Favorite Albums
Some incredible albums were released in 2019:
​
- Kate Tempest: The Book of Traps and Lessons
Best listened to in one shot on a long highway drive. Captures the zeitgeist of the time and provides a path to salvation. The most important album of the year. Yes, music can sometimes still be important.
- Sharon Van Etten: Remind Me Tomorrow
My favorite album of the year. Every song resonates with me and I never get tired of hearing them. Sharon Van Etten returns 4 years after her last album with a richer sound for her insightful song writing.
​
- Vampire Weekend: Father of the Bride
This album doesn't wrestle with the big issues of faith and politics of the their last album for the most part. Instead it is filled with songs about relationships. But all 18 songs are really good songs.
​
- Viagra Boys: Street Worms
Darkly funny music to encourage wild abandon on the dance floor..
​
Below are 3 great albums from 2018 that I did not get around to listening to till this year:
​
Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!
​
​
Prids: Do I Look Like I'm In Love?
Everything I would want in a house band.
My favorite album from a central New Jersey band was Lowlight’s Endless Bummer.
Noteworthy Albums
And many great albums were released in 2019 (alphabetical order):
​
- Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, Jesse Paris Smith : Songs From the Bardo
Maybe not for everybody, but you might enjoy this more than you think you will. Somewhere between a guided meditation and surreal atmospheric music. It’s a contemporary telling of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which turns out to be advice to the recently dead to not sweat the small stuff (and yes it’s all small stuff). Best enjoyed during a walk in the woods but a long car ride is good too.
​
- Better Oblivion Community Center
None of the songs are perfect but I listened to this album a lot during the year. Singer-song writers Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers are better together then on their own.
​
- Charly Bliss: Young Enough
Almost made my list of incredible albums. Fun rock music, often with humor or clever comments, about mostly dark topics.
​
- Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Dreamy songs that are surprisingly twisted beneath their glossy exterior.
​
- Empath: Active Listening: Night on Earth
Each band member seems to have originated in a different genre but somehow it all works together on its own terms. You get birds sounds, heavy metal drumming, ephemeral singing, and fuzzed out guitars.
​
- Rhiannon Giddens: There is No Other
Folk music that is exciting. An amazing voice backed by some impressive percussion and strings.
​
Ellen Kempner's best song writing yet. Personal songs of failings and redemption.
Frequently amusing songs of despair.