It's that time of the year! Year end lists are popping up in my newsfeed every day. Unlike most media sites or bloggers, I am not really following any trends, chasing Hipster artists or looking for new sounds. I am more a traditionalist when it comes to music. I like warm, organic, timeless songs. Don't get me wrong, I like some new stuff too but my favorite years in music history are 1969-1974 so artists who are influenced by the late 60s and early 70s usually catch my attention quite naturally. I am not stuck in history but looking for new artists who sound timeless.
The Teskey Brothers "Half Mile Harvest" was such an album 2 years ago and their latest 2019 release "Run Home Slow" was another homerun for me. Great record from start to finish. Produced in their home studio in Warrandyte, Victoria together with Paul Butler (The Bees, Michael Kiwanuka, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, etc.), the album was followed by sold-out tours and got the band 3 ARIA awards and a Grammy nomination.
The runner up is Júníus Meyvant from Iceland who comes really close. His record "Across the borders" is an instant love affair. The vintage sound is second to none! I love the record so much, I also had to feature his 2nd release of the year which isn't a proper album to be honest but more an EP with four new originals and one rework of a song from the "Across the boarders" session. The EP is called "Rearview paradise".
Hiss Golden Messenger is probably one of the most reliable artists to deliver excellent albums since "Lateness of dancers" (2014), "Heart like a Levee" (2016), "Hallelujah anyhow" (2017) and now his 2019 masterpiece "Terms of surrender". I will always reserve a spot on my lists for Mr. MC Taylor!
Two of my favorite newcomers this year are the classic Singer-Songwriter Ian Noe (who will tour with John Prine in Europe next spring) and the rowdy TK & The Holy Know-Nothings who remind me of Deer Tick and the Houndmouth debut album. Rayland Baxter finally made me check out Mac Miller with his EP full of jazzy piano bar style cover versions of the rapper who died 2018 at the age of 26. Completing the Top 10, Michael Kiwanuka and Kevin Morby both channel Soul and Gospel in a modern sound and Dylan LeBlanc, produced by Dave Cobb and backed up by The Pollies sounds like the natural inheritor of Neil Young.
Here's the Top 20:
1. The Teskey Brothers - Run Home Slow
2. Júníus Meyvant - Across The Borders
3. Júníus Meyvant - Rearview Paradise
4. Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms Of Surrender
5. Ian Noe - Between The Country
6. TK & The Holy Know-Nothings - Arguably OK
7. Dylan LeBlanc - Renegade
8. Rayland Baxter - Good Mmornin
9. Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA
10. Kevin Morby - Oh My God
11. Foy Vance - From Muscle Shoals
12. Foy Vance - To Memphis
13. Black Pumas - Black Pumas
14. Susto - Ever Since I Lost My Mind
15. Tyler Childers - Country Squire
16. Neal Francis - Changes
17. Kelly Finnigan - The Tales People Tell
18. Daniel Norgren - Wooh Dang
19. Brittany Howard - Jaime
20. Big Search - Slow Fascination
21-75 Full gallery on my AOTY site (click here)
Please let me know what you think? What's missing for you? Who is ranked too high or too low?
You can also listen to all 75 albums in my Spotify Year end playlist: Link