The Nicsperiment's Favorite 15 Albums of 2019
Approximately 400 million albums were released this year. I was able to listen to nearly a quarter of them, but that still leaves 300 million albums I haven't heard. Who am I then, to say, "Here are the best albums of 2019," when there are 300 million albums from 2019 I haven't heard?
Instead, here are my favorite albums from the 100 million I've heard this year.
2019 was a bit of an unexpected emotional roller-coaster for me, as is any year I complacently enter expecting emotional normalcy. What a stupid idea! With that said, these are very emotional choices, but what else is music for? Here's a bunch of pain! Here is a list to crush all lists! The 2010's are over!
15. blink-182 -- Nine
I thought blink-182 were dead. They already reunited in 2011 after their first break up, to just okay results, then lost founding member, and arguably, sound-driver, Tom DeLonge. They returned in 2016 with California, the dude from Alkaline Trio in the place of DeLonge, and sounded like zombies. I don't know what happened between now and then because this year's Nine finds blink-182 very alive, full of youthful energy and attitude. The moment that Matt Skiba--that dude from Alkaline Trio--trades off verses with founding member, Mark Hoppus, on opening track, "The First Time," you can tell these guys have found their spot. From there, everything just works, with the band able to conjure up that 1999-era blink-182 vibe, and somehow effortlessly blend it with a modern vibe and sensibility, along with 2019 production values. It's a modern miracle!
14. Jakub Zytecki -- Nothing Lasts, Nothing's Lost
Usually, guitar prodigies put out self-indulgent, noodling, crappy albums, fun only for those who like to sit for hours picking apart technique. Jakub Zytecki throws all that out the window, creating some strange electronic style of music I can only describe as Zyteckia: hopeful, optimistic electronics burbling and bleeping over big beats and bass drops, rapidly picked out electric guitar lines at the service of the songs, instead of the other way around. The Polish artist also puts his voice and guest vocals to use at key moments, creating a vibe I can only describe as youthful...Nothing Lasts, Nothing's Lost has to be the least depressing thing I've heard this year.
13. Obsequiae -- The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
What's this? A death metal band whose sound features frequent harp interludes? On The Palms of Sorrowed Kings, Obsequiae attempt to conquer sounds of medieval grandeur, resulting in an album of triumphant, technically masterful songs that...you know those Stalfos from Zelda? Those hulking reanimated skeletons wearing a full suit of armor and brandishing swords and shields? This sounds like a group of them formed a band to tell about former glories, when the Stalfos were soldiers who marched and battled on the rolling green fields of Hyrule, under the king's banners. It's so awesome.
12. .WAVS - .WAVS
Again, what is happening in Poland to motivate their youth toward such musical activities? In America, our grunge movement sadly died in the 90's, when all the frontmen either killed themselves, corporatized, or waited a couple decades, then killed themselves. Poland has already been outputting sausageloads of awesome metal bands over the last few years, and suddenly, here's .WAVS with a self-titled debut full of grunge music...with the twist. Inside their grunge music, .WAVS have inserted the influence of an even deader genre: nu-metal. I have no idea why .WAVS works, other than the fact that .WAVS are Polish, and their vocalist sounds like he's got headphones on and is singing along to Alice in Chains, and they've both injected a fabulous amount of atmosphere and energy into these songs, not just feeding or resting upon nostalgia, but creating something altogether and weirdly new...and in English...hooray for run-ons!
11. Suldusk -- Lunar Falls
I don't know how, but Autumn came to life, and it's called Lunar Falls by Suldusk. Suldusk is Emily Highfield's one-woman project from Melbourne, Australia, but she's enlisted a full-band here to flesh out her aural visions of browned and reddened leaves fluttering into rushing, stone-banked rivers, under the towering heights of ancient, snow-capped peaks. You can hear the rush of wind through skeletal branches, as delicately picked acoustic guitar overlays an electric that's at times atmospheric, and at select moments metallic, as Highfield's lilting voice suddenly shifts into a scream. The tom-heavy drums insinuate a steady, loping walk, classical cello lending Lunar Falls a near religious depth. Also, my kid is smacking his gum and playing video games in my ear, and making this already lumbering paragraph hell to proofread.
10. The Deer -- Do No Harm
The Deer's Do No Harm make me wish I was in Austin, and five years younger and well-adjusted, a clear millennial instead of in generational no man's land and shit in a relationship, though I don't want to be alone, sick of the city after I've stood on concrete for five minutes, but culture-dry when I've been in the country for just as long, sick of sitting at a desk, but hesitant to give up the A/C and go back to calloused hands. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, The Deer's Do No Harm. The album's upbeat, focused, yet relaxed and dreamy folk-influenced rock shouldn't be my cup of tea at all, but it tastes so good. When I Google "The Deer," where are they from? The lonestar capital.
9. The Appleseed Cast -- The Fleeting Light of Impermanence
Considering The Appleseed Cast got saddled with that whole "America's Closest Answer to Radiohead" thing in the 2000's, it's rather fitting that their 2010's have been nearly as quiet as Radiohead's. Both band's released one okay album early in the decade, but now, both have released one great one in its latter half, as The Appleseed Cast's The Fleeting Light of Impermanence is a delightful and welcome return to form. The biggest surprise here is the prominence of frontman Chris Crisci's vocals, warm and inviting over these spry and searching rock instrumentals, climaxing in the surpremely powerful "Asking the Fire for Medicine."
8. Abigail Williams -- Walk Beyond the Dark
Any band would struggle to create an epically aural equivalent to the visual of Abigail Williams' Walk Beyond the Dark cover. The black metal band come close, combining pounding drums and menacing vocals with beautiful guitar and cello melodies. However, the album never bogs down in a repetitive blast-beat scream wash, with unique and diverse passages leading the way through an incredibly distinct musical journey. The result is...look at that album cover. Walk Beyond the Dark is like a breathtaking winter sunrise over a vast, dead forest.
7. Sadistik -- Haunted Gardens
I thought I was done with Sadistik. He seemed to be leaning more and more into his uglier side, and anyway, I really only needed his music when I was down...and I hadn't been down since...well the last time Sadistik released some pretty music and I needed to hear it. Now, just when I need it again, Sadistik is back with Haunted Gardens, the most beautiful collection of music he's ever released. The Seattle rapper has learned to somehow increase the dreamy, gorgeous layers in his sound, while cutting the fat from his songs. Only three of Haunted Garden's 13 tracks top the three-minute mark, and they're the only ones that need to, as the other ten tracks make their point in less than that. Meanwhile, as a lyricist and rapper, Sadistik continues to perfect his crafts, finding inventive rhyming patterns as he explores the folds of his mind, muses about his favorite art, and continues to miss his departed father.
6. Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Orchestra -- Henry Gorecki: Symphony No:3
I'm really sad. You know what I'd like to listen to? That girl from Portishead singing. Wait, she's in her 50's now? And Portishead haven't released an album in over a decade? Then how old am I? I am? Ugh. Well, now I'm really sad. Well then, I'm gonna need Beth Gibbons from Portishead to sing operatically over some really sad orchestral music. Wait, there's a piece called Symphony of Sorrowful Songs? And it's Polish? Of course it's Polish. Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3, performed by Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Orchestra is incredibly sad, powerful, and moving, Gibbons' voice and this piece a match made in heaven, but it also becomes strangely uplifting as it goes along...kind of like you lied down in a hilltop field on a cold night expecting to die under the moon, but as the moon starts to set, and the first rays of the sun start to filter through the grass, you're happy to be alive. I feel like I could have made that sentence longer.
5. Vi som älskade varandra så mycket -- Det onda. Det goda. Det vackra. Det fula.
I have no idea what Vi som älskade varandra så mycket are talking about on Det onda. Det goda. Det vackra. Det fula., only that they really mean it. The vocalist screams like every word will be his last, the guitarists interplay is both complex, and strangely comforting, the bassist's melodic work is a voice in place of a singer, and the drumming is urgent. On this album, the band create a sound that seems to desperately promote goodwill and worldwide benevolence...I don't speak Swedish, but it's so clear in their sound, it's tough not to intuit.
4. Wilderun -- Veil of Imagination
It's a progressive metal album that adheres to a fantasy storybook vibe the way Opeth albums vibe around the occult. Evan Anderson Berry sings in a beautiful tenor far more than he screams, and the mix is focused a bit more on the guitar and string and choral arrangements than the well-played drums and bass. This unorthodox mix, strong songwriting, and long, fully realized tracks, results in a unique, imaginative listening experience.
3. jì lú -- Mountain, Traveler, Listener
I went to the woods this spring to take a hike, but strangely just couldn't get into the mood. I found myself doing absolutely unconscionable things...like checking my work e-mail. I have no recollection of how I ended up clicking on jì lú's Mountain, Traveler, Listener, but the moment that gentle babbling brook of an acoustic guitar hit my ears, I felt the tension leave my body. These five pieces, named only by their lengths, feature nothing but acoustic guitar and bamboo flute, and feel as complete and naturalistic as if they're emanating from the Earth itself. And yet, there's variation here, and even a build and a climax in the penultimate track, "10"04"." at which point, on first listen, I must admit, I started running through the forest. The music left me no other choice.
2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- Ghosteen
I introduced my good friend, Sam Sublett, to Nick Cave at work one day more than a decade ago. When his daughter died several years ago, he played "Into Your Arms" at the funeral. He played "Into Your Arms" earlier this year at his wedding. His widow played "Into Your Arms" at his funeral this summer. Needless to say, I put off listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Ghosteen, which deals in an emotionally direct fashion with the 2015 death of Nick Cave's son, Arthur, as long as I could, fearing it would be too painful. However, when I eventually listened, I found Ghosteen, a blend of minimal, yet futuristic and mainly percussion-free electronics, along with the most beautiful vocal arrangements of the Bad Seeds career, to be a cathartic and freeing emotional avalanche. Cave packs so much power into his performance here, so much thought and emotion into his lyrics, it's tough to argue that with even as storied a career as his behind him, Ghosteen doesn't find him at his peak.
1. Norma Jean -- All Hail
Since Cory Brandan became the dominant writing force in Norma Jean, the band's albums feel as if they've been trying to air out a gunshot wound under winter attire--with each subsequent release removing yet another layer of clothing. 2013's Wrongdoers and 2016's Polar Similar both feel near perfect, the band fully mastering a satisfying blend of heavy styles, while incorporating just the right amount of melody. Somehow, All Hail strips away any layer of artifice between band and listener, to create a stark emotional experience, the musical equivalent of receiving a hug inside the vortex of a tornado. "Careen," the album's cathartic climax, features some of Brandan's most impressionistic, yet affecting lyrics, his naked declaration "So wash away my care aside/Surrender my defense of everything/Cause I'm over it/I can't tell you why, I can't refuse anymore," the ultimate release. "I'm over it" comes as the churning culmination of a groove suddenly falls out to silence, a stunning moment in an album full of them, and the peak of an incredible decade in this band's career.
Instead, here are my favorite albums from the 100 million I've heard this year.
2019 was a bit of an unexpected emotional roller-coaster for me, as is any year I complacently enter expecting emotional normalcy. What a stupid idea! With that said, these are very emotional choices, but what else is music for? Here's a bunch of pain! Here is a list to crush all lists! The 2010's are over!
15. blink-182 -- Nine
I thought blink-182 were dead. They already reunited in 2011 after their first break up, to just okay results, then lost founding member, and arguably, sound-driver, Tom DeLonge. They returned in 2016 with California, the dude from Alkaline Trio in the place of DeLonge, and sounded like zombies. I don't know what happened between now and then because this year's Nine finds blink-182 very alive, full of youthful energy and attitude. The moment that Matt Skiba--that dude from Alkaline Trio--trades off verses with founding member, Mark Hoppus, on opening track, "The First Time," you can tell these guys have found their spot. From there, everything just works, with the band able to conjure up that 1999-era blink-182 vibe, and somehow effortlessly blend it with a modern vibe and sensibility, along with 2019 production values. It's a modern miracle!
14. Jakub Zytecki -- Nothing Lasts, Nothing's Lost
Usually, guitar prodigies put out self-indulgent, noodling, crappy albums, fun only for those who like to sit for hours picking apart technique. Jakub Zytecki throws all that out the window, creating some strange electronic style of music I can only describe as Zyteckia: hopeful, optimistic electronics burbling and bleeping over big beats and bass drops, rapidly picked out electric guitar lines at the service of the songs, instead of the other way around. The Polish artist also puts his voice and guest vocals to use at key moments, creating a vibe I can only describe as youthful...Nothing Lasts, Nothing's Lost has to be the least depressing thing I've heard this year.
13. Obsequiae -- The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
What's this? A death metal band whose sound features frequent harp interludes? On The Palms of Sorrowed Kings, Obsequiae attempt to conquer sounds of medieval grandeur, resulting in an album of triumphant, technically masterful songs that...you know those Stalfos from Zelda? Those hulking reanimated skeletons wearing a full suit of armor and brandishing swords and shields? This sounds like a group of them formed a band to tell about former glories, when the Stalfos were soldiers who marched and battled on the rolling green fields of Hyrule, under the king's banners. It's so awesome.
12. .WAVS - .WAVS
Again, what is happening in Poland to motivate their youth toward such musical activities? In America, our grunge movement sadly died in the 90's, when all the frontmen either killed themselves, corporatized, or waited a couple decades, then killed themselves. Poland has already been outputting sausageloads of awesome metal bands over the last few years, and suddenly, here's .WAVS with a self-titled debut full of grunge music...with the twist. Inside their grunge music, .WAVS have inserted the influence of an even deader genre: nu-metal. I have no idea why .WAVS works, other than the fact that .WAVS are Polish, and their vocalist sounds like he's got headphones on and is singing along to Alice in Chains, and they've both injected a fabulous amount of atmosphere and energy into these songs, not just feeding or resting upon nostalgia, but creating something altogether and weirdly new...and in English...hooray for run-ons!
11. Suldusk -- Lunar Falls
I don't know how, but Autumn came to life, and it's called Lunar Falls by Suldusk. Suldusk is Emily Highfield's one-woman project from Melbourne, Australia, but she's enlisted a full-band here to flesh out her aural visions of browned and reddened leaves fluttering into rushing, stone-banked rivers, under the towering heights of ancient, snow-capped peaks. You can hear the rush of wind through skeletal branches, as delicately picked acoustic guitar overlays an electric that's at times atmospheric, and at select moments metallic, as Highfield's lilting voice suddenly shifts into a scream. The tom-heavy drums insinuate a steady, loping walk, classical cello lending Lunar Falls a near religious depth. Also, my kid is smacking his gum and playing video games in my ear, and making this already lumbering paragraph hell to proofread.
10. The Deer -- Do No Harm
The Deer's Do No Harm make me wish I was in Austin, and five years younger and well-adjusted, a clear millennial instead of in generational no man's land and shit in a relationship, though I don't want to be alone, sick of the city after I've stood on concrete for five minutes, but culture-dry when I've been in the country for just as long, sick of sitting at a desk, but hesitant to give up the A/C and go back to calloused hands. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, The Deer's Do No Harm. The album's upbeat, focused, yet relaxed and dreamy folk-influenced rock shouldn't be my cup of tea at all, but it tastes so good. When I Google "The Deer," where are they from? The lonestar capital.
9. The Appleseed Cast -- The Fleeting Light of Impermanence
Considering The Appleseed Cast got saddled with that whole "America's Closest Answer to Radiohead" thing in the 2000's, it's rather fitting that their 2010's have been nearly as quiet as Radiohead's. Both band's released one okay album early in the decade, but now, both have released one great one in its latter half, as The Appleseed Cast's The Fleeting Light of Impermanence is a delightful and welcome return to form. The biggest surprise here is the prominence of frontman Chris Crisci's vocals, warm and inviting over these spry and searching rock instrumentals, climaxing in the surpremely powerful "Asking the Fire for Medicine."
8. Abigail Williams -- Walk Beyond the Dark
Any band would struggle to create an epically aural equivalent to the visual of Abigail Williams' Walk Beyond the Dark cover. The black metal band come close, combining pounding drums and menacing vocals with beautiful guitar and cello melodies. However, the album never bogs down in a repetitive blast-beat scream wash, with unique and diverse passages leading the way through an incredibly distinct musical journey. The result is...look at that album cover. Walk Beyond the Dark is like a breathtaking winter sunrise over a vast, dead forest.
7. Sadistik -- Haunted Gardens
I thought I was done with Sadistik. He seemed to be leaning more and more into his uglier side, and anyway, I really only needed his music when I was down...and I hadn't been down since...well the last time Sadistik released some pretty music and I needed to hear it. Now, just when I need it again, Sadistik is back with Haunted Gardens, the most beautiful collection of music he's ever released. The Seattle rapper has learned to somehow increase the dreamy, gorgeous layers in his sound, while cutting the fat from his songs. Only three of Haunted Garden's 13 tracks top the three-minute mark, and they're the only ones that need to, as the other ten tracks make their point in less than that. Meanwhile, as a lyricist and rapper, Sadistik continues to perfect his crafts, finding inventive rhyming patterns as he explores the folds of his mind, muses about his favorite art, and continues to miss his departed father.
6. Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Orchestra -- Henry Gorecki: Symphony No:3
I'm really sad. You know what I'd like to listen to? That girl from Portishead singing. Wait, she's in her 50's now? And Portishead haven't released an album in over a decade? Then how old am I? I am? Ugh. Well, now I'm really sad. Well then, I'm gonna need Beth Gibbons from Portishead to sing operatically over some really sad orchestral music. Wait, there's a piece called Symphony of Sorrowful Songs? And it's Polish? Of course it's Polish. Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3, performed by Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Orchestra is incredibly sad, powerful, and moving, Gibbons' voice and this piece a match made in heaven, but it also becomes strangely uplifting as it goes along...kind of like you lied down in a hilltop field on a cold night expecting to die under the moon, but as the moon starts to set, and the first rays of the sun start to filter through the grass, you're happy to be alive. I feel like I could have made that sentence longer.
5. Vi som älskade varandra så mycket -- Det onda. Det goda. Det vackra. Det fula.
I have no idea what Vi som älskade varandra så mycket are talking about on Det onda. Det goda. Det vackra. Det fula., only that they really mean it. The vocalist screams like every word will be his last, the guitarists interplay is both complex, and strangely comforting, the bassist's melodic work is a voice in place of a singer, and the drumming is urgent. On this album, the band create a sound that seems to desperately promote goodwill and worldwide benevolence...I don't speak Swedish, but it's so clear in their sound, it's tough not to intuit.
4. Wilderun -- Veil of Imagination
It's a progressive metal album that adheres to a fantasy storybook vibe the way Opeth albums vibe around the occult. Evan Anderson Berry sings in a beautiful tenor far more than he screams, and the mix is focused a bit more on the guitar and string and choral arrangements than the well-played drums and bass. This unorthodox mix, strong songwriting, and long, fully realized tracks, results in a unique, imaginative listening experience.
3. jì lú -- Mountain, Traveler, Listener
I went to the woods this spring to take a hike, but strangely just couldn't get into the mood. I found myself doing absolutely unconscionable things...like checking my work e-mail. I have no recollection of how I ended up clicking on jì lú's Mountain, Traveler, Listener, but the moment that gentle babbling brook of an acoustic guitar hit my ears, I felt the tension leave my body. These five pieces, named only by their lengths, feature nothing but acoustic guitar and bamboo flute, and feel as complete and naturalistic as if they're emanating from the Earth itself. And yet, there's variation here, and even a build and a climax in the penultimate track, "10"04"." at which point, on first listen, I must admit, I started running through the forest. The music left me no other choice.
2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- Ghosteen
I introduced my good friend, Sam Sublett, to Nick Cave at work one day more than a decade ago. When his daughter died several years ago, he played "Into Your Arms" at the funeral. He played "Into Your Arms" earlier this year at his wedding. His widow played "Into Your Arms" at his funeral this summer. Needless to say, I put off listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Ghosteen, which deals in an emotionally direct fashion with the 2015 death of Nick Cave's son, Arthur, as long as I could, fearing it would be too painful. However, when I eventually listened, I found Ghosteen, a blend of minimal, yet futuristic and mainly percussion-free electronics, along with the most beautiful vocal arrangements of the Bad Seeds career, to be a cathartic and freeing emotional avalanche. Cave packs so much power into his performance here, so much thought and emotion into his lyrics, it's tough to argue that with even as storied a career as his behind him, Ghosteen doesn't find him at his peak.
1. Norma Jean -- All Hail
Since Cory Brandan became the dominant writing force in Norma Jean, the band's albums feel as if they've been trying to air out a gunshot wound under winter attire--with each subsequent release removing yet another layer of clothing. 2013's Wrongdoers and 2016's Polar Similar both feel near perfect, the band fully mastering a satisfying blend of heavy styles, while incorporating just the right amount of melody. Somehow, All Hail strips away any layer of artifice between band and listener, to create a stark emotional experience, the musical equivalent of receiving a hug inside the vortex of a tornado. "Careen," the album's cathartic climax, features some of Brandan's most impressionistic, yet affecting lyrics, his naked declaration "So wash away my care aside/Surrender my defense of everything/Cause I'm over it/I can't tell you why, I can't refuse anymore," the ultimate release. "I'm over it" comes as the churning culmination of a groove suddenly falls out to silence, a stunning moment in an album full of them, and the peak of an incredible decade in this band's career.
Comments
Jordan: I think you'll dig it! It's nuts to me that they could still put something out this good.