spot on.

Astronoid – A New Color. The list gets a bit heavier the further I go; Astronoid’s music is spacier (appropriate), more psychedelic, but also bumps up against the edges of thrash or speed metal in the chorus.

Týr – Fire and Flame. Viking metal can be hit or miss, but Týr seem to get it just right – there’s something playful about their music that prevents me from feeling like we’re all taking this Viking shit a little too seriously.

Children Of Bodom – This Road. CoB might be my favorite melodic death metal band going right now; it’s difficult to create metal riffs that are catchy without sacrificing the sort of (drops voice two octaves) heaviness extreme metal fans want. There’s some pedal-point riffing in the chorus here too, punctuated by an arpeggio (maybe of artificial harmonics? I never could make those work on my guitar), that I’d like to bottle.

Dream Theater – Fall into the Light. Dream Theater are about to release their fourteenth studio album, Distance over Time, which will drop just 12 days before the thirtieth anniversary of the release of their debut record When Dream and Day Unite. This seven-minute opus, complete with acoustic interlude around the 3:20 mark, has a solid hook in the standard Dream Theater vein of progressive metal, but also reminded me of that brief halcyon moment when Metallica blew the doors off the confines of thrash and would put out songs like this, sometimes running nine minutes, with different movements and massive tempo shifts. And then they released the black album and were never heard from again. Anyway, this is a good track. Love the keyboard solo, too.

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