A Sampler box set
A year of great entertainment
Any best of the year list is biased, but it can never be right or wrong. Taste is subjective and the best album of the year is whatever you liked the most. My top album of the year was probably Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best album, it’s just the one I danced badly to the most.
I’m not sure why. I just keep going back to it. Seventeen, You Shadow, Jupiter 4 – there are so many songs on there that give me so much pleasure. Beyond that, it was a marked shift forward for her as an artist. It was a revelation, a coming out – and I always enjoy that. Perhaps seeing her live influenced me, she’s an incredible performer. I also thought her NPR Tiny Desk performance was one of the top three for the year, along with Brittany Howard and, of course, Lizzo.
Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You is surely also one of the year’s best albums.
It’s a breakthrough record for an artist who put in so many hard yards, she almost quit before her big break.
Her album is one of such positivity, strength and inclusivity, it has enamoured her to new fans all over the globe. She is the queen of 2019. She’s given us wall-to-wall bangers – all killer, no filler – with fewer cliches than this paragraph.
It would also be hard to deny Billie Eilish her place. At just 18, her latest album is unexpectedly accomplished and addictive, bewitching and bold. It’s something parents and teenagers find themselves agreeing to in the car.
She and her brother Finneas are a formidable songwriting team with a fetish for ASMR(autonomous sensory meridian response) inducing sounds. Like Lizzo, she’s loud and proud, and spurns the ‘‘perfect pop-star’’ aesthetic. These are the popstars the world needs.
You could remain shrouded in mystery in 2019, however. Aldous Harding still confuses listeners. The international success of
Party established a stage persona so controlled and precise, it leaves you uneasy and a little uncertain. The lyrics are obscure and sometimes funny, but her performances draw you into surreal and captivating songs. Confusion eventually gives way to admiration and then adoration. Designer is deservedly on many end-ofyear lists.
Also getting better with every album is Lana Del
Ray, who gave us Norman F...ing Rockwell. Her dream-like songs play like a Jack Kerouac novel. Set against a decaying America, with specificity that gives a vivid authenticity, these are tales of drugs and bad decisions, deep desires and desperation, and of letting go in a hopeless world. An American classic. That’s five great albums for the year. Let’s try to get to 10.
Troy Kingi didn’t start making music until he was 32, but he’s been making up for lost time. His last album was a spectacular soul odyssey but, on Holy Colony Burning Acres, he went reggae.
It’s not cliche reggae, but rather pre-Bob Marley reggae, evoking The Abyssinians and The Congos. Recorded in live takes with his extraordinary collection of musicians, this is easily one of the standout records of the year. Elsewhere, Leonard Cohen had one more trick up his sleeve. Thanks for The Dance isa gift from the grave, carefully nurtured by his son Adam from songs they didn’t quite finish in their last recording sessions. It’s nice to miss someone when the remainders of them are so beautiful to listen to. Meanwhile, Nick Cave is still processing the loss of his son. Since Push the Sky Away in 2013, Cave has been in the best creative phase of his life, and his son’s tragic death didn’t slow down his output – not just musically but in film in Red Hand Files, and incredible live conversations and performances around the world. Cave is arguably at his peak now and Ghosteen rounds out a trilogy of staggering albums from him and his Bad Seeds. Kiwanuka by Michael Kiwanuka is a timeless triumph and a proper album you sink yourself into and trust.
His effortless, nimble voice fronts a psychedelic band that follows him through the funk, soul, gospel, and everywhere else he may lead.
Let’s give the last spot to Benee, whose two superb EPs this year earned her four Tuis and set the 18-yearold up for a very exciting next few years. Similar to Eilish, this is music parents and teens equally enjoy. It’s clever pop, with excellent execution, making it easy to appreciate and enjoy, while also making sure it doesn’t wear too thin, too fast.
It’s exciting when they’re this good already and you know the best is yet to come.