THE (ALMOST) BEST OF 2019

Look, y'all know I'm a braggart of the worst kind (an underserved one), but please do allow me to (introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste) toot the 'ole horn (woot woot) here and tell you that unlike years prior, I have actually been preparing for this annual undertaking for the better part of the year! And in recent months I've really kept diligent notes on the releases I came across in 2019 in order to better organize what is (and will endearingly remain [I'm certain]) a shitshow of self flagellation/masturbation as I try and walk you through the dusty hallways of my memory as illuminated by the happenstance and hardly justifiable lantern that is "my opinion".
Get ready.

As always I think it's important to note the following:
1. If you are in a band that is out there following your passion, then I applaud you, and I wish you all the best. Music is an increasingly tough business to break even on, and so we all owe a collective "thank you" to the bands, the labels, the distributors, the pressing plants, the managers, the venue owners, the talent bookers, and the folks who actually SPEND MONEY to listen to the labors of those passions. Thank you. And if your band is terrible...you'll find out soon enough.
2. I am an amateur at pretty much everything, yet an asshole about pretty much everything. So, please take it for what it's worth (it's worth a free blog post...pretty much), and don't worry about what I think, or what most anyone thinks (except your parole officer. You should most definitely be on your best behaviour around your P.O.), and get out there and do cool shit that makes you happy. And again, if you're terrible at the cool shit that makes you happy...you'll find out soon enough.
3. Pay money for things that are of value to you. Life isn't cheap, so don't be a cheapskate. If you hear something here that gets your neck hairs (or backhairs, you disgusting pig) up, then go buy it!

Alright, on with it. As of today, this exact moment, these are the 30 records from 2019 that just barely weren't my favorite 30 records of 2019, but they very well could be. Tomorrow.


30. Cellos / Not Of - split

Two songs apiece, and all four are jammers. Driving, raw, and rocking. I'd say that's kinda all that you really should care about. Right?

DL


29. YC-CY - Beton Brut

Wildly careening and abrasive damage straight outta...ummm...Switzerland(?). If things are fucked up enough for you, don't worry, they unleash a goddamn synthesizer to ratchet up the disorientation factor. Rad!

DL


28. Lower Slaughter - Some Things Take Work

Lower Slaughter is "one of the most beautiful villages in the Cotswolds" that has the unfortunate luck of being named after what sounds like some precursor battle in the Roman siege of the British Isles (where my Hadrian-heads at?)...which is weird. And then this sludgy grunge band came along and stole the name clear out from under them? Rude!

DL


27. Gloop - Smiling Lines

I feel like you're always yelling at me, but I don't understand why. Was it something I said? Something I did that offended you? Gloop? GLOOP?! I'm asking you a question, GLOOP!

DL


26. Aneurysm - Awareness

Here's a five piece out of Boston who have mastered the art of subtlety, infusing their slow burn love songs with flecks of jazz syncopations to draw attention to the nuanced shadowplay of light against dark in a genre-less diaspora of...wait. What? Wrong band? These are the folks who just blast ahead with wild-eyed hardcore and blown out noise rock? Oh...man...that's on me y'all. Sorry.

DL


25. Luggage - Shift

I think they described themselves as "disciplined", but maybe that's the Fifty Shades Of Grey playing in the background on the Hallmark Channel talking. Regardless, this is very measured and exacting...like a good flogging.

DL


24. Killer Hill - About A Goat

Only two songs, so, points for brevity. And speaking of two, you get the two brothers Beeman (maybe there are more brothers Beeman that we don't know about?) on here, who previously dazzled as guitar and drums for the greatest band nobody ever brings up in "Greatest Bands Conversations", Guzzard. Too much t(w)o ignore.

DL


23. Hungry Ghost - Let The Healing Begin

Sara Lund on drums...which could easily be the beginning and end of this blurb, and I would be excused for giving you enough information to go on. But, since I'm a professional, I will add that beyond that impeccable pedigree, Hungry Ghost stomp a bluesy rock footprint across the back of your Retribution Gospel Choir tshirt.

DL


22. Black Midi - Schlagenheim

For a goodly amount of time I avoided this record because of my strict "No Posers" policy, and due to the hype around Black Midi and their sort of fully formed arrival from out of nowhere (art school), I was suspect of their authenticity. But, as is usually the case, I was merely being prejudiced.

DL


21. Pet Fox - Rare Occasion

Driving melodic post-hardcore that takes me back to the mid-90's and the emo bands like Friction, Christie Front Drive, Castor playing house shows that girls would actually stay inside for. The more I listen to this one, the more I really love it...and I'm all man...ask around.

DL


20. Grizzlor - Coolness Factor 6

Grizzlor is consistent (and prolific) in their gross, noisey, punk sludge hammerings. I appreciate that. They should be rewarded for their dedication.

DL


19. Vampyre - Other Growths

These are not the goth droids you are looking for (based on their band name). This is a focused attack of a band that comes blazing at full volume and high velocity (maaaaybe with a goblet in hand and a black candelabra in the background)

DL


18. Wilco - Ode To Joy

Jeff Tweedy continues to make a case for being included on my personal singer/songwriter Mount Rushmore, and with the rest of Wilco in tow...it's hard to beat. This album is a slow burn that picks up a little the last quarter, but the whole thing cuts to the bone.

DL


17. Oozing Wound - High Anxiety

I never had a "metal phase" in my life, but I've lived consistently "metal adjacent", and on occasion a band like Oozing Wound sneaks a little "metal" into my "life".

DL


16. Sutphin - Medicine Machine

I don't want to say that the fact the opening song is called "Vomit Date" is, like, ALL you need to know. But, if you knew then we'd all know.

DL


15. Tunic - Complexion

They wilin' in Winnepeg, y'all.

DL


14. Plague Vendor - By Night

You know I sometimes get confused by Refused influenced post hardcore that has a bit of tongue and cheek sassiness. But usually I'm right. I'm a pretty good judge of character.

DL


13. Membrane - Burn Your Bridges

Very easily could have told me that this was a band from Savannah, Georgia with members of Damad, Baroness, and Kylesa, and I would have said, "Word?". It has those riffs that get pushed out and then pulled back in, and that open-car-window-on-the-freeway vocal bellow, so you would be all "Word?" too. Especially when I tell you they are from France (do they have Christmas in France?).

DL


12. Body Spray - Music To Fall Down To

This band has a very "when Gray was in college in Athens, GA in 1993" vibe to it. It reminds me of the local bands around town with names like, Slumberjack, Magneto, Landspeeder, and Bob. They were bands comprised of surly dudes who worked as line cooks and listened to worn out copies of Killdozer, Black Flag, Surgery, Mudhoney, Tad, and Led Zeppelin tapes all day. It was a fun time, and I hope Body Spray takes this as the compliment it is intended to be.

DL


11. Intercourse - Bum Wine

Full bore with this one. You got to want it, and you have to be willing to reach down into that open manhole to get it.

DL


10. Low Dose - Low Doses

Straight to the point, sweaty, punchy, grungy rock music. Are you all of a sudden some kind of snob or something? That ain't good enough for you now? Princess?

DL


9. Trigger Cut - Buster

It's exactly what you want to hear when somebody says, "hey buddy, you wanna hear some 'noise rock'?". Which, admittedly, is not a question you probably hear that often, but then again, I can't be blamed for the low quality of those you surround yourself with. Have some self respect how 'bout it?

DL


8. Sofy Major - Total Dump

For a few years now, Sofy Major has been doing a pretty convincing job trying to get me to consider them the J.J. Paradise Players Club of France (maybe the club franchised?). And now they go and get Dave Curran to record and mix this record?! That's a fucking long grift. Although, I will say there's a bit of Red Fang creeping (death) in on Total Dump, so maybe next time they get Aaron Beam behind the desk?

DL


7. Show Me The Body - Dog Whistle

Show Me The Body sounds like the name of a speed strip club concept, for perverts who are pressed for time. But Show Me The Body the band don't seem like the type of dudes who are into quick nudity. So, the mystery of their name lives on...

DL


6. Nerver - Believer's Hit

If you were a prankster, and you wanted to pull a reeeeeeaaaallly funny joke on somebody, you could tell them that this record was actually by a band from the Louisville, KY scene circa 2003 who used to open for Breather Resist and National Acrobat and Black Cross a bunch. And then they would believe you, and then you would say, “you dumb pile of shit! This band isn’t from Kentucky, they are from Missouri, and they are from RIGHT NOW! Wow, what a gullible stupid idiot you are.” That would be a hilarious joke.

DL


5. Post/Boredom - Ritualistic Time Abuser

Heavy, shit-kicker trudge from Seattle, but with nary a “grunge” in sight. I mean, maybe you hear some Tad in the riffs, but this is a newer, more modern take on the primitive pummel that you came here for.

DL

4. Opium Lord - Vore

Hulking, down tuned behemoth of a blackened creature which strides purposefully throughout the barrens of the English midlands flattening medieval townships and pastoral villages alike with no remorse or second thought. Casting despondent malevolence across the landscape as sport. Darkening days, burning down all hope for a better tomorrow.

DL


3. Petbrick - 1

Easy listening for the kind of person who takes bath salts and chews the face off of a homeless man. Or a white noise machine sounds for when your Mercury capsule is re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Chillwave soundtrack for taking a barrel over Niagara Falls. An unrelenting industrial noise hammering for everyone else.

DL


2. Swervedriver - Future Ruins

Since returning from the wilds back in 2013 (maybe 2008, if you’re nasty), Swervdriver’s “space travel rock-n-roll” has reclaimed the band’s rightful place on the mantle of music history. This year’s new album continues their ascent to the outer galaxies with more of the gauzy shoegaze indie rock perfection that has endeared them to misfits since the turn of the decade, three decades ago. Mastercraft shit.

DL

1. Cavity AD - Wraith

Cavity went from being the Eyehategod record you wish Eyehategod would put out in the 1990s, to now being the Head Of David record you wish Head Of David would put out now. They have been nice enough to differentiate this version of the band from the older hardcore sludge assault of the original incarnation with a handy "A.D." moniker. But believe me, this music is as ugly and wrenching as anything they did twenty years ago. It's way fucking ugly.
(could not find any video clips from the new record, so please do enjoy a track from the 2017 Cavity AD album...and then do some snooping around on your own)

DL