Check out the Spotify playlist at the bottom for the Indiecator’s “Best of 2019” playlist
There were some great albums this year, but as the decade comes to a close, everything that happened in 2019 itself runs the risk of being overshadowed by retrospectives on the past decade as a whole (on this note, allow me to shamelessly plug the Indiecator’s ranking of the years of the 2010s by their music).
On the list above, you’ll notice that 2019 comes in 7th, because this past year was good but not great for music. It was easier to think of good albums this year than in 2017 or 2018, but filling in this top albums list was still tougher than trimming it down. There were a fair amount of releases by bigger-name indie acts, though they were a real mixed bag in terms of greatness. While a few of them do show up on the list below, newer artists/collaborations and more innovative albums by well-established acts are what I’ll remember from this year.
Also, make sure to check out last week’s list of songs from albums that didn’t make the cut, and the Indiecator’s list of the top music videos of 2019.
10. Titus Andronicus – An Obelisk
Genre: Punk Rock, Indie rock
Titus Andronicus’ sixth album An Obelisk didn’t seem to get the love it deserved this year. It saw the band returning to their punk roots, and was much more energetic than last year’s jazzed-up A Productive Cough. Clocking in at under 40 minutes, it’s also their most concise album yet, with the tracks “Beneath the Boot” and “On the Street” getting their point across in less than a minute-and-a-half each. One review called An Obelisk’s ten tracks “near indistinguishable,” which I don’t see at all. Sure, each track is full of heavy riffs and frontman Patrick Stickles’ coarse shouts, but there’s plenty of differentiating flair throughout. “Troubleman Unlimited” ends with a lead guitar part sure to elicit comparisons to fellow New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen, while “Hey Ma” is played out by what sounds like bagpipes. The opening track “Just Like Ringing a Bell” and the closing “Tumult Around the World” both have backing “oohs” and “aahs,” which take the edge off a bit, and showcase the band’s well-known sense of humor. After all, this is the band who made a sitcom series called “STACKS” as a companion piece to this album. It might not blow you away as much as the band’s crowning achievements The Monitor and The Most Lamentable Tragedy, but An Obelisk is much narrower in scope: it’s the fast-paced Titus Andronicus album that’s guaranteed to get you riled up.
Standout Tracks: “Troubleman Unlimited” “(I Blame) Society” “Hey Ma”
9. Andrew Bird – My Finest Work Yet
Genre: Baroque pop, folk, folk rock
Andrew Bird has shown us his prowess in everything from swing music to conceptual compositions (see his Echolocations series) to folk rock. As odd as it sounds, he’s one of those rare musicians who is so consistently good that you take him for granted, thinking “oh yeah, Andrew Bird made another excellent album this year.” Don’t make that mistake with My Finest Work Yet. You may disagree with the presumptuous, tongue-in-cheek title, but it’s hard to argue that this is anything but his best-produced work to date. Each guitar chord, violin note, and his trademark whistling sound better than ever, with tracks including “Olympians” and “Manifest” combining accessible melodies with intricate compositions. My Finest Work Yet is also Bird’s first political album, and his commentary never sounds ham-fisted or sanctimonious. For instance, “Fallorun” mentions “you think it’s just an aberration, that it could not happen here,” while “Bloodless” references the Spanish Civil War. Oh yes, it wouldn’t be an Andrew Bird album without top-tier vocabulary like “recalcitrant” and “anathema,” along with allusions to the myth of Sisyphus and rumors about J. Edgar Hoover. My Finest Work Yet is brainy, pointed, and most of all a great listen, to the point that you might start seriously considering its title.
Standout Tracks: “Sissyphus” “Olympians” “Manifest”
8. Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1
Genre: Indie rock, electronic
Foals gave us a double-whammy of albums this year in the form of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 and 2. While they were linked by lyrics of doom and gloom and the occasional musical motif, Part 1 was more electronic and experimental, while Part 2 was more raw and forceful. Of these two, Part 1 seemed more original for Foals. Sure, its excellent track “Exits” has the kind of extended instrumental outro that’s become something of a hallmark for the band, but its simple melody comes from a synthesizer, not the usual guitar harmonics. Synths abound throughout the album, and some tracks such as “In Degrees” and “On the Luna” have so many electronic effects that they edge into dance music. Other tracks like “Moonlight” and “Cafe D’Athens” are more muted with their synthesizer usage. There is of course plenty of the typical rock fare, ranging from the frantic “White Onions” to the slow building “Syrups” to the anthemic “Sunday.” It’s novel and gripping from start to finish, and you can read more about Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 here.
Standout Tracks: “Exits” “In Degrees” “Sunday”
7.Thom Yorke – Anima
Genre: Electronic
When Thom Yorke released the score to the Luca Guadagnino film Suspiria last year, I bought it thinking it would be enjoyable independent of the movie, which I have not watched—sort of like Belle and Sebastian’s Days of the Bagnold Summer. This was not the case. Fortunately, this year Yorke gave us Anima, which is more in line with his past solo efforts The Eraser and Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. Right from the first drum loops and reverberating synthesizer lines of “Traffic,” you can tell Yorke is fine form, as he blends unconventional styles with rhythms that almost make it feel like dance music. It’s not quite synthpop, but the robotic blips of “Not the News” along with the beat and vocal samples of “Runwayaway” are just a few of the instances where Anima doesn’t sound too far off from what the kids listen to these days. This contrasts with the bleaker, dystopian lyrics, which are essentially what you’d expect from Yorke. “Last I Heard (…He Was Circling the Drain)” mentions being “swallowed up by the city,” and “The Axe” describes being at wit’s end with technology. There are also traces of Radiohead throughout, from the sample of children on “Twist” being the same one from Radiohead’s “15 Step,” to the pensive and brilliant “Dawn Chorus” having been in the works as a Radiohead track a decade ago. It might be Yorke’s greatest solo work yet, and make sure to check out the extended music video for Anima on Netflix.
Standout Tracks: “Traffic” “Dawn Chorus” “The Axe”
6. Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center
Genre: Folk, Folk rock
If you haven’t heard of Better Oblivion Community Center, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of its two members: Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst. The duo had worked together before on Bridgers’ track “Would You Rather” off her debut A Stranger in the Alps, but Better Oblivion Community Center is very much a half-Bridgers half-Oberst collaboration. The quieter, more solemn tracks like “Didn’t Know What I Was in For” and “Chesapeake” carry more of hallmarks of Bridgers, who I’m honestly less familiar with. However, as a seasoned Oberst fanboy, I can definitely hear echoes of his solo work on “My City,” while “Exception to the Rule” is a dead ringer for something from Bright Eyes’ Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. Being a collaborative work and all, it really does reach its peak when you can’t tell who contributed more, such as on the folk-rock tracks “Sleepwalkin’” and “Dylan Thomas” where both singer-songwriters shine. Since neither Oberst nor Bridgers are known for singing about sunshine and rainbows, topics including death and drug abuse expectedly appear, although there are also themes like slacktivism and musical fame alongside witticisms like “I’m getting greedy with this private hell.” Better Oblivion Community Center is impressive even if it turns out to be just a one-off collaboration, and don’t miss it if you’re a fan of either artist.
Standout Tracks: “Sleepwalkin’” “Dylan Thomas” “Exception to the Rule”
5. Toro Y Moi – Outer Peace
Genre: Electronic, chillwave?, kind of R&B
When writing this list, I decided that I should change the ranking criteria to weigh “replay value” more heavily. After all, musical year-end countdowns are often littered with albums that are finely crafted works of art that most people truthfully seldom revisit after singing their praises. Toro Y Moi’s sixth studio album Outer Peace was not only inventive— I also found myself listening to it repeatedly, long after its release back in January. I have no idea if they’re truly “chillwave” or not, but I did listen to the synth and bass-heavy “Laws of the Universe” and “Freelance” dozens of times this year. Yes, Chaz Bear, the man behind Toro y Moi, is still the king of chill, even if Outer Peace is often livelier than expected; “Ordinary Pleasure” has super-funky instrumentals, while “Who I Am” is the closest Bear’s come to making a dance track. On the flipside, Outer Peace is also full of softer, R&B-like tracks where he sings in auto-tune, including “New House” and “50-50.” In a similar shift, while Bear’s past albums tended to focus on relationships, Outer Peace is the kind of album where he asks himself twice if he’s getting old. It doesn’t sound like anything else he’s done before, and this constant musical reinvention is one reason why Toro y Moi has been one of my most listened-to artists this decade. You can read more about Outer Peace here.
Standout Tracks: “Laws of the Universe” “Freelance” “Who I Am”
4. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride
Genre: Indie rock, indie pop
After Vampire Weekend’s co-founder/keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist/producer Rostam Batmanglij left the band in 2016, there was a collective “oh shit” moment for its fans. It was hard to imagine any of their first three albums without his presence, so I had mixed expectations for their fourth album Father of the Bride. Fortunately, the album very much does not suck. It’s more guitar-focused, brings in guest vocalists for the first time, and is…a little bit country? Yes, Danielle Haim (of HAIM) shares lead vocals duties Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koeing on three tracks (“Hold You Now,” “Married in a Gold Rush,” and “We Belong Together”), and each of these has a bit of a twang you wouldn’t expect from a New York band. However, the strongest parts of Father of the Bride come when they dig into their classic rock influences, which give us the psychedelic tones of “Big Blue,” the piano melody of “Harmony Hall,” and the jangly guitars of “This Life” and “Unbearably White.” Father of the Bride is 18 tracks long too, so it manages to cover everything from electronic (“Flower Moon”) to jazzy ballads (“My Mistake”) to flamenco (“Sympathy”). It also wouldn’t be a Vampire Weekend without some bookish references, like a closing track that ruminates on the state of the Middle East (“Jerusalem, New York, Berlin”). Father of the Bride has something for everyone, will change what you expect from Vampire Weekend, and is a great new beginning for the band. You can read more about it here.
Standout Tracks: “Harmony Hall” “This Life” “Sympathy”
3. Karen O and Danger Mouse – Lux Prima
Genre: Electronic, rock, baroque pop, trip-hop
I had no idea what to expect from a collaboration between Karen O and Danger Mouse. The former is best known as the raucous frontwoman of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, although her solo album Crush Songs showed off her softer side. Danger Mouse is best known as a pop and big-name rock producer, despite producing the typically lo-fi Parquet Courts’ more hi-fi album Wide Awake! last year. As it turns out, Lux Prima sounds completely original, defying any easy explanation aside from “it sounds really good.” Some parts do recall Karen O’s past, like the Crush Songs reminiscent “Reveries” or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-styled rocker “Leopard’s Tongue,” but even these have orchestral flourishes courtesy of Danger Mouse. Otherwise, Lux Prima excels at taking the old and making it new, such as in the the disco-tinged “Turn the Light,” and the Motown-influenced “Woman.” Most surprisingly, there’s a fair amount of trip-hop on the album, with “Ministry” and “Drown” bringing you back to the days of Massive Attack and Portishead in the 90s. The two Latin-titled tracks that bookend the album (“Lux Prima” and “Nox Lumina”) have a cinematic feel with plenty of synthesized strings, and the latter really hits a good groove once the beat drops. Lux Prima is like nothing else you’ll hear this year, really showcases the two talents of its two collaborators, and you can read more about it here.
Standout Tracks: “Ministry” “Drown” “Nox Lumina”
2. The National – I Am Easy to Find
Genre: Indie rock
Alright, I’ll admit that the National are one of those bands who are more or less guaranteed to make “best of” countdowns at the end of the year. All of their releases have been exceptional, although I did wonder how long they could keep up their streak, given their limited album-to-album differences and the law of diminishing returns. Fortunately, their eighth album I Am Easy to Find introduces enough changes to keep things interesting, while still maintaining the National’s core style that’s won them so many accolades. The most noticeable change is that there’s a bevy of female guest singers on the album, and the first appearance of Gail Ann Dorsey on opening track “You Had Your Soul With You” is a real showstopper. She along with several others (Eve Owens, Sharon Van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle, Kate Stables, and the Brooklyn Youth Choir) reappear throughout the album, trading off vocal duties with singer Matt Berninger on all songs but the closing “Light Years.” These guest voices add a new dimension to the National’s music, as does a choir motif that’s best utilized on “Oblivions.” If you’re scared of change, you have Bryan Devendorf’s distinctive drumming on the tracks “Quiet Light,” “The Pull of You,” and personal favorite “Rylan” to bridge the old and new National. The lyrics are also just as depressing as you’d expect from the band, with the title track standing out as particularly devastating. However, “Not in Kansas” has the most intriguing lines, delivered stream-of-consciousness style for over six minutes. I Am Easy to Find lends new life to the National, proving why they deserve so much continued hype, and you can read more about the album here.
Standout Tracks: “You Had Your Soul With You” “I Am Easy to Find” “Rylan”
1. Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel
Genre: Post-punk
Ireland seems to be musically stuck in the past within the collective imaginations of most Americans. Say “Irish music” and people will think of traditional songs like “Whiskey in the Jar.” Say “Irish rock,” and people will think of U2, Sinéad O’Connor, the Cranberries, or other bands whose heyday was decades ago. While London, Manchester, and Glasgow are well-known as indie music centers of gravity in the British Isles, it’s hard to say the same about Dublin.
Fontaines D.C.’s debut album Dogrel is unmistakably Irish, and not just because of singer Liam Chatten’s thick brogue, which is audible on each track. It opens with the words “Dublin in the rain is mine,” namedrops James Joyce, and closes with the Irish folk-inspired “Dublin City Sky.” Even the “D.C.” in the band’s name stands for “Dublin City.” This helps the band stick out in a crowded field, but says nothing of the music, which is some of the best post-punk I’ve heard since the early 2000s. The shift between the pounding, tension-building drums and explosive guitar riffs on “Too Real” might be my favorite musical moment of 2019. “Sha Sha Sha” has the swagger of a Stooges song, and “Hurricane Laughter” swirls with droning bass and a chaotic sliding guitar melody. The drumming on the garage rocker “Liberty Belle” is superb, while bass and guitar steal the show on the punchy “Boys in the Better Land.” There are even a few tender moments on Dogrel in the form of the 90s alt rock throwbacks “Television Screen” and “Roy’s Tune.” All of the album’s instrumentals are intricate enough for you to notice something new with each listen, yet the lo-fi vocals give it raw charm. Between its glimpses of contemporary Irish life, poetry references, and top-notch post-punk stylings, Dogrel is not only a triumph of a debut, it’s also the best album I’ve heard this year.
Standout Tracks: “Too Real” “Liberty Belle” “Boys in the Better Land”
