Hello, blog readers! If you subscribe to this blog, you haven't seen much in your feed for awhile but show notes for the A Shape of A New Thing to Come podcast. It's true that podcast is all that I've consistently put out into the interwebs throughout 2019. The good thing is that the monthly conversations with Adam and Dan ensured that I listened to a lot of Music during the year. Because of that my annual year-end music list is more extensive this time around. Much more than the usual top ten. If you subscribe to TSOANTTC, which you should, you heard about some of my favorite listens in 2019 in our last episode for the year. You may also recall Adam mentioning my year-end music list from 2017. Every year, I create a list of my favorite music releases of the year. My rule is simple: list the albums I've enjoyed the most over the year. Here it goes for 2019:

Listed in no particular order ...

1) Jimmy Eat World - Surviving: I know I said no particular order, but this may be my top album of the year. I would say that this is their best album since Bleed America. Pop perfection.
2) Fiddlehead - Get My Mind Right: Okay, I know I said these were not in order but this short EP has got to be my second favorite release of the year. I love this band so much.
3) A Pregnant Light - Broken Play: This is a great album and grew on me even more after talking about it with Damien Master.
4) Bars of Gold - Shelters: So happy this band continues to make music. The vocals slay me.
5) Liberty And Justice - 4 All: I love this band! They've been my introduction to local music in Houston. This album is fantastic. They are amazing live. Go see them!
6) Brutus - Nest: This was a great find this year and I could not get the track "Cemetery" out of my head.
7) Pedro The Lion - Phoenix: So glad to see Pedro back! And what a great return it is.
8) Local Natives - Violet Street: I'm sucker for the vocals from this band. Just enough artsy-ness to keep it from complete candy pop.
9) Ceremony - In The Spirit World Now: I had my doubts at first but I love where Ceremony is headed with the evolution of their sound.
10) Magnitude - To Whatever Fateful End: Talking to Cameron of Magnitude was a highlight of the year and this album is hardcore perfection.

As mentioned above, I couldn't stop! So, here's my ten more releases to complete my top twenty for 2019:

11) Brittany Howard - Jamie: I've never been shy of my affection for Brittany and this is a great solo release!
12) Thom Yorke - Anima: I've said it before, I'm sucker for anything this guy puts out.
13) Big Thief - Two Hands: Dug their 2017 release and enjoyed this just as much.
14) The St. Pierre Snake Invasion - Caprice Enchante: What I loved about this album is that each song was unique from the other but fit seemlessly together as a perfect post-hardcore album.
15) Hundredth - 2019 Singles: Shoegaze-y tracks that make me think their the love child of Jimmy Eat World and The Cure.
16) Jambinai - ONDA: Did you know this group performed at the Olympics? Crazy!
17) Pup - Morbid Stuff: Dang catchy punk rock that borders on snotty but remains awesome.
18) Julien Baker - Tokyo: Two tracks that simply have me waiting with anticipation for what's next.
19) Clowns - Nature/Nurture: Didn't expect a Fat Wreck Chords release to sneak up on me like this one.
20) Wilco - Ode to Joy: The progression of this band always impresses me.

And a few more mentions just to keep the fun going:
21) Gut Punch - I Won't Lay Down: I have a clear bias here as I love the members of these bands and have known them for 25+ years but I love it!
22) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Ghosteen: A tragic and beautiful album.
23) Fontaines DC - Dogrel: Go watch the video for "Big" and tell me that doesn't endear you to this band.
24) Bon Iver - i,i: It's taken a while but Bon Iver continues to grow on me.
25) Squid - Town Centre: Early British punk vibes with a bit of a jazz influence mixed in.
26) Zealot R.I.P. - s/t: Members of Frodus, Pig Destoyer and more ... what else needs to be said?
27) Florida Man - Tropical Depression: Mid-tempo, post-hardcore is my jam and this band fits that so well. Love this.
28) Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka: This dude came up on shuffle and I feel in love with his stuff.
29) Deaf Club - Contemporary Sickness: Justin Pearson of The Locust and others making fierce music. That is all.
30) Purple Mountains - s/t: It was sad to lose David Berman this year. Nonetheless, this is a fantastic album.


I've made a playlist with all of this on it. Take a listen!

31) Guerrilla Toss - What Would The Odd Do?: This ... this is what they'd do.
32) Otoboke Beaver - Itekoma Hits: Heard about this band through one of The Needle Drop reviews and it's fantastic.
33) The New Pornographers - In The Morse Code of Brake Lights: They continue to make great albums ... like this one!
34) Black Midi - Schlagenheim: Fr. Christopher Foley mentioned these guys and I fell in love with the strange album
35) Gut Punch - s/t: Two releases in one year. Not bad, old guys!
36) Chastity - Home Made Satan: Late to Chastity but enjoyed this album.
37) More Pain - s/t: One more release from Justin Pearson but this one with Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
38) Fury - Failed Entertainment: Hardcore with a tinge of post-hardcore. Love this.
39) Liberty And Justice - Just Us: Coming out just before year-end, we got some more music from these Houston oi punks.
40) Show Me The Body - Dog Whistle: This is "art hardcore." Is that a term? It should be. Boundary bending band.

I've made a playlist with all of this. Take a listen over at Spotify or below!

What did you listen to in 2019? Share in the comments because I genuinely love knowing what you're in to, dear reader.

You can also listen to my Weekend Listening playlist on Spotify and YouTube.

And you can see what I'm listening to on Bandcamp and Spotify too.