{"id":2520,"date":"2019-12-31T18:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2020-01-09T23:50:27","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T04:50:27","slug":"best-albums-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/?p=2520","title":{"rendered":"Best Albums of 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Acrylics<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Sinking In<\/em>\u00a0(Iron Lung)
\nAfter rounds of small doses in the form of demo tapes\u00a0and 7″ releases, Santa Rosa’s (and probably California’s\u2026 and maybe even the United States’) sharpest\u00a0hardcore punks released their first official full length in 2019. And while many young,\u00a0raging\u00a0bands can’t quite manage to extend the fury of their short-form ragers to proper album length, I’m happy to\u00a0report that Acrylics not only fill two full sides of an LP with killer, grade-A punk, they do it in a way that leaves you wanting more. So even\u00a0though this is the first Acrylics release with\u00a0songs that surpass the 4 minute mark, none of the tracks on\u00a0Sinking In<\/em>\u00a0drag or feel like filler, including\u00a0a pair of atmospheric\u00a0interlude tracks.\u00a0Instead, Acrylics’ warped vision of what hardcore could be, not what it was, burns bright and cements their place as one of the most\u00a0vital punk bands of 2019.<\/p>\n

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Andy Human & The Reptoids<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Psychic Sidekick<\/em>\u00a0(Total Punk)
\nThe slow trickle of killer 45s from Andy Human & The Reptoids\u00a0after their 2015 debut\u00a0album\u00a0spurred\u00a0even\u00a0higher expectation and really built anticipation for this, their sophomore album. Coming out at the beginning of\u00a02019 it easily eclipsed most of the “best of 2018”\u00a0hyped bands that already started sounding\u00a0stale a few weeks into the new year, and kept smoking synapses through the heat of summer and on through the end of the year. Destined to be a classic, this might just be the brightest jewel in the impossibly dense resume of Andy Human, whose time and efforts in an obscene quantity of excellent bands\u00a0such as Jackson Politick, The Beatniks, The World, The Cuts, The Time Flys, and probably a few dozen others yet to be exposed, has resulted in a fully realized work of art that sounds great at first listen and gets even better over time. It’s instantly catchy, yet hardly conventional as songs and lyrics\u00a0careen\u00a0sideways and get slathered in layers of mystically weird texture and dimension. Not only one of the best from 2019, but surely one of the best of the decade.<\/p>\n

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Blood Incantation<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Hidden History of the Human Race<\/em>\u00a0(Dark Descent)
\nAs one of a handful of metal releases that stood high (cough) above the metal multitudes, Denver’s Blood Incantation have paid their dues in the form of a stream of steadily solid, interesting twists of the death metal formula. From their early demos and especially with their first Dark Descent releases\u00a0Interdimensional Extinction<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Starspawn<\/em>, this Denver quartet has adapted an astrological bent to the technical death metal spectrum. As incongruous as icy cold, alien themes are to the very human blood and guts and gore that 99.9% of death metal bands gurgle out,\u00a0Blood Incantation somehow makes it work by layering in psychedelic flourishes, commanding song structures, and studio wizardry\u00a0to the very recognizable staples of the genre. As Voivod’s sci-fi aesthetic and off-kilter keys made them a unique specimen in the thrash metal world, Blood Incantation are charting a new course that adds layers and complexity to death metal without getting too proggy, or worse, mired in clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n

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Dan Melchior Band<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Negative Freedom<\/em>\u00a0(In The Red)
\nOver the last two\u00a0decades, the name Dan Melchior has merited a seal of quality whenever attached to a musical artifact. From\u00a0early Billy Childish-influenced garage stompers through the bad vibes of the Broke Revue or Dan Melchior und Das Menace’s essential catalog, all the way\u00a0through more experimental solo records like\u00a0Assemblage Blues<\/em>, he’s covered a lot\u00a0of ground within the generally limited\u00a0garage rock set.\u00a0Every release is immediately identifiable as a Melchior product, while also tweaking\u00a0any known formulas or confidently pushing the envelope into inventive new terrain.\u00a0Negative Freedom<\/em>\u00a0in particular showcases one of\u00a0his strongest amalgams of expert songcraft\u00a0and inventive sonic textures, with guitar sounds being mutated and processed into strange new shapes and augmented with masterfully dispensed analog synth buzz and fuzz. Sample the echoplexed beat of “One Dollar” and its wild guitar spasms or the downer drone of “They Insulted Me in Mojo” seasoned with decades of sarcasm and spite and you’ll be hard pressed to find a more\u00a0worthy slab of wax to throw your expendable\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0non-expendable income at.<\/p>\n

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Dead Normal<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0There Is Nothing Left but the Enjoyment of Senseless Destruction<\/em>\u00a0(Harbinger Sound)
\nAlong with Rainbow Grave’s\u00a0No You<\/em>, this\u00a0welcome blast of negativity from Barcelona’s most snarling noiseniks is\u00a0an appropriate response to madness bubbling over in 2019. And while it could be argued that Dead Normal draw heavily from the soundwell of 1980s Whitehouse, it can also be said that they bring a thrilling, albeit slightly more accessible take, on power electronics and screaming lunatic vocals. In fact, it seems mighty fucking appropriate to level this\u00a0degree of scorn towards society versus the personal S&M of 1980s fetish taboo of prime Whitehouse, as Dead Normal’s split male\/female shouts eviscerate humanity’s weaker tendencies and\u00a0bring reckoning to the state of the species in 2019. And where subtle rhythms could be found in Whitehouse’s squall, Dead Normal bring a stronger, martial pulse to the aktion, bludgeoning the\u00a0chance of this being an exercise in\u00a0mimicry or mediocrity.<\/p>\n

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Full of Hell<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Weeping Choir<\/em>\u00a0(Relapse)
\nEver pushing the boundaries of hardcore, punk, metal, noise\/experimental whatever “music,” Full of Hell\u00a0once again exceed their previous output by rescrambling whatever faint templates any genre may contain and obliterating the listener with a level of extremity that only a time like 2019 could bring. At first listen it’s too much to take in and truly requires a few spins before\u00a0it even\u00a0makes a lick of sense, and when a\u00a0picture does finally come into focus, it quickly shifts into volatile territory again. I feel my age listening to\u00a0Weeping Choir<\/em>, as there are many moments where it ventures\u00a0down annoying avenues, like the machine gun-esque blasts that lead from the sound collage of “Rainbow Coil” into and out of “Aria of Jeweled Tears” but you have to appreciate the\u00a0offense of the severity and the overall reach of what Full of Hell does.\u00a0The range of aural assault from the sound collage of “Rainbow Coil” to the epic churn of\u00a0 “Armory of Obsidian Glass”\u00a0as it nears 7 minute mark\u00a0to the Halo-style pound of “Angels Gather Here”\u00a0or the\u00a0sax-enhanced freakout in the middle of\u00a0“Ygramul the Many,” it all adds up to help define\u00a0Weeping Choir<\/em>\u00a0as a truly unique listen.<\/p>\n

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Hash Redactor<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Drecksound<\/em>\u00a0(Goner)
\nThe promise of Hash Redactor’s excellent 2017 demo comes to full fruition on their debut LP, rising to the top of Goner Record’s remarkably strong 2019 release pile. Mixing the tense churn and burn guitar punk of Memphis’ Ex-Cult and the nerve of Nots,\u00a0featuring member of both bands,\u00a0Drecksound<\/em>\u00a0brings a ringing\u00a0American twist\u00a0to the gnarled sort of Australian growl that birthed the likes of bands like feedtime and Grong Grong. But in addition to the thick, knuckle-dragging driving bass lines\u00a0and guttural vocals of the Aussie version of the sonic virus,\u00a0Hash Redactor injects brilliant twin guitar interplay that sounds like a woozy Delta version of\u00a0Marquee Moon<\/em>\u00a0played with steady, young hands. Along with The Intelligence and Possible Humans’ offerings in 2019,\u00a0Drecksound<\/em>\u00a0was in heavy rotation and continues to spin often at the NFZ compound.<\/p>\n

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The Intelligence<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Un-Psychedelic in Peavey City<\/em>\u00a0(Vapid Moonlighting Inc)
\nOver the span of 15 years worth of essential LPs, EPs, and singles, not to mention\u00a0the stellar solo record\u00a0Moonlight Over Bakersfield<\/em>, Lars Finberg’s prolific output and contributions to other bands in the garage punk gamut have put him in league with likeminded overachievers like John Dwyer, Jay Reatard, and\u00a0Ty Segall.\u00a0All are driven to crank out\u00a0music at a\u00a0pace that’s hard to keep up with\u00a0and even though Sir Finberg’s name\u00a0hasn’t\u00a0grabbed the rapt critical attention his peers receive, his output in my opinion is of an even higher quality as it continues to earn longer stints on my turntable than nearly any other. Layered with an increasingly diverse palette of\u00a0sound and exceptional wit (the album title alone\u00a0is\u00a0one of the best of the year) his group The Intelligence continues to offer up some of the most satisfyingly\u00a0scrappy garage sonic poetry committed to vinyl. Like album cover’s fake marked down 50\u00a2 price tag, the latest offering from The Intelligence is\u00a0the\u00a0hidden, unknown gem in the\u00a0thriftstore\u00a0bin that’s absurdly more valuable than the public at large knows.<\/p>\n

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Oceans of the Moon<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Oceans of the Moon<\/em>\u00a0(Castleface)
\nTo fill that fizzling void that once throbbed\u00a0with the vibrations of Six Finger Satellite,\u00a0stemming from the nucleus of Helios Creed and its\u00a0primitive Chrome origins, Castleface\u00a0thrusts forth a malformed cyberorganism\u00a0called Oceans of the Moon, which somehow cycles out the initial heat of\u00a0its predecessors for a chilly,\u00a0calculated future shock. Sharp, contained guitar clips cut sparse marks in time as the motorik beat throbs on, with tracks like “I’m On a Roll” sounding something like a Wire LP\u00a0played at 16rpm. Executed by Providence mutant rock all-stars with a\u00a0rap sheet that includes La Machine, The Chinese Stars, and Landed and more,\u00a0Oceans of the Moon<\/em>\u00a0delivers the freakified soundtrack\u00a0for your\u00a0cyber armageddon post party.<\/p>\n

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Possible Humans<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Everybody Split<\/em>\u00a0(Trouble In Mind)
\nA description of\u00a0Possible Humans’\u00a0sound\u00a0probably wouldn’t get me excited enough to give it much playtime among the giant piles and raging streams of\u00a0music\u00a0that\u00a0offer much more compelling reasons to earn some time between your earholes, but fuckin’ A, this album has\u00a0completely saturated and colored 2019. Maybe it’s because they’re Aussies and Australia has been churning out a ridiculous amount of quality groups lately, but I still can’t explain why a fairly conventional guitar-based indie rock band can sound as essential as this debut LP. While comparisons to Guided By Voices and Wire are somewhat accurate, the ebb and flow of their songs lean more towards GBV, but with a twinge of\u00a0dejected collegiate rock like For Against or the psychedelic twist of Radar Eyes. Whatever the reason, it’s earned a lot of\u00a0spins on the NFZ turntable in 2019 and will likely earn many more.<\/p>\n

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HONORABLE MENTION:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Typically I like to keep these to a tight list of 10. It feels like lazy editing, but what the heck, it’s been a rough year and these excellent releases also helped keep toes tapping and pulses pounding\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Black Beach<\/strong> –\u00a0Tapeworm\u00a0<\/em>(DSPS)
\nBoy Harsher<\/strong> –\u00a0Careful<\/em>\u00a0(Nude Club)
\nExhumed<\/strong> –\u00a0Horror<\/em>\u00a0(Relapse)
\nFoster Care<\/strong> –\u00a0El Abuso<\/em>\u00a0(Total Punk)
\nThe Natural Man Band<\/strong> – Living in a Chemical World With\u2026 (Lumpy)
\nNots<\/strong> –\u00a03<\/em>\u00a0(Goner)
\nObsessi\u00f3<\/strong> –\u00a0Obsessi\u00f3<\/em>\u00a0(La Vide Es Un Mus)
\nPOW!<\/strong> –\u00a0Shift<\/em>\u00a0(Castleface)
\nRakta<\/strong> –\u00a0Falha Comum<\/em>\u00a0(La Vida Es Un Mus)
\nTomb Mold<\/strong> –\u00a0Planetary Clairvoyance<\/em>\u00a0(20 Buck Spin)<\/p>\n

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Acrylics\u00a0–\u00a0Sinking In\u00a0(Iron Lung) After rounds of small doses in the form of demo tapes\u00a0and 7″ releases, Santa Rosa’s (and probably California’s\u2026 and maybe even the United States’) sharpest\u00a0hardcore punks released their first official full length in 2019. And while many young,\u00a0raging\u00a0bands can’t quite manage to extend the fury of their short-form ragers to proper album […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[122,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2520"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531,"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520\/revisions\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/2.dougkubert.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}