Anteater

15. Biota - Fragment For Balance

Genre: Ambient / Avant Electroacoustical-Folk / RIO
Put On A Playlist With: Univers Zero, Comus, Henry Cow

So, these guys go back a long way to the late 70's...and whilst I haven't followed their career in depth every step of the way, they are pretty much living gods in regards to compelling but strange chamber folk with a peerless grasp on jazz and classical principles. Other than guys like David Tibet or maybe The Legendary Pink Dots, there just aren't that many groups working at Biota's level for such an extended period of time. Fragment For Balance marks their 40th anniversary, and these 26 cuts take you to some interesting places. On 'Rivers Apart', for example, they bring in sax and some creepy dissonant piano chords out of the damn blue. Brillliannnnt.



14. Pictured Resort - Pictured Resort

Genre: Surf Rock, City Pop, J-Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Boris, Hitomitoi, Boredoms, Stereolab, Toshiki Kadomatsu, The Beach Boys

Fresh like a good sunrise, Pictured Resort do a remarkable job at summoning the hazy, long-forgotten summer dreamscapes of Japan's golden era of 80's pop, though filtered through a decidedly more melancholic lens of a 90's / 00's set of genre influences. In that sense, they sound like Boris or the Boredoms who suddenly got a strong desire to become a Californian surf pop band. And it works!


13. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!

Genre: Singer-Songwriter
Put On A Playlist With: Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Fiona Apple, Sally Oldfield

She's basically turned into contemporary music's answer to Joni Mitchell in a lot of ways, but whatever the comparisons this is the first record from Lana that I've really felt represents her full potential as an artist. It's ambitious, but not in a boring way like Beyonce's Lemonade or similar outings. From pitch-perfect 'Mariners Apartment Complex' to the 9 minute tour-de-force 'Venice Bitch', this is record with some massive highs. And even when it borders on getting too "navel-gazey", it's way better than anythng else out like it right now and shows it at every turn.

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12. Teitanblood - The Baneful Choir

Genre: Death/Black/War Metal
Put On A Playlist With: Emperor, Portal, The Chasm, Necros Christos, Beherit, Dead Congregation

An absolutely hellish, blistering metal experience on the whole from these Spanish slayers. They are supposedly leaders in what is being dubbed "War Metal" these days, a blend of black metal, death metal and ambient that defies easy categorization. What I like about The Baneful Choir is that it has an almost infectious energy to it's depiction of a war torn hellscape on Earth, but it's the relentlessness of the production that brings the whole thing together to me in a particularly fun way.



11. Queensryche - The Verdict

Genre: Progressive Metal
Put On A Playlist With: Fates Warning, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Voivod

The third outing from a Geoff Tate-less Queensryche proves to be the best of the new era so far, blending their Mindcrime/Empire/Promised Land progressive metal sound with a modern (I'd go as far as to say commercial) oriented power metal aesthetic to great success. Every song is a winner, though the swaggering 'Light-Years', 'Inner Unrest' and epic cuts like 'Bent' and the groovy, bass-heavy 'Portrait' are SO good that it makes me wonder why they aren't topping everyone's metal list this year. Unfashionable they may be...it certainly doesn't hurt that Todd La Torre has some fantastic pipes.


10. Shmu - Vish

Genre: Avant-garde Psychedelic Popwave
Put On A Playlist With: Clarence Clarity, George Clanton, Tame Impala, Vektroid
One of my favorite band discoveries from last year have decided to also come out swinging in 2019 with Vish, and it's an even stranger yet fullfilling pop experience than the yacht rock inflected Lead Me To The Glow. Where that album embraced vaporwave trappings while standing out with new ideas, this one goes more into contemporary electronic pop territory to the extent where even I'm not quite sure what to call the end product. It's akin to what Clarence Clarity does, but from a completely different contextual set of influences, even bringing in some hip-hop vibes crossed with something that sounds like a 90's tropical house fixation with an extra helping of N64 nostalgia. There's a killer electro-R&B cut hiding in 'Shampoo' and there's a breakout EDM hit in 'So Don't Try And Stop Me' as well....so no matter what these guys do, they're damn good at it and the results speak for themselves.

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9. Djabe & Steve Hackett - Back To Sardinia

Genre: Jazz-Fusion, Prog, Ambient, Post-Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Late 60's Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Pink Floyd, Return To Forever

The former lead guitarist from Genesis's 70's prog heyday continues to be prolific well into 2020. While this isn't the first time he's teamed up with Hungarian world-jazz group Djabe, this particular outing is interesting in that it puts a prog guitarist in a jazzier, way breezier setting that plays in a variety of moods. Think late night Miles Davis moods or Return To Forever when they went meditative. And while Hackett is more like David Gilmour than Pat Metheny, his approach to the axe gels really well with the trumpet solos, Rhodes, and other lite-fusion elements. Great record to just kick back to on a quiet day.



8. Ben Vince - Don't Give Your Life

Genre: Avant-garde
Put On A Playlist With: John Zorn (Naked City era), John Surman, Praxis

Simultaneously a prominent U.K. saxophonist and electronic musician of keen talent, Ben Vince likes to push his jazz background into places where the genre tag "jazz" no longer easily applies. Every song is a beautiful exercise in contrast. 'Mark Of The Spirit' juxtaposes warm vocals against a screaming saxophone backdrop, 'Luxx' is Trent Reznor in 1989 trying to do the soundtrack to The Last Temptation Of Christ and closer 'Fallout' is a 10 minute meditation that Trevor Jones and bands like Dead Can Dance would be proud of, a place where Ben lets his sax actually unwind from the madness that came before. What an absolute gem of a record....seriously.


7. Equip - CURSEBREAKER X

Genre: Vaporwave, Video Game OST
Put On A Playlist With: The Castlevania series, Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu
Signed to 100% Electronica not long ago and known to be something like a workaholic in the "vaporwave" scene, Kevin Hein pulled out all the stops in 2019 with CURSEBREAKER X, a dark fantasy-themed extravaganza that really captures the magic of the early 90's side scroller, and even wrote a cool Hero's Journey-styled story to go with it. It's barely over 30 minutes, but it makes them count.

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6. Little Raine Band - Dreamwalker

Genre: Art Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Level 42, Toy Matinee, Umphrey's McGee, The Reign Of Kindo, The War On Drugs

One of the best live acts in Alabama, these guys combine a variety of approaches to rock, jazz, blues and more obtuse influences into Dreamwalker, crafting a curious stew that strikes me as a jazzier, proggier take on the whole jam band / Midwestern rock sound. They simultaneously have a lot of polish (just listen to that ridiculous groove throughout the title track or the swinging, fusion led 'Artificial Love') yet somehow come across as a band full of untapped, raw potential. They're unknown on the world stage right now, but I think that will change by their next outing.



5. Kalax - III

Genre: Synthwave, Electro-Pop, Vocal EDM
Put On A Playlist With: The Midnight, Mitch Murder, Gunship

Kalax is a producer and songwriter from Liverpool who has a better grasp on the contemporary, pop-oriented side of synthwave than the vast majority of his competitors (with a few exceptions). His songs have a strong, appreciative nostalgia for the decade of The Neverending Story and Blade Runner, but his guest vocalists and arrangements are closer to what artists like The Weeknd or Carly Rae Jepsen are indulging themselves in. Every song is a neon-soaked banger (especially 'Let Go', 'Out Of Control' and the surprisingly moving and romantic 'Out Of Time') but some of the instrumentals pad out the experience beautifully. 'Lili' and closing cut 'Stronger' in particular wouldn't be out of place on the Stranger Things soundtrack, but somehow they have more personality than most of what casual audiences know as OutRun, Synthwave, etc. etc.


4. 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h - Building A Better World

Genre: Ambient
Put On A Playlist With: Brian Eno, Robert Rich, Stars Of The Lid, Jonn Serrie
Two living producer-gods from the worlds of Mallsoft and Vaporwave joined forces this year to bring you an ambient experience that's in a class all it's own. It's a beautiful dream doomed to die, but boy does it sound great while it's happening. You could live in this thing forever and never want to leave.

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3. Local Visions - Oneironaut

Genre: Contemporary Instrumental Hip-Hop/City Pop/Synth-Funk/Muzakality
Put On A Playlist With: Haruomi Hosono, Nujabes, Larry Heard, death's dynamic shroud.wmv, Hatsune Miku

A label collective based out of Izumo, Japan, Local Visions produced this nostalic compilation of commissioned cuts from all their various artists, weaving the diversity of sounds and ideas together into what became Oneironaut a little earlier this year. Pretty much a perfect laidback electronic-oriented release overall, though my favorites include the piano-led 'Tamura Kafka' and the Macintosh Plus-flavored 'Love Is In The Bin Folder'. Goes well with Fiji water and long drives along the beach.



2. Work Of Art - Exhibits

Genre: AOR
Put On A Playlist With: Journey, Foreigner, Boston, Toto, your favorite Vince DiCola soundtrack

Maybe the best album in this style in decades, right up there with Frontiers by Journey back in 1983 or some of the other top tier releases in the sleek and sleaze of the 80's rock world. Started way back in the early 90's by guitar hero Robert Sall and powerhouse vocalist Lars Säfsund, this is the 4th outing from these guys, a magnificent no frills 80's rock record with enough spice and variety to elevate it above their kin, ending the whole thing with a bluesy wink to Thomas Dolby's work with Foreigner on closer 'Let Me Dream'. The kings of cheese for sure, but it's pretttty finnnnneeee.


1. Bent Knee - You Know What They Mean


Genre: Post-Punk, Progressive Rock, Avant-garde, Alternative Rock, Industrial
Put On A Playlist With: Swans, Sonic Youth, early Live, Circuit des Yeux, Sophie
Pure perfection. Boston based Bent Knee are the band that people here on MusicBanter would be obsessing over if they just knew they existed. They're "out there" in a way most bands aren't, equal parts progressive rock drama and postmodern art rock but with a keen, experimental punk/industrial edge to their songwriting. At the same time, they can throw a hook that can knock your dopamine levels out of alignment when you least expect it, or segue into a killer bassline that drags your feet out from under you.

Part of why Bent Knee works is the sheer vocal acumen of Courtney Swain: she can barnstorm with pure multi-octave energy and then pull back into elusive, glorious subtlety at the drop of a hat. You can hear these dynamics in realtime playing out early on within the feedback-laced 'Bone Rage' and the dubby but catchy 'Hold Me In', but its when they get to the Melvins-morphing-into-choral-bliss of 'Catch Light' that everything really "clicks". Every song is fantastic: I can't do them justice, but take my word for it.

There's almost too much talent happening at once throughout You Know What They Mean, but it all comes together so well that nothing else this year could top these songs.

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grindy

I've known Bent Knee for years and the vocals kept ruining the otherwise cool music for me.
Gonna give them yet another chance though.

Anyway, thanks for the thread. A lot of the stuff I have already known and a lot was just not up my alley but I had great fun exploring it all and the format is very nice and comprehensive. Looking forward to next year.

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Anteater

Thanks! 2019 was a great year overall for music. I saw your list and there were a few on it I didn't recognize. I'll look 'em over.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

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