The MickRaddest100 for 2019

2019 has been a strange year. Not for the fact that it’s gone super fast (every year, quicker than the last!), but the faster things go, the faster this world, our humanity and the environment hurtles towards an unknown future. Whilst it’s enough to stir up anxiety and uncertainty, there is always one thing that will keep us afloat, no matter how rocky the seas may get.

Music.

I hit a small wall this year that I struggled to get over. It was one where the very thing that keeps me going all of a sudden felt like the thing keeping me down. It was a feeling that I hadn’t felt before and I had to step back and reassess a few things to get back on track.

For that reason, I am glad the end of the year is here. I feel like 2020 is the start of something fresh and exciting. I am motivated to try new things and put myself out there again after a year where everything just felt like too much.

But the music never stops and whilst it can feel like a burden at times (ask anyone in the music biz), it is also the one constant that can keep us going. And it’s been good….really good. We’ve seen breakthrough tracks from new and exciting artists. We’ve seen musical genres smashed and rebuilt. We’ve seen the development of Australia music into something we’ve never seen and that one thing that keeps it fresh and interesting? Well all like something different.

That’s where the ‘End of Year Lists’ come in. It’s a chance to look outside our own little bubbles of music and see what other people were digging over the year. I love looking through the ‘Best ofs’ and catching up on those gems that other people thought worthy of making their list.

So, whether you’re into music a lot, or just dabble on the fringes, I hope you find something in my raddest 100 songs of the year that you can take away and enjoy, either now, or down the track. I’ve shown you mine, maybe you can show me yours? Let me know some of your top tracks as well and hopefully, together, we can grow and share our musical landscapes.

The Breakdown:

Throughout the year, as I listened to music, particularly in the first half of the year when I was doing weekly playlists, I would drag my favourite tracks into a ‘Best Of’ playlist. Over the year, this playlist grew and grew to over 150 songs, so whittling that down to this 100 was a tough assignment!

There are plenty of honourable mentions for songs that didn’t quite make it, but I am really happy with how it’s turned out.

There are three acts this year that featured twice in the list – WAAX, Julia Jacklin and Stevie Jean who counts twice, once solo and again collaborating with Tasman Keith. I probably could have included more songs from my favourite artists, but hey, thought I’d share the love!

Similar to last year, I’ve created some statistics around who was picked..

Artists by location

Australian artists make up 87% of the list. This is up from 81% last year and the number of countries included is way down from the six of 2018 to just four. This really represents the music that I listen to. 9 out of 10 tracks I listen to throughout the year are Australian and I’d have it no other way. There are always going to be those international songs that break through (and one of them made my top ten), but because I really don’t go out of my way to discover international artists, the chances of them permeating my listening habits are pretty small.

The breakdown of artists from around the country was really interesting this year. NSW representation dipped a little from last year’s 51.9% and Victorian artists stayed pretty steady. WA makes an appearance this year with seven artists coming from out west. A. Swayze and the Ghosts flew the flag for Tasmania again and NT gets a point and a half from Stevie Jean from her solo track and collab with Tasman Keith.

Artists by Gender

This category shows just how dominant female and non-male artists have been over the last decade. Growing from 62% last year, I was chuffed to see that almost 2/3rds of the list was created by either a solo non-male artist or a group containing at least one non-male member.

Repeat Offenders

With this being the second year of publishing my favourite 100 songs, I get to compare artists between to two and there’s a number of artists that featured in both years. Julia Jacklin leads the way with 4 appearances in total over both years, whilst WAAX is the only group with 3.

There are a heap of artists that have backed it up in 2019 as well, but there are too many to name! I am sure a bunch of them will be go the three-peat in 2020 as well.

The List

So, here it is, MickRaddest100, which I have renamed because I can and because it definitely sounds better!

The think the list covers a really wide range of genres and shows off just how diverse my music tastes are. I realise that not everyone will be into every song on this list and of course that’s always going to happen with these sorts of things, but feel free to tell me who you would have included and who I’ve forgotten about!

Songs from Ziggy Ramo, Planet Vegeta, Ocean Grove, Drmngnow, Leanne Tennant, Kirklandd and Jorja Smith all nearly made the list, but I had to cull somewhere!

	Track Name	Artist Name	Album Name
100	Stingray	Body Type	EP2
99	Sin	Anfa Rose	Mermaids
98	American Spirit	Washington	American Spirit
97	Flowers & Superpowers	Wafia	Flowers & Superpowers
96	Oh God There’s So Much Love In Me	Kelso	Always a Godmother, Never a God
95	Nerve 2 Reverse	These New South Whales	I Just Do What God Tells Me To Do
94	Nobody Knows Us	Anna Cordell	Nobody Knows Us
93	Speak Honestly	Memphis LK	Speak Honestly
92	Good Grief	Spacey Jane	Good Grief
91	What Are We Doing?	EGOISM	What Are We Doing?
90	2000 And Whatever	Electric Fields	2000 And Whatever
89	Eyes to the Sky	OKENYO	Eyes to the Sky
88	December Song	Stevie Jean	Blame Game
87	Dust	Machine Age	Point Of Departure
86	Spot the Difference	ONEFOUR	Spot the Difference
85	Red Light Green Light	Duke Dumont, Shaun Ross	Red Light Green Light (For Club Play Only, Pt. 6)
84	Accidental	Royal Chant	Accidental
83	Datsun	The S-Bends	Nothing Feels Natural to Me
82	Resolution	SAFIA	Story’s Start or End
81	Connect To Consume	A. Swayze & The Ghosts	Connect To Consume
80	Daisy	Pond	Tasmania
79	Feel Good Summer	SCABZ	Feel Good Summer
78	Rolling	Michael Kiwanuka	KIWANUKA
77	Separate Houses	Press Club	Wasted Energy
76	Chalkline	A.D.K.O.B	Nothing Is a Waste of Time
75	So Caught Up	The Teskey Brothers	Run Home Slow
74	Butter	Triple One	Butter
73	Home	Caribou	Home
72	Solid Gold	PNAU, Kira Divine, Marques Toliver	Solid Gold
71	Texas Sun	Khruangbin, Leon Bridges	Texas Sun
70	Blunt Razor	D’Opus & Roshambo	Mind Right
69	Apples	Little May	Blame My Body
68	Jellyfish	Slowly Slowly	Jellyfish
67	Patience	Tame Impala	Patience
66	Vacation Forever	Violent Soho	Vacation Forever
65	Only If the Water is Cold	Baby Beef	Friction Burn
64	P()L4R	The Kite String Tangle	P()L4R
63	Exit Sign	Hilltop Hoods, Illy, Ecca Vandal	The Great Expanse
62	Me & You	Ceres	We Are a Team
61	Lark	Angel Olsen	All Mirrors
60	Blackfellas	Nooky	Blackfellas
59	Dare You Not To Dance	Haiku Hands	Dare You Not to Dance
58	Summer of ’42	Kishi Bashi	Omoiyari
57	Mirror	jayteehazard, Meezy478	Mirror
56	Dumb	Alpine	Dumb
55	It Doesn’t Matter Why	Silversun Pickups	Widow’s Weeds
54	We Don’t Care	Polish Club	Iguana
53	Ghost Town	Mojo Juju, Joelistics	Ghost Town
52	WUTD	Genesis Owusu	WUTD + Vultures
51	The Pull	Eilish Gilligan	The Pull
50	Pressure To Party	Julia Jacklin	Crushing
49	Gold	The Buoys	Gold
48	Seventeen	Sharon Van Etten	Remind Me Tomorrow
47	The Swans	Dust of Us	The Swans
46	The Piss, The Perfume	Hayley Mary	The Piss, The Perfume
45	Double Dreaming	Bad//Dreems	Doomsday Ballet
44	The Monologue	Coda Conduct, Nyxen	Other People’s Problems
43	Got You	Amyl and The Sniffers	Amyl and The Sniffers
42	Dylan	Jess Ribeiro	LOVE HATE
41	Why Don’t We Get Along	Kira Puru	Why Don’t We Get Along
40	Alchemy	L-FRESH The LION	Alchemy
39	Landmine	I Know Leopard	Love Is A Landmine
38	Obsessed	Hatchie	Keepsake
37	R U Ok	The Lazy Susans	Now That the Party’s Over
36	Delete You	HANDSOME	Delete You
35	Silver	DMA’S	Silver
34	2001	Carla Geneve	Carla Geneve
33	Kitchen	Annie Hamilton	Kitchen
32	Take Some Time	Sweater Curse	See You
31	I Don’t Get Invited To Parties Anymore	Alex Lahey	The Best Of Luck Club
30	Not	Big Thief	Two Hands
29	boy with the winfields and the wild heart	flowerkid	boy with the winfields and the wild heart
28	Tea Stains	Didirri, Ro	Tea Stains
27	A Holiday	Lisa Caruso	A Holiday
26	Weightless	100	Weightless
25	FU	WAAX	Big Grief
24	Another Day	#1 Dads	Another Day
23	DFTM	Cry Club	DFTM
22	bad guy	Billie Eilish	WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
21	Holograms	Tiny Ruins	Olympic Girls
20	Fear Of Missing Out	Ainslie Wills	Fear Of Missing Out
19	Ur A Piece Of Shit	Ali Barter	Hello, I’m Doing My Best
18	Bill’s Mandolin	Psychedelic Porn Crumpets	And Now For The Whatchamacallit
17	Love Is Heartbreak	Cousin Tony’s Brand New Firebird	New Romancer
16	Tricks	Stella Donnelly	Beware of the Dogs
15	Juice	Lizzo	Cuz I Love You
14	Real Thing	Middle Kids	New Songs For Old Problems
13	Dylan Thomas	Better Oblivion Community Center, Phoebe Bridgers, Conor Oberst	Better Oblivion Community Center
12	Overstayed Your Welcome	BATTS	The Grand Tour
11	OneFourThree	Hermitude, Buddy, BJ The Chicago Kid	Pollyanarchy
10	Miss Shiney	Kaiit	Miss Shiney
9	Grain By Grain	Horrorshow	New Normal
8	Better in Blak	Thelma Plum	Better in Blak
7	Prey	Tasman Keith, Stevie Jean	Evenings
6	Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You	Julia Jacklin	Crushing
5	Pasta	Angie McMahon	Salt
4	READY	Montaigne	Complex
3	Blankenship	DIIV	Deceiver
2	Final Form	Sampa the Great	The Return
1	I Am	WAAX	Big Grief