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The Best Albums of 2019: The Top 10

We've finally arrived at the top tier of this year's releases. The Top 10 Records of 2019. The best of the best, undisputed heavyweight champions of the world. The standard for all future generations to be measured against. The Jordans.

#10. Heavy Banding by Slingshot Dakota

Heavy Banding illustrates the journey of Slingshot Dakota wonderfully and finds the group finally finding peace with carving out their own space in the industry instead of trying to fit into it. Which is exactly what punk rock is supposed to be about anyways, right? The simplicity of the crunchy, distorted keyboard and the punishingly heavy percussion hits harder than any hardcore band going and yet the soaring vocals are simultaneously tender and overwhelmingly powerful. The sound is undeniably unique and remarkably full for a two piece. Day After Christmas floored me so much that I had to listen to it immediately again after it ended, even at 6 minutes long. The record's singles don't quite land like they should but the record as a whole is absolutely immersive in it's uniquely beautiful sound that they seemed to have mastered.

#9. Departed Souls by Magic Circle

Magic Circle has been one of the most consistent traditional doom metal acts this decade. It's classic headbanging heavy metal and I loved the way they slowed things down on this record more than I ever would have imagined. Gone Again is the best metal song of the year and perhaps Magic Circle's best track to date. This is hands down their best sounding record, even if I prefer the songs on their self titled debut a tad more. But this record distinguishes their sound a little more than just the best Black Sabbath worship act going. They have their own sound and their growth continues to astound me with each release.

#8. Get Fixed by Cursive

Tim Kasher is one of the absolute best songwriters going. Last year's Vitriola was my favorite record of the year so I didn't fully expect them to deliver back to back classics going into this. But Get Fixed is more than I ever could have expected to receive in such a short turn around from a band that typically spends at least 3 years between releases. It's amazingly consistent, start to finish with Horror is a Human Being and Black Hole Town serving as signature standout tracks for the band. If Vitriola was the spiritual sequel to Mama, I'm Swollen - Get Fixed acts as the counterpart to Happy Hollow. It doesn't have the overarching narrative as most of their other output but the record is solid none the less. It's a pleasure to have them back producing at such a consistent level after their short hiatus.

#7. Songs You'll Never Sing by PHONY

A droning, wavy shoegaze guitar intro that sharpens into a harshly distorted scream of a conclusion and yet still maintains an anthemic feel at it's core. This pretty well embodies PHONY's uniquely crafted sound. The album shifts seamlessly between a hazy disconnect of apathy and frenetic restless outbursts while retaining a power pop sing song quality with such well crafted hooks it's hard to believe this is their debut record. Their focus and ability to create such a cohesive album start to finish make them sound like genre veterans and with this record they've definitely established their presence in a huge way. The power pop hooks jump off the record in astounding fashion, making this the most dynamic debut effort for a punk band since PUP.

#6. Fake Blood by Heart Attack Man

Fake Blood starts off simple enough, with a fairly formulaic power-pop blend of simplistic heavy guitars underlying vocals that sound like The Hotelier started out as a push-mosh band in 2006. But once you get to the album's zenith, the back to back bangers Out for Blood and Rats in a Bucket, an infectiously cynical attitude pulls you in past the familiar recipe and ingrains a personality that you begin to hear in every song. That cut throat sarcasm finally peaks on Cut My Losses, serving as a welcomed fuck off to the overly politically correct, cancel culture we currently occupy in 2019. Along with the subtle hardcore nods, the razor sharp lyrics make this a welcomed callback to punk rock feeling a little more dangerous once again.

#5. ZUU by Denzel Curry

Denzel Curry has been one of the hottest up and comers in hip hop for some time now and after last year's TA13OO I really wasn't expecting to hear from him again so quickly. But following a similar path laid by Vince Staples' FM!, Curry has returned less than a year since his last release with a fun and free spirited 29 minute banger in ZUU. The record feels absolutely unhinged in the best possible way, like a flashback to the wild and reckless radio summer anthems of yesteryear. This is Denzel's love letter to the hypnotic Miami club favorites he grew up with and his passion comes through in every song. The hooks are absolutely top notch, the production will have your head rocking from start to finish and its so goddamn catchy that you'll likely start the album over again without even noticing. It's one of those records that would occupy your car's CD player for weeks on end without protest.

#4. Better Oblivion Community Center by Better Oblivion Community Center

There was hardly a more prolific presence in indie music throughout the 2000's than that of Conor Oberst. But upon the abrupt retirement of his Bright Eyes moniker, Conor's seemingly slipped off the radar. That is until this latest collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers. Better Oblivion Community Center brings a much more matured and rounded out sound to the Oberst experience. His previous works had a much more singular voice and with Bridgers on board, it seems he's found a counterpart to flesh his songs out with a more developed instrumentation and reinvigorated concentration on song composition. The record plays like a dream alt-country / indie rock crossover with track after track of compelling songwriting. Bridgers balances Oberst out perfectly, with her soft dreamy vocals keeping Oburst from ever overtaking the music with his characteristically whiny pitches. The first three tracks are absolutely amazing with Sleepwalkin' and Dylan Thomas as two of the most solid singles you'll find anywhere this year. The record is an absolutely triumphant reinvention for one of folk's most infamous voices. It feels like running into an old middle school friend whose grown up into the best version of themselves.

#3. The Furnaces of Palingenesia by Deathspell Omega

Picking right up where they left off with 2016's criminally underrated The Synarchy of Molten Bones, Deathspell Omega return with another symphony of chaotic dissonance and intricate arrangements that's made them one of metal's few remaining innovative powerhouses in metal. Their trademark frenzied guitar riffs and ominous buzzing bass tone carry the record's opening tracks as if the 4 years between albums never happened but finally when the record pauses enough to let you catch your breath - you're bludgeoned into oblivion by 1523. With the decidedly slower tempo and negative space around the instruments allowing the crunchiness of the tones to resonate, suddenly the songs hit you even harder. From there on out, the album is fucking devastatingly heavy. It already felt like they were throwing everything they could at you and yet somehow when the album resets for its second half, the whirlwind of dread escalates to a whole new level. This record takes Deathspell's sound over the top and while I thought the band had peaked with Paracletus, they blew through that glass ceiling by leaps and bounds with this record.

#2. Hiding Places by Billy Woods and Kenny Segal

Without a doubt, this is the best hip hop collaboration of the decade. Kenny Segal and Billy Woods' style compliment one another in way that brings out the absolute best in each other. Billy brings an urgency to Segal's music while Segal brings just enough structure for Woods to thrive in. Woods' abstract style finally has a driving force thanks to Segal's exceptional production that brings musical hooks behind the free flowing abstract bars in a way that creates chorus lines without forcing Woods into compromising his unorthodox delivery to a more conventional song structure. And the repetition of Segal's beats serves as a safety net rather than a hindrance, something to keep the entire experiment from running too far off the rails while still allowing a massive landscape to build upon. The water warped bass lines, VHS tracking waves of distortion, and buzzing guitars build an immersive atmosphere that's impossible not to sink into. It's a dark and dreamy drug induced coma you can't wait to slip into again and again. Checkpoints, Spider Hole, A Day in a Week in a Year and Red Dust are some of the best hip hop tracks of the year that make up the best hip hop album of the year, no question.

#1. Cosmic Thrill Seekers by Prince Daddy and the Hyena

This album hung over me from the moment I first listened to it and haven't stopped replaying it all. god. damn. year. Each time I find myself enjoying it a little more, digging deeper and deeper into the incredibly well written and layered lyrics while discovering more and more subtle nuances in each song’s composition. It's so densely compiled and washes over you so effortlessly in it's flawless transition from song to song that it's easy to miss how much work has been put into crafting this seamless, Wizard of Oz inspired existential crisis on acid. But it's a trip in every sense of the word, not to be consumed in bite sized snippets. Cosmic Thrill Seekers is more about the trip as a whole and deserves to be experienced as such. The 3 act story arc of The Heart, The Brain and the Roar give the album an overarching narrative that feels like Dillinger Four or None More Black doing David Bowie karaoke. The pure ambition displayed in crafting this infectious punk parable with an unbelievably well layered concept sewn underneath the familiar, raspy Gainesville aesthetic is nothing short of astounding. A modern genre classic that's as rewarding of a repeat listen as anything you'll find this decade.



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