Top 10 Best & Worst Album Covers Of 2019

With another year in the can it's time to look back towards the best and worst covers of 2019. Purely subjective - with some favorited or disliked for purely personal reasons - this list acts as a fun round-up of the year. Take a look back in time for the best and worst covers of 2018, 2017 and 2016. As per usual, one rule of thumb applies: I must have listened to the album, otherwise intent could be lost.

___________________________

10

Worst | Chance The Rapper - The Big Day | In a certain light, the cover for Chance The Rapper's Big Day isn't all that bad. A video posted to Instagram showed the intent and creation of said artwork, so it wasn't slapdash thrown together (like much of the album). Instead, disappointment is had in regards to originality, as Chance falls down the path of his greatest influencer, Kanye West, and the recent venture into low-class, amateur cover art he's composed. I didn't like it then when it was original, so I certainly don't like it now.

Best | clipping. - There Existed An Addiction To Blood | The greatness of There Existed An Addiction To Blood's cover lies in the beholder's interpretation. What exactly is happening on the fractured, yet oddly symmetrical cover? At first glance, I thought it was drumsticks. Then splinters from the remnants of the burning piano that concludes the LP. At last I came to the idea of a spike pit from the perspective of someone about to succumb to impalement. Quite simple, quite provocative.

___________________________

9

Worst | Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride | It's grown on me with time, as in retrospect Father Of The Bride's cover acts - as some of the LP does - as an homage to early 90's Baggy and Alternative Dance. The cover reeks of tasteless 90's minimalism, with cheap cartoon techniques best left behind. You know a cover's lacking in je ne sais quoi when one could easily duplicate it within five minutes on Microsoft Paint. Insult is added to injury when one reflects on Vampire Weekend's previous trilogy of excellent album art.

Best | FKA twigs - MAGDALENE | MAGDALENE's cover excels due to pure artistry. It's literally a statue, plastered with layers of coating and cracked in numerous places, depicting FKA twigs as a vulnerable, but everlasting woman. The beauty lies in that simplicity, a message that isn't overbearing or difficult to ascertain. Plus, the glazed-over eyes, saturated look, and elite appeal make it appealing to gander at.

___________________________

8

Worst | Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire | Typically, artwork is supposed to reflect the tone or mood captured within. When it can't, there's a discordance afoot. When it won't, as in the case of Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire's self-titled studio LP, failure is abound. The cover, depicting Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire in lavish clothes in a bland room with a rabbit, explains nothing of the sound's quality to come. Fitting considering its lack thereof. Even eXquire's most-noted project, Lost In Translation, perfectly reflected his filthy, grotesque, dated style.

Best | Nivhek - After Its Own Death | If #8's worst example demonstrates how not to correlate sound into visuals, #8's best certainly does. Here, Nivhek, known to most as Grouper, travels down a long, lonely road with no discernible features that offer hope or serenity. After Its Own Death trudges through ominous Drone layered in plumes of fog as the scent of rotting flesh consumes the vacant lot. In other words, see: the cover.

___________________________

7

Worst | Young Thug - So Much Fun | Young Thug has never exuded quality, in any aspect of his art. The one time he came close, Slime Season 3 and its gorgeous cover, we later come to find out it was stolen from a fan with minor alterations. On So Much Fun, the overhead view of a Stonehenge-like recreation of Thug's face is, needless to say, quite grotesque and ugly on the eyes. It's an idea that holds no significance, further reaffirming Thug's abecedarian attitude towards art.

Best | Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin? | Despite being moderately dissatisfied with uknowhatimsayin? and its blasé admittance of its lethargic concept, there's no denying the lighthearted color and character donning its cover. Three iterations of Danny Brown peeking out like three children in an overcoat and top hat. The silliness matches Brown's personality to a tee, though the underlying horrors he often presents are missing.

___________________________

6

Worst | Wilco - Ode To Joy | On normal occasions, Wilco would be nowhere near this list. The band who, in recent years, has been known for playing it safe musically would do the same visually. But not on Ode To Joy, where they strangely veer towards abstract art with a heaping of pretentiousness. The cover is almost entirely absent, composed primarily of a plain white with some slight spherical cut-out to offset things. Many believe it's a toilet lid. It's not, but the fact that that's one such thought should tell you all you need to know.

Best | BROCKHAMPTON - GINGER | Even though I'm a generation ahead of relating to Brockhampton's aesthetic, there's no denying their commitment to such intimate communion is praiseworthy. Last year iridescence made my list of worst-of for failing to elicit such a reaction, but GINGER turns things around through sheer, emotive simplicity. A hug that tells all. Relying on others to power through hardships has always been Brockhampton's M.O., and nowhere is that seen better than on this cover.

___________________________

5

Worst | Mac DeMarco - Here Comes The Cowboy | The cover of Mac DeMarco's Here Comes The Cowboy feels like an amalgamation of two previous entries; Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and Big Day. The former, for its meaningless depiction of an equally-meaningless album. The latter, grade school art masquerading as pseudo, high-brow symbolism. Maybe its barren, unattended to smiley face pin creates a meta commentary on DeMarco's mental state creating the dilatory LP. But even so, it does nothing to warrant its emblematic state.

Best | Uboa - Origin Of My Depression | This could've gone either way, which generally defines good art. What tipped the scales towards the positive was the music itself, chilling in its realistic depiction of severe depression and personal resentment. If Uboa's Origin Of My Depression didn't fulfill its promise of representing her mental illness, the crude, nondescript picture of her hospital gurney situated behind a stark curtain would've fallen flat. But alas, the reality of the situation seeps into perspective and makes Origin's experience all the more visceral.

___________________________

4

Worst | 100 gecs - 1000 gecs | After enduring 1000 gecs - an album I don't despise, mind you - one positive comment easily offered is how apropos its 'le random' cover is to the musical barrage of contrasting styles. That is the extent to which it can be congratulated, as lazy, amateur pretentiousness still reigns supreme in the sepulchral head-hanging Dylan Brady and Laura Les sport on the cover. When one experiences what artisans can achieve through hard work and dedication, 1000 gecs' meaningless snapshot feels borderline offensive.

Best | Saint Pepsi - Mannequin Challenge | Now that is Vaporwave! On top of being really the only Vaporwave album that mattered in 2019, Saint Pepsi's Mannequin Challenge sports a cover exquisitely depicting the rich aesthetics cherished by the genre infatuated with tearing down the rise of capitalism. Couple that with their obsession over primitive, 90's technology nostalgia and Mannequin Challenge's overall "office dance party" vibe and you have the makings of an excellent cover.

___________________________

3

Worst | Kanye West - JESUS IS KING | This list, both good and bad, wouldn't be complete without Kanye West on it. Ever the unequivocal provocateur, Yeezy's visual work has astonished (My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy) as much as it has disappointed (ye). JESUS IS KING joins the latter. Not because of some eye-rolling statement captured on an iPhone, but rather total unoriginality; The ultimate sin when it comes to Kanye West. The "non-cover" idea has been done to death, including by Kanye himself with Yeezus. Not to mention, with his foray into Gospel, JESUS IS KING's cover could've been something imaginative and large. Instead it's this. UPPERCASE doesn't fix that.

Best | The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time Stage 6 | Minimalism done right. It's rare in music nowadays to achieve such a visceral reaction with such stark austerity. But here we have The Caretaker's final destination, the culmination of a 20-year career wrapped up in a grueling, six-part demise. Followers of the series will sense, but not outright know, the impact Stage 6's cover bestows. Not only a blank canvas, but ones whose withered remains have deteriorated to the point of nonexistence. Here, The Caretaker makes a stunning yet simple commentary on the fragility of our memories and how easily they can fade.

___________________________

2

Worst | Men I Trust - Oncle Jazz | Yes, it's almost certainly a crude, red crayon drawing from a preschooler, either one familiar with a member of Men I Trust, or reused from the past childhood of Emmanuelle Proulx or someone else in the band. But let's be real, it's so ugly. Like really ugly. No amount of personal meaning could convince me otherwise. And what little could is never expressed on one of 2019's most overrated albums, the 24-track, 71-minute slog of likeminded, sentimental Sophisti-Pop known as Oncle Jazz. Here, unlike previous entry 1000 gecs, ambition - or lack thereof - doesn't correlate. This is a trying album with limited innovation, adorned with a cheap, throwaway scribbling.

Best | Chromatics - Closer To Grey | Talk about being in tune with your aesthetic. Here, the Chromatics - returning after a seven-year absence since Kill For Love - continue on with that addiction to nefarious romance on Closer To Grey. A stoic, plastic doll bearing similarity to lead singer Ruth Radelet lies tilted, strewn amidst broken glass, schmalzy blood splattered across. The "Mature Audiences" logo stapled to the bottom only drives home Chromatics' tasteful indulgence with cinema and the human fascination with love-driven bloodlust.

___________________________

1

Worst | GFOTY - GFOTV | And the winner for most uncomfortable cover of the year goes to known troll GFOTY. Absurdist art such as this teeters not, as most art does, in the middle ground of incertitude, but rather on the edges of each extreme. Meaning, in a certain sense, GFOTV's cover is brilliant. It perfectly represents the bewildering music content, one that depicts an aging millennial reminiscing on her childhood television shows through the tube of her mental facility. The demented clown and nude non-sexuality only adds to that confounding hysteria. Maybe in a few years GFOTV, music and cover, will switch perception and become so bad it's good. But we aren't there yet.

Best | Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising | 2019's winner goes to an album who many consider to be the best of the year. Weyes Blood's breakout epic Titanic Rising reveled in the soundscapes of downtrodden, yet equally as inspiriting Chamber Pop. The title, an ode to this righting of the ship. A personal triumph of correcting one's missteps with motivational mettle. The cover encapsulates that all, providing an instant aura of intrigue akin to The Shape Of Water's opening, underwater wonderland. Stranded in her childhood bedroom, the image of Weyes Blood floating in the ethereal as an adumbrated snapshot of her metaphorical drowning state, all the while prompting a whimsical fantasy setting that pairs perfectly with the music, is too splendid not to take top honors.

___________________________