UKNY for December 29

December is a peculiar month: a heady rush of too many obligations and tasks, with a denouement of tinsel-and-lights disorientation, rumination, maybe time off, more time spent with family or friends, and if you're lucky, a sliver of blissful peace. A time to recalibrate, think back on the twelve months that have raced by, and look ahead with hope (or dread) to the year that lies beyond fireworks and overindulgence.

On tonight's "UKNY" at 11, bits of all of those things, with songs about the twelfth month from bands like Brighton's Thyla who'll begin the new year with another EP, Everything at Once, due out in February. Also, the first chapter of a two-part retrospective of some of my picks for the best albums and songs of 2019 from artists like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Underworld, and Victoria Hume, all of whom have something to say about releasing grief and pain and forging ahead with an open heart. I'll have something new from Radiohead's Ed O'Brien too, who finally releases his debut solo album in 2020.

Also, remembering musicians we lost in 2019, like Talk Talk's Mark Hollis.

That's "UKNY" tonight from 11 p.m.-midnight on 90.7, also streaming, on your app and other devices, and available on demand later in the Weekend Archives.

Songs played:

1. Thyla, “December,” Everything At Once EP
2. Le SuperHomard, “Snowflakes,” Meadow Lane Park
3. Jeremy Warmsley, “December,” A Year
4. Michael Kiwanuka, “Light,” Kiwanuka
5. Little Simz feat. Michael Kiwanuka, “Flowers,” GREY Area
6. EOB, “Brasil (radio edit),” single
7. Thom Yorke, “Dawn Chorus,” Anima
8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Bright Horses,” Ghosteen
9. Underworld, “A Moth at the Door,” Drift Series 1
10. Victoria Hume, “Desert,” single
11. Talk Talk, “Time It’s Time,” The Colour of Spring