The Best of 2018
Well, 2018 was a weird one for music. Most of the heavy hitters were absent or were working on other projects. Think of Kendrick calling the shots on the Black Panther soundtrack and Thom Yorke composing the Suspiria soundtrack. And a lot of bands who've featured on this list previously just didn't do it for me this year. Looking at you, Father John Misty and Lykke Li. So this year is almost all new artists, which is great. 2018 really forced me to dig into new stuff more than I wanted to. In that regard, I do have to acknowledge all the great female indie acts that are popping up these days: Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, boygenius, Kali Uchis, The Beths, Snail Mail, etc. At the end of the day, though, none of them made my last 10. The current political environment with feckless, opportunistic Republicans letting our know-nothing emperor gut our political institutions has me just a little bit ticked off. I realized when I compiled my list that the basic theme of the list is anger touched with a couple of albums to take the edge off and dial the anger down a notch. It's the most bipolar top 10 I've ever compiled. So with that....
Albums that didn't make the list but that you should know about anyways
Nive Nielsen and the Deer Children - Feet First
This album came out in 2016, but I clearly just discovered it this year after taking a hiking trip to Greenland. Nive Nielsen is an Inuit singer based in Nuuk, Greenland that collaborated with some indie rock royalty on this album. It's super cool, most everything on this is in English and very accessible but some of the best tracks are those sung in her native Greenlandic. Check out Tulugaq:
The Chestertons - Into the Unknown
Despite being the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland has a bit of a checkered past in terms of a music scene. While the area did churn out the likes of Trent Reznor and Chrissie Hynde, our most famous musical export (for reasons no one understands) seems to continue to be dad rocker, Michael Stanley. But never mind that now, the Chestertons are local boys who I also happen to have known for decades. They've definitely found their sound with the Chestertons, though. Lots of hook-laden goodness here that will remind you of the Killers at their best.
Top 10 of 2018
10. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
As I do all too often, I totally disregarded this album when it came out even though I had heard Pynk once or twice on the radio and thought to myself "hey, that's kind of catchy". It was only after I saw that All Songs Considered labeled it their top album of the year that I thought I should really go back and take another look. This is basically this year's Lemonade for me. When I did finally check it out and saw that the video for Pynk has everyone dancing in vagina pants, well then I was really sold. Lush, layered, angry, sexual, danceable, it's a great listen.
9. Brian Eno - Music for Installations
This is the part of the list that represents my calm down music. This is as brainy as easy listening electronic music can get - encompassing all of Brian Eno's efforts at creating "discrete music". Obviously, you're not going to jam out to this on your way to work. This is, by definition, background music but it's miraculous how listenable it is as background music. The packaging is beautiful too with accompanying documentation explaining the various artistic installations Eno's music has been paired with over the years.
8. Fontaines DC - Too Real / Chequeless Reckless EPs
So this is actually only two EPs that were released this year which, if you combine with another EP released at the end of last year, amounts to a total of 6 songs. But if this was an actual LP it would be top 3 for sure. This Dublin group makes post-punk the way I remember it: loud, angry, but melodic and listenable. There's going to be an LP coming soon and it's going to be good.
7. Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog
I definitely haven't ignored the female indie rocker revolution. It's just that Frances Quinlan's scratchy howl is more suited to my temperament these days. It's also one of those albums that gets better and better with each listen. It's complex, there's not a whole lot of space that's been wasted. A drum fill added here a set of strings added there. You'll pick up on a lot of complexity listen after listen.
6. Low - Double Negative
Another album that you're really going to have to commit to. The first time I listened to it, I thought that the album was all scratched up. Laden with feedback and reverb, it's definitely a little non-traditional. But trust me, it's worth the effort. The music builds into this melancholy swell overlaid with these Cocteau-Twins-ish angelic vocals. Beautiful.
5. Marlon Williams - Make Way for Love
While I will always, always love Gin Wigmore, this is my newest Kiwi musical crush. This album teased at the end of last year and finally came out around April 2018. I can't quite place Marlon's bass voice that every now and then goes into falsetto. It's like a much more melodic, much less darker Nick Cave. He can definitely croon. But all the songs on here are lovingly crafted pieces of pop bliss. Just a really enjoyable album.
4. Kamasi Washington - Heaven & Earth
And I think we can say that jazz is seriously making an honest to God comeback. And not just with the sixty plus set. Having played on tracks with Kendrick Lamar and showing up on the likes of Jools Holland and KEXP, Kamasi Washington is already there. The smartest musical talent I've ever seen play - at one concert I went to he commented that the band couldn't agree on the time signature of a piece they had constructed but that he thought it was in 41/7 time. Not too many songs written in 41/7 time. And this album has a lot of musical nerdiness in it as it stretches well over 2 hours - he redoes the theme to Bruce Lee's Fists of Fury and composes in ode to Street Fighter.
3. Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
Speaking of female singers with a howl, no one has a thing on Rolo Tomassi's Eva Spence. This album has the single best curveball ever. The very first track with vocals on it (Aftermath) is all power pop sweetness. So, it's fine. You think it's nice, but just so, so tame. The very next track (Rituals) is melt your face, Pantera-like screaming over an incredible bevy of math-rocky guitars. And it is the same woman singing. It's incredible. I don't know how her voice isn't destroyed at this point. It definitely helps to listen to this album if you're angry, but give it a listen regardless. Despite what you might think about the singing, the songs are actually symphonic in a way and the Diamanda Galas-like vocals actually fit perfectly with the music.
2. Mitski - Be the Cowboy
In a lot of ways, this album is the anti-Rolo Tomassi. It's like 16 perfect 3 minute indie-pop songs rolled into one bundle. There's not a whole lot of variety on here, but the sheer volume of approachable indie rock is a little incredible. Song after song after song is solid. And as Paul McCartney showed us, you really don't need any more than 3 minutes for a song.
1. Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance
Holy smokes. This album will definitely blow you out of your seat, but you really have to see Idles live. The best way that I can describe the songs on this album is that it feels like they stalk you. There's just this sense of nefarious relentlesness in the pacing of the songs. It's like the soundtrack to being chased by a slasher in a bad horror movie. It creates this building sense of dread that almost always ends up in this cataclysmic release at the end. Put on top of it one of the best social commentary albums in recent memory and seem seriously excellent lyrics. Things like "I am my father's son, his shadow weighs a ton" and "watching Get Carter does not make you suave". It's incredible.
