I actually can’t think of much new music that I’ve listened to this year (I don’t think discovering that there’s a whole subcommunity of people who do acapella covers of… basically everything… counts).
If you couldn’t tell by my username, there are two genres I very much enjoy: experimental electronic music and experimental popular music. The 2010s have been a goldmine for both, and especially after the advent of artists in the PC Music space, the synthesis between them has only gotten more realized with musicians like SOPHIE and 100 Gecs becoming staples of the current electronic music landscape. But the record that stood out most for me this year is Charli by Charli XCX.
Not only is this arguably her best full release along the likes of Pop 2, but it stands out to me for how good and diverse of a pop album this is in general. You’ve got classic stuff like the pre-game anthem like “Next Level Charli” or the drug laced power ballad “White Mercedes,” but there’s also some truly ‘out there’ flourishes to be found in the more atypical end of “Click” and “Shake it” (the former featuring a “noise solo” by 100 Gecs’s Dylan Brady and the latter with A.G. Cook turning Charli’s voice into water).
This is all well and good, but I doubt anyone would call it the most ambitious or experimental album to come out this year. No, what makes this so special to me is how it manages to incorporate the stylistic elements of A.G. Cook, et al. and manages to combine them with the “Boom, Clap” inclinations of Charli’s masterful pop song writing to make a collection of songs that can both appeal to the mainstream while also serving as a guide for other producers to help make the pop genre more interesting and engaging as a whole. Charli is absolutely my favorite album I’ve listened to this year, and also – for my money – one of the most potentially impactful as well.
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I’m so glad someone mentioned Charli!
That album is unbelievable. I also loved the sophomore release “Crux” from Moon Tooth, one of the more brilliant rock bands of this generation. Their guitarist is astounding, to the point I actually believed until I looked them up that they were a two-guitarist band.
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Heh I love the username. 2099 was the track for me, which almost hit my admittedly very overstuffed list. Given you like what AG did with Charli’s voice, I’d love to hear what you think about what Danny did with Caroline Polachek’s on her record, given for my money it was that, Charli and like, Holly Herndon really pushing the envelope on pop vocal production this year.
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Pang is one of those albums I still need to give some proper time to. I’ve had “So Hot…” in my rotation for a while now, but only just got around to “Door” and “Parachute” recently. They’re really interesting though; Polachek is definitely one of those vocalists who excels at ‘pure’ singing, and the way Harle uses only just enough alteration on her lines to highlight and accentuate those vocals without letting his production take over shows how far he’s come over the years.
Agreed, though I’d throw Dorian Electra in there as well with their album, Flamboyant. I only discovered them just this past week, but I was quickly blown away with how they alter their voice to convey an essence of drag and gender fluidity – which are both huge themes in their work. (It’s like word painting, but with timbre in addition to just pitch.) The singles Man to Man and Career Boy – though technically from last year – are two of my personal highlights.
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clipping.’s release this year There Existed an Addiction to Blood continues to astound me every single time I listen through it. I’m always finding something new in the lyrics or instrumentation or technical skill of the production. It’s a perfect blend of Daveed’s spitfire rapping and distorted industrial beats. Absolutely my favorite release of theirs and maybe one of my favorite albums of all time.
Someone mentioned Benny the Butcher earlier, and this song from the album features him!
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The lead singer of Chastity Belt, Julia Shapiro, released an album this year and its quite good. It has a lot of the same sounds as Chastity Belt which really is all i can ask for
- billy woods - Hiding Places
The chorus from Spiderhole is a snapshot of the anxious feeling that billy woods and Kenny Beats perfect over the album.
Wry smile, coppin’ legal weed from fake hole in the wall
I don’t wanna go see Nas with an orchestra at Carnegie Hall
No man of the people, I wouldn’t be caught dead with most of y’all
“Don’t call me again” what I shoulda said when he called
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Griselda - WWCD
Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher and Conway The Machine have the formula for grimy rap. Listening to Chef Dreds helped me stay calm while having blood work done. Very cool. -
Black Dresses - Love and Affection for Stupid Little ■■■■■■■
An album for me!! How nice!! -
Jubilee - Call For Location
Listening to this will trick you in to thinking you will have fun at the club. -
Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue
This is a spicy meat ball.
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Oh I totally forgot my favorite new podcast that came out this year. Rude Tales of Magic, the first actual play podcast to ever exist. It’s so fucking funny and the audio quality and sound production are fucking phenomenal, I love it so much.
It’s been a year for Indie-Jazz for me. Really enjoying the album Blume by Nérija.
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I know it’s not “new” by any measure, but I finally started listening to The Magnus Archives at the tail end of this year. It’s so, so good at telling both serialized bite-sized stories in each episode, as well as an overarching narrative throughout the episodes.
I would also be remiss not to shout out my friend Luke’s actual play podcast Exiled. He wrapped this ridiculous Marvel Comics inspired crossover actual play pod with 2 weeks of the most wild one-shots full of fictional characters taking on a fascist empire. (Including Cathy from the new strip Cathy??) Each one shot is self contained, and includes unique twists on the characters that mean you don’t need to know who they are to understand what’s going on. (Disclosure: I play Wizard Guy Fieri in one of them.)
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Did you start Magnus from the very beginning? I added it to my list of things to listen to (which is already very long) and I am daunted by the sheer amount of episodes. But I keep hearing such good things.
I did! I just decided to dive in and I’m really glad because with the way they start assembling the mythos and cast of characters, jumping in later would just be confusing. The episodes are pretty short and very easy to listen to a few at a time especially if you’re used to 5-star run times haha.
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Magnus is great. I dropped off because I was starting to catch up early this year but I should dive back in now.
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For music my favourite this year was the Sayonara Wild Hearts soundtrack. It’s just such a great pop album in its own right and I love it.
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I won’t write too much about them because others have shouted them out above, but 100 gecs are the first band to make me want to make an AMV in over a decade!
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This year had Thom Yorke!
Gotta say though, Lightning Bolt - who I’d never even heard of six months ago - easily shot up to become one of my favourite ever bands.
Shout outs to The Comet Is Coming, Flying Lotus, I Hate Models, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, and Lealani. There was even a new Tool album last year!
Fuck all those people who say music is dead.
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So, I already posted my favourite album from 2019 in here but I’m also gonna post my favourite song too because they’re separate.
In 2019 (and in 2018) I listened to way less rock than I usually do (except a grotesque amount of My Chemical Romance but that’s neither here nor there) I listened to a lot of pop a lot of folk stuff and just all around different things than I usually did.
But also Vukovi released this single from their next album (which is out in like two weeks and I’m so excited for) and i’ve listened to it far FAR too many times. It’s just a straight up banger of a rock song and I love it.
