my 19 favorite songs of 2019

you can listen to the full playlist here.

honorable mention:

oso oso - "wake up next to god"
gender roles - "hey with two whys"
niall horan - "nice to meet ya" 
PUP - "morbid stuff"

19. battles - "fort greene park"




somehow, in seven years, this is the first totally instrumental song i've ever had on the list! kinda crazy. "fort greene park" came into my life at the 11th hour and i was absolutely captivated. in nearly six minutes, we've got math rock, we've got prog rock, we've got groovy riffs, we've got electronica, we've got melancholy moments, sinister moments, happy moments, and sonic combinations that make you want to run a marathon. and there's not a single lyric. what a time to be alive.

18. the drums - "626 bedford avenue"



that melody, tho. and the subtly hilarious lyrics: "i should have left when you laughed at my shoes," "take your head out of your ass/and take a good look at yourself," "you might be a psychopath/you might wanna check that." ha!

17. the drew thomson foundation - "a little more time"



i swear that everyone is sleeping on this man. i hadn't really been paying too much attention myself until he kept appearing on my discover weekly playlists and i thought "hey, i like this song!" "wait, i like this one too!" in fact, his entire self-titled debut album is excellent, but this one stood out in particular as *the* jam of all the jams. it's such an earworm.

16. washington social club - "first things first"



the fact that this absolutely perfect power-pop nugget has less than 1,000 plays on spotify is criminal, so i'm doing my very small part to change that. for context, i'll set the stage: it's july of 2004 and my friends and i are enjoying our final very carefree summer in new hampshire before we leave for college. we drive down to boston to see phantom planet at a tiny club called axis (RIP). the opener, a band we'd never heard of from d.c. called washington social club, take the stage. we were instantly and totally obsessed. the songs were insanely catchy, the lead singer was charismatic and weeeeird as hell, making dramatic orgasm faces and (i think) writhing on the stage at one point. we wandered over to the merch table after the show and each bought a copy of their album catching looks. it provided the perfect soundtrack to the rest of the summer, and we even trekked to see them at warped tour a month later.

i still listen to the album at least a few times every year, so i recently decided to see what they were up to. after a long hiatus, they're back with new music, and this is my favorite of the bunch. from marty's distinctively casual delivery in the verses to the wisdom-filled chorus ("we all should get a lot more fucked up/we all should be a lot less fucked up"), it's been in very heavy rotation for me the past few months.

15. lil nas x f/ billy ray cyrus - "old town road (remix)"



okay, so it's less of a favorite song and more of a favorite pop culture moment, but what's not to love? young rapper gets kicked off the country charts for not being country enough, washed-up country singer billy ray cyrus comes to the rescue to return the song to the charts, and all is right in the world again.

hating "old town road" is equivalent to hating dancing at weddings. both represent unfettered, goofy joy and everything good and pure in life, so if you dislike either, we have a fundamental difference in philosophy (and yours is wrong :)). i mean, the goddamn grinch could watch that viral video of the elementary school kids going HAM to this song and his heart would grow three sizes, am i right?

14. beabadoobee - "apple cider"



there's just so much going on here that i love. the twinkly, jangly early '90s indie vibe, the very juliana hatfield quality of bea's voice, the extremely cute and earnest lyrics, and that playful little solo. it's totally the sound of having a crush on someone.

13. the rocket summer - "morning light"



i've truly lost count of how many times i thought i'd ~outgrown~ the rocket summer, and then came crawling back because of his uncanny knack for wonderful melodies that make my brain tingle with happiness. dare i say that this one even gets a little math-rocky in spots? bold, bryce. bold. and that sassy ending, too.

12. billie eilish - "bad guy"



i'll admit that it took me a little while to arrive at the billie eilish party, and many of her songs still make me feel too old to be listening to them, if that makes any sense. that being said, "bad guy" is so strange and compelling that you can't help but be intrigued by it. the contrasts are fascinating: in the video, she hands a guy her invisalign, then proceeds to whisper about seducing your dad, then reminds us that she's 17 by going "DUH," then goes back to whispering about wearing some dude's cologne. it's a reeeal journey...and an excellent little pop song to boot.

11. column - "I"



the chill, hippie jam of my dreams. i was very grateful for column this year (the project of cadien from twin peaks and all the dudes from post animal) because i'm not into the new twin peaks album at aaaall. like, they sound like a band that smoked too much weed in the bad, steely dan way, and column sounds like a band that smoked too much weed in the good, brian jonestown massacre way. ya dig?

10. clairo - "bags"



i *almost* missed this one, which would have been totally tragic. it's the sonic equivalent of a moody tumblr post, and i mean that in the absolute best way. it's like, the song you turn on when you're on a long train ride and it's raining and you're like "i'm going to pretend i'm in the protagonist in a dramatic teen movie." just me?

9. muskets - "violent paradise"



when i wrote about this song earlier in the year, i said that it made me want to smoke it and play it loud and stage dive onto my bed and skateboard off my roof, and i still very much feel this way. one really nice night this summer, i had drinks on a patio with a friend, then got banana-cinnamon ice cream at christina's in cambridge and i took a super long walk from inman square to harvard square at sunset with this blasting through my headphones and it felt so right.

8. jonas brothers - "sucker"



i'm lukewarm on approximately 90% of jobros songs, but when i'm in, i'm aaaall in, baby. while "burning up" remains my fave, "sucker" is so undeniable. like, it's almost at "cake by the ocean" status in terms of the hook, which is no small feat. if your toe isn't tapping when it comes strutting in, you're probably dead. i also had the privilege of watching the reaction of all of the fabulous gay men at the provincetown tea dance this summer when it came on and it was absolutely JOYOUS. p.s. how adorable is it that they had their wives star in the video?! is it weird that i sort of want to be a jonas wife now?

7. beast coast - "left hand"



beast coast's sound completely embodies how walking through new york city feels to me (much like the lemonheads are the sound of walking through boston). it's gritty, cinematic, aggressive, and a little mischievous. which, y'know, makes sense, since it's a collab between a bunch of new york rap groups: my faves flatbush zombies, pro era, and the underachievers. their album escape from new york was definitely one of my favorites this year, but this track stood out. i mean, who else besides meech can utter the words "i think LSD be my best friend/dick so big, use it as a kickstand" completely unironically and sound badass as hell doing it? anyway, my favorite thing to do is pick whose verse is my favorite in each song since it changes with every one. here, i'm partial to CJ fly's at :47. "got the tech, i stay connected like it's best buy!"

6. cherry glazerr - "ohio"



now this is how you start an album. CG's first single from stuffed and ready, "juicy socks," made my list last year, but i was totally hooked within the first 10 seconds of this tune. it starts off tame enough—she's quietly humming the melody and you're like "oh, this is nice"—then those drums come in and kick you square in the face. then you're headbanging to the drums, and that massive, gnarly '90s riff drops and sets you completely on fire. ayyy! i always replay it before the song's over to hear that part again.

5.  lizzo - "juice"



confession: i....don't like "truth hurts" at all and find it super grating, tbh. but i LOVE "juice" and i'm absolutely obsessed with lizzo's confidence, energy, and message! we all needed her bad bitch presence in our lives this year.

4. SWMRS - "trashbag baby"



garagey power-pop that just makes you wanna dance, man. SWMRS, a quartet of gen-z berkeley punks (two of whom are brothers, and one of whom is billie joe armstrong's son) topped my 2016 list with "figuring it out." that's still my favorite, but "trashbag baby" is a rifftastic bop that plays off of the becker brothers' unique voices. 

3. the paranoyds - "girlfriend degree"



"girlfriend degree" really crept up on me this year. i loved it, but i didn't realize just how much i really loved it until i was putting together this list. i'm here for all of it: the kinks-esque melody, the spooky-sounding '60s horror movie synth, and the cheeky lyrics ("trust me, i know i'm happy/i'm not just a girl with low self-esteem").

this also has to be my favorite music video of the year (the dream with the ken doll had me roooolling!) and i've absolutely been trying to bite this style lately when it comes to my wardrobe.

2. christelle bofale - "origami dreams"



dreamy, dreamy, dreamy. i first heard this song in a semi-unlikely place: while waiting for pete holmes to take the stage at WBUR cityspace. shazam came to my rescue and i fell completely and deeply in love immediately. my song of the summer fo' sho. it's one of those tracks that make you feel nostalgic, contented, and sad all at once.

1. djo - "personal lies"



i typically start thinking about my favorite songs of the year toward the end of the summer, and i was getting a little nervous when september rolled around because i wasn't *quite* sold on anything as my #1 yet. that is, until i decided to check out twenty twenty, the album joe keery aka steve harrington from stranger things casually dropped under the pseudonym djo.

the first, ohhh, five times i listened to it, every song gave me chills and i kept actually mouthing/saying aloud "why is this so fucking good???!" it's the first album in such a long time—probably since kurt vile's wakin on a pretty daze in 2013—that i just wanted to LIVE in, y'know; grab a blanket and curl up and indulge in a jazz cigarette and drink some hot cocoa and browse etsy and stay for a few days.

the production is warm and lush, the instrumentation takes all these delightfully surprising turns, and the melodies are fun, psychedelic, and ever-so-slightly familiar without falling too far into trope territory (even if they did, i honestly wouldn't care in the slightest). long story short, i went from "yeah, ooookay, let's check out this album that steve from stranger things did" to "holy shit, this is my favorite album of 2019" in approximately 10 minutes.

while there are several standout tunes ("just along for the ride," "flash mountain," and "tentpole shangrila" are up there for me), this one just gets me going, man. i cue it up and the beatles-meets-tame impala vibe jumps out, my hair automatically extends to cher-in-the-'70s length, daisy dukes appear on my body as if by magic, and i'm roller skating under a blacklight. at 2:10, when i tell you i SCREAMED! joe keery might just be the first person whom i'd actually encourage to quit their day job because i need more of his music immediately.

my 16 favorite songs of 2016

SPOILER ALERT: this list does not include that terrible song that glorifies mattress theft. now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get down to it...as always, you can listen to all of these via spotify playlist as well.

16. bent shapes - "new starts in old dominion" 




let's start things off local. now that my former #1 hometown act, the barbazons, have disbanded, bent shapes has risen to the top. this upbeat, jangly gem was my favorite from their 2016 release, wolves of want. unrelated, but i got so damn excited by all of the boston love in this music video, from the MIT station on the radio to that very somerville-esque apartment to that scene where he's walking by the driving school -- which was shot on my street in my town! anywho, great tune.

15. fifth harmony f/ ty dolla $ign - "work from home"



as i believe i tweeted at some point, it blows my mind that no one had thought to write a song about "working from home" as sexual innuendo. the lyrics are so ridiculous yet clever, and i'll be damned if you aren't hearing "you don't gotta go to work, work, work, work, work, work, work" in your dreams after listening to it once. the perfect example of a dumb, sugary pop nugget. and then ty dolla $ign rolls in, telling her to make it clap with no hands and look back at it. a modern shakespeare!

14. car seat headrest - "fill in the blank"




will toledo was basically the pitchfork darling of 2k16, and i'd get any cred i had revoked if i didn't include at least one his songs. this rollicking, lo-fi number got my attention, and i especially like the tough-love lyrics: "you have no right to be depressed/you haven't tried hard enough to like it....stop your whining, try again/no one wants to cause you pain." listen up, fellow millennials.

13. sia - "cheap thrills"



just a really good time with a pretty simple, straightforward message: when the company and music are good, who needs moolah?

12. snakehips f/ ZAYN - "cruel" (jay pryor remix)



maybe it's because this version was my first exposure to the song, but it's so much more fun than the sloooowed dooooown original, IMO. zayn's sexy "pillow talk" was also a contender, but it didn't turn my car and cubicle into tha club like this one did. and when that beat drops? ohhh, dayum. i do believe this is the first remix i've ever featured on this list, so you know it's gotta be good.

11. tancred - "bed case"




a few weeks ago, while watching the 1994 cult classic reality bites (again), it occurred to me that if this song existed back then, it would probably fit nicely on the soundtrack alongside juliana hatfield, lisa loeb, and dinosaur jr. given that it has that early-90s veruca salt vibe. the solo project of jess abbott from the band now, now, tancred makes catchy, fierce indie rock with sweet vocals, handclaps, and lyrics about boys and ... well, boys. what more could you want?

10. two door cinema club - "gameshow"




i never paid much attention this band; just your standard background indie pop music as far as i was concerned. but i happened across this one on a new music friday a few months ago, and it had the darkness and edginess i'd been missing from them previously. the desperate "nobody wants meeeee!" scream is my favorite moment. pro tip: use the arrows in the top-left corner to see a full 360 view of the performance. whooooa.

9. father john misty - "real love baby"



ohhh, father john misty. the famously salty, bearded troubadour took a break from his onstage rants and all-caps tweets to record this adorable, no frills appeal to the object of his affection. aww.

8. heavy hearts - "bliss"



it's been so long since i've heard a song that really captures the energy and sound of the pop-punk/post-hardcore music that i loved back in high school and college, but "bliss" gets it just right. catchy as hell, too.

7. the 1975 - "the sound"



a synth-pop banger with an ear worm of a chorus that wouldn't sound completely out of place in the mid-80s, "the sound" makes me think of one of the times when i'm the happiest, which is letting loose with people i love on the dance floor at a wedding. not that i've ever danced to this song at a reception, but i'd really like to because the song seems destined for that ... in the best sense. just listen and you'll see what i mean.

6. twin peaks - "walk to the one you love"



if you know me at all, you know that i love me some twin peaks. like a fine wine, they just keep getting better with each album, though it did take me a bit of time to adjust to the bluesier, stonesier vibe of down in heaven as i'm partial to the raw garage feel of their sophomore effort, wild onion. while there are plenty of songs to love on the new one, i kept coming back to this for the groovy riff and the understated vocals. can't wait to see them this week for the 3rd time (and 2nd time this year), because the only thing better than their music is their live show. aw, yeah.

5. DNCE - "cake by the ocean"





now, i'm not saying that this is better than "call me maybe" in terms of pop song perfection, BUT i will say that i still get as giddy every time i hear the opening notes. sure, there are the ridiculous "AYAYAYAYAY-AH"s and the lyrics about licking frosting from your own hands and a promise ring-free joe jonas dropping the f-bomb. but i'm equally in love with the backstory about the title, which is supposedly the result of the band's swedish producers continually confusing the phrase "sex
on the beach."

4. pete yorn - "i'm not the one"



can we talk about how underrated pete yorn is? he's been quietly making killer songs since the early oughts, but always sort of flies under the radar. i wasn't the biggest fan of his latest album, arrangingtime, but this track immediately jumped out at me as the highlight. between the lovely melody and relatable lyrics (YES of course i tear up almost every time), it's just a gorgeous few minutes.

3. catfish and the bottlemen - "soundcheck" 



it's been so cool to watch these guys go from relative unknowns, performing to a crowd of 30 or so at great scott in 2014, to rocking a packed house at royale last year, to this year -- inevitably -- the house of blues :(. i'll always be partial to their debut album, but i was obsessed with this song for a good portion of the year. the quiet, crunchy chug of the pre-chorus leads into an epic, triumphant romantic declaration. then after the bridge, everything blows wide open and it almost turns into a completely different (but equally fantastic) song. 

2. the hunna - "we could be"



this year's biggest fuck-yeah-chorus comes to us courtesy of yet another british rock quartet, the hunna. their songs all kiiiind of sound vaguely the same, but it's okay because they all kind of sound like this one, which is great. strong vocals, anthemic refrains, great production. the other thing i really like about the tune, though, is that it's a total "fuck you!" to some record company who apparently passed on them. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!

1. SWMRS - "figuring it out"

 

shout out to spotify on this; it was actually one of my discover weekly picks early this year, and i immediately fell in love with its massive "oh-oh-ohhh"s, shreddin' guitar solo, and quirky lyrics about pop rocks, cherry cola, and waking & baking on wednesdays. a little bit of punk, a little bit of pop, a whole lot of fun. the band members are already cooler at like, 19 years old than i am at 30, but that's probably because the drummer's dad is billie joe armstrong from green day. spitting image, right?

show review: SWMRS at the middle east

yesterday was interesting. first of all, i can't recall ever going to an afternoon show that wasn't a music festival. second, i'm a little older the target demographic of oakland punk band SWMRS (who i wrote about a couple weeks ago), so i was amused but not surprised when i looked around at one point and realized i was the only one with a beer in hand. sigh. however, i immediately loved the band's recent release drive north -- produced by zac carper of FIDLAR, one of my favorite garage bands -- so i braved the tween scene to experience their live show.

locals burglary years opened, seeming slightly out-of-place with their moody temper trap-esque indie rock jams. the frenetic lead singer was wearing a smiths shirt with a picture of elvis, and i could totally hear the morrissey influence. it was a solid start to the afternoon, which i appreciated as bros and brats began to fill the room.

next up was gymshorts out of providence, RI. i was familiar with the name, as they're on one of my favorite labels, burger records, but had never listened to any of their stuff. as soon as lead singer sarah strolled out, sporting unkempt hair, a nose ring, and an oversized ren & stimpy t-shirt, i knew it was going to be good. not gonna lie, i developed a little bit of a girlcrush. their aggressive, bratty brand of rock 'n roll included chuckle-worthy lyrics like "ding-dong ditch, your mom's a bitch" and lots of songs about generally badass behavior (this was my favorite). before they left the stage, i noticed a sticker on the drums that said "kill your local alpha male." i love these kids!

then, san diego's the frights were on deck. they had great stage presence, and by all accounts, i should have loved their jangly vibes. "cold" had me grooving for sure, but i think the sudden mosh pit that formed around me towards the beginning of the set kind of took me out of the music a lil' bit. get off my lawn!

finally, SWMRS took the stage and launched right into a high-energy performance of their whole album ... that is, after lead singer cole gave an extended, adorable smirk to the crowd (he's 20, guys, it's fine).

cougar feelings aside -- between bassist seb mueller's insanely awesome leopard-print coat and cole's stage-diving antics, they were as fun to watch as they were to listen to.

 

joey armstrong, son of billie joe from green day, kept it all together with some insane drum skills, and i went as nuts as a 15 year-old schoolgirl when guitarist/vocalist max began singing my favorite tune, "Brb."

but the best moment? well, that was obviously their hilarious, delightful, singalong ode to miley cyrus (entitled "miley," obvs) in which miss cyrus is lauded as a punk rock queen. look it up, you'll love it. i captured some of it here, but unfortunately not the part where cole went, "and look at that, the clock just struck 4:20" in the middle of the song. on-brand, SWMRS, on-brand.

go check these kids out if they're in your 'hood, because i have a feeling they're going to be getting real big real soon. no, i refuse to go for the obvious pun about making a splash. ugh, couldn't help it, sorry. just listen to SWMRS, aiight?

5 things i love right now

1. this song by SWMRS, "figuring it out"



i first heard this song on my spotify discover weekly playlist a few weeks ago (nice work, spotty) and liked it immediately. however, i find new things to love with each listen: the "whoa-oh-whoa" of the chorus, the fun, summery imagery of "pop rocks and cherry cola," and the singer's audible chuckle when he says "wake and bake on wednesday." and yesterday, i learned that the drummer is the son of billie joe armstrong of green day. carry the torch, dude!

2. instagram memes

these stupid things have just really been speaking to me lately. here's one from the late, great trevso_electric.

the only meme I feel good about.

A photo posted by trevso_electric (@trevso_electric) on Aug 27, 2015 at 8:19am PDT

3. this tv show, younger 

not sure how i haven't written about this show yet, but it seems as good of a time as any since it just returned for its second season. the gist is that sutton foster plays a 40 year-old divorcee who is trying to get back into the working world after raising her daughter for 18 years, and ends up lying about her age to snag a job in publishing. hilarity and drama ensue! america's underrated sweetheart hilary duff plays her millennial coworker/bestie, and hot AF nico tortorella stars as her tattoo artist boyfriend. despite what you may have heard, i am the worst tv watcher, but i binged the first season of this in one weekend. watch it!

4.  these chill lizards



NEW SPIRIT ANIMAL.

5. prince's new passport photo

need i say more?