As we ease into the closure of 2019, it’s time to pause, and bathe ourselves in the glorious new music that this year has yielded, along with some personal thoughts from our respected guest artists and friendly bands that have been conntected to IDIOTEQ for years. Today, we’re pleased to present a brief end of the year commentary and stand-out albums that Damien Moyal (DAMIEN DONE, AS FRIENDS RUST) feel have bubbled to the top. Check it out and go here to see the rest of this year’s lists (2018 + 2017 wrap-ups are here and here).
2019 was a great year for Damien Done. We were sad to see one guitarist leave, but very lucky to have found a great replacement almost immediately. In the past, the band would work from very developed demos that I’d provide, more or less learning parts I’d written or programmed.
One exciting change we saw as a band in 2019 is that now we write more collaboratively. I’ll bring the foundation of the song (basic chords, vocal melody, tempo) to the table, but from there everyone writes their parts and weighs in on arrangements. It’s given the new material more dimension, and I’m really excited to record the next record. That should happen sometime in Spring of 2020.
As for favorite releases of the year:
Fontaines DC‘s album Dogrel really took me by surprise and spent many, many hours on the turntable.
Fantastic post-punk album that moves between dreary desperation and brash, working class angst.
Others that stood out, off the top of my head, were loved Denzel Curry‘s ZUU, Snapped Ankles‘ Stunning Luxury and the new Pixies album, Beneath the Eyrie.
