2019 end of year list

A new account

You should be grateful that people actually noticed you had quit. Remember when Andy did and no one noticed for about six months

Clearly this album needs to be thrown out of Mahoney’s list, every other choice moved down a spot and Lana del Ray inserted at number 1.

I've heard Noel is quickly piling up a compilation record just in case you fail again miserably and decide to include it

Hey guys, it's been a pretty quiet year for me this year, so i'm only managing a top 10:

10. Cliff Richard & The Shadows - The Best of The Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers

A top quality compilation from Cliff and the lads, includes all the big famous numbers from England's version of Elvis. A must have for any fan of sub par, USA knock off Rock 'n' Roll.

9. Rick Astley - The Best of Me

This two (TWO) disc compilation features all of Rick Astley's hit plus other sundries. If you're bang into 80's cheesy shit or the Foo Fighters, this is the album for you. Really tugged on my nostalgia strings this year.

8. Various Artists - NOW That's What I Call Music! 103

The 103rd edition of the infamous 'Now' series of compilations and the strength of the series shows no signs of letting up, released in July of this year, this double compilation album features such future classics as 'Cool' by the Jonas Brothers and 'Summer Days (feat. Macklemore & Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy) [Clean version]' by Martin Garrix, Macklemore & Fall Out Boy. One for your Granny

7.Queen - The Platinum Collection

It wouldn't be a year without a compilation album from Queen, this compilation album actually comprises three previous compilation albums released by Queen, namely 'The Greatest Hits', 'The Greatest Hits II' and 'The Greatest Hits III'. Literally all of the great hits from Queen in one handy package.
A fitting tribute to Freddie (RIP)

6. Take That - Odyssey: Greatest Hits Live

I've been a bit cheeky here guys, and I've thrown a live album into the mix, but it's such a extensive compilation of all The Thater's hits, that it had to be included.

5. The Juan MacLean - The Brighter the Light

Top new album of fresh music from the Juan MaClean, really fun and groovy record, perhaps would have been higher if it didn't just make me want to listen to LCD Soundsystem, but a minor gripe.

4. Various Artists - NOW That's What I Call Music! 104

The 104th edition of the infamous 'Now' series of compilations and the strength of the series shows no signs of letting up, released in October of this year, this double compilation album features such future classics as 'Dance Monkey' by Tones and I and 'The Wind Beneath My Wings' by Colin Thackery. One for your Granny

3.Various Artists - Magic 80's

What it says on the tin, a compilation of super hits from the 80's, as compiled by the ears and minds of the Magic FM honchos. You just can not go wrong with staples such as 'Everybody Wants to the Rule the World' by Tears for Fears and no 80's listening session can be deemed complete without a run through the 1987 classic from, junkie fronted Jock stalwarts, Wet Wet Wet's 'Sweet Little Mystery'.

2. Kylie Minogue - Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection

I mean, this compilation stands on it's own with Confide in Me, and the Dan Carey from Speedy Wunderground produced 'Slow', alone. But then you have all the other hits, from the cheesy early days of 'Better the Devil You Know', to the lovely arse in hot pants disco stomper of 'Spinning Around'. Just classic after classic from kylie.

1.Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas (Deluxe Anniversary Edition)

Technically a re-issue, but we're splitting hairs here, this bonafide classic of the Yuletide season was always going to be my number one, as soon as I found out that it was being re-issued. I suppose in essence it is a compilation of Mariah's favourite Christmas songs, compiled by here and her team, so record and sing and release on this album. featuring the now standard Christmas sing along song for drunken sluts everywhere, 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', alongside some more sombre and humble moments, the verison of 'Joy to the World' here, is simply stunning. A worthy album for my number one of the year. Here's to 2020!

Great list m8 but your number 5 is an album. Why don't you just marry Speedy Wunderground? you're such a desperate fanboi. I hope your 7 inches all melt.

Kev's list should be officially recognized as this years entry from him 

How do we know this new Mahoney is the same person as the old Mahoney? Couldn't someone have just grabbed that username and is now pretending to be him?

Particularly since this new Mahoney hasn't misspelled anything yet.

at everything

Take That should be #1 though

I know Barns, I know. But I just couldn’t, in good conscience, have a live album as my number one.

I'll just throw my 40-16 here and try to write something for the rest...

16. Crocodiles - Love Is Here
17. Ex Hex - It's Real
18. Sheer Mag - A Distant Call
19. Twin Peaks - Lookout Low
20. Ezra Furman - Twelve Nudes
21. Terry & Louie - ...A Thousand Guitars
22. Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
23. Indoor Pets - Be Content
24. The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger
25. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
26. Richard Dawson - 2020
27. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
28. Rex Orange County - Pony
29. black midi - Schlagenheim
30. The Chemical Brothers - No Geography
31. Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1
32. Hatchie - Keepsake
33. Wilco - Ode to Joy
34. The Orwells - The Orwells
35. Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
36. (Sandy) Alex G - House of Sugar
37. Ride - This Is Not a Safe Place
38. Vivian Girls - Memory
39. Cate Le Bon - Reward
40. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest

I feel like I'll only include 6 or 7 from this year on my decade list, and none will feature in the top25 probably

while I fiddle with the remainder of my top 15, here's my top 10 gigs of the year:

10) Massive Attack - Mezzanine XXI in Montreal September 14th. I wanted to like this show more than I did, but I found it slightly underwhelming in the end, but the way they deconstructed the songs by playing full versions of the songs they sampled was neat, particularly since half of the covers were better than their songs.

9) Teenage Fanclub - Montreal March 9th. I wish they'd played here before Love left the band, but beggars can't be choosers. Seeing them in a tiny club bashing out the hits was pretty cool.

8) Thrush Hermit - Ottawa October 2nd. Seeing a band I loved in my youth reunite to play the album they never got the chance to tour behind, 20 years later, was great.

7) Sloan - Ottawa August 24th. I saw my beloved sloan twice this year, once at a festival run by a brewery where they played the hits and one in a theatre where they played one of their classic albums, and then another set of deep cuts. Usually the latter would be up my alley, and the former would elicit a "eh, that was alright" shrug. This year was the opposite. The hits show was amazing and the album show was meh. So it goes.

6) Ride - Montreal September 18th. Drive blind was so heavy, it was dipped in concrete. First time seeing them since they started playing new songs, so was mildly taken aback by over half of the set being post-reformation, but I really like the new one (spoiler alert) so I wasn't too unhappy. Plus, it was a tiny club and it was FUCKING LOUD. Only downside was being super tired and having just had a fight with the wife, I wasn't in the best mood going in.

5) Omara Portuondo and the National Arts Centre Orchestra - Ottawa Jazzfest June 29th. I love orchestra shows (spoiler alert) so I decided on a whim to head downtown for this one, and risk the thunderstorm warning in effect. Glad I did, seeing an 85-year old Cuban legend doing all her hits (?) including the one from Buena Vista Social Club, and then a second set with an orchestra was great stuff.

4) Rodrigo y Gabriela - Ottawa Bluesfest July 5th - wasn't entirely sure what to expect going in, but the main stage at the festival had a country act, so here I was at a small stage being absolutely mesmerized by two Mexican acoustic guitar players just wailing away. Plus a 20-minute cover of pink Floyd's 'echoes'. Huh.

3) Jason Isbell & the 400 unit - Ottawa Bluesfest July 5th - The first 2 hours of the festival that day were wiped out by a thunderstorm and we were genuinely concerned isbell wouldn't get to play at all. Came on about 15 minutes late and proceeded to tear the house down. One of my favourite songwriters of the decade, played everything i'd ever want him to do in 75 minutes, including 2 drive-by truckers songs, and the song he wrote for a star is born. Just an absolute belter of a show.

2) Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Toronto, August 13th. Stop crying your heart out, fuckheads.

1) The Who - Toronto September 3rd. The Who. With an orchestra. MASSIVE. One of my 20 favourite shows ever. Just epic from beginning to end.


Kind of a crappy year, all told. But Ringo awaits in the new year, so all is not lost.

Sad to see you couldn’t fit in the new album from hot young reggae sensation Bob Marley. It’s called ‘Legend’ and features the instant classic ‘No Woman No Cry’. I’m predicting big things for Bob!

You reckon that's good, m8? You should check out the Jesus Abyss best of "Owl on a Skateboard".

karl and jp, thanks for the lists! really happy to see little simz getting the love. and loads of stuff on there to check out that i haven't heard before. xx

Here are my favourite new tracks of my most played artists this year. Will get the album list up soon as well:

1. mirrored heart - FKA twigs
2. a lot feat. J. Cole - 21 Savage
3. Natural Born Killers (Ride For Me) - James Massiah
4. Dirty Laundry - Danny Brown
5. 101 FM - Little Simz
6. Flat Tummy Tea - Freddie Gibbs, Madlib
7. Near DT, MI - black midi
8. take a number - Marian Hill, Dounia
9. Sketch Artist - Kim Gordon
10. Daylight Matters - Cate Le Bon
11. Disturbance - DaVido
12. Lesley (feat. Ruelle) - Dave
13. Oprah - Rapsody
14. All My Happiness Is Gone - Purple Mountains
15. Venice Bitch - Lana Del Rey
16. A Palé - Rosalía
17. Only Child - Tierra Whack
18. Blood of the Past - The Comet Is Coming, Kate Tempest
19. BASQUIAT - Jamila Woods, Saba
20. Barefoot In The Park - James Blake, Rosalía
21. GONE, GONE / THANK YOU - Tyler, The Creator
22. Nothing Great About Britain - slowthai
23. Killin Dem (feat. Zlatan) - Burna Boy
24. Century - Big Thief
25. Hollywood - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
26. Extendo feat. Lil Uzi Vert - young Nudy, Pi'erre Bourne
27. Suge - DaBaby
28. Almeda - Solange, Playboi Carti
29. P.A.T. FEAT. PLAYTHATBOIZAY - Denzel Curry
30. If Yuh Ready - Spragga Benz, General Levy, Hype and Fever
31. Pussy - Young Thug
32. In My Room - Frank Ocean
33. Someday - Weval
34. Things You Bury - Kai Whiston, The Physics House Band
35. Pop Song - Perfume Genius
36. Hey, Ma - Bon Iver
37. Babushka Boi - A$AP Rocky
38. Jogging - Richard Dawson
39. Only Human - KH, Four Tet
40. Capsule - Brian Eno
41. Lantern Flies In Mist - Black Taffy

I can see someone from here putting those into a Spotify playlist called Karl's favourites and including them on the list next year

15. Liam Gallagher - Why Me? Why Not

If you quote my predictions before the release, I wasn’t interested at all. The early singles didn’t engage me that much either. Once looked like one of his best ballads (it is) and the first listen to the whole thing served just to highlight Now That I’ve Found You. Slowly but surely I warmed up to the whole thing and, although it is just what it is, Liam singing with recovered voice and confidence a decent-to-strong collection of songs is something I’ve enjoyed more than I expected.

14. The Roves - All Those Freaks

If you took the early Beatles and removed the more rock’n’roll songs this is more or less what you’d get. Unashamedly retro, I knew about them late last year when I saw the debut featuring high on some list and this is just the following, a slightly lessen version but still pretty nice.

13. Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?

Strong characters tend to disappoint once they slow down. Bradford Cox is not the loudmouthed unpredictable force he used to be, and the rest of the band are married and have children. Still, these desert sessions on Marfa with Cate Le Bon offer resigned songs with welcomed arpeggios, some dusty thoughts and more questions than answers.

12. Jackie Cohen - Zagg

Quirky is the best word that comes to mind, but it’s much more than that. She’s very versatile and fickles between moods and sounds like trying dresses on a spare day, ending up leaning towards a fitting 70s Fleetwood Mac vibe. The production is quite remarkable too, everything Rado touches these days is gold.

11. The Drums - Brutalism

Finding it hard to explain why I’m having The Drums skimming my top 10, but I simply listened to this record more than I’d like to admit. It’s only Jonathan Pierce handling everything these days but it’s not that different from their previous ones, which I didn’t enjoy that much. Bittersweet electro-jangly tunes to dance alone to.

10. CHAI - Punk

Depending on your mood this can be a wild ride or an attack on your senses, really fun nonetheless. CHAI might be purposefully exposing a more naive or basic image of themselves, but the record is incredibly eclectic, melodically engaging and pretty well thought, even the rawest production choices. They look bonkers, but and they’re really clever.

9. Jenny Lewis - On the Line

Reasons why this is a great record:
The cove… I mean, to include more women in my top10!
Ringo plays on it.
The no-no hand movement she does when performing Wasted Youth.
Wasted Youth in its entirety.
King Tuff, Jeff Goldblum and many more featuring in the Red Bull & Hennessy video.

8. Whitney - Forever Turned Around

This feels like a comedown, but only because their debut was such an incredible piece of work. The mood and pace here are denser, sadder and there are far less guitar licks to enjoy (Max Kakacek is still an ace). But they’re still one of its kind, “The Band goes pop”: the arrangements still incredibly rich and the emphasized melancholia goes well with the times.

7. Devendra Banhart - Ma

Maternity and Venezuela are subtly dealt with all along this sweet piece, still finding gaps to include enough humourous spots and a duet with Vashti Bunyan. I’ve never really heard anyone mentioning how great all the Devendra records sound, for an artist coming from the freak-folk scene: all the many instruments are crisp and clear, the whispered vocals charming and reassuring, everything having its own right space. Now he’s a jack of all trades and a master of nearly all of them too.

6. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

I could live inside Harmony Hall and its baggy pianos or the deep guitar/bass that run through This Life. Much lighter and relaxed both in sound and subjects than Modern Vampires, the songs are jammier (their live show has improved a lot) and there’s a lot of satisfactory effort put in the production and flow. Now it’s mostly the show of Ezra & friends but if the results are going to be like this one can’t say he’s doing bad.

5. Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs

Whenever a vocals + guitar record catches my ear (which is very few times nowadays) I simply wonder at the talent needed to sustain a whole album just with that. The production is really unintrusive, which is a virtue because you don’t miss a thing but every nuance in the echo, voice, whatever is a plus. The songs tend to blend together, but here it helps to induce you in a dreamy vibe that is kept during all its short length.

4.Julia Jacklin - Crushing

It’s not easy to approach the things she does here and get out this empowered, but she definitely succeeds, both in the message and the form. It could be considered a concept album, a bitter break up record where the only positive aspect you might concede to the other person is probably coming out stronger to the whole experience, but it’s never preachy. Musically is nothing amazing, lite indie-rock a bit like youknowwho↓↓ (circa 2016) but the first half especially is really really good.

3. The Cowboys - The Bottom of a Rotten Flower

Indiana based / Mahoney recommended, catchy irreverent garage rock with vocals veering a bit to soul which is 100% right up my alley. Now With Feeling and its "Nobody moves/Nobody gets hurt" refrain is one of my favourite moments of the year.

2. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

This time her vibrato is even sultrier, the sound much bigger, the artwork darker and purposeful. She’s totally in control, directing the orchestra with every nuance of her voice. She’s a mermaid, a charmer, a Goddess from a religion yet unknown. And she’s been hurt but she’s back stronger, so over the past but more cynical. The mix is weird and there’s a couple songs that I’m not very fond of but this is a brooding masterpiece, its element is late at night with the lights off and headphones on.

1. Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold

I’m a Carrie Brownstein kinda guy, it seems. I got heavily into S-K during this year (a Brooklyn show was the icing on the top) and the truth is I pretty much prefer her songs, not to undervalue Corin and her powerful lungs. This record is a total departure from their known sound, which let’s be honest, was already well-worn by now. Annie Clark assisted, keyboards were added, Janet Weiss left, people complained and Carrie was blamed. For me this is a fantastic modern pop LP with the required bite and swagger expected from this couple and enough catchy guitar lines to be pleased with. Not 100% brilliant but come on: Hurry On Home, Can I Go On, LOVE, The Dog/The Body… Can’t get enough of it.