AOTY Contenders

As we said last month, 2019 is shaping up to be a great year for music, and February is not even over yet and we already have a strong list of Top 10 AOTY contenders for 2019. See the sidebar.

We've already covered Better Oblivion Community Center, Vampire Weekend and Panda Bear, not to mention the triumphant return of Sharon van Etten (Comeback Kid might already be our Song of the Year). Here are some samples from some of the other albums on the list.

We'll start with Florence + The Machine, and if you can't hear why this song made the list, then the Music Desk simply doesn't understand you. Starting with a bluesy drum and piano intro, the three-minute track lays down some gospel licks as it builds into an aggressive rock anthem that takes Welch and the band back to their Kiss With A Fist roots.

Assume Form may or may not be James Blake's best record (many are arguing that it's his worst, but time will tell), but even an off-pace offering from Blake is still good enough to enhance this year's list.  Here's Don't Miss It, a heartbreak ballad that wouldn't have sounded out of place on previous Blake albums. The lyrics are kind of lame, though - it sounds better than it reads - so it's surprising that he chose to promote the song with a lyrics video.

If those first two cuts were too mainstream for you, first, get over yourself and second, here's Atlanta's Deerhunter sounding surprisingly upbeat, especially for a song titled Death in Midsummer while also being just as quirky and odd as ever.

The new Juliana Hatfield record not only sounds so effortlessly cool, from the fuzzed out guitar to the girl-pop chorus, but it's also amazing that Hatfield can still sound so relevant after putting out records for over 25 years (Hey Babe came out in 1992).  The Duxbury native (and one-semester BU student) has definitely got that whole career-longevity thing down.

And speaking of effortlessly cool, check out Toro y Moi.  Freelance might challenge Comeback Kid for Song of the Year (uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah). Once that groove gets under your skin, you don't want the song to ever end (earworm warning).

Yes, boys and girls, we're off to a good start.  Even if the year doesn't bring us anything more, we can still check 2019 off as a good year.