' Natalie Mering sings like Karen Carpenter with a film degree' The Observer Magazine.
So to the combined totals of the End of Year Charts I've posted over the last few days: Mojo, Uncut, The Guardian, Q, Best Ever Album site plus my own. With Weyes Blood Titanic Rising coming out on top of this Chart of Charts and by a clear margin. Not something you might have imagined at the start of the year. It is a rather gorgeous record and seems to articulate a very contemporary kind of textured nostalgia. Sharon Van, Big Thief's U.F.O.F., Cate Le Bon, Little Simz and Fontaines featured in all six charts and Bill Callahan, Aldous Harding and Purple Mountains also had respectable showings in several.
Of the records that didn't make my own list, Nick Cave is the most obvious noticeable absentee. I have to say that I don't like Ghosteen at all. I have rated a lot of Cave's recent work but this consistently sent out all the wrong notes for me though it's clear that others are much taken by it. It's a deeply sincere album but it just didn't speak to me.
I can understand Norman Fucking Rockwell's high showing much more easily. It's a sleek and polished coffee table record that knows and gets exactly what it wants and plays to a similar Netflix sensibility as Titanic Rising does. Lana Del Ray manages to reforge her brand more than you'd have ever imagined she'd be able to way back when she first arrived all those years back.
Elsewhere, I've got the greatest of respect for Springsteen but spent little time with his new record. I find Michael Kiwanuka rather overrated though his album is certainly solid. Black Midi do nothing for me at all, Brittany Howard, I can't really stomach. Billie Eilish and Lizzo are both very good though not staples of my personal playlists. Elsewhere, I've got a fair bit of time for most of the records here. It was a good year for music I'd say and it's pretty self-evident that women hold the reins right now.
- Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
- Lana Del Ray - Norman Fucking Rockwell!
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
- Cate Le Bon - Reward
- Little Simz - Grey Area
- Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
- Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
- Fontaines D.C. - Dogrel
- Bill Callahan - Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest
- Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
- Aldous Harding - Designer
- Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
- Ariane Grande - Thank U, Next
- Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
- Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars
- Billie Eilish - When We All Feel Asleep Where Do We Go?
- Tyler, The Creator - Igor
- Dave - Psychodrama
- The Comet is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
- Solange - When I Get Home
- Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride
- Fat White Family - Serf's Up!
- Bon Iver - i,i
- Joan Shelley - Like The River Loves The Sea
- Black Midi -Schlagenheim
- Jenny Lewis - On The Line
- Hot Chip - A Bath Full Of Ecstasy
- Slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain
- Brittany Howard - Jaime
- FKA Twigs - Magdalene
- Thom Yorke - Anima
- Lizzo - Cuz I Love You
- Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Rainford
- Robert Forster - Inferno
- Catherine Polachek - Pang
- Richard Dawson - 2020
- Julia Jacklin - Crushing
- Big Thief - Two Hands
- Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs
- James Blake - Assume Form
- Kevin Morby - Oh My God
- Jenny Hval - The Practice Of Love
- Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold
- Oh Sees - Face Stabber
- The National - I Am Easy To Find -
- The Murder Capital - When I Have Fears
- Modern Nature - How To Live
- Sarathy Korwar - More Arriving
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado
- Vanishing Twin - The Age of Immunity
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