When we paused to reflect on our favorite music at the year’s halfway mark, we already had more than enough releases to compile a hefty final best-of list: When I Get Home, Solange’s hallucinatory homage to Houston; When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, Billie Eilish’s deliciously disruptive debut; Remind Me Tomorrow, Sharon Van Etten’s moody metamorphosis. That 10 of those early picks made the cut below—exactly half of our list—speaks to the continued excellence found in 2019’s second half. The 20 records below are, in our critics’ opinions, the very brightest spots in a brilliant year (browse our ballots here). Taken in full, they represent the myriad issues on our minds, from love and loss to racism and climate change. They also overwhelmingly reflect a tendency to turn to known names, established artists hitting their strides or pursuing new horizons (excepting a couple of rowdy upstarts). If your personal favorite is nowhere to be found, don’t worry—it was definitely number 21. Here are The A.V. Club’s favorite albums of 2019.
Want to listen to our picks? Below, you’ll find a Spotify playlist counting down our top 20, one track at a time.
20. The National, I Am Easy To Find
“I’m just so tired of thinking about everything,” Matt Berninger sings near the top of I Am Easy To Find, echoing anyone who’s spent too much time online these past few years. Fatigue is a recurring theme on the prolific rockers’ eighth album, which is both their most collaborative and most meditative collection of songs. Singers like Gail Ann Dorsey, Sharon Van Etten, and Lisa Hannigan often eclipse Berninger’s drunken drawl, urging him to disconnect from the madness and reflect on what’s being lost in the periphery. So, while songs like “Rylan” and “Where Is Her Head” still pulse with The National’s thrumming energy, it’s hazy, hypnotic cuts like “The Pull Of You” and “Not In Kansas” that better reflect the LP’s thematic knitting of memory, essence, and identity. What have we lost in life’s mad rush? It’s impossible to articulate, but it’s easy to find. [Randall Colburn]
19. Anderson Paak, Ventura
A quick hit of Ventura is all one really needs to remember just what makes Anderson Paak such a standout. After what some classified as a detour with Oxnard, the Californian artist’s fourth studio album drips with so much unadulterated soul and honesty that it feels like a homecoming. Ventura clearly maps Paak’s musical influences, from the essential funk of Parliament Funkadelic to the smooth hip-hop of Outkast (which makes a collaboration with Andre 3000 especially apt). “Make It Better,” his breezy, classically R&B track with Smokey Robinson and likely the album’s most recognizable single, is so emblematic of Paak’s cross-generational appeal. Meanwhile, his ability to straddle the line between the past and the present comes through in bass-thumping grooves like “Twilight” (produced by Pharrell), which melds retro funk and experimental house beats. More importantly, Ventura is a return to what Paak does best: stripped-down, profound sentimentality with a beating, old-school heart. [Shannon Miller]
18. Sharon Van Etten, Remind Me Tomorrow
It may have come out all the way back in January, but there’s no way it could be forgotten: Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow has towered over 2019. The album explores Etten’s newfound process of composing almost entirely with keyboards, and the results—shimmering, moody pop full of ethereal atmospherics and raw-nerve lyricism—suggest she’s found an artistic sweet spot. The record begins with a brutal confessional that never actually reveals the details of its narrator’s near-death experience, the better to conjure all manner of potential thoughts in the listener, as though preparing them mentally for the emotional wounds (and moments of quiet transcendence) that follow. Buffeted by her pulsing rhythms, melancholy melodies, and electronic flourishes ranging from funereal to dirty and distorted, Remind Me Tomorrow is a triumph of ambiguous conclusions, its songs rarely ending on a definitive emotion. It’s a ferocious beauty she finds in loss and love alike. [Alex McLevy]
17. Floating Points, Crush
The best electronic dance music is balanced on a threshold between repetition and variation. On Crush, the long-awaited follow-up to Elaenia, British producer Sam Shepherd (a.k.a. Floating Points) doesn’t just find that sweet spot; he signs an album-length lease and moves in his intricately hacked Buchla-and-Roland system. You need an advanced degree in analog synthesis (or at least a Resident Advisor byline) to fully grasp how the music works, but only a central nervous system is required to appreciate its rich coloration and evolving rhythms. Whether his tracks are cut for the nightclub (“LesAlpx”) or the orchestra pit (“Falaise,” a marvel of electro-acoustic composition), Shepherd seamlessly blends the immediacy of U.K. dance music with the harmonic complexity of classical music, as if Burial and Debussy fell into the teleporter that turned Jeff Goldblum into a fly. But Shepherd is more spider, spinning a patch-cable web that can capture the most sensitive vibrations, from the dance floor or the music gods. [Brian Howe]
16. Dave, Psychodrama
“You ever fall ’sleep ’cause you don’t wanna be awake? / In a way, you’re tired of the reality you face?” raps Dave (born David Orobosa Omoregie) on the opening track of his stunning debut LP, Psychodrama. These moments of honest introspection coat the entire record as the 21-year-old emcee invites listeners on an hour-long journey into his psyche, using the narrative conceit of a cathartic therapy session. Atop a slew of moody piano beats, the Streatham rapper opens up about the issues he’s been dealing with, like suicidal thoughts, parental neglect, domestic abuse, and the Black British experience. He shows fearlessness and emotional maturity on the hardline “Screwface Capital,” but still finds time to be unabashedly playful on the low-key bop “Location.” On the crushing closer, “Drama,” Dave speaks to his incarcerated older brother (“Never had a father and I needed you to be the figure”) who inspired the idea for the album. It’s amazing to think Psychodrama, a record this unflinching yet touchingly vulnerable, is just the beginning for Dave. [Baraka Kaseko]
15. Jenny Lewis, On The Line
Jenny Lewis has always been a stickler for quality control when it comes to her music, meaning she only releases albums when she’s satisfied with how they sound. The deeply affecting On The Line, however, took a few years to unfold due to life getting in the way; specifically, Lewis was navigating the death of her once-estranged mother and the dissolution of her decade-plus relationship with Johnathan Rice. These traumas naturally permeate the album’s lyrics, albeit in oblique ways—for example, standout “Dogwood” contrasts the fights of a fracturing relationship with spring’s new blooms. Musically, On The Line carries on the tradition of manicured ’70s pop-rock, as it’s buoyed by luxurious tempos, painstaking arrangements, and meditative piano. However, Lewis herself takes a leap forward as a performer, dabbling in a crooning falsetto and sophisticated belting when the mood strikes. [Annie Zaleski]
14. Little Simz, Grey Area
Little Simz says Grey Area was made through a fog of uncertainty, specifically the swirl of confusion that is navigating your 20s. It’s all the more impressive, then, that this third LP by the North London rapper would be her most cohesive effort to date. On Grey Area, Simz finds a way to showcase her sonic range and restlessness without ever going adrift; to the contrary, she is completely at home in every one of these vibrant productions by Inflo, which call up trip-hop, jazz, rock, R&B, and more. Simz is at her absolute sharpest as a lyricist here, too, hitting double and triple time as she speaks her mind on everything from, well, speaking her mind (“Offence”) to coming of age in U.K. rap (“101 FM”). But Grey Area feels much bigger than any regional qualifier; it’s a 33-minute flex from one of hip-hop’s most skilled practitioners—on either side of the pond. [Kelsey J. Waite]
13. Angel Olsen, All Mirrors
Throughout her catalog, Angel Olsen has consistently vented about romantic partners at once physically present and emotionally distant. On All Mirrors, she transcends her dispiriting relationship history and decides she just might fare best on her own. The LP opens with a bitter argument (“Lark”) and later explores the comfort of being alone (“Tonight”) before closing with the realization that solitude and love aren’t mutually exclusive desires (“Chance”). Each of these songs uses a 14-person orchestra—strings are entirely new to Olsen’s music, and wow, does she find raw power in them—to impart her signature high-stakes lovelorn drama, whether angrily in the first case, diminutively and eerily in the second, or borderline-cinematically in the third. When she says “I like the life that I lead” during “Tonight,” it’s what follows that speaks most strongly to All Mirrors’ emancipatory through-line: “Without you.” [Max Freedman]
12. Barker, Utility
In an interview earlier this year, veteran DJ Sam Barker described the ubiquitous 4/4 kick drum of electronic music as a “cognitive bias”—a blunt instrument designed to deliver to audiences on a base, almost Freudian level. “I’ve definitely felt like a nail being pounded into the dance floor before,” he told CDM. So on his debut solo LP, Barker sheds the kicks and lets the music float up, up, up. On tracks like “Experience Machines” and “Models Of Wellbeing,” the raw materials of trance music are left to grow according to their own dictates, forming strange biological cultures that sprawl out into oblong track lengths, sometimes two minutes and sometimes nine. The song titles wink at a sort of generalized utopian wellness, but there’s nothing ironic about the music, which smears dance’s most gorgeous tendencies into a single sinuous wash of sound. Imagine an algorithmic productivity playlist becoming sentient, inhabiting a body, walking into your home, and cooking you dinner. It’ll taste like Utility. [Clayton Purdom]
11. Brittany Howard, Jaime
You would think that taking a sabbatical from the Grammy-winning band that you’ve worked with for a decade would lead to a bit of an identity crisis. The opposite can be said for Brittany Howard and her transformative solo debut, Jaime: Temporarily stepping away from Alabama Shakes gave her the room to firmly assert who she is as an artist and an individual. Melodically wading through small-town racism, religion, love, sexuality, and politics, Howard pieces together some of her private, seemingly formative moments. Tracks like “Short And Sweet” showcase a vulnerability that, as a listener, feel almost unearned on our part. What did we do to earn such intimacy, such raw honesty? But that’s the magic that lies in Jaime: It invites us to witness the joy and pain behind the throaty growl we’ve come to admire over the years, making Howard’s debut both a long-gestating triumph and a reintroduction. [Shannon Miller]
10. Cate Le Bon, Reward
Anyone looking to figure out exactly what happened to Cate Le Bon after her joyously ramshackle 2016 album, Crab Day, should turn around now. Sure, follow-up Reward could possibly be a breakup album, but Le Bon’s lyrics detail little more than mere fragments of heartbreak. Instead, she imparts clarity through her crystalline arrangements, which strike with vigor and surprise coming from a longtime juggernaut of forked art-pop. “You Don’t Love Me” begins with its titular lyric and then digresses into images of dead flowers and unwanted cake, the song’s lucidity existing entirely in Le Bon’s pristine enunciation and groaning guitars. Career highlight “Daylight Matters” centers on the lyric “I love you but you’re not here / I love you but you’re gone,” but even funereal saxophones and reverberant pianos can’t perfectly outline the nature of Le Bon’s grief. The reward isn’t in knowing what happened—it’s in experiencing how Le Bon feels. [Max Freedman]
9. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
At this point, Billie Eilish doesn’t need to introduce herself, let alone prove her artistry. Even ignoring the blitz of awards and nominations (she set the record for youngest artist ever nominated in all major Grammy categories the same year) and the massive album sales, she was ubiquitous in 2019. Was there a more distinctive and deservedly omnipresent pop song this year than “Bad Guy,” pulsing with her signature whisper-purr vocal style and that snarkily triumphant “Duh” breakdown? Luckily, it was no fluke—When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? fairly seethes with warped, minimalist brio: From the opening announcement of her Invisalign removal, through the distorted balladry of “Xanny,” to the closing one-two gut punch of torch song “I Love You” and affected longing of “Goodbye,” it’s a complete sonic journey of exciting postmodern pop. [Alex McLevy]
8. Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell
Lana Del Rey’s sixth album sounds like the culmination of a decade spent exploring and exploding the California dream. There’s the cover art collaging a yachting adventure as fires engulf the coastland, an homage to Long Beach bro faves Sublime, and even the title itself. The songs mostly pass by in a dreamy haze accented by soft downtempo drums worthy of Thievery Corporation, and the themes focus on the kind of alcoholic romances depicted in Hollywood neo-noir films. It would all seem insufferably banal if not for the deliriously imaginative songwriter who pens these velvety tributes to sex and washed-out landscapes. She splatters her lyrics with expletives and punctuates them with canny phrases that thread between cliché and satire. Her mythmaking reaches a zenith on “Venice Bitch,” a nine-and-a-half masterwork that sounds as vivid an encapsulation of Los Angeles pop life as has ever been made. [Mosi Reeves]
7. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Ghosteen
Ghosteen is the first new set of songs written by Nick Cave since the death of Cave’s son, Arthur, in 2015, so the crushing weight of this 68-minute double album is to be expected. But while Ghosteen is undoubtedly devastating, it’s also transcendent, as Cave passes through the valley of the shadow and emerges transformed. This journey is lyrical, expressing the profound nature of both love and loss with a blend of forthright emotion and biblical parable. But it’s also musical, moving from four-minute hymns infused with pale sunlight into more expansive compositions as Ghosteen descends into the darkness, backed by ambient synthesizers and string arrangements—guitar and drums are both almost entirely absent—from Cave’s band the Bad Seeds. By the time we reach 14-minute closer “Hollywood,” Cave’s grief has left both him and the listener emotionally drained and spiritually cleansed, too exhausted to resist the healing that’s been patiently waiting outside our doors. [Katie Rife]
6. Solange, When I Get Home
Hold up, did Solange see imaginary things or imagine that she saw things? Or did she see some things and imagine others, independently? At the outset of When I Get Home, as she nudges open-ended statements around a soft collision of jazz and early electronic music, it’s impossible to pin down. The artful ambiguity is worthy of a Gertrude Stein poem or a David Lang libretto, and it persists throughout When I Get Home, which is as oblique as A Seat At The Table was direct. In a way, it’s as simple as a tribute to her birthplace, but this is some kind of spectral Houston of the mind. Solange pulls apart phrases until they double and treble with free-floating meanings, dispersed through a maze of astral jazz at a Southern pace. The famous guests don’t even start showing up until halfway through, once Solange has patiently led us to the deep, still center of these enigmatic waters, somewhere far from home. [Brian Howe]
5. Weyes Blood, Titanic Rising
Laurel Canyon is a different place now than it was in the ’60s, and it’s only appropriate that the leafy Los Angeles enclave’s signature sound keep up with the times as well. Weyes Blood, a.k.a. L.A. singer-songwriter Natalie Mering, accomplishes this and then some on her fourth album, Titanic Rising. Hitting dreamy musical touchstones from gauzy 4AD dream pop to smooth yacht rock, Titanic Rising takes Maring’s already futuristic folk-rock sound to lush, cinematic new heights, its eyes turned toward the “big wide open galaxy” Mering fantasizes about on lead single “Andromeda.” That’s true even when its heart is full of the bitter melancholy Mering sings about on “Something To Believe,” where she laments: “I gave all I had for a time… Then by some strange design, I got a case of the empties.” Contrast this digital-age ennui with the joyous analog instrumentation on the stirring “Everyday,” or the effervescent escapism of “Movies,” swinging from despair to hope and back again for a listening experience that’s as captivating and immersive as cinema. [Katie Rife]
4. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Bandana
The underground teems with grizzly street vocalists rhyming about the vagaries of criminal activity over dusty soul loops. But Freddie Gibbs and Madlib infrequent pairings remain the watermark for this rapidly overpopulated subculture. Bandana switches ably between crackling Dolemite-style shots of humor—check the Dap “Sugar” Willie routine that concludes album standout “Palmolive”—and languid Blaxploitation jones that serve as fuel for Gangsta Gibbs’ riffs on dope slanging, watching the news with disgust (“We got a reality star in the goddamn office, quite like the Reagan days”), and aspiring toward a better life as a sometimes-celebrated, often-underrated musician. “Diamonds in my chain, yes I slang, but I’m still a slave,” he raps on “Crime Pays.” There are occasional tonal shifts: Madlib attempts a trap beat full of jutting keyboard sounds on “Half Manne Half Cocaine,” and it doesn’t sound as bad as you might imagine. But this is mostly for the fans who know what to expect from two of the best, and they get more than their money’s worth. [Mosi Reeves]
3. Jamila Woods, Legacy! Legacy!
It’s easy to get caught up on the conceptual hook of Legacy! Legacy!—13 songs, each named after a prominent artist of color, with Woods’ remarkable lyrics cutting between memoir, biography, and critical reassessment like a bird through a library. But all that history elides how alive this project is. On her second album, Woods transmutes each influence into audaciously pleasurable R&B, from the ’90s boom-bap of “Frida” to the moonlit reverie of “Basquiat.” She dabbles in electro on “Octavia,” minimalist Afrofuturism on “Sun Ra,” soaring sing-along pop on “Betty.” What holds it all together isn’t the conceit but Woods’ voice, cool and emotive, tethering past and present through sheer strength of phrasing. In these historical figures she finds not only inspiration but present-tense tension; it is in the space between the two, after all, that a legacy is created. [Clayton Purdom]
2. Jenny Hval, The Practice Of Love
It takes a profoundly skilled artist to remake the familiar into something wholly fresh and revelatory. Jenny Hval has managed it with breathtaking ease on seventh LP The Practice Of Love, a collage-like dissertation on music’s favorite four-letter word. Hval repurposes the stuttering synths of “trashy ’90s trance music” for a euphoric electro-pop sound all her own, while finding sensual, modern musings on art, desire, and womanhood in well-trod imagery like Alice down the rabbit hole (“High Alice”). The Practice Of Love is an immaculate marriage of body and mind: It is primal and physical, building to hypnotic heights, and it is heady and layered, rich with intertextual discourse. (Where else are you going to find a meta dance-floor cut like “Six Red Cannas,” about art communicating through time, and conjuring the spirit of Georgia O’Keeffe?) The Practice Of Love is unlike anything we’ve heard from Hval, an exhilarating expansion of voice and vision. [Kelsey J. Waite]
1. FKA Twigs, Magdalene
There was no more accomplished and subversive an album in 2019 than Magdalene, FKA Twigs’ follow-up to her moody, ingenious debut, LP1. In crafting her wonderfully succinct yet profound new LP, the avant-pop artist and enviable polymath lived up to certain expectations—that women, particularly young women, should offer up their pain and flaws for public consumption and criticism—while blowing them up. And Twigs was really working through some shit here: the end of her engagement to Robert Pattinson; anxiety over being subjected to racism and outsize scrutiny due to that relationship; considerable physical pain caused by fibroids; and the need to, as an ever-evolving artist, turn that pain into art. The layered productions of “Thousand Eyes” and “Cellophane” chronicle the beginning of the end, and the end of a love in which even Twigs admits she lost herself. But Magdalene is never quite rueful, even as the multi-hyphenate artist revisits the heights of infatuation on “Holy Terrain” with an assist from Future. Instead of figuratively tearing up photos of happy times, Twigs channels her pain to create in Magdelene something even more beautiful than the relationship that inspired it. [Danette Chavez]
180 Comments
Wrong.
The albums of the year were the Ex Hex album.And A Giant Dog’s cover of Neon Bible.
IGOR
No, you Lord Andre. Vidal Gor.
They had to save a spot for that terrible Lana Del Rey album.
IKR? How basic can you get? JFC.
“channel that art into pain.”
… or maybe the other way around?
Norman Fucking Rockwell turned me into a Lana Del Rey fan her cover of Doin’ Time for the Sublime documentary got me back into Sublime and 90’s California Ska/Rap-Rock scene since Sublime was heavily connected with bands like No Doubt. In fact, I don’t a revival of the 90’s California Ska scene since it has the potential to crossover with the current West Coast rap scene, the Oregon/PNW Indie Rock scene and Tropical House music that’s topping the charts. Back to Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell gave me nostalgia for the late 60s/early 70’s California soft rock of bands like Bread and The Carpenters. The only other musicians to give me that kind of feel are Fleet Foxes and Father John Misty. Venice Bitch and Fuck It I Love You gave me vibes that you get from a Tarantino film, and props to Lana and Jack Antonoff for giving me a nostalgia for something I never had.
Norman Fucking Rockwell turned me into a Lana Del Rey fan Same here. Brilliant fucking album.
Yur basic.
Fun Fact: Jack Antonoff is an anagram of Jack’n-off -a-ton.
*Fun. Fact:ftfy
Back to Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell gave me nostalgia for the late 60s/early 70’s California soft rock of bands like Bread and The Carpenters.You definitely need to check out the Weyes Blood album on this list if you haven’t.
For that California soft rock vibe, I’ll recommend one of my favorites of the year, A New Illusion by Rose Elinor Dougall.
That’s going on the “Big Little Lies” playlist.
or Dawes.
Yur basic.
Check out Jonathan Wilson! I bet you will love his stuff. ‘Rare Birds’ was my favorite album last year.
9. Billie EilishNope
I’m all for the Cate Le Bonnaissance. Sometime after Mug Museum she started getting a lot weirder, and it’s paradoxically made her more popular than ever. I support that.
She’s a force to be reckoned with live too. Really hoping her tour with Kurt Vile will yield a recording delightful session between those two.
neither Big Thief album being on here was definitely a surprise – I like Two Hands more, but U.F.O.F. seems like it was tailormade for an AV Club reader!
Shit you’re right, that’s a surprising omission.
Forgot both of those for my list and I have no idea how that happened.
I’m kind of wondering if releasing two great albums in one year has actually split their vote so they’re less likely to get one album in people’s top 20’s? then again U.F.O.F. seems to be the favourite of most, so maybe I’m just talking shit
Exactly. Where is Big Thief? UFOF is my favorite of the year anyway.
Jenny Lewis is probably my no. 1, haven’t completely decided the rest of my top 10 yet, but Martha, Danny Brown, Vampire Weekend, Blanck Mass, Lightning Bolt, Purple Mountains and Hot Chip are all likely.
That Hot Chip album is a real triumph.
Love everything Jenny Lewis has done. But, for whatever reason (maybe Ryan Adams?), the last two LPs haven’t been my favorite. I like this one better than the last though.
i cant for the life of me understand the love the new Jenny Lewis album has received. I’m a fan but it’s a stinker.
I wasted my youth on a poppy
Doo-doo doo-doo doo, just for fun
WOW!
I’m wired on Red Bull and Hennessy
Higher than you
I’m on fire, c’mon and get next to me
I wanna ride with you
so good!
Totally agree. It’s by far Jenny’s least interesting outing.
I liked The Voyager but thought it much weaker than her first two albums, so was surprised at how much I loved On the Line
(on a side note Acid Tongue is absurdly underrated)
Acid Tongue is gorgeous entire way through! If you liked that album a lot you should absolutely get this new album by this incredible 21 year old from Atlanta, Faye Webster. This album is a lot like Acid Tongue in tone. I love her. This is already her third album too! But definitely the strongest.
So happy to see Cate Le Bon get some love. I listened to that album a ton, and had the pleasure of seeing her at Wilco’s SoundFest this Summer. She was great!
I think the Weyes Blood was stunning as well. It was our album of late Summer/Fall and the album is so soundtracky that it fit perfectly.
While it’s waaaay out of my normal wheelhouse, Otoboke Beaver’s album Itekoma Hits was my album of year. I get to see them live in about a week, and I hear their shows are insane. Can’t wait.
They’re badass. They come on like JAL stewardesses from the 70s and just slay the place.
I do enjoy Lana and that album was easy listening, but I don’t think she’s the lyricist of our generation that everyone was trying to make her out to be lately. It was a bandwagon that everyone jumped on weirdly quick.
She was reviled, and rightly so, for buying her way into the industry and being packaged as a hit product by the marketing machine before she had even released her first song. I have no idea why people suddenly think she’s any good.
I have no idea why people suddenly think she’s any good.Probably has something to do with the amazing songwriting on NFR.
Kiwanuka belongs on this list.
What a snore fest of corny pop and untalented rappers.
The lack of Michael Kiwanuka, Gary Clark Jr, Karen O and Danger Mouse, Bishop Briggs, Chelsea Wolfe, Jade Bird, Gang Starr, and Freya Ridings is wrong. And Sharon Van Etten should be a lot higher up than that.
I can’t wait for Jade’s next one – based on her last show, she’s finally recording “Anniversary” in the studio.Hopefully, they do a better job of capturing her live energy, this time. The production on Jade Bird was way too sanded-off and poppy.
Right? How DARE they leave out those specific 8 albums on a list of only 20.
No metal as usual. One of the highest grossing, most popular genres in the world and you got nothing. Angel Witch, Tool, Sabaton, Overkill, Opeth and more all released albums in 2019. Can you get one fucking metalhead on staff? AAAARRRRGHARRRHHAAAAH YEAHHH no
Not a metalhead myself, but mildly surprised that Tool didn’t get a mention.
Same, all indie and hip-hop. Horror films and metal music – always disrespected.
To be fair, AV Club hosted a week-long horror film festival this year that was incredibly bad-ass. I plan on attending next year, too.
tbf, that album wasn’t any good
You really think that Tool album deserves to be on best-of lists? Maybe on metal exclusive ones but after the initial hype of “new tool music woooo!” wore off reactions were pretty tepid.
I’d settle for anything that isn’t shit hip-hop or have that “laurel canyon sound”
That’s because it’s a boring, self-indulgent, and overall not very good album. People were just excited because it had been so long since the last Tool album.
Maybe because the album stinks?
I’d have Baroness, Cattle Decapitation, Monolord, Opeth, Torche, Lo-Pan and Whitechapel on mine. But this isn’t a metal site, so I bet those would be on Loudwire or something.
Yeah, Monolord is some killer shit.
Indeed. Got to see them open for Torche, Windhand and Red Fang in Austin recently.
Add A Pregnant Light, Blood Incantation, or even Torche.I mean they did a list about loud queer rock this year and left Torche off the list!
That Blood Incantation is great. I forgot Spirit Adrift and Ordos too!
I knew when I clicked the list that there would be no metal or even hard rock, despite a couple metal/hard rock albums getting on some other lists. I knew this list would be all fucking lo-fi hip-hop and a bunch of other alt-indie or whatever bullshit, but I still clicked it, hoping to see even one metal/hard rock album get some mention here.Nope.
Amen, brother. Also, user-comment synergy
I mean, I get it – music is subjective, and even within metal there’s a lot of stupid genre hair-splitting and weird arbitrary lines. But I find it a little hard to believe that there’s not a single person on staff that isn’t into metal or hard rock. Both Carcass and Baroness have made it on to other lists of this ilk.But anyway, this is definitely a fool me once type scenario. I knew when I clicked it wouldn’t be here, so I was pre-annoyed before I even read the article.
Surprised not to see the song I’ve heard the most this year. This ad replays so many times on the office TV, it’s permanently embedded in my brain, forcing me to live out a philosophical debate over and over again … How is nothing everything?
…and Abyssal, and Blood Incantation.
Is metal a new SoundCloud rapper? PUT THEM ON THIS LIST IMMEDIATELY
While it’s getting hyped a lot, our local metal band, Blood Incantation put out a great album this year.
Looks like Metal fans prove they truly are the Star Wars fans of music.
nvm
Disentomb – The Decaying Light
Vanum – Ageless Fire
Disillusion – The Liberation
Car Bomb – Mordial
Teitanblood – The Baneful Choir
Fvneral Fvkk – Carnal Confessions
Eternal Storm – Come the Tide
White Ward – Love Exchange Failure
Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance
Rorcal – MuladonaThose are the ten I picked out to represent the “best” of the year. Bearing in mind that a) “best” is a hard concept to define, b) ten albums is far too limited a number to cover all the different styles and approaches, c) no one person can listen to everything (and therefore my “pool” is inherently limited only to what I’ve been able to hear), and d) my personal favourites are very different. Well, somewhat different anyway.Hope that helps a bit.
Cattle Decapitation,Tomb Mold,Blood Incantation,Xoth,Sunn
Thanks! Will check these out!
This list is basic.
In a personal record for me, I have actually heard of 7 of the artists in an AV Club music listicle. I think that shatters my previous record of 5.I haven’t actually heard most of their music, but baby steps.
OK, thought there’d already be this thread on here, but top 10 for me, in no particular order, except the first oneJulia Jacklin – Crushing (by far my fav album of the year)Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del ReyMaggie Rodgers – Heard it in a Past LifeLloyd Cole – GuessworkThe National – I Am Easy To FindSleater-Kinney – The Center Won’t HoldThe Hold Steady – Thrashing Through the PassionOrville Peck – PonyStef Chura – MidnightThe Tallest Man on Earth – I Love You. It’s a Fever DreamBest EP – Lucy Dacus – Holiday EPBest Single – First Aid Kit – Strange Beauty (on the death of David Berman)
That Lloyd Cole album really surprised me. I’ve been a casual fan of his for a while, but had no clue it was released until scanning some lists of stuff from 2019. It’s not in my top ten, but the genre shift works well for him, and a few tunes really blew me away (“Night Sweats,” in particular, gets stuck in my head a lot).
I’ve been meaning to check it out but I’m hesitant. I’m not ready to be heartbroken.
Star for Orville Peck, that album has been my most pleasant music discovery this year.
That Orville Peck record is really good.
First Aid Kit!
Fuck yeah, Julia Jacklin. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful.
There was one on the ballot article, although this is definitely a better place for it. Here’s mine, copied and pasted in no particular order:
Drab Majesty – Modern MirrorShe Past Away – Disko AnksiyeteTempers – Private LifeBoy Harsher – CarefulHante – FierceTR/ST – The Destroyer 2Chelsea Wolfe – Birth of ViolenceMarissa Nadler – DroneflowerSecond Still – Violet PhaseAll Your Sisters – Trust Ruins
Hell yes! Boy Harsher! You get it
Oh – have to go check that out – always get some good year end recommendations. And I still need to pick up that Chelsea Wolfe.
The Hold Steady is probably the best album of the year, but I’m a fanboy. PUP, Menzingers, Titus Andronicus, Ezra Furman, Mountain Goats, Replacements reissue, Off With Their Heads… so much good music got ignored
I don’t think I’ve listened to a single album this year more than Maggie Rogers’ Heard it in a Past Life.
She put out a new single just a month or so ago. Saw her in DC and she was great live as well.
Julia Jacklin is the queen who loves to run down suburban streets in vintage gowns. KEEP IT UP QUEEN JULIA.
Solange’s latest belongs on the top 10 list, for most disappointing.It was going to be hard to top A Seat at the Table anyway.
omg Solange is SO overrated! FFS. She’s the Hunter Biden of r&b.
Most people have never heard of them (though they’ve certainly HEARD them in a tv show, movie, or what have you), but Cinematic Orchestra’s To Believe deserves more recognition. Easily the best I’ve heard this year.
I consider myself a fan of the National, but I found that album to be quite a snooze.
no black midifake list
Remember when this site was less shit? Pepperidge Farm remembers. https://music.avclub.com/the-best-metal-albums-of-2018-1830646750
Sorry we didn’t give you a separate best metal albums list this year, James. Our film editor, A.A. Dowd, recently ran down his favorite metal albums of the decade on Twitter if you’re curious.
You need to be writing more things with James in mind.
And when James isn’t in mind for an article, it should always make sure to ask “where’s James?”
Appreciate the thoughtful response, Alex. I guess I just miss ZMF so I am channeling his rage a bit.
“This site got worse only over the last year” is quite a take.
Valid point – I was trying to pull up the old metal column from a few years back (which was amazing) and I couldn’t track it down.
You’re looking for Loud:
https://www.avclub.com/tag/loud
That’s right! Jason Heller was the guy! WHO IS THE JASON HELLER OF TODAY???
I’ll summarize my comment from the best albums of the decade list; show me a person who says they come to the AV Club mainly for the music coverage and I’ll show you a liar.
I dunno, I thought this was a pretty thoughtful list.
*Cough*Jade Bird, Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Highwomen…
I wanted to like that Jade Bird record so much. I loved the Something American EP. But then like 2/3 of this album is just really shouty and not…I dunno…for me, I guess?
I dislike the production on it (super washed out and overly shiny, kinda like Something More Than Free)…meanwhile, Uh Huh, Love Has All Been Done Before, and I Get No Joy only really work live.Even so, I have such a deep affection for the live versions of a lot of these songs (along with Does Anybody Know, Ruins, Lottery, and My Motto, which hold up in any setting), that I still really enjoy the album.Hopefully, the Brent Cobb duet means she’ll collaborate with Dave in the future! I think he’d do wonders for both her and Margo Price, in terms of helping their studio work capture what makes them such special performers.
yes
Apparently they can’t listen to anything that even borders on country unless it’s Kacey Musgraves (well, unless it’s Golden Hour specifically).
Cracked me up how much they drank the Kool-Aid on Golden Hour…which is very much her 3rd best album (much as I love Space Cowboy and Butterflies).Really illustrates the Music section’s status as “for white, male college sophomores who don’t actually like music very much, but want to seem cultured.”
I love Golden Hour but it’s been so frustrating watching everyone lose their shit about that album and then not even go back and start giving attention to her other albums (including her). They just basically pretend like they don’t exist. They’re so good.
I love these end of year lists.The outraged/annoyed/condescending comments from people who mistake their taste in music for a personality are delightful.Thanks for your contribution.
…lol.
I’m not wrong.Thanks for confirming my first comment 🙂
lol.I’d love to hear your opinion on any of the artists I listed…but I’m fairly sure you have none.
Faye Webster. Check her out.
James Blake’s “Assume Form” is one of the best albums of the decade let alone the year. Haunting, yet majestic at times, and the sound production is amazing when you listen to it on a good set of headphones. Should be on this list!!!
Not surprisingly I don’t own a single one of the list from here.
Just finalized my top ten for the year this morning, might as well post it here too.
1) Game – No One Wins LP
2) Litovsk – I Will Never Forget You b/w Dit Wil Ik Nooit Vergeten 7″
3) Chain Whip – 14 Lashes LP
4) Yleiset Syyt – Yleiset Syyt E.P. 7″
5) Pleasure Leftists – The Gate LP
6) Diät – Positive Disintegration LP
7) Bad Breeding – Exiled LP
8) Foster Care – El Abuso LP
9) Constance Chlore – S/T tape
10) Dark Thoughts – Must Be Nice LP
Tool, anyone?
Any ‘Best Album’ list for 2019 that doesn’t have Norwegian songstress Aurora (Asknes) utterly stellar A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)(followup to 2018’s Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) ) on it (and it should be near the tippy top at that) is a badly curated list. Nothing topped that album. It’s organic, perfectly balanced, wonderfully topical and basically sung by angelic-voiced beautiful weirdo Aurora who grew up in the troll forest near Bergen Norway…It’s auditory bliss in album form.
Sharon Van Etten, Little Simz, Lana & Weyes Blood are choices I can agree with. Things on my list that didn’t make the cut here:My AOTY: Lemolo – Swansea. I’ve listened to this album at least once a day, front to back, since it was released in mid-October. I am 100% in tune with its vibe.Jay Som – Anak Ko. I just found out that you can buy a “Superbike” blend coffee from Intelligentsia + a mug with a drawing of Melina on it from the Polyvinyl website, in case anyone wants to get me a stocking stuffer.Sleater-Kinner – The Center Won’t Hold. I know not everyone dug the St. Vincent influence, but this album is objectively better than at least half of this list.Black Mountain – Destroyer. This album may not be “best”, but is just flat out fun. I feel like if Billy from Stranger Things was in 2019 instead of the 80s, this would be blasting from his car.
Brave, sad, silly, impressive is all I can say for vouching for Sleater-Kinney. A perfectly serviceable album that had far more songwriting issues than anything else. The production shift and new wave influences are not nearly prominent enough, but “Hurry on Home” and “LOVE” are absolute highlights.
For me though, a perfectly serviceable S-K album is better than a lot of other stuff. I loved “Hurry on Home”, “Reach Out” and “The Dog / The Body”. The whole album seems to have a theme of change & stepping outside yourself to look at yourself as a person you don’t recognize, which I thought fit neatly into the change in sound/production. Maybe I give them too much credit and it’s not what they were going for at all, but I feel like at this point they get the benefit of the doubt for making smart albums.
Oh shit, there was a new Lemolo album this year? How did I miss that? Listening right away! The Kaleidoscope is one of my favourite albums of all time.
Yes! It came out in October. I also loved The Kaleidoscope and Red Right Return but the new album is on a whole other level.
Just listened to it this afternoon. It doesn’t top The Kaleidoscope for me, but it’s still fantastic and one of my favourite albums of the year. Thanks for letting me know it existed!
You bet, always happy to share the Lemolo love!
Very solid, albeit too short, list! Jenny Hval’s book Paradise Rot was one of the greatest pieces of fiction I have ever read by a musician or otherwise. She really is the real deal in terms of art pop auteurs.
Albums not featured on the list that are worthy of your attention:
Xiu Xiu’s Basket of Fruit
Chromatics’ Closer to Grey
Friendly Fires’ Inflorescent
Yeule’s Serotonin II, my favorite obscure debut album.
Kim Gordon’s No Home Record. Nick Cave is not the only grizzled musician making late career highlights.
I’m not passionately in love with any album that wasn’t included, but I do think the Purple Mountains LP should’ve made the list.
I know this is about albums, not songs, but… Sharon Van Etten’s “Seventeen” gets my vote for song of the year. Man! I love that song.I’ve been a fan of Nick Cave’s work for a long, long time. Never could have imagined something as gorgeous and heartbreaking as Ghosteen.
For what it’s worth, my top 10 albums of the year: 1. FKA twigs, MAGDALENE 2. Mereba, The Jungle Is the Only Way Out 3. Bat for Lashes, Lost Girls 4. HTRK, Venus in Leo 5. Marika Hackman, Any Human Friend 6. Weyes Blood, Titanic Rising7. De La Noche, Blue Days, Black Nights8. Shana Cleveland, Night of the Worm Moon9. Jenny Lewis, On the Line10. Stella Donnelly, Beware of the DogsBonus: 10 great songs that didn’t appear on albums (at least not yet, in some cases):Alexandra Savior, “Crying All the Time”Courtney Barnett, “Everybody Here Hates You”
Hazel English, “Shaking”Hello Peril, “I Punched Keanu Reeves”The Hives, “I’m Alive”The Homesick, “I Celebrate My Fantasy”
Lana Del Rey, “Looking for America”
Part Time, “Lies in the Eyes of Love”Sufjan Stevens, “Love Yourself”Wild Moccasins, “Closer”
Not a great year for music. Some of what’s on this list is pretty good (I did quite like the Weyes Blood album) but there’s a lot of “meh” as well. UFOF by Big Thief is a glaring omission. But honestly there hasn’t been much else to get my dander up about.
The music coverage on this site has truly dipped in quality. How any music website can make a top 20 list without including either Big Thief album released this year is an outrageous oversight. Not to mention AVC never reviewed UFOF or Two Hands, if memory serves. The lack of any metal albums on this list is also disappointing.
Isn’t complaining about lack of metal albums here a bit like complaining a Texas Roadhouse doesn’t have any good vegetarian food?That’s on you.
Mine looked something like this:1. Rapsody – Eve2. Sigrid – Sucker Punch3. Lana del Rey – Norman F***ing Rockwell4. Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center5. Clairo – Immunity6. Meg & Dia – happysad7. Bad Books – III8. Charly Bliss – Young Enough9. Maggie Rogers – Heard It In A Past Life10. Lizzo – Cuz I Love YouAnd I have about 15 others that I really liked, not counting EPs or shorter projects.
It’s important to respect everyone’s experiences and opinions which is why it’s so hard not to think about how great Pronoun’s I’ll Show You Stronger is and seriously it’s such a damn good album.
I’m happy to see On the Line making so many end of year lists, since that’s the only recognition it’s gonna get. I really thought this would get Jenny Lewis a Grammy nomination, but oh well. I’m a fan of her music going back to Rilo Kiley and I think On the Line is the best album she’s ever put out, whether solo or with others.
My list. The best list. The only list that’s true.1. Ken Vandermark: No Exit Corner2. Ian Noe: Between the Country3. Kris Davis: Diatom Ribbons4. Andrew Bird: My Finest Work Yet5. Aaly Trio: Hidden in the Stomach6. Lower Dens: The Competition7. Rachael and Vilray: Self8. E.B. The Younger: To Each His Own9. Ivo Perelman, Nate Wooley: Strings 310: Orville Peck: Pony
I haven’t heard most of these but Little Simz is a good pick – I like it even though most hip hop bores me. On the other hand, I thought the Cate Le Bon and Jenny Hval albums were both steps down after really strong runs. I’ll throw out nominations for Charli XCX (glitchy pop), Hatchie (shoegazey pop), That Dog (alt-90s reunion), Rose Elinor Dougall (mellow 70sish), Serafina Steer (harp-driven folk/classical/weird), Tinashe (R&B), Brijean (chillwavey), and the EPs by LPX and Magdalena Bay (both synthy pop).
Disappointed that Helado Negro’s This Is How You Smile didn’t make the list, especially since I found out about it from an article here (and then went back and listened to his entire discography). It’s such a great record, and his concert in Charlottesville- where he played the entire album followed by a few older songs- was by far the best live show I saw all year.
Favorite album no one else would possibly mention: “31313″ by Silent Siren. An infectiously hooky sugar rush of kinda-sorta-not-really-pop-punk outta Japan. Favorite album on everyone’s lists except The A.V. Club’s: a tie between “Young Enough” by Charly Bliss and PUP’s “Morbid Stuff”. My feelings about this are strange, though.I listened to Charly Bliss’ “Guppy” compulsively for ages, and so much of what I loved about it was nowhere to be found on “Young Enough”. And yet, once I’d listened to the new album a couple of times, it feels like this was the band they were always meant to be, and I couldn’t quite enjoy “Guppy” as much as I had before. For whatever reason, I haven’t really listened to “Young Enough” that many times, and I’m puzzled why that’s the case every time I give it a spin. So, go figure.“Morbid Stuff” for me doesn’t reach quite the same heights as “The Dream Is Over”, but when it’s good, it’s…whew. Definitely my most listened to album of 2019.Would likely have made my list if I’d listened to it: “Old LP” by that dog. It’s probably waiting for me under the Christmas tree.
I’ve actually listened to 31313, and it’s… okay. It’s not really my thing, but I’m happy to find someone else on the Internet tubes who know that Silent Siren exists!
You’re not wrong about “Young Enough”. I was expecting it to be way more like “Guppy”. And on first listen I was pretty let down. But there was enough there for me to give it a few more spins and then the switch flipped, and it just made sense that THIS is Charly Bliss. It’s probably the biggest turnaround I had on a record this year.
Definitely check out the That Dog album if you don’t get it for Christmas. Although I’ll note that I think the best two songs are the last two, so skip there if you’re not feeling the earlier tracks.
Young Enough was the first Charly Bliss I heard. I like it, but I checked out Guppy and like it a bit more. Young Enough is good, but it incorporates a bit more electronic sound that I don’t think really suits the band.Contrast this with my favorite album of the year – Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough by Bleached. Bleached got a lot poppier and I like it 1000% more than any of their older stuff I’ve heard.
I’ve listened to and liked a few of these: Sharon Van Etten, Billie Eilish, and Lana Del Rey (even though it’s probably my least favorite LDR album), but none of them will be making my top 10 list (or even my top 30). I may sample the rest that I haven’t checked out to see if anything sticks.My top 10 (as it currently stands) is much more metal focused (particularly from the thriving NWOTHM scene):10. Devourment “Obscene Majesty”9. Lingua Ignota “Caligula”8. Enforced “At the Walls”7. Inhuman Nature “Inhuman Nature”6. Chain Whip “14 Lashes”5. Traveler “Traveler”4. Toxic Holocaust “Primal Future: 2019″3. Nightfyre “From Fortune to Ruin”2. Smoulder “Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring”1. Riot City “Burn the Night”
Igor by Tyler, The Creator was easily on my top 10 of the year. On the other side of the musical spectrum, Tuxedo III also made my top 10 for sure.
No Hold Steady? Menzingers? PUP? Off With Their Heads? Mountain Goats? Ezra Furman? Laura Jane Grace? Cold Wrecks? Catholic Guilt? Replacements re-recording? The only real music there is Nick Cave & that’s barely a rock record
You’ve got to love a staff of music critics who can find room for Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey on this list but leave off Igor.
Are you really surprised?
I’m disappointed, but not surprised.
lol all three of them are jokes. Yur basic!
You’re trying too hard
YUR BASIC! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA BASIC IS AS BASIC DOES!!!!! AND YOU’RE DOING!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
So much projection.
I’ll take your word for it mainly because like I haven’t really listened to English Speaking Music so I’m glad to know that this is where it’s at. What are your thoughts on Lizzo and Mark Ronson?
There are some interesting picks here, but why is that Barker thing on the list? It’s just club sounds played for the length of a song. Just…pre-programmed button pushes. It sounds like generic background music from a 1999 video game. There’s just nothing there.
He’s not even playing real instruments!
ITT:
People who should just make their own lists.
twigs, Jamila, Lana, Angel, Jenny, SharonI quite like this list, especially with twigs at the top. Pre-release buzz had me prepared for an entire album of subdued Cellophane-esque ballads, which had me worried (Cellophane is beautiful and amazing, but I don’t want an album of songs like that from twigs). But instead it still felt like twigs, just sadder and coming from a more vulnerable place than past stuff. She’s maybe my favorite new artist of the decade, and I’m glad 2019 gave me new music from her.
Needs more King Gizzard tbh. I’ve been looking at all these best-ofs from different outlets with disappointment. I’ll freely admit my music listening isn’t terribly wide-ranging on new releases, but The Boys went and made Infest the Rat’s Nest, the best thrash metal album in years (if ever?) right after they made a delightful boogying opus that would definitely be on a top-10 itself.What I’m saying is HELL’S WHERE I WANNA BE
Nothing for Foals? Sure, releasing a double album seven months apart is kind of gimmicky, but every track is solid and shows how they’ve grown from their beginnings as angular math rockers.
Cuz I Love You? No Geography? Otherwise decent list.
I enjoy Best Album Of The Year lists, because they’re a consistent reminder of how out of touch I am.
It could be the other way around?
Disagreeing with this list isn’t prove you’re a genius or have good taste.It’s just proof you disagree with this list.
Do people like Billie Eilish? I thought it was just angsty teen stuff for teens. God, I’m old.
Watching her interviews are an exercise in masochism.
Home schooling. It’s why at 18 she comes across as a 13 year old.
Sorry, gang: It’s Liz Lawrence’s Pity Party.
Who?
My favorite album of 2019 was Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding”
No Better Oblivion Community Center means this list is null and void.
Father of the Bride is easily top ten
WWMWDWhat Would Mike Watt Do?Mike Watt wouldn’t put any of these bands on his top 20 of 2019. (maybe jenny lewis)
VanEtten’s HOT. But what’s her problem. She looks bummed. Does she have ADHD too?
TR/ST – The Destroyer (Part 1).
Don’t know/ Never heard of any of these people Because since 2017 I’ve only listened to K-pop/K-rap. If you enjoy either of those, here’s 5 2019 albums I thought were great in no particular order.
K-POP
Stray Kids – Miroh
Jang Dong Woo – Bye
Ateez – Treasure EP.FIN: All to Action
Lee MinHyuk – HUTAZONE
Twice – Feel Special
K-Rap
Bewhy – Movie Star
Zico – Thinking
Leellamarz x GroovyRoom – Room Service
Hi-Lite Records – #Air2019
Zene the Zilla – YAMANGKKUNHonerable mention to all of the Dingo Freestyle Songs that were released throughout the year. If it was a complete album, it would have been one of the best, Especially this last one. It reminds me about Korea’s uplifting positivity and why I stopped listening to music in the US which is mostly negative. Here’s a bunch of great rappers from different labels teaming up, having fun and goofing off to put together a Christmas song off all things and it’s good.
I didn’t care for a lot of these albums. But I’m also really insecure, and think my taste in pop culture is my personality… so I’m going to make a lot of whiny, dismissive an defensive comments on this article.The whole world is biased against my likes and dislikes. It couldn’t possibly be that I’m just as biased as everyone else!!!
If you notice the list here, Paste etc. there is a notable absence of straight white men (or groups with them as leads) on the top 10s. So either there was not a single one deserving…or, one can theorize why that was the case this year.
I’m not a big metal fan but if you notice the list here, Paste etc. there is a notable absence of straight white men (or groups with them as leads) on the top 10s. So either there was not a single one deserving or their…or, once can theorize why that was the case this year.
My favorites of the year. So much overlooked!! I compiled this list before seeing most of the best of the year lists. I think I listened to 280 albums this year and have about 80 more I want to get to.
1. Julia Jacklin2. Gary Clark Jr.3. Aurora4. Weyes Blood
5. Jordan Dennis EP6. I Know Leopard
7. Haelos 8. The Raconteurs 9. Jenny Lewis
10. Patrick Watson 11. Allen Tate 12. Beth Gibbons & The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra13. Johnathan Rice 14. Joyero15. Andreya Triana
16. New Pornographers 17. Heather woods Broderick 18. Nick Cave19. Jesca Hoop
20. Sleater Kinney
21. The Faint 22. Weval
I know only one artist on this list, the annoying low talking young girl, and am probably a better person for that.
I would submit “WHO” by The Who. It is astonishingly better than it has any right to be.