Part 6 of the great migration
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Glenn Jones — The Giant Who Ate Himself and Other New Works for 6 & 12 String Guitar
In the 1990s, Glenn Jones was the front man of Cul De Sac, one of the “First Wave” Post-Rock bands — think Talk Talk, Slint, and Tortoise — that was focused on pushing the boundaries of rock music and exploring new textures. Recently however, Jones has gone back to Americana roots, releasing guitar-only albums that explore American folklore. The Giant Who Ate Himself is a beautiful collection of haunting songs that reveals more intricacy and thoughtfulness with each listen.
Genre: Instrumental/Folk
Favorite Tracks: The Last Passenger Pigeon, Even the Snout and the Tail
For Fans of: Jim O’Rourke, James Blackshaw, Frog and Toad Books
Iglooghost — Clear Tamei + Steel Mogu
Seamus Malliagh released two EPs in 2018 that build on the success of last year’s Neo Wax Bloom. Both are maximalism incarnate, and on Steel Mogu, he attempts to deconstruct his sound to fantastic results.
Genre: Glitch-Hop/Electronic
Favorite Tracks: Clear Tamei, Niteracer
For Fans of: Flying Lotus, Arca, Inuit Specters
Open Mike Eagle — What Happens When I Try and Relax
“Anti-Rap” rapper Open Mike Eagle takes a step towards the mainstream in this EP — a small step, but it is noticeable — and it works. OME does a great job of lampshading his switch by rapping triplets about cleaning garbage disposals or going to the dentist over his trap hi-hats. What Happens… is an interesting look to what might come as a full-length in the future.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Relatable (peak OME)
For Fans of: Aesop Rock, Noname, Filing Your Taxes Early
Car Seat Headrest — Twin Fantasy
2018’s Twin Fantasy is actually a remastered and re-recorded version of 2011’s Twin Fantasy. The remaster helps lift the album a lot, as much of it’s success falls on the shoulders of the guitar work. It’s a great throwback album to the hey-day of Indie, with solid songwriting, catchy melodies, and memorable riffs.
Genre: Indie Rock
Favorite Tracks: Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales, The Ballad of Costa Concordia
For Fans of: Pavement, Built to Spill, Awful Band Names
Black Thought — Streams of Thought Vol. 1 + 2
Two amazing EPs were released this year by one of the best emcees of all time. Black Thought’s wordplay, lyricism, and flow are all incredible, and each song takes multiple listens to unpack. If you don’t like these EPs, you don’t like hip-hop. Vol. 1 is produced by 9th Wonder and is boom-bap centric, while Vol. 2 is more jazzy, sounding like something Questlove might cook up.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Dostoevsky, Streets
For Fans of: The Roots, Talib Kweli, Pusha T, Binging Netflix Documentaries and Group Texting Everyone After
Boy Genius — S/T
Boygenius is made up of three pretty recent Indie darlings — Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers — and it serves to highlight their strengths fairly well. Each member had a song that they brought into the partnership with them, and it’s pretty easy to tell which is which, but the collaborative tracks are the real meat here. The EP isn’t very cohesive, but it contains some great songwriting and hope for a future full-length that focuses more on collaboration between the trio.
Genre: Emo/Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Salt in the Wound; Ketchum, ID
For Fans of: Slowdive, Mazzy Star, Elliot Smith, Nefertiti’s Fjord
THE LIST
50. The Voidz — Virtue
Julian Casablancas has found his outlet for more eccentric tendencies unafforded by the Strokes’ indie sensibilities. Jumping from genre to genre, Virtue is an indulgent record that explores each of Casablancas’ ideas as they come to him, without time to flesh them out. When the approach works, it becomes exciting and trippy. When it doesn’t, it can feel like a bit too schizophrenic or disingenuous. Either way, no one could ever describe Virtue as uninteresting.
Genre: Art Rock
Favorite Tracks: QYURRYUS, Pyramid of Bones
For Fans of: The Strokes, MGMT, Bad Haircuts
49. Soccer Mommy — Clean
Clean is a guitar driven indie record with tight songwriting and instrumentation, memorable melodies, and a solid dose of nostalgia — great throwback to Liz Phair and a reminder that female-led indie rock is dominating in 2018.
Genre: Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Your Dog, Scorpio Rising
For Fans of: Julien Baker, Hop Along, Angel Olsen, Knee Holes in Your Jeans
48. Foxwarren — S/T
Foxwarren’s second album sounds exactly like what you’d expect from a band named Foxwarren. The classic 70s soft-rock formula is enhanced with synthesizers and patient songwriting. It’s a great road-trip album intent on providing grooves and intricate guitar work, conjuring up thoughts of sepia-tone, flared jeans, and “back then.”
Genre: Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Everything Apart, In Another Life
For Fans of: Fleet Foxes, Midlake, Andrew Bird, Wearing TOMS
47. J.I.D. — DiCaprio 2
Atlanta rapper Destin Route is heads above most other (t)rappers in both skill and lyricism, and both are on full-display on DiCaprio 2. His voice is reminiscent of Anderson .Paak or Kendrick — high and raspy — and he could rap circles around his contemporaries. The production really gets a boost from his mixtapes here, as well.
Genre: Trap/Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Slick Talk, 151 Rum
For Fans of: Denzel Curry, Travis Scott, J. Cole, Those “This is the Playoffs” NBA Commercials
46. Mount Eerie — Now Only
Last year, Phil Elverum’s wife lost her battle with cancer, prompting him to release the somber A Crow Looked at Me. Now Only is a follow-up, focusing on the same themes of loss and recovery, though this time he’s more focused on moving forward with his life rather than lingering in the pain.
Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Favorite Tracks:
For Fans of: Sun Kil Moon, Sufjan Stevens, Crying Into a Cordless Phone
45. Oneohtrix Point Never — Age Of
At every turn, Age Of attempts to subvert its very nature by trying to transcend the concept of music. OPN has always been a project that is rewarded with multiple listens, but Age Of really can’t be digested in any other way. It opens itself up over time, as you begin to recognize the patterns and swirls in his arrangements. The greatest triumph of Age Of is that despite all of Lopatin’s efforts to deconstruct his own music, the overall feelings and textures of the record are organic and nuanced.
Genre: Electronic
Favorite Tracks: Babylon, Black Snow
For Fans of: James Blake, Laurel Halo, Talking About David Lynch to Anyone Who Will Listen
44. Foxing — Nearer My God
With each release since their debut in 2013, Foxing has evolved. Nearer My God finds the group’s songwriting among transcendent emo bands like Brand New, who in the course of their career made a transparent about-face and somehow embraced their genre label while simultaneously giving it the finger. The songs on Nearer… do feel emo, but they also fall under Art Rock as they embellish on the weird and esoteric. It all falls under a giant triangular venn-diagram of mid-2000s genres that blurs the line between self-destruction and self-validation propped up by warbling guitars and falsetto.
Genre: Indie Rock
Favorite Tracks: Lich Prince, Trapped in Dillard’s
For Fans of: Brand New, The Hotelier, Saves The Day, Going to Spencer’s Gifts
43. Kids See Ghosts — S/T
Flashback to ten years ago when Kid Cudi dropped Day N’ Nite and seemed like a future superstar on the precipice of a breakout. What followed instead was a complete breakdown after Man on the Moon II fueled by depression and indulgence and culminating in one of the worst albums of all time — Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. In the Kids See Ghost collaboration with Kanye, the two seem to work together to curb each other’s worst impulses. The music is more focused that what Cudi has put out in years, and Kanye’s lyricism also seems more focused on a singular topic here. Mental illness runs replete throughout the seven tracks presented (there’s even a Kurt Cobain guitar sample). However, this time around both artists are able to look forward, and in fact seem to be having fun for the first time in a while.
Genre: Pop Rap
Favorite Tracks: Feel the Love, Reborn, Cudi Montage
For Fans of: Mac Miller, Chance the Rapper, Adult Swim Anime
42. Georgia Anne Muldrow — Overload
Overload is a lush jazz and soul album brought into modernity with crisp production that rappers would kill for. Muldrow’s music speaks almost as a revivalist, always looking forward with a purpose but with a mind of the context of the past. Overload is sci-fi for R&B.
Genre: Neo-Soul
Favorite Tracks: Overload, Canadian Hillbilly
For Fans of: Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, the Afro-Woman Picture in the Shining
41. Black Milk — Fever
Upon first listen, the immediate thing that stands out about Fever is the production. Black Milk has been known for his production skills over the years, lending his beats to rap giants like Slum Village, GZA, and Danny Brown, and Fever continues his legacy. Jazz is the featured genre and each track flows smoothly into the next, providing a cohesive background for Black Milk’s rapping. The lyricism and rapping isn’t the greatest, but it works well to frame the incredible instrumentation.
Genre: Jazz Rap/Experimental Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: unVEil, Will Remain
For Fans of: Kendrick Lamar, Oddisee, Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), Album Covers Created With MS Paint
40. Travis Scott — Astroworld
Probably Scott’s best work, Astroworld is defined by its namesake — it exists within its own tiny universe, an adventure ride through its creator’s mind. Scott switches back and forth between hype tracks like Sicko Mode and ethereal ones like Stop Trying to Be God, and somehow is able to make it cohesive in vision and sound. Astroworld is miles above albums released by Scott’s contemporaries (see Drake’s uninspired Scorpion), and his only mistake is trying to keep up by including some filler tracks. Trimmed down, Astroworld would turn from a really good record to a genuinely great one.
Genre: Trap, Pop-Rap
Favorite Tracks: Stargazing, Sicko Mode, Stop Trying to Be God
For Fans of: Vince Staples, Kanye West, FUTURE, the Movie Clueless
39. Pusha T — DAYTONA
Out of the five 7-track albums that came from Kanye West’s time in Wyoming, DAYTONA is unarguably the best. It takes the best of both producer and artist and sticks with it. The beauty of DAYTONA is in it’s simplicity — in fact, it’s the only one of the 7-track records that actually fits the shorter run-time. Pusha says what he needs to say and gets out without being over-indulgent or verbose. That’s not to say the lyricism lacks cleverness. Pusha is as brutal as ever on the mic, and is only enhanced by the razor-sharp focus. After all, the Drake/Pusha beef all started over Infared.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: If You Know You Know, Infared
For Fans of: Kanye West, Jay Z, A$AP Rocky, Puns About Selling Drugs
38. iceage — Beyondless
In 2014, Iceage transformed their sound from post-punk into a smattering of genres, including country and blues, and they continue the transition on Beyondless. Unfortunately, they’ve lost some of the experimental space that was present on Plowing Into the Field of Love. Beyondless occupies a space that’s much more — in the danger of sounding cliche — mainstream. The songs are almost all 4 minutes long and pop-organized. Still, Beyondless shuffles forward with edge along with a desire to have fun — even if it is more refined.
Genre: Post-Punk/Art Rock
Favorite Tracks: Pain Killer, Catch It, Take it All
For Fans of: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Fugazi, Husker Du, Shotgunning a Beer in Blue Jean Cutoffs
37. Colter Wall — Songs of the Plains
Songs of the Plains sounds timeless. Wall’s deep baritone voice coupled with the stripped down instrumentation recalls visions of frontier plainsman in front of campfires, picking their teeth with blades of grass. It’s an incredible feat that the record seems so effortlessly part of the 1970s Outlaw canon.
Genre: Outlaw Country
Favorite Tracks: Saskatchewan in 1881, Manitoba Man
For Fans of: Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Red Dead Redemption
36. Low — Double Negative
Double Negative is the sound of skeletal songs being supported not by flesh and muscle, but by adding on more bone. These tracks are exercises in deconstructing songwriting and then propping it up as a puppet, placing strings wherever deemed necessary in order to create some other monster entirely. William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops comes to mind when listening and pondering the zombification of sound waves, but on Double Negative, Low refuse to let their loops become background noise. The mutated musical marionettes are given a voice of their own.
Genre: Slowcore/Electronic
Favorite Tracks: Fly, Tempest, Rome (Always in the Dark)
For Fans of: Duster, Stereolab, Watching Salad Fingers Videos
35. Lucy Dacus — Historian
Historian is just a solid indie-rock album that showcases great songwriting. Most songs follow the same format, i.e. start slow and end with a crescendo of noise, but it works really well with Dacus’ aesthetic. Night Shift is an excellent introduction to the rest of the album, and the poignant lyricism and sincere songwriting continues the rest of the way.
Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Favorite Tracks: Night Shift, Body to Flame
For Fans of: Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, Taking a Kickboxing Class With Your Girlfriends
34. Hermit + the Recluse — Orpheus vs. the Sirens
Ka is a connoisseur of the concept album. Dr. Yen Lo was about the Manchurian Candidate, Honor Killed the Samurai combined street life with the code of the samurai, and now Orpheus focuses on Greek mythology. Orpheus leads you on a journey as you listen to it, pulling you through shallow water caves and stories of hydra, and it honestly fits fairly well. The production has taken a step back from Honor Killed the Samurai, but Ka’s lyricism is as sharp as ever.
Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop/Spoken Word
Favorite Tracks: Orpheus, Golden Fleece
For Fans of: Roc Marciano, Billy Woods, MF DOOM, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology and Those Terrible Clash of the Titans Movies
33. Nostrum Grocers — S/T
Nostrum Grocers has the best production Milo has had in his entire career. The jazzy soundscapes work perfectly against his and Elucid’s machine gun flow of witticism and pop-culture references. The inclusion of Elucid is crucial to this album, as he works so well in steering things back on track when Milo moves his eyes from the road and onto the visions of his daydreams. While the former seems as sharp as ever, the latter is almost apathetic, lending moments of appreciated insanity as well as confusion. The result is a trip into an ever-vamping world of jazz and spiraling metaphor.
Genre: Jazz Rap
Favorite Tracks: Milk Drunk, Medium, Peace is the Opposite of Security
For Fans of: Guru, Open Mike Eagle, Using Large Words in Your Blog Without Understanding Them
32. Kurt Vile — Bottle It In
Kurt Vile has been churning out consistent psychedelic rock for a while now, yet he still manages to sound fresh on his 7th solo album. The record is warm and fuzzy with some of the most personal lyrics of Vile’s career delivered in his trademark smooth, laid-back cadence. The only problem on Bottle It In, is that some of the songs end up being quite long, but you can actually stick with most of them as they wash through the background.
Genre: Psychedelic Folk-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Hysteria, Bassackwards, Check Baby
For Fans of: The War on Drugs, Ty Segall, Skateboarding While Eating Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food Ice Cream
31. Amen Dunes — Freedom
On Freedom, Damon McMahon takes elements of Americana, Folk, and Psychedelic music and twists them, creating an album that is smooth as fresh asphalt all the way through. It’s a breath of fresh air for Americana, a genre that can seem as old hat as it can classic at times. The whole sound is driven by McMahon’s voice which warbles alongside the instrumentation like a bird against the wind.
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia/Americana
Favorite Tracks: Blue Rose, Mika Dora
For Fans of: The War on Drugs, Deerhunter, Roadtripping Without Listening to U2 Despite What Your Wife Says
30. Snail Mail — Lush
Two things separate Snail Mail from the other smattering of female-led 2018 indie-rock: honesty and her guitar chops. The opening of Speaking Terms, as well as Heat Wave show off the latter, and every song is evidence of Lindsey Jordan being genuine, even if the songs do sound a bit same-y after a while. Lush is a solid debut that shows a ton of potential for a young artist.
Genre: Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Pristine, Heat Wave, Stick
For Fans of: Yo La Tengo, Phosphorescent, Having a Beer on the Porch in the Rain
29. Helena Deland — From the Series of Songs “Altogether Unaccompanied” Vol. I-IV
Packaged as 4 short EPs, Altogether Unaccompanied is actually not a sparse or acoustic record as you might expect. Rather, Deland draws from many genres for inspiration. She switches with each song from indie-rock, to synth pop or folk, and back again. Still, all of the songs have a common feeling of hopefulness juxtaposed against melancholy which solidifies the project as a satisfactory album.
Genre: Indie-Pop/Singer-Songwriter
Favorite Tracks: Two Queries, A Stone is a Stone
For Fans of: Natalie Prass, Julie Byrne, Watching the Movie Dan In Real Life
28. Forth Wanderers — S/T
Forth Wanderers is driven by their Built-to-Spill-esque guitar riffs and lead singer Ava Trilling’s angelic but forceful vocals. The songs constantly move, switching from one guitar riff to another, or breaking down only to showcase a new clever melody. It’s a stunning debut from a band that showcases the best things in indie.
Genre: Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Nevermine, Not for Me
For Fans of: Built to Spill, Death Cab for Cutie, Finally Getting to Put a Jacket on in the Fall
27. Saba — Care for Me
Care for Me is an incredibly introspective hip-hop album. From the very first track, Chicago-based emcee Saba talks about having depression, racial tension, and his own struggle to come to terms with both political and personal grief. The production is very free and open, giving Saba room to breathe and explore his issues. The young rapper’s storytelling is top notch, and it all comes to a head on the diary track “Prom/King.”
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Broken Girls, Prom/King
For Fans of: Chance the Rapper, Drake, Waiting in the Car to Pick Up Your Prom Date
26. Cloud Nothings — Last Building Burning
Last Building Burning finds Dylan Baldi’s group returning to their noisier roots after a detour on last year’s Life Without Sound. The record is hyper-aggressive with shrieking guitars punctuated by one of the best drummers around right now. While the songwriting isn’t as skillful as on Life Without Sound, the instrumentation itself is tighter with Baldi and Brown’s guitar licks playing off one another masterfully.
Genre: Noise Rock
Favorite Tracks: In Shame, So Right So Clean
For Fans of: Archers of Loaf, Husker Du, The Replacements, White-Knuckle Speed on the Highway
25. MGMT — Little Dark Age
Little Dark Age is an 80s pop album set against the backdrop of 2010 paranoia. The synth on the tracks is sickly sweet combined with MGMT’s best pop sensibilities, but the lyrics cover themes of narcissism, addiction to technology, agoraphobia, and suicide. It’s an album that offers more on each listen, and will stick in your head well after you’ve turned it off.
Genre: Synthpop
Favorite Tracks: Little Dark Age, Me and Michael
For Fans of: Of Montreal, Alt-J, M83, the Tim Curry TV Version of Stephen King’s IT
24. Pinegrove — Skylight
Pinegrove returned this year with their sophomore album after some “off-the-field” issues in 2017. Skylight feels a little shortchanged in comparison to what fans were expecting, but it also acts as somewhat of an apology and promise to move forward. Still, the tracks are as great as ever, if a little short, and you can’t help but want to sing along. Pinegrove has definitely found their niche in blending emo and alt-country to create heartfelt stories and songs that beg for repeat listens.
Genre: Alt-Country/Midwest Emo
Favorite Tracks: Portal, Angelina, Skylight
For Fans of: Modern Baseball, Whitney, American Football, Standing in the Corner of Parties by Yourself
23. Arctic Monkeys — Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
This album more than any other on the list took me the longest to get into. I’m talking about 5+ listens before anything clicked. Tranquility… sounds nothing like the Arctic Monkeys have done before — more David Bowie than Beatles or Brit-rock — and each song sounds like its own special event. However, the tone of the album mixed with Alex Turner’s crazed sci-fi lyricism threads the hold thing together to create an enigmatic yet consistent project.
Genre: Art Rock/Lounge
Favorite Tracks: Star Perspective, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
For Fans of: David Bowie; The Killers; Duncan Jones’ 2009 Film, Moon, Starring Sam Rockwell
22. Noname — Room 25
Room 25 is a continuation of the jazzy, soulful sound of Noname’s Telefone. She has a unique knack for not just honest lyricism, but also the ability to form her flow around the sounds of her words, making her voice a musical instrument rather than just a delivery mechanism for her lyrics.
Genre: Jazz Rap
Favorite Tracks: Window, Don’t Forget About Me
For Fans of: Anderson .Paak, Chance the Rapper, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing
21. Beach House — 7
Beach House’s aptly titled 7th album finds them experimenting with their sound a little bit. 7 is more sparse and the textures are darker than the band’s previous output, and it works well considering the themes of darkness versus light and feminine duality. The album is at its best when it steps away from the formula and allows the music to breathe.
Genre: Dream Pop
Favorite Tracks: Pay No Mind, L’inconnue, Drunk in LA
For Fans of: Slowdive, Lush, Laying in the Grass and Talking About the Shape of Clouds
20. Stephen Malkmus + the Jicks — Sparkle Hard
Sparkle Hard is Malkmus’ best effort in years, and I’m saying that as someone who loves anything he touches — Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is one of my favorite albums of all time. This record is just effortless songwriting driven by Malkmus’ signature vocals and guitar. There’s even a Kim Gordon feature on “Refute.” What more can you ask for at this point?
Genre: Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Bike Lane, Middle America, Kite
For Fans of: Pavement (duh), Wilco, Talking to Your Friends About “Only 90’s Kids Will Remember” Lists
19. Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs, + The Alchemist
Freddie Gibbs is one of hip-hops most talented emcees when it comes to pure, metronomic flow. He can spit over anything with precision and momentum, and on Fetti he gets to do it alongside one of the best producers of all time, Alchemist. In the first track, he rhymes “filling llamas up” with “Manafort Papadopoulos,” and continues throughout the album to drop some of the best wordplay in his career. Even Curren$y steps it up a bit, and while he’s not nearly as deft as Gibbs, he does provide an atmospheric intensity with his verses.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Location Remote, New Thangs, Willie Lloyd
For Fans of: Madlib, Young Jeezy, the Heist Scene in Michael Mann’s Heat
18. Anna von Hausswolff — Dead Magic
Each song on Dead Magic should be thought of as its own suite, combining to produce a sweeping and visceral experience throughout. The Swedish Hausswolff is more concerned with texture than narrative here, but the way the music ebbs and crescendos tells a story on its own. Droning synthesizers, tribal drums, and Hausswolff’s soaring voice make this one of the most emotional records of 2018.
Genre: Drone/Rock
Favorite Tracks: The Truth, The Glow, The Fall; The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra
For Fans of: Chelsea Wolfe, Swans, Reading Wuthering Heights and Pretending it’s a Great Love Story
17. Ought — Room Inside the World
On Room Inside the World, Ought smooths out their jagged post-punk sound with new wave synthesizers and crooning. Desire is one of the best songs of 2018, and perfectly encapsulates the change in their sound — Tim Darcy is joined by a 70-piece choir to crescendo into a masterpiece of self-reflection.
Genre: Post-Punk/New Wave
Favorite Tracks: Desire, Alice
For Fans of: Protomartyr, Sonic Youth, New Order, 80s Themed Dance Raves
16 . Jon Hopkins — Singularity
Just looking at the artwork, you can tell that Singularity is focused on something otherworldly. From the opening tones of the title track, Hopkins leaves the earth and makes an ethereal journey through the remaining 8 tracks. It’s a record best listened to at night, perhaps on the road, as you travel to your interstellar destination.
Genre: Electronic
Favorite Tracks: Emerald Rush, Everything Connected
For Fans of: Boards of Canada, Tycho, Binge Watching Stranger Things
15. Parquet Courts — WIDE AWAAAAAKE!
For their 2018 record, Parquet Courts set out to make a punk dance album and they succeeded. Wide Awake is fun, raucous, and will get your feet tapping. It’s a call back to the rock protest albums of the 1980s that attacked the status quo with sarcasm and fun. The production on here is absolutely crisp as well, making this album a joy to listen to front to back.
Genre: Post-Punk
Favorite Tracks: Total Football, Normalization
For Fans of: Talking Heads, Preoccupations, Ordering Boddington’s Pale Ale
14. Against All Logic — 2012–2017
2012–2017 is the spiritual successor to the Avalanches’ critically acclaimed Since I Left You. Jaar creates amazing grooves and melodies through milk-crate diving, pulling songs apart and re-stitching them together like a mad scientist. Even though the album is actually a collection of small singles, it still manages to flow well and have a cohesive sound.
Genre: Deep House
Favorite Tracks: This Old House is All I Have, Some Kind of Game, Flash in the Pan
For Fans of: The Avalanches, DJ Shadow, 2am Taco Bell Stops After the Club
13. Tirzah — Devotion
Devotion is a sparse yet lush album focused on love and companionship. Tirzah doesn’t have the perfect voice, but the simple arrangements let her honesty and passion shine through and mix with some of the weirder moments of synthesizer and auto-tune, creating a beautiful minimalistic experience.
Genre: Alternative R&B
Favorite Tracks: Do You Know, Guilty
For Fans of: Teyana Taylor, Dawn Richard, Watching Perfume Commercials
12. Universal Beings — Makaya McCraven
The greatest triumph on Universal Beings is that McCraven creates music that sounds like looping samples with completely live instrumentation. He pulls on multiple genres in each of the performances recorded for this record, waffling between Jazz, Tribal, Hip-Hop, Ambient, and back again. These tracks are clearly Jazz, but they occupy a space of meditation rather than improvisation — each instrument folding over another creating a wave of feeling and entrancement.
Genre: Nu Jazz
Favorite Tracks: Black Lion, Butters’s, The Fifth Monk
For Fans of: DJ Shadow, J Dilla, Wearing Sunglasses Indoors at Night
11. Jeff Tweedy — WARM
Jeff Tweedy’s 2018 solo album is the best Wilco material released in nearly 10 years. It’s also his most personal. Tweedy speaks openly about addiction, awkward conversations, and finding closure. WARM is more classically ‘Wilco’ than Tweedy’s other solo material in past years, and it works well considering the subject matter. It strikes the perfect balance between experimentation and simplicity.
Genre: Alt-Country
Favorite Tracks: Don’t Forget, How Hard is it For a Desert to Die, I Know What it’s Like
For Fans of: Ryan Adams, My Morning Jacket, Land Ho!’s Unity Concert Performance
10. mewithoutYou — [Untitled]
In 2018, mewithoutYou have released my favorite album by them since Brother, Sister. I’ve always preferred their heavier side, and they’ve returned a bit after going soft for the previous three records. [Untitled] is the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic world of paranoia and dust. Weiss sings about religion and guilt with a poignancy that’s always been present, but this time the instruments hit and push harder.
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Favorite Tracks: Julia (or, ‘Holy to the LORD’ on the Bells of Horses); Tortoises All the Way Down; Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore
For Fans of: Cursive, David Bazan, Reading the Book of Revelation While Enjoying Some Rye Whiskey
9. Ambrose Akinmusire — Origami Harvest
Ambrose Akinmusire began his career as a Post-Bop, Blue Note player with his feet firmly planted in tradition. However within the last few years, he’s let his political and social passion fuel his music and transform it in ways that question tradition as much as affirm it. On Origami Harvest, Akinmusire blends jazz, hip-hop, and classical with an edge and emphasis on American tumult. It’s a more jazz-centric version of To Pimp a Butterfly in theme, but unfortunately Kool A.D. isn’t as talented or tactful as Kendrick Lamar. Still, when the record hits, it is incredible and moving.
Genre: Jazz/Spoken Word
Favorite Tracks: Miracle and Streetfight, The Lingering Velocity of the Dead’s Ambitions
For Fans of: Kendrick Lamar, Christian Scott, Listening to Serial Season 3
8. Spiritualized — And Nothing Hurt
Twenty years ago, Jason Pierce released a landmark record, “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space,” that would be considered a classic in its genre. Fittingly, And Nothing Hurt, Pierce’s final album, captures the same feelings that Ladies… had, but rather than using gigantic choruses and noise, Pierce draws inward. And Nothing Hurt is much more focused on impeccable songwriting skills, augmented by Pierce’s kind crooning voice. His final album is a perfect send off and victory lap.
Genre: Rock/Chamber Pop
Favorite Tracks: I’m Your Man, On the Sunshine, The Morning After
For Fans of: The Flaming Lips, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Matt Smith’s Bowties on Doctor Who
7. Julia Holter — Aviary
Aviary is 90+ minutes of Pop abstraction and experimentation. Holter takes every tool she has and throws it into this record with absolute fervor, maximizing the sounds whenever possible, stretching out moments into full songs. It’s inventive, interesting, and innovative in an age when every pop song uses the same formula.
Genre: Art-Pop/Avant-Garde
Favorite Tracks: Voce Simul, Underneath the Moon
For Fans of: Bjork, Joanna Newsom, Tippi Hedren Screaming at Birds
6. Mitski — Be the Cowboy
Be the Cowboy is the beneficiary of beautiful songwriting. Each track exists almost as its own world, as Mitski jumps between genres, though the entire album is rooted in melancholy and self-reflection which ties it together. It’s a very human record, and gets better with every listen.
Genre: Indie-Rock
Favorite Tracks: Geyser, A Pearl
For Fans of: St. Vincent, Jay Som, Watching Spaghetti Westerns While Eating Spaghetti
5. Idles — Joy as an Act of Resistance
Joy… is the most happy, angry record I can think of in recent memory. Each song builds slowly and uses tension as if it were an instrument, holding on until the last minute to resolve (if at all). Guitars wail and drums thump as Joe Talbot opines on self-confidence, Brexit, Pavement, and pop culture. Idles aren’t pushing the genre forward in any way, however they deliver just a solid post-punk album in line with their predecessors from 20 years ago.
Genre: Post-Punk
Favorite Tracks: Colossus, Never Fight a Man With a Perm, Danny Nedelko
For Fans of: Sleaford Mods, Fugazi, Eating Steak and Ale Pie with a Bass Al
4. Binker and Moses — Alive in the East?
Binker Golding and Moses Boyd are two fixtures of the up-and-coming London jazz scene that has exploded within the last few years. Alive in the East? flows from track to track almost seamlessly, from the opening banging drum solo of The Birth of Light to the final notes of The Death of Light. Every soloist is absolutely on point, driving the mixture and inspiring their partners, creating an organic yet exhilarating experience.
Genre: Jazz
Favorite Tracks: How Land Learnt to Be, Beyond the Edge
For Fans of: Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Watching Black and White George Romero Zombie Flicks While Eating Copious Amounts of Pizza
3. Deafheaven — Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Three years ago, Deafheaven released New Bermuda amidst personal struggle and exhaustion. The result was a darker, less focused record that polarized many fans. The band took a break, regrouped, and recorded new material after rediscovering their passion, and it is immediately noticeable on Ordinary Corrupt Human Love. The songs sound happier, they are more melodic, and the compositions overall speak to the joy of creating music. There’s even piano and strings, something which I would never expect, but ultimately the result is moving in ways that both Sunbather and New Bermuda weren’t.
Genre: Blackgaze/Dream-Pop
Favorite Tracks: You Without End, Honeycomb, Glint
For Fans of: Alcest, Explosions in the Sky, Stephen Spielberg Movies
2. Armand Hammer — Paraffin
Billy Woods and Elucid are two of the most lyrically gifted and lyrically cryptic rappers producing music today. Paraffin pairs them with the some of the best production they’ve ever had, and the result is the most “accessible” release by either two emcees. Paraffin flows between socioeconomic issues, to introspection, to diary entries, and even touches on hip-hop culture itself, all with the same post-apocalyptic jazz club atmosphere. This is the most replayable album of the year — each listen peels away another layer of the gigantic onion.
Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Sweet Mickey, Fuhrman Tapes, Root Farm
For Fans of: Black Thought, Wiki, Shabazz Palaces, the Scene Where Shrek and Donkey Talk About What Ogres are Like
- Earl Sweatshirt — Some Rap Songs
Earl has changed a lot since dropping his eponymous EP at 15 years old. Rather than relying on shocking lyrics, he’s made his name now on his openness and poetic lyricism, both of which are present on Some Rap Songs in droves. However, the most striking feature is the record’s production. It’s lo-fi and minimally sampled with cascading loops to create noise and melody which warps, twists, and expands over the course of the too-short 25 minute run-time. If there’s one flaw on Some Rap Songs, it’s the length, as my ears are begging for more.
Genre: Experimental Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Shattered Dreams, Cold Summers, The Bends
For Fans of: Tyler, the Creator; Danny Brown; That Moment After Seeing Primer for the First Time Where Nothing Makes Sense
