Firstly, albums are not a thing of the past! Lof of people have claimed that this format was not relevant anymore in the streaming era, but the artists below have proven the contrary this year. Albums remain the best way to fully express an artistic direction and a vision.

Then again, it’s never easy to definitively rank albums so we guess that this list is only a photography of our tastes at this very moment. In one year, it could be totally different…

Finally, if you like any of these releases, and we’re sure you will, don’t forget to support the artists. Streaming is a good start, but it’s unfortunately not enough.

On Friday, we will unveil our Best Tracks of 2019 and you can already check the 20 EPs and Mixtapes that made our year. But for now, here are our 50 favourite albums of the year (you can also browse the entire list with our Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page).

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50. Konradsen – “Saints and Sebastian Stories”

49. Sneaks – “Highway Hypnosis”

48. Tobi Duchampe – “The Saddest Game.”

47. Kelsey Lu – “Blood”

46. PAT – “Love Will Find A Way Home”

45. XUXA SANTAMARIA – “Chancletas D’Oro”

44. Toro y Moi – “Outer Space”

43. The Japanese House – “Good At Falling”

42. Dorian Electra – “Flamboyant”

41. Bodywash – “Comforter”

40. Holly Herndon – “PROTO”

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39. Stella Donelly – “Beware of the Dogs”

38. Black Belt Eagle Scout – “At The Party With My Brown Friends”

37. Carla dal Forno – “Look Up Sharp”

36. Octo Octa – “Resonant Body”

35. TR/ST – “The Destroyer – Part 1”

34. Sharon Van Etten – “Remind Me Tomorrow”

33. Thom Yorke – “Anima”

32. Common Holly – “When I say to you Black Lightning”

31. Jessica Pratt – “Quiet Signs”

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30. Boy Harsher – “Careful”

29. Two People – “First Body”

28. Charli XCX – “Charli”

27. Nilüfer Yanya – “Miss Universe”

26. Yeule – “Serotonin II”

25. Noah – “Thirty”

24. Crumb – “Jinx”

23. Morabeza Tobacco – “Morabeza Tobacco”

22. Tyler, the Creator – “IGOR”

21. Clairo – “Immunity”

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20. Angel Olsen – “All Mirrors”

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19. Aldous Harding – “Designer”

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18. 100 gecs – “1000 gecs”

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17. Danny Brown – “uknowhatimsayin¿”

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16. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Dedicated”

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15. JPEGMAFIA – “All My Friends Are Cornballs”

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14. Sir Babygirl – “Crush on Me”

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13. Chromatics – “Closer To Grey”

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12. Men I Trust – “Oncle Jazz”

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11. FKA twigs – “MAGDALENE”

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10. Lana Del Rey – “Normal Fucking Rockwell!!”

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9. Weyes Blood – “Titanic Rising”

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8. Jenny Hval – “The Practice of Love”

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7. Maria Somerville – “All My People”

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6. Requin Chagrin – “Sémaphore”

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5. Big Thief – “U.F.O.F.”

(It was really not easy to decide and it could have been “Two Hands” as well)

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4. Caroline Polachek – “Pang”

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3. Grace Ives – “2nd”

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2. BEA1991 – “Brand New Adult”

(and artwork of the year)

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1. Erika de Casier – “Essentials”

Montreal’s Bodywash are readying the release of their debut album. Following up on the dreamy singles “Eye To Eye” and “Reverie“, they have now unveiled a cloudy and languid new track: “With Heat”.

About the origins of the track, Bodywash’s Rosie Long Decter stated:

[su_quote]’With Heat’ began as something entirely different – a ‘90s alt-rock instrumental that Chris wrote in 2016 for a contest. We’d pretty much decided not to include it on the album, but in October 2017, while Chris was upstairs recording guitars for some of our other songs, I holed myself up in an empty room beneath the studio to break the track down to its bones. I changed the key, altered the chord progression, and overhauled the sound, aiming for something fuzzy and warm and wistful. The idea of reworking it had been floating around my head for months, but the whole thing actually happened in three days – I tracked the synths and vocals and then Chris did the guitars at 2am on our last night there.[/su_quote]

She then added:

[su_quote]The song comes from a feeling of being trapped – of returning to something you know is bad for you, whether that thing is a relationship or a place or a feeling (for me, it was all three). It gets at the tension between giving into a toxic situation and trying to forgive yourself for it, while still hoping for a way out. With the video, we wanted to convey that tension – to create a sense of claustrophobia, of being enveloped and haunted by something that you can’t quite articulate. A woman moves through a house, touching the walls, exploring, looking for something; she might not ever find it, but she keeps looking.[/su_quote]

The track also comes with a beautiful video (their first one) which was directed by Max Taeuschel. According to Taeuschel, “‘With Heat’ explores longing, instability and acceptance through a surreal night in a house experiencing opposing elemental effects. Using copious smoke, coloured lights, and shooting a CRT TV through water, the video evokes a dreamy fantasy within the suburban mundane.” Watch below.

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A few weeks ago, we introduced you to Montréal’s Bodywash, a five-piece consisting of Chris Steward (vocals and guitar), Rosie Long Decter (vocals and guitar), Rian Adamian (guitar), Tom Gould (bass) and Ryan White (drums), the latter being also part of ambient pop duo why try. Following up on their crepuscular and dreamy offering “Eye To Eye,” Bodywash are now back with a new single, “Reverie,” which is actually the opening track of their upcoming debut album.

Like their previous jam, “Reverie” is a song to get lost in with its hypnotic guitars, misty layers and distant, ghostly vocals. Evoking the world of dreams and chimeras and recalling Beach House and Slowdive to mind, these elusive soundscapes were inspired by a moment of delusion during a high fever. In their own words:

[su_quote]’Reverie’ is a fever dream – literally. Chris first started writing the song while delirious and weak from a high fever, couped up in a small, dark-walled rehearsal space. That sense of confinement made its way into the song, a mounting tension that gives way to a manic need for release. Reverie wasn’t meant to progress in a linear fashion, though it’s anchored by a steady motorik beat. We expected there to be a chorus or refrain, but as it turned out, the song needed to just build to that breaking point – a kind of ‘micro chorus’ – in order to open itself up again. The track gestures towards a hope for something new, even if that something is just a fantasy. Its frantic escapist bent erodes distinctions between real and surreal, subject and object. All that prevails is a desire to float to the surface – whatever that surface may be.[/su_quote]

Luminelle Recordings has been on a roll. Formed in part by the good people at the always-excellent Gorilla vs. Bear, Luminelle has maintained an incredible track record of releases — from Helena Deland‘s gorgeous EP gorgeous EP series to the eagerly anticipated Morabeza Tobacco full-length out next week. And now it appears they’ve added another signee to their growing roster with Montreal five-piece Bodywash.

Other than appearing at last year’s SXSW conference, a performance which Cassie Morien over at Indie Shuffle raved about, the group has been relatively quiet since releasing their debut EP in 2016. But today Bodywash drop their new single, “Eye to Eye,” and it’s a dreamy jam that lives up to band’s name as the layers of rich, hazy textures wash over you. The song opens on a lovely, melancholy minor-key synth progression that, when the beat drops about 30 seconds in, one could easily mistake for a more washed-out version of a late-80s-era Pet Shop Boys b-side. The resulting sound could be said to be the sum of synth-pop, dream-pop, and psych-pop — an equation the band itself has dubbed “cream pop.” According to band member Chris Steward (vocals/guitar):

[su_quote]Synth Pop isn’t a good way of describing us. We aren’t synth driven, we are much more guitar based and a bit heavier than synth pop. We have our own brand of Dream Pop, our own take on it and so thats where Cream Pop came from. Yeah, it’s heavier. It’s been whipped. So thats where that came from. It’s more pasteurized.[/su_quote]

Genre labels aside, “Eye to Eye” is certainly a song to get lost in — even when, just a bit past the 3-minute mark, the track takes an unexpected turn. The bass guitar holds down the funky groove while a slew of keyboards twinkle, all before everything crashes all around you in a deluge of Slowdive-inspired sound. It’s a noisy end to a poppy tune, but it all makes perfect sense in their able, talented hands. Check it out and be content knowing that more is definitely on its way.