The 50 Best Local Songs of 2019

The Coathangers have never shied away from political issues, but the trio usually focus their righteous riffs on gender equality and male hypocrisy. “F the NRA” doesn’t just strike a different target, it’s the most pointed political anthem they’ve written to date. It’s also a welcome reminder that just because the trio have been doing this for over a decade doesn’t mean they’ve have run out of things to say—or incendiary ways to say them. – RR

Call me cliché, but the blossoming of a relationship is still the closest analogue we mortals have on Earth to magic. And in a world of jaded memes and veiled meanings, Curt Castle’s “Across State Lines (Supernova)” offers nothing more than a straightforward love letter to falling in love. Over a hushed organ, Ryan Engelberger recounts his impromptu dream date in Asheville, replete with the beach, a bottle of wine, and an embrace under the stars. And as he embellishes the most important part of the story—you know, the kiss—we can almost taste that sweet old magic on our lips. The wiles of love are mysterious indeed, and Engelberger keeps that mystery alive with this twinkling gem. – LA

Phenom is a label that gets tossed around far too liberally in hip-hop circles, but there’s no doubting that DavidTheTragic earned the distinction when he dropped his new project Bender earlier this month. I would be hard-pressed to call “Mad” the “best” song on the record, but it’s certainly the one I keep coming back to again and again. Every square inch of the track crackles with manic energy, from A1Devin’s elastic production to Kenny Mason’s magnetic hooks and Jazz Ingram’s stutter-step rhymes. Still, DavidTheTragic manages to outshine them all with a commanding, shapeshifting verse that establishes the young spitter as a voice to be reckoned within Atlanta hip-hop. – AS

If The Path to Fast Oblivion is Deep State’s meditation on trauma and how it’s perpetuated, then “Son” serves as the album’s treatise on regret. And yet, there is something in the song’s roaring guitars and sing-song vocals that sound inescaply triumphant. Perhaps this isn’t the sound of remorse after all, but the rejoicing that follows when we achieve understanding and acceptance. In any case, one thing is clear: in darkness or delight, Deep State sure know how to carve out a glorious ripper. – GC

The wonders of the digital age never cease, eh? Now, giant corporations can gather heaps of data about their consumers—the products we buy in tandem, the goals we plan for, the people we love. But at the top of this year, interstellar casanovas Delorean Gray reminded us that we can still keep secrets from those prying eyes. Manga-hoarding nerds might lead the way on the path to personal enlightenment in the perky, OMD-like sunshine of “Otaku Punk,” but anyone with an offline stash of lore can follow in their footsteps. – LA

One of the magical things about creative collaborations is that we get to hear—in actual, practical terms—a specific set of possibilities. In the case of Dot.s’ partnership with Karaoke’s Grace Bellury on the alluring “Evil Lines,” we find ourselves confronted by a more spectral and shadowy version of the former, as well as a sleeker, more pop-indebted iteration of the latter. However you view it, it’s a fortuitous pairing, resulting in one the year’s most luminous and beguiling tracks. – GC

Emmy Law’s “Simple” is a barebones folk song about navigating adult love and struggling to locate your identity in the present. Throughout the track, Law gets lost in the reverie of singing about sleepovers and childhood memories. But rather than taking up a rose-colored nostalgia, the narrator acknowledges they’re enmeshed in the current moment, however complicated that may be (“It’s not quite that simple / But I’m glad you’re here with me”). All the while, the song’s delicate balance betweem piano and Law’s gossamer voice makes you wonder about the last time you let anything be simple. – Ethan Fogus

These grooves, man! I could glide into Grand Vapids’ “Disjecta” any day of the week. The spiraling guitars. The insistent hop-skip propulsion. The agitated vocals sounding halfway between self-doubt and admonishment. It’s not exactly catchy in the pop sense, but there’s something about the confluence of these elements that lets it seep into your consciousness and linger in your head. – GC

The gorgeous symphonic opus featuring L.A. producer GlitBiter on vocals is a dramatic example of Gregorio Franco’s willingness to challenge perceptions of electronic music. The spacious track owes as much to gothic metal as it does to synthwave, but it still pulses with the same power underlying the rest of his work, while proving there’s more to Franco’s songwriting than thunderous violence. – RR