For those who are interested, here are my favorite albums of 2019:
New LPs:
Reissues:
This year I bought WAY more used LPs than new releases. Not exactly sure why as I’ve always tried to be on the forefront of knowing new music when released. I guess I just found more used stuff I wanted to buy and since we can’t buy them all, I opted to hold off on buying the new releases until I knew I really wanted them. With the increase in new LP pricing, I’m tempted to stream the album for a few weeks to make sure I’m going to like it before dropping $20-30 on something I may never listen to again. I did DJ a lot this year, probably 15+ times, and it’s always easier to spin used records that I know will work in the mix rather than trying to cram in a new song I’m not totally familiar with. So that probably had me shopping more used than new too.
I did buy a lot of indie stuff on Bandcamp this year that I’m forgetting to include above. Those were mostly cassette releases though as the artists are too indie to afford to press vinyl. It felt good to support them by buying something physical directly from them (and yes I do have a cassette deck so I can listen to the tapes). Most of those are weird avant-garde type releases or beat tapes, good stuff to play in the background while working.
Maybe I’m being lazy too since my kids are now sixteen and keep me up to date on new releases…what they like and don’t like. That always makes for a fun conversation each Friday when new music drops.
May all of us music nerds find more of our white whales in 2020…
Aaron Hartley 