And here are the other fifteen. A few FOr notes: Mitski tumbled after my relentless late August/pre-Labor Day listening; Parquet Courts sounded rather cloddish by the time I gave it my first listen in early December since June; and Janelle Monae’s album is her best but songs, memorable ones, cost her; and Dierks Bentley delivered his strongest album at the same time he figured out how to trim his beard and style his hair, anchored by a terrific title track, a surging Brothers Osborne collaboration, and “Nothing On but the Stars,” which my friend and colleague Brad Nelson has compared to American Music Club.
Thanks, y’all.
1. Tal National – Tantabara
2. Cupcakke – Ephorize
3. Pistol Annies – Interstate Gospel
4. U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited
5. Speedy Ortiz – Twerp Verse
6. Tracey Thorn — Record
7. The Chills — Snow Bound
8. Kali Uchis — Isolation
9. Superchunk – What a Time to Be Alive
10. Eric Church – Desperate Man
11. Earl Sweatshirt — Some Rap Songs
12. Toni Braxton — Sex & Cigarettes
13. Amen Dunes – Freedom
14. Alex Anwantder – Latinoamericana
15. Bali Baby – Baylor Swift
16. Meshell Ndegeocello – Ventriloquism
17. Troye Sivan – Bloom
18. Vince Staples – FM!
19. Ravyn Lenae – Crush
20. Ashley Monroe – Sparrow
21. The Breeders – All Nerve
22. Dierks Bentley – The Mountain
23. Mr. Fingers – Cerebral Hemispheres
24. tUnE-yArDs – I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life
25. Mitski – Be the Cowboy
26. Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
27. Mariah Carey – Caution
28. Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy
29. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!
30. Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
31. Pusha T – Daytona
31. John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness
32. Ashley McBryde – Girl Going Nowhere
33. Rae Sremmurd – SR3MM
34. Cloud Nothings – Last Building Burning
35. Noname – Room 25
Humanizing The Vacuum 