Top 10 Albums of 2019

2019 was an oasis in the desert. Call it a renaissance. The charts had been mostly depressing for three years; 2019 came out swinging with a bright, optimistic mood that even the most cynical oldhead couldn't help but appreciate. The songs getting played on the radio were the best they had been in years, with new acts Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish topping the charts and influencing the charts to this day. "Old Town Road" and "Bad Guy" were a nice complement to the more dark tracks that had stuck around, and old acts had brightened up too. Typical sludge loser Post Malone decided to sound happy for the first time with "Sunflower" and "Circles," both massive hits. Panic! At The Disco likewise returned to the top 10 with "High Hopes" and "Hey Look Ma, I Made It." These songs may not be good, but they reflect a great optimism that seems strange and almost naive knowing what was to come the following year. None of these names will be appearing on this Top 10 list; I hate happiness. Even so, I think the overall sound of this year can be categorized in a distinct binary between happiness and despair. These two themes will be recurring in my retrospective of 2019.

2022 and Bad Cover Art

 I'm not impressed.

Recently Taylor Swift announced her tenth new album, titled Midnights. This concept album features thirteen tracks, each one telling of a sleepless night that Taylor has been through. As one would expect, this announcement build up a lot of excitement in the general public; we are now in the longest gap between Taylor releases since July 2019, after all. And I would be lying if I didn't consider myself excited too. Reputation was more than 5 years ago. Lover was a markable improvement. Folklore and Evermore were two of the best albums of 2020. I want to see how she builds upon her musical growth in a new way.

2020 was a great year for album covers. There were simple beauties- Jay Electronica's A Written Testimony. Charli XCX's How I'm Feeling Now. Lil Wayne's Funeral. Cover art that's mostly white with one big idea that gets across the concept of the album well and looking nice enough to put on your wall. There were covers that took this concept too far, like Childish Gambino's 3.15.20 project, but these simple covers worked well.

Then there were the covers that involved a bit more detail. Lil Uzi Vert's Eternal Atake struck me as beautiful when I first saw it. I love the colors and detail. The same can be said for Denzel Curry's Unlocked, Andrew Jackson Jihad's Good Luck Everybody, HAIM's Women in Music pt. III, Ty Dolla $ign's Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, and plenty more. These covers do a great job of painting a scene that you can look at for a while and still find value in, but they don't neglect to show you the main idea at a glance. 

Above all those, the best album covers of all time came out in 2020. All designed by the legendary Sam Spratt, we have 070 Shake's Modus Vivendi, Logic's No Pressure, and Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon III: The Chosen.

Sam Spratt really knows how to put a piece together to make it pop. Every one of these covers does exactly what it needs to do. Each one perfectly conveys exactly the emotion the album portrays. Each one has beautiful coloring and detail, giving you something to stare at. Each one is lovely enough to mount on your wall. An absolutely stellar set of works by Mr. Sam Spratt. It can't hurt that all these albums are good too.

Nothing in 2022 is hitting anywhere near that. It seems like album art has completely fallen off a cliff in terms of creativity, expression, and general appeal. So let's look at where we left off, on 11 December 2020, right after Man on the Moon III was released.

At the beginning, things were going well. Within a month, Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red and especially Weezer's Ok Human both had fantastic cover art. With both of these records, I couldn't imagine a different cover than the one we got. 

We got some terrible rap cover art following that. Donda is literally just a black rectangle. Donda 2 is as well, although it doesn't matter because it only exists on Stem Player. (Imagine paying 200 dollars for the worst album you've ever heard. Couldn't be me!) Certified Lover Boy features a bunch of pregnant women emojis in different colors, designed by Damien Hirst. Drake paid a pretty penny getting Damien to make the most embarrassing cover art I've ever seen. Lil Wayne and Rich The Kid's collaborative Trust Fund Babies album steps up above the Dondas and CLB, but still lacks visual appeal. The colors are lame and the drawing looks like it was made in a few minutes as a rough concept. The stock image of money in the background does not help its case. Quickly done cover art can be nice, but it has to look spontaneous and relevant. Trust Fund Babies is neither.

(Ashnikko's Demidevil gets an honorable mention here for its terrible cover; however the album itself is even worse than the cover.)

Pop music has kinda sorta been better. Not really. Perhaps the most important and celebrated pop album in 2021 was Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR. I really wish it had better packaging because I think this album is very unique. The design we got seems to be imitating Kero Kero Bonito's style from the Intro Bonito - Bonito Generation era. The mood given off is quite the opposite. Bright pastels turn to a faded purple, and a happy Sarah Bonito is replaced with Olivia Rodrigo looking like she doesn't want to be there. The stickers on her face always made me uneasy. Is this album supposed to make you uneasy? It sure doesn't sound like it. The back of the packaging is cool. I like the balloon.

Panic! At The Disco's Viva Las Vengeance looks terrible. It makes me feel as if this album is supposed to remind you of how you will die some day. I would argue this cover implies that day is very near. This is medical equipment packaging with Brendan Urie pictures stapled to it. For some reason.

Even artists that generally have great cover art are suffering. Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery was a masterpiece of music and visuals together. The album was great and the front cover was so pretty. A Comet is Coming just put out a new album. Here's the cover art.

So that brings us to the recent announcement of Taylor Swift's Midnights album.

Why does it look like it was made in Office Excel? Which Excel version did she use? 2013? 2016? 365? If she were wise, she'd use Office 2007. I grew up with Office 2007. What a banger of a document processing software bundle.

I hate the gradients. They look like the white part was left in the dirty back window of an old car for a few days. I hate the font- one of the Microsoft Office defaults. Comes free with your copy of Windows 10. And Windows 7. And Windows Vista. And I hate how the photo is just sort of there. Damien Hirst type beat cover art with how lame and embarrassing this looks.

Taylor looks pretty here at least.

Some album covers this year have been good. 070 Shake's You Can't Kill Me looks fantastic. Not as good as Modus Vivendi, but that's a hard bar to reach. Denzel Curry's Melt My Eyez See Your Future gets my #1 pick for the best cover of the year. It looks pretty. I love it.

We are going through a drought. Good cover art isn't as good, and bad cover art is worse. Some day I hope we get more album art that goes hard. We need more Kids See Ghosts. We need more Knife Man. We need more Lexie, Hit Me With Your Prius. Until that day comes, I guess I'll leave with this:

AJR is trash.

Every TAYLOR SWIFT Album RANKED

 

Top 10 Albums of 2020

    2020 was a pretty good year for music, I'd say. The releases I heard were very diverse and the sound was very different from previous years. I would hate to say why I think that is. But you can probably figure it out. These are my top 10 albums of 2020, starting with some honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

070 Shake - Modus Vivendi

I was excited for 070 Shake's debut, but skeptical as I was not a huge fan of the Glitter EP she released in 2018. This album exceeded my expectations. Morrow is perhaps the prettiest song I've ever listened to and The Pines blows me away for completely different reasons. I wish GOOD Music would put this on CD.

Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red

I was not sure what to expect from Whole Lotta Red, since I was not as big a fan of Playboi Carti's self-titled and Die Lit as I had hoped. But Whole Lotta Red turned out to be my favorite of the three, with more than a handful of addictive tracks that get stuck in my head. I wish AWGE would put this on CD.

Ty Dolla $ign - Featuring Ty Dolla $ign

You simply can't go into an album with Ego Death on the tracklist and expect it not to be good. Ty may not be my favorite artist by a long shot, but he is a really talented singer with a powerful voice. As the name of the album refers to, any song with Ty's name on it gets instantly better when he shows up. Plus Kid Cudi is here too. I wish Atlantic would put this on CD.

Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

This is not too much of a left turn from Art Angels, but it can't live up to Art Angels. In fact, I'm not confident c will ever be able to live up to what she did on Art Angels. But songs such as My Name Is Dark and 4AEM are some of my favorite songs of hers. Delete Forever is such a pretty song, and it is the only cut from the record I admit completely threw me for a loop. Unfortunately, I really can't stand You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around, and Idoru is simply not interesting.

Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats - UNLOCKED

I don't know much about Denzel Curry himself, but this album is really punchy and to the point. It's only 20 minutes long, maybe even a bit less, but there really isn't a dull moment. Kenny Beats seems to have improved from his Rico Nasty collab album Anger Management because UNLOCKED hits much harder and just generally sounds cooler. I don't follow NotRealMusic's complaint about Denzel using too many similes. Personally I just think he's having fun and that's a mindset to be in while listening to this album.

Anyways that's the honorable mentions, I just put them in whatever order I thought of them in. Now for the list proper.

#10 Adrianne Lenker - Songs

This was recommended to me by my cool bro Jacob. I thought he just meant to listen to some songs by Adrianne Lenker, but he meant this album. Despite the lame name and the criminal act of writing everything in all lowercase, Adrianne provides a very enriching experience with this album. It's maybe the most woodsy album on my list (and that's not a spoiler, by the way). I have yet to listen to Instrumentals (the companion piece to Songs) nor any Big Thief album, but I'll have to do that soon if they're as good as this.

#9 Logic - No Pressure

Logic was supposed to retire after this album. Just like Jay-Z was supposed to retire after The Black Album, or Lil Wayne was supposed to retire after Tha Carter V. So we knew that he wasn't actually going to, but if you suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend he was serious, this project is a pretty good one to go out on. The music produced by No ID sounds pretty cool, more like the hip hop of 20 years ago. (Or maybe not, I don't know anything about music history.) And I know that everyone gets a kick out of making fun of Logic for being corny, but there is very little corn here. When there is, it seems tongue-in-cheek. For example, the line about "I love my wife like I am Chance" is followed up with a compliment. It's all a very nice package. And such a massive improvement over Supermarket.

#8 Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

This was a big event when it came out, but it almost feels like a distant memory now. If I had put this album at #8 exactly one year ago, I may have gotten some nasty emails about it. But now that the dust has settled, I am confident in saying that this album is really good but not amazing. Shameika and Under The Table get played on the radio a lot, and I like them, but I'm not a huge fan of the song Ladies. Other than that, I don't have much else to say. Good album. Go listen to it.

#7 Poppy - I Disagree

For context, Poppy's previous release the Choke EP really shocked me when it released in summer 2019. Voicemail completely blew me away with how different it is, not just from Am I A Girl tracks such as X and Play Destroy, but especially compared to all of Poppy.Computer. Then I Disagree came out. Now the Choke EP seems like a mere stepping stone. I Disagree is so full, so grand, and so self-confident that what were once some of my favorite songs seem to be missing a major element that I Disagree has in spades. I Disagree is not even very long, but it hits all the marks for me. BLOODMONEY may be my new favorite song of hers, although Sit/Stay comes close. Sorry Voicemail.

#6 Taylor Swift - Folklore & Evermore

Sure, these are technically 2 albums, but they're like the same thing. They are so similar they both get the same slot on the ranking. Anyway, listening to Folklore when it came out was enthralling. It was the first new album I had heard in a few weeks that really blew me away. It was so pretty. Taylor's voice was so smooth. The instrumentation felt so grand. The writing was so interesting. It was so fun. It felt as if Taylor had finally experienced some meaningful character growth and creative inspiration. Plus the Justin Vernon vocals are always pleasant. Pretty much the same things apply to Evermore, which is more of the same; but more of the same greatness isn't necessarily a bad thing. Evermore seems more like a Big Red Machine album than Folklore, which I hope hints at Taylor Swift featuring on the next Big Red Machine project if it ever comes out. I hear the lead singer of Fleet Foxes has been working with them so....

I think Folklore and Evermore will be highly regarded in about 10 years. It's really hard to imagine what direction Taylor will go once she's done redoing her back catalog, but it will be hard to top this. Personally I'm hoping for something in line with Black Country New Road. Until then, I am more than satisfied with these releases.

#5 The Flaming Lips - American Head

This is the best Flaming Lips project in probably 10 albums or more. I am not ashamed to admit I have a very mixed opinion of Deap Lips, King's Mouth, Oczy Mlody, and that really weird Miley Cyrus Dead Petz album. But American Head seems to be calling back to the days of The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and At War With The Mystics- but taking all those sounds, stirring them up into one big stew, and adding new ingredients that take it in a new direction. Like a reboot of Embryonic, really. Nothing about American Head is written to blow you away, nothing will come completely out of left field, but the back to back really solid tracks are what make it special. Kacey Musgraves gives perhaps the greatest guest performances on a Flips album, even better than Kesha. Steven Drozd's seeming increase in vocal contribution also adds a lot to make American Head unique in its own right. I am really thankful this album exists. Good job guys.

#4 Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon III: The Chosen

Do you guys remember when Man on the Moon III was supposed to come out after Satellite Flight? I'm glad it didn't. Not only because Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven took its place and is awesome, but because the Man on the Moon III we got simply could not exist in 2015 or even 2018. The album has a very modern sound to it with the drums and vocal effects especially. But it still keeps intact what makes Kid Cudi's music so interesting. There's great melodies, great vocal performances, great humming, and Solo Dolo. Not to mention what is hands down the best Kid Cudi album cover ever. There are tons of callbacks to older Kid Cudi songs including of course the Solo Dolos, Mr. Rager, Scott Mescudi vs. The World, Fire, Confused!, and Man In The Night just to name a few. It never feels like pandering, it feels like using these past tracks to show growth in musicianship over the decade. The audience waited 10 years for the third entry in the Man On The Moon series, and it was worth it. Phoebe Bridgers has a pretty voice.

#3 The Necks - Three

This was unintentional placement. This was my #2 album for a long time. There isn't much I have to say about Three, since it's just three instrumental tracks with no lyrics. It's good music to listen to while working on something by yourself, and if you want more The Necks albums like it I recommend Body and Silverwater. Those are my favorites anyway. It's not something to think about. It's just something to experience. And what an experience it is.

#2 An Unkindness - 10 Years

This is the most professional sounding indie record I've heard in probably my entire life, if you don't count Swans as indie. It amazes me just how intricate a lot of the songs are. There can be, like, 40 instruments playing at once it seems. I concede that some of the songs do sound like they were written by a teenager, but isn't that the idea? Adam learns to love himself over the course of 12 songs. It's such a grand experience. Spools of Thread, The Scab, Freedom P2, Stop The Hand, and The Prophet are all especially amazing. I remember walking around downtown on a lovely sunny autumn morning listening to The Scab. On top of that, The Prophet is exactly what I needed at the time with its different acts, all of them unique but still well-connected. The buildup in Acceptance is something to be marveled, and Anything sounds grand in the best way. I love this project so much. I'm glad I waited for it to come out. 

#1 Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

This album literally gave me a feeling I had never felt before. So for that, 10/10. What that feeling is, I could not tell you. But because I should probably include a bit more than that, I will. Our lovely Dula Pipa did a full 180 from her crummy underwhelming self-titled release and made a pop album with 11 songs, 11 of which are great. Every one is catchy, and every one does exactly what it needs to do for maximum effect. And I don't mind the man-splaining line. Not a single thing is unaccounted for, every element is intentionally designed as is. The track sequencing is one of those elements, although listening to this album on shuffle would not really harm the experience. It gives me My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy levels of largeness at many times. I hope Dua Lipa can make albums like this forever. Based on that We're Good song she released, it unfortunately seems like we're back to crummy underwhelming music from her. But it sure was nice while it lasted. It sure was something great.

Buy These Albums

070 Shake - Modus Vivendi

Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red

Ty Dolla $ign - Featuring Ty Dolla $ign

Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats - UNLOCKED

Adrianne Lenker - Songs

Logic - No Pressure

Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Poppy - I Disagree

Taylor Swift - Folklore & Evermore

The Flaming Lips - American Head

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon III: The Chosen

The Necks - Three

An Unkindness - 10 Years

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia