Best & Worst Albums of January, 2019
By: John T. Dougherty
Tags: Rock, Songs, Music, Best Albums, Album Review

Image Credit: VinylDog (and respective artists)

Last month in the music world was not a case of “fuck you, it’s January,” as YouTube movie critics/production company Red Letter Media like to tout, at least if you’re paying attention to the numerous albums that came out this month. Although I did not have enough time to review every single album, here are the ones which stood out to me, along with some not-so-good (You can find the full written reviews for each of these albums on my Medium page).

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Best Albums:

Sharon Van Etten — Remind Me Tomorrow

1. Sharon Van Etten — Remind Me Tomorrow

The alt-rocker comes back after a near-five-year break, in between acting in several shows and becoming a new mother, to release this gem of a record with production help from John Congleton. Slow rockers like “I Told You Everything” and singles like “Seventeen” and “Comeback Kid” carry this album as she continues to write detailed songs about life and heartbreak. (Four out of five stars).

2. Tallies — Tallies

Toronto-based dream pop band comes up with some pretty sweet cuts on a solid debut; when it works best is when the band is combining surf rock and dream pop. Some of it is familiar if you’ve listened to Mazzy Star and the Sundays even if you might think it’s derivative. Otherwise, a lot to take in and the vocal work when listening again are amazing. Keep an eye out for these kids. (Best Cuts: “Easy Enough,” “Trouble”) (Four out of five stars)

3. Better Oblivion Community Center — Better Oblivion Community Center

Coming off an excellent debut EP with the alt-girl supergroup boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers teams up with Bright Eyes-singer songwriter Connor Oberst for an almost-concept album as the two alt-rockers share painful detailed songs as they usually do so elegantly on their separate projects. Might be a small dot in their resumes, but it’s a dot worth checking out (best cuts: “Dylan Thomas,” “Didn’t Know What I Was in For”). (Three and a half out of five stars).

4. Toro y Moi — Outer Peace

One of the last folks doing chillwave is back with some groovy, smooth tracks, starting with the first three (“Fading,” “Ordinary Pleasure,” “Laws of the Universe”) and continues to stay solid for most of its time, but when it falls short is when it tries to do trap. The autotune on this thing is used to its advantage. (Three and a half out of five stars).

Worst Albums:

gnash — we

1. gnash — we

The singer of the one-hit wonder “i hate you, i love you” shows no signs of growth, nor maturity on a snoozefest of a debut (One out of five stars).

2. Julia Michaels — Inner Monologue Part 1

Despite Michaels’ advocacy for mental illness on a song like “anxiety,” the fact that this forgettable EP is building up to a debut album is giving me anxiety (One and a half out of five stars).

3. Weezer — Weezer (Teal Album)

Longtime fans might get a kick out of this one and some of the covers sound decent, but this is just a filler album in the end (and that’s before the problematic appropriation of their cover of TLC’s “No Scrubs” and the lame attempt to do Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean”). (Two out of five stars).

4. Maggie Rogers — Heard It In a Past Life

What an absolute letdown this one turned out to be, as Rogers just does not have the most appealing voice which combines to underwhelming results on several overproduced songs, even if there’s hints of talent. Maybe next time. (Two out of five stars)

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