Albums 2019 - Mid-Year Favorites

These are my top-twenty favorite albums of 2019 so far (in alphabetical order by artist name). With another six months to go, and many highly anticipated albums still on the horizon, who will make my 2019 top-ten favorite albums list in December? Enjoy. . .

Taylor Alexander: Good Old Fashioned Pain (Hail Mary - 4/12/19)

Baroness: Gold & Grey (Abraxan Hymns - 6/14/19)

The Black Keys: "Let's Rock" (Nonesuch - 6/28/19)

Black Pumas: Black Pumas (ATO - 6/21/19)

Candlemass: The Door to Doom (Napalm - 2/22/19)

Com Truise: Persuasion System (Ghostly International - 5/17/19)

Drenge: Strange Creatures (Infectious - 2/22/19)

Charles Wesley Godwin: Seneca (Self-Released - 2/15/19)

Grey Code: Reprieve (Metalheadz - 1/11/19)

Ben Jarrell: Troubled Times (Country Roots - 3/29/19)

Gabe Lee: farmland (Torrez Music Group - 3/22/19)

Little Simz: GREY Area (Age 101 - 3/1/19)

Rod Melancon: Pinkville (Blue Elan - 4/5/19)

Ian Noe: Between The Country (National Treasury - 5/31/19)

Anderson .Paak: Ventura (Aftermath - 4/12/19)

The Raconteurs: Help Us Stranger (Third Man - 6/21/19)

The Steel Woods: Old News (Woods Music - 1/18/19)

Joshua Ray Walker: Wish You Were Here (State Fair - 1/25/19)

White Denim: Side Effects (City Slang - 3/29/19)

Zeal & Ardor: Live in London (MVKA - 3/22/19)

Comments

Albums 2023 - Top Ten

Another year done and gone, and what a great year for music. These are my top ten favorite albums of 2023, in alphabetical order by artist name . . . . Baroness: Stone (Abraxan Hymns - 9/15/23) Not so long prior to 2015’s Purple , Baroness’ excellent fourth album in a color-coded series that concluded this year, their tour bus flipped in Bath, England, resulting in both shattered bones and band lineup. Founder and frontman John Baizley remains as the sole original member of this Savannah, GA, sludge and progressive metal group. 2017’s Gold & Grey introduced fans to axe-shredder extraordinaire Gina Gleason, cementing a new and now consistent dynamic that pays dividends on Baroness’ latest LP, Stone . As its title implies, this one is rock solid with drums and bass locked in propulsive motorik tempo, Gleason’s soari...

Albums 2025 - Top Ten

To borrow from a Brent Cobb album title, the dominant musical theme for me this year was "ain't rocked in a while." Despite auditory excursions into electro, drum & bass, and country music, my craving for guitar riffage and six-string shredding was strong, and 2025 delivered. Long time favorites like Deftones and Ghost returned with late career highlights while the next generation of Gen Z artists inspired by Gen X sounds - Doomsday, Die Spitz, and Rocket - picked up guitars and released outstanding debut albums. These are my top ten favorite albums of 2025, in alphabetical order by artist name . . . . Client_03: Testbed_Assembly (Client_03, 7/4/25) Electro has roots in krautrock, funk, and the cut-up rhythms of the nascent hip-hop scene - a cyborg groove built on 808s, synthesizers, and ...

100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s: Part 2 of 10 (1992 - 1993)

Part 2 of my "100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s" list covers a period of time when I was finishing up middle school and about to head into high school. Despite having very limited knowledge or context for anything at the time, I was internalizing all the corporate-curated alternative rock "authenticity" propaganda of the era and, without much sense of irony, had become somewhat of a purist. For the most part, only bands with at least one clearly defined guitarist, bassist, drummer, and vocalist would do. Extra points for lyrics conveying some sense of tortured realism. Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers were my favorites. Doc Martens, Chuck Taylors, flannels, and band t-shirts from Sam Goody were my uniform. I'd also picked up my first Discman (a Sony D-111) for my birthday in '92, so now I was mobile. Music as identity - that is, "you are what you listen to" - now seemed like a very big deal. - Will G The Black Crowes: The Souther...

Sound Obsession

Search This Blog