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2019 In Review - Anteater's Top 30+ Albums
Well Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but might as well get a head start.
2019 has probably been the best year in music overall since at least 2016 for me, but it's all flown by so fast that it's weird to think we are a little less than a month away from 2020. :laughing: I'll be updating this initial post as I go down the list this month, so refer back to it if you see something you like but might not remember what it was. I'll try to link to YT vids, Bandcamp links, etc. where applicable from post to post. This has become kind of a end-of-the-year tradition for me for the last four or five years, so if you see something you like give a shout out. :p: ~ Derek |
30. 3776 - ??? (Saijiki)
Genre: Japanese Avant-Pop Put On A Playlist With: Boris, After Dinner, Mid-Air Thief What if Geinoh Yamashirogumi had been a cute contemporary idol group instead of a bunch of disillusioned commune dwellers cultivating esoteric hymns to life and death out in the rice fields? That’s 3776 in a nutshell. Their leader Ide Chiyono is eccentric all the right ways, and it shows in these wildly varied zodiac-themed tunes that jump between genres and ideas like some people jump between medications. It’s pretty sporadic stuff, but also immensely interesting (especially if you bother to translate and follow the lyrics). It’s also musically off-the-wall, touching on hip-hop, City Pop, EDM, post-punk, even prog and drum n’ bass. Not for everyone, but definitely one of the big highlights of the year for me. 29. Ole Børud - Outside The Limit Genre: Jazz Pop, Westcoast, R&B, Gospel Put On A Playlist With: Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac, Justin Timberlake, Steely Dan Ole is one of my favorite discoveries of the last decade or so. Not only is he the lead guitarist for progressive death metal group Extol, but he’s also basically Stevie Wonder with a jazzier, funkier edge on his solo material, as wonderfully displayed on his latest outing here. Plus he writes, arranges and sings everything to perfection. Very much a modern day prodigy. You'd think all the millions of people who like Meyer Hawthorne or Bruno Mars would be all over someone performing at this level, but I guess being from Norway probably doesn't help. Lots of horns, great bass, killer guitar solos and in general a very good jazz-tinged pop release. If your going to eat cheese, you might as well go for the best. 28. Hypnotic Nausea - The Death Of All Religions Genre: Doom-laden Desert Rock Put On A Playlist With: Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Sleep, Dreadnaught Gloriously groovy in all the right places but somehow not repetitive, Hypnotic Nausea are a band that understand the power of great pacing as they paint a picture in your mind. In particular, opener ‘Holy City’ is an immediate example of their methodology: drive those grooves deep into the soul and bring out the vocals at just the “right” time rather than what the listener is expecting. These guys are case in point for something obvious but easy to miss as we stream or buy or search around as the years go by: sometimes the most important thing in music is not to be first or the absolute “best”, but just be a little bit different or better than those around you in your little sonic corner of the world. |
Oh yeah!
I've been waiting for this thread. Always bringing the good stuff. |
^ I try, love. I put the ff in Effort.
27. Darkwater - Human Genre: European Prawg-Powah Metal Put On A Playlist With: Kamelot, early 2000's Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, Symphony X Never really cared for these guys in the past, but Human was a welcome discovery for me earlier this year in my bid to scratch the keyboard/guitar heavy progressive metal itch I get sometimes. Everything sounds super crisp (including the bass) and there's lot of Gothic flair without being too cheesy. Hooks aplenty too. It helps that Henrik Båth is also a really gifted singer who reminds me so much of the great Roy Khan that it's a little eerie (but welcome). 26. she - Aspire Genre: Chiptune, Glitch pop, Synthwave, Vaporwave Put On A Playlist With: Every Sega Saturn game you wish you could revisit. Producer and keyboardist Lain Volta Trzaska (AKA she) has been doing video game oriented pop music since before it was cool, but from the early 2000's onward, he began blending chiptune with early synthwave idioms, coupled with a hefty dose of glitch thrown in - a style that's come to define the "she" project's various releases. His 2015 release Chiptune Memories is one of the best pop albums of the last twenty years, but Aspire has a lot of fun moments and was really welcome in 2019 at at time when others in this arena seem to have moved away from any form of fun or accessibility. Long story short: if you like electronic pop music, the synthier side of 80's, or video game music from the mid 90's, this album is heaven in a ramen cup. 25. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana Genre: Hip-Hop Put On A Playlist With: Freddayyy, Madlibbbb, Kno Was there anyone who wasn't looking forward to this particular 2nd go around? Two legends, one at the mic and one at the board. It's a little smoother, a little more confident than Pinata (which was also great), but there are little things here that make me feel they took a bit more time on this set to get the flow just right, especially with the sample choices. Crime Pays in particular takes what sounds like a George Duke-esque Rhodes line from the late 70's and builds a smooth sailing banger over it, and even Anderson .Paak works on Giannis when he'd normally be a distraction. |
Great thread as usual. No idea how you find the time to discover all this awesome stuff
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24. Thank You Scientist - Terraformer
Genre: Jazzy, Cinematic Math Rock Put On A Playlist With: Coheed & Cambria, At The Drive-In, TesseracT Off kilter kinda-prog rock with a little ska (there's a horn section), some post-hardcore and a decent amount of djent. Couple that with a vocalist who sounds exactly like the guy from The Mars Volta and a sci-fi underpinning...yeah, I'm sold. It's taken me three albums to really warm up to their spastic approach to songwriting, but there's some great hooks and ideas to explore here, especially on the X-Files inspired FXMLDR, the lovely zither-led New Moon and the relentless title track. 23. Magma - Zëss (Le Jour De Néant) Genre: Zeuhl Put On A Playlist With: Ruins, other Zeuhl bands. If this turns out to be the "final" sequence in Christian Vander long running Kobaia sequence of works under Magma, then nobody could have asked for a better ending. Zëss is a wondrous cherry that's been placed on top of one of my favorite musical cakes, filled with gorgeous choral sections, lots of piano and of course the frenetic 70's jazz-rock meets opera energy that characterizes the Zeuhl sound. Not a bad way to close out a 40+ year saga. 22. Source - Totality Genre: Post-Grunge, Smart-Rawk, "sounds like Tool" Put On A Playlist With: Tool, Karnivool, Tool, Melvins? Got recommended this awhile back: gimme those Tool clones baby! But in all seriousness, I think this was legitimately the album Tool actually wanted to make, but didn't quite know how. It's got all the existential noodling and groovage, but a stronger sense of melodic immediacy and "hooks" than what these fellas' more popular counterpart gave us with Fear Inoculum. It helps that the singer has his own "voice" that isn't a carbon copy of Maynard James Keenan, so points for that. |
21. Curren$y & Statik Selektah - Gran Turismo
Genre: Rap Put On A Playlist With: Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Tyler the Creator It was a real pleasure this year to hear some nu-school cats like Curren$y & Statik Selektah work together on something with as much groove and panache as this particular project. Nothing too special lyrically as far as the rap game goes, but I'm a sucker for the instrumental side of it and Statik knocks it out of the damn park. Midnight driving meditations. 20. Silver Snakes - Death And The Moon Genre: Industrial / Alternative Put On A Playlist With: Pretty Hate Machine (the album), Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, early Fear Factory L.A. based producer and singer/songwriter Alex Estrada is a rising star in more ways than one. While he definitely comes across vocally as a cross between Trent Reznor and Chester Bennington, the music he conjurs up with Silver Snakes has all the classic industrial-synth-pop spades in a row and even throws in a few surprises like closer 'Gone Is Gone', which sounds like a super abrasive take on Depeche Mode's sound circa Violator but somehow makes it gel into something with real feeling. Incredibly good stuff and a talent to keep an eye on in the coming years. 19. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest Genre: Thrash Metal Put On A Playlist With: Early Metallica or Megadeth I can't really add anything to a review of this album that likely hasn't been said elsewhere to death, but I do find it rather impressive that anyone can pull off an authentic recreation of Kill 'Em All era Metallica without being cringey...yet also somehow have an actual concept that hasn't been done to death by the thrash groups I listened to so much as a kid (in this case, environmental apocalypse). If anyone was ever under the illusion that KG&TLW were a one trick pony, this should settle that argument for awhile. |
Thanks Antman for writing this. Lot of effort in this post. Will listen to each.
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^ Thanks mang! Let me know if you hear something you like.
18. The Panic Division - TOUCH Genre: Indie Pop-Rock Put On A Playlist With: The 1975, St. Lucia, Passion Pit, Friendly Fires Chunky pop rock with a strong 00's radio commercial sheen to it. What makes it work are a combination of some pretty snappy songwriting combined with Colton Holliday's distinctive vocals - kinda like Roland Orzabel from Tears For Fears crossed with Richard Patrick. The vaguely 80's synth flourishes and the thoughtful lyrics aren't a bad...touch either. 17. Bright Curse - Time Of The Healer Genre: Classic 70's Psychedelic / Stoner Rock Put On A Playlist With: Mid 70's Sabbath, Camel, Robin Trower A London-based heavy psych trio with more than a few welcome surprises up their sleeve, including Peruvian flute noodling and trumpet solos amidst the thunderous grooves and prophetic vocals from lead guitarist and frontman Romain Daut. All without losing the bluesy, mind expanding appeal of their core classic doom aesthetic: grooooovy. 16. Momo Said - Break The Rules Genre: Soul/Funk/R&B Put On A Playlist With: Smokey Robinson, Victor Davies, Maxwell Born in Morocco but raised in Italy, Momo Said is a soulful dude who really pulled out all the stops on his sophomore outing Break The Rules. He covers a wide swath of styles across R&B's well tread spectrum, including P-Funk, more orchestral, old school fare like 'Time Gives Lessons' and even jazzier, experimental material like 'Basement' or the rhythmic 'Post Scriptum", but somehow comes out of the whole thing with his own stamp upon the landscape. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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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