On most weeks throughout the year, I write about stand-out albums that really grabbed me. But for every album that I write about, there are so many others that never get featured here on Sonic Subway. To right a wrong as the year comes to a close, here are are my top ten of those albums.
10. John Moreland, Visitor
John Moreland's Visitor is another standout album that reflects the Oklahoma singer-songwriter's introspection while exploring new sonic textures with atmospheric and electronic elements.
9. Michael Kiwanuka, Small Changes
I’ve been a big fan of Michael Kiwanuka since I first heard his 2016 album, Love & Hate. It was and continues to be one of my favorite albums over the past decade. Kiwanuka’s latest album, Small Changes, once again highlights the British singer-songwriter’s soulful artistry, blending his rich vocals and warm instrumentation.
8. English Teacher, This Could Be Texas
English Teacher’s This Could Be Texas delivers sharp, witty lyrics and great post-punk instrumentation, showcasing the band’s knack for blending humor with social commentary. Hailing from Leeds, the rising quartet has gained recognition for their energy and thought-provoking approach to modern indie music.
7. Maggie Rose, No One Gets Out Alive
Maggie Rose's fourth album, No One Get's Out Alive, seamlessly blends Americana, soul, rock, pop, and folk into a contemporary sounding album that showcases Rose's skillful storytelling and powerful voice.
6. Jessie Murph, That Ain't No Man that's The Devil
Jessie Murph’s Ain't No Man That’s The Devil shows off her strong, fierce, and captivating voice, unfiltered storytelling, and a blending of some cool haunting melodies with a contemporary pop edge. Crazy that Murph is only twenty years old.
5. Leif Vollebekk, Revelation
Canadian singer-songwriter Leif Vollebekk's fifth album, Revelation, wonderfully blends narrative lyrics with cinematic arrangements, reflecting Vollebekk's spiritual explorations and dreams during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
4. Been Stellar, Scream From New York, NY
Been Stellar has been getting quite a bit of attention in the NY City music scene and rightfully so. Their indie rock sound feels like the channeling of the restless energy of the city. And it's greatly showcased on their debut album Scream From New York, NY.
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3. Yard Act, Where's My Utopia
Leeds, UK, Post-Punk band, Yard Act's debut album, The Overload, was a top ten album for me in 2022. Two years later they have return with Where's My Utopia? Co-produced with Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr., the album marks a stylistic shift incorporating diverse musical influences including disco (really). It's a great step forward for the band and a great album.
2. Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us
Ezra Koenig has done it again. Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend's fifth album, finds Koenig once again fusing pop, baroque pop, Afro-pop, and classical to perfection create a sound scape that can only be of his making.
1. MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks
MJ Lenderman's distinctive blend of alt-country and indie rock provides the perfect backing for the 25 year old singer-songwriter's candid, off-beat, and insightful lyrics.
I remember the first time I heard Caroline Polachek's voice. It was on Chairlift's 2012 sophomore album Something. As one half of the pop rock duo, Polachek, her voice, and vocal choices took Chairlift's songs in interesting directions and to great heights. Fast forward thirteen years and Polachek's voice, vocal choices, and pop art sensibilities take her sophomore album, Desire, I want to Turn Into You, and its songs to new heights once more. Desire is pop art gold and by far her best album as an artist to date.
I have been a bit captivated by Norwegian singer and songwriter Aurora since I first heard her debut album, All My Demons Greet Me as a Friend, back in 2016. There was something captivating about the intersection between her angelic and ethereal voice and her fusion of pop, electro and synth pop, and folktronica music. But, as with any young and developing artist, there was still work to be done to fuse it all together in a truly cohesive way. On her third album, The Gods We Can Touch, Aurora has done just that and so much more.
An album inspired by Greek mythology and the intersection between the divine and the human, The Gods We Can Touch weaves stories of myths and mythos in contemporary times and settings. They serve as reminders, says Aurora, of things that we have forgotten. "We used to worship the earth, and music was a way of connecting us to something divine," she recently said in an interview. "I love Greek mythology because [they didn't] put shame on being a woman, or being gay, or being trans or sexual and curious. I'm fascinated by how much we've lost over time, and how much shame we put into beautiful things."
It is here, in the context of the intersection between the divine and the human that Aurora's voice and music realize new levels of connection, power, and impact. Aurora doesn't just draw you in as a listener, you become a participant, sharing in her moods, feelings, and emotions. It's no small feat on her part and will leave you with the same wonder that Aurora has for ancient times.
Back in 2019, Finneas Baird O'ConnellI released the wonderful EP, Blood Harmony. It went mostly unnoticed, which was not surprising, as it came out on the heals of his sister Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? which he produced. Since then, Finneas has gone on to write and produce for many well known artists and has collected eight Grammys. Now, two years later, Finneas has once again written and produced for himself and has released his first proper album.
As the title suggest, Finneas is feeling rather optimistic these days, though as he shared in a recent NME interview, it does not come easy. “Maybe some people are really naturally optimistic, but to me, it’s a choice that you can make. The most pessimistic version of me works the least hard and is the least hopeful and helpful because I think things are going to fail. The version of me that I wish I always was is the optimistic, helpful, positive me, which is aspirational for me. There’s a lot of reason to be pessimistic in the world but you can still choose to be like, ‘We shouldn’t really give up on this.'" And Finneas is not giving up. He is doubling down on the opposite.
There seems to be two clear camps of music reviews for Optimist. Those who think it's great and those that think that it is mediocre. I for one think that it is great. Optimist is modern pop at its best and Finneas an amazing artist and producer that understands that sometimes less is more in this age of over-hyped and over-produced music.
A lot has been written about Billie Ellish's new album, Happier Than Ever, the follow up to her massively popular, critically acclaimed smash hit album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. As you can imagine, the expectations for a second Ellish album were just enormous. From my perspective, they were much-to-much to be put on any musician let alone a nineteen year old.
For me, as some who really liked, but did not love Ellish's debut album, I was more curious than anything else to see the musical direction that she and her producer-brother Finneas would take with a second album. My curiosity was heightened when I heard her James Bond movie theme single, No Time To Die. Boy, did I like it.
Now, with more glowing reviews in than I can count, and sitting on top the Billboard charts, it does appear that Ellish has another massively popular, critically acclaimed smash hit album on her hands. And rightfully so. Happier Than Ever sees Ellish having grown and matured as singer, song-writer, and generally speaking, as an artist in leaps and bounds over just a two year period. It's really quite astonishing. While I am not one to rate albums or music in general, I will say that Happier Than Ever is an outstanding album and one definitely not to be missed.
Dubbed 'the Mad professor of pop' by Fader, English musician Benjamin Garret, who records under the moniker Fryars, has been slinging his own brand of musical pop art for more than a decade. But like with so many artists, while he is well known in some musical circles, he is not in many others. I'm hoping that this changes with his latest album God Melodies.
"People often talk about music being cathartic, that we use it to work through our sadnesses. But it can also be used as a preservative for joy and the small things that pass us by. We don’t acknowledge happiness enough because it’s really hard to admit when you’re happy and it often doesn’t make other people that happy either! But joy translated well into music has an inflationary effect. That’s what the record is all about really.” Benjamin Garret
Listening to Garret's first album in seven years, you can hear that joy along with his imagination. God Melodies is sonic pop art with 'whimsical flights of fancy' (Music OMH) and heart.
Michelle Zauner and her band Little Big League had finished their second album when she learned that her mother had stage four cancer. Zauner immediately moved back home to Eugene, Oregon to care for her. During that time, she made a few lo-fi recordings under the name Japanese Breakfast. Zauner also started writing a memoir about her life as a half white, half Korean American and whether she could lay claim to that identity anymore.
Following her mother's passing in 2014, Zauner took on the Japanese Breakfast moniker in earnest and released two albums over the next few years. Both centered around grief, loss, and identity. Both received wide spread attention and praise. For me, I appreciated them both, but never returned to them after a listen or two.
Earlier this year, Zauner's memoir, Crying In H Mart, was published. It became a New York Times best seller. A few months later, Zauner followed it up with the release of her third album, Jubilee. And as the title implies, things are feeling quite different for Zauner these days. And you can sense it from the opener Paprika as the synthesizer kicks things off and then, as the song builds and the chorus rises, the horn section comes in. It's an '80's inspired synth-pop delight that Kate Bush would love. And then there's her lyrics. Drawing inspiration from sci-fi film maker Satoshi Kon's movie of the same name and its opening psychotic parade dream sequence, Zauner's lyrics paint a surreal world where real life and dreams blend together. It truly feels like a different artist at work here.
Jubilee is by far Zauner's best work to date and an album that should be celebrated.
So you're a musician stuck at home for a year. What do you do? In the case of Adam Melchor, he committed to keeping up with a hotline that he had set up in February of 2020 that encouraged people to text or email him each Sunday to receive a new song. If they did, they would receive one at 5pm. By the end of the year, Melchor had sent out 44 songs.
Along the way, his lister group grew to ten thousand and he racked up over 40 million streams. This all brought new attention to Melchor including Warner Records who came knocking and signed him to a record contract earlier this year. So why all the fuss over Melchor? Because he is a damn fine songwriter and musician. In fact, I will say that he is one of the more impressive artists that I have heard in quite some time.
Now after a year of recording Sunday songs, Melchor has released a selection of them as a mixed tape. Entitled Melchor Lullaby Hotline, Vol. 1, Mehchor's artistry is on full display, showing a level of craft that is unusually strong...this is especially the case when you understand that some of these songs were literally written and recorded in a few hours...at home.
I suspect that big things are in store for Adam Melchor. We shall see. I will say that I will be rooting for him all the way.
In a year that has weighted us all down, I have been thankful for the a the number of fun, upbeat, pop and rock albums that have been released to lift us up. We can all use some shimmer, shine, and dance beats! And for me, aging myself just a bit, dance beats with a 1980's aesthetic. And just when I thought that I heard the last of them, along comes Razzmatazz.
On their debut album, I Don't Know How But They Found Me, iDKHOW for short, Dallon Weekes and Ryan Seaman provided the perfect counter balance to the world outside my window. These two are musicians 'who see the world of rock as a playground of joy and endless creative colour, determined to mould fresh sonic shapes out of the tried and tested raw materials of drums, guitars, and synthesisers.' (Kerrang). On Razzmatazz, they do so with a confidence and freedom that elevates their craft to a very special place.
Sixteen years after her debut album, Erin Moran, a.k.a. A Girl Called Eddy is back with her very long overdue follow up Been Around. It's a captivating and as Pop Matters wrote, instantly charming album. 'One that is a 'classic-in-the-making that most musicians could only dream of delivering in a lifetime'. I found myself getting lost in this album, drawn in by Moran's velvety voice, poignant lyrics, and luscious and inviting musical arrangements. If you feel the need to get lost, in time and space for fifty minutes, Been Around will transport you off to where you didn't know you need to be.
2019 closes out a decade of music with some of the best albums that I have heard over the past ten years. In a few days I will be posting my 'best of the decade' list. In the meantime, here are my favorite albums of 2019.
10. Mike Posner, A Real Good Kid
In April, Mike Posner started a nine month walk across the country. In an interview with CBS, Posner said that his hope from the walk was to fall in love with being in the present moment and being perfectly incomplete. Facing the death of his father to cancer, his friend and collaborator Avicii to suicide, and breakup with his girlfriend, Posner's world came crashing down and he found himself pondering life and death, family, friends, and how he had come to define success. On A Real Good Kid, Posner pours his heart and soul into a collection of songs that bring us into the mind of a broken man looking to find a new inner peace and perspective on living.
9. Peter Perrett,Humanworld
Addiction to Heroin and crack took decades from Peter Perrett, but not his music or musical ideas. Now, at the age of 67, Perrett is making some of the best music of his career. As The Guardian wrote, Humanworld isn't just good by the standards of albums made by people who spent years on hard drugs, or by the standards of late career revivals: it's simply a very good album indeed. It 'manages to avoid both the possible traps: trying too hard to sound current, or trying too hard to recapture past glories. Instead it's clean, and sharp, and melodic guitar rock.'
8. Marillion,With Friends From The Orchestra
I have become a huge Marillion fan over the past few years. It all started when I started spending time with 2006’s Marbles which has since become one of my favorite albums. Once I did, I found myself going down the rabbit’s hole of all things Marillion going back to when Steve Hogarth joined the band in 1989. It’s crazy to think that I had paid them little attention for so long. It’s also crazy to see them still together and sounding as great as ever after 30 years.
With Friends From The Orchestra, the band revisits and reimagines nine songs from their extensive catalog. Was this necessary? I would have said ‘no’ until I listed to them. Now I will say a resounding ‘yes.’ In fact I will say that a few of these new versions are better than the originals including This Strange Engine. Whether you are a fan or Marillion or have no idea who they are….do yourself a favor and spend some time with this album.
7. Rex Orange Country, Pony
English singer/Songwriter Alexander O'Connor, who records under the name Rex Orange Country closed out the year for me with Pony, his major label debut, which was released a few weeks ago. It was 'that' album that I had been waiting for all year, but did not know it until I heard it. American Songwriter pointed to his 'unique pop prosody and production skills and inventiveness.' Jazz-tinged songs full of catchy hooks and charm, Pony is as NME writes, 'a total delight.
6. FINNEAS, Blood Harmony
Turn your attention away from the hype of Billie Eilish and towards her brother Finneas, the creative engine behind her music. On his short EP Blood Harmony, Finneas is right out in front where he belongs. Best said by Atwood Magazine, 'From the heartbreaking mourning of a friendship lost in “I Lost A Friend”, to the symbiotic, infatuated co-dependency of “Die Alone”. Blood Harmony explores soundscapes that range from radio-ready pop hits to stripped down ballads, never losing its polish or unique cinematic quality, and reveals that FINNEAS is a master at telling stories about those who surround, or once surrounded, him.'
5. The LaFontaines, Junior
Catchy, ballsy, hard edged, melodic, and packing a punch. That is how Rock N' Load Mag described The LaFontaines third album Junior. Fusing Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, and R & B in ways that are both bold and brashy (Bring The Noise), these Scotts grab your attention and don't let it go. This is a killer album that I have not been able to turn away from since its release.
4. Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Del Rey’s talent has been misunderstood throughout her career, writes Spencer Kornhaber in the Atlantic, 'but with the freighter-heavy and canyon-gorgeous new album Norman Fucking Rockwell, maybe she’ll be seen for the essential writer of her times that she is.'
As someone who has not only misunderstood Rey, but has also not taken her seriously as an artist, I approached NFR with skepticism. I can confirm that Kornhaber is 100% on point! Singing 'exquisitely of freedom and transformation and the wreckage of being alive, Pitchfork contributing Editor Jenn Pelly aptly penned that NFR establishes Rey as one of American's greatest living songwriters.
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Ghosteen
How does one grieve over the loss of a child and the endless tidal waves of emotions that overwhelm one's ability to just breath let alone live? Over three albums, concluding with Ghosteen, Nick Cave has been grappling with the tragic death of his teenage son in 2015 which left him utterly broken. On Ghosteen, the shock of Cave's son's death has passed, but devastation and isolation have slowly transformed into memories and loneliness and Cave finds himself asking more questions than ever. Now it's on to "what do I do now, where do I go?(Sputnik). There are no easy answers as Tracy Thorn masterfully conveys in her review of the album. “The past with its savage undertow” appears in two songs – in one it lets go, while in another, it will never let go, there is no escape. And you feel that both are true. There is no resolution. Songs hint at the possibility of recovery, then evert to despair. The need for acceptance of loss is in constant tension with the impossibility of acceptance." Yet, by the end of the album, you get a sense that he has come to terms as he sings "it's a long way to find peace of mind, and I'm just waiting now for my time to come." This is an astonishing album that is a must listen.
2. RPWL, Tales From Outer Space
Tales From Outer Space is a late addition to my list of favorite albums for 2019. I actually discovered this album in April of 2020 when I fell upon RPWL, a band not familiar to me. I was immediate drawn to this German progressive rock band and their extensive twenty year catalog of albums, both studio and live. As a band that started as a Pink Floyd cover band, you can certainly hear the PF influences, especially their later work (think The Division Bell). With this said, this is truly an original album and having listened to most of RPWL's albums, I will say that Tales From Outer Space is one of their best and at least right now, my favorite.
1. Tool, Fear Inoculum
Tool fans, such as myself, waited 13 long years for the band's follow up to 10,000 days. And now we have Fear Inoculum to consume and ponder. As Sputnik Music wrote, this album is a 'massive, compelling piece of music that unfolds beautifully and balances Tool’s unique style with plenty of rewarding new elements. Any fears that they would not live up to their past can be abated; Fear Inoculum is truly groundbreaking and one of the best albums of the decade.' I agree!
What I love about music is its power to transport me. Sometimes it’s unexpected, sometimes it’s exactly where I want to be. A single melody can unlock memories I didn’t realize I still carried, while certain chords or lyrics take me to another time or place. Some songs feel like home, offering shelter, while others deliver me to an unknown place or space, stirring emotions I can’t quite name. In this way, music isn’t just sound—it’s a sonic subway, delivering me to a station of refuge or one I never knew existed.
Music has always been an important part of my life. My family and friends knew this well, often asking me what I was listening to and what I liked. It was always humbling to be asked, and eventually, I gathered the courage to create this music blog—to put into words what draws me to certain music and why.
Over the years, my passion for writing has grown, along with my excitement for sharing musical discoveries. I hope your time here sparks excitement and leads you to a musical discovery of your own. More than anything, I hope your visit brings a little joy to your day.
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