Musically, 2019 belonged to Lizzo and Billie Eilish, and bless them for it. They're great. But you can read about them anywhere. I'm going to write about some other artists and albums that meant something to me in a long, hard, frustrating and frequently sad year. Some of these records reflected those moods, and some of them helped me escape them.
As I always say when I make these lists: I'm not trying to make a Top Ten list for the year, I'm just writing about the records that were my personal favorites.
Claude Fontaine, Claude Fontaine -- I did not keep track, but I'm pretty sure I listened to this album more than any other this year. I especially like it on vinyl, where one side is all straight ska/rock steady and side two is all bossa nova. On both sides, the production sounds strangely distant, while Fontaine sings light little love lyrics over it in a wispy voice. Overall, it gives the impression she's singing along with a radio in some half-deserted beach hotel. However, she recorded the album with an impressive cast of musicians, including members of Steel Pulse, Ziggy Marley's band, Sergio Mendes' band and more, often all recording in a room together the way all the best records were made.
Angel Olsen, "All Mirrors" -- "Shut Up Kiss Me," the fantastic single from Angel Olsen's 2016 album "My Woman" stood out from her usual atmospheric singer-songwriter material for its tempo and big, full-band sound. I was really looking forward to her going more in that direction with this year's "No Mirrors." That's not what happened. What happened was better. She doubled down on the atmospheric singer-songwriter stuff, except now it stuff sounds HUGE, like a symphony. Produced with a 12-piece orchestra, the arrangements are amazing. In album opener, the strings are bonkers, modernistic flourishes going around the skeleton of Olsen's girl-with-guitar arrangements. In the album closer "Chance," they sound romantic and overwhelming while Olsen's voice sounds like she's singing quietly to herself. The effect is beautiful, emotional, sometimes overwhelming, but also funny in a campy way. That's not something we usually say about women singer-songwriters, who we often think of as confessional, authentic and tortured. If you have ever heard Olsen interviewed, or seen her onstage, you know she is full of humor and self-deprecation. The moodiness of her songs is just like the glamorous drag she puts on in the video for the title track, "All Mirrors," and on the album cover. See her on TV, singing about getting old and "losing beauty / At least at times it knew me," as the lovely, glammed-up 32-year-old wears a giant tiara and a sparkly dress, while a string section produces stunningly beautiful accompaniment for her -- and you see that her self-pity is, like the music, intentionally over the top. And why shouldn't it be? Who put that top there, anyway? To hell with those guys.
Pernice Brothers, "Spread the Feeling" -- The band's first album in nine years finds Joe Pernice still has a way with hiding smart, sharp lyrics inside of beautiful melodies. Listen as the inimitable Neko Case sings backup on "The Devil and the Jinn," while Pernice slides his nimble voice up and down a cheerful tune, singing:" Despite a college try, it paints a sorry sight / You piss away your life writing stupid songs that try to say what love is." Available streaming on Bandcamp or in select record stores.
White Reaper, "You Deserve Love" -- I've been a fan of this Louisville band for a few years now, and when I first heard this album, their first for a major label, I was a little put off by the much more expensive sounding production. After a few listens, I got over my reservations. Even when they were putting out garagey-sounding records on a small indie label, I always thought White Reaper's songs sounded like they deserved to be played on mainstream rock radio -- if there is such a thing anymore. I'm glad Elektra Records thought so, too. And you know what? They clean up nice.
Ex Hex, "It's Real" -- The second album from Mary Timony, Betsy Wright and Laura Harris finds them further digging in with the late-70s classic rock radio sound they employed on their great debut record, although their arrangements and production are a bit more elaborate this time around. "Rainbow Shiner" and "Another Dimension" almost sound like Def Leppard songs. That said, Timony's guitar playing style is very distinctive, very precise. On this album we start to see the first new glimpses of the off-kilter, quasi-medieval sound of her old band Helium. I'm eager to hear where this takes Ex Hex. Def Leppard never sounded like that.
The Muffs, "No Holiday" -- This one is so bittersweet, I get a little choked up thinking about it. I always loved the Muffs, and singer-songwriter-guitarist Kim Shattuck was one of my rock 'n' roll heroes. I had seen her several times in the past few years with the Pandoras and the Muffs, and had enjoyed a record she put out with a new band called the Coolies earlier this year. She didn't let the public know about her diagnosis with ALS, so her death this October came as a shock. The new Muffs record came out just a few weeks later, and of course her untimely death hangs over it. The trio recorded it as her condition got worse, and the force-of-nature screaming she used on earlier records is noticeably absent. Still, I always liked her quieter songs. Here, you can get a sense of the songwriting craft that went into them. The album closes with "Sky," a lovely, simple little tune in which Kim sings about lying on the grass and looking up and wondering if the sky goes on forever. What a way to go.
Pip Blom, "Boat" -- I'm late catching onto this Dutch band. I didn't hear them until November of this year, and now I'm putting them in my favorites list. It's another female-led, guitar-based band, which, you might notice, is kind of a theme for me. "Boat" pulls off a neat trick of reminding me of other artists I like -- in microgenres such as Britpop, 90s alt-rock, tweepunk, contemporary indie -- without ever sounding quite like them. The band is named after its singer, and Pip Blom herself has a bit of that mushmouth delivery that Kerry from Bad Bad Hats and other indie rock women have employed lately, but that may be a function of her Dutch accent more than anything. At any rate, she doesn't get too precious with it, and the band isn't too twee to turn it up now and then.
The Bushrods, "Song Parade" -- Party time bubblegum rock album of the year. Available on Bandcamp.
New Pornographers, "In the Morse Code of Brake Lights" -- It's easy to take the Nu Pornos for granted. Every couple years, Carl Newman, Neko Case and company put out another album of uptempo, melodic indie rock/power pop, with bouncy rhythms, catchy verses and exuberant choruses, and it's always good. So, you might have overlooked this, their eighth album, but you shouldn't.
UPDATE:
My friend made a Spotify playlist with all these albums, with the exception of the Pernice Brothers record, which is not on Spotify. Check it out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment