I work hard every year to hear as much new music as possible. This year, I ended up listening to over 390 new albums, across all genres and styles. If you followed my top albums of the decade countdown, you’ll know how this is going to work. Each article counts down five albums I loved in 2019, from #25-#1. Here are the first five in my top albums of 2019 countdown!

25) Local Natives – Violet Street 

When 2010’s Gorilla Manor introduced the world to Local Natives, three things made the band stand out. One, basically everyone in this band can sing. That leads to the second feature of the band, sweeping harmonies. Third, and most importantly, the instrumentation in this group is great at painting pictures of emotions, energy, and stories of every sort. On Violet Street, the band followed up what I thought was a lackluster 2016 release with something they hadn’t brought to the table yet: personal songwriting.

The songs on Violet Street are predominately relationship-focused. It’s tough keeping up with friends and balancing romantic interests. Not to mention, it’s easy to lose yourself in the pursuit of pleasing others. The culmination of this intensely personal album is some of the best music the band has put out to date. Between melodies and moments of vulnerability, Violet Street shows a band ready to place its flag in indie music for another decade.

24) The Japanese House – Good at Falling

British singer-songwriter Amber Bain debuted her project, The Japanese House, with 2019’s Good at Falling. I’m a sucker for 80s pop, and this album oozes with the stylings that brought us the likes of The 1975 and Haim. Speaking of the former, the 1975’s producer has his hands on this album, and the 1975 singer Matty Healy sings backup on a few tracks. This is very much Bain’s project, however. The queer 19-year-old is on record for being someone who hates the limelight. It’s a shame because she’s garnishing a ton of attention for this debut record.

Bain’s lyrics are everything that makes indie music wonderful: self-doubt and hopefulness ooze out of the same sentence. Combined with synth layers, mid-tempo drum machines, and a great vocal performance, The Japanese House was one of my favorite debuts of the year. Bain is yet another incredible woman in indie, defining the genre and tempo for the foreseeable future. If this album’s any indication, it’s in good hands.

23) Andrea Motis – Do Outro Lado Do Azul 

Andrea Motis is the sole jazz entry I have in this countdown. It’s tough comparing the genre to more contemporary styles of music, but Motis is a favorite of mine in general. Coming from esteemed musician Joan Chamorro’s student ensemble, the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, in Barcelona. Her voice is almost as impeccable as her skills on the trumpet and saxophone. As an early standout, she’s had a successful international career since her studio debut in 2010 at just 15-years-old.

Do Outro Lado Do Azul finds Motis ditching the American Songbook for the tunes of Brazil. With an airy voice and incredible phrasing both on the mic and behind an instrument, she’s one of the many reasons jazz is going through a revival of sorts in South America. It’s incredible seeing someone who’s only 24 master a historic style of music, but she does so with grace and gravitas. If you’re not a jazz fan, you’ll still be incredibly taken by her talents.

22) Jay Som – Anak Ko

Melina Duterte is a favorite among indie rock critics, and her second album, Anak Ko, takes her talents one step further. Something I loved about her first recordings was the simple recording styles she administered. It very much felt like someone just playing in their bedroom, avoiding any sort of pretentiousness, while still showing an incredible talent for finding sounds that hit right at the heart.

Anak Ko is more exploratory than her past works and features much more open sound and fewer vocals. The song titled after the album is one of my favorite moments of music of 2019. Her sense of presence in upbeat guitar tracks does not disappear when leaning more on vocal modulations and keyboard. This album runs the spectrum of indie sounds from start to finish and feels a lot like an artist finding her way to a unique place in music.

21) TOOL – Fear Inoculum 

People either really hated, or really loved TOOL’s fifth album, Fear Inoculum, a project that took over 10 years to create. The stylings of TOOL are rooted in nu-metal, whether the genre is dead or not. Rhythmic metal isn’t unique to the 1990s, but bands like TOOL utilize much more that’s new to heavy rock than what’s traditional or standard.

The album plays out like one single track, despite being broken up into pieces. When listening front to back, the album feels complete and well thought out. As separate pieces, it’s a bit chopped. That being said, the group is full of incredible musicians that steal the spotlight from each other second after second. It’s enlightening hearing the tones this band utilizes for their long form tracks, some of which go over the ten minute mark. It’s hard imagining a perfect comeback after so long but this is, at its core, a great TOOL album and solid metal release.

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