We spent a lot of 2019 listening to and celebrating our favorite local releases of the year, but we also looked for our favorites from outside our fair city. 2019 brought us incredible releases from debut artists and from returning favorites! Read through what our staff had on repeat this year from albums to songs to re-playing the shows we went to in our heads.
Favorite Non-Local Albums of the Year
Tyler, the Creator, IGOR
If Flower Boy will go down as the most important turning point in Tyler, the Creator’s career – the album where he felt comfortable enough with his own identity as a gay man and to own up to years of homophobia – IGOR then represents the first chapter in the rest of his career, as well as his ascension into a full-blown songwriter. His artistic vision, crisp production, and ability to create something with such emotional resonance are at an all-time high. He’s proved his ability. He’s proved his staying power. It’s going to be a new decade, and Tyler continues to evolve.
–Harry Gustafson
Jamila Woods, LEGACY! LEGACY!
“You don’t know a thing about our story, tell it wrong all the time” is the first line of “BALDWIN,” the final track on Jamila Woods’ LEGACY! LEGACY!, perfectly summing up the concept for her masterful sophomore album. Woods explores the stories of black and brown Americans of the past and how all of their histories are within her. Everyone from James Baldwin to Sun Ra, to Frida Kahlo provide inspiration for her patchwork. There’s an incredible episode of the podcast Song Exploder about “BALDWIN” well worth listening to. Sonically, the album is unlike anything else that came out this year. It mixes notes of old school r&B with soul, jazz and funk, relying on her experience as a poet and vocalist to lead the charge. “FRIDA” is another one of my favorite songs on the album where Woods sings about how Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived in separate houses connected by a foot bridge. It explores how we can love someone but explore our own autonomy to love ourselves without clinging onto someone else. Another standout track is “BASQUIAT” feat. Saba. Where “BALDWIN” comes from a place of empathy for racist White people, “BASQUIAT” comes from a place of anger and of being fed up. Woods stands up to those trying to control her emotions and happiness. All of this is over the most incredible jazzy drums. All in all, this album is beautiful, powerful, and an eye-opening look into both our history and present in America.
-Christine Varriale
Vagabon, Vagabon
Laetitia Tamko is one of those people who is so inherently talented, that you wonder how they could possibly get better on their next project. On her sophomore album, Tamko elevates her naturally-gifted voice by playing around with genre. Her indie rock guitar playing has blossomed into dance music, soulful ballads, and more. I already can’t wait to hear what she dreams up next.
-Katie Ouellette
Carly Rae Jepsen, Dedicated
I basically didn’t listen to a lot of music released in 2019. My top-listened song was rain sounds according to my Apple Music. Honestly, this whole thing is a tossup between – and it is with a heavy heart I write to you as a true 30-year-old male music journalist – Carly Rae Jepsen and The National. You can stop your collective groan now: Dedicated was my fave record of 2019. CRJ is a magnificent songwriter and performer. As I packed to leave Boston earlier this year, it was the album that accompanied packing and bouts of dissociating about leaving Boston. Cool. Music is good.
-Jeremy Stanley
Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell!
As someone who got a giant Norman Rockwell thigh tattoo in 2011 (it’s a rendering of The Lobsterman, if you’re wondering), the name of this album rang through loud and clear when it dropped in August of this year. I haven’t listened to (or, rather, liked) Lana Del Rey since Ultraviolence came out in 2014 and did not expect to be so affected by Norman Fucking Rockwell! But, I played the title track and was hooked. Sometimes that’s just how the bop hits! I love that “Venice Bitch” is almost 10 minutes long, with its experimental synths, acid-y guitars, and repetitive lyrics. I love that there’s no shame when Lana sing-talks on her ballad “Love song.” While it could be cringey, her confidence and vision that she brings to poetic lyrics overshadows all else. Likewise, “Mariner’s Apartment Complex” was replaying in my head all throughout late Summer and Fall. And then there’s “Norman fucking Rockwell,” which opens the whole dang thing and portrays the brilliance of Lana’s music, specifically that she’s able to bring her own brand of nostalgia into her modern projects. At once, this album is witty, desperate, sensitive, and strong—and Lana Del Rey has us eating out the palm of her freshly-manicured hands. Norman Fucking Rockwell! simply fucks, and that’s why it’s my top album of the year.
-Jackie Swisshelm
Dirt Buyer, Dirt Buyer
Dirt Buyer’s self-titled debut came out in January, and I’ve been coming back to it almost every week since. I’ve listened to a bunch of stuff this year, and the fact that 11 months later this album is still at the front of my mind is saying something. Dirt Buyer is relatively short, only eight tracks long, but each song packs a hefty amount of emotional weight. Things flow nicely from song to song, and after each listen I’m left wanting to hear more from the band.
-Omari Spears
Favorite Songs of the Year
EARTHGANG, “Tequila (feat. T-Pain)”
At the beginning of the year, I hadn’t heard of Atlanta’s EARTHGANG. My friend recommended them, and this was the first song I heard (I love me some tequila!). Let me tell you: I was shaken to my core. It’s one of those songs where I just kept restarting it before Spotify had a chance to play the next track. Honestly, it’s simple enough of a rap song with Latin trap stylings, subtle and polyrhythmic percussion, and Spanish horns. But it’s the sheer charisma of this young duo, their energy and tandem talent, and a T-Pain guest verse that made this my favorite track of the year.
-Harry Gustafson
Clairo, “Bags”
“Bags” is the song teen Christine wish she wrote. It’s a beautiful and simple song playing at your heart strings. It could fit either at the beginning of a relationship where you’re just getting to know your crush or the end when things are falling apart. I think that’s the strength in it; it comes from both sides of the story. Claire Cottrill has been writing sweet tunes like “Bags” since she was a teen playing basement and DIY shows around Boston, but with her 2019 album Immunity, she brought Rostam Batmanglij in to produce. His production on the album, and in particular this song, add delicate touches to it. Listening to the demo of “Bags,” it sounds quite a lot like the final form, with adjustments made to the synths to make them sound larger and drums provided by HAIM’s Danielle Haim. It’s such a sweet song, and yes I cried to it this year! I’d only judge you if you hadn’t!
-Christine Varriale
Black Belt Eagle Scout, “My Heart Dreams”
I’m a sucker for echoey* vocals, so it shouldn’t surprise me that my favorite song of the year features KP’s voice singing like she’s letting you in on a secret. (*“Aaron” by Palehound was a close second.) KP sums up love pretty succinctly with the lyrics “Screaming loudly/ Screaming softly, too,” and her talent extends to tracking uplifting guitar and drums on this record. The music video radiates joy, featuring the Portland Two Spirit society during pride, and indigenous girls riding their bikes and shredding on guitar. Love is love, everywhere.
-Katie Ouellette
Juan Wauters, “Disfruta la Fruta”
From the month of April through June, if you read my mind, this positive earworm of song might be what’s playing. Wauters’ rolling “rrrrrica la fruta” lyric just on repeat. When he performed in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City earlier this year, he played the song multiple times – asking audience members to join in, and furiously ripping the mic away when they flubbed the line. He performed the song roughly six times that evening. It was incredible.
-Jeremy Stanley
Lady Lamb, “Deep Love”
I’ve been following Lady Lamb aka Aly Spaltro since I caught her opening for Kaki King in 2012; partly because I fell in love with her orchestral, story-telling folk rock style and textured vocals, and partly because the gay vibes were strong af. “Deep Love” off of her early 2019 LP Even in the Tremor is the bold, yet so cool and casual, coming out song that all us queer Lady Lamb fans needed this year. Dissing Midtown Manhattan, painting sweet pictures of stoop neighbors and their dogs, and an unexpected, lurching key shift are just the rainbow sprinkles on top of my favorite song pick of 2019.
-Jackie Swisshelm
Frail Body, “Your Death Makes Me Wish Heaven Was Real”
On my first listen of Frail Body’s A Brief Memoriam, “Your Death Makes Me Wish Heaven Was Real” stood out to me and has remained both my favorite on the album and one of my favorites of the year. The theme of loss is a common thread throughout the album, but this song’s sentiment is particularly moving.
-Omari Spears
Favorite Shows of the Year
FKA Twigs at House of Blues (Harry Gustafson)
Oompa Record Release at The Sinclair (Christine Varriale & Omari Spears)
Cliff Notez Record Release at Oberon (Katie Ouellette)
Carly Rae Jepsen at House of Blues (Jeremy Stanley)
Dolly Parton and Friends at Newport Folk Festival® (Jackie Swisshelm)