Bob Boilen's Top 20 Albums For 2019
The All Songs Considered host shares his favorite albums of the year, from Big Thief and FKA Twigs to Billie Eilish and Mdou Moctar.
These are my favorite albums of 2019. The flood of music and the variety of music in 2019 felt exhilarating, though also overwhelming. I couldn't keep it to my usual top ten, so I extended it to twenty.
My list includes fewer debut albums than ever before; Billie Eilish and Nilüfer Yanya are the exceptions, along with the Better made an outstanding pop record. You may know the song she co-wrote with Sharon Van Etten, "Seventeen." The Good Ones is a group from Rwanda, three farmers and survivors of genocide making, music with the likes of Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, Nels Cline of Wilco, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, and Fugazi's Joe Lally. And for bizarre atmospherics, I recommend FKA twigs and Nils Frahm.
