Below are the songs I got most excited about in 2019. The majority of these were NOT released in 2019 (some are quite old) — they just occupied a significant portion of my listening time during the year. I’ve tried to keep the list concise.
You can listen to them all via a YouTube Music playlist here. 2020 playlist here.
Albums
First off, a few albums. Usually, I like one or a few songs off a particular album. It would be great if bands were putting out 100% gold on each of their records, but that’s just not usually the case. Often, I’ll like one song off an album and think the rest of the album is just OK (or even pretty terrible). But every so often, an artist puts out a record that I listen to ad nauseam. Most recently, those albums were:
- Twin Solitude — Leif Vollebekk
- Capacity — Big Thief
- Fela with Ginger Baker Live! — Fela Kuti
Songs
Loosely sorted into genres, and in no particular order. Title — Artist
Rock
- Cicada — La Luz
- I Want Wind to Blow — The Microphones
- Cooking Up Something Good — Mac Demarco
- Natural Rhapsody — Jonathan Wilson
- No Coffee — Amber Coffman
- Magic Number – Damien Jurado
- Projection — PWR BTTM
- Carl Sagan — Night Moves
- Don’t Wanna Fight — Alabama Shakes
- Lydia — Chastity Belt
- Fade Into You — Mazzy Star
Hip Hop / Rap
- Only Child — Tierra Whack
- LOVE. (feat. Zacari) — Kendrick Lamar
- Never Catch Me — Flying Lotus (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
- Nigga Needs — Boogie
- Everybody — Logic
- Neighbors — J. Cole
- See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis) — Tyler, The Creator
- I’m Not Racist — Joyner Lucas
- Misfit — Naji
- DNA. — Kendrick Lamar
- 2nd Fiddle — Leikeli47
- The Space Program — A Tribe Called Quest
Electronic
- Pop and Lock (Blacksmif Remix) — Submotion Orchestra
- Like a Hunger (feat. Amber Mark) — Wilma Archer
- Animals — Bonobo
- 180db_[130] — Aphex Twin
- Inspector Norse — Todd Terje
- Feral Youth — Gigamesh
- Airlock Holmes — Fila Brazillia
- Bochum (feat. IMYRMIND) — Glenn Astro
- Ocean Floor Kisses — Galimatias
- raingurl — yaeji
Jazz
- Willow Weep for Me — Tommy Flanagan
- The Eraser — Christian Scott
- Beehive — Marc Cary
- Goree — Lionel Loueke
- Paranoid Android — Brad Mehldau
- Senor Blues — Taj Mahal
Metal / Prog Rock
- Perfect Pillow — Chon
- Tooth and Claw — Animals as Leaders
- Atlas Novus — Scale the Summit
- Days Lengthen Without Sunlight (If Only In My Mind) — Save Us From the Archon
Folk / Americana
- Into the Ether — Leif Vollebekk
- Feedback Loop — Chris Thile
- Snow Don’t Fall — Townes Van Zandt
- If You Need To, Keep Time On Me — Fleet Foxes
- I Can’t Get No Satisfaction — Cat Power
Miscellaneous
- Bicho Do Mato — Jorge Ben
- Half About Being a Woman — Caroline Smith
- Survival — Femi Kuti
- Abusey Junction — KOKOROKO
- N’taki — Idrissa Soumaoro
- Miserere (Excerpt) (feat. Timothy Beasley-Murray) — Stephen Cleobury
John Benning 