Luc's Top 50 of 2019
The best music is found right here. Descriptions start at the top 25. |
| 50 |  | American Football
American Football (LP3) |
| 49 |  | Pup
Morbid Stuff |
| 48 |  | Numenorean
Adore |
| 47 |  | Lisel
Angels on the Slope |
| 46 |  | Stuck Out Here
Until We're Each Someone Else |
| 45 |  | Bruce Springsteen
Western Stars |
| 44 |  | Of Monsters and Men
Fever Dream |
| 43 |  | MakeWar
Get It Together |
| 42 |  | Kings Kaleidoscope
Zeal |
| 41 |  | Heath McNease
Be Clean Again |
| 40 |  | The Menzingers
Hello Exile |
| 39 |  | Cult of Luna
A Dawn to Fear |
| 38 |  | Thom Yorke
Anima |
| 37 |  | Taylor Swift
Lover |
| 36 |  | Big Thief
Two Hands |
| 35 |  | Bomethius
Sweet Nothings |
| 34 |  | The Porter's Gate
Neighbour Songs |
| 33 |  | Bad Books
III |
| 32 |  | Good Saint Nathanael
Hide No Truth |
| 31 |  | Greet Death
New Hell |
| 30 |  | Within Temptation
Resist |
| 29 |  | Lagwagon
Railer |
| 28 |  | Avantasia
Moonglow |
| 27 |  | Disciple (USA-TN)
Love Letter Kill Shot |
| 26 |  | Wilder Woods
Wilder Woods |
| 25 |  | Mike Mains and The Branches
When We Were In Love
This is a wonderfully lush pop record brimming with infectious hooks and romantic lyricism. It was a constant listen for me during the Autumn season and I’ve only grown more fond of it since. |
| 24 |  | Common Holly
When I say to you Black Lightning
The forest the record abides in is eerie and endless. There are as many roads out as there are unending shadows that, if you aren’t careful, will most certainly devour you whole. |
| 23 |  | Craig Finn
I Need A New War
Finn’s bold yet serene brand of Americana rock brings his characters to life in a way that is genuine, earnest, painfully relatable and yet hopelessly lovable |
| 22 |  | Hallelujah The Hills
I'm You
Folk music is insane! Hallelujah the Hill’s latest record is just another reason Americana rock and country are quickly becoming some of my favourite genres. |
| 21 |  | Ithaca
The Language of Injury
You know that crumpled up face you make when a heavy, crunchy breakdown comes crashing in? Ithaca has somehow managed to channel that feeling into an entire 30 minutes. |
| 20 |  | Emily Scott Robinson
Traveling Mercies
Emily Scott Robinson’s Travelling Mercies was one of those records I truly began to cherish as the year grew old. It’s beautiful and messy and honest and heartbreaking. The emotional heft in Robinson’s delivery has caught me off guard on numerous occasions |
| 19 |  | Lapalux
Amnioverse
Forgive me then for making such an easy comparison, but Lapalux’s latest record channels many of the same emotions and textures of Burial’s magnum opus Untrue. That I’m comparing this to one of the most essential electronic records of all-time should say something. This is amazing stuff. |
| 18 |  | Yeule
Serotonin II
This is a gorgeous and disconcerting record but, above all, it’s a rollercoaster of musical excellence. |
| 17 |  | The Tallest Man on Earth
I Love You. It's a Fever Dream.
It’s a Fever Dream is a different record for Matsson. Gone is a lively strumming that blessed The Wild Hunt, the romantic optimism of There’s No Leaving Now, and the full band approach of Dark Bird is Gone. I Love You…. is instead lonely and forlorn. It’s the sound of a man who has lost it all and yet, in defiance of the cruel nature of life, finds contentment in himself. |
| 16 |  | The Maine
You Are OK
You Are Ok has to be the most relentlessly catchy and fun release the band has put out to date. Sometimes a full-blown assault of melodic glory is just what a day out calls for. |
| 15 |  | Opeth
In Cauda Venenum
Opeth continues being their quirky, creative, epic selves on their 13th LP. In Cauda Venenum is a glorious return to form after Sorceress stalled the band momentarily. |
| 14 |  | Norma Jean
All Hail
Norma Jean is an unstoppable force. Scratch that. They’re more like an unmerciful hurricane that crushes everything in its path. All Hail sees the band firing on all cylinders, crafting some of the strongest, catchiest, and most pummeling songs of their career. |
| 13 |  | Lambchop
This (is what I wanted to tell you)
A new Lambchop is always a lovely treat (the band is pretty neat too). |
| 12 |  | Seizures
Reverie of the Revolving Diamond
Reverie.... is at once a twisting, ferocious pot of metalcore and a chill, jazzy dream-pop ride. It's one of the most unique metalcore records I've heard in years. |
| 11 |  | Glen Hansard
This Wild Willing
This Wild Willing is a staggering, grand album. Each song-every little adventure-is as gorgeous and exciting as the last. |
| 10 |  | Big Thief
U.F.O.F.
Big Thief were a band that was always on the edge of their true potential and U.F.O.F builds on that promise in a way that caught me completely off guard. |
| 9 |  | Courtney Swain
Between Blood and Ocean
Between Blood and Ocean is fantastically unpredictable, from the beautifully ominous “Sweet Snow,” the funky, rock bite of songs like “I’d Kill” and “Don’t Look At Me,” to the explosive “White Trees,” a pop song laced with warbled vocal effects and synthesizer. It’s messy and disorganized and it absolutely knows it, which only makes it all the more exciting every time I hit play. |
| 8 |  | John Van Deusen
(I Am) Origami, Pt. 3: A Catacomb Hymn
I felt like I’ve been waiting for years to hear a Christian market release like this again. Deusen released a beautiful and lyrically reverent worship offering last year so I wasn’t expecting to hear him go down this pop/rock-leaning direction. I’m at once surprised and ecstatic at the result. |
| 7 |  | Laura Stevenson
The Big Freeze
The Big Freeze is lonely yet at peace with itself. It’s immensely sad but, for reasons I’m not sure I even understand myself, I find it endearingly beautiful. |
| 6 |  | Origami Angel
Somewhere City
Who would have predicted that a small emo band that released a pokemon Gameboy soundtrack on Bandcamp would then go on to release one of the best emo records I’ve heard in years…..in the very same year? Somewhere City is freakishly good. |
| 5 |  | Prince Daddy and The Hyena
Cosmic Thrill Seekers
This is angsty, adolescent punk in its rawest form. It’s depressed, messed up, confused and disillusioned. The vocal performance is one of the ugliest sounds I’ve heard in music but it’s impossible not to love it. It’s so over the top and it just embodies the carefree spirit of punk music |
| 4 |  | Great Grandpa
Four of Arrows
Remember the 90s? It was pretty much the best decade for music there ever was. This record thinks the same. It wears its style with the same sass artists like Sixpence None the Richer, The Cranberries, or Alanis Morissette displayed back in their day. |
| 3 |  | Bill Callahan
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is an album about contentment and the mystery that comes after. Something so beautifully human can only be sung the way Bill does here. It’s pastoral, wandering, and beautifully understated. |
| 2 |  | Copeland
Blushing
Blushing has only gotten richer and more rewarding with time. It’s a heartbroken and desperate portrait of a man that’s realizing his love is drifting further than he can reach. The music is as wistful as it is intoxicating and the dreamy, blurry visage that Copeland wraps this record in is utterly spellbinding. Yet every time I hear it it gets a little bit sadder. |
| 1 |  | Jimmy Eat World
Surviving
Surviving is everything I love about music. It rocks hard, it’s ambitious (hello “Congratulations”), it lifts the spirits, it understands the confusion of youth, it’s love-struck, and it resonates with the human condition. When many of my favourites disappointed me this year, my boys came back just in time to remind me of why I fell in love with music in the first place. |
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