Top 25 Albums of 2019

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My favorite albums of 2019 are here! As happened with the Top 100 Songs of 2019, there really wasn’t a clear cut winner for me. I almost wanted to give it to Vampire Weekend for being so damn consistent, but their album was too long with a few weak tracks that kept them out of the #1 ranking.

After some debate, I realized the album that I enjoyed the most was PUP’s Morbid Stuff. It’s one of those great rock albums, and PUP is such a fun and loud band that loves being loud. They’re the musical man child of Japandroids and New Found Glory. Their live shows must be nuts.

As for the remainder of albums, there’s a number of notables, including my favorite newcomer (for me), Rex Orange County, a singer/songwriter without a great voice or much notable traits that I can point to other than the fact that he sounds like his own. It’s not always about some amazing voice or guitar licks, sometimes it’s just being yourself that makes music so great.

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Monday Mixtape, Vol. 136

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Hello all. Hope the weekend treated you well. Come along with me on this summertime Monday and listen to some tunes!

I just started listening to Crumb, and “Cracking” was the first song I ever heard from them. It’s entrancing with an out of tune horn reverberating in the distance to a slow beat. A cool song.

Tycho is not for everyone, or it’s not for every time of the day. Chill is it’s game when you need to space out to distract yourself and get down to writing or doing spreadsheets. This is the kind of music I tune in to zone out.

So Two Door Cinema Club hasn’t ever topped their amazing debut album, but their fourth album is a good change of pace, a bit less formulaic then their second and third albums. “Satellite” is probably my favorite song on the album, and I’m constantly singing along to every “Oh" in the chorus.

After listening to the Black Keys new album a number of times, “Lo/Hi” is the best track on it.

Kevin Morby is a singer/songwriter who has had a number of albums, some stuff I like, other stuff I didn’t care for. I’m liking his new album, and I love the way “Oh My God” ends in the last minute or so, it’s a reversal of course of where the song seems to be going and a surprise ending.

PUP’s new album is one of my leaders for Album of the Year. I keep going back to it. Front to back, it is one non-stop kegger. I love it.