Captura de Pantalla 2019-12-13 a la(s) 1

IGOR

Tyler, the Creator

10

If we witnessed a quantum leap in the work of a musician this year, it totally was from Tyler, the Creator. Igor is the testament of Tyler's growth in every single aspect of his art, finally an album that is truly mature and wholesome, that challenges music in meaningful ways with creative explorations that bend the possibilities of hip hop and soul.

Even if at its core, Igor is a break-up album, he gives the middle finger to any convention about the topic and with intelligence and full creativity approaches his heart ache in unexpected but surprisingly effective ways. It took him a whole decade to reach this point of artistry, but we're so glad this album finally arrived.

Best tracks: Earfquake, A Boy is a Gun, I Think.

DOGREL

Fontaines D.C.

9

From the first minute, you know they are unmistakably Irish, unmistakably working class, and unmistakably young punks. The most exciting guitar rock album of the year comes with social explorations of the state of the anger and disillusionment of the youth in Europe.

With nods to the whole history of British punk music, from the rawness political incorrection of Sex Pistols, to the moody reflections of Joy Division, to the cheeky fun of The Strokes, Fontaines D.C. comes to join a new generation of rock bands that will keep flying the guitars flag very high and proving worng a world that keeps affirming the death of rock music.

Best tracks: Boys in the Better Land, Television Screens, Sha Sha Sha

U.F.O.F.

Big Thief

8

The first time that Big Thief struck this year, it was with a strong folk rock album that seemed as a walk in the woods to contemplate how beauty and wilderness cohabit the universe, and how that truism can be also found inside ourselves.

It is a serious and mature piece of music, a refined work in the lyrics to take little details as symbols for greater, almost philosophical quests. Although U.F.O.F. is brilliant in its simplicity, those straightforward structures and instrumentations get twisted from time to time to add layers of complexity. More polished and more sober than Two Hands, released later in the year, U.F.O.F. was the initial step of Big Thief to claim the year as theirs.

Best tracks: U.F.O.F., Cattalis, Contact.

WHEN I GET HOME

Solange

7

In When I Get Home, Solange takes you on a tour to her hometown, Houston, or at least to her version of it. In this trip, she navigates different ports to highlight the diversity and richness of her roots: R&B, jazz, rap, electronic pop; her big personality shines through all of those styles and is able to make them happily coexist in harmony.

When I Get Home is a further exploration of Solange identity. Blackness and womanhood, and the superposition of both, are heavily examined on the album, at times on soft and tender introspections, and at times with powerful protests and claims to reaffirm the power and beauty she has found in herself.

Best tracks: Almeda, Binz, Way to the Show.

ALL MIRRORS

Angel Olsen

6

Although she already cemented herself as one of the fundamental pieces of indie rock of the decade, Angel Olsen preferred to explore new sounds before getting too comfortable in a single spot. All Mirrors is the darkest album in her catalogue, and also the most dramatic one, with a newfound love for string instruments mixed with subtle electronic touches.

Tha hazy atmospheres of Twin Peaks-esque dream pop are contrasted with her sharp vocal rendition full of passion. Olsen's experimentations bring her to a new level of artistry, and All Mirrors might very well be the album that puts her, finally, in the canon.

Best songs: Lark, All Mirrors, Chance

ANIMA

Thom Yorke

5

A restless artist that keeps evolving and showing us new paths for music, Thom Yorke goes back in his track to further explore the electronic landscapes of Kid A and Amnesiac. An ambitious audiovisual project that shows why his name is a synonym of avant-garde experimentation.

Almost a gaze into a dystopian future where technological chaos reigns, Anima is aggressive and filled with anxiety. A harsh album that speaks to the most animal nature in our hyper-connected world, it is with no doubt, the best album that Yorke has produced outside of Radiohead.

Best tracks: Not the News, Dawn Chorus, Last I Heard (...He was Circling the Drain).

TWO HANDS

Big Thief

4

Not happy with releasing one superb album in May, Big Thief released a second (and arguably better) one five months later, proving that not that many bands nowadays are at their creative level. If both U.F.O.F. and Two Hands are close enough to be considered two sides of the same coin, it is the rawness and intimacy of Two Hands what gave it a slightly better rank in this list.

The lack of a refined production works in their favor, it is almost as if the band was playing right there with us in a small room, confronting us with the crudeness of the world, but also showing us the beauty that inhabits in it.

Best tracks: Not, Forgotten Eyes, Two Hands.

REMIND ME TOMORROW

Sharon Van Etten

3

The emotional impact is the first thing that stands out from all of Sharon Van Etten's albums, she pours her soul in all her lyrics and in all her singing. But Remind Me Tomorrow transcends the emotions and is powerful also in the arrangements and the production.

Van Etten evolves from one song to the next one, she navigates all her passionate stories as if she was creating different authors to each one of them. But as a good curator, she is able to keep cohesion in the whole and deliver her best achieved record to date to set herself as one of the most interesting figures in contemporary rock music.

Best tracks: Seventeen, No One's Easy to Love, Comeback Kid.

MAGDALENE

FKA Twigs

2

Magdalene opens with FKA Twigs' version of Gregorian chants and throughout the whole album, the religious themes keep appearing. Using the figure of Mary Magdalene as a symbol to represent how she was signaled in her relationship with a famous actor, Tahliah Barnett explores the sacred and the profane in love and sex, while also analyzing how her identity has been shaped by the social views towards women.

A complex work that keeps pushing boundaries of what is possible in pop music, with an elegant and innovative production, Magdalene is intense and demanding, but warm and rewarding if we are open to the experience.

Best tracks: Cellophane, Sad Day, Holy Terrain (feat. Future).

NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL!

Lana del Rey

1

Lana del Rey is an artist that listens. Every one of her albums has been a clear example on how she is open to adjust the parts of her project that have chances to improve. No matter how many times her talent was questioned, she came back once and again to prove that she is far more interested in leaving a substantial legacy in music, rather than to please the crowds (and yet, by the number of followers, she could qualify as a huge celebrity).

Norman Fucking Rockwell is the final step towards artistry perfection. Her unique narrative lines have been refined and polished, she's not the tragic seductress anymore, now her voice is the one of a mature poet trying to find sense in her love for a country that fascinates her as much as it repulses her. NFR! might be the closest we'll get to a millennial feminist version of a Bob Dylan album

Best songs: Venice Bitch, The Greatest, Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like me to Have, Fuck it I Love You, Mariners Apartment Complex.