December 3, 2019
Here are QRO’s top-rated album reviews of the year:
| Joseph Arthur – Come Back World Long-serving NYC musician Joseph Arthur has been no stranger to emotion, but maybe taps into it as best he’s ever done on Come Back World. Read more… |
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| Duncan Barlow – Colony Collapse Coming from the background of playing with a variety of well known political and indie musicians, all while fronting the hardcore group Endpoint, the Duncan Barlow release Colony Collapse is a project, and being a project first and foremost is complicated. Read more… |
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| Bear Hands – Fake Tunes Brooklyn’s Bear Hands actually pull off putting indie-rock sounds over tech/hip-hop beats. Read more… |
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| Better Oblivion Community Center – Better Oblivion Community Center The softer side of indie, more country/folk, has had lots of great voices break out, but then soon get lost in the din as other great voices break out. Read more… |
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| Andrew Bird – My Finest Work Yet Andrew Bird has long been a ‘musician’s musician,’ a multi-instrumentalist doing everything from violin to whistling, a solo artist with grandeur. Read more… |
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| Broken Social Scene – Let’s Try the After Vol. 1 Beloved Canadian alt-collective Broken Social Scene have done some different things. Read more… |
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| Broken Social Scene – Let’s Try the After Vol. 2 Let’s Try the After Vol. 2 manages to pack the alt-collective’s diverse greatness into just five songs, though leans more towards their airy side. Read more… |
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| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen There are precious few artists like Nice Cave. Read more… |
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| The Claypool Lennon Delirium – South of Reality Music fans know the obvious with The Claypool Lennon Delirium, that they are funky, weird, and rocking, all reasonable adjectives their own right. Read more… |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Blue EP Death Cab for Cutie have a way with EPs. Read more… |
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| Delicate Steve – Till I Burn Up Delicate Steve is a unique artist to be sure, but so are a lot of instrumentalists. Read more… |
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| Elbow – Giants of All Sizes Elbow are chronicling our tragic times. Read more… |
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| The Felice Brothers – Undress A decade or so ago, Americana was all the rage, and families of men broke out like the Avetts, the Mumfords, and the Felices. Read more… |
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| The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth For a very long time, The Flaming Lips have stood out. Read more… |
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| Flight of the Conchords – Live In London Flight of the Conchords return! Read more… |
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| Jonathan – To Hold Croatia’s Jonathan deliver big tragedy on sophomore release To Hold. Read more… |
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| The Joy Formidable – A Balloon Called Moaning (10th Anniversary Edition) A decade on, The Joy Formidable has released an anniversary edition of A Balloon Called Moaning, with a whole second disc of the songs acoustic & in their native tongue, Welsh. Read more… |
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| Alex Lahey – The Best of Luck Club Two years ago, Australia’s Alex Lahey put out the phenomenal debut I Love You Like a Brother. Read more… |
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| The Lemonheads – Varshons 2 Evan Dando releases a second set of covers, Varshons 2. Read more… |
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| Letters To Cleo – OK Christmas EP Nineties reunion Letters To Cleo get into the holiday spirit with OK Christmas EP. Read more… |
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| Local Natives – Violet Street New Yorkers might believe that indie music revolves around Brooklyn, but just as essential is Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood. Read more… |
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| Mail the Horse – Mail the Horse Self-titled Mail The Horse unquestionably delivers a fun and also personal feeling. Read more… |
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| Meat Puppets – Dusty Notes A rebellious anomaly in music, the Meat Puppets have always been all over the place. Read more… |
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| Minor Stars – Through Pinholes To the Sky Minor Stars are a sludge band in the truest sense. Read more… |
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| Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock Sunshine Rock is another powerful release from this powerful artist. Read more… |
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| The National – I Am Easy To Find The National have become one of the biggest bands in indie-rock, as well as one of the most ambitious Read more… |
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| Angel Olsen – All Mirrors All Mirrors is heartbreaking in its confession, while also epic in its sound. Read more… |
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| Ravens & Chimes – The Empty House QRO is very happy to report that Brooklyn favorite Ravens & Chimes are back with the great indie power-pop of The Empty House. Read more… |
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| Pick It Up! Ska In the ’90s DVD For music fans of a specific age, there was this halcyon period in the nineties when ska was big. Read more… |
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| Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie In days gone by, a new Pixies album was always the subject of widespread anticipation. Read more… |
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| Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains Purple Mountains will forever stand as David Berman’s final piece of art. Read more… |
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| The Raconteurs – Help Us Stranger Chet Atkins once famously said of Les Paul that he, “Never played a note in bad taste.” Read more… |
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| The Replacements – Dead Man’s Pop The Replacements’ 1989 Don’t Tell A Soul gets its own stripped down version, Dead Man’s Pop. Read more… |
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| Leeroy Stagger – Strange Path It’s not easy to stand out as a country/folk singer/songwriter, but Leeroy Stagger does. Read more… |
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| Strand of Oaks – Eraserland With so many emotional country-rock singer/songwriters out there, it can be tough to stand out, but Tim Showalter, a.k.a. Strand of Oaks, has. Read more… |
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| Sofia Talvik – Paws of a Bear New singer songwriter folk acts are a dime a dozen, somewhat unfortunately, but the Swedish Sofia Talvik is a field away from most. Read more… |
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| Tiny Changes: A Celebration of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Midnight Organ Fight’ A tribute not to just an album or a band, but a life lost. Read more… |
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| Titus Andronicus – An Obelisk Smashing into your face is New Jersey’s Titus Andronicus. Read more… |
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| The Twilight Sad – IT WON/T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME There is lots of tragic music out there these days, so much so that it can kind of overwhelm. Read more… |
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| Paul Weller – True Meanings Paul Weller has always been about the big thoughts. Read more… |
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| Whitney – Forever Turned Around Most athirst votaries of Whitney, Chicago’s celebrated psych-country/soul band, know that the group is comprised of foundational members from several other highly esteemed indie dynasties and one man who never existed. Read more… |
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| Yeasayer – Erotic Reruns Yeasayer started as experimental and hard to categorize, and have only gone on from there. Read more… |
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| Thom Yorke – Anima Thom Yorke is likely the most famous person in alternative music. Read more… |
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