I realized that I let most of the year go by without doing any music reviews! I realize that I will never be able to catch up; there was so much great music in 2019! So instead, I thought I would do a "mini-review" of my top 10 favorite albums of 2019! Tell me yours in the comments!
1. Alcest "Spiritual Instinct" - By far, my favorite album of the year, as well as my most anticipated. I was lucky enough to have someone suggest this French band to me about four years ago, and I have been hooked ever since. They are right up my proverbial alley. This band swirls together aspects of black metal with shoegaze to form a new genre (that they created) called "blackgaze". Eerie, melodic, ethereal - there is nothing like this type of music on the planet. (I will blog in more detail about it later.) Some of their six albums - like 2014's "Shelter" - veer more onto the shoegaze side of things. Principal vocalist/ guitarist/ songwriter Neige has said that he always has to resist the urge to create a Slowdive record. Other albums, like this one, lean heavily on the metal side. The riffs are heavier, the screams are more raw. But it still retains a healthy measure of dreaminess. There are only six songs, but, true to post-rock form, none of them less than fiver minutes. "Les Jardins de Minuit" has a savory mix of powerful shrieks and medeival-style chants. The results send chills down my spine. My favorite track is the haunting "Le Miroir". Not too long ago, I was sitting in my car, listening to music in the parking lot of a grocery store while my wife shopped. A man came up to my window and asked if it was Depeche Mode. And that's the kind of music this is - heavy metal being mistaken for darkwave...
2. DIIV "Deceiver" - For those who follow my blog, they know that I have reviewed this band before, and that they are one of my absolute favorites. This record ties with Alcest for my favorite of 2019. Those who know the band know that frontman, Zachary Cole Smith, has struggled with heroin addiction, and it showed in their soporific, hazy brand of shoegaze. A few things have changed on their new album. 1. The band moved from New York to Los Angeles. 2. Cole went clean. 3. The band all contributes to the music instead of it just being Cole's confessional project. And it shows. It shows in the interviews where Cole takes a backseat to the other band members. And it shows in the music. The lyrics are still Cole's. His dark lyrics explore addiction and rehabilitation. But the music is clear and purposeful. It seemed unlikely that they would stop their sophomore effort "Is the Is Are". It seemed unlikely that there would be another album. But there is. And guess what? It does not suck.
3. Whirr "Feels Like You" - This album was a great $5 investment, and I'll explain why. For most of the past decade, Whirr has been at the forefront of the shoegaze revival. Nick Bassett has played in other shoegaze bands like Nothing (a band I've covered for five years) and Deafheaven. They put out two very good releases that were generally loved by fans, and then they fell victims to cancel culture. Being young and dumb, they made comments on Twitter about a rival band that could be considered transphobic, and they lost their record contract. Now, I am not justifying their behavior, but it is unfortunate that we live in such an unforgiving society. Even after offering apologies, the band seemed over. But they have persisted and released a new album on Bandcamp for $5. This album is very typical shoegaze - swirly guitars and muted vocals. But it is very refreshing, especially on songs like "Younger Than You" and "Rose Cold". Hopefully, though, they will make an effort to stay off of Twitter...
4. Sturgil Simpson "SOUND & FURY" - What do you do when you are a Grammy-winning country artist who has already made three country albums that boldly stretch the limit of the genre? You make a decidedly-not-country album. I was really surprised when I first listened to this album. Sure, there's a little country Americana in there, but this album takes genres and warps and twists them into something purely original - Southern rock, synthpop new wave, boogie, and funk, all melted and fused together in something that resembles ZZ Top meets The Cars. This is a really psychedelic record. Apparently, Simpson wanted a visual accompaniment to the album, and there is a Japanese anime version of the album on Netflix, but I haven't watched it yet. I can't wait to see what Simpson does next. Check out "Sing Along", "Make Art Not Friends", and "All Said And Done" for good samples, but, really, this is a concept album and should be listened completely in one season.
5. LSD "Labrinth, Sia, & Diplo Present... LSD" -
LSD is an acronym for the collaborative project with British singer Labrinth, Australian singer Sia, and American deejay and producer, Diplo. The result is an exquisite pop gem of an album, a veritable earworm. This record helped remind me that - along with punk and post-punk - my past is saturated with EDM, and I still love it. These songs are vibrant and colorful, laden with funky beats and the serene, angelic voices of Labrinth and Sia. Really - what's not to like? Some of the songs, like the elegant "Thunderclouds" have an almost 1950s vibe to them. Other delightful songs are "Genius", "Mountains", "Audio", and "No New Friend". I seriously hope that this album is not the end of their creative endeavor and that we see another release from them in the bear future.
6. Ride "This Is Not A Safe Place" - The 2010s saw a rebirth of the shoegaze movement, many new bands switching genres to start reviving the movement. This opened up the doors for many of the shoegaze bands from the '90s to have comebacks, including the Holy Trinity of Shoegaze, being My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride. In 2014, much to the pleasure of fans, Ride came together again, not just for touring, but to release a pair of albums. Their sixth album sees them back on form. It's not perfect. I don't like all of the songs. But the ones I do make up for the mediocrity of the others. Both "End Game" and "Shadows Behind the Sun" are strongly reminiscent of The Church. "Clouds of Saint Marie" is a sweet but meaningful pop song. The primary single, "Future Love", redeems the entire album by combining pop sensibility with the dreamlike layers of sound that shoegaze is known for. Ride have shown that they are just as relevant now as they ever were.
7. Drab Majesty "Modern Mirror" - Here is a band that I didn't discover until last year, thanks to my good friend, Linda. Andrew Clinco is the drummer for post-rock band, Marriages (featuring the wonderful Emma Ruth Rundle). He started recording solo music, but he said that it didn't sound at all like him - it sounded like it was music by someone else. So, he created an alter ego as the frontperson of his new band, Drab Majesty - the androgynous Deb Demure. The result is this third album of bone-chilling, danceable darkwave, a total throwback to the gothic music of the '80s. I'm not going to lie - I listen to this band - like on songs like "The Other Side" and "Noise of the Void" - and I hear Clan of Xymox, totally. But that's not necessarily a band thing. In fact, I quite like it. This entire album immediately pulls you into its groove like an indelible homecoming. I can almost see the goth clubs that I used to inhabit as a young man in the '80s. Thank you, Linda!
8. Billie Eilish "When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" - This one may come as a surprise to some people. Yes, I know that "bad guy" is overplayed on the radio. I know that she is so oversaturated in the media that many people have grown to dislike her and she is regarded as "mainstream". But there is a reason that a 17-year-old has achieved this kind of success. (She is exactly the same age as my daughter to the day.) This is a really good album. I have never been averse to pop music. But I love pop music that is subversive even more. And that fits this album. It is surprisingly simple - hard hitting drum beats bumping beneath Billie's airy vocals, singing about surprisingly sinister topics. "bury a friend" is so dark. "i love you" has such a good use of dream pop wall of sound. Hey, if this album is good enough for Dave Grohl, it's good enough for me.
9. Tool "Fear Incoculum" - Like millions of other people, I was one of those who waited almost fourteen years for this album. Truthfully, I was hoping that it would score a little higher on the list than this, but it is what it is. It's still a good album, filled with ten-minute opuses, laden with heavy guitar riffs, off-kilter rhythms, languorous, psychedelic ponderances, Maynard's perplexing lyrics sung is his crystal-clear voice, and trippy interludes. Some people have disliked it, complaining that it is not heavy enough, but too atmospheric. But hey, "atmospheric" is my bag. A typical Tool album. Although not quite as good as "AEnima" or "Lateralus". but about as good as "10,000 Days". The whole album is better, as with all Tool albums, better when listened in one sitting, but my favorites are "Descending" and "Culling Voices".
10. Chelsea Wolfe "Birth of Violence" - In April, 2018, I made a trip to Philadelphia to visit an old friend, a music guru of sorts, and one of the many artists he introduced me to was Chelsea Wolfe. I came back from Philadelphia with the album "Abyss". Over the next couple of years, I was able to explore her back catalog which consisted of four other albums. It's hard to describe her music. She uses a plethora of influences and morphs them into her own creature. Each album is vastly different than the next. Metal, doom, drone, goth, folk - Wolfe is all of these and none of these. On this, her sixth album, she decided to return to her folk roots and go acoustic, and the live shows were also stripped down to their bare elements. But even for an acoustic record, this album is still dark and brooding, and she adds so many complex layers of orchestra, keyboards, and ambient noises that give this album the feel of a nightmare that you can't wake up from. But you don't really want to. Black lace blowing in a cold breeze.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
11. Ladytron "Ladytron" - Like other bands like Curve and M83, Ladytron mixes elements of shoegaze with what is essentially electropop. The result is something that is at once diaphanous and danceable. But I have to say - there can be no denying that this band takes a page (or two) from ABBA - not necessarily a bad thing, the springy harmonies and catchy beats. My favorite songs are "Far From Home", which melts in the end into a blaring cacaphony of pure noise, and the angular "Run". It's no wonder why Brian Eno loves this band so much.
12. Cigarettes After Sex "Cry" - This El Paso band is one that I have listened to before they had an album out yet and only an EP. And I have always loved them. I admit that a lot of their songs sound kind of the same - sweet dream pop melodies set to Greg Gonzalez's feminine voice, everything languid, soft, slow, and reverb-y akin to Cowboy Junkies, Mazzy Star or Julee Cruise. One discussion group I'm in had one individual referred to them as Shoegaze Maroon 5. But sometimes there is comfort found in familiarity and predictability. If all of these songs sound like the same song, then that song is romantic, a little sad, and a touch moving. Just listen to the song "Heaven", and you will see exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know what the whole "Hentai" is about, though. B ut I guess in the end, though, all of these sugary and sensual songs are about sex.
13. Silversun Pickups "Widow's Weeds" - These guys have been one of my top bands for the last ten years, and their fifth album released last year was one of my most anticipated albums. Yet I was a little disappointed in this one. In fact, I have been disappointed in the last two albums. They haven't been bad. This one isn't really bad. But they don't move me in the way that "Carnavas", "Swoon", and "Neck of the Woods" did. Nevertheless, the songs are good, and the band is in good form, like on the principal single, "It Doesn't Matter Why". The other strong points are on "Freakazoid", "Simpatico", and "We Are Chameleons" Regardless of how I feel about the album, it is good to still have these guys around. They really are one of the coolest bands out there.
