What an interesting year this has been. While we lean heavily into singles and one-hit wonders most years, this year was the year of incredible albums. As you likely know, I still buy music, because I like to own it, and I bought a lot of it this year. This playlist reflects the albumness of the year, with two or three songs from many of them.
First off, you can always depend on Glass Animals to crank out some solid singles, and they did. Lydia Night is the former singer of The Regrettes, as she goes for more pop vibes. Franz Ferdinand and Hozier are of course single friendly. Also good to see The Temper Trap back after many years. The first song, "Tired Boy," is such a great 90's alt rock break-up song. Garbage did put out an album, but it didn't grab me the way that others have, so I only included one song here. Wet Leg had impossible odds, and while the album is solid, it's not quite what their debut was. Maybe it was just the sheer volume of other greatness this year.
The year started well with Lady Gaga's MAYHEM. It's definitely one of her better works, though I find many of the songs to be derivative. The two included here are standouts, and there are a few more. I doubt that there's a better entertainer in the world.
Two albums were, start to finish, amazing, with no throw-away songs at all. The first was HAIM's I Quit. We listened the shit out of this album, for months. I remember being into one of their singles ten years ago, but this is peak awesome. It was hard to narrow it down to just three songs. The last one, "Now It's Time," samples U2's "Numb," apparently a trade as U2 used one of their guitar riffs previously. They make it completely their own. All three are musicians, and all three play the drums at various points. It's really great.
And then, beyond all expectations, Wolf Alice put out The Clearing, and it's every bit as good as Blue Weekend. All four of their albums were nominated for the Mercury Prize, a single award for a UK artist. They didn't win, but that's a crazy track record. They're a bit less into the noise and textures of the last album, but it still sounds like them, despite it sounding different. This one is still on frequent rotation. I did not expect them to have two perfect albums in a row, but there it is.
Disney commissioned a soundtrack for Tron: Ares, asking Trent Reznor if he wanted to do it as Nine Inch Nails. Can you believe that Disney wanted to hire the "fuck you like an animal" band? There are only a few songs with lyrics, and they're pretty great. The rest is the kind of atmospheric stuff that you'd find in the middle of a NIN album, but also pretty good. It made the movie, and the roller coaster at Magic Kingdom, better.
We've got another Norwegian album in the mix this year. Last year it was Aurora, this year it's Sigrid. (Surely people have last names in Norway!) I bought her first album a few years ago, but she kind of fell off the radar. This album is Euro-pop perfection. It's a lot more "grown up" than that first one.
Then Hayley Williams comes out of nowhere with a new album. It has 20 songs and it's over an hour. I like the direction that Paramore has been going, getting out of the tired emo thing, but her solo work is also very good. I resisted this one for a bit, because it seemed like all of the press was obsessed with her (AP, Rolling Stone, etc.). But this is the real deal. It's a great alt-pop-rock mix, with a very indie feel.
Overall, it was a solid year for music. The only concerts I got to see this year were Garbage and Joss Stone, but both were so great, as always. What the playlist lacks in quantity definitely makes up for in quality.
I did a YouTube playlist again, if that's your thing.
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