2019 is almost over, but our writers still have plenty to say:
- First, if you’re not done with Christmas music, Thomas Inskeep published two pieces on Rock & Roll Globe about holiday albums past (from Willie Nelson to Mariah Carey) and present (from Rob Halford to Los Lobos).
- Still not done with Christmas music? On his Citysongs blog, Jonathan Bradley talked about the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York” and Marah’s “New York Is a Christmas Kind of Town.”
- Iain Mew’s history of popular video games now has a new home, Super Chart Island; he most recently discussed the success of Donkey Kong Country 2 in the context of British video-gaming entrepreneurial history.
- Follow that up by visiting Bullet Points Monthly, where Tara Hillegeist had a few things to say about the future of video games.
- Hillegeist also contributed to the second issue of Tone Glow, Joshua Minsoo Kim’s newsletter on experimental music, in which Kim interviewed Sunik Kim and Seungmin Cha.
- For Billboard, Alfred Soto paid tribute to the late Marie Fredriksson of Roxette by writing about the group’s final #1 single, “Joyride.”
- Soto also wrote about the work of Ari Lennox, Jamila Woods, Kehlani, and Dawn Richard in 2019 for City Pages.
- Jonathan Bogart posted his top 100 songs of 2019 to his blog.
- We’ve got more lists! On Medium, Ryo Miyauchi offers up his favorite Japanese songs and favorite idol songs of 2019.
- You don’t have enough lists yet! Over at Grooves N Jams, David Sheffieck and Megan Harrington have been counting down their top 50 songs of the year.
- Finally, for High Post Hoops‘s review of the decade past, Jackie Powell celebrated the New York Liberty’s being freed from the clutches of James Dolan.