2019 WTJU Rock Top Tens!
By Nick Rubin
Sharon Von Etten
Amyl and the Sniffers
Well! The end of the year finds the WTJU Rock DJs in a reflective mood – peruse their top tens – albums, singles, and concerts are all represented – and find your kindred spirits/arch nemeses!
Rick Clark, “Radio Wowsville”:
| Remind Me Tomorrow | Sharon Van Etten | (Jagjaguwar) |
| Triumph, getting older, revelations and evolution. SVE is officially a rock star | ||
| Human Question | The Yawpers | (Bloodshot) |
| Expanding on and rounding out their sound. Soulful, cacophonous, crunchy bluesy American rock and goddamn roll | ||
| An Obelisk | Titus Andronicus | (Merge) |
| Less ambitious than The Monitor or A Productive Cough, this is a sonic power punch to your soul. Political, barreling punk rock. | ||
| People in the Sky | The Schizophonics | (Pig Baby) |
| Coolest album of the year. Sock. It. To. Me. | ||
| WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? | Billie Eilish | (Interscope) |
| Melts in your ears. The youth aren’t all terrible. | ||
| Jinx | Crumb | (Crumb) |
| Ethereal champs of 2019 | ||
| Two Hands | Big Thief | (4AD) |
| Hits all the feels. Songs feel urgent and propulsive. | ||
| Problems | Vivian Girls | (Polyvinyl) |
| Girls rock. Vivian Girls rock harder. | ||
| And Now For The Whatchamacallit | Psychedelic Porn Crumpets | (What Reality?) |
| Terrible band name, awesome psych rock. | ||
| Dogrel | Fontaines D.C. | (Partisan) |
| It might be too real for ya. Post-Punk heaven. | ||
DJ Al, ex-“Witches Brew” and current sub:
| Infest The Rats Nest AND Fishing For Fishies | King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard | Flightless |
| These humans (?) wrote fishing for fishies for ME and infest the rats nest for everybody else | ||
| Amyl and the Sniffers | Amyl and the Sniffers | Flightless |
| amazing in concert, gucci model, prospective body double | ||
| Payador | Tim Hill | Tiki Rocket |
| harmonica-wielding honest singer-songwriter, good boy | ||
| Useless Coordinates | Drahla | Captured Tracks |
| art rock, sometimes kitschy, always dark but never dreary | ||
| SASAMI | SASAMI | Domino |
| thank u for telling the truth <3 | ||
| PUNK | CHAI | Sony Japan |
| wildly feminine!! | ||
| BENT | Stonefield | Flightless |
| Disagree with the vocals, but like…it’s a Whole Thing…and they were cool when we talked | ||
| Shift | POW! | Castle Face |
| easy favorite album of the year, smart and stings | ||
| Various Artists | MOGADISCO: Dancing Somalia | Analog Africa |
| يلاااااااااااا مقديشو!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
| 100 Gecs | 1000 Gecs | Dog Show |
| MY BOY”S GOT HIS OWN RINGTONE IT”S THE ONLY ONE I KNOW IT”S THE ONLY ONE I KNOW | ||
Ciclamino, “The Mixtape”:
| Dogrel | Fontaines D.C. | (Partisan Records) |
| Trash Medium | Ladygod | (Bossy Lil Thing) |
| It’s Real | Ex Hex | (Merge Records) |
| Patience | Mannequin Pussy | (Epitaph) |
| Anthropocosmic Nest | The Messthetics | (Dischord Records) |
| Amyl and the Sniffers | Amyl and the Sniffers | (Flightless) |
| Trash On!!! – A Tribute To P. Trash Records | Various | (FDH Records) |
| What Would the Odd Do? | Guerilla Toss | (NNA Tapes) |
| “Ever Fallen In Love?” | Le Butcherettes |
Don Harrison/A. Larry Bethesda, “Radio Wowsville”:
| Quiet Signs | Jessica Pratt | Mexican Summer |
| Favorite of 2019 by a long shot. The kind of stillness that the world needs right now. | ||
| Dogrel | Fontaines D.C. | Partisan |
| Don’t wait up. I’ll be at the pub with the boys in the better land. | ||
| With Psychic Powers | Small Feet | Barsuk |
| A quiet grower, filled with melodic gems and witty asides. | ||
| Night of the Worm Moon | Shana Cleveland | Hardly Art |
| Ghostly odes to the L.A. desert | ||
| Space Funk: Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-1984 | Various | Soul Jazz |
| Christmas gift from Outer Space | ||
| Remind Me Tomorrow | Sharon Van Eitten | Jagjaguwar |
| I ain’t sharin’ Sharon. She’s mine. | ||
| Kiwanuka | Michael Kiwanuka | Polydor |
| Epic, exploratory, invigorating. | ||
| IGOR | Tyler the Creator | Columbia |
| Breaking up is hard to do. | ||
| The Unseen in Between | Steve Gunn | Matador |
| When I need to brood. | ||
| And Now For The Whatchamacallit | Psychedelic Porn Crumpets | Marathon Artists |
| What’s in a name? | ||
Trey P, “Bamboo on the Moon”:
| Historia Natural | Los Piranas | (Glitterbeat) |
| When I Get Home | Solange | (Columbia) |
| I Luma | A. Billi Free & Tensei | (Tokyo Dawn) |
| Country Squire | Tyler Childers | (Hickman Holler) |
| Ahomale | Combo Chimbita | (Anti) |
| Bandana | Freddie Gibbs & Madlib | (Keep Cool) |
| The Oracle | Angel Bat Dawid | (International Anthem) |
| Mirrorland | Earthgang | (Dreamville) |
| WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? | Billie Eilish | (Interscope) |
| Zdenka 2080 | Salami Rose Joe Louis | (Brainfeeder) |
| “I Owe You Nothin” | Emily Nenni | (Emily Nenni) |
| “Run Wild” | Twain & The Deslondes | (Mashed Potato) |
| “Black Helicopter” | Ben Jarrell | (Country Roots) |
| “Running” | Helado Negro | (RVNG) |
| “Misbehavin’ (1989)” | Aimee-Leigh & Baby Billy | (Waxwork) |
| “BOP” | DaBaby | (Interscope) |
| “Matthew” | Tyler Childers | (Hickman Holler) |
| “NCAA” | 2 Chainz | (Gamebread) |
| “Beer Never Broke My Heart” | Luke Combs | (River House Artists) |
| “Dead of Night” | Orville Peck | (Sub Pop) |
Brett, “Carry the Zero”:
| “Free of the Feeling” | Jesca Hoop | (Memphis Industries) |
| What I imagine a witch’s birthday party sounds like | ||
| Keepsake | Hatchie | (Double Double Whammy) |
| Sugary and dreamy and Cocteau~y | ||
| Fishing for Fishies | King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | (Flightless) |
| See Matthew Simon for comment | ||
| Ladytron | Ladytron | (!K7) |
| I love it when a band puts out their sixth album and just make it self titled because it’s so damn good | ||
| A Beautiful Thing: Idles Live at le Bataclan | IDLES | (Partisan) |
| Makes me really hate myself for missing them when they came to Richmond this year (with Fontaine’s DC no less) | ||
| The Albemarle Sound | The Ladybug Transistor | (Cara) |
| Vinyl reissue of a beautiful perfect pop album on its 20th birthday | ||
| Pretty Groovy | Faux Ferocious | (Burger) |
| Heavy grooves and I love the production! Such a clean sound. | ||
| Remind Me Tomorrow | Sharon Van Etten | (Jagjaguwar) |
| One of those albums that I’m scared to listen to alone for fear of going down an emotional wormhole. | ||
| Belle & Sebastian w/ Ex Hex | Sprint Pavillion, Charlottesville | |
| Such a good time. Thanks again Stevik! | ||
| Nightmare Forever | Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band | (Castle Face) |
| Over the top psych/prog nostalgia, now with added flute. No way I wasn’t going to love this. | ||
Matthew, “Carry the Zero”:
| Fishing for Fishes | King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard | (Flightless) |
| What in the WORLD is this record? YESSSSS! Infest the Rats Nest a VERY close second place | ||
| MIss Universe | Nilüfer Yanya | (ATO) |
| Silky | ||
| Visitor! | Michelle Blades | (Midnight Special) |
| Some Rock and Roll for you kids out there! | ||
| Pretty Groovy | Faux Ferocious | (Burger) |
| These guys turned it UP this time around. Hows about a show in VA boys? | ||
| Stars Are The Light | Moon Duo | (Sacred Bones) |
| No surprise ftom me here but they went spiritual disco for me. Thank you. | ||
| Claude Fontaine | Claude Fontaine | (Innovative Leisure) |
| Half Reggae, half Bossa Nova. All love and goodness. | ||
| Room 41 | Paul Cauthen | (Lightning Rod) |
| This guy. What a great got damned band! “It’s a quarter to 4, do we have any more….” | ||
| The Unseen In Between | Steve Gunn | (Matador) |
| Solid work as per the usual Mr. Gunn. Acoustic album with the same tunes for the more chill if one needs it. | ||
| Let It Wander | Circles Around The Sun | (Rhino) |
| Yeah yeah; it came out in 2018 but i didn’t dig on it until this year. RIP Neal Casal | ||
| “A Dream Of Home” | Tyler Ramsey | (FanTasy) |
| I can’t explain how much i love this tune. The lyrics aren’t even very good but I am absolutely hooked to every atom of this song | ||
Stevik, “Carry the Zero”:
| Triage | Methyl Ethel | (4AD) |
| from Perth, Australia, they put out some awesome and innovative pop tunes | ||
| Someone, Anyone? | Shantih Shantih | (Wild Honey) |
| fun debut from an Atlanta all-female garage band | ||
| “Free of the Feeling” | Jesca Hoop | (Memphis Industries) |
| a hauntingly beautiful song | ||
| “Half Silences” | Loma | (Sub Pop) |
| fine single from an upcoming album | ||
| Stars Are the Light | Moon Duo | (Sacred Bones) |
| San Francisco psych rock at its finest | ||
| Pony | Orville Peck | (Sub Pop) |
| this masked gay Canadian cowboy has an incredible voice | ||
| Supertoys | Eli Raybon | (Eli Raybon) |
| fun science fiction synth pop the out of Waynesboro, VA | ||
| Reward | Cate Le Bon | (Kemado) |
| her latest album–I love anything Cate puts out | ||
| Reader As Detective | Generationals | Polyvinyl |
| artsy pop songs from two guys in New Orleans | ||
| Arthur King Presents Bill Baird: Owl | Bill Baird | Dangerbird |
| very cool electronic Krautrock | ||
| Belle & Sebastian w/ Ex Hex | Charlottesville Pavillion | |
| their first show in Charlottesville did not disappoint! | ||
Sam, “Black Circle Revolution”:
| All In Good Time | Eddy Current Supression Ring | (Castle Face) |
| Surprise reunion album from these Australian modern punk legends. angular punk pop driven by tight, funky krautrock grooves. All hits. | ||
| Time on Earth | Slender | (La Vida Es Un Mus) |
| Bizarre and whimsical art punk from nyc. Found object percussion, out of tune acoustic guitar, slide whistle etc. | ||
| Too | Cement Shoes | (Feel It) |
| Party rock for the impending apocalypse with gruff hardcore vocals. Equal parts dumbed down, violent punk and riffy boogie rock. | ||
| Another Whiff | The Whiffs | (Dig!) |
| The perfect modern addition to the long standing Midwestern garage power pop tradition | ||
| 3rd Alles Gut | ISS | (Sorry State) |
| Sample driven electro-punk songs from chopped up old punk classics and deep obscurities. Surprisingly fresh, creative, and catchy for the third album of what is ostensibly a one note gimmick. | ||
| The Bottom of a Rotten Flower | Cowboys | (Feel It) |
| Bloomington/Chicago garage punk/power pop rockers really take it to the next level and become absolute top tier underground rocknroll songwriters. | ||
| The Implied Sunrise | Good Dog Nigel | (Infinite Repeats) |
| Freshest and most exciting new indie rock band in VA in several years. Their live show, and this 12” EP, hint at a seemingly unlimited potential. | ||
| Some Beautiful Species Left | Exek | (SDZ Records) |
| Dense, experimental post-punk recording project from Australia | ||
| World Eater | Fetish | (Blackhouse) |
| Portland Oregon punk super group (members of Wipers, golden era Poison Idea) with mixed and sometimes cheesy results, but ultimately a top shelf album in terms of punk musicianship | ||
| Made in China | UV Race | (AARGHT Records) |
| More weird diy pop from this Australian freak collective | ||
Poubelle, “Radio Freedonia”:
| Old New | Tomeka Reid Quartet | (Cuneiform) |
| Lots of good experimental/avant-jazz in 2019, but this one stood out. | ||
| Jinx | Crumb | (Crumb) |
| Weird dream cool dream | ||
| The Loop | Shafiq Husayn | (Nature Sounds) |
| Party vibe LA hip hop/soul with mad guests | ||
| Quiet Signs | Jessica Pratt | (Mexican Summer) |
| More transmissions from deepest Pratt Woods, entrancing and addictive as ever. | ||
| If U Want It | Park Hye Jin | (clipp.art) |
| Psychedelic Korean house w/rad incantations. 난 나를 믿어 . | ||
| Dusty | Homeboy Sandman | (Mello) |
| Slept on Sandman until now; this was on repeat all fall | ||
| No Other | Gene Clark | (4AD) |
| Deluxe reissue of mindblowing 1974 country-rock flop | ||
| Almost On Time: 1968-1970 | Kinloch Nelson | (Tompkins Square) |
| Nothing fancy, just friendly recordings by graceful acoustic picker. | ||
| Sad About the Times | various artists | (Anthology) |
| Seventies country-psychedelic-rock compilation shows there are still bountiful crates to dig. | ||
| Originals and 1999 | Prince | (Warner Brothers) |
| Holy shit; this Prince vault thing is really happening… | ||
DJ Malcolm A, “80808”:
| You’re The Man | Marvin Gaye | (UMC/Island) |
| Cancelled 1972 album intended to follow up ‘What’s Going On’ | ||
| Originals and 1999 | Prince | (Warner Brothers) |
| Essential | ||
| Sinner | Moodymann | (KDJ) |
| Great mini album from KDJ. ‘Got me coming back rite now’ & ‘Sinnerman’ are my fave cuts with an honorable mention to ‘Downtown’ | ||
| “What You Gonna Ask For” | Theo Parrish et. al | (Sound Signature) |
| Soulful extended Theo/Dego mixes with musicians from Haitus Kaiyote | ||
| FTC01 | Kyle Hall | (Forget The Clock) |
| Best from KH since 2015, ‘Pieces To Share’ | ||
| Tala | Jay Daniel | (Watusi High) |
| Deep, percussive electronic beat album | ||
| Flamagra | Flying Lotus | (Warp) |
| Varied and diverse album from FlyLo | ||
| Bubba | Kaytranada | (RCA) |
| Great follow-up to 99.9% with great features by Kali Uchis, Pharrell, Teedra Moses… | ||
| Honeymoon | Emmavie | (Fresh Selects) |
| Sounds like 90s rnb | ||
| Little Ghost | Moonchild | (eOne) |
| Smooth | ||
cream soda, “Bamboo On the Moon”:
| East of the Ryan | Ben LaMar Gay | (International Anthem) |
| GREY Area | Little Simz | (AGE 101) |
| Lifetime | Klein | (Ijn) |
| FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise | Jaimie Branch | (International Anthem) |
| Delusions | KOOL A.D. | (DUM SHINY) |
| Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery | The Comet Is Coming | (Impulse!) |
| HOCHONO HOUSE | Haruomi Hosono | (Speedstar) |
| For You and I | Loraine James | (Hyperdub) |
| Arthropods | 33EMYBW | (SVBKVLT) |
| From Untruth | Elder Ones | (Northern Spy) |
Erin O., “Ye Olde Tuesday Afternoon Rocke Show”:
| The Bottom of a Rotten Flower | The Cowboys | (Feel It) |
| Power poppy rock ‘n’ roll; sixteen of the most clever, hook-laden, lyrically-pleasing tracks of the year. | ||
| Music for Donuts 7″ | Judy and the Jerks | (Thrilling Living) |
| Tight, lean hardcore that totally rocks and doesn’t take itself too seriously. (They also played my favorite set of the year, at VSC in Richmond.) | ||
| Traffic Control | Warp | (Thrilling Living) |
| Vibrant, catchy punk that’s sometimes silly (“Cellophane”), sometimes political (“Makeup”), always screamingly delicious. | ||
| LP | Erik Nervous & The Beta Blockers | (self-released) |
| Devoted to Devo, but hardly a copycat act. | ||
| Square One | Fried Egg | (Feel It) |
| Pissed off? Bored? Disenchanted with modern American life? Here’s some tight, interesting, off-center hardcore to get you through. | ||
| The Gate | Pleasure Leftists | (Feel It) |
| Dancy, earnest post-punk outta Cleveland. Hasn’t left my turntable since I put it on there in August. | ||
| Pinocchio 7″ | Pinocchio | (Toxic State) |
| Glammy baroque punk with some of the same lyrical/musical themes threaded through all eight of the super-short tracks on a freaky ‘lil 7-inch. | ||
| Hip Blister | Parsnip / The Shifters | (Future Folklore) |
| Six songs, two bands, one 12-inch record, named for a quirky twee punk track from Parsnip (whose When the Tree Bears Fruit record also came out this year). | ||
| “Selling, Sucking, Blackmail Bribes” b/w “Velvet Casino” | Civic | (Anti Fade / Total Punk) |
| Someone out on the internet called it “gutter rock,” and sure, that works. But ugh, it’s so good. It’s loud and fast, but not typical in the least, and the lyrics are ::chef’s kiss:: | ||
| 3 | Nots | (Goner) |
| Three women make a synthy, psychy, post-punky album that’s about losing control…that is, if you ever had control in the first place. | ||
Dream Girl, “Psychedelic Therapy”:
| Government Official | Future | (Epic / Freebandz) |
| Vicious Rap Song. One of the best Future songs out there. | ||
| Something for Nothing | Otto Knows | (Disconap AB / Universal AB) |
| Uplifting electronic song | ||
| Lost Lately (pure alternative version) | San Holo | (bitbird) |
| Mixes acoustic guitar and trap- great combination. Beautiful melody. | ||
| Limitless Time | ILIVEHERE. | (ILIVEHERE.) |
| Ambient track. Gorgeous melody. Really moving. | ||
| HIGHEST IN THE ROOM | Travis Scott | (Epic / Cactus Jack) |
| Hype trap rap. Another hit from Travis | ||
| Better When You’re Gone | Brooks, David Guetta, Loote | (Atlantic) |
| Extremely high-energy future house track. Incredible melody in the drop. Big hit. | ||
| Count on Me | Superheart | (Akira) |
| Smooth, low-key, touching | ||
| Somebody Tell Me | C.ZERO | (Dancers End) |
| Fun, catchy Nu Disco | ||
| Touch Your Body | Fort Arkansas | (Enormous Tunes) |
| Hard-hitting deep house | ||
| bad idea | Ariana Grande | (Republic) |
| Hot pop | ||
ANDROID, “Merging With the Night”:
| PROTO | Holly Herndon | 4AD |
| artificially intelligent “voices” join human choirs | ||
| Look Up Sharp | Carla dal Forno | Kallista |
| moody and atmospheric | ||
| Origin (EP) | Kelly Moran | Warp Records |
| experimental bells, piano,… | ||
| All Encores | Nils Frahm | Erased Tapes |
| talented pianist experiments with electronics | ||
| Heliopause | Anne Muller | Erased Tapes |
| talented cellist experiments with looping, acoustic effects | ||
| re:visions (live) and re:member (choir versions) | Olafur Arnalds | Mercury KX |
| versions of songs from his 2018 album | ||
| Memory Streams | Portico Quartet | Gondwana Records |
| jazz? | ||
| It Should Be Us | Andy Stott | Modern Love |
| dystopic dub | ||
| Cloud Hidden | Susumu Yokota | Lo Recordings |
| posthumous release from a master of trippy ambience | ||
| Resolve Reimagined | Poppy Ackroyd | One Little Indian |
| remixes of a gifted pianist’s songs | ||
| Yearning for the Infinite | Max Cooper | Mesh / Phases |
| experimental electronic atmospheric ambient… | ||
Paper Planes, “Straight from the Crate” (currently DJ in exile):
| The Highwomen | The Highwomen | (Elektra) |
| On the Line | Jenny Lewis | (Warner) |
| Thrashing Thru the Passion | The Hold Steady | (Frenchkiss) |
| The Best of Luck Club | Alex Lahey | (Dead Oceans) |
| SOUND & FURY | Sturgill Simpson | (Elektra) |
| “Seventeen” | Sharon Van Etten | (Jagjaguwar) |
| “Dancing in the Dark” | Lucy Dacus | (Matador) |
| “Not” | Big Thief | (4AD) |
| Angel Olsen w/Vagabon | Lincoln Theater, Washington D.C. | |
| Black Pumas w/Rudy De Anda | U Street Music Hall, Washington D.C. |
