2019 BEST OF TURKISH MUSIC LIST
It's almost the end of the year. The music mags have given their top 100s, we had #SpotifyWrapped, now it's time for my little round-up. It's been a good year for music, so here are mini-reviews of some of albums & songs that made 2019, in my eyes.
It's almost the end of the year. The music mags have given their top 100s, we had #SpotifyWrapped, now it's time for my little round-up. It's been a good year for music, so here are mini-reviews of some of albums & songs that made 2019, in my eyes.
@_Jakuzi_ is a forced to be reckoned with. Their sophomore album HATA PAYI trades sad sax for sad synths. Self-pitying lyrics in a perfectly packaged musical homage to Depeche Mode & your other 80s faves. "I hope not even my dust remains," Kutay Soyocak's gloomy baritone sings.
@LinPesto began with YouTube covers of 90s pop. So uncool they became cool, in the classic irony. Yet expanding the same bedroom pop formula aesthetic, on SON the mask-wearing, solo musician crafts perfect odes to crippling self-doubt. Put on your headphones, cry, dance.
@gokcekilincer's debut 2016 LP was perfect '60s rock nostalgia. Old Yeşilçam classics given the surf rock treatment. In 2018 and in 2019 she gave us 45s, but these singles aren't enough. Let's hope the roller disco sound of "Bu Son Akşamda" is the harbinger of more to come.
@GayeSuAkyol's new album came out in late 2018, but most of the touring and press happened this year, so I don't want to hear any objections! GSA deserves all the hype. Here's my piece on her powerful March 8 music video for "İstikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir." blindfieldjournal.com/2019/03/13/roc…
@buyukevablukada's FIRTINAYT was such a perfect rock album that I almost want to pretend like it wasn't released in 2017. I guess I'll settle for their 2019 sleeper single "ne deve ne kush" (great weed pun, btw) in which @bartu_k & #Ezhel trade verses. Really, you ask? Really.
#Susamam had lots of people wondering who Deniz Tekin is. A great indie rocker & songwriter, that's who. We only got one single in 2019, but "Yıldızlar" gave fans more of what they love: meditative guitar riffs, lush production, & a voice made of glass. Crystalline and beautiful
From prestigious awards to international tours, @altingunband had a good year. They're riding the psychedelic wave to big things. However fun (I do enjoy them), they are a glorified cover band. It was @Ayyuka_band's MASLAK HALAYI that said something new about Anadolu Rock in 2019
Speaking of Anatolian Rock, @MogollarOnline and others legends are still going strong. Moğollar's bassist @tanerong put out an innovative album, Asrî Sadâ, that is a gift to historians and anyone curious about the weird, old Istanbul. I wrote about it here al-monitor.com/pulse/original…
Like Gökçe Kılınçer, @niluferyanya is based in London. I'm stretching the terms here a bit to include this member of the diaspora who--according to Pitchfork, Stereogum, NPR, and basically everyone--released one of the best albums of 2019, MISS UNIVERSE pitchfork.com/reviews/albums…
@CemOzelOfficial I discovered late this year. But if "Dar Dünya" is any indication--with its Beatles-esque arpeggios, melancholy lyrics, and rich production--we can expect something interesting with the next album. @sonymusicturkey was smart to snag him.
You tired yet?
I sure am. Let’s have a little palate-cleanser here before we switch genres.
Better?
I sure am. Let’s have a little palate-cleanser here before we switch genres.
Better?
By the way, the albums and singles listed here are just the ones that I, naçizane, found most interesting and compelling 2019. I'd love to hear what your favorites were. Feel to respond at the bottom of this thread.
I'll also share a Spotify playlist.
Okay, ready to continue?
I'll also share a Spotify playlist.
Okay, ready to continue?
Undoubtedly, the most important Turkish rap song of the year was #Susamam. From the initial outpouring of support, to the attacks by right-wing press, to the recantations by Mirac & others.. @LiselHintz best captured the power of pop culture in this moment washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…
Speaking on a panel with Şanışer was a highlight of my 2019. Still, Ezhel's "Olay" was the most powerful political song of the year. I appreciate the confrontational stance, haunting music video, the no-BS lyrics: Bende kuruş/sende tomar. I wrote about it: tinyurl.com/yycxfgpw
You all know by now that I've long been a supporter of Ezhel. Even if I think LIGHTS OUT is an uneven album (though it does have a few shining moments). Ezhel has been amazingly prolific in 2019 with some important singles...
Give me a 1,000-word piece & I'll explain why Ezhel's "LOLO" ran circles around Norm Ender's "Mekanın Sahibi" in 2019's major diss controversy. In short, Norm's song represents the eski kafa of Turkish rap (stale flow, toxic masculinity) while "LOLO" rises above to someplace new
2019 was a year of collabs. I didn’t expect how much I'd enjoy @murdaworld. "AYA," "Boynumdaki Chain," and now "Nereye Kadar" are complete ear candy. We're not accustomed to the code-switching or outright raunchiness of lines like "Shawty benim için wet misin," but it's a new era
Speaking of both catchy tunes and collabs, @itslilzey and @Khontkar's "Yolumuz Yol Değil" has been a REVELATION. A 3.5-minute rap gem. It's intensely satisfying pop. Keep your eye out for Lil Zey (a Berklee-trained musician no less!), because we're going to see great things.
I often why wonder we aren't all talking about Aga B. His latest album MUAF is another example of the fierce, cerebral flow he's been developing for years. His lyrics take advantage of the sonic possibilities of the Turkish language over--well--the sickest of beats @basemoderec
Maybe I'm hanging out in the wrong places, because not enough people seem to be talking about Şam either. Mumble rap with a boom-bap twist, he is equal parts vulnerable, witty, & indomitable. His two P.O.P Mixtapes bode well for the 1st album, whenever that drops. @samiloymak
And then there's @sedaerciyes_. Trained in jazz, her only available solo track shows off liqueur-smooth vocal abilities over glitchy-beautiful production worthy of FKA twigs. Ceren İdil, Nova Norda, & Melis Güven are all doing similar R&B inspired work, but this is something else
Finally, EVA's single "Leş" shows that she's the kind of MC we've been waiting for. A woman of the streets, apologetically speaking truth to power & damn cool as she does it:
Leş
Sizin düzeniniz leş, leş
Ortamınız leş, leş, leş
I think we all feel it!
youtube.com/watch?v=yEZkDV…
Leş
Sizin düzeniniz leş, leş
Ortamınız leş, leş, leş
I think we all feel it!
youtube.com/watch?v=yEZkDV…
"UNapologetically," that is. Here's a short article I found about EVA to make up for the spelling error. There doesn't seem to be much more information about this rapper out there. ozgurhiphop.com/turkce-rap-yen…
In case it got lost, here's the playlist @eerdem Also, apologies to everyone because I forgot to include @hedonutopia's spacey rock odyssey ARZU UTOPYASI on the thread. How could I! I've added them and a few other surprises at the bottom on the playlist open.spotify.com/playlist/4NozW…
