2019

Cate Le Bon – Reward (Kemado)
Jeanines – Jeanines (Slumberland)
Black Marble – Bigger Than Life (Sacred Bones)
Seablite – Grass Stains and Novocaine (Emotional Response)
Neutrals – Kebab Disco (Emotional Response)
Blues Lawyer – Something New (Mt St Mtn)
Shana Cleveland – Night of the Worm Moon (Hardly Art)
Mick Trouble – It’s the Mick Trouble LP (Emotional Response)
Eerie Wanda – Pet Town (Joyful Noise)
Sacred Paws – Run Around the Sun (Merge)
Frankie Cosmos – Close it Quietly (Sub Pop)
Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains (Drag City)

 

Florist – Emily Alone (Double Double Whammy)
Tinariwen – Amadjar (Wedge/Anti-)
Girl In Red – Beginnings (S/R)
Various Artists – Hot Sick Vile and Fun: New Sounds From San Francisco (Rocks in Your Head)
Cindy – Cindy (S/R)
Eerie Wanda – Pet Town (Joyful Noise)
Tullycraft – The Railway Prince Hotel (HHBTM)
Julia Shapiro – Perfect Vision (Hardly Art)

# Shrey – 2019 Fave Songs:

Lizzo – “Truth Hurts” – Cuz I Love You (Nice Life)
Habibi – “Come My Habibi” (Muddguts)
Acid Arab – “Staifia” – Jdid (Crammed Discs)
Jeanines – “Either Way” – Jeanines (Slumberland)
Juan Wauters – “Rubia” – Introducing Juan Pablo (Captured Tracks)
Lucy Dacus – “Dancing In The Dark” (Matador)
Japanese Breakfast – “Head Over Heels” (W)
Billie Eilish – “Everything I Wanted” (Darkroom)

Snoh Aalegra – Ugh, Those Feels Again (Artium)
Alfa Mist – Structuralism (Sekito)
Aura Safari – Aura Safari (Church)
Moses Boyd – Displaced Diaspora (Exodus)
Ashley Henry – Beautiful Vinyl Hunter (Sony)
Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell (Interscope)
Doja Cat – Hot Pink (Kemosabe)
Chrissie Hynde and the Valve Bone Woe Ensemble – Valve Bone Woe (BMG)
Joy Guerilla – Skyline (S/R)
Steve Lacy – Apollo XXI (3qtr)
Liquid Saloon – Liquid Saloon (Raw Tapes)
Nerija – Blume (Domino)
Skinny Pelembe – Dreaming is Dead Now (Brownswood)
Portico Quartet – Memory Streams (Gondwana)
Tindersticks – No Treasure But Hope (City Slang)
Sefi Zisling – Expanse (Tru Thoughts)

Albums:

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal – Hiding Places (Backwoodz Studioz)
Ceschi – Sad, Fat Luck (Fake Four Inc.)
Choosey & Exile – Black Beans (Dirty Science)
Rob Sonic – Defriender (Skypimps)
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Zdenka 2080 (Brainfeeder)
Dillon – The Tails of Lobsterdamus (Full Plate)
Sadistik – Haunted Gardens (Clockwork Grey)
Teebs – Anicca (Brainfeeder)
Gel Roc – Mass Elements (Abolano)
DJ Muggs & Mach-Hommy – Kill’Em All (Soul Assassins)

More Albums:

A.M Breakups – Soldier (Reservoir Sound)
Billy Woods – Terror Management (Backwoodz Studioz)
The Cloaks – Cloak Encounters of the Third Eye (Abolano)
Connie Price & the Keystones – Lucas High (A Man Called Horse)
DJ Muggs & Mach-Hommy – Tuez-Les Tous (Soul Assassins)
Him Lo – Prince Akeem Jewelz (Grilchy Party)
Self Jupiter – Sexy Beast (Order Label)
Sole & DJ Pain 1 – No God Nor Country (Black Box Tapes)
Von Pea – City for Sale (HiPNOTT)
Zilla Rocca – 96 Mentality (Three Dollar Pistol)

Nigel – Tantrum (self-released)

Big Thief –  U.F.O.F  (4AD)
Michelle Blades –  Visitor  (Midnight Special)
Brower Band – Buzzsaws (Dig!)
Nicola Cruz – Siku (ZZK)
Cucina Povera –  Zoom  (Night School)
Rachael Dadd- Flex (Memphis Industries)
Death and Vanilla –  Are You A Dreamer?  (Fire)
Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell! (Polydor)
Dissemblance – Over the Sand (Mannequin)
Earthen Sea –  Grass and Tree (Kranky)
ESSi – Vital Creatures (Ramp Local)
Grupo Jejeje – S/T (Discos Rolas)
Steve Hauschildt  –  Nonlin  (Ghostly International)
HRNS-  Naomi  (Warm Winters Ltd)
Kacy & Clayton –  Carrying On (New West)
Cate Le Bon – Reward (Mexican Summer)
Andrew Livingston – News from the Oort Cloud  (Gold Bolsum)
Lizzo –  Cuz I Love You  (Atlantic)
L’Orange & Jeremiah Jae –  Complicate Your Life With Violence (Mello Music Group)
Matmos – Plastic Anniversary (Thrill Jockey)
MIKE: Tears of Joy (10K)
Ko Shin Moon – 78 Fragments (Akuphone)
Sequoyah Murray –  Before You Begin  (Thrill Jockey)
Los Wembler’s De Iquitos –  Vision Del Ayahuasca  (Barbès)
100 Gecs – 1000 Gecs (Dog Show)
Operator Music Band – Duo Duo (Broken Circles)
Laurence Pike –  Holy Spring  (Leaf) 
Quey Percussion Duo –  Sonic Chroma  (Innova)
Rakta –  Falha Comum  (Nada Discos)
Sea Urchin –  Tahtib  (Bokeh Versions)
Emily A. Sprague – Water Memory/Mount Vision (RVNG International)
Third Coast Percussion –  Perpetulum (Orange Mountain)
Unloved –  Heartbreak  (Heavenly)
Vanishing Twin –  The Age of Immunology  (Fire)
Joni Void – Mise En Abyme (Constellation)
Michelle Walther – Colibri (S/R)
Dale Watson – Call Me Lucky (Red House)
WaqWaq Kingdom – Essaka Hoisa (Phantom Limb)
Y La Bamba –  Mujeres  (Tender Loving Empire)

Megasoup’s 25 Favorite Ambient & Synth Albums from 2019

Amma Ateria – Vague Pure Affection (Bimodal Press)
Andrew Pekler – Sounds From Phantom Islands (Faitiche)
Anthene – Weightless (Home Normal)
ASC – The Waves (Silent Season)
Ashan – Transfigurations (Inner Islands)
Benoît Pioulard ‎– Sylva (Morr Music) ‎
Channelers – For Being (Not Not Fun)
Daniel Guillén – Inner Vision (Muzan Editions)
Deradoorian – Disembodied Improvisations Vol. 1 (S/R)
Emily A. Sprague – Water Memory / Mount Vision (RVNG)
Günter Schlienz – Lissajous (Cosmic Winnetou)
HRNS – Naomi (Warm Winters Ltd.)
Inner Travels – Nature Spirit (Inner Islands)
Kenji Kihara – Dawn (Eilean)
Malibu – One Life (Joyful Noise Recordings)
Mary Lattimore & Mac McCaughan – New Rain Duets (Three Lobed)
N. Chambers – Air Example (Love All Day)
Saariselka – The Ground Our Sky (Temporary Residence)
Soda Lite – Vale & Stone (Inner Islands)
Sofie Birch – Planetes (Seil)
Softest – In A Way (Inner Islands)
Sunhiilow – Whispers Of A Dream Wind (S/R)
SUSS – High Line (Northern Spy)
Valotihkuu – Spring and All (S/R)
Young Marco – Bahasa (Island Of The Gods)

Megasoup’s 25 Favorite Non-Ambient Albums from 2019

Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy – Mam Yinne Wa (Philophon)
Amon Tobin – Long Stories (Ninja Tune)
Anne Muller – Heliopause (Erased Tapes)
Ariwo – Quasi (MANANA)
Aukai – Reminiscence (aukaimusic)
Cochemea – All My Relations (Daptone)
Dax Pierson – Live in Oakland (Ratskin)
Dengue Dengue Dengue – Zenit & Nadir (Enchufada)
Felicia Atkinson – The Flower And The Vessel (Shelter Press)
Golden Ivy – Kläppen (Malmö Inre)
Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society – Mandatory Reality (Eremite)
Komodo Kolektif – Sundada (Invisible, Inc)
Matmos – Plastic Anniversary (Thrill Jockey)
Nicola Cruz – Siku (ZZK)
Oren Ambarchi, Mark Fell, Will Guthrie, Sam Shalabi ‎– Oglon Day (ThirtyThree ThirtyThree)
Popp – Laya (Squama)
Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains (Drag City)
Robag Wruhme – Venq Tolep (Pampa)
Saba Alizadeh – Scattered Memories (Karlrecords)
Shafiq Husayn – The Loop (Nature Sounds)
Sunny Balm ‎– Eucalypt (Sacred Summits)
Thomas Carnacki – The Museum of Lost Species (Alethiometer)
Topdown Dialectic – Vol. 2 (Peak Oil)
Vanishing Twin – The Age Of Immunology (Fire)
Vieo Abiungo – The Dregs (Lost Tribe Sound)

15 More Artists Whose 2019 Albums Almost Cracked My Top 25:

Aldous Harding, Altın Gün, Breathe Blow Burn, Canalon de Timbiqi, Cate Le Bon, Choosey & Exile, Claude Fontaine, Donato Dozzy, Jamila Woods, Kassel Jaeger, Kilchhofer Anklin, Meitei, Sarah Davachi, Sault, Segue.

15 Excellent New EPs from 2019

Ancestral Voices – Samhain (The Fifth Kingdom)
BXP – Islands (Random Numbers)
Brainwaltzera – Epi-Log (Film)
Danny Paul Grody – Sunrise, Looking East (Longform Editions)
Lau Nau – Amphipoda (Longform Editions)
Lo Kindre – Chlorophytum (12th Isle)
Lo Kindre – Private Worlds (ByrdOut)
Plants Army Revolver – Yguana (Avian)
Red Axes – Trips #2: In Vietnam (K7)
Spacetime Continuum / Scanner / Ross 154 / Leo Anibaldi – DE:10.07 (De:tuned)
Sunda Arc – Flicker (Gondwana)
Toki Fuko – Spring Ray (Silent Season)
Utopia Cloak – Movement (Forklang)
VVD WNDWS – Blue Landscape (Gold Dagger)
Wolf Müller Meets The Nile Project ‎– Wolf Müller Meets The Nile Project (Nouvelle Ambiance)

15 Great Reissues / Archival Releases from 2019

Chelique Sarabia – Revolución Electrónica En Música Venezolana (Pharaway Sounds)
Daniel Schmidt & The Berkeley Gamelan – Abies Firma (Recital Program)
Elite Beat – Selected Rhythms (Research)
Jatinder Singh Durhailay & David Edren – Tea Notes (Ekster)
Josiah Steinbrick – Meeting of Waters (Hands In The Dark)
Los Destellos – Sicodélicos (Vampi Soul)
Michael Stearns – Planetary Unfolding (Emotional Rescue)
Minoru Muraoka ‎– Bamboo (Mr Bongo)
Mort Garson – Mother Earth’s Plantasia (Sacred Bones)
Paul Spheeris / Chris Voudouris – Passage (Emotional Rescue / Mountains in the Sea)
Quiet Village – Silent Movie (Studio !K7)
Various Artists – Kankyō Ongaku : Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980 – 1990 (Light In The Attic)
Various Artists – Sad About The Times (Anthology Recordings)
x.y.r. – Robinson Crusoe (Mixed Up)
Yutaka Hirose – Nova + 4 (WRWTFWW Records)