2019 albums of the year: The best records we reviewed
It's that time of year again - looking back on another incredible 12 months of new music as the calendar draws to a close before a new one is ripped out of the cellophane and stuck on the kitchen wall.
We are lucky enough at Star Towers to be able to bend our ear to new music before the paying public, and enjoy being able to recommend releases to people who might be unsure whether they are worth spending their hard-earned cash on or not. And below is a list of those who really caught the ear.
The year 2019 has again been good for local bands and artists releasing new material, with our latest annual compilation including five from within our readership patch brushing shoulders with some industry heavyweights.
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And while not all impressed - Picture This and Scott Lavene were both given 3/10 for their releases as well as 4/10s for William The Conqueror and Wednesbury's David Young & The Midnight Chorus - there was a lot out there to love.
It is worth noting these aren't the definitive best records of the year, but the best that we have been lucky enough to review. So here is the list, wrapped up with the most sparkly giftwrap bow we could find...
You Dirty Blue, Make Way for the Montage EP - March - 10/10
As in 2018, we only handed out one 10/10 review for this year, and it went to Tamworth duo You Dirty Blue for this excellent six-track EP that blew the cobwebs from our earholes like the greatest of spring cleans in March.
There is so much funk and swag slipped under the sometimes grunge, sometimes desert rock guitars, bass organ and drums - it's a booze-fuelled teenage house party rolled into slick snippets of musical magic.
The absolute masterpiece is Loose Hips, a limb-flailing riot with more than a double dosing of funk in the undercurrent. It's a proper road trip of a song, our hero riding forth into the sunset to achieve his goal.
Read the full review here.
3TEETH, METAWAR - July - 9/10
If readers were to picture Korn, Rob Zombie and Rammstein meeting in a darkened room to craft a charity track to promote awareness of listening to brash, heart-thumping music - then some of this might make the cut of their final recording.
LA five-piece 3TEETH released this 13-track corrosion of industrial metal that thumped, pounded and erupted from start to finish with real oomph in July.
Huge industrial walls of sound run roughshod over the landscape, swallowing everything up as they progress, while the danger-infused atmospherics are deliciously aggressive. It's like an abrasive liquid being poured on your soul and asking what you are going to do to cope with it.
Read the full review here.
Fontaines D.C., Dogrel - April - 9/10
In April, Dublin City's - what the D.C. in their name stands for - Fontaines reminded us why guitar-led indie lad bands were still relevant in the musical sphere with this brilliant debut full of passion and rip-roaring riffs.
They take elements of the big guitar bands of the early 00s indie scene, throw in some authentic Joy Division-esque grizzly undercurrents and believe in extended, engrossing instrumentals rather than showy solos. These were showcased in one of the gigs of the year too at Birmingham's O2 Institute last month.
Our favourite track here is the mercurially beautiful Television Screens. This is where those lo-fi Joy Division frills emerge, dancing along behind frontman Grian Chatten's best Roddy Woomble impersonation. It's a fantastic song.
Read the full review here.
Black Futures, Never Not Nothing - August - 9/10
Futuristic, apocalyptic landscapes crafted by explosive sounds that fuse elements of industrial, rap, metal and rave. The debut Black Futures record this summer was like Michael Bay has remade Mad Max, The Road and The Terminator in the same movie. And it's magic.
It was songwriting with The Prodigy and producing IDLES' work that helped this dynamic duo - calling themselves Space and Vibes - craft their style. And you can definitely hear the production values of the former on this record.
There's so much going on here. And it should be heard and enjoyed by everyone.
Read the full review here.
SUE, It Will Never End - May - 9/10
Kinver's SUE are the first band on this year's list who have appeared in the Star's Unsigned column, and fully deserve to be here with their debut album.
This molten pot of guitars, percussion and guttural screeches is almost nuclear. The distorted finish to the sound - recorded, produced and lovingly nurtured by frontman Elliot Stone himself - is deliciously slick while unnervingly dangerous.
The guitars simply growl, the percussion pops like little gunshots through the smog and the angst-ridden vocals howl through the night like a banshee trapped in a well of despair.
Read the full review here.
Self Esteem, Compliments Please - March - 9/10
‘I am overwhelmingly proud to have finally made the record that’s been sitting in my guts since I was a child’, says Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem.
And so she should have been. Rebecca, as one half of duo Slow Club, always had a more folky public persona. At least in her music. This was a gargantuan break from that. The big basslines. How each track differs so vastly from the one before. The gospel choirs and other vocal elements she utilises in the choruses.
There is so much to love about this album. We should hold the experimentation and youthful exuberance up high as a ‘how to’ guide to making a modern pop behemoth.
Read the full review here.
JAWS, The Ceiling - March - 9/10
Another spring-time gem was the third from rising Birmingham stars JAWS - which added some real shark-bite to their sound.
Imagine Foals having gotten up on completely the wrong side of bed today and are throwing right hooks. That's the level of ferocity this trio added to their third full-length venture into the studio.
You really can't look past Do You Remember? That grit-filled guitar intro has early 90s Manics ringing through it, and the pace kept up throughout the choruses barely lets up.
Read the full review here.
DragonForce, Extreme Power Metal - September - 9/10
Labelled the fastest band in the world, their rambunctious guitar solos, retro video game sound affects and uplifting melodies tread a fine line between serious and farce, and that is just how their fun-loving live shows want it.
This latest offering - the last that will feature bassist Frédéric Leclercq and their first without long-time keyboardist Vadim Pruzhanov - sees the Londoners opening up a whole new layer of fun.
This record probably sounds more like the soundtrack to popular virtual reality kids show Knightmare than anything else. If David Bowie had gone heavy with his music career it's possible it would have sounded like this.
Read the full review here.
Bayside, Interrobang - October - 8/10
Harnessing all of the New York quintet's strengths, their stellar, 10-track eighth album starts hard and heavy with album-titled single Interrobang, through to the sunny Medication, metal-tinged Bury Me and anthemic closing track White Flag.
On this record, every band member is an MVP - Anthony Raneri's powerful vocals work harmoniously alongside Jack O'Shea's furious guitar licks, Nick Ghanbarian's moody bass lines and Chris Guglielmo's hair-raising drum sections.
Bayside simply chose to let loose. Unpredictable song structures and experimental tracks make for one of their most daring, and perfectly executed albums yet.
Hear the album here.
The Chemical Brothers, No Geography - April - 8/10
No Geography is the ninth studio album in The Chemical Brothers' collection, and even now - 24 years since debut Exit Planet Dust arrived - they are showing us they remain completely and utterly relevant - nearly taking home the gig of the year crown too for their Arena Birmingham show last month.
The sound of this record is essential right now. With the world in political, social and criminal difficulties, a feeling of hope is more important than ever.
From the uplifting and breezy synths that paint a sun-kissed picture through much of the music to the hushed, easy-going guest vocals of Aurora. From the light and free-flowing beats that power the whole record to the Moby-esque sampling of gospel and soul refrains. No Geography is the closest we've got to the perfectly succinct and flowing record from these guys.
Read the full review here.
Lions Of Dissent, Fear Of Loathing EP - November - 8/10
Another former Star Unsigned column act to feature on this list, the new EP from Wolverhampton collective Lions Of Dissent was a fantastic reminder of the glory of Britpop last month.
They moulded five tracks into one continuous piece of music for their sophomore EP, creating what they describe as "a window into another universe - a combination of big ideas, gigantic ambition and unfiltered expression".
Five big-sounding potential live anthems take the retro look-backs of another former The Star Unsigned column act Grande Valise and drag them into the futuristic soundscapes of modern psychedelia.
Read the full review here.
Hot Chip, A Bath Full Of Ecstacy - June - 8/10
As the album title suggests, it's a happy place - and this latest record from Hot Chip is described by the five-piece as a "celebration of joy".
While their early music encapsulated a much darker, beat-heavy and industrial electro sound, this is much breezier, freer if you will. Both aspects of Hot Chip's evolving sound are brilliant, we are a fan of both. And the outwardly positive opines captured here were perfect for summer.
The highlight is Hungry Child. The most flat-out dance you could hope to hear from the guys, it starts with a spaced out intro before various elements join the party to burst into the kind of lo-fi party anthems that populated New Order's 2015 hit record Music Complete.
Read the full review here.
Charli XCX, Charli - September - 8/10
Thee is so much to love about Charli XCX - her creative swagger, fusing genres and doing as she sees, not as others ask; overcoming setbacks and not being afraid to change tack when one direction hasn't quite been working out for her; her continued collaborations with female artists that promote girl power.
Collaborations are the theme for this record, executive produced with A G Cook and featuring a plethora of her friends including Lizzo, Christine and the Queens, Haim, Troye Sivan, Brooke Candy, CupcakKe, Big Freedia, Sky Ferreira, Clairo and Yaeji.
At the centre is Charli, who also impressed at Birmingham's O2 Institute in October, a seemingly inexhaustible visionary who rips up of the pop template and does it her way.
Read the full review here.
Ashen Crown, Obsolescence - October - 8/10
With links to Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton and Birmingham, the debut album from these metalheads had roots clamped in right across our readership area.
The band dropped eight tracks of the deepest sludge and death metal to please the ears and get the circle pits going among their following hordes.
You should head straight to Crimson Sea and listen to that gorgeous guitar solo two thirds through that plays out like a love ballad in the middle of this crashing cacophony powered by the low, guttural vocals of Kieron Scott. It's a wonderful near-seven-minutes of power that has to be heard.
Read the full review here.
The Twang, If Confronted Just Go Mad - November - 8/10
One soundbite from a spokesperson for Birmingham's The Twang summed record number five up perfectly when they said: "It is a reminiscent throwback to times gone by and youthful love in the 1990s."
It definitely does have that feel of yesteryear. The summery, reminiscent guitars; Phil Etheridge's softly delivered vocals; Ash Sheehan's hopeful and positive-thinking drumming.
Nearly everything here shouts of summertime beer garden slurps, happy times shared with friends full of laughter.
Read the full review here.
Do you agree with our choices?
Maybe your favourite record didn't make the final cut, or perhaps you hated one of those that did?
We welcome readers' opinions on the matter. To have your say, tweet your choices to @LSanders_Star, @EandS_Ents or @ShropsStar_Ents or email the address below to join the debate.
