There will ever be a peaceful year? 

Our measurement of time is completely relative to what we see and feel of nature. But, actually, the universe doesn’t care. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades…none of those has any influence in the grand scheme of things. But we give it importance, we give it meaning, and it’s always good when we use it as a mechanism to understand how everything in our existence works.  

But 18 years have passed of a new millenium and, apparently, we haven’t learned.  

In our own terms, the length of our journey through this world is equivalent to less than a second, if the universe had a one year life. Isn’t that enough to cherish and give value to our lives? Is scientifically proven that how we come to be is completely the same, our differences are only results of centuries of adaptation and evolution, and yet we condemn them instead of embracing them. Another year has passed, and there’s no change in sight. A climatic ultimatum, humanitarian crises all over the world and an increasingly dividing rhetoric that somehow became the rule, are examples of what the planet experienced this year, our differences becoming the center of it all.  

Nevertheless, there’s always something to cherish in the world. Hope manifests itself in a myriad of ways. An example of its manifestation? Music. This art form does not recognize differences, borders, or any human concieved notions. Music permeates, embraces, connects, trascends all kinds of realities and through it we can extend the power of the only thing this world sorely needs: Love.

With the help of humanity’s time measures (a year, to be precise) I always write about my favorite moments of the aforementioned manifestation in the form of twenty great albums. This time I couldn’t find a way to rank them, so I didn’t.

These got me through these 365 days, hoping you can listen, enjoy and share them, and use them like a balm in the wake of a daunting-looking future.

Honorable Mentions

Beach House – 7 (Sub Pop)
Kurt Vile – Bottle It In (Matador)
Nap Eyes – I’m Bad Now (Paradise of Bachelors)
The Beths – Future Me Hates Me (Carpark Records)
The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (Dirty Hit/Polydor)

Adrianne Lenker – abysskiss (Saddle Creek)

With her band, Big Thief, the New York based artist has become one of the most exciting songwriters and vocalists in indie rock. Now, she stripped back to an acoustic guitar and her voice, and that’s pretty much enough to create an album with such evocative sounds and lyrics that it stays with you long after its short duration ends.   

Against All Logic – 2012-2017 (Other People)

Released under a different moniker, electronic musician Nicolas Jaar’s third album is an accesible collection of immersive and nuanced songs that with a heavy use of sample and varied instrumentation, they put the young artist at the forefront of electronic music talents.   

Amen Dunes – Freedom (Sacred Bones)

If there had been a competition for number one, this one had strong chances. The fifth album by the band fronted by Damon McMahon can be taken as his definitive statement. Discussing manhood, love and the adversities of life, the album soft-rock is performed calmly and with great attention to detail, giving great significance to its title. McMahon liberated himself from his past’s demons, and we are privileged for having the chance to hear this revelation.   

Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (Domino Records)

This is probably the most popular rock band of the moment, and thanks to this album, they’ve now proved that their fame is not unjustified. This is a statement of solid artistry directed by an Alex Turner at his most narrative and creative. The album takes time to sink in, but once it does you just get really excited for this band’s future, just when you thought their relevancy was fading.   

Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (Matador)

This is the only album that I reviewd this year (I hope that changes in 2019).  The recording is a re-work or re-imagining of the band’s 2011 album recorded when it was just vocalist and songwriter Will Toledo’s bandcamp project. Now, with a full band and cleaner production the songs are soild portrayals of young adult life and love. This makes this album, despite not being new, quite essential for the indie rock scene.   

Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel (Milk!/Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists)

Courtney Barnett’s second album is a more down-to-earth effort than her debut. That’s not to say it is a lesser effort, it’s just more focused and simple. There’s no long jams and blistering solos, it’s a collection of solid rock songs that talk about how it is to being a woman and a human being in this troubled times. Courtney’s songwriting became more personal giving her songs a new meaning. And this is a great evolution for a young artist.   

Damien Jurado – The Horizon Just Laughed (Secretly Canadian)

This is the 13th album for the Seattle based artist and that fact is as impressive as the one that this album is as solid as any of the other twelve. Songs that are fully fledged from beginning to end, complex at times and sweet sounding at every corner. Jurados’s voice (and his own production) steer the album to excting directions, meditating over middle-age life with detailed scenery and pure road-trip musings.    

Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer (Sub Pop)

He reflected on love relationships, then on the state of humanity’s conscience and now he turned onto himself. His sarcastic tone is ever-present but now the theme is his place in the world and how his own ramblings are relevant or not. Joshua Tillman is a perfectionist, and this songs use their soft-rock and folk sounds to great results, his voice being a true powerful instrument in them. What’s next?  

Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off Dog (Saddle Creek)

I like Frances Quinlan a lot. And despite that this is in part because, well, she’s very pretty, she’s also one of my favorite singers and songwriters of the past few years. Her band is a cohesive group that creates sharp indie rock songs. In this album using a wider instrumentation and with Quinlan’s storytelling at its best, Hop Along experimented a little more with how they could sound, and achieved a new level of depth in the process.   

Iceage – Beyondless (Matador)

I couldn’t help but think in Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds when I first heard this album. The danish band may or may not be influenced by the australian veterans, but they definitely have the same brand of powerful, heavy and bluesy post-punk. And that’s a compliment. Elias Bender Rønnenfelt and company expanded their sound with extra instrumentation and a blasting production in a collection of songs that is their best yet.   

Jeff Tweedy – WARM (dBpm REcords)

At this point in his career, Jeff Tweedy is no longer the songwriter of a new excting band or a talented alternative rock/country singer/guitarist. He’s a veteran american rock artist that has pretty much cemented his charm and personality in the genre. In this, his first solo album of all-new songs, he sings about how his life is all defined and yet he struggles to find a purpose. It’s a deeply personal output and one so deftly made that it underline’s the importance of his unique songwriting.  

Lucy Dacus – Historian (Matador)

In this, her second effort, Lucy Dacus writes from a personal point of view, with crispy melodies and heavier and crunchier guitars than before. Her voice is a powerhouse, one that can go from simple notes to huge-sounding howls that take her songs to arena-level rock. Right now, indie rock’s most exciting songwriters are mainly women. When you give this album a few listens it reveals that she’s probably one of the best among them.   

Mitski – Be The Cowboy (Dead Oceans)

At one point while I wrote this, the list was going to be about this album and another 19. Is that good. Mitski Miyawaki is a Japanese-American musician that has characterized for writing sharp and personal rock songs. In this, her fifth album, she pretty much gives her definitive statement on the way she sees love, its influence in life and how her loneliness doesn’t mean that she feels alone. Her music is her companion, and this album is an eclectic collection of songs that portray her songwriting at its best. All hail Mitski.   

Noname – Room 25 (Self-released)

Fatimah Nyeema Warner a Chicago rapper writing as Noname, has released a relevant album of sweet hip-hop songs that pretty much is a descrpition of her life throughout the two years since she released her debut mixtape, and how she’s felt as a black woman and a human. Its soul and jazz leaning rhythms, perfect bass-lines and Noname’s soulful rapping elevate this album to a potential classic state. It deserves your attention.   

Parquet Courts – Wide Awake! (Rough Trade Records)

For me, this is the most consistent and exciting punk band of the moment. Yes, they range from alternative to danceable classic sounding rock songs, but they demand attention anyway. Produced by Danger Mouse, this album is yet another great collection of fast, catchy and powerful songs, now of course, with a political point of view, one that is needed now more than ever. This band knows how to be relevant.  

Saba – CARE FOR ME (Saba Pivot, LLC.)

This is my greatest unintentional discovery of the year. I first heard Saba featured in a Chance The Rapper song, then I saw him live on September in a festival, without having the actual intention to do it. He was very good. Great songs, with great rhythms and flow. So I heard his album. And it is a marvel. Instrumentation is clean and eerie, perfect for his voice to stand-out while he spills out his piercing verses of love and personal struggle, also influenced by the untimely death of his cousin. This Chicago-based artist gives a performance worthy of bigger hip-hop artists.  

Snail Mail – Lush (Matador)

What were you doing at 19? I certainly wasn’t releasing (through Matador, of all labels) one of the best debut indie-rock albums of the decade. But Lindsay Jordan did. To not use the cliché filled phrase that she’s ‘wise beyond her years’, I will just say her songs are a perfect and dedicated portrayal of young love. This pristine (the title of the first single) pop-rock songs with exciting riffs and unbelievable choruses make you wonder what amazing thing she’s going to do at 25.  

Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt (Fat Possum Records/Bella Union)

How can you combine orchestral and magnificent sounding instrumentation with deeply personal lyrics? How does the big makes sense with the small? How melodies can communicate with such big scope and be portrayed in such a simple way? Like this. Jason Pierce and co. have been around enough to say this album is just another great effort from a great band, but this is much more. Spiritualized is still creating space-rock songs, but they feel as earthly as anything else, something you can identify yourself with.       

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Sparkle Hard (Matador/Domino)

Well, 7 albums and 17 years later in what is his second and less revered project, Stephen Malkmus can still pull out his greatest tricks. Getting a little political without abandoning his reckless sarcasm, Malkmus leads the Jicks in an excellent album with both melodies that stay with you forever and rock jams that blow your head off. This album demonstrates that Malkmus is here to stay and The Jicks are as relevant for this century as Pavement was for the last one. Okay, maybe not, but they still kick ass.   

U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited (4AD)

In the 7th album of his U.S. Girls project, Meghan Remy doesn’t take anything for granted. She points out and slashes masculine supremacy with relentless writing. At moments she’s nuanced and detailed too, but she’s serious. And when her songwriting is surrounded by such wide and focused experimental pop, it is hard no to put all your attention in what she has to say. It is necessary and essential.     

Thanks a lot for reading, have a great spin around the sun.