I do this every year. These songs are what I loved this year, or what reminds me of this year, and are arranged in an order that sounds good. If you listen to this on shuffle and don't like it, it's shuffle's fault.
My yearly soundtrack used to fit on an 80-minute CD, which was burned and mailed to friends. Very quaint! It's not even close to 80 minutes this year. It's 27 songs long because why not, death is coming for us, let's enjoy an extra 6 or 7 songs.
This playlist is on Spotify, until Spotify goes bankrupt or whatever, at:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3A2VhFuce8H3jpEG9ijqPr
Previous soundtracks can be found at https://tornadoslide.blogspot.com/2018/08/soundtracks-on-spotify.html.
1. Fontaines DC - Liberty Belle
This was my favorite album this year, and I heard about it through some online list of the best albums at the midpoint of 2019. Fontaines DC are from Dublin (DC stands for Dublin City), and my summer was quite Irish. I watched the second season of Derry Girls on Netflix, I took a podcast recommendation and read both Sally Rooney novels, and read Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. Then, I went back a bit further and watched a 3-part series, 1916: The Irish Rebellion on Amazon Prime, just to be sure I could be insufferably vocal every time someone mentions Ireland or Northern Ireland in the future.
2. The Beths - Less Than Thou
3. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Mainland
Both of these New Zealand bands were on best of 2018 lists, and I didn't hear them until 2019. These are two great albums and I could have picked several good songs from both of them. Gav moved to NZ this year, further decimating my local friend count.
4. Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II
The best song.
5. Buddy Holly - It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
I played a bit of Buddy Holly for the kids early this year, thinking it was good music for beginners because you can hear every instrument clearly. It didn't really grab them, but I had never heard of some of the songs before.
6. Japanese Breakfast - Diving Woman
Some nights I'll throw some live performance on YouTube to listen to while I waste my life scrolling on my phone, and that's how I first heard this song. They opened with it at the Austin City Limits festival, and it's a stone groove.
7. The Rentals - The Love I’m Searching For
One of my all time favorite songs is the acoustic version of The Love I'm Searching For, which I found in the Napster era by searching "live acoustic". (Yes, I would spend a lot of time doing that.)
Since 1999 or whatever, I have loved that version of the song. But earlier this year I was ashamed to realize I may not have ever heard the album version of the song, so I streamed it and yeah, very good.
8. The Cars - Let’s Go
When Rik Ocasek died, this was the song that got stuck in my head, despite liking the following Cars songs better: You're All I've Got Tonight, Just What I Needed, My Best Friend's Girl.
9. Mike Adams at his Honest Weight - Pressing Mesh
This songs was in my head for 5 consecutive days and I sent him a tweet about that and he said thanks. I can't find his reply in any rapid fashion because Twitter is just the worst.
Hi @micdadam, Pressing Mesh has been in my head for consecutive 5 days now and I'm wondering if this will be permanent? https://t.co/z6ICLTNGbp— Chester Reboulet (@chiliboots) June 22, 2019
One other thing you should know and love about this song:
SINCERE POST ALERT:— Mike Adams (@micdadam) November 17, 2019
Whenever I sing “corridors and gauntlets” in Pressing Mesh, I’m thinking about The Gauntlet™️ from American Gladiators®️
(not kidding)
10. Ben Kweller - I Miss You
Like much of this world's citizens in 2019, I found myself asking, "Hey, what's happening with Ben Kweller?" It turns out he and his family almost died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and he was supposed to release a new album this year but didn't. I relistened to his whole catalogue and I've gotta say, this guy hasn't written a bad song. Not all are great, but none are bad. This is one that I was previously unaware of that I really love.
11. Telekinesis - Set a Course
I have all of this guy's albums. Can't go wrong with this guy.
12. Stephen Malkmus - Ocean of Revenge
I follow a guy on Twitter who was into this album/song, and when Malkmus appeared on Hollywood Handbook later in the year, that secured his status on the soundtrack.
13. Beach House - Space Song
I heard this song while having a meal with a friend when I was in Raleigh for a conference, and it was one of those things where you know how the song goes but you don't know what the song is or who sings it? Some people use a popular application named "Shazam" to navigate their way out of such a puzzle, but I don't have that installed so I probably Googled "fall back into place song" and that worked just as good. I think I might have heard it twice on that trip? Does that make it a better story?
14. Blondie - Dreaming
This played on an Amazon Music station that was supposed to shuffle stuff similar to Roxy Music. I am more familiar with a cover version of this song, which Smashing Pumpkins did during the Mellon Collie era. They slowed it down and made it, uh, melancholy, and I thought that was fine until I listened to this original again this year. Honestly, that cover version should be shot into space. Not in the way we put that golden album full of the sounds of humanity onto the Voyager craft -- like, I mean, get that cover version outta here I don't like it! Taking the energy out of this jam is bad. This song slaps. ("Slaps" is something we started saying in 2019.)
15. Vampire Weekend - This Life
Harmless fun!
16. Bleached - Shitty Ballet
Slaps!
17. Karen O and Danger Mouse - Nox Lumina
Spooky!
18. Maggie Rogers - On + Off
This is a good album, but I find the songs blend together when I listen to the whole thing in one setting. The version of this song I like best is from her NPR Tiny Desk Concert:
19. Big Thief - Not
I heard this first via Colbert, and I love how the drummer looks like Brett Gelman. Big 2019 for the real Brett Gelman, with Stranger Things 3 and Fleabag 2 both being good television shows.
20. Urge Overkill - The Valiant
I don't know if it was the wedding or the honeymoon or the cancer, but I was not aware that in 2011 my former favorite band reunited and released and album, the hilariously titled Rock & Roll Submarine, and it turns out it had this good song on it!
21. Mikal Cronin - Lost a Year
Mikal was also a Hollywood Handbook guest this year. A returning guest, actually. I guess what I'm trying to say with this soundtrack is: listen to these songs, but actually listen to the Hollywood Handbook podcast every week.
22. Japanese House - You Seemed so Happy
Streaming is supposed to use algorithms to lead you to things you would like but you haven't heard yet. This happened for me three times this year. This is one.
23. New Pornographers - Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile
My brother and I feel this is the only song on the album where you can properly hear the bass -- I think the levels on the last two albums have been weird, truthfully. In other New Pornographers news, My son (and to a lesser extent, my daughter) were all about Sing Me Spanish Techno and The Jessica Numbers this year.
24. Juliana Hatfield - Hungry For You (J’aurai Toujours Faim de Toi)
She is a delight, and this album of Police covers is a delight.
25. The Decemberists - Severed
At the office we were all saying who our favorite band was when we were in high school and our intern said she only listened to The Decemberists. Wild. This is the second streaming algorithm song.
26. Charly Bliss - Chatroom
This is the third streaming algorithm song.
27. Sleater-Kinney - I Can Go On
Sleater-Kinney's drummer, Janet Weiss, left the group this year over some kind of internal band struggle, and when I think of that badass drummer I think of this performance on Letterman years back:
