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What was once an easy and objective thought - pinpointing what exactly defined the year in music - is now invariably difficult due to the throng of curiosities from every sphere of influence. Do not overlook or be ungrateful of the fact that, thanks to the Internet and its globalist, all-inclusive agenda, music has never been more diverse and distinctive. Every genre up until now, and more created seemingly on a bi-yearly basis, exists in 2019. All it takes is a dash of inquisition, a search bar, and valuable resources to live in musical nirvana.
That is all to say, who knows what 2019's main calling card will be. Previous influencers like Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, and Mac DeMarco fell off gracelessly, while others like Lana Del Rey, Angel Olsen, and Lightning Bolt experienced a much-needed resurgence. Social commentary came as aggressive, in instances like JPEGMAFIA's All My Heroes Are Cornballs, as it did humbling and sympathetic, as seen on Kate Tempest's Books Of Traps & Lessons. Transformations took shape, like the perennial about-facers Tyler, The Creator and King Gizzard, while others doubled down on their rigid aesthetic, like Horrorcore enthusiasts clipping. or demented prophet Lingua Ignota. Newcomers joined the fray, especially in the world of U.K. Rock with artists like black midi, FONTAINES D.C., Black Country New Road, and The Murder Capital all releasing transformative statements on the genre perpetually in a state of decay.
2019 had it all, and was consequently my biggest year yet in terms of listening habits. Nearly 200 albums - many of which reviewed in DoD's revamped Listening Log series - and 2,000 songs have been whittled down, competed against, and subsequently written upon to formulate these lists. Welcome to list week, please enjoy Dozens Of Donuts' Top 100 Tracks and Top 50 Albums of 2019.
Playlists For All 100 Songs: Apple Music | Spotify
And don't forget about the past. Take a look back at the Best Of:
2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014.
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20
Kevin Abstract - Baby Boy
ARIZONA Baby | Listen
Thanks to the global connectivity with artists, we've seen in recent decades more and more behind the curtain. It's made special instances like 'Baby Boy' and its infamous "lost" chorus - heard in Brockhampton's awkward, RCA announcement video starring Jaden Smith - all the more rewarding. I'm reminded of TNGHT's masterpiece beat 'R U Ready,' purchased by Kanye West then lost in the ether for years, before reemerging as a stunning artistic and generational clash on 'Blood On The Leaves.' Kevin Abstract's 'Baby Boy' uses that hook effortlessly, becoming a pinnacle of his sound and motto in the process. Few contextualize adolescent love better than Abstract, and nowhere is that seen better than 'Baby Boy,' a song that single-handedly made ARIZONA Baby better than Brockhampton's iridescence and Ginger. The stewing infatuation in the silent gaps, the billowing anticipation of timeless amity, the fact that every section - be it hook, verse, or bridge - achieves the unforgettable makes 'Baby Boy' a single worth clamoring over.
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19
Girl Band - Going Norway
'Going Norway,' and much of Girl Band as a whole, exists as a paradox. The track intrinsically relates itself to the difficulties surrounding mental illness and one's engagement with a sort of pseudo-therapist. Dara Kiely plays this role exceptionally well, as life lessons have taught him to do, while simultaneously being able to conform it through an artistic lens. Typically in art it's one or the other. Mental illness depicted literally, with raw emotion taking precedent. Or the subject serviced as embellished provocation. Think The Joker. 'Going Norway' is both, concurrently frantic and methodical, The Talkies standout paces like a patient nearing their tethers' end, doing their best to maintain sanity as the grip on reality is loosened ever so spasmodically. As 'Going Norway' progresses, Kiely's internal shrapnel begins to convulse and discharge, going from a rather sane, apathetic convalescent - reiterating the words and theories of Sigmund Freud - to a madman talking nonsensically as the production volatility matches him to a tee.
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18
Thom Yorke - Dawn Chorus
ANIMA | Listen
You know Thom Yorke's a rare breed of musician when, after nearly 30 years at the helm of Radiohead and the entire Alternative Rock scene, he's still able to muster masterpieces such as 'Dawn Chorus.' There's an understated level of emotional elasticity here, something lost amongst many as they age into complacency. The heartbeat dirge, palpitating with irregularities, helps drive home the indecisiveness set at the heart of Yorke's lyrics. "Back up the cul-de-sac, come on do your worst" he utters, knowing all too well the failures lying ahead in this dead end route. Like much of Yorke's work, 'Dawn Chorus' is a wretchedly real look at the stilted behavior of those discontent with life, heightened by the perennial "you" despite obvious implications drawing the harsh judgement back inwards. Above all else, the natural beauty of 'Dawn Chorus'' sublime, subdued production gives a sort of therapeutic serenity that escapes the dilemma of one individual, placing the insignificance amongst grandeur that doesn't care for frivolous poignancy. "If you could do it all again, big deal so what." Yorke's cynicism has never been left so bare.
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17
Algiers - Can The Sub_Bass Speak?
Single | Listen
While there's many ways to achieve success in art, one of the more foolproof ways is to evade convention for the sake of derision. Artists unleashing pent-up vitriol that spits on trends and sideswipes their own predictable behavior always extracts a reaction. And that's exactly what Algiers did on 'Can The Sub_Bass Speak?,' a vicious Free Jazz and Spoken Word rant induced by years of marginalization. Some as grand and crucial as racial inequality. Others more personal, as lead singer Franklin James Fisher even takes digs at stonewalled critics misinterpreting Algiers' intention. At one point he quotes, word for word, a particularly snotty Pitchfork review of The Underside Of Power. Ten seconds later he's discussing identity politics and what it means to be black, obliterating stereotypes as the walls frantically rebuilding themselves around him continue to crumble. The use of Sound Collage, essentially combining decades worth of black-powered music, only goes to further instill Algiers pressing message on 'Can The Sub_Bass Speak?'
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16
Swans - It's Coming It's Real
The amiable persistence of backing vocals, a soft, melodious strum in calmative loops, and Michael Gira dripping prophetic psalms from his syrupy vocals. Combined with the anticipated build to ecstasy, and you have all the makings of a Swans epic. Sure, 'It's Coming It's Real' borrows heavily from Gira's past, namely his work with Angels Of Light where Neo-Folk and Gothic Country reigned supreme, but there's a sort of enduring beauty that comes with those angelic refrains that makes for a timeless experience. It's music that can be appreciated by all, for the daunting journey towards ascension taken on 'It's Coming It's Real' bears the weight of mortality with the release of eternity. Religious or not - as the connotations found here most certainly are - death succumbs us all, and twisting that morbid realization into existential bliss can not only help cope, but also assuage concerns about the afterlife. Like many Swans greats that came before, 'It's Coming It's Real' evokes that dreamlike rise to the gates of heaven with the burden of reality left behind.
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15
Kate Tempest - Firesmoke
Not much can be said about Kate Tempest's 'Firesmoke,' for the greatness of Book Of Traps & Lessons standout single lies in silence. An air of aphrodisia splits through Tempest's frail agenda and sensual dialect, with a euphonic piano medley and minimal percussion moving in and out of consciousness like the motions of sex Tempest depicts. Chill might be too heavy-handed a word when discussing 'Firesmoke's' sublime, soporific nature. It's just that calming, forcing any listen to result in a subtle head nod and drowsy eyes. Tempest's lyrics glide along like kisses down the body of a lover, invoking the strongest of sensations with the simplest touch. "Your body is home to rare gods, I kneel at their temple / I'm blown to bits, gentle, ferocious, we are open / Explosives have nothing compared to these sparks, so let's fall apart." Intimacy has never been so venerable.
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14
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Red Dust
Hiding Places | Listen
If there were ever a time to flip the credit billing it would be for Hiding Places, an album that continued to show Billy Woods consistency but unearthed the atmospheric marvel of Kenny Segal. On 'Red Dust,' a melodic guitar loop provides soft sensibility and calmness to Woods' typical austerity, only for an earth-rattling bass to tilt the parameters back off their axis. The combination is simple and brilliant, allowing Woods the space to criticize Hip-Hop's nefarious culture and the negative connotations that result from it. The slow-moving churn of 'Red Dust' stands in opposition to Woods' routine beats that often clutter the soundscape like a city street infested with rubbish. Both are applicable, but the airy, unexpected candor Segal brandishes on 'Red Dust' really gives Hiding Places' closer a sort of destitute solemnity, as if the darkness surrounding us all will always exist so long as unpropitious pleasures surround us.
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13
Blanck Mass - House Vs. House
For some unfounded reason, Electro-Industrial artists never dabble in anything that isn't begrimed darkness. A foolish decision given the natural irrationality the genre partakes in, deforming Electronic rhythms for brooding, mechanical means. Blanck Mass' Animated Violence Mild, and especially its impeccable lead single 'House Vs. House,' didn't concern itself with such established notions, embracing a playful, camp atmosphere that takes the Electro-Industrial flair to a utopian future society with impeccable clarity and cleanliness. 'House Vs. House' is teeming with charm, shooting striking synthesizers up in the air like fireworks on the fourth. And that's all before indecipherable vocals intwine themselves amongst the gaudy rift, showcasing an innovative era of Pop where language has broken down into one, universal dialect. It's bright, it's brilliant, it's boisterous. 'House Vs. House' is not only Blanck Mass' best work, the eight-minute epic also hints at a world that somehow reached paradise.
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12
Tyler, The Creator - GONE, GONE / THANK YOU
To think of 'GONE, GONE / THANK YOU' five years ago would be inconceivable. Both for Tyler, The Creator's own career and Hip-Hop as a whole. Cherry Bomb detonated with a handicapped poof of smoke, aspiring for greatness clouded behind misguided aesthetics. But then, thanks to Alternative R&B's invasive strain, the tender rapper bore itself bare. The high-pitched harmonizing, fluttering synthesizers, insouciant percussion, all of it anti Hip-Hop norms. Shattered by 'GONE, GONE,' especially the mesmerizing first half, which evokes the limitless charm and pixie-like essence of a peak Mercury Rev cut. It's one of Tyler's most spectacular achievements, a dazzling advancement for Hip-Hop if the genre forerunners choose to take notice.
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11
Weyes Blood - Movies
Titanic Rising | Listen
An argument could be made that Weyes Blood's Titanic Rising is 2019's most theatrical release. Superficial swelling, captivating beauty, and orchestral arrangements paint with vaudevillian flair and grandiose elegance. In other words; a movie. Therein lies the irony with Titanic Rising's penultimate track, in her unremitting quest to strive for the self-idealized essence of perfection, Weyes Blood effectively made it herself. 'Movies' is a gorgeous mosaic of hope, exaltation, and desire, wrapped in a slow-moving climax that could make one tear up at something so quintessence as art. The fist-pounding build, pierced by Weyes Blood's weeping manifesto ("I wanna be the star of my own movie") hits close to home for any second-guessing their place in life. While not as grim the circumstance, similarities can be drawn to Arcade Fire's 'Backseat,' wherein a grieving Régine Chassagne pleads for her life's control over opulent orchestration.
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10
black midi - bmbmbm
There's something about proven prodigies forgoing all their training and practice for bold trivialities. That's exactly what black midi did on 'bmbmbm,' a slow-moving dirge that stands in stark contrast to Schlagenheim's advanced, genre-bending ways. The besotted, one-note guitar and dallying drums are one thing, but they pale in comparison to 'bmbmbm's' real star; Geordie Greep and his insatiable magnetism. "She moves with a purpose" he repeats ad nauseam, as an unstable manic female yelps, howls, and chirps off in the background. A commentary on society's tendency to glamorize the egotistical all boiled down to a few short lines, spoken in increasingly exaggerated prose by Greep. The culmination, hinted at with his scathing vocoder, Morgan Simpson's fraught percussion, and Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin's strained restraint, explodes with fiery Rock shrapnel so intense that nothing else in 2019's Rock landscape comes close.
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9
HAIM - Summer Girl
Single | Listen
Who could've guessed, a HAIM song in the top ten by year's end. Despite their sneaky infiltration of Vampire Weekend - resulting in the subpar Father Of The Bride - HAIM found their element within the confines of 'Summer Girl,' an ode to the greatest season Earth affords us. Here, Danielle Haim takes the lead with the calmest vocals and most sincere melodies, recalling the 90's naïveté of singers Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, and Jewel, all while paying befitting homage to Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side.' 'Summer Girl's' a gorgeous single with infinite replay value, bolstered by an intoxicating saxophone, smooth bass, and those irresistible "do do do's." There's few examples better of simplicity benefiting the end result than this.
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8
clipping. - Blood Of The Fang
Unlike the rest of There Existed An Addiction To Blood where Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson dazzled through tortuous sound design, the centerpiece, 'Blood Of The Fang,' was a Daveed Diggs spectacle. Like all the best clipping. songs, be it 'Dominoes,' 'A Better Place,' or 'Wriggle,' greatness was achieved through teamwork and a common goal. On 'Blood Of The Fang' - much like last year's 'This Is America' by Childish Gambino - Diggs recounts the history, hypocrisy, and hysteria surrounding black-and-black crime and the glorification from white America on the subject. It's a difficult subject matter to approach, but one made easier to digest through Diggs' levity and buoyancy and clipping.'s Jungle rhythms and children's choir. A magnificent showcase that best exemplifies clipping.'s knack for substance and style.
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7
Jenny Hval - Ashes To Ashes
Much like Jenny Hval's previous masterstroke ('Spells'), the apex of Practice Of Love unveils a similar level of mystifying beauty. There's a not-so subtle gravity holding 'Ashes To Ashes' in place, despite the elevating Dream Trance that preempts its rise to pure bliss. Hval's matter-of-fact storytelling - recounting the lucidity of a grim dream idealizing the concept of death and suffocation - draws comparisons to Suzanna Vega or Laurie Anderson in tone and approach, all while beautifying a bleak scene much akin to Algebra Suicide's 'Little Dead Bodies' or Björk's 'Hyper-Ballad.' It's a magical song that can be wholly enjoyed without elaborating on the evocative lyrics ("...went about burying someone's ashes and then having a cigarette" always fascinates me), as 'Ashes To Ashes'' production is sublime; Fluttering with cosmic wings through the most colorful migration. As time passes, 'Ashes To Ashes' grows, culminating in a dance-filled procession that treats death as a triumph, the afterlife as cyclical essentiality.
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6
Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall
Father Of The Bride | Listen
One doesn't simply walk away from music following their commercial and critical peak, but that's exactly what Ezra Koenig and Vampire Weekend did in 2013. Six arduous years of hopefulness and hopelessness reduced itself to one, five-minute song. The magnificent 'Harmony Hall' glistened with quaint Indie charm, classic Vampire Weekend catch-ems, and a sublime, decorous throwback to 90's Baggy. Father Of The Bride not living up to 'Harmony Hall,' or Modern Vampires Of The City's expectations was disheartening, but mitigated by the fact that 'Harmony Hall' nearly made that six-year wait worth it. Emanating Country-bled vocals, underlying Progressive Pop, delicate and crunchy acoustic guitars, and a bridge to die for. 'Harmony Hall' was everything an Indie song aspires to be.
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5
JPEGMAFIA - Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot
It feels like 'Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot' is a challenge. For fans, for JPEGMAFIA, for Experimental Hip-Hop as a whole. Spurts of Peggy's Veteran lineage implode at the cusp of each verse's finale, with vicious howls and palpitating bass. All the while piano-driven, dulcet tones linger under uneasy, near-Vaporwave vocal samples and silky Glitch pops. The contradiction is immense, the reticulation happening unreal. Whether it's Tyler, The Creator, Brockhampton, Childish Gambino, or Kanye West, all the genre's most popular artists conflate the two polar opposite vibrations - be it masculine Hardcore Hip-Hop or feminine Alternative R&B - but have failed to do so, even if attempt it, on the same track. Here, JPEGMAFIA does it simultaneously, incorporating his knack for one-liners with unspooling emotion and stimulating Sound Collage samples. A staple of Experimental Hip-Hop it'll soon become.
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4
FKA twigs - cellophane
Long-time readers of mine will know that slow-moving songs are not my cup of tea. Such a fate does not fall on FKA twigs' sublime 'cellophane,' for quality will always triumph. At its core, a tenuous piano ballad deliberating a relationship disintegrating from twigs' grasp, 'cellophane's' emotional fragility really has no match. It's the best, most honest and human breakup songs in years, providing a level of sensationalized, romantic beauty to what's otherwise a sepulchral event. Think Björk's frightful, calamitous 'Black Lake' being broadcast to the world rather than one's lonesome self. The inclusion of purely human instrumentation - be it the dotting piano, homesick strings, or lugubrious beatbox replacing formal percussion - further emphasizes 'cellophane's' distinct universal element, unveiling something reserved and solemn that all who've experienced unrequited love could relate to.
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3
Xiu Xiu - Pumpkin Attack On Mommy & Daddy
Girl With Basket Of Fruit | Listen
Music like 'Pumpkin Attack On Mommy & Daddy' doesn't exist. That is, until Xiu Xiu - fabled forerunners of art for artisan sake - made it so. It is a five-minute assault on all five senses, abusing the brain with pretentious vernacular so radical that one merely laughs in nonconformist humor, rather than divulging the obvious highfalutin taking place. There's talk of prized pigs with broken legs, human beings eating garlic, and families dissolving into nothingness. It's surrealism at its finest, made all the more rewarding thanks to Xiu Xiu's staggering Electronic gremlins constantly affecting whatever normality tries to invade 'Pumpkin Attack.' Monumental bass knocks, Chopped N' Screwed scratching, and unnerving atmospheric dire straits is just the tip of the unassailable iceberg.
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2
Angel Olsen - Lark
If there were ever a single song to define Indie music this decade, it would be 'Lark.' Angel Olsen's crowning achievement which ignites a fire under All Mirrors has everything anyone could want in a song. Monumental build-ups, heartache that feels genuine and ubiquitous, immaculate sonic quality, and pacing that could rival the best Arcade Fire, Pink Floyd, or Radiohead have on offer. There isn't an angle in which 'Lark' isn't jaw-dropping, as Olsen's talents as a songwriter reach their penultimate stage. Whether it's in the final, riled screams ("what about my dreams!") or the more sedative, humbler moments, 'Lark' constantly offers listeners something beautiful to behold. At its base lies virtuous Indie Rock, a staple of Olsen's discography up until this point. But the incorporation of vast orchestral strings and light Americana help diversify Olsen's style, while simultaneously detailing the edges of Indie Rock's otherwise garden-variety particulars. A surefire masterpiece.
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1
Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses
Single | Listen
To be successfully crowned song of the year one must not only achieve unprecedented quality not seen before in the medium, but also epitomize the year's predominant societal strife or cultural crux. And who better to accomplish that than a six-piece outfit of musical prodigies who had one credited song - the favorable 'Athens, France' - to their name before releasing 'Sunglasses,' a colossal, nine-minute Experimental Rock epic consuming forty years of the genre in one fell swoop. In it, we move from Mogwai to Slint to IDLES to Joy Division to This Heat to lands unknown, passing through sections with destabilizing anxiety and self-induced panic, brought on by the caustic mental breakdown of one Isaac Wood. 'Sunglasses' depicts a year in which mental vulnerability in young adults was thrust to the forefront of discussion, culminating in pent-up distress over trivialities - one being Kanye West himself - while the fact of the matter lies, by and large, dormant and percolating.
Through increasingly-unstable passages, complete with blaring horns, tuneless guitars, and the rhythmic percussion of day-to-day life, 'Sunglasses' finds Wood - instant Spoken Word luminary - asserting his bipolar impermanence with gritting realism, striking detail, and dark humor in ways that would make Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest cower. It's a topsy-turvy journey that twists humdrum dialogue on a family's daily routine into a manic episode complete with an unsteady collapse, ersatz confidence booster ("I am invincible in these sunglasses"), and cyclical shouting match like a knot in the stomach being wound tighter and tighter. The constraint is unbearable, but what sets 'Sunglasses' apart is Black Country, New Road's astonishing ability to make that hysteria...fun. Wood's crazed charisma mixes perfectly with his slew of infamous one-liners ("leave Kanye out of this!") and the band's constant knack for reinvention, leaving an anomalous art project that perplexes as much as it entertains. 2019's best song, and it wasn't really close.
Through increasingly-unstable passages, complete with blaring horns, tuneless guitars, and the rhythmic percussion of day-to-day life, 'Sunglasses' finds Wood - instant Spoken Word luminary - asserting his bipolar impermanence with gritting realism, striking detail, and dark humor in ways that would make Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest cower. It's a topsy-turvy journey that twists humdrum dialogue on a family's daily routine into a manic episode complete with an unsteady collapse, ersatz confidence booster ("I am invincible in these sunglasses"), and cyclical shouting match like a knot in the stomach being wound tighter and tighter. The constraint is unbearable, but what sets 'Sunglasses' apart is Black Country, New Road's astonishing ability to make that hysteria...fun. Wood's crazed charisma mixes perfectly with his slew of infamous one-liners ("leave Kanye out of this!") and the band's constant knack for reinvention, leaving an anomalous art project that perplexes as much as it entertains. 2019's best song, and it wasn't really close.
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100-51 | 50-21 | Top 50 Albums
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