The 50 Best Local Songs of 2019

There’s something especially intriguing about a masked, secretive artist serving up sensual R&B, and on “1 of 1” Gwai Mak goes all in on his most rapturous jam to date. It’s a layered pop song heavy on atmosphere and impressionistic backdrops, but what really sells the song is the singer-producer’s knack for distilling all those brooding hues into glittering melodies that skip across the track’s surface like light dancing on water. Taken as a whole, it’s a faulty, imperfect work, but the highlights are too radiant and magnetic to pass by. – AS

In the secret corners of the DIY scene, Stone Irwin has divined the future with her solo sets of controlled chaos. While a typical HAINT contraption might befuddle listeners into hypnosis with all kinds of off-kilter guitars and spinning plates, “Probably Human” jolts disbelievers to attention with some old-fashioned grandstanding. Here, Irwin unleashes her hidden rock star, as she rails to reclaim her body from the monstrous stereotypes of transphobic heathens. It’s always a showstopping moment live and this take from her latest EP retains all the defiance of that battle cry. – LA

Hanzo in on the verge of breaking out. His production for stars like Lil Pump, Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, and Hoodrich Pablo Juan has helped generate millions of streams and his solo work enticed Awful Records to offer him on a spot on their roster earlier this year. His music is chamelonic, a diverse medley of sounds and styles that rarely embrace the same aesthetic twice. On the euphoric “SUPERBLOODWOLFMOON,” Hanzo merges his gifted ear for melody with vulnerability, resulting in a massive bop that’s cathartic and emotionally resonant. – AS

Strange secrets or not, anything worth knowing is worth patient examination. That goes double for psychedelic wizards Improvement Movement and their spellbinding single “Strange Secrets Worth Knowing”. Sure, there’s plenty here that’s catchy and immediately gratifying, but the real reward lies in navigating its array of labrynthine passages and unlocking its treasure trove of mysteries. More generous than obsessive, Improvement Movement’s particular magic centers around their ability to take classic constructs and convert them into kinetic structures that spiral and contort into fascinating new patterns and shapes. – GC

The enveloping ambiance that swirls throughout “Do You Really Want It?” should be familiar to anyone who’s paid attention to John Michael Young’s previous work in local dream squad Lunar Vacation. But rather than clarifying all that lush atmosphere through a surf-pop filter, JMY chooses to pack on layer after layer of dazzling hooks and arresting details into a shimmering bundle of kaleidoscopic alt-rock. It’s arresting and transportive, a bold opening statement from a young songwriter just starting to come into his own. – GC

2019 saw its share of dynamic debuts but few were as inventive as Jr. Joy’s dramatic display of genre-bending acumen on “Bitter Cologne.” Combining bits and pieces of offbeat punk, post-hardcore, and jazz with spoken word and field recordings, the track may read like some sort of experimental collage, but the band blends the seams so well you lose sense of the boundaries their pushing. Fantastic flights like these rarely sound this grounded and purposeful, signaling Jr. Joy as a crew watch for in 2020. – GC

One of the thrills of writing for a local music site is watching the artists you’ve championed ascend in real-time. Anyone who’s paid attention to Kenny Mason over the past two years could recognize a young artist on the come-up, but the release of “Hit!” marked a definitive acceleration in his career arc. The bubbling track solidified his status as a budding hitmaker, a gifted wordmsith capable of channeling both Chance the Rapper’s exuberance and Andre 3000’s instinct for weirdo-rap bars that still snap. To put it plainly, few local tracks this year sounded as thrilling and necessary. – AS

The comfortable, conversational vibe of “Hi, How Are You?” is supported by a languid Latin backbeat that challenges indie-pop conventions and should be ringing all the bells and sirens in every musician’s head with the message: Hey you, you can make a simple pop song that isn’t boring as hell, maybe not with as much success as Kibi James, but the least you can do is try. I want to live in a world where every song is this dreamy. – RR

“Heart Aflame” caps off Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party debut EP with nods to ’80s Springsteen and the Cars. It’s a barnburner with big choruses and strutting rhythms. However, the jubilance of the music is counterbalanced against the toxic relationship the narrator describes, as she triumphantly declares, “I almost took your name / There’s no more talk of wedding rings, I’m moving on.” In the end, it’s a deft pairing of both goodbye kiss and kiss-off. – EF

I’ll be straight with you—I totally missed when savvy pop duo Lesibu Grand touched down on the scene. But “Hush Hush” is that rare debut single that can turn strangers’ heads without any context, like a cool youth who knows how to flaunt their retro duds. With just the right mix of wide-eyed wonder and slick romantic know-how, Tyler-Simone Molton draws us into a steamy affair based on white lies and soft skins. Our heroes were wise to not plan a cinematic video behind this one; “Hush Hush” needs no parallel story to convince listeners to sit up and mark Lesibu Grand on their radar. – LA