My Top 25 Favorite Albums of 2018

For a playlist of my favorite tracks from 2018, check out this Spotify playlist.  And consider following my Spotify "station"!

First, In Memoriam 2018

Incomparable legend and Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin left us this year. Respect.  We also lost punk legend Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), curmudgeon/disruptor Mark E. Smith (The Fall), minimalist and neo-classicist pioneer Glenn Branca, Yvonne Staples (The Staple Sisters), and Ray Thomas (Moody Blues).  We also say goodbye all too prematurely to Scottish 90’s star Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries).

RIP Scott Hutchison

The loss that hit me the hardest was that of Scott Hutchison, lead singer/founder of Frightened Rabbit.   Tragically, Hutchison took his own life after many years of struggling with depression.  Over the last 10 years, Frightened Rabbit graced us with five absolutely sublime and inspired indie rock albums.  So many songs remind me of this era and listening to them now is bittersweet and emotional.  I hear them differently now; they are rich with sad symbolic narratives of Hutchison’s struggles. I’ll miss this music greatly. 

My Top 25 Albums of 2018

I sure found it hard to keep up with music in 2018.  The sheer volume of bands out there right now is astonishing, intimidating, and maybe even alarming.  Why alarming?  I don’t know.  So many.  Alarms me.  During 2018 I was so often focused on either recording my own album or going back to create “Best Albums” lists for years gone past.  Revisiting 1998 or 2005 or 1985 has been rewarding and enjoyable, but my 2018 listening felt light and decidedly compressed into the final months of the year.  So I’m over half a year late, which is a bummer, but hey, these lists are for posterity. 

Some great stuff in 2018.  Perhaps fewer “legendary” albums (two broke the 9.0/10 barrier) and way more, it seems, landing in the “great” B+ zone of 7.6 to 7.9.  Among my favourite albums, about half were brand new to me which is pretty unusual and totally exciting – overall, I have a ton of new acts to follow.    

Each year I normally provide a Top 10 song list.  I can’t do it this time around – I just don’t know.  My favourite song might be “Carcassonne”, a 7" single from Angelo De Augustine, which means he’s assumed this mantle two years running (last year was “Haze”).   After “Carcarssonne”, it’s a tough call, but Adrianne Lenker's songs "Womb" and "Symbol" are currently transfixing me.  Maybe Buffalo Tom’s “All Be Gone”, which transports me to 1992’s Let Me Come Over.  And I'm very much digging "Boots" by Blanks .  Check out the Spotify playlist for 2018, as it’s all great stuff to my ears.

25. Marlon Williams – Make Way For Love

This was an unexpected record club find.  I had never heard Mr. Williams and I was dismissive after the first spin, as not much grabbed me.  Oddly, the second time around was a wholly different experience.  Perhaps I was simply more attentive or emotionally receptive.  Following in the footsteps of Chris Isaak, Williams is an anachronism, channeling the lovelorn crooning of heartbreak king Roy Orbison.  The mood of this music is lushly dark, and one wonders if Williams is angling to appear on the next David Lynch soundtrack.  Like Isaak (who’s unexpected hit “Wicked Game” appeared on Lynch’s Wild At Heart), the Twin Peaks vibe is unmistakable.  It is a lofty, old-timey mix of gothic country, soul, and pop-jazz.  (As an aside, what artistic life experiences lead a young man to pursue this brand of music? It’s puzzling).  Beyond Orbison (and even Glen Campbell), I hear similarities to Lambchop, The Tindersticks, and The Pernice Brothers, and the same template of like-minded troubadours Rufus Wainwright and Jens Lekman.  I have to say, the mood must strike me to engage with this.  Sometimes the album feels overwrought or too dour, and sometimes I just don’t hear the depth and find myself bored.  More frequently – and the rationale for Top 25 status – it is a darkly compelling punch to the gut.  Choice Track:  “Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore” (a duet with Kiwi singer Aldous Harding).

24.  La Luz – Floating Features  

I suppose that I can enjoy just about any genre that is creatively reinvented, updated, and subverted.  For example, I can confidently say that I dislike 50’s-era doo-wop (and, well, 50’s music in general).  But then The Pipettes came along all retro-cool and sassy and made the throwback attractive.  Juliana Hatfield, or bands like Best Coast or Tele Novella similarly mine the simple melodies and structures of early pop music, but back it up with fuzz guitar and/or lyrical irreverence.  Enter La Luz, an all-girl quartet from Seattle that intermingle doo-wop, surf, spaghetti western, and Nuggets-era garage pop.  Everything sounds wonderfully retro and distant, as if you are listening on an old juke box in some Quentin Tarantino film.  The members themselves present themselves accordingly, with lovely anachronistic visuals of 1960’s desert psychedelia.  The vocals are a gauzy mix of sultry and angelic.  This is eminently cool stuff that makes we want to go searching for independent, lesser-known acts of yesteryear.  Choice track: “Mean Dream”.

23. Neko Case – Hell-On
 

First off, terrible album cover!  If this was not Neko Case adorning it, I’d find it ridiculous (which is odd, as it should be ridiculous regardless, but…it’s Neko CASE!).  Anyway…I’ve always been fascinated by her countrified identity as a solo artist, given she has also shown long-term commitment and contribution to Canadian indie-rockers The New Pornographers.  I’ve always wanted her to take the New Pornos formula and run with it on her own.  She does so here, albeit with lots of luminary guests, including Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John), KD Lang, Laura Veirs, Eric Bachman, and Mark Lanegan.  But this is ultimately Neko’s show and she shines.  There remains that country twang and structure, but its alongside straight-ahead rock anthems, beautiful folk passages, and tunes that would slide nicely into a New Pornographers set.  I’ve only just begun to pay attention to what sound like personal, yet often oblique, lyrical passages.  I think this is her best album yet.  Choice Track: “Dirty Diamond”.

22. Suuns – Felt

In this space I called Suuns’ 2016 album, Hold/Still, a “grating, ponderous mess”.  I was particularly harsh, I think, because their live show was a face-melting triumph to which the album bore no resemblance.  I would have written them off were it not for the delivery of a limited coloured vinyl copy of Felt – a selection not in my control, as part of the Secretly Society record club.  I gave it a whirl and…well, it started kind of okay – “Look No Further” was a simple mid-tempo beat with a darkwave vibe and an annoyingly glitchy guitar (?) line.  But before I could say “grating, ponderous mess”, the album immediately revived into an Animal Collective meets Tangerine Dream dance-jam (“X-ALT”) and I’m bouncing along.  “Watch Me, Watch You” continues the electro-flow, sounding like a dance floor found in Blade Runner, as if Vangelis decided to do some MDMA.  Where Felt succeeds is the much greater attention to melodic progression (including, my goodness, chord changes!) which is why Hold/Still was unlistenable to my ears.  Surfing along the electro-beats and gurgling arpeggios are languid, dreamy vocal lines that make Suuns more song oriented and far more interesting.  Choice track: “Watch Me, Watch You”.

21. Flasher – Constant Image

Forming out of Priests (in part) and from the contemporary Washington D.C. punk scene in general, Constant Image is Flasher’s debut full-length.  I have not yet heard their earlier releases, but the interwebs tell me that this was their first time booking formal studio time and with a dedicated producer.  Keep it up, I say.  While the Dischord records punk ethos are fairly easy to place, there are debts being paid to bands like XTC, Talking Heads, Wire, and Franz Ferdinand, and modern new wave in general.  This record is a taut, hook-laden, post-punk joy to hear.   It all seems so simple at first listen, but there is a discipline here, and what sounds like a deep concern for economy, rhythmic interplay, and raw sonics.  This is punk in 2018.  Choice track: “Who’s Got Time?”

20. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs

RBCF serve up the same sort of guitar driven jangle jams as forebears The Bats, The Feelies, The Go-Betweens, and early R.E.M., and contemporaries Brilliant Colours, Twerps, and Morgan Delt.  In some ways, with the exception of the inimitable R.E.M. of course, they already seem more accomplished.  This is a crackin’, raucous album of sing-a-long guitar pop with that perfect amount of edge and fuzz.  It feels like it was birthed in the 80’s underground alongside the Hoodoo Gurus and The Young Fresh Fellows but is as fresh sounding as anything you’ll hear in the world of indie-rock today.  This album has gotten a lot of press and exposure and that gives me optimism – a good chunk of people are still smitten with a heartfelt, upbeat strumming of the electric guitar.  Choice Track: “Time In Common”.

19. S. Carey  – Hundred Acres

Since Justin Vernon has lately tended toward electronic blurps and auto-tuning (e.g., Bon Iver’s 2016 album 22. A Million and Big Red Machine’s self-titled debut this year 2018), I greatly appreciate the emergence of S. Carey, who is definitely cut from same folky cloth that brought Vernon such acclaim.  As it turns out, Sean Carey (full name) serves as the drummer and pianist for Bon Iver.  You’d be forgiven if you assumed he was the principal songwriter, as the similarities are striking, including the vocals.  In short, if you have a penchant for soft, drifting, chamber folk, then turn your ears to Hundred Acres.  It’s gorgeous, pensive, and sweet (but never cloying), and reminds me of older Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, Neil Halstead, The National, and, at times, The Alan Parson’s Project.  Were it not for Mutual Benefit (see #4), this would count as the prettiest album of the year.  Choice Track: “Fool’s Gold”.

18.  Light-Heat  – V

Mazarin, the defunct band of Philly’s Quentin Stoltzfus, is musical royalty to me.  If I was to name one artist whose heights I attempt to emulate in my own music, it would be Mazarin, especially 2000’s Watch It Happen and 2001’s A Tall-Tale Storyline.  I’d been waiting patiently and sadly since their final album in 2005 for news of Stolzfus, who basically went dark.  But hallelujah, he returned in 2013 with Light-Heat and a self-titled album, backed by considerable talents of The Walkmen (minus, of course, Walkmen vocalist Hamilton Leithauser).  Now we have his 2018 offering, V, which numerically suggests that Light-Heat is a nominal change and a continuation of Mazarin (and is now without Walkmen members in any significant way).  I hear the continuity – bright, slightly psychedelic, heavily reverbed tunes with catchy melodies, sweet harmonies, and feeling of nostalgia that is almost tangible in effect.  Some songs feel like outtakes from Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles.  There are experimental instrumentals and Stereolab-type grooves, and, overall, a generous offering of satisfying indie rock.  I’ve said it before – Stotzfus is criminally underrated.  I’ve seen hardly anything written about V and no appearances on year-end lists.  It certainly doesn’t help that the album is not on Spotify. I am only a grateful listener because of direct social media.  I sincerely hope he keeps going in this saturated music world.  Choice track: “Under The Spell”.

17. Hot Snakes – Jericho Sirens

After a string of records in the early 00’s Hot Snakes are back this year and sound as blistering and energetic as ever.  Forming out of early 90’s alternatives Drive Like Jehu and Rocket From the Crypt, the Snakes spit out hair-raising hard rock and roll with strong nods to their hardcore punk origins.  Jericho Sirens is fiery barnburner, knocking the listener’s head around with lightning fast power chords, chunky riffs, and rumbling bass lines.  Rick Froberg’s vocals sound like he just shot gunned a can of kerosene to wash down some amphetamines.  Monsters!  When I feel despondent about the doom/death/screamo metal that often dominates alternative wavelengths, it’s always helpful to put on the far more satisfying post-rock/punk of bands like Constantines, Metz, No Age, C’mon, or The Men (or, of course, much of the second-wave of American hardcore).  Hot Snakes’ 2018 record adds even more heft to this mighty roster.  Choice Track: “Six Wave Hold Down”.

16. Young Jesus – The Whole Thing Is Just There

On this, their second record, Young Jesus pronounce themselves as “a serious band”, if only because it takes some degree of artistic perseverance (stubbornness? honesty? integrity?) to produce a 6-track, 49-minute emo think-piece of jagged post-rock electric guitar, discordant and bellicose solos, and song titles such as “Saganism vs Buddhism”.  Lest I scare off the reader with this description, there is much that is accessible and attractive here, despite the (sometimes lengthy) moments of cacophony.  “For Nana”, by way of example, could be a fine National song.  Earlier incarnations of the band tended toward a Hold Steady style but there is much more in common here with Slint, Sunny Day Real Estate, Trail of Dead, and The Appleseed Cast.  This album is a powerful, lacerating soliloquy, with vocalist/leader John Rossiter alternatively crooning and caterwauling through a series of finely wrought narratives.  Choice track: “Gulf”.

15. Haley Heynderickx – I Need To Start A Garden

 

Opening like a 1965-ish Donovan track,  Haley Heynderickx begins with sparse, ghostly, vulnerable folk.  Her voice is gorgeous, a combination of Sharon van Etten and Joni Mitchell, and her acoustic finger picking is skilled and precise, as if Nick Drake was back on his stool.  By the time second track, “The Bug Collector”, is half-over, there is a smoky trombone and some background soundscapes added to the mix.  In time, HH announces herself as more than a fragile folky, but a dynamic artist who owes as much to PJ Harvey, Throwing Muses, and Ani DiFranco as she does Joan Baez.  She’s clever, heartfelt, and powerful in her delivery, from her soft passages to her exasperated screams of  “I NEED TO START A GARDEN!!” that close out the obvious single “Oom Sha La”. 

14. Soft Science - Maps

If one looks deeply into the shoegaze/dream pop genre – as represented by numerous social media groups, playlists, blogs, labels, and DIY bands – you’ll be overwhelmed with the depth and breadth that is out there.  It’s hard to keep up.  The strength of the genre is that many bands plying their trade do a good job, creating what seems like an endless supply of decent tracks.  It’s tough, however, to find the real gems, the songs that inexplicably capture the sound that evolved in the late 80s and early 90s.  When bands like, Ride, Slowdive, Swervedriver, and My Bloody Valentine returned with brand new records, the response (by me and many others) was “ahhhhh, that’s the sound!”.  The originators are experts and the followers are too often lacking.  All this to say…Soft Science arrives with their third album as if they were birthed by Creation Records in 1991.  They absolutely nail the sound, the dynamics, the swelling, sailing beauty of the craft.  Out of the gate, they sound like Gala-era Lush and Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine – no small feat.  There is some variability in the record too, with the second track (“Breaking”) sounding like an odd meeting of the Boo Radleys and Canadian new wavers The Spoons; other tracks are bit more indie rock, sharing similarities to Veronica Falls and Wolf Alice.  In short, this is a shimmering, beautiful jewel of a record that deserves far more spins than it is currently getting.  Choice Track:  “Diverging”.

13. Preoccupations – New Material

Whether by cynical design, happy accident, or well-crafted homage, some of the best music I hear is informed by the rich history of rock (how could it not be, really) and, to my liking, the more rarefied history of “alternative” music.  Sure the word alternative is fairly meaningless nowadays, but I use it here in reference to the early and oh-so-pure alternatives of punk, goth, and new wave – all of which got commodified and mainstreamed in time, of course.  But back then?  It was so exciting when us bored suburban kids first heard The The’s Soul Mining or the first Damned record, or Joy Division. Preoccupations – who were once noise rockers Women and then post-rock experimentalists Viet Cong – have emerged with their second record as the preeminent parlayers of old school goth and new wave.  The lead track, “Espionage”, might as well be Andrew Eldritch coalescing from behind a gravestone with an epic new Sisters of Mercy track.  Throughout I hear so many reverent reimaginings of Love and Rockets, Echo and the Bunnymen, Public Image Ltd, New Model Army, Shriekback, and The Cure.  It’s so damn authentic in production and delivery that I can hardly believe it.  These guys are fucking geniuses.  Choice Track: “Disarray”.

12.  Superchunk – What A Time To Be Alive

If one were to look across the roster of top tier early 90’s indie bands, that explosive era of grunge-mainstreaming and indie rock celebration, would you have expected Superchunk to be among those still surviving?  Perhaps, if you predicted Merge records (founded  by ‘chunkers Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan) would remain a going concern by signing Neutral Milk Hotel and then (boom!) Arcade Fire.  Here we are in 2018 and, like a bunch of pouty/angry 20 year olds, Superchunk kicks us in the gut once again with this pop punk gem.  They seem just as disillusioned and righteously livid now – in this sad dark era of the new American fascism – as they did when they penned “Slack Motherfucker” in 1990.  They seem more vital now than ever.  Choice track: “Dead Photographers”.

11. Mt. Wilson Repeater – V’Ger

This is the solo project of Jim Putnam while his main outfit, Radar Brothers, remains inactive (since 2013’s Eight).  I am pretty big fan of the countrified, slightly spacey folk of the Radar Brothers and was lucky to hear about this release.  It is a digital only album that emerged quietly with little to no press coverage, other than some complimentary words on the Merge Records website.  Putnam is on his own here, creating this luminous piece of work completely solo on his own 4-track.  The Radar Brothers blueprint is still there at the core (mid to slow tempos, melodically sumptuous), but Putnam has ventured into some psychedelic, sci-fi, head trip territory at times here.  It is immediately engaging to me, since the songs link so strongly to the early output of faves Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips, with a dash of Pink Floyd.  (Notably, Putnam acts as the sound engineer for the Lips’ live show). I also hear a lot of resemblance to the indie-rock outsiders of the 90’s, like Number One Cup, Pinetop Seven, Lenola, Home, and Rollerskate Skinny.  This is as good as any Radar Brothers album and highly recommended if you miss that particular form of…what?...Avant-Indie Psych-Folk?  Yes, that’s it.  Choice track: “Gone”.

10. Jess Williamson – Cosmic Wink

Jess Williamson effortlessly revives the sweet, jangly psychedelics of the paisley underground, sounding much like The Rain Parade and The Dream Syndicate, and later similarly influenced outfits, like Mazzy Star, Luna, and The Jesus and Mary Chain.  This was a welcome and unexpected treat for me.  There seems to be a lot of great (and mediocre) straight up folk out there, but to have a singular female voice absolutely nail that dreamy, countrified psych-folk that finds its roots all the way back in Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, and The Byrds, is wonderful.  While Mazzy Star reappeared this year with an EP of old (reworked) and new material, they do not appear to be a going concern, which leaves a big ol’ gap in my paisley heart.  Jess Williamson seems fully prepared to take up the mantle.  Choice track: “Awakening Baby”.

9. Phosphorescent – C’est La Vie

“Stood out in the night in an empty field and I called your name.  I don’t stand out in empty fields and call out your name no more”.  Such is the heart on sleeve, simple-yet-profound lyricism of Phosphorescent’s Mathew Houck.  The backdrop on this, the title track (appended with “part 2”), is a poppy chord progression on keys/organ that is as well-worn as a 12-bar blues in E.  It shouldn’t work – it should sound like something else, like 50 other things, and be dismissed as wholly uninspired song writing.  And maybe to other ears this is true, but to me it comes across as a folk-rock anthem, ranking comfortably with straight up tracks of U2, Tom Petty, and The Waterboys. And then Houck gives us "New Birth In New England", a song that could be a mid-80s Beach Boys single (this is a bad thing, in case anyone is confused) but, yet again, it works in some preternatural way I don’t fully understand.  It should sound like bad AM radio pop, but its sounds lush and engaging and universal.  I can’t pinpoint any of this.  Houck’s distinctive cracking/countrified voice surely matters, but something about the production is integral – like Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno are at the helm, sinking every ounce of their audiological artistry into every single note.  We have wholly ordinary song structures here, but man….it sounds soooooo good.  Another stellar Phosphorescent album. Choice Track:  “C’est La Vie, Pt. 2”.

8. Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!

Parquet Courts widened my eyes and ears when they dropped their 2012 debut album Light Up Gold, an irreverent set of angular pop songs that celebrated the slacker-rock of Pavement, Dead Milkmen, Beat Happening, and Guided By Voices (while lapping all four bands in musicianship, methinks) .  Five years later, we have their fifth album, Wide Awake!, which shows a pretty impressive growth curve, genre-wise, incorporating spots of reggae, funk, psychedelic folk, and space cowboy country alongside their sagacious punk.  Now I hear shades of Belle and Sebastian, Combat Rock-era Clash, Nick Lowe, and Foxygen.  It’s a tremendous mixture of diverse ingredients, but it’s all Parquet Courts.  I can’t wait to see where they go next:  Choice Track:  “Freebird II”.

7. Hovvdy – Cranberry

For many folks, I suspect Hovvdy’s 2018 offering, Cranberry, might drift by unnoticed or be dismissed as unremarkable indie folk.  The album is unremarkable in certain ways – simple rhythms and guitar strums with hushed vocals and a consistent tempo that may induce nodding off.  Why do I love it so?  This is tough to describe, like describing the colour blue – I can only make reference points, like the sky, or Hayden, Seam, Red House Painters, Ida, and Low.  There’s lots of languid space and, within that minimalism, a disciplined attention to what details exist.  Rather than feeling half-assed or careless (which you may hear in other underproduced, naturalistic indie albums), it sounds wholly intentional in its delivery.  If this description sounds too clinical, I apologize, as this album is warm and emotional all the way through.  I again name drop Red House Painters – Cranberry is on par with Mark Kozolek’s early earnest output, which is a pretty high watermark.  Choice track: “Float”.

6. Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel

It’s been a long wait for this follow up to Barnett’s debut Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, which took our collective breaths away in 2014.  To be fair, she did drop another full album in partnership with Kurt Vile (A Lotta Sea Lice, in 2017), but that barely sated our desire for her perfect brand of indie rock.  She’s returned with another brilliant record.  The title itself is subtly weighty; at first glance it can be taken literally or sardonically (the latter of which is her preferred form of communication).  Change the emphasis on one or more of the title’s six words and you have numerous interpretations of meaning.  This is her M.O. throughout and that’s just the lyrics.  Musically, it shines with laid back Velvet Underground grooves, scorching volleys of noise, and folky remonstrations.  It’s catchy all around, super powerful at its best, and a worthy follow up to all the indie gems she’s served up to date.  Also, see her live.  She rocked my socks off.  Choice track:  “City Looks Pretty”.

5. Adrianne Lenker - Abysskiss

Whoa, did this take me by surprise! I was familiar with Lenker’s main outfit, Big Thief, and counted myself a fan.  But this solo record is shockingly good (and has made me go back and reappraise Big Thief).  Lenker sounds a bit like a cross between PJ Harvey and  Joanna Newsom (but without the latter’s nasally pixie affectation) and plays guitar like Nick Drake come back to life.  One of my most recent favorite things is Angelo de Augustine (number 8 last year), whose spare, intricate, reverbed folk tugged my heartstrings.  Adrianne Lenker does much the same here.  Early Iron and Wine is also an apt comparison.  Brilliant.  Choice track: “Womb”.

4.  Mutual Benefit – Thunder Follows The Light

Is anybody listening?  Damned if I’ve heard anyone mention this mesmerizingly beautiful orchestral folk outfit.  Mutual Benefit stunned me with 2016’s Skip a Sinking Stone, and I thought it was surely a matter of time before they landed on a number of recommended lists.  They took a lovely detour in 2017 with a full cover of Vashti Bunyan’s lost folk classic Just Another Diamond Day and return in 2018 with this satisfying release.  Lush and angelic melodies/harmonies interweave with slide guitar, banjo, flute, strings, piano, and other accoutrements, supported by washes of dignified synths.  Every song is so engaging and accomplished, and I don’t understand why they have not broken wide open to a giant fan base.  This is folk in 2018 and you should all know it and love it.  It should be gently rocking the world to sleep every summer’s eve. Damn you all to Hades.  Choice track:  “Written In Lightning”.

3. Amen Dunes – Freedom

Damon McMahon’s project Amen Dunes floored me with 2014’s Love, a neo-folk masterpiece and #2 of that year.  It’s been a long wait, but here we finally have Freedom and it is Love’s equal and more.  I once described it to a friend as Tom Petty jamming with Wolf Parade, after Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner washed downed a bunch of Quaaludes with red wine. McMahon has a strange otherworldly, crooning vibrato, making him sound pained and bedraggled.  Behind this unique voice are rich and unexpected chord structures, unsettling time signatures, fuzzed guitar arpeggios, and Lynchian reverb.  It’s quite a heady avant-folk cocktail, with multiple touchstones that nonetheless sound unlike anything I have ever heard.  Truly a singular vision, reminding me that, holy shit, there’s still so much brilliant art that can be accomplished within the framework of contemporary rock music.  Choice Track: “Blue Rose”.

2. Spirit of the Beehive – Hypnic Jerks

So although this post is being published in fricken August of 2019, I had this list pretty much drafted by mid-January…until, that is, Dylan Taylor (friend and brilliant lead of Not For Function and Blanks) PM’d me with a “check this out” link to Spirit of the Beehive.  I listened once and thought, really?  Did you just casually send me my favorite album of the year?  Ultimately No Age (as per below) won out by a hair, but sheesh.  This is amazing (amazing but probably not for everyone).  Hypnic Jerks is a weird and wonderful collage of post-pop experimentation and is a joy to apprehend.  There is so much going on, harkening all the way back to Silver Apples, XTC, and Television, while sitting alongside contemporary outsiders like Ought, Parquet Courts, Tyvek, and Youth Lagoon.  Just when you think they’ve lost the plot with some bizarro found sound clip, they reel you back in with some catchy riff or lovely vocal harmony.  It’s dazzling art-house punk and one of my new favorite things.  Thanks to you, Dylan, you just cost Julia Holter a spot on this hallowed list at the eleventh hour, and she’s pissed.  Choice Track: “Monumental Shame”.

1. No Age – Snares Like A Haircut

I’m starting to wonder if No Age presciently named themselves 12 years ago with the release of Weirdo Rippers, a noise-pop record that has gained canonical genre status.  The band’s vision has not aged a day, sounding as vital and exciting as ever.  Snares Like A Haircut follows their unique recipe of hypnotic, high energy fuzz guitar, feedback, reverb, and disaffected/infectious vocal delivery, as if Wire decided to add five extra distortion pedals to their stomp box chain.  What is clear on this release is the band’s decision to ensure every song has hefty hook that pulls you along through the waves of fuzz, phase, and static.  Not to mention the propulsive, machine gun drum lines that threaten to concuss the listener, or perhaps exhort them to run into rush hour traffic.  “Noise pop” is truly a blurry sub-genre; but with all due respect to the many worthy participants (e.g., Times New Viking, Parts & Labor, Women) these guys were and are the rulers.  Choice Track: “Send Me”.

Some Great Records Falling Outside the 2018 Top 25

I went to 25 entries again this year (most years have been 20) to accommodate the bumper crop of great records that created a noticeable bulge at the 8.0 – 8.2 out of 10 rating range.  Here are a bunch more that you should not ignore, all of which could have slid into the last 5 spots or so.  Definitely recommended.

Amber Arcades – European Heartbreak.  Super cool jangle pop from Dutch songstress Annelotte de Graaf, along the lines of Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Frankie Rose, and Tennis; although this latest one is less fuzz and more jangle folk.

Basement Revolver – Heavy Eyes.  Lucky to catch this fabulous shoegazey band opening for…I don’t remember.  The Go! Team maybe.  This LP pulls together some EPs and singles into their first proper debut, and it is a good one.  I’m keeping an eye on them. Recommended if you like Courtney Barnett, Wolf Alice, Girlpool, and Soccer Mommy.

Beach House – 7.  Got this kind of late and I probably should stop listening to it, lest it force me to (argghh!) rewrite my list.   This is shaping up to be my favorite Beach House album, a spacey, droney, lush set of soporific beauties.  Really, this could have cracked my Top 10, if I were more industrious.

Buffalo Tom – Quiet and Peace. Pop-grunge rock elder statesmen return with a record that sounds like it was made in 1992.  Delivered with emotion, angst, and love, this power trio still has it.  “All Be Gone” is up there as one my most favorite songs of the year.  And it closes with a great cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy In New York” (#77 on my Top 500 list).

Cowbo Morsche – Cowboy Miracle.  A late add to my 2018 collection, found on the super cool new/unsigned music site Divide and Conquer. This is crazy shit, a kooky melange of 8-bit funk/dance and indie pop, with irreverent nods to rock, country, and…I dunno…bossa nova?  It reminds me of They Might Be Giants and Shugo Tokumaru, but more chaotic and frenetic.  I love that this album exists ‘cause it’s bananas.

The English Beat – Here We Go Love.  Also unexpected, the croon of Dave Wakeling brings me back to the mid-80s, landing somewhere between the great Beat records and the pretty good General Public releases.  Some great two-tone tracks here.

Holy Tunics – Butter Dish.  A satisfying bolt of jangle pop, with a fairly straight lineage from  The Flaming Groovies to the Jazz Butcher and The Clean, to Outrageous Cherry, EZ-TV, and Woods.  Nice, nuggety psych-pop with a C86 finish.  A great find.

Julia Holter – Aviary.  Neo-classical avant pop?  How to best describe the cinematic luminescence of Julia Holter?  I’m not sure I can or if I should (although I just sort of tried, I suppose).  I just think everyone should don a good pair of headphones, dim the lights, and settle in for an otherworldly, panoptic ride through her strange musical wonderland.

Lump – Lump.  Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay (from Tuung) team up to give us quirky, genre-bending, freak-folk, part dissonant static and synths,  part acoustic prettiness.  Closest relative might be a toned down Dirty Projectors.

Megative – Megative.  Unexpectedly great, Clash-influenced reggae album led by former Stills frontman Tim Fletcher. 

Ovlov – Tru.  90’s indie revivalists sounding much like Dinosaur Jr., Archrers of Loaf, Sebadoh, Versus, and Chavez.

Sharon van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow.  Darker and more atmospheric this time around (comparing favorably to EMA) but still plenty to love here.

Shame – Songs of Praise.  British post-punk newcomers give us a set of furious manifestos.  If you like Metz and early Constantines, these boys will interest you.

Other 2018 records I thought were tremendous include Richard Reed Parry, Stephen Malkmus, Still Corners, Air Waves, Sheepdogs, Speedy Ortiz, The Beremy Jets, The Beths, Cut Worms, Iceage, Sandro Perri, Nap Eyes, Spare Snare, Echodrone, Cosmic Child, Ellis, Eternal Summers, The City Gates, and Blush Response.  And a hearty welcome back to both The Breeders and Belly who returned from my youth with solid new albums.

Singles and EPs of Note

Angelo De Augustine – Carcassonne (7”) – beautiful stop-gap single between 2017 and 2019 albums. 

Blanks – Blanks (digital EP) – Toronto band provides catchy brit-pop meets post-punk gems (and I this has since been remastered for a more formal issuing in 2019).  

Courtney Barnett – Spotify Singles (7”). Commissioned by Spotify, Barnett gives us a great Crazy Horse-esque cover of Elyse Weinberg’s (never heard of her) “Houses” backed with “Charity” (from Tell Me How You Really Feel).  

Ellevator – s/t.  Debut EP from this Hamilton, Ontario band fits perfectly on their new label, Arts & Crafts, sounding like a rejuvenated Stars or Metric.

Fleeting Joys – Lake Placid Blue (digital single).  Long-time waiting for a new release from these criminally neglected blissful shoegazers.  This 2018 single reappears on the 2019 LP Speeding Away to Someday.

Iron and Wine – Weed Garden (EP). More glorious folk magic from the best of the best.

Hyness – Hyness (single and split 7” with Strange Shakes) – Great Lush/MBV influenced dreampop

Linda Guilala – Mucho Mejor (digital single) and Primavera Negra (7” single).  This Spanish outfit combines mid-tempo Stereolab-ish pop with waves of gauzy guitar.  Brilliant!  Can’t wait for the follow up to 2016’s amazing Psiconáutica.

Mythless – Patience Hell (12” EP) – Dude from Fang Island takes it up a hair-raising notch.

Not For Function – Not For Function (digital EP) – great Toronto post-punk running from Wire to Wolf Parade

Redwood River Band – Brother Green (digital EP).  Accomplished, dignified old-timey bluegrass with beautiful harmonies.  Not on Spotify, so find on bandcamp people!

Ride – Tomorrow’s Shore (12” EP).  Quickly following up 2017’s reunion record, Ride gives us four new and neat, uniquely Ride-ish tracks. 

The Disappointments, Miscues, and Disparagements of 2018

I don’t bother panning music I already know I won’t like.  It’s dumb and useless for me to pontificate about the sorry state of current mainstream pop music (sorry, was I starting to pontificate?).  However, every year there are few records put out by artists I normally love that fall short of expectations.  They may not be terrible, just not up to snuff in relation to their past discography.  Or they may be really shitty.  The rotten tomatoes of 2018 go to Paul Simon, Low, Titus Andronicus, and Grouper. 

Paul Simon surprised and delighted me with 2011’s (was it that long ago?!) modernized So Beautiful or So What (and I completely missed 2016’s Stranger to Stranger) but I was left wanting with 2018’s In The Blue Light.  Maybe I should have recognized the titular reference to the blues, which I just don’t think plays to Simon’s strengths (although it’s equal parts jazz).  It’s a drab affair and it bored the shit out of me.

Low's Double Negative

Low is an all-time favorite, and they rarely miss the mark.  The critics adored Double Negative,   It’s dark and brooding, with glitchy trip-hoppy loops and death-march drums, but rarely leads to the much needed release of Alan Sparkhawk and Mimi Parker’s usually gorgeous harmonies.  The intentional clipping and hiss on pretty much every track is a big drawback for me (but apparently impressed the pants off every indie blog in the blogoverse possibly because this doesn’t sound like a Low record).

Titus Andronicus used to blow up my speakers with their anachronistic political tirades and wall of sound folk-punk. In a A Productive Cough, the band seems to try to emulate the balladry of fellow New Jersey rock giant, Bruce Springsteen, but the intended weightiness just isn’t there, even if the energy and commitment is.  In time, the pained growl of Patrick Stickles becomes a liability when it’s usually a devastating strength. 

Grouper, the critically revered outsider goth-folk of Liz Harris, gave us Grid of Points in 2018.  It’s quite hard to distinguish this record descriptively from Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill or The Man Who Died In His Boat, two records I love.  I’m not going to try, really.  Grid of Points is hard to access, hard to notice, whereas Harris’ other recordings immediately draw me in.

That’s it!  Sorry for the lateness.  But not really, because music is forever.