Top 50 Albums Of 2019, 10-1

50-21 | 20-11

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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.

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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10

JPEGMAFIA | All My Heroes Are Cornballs

Experimental Hip-Hop | Listen

In twenty years, perhaps sooner, JPEGMAFIA's All My Heroes Are Cornballs will be seen as a fascinating time capsule of social media's invasion of art. It's potentially Experimental Hip-Hop's breaking point, an album so ludicrous in scope both grand and microscopic, cramming Sound Collage samples of everyday superfluity in every nook and cranny, that I could see a pre/post All My Heroes Are Cornballs world, much akin to what happened in 2013 with Kanye West's Yeezus. Tracks like 'Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot,' 'Beta Male Strategies,' and 'Thot Tactics' bridge the dubious gap between Hip-Hop's hardcore masculinity and its recent transition to benign, sometimes supple femininity better than anything the genre has composed to date, simultaneously using the duality as an analogy to one's aberrant mental illness. All while typifying late 2010's obsession over clout, validation, and satisfaction. All My Heroes Are Cornballs plays out like a snapshot of one's Twitter feed, complete with trivial memes, volatile debate, and weighty admissions.

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9

FKA twigs | Magdalene

Art Pop | Listen

It took five years - four if we count M3LL155X - for FKA twigs to mix, master, and muster another masterpiece. During that time a relational break-up resulted in an unraveled twigs, one tethered by flimsy strings to acceptance, but knowing all too well that anguish, despair, and mental frailty were on the cusp of capitulation. MAGDALENE is that paradox, a fight between one's exterior self-aggrandizing and their burgeoning, interior insecurities. Stilted Glitch Pop that provides a provocative nuance in austere pockets of air ('home with you,' 'fallen alien') give way to gorgeous Singer/Songwriter crescendos pitting FKA twigs as one of the greatest vocalists of our time. Nowhere is that seen better than on closer 'cellophane,' where twigs comes to terms with the consummated relationship (a la Björk's Vulnicura, of which MAGDALENE has numerous comparisons to) over stark minimalism offset by starlit strings and hushed, hypnotic beatbox. MAGDALENE excels in its multifaceted edifice, a testament to our complex human element many artists fail to properly define. twigs' struggle is honest, forthright, and, most importantly, experienced by us all.

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8

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal | Hiding Places

East Coast Hip-Hop | Listen

All Billy Woods needed for a borderline classic is a condensed tracklist and producer capable of paralleling his jarring take on inner-city life with venom. The enigmatic rapper got both of those on Hiding Places, a brief 12-track LP that's dwarfed in size - but not in quality - by Woods' previous efforts like History Will Absolve Me and Known Unknowns. He also got the breakout performance from Kenny Segal, much like how Danny Brown wrenched the greatness from Paul White's inner-machinations on Atrocity Exhibition. Here, Segal contorts entrenched guitars encased in sludge for a Hip-Hop backbone, something only Death Grips can attest to accomplishing. Tracks like 'Checkpoints' and the phenomenal 'Red Dust' thrive off such brutish trembles, like the constant construction preventing a city from crumbling into dust. All while Billy Woods, ever the poet of the perverse and repugnant, fronts lower class cruelty in ways no other rapper can.

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7

Ana Frango Elétrico | Little Electric Chicken Heart

MPB | Listen

Language barriers are one of the most difficult things to overcome for music enthusiasts. Sound is universal, so even if the concepts and ideas stemmed from foreign cultures feels unfamiliar, there's a relatable foundation to build from. Language does not abide by the same coda, resulting in many misinterpreted experiences when the words have no meaning. This fate does not apply to Ana Frango Elétrico's Little Electric Chicken Heart, a Portuguese MPB stunner whose sole goal is to brighten hearts and enliven spirits. Matched by uptempo production that prides itself on kinetic qualities like playfulness, pride, and serendipity, Elétrico's own charisma - which charts through the roof for the entire 30 minutes - jauntily jives with animated flair and cheeky flirtation. The three-track run of 'Promessas e Previsões,' 'Se no Cinema,' and 'Tem Certeza?' is a ten-minute euphoric high that would put any exultation from The Go! Team, Stereolab, or Mercury Rev to the test.

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6

Xiu Xiu | Girl With Basket Of Fruit

Post-Industrial | Listen

Never underestimate the artistic infallibility of Jamie Stewart. Xiu Xiu, ever the forward-thinking experimental popists, turn in their most controversial, confrontational project yet. Girl With Basket Of Fruit toys with extremities in all avenues, be it the outrageous redefinition of what defines an "instrument," or Stewart's stream of conscious ramblings of a lunatic. It is totally singular in Xiu Xiu's discography, a testament worthy of limitless merit given how Stewart and company strove for sheer originality at every stage of their now 17-year career. From the first instant, tracks like 'Girl With Basket Of Fruit' and 'It Comes Out As A Joke' pummel the listener with anxiety-riddled panic attacks, verbiage intent on destabilizing the laws of order and music meant to accost and vacillate. Nothing achieves pure artistry quite like 'Pumpkin Attack On Mommy & Daddy' though, an extravagant and unreal expedition through Electro-Industrial that has endless replay value. Girl With Basket Of Fruit never dwells on its vast ideas, driving them up the wall until the ceiling bursts.

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5

clipping. | There Existed An Addiction To Blood

Industrial Hip-Hop | Listen

On the surface, West Coast Hip-Hop filtered through the violence permeating the culture. Bubbling one layer underneath it's anything but. Nothing in Hip-Hop, even the clipping. albums that preceded it, comes close to There Existed An Addiction To Blood's complex sound design and uncompromising use of Noise. It's an album reawakening misguided Horrorcore, notarized by truly wretched dissonance best seen on 'La Mala Ordina,' 'Club Down,' and 'Attunement.' The interludes that provide an unsettling, yet equally as vaudevillian atmosphere further heighten clipping.'s criticism of violence as spectacle, lessening the divide between reality and fantasy in the process. Astute, highfaluting art can be found beyond the 18-minute 'Piano Burning,' be it in the integrated Ambient vibrations of 'Run For Your Life,' the spry, revamped Microsound of 'Story 7,' or the apocalyptic Gospel of 'All In Your Head.' There Existed An Addiction To Blood never runs short on ideas, culminating in the near-flawless climax 'Blood Of The Fang' that merges clipping.'s knack for experimentation with Daveed Diggs' hypnotizing flows and sophisticated lyrics.

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4

Kate Tempest | Book Of Traps & Lessons

Spoken Word | Listen

Few things stimulate my mind more than a subway ride at night. A rare occurrence left for biyearly trips to New York City, the congestion of differences vast and stark boil down to cordial displeasure and unprovoked animosity. Nowhere else can the sheer scope of the human condition be seen better, and what a match for such an occasion than Kate Tempest's Book Of Traps & Lessons, an album that feels congealed by the rusted wires, musky scent, and sleazy romance. The sparse, one-note instrumentation cherishes simple beauties, like the nocturnal sway of 'Firesmoke' or the powerful piano medley of 'People's Faces,' two remarkable standouts embodying Tempest's knack for exemplifying human connection. Her poetic mixture depicts the highs, lows, and medium passages of humans struggling to cope, both mentally and ecumenical with their existence. It's broken down to such a magnificent microcosm, moving with immutable pace that finds sections of optimism sideswiped by autocratic injustice, eventually to be relieved by hope.

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3

Tyler, The Creator | IGOR

Neo-Soul | Listen

Tyler, The Creator's fantastic and utterly undeniable evolution as an artist continued with IGOR, a honeyed blend of luscious Pop Rap, antsy Neo-Soul, and vigorous Psychedelic Soul that culminated in his simplest, yet most honest and comprehensible concept to date. Love, regardless of gender, and the never-ending quest towards embracing it. Tyler's lyrical complexity isn't interwoven like WOLF, nor was the production as errant as Cherry Bomb. Instead, IGOR played upon Flower Boy's sun-dyed, saturated wanderlust while providing noteworthy blasts in Hip-Hop hysteria ('NEW MAGIC WAND,' 'WHAT'S GOOD'). The incomparable second half, a seven-track run incomparable 6in Tyler's career, rounds out IGOR's highlights with jubilant psychedelia akin to Mercury Rev ('GONE, GONE') and 70's throwback Soul in 'ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?'.

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2

black midi | Schlagenheim

Experimental Rock | Listen

There's something brewing in London. An evolution of Punk if you will, spearheaded by the groundbreaking and prodigious record label Speedy Wunderground. Two behemoths were formed in 2018, one whose second released song ('Sunglasses') obstinately took SOTY honors from DoD, the other (Schlagenheim) came awfully close to securing the same fate for albums, causing shockwaves a year into their existence. From Can to Daughters, Talking Heads to Lightning Bolt, This Heat to Slint, black midi emerged as pugnacious provocateurs with exceptional taste in music, surpassed only by their skill. Schlagenheim is powered by the electricity of shrewd youths, hellbent on inoculating art back into Rock. Tracks like 'Speedway' and its multi-rhythmic grooves and vocoder aria, 'Western' and its robust storytelling and impulsive structuring, and 'bmbmbm' and its nonchalance towards perversion are some broad examples of black midi's encyclopedic take on stimulative, but rewarding art.

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1

Angel Olsen | All Mirrors

Chamber Pop | Listen

And to think, not more than three years ago Angel Olsen was nothing more than a footnote in my eyes. A generic, midwestern contemporary using well-trod avenues to stumble her way through unmemorable success. That was before All Mirrors, a record of unfathomable opulence, gravity, and consequence. A record that found Olsen born anew, usurping the mantle of Art Pop torchbearer with a reconstructed and recontextualized take on 2010's Indie right before the decade ceased to exist. Arcade Fire came out on the consequential 'Lark,' Chelsea Wolfe's Gothic resurgence on 'All Mirrors,' St. Vincent's intrepid dubiety on 'New Love Cassette,' Lana Del Rey's ostentatious instability on 'Endgame,' and Olsen's own brand of fulfillment with the masterstroke 'Chance.' All Mirrors defined an era of the tormented female, combating insecurities thrust down by society with hope of control wresting in the midst. Striking orchestral arrangements lavish in scope, dexterous in tone dot All Mirrors like the score of a tear-jerking Romantic film. It's a record defined by its everlasting grandeur, the perfect product to cherish as 2019's best.

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50-21 | 20-11 | Top 100 Tracks