Thread for discussing your choices and mulling over your thinking for Album of the Year 2019

I’m a “nothing has really blown me away this year” kind of person. Second albums by Madonnatron, Charly Bliss and Operators are all great, but not just-wanna-keep-on-playing-it great.

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Top five is looking like

  1. Tyler, The Creator - Igor
  2. The Chemical Brothers - No Geography
  3. Girl Band - The Talkies
  4. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
  5. Jenny Hval - The Talkies

Ariana Grande - thank u, next

Ghosteen is streets ahead for me.

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After a slow start this ended up being a great year.

The two true album of the year candidates are Strange Ranger and Pile. I’m going to reuse what I wrote in another thread:

Strange Ranger - Remembering the Rockets

I can’t emphasize enough how much I love this band, who have now released three absolute classics in a row. A strange compliment but the highest one I can give is that more than any other band, they’re able to cut through the grayness and dullness of depression and make you feel sadness, almost like something has been or is about to be lost.

The album starts out kind of jangly and poppy (you can really hear the Third Eye Blind and Cure influences at the beginning), but then by the fourth song this cloud of doom starts rolling in and suffocating everything. A lot of the album deals with going on living your life in the face of climate change, and you can really hear it in the music. It feels like something bad is about to happen.

The first half of the album is great, but the second half is on a whole other level and will likely be responsible for making it my AOTY. It’s beautiful.

Pile - Green and Gray

If it weren’t for Strange Ranger it would be an easy choice for AOTY (and it’s shooting up to near the top of my decade list too). It has such a great combination of songs that attack you immediately and slow burns that take their time creeping around before exploding into mayhem. It works perfectly as a whole and builds to a brutal climax that’s just as heavy as it is deflating.

I think if you have any interest in Rid of Me era PJ Harvey, Lullabies era QOTSA, Frances the Mute era Mars Volta, Drive Like Jehu, Tropical Fuck Storm, and Unwound, you’ll love this. It’s still early but I think this is going to be an all-timer. This is basically the direction I was hoping QOTSA would go when they brought in Jon Theodore.

Fighting for the rest of my top five, in no particular order:

The National - I Am Easy to Find
Big Thief - UFOF
Big Thief - Two Hands
Pedro the Lion - Phoenix
Tropical Fuck Storm - Braindrops
Alcest - Spiritual Instinct

Fighting for the rest of my top ten, in no particular order:

The Murder Capital - When I Have Fears
Spielbergs - This Is Not the End
Palm Haze - Reve Blue
MONO - Nowhere Now Here
Sasami - s/t

Also good, in no particular order:

The Twilight Sad
Sharon Van Etten
Priests
Thom Yorke
Sleater-Kinney
Better Oblivion Community Center
Tool
Wilco
Underground Lovers

Too early to evaluate:

Have a Nice Life - Sea of Worry
Billy Corgan - Cotillions

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Mine too.

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So for the past couple of years I have been doing my AOTY thing by choosing my top 64 and then doing Eliminators. This year is shaping up like this:

Group #1
competitor #1: Bill Callahan
competitor #2: Black Belt Eagle Scout
Group #2
competitor #1: Trouble Books
competitor #2: Richard Dawson
Group #3
competitor #1: Numenorean
competitor #2: Her Name is Calla
Group #4
competitor #1: Tropical Fuck Storm
competitor #2: Steph Chura
Group #5
competitor #1: Sunn O))) (life metal)
competitor #2: Marika Hackman
Group #6
competitor #1: Hatchie
competitor #2: Billy Woods, Kenny Segal
Group #7
competitor #1: A Winged Victory for the Sullen
competitor #2: Blanck Mass
Group #8
competitor #1: Pye Corner Audio
competitor #2: Aldous Harding
Group #9
competitor #1: Felicia Atkinson
competitor #2: Lightning Bolt
Group #10
competitor #1: Nvhek
competitor #2: Comet is Coming
Group #11
competitor #1: Beth Gibbons et al
competitor #2: Danny Brown
Group #12
competitor #1: Freddie Gibbs, Madlib
competitor #2: Mount Eerie
Group #13
competitor #1: Earth
competitor #2: Twilight Sad
Group #14
competitor #1: Malibu Ken
competitor #2: Mannequin Pussy
Group #15
competitor #1: Mammoth Wizard Weed Bastard
competitor #2: Tyler the Creator
Group #16
competitor #1: Sudan Archives
competitor #2: FKA Twigs
Group #17
competitor #1: Billie Eilish
competitor #2: Holly Herndon
Group #18
competitor #1: Little Simz
competitor #2: Chemical Bros
Group #19
competitor #1: Kelsey Lu
competitor #2: Alcest
Group #20
competitor #1: Chelsea Wolfe
competitor #2: Spelling
Group #21
competitor #1: Big Thief (UFOF)
competitor #2: American Football
Group #22
competitor #1: Press Club (Late Teens)
competitor #2: Sasami
Group #23
competitor #1: Minor Pieces
competitor #2: The National
Group #24
competitor #1: Baker, Mueller, Coloccia
competitor #2: Clairo
Group #25
competitor #1: Sunn O))) (pyroclasts)
competitor #2: Teeth of the Sea
Group #26
competitor #1: Big Thief (2 hands)
competitor #2: Press Club (wasted energy)
Group #27
competitor #1: Palm Haze
competitor #2: Thom Yorke
Group #28
competitor #1: Better Oblivion Community Centre
competitor #2: Employed to Serve
Group #29
competitor #1: Liturgy
competitor #2: Warmth
Group #30
competitor #1: Weyes Blood
competitor #2: Jenny Hval
Group #31
competitor #1: Cherry Glazer
competitor #2: Claire Cronin
Group #32
competitor #1: Nick Cave
competitor #2: Blut Aus Nord
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Pretty bold of Jenny Hval to put out a full album of covers by Girl Band so soon after its release…

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Were the groups drawn at random?

Yup, I did consider some kind of seeding but I thought totally random would be more fun.

Does mean that both Big Thieves are in the same half of the draw though so it rules out the possibility of an all Thief final.

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Almost done the first round of listening play offs. Was a real wrench to see some top records go out in the first round. That new American Football is superb, pity it was drawn against UFOF but what can you do?

Yeah, I’ll go with that. They’re probably my two favourite albums from this year with Proto shading it.

Been an OK year overall. Not great.

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Funny that these two got put together, they’re the two hardest albums for me to evaluate.

Palm Haze is by far the most exciting album of the year for me (Wildflower is a song of the decade contender) and is pretty much exactly my thing, but it feels more like a short collection of ideas than an album. You can tell that they can get so much better.

I haven’t listened in awhile, but from what I remember Thom Yorke’s album is basically two great songs surrounded by alright material. But it’s very cohesive and creates a strong, unique mood that none of the other albums really explore.

I’m kinda torn between Nathan Micay’s Blue Spring and Grønland by Glåsbird which I keep coming back to again and again.

Really, really like U.F.O.F. as well but I’ve listened to it less over the past few months.

Yeah that was a tough one for pretty much the reasons you described. It’s funny some of the random pair ups have been really hard to choose between, sometimes because they’re doing such different things (e.g. Sunn o))) and Marika Hackman) sometimes because they’re both just equally great.

Some were easy though like Minor Pieces (could make the semis I reckon) versus The National (I know you rate that one but it’s one of my disappointments of the year and only just made the cut for the 64)

Winged Victory versus Blanck Mass was tough

Struggling this year for some reason, 2018 had so many stunning albums I couldn’t pick between about 20. There are some disappointments which I looked forward to but did little for me (Bon Iver, Angel Dust, Baroness). So far in alphabetical order this is about it:

American Football
Beirut
Fontaines DC
Girl Band
Crows
St Pierre Snake Invasion
Twilight Sad

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Jenny Hval, Girl Band, Richard Dawson, Nick Cave, Carly Rae Jepsen, Helado Negro, Angel Olsen, Ariana Grande, Thom Yorke, Florist, slowthai, Lana Del Rey, Bill Callahan… off the top of my head.

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Twilight Sad too, which really doesn’t feel like a record from this year?!

In the running

Press Club
The Twilight Sad
Numenorean
Self Esteem
Girl Band
Jay Som
Pile
The Murder Capital
Richard Dawson
Big Thief
The St. Pierre Snake Invasion
Weyes Blood
White Ward
Alcest
Foals
Blut Aus Nord
Billie Eilish
Tropical Fuck Storm

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