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last week, we compiled a list of the top 50 songs of 2019, and this week, we are celebrating the end of the year by taking a look at some of our favorite albums and EPs of 2019.  it’s been a great year for music in connecticut, so good that i initially planned this as a “top 10”, and then abandoned those plans for a “top 20”.  and yeah, now we’re at the top 25 because it was impossible to just narrow it down to 20.  

and even with that said, there are albums and EPs that are not on this list that are excellent, beautiful, smart, and better than anything i could have ever written.  like the last list, you’ll see significant blindspots: metal, hardcore, emo, and punk are mostly missing from this list.  i’ll own that — that’s my fault.  and there are others that are too recent that i have not been able to catch up with!

and finally, here are the criteria for inclusion in the list: only one song per band, because otherwise a quarter of this list would just be Eel People and Crag Mask songs. demos don’t count.  unfortunately, this means that we will have to wait until next year for SAP and Pulsr, who both have excellent music that is not formally released yet.  bands/artists must live in connecticut, which is painful because it excludes Reduction Plan and He Was An Artist, She Was A Carpenter, two projects that released music i loved in 2019.

this list is not ranked. it is ordered by band/artist name (alphabetical).

here is a spotify playlist with (most) of these songs, but the best way to support these artists is by buying straight from Bandcamp and seeing them live! please throw some cash their way if you can.

A Will Away – Soup
Check it out on Bandcamp!
The Naugatuck band’s new EP fits somewhere between muscular pop-punk and melody-forward alt-rock.  Unabashedly catchy, these songs are loud and trimmed of any fat.  Oh hey, I used the word “fat”, I wonder if I can make some funny “soup” puns here. God, heartbreak sounds like a lot of fun.

Ceschi – Sans Soleil
Check it out on Bandcamp!
A swirling mix of genres, it would be a disservice to pigeonhole Sans Soleil as “hip hop” as much as it would be slap it with the label “pop” or “folk”.  At 21 tracks, this album is filled with big ideas, as Ceschi flows from his past influences to cutting-edge experiments. 

Crag Mask – Bend
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Knotted-up guitar riffs, heavy as fuck.  I like this band.  Check out a longer profile HERE.

Daniprobably – Conditional Things
Check it out on Bandcamp!
There might be songs about physics on Conditional Things, but this EP is also a lesson in chemistry. Dan Capalbo and Addy Edward work off one another beautifully, not just in their performance, but in the way they complement each other’s songwriting styles. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Doom Beach – Dark Arts
Check it out on Bandcamp!
This is what I imagine Hell feels like.  So impossibly loud, you can feel Dark Arts’ distortion creeping across your skin. This band’s music is a raw, open wound.

Eel People – A Posh & Destructive Cycle
Check it out on Bandcamp!
In the span of a year, Eel People released about 40 official songs (maybe more?). And when I recommend the band to folks, I tell them to start with A Posh & Destructive Cycle, a sleek pop album about self-destruction. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Evelyn Gray – Let the Flower Grow
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Evelyn Gray’s debut album is a machine that generates empathy. The album is dark, unsettling, and stirring, but by its end, it’s one of the most comforting records in this entire list. Why? Because ultimately it lets you know that you are not alone. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Every Branch – Every Branch
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Somewhere, there is a cabin next to a river. The river twists and turns, speeds and slows. The dark corners of the nearby woods get a little closer every day. The cabin is strong — still as strong as the day it was built, and maybe a little stronger now that it has properly settled. Inside, that’s where we stay. That’s the best way I know how to describe Every Branch.

Fleurs – Shut Up
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Alex Falconer, the songwriter behind Fleurs, is a little bit like Dr. Jekyll. In the studio or on the stage, he allows Mr. Hyde to come out to play. Shut Up is a delightful romp through the darker impulses of Falconer’s mind. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Foxtails – Querida Hija
Check it out on Bandcamp!
An explosive, volatile record, Querida Hija allows its music to mirror the turbulent inner life of its songs’ narrator. Prog screamo? Yes, please. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Glambat / Snowpiler – I Feel God in this Chili’s Tonight
Check it out on Bandcamp!
The only split-release on this list, I Feel God in this Chili’s Tonight is a good place to start for any newcomer to the local Connecticut music scene. Glambat’s art-infused pop rock transmutes heavy messages into melodies that go down smooth, and Snowpiler’s “mellow math” playfully keeps you on your toes with its pummeling distortion and angular turns.

Intercourse – Bum Wine
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Nihilistic, self-destructive, and heavy as fuck. I had a friend that, in high school, he put his entire hand in an ant bed. He pulled it out, and showed up his hand, covered in ants, furiously biting him. He laughed, and them screamed, and now he has a scarred hand. This is the music equivalent of Intercourse.

Let’s Get Invisible – The Bitter End
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Abrasive, spooky post-hardcore music. This is what I imagine an actual haunted house feels like. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Matt Falkowski – Bad Posture
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Oh, let me specify here, I mean the Bad Posture that came out in July… the album. Back in March, Falkowski released Bad Posture, the EP of the same name that featured songs that would eventually be re-recorded and expanded for this LP. Brutal in its honest and charming in its charisma, Bad Posture is like Elvis Costello for people that know what apizza is.

Mercy Choir – Upturned in Everest
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Paul Belbusti’s Mercy Choir is a prolific project, and just when you think you’ve got his songwriting figured out, he releases something like Upturned in Everest, his grandest album yet. Mercy Choir swings for the fences on this one, packing each song with catchy melodies, wrenching poetry, and layered compositions, and knocks it out the park. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Queen Moo – Faint Sounds of Us Hanging Out
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Part rock-n-roll, part jazz, part glam, Queen Moo’s surprise album (it was announced a week before it dropped) is a reflection on getting older and more cynical with time. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Sarah Golley – As We Crawl
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Sarah Golley’s second album is an ambitious, theatrical concept record. Making clever uses of vocal samples/loops and lush production, every song on As We Crawl contains its own small universe. This is baroque pop with a beating heart. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Sean Henry – A Jump from the High Dive
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Before moving to New York City, Sean Henry was the boy wonder — with his Boy Crush and High Pop recordings, he was leaving behind a stellar legacy in CT DIY. After moving back to Connecticut and adjusting to the slower pace, he wrote and recorded A Jump from the High Dive with Brian Antonucci. It’s the best album of his already-excellent discography; filled with beautiful melodies, the album goes down so, so smooth.

SHY – Former
Check it out on Bandcamp!
What a sure-handed, confident debut! Perfectly measured, the songwriting on Former is top notch, with the band knowing just how long to take it easy before kicking it up a gear (“Silver Tongue”) or when to pause for great emotional beats (“CT 2 JFK”). Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Snake Oil – Dying of Sunsets
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Snake Oil used to be a collective, but now it feels more like a band. As a four-piece, the dark, moody prog of Dying of Sunsets is Snake Oil’s finest work yet. This warm embrace of paranoia is as unsettling as it is beautiful. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Spit-Take – Falling Star
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Here’s an album that treats you like a friend, like a confidant. You might call Falling Star an indie-rock record; you might call it a punk record. What’s not up for debate, however, is how lived-in Spit-Take’s music is — anxiety and stress is transmogrified into something enjoyable and deeply satisfying.

Standby – We Need More Mountains I
Check it out on Bandcamp!
What I love most about Standby’s first full-length record isn’t just the songs, all of which are excellent. Instead, what I love about We Need More Mountains is the desire to bring in everything, to be inclusive of every influence and passion. Standby have filled this album to the brim with storylines, lyrical easter eggs, and delightful musical nooks-and-crannies to explore.

The Fiction Kids – Souvenir
Check it out on Bandcamp!
I have a falling that The Fiction Kids have an encyclopedic knowledge for late-80s, early-90s shoegaze and alt-rock. Not only does Souvenir conjure up memories of Slowdive, Ride, and Chapterhouse, but it cleverly finds ways to subvert the expectations of those genres too. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Them Airs – Echo Park Bomb City
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Self-described as “post-something”, Echo Park Bomb City is probably more appropriately thought of as “post-everything”: post-punk, post-rock, post-shoegaze. Its surreal lyrics match its surreal, creative, angular guitar riffs. Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Two Headed Girl – Resonation
Check it out on Bandcamp!
Just released a few weeks ago, Two Headed Girl’s second EP is a mature, powerful collection of songs about the connections people have with one another. Those connections, as you’ll hear, range from the interpersonal, to the geo-political. Yeah, I know! Check out a longer write-up HERE.

Waveform* – Shooting Star
Check it out on Bandcamp!
If (Sandy) Alex G and Horse Jumper of Love had a kid together that they loved and supported, it’d be something like Shooting Star. It is cliche’ to say that bands sound “dreamlike”, but the mellow pacing of Waveform*, paired with their loose lyricism, feel like those hallucinatory moments on the edge of sleep.