#2018 best albums

[alexturner]

thinking about tranquility base hotel + casino today and about how fucking cool it was. like what do you mean you were done writing love songs so you watched a million movies, locked yourself away in your home recording studio (that you named the lunar surface), and wrote a semi-concept album about a hotel on the moon that you invented in your head? where you're both the receptionist and the lounge singer performing two shows a day four nights a week? completely with a taqueria that gets four stars out of five? as mentioned in the lead single that's literally a faux advertisement for the hotel and all its accommodations? in the video for which you play evil twin versions of yourself? and you made a 3d model of the hotel that you singlehandedly, painstakingly put together using cardboard and an x-acto knife? with a sign that literally spins around if you put in on your tape recorder and turn it on? and you made a picture of that model the cover art for the album?

[yannfredericks]

it’s been brought to my attention that maybe it’s not common knowledge that in many of the hpcc casts yolly (yann fredericks + polly chapman) are considered canon so I’m here to fix that

they’re everything to me and if I ever stop posting about them I’ve died

[cellulardreams]

Julien Baker, boygenius by undertheradarmag Via Flickr: Thalia Hall Chicago Chicago, IL November 13th, 2018 Photo © Joshua Mellin per the guidelines listed under "Owner settings" to the right. twitter | instagram

[kveom]

i was tagged by @sevencoloredstar, @squishy-woozi and @wonufied to do this tag game! this was so fun thank you hehe also interesting to see everyone else's choices

i'm not sure who's done this already but tagging: @kimsmingyu @bandzboy @s-lay-ing, @zyx, @ppanghanni and @irlvernon

blank template below

[to-thelakes]

IT JUST OCCURED TO ME SPOTIFY WRAPPED SEASON IS NEARLY UPON US

[pompomangels]

Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus, boygenius by undertheradarmag Via Flickr: Thalia Hall Chicago Chicago, IL November 13th, 2018 © Joshua Mellin per the guidelines listed under "Owner settings" to the right. twitter | instagram

[lilidawnonthemoon]

6 years ago today Red Velvet released Bad Boy/ The Perfect Red Velvet- the 2nd album repackage ❤️‍🔥

[crush3dmary]

Every day I beg Emily Haines on my hands and knees to put Cut in Half and Also Double on Spotify and every day I remain disappointed

[strangledeggs]

The Best Albums Of 2018

If you want to see a full review of any specific album on this list, or are wondering why a particular album did or didn’t make the top 10, or are wondering why an album you like from the year in question isn’t on this list at all, send me an ask about it and I’ll try and respond!

The Top 10

Room 25 by Noname

Invasion Of Privacy by Cardi B

A Laughing Death In Meatspace by Tropical Fuck Storm

Wide Awake! by Parquet Courts

Whack World by Tierra Whack

Superorganism by Superorganism

Transangelic Exodus by Ezra Furman

Be The Cowboy by Mitski

Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides by SOPHIE

Três by Thiago Nassif

The Rest

Care For Me by Saba

Conexão EP by Amber Mark

DAYTONA by Pusha T

Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae

Ephorize by CupcakKe

Foreign Ororo by Riton + Kah-Lo

Guatemaya by Doctor Nativo

Hive Mind by The Internet

I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life by tUnE-yArDs

Interstate Gospels by The Pistol Annies

Queen by Nicki Minaj

Quite A Life by Lyrics Born

Record by Tracey Thorn

Snares Like A Haircut by No Age

Streams Of Thought Vol. 1 by Black Thought

Tantabara by Tal National

Temet by Imarhan

The Terror End Of Beauty by Harriet Tubman

DROGAS WAVE by Lupe Fiasco

There’s A Riot Going On by Yo La Tengo

Things Have Changed by Bettye LaVette

Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz

Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest

Un Autre Blanc by Salif Keita

What A Time To Be Alive by Superchunk

What Happens When I Try To Relax by Open Mike Eagle

Your Queen Is A Reptile by Sons Of Kemet

Coming off of a previous year I described as lackluster, this is more like it. 38 albums in total, but more importantly, I had a particularly difficult time picking the top 10 for this year. The top 3-4 proved especially difficult – I was pretty certain after a while that Noname’s “Room 25”, perhaps the peak of what one can accomplish with the “personal is political” mantra, was going to take the top spot, but was I prepared to admit that Cardi B’s pop triumph “Invasion Of Privacy” was better than Parquet Courts’ best album yet? And so, apparently, was Tropical Fuck Storm’s unrelenting “A Laughing Death In Meatspace”? It hurt me to rank some of these things the way I did, but because of this, I’m fairly confident that you could pull any of the top 10 albums at random and have a great time regardless. Just make sure to watch the videos for Tierra Whack’s album, too, since they’re a whole work of art in themselves (it’s 15 minutes of your life for one of the most creative hip-hop visual spectacles of the century so far, come on, just do it).

What’s more, typing out the rest of the list made me realize what an awesome year this was simply by how many I realized I was sad to have to leave out of the top 10. Let me tell you, in any number of weaker years (like the last, or perhaps the next one, as you’ll see), contributions by Speedy Ortiz, Superchunk, Open Mike Eagle, Harriet Tubman, No Age, The Pistol Annies, Saba, Amber Mark and more would have made it into that upper tier. It’s a true testament to the strength of this year’s releases that they didn’t; I would strongly recommend checking out much of the second-tier list as well if you’re looking for the outstanding accomplishments in hip-hop, country, indie rock, desert rock and believe it or not, avant-garde jazz (Sons Of Kemet deserve a shout-out here, too, for their unique brass band approach).

One strange quirk I’ve noticed about this year is that it features several artists who seem either to have peaked here, releasing a lesser follow-up in the next few years, or who have yet to release a follow-up at all. Parquet Courts, No Age, Noname, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, The Internet, Cardi B, Tierra Whack, Mitski, Superorganism and sadly even Tropical Fuck Storm and the aforementioned Sons Of Kemet all fall into these categories to varying extents. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong in some way on at least a few of those soon, but even if they don’t bounce back, many of those artists can rest easy knowing they’ve created at least one masterpiece, which is more than most can say.

Speaking specifically to a few trends I noticed from the previous year, I will acknowledge that “mainstream”-leaning pop remains under-represented here, though I think this may just be my general bias as a critic to ignore most of it or even to recognize that the stuff that makes it on to my radar as interesting enough to write about is still too inconsistent to make a year-end list in terms of quality. Then again, I put Cardi B, breakout pop-star of the year, at #2, so you can’t complain too much there. Second, I should clarify that while I said in the previous year’s essay that I was ready to re-listen to Mount Eerie’s follow-up grieving-process album “Now Only”, I ultimately felt that it couldn’t hold its own against the other albums I selected for this year’s list. Which, again, is just an indication of how good 2018 was; nothing against “Now Only”, it’s still a very good album and you should listen to it if you...enjoyed(?) “A Crow Looked At Me”.

Finally, I’m glad to see a bit more music from outside the “western” pop sphere sneaking onto this year’s list as well. Thiago Nassif’s Tom Zé-like “Três” made the very end of the top 10, but you’ll find Guatemala’s Doctor Nativo, Nigeria’s Kah-Lo, Niger’s Tal National, Algeria’s Imarhan and Mali’s Salif Keita elsewhere on the list, each of which is worth checking out and each of which brings their own unique sound to the table. And on a sadder note, it’s still hard for me to believe SOPHIE is no longer with us after releasing such a final masterwork as “Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides”. We truly lost a once-in-a-generation talent with her.

[dmumt]

saw this poll on twitter about the worst year to be an exol and forgive me if im being obtuse but why was 2018 on there?

[lautakwah]

wait i didnt realize that every song on the my love world tour setlist was rearranged?? i knew a lot of them were but all of them 🥺🥺🥺 bc they're the songs his fans love the most so he went out of his way to rearrange them for the concert and give them a new experience w the (classic) songs they love 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[emoclownemoji]

The velvet is red velvet’s BEST mini album, if you don’t think so you gotta go develop taste and come back when you do

[carseatdottxt]

this post is...

buy the album / credit

[chaiwithoatmilk]

I have such a bone to pick with Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth. They both were on the cusp of making promising R&B-influenced music and then… they just diverted? One somehow succumbed to the stomp-and-holler epidemic, and the other sold his soul to TikTok???? I just hate to see it. I hate to see it so, so much.

[hippo-pot]

kinda think this song is about Trump but it took me 3 listens to realize it was about anything at all haha