Listed below are the best albums of 2019 as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 4 hours ago).
"Takes every one of the trashiest trends of the past decade of pop music, piles them on top of each other, turns them up to 11, douses them in an excessive dose of irony, post-irony, post-post-irony, and etc., and single-handedly absolves the sins of every one of them."Reply
"Name a song that grooves harder Juice, I dare you. This album is full of awesome song craft, uplifting bravado, and excellent production. Heavily recommend 85/100 (Very Good)"Reply
"Jai Raj Paul appeared on MySpace in 2007 but became famous in 2010, with a contract with XL Recordings. Then there was the leak that changed everything: on Bandcamp, a collection of songs by Jai, the press is excited and announces the release of a long-awaited debut album. In 2019, after seven ye...""Jai Raj Paul appeared on MySpace in 2007 but became famous in 2010, with a contract with XL Recordings. Then there was the leak that changed everything: on Bandcamp, a collection of songs by Jai, the press is excited and announces the release of a long-awaited debut album. In 2019, after seven years, this is the comeback of Jai with the officialy released leak . The choice is really curious, no final version of the work has been published. This leak probably ruined Jai Paul's career or at least thwarted his progress. But behind all that, there is a music: chaotic, inconclusive, but also resolutely brilliant, wonderfully intercultural and inexorably alive. The unfinished beauty of this album, this work in progress requires you to think: if the leak had never occurred ? Would we have the beginnings of a new Prince ? But nothing is more contemporary, current, alive than this unfinished music with an approximate sound mix. A lo-fi that looks like the most sophisticated r'n'b. This is a record revealing very creative ideas, futuristic music, androgynous pop art, intelligent electropop, raw synth-funk.
8/10
Best track: "Jasmine (Demo)""[+]Reply
"Lush Americana. That's the only way to describe it. Bruce Springsteen's 19th studio album 'Western stars' is quite probably the loveliest of his career. The musicianship is bliss and the production is immaculate. Opener 'Hitch hikin'' sets the tone for the album as we and Bruce thumb ourselves al...""Lush Americana. That's the only way to describe it. Bruce Springsteen's 19th studio album 'Western stars' is quite probably the loveliest of his career. The musicianship is bliss and the production is immaculate. Opener 'Hitch hikin'' sets the tone for the album as we and Bruce thumb ourselves along the highways and byways of backwater USA. 'The Wayfarer', the second track, is really what this album is all about. A gorgeous track with orchestration that lifts the song to a beautiful crescendo reminiscent of old western movie theme tunes. Other standouts are the typically Bruce 'Tuscon train', the brooding 'Stones' and the excellent 'Chasin' wild horses'. The best though is saved for last. 'Moonlight motel' is quite possibly the most achingly beautiful song of Bruce's almost fifty year career. It's just wonderful. The album isn't perfect though.'Hello sunshine' is okay but it is one of the record's lesser moments and was a surprising choice for first single to be released from the LP. That probably should have gone to the enjoyable 'There goes my miracle', a rousing Bruce anthem. The weakest track though is the rather throwaway 'Sleepy Joe's cafe'. It's harmless but it's too lightweight and just slightly tarnishes the album for me. But these are small quibbles. Springsteen is still at the top of his game, still moving on and most importantly keeping us interested and excited about every release. A new E street band album is expected next year but for now this will do very nicely. "[+]Reply
"If you want to feel how long a decade is play One Direction's 2011 hit 'What makes you beautiful' and then give this a spin. On his sophomore record Harry Styles has cemented his move away from the lowest common denominator pop music that his former band defined just a few years ago. Like his deb...""If you want to feel how long a decade is play One Direction's 2011 hit 'What makes you beautiful' and then give this a spin. On his sophomore record Harry Styles has cemented his move away from the lowest common denominator pop music that his former band defined just a few years ago. Like his debut, we have a carefully made and thoughtful album that still falls a bit short of where his music could be. In the case of 'Fine Line' things go well most of the way through but seem to start tailing off in the last few tracks.
The stand out track here is probably 'Lights Up', though there's a few contenders. It's exceptionally rare for a pop track to be so unpredictable in where it's going next. From the light guitars that fade in at the start you don't see the piano breaks or backing singer heavy chorus coming, but instead of coming across as disjointed it feels like clear movements in the same song. What's even more impressive is it does it all in less than 3 minutes. Another of the most ambitious tracks here is the 6 minute 'She'. From the start you have really intriguing lyrics like "A man drops his kids off at school, and thinks of you, like all of us do". These clear up once you're mid way through the track and instead your attention goes to the strange instrumental flourishes and then that guitar solo. It's some of the most exciting guitar driven pop we've heard in years.
Unfortunately after this things get substantially duller. The vocals on 'Sunflower' don't sound all that great and the lyrics don't really raise them up. Canyon's a bit too retro. Where a lot of the tracks here feel like they're looking to the past to help create pop music of the future, the sound on 'Canyon' has no legs to have any impact (the whistling is really the last nail in the coffin). 'Treat People With Kindness' is a more experimental failure, the vocals really don't go together and the overall sound doesn't fit very well on the album, but I'd rather see artists take risks than churn out the same kind of stuff over & over. The title track fixes things a bit and acts as a nice closer but I'd rather have just seen the previous 3 tracks scrapped to make for a shorter but better album.
Overall though 'Fine Line' really confirms that Harry Styles' solo career is more than a flash in the pan with 'Sign of the Times'. The raw vocals would be great already, but the subtle vocal effects make them even better. The guitar work also goes great with them and most tracks are well structured and written. Let's just hope that he can keep building on this kind of quality to give us a really brilliant album next time around."[+]Reply
"Hmm, would you look at that. User SaulCortes1992 has given the album a 5/100 rating two weeks before the album is released. Looking at his charts, not surprised to see yet another elitist rockist user on here."Reply
"This defied all my expectations. I thought it was going to be 'generic King Gizzard material', but this record may be one of their best, if not their best album to date. Very consistent from start to finish. I can't even tell which songs are my favorites because every one of them is amazing!"Reply