Here's the playlist of my top 25 favourite songs of the year: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2yk50Dqv70OlWG7P5Yz3db
If I had to pick a top favourite it would probably be "Forest Lawn" by Better Oblivion Community Center, or at least that's the one I listened to most. But it could easily be "Crowbar" or "Everyday" or "Elephants" or "Born Cold." Also Patty Griffin's "Ruby's Arms" is one of my favourite covers ever. Weezer's rockin' "End of the Game" has me actually excited for their next album, and Creeper just announced they're dropping theirs on MY FREAKIN' BIRTHDAY! What a time to be alive.
On to albums! Somehow, my fave this year happens to be a critical darling and I'm not sure how to handle that?? I'm not a Pitchfork-reading hipster, I just like what I like. And this year, I loved the lush, gorgeous 70s singer-songwriter style album by Weyes Blood, Titanic Rising! Last year my fave was a mainstream country album, a few years ago it was a Letters to Cleo EP. You just never know! (And more on LTC later...) Yeah, this album hit the exact vibe that I, and I guess many others, were craving this year. It's like a time machine that's also a UFO. I love it so much. Fave songs - Everyday, Andromeda, Picture Me Better, Something to Believe
My second-fave is of course, the new New Pornographers In the Morse Code of Brake Lights. A band that has never made a bad album, and this is almost up with Brill Bruisers for me. Another collection of perfect, catchy power pop songs. I don't know how they keep doing it! Fave songs - Leather on the Seat, Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile, Colossus of Rhodes
And the rest of the albums I enjoyed, in no particular order: (This is so much less stressful than when I made ranked lists and wrote freakin' paragraphs about each album!)
Diva Sweetly, In the Living Room - Sure, let's start with a pretty obscure one I just lucked into by chance! If you were a 120 Minutes devotee in the 90s like I was, you might dig this. Quirky, 90sesque alt rock. Fave Songs - Detox Island, The Floor Caved In, Comfort Food
Better Oblivion Community Center - A chill, low-key catchy folk-pop album I played all year. Fave songs - Forest Lawn, Little Trouble, Chesapeake
Bleached, Don't You Think You've Had Enough? - And my theme of the year, "retro girly rock." Fave songs - Hard to Kill, Somebody Dial 911, Daydream
Ex Hex, It's Real - More retro girly rock! Fave songs - Cosmic Cave, Radiate, Another Dimension
The Regrettes, How Do You Love? - MORE retro girly rock? You're spoiling me, 2019! Fave songs - I Dare You, Fog, California Friends
Randy Houser, Magnolia - And my traditional-leaning mainstream country album of the year! Randy is back in form, big time. Hope he keeps this up. Fave songs - What Whiskey Does, No Stone Unturned, Evangeline
Karly Driftwood, Too Mean to Die - A fun, super catchy and even kinda horror-themed country debut! I love when it feels like an album was made just for me! Fave songs - Dodged a Bullet, Bake You a Cake, Too Mean to Die
Alice Wallace, Into the Blue - California canyon country that feels both 70sesque and fresh! Fave songs - Elephants, Top of the World, The Lonely Talking
Jenny Lewis, On the Line - More on the pop side, but some of that California country feel at times. Jenny Lewis has been with me my whole life, first as a child in that iconic Toys r Us jingle I used to sing constantly and annoy my parents, then with Rilo Kiley, a band that got me through some rough times, and now with this beautiful album. She kinda feels like my sister I never met at this point. Fave songs - Wasted Youth, Red Bull and Hennessey, Hollywood Lawn
Jetty Bones, - (yes, the album is called "-") This is only 6 songs so I guess it's technically an EP, but it feels like a complete album to me. Paramore fans, check this out! Fave songs - "better," The Rest of Them., To Know You...
Women Sing Waits - Some beautiful voices sing some of my favourite Tom Waits songs! Fave songs - Ruby's Arms, Downtown Train, Time
Sturgill Simpson, Sound and Fury - This one took a little getting used to. I dug the songs, but wasn't sure I could vibe with the vocal production. Then I realized it was supposed to sound like a cowboy transmitting from space. Then I realized that's AWESOME. Fave songs - Mercury in Retrograde, Make Art Not Friends, Remember to Breathe
EPs:
Sunflower Bean, King of the Dudes - Oh, MORE retro girly rock you say? Fave songs - King of the Dudes, Fear City, Come for Me
Ghost, Seven Inches of Satanic Panic - This is only two songs, but they both rock.
Charlie Marie - Wow, super promising country vocalist from... Rhode Island? Yeehaw! Fave songs - Rodeo, Rhinestones, Countryside
Letters to Cleo, OK Christmas - What better way to end the year than with a Christmas album I actually like! Leave it to LTC, of course. My fave band at the end of the 90s, still my fave at the end of the 2010s.
It was a really good year! I listened to a lot of music between the 450+ movies I watched, and while some of it was disappointing (*cough Black Album cough*), a lot of it will be with me for a long, long time. Let's see what my first fave of the new decade will be! Creeper in May, or something before then? I'm excited for the journey!
I'll also make a favourite albums of the decade post... sometime this decade. ;)
