Top 5 Albums 2019

5. Broken Hearts are Blue - Here Is Always Nowhere

Self-released, 12/2018

After leaving this planet with a 9 song album and over 20 years of silence (OK, OK, a remaster, a bonus track, whatever), Broken Hearts are Blue are suddenly back! With a 4-song EP that shows they still have emotional range, and can still write good rock tunes, this is one of the greatest disappearing/reappearing acts in music. More to come on this theme below.

 

4. American Football - American Football 3

Polyvinyl Records, 03/2019

Another Lazarus case, American Football has managed to release two decent albums since reforming a few years ago. Shout out to the instrumental 1997 demos they released this year. Those are good also.

3. Norman - Buzz and Fade

Hey Amigo Records, 11/2019

Norman are a great band from Portland / Corvallis, OR, and this is their 4th album. Their influences are as diverse as Maritime, Stereolab, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. This is a great fun album that I found myself listening to over and over again. Unfortunately, the best song on the album is on the lathe-cut 7" included in the pre-release. It's called Obie Thruggs, and it's a stomper. It's not on the internet anywhere, and I haven't taken the time to rip it yet, but be on the lookout for that one.

Buy this album-- and ask if there are any of the lathe cut 7"s left.

2 Pedro the Lion - Phoenix

Polyvinyl Records, 01/2019

The rebirth of Pedro the Lion, yes. So this is band 3 out of 4 on this particular list that fit that category. I don't think of this as much as a reformation, though, as another of David Bazan's many recent projects and albums. This one is certainly Bazan's best since his fantastic Curse Your Branches album in 2009. You can read the articles, but I like that Bazan is writing about his childhood, as opposed to characters. There's a sweetness and personality in these songs that you don't hear a lot in various David Bazan / Pedro the Lion songs. Makes me long for Phoenix, even though I've never been there.

 

1. Maya Shore - We Knew Everyone

Self-Released, 08/2019

This is the one. Maya Shore were friends of mine from about '97 onwards in utah (see the Utah map on the cover? They knew everyone.) In about late 2000, Maya Shore released a powerful, yet understated album, and then disappeared into the haze of being adults. That CD has been in rotation at my house for 20 years. Now, 20 years later, Kelly is an airline pilot and lives in Florida. I don't know where Wade ended up, but from out of nowhere, this.

Such restraint, such longing. Not everything-all-at-once, but tugging on the heartstrings in just the right way. As if the intervening years were just an inhale, waiting for the next breath.

P.S. My favorite track is Park Bench am Bodensee. You should really just download the whole album.

Top 5 New Discoveries 2019

5. Silver Scooter - Orleans Parish

Peek-A-Boo Records, 1999

I picked up this album when I discovered that Peek-a-Boo records still has their catalog up at 90s prices, so I finally splurged on this album that's almost been in my collection for forever. It did not disappoint. There's something unusually polished and sweet about this album that belies Silver Scooter's super-whiny-emo reputation. This is just solid pop, start to finish.

4. Ethel Meserve - The Milton Abandonment

Tree Records, 1997

Yet another great 90s record. I've had half these songs on tape for 20+ years, and I finally tracked down a copy (they were going for $100 on amazon there for a while). Great, mathy, intense 90s goodness. I read somewhere they are doing a box set reissue? Sign me up.

3. Shudder to Think - Live From Home

Team Love Records, 2009

A 2009 reunion live record that somehow manages to hit ALL the Shudder to Think high notes. File under: Live albums that put the studio versions to shame.

2. Madder Rose - Panic On

Seed Records / Atlantic, 1994

I bought my very first indie 7" at Goodwill in about 1994 or so. I bought it because I vaguely had heard the band name Madder Rose, and the record was yellow vinyl, which blew my teenage mind.  I still have it. I managed to pick up this CD in the dollar bin this year, and it blew my non-teenage mind at the 90s pop goodness within. This is the lost cousin of Velocity Girl, Belly, and Juliana Hatfield. This CD brought 1994 right back to my speakers and I love it dearly. It's a gem from start to finish.

1. Red Stars Theory - Life in a Bubble Can Be Beautiful

Touch and Go Records, 1999

I saw Red Stars Theory and Modest Mouse in the basement of a Salt Lake City coffee house in late summer of '97. While Modest Mouse was fun, Red Stars Theory was the hit of the night, with their dense, swirly, violin-driven epics. I remember Seth Warren joining Modest Mouse for a few songs, including (then-unreleased) Jesus Christ Was an Only Child.

Unfortunately, (if I remember correctly) they didn't have merch at the show, and I tracked down an EP to find it disappointing. Their next album, But Sleep Came Slowly was a good-but-not-great listen.

I picked this up on a whim, because I had recently been re-listening to But Sleep... and enjoying it. This is the one. This is the album where they made good on the promises made at that basement show in '97. This is the band that made Modest Mouse look like second fiddle (violin pun). This album stretches out the depths hinted at in RST's first album, or some of the more jammy violin-led bits of The Moon and Antarctica.

Anyway, this is great stuff.

Top 5 Miscellaneous Songs 2019

(Five songs, new to me (but not necessarily new), that didn't qualify for either of the other top 5 lists)

5. The Minus 5 - Plascent Folk

From the album "Stroke Manor"
Yep Rock Records, 06/2019

After suffering from a massive stroke, music legend (who has worked with every band you like) Scott McCaughey set out to regain his mind and songwriting ability. This was a struggle for someone who at first had trouble stringing words together.

The result is quite amazing. Aside from having some of the best packaging I've ever seen on an LP, the songs are futuristic and forward-looking, with McCaughey experimenting with vocal effects, autotune, and other weirdness.

The winner from the album, though, is the opening track-- a lone pastoral strummer to start out an album of lo-fi rock. This song reminds me of Syd Barrett's solo LPs -- not just because of the unexpected tunesmithing, but because it's the sound of a shattered mind-- the words are all there, and they sound like they should make sense, but they just don't. Aw, give it a listen. It's fun.

4. Mineral - Aurora

From the 2-song EP / book "One Day When We are Young - Mineral at 25"
Self-Released, 01/2019

After being broken up for years and years, Mineral returns. (this would be exciting, except for this is the same story as 4 of 5 of my favorite new albums for this year.)

On the turntable, this is one of those songs that doesn't sound right at 33 or 45 RPM (turns out 45 is the right answer), but despite the unsettling beginning, Mineral reminds us what made them special as a band. Not just the emotive wailing vocals, but drums and bass that propel the song, and a guitar equally shimmery and squalling. This will only be disappointing if Mineral only leaves us with two more songs after a lifetime of waiting.

3. Weird Al Yankovic - The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

From the album "UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff"
Scotti Bros Records, 06/1989

To shore up my cred, I saw UHF in the theater (at Vancouver Mall cinemas, with Jon and Erik Phister) in 1989. I was 11, which is the ideal age to be a Weird Al fan. I didn't, however, get the UHF soundtrack, which, if I remember correctly, didn't see wide release, and this song wasn't actually in the movie.

Anyway, fast forward to spring 2019, and the Carmichael family is on a road trip. For reasons I don't understand, we had forgotten to pack our usual satchel full o' road trip CDs / Slim Whitman tapes, so we shared the goodness of youtube with my 8 and 9 year old kids (not quite at the 11-year old sweet spot, but approaching)

Lo and behold, from the speakers came this glorious huge majestic sphere of a song, capturing the joys and insanity of family road trips, all in a supersized, nearly 7-minute packaging. We had arrived. We bought a few souvenirs, and I've got a funny kind of feeling we'll be back next year.

2. Fred Thomas - House Show, Late December

From the album "Aftering"
Polyvinyl Records, 09/2018

Speaking of longish epics, this Fred Thomas track captures so much in familiar scenes and feelings. Fred used to be [in] Saturday Looks Good to Me and City Center.

1. Lil' Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road [Remix]

single
Self-Released.
Original released 12/2018
Remix released 04/2019

If you had told me anytime between 1993 and 2018 that Billy Ray Cyrus would feature on my favorite song of the year, I would have punched you. I may still, but Lil' Nas X is dynamite. This song is amazing. Nine Inch Nails? Banjo? Country? Rap? Infinitely quotable lyrics? Oh yes.

God Bless Lil' Nas X.