It's debriefing time with 2019 and as
every year we are obliged and delighted at the same time to
reveal our favorite albums of the running year. This year also marks the end of
decade and we were able to already draw some comparisons to the previous years
which will be the main inspiration for our Top 100 singles and albums of the
10's.
Overall it has been a great year
of musical art forms, genre mixings and past decade influences which was evident
in most of the albums on our list. This year has clearly been dominated by
female artists where Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs and Weyes Blood paved the way each in their own style. There were also few interesting comebacks out of which probably the most surprising it turned out to
be the Shakespears Sister reunion and release of new recording material. On the sad end, the music world lost Mark Holis of Talk Talk, Keith Flint of the Prodigy and most recently
Marie Fredriksson of Roxette.
This year, our album presentation features 40 albums across several different genres and sub-genres exploring musical forms and conquering new grounds.
01. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising [Sub Pop]

02. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Ghosteen [Bad Seed]
‘Ghosteen’ is the seventeenth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds which was released on October 4th 2019. This album also rounds up the trilogy of albums which started with 'Push the Sky Away' and also included the 'Skeleton Tree' from 2016. In regard to the album composition, there are 11 tracks divided on two albums where the first part is meant to be “the children” and part two described as “their parents”. Still under the strong influence of his son loss and also the passing away of keyboardist Conway Savage, the album’s lyrics are dealing with the themes of loss and death, but it also manages to reflect positive notes as well. Production wise it trends towards ambiental electronica with extensive use of analogue synthesizers, drones but also orchestral strings. "Bright Horses" is one of the lead tracks on the album while no singles have been released yet.
03. FKA Twigs – Magdalene [Young Turks]
‘Magdalene’ is the second studio album by FKA Twigs which was released in November 2019 and her first full length in five years. The album marks a whole variety of sounds and influences which come from the fact that several well established music producers were having hands-on on this record including Nicolas Jaar, Skrillex, Noah Goldstein. Overall, the album is a melting pot of glitch-pop, baroque pop, hip hop and EDM that pours in in FKA Twig's art pop without being genre messing. Four singles were taken from the album including the visually exceptional "Cellophane" and "Home with You", and, also worth mentioning the excellent "Mary Magdalene" which was performed on Jools Holland.
04. Fat White Family - Serfs Up! [Domino]
03. FKA Twigs – Magdalene [Young Turks]


05. Jenny Hval – The Practice of Love [Sacred Bones Records]
‘The Practice of Love’ is Jenny Hval’s seventh studio album released in September on Sacred Bones Records. The album includes three guest vocals and parts of it were recorded on three different continents. The album's title was partially inspired by Valie Export's 1985 film of the same name and Hval also completed writing a novel, titled ‘Girls against God’, which might also have had influence on this record. In terms of musical style it is a melodic return to 90’s dreamy trance from which the album seems draw major inspiration from. Three singles were released from the album, “High Alice”, “Ashes to Ashes” and “Accident”. The last one was released in September and so far the only one to feature the music video.
06. Hælos - Any Random Kindness
[Infectious]

07. Angel Olsen – All Mirrors [ Jagjaguwar]

08. Bat for Lashes – Lost Girls [AWAL]

09. Methyl Ethel – Triage [4AD]
Methyl Ethel released their third studio titled
‘Triage’ on 4AD. Two songs from the album were already released in 2018 where
“Trip the Mains” led the band in 2019. Production wise this albums is a one man
show where the singer Jake Webb takes care of the musical arrangement giving it
more a DIY feel, but the album still remain very complex in its production with
its multi layering and instrumentation. Song wise, on this album there do not seem to be some
serious standouts, nor does it include any filler tracks it simply has its own
drive by being consistent in tempo, dynamics and art forms.
10. These New Puritans – Inside the
Rose [Infectious]
11. Sharon van Etten – Remind Me
Tomorrow [Jagjaguwar]
12. Body of Light – Time To Kill [DAIS]
13. Carla dal Forno – Look up Sharp [Kallista]
13. Carla dal Forno – Look up Sharp [Kallista]
14. TR/ST – Destroyer pt1 [Digital]
15. Danger Mouse & Karen O – Lux Prima [BMG]
16. Pond- Tasmania – Tasmania [Spinning Top]
17. Nivhek – After Its Own Death / Walking in a
Spiral Towards the House [Yellowelectric]
18. Marissa Nadler & Stephen Brodsky –
Droneflower [Sacred Bones]
19. Patience – Dizzy Spells [Night School]
20. Nilüfer Yanya – Miss Universe [ATO]
21. Ladytron – Ladytron [Ladytron]
22. Kelsey Lu– Blood [ Columbia]
23. Boy Harsher – Careful [Nude Club]
24. Shannow Wright – Providence [Vicious Circle]
25. Cold Showers – Motionless [DAIS]
26. A.A. Bondy – Enderness [Fat Possum]
27. Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part
1 [Warner Bros]
28. Caroline Polachek – Pang [Columbia]
29. Lowly – Hifalutin [Bella Union]
30. Pixies - Beneath The Eyrie [Infectious]
31. Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond [Domino]
32. Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror [DAIS]
33. Temples - Hot Motion [ATO]
34. Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel [Partisan]
35. Chromatics – Closer to Grey [Italians Do it
Better]
36. Hatchie – Keepsake [Ivy League]
37. Spellling - Mazy Fly [Sacred Bones]
38. Black Marble - Bigger Than Life [Sacred Bones]
38. Black Marble - Bigger Than Life [Sacred Bones]
39. Operators - Radiant Dawn [Last Gang]
40. Xeno & Oaklander - Hypnos [DAIS]