The Chisholm Music Awards are back everyone! I know my limited but very concerned constituency has been desperate for some musical direction, and despite the fact that my life is mired in diapers, bathtimes, and really an endless series of domestic rituals, I have about an hour and a half a day to drive, drink coffee, and listen to music to and from my (soon to not be) place of work. Life is good, life is hard; music continues to heal and inspire. I’m not going to go crazy with reviews or descriptions here: just kick out the best of 2019 so far and get the ball rolling. Enjoy!
Best Albums 2019 (Ranked in order)
1. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 by Foals
I’ve never been a huge fan of Foals necessarily, but this album got my attention for its quiet simplicity, clean 80’s vibe, and rock professionalism. This album is also so very adaptable to almost any environment from exercising to rocking out in the car to midnight listens in the dark. Just a very good album from a very good band. Standout tracks are “Exits” and “Sunday”
2. Wasteland, Baby! by Hozier
Hozier has always been a guy that I’ve respected but also been a bit wary of. “Take me to Church” was a great song, but overplayed, but I loved “From Eden” and considered it one of my favorite songs of the decade. I held this album at a distance for the first week or so after it was released, but it turns out that it’s just a damn good record that is catchy but is very well thought out. Lots of hints of blues and Irish influences; standout songs are “Shrike,” “Talk,” and “Nina Cried Power.”
3. Heard It in a Past Life by Maggie Rogers
At this point, everything that can be said about Maggie Rogers has probably been said. She is of course a very intriguing superstar from an educated background that is just a downright awesome artist. One thing that has stuck with me was something that NPR said (actually about Billie Eilish) that it is exceedingly rare for young artists to be so at peace with their individual sound and actually know themselves in such a visceral way. This characterization is so obviously true for Maggie Rogers; in fact, in so many ways her confidence in her sound is very comparable to Kacey Musgraves. Both are understated and make music that is just so great to listen to; it doesn’t require anyone to think too deeply, although there is space for thought. Standouts are “Light On” and “Back in my Body.” I didn’t particularly love “Alaska,” but that is a favorite of many others.
4. Assume Form by James Blake
This is a very different offering from James Blake but I consider it his full meld into hip/hip and rap worlds, and it works. He features a very distinguished class of contributors from Travis Scott to Rosalia to Moses Sumney to Andre 3000. In many of these songs, James Blake takes a back seat to his contributors and in general keeps a pretty low key presence on an album that is nowhere near his best work but is still very good. Standouts are “Mile High” and “Tell Them.”
5. Remind Me Tomorrow by Sharon Van Etten
Like with Assume Form, this is not Sharon Van Etten’s best album but may be the most vulnerable. Like many of the artists I have grown to love over the last decade, Van Etten is a new Mom, and her transition into motherhood has shaped how she writes and interprets her experience, which is particularly timely for me. Many consider this the best album of the year so far, and it has grown on me over the last several weeks. Overall, I feel like it is a bit forced and not really anchored to any thematic or musical element though the songs are quite good. Standouts are “Comeback Kid” and “I Told You Everything.”
6. My Greatest Work Yet by Andrew Bird
I’ve been an Andrew Bird fan for over a decade now after being transfixed by the hypnotic whistling on The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Of course, Bird is proclaiming a very bold argument in his album title, and perhaps he is just being ironic, but it begs the question,”Is it truly his best work yet?” I would answer that he is probably correct, although this is not my favorite album. There are many very good songs on here, such as “Olympians” and “Manifest,” but Armchair Apocrypha is just so damn good and Bird’s latest album just doesn’t measure up either thematically or musically. It seems like the album’s (very good) production took the place of actual substance.
7. Unfurl by Ry X
This album from a new artist (to me) has been one of my greatest surprises of the year. Unfurl hides out in the “electronica” or maybe “shoe gaze” genre, but its pop elements keep it substantive and far from cliche. Ry X is conveniently a surfer from Australia (convenient in the way it was for Jack Johnson) and has an unfortunate choice of hats on his album cover, but his music is just very good to listen to, especially in the dark at night driving. My only criticism is the lack of variety on his tracks. Standout is “YaYaYa.”
8. Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Suite Revisited by Mercury Rev
This album was another discovery for me on several levels. Fist, I had heard of Bobbie Gentry and her legendary status in country/blues but had really never spent any time listening to her albums. While I listened to this version of covers spearheaded by Mercury Rev, I sampled the original track first followed by the cover and was shocked by how much of the original song was preserved but also how much the cover artists were able to shape and improve the original recording. Ultimately, this record is a late 60s folk/blues record (and those seem to all have very similar elements), but the featured artists (ranging from Norah Jones to Lucinda Williams to Phoebe Bridgers) deepen an album that was already a masterful work of art. Standout is “Jesseye ‘Lizabeth (with Phoebe Bridgers).”
9. This Land by Gary Clark Jr. 
There’s really not much to say about this album except that it’s just very good rock n’ roll that is easy to listen to from a man who seems to defy stereotypes. Clark Jr.’s vibe reminds me of Robert Randolph except without the pedal steel guitar (which is a sad omission). No standouts for me.
The Playlist
This quarter’s best music is below. Probably my favorite songs so far are “Shrike” by Hozier and “Sunday” by Foals. The order of the playlist is not the order of ranking Enjoy!
chisholmstream.wordpress.com 