2018 : Albums

Actors : It Will Come to you

This is straight-up, throw-back, new wave but it is done perfectly. Just synthy and poppy enough that your New Order and Love and Rockets records will be pissed.

American Pleasure Club : a whole fucking lifetime of this

Beautiful songs that he seems to churn out with no effort. Moments of Elliot Smith’s gentleness, Sunny Day Real Estate’s catharsis and – not my favorite moment but – even the strange techno-jam. They all add up to an exciting and sweet album. But from what I saw live this man is a train wreck.

Amerigo Gazaway : The Miseducation of Eunice Waymon (Nina Simone & Lauryn Hill)

A nice trip down two warm familiar paths at the same time. Normally, I’m leery of mash-ups but together this all sounds new, natural and fresh. Lovers of Lauryn and/or Nina get on it.

Bambara : Shadows on Everything

Their past albums have been eerie works of heavy and dissonant dark rock. I liked that, but with this one they’ve become a favorite. Some of that experimentation was replaced with bar room rock-n-roll, letting their spooky swagger shine through like The Birthday Party or The Jesus Lizard. The singer is a real frontman, pacing the stage with a charming but confrontational swagger you can’t stop watching. One of the best live shows I’ve seen in years.

Bodega : Endless Scroll

Upbeat post-punk, new-wave that reminds me a lot of my childhood. These awkward rhythms and odd guitars make up one of the best discoveries of my year. There are unmistakable nods to Talking Heads and ESG but with its roots in the heavier side of 80’s indie punk.

Brandon Coleman : Resistance

Modern electro-funk Jazz. Undoubtedly a fan of Debarge, the Whispers, De La Soul, Stevie, Herbie Hancock and plenty of Jazz that I’m not savvy enough to name-drop.

Buck Meek

Americana folk over off-kilter, indie guitar songs.

Christian Fitness : nuance – the musical

With songs titled “do you even moisturise?” & “full morrissey”. I don’t need to explain what is great about this.

Ganser : Odd Talk

Guitars that wail, stop and then wail again, something like Guy Picciotto (Fugazi) over Joy Division drama. A song here and there changes the mood with some bigger melodies, pretty walls of guitar and singable choruses.

Georgia Anne Muldrow : Overload

Future soul music. Her sound is unique but has reference points of Alice Coltrane, Funkadelic, Bjork and Erykah Badu … All original and experimental. Strong, intimate, and politically and socially powerful.

Here Lies Man : You Will Know Nothing

Stoner-metal afro-beat is not a gimmick. It’s like peanut butter & chocolate or avocado & sardines!

Hinds : I Don’t Run

Hyper-catchy songs that could fit along side anything by The Ramones and The Go-Gos. A young, catchy, optimistic band from Madrid.

IDLES : Joy as an Act of Resistance.

True-original-school punk with all that earnestness and solidarity but a more mature, thicker, better bottom-end sound.

Jean Grae & Quelle Chris : Everything’s Fine

This makes me feel young. Cut from the same stuff of De La, Jungle Brothers, Black Sheep and The Goats (Remember them? No?). The jokes are as clever as they are poignant, social, political skewers. Like the defeated sigh implied each time you hear, “Everything’s fine …” And they are married! Isn’t that just the cutest.

JPEGMAFIA : Veteran

All the punk spirit that ODB brought into rap, but more cerebral. Sounds kind of broken and unfinished creating excitement and drama. Hip-hop with ingredients like PIL, Black Flag, ODB, Bjork, Liars.

Kagoule : Strange Entertainment

Angular guitar with vocals, melodies, and time changes. This band has their own prog-punk sound but some bits take me back to Shudder To Think.

Lando Chill : Black Ego

The whole album is deep with funk and psychedelia. Intended or not, I hear a lot of Del, Digital Underground, Ohio Players, Funkadelic and some Roots Manuva.

Lean Year

Quiet and somber folk. I was going to say something like “Portishead plus Drunk (or Spokane)” then I looked them up to find half of the band (Rick Alverson) is Spokane (and Drunk previously). I like him but those projects are claustrophobic, sad and dark. Emilie Rex adds just the right voice to make it less deeply somber and very peaceful. This is a cozy comforting album.

lojii & Swarvy : Due Rent (2017)

A smooth mellow pace that I’ve been missing in hip-hop. The overcast, jazz, soul, reggae samples make this feel way more New York but it turns out to have come out of LA. “due rent” was literally created just to make rent. Still, it isn’t careless or tossed-off but effortless, with a more modern Guru (Gang Starr) or “Kick, Push” era Lupe Fiasco feel.

Marlowe (L’Orange & Solemn Brigham) : Marlowe

Upbeat timeless rap with a bounce. A bit of Madlib in the production and Solemn Brigham is an enthusiastic, engaging MC with plenty of style and swagger. Choruses that you find stuck to your brain hours later wandering the grocery aisles.

Melody’s Echo Chamber : Bon Voyage

Manic bursts around some prettier Blonde Redhead and a bit of early Tame Impala melodic, psychedelic guitar rock.

Mick Jenkins : Pieces of a Man

Using Gil Scott-Heron as a muse will always get me listening and Mick Jenkins pulls it off. I’d casually listened to others but this one grabbed me. I’m paraphrasing poorly, but he describes the album as a discussion of manhood and lessons learned through reactions to past albums attitudes toward masculinity and femininity, in the hope of continuing a discussion. Top-notch production, self-aware, thoughtful content and his flow made this a very high ranking favorite beginning-to-end album this year.

Mount Eerie : Now Only

How did he write and sing this? It feels too hurt and personal to listen. As with “A Crow Looked at Me” before, it’s heartbreaking. And I don’t think he is thinking about us listening at all. That’s a big piece of the beauty … He wrote these for himself and his late-wife. He doesn’t care if you are listening. I’ve still never heard anything like it. Seeing him perform these songs was tearful and heart wrenching.

Mykelle Deville : Peace Fam (2017)

Another fairly laid-back album that scratches all the right places for a classic rap fan. Cool and inventive but Mykele’s influences are also my reference points. Check out “Shea Butta” – a positive feeling love story that brings me back to the long-ago underground group, Binary Starr.

Noname : Room 25

I love Noname. Telefone was the new-wave Digable Planets reincarnation I’d been waiting for … For a long time. Room 25 is more of that but with confidence that comes from knowing you now have people’s attention. Most importantly, she tells a great story.

Odetta Hartman : Old Rockhounds Never Die

Whether you’d call it an Appalachian folk album with electric, indie experiments – or an experimental indie album with folk affectations – it’s a wonderful, unusual, original album with a familiar feel to it.

Petite Noir : La Maison Noir

He was quiet and pretty on the last one, and came out with big bouncing beats on this EP. A little bit of a South African Sandinista (Clash) maybe. Big rhythms, eclectic styles make this album bounce and its lyrics stick.

Pink Siifu : ensley

A smooth hip-hop, R&B trip. Experimental but not abrasive. Effortless, strange and spontaneous.

Renata Zeiguer : Old Ghost

I was surprised not to hear more hype around this album. Very melodic and very eclectic. Spacey, Pixies surf rock crashes into gently sung vocals that sound like they’d come from a 50’s pop group. The songs are catchy ear-worms, given a good indie rock bite with sharp, unabashed guitars and time changes.

RLYR : Actual Existence

A metal Tortoise? As someone who is generally ambivalent to music with no vocals it takes a special instrumental band to draw me in (Mogwai, Lighting Bolt, Tortoise, GYBE). I guess this is fairly post-rockish. Some might argue math-rocky. To me it feels more metal than robotic math-y changes.

Rose Droll : Your Dog

This is not what I was expecting. I was expecting intimate pretty and quiet. It is, but it’s also sharp witted, half spoken-word indie pop. Pitchfork called this yoga loft music or some crap. No. This is inventive, wry and snarky. Yoga is never snarky … Or any of those things.

Run Child Run : Vanishing Point

Having a hard time describing this. Melodic, rhythmic and soft… Eclectic styles rooted deep in rhythm. Layers of loops with a warm voice weaving in a catchy melody. For me, this is a blend of James Blake, Nina Simone and Paul Simon (maybe?).

Sidney Gish : No Dogs Allowed

This album feels great. The songs are quick, sharp, odd, catchy, guitar pop packages. Simple and sweet with great hooks that really worm into your head. Sidney Gish’s lyrics are upfront and snarky, and you get the feeling that she could tell stories for days. One song is named “I’m Full of Steak and Cannot Dance”!

Special Interest : Spiraling

Snarling, spitting, young, unpolished, new wave punk. Not pretty but invigorating. The stomping, “Young, Gifted, Black, In Leather” opener alone is worth including this album on my list. This New Orleans group have that confrontational earnestness of a very young and hungry band.

The Molds : Saltine LP

This may not be intentional, but to someone who spent a lot of time listening to college radio in the 90’s, this is 1st generation Subpop (Drop Nineteens, Pond). It’s murky and rough, very melodic and dissonant.

(Oops – broke my alphabetical order)

Tunde Olaniran : Stranger

This is some full on pop R&B that twists and turns more than any other pop music. Check out “Mountain” which is a bit of “Toxic”, Frank Ocean, Big Freedia, some Prince. It’s all over the place, fun and deep.

Virginia Wing : Ecstatic Arrow

Stoic vocal (Nico/Stereolab/Cate LeBon), early 80s synths and beats (ESG), big melodic sing-along choruses and some super-sleepy-heroin-dream moments

Warmduscher : Whale City

A big mash of guitar, rhythm, irreverence, humor and bass! Speaking of bass … “Big Wilma” has got to be some sort of nod to the Chemical Brothers, “Block Rockin’ Beats”

White Denim : Performance

Most fun album of 2018. Cheap Trick, T.Rex style glam rock. Shameless, catchy, fun rock’n’roll.

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan : Dirt

A perfectly balanced genre-blending band that plays with art-rock, metal, prog-rock, psychedelia and some sweet pop hooks. A lot of YT//ST’s lyrics focus on indigenous and Asian-Canadian experience – A voice you don’t hear much in rock music. If you have the chance, their shows involve dramatic face-paint, costumes and sweaty-intense performances that will give you goosebumps.

Omar Apollo : Stereo EP

This, his first release, is a concise EP of D’Angelo and James Blake loving R&B. No wasted space, just a quick EP of the good stuff.
(And yeah – out of alpha. order because sometimes I make mistakes that don’t seem worth fixing.)

Algiers : The Underside of Power

Knox Fortune : Paradise

Petite League : RIPS ONE INTO THE NIGHT

Pure Muscle : Demonstration

Rostam : Half-Light

ScienZe : Ella

The Cure : Head On the Door

Vulfpeck : Mr Finish Line

Kemba : Negus

Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou : Ethiopiques, vol. 21 : Piano Solo

Anderson.Paak : Oxnard

Why is no one talking about this amid their raves about the album?
Yeah … Musically, this sounds as great as his last albums. This time though, I can’t get past his sudden – and really heavy-handed – misogyny. Is anyone still interested in hearing that? I’m not sure why, but I assumed Anderson.Paak was from a more grown-up school than RHCP-grade blow-job skits.