The 10 Best Albums of 2018

Another year, another list. There were so many incredible albums that came out this year, this was a really difficult list to make. I’ve featured quite a few more albums this year as I’ve revamped my Honourable Mentions section to give my favorite albums by (relative) genre and are all unranked, so if you are interested in music from a particular genre check those out. I didn’t include all genres (Pop and Country are notably missing) because of my lack of listening to those genres this year. And many of these records don’t fall cleanly into one genre or the albums aren’t representative of the genre as a whole, but this is my list, so if you are interested in what I liked this year, then read on!

Honourable Mentions

All albums are from left to right.

Rap

Some Rap Songs — Earl Sweatshirt
With hazy loops and sad raps, Earl returns with an album that is dense, distraught and dreary.

Veteran — JPEGMAFIA
Experimental, catchy and cutting. Peggy brings an incredible knack for unique beatmaking and great flows with his youthful yelp.

iridescence — BROCKHAMPTON
The internet’s first and best boyband show that they have no signs of slowing down even with the departure of Ameer Van. More experimental than ever but the group sounds even more cohesive with underrepresented members taking the spotlight in Ameer’s stead.

Rock

Twin Fantasy — Car Seat Headrest
A re-recording of Will Toledo’s emotional 2011 album reinforces the fact this band is the most exciting band in rock right now.

Smote Reverser — Oh Sees
Not many bands can make an album this good when they are 21 albums and 8 name changes deep. Smote Reverser is a psychedelic rock banger with some jazz influence to boot.

Tell Me How You Really Feel — Courtney Barnett
On her second LP, Barnett keeps her slacker attitude and continues providing great summery tunes with poignant lyricism.

Metal

Our Raw Heart — YOB
A highly emotional doom metal album influenced by frontman’s Mike Scheidt’s near-death experience finds beauty and vulnerability in poundingly heavy riffs.

Ordinary Corrupt Human Love — Deafheaven
After going darker and heavier on 2015’s New Bermuda the band has created their most seamless blend of post-rock and black metal yet.

I Loved You at Your Darkest — Behemoth
The kings of blackened death metal mine the same quarry as they did on 2013’s The Satanist to great success, and to less surprise.

Jazz

Your Queen is a Reptile — Sons of Kemet
A unique ensemble featuring a tuba, sax and two drummers make for a forward-thinking, constantly propelled latin-jazz album.

Universal Beings — Makaya McCraven
Using his unique technique of splicing together live recordings, Makaya McCraven has created an incredible collection of tracks from his past year of touring.

Heaven and Earth — Kamasi Washington
The ever-ambitious saxaphonist returns with another 2 1/2 hour long excursion into a variety of jazz styles, backed by a full choir and strings section.

Singer-Songwriter

Be The Cowboy — Mitski
Cutting observations and a refusal to let herself be defined by her background launches Mitski’s to new heights musically and lyrically.

God’s Favorite Customer — Father John Misty
After 2017’s deeply political Pure Comedy Josh Tillman focuses his potent songwriting and signature wit on himself.

The Future and The Past — Natalie Prass
On her sophomore record, Natalie Prass takes her same magic mix of Disney style ballads and genres of yore (this time funk) and brings another delightful serving of songs.

Electronic

The Oil of Every Pearl’s Uninsides — SOPHIE
SOPHIE shows off her incredible pop sensibilities and unique production on this experimental pop album.

THINK:PEACE — Clarence Clarity
The first half of Clarence Clarity is a pop triumph, but it peters out in the second half. “We Change” and “Naysayer” are song of the year material.

Age Of — Oneohtrix Point Never
Daniel Lopatin continues to push musical boundaries by never sounding the same, but somehow always sounding like Oneohtrix. He shows a new sense of vulnerability by featuring his own, unprocessed voice on this record.

Now without further ado…

THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2018

10. Year of the Snitch — Death Grips

Year of the Snitch is easily Death Grips’ most experimental and strange album, and we’re talking Death Grips, so that is saying something. In what is far-and-away their least cohesive album to date we find Zach Hill, Stefan Burnett and Andy Morin collaborating with Shrek director Andrew Adamson, Lucas Abela a man who plays broken glass with his mouth and TOOL bassist Justin Chancellor. Can you hear their influences on the album? Neither can I, but that seems par for the course for Death Grips collabs, as they end up twisting and distorting anything and everything to their liking.

This album covers a lot of ground, from the pummelling metal guitars on “Black Paint” to the jazz piano and drumming on “The Fear” it is impossible to know where they are going next on this album. This also makes the album difficult to digest. It is unlike that you will understand what they are trying to do in any of these tracks on the first few listens. “Death Grips Is Online” is a warped 90s rave track that is immediately followed by the perplexing “Flies” where there is barely a time in the song to find your footing as the trickling synths are replaced by aggressive bass and incomprehensible drums.

Death Grips continue to show that their endless creativity and continue to sound like no other band, they embrace chaos and confusion like very few other bands and it always makes for a very rewarding listening experience.

9. New Levels New Devils — Polyphia

Polyphia have a unique blend of trap music and progressive metal that you won’t find anywhere else. They have a keen sense of melody and hooks that you won’t come by on most math rock records. The band has found a unique style and look that people seem to love or hate. The album is an incredibly fun romp through a haze of genres and an incredible slew of guest guitarists (Jason Richardson’s guitar solo on the track Nasty is one of the highlights of the album) makes this album a feast for aficionado enthusiasts. This album also contains incredible drumming and as much bass riffage and slappage one could ask for. This album while incredibly catchy is by no means easy listening as it will certainly take a few good listens for much of the complex songwriting to make sense. If you are a fan of progressive rock I implore you to give this a chance, the production might be a turn-off for purists, but push past that and you will find some of the most fun guitar music you’ll hear in 2018.

8. The Sciences — Sleep

19 years after the release of their last album, stoner doom legends Sleep returned with a surprise album release (on April 20th, naturally) and they did not disappoint. Going their separate ways after a tumultuous recording and release of their 60-minute single-track stoner behemoth, Dopesmoker, Al Cisneros (Om) and Matt Pike (High On Fire) have finally reunited with Jason Roeder of Neurosis filling in behind the kit for Chris Hakius.

The Sciences opens with the title track filled feedback-ridden guitars, obscured melodies. Then we reach the track Marijuanaut’s Theme, which opens with Al Cisneros taking a bong rip (he is credited with playing the water pipe in the liner notes) before we Sleep rips into us with their down-tuned, beefy, bluesy, guitar riffs. The album is chock full of slow brooding riffs that make you feel high even when you are sober. The plodding march on tracks like Antarctican’s Thawed and Sonic Titan make you sink into your chair. This album is full of the doom metal riffage we’ve come to expect from Cisneros and the blistering solos that only Matt Pike can write and the pseudo-religious weed worship we’ve come to expect from the band Sleep. Whether you smoke weed or not, this album is a trip.

7. No_One Ever Really Dies — N.E.R.D.

While this album technically came out in 2017, it came too late for me to put it on last year’s list, so here it is on this one! N.E.R.D. released one of the most fun and interesting albums of the past few years. Pharell’s boyish vocals and unbounded energy make this album an absolute blast to listen to. While the album covers a wide variety of styles and genres it feels cohesive because of the synth and drum sounds that are all over this album.

This album was intended to be a protest album of sorts, but it falls a bit flat in that regard by not having anything particularly new or interesting to say about the current political state and insight into racial discrimination that is about as deep as a kiddie pool. But that doesn’t take away from this album’s incredible production and sense of fun.

6. Dirty Computer — Janelle Monae

While she made her name playing alter egos, Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer is distinctly her. She is open and honest and shows herself to the world. She came out as pansexual and this album shows her celebrating everything about herself. This album celebrates sexuality, blackness, queerness and feminism in a triumphant pop opus. The sex-fueled Prince funk banger Make Me Feel is a testament to Janelle Monae as the whole package, and stunning performer, clever lyricist and outspoken activist. Monae is sexy and she knows it and will not let people try to define her. This album Janelle Monae speaking her truth, proudly and defiantly.

But she doesn’t get ahead of herself, and showing that she is more than just “girl power”, she shows her vulnerability on “So Afraid” proving that this truly is an album for the weak, afraid and discriminated, a group that Janelle Monae is proudly a part of. We’ve known that Janelle Monae has been capable of making great songs, but these great songs make us capable of knowing Janelle Monae.

5. Bark Your Head Off, Dog — Hop Along

Hop Along’s 4th album was criminally overlooked this year as you will be hard pressed to find it on many album of the year lists and that’s a shame. Because this is one of the best and most intricate indie-rock albums of the year. Frances Quinlan started performing under the name Hop Along by herself when she was in high school, but over the past 14 years, Hop Along has grown to be a 4 member ensemble with Quinlan at the helm. Frances Quinlan is an incredibly charismatic frontperson with incredible vocal range and performances that can make it seem like there is more than one vocalist in the band. She can flutter lovingly over her acoustic guitar, or bring out the creak in her voice for that extra bit of emotional power to her powerful, visual lyrics.

The album contains intricate instrumentation incorporating strings, synths and electronic drums in a very precise way that doesn’t get in the way of the organic sound of the live band. This album has creative and deep songwriting that will provide you with new surprises over many repeated listenings. This album slowly climbed my list over the course of the year as I kept hearing more and more in the music that impressed and intrigued. The music is full of great lyrics, catchy hooks and gorgeously busy songwriting. Give this album the time it deserves, I promise you it won’t be a waste.

4. Whack World — Tierra Whack

Tierra Whack is a 22-year-old up-and-comer hailing from Philadelphia who got her start doing cyphers and freestyles. But she has clearly grown beyond that and her talents extend beyond rapping. This eclectic collection of minute-long is packed to the brim with hooks and raps that show just how diverse of a performer Tierra Whack is. From her mumble raps (Sore Loser) and southwest flow (Bugs Life) to her exaggerated southern drawl (Fuck Off) and childish sing songs (Pet Cemetery) Tierra demonstrates that she is one to watch. Speaking of watch, the album is accompanied by an incredible series of vignettes that you absolutely cannot miss.

3. You Won’t Get What You Want — Daughters

Daughters have returned after an 8-year hiatus in an entirely new form. The noise rocker’s known for their blistering, ear-bleeding barrages of sound. But this album is much slower. Much darker. They tone down the unbridled energy and bring up the dread and evil. This album is SCARY. The opening track, City Song, is a slow build that grows more intense as the vocalist Alexis S.F. Marshall grows more and more unhinged, with disquieted bursts of noise leaping out of his chest backing the foreboding lyrics, “This city is an empty glass, Words do nothing, No one sleeps”. This song provides a bottom of the gut, visceral fear of some unknown force, a musical embodiment of anxiety. Then after lulling you into a muted sense of gloom and doom, the second track, Long Road No Turns, bursts in with intense drums and the noisy, signature Daughters guitar tones.

The album is littered with incredible lyricism with immaculate story telling and intense visuals (“That bastard had a head like a matchstick, Face like he was sucking concrete through a straw”) that can be hard to hear through the overwhelming noise, but I highly recommend reading through the lyrics. The album is well paced, noise albums that are longer than 30 minutes can be very difficult to get through, but the middle track “Less Sex” provides the calmest and most melodic song on the album, a necessary reprieve from the intensity, even if it is only for a moment. The darkness remains unrelenting though.

You Won’t Get What You Want is musical oppression, it is a force to be reckoned with it pounds and pounds the listener until there is nothing left, but if you can give into the darkness and violence this album shows unmatched creativity and style in noise rock.

2. Joy as an Act of Resistance — IDLES

The album title succinctly summarizes IDLES new M.O. on their incredible new LP. Joy as an Act of Resistance is simultaneously fill with fierce aggression and unbridled positivity. The opening lyrics of the track Television are “If someone talked to you / the way you do to you / I’d put their teeth through / Love yourself “. In a world with so much negativity and turmoil, this album feels necessary. But Joy positive in a trite, cliche or ignorant form but a targeted strike on racism, body image, toxic masculinity, the alt-right and much more.

The potent songwriting and incredible lyrics bring the Bristol band’s album to another level. The charming pro-immigration anthem/ode to friendship, Danny Nedelko, is the best example of this album. A love letter to diversity with a critique of the fear that fuels the nationalist sentiments found in Britain and the US. But the band also practices what it preaches on the track June we hear a story of frontman Joe Talbot’s daughter who was stillborn in June 2017. This is presented with such emotional honesty and vulnerability that so many are afraid to express due to the confines of toxic masculinity. IDLES is the embodiment of strength in the Trump era. This album has so many important messages backed up by great basslines, incredible vocal performances and vicious guitars that will beat the smile back onto your face.

1. Wide Awake! — Parquet Courts

"Riot is an unfinished grave that was dug to deposit undepleted anger
Like barrels of uranium leaking into something sacred
It is a word to use to de-legitimize your unrest
And to make your resistance into an overreaction"

Parquet Courts says it like it is, folks. From the opening lyrics to the final moments on this album Parquet Courts do not sit idly by and ignore the warped political and social landscape that surrounds them. And boy do they say a lot on this new LP. With Danger Mouse on production the band is more comfortable and confident than ever. This album really pushes the band out of their alt-punk comfort zone as we see them venture into many different genres, the title track is a warped dance track a la David Byrne, “Death Will Bring Change” features a children’s choir and “Freebird II” is the sound of an actually interesting band covering your dad’s current favourite band. This change-up serves the album well as we hear a whole variety of sounds coming from these great young artists that take their garage rock sound and transport it from genre to genre.

Frontman A. Savage has filled this album with incredible lyrics, the track “Violence” has some of the most powerful lyrics of any track on the album opening with the line “Violence is the fruit of an unreached understanding that flowers from the lips of scoundrels” and lines like “This is why we can’t afford to close an open casket, You protect no one by obscuring the mirror that reflects our own problematic reality”. Pretty woke eh? But they are not to be outdone as the title track is a tongue-in-cheek ode to “wokeness”.

And the basslines! Oh my god, the basslines! This album is chock full of tasty grooves played by Sean Yeaton anchors the scratchy guitars by laying down a solid groundwork for the band to go wild over. The songwriting across this album is impeccable and each is filled with incredible hooks, great riffs and smart lyrics. In 2018, this album rises above the rest in relevance and execution.

Originally published at http://sondergardworks.wordpress.com on January 25, 2019.