Saturday, August 1, 2020

HAVE WE MET - Destroyer (2020)

Now active for well over 20 years, eccentric Canadian singer/songwriter and one-time New Pornographer Dan Bejar has knocked out several fantastic albums under his Destroyer moniker, from 2006's glammy Rubies, to 2011's amazing, instrumentally lush 80s nostalgiathon Kaputt, to 2015's evocative, brass heavy, New York-celebrating Poison Season, and while for the first stretch of Destroyer's evolution the sonic template varied substantially from release to release, ever since Kaputt Bejar and his team of crack supporting musicians have locked on to a highly romanticized 80s solo Brian Ferry/Roxy Music Avalon synth sheen, and that is the case again on 2020's Have We Met.  

Unfortunately, while the lyricism remains skillful, clever, and at time quite humorous, and the musicianship and production remain immaculate and perfectly dialed in to this very specific 80s vibe, the songs on Have We Met just don't land like they have on most of Destroyer's previous efforts. 

Much is probably due to Bejar's decision to dial down the arrangements on Have We Met, going for a  relatively sparer, more intimate feel this time out, like walking in on some local hipster crooning to a near empty bar well after midnight, but whatever the thematic and stylistic intents (I suspect generating a sense of ennui was one of Bejar's specific goals), the end result is one of Destroyer's least impactful releases.

That said, there are still enough decent songs like opener Crimson Tide, the funky throwaway Cue Synthesizer, the instrumental title track with its late night vibe, and the melodic closer foolsong to almost justify, when combined with the ace production, giving Have We Met a low solid recommend, but the meh-ness of most of the rest of the material is ultimately too much to overcome.

So definitely a decent enough effort to recommend for established fans, but if you are new to Destroyer, with past releases like Rubies, Kaputt, and Poison Season out there, there are much better albums with which to start.

MILD RECOMMEND

Cherry Picker's Best Bets: Crimson Tide, Cue Synthesizer, Have We Met/The Man In Black Blues, foolssong



 
1. Crimson Tide - 8
2. Kinda Dark - 7
3. It Just Doesn't Happen - 7
4. The Television Music Supervisor - 5
5. The Raven - 7
6. Cue Synthesizer - 8
7. University Hill - 6
8. Have We Met - 8
9. The Man In Black Blues - 7 
10. foolssong - 8
Intangibles - Below Average

Here's a video of the album's best song Crimson Tide, which perfectly captures the albums "crooning to an almost empty bar well after midnight" vibe.


Friday, July 24, 2020

McQ's Best Of 2019 Mix Collection

McQ's #1 Album of 2019
All right, here we go once again, the complete McQ mix collection highlighting the best singles and albums 2019.

We're going with fewer, longer mixes this time out, and as will become quite clear to those who dive in, it was a singer-songwriter dominated year, with the R&B and edgy art rock genres also making strong showings, but a subpar year just about everywhere else.

But even with that, and whatever your tastes, I'm sure you'll find something new to love amongst the many tunes and albums profiled  here.

So without further delay, I present to you the best music of 2019!

Nancy gets us started this year with her most expansive collection yet of stirring singer-songwriter efforts and an upbeat rock, pop, hip hop, soul, blues and international hits.



Next up, McQ highlights representative cuts from twenty more excellent 2019 releases Nancy missed. 



Indie may have been the worst performing genre of 2019 overall, but given wide swath of sounds the genre produces - from folk to psych-rock to shoe gaze to Brit rock to jangle pop to new wave to alt-country, it still led to one of our most varied and best 2019 mixes.  Includes efforts from Helado Negro, Beirut, Sundara Karma, W.H. Lung, Lower Dens, Deerhunter, Chai, Metronomy, Bat For Lashes, and many, many more. 



If it had room-clearing potential in 2019 - be it metal, noise rock, hardcore punk, bleak IDM, depressing art rock, weirdly experimental or in-your-face with taboo subject matter - it goes here. 2019 produced a lot of fascinating music with room-clearing potential.

 

Several of 2019's best R&B, hip hop, and grime efforts get their due here.  Includes tracks from Little Simz, Lizzo, Stormzy, Michael Kiwanuka, Rapheal Saadiq, Rhapsody, FKA Twigs, Da Baby, Malibu Ken, Jamila Woods, Dave, Kate Temptest, Kano, Anderson Paak, DJ Shadow, and many more...

  

Southern fried rock, garage, blues rock, melodic punk and hard-charging indie lead the way on our highest energy mix of the 2019 collection.  Includes tracks by Thee Oh Sees, Fontaines D.C., Amyl & The Sniffers, Steve Mason, The Raconteurs, The Black Keys, Rival Sons, Queen Zee, Wilco, Sturgil Simpson, and several more.



Electronica and contemporary pop make up the bulk of this synth-driven mix. Includes cuts from Billie Eilish, Normani, Jai Paul, The Chemical Brothers, Four Set, Taylor Swift, Sigrid, Hot Chip, Roisin Murphy, Charli XCX, Clairo, Sault, Galcher Lustwerk, Mark Ronson, and several more.


   

We close with a look back at the year's best performing genre, teeing up several of 2019's top singer-songwriter highlights.  Runs at a lower wattage level than the other mixes, but along with All Things Offputting, has the highest overall quality of our six 2019 niche specific mixes.


Volume 9 - The Next 100

In no particular order, here are the next 100 tunes I was considering for these 2019 mixes.




McQ's Best Of 1969 Mix Collection


McQ's 1969 #1
1969.  What a year.  So many great works.  Maybe not an amazing year for fans of bright, melodic pop or psychedelic rock, both of which were quickly falling out of favor.  But an extraordinary, often groundbreaking year in country-rock, jazz, prog, soul, and nascent punk and metal.

It was also an unbelievable year in terms of off-the-charts prolificacy.

Truth be told, so many great acts came out with multiple great releases in 1969 that putting this retrospective collection together proved to be an unusually daunting task.

McQ's 1969 #2
Think about it, in this single twelve month period, just among those artists we're profiling here we've got Tim Buckley (2 1969 releases), Joe Cocker (2), The Beatles (2), Johnny Winter (2), The Temptations (2), Love (2), Led Zeppelin (2), The Moody Blues (2), Frank Zappa (2), The Grateful Dead (2), The Jefferson Airplane (2), Steppenwolf (2), Ten Years After (2), The Byrds (2), Miles Davis (2), The Guess Who (2), Fleetwood Mac (2.5), Creedence Clearwater Revival (3), Fairport Convention (3), James Brown (4).

So with that insane volume essential listening, I had no choice really but to throw out our typical 80 minutes per mix discipline, and the guard rails completely came off.

McQ's 1969 #3
Other than volumes 1 & 2, only one other mix in this set comes in under two hours, and several creep into three, even four hour territory. Way too much for one sitting.

So to help out, on the write-up pages (which you can access by clicking on the mix titles below,) I've broken mixes 3-15 into multiple set and encore chunks, just like at a long live concert.

Tackling them in this manner may prove easier , but hey, get after them any way you wish.  I just hope you'll take some time to dive in, because 1969 really was one of rock/pop/soul's greatest and deepest years and there is so much here worth hearing.

We'll be updating this central hub throughout the summer as more of the mixes and write-ups become available. But we've got a few up already...

So, without any further ado, here our the mixes in our 1969 retrospective collection. Enjoy!


Nancy's collection of her top favs from 1969 was just too much fun not to open with this year.  This 1969 installment nabs some of the best blues, soul, and psychedelic pop of that elite music year.



McQ's top-tier compendium to Nancy's Favorites, with the exception of a very significant early song from one David Bowie, this mix focuses exclusively on representative tracks of 1969's best albums (minus a few of 1969's great albums Nancy already touched upon).


1969 was an extraordinary for the blues and blues-based rock, and the first of our genre-specific mixes capture's much of the year's best here. 



The best of 1969's non-US/UK efforts get due here.  If you're a fan of late 60s reggae, tropicalia, or  euro-pop, you're going to find a ton of great stuff to revisit here. 



Three highly influential experimental rock genres that came of age in 1969 are presented here in this epic length mix. 



As with melodic Pop, Psychedelic rock was experience a rapid fade in popularity following its zenith just two years prior, but as most of their peers ventured into country rock and early metal, a few artists stuck with what the did best, and were supported by a bunch of lesser but game second-wavers eager to jump into the fray. 



1969 was a great year for adventurous, exploratory jazz, and we've got a small (but still quite long) sample of some of the best here. Includes revered classics from the likes of Miles Davis, George Russell, Don Cherry, Les McCann, and Pharoah Sanders, among several others



This year's guilty pleasure installment focuses mostly on those Soul, Pop, and Country singles that won our hearts but felt behind the times even back when they were released in 1969. 



1969 was nothing if not loose, exploratory and jammy.  This mix, designed something like a never ending Grateful Dead show of the era, captures that spirit and then some - celebrating much of the year's best extended, solo-heavy psychedelic, rock and experimental efforts in an epic four hour mix.



The sugar sweet harmonic pop that dominated the charts just a few years ago was, like psychedelic music, quickly fading from mainstream favor, but in it's wake, a new angle on album-oriented pop, the Rock Opera, emerged.  Features several selections from the year's two ground breaking rock operas, The Who's Tommy and The Kinks Arthur (Or The Decline Of The British Empire), as well as beloved tracks from the likes of The Beatles, Beach Boys, and Velvet Underground.




What a groundbreaking year for Soul Music in 1969.  Some of the year's edgiest and most forward-looking soul can be found here, including many efforts by the likes of Sly & The Family Stone, Isaac Hayes, The Temptations, and James Brown!



Anchored by three remarkable albums from the Richard Thompson/Sandy Denny-fronted Fairport Convention, British Folk Rock had one of its best years of the modern era in 1969. This mix captures much of the best of that, as well as a number of notable singer/songwriter efforts out of North America.



Country Rock had suddenly become almost the end all and be all in 1969, led by a remarkable three album surge from Creedence Clearwater Revival, but augmented by The Band, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt and a seemingly endless supply of Byrd's offshoots including Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dillard & Clark, and The Flying Burrito Brothers.



Proto, proto, proto, Baby!  Early punk and heavy metal really rounded into form in 1969, and we've got much of what was exciting about the early days of those movements here, including boatloads of Led Zeppelin, Stooges, Deep Purple, and Mc5. 


Volume 15 - Croony, Croon, Croon

Blue-eyed soul was a huge player in 1969 and we focus on two groups of practitioners, the old-style crooners - especially Elvis Presley, Scott Walker, and Dusty Springfield - and a new crop of usually brass-drenched rockers - including Joe Cocker, The Guess Who, and Blood, Sweat & Tears.


Volume 16 - The Next 100

In no particular order, here are the next 100 tunes I was considering for these 1969 mixes.




McQ's Best Of 2019 Vol 1 - Nancy's Favorites!

2019 was a weird music year. 

Crazily lopsided, it was an unbelievable year for high quality singer/songwriter-styled efforts, a very good year in contemporary R&B and dark-as-night art-rock, but then depressingly tepid everywhere else - subpar in hip hop, uninspired in both mainstream rock and contemporary pop, and simply abysmal in indie, the worst year for that broad genre since I began doing these collections in 2004. 

And because so many of the year's very best records came in that bleak, depressing art-rock category, we're going to flip the switch here for 2019, just as we did for 1969, and let Nancy's warmer, crowd-pleasing instincts ease us into 2019's brighter moments first before hitting those potent but difficult titles in later mixes over the weeks that follow

So here then, music fans, for your Fourth Of July weekend listening pleasure, is Nancy's most expansive Favorites effort yet, two and a half hours of exceptional songs from 2019's sunnier and/or more heartfelt side.

Here's the Spotify Link. Enjoy!



Now, about the Artists/Albums/Songs on Nancy's Mix:

1 & 2. Crazy In Love & Freedom - Beyonce: Nancy launches things off with the spectacular opening minutes of Beyonce's legendary 2018 Coachella show (the last Coachella Nancy & I attended), which has now been captured for all posterity in a Netflix documentary and 2019 soundtrack album of the same name, Homecoming (Solid Recommend). Whether or not the concert was the best live show of all time, as many in the press have posited, is debatable, but as a cultural statement steeped in black tradition and as a piece of deeply thematic, thoughtful musical theater, the show, built around the concept of hanging in the stands with students and fans for a Friday night football game at a southern HBCU, has had no equal on the Coachella main stage (at least over the 11 years I attended), and probably never will. Best of all, hanging in the bleachers with head-cheerleader Bey, was the band, a brass-and-drumline-powered monster that fueled the show's every uptempo number with an unbelievable adrenaline rush, and lent every one of her many hits a fresh new feel, all perfectly demonstrated by Nancy's selections here.

3. Morning In America - Durand Jones & The Indications: While the University Of Indiana - Bloomington campus is not the likeliest of birthing places for a retro-soul band devoted to recreating the sound and feel of Marvin Gaye's and Curtis Mayfield's/The Impression's classic late 60s/early 70s work, I'll take 'em from wherever I can get them when the results are as good as Morning In America here from the band's sophomore full-length effort, American Love Call

4. What About Us - Gary Clark Jr.: Nancy and I were lucky enough to catch this talented blues-rocker with friends at the Hollywood Bowl just a few months before the concert world shut down. In the show, he debuted much of the material from his latest, much more socially conscious-minded album This Land (Mild Recommend), and What About Us was a definite standout. 

5. Shine A Little Light - The Black Keys: After a half-decade of hit records, festival heading gigs, and unrelenting touring, by 2014, the Ohio blues-rock-duo of Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach were understandably wiped-out and had to take a break. But five years later, following a period of relative rest spent mostly with side-bands and producing albums for other artists, the Keys finally returned in 2019 with "Let's Rock," (Solid Recommend), an encouraging effort that, while not on par with career peak full-lengths like Rubber Factory, Brothers or personal fav El Camino, proves there's still plenty of life left in the duo's sturdy three-minute blues-single formula. Much to my chagrin, Nancy gobbled up not just one but two of the album's best songs, starting here with its take-no-prisoners lead single Shine A Little Light.



6. Sunny Love Song - Bob Mould: Nancy has never gravitated towards noisy, hard-hitting punk, which is why it's always been surprising what a soft spot she has for Bob Mould.  But maybe that's because Sugar's Cooper Blue was such a ubiquitous soundtrack presence at the bars and parties we hung out in while having the time of our lives in downtown Chicago in our early twenties, and taken in that context, I guess it's not that surprising that Nancy's grabbed the best song from Mould's latest release, 2019's fine, Cooper Blue-like Sunshine Rock (Solid Recommend).

7. This Life - Vampire Weekend: In what was easily the most dreadful year in indie-pop since I began doing these mixes in 2004, one indie-release stood head-and-shoulders above everything else: Vampire Weekend's Father Of The Bride (Solid Recommend). And while the sprawling Father Of The Bride isn't nearly as consistent as the Columbia University band's two best efforts (2008's eponymous debut and 2013's sophisticated stunner Modern Vampires Of The City), it's one of the few 2019 releases in any genre that's best songs are straight-up showstoppers. Nancy's grabbed two of those showstoppers here, starting with This Life, and we'll hit two more on our upcoming Vol 4 - All Things Indie.

8. Superbike - Jay Som: Just a lovely, chiming number here from LA-based, Walnut Creek born DIY-er Jay Som's (aka Melina Mae Duterte) fourth full-length for Polyvinyl Anak Ko (Solid Recommend). She's been slowly moving up the indie ranks the last few years, and getting better with each outing, so wouldn't surprise me to see her land an album near the top of the year end polls down the line. But for now, we have this fine song to enjoy.

9. Summer Girl - HAIM: One of the best singles of 2019, love the breezy nature of this so-cal charmer from the LA-born, masters-of-bass-face hipster sisters, not to mention the track's deep indebtedness to Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side

10. Hero - Michael Kiwanuka: For most of its seamless opening half, Michael Kiwanuka's Danger Mouse-produced third album KIWANUKA (Strong Recommend), which doubles down on that signature spaghetti-western-soul sound the duo formulated on their previous joint effort Love & Hate, plays like a serious album-of-the-year contender, until a decision to slow things way down on it's back half brings the excitement to a sudden halt. But even with that almost jarring shift in tone, KIWANUKA remains a top-10 release on the year, and contains many thrilling up-and-mid-tempo numbers like Hero here.

11. The Barrel - Aldous Harding: That singer-songwriter dominated-year alluded to above - it starts taking over this mix here, with odd-ball New Zealand indie-folker Aldous Harding's (aka Hannah Sian Top) delightfully non-sensical The Barrel representing the year's sixth best release Designer (Strong Recommend).  Much like The Barrel, the rest of Designer's so quirky gems (two more of which we'll hit upon in Vol 8 - All Things Thoughtful) suggest an emerging female equivalent to peak-form Andrew Bird (minus the heavy reliance on pizzicato strings).  

12. Hey, Ma - Bon Iver: A far cry from '08's breathtakingly straightforward, achingly earnest For Emma, Forever Again (Highest Recommend), Bon Iver's fourth release i,i (Mild Recommend) finds the Bard Of Eau Claire continuing in an increasingly electronic, obtuse, experimental direction, to significantly diminishing returns. That said, buried within all that noodling experimentation, there are still four or five numbers on i,i where Justin Vernon's elite talents with  emotion and song dynamics rise to the fore, especially on Hey, Ma, which Nancy quickly snatched up here. Now if Mr. Vernon could just find it within himself to reverse course, and get back to his linear, acoustic roots on his next outing...

13. Anybody - Burma Boy: Nancy gets worldly with Anybody, one of six singles released from rising afro-fusion/reggaeton superstar Burma Boy's (actually Nigerian Damani Ebunoluwa Ogula Rex) fourth release African Giant, a 2020 Grammy nominee and 2019 Album of the Year winner at the All Africa Music Awards 2019.

14. They Don't Shine - Tedeschi Trucks Band: This lively, gospel number comes to us courtesy of Jacksonville, Florida husband and wife blues tandem Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, the first of two rocking songs we'll be hearing over the course of this mix collection from their band's fourth studio release, Signs.

15. EARFQUAKE - Tyler, The Creator: A surprise selection, Nancy goes with this unusual, poppy number from former rap shock master turned Frank Ocean-styled flower boy Tyler, The Creator's IGOR (Solid Recommend), the most critically celebrated (it ended up #5 across all genres in the year-end aggregate polls) and original hip hop album of 2019.

16. Tell Me Lies - The Black Keys: Here's one more from the Key's '19 release "Let's Rock", the very groovy Tell Me Lies.

17. Juice - Lizzo: A huge hit from Time Magazine's 2019 Entertainer Of The Year, Juice was actually just one of many winning tracks to be found on contemporary R&B "Queen Of Positivity" Lizzo's third full-length Cuz I Love You (Solid Recommend), the most nominated (8) album of the 2020 Grammys. 

18. Married In A Gold Rush - Vampire Weekend: Much changed for Vampire Weekend in the six years since their last release Modern Vampires Of The City. Lead singer/principal songwriter Ezra Koenig relocated to Los Angeles and became a parent. Around that same time, Rostam Batmanglij, the VW's ace multi-instrumentalist and dominant production voice up to that point in time, left the band to pursue a solo opportunities and his exploding producing career (he's been a dominant mixboard player in recent releases from Carly Rae Jepsen and Charlie XCX, among others). So a new direction for the band was warranted, and inspired his new So-Cal environs, Cohen choose to shift the band's next album Father Of The Bride towards a classic Laurel Canyon sound, and to assist in capturing that 70s vibe, he brought in Danielle Haim, the daughter of 70s studio musicians, to share vocals on three songs. All three tracks featuring Haim are among the album's standouts, but arguably, Married In A Gold Rush here is the best. 

19. Don't Know How To Keep Loving You - Julia Jacklin: Among the amazing crop of contemporary female singer-songwriters that have emerged around the globe over the last decade, I'm not sure any of them do drama as well, or with such a sense of life-or-death urgency, as Sydney, Australia's Julia Jacklin, and that sense of high drama permeates every note of her fabulous release Crushing (Strong Recommend, the year's fifth best release, and the best 2019 album represented here on Nancy's mix), perfectly embodied here by the anguished Don't Know How To Keep Loving You 

20. Seventeen - Sharon Van Etten: A slightly more veteran presence on the female singer/songwriter front, Sharon Van Etten mixed things up to impressive results on her excellent 2019 release Remind Me Tomorrow (Strong Recommend), embracing a number of unusual electronic, experimental, and in the case of Seventeen, harder rocking approaches to make the album, if not her best, then definitely the most interesting and varied effort of her career.  

21. The Greatest - Lana Del Rey: Runaway 2019 winner of the year end critic's album polls, Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell (Strong Recommend) is a definite career high point, and like Vampire Weekend's Father Of The Bride, her most Laurel Canyon-inspired effort yet. At times on this exceptional record, it feels like Joni Mitchell is right there in the studio with Del Rey, whispering inspirations as Lana records. And of the album's many top tier numbers, Nancy has chosen to run with the album's mid-tempo centerpiece and biggest hit, The Greatest.

22. One More Time - Bedouine: Continuing, but far from done, with 2019's seemingly endless singer-songerwriter parade, Nancy next taps the delicately chill One More Time from Syrian-American Azniv Korkejian's equally delicate and chill sophomore full-length under her Bedouine moniker, Bird Songs Of A Kill Joy (Mild Recommend). 

23. Get Well Soon - Boy Scouts: This gentle indie-rocker comes to us from Oakland DIY bedroom-artist Taylor Vick's major label debut as Boy Scouts, Free Company (Mild Recommend).

24. Not - Big Thief: Brooklyn's Big Thief was on fire in 2019, releasing two high caliber full-lengths, and while their second 2019 album, the looser, jammier Two Hands (Solid Recommend) was the lesser of the two efforts compared to the subtle, Radiohead-caliber precision and invention of the indie-whisperers first release U.F.O.F. (Strong Recommend), it definitely had the top track in the so urgent Not, which wasn't just one of Nancy and I's favorite tracks of 2019, but a top-ten mainstay on most year-end best songs lists, and one ex-President Obama's 2019 favorites as well.

25. Highwomen - The Highwomen: The brainchild of activist, fiddler extraordinaire, and Jason Isbell spouse Amanda Shires, The Highwomen was Shire's attempt to raise the profile of female artists (not to mention their perspectives) in country music by creating an all-female play on the 1980's all-male country supergroup dream team of Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, The Highwaymen. Little did Shires know (or maybe she knew all along) that she - along with her partners in feminist crime Maren Morris, Brandi Carlisle, and Natalie Hemby - were about to become one of the biggest acts in country music in 2019 with their self-titled debut (Solid Recommend). To celebrate this accomplishment, Nancy's tapped two songs from the record and placed them back to back.  First up, the album's title track, an impassioned ballad that pays tribute to the accomplishments, strength, and moral courage of great women of the past, and then...

26. Redesigning Women - The Highwomen: ...the album's spunky lead single, a song that pays tribute to the wondrous, tireless day-to-day accomplishments of modern woman in this multi-tasking present (though I think many would assert its been this way for women all along). 

27. Hold Me Anyway - Wilco: Though unassuming and quiet in nature compared to most of the other tracks featured on this mix, Hold Me Anyway comes off almost as a relative barnburner compared to the rest of subtly experimental soft rock protest songs that make up Wilco's thoughtful, reflective eleventh studio album Ode To Joy (Mild Recommend). 

28. What I Remember - Patty Griffin: It's really just not a Nancy's Favorite's mix until the Patty Griffin songs start to land towards the end, and her 2019 edition is no exception. This year sees Nancy teeing up two from 2019 full-length Patty Griffin, starting with the old-school flamenco torch song What I Remember.

29. Show Me Love - Alicia Keys, 21 Savage & Miguel: This remixed version of Show Me Love, featuring hip hop star 21 Savage and co-written with Miguel, was the lead single forAlicia Keys seventh studio album Alicia.

30. Burning - Maggie Rogers: A 2020 Grammy nominee for Best New Artist, excitement had been building for Maryland-based Maggie Roger's 2019 full length debut Heard It In A Past Life ever since her days as a college student at NYU's Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, when a video of her playing an demo of her early composition Alaska for a visibly moved guest lecturer Pharell Williams went viral and started an industry bidding war for her talents. Here, that sense of promise is fulfilled with Nancy's favorite song from the new record, Burning

31. Stones - Bruce Springsteen: Boss fans would be loath to hear it, but Bruce should really think about calling it a day right here, with his beautiful, cinematic 2019 walk off into the sunset Western Stars (Strong Recommend), arguably his best album since 2006's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, if not 2002's The Rising, if not all the way back to 1987's Tunnel Of Love. Full of rich, expansive orchestral arrangements worthy of Roy Orbison or a John Ford western, Western Stars is a big-themed, elegiac record obsessed with legacy, meaning, and how one gracefully copes with one's emotions, past history, and regrets as one's life and relationships near their end. Here, on Stones, the accumulation of past moments of weakness and their lasting impact on a long-term romantic partnership takes center stage.

32. The Fact Of Love - Joe Henry: Moving, mystical acoustic number here from veteran producer and Grammy winning alt-country recording artist Joe Henry and his 2019 full-length The Gospel According To Water

33. Change - Mavis Staples: Now 80, the indomitable gospel inspiration Mavis Staples just keeps keeping on, as evidenced here with Change from her Ben Harper-produced 2019 release We Get By

34. Light Years - The National: Owners of the most reliable sound in present day music, a sound that has produced an elite stretch of albums over the last fifteen years, The National finally shook things up in 2019 by exploring their feminine side on their eight studio release I Am Easy To Find (Solid Recommend). Every aspect of the album was created in conjunction with female collaborators, from the Alicia Vickander cover photo, to the endless parade of duets featuring the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Gail Ann Dorsey, Kate Stables, Mina Tindle, Lisa Hannigan, even the the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. And while I'd label I Am Easy To Find, especially in light of how good the band has been before, more of a fascinating stab at artistic growth than a significant accomplishment in itself, it does boast a few tremendous songs, especially closing ballad Light Years which Nancy has selected here.  

35. Something To Hope For - Craig Finn: One of the very best songs of 2019, Craig Finn's Something To Hope For is the empathetic  centerpiece to the Hold Steady frontman's appealing fourth solo album I Need A New War (enthusiastic Solid Recommend). Tackling a theme rarely explored in rock, I Need A New War is the concluding chapter in Finn's trilogy of small-scale solo efforts examining the everyday minutiae of ordinary middle-aged, middle-management schlepps, decent people sticking it out, doing their modest best, and loving their friends and family, but whose lives and careers now hold out little hope of great advancement, accomplishment or adventure. 

36. River - Patty Griffin: Question: Name the Patty Griffin album that doesn't contain at least one song that moves you to your very core? Answer: You can't! That album doesn't exist! Here's that song, River, from Patty's 2019 eponymous release Patty Griffin (Mild Recommend).

37. Moonlight Motel - Bruce Springsteen: Western Stars gentle, understated closing track. Seriously, Bruce, let Jim Brown be your guide here.

38. The Sound Of Silence - The Chromatics: Nancy loves herself some Chromatics classic rock covers.  After tapping the Lynchian synth outfit in 2012 for their killer cover of Neil Young's Hey Hey My My (Into The Black), she hits them again for their mesmerizing rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's The Sound Of Silence from the Johnny Jewel-led Portland, Oregon outfits long-awaited Closer To Grey (Solid Recommend). 

39. Lift Every Voice And Sing - Beyonce: Nancy closes the 2019 mix with the definitive moment of Beyonce's Coachella show, when Bey, after having whipped the mostly white twenty-something crowd into an absolute frenzy with Crazy In Love and Freedom, brought everything to a dramatic halt with this stirring rendition of The Black National Anthem, something probably 80% of the crowd was hearing for the very first time.

McQ's Best Of 2019 Vol 3 - All Things Indie!

There's no point in downplaying things. 2019 was a poor year for indie rock, failing to produce a single  album I'd confidently rate a Strong or Highest Recommend (though Father Of The Bride, Ulfilas' Alphabet and This Is How You Smile and one or two others did get fairly close). 

But even in a down year, the genre is just so wide ranging in terms of the styles, sounds, and textures that fall under its umbrella, it still produced one of our most compelling themed mixes of 2019.

So settle back, and enjoy the lighter rock vibes of the fading in significance but still intriquing indie movement. Here's the Spotify link


SET 1

1. Please Won't Please - Helado Negro:  We start with the opening cut  from Ecuadorian-American, latinx artist Roberto Carlos Lange's magical sixth and best album This Is How You Smile (enthusiastic Solid Recommend), a Best Of The Best worthy album whose songs just seemed to play better here.  As much electronic as indie, this so relaxed in feeling (though not message) album follows a pair of brothers as they go on a weekend stroll, with the older brother passing on all manner of little life instructions along the way. The conceit becomes a brilliant framework for thoughtfully exploring all manner of political, class, and identity issues, most anchored from a brown perspective, without ever becoming confrontational.  One of 2019's essential listens, we'll hit another track from This Is How You Smile later in this mix. 

2. Harmony Hall - Vampire Weekend:  I think Nancy liked what was arguably the best indie album of 2019, Vampire Weekend's Father Of The Bride (Solid Recommend) even more than I did, grabbing both This Life and the Danielle Haim collar Married In A Gold Rush for her Vol 1 - Nancy's Favorites mix.  Luckily though, we had different favorite tracks from this album, and the bouncy, multi-passaged Harmony Hall, with its stellar gospel-tinged chorus was unquestionably mine. 

3. Little Smart Houses - Sundara Karma: Though rarely top-tier great, Redding, England's Sundara Karma's second studio effort Ulfila's Alphabet (Solid Recommend) is so consistently solid., energetic and fun with it's glammed up, Bowie-esque mix of art rock, dance floor and new wave tropes that it emerged as one of my favorite 80s flavored records of 2019.  After highlighting the album on Vol 2 - Best Albums Left with Symbols Of Joy & Eternity, here we unearth three more excellent tunes, starting with the so-Talking Headish Little Smart Houses.
4. If You Want It - Jay Som: Having already touched upon Walnut Creek-born Jay Som's 2019 indie hit Superbike on Vol 1 - Nancy's Favorites, we now check out the edgily laid-back opener from the Filipino-American's singer-songwriter's well-received third full-length Anak Ko (Solid Recommend).

5. Gallipoli - Beirut:  If like me, you were a fan of Beirut, one of the freshest and most appealing twee-indie acts of the mid-aughts, then there surprisingly solid 2019 release Gallipoli is going to feel like reconnecting with a great old friend after a long time apart. There's nothing particular new here, just that classic Balkanized, brass-heavy Beirut song, applied to a super sturdy set of tunes. We're highlighting two numbers from this winning effort, starting with the title track.

6. Sunday - Strange Ranger: Originally hailing from Montana as the band Souix Falls, now based out of Philadelphia, Stranger Ranger was hard at work in 2019 keeping the spirit of old school indie-rock and jangle pop vibrantly alive on second release as Strange Ranger  Remembering The Rockets. Here we profile the album's strongest ballad Sunday

7. Magician's Success - Vanishing Twin: Just a lovely little dream-pop number here from London's Vanishing Twin, the intermittently active psychedelic side project of Fanfarlo guitarist Cathy Lucas, taken from the band's critically-praised 2019 full-length release The Age Of Immunology

8. Lately - Metronomy: Time constraints prevented me from checking out likable English electro-pop act Metronomy's sixth full-length Metronomy Forever this yearbut a year-end perusal of the 2019's highest ranked songs in the consensus critics polls revealed a few definite new-wave-flavored winners of which Lately was my definite favorite.

9. Right Side Of May Neck - Faye Webster: Just 21 and already three albums into her career, breezy Georgia-based folk-pop melange-ist Faye Webster's 2019 release Atlanta Millionaires Club (Solid Recommend) was her most promising effort yet, exhibiting an ever improving, compelling command of feel. We're featuring two cuts from the album in this collection, Right Side Of My Neck here, and album opener Room Temperature on Vol 8 - All Things Lyrical.

10. Daddi - Cherry Glazerr: Over it's relatively brief existence, Clemantine Crevy-fronted rock trio Cherry Glazerr has already undergone significant stylistic transitions, progressing from the lo-fi garage rock of their debut Haxel Princess to the almost dreamy polished pop of latest release Stuffed & Ready as exemplified by the almost shoegaze-y Daddi featured here.

11. Death In Midsummer - Deerhunter: With their eighth album Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?(Mild Recommend), the Branford Cox-led Georgia collective returns to the subdued, meticulous pop of 2010's near classic Halcyon Digest, but this time out the band focuses their deceptively warm psych-pop sonics and nostalgic lyricism outward instead of inward, mediating time and again on man's historical inhumanity to man. And that look back at human cruelty throughout the ages is perfectly established through the album's opening, harpsichord driven track Death In Midsummer.

12. Fashionista - CHAI: We've already spotlighted high-energy J-Pop act Chai's sugar rush of positivity Punk (enthusiastic Solid Recommend) in Vol 2 - Best Albums Left. Here we take a listened to the album's most popular track, Fashionista.

13. Hire - Girlpool: Fans of earlier Girlpool efforts will be in for a bit of a shock listening to the band's latest What Chaos Is Imaginary (Mild Recommend), the band's first since guitarist Cleo Tucker came out as transgender and began sexual reassignment therapy, which has significantly altered her/his voice. But the deepening vocal shift has allowed the band to pursue a much punkier/grungier direction to intermittently excellent effect, as on Hire profiled here.

14. Good Enough - Indoor Pets: Find yourself craving some lively, old fashioned, squeaky voiced power-pop in the vein of The Weakerthans, Weezer, or (in their rockingist moments, Death Cab For Cutie), then Kent, England's Indoor Pets' full-length debut Be Content (Mild Recommend) may be just what you are seeking. 

15. hand solo - Marika Hackman: Frank discussions of sexual pleasure dominate Brit folk-rocker Marika Hackman's engaging third full-length effort Any Human Friend (Solid Recommend), as will be lyrically obvious on this feminist masturbation ode.


SET 2

16. Simpatico People - W. H. Lung: We start our second set with the killer ten-minute opening track from Manchester trio W. H. Lung's promising debut Incidental Music (Solid Recommend). A compelling, flowing brew of psychedelic, krautrock, post-punk and synth-pop influences, if you like Simpatico People you'll like most of the record.  Other highlights include Nothing Is and Want.

17. Used To Be Lonely - Whitney: With their second release,  Forever Turned Around, popular Chicago-based 70s-styled soft-rockers Whitney softened things up even further, but whatever their music may lack in visceral oomph, it more than compensates for with  subtle, likable melodies and a serious degree of arrangement/production finesse, traits well presented by album single Used To Be Lonely included here.

18. Feel For You - Bat For Lashes: There's always been a palpable whiff of 80's new wave to Brit Natasha Khan's (aka Bat For Lashes) moody musical explorations, but on 2019's Lost Girls (Solid Recommend), cheekily inspired by the soundtrack to the 1987 teen vampire camp classic Lost Boys, she tackles retro synth-pop head on, leading to what will be for many the most accessible album of her career to date.

19. Tricks - Stella Donnelly: Went for the breezier Tricks over more heralded tracks Old Man or Boys Will Be Boys from rising Welsh-Australian indie-chanteuse and Courtney Barnett super-fan Stella Donnelly's major-label debut Beware Of The Dogs, but regardless of which song you bond with, the lyrical message of her music is a constant - guys are jerks. 

20. Mexican Dress - Blood Red Shoes: Harder rocking fare here from Brighton-based alt-rock duo Blood Red Shoes' fifth full-length  Get Tragic (Mild Recommend). If Mexican Dress floats your boat, I also recommend checking out the album's sludgy opener Eye To Eye, if not the album in full.

21. Fear/+/Desire - Mannequin Pussy: Drunk II (See Vol 2 - Best Albums Left) from Philly punk-rockers third outing Patience (Solid Recommend), was one of my favorite songs of 2019 Following in the same kinder, gentler, shoegazing musical footsteps as Drunk II, Fear/+/Desire, also from Patience, is almost as good. 

22. dead girl in the pool. - girl in red: Just another promising single from another promising talent in this dramatic wave of openly gay singer-songwriters that have swarmed through band camp and Spotify the last half decade, this time courtesy of rising twenty-one-year-old Norwegian bedroom popper Marie Ulven Ringheim (aka girl in red) from her 2019 Chapter 2 EP. 

23. Might Be Right - White Reaper: Nifty lead power-pop single here from Louisville-based garage rockers White Reaper's third full-length release You Deserve Love.

24. All Right - Boy Scouts: Having already tapped one song from indie singer/songwriter Taylor Vick's (aka Boy Scouts Free Company on Vol 1 - Nancy's Favorites, we profile the up-and-coming talent's work one more time here with the airy All Right. 

25. Sympathy - Vampire Weekend: Our second inclusion on this mix from Father Of The Bride is a bit of an outlier for the band, far edgier and clanky than what one typically associates with Vampire Weekend, but the shift made a mark with the critics, as it ended up the top rated song from the album on many year end polls, most notably Pitchfork's best songs of 2019. 


26. Cow - Alex G: I've never been a huge fan of Philly-based, Elliot Smith-like lo-fi pop artists (Sandy) Alex G despite his near constant presence on year-end polls over the last half decade, but I have to admit, House Of Sugar (Solid Recommend) is my favorite album of his to date, powered by delightfully relaxed tunes such as the live SugarHouse, Southern SkyGretel, and my personal fav Cow presented here.  

27. A Song For My Future Self - Sundara Karma: For inclusion number two of three on this mix from Sundara Karm's Ulfila's Alphabet, we hit the album's slow building, folksy opener.

28. Futurism - Deerhunter: One more from Deerhunter's eighth Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?, this time its liveliest psych-pop rumination Futurism

29. Varieties Of Exile - Beirut: One more fantastic number from one of the most surprising late career albums of 2019, Beirut's Gallipoli

30. You Seemed So Happy - From The Japanese House: Super appealing number from Brit and ex-Marika Hackman girlfriend Amber Mary Bain (aka The Japanese House) from her latest release Good At Falling

31: Leona - Strange Ranger: One more track from Philly-based indie-rockers Strange Ranger's Remembering The Rockets, this time the album's best song, Leona.

32. Like Before You Were Born - DIIV: Like DIIV's preceding record Is The Is Are, the Brooklyn shoe gaze outfit's third album Deceiver explores the difficulties and stumbles of drug and alcohol addiction recovery, a subject informed by band leader Zachary Cole Smith's personal struggles in the arena. But where Is The Is Are by Smith's own admission may have painted too rosy and facile a picture of the recovery process, Deceiver is far grittier and open-ended, recognizing that recovery from addiction is a never-ending battle. Despite the heaviness of theme, however, it never impacts the music which surges and flows in the spirit of My Bloody Valentine's best work, as clearly encapsulated by Like Before You Were Born here.

33. Arabesque - Coldplay: Coldplay's Everyday Life (Solid Recommend), was a bit of a late career surprise, showing the band to be much more interested in experimenting and broadening their musical attack as opposed to just unleashing another batch of guaranteed crowdpleasers this time out, and most interesting in this new set of songs was this long, Middle-Eastern accented, brass-driven groover.


ENCORE

34. Imagining What To Do - Helado Negro: Tough call narrowing down to a second song from This Is How You Smile. Also considered the album's biggest hit Running and the fabulous Two Lucky (both on Vol 9 - The Next 100), but ultimately settled for Imagining What To Do here.

35. My Trouble - Elbow: While hardly best release of their career, inventive Brit alt-rock act Elbow's eight release Giants Of All Sizes (Solid Recommend) is still a sturdy effort with more than it's fair share of highly compelling tunes, from the multi-faceted prog-workout Dexter & Sinister (featured on Vol 2 - Best Albums Left), to the surging Empires, to the Fleet Foxes-reverent On Deronda Road, to the lovely orchestral ballad My Trouble included here. 

36. Young Republicans - Lower Dens: Pure Eurythmics-styled androgynous new wave bliss in this standout track, albeit nastily politically one-sided, from Baltimore indie-rockers Lower Dens' four full-length The Competition.

37. One Last Night On This Earth - Sundara Karma: For our final inclusion from Sundara Karma's Ulfila's Alphabet, we tap the album's hardest-charging song, which at times feels like it could have been ripped right off of Bowie's Young Americans

38. Young Enough - Charly Bliss: Brooklyn-based alt-rock sugar pop quartet Charly Bliss's sophomore full-length Young Enough (Solid Recommend) is about on par with their exciting debut Guppy, but the Eva and Sam Hendricks outfit, which also features Incredible Dash Parr (actually grown-up child actor Spencer Fox) on backing vocals and guitar, has never come up with a song as great as the title track before. Almost Best Of The Best material here. Just a phenomenal teen angst rocker with shades of some of The Replacements more earnest efforts.

39. Sunday - Foals: Long a staple of these mix collections since the release of jittery debut Antidotes in 2008, Foals released a pair of companion albums in 2019, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt 1 and Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt 2 (both Mild Recommends), and while neither album quite matched the excitement of their earlier, turn-of-last-decade albums, each still possessed several sturdy anthemic songs like Sunday that I'm sure, as is almost always the case for this band, kicked royal ass live.  

40. On The Wall - Chromatics: After seven long years, moody Portland, Oregon indie-electro act The Chromatics finally released a follow up to their exceptional 2012 album Kill For Love, though it was not the long awaited Tommy from which several singles have been teased in the ensuing years, but an album of entirely new material Closer To Grey (Solid Recommend). And while not the front-to-back stunner that was Kill For Love, Grey, sporting the act's trademark blend of Cure-ish and Julie Cruise textures, is sure to whet the whistle of just about any fan. Given the band's dead center posture between the indie and electronic music worlds, we're splitting representative tracks across several mixes, going with band's stirring cover of The Jesus And Mary Chain's On The Wall to close things out here.