Lists 2018 — Honourable Mentions — Albums and Singles
IT’S THAT TIME CHILDREN! Another year has come and (very very nearly) gone. My Top 10 records of the year are locked in. So let’s do this!
A quick preface, these albums are not necessarily numbers 11 through 25. They are however records which I felt did something interesting or remarkable and are worthy of spending time on. They span a large number of styles, so hopefully you’ll find something you like!
The singles playlist is just a compilation of a bunch of songs that I listened to quite a bit this year that do not appear on the Honourable Mentions or Top 10. Very little effort was put into giving them a coherent flow. Scroll down to find the playlist at the end of this post.
And now, in alphabetical order, my picks for Honourable Mentions for 2018:
Alkaloid — Liquid Anatomy
Probably my metal record of the year, Alkaloid just hit me in all the right ways with their heavy and intense space-prog-metal. Think Between The Buried And Me before they lost themselves in noodley-town, or a less blackened Vektor. Honestly though, the album does ramble a bit. The 20 minute album closer, “Rise of the Cephalopods,” would have been an amazing mini album on its own (like Meshuggah’s I was.)
Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt — Brace Up!
I discovered Bill Orcutt last year at some point and was immediately captivated by his deranged and experimental approach to solo guitar music, so when I heard about this record I snapped it up. I was not disappointed. This music is frenetic and free. Chris Corsano is a beast on the drums and Orcutt keeps up with no issues whatsoever. Apparently this is not their first collaboration. I was already aware that Orcutt has been around for decades, but I haven’t explored past his last solo record. Brace Up! convinced me that I need to rectify that.
I would start at the beginning of the record if you want the overwhelming aural assault which cativated my interest, or just jump to “Love and Open Windows” if you want to ease yourself in with the prettiest of the tracks…
Dead Can Dance — Dionysus
Dead Can Dance’s second album of the decade (after 12 years of silence) is a rich and hypnotic affair. Wikipedia classifies the band’s genre as “Neoclassical Dark Wave” which is bullshit for “this is both pretty and quite eerie.” This record blends rich percussion and electronic drones with Mediterranean sounding melodies, creating a really hypnotic listening experience. It’s gorgeous and and well worth a listen.
Masayoshi Fujita — Book of Life
What’s this? A vibraphone album? Ok! But boy howdy is this record lovely. Just gorgeous. It’s a great blend of jazz musicianship and impeccable composition skills. Fujita began as a drummer, and this album definitely benefits from strong and diverse rhythmic patterns. And yet it also seems to float across the sky at the same time. Seriously. Just lay back and drift on this one.
Ghost-Note — Swagism
To quote my thoughts on this record from the summer: “Funky funkin funk. Just…just grooving along like crazy. It’s infectious. Get some in your ear holes!” I stand by that. It’s a bit unfocused and meandering at times (I rarely listen to the record straight through) but every time a track comes up on shuffle I am INTO it.
Harunemuri — Harutosyura
Harutosyura is this year’s pick for shiny, high energy, chaos (see Guerilla Toss and Melt-Banana in previous years). I know almost nothing about this person/group. The lead singer has a great voice, and her sing-song rapping is really endearing, but she’s not scared to yell and scream. The vocal deliveries combined with really catchy guitar and synth lines over top of a driving rhythm section really sets this one apart for me this year as something worth checking out!
Julia Holter — Aviary
I’ve been following Julia Holter since her 2012 record Ekstasis, and she consistently puts out some of the most interesting and challenging pop (is this pop? what is this?) records that are also understated and beautiful. Aviary is possibly her most dense record to date. It has haunting passages (see especially the excellent “Voce Simul”) as well as startlingly dissonant ones (“Everyday is an Emergency”). I think I will likely grow to love this record even more with time, and it is definitely worth a deep dive, but I’ve found it a little impenetrable. Impressive and intriguing AF, but hard to swallow whole.
Iglooghost — Clear Tamei EP/Steel Mogu EP
Iglooghost makes really fun electronic music. It rides the line extremely well between cerebral music you can really dissect and focus on, and just straight up fun banging beats. That’s why I love it. These EPs split that personality a bit into more subtle (Clear Tamei) and in your face (Steel Mogu) sections, I think slightly to their detriment, but I still really enjoy this. Also, there’s a whole mythos being created around these ghosts apparently? I know nothing about that but I love the idea of adding that sort of world building layer to this music.
J.I.D. — DiCaprio 2
This record has only been on my radar for a week, but it’s got such great production that it’s here. J.I.D.’s flows feel like they borrow a lot from Kendrick and Lil Wayne, but he’s definitely fused his influences into something that I think he can confidently call all his own. “151 Rum” somehow rips off “The Carol of the Bells” for a rap flow and still doesn’t sound corny as J.I.D. continues to change his flows over and over for one almost unbroken verse that is the whole song. Pretty cool stuff.
Warning: Video is a little NSFW. It’s basically J.I.D. recreating a bunch of DiCaprio’s roles but it gives a good sampling of the varied production on the record so I went with it.
Judas Priest — Firepower
Listen, I’ve never listened to Judas Priest in my life before this record. So I don’t know how fans of the old school metal band think Firepower holds up. All I know is that for a bunch of old guys, this really kicks ass. It’s not even the kind of metal that usually gets me going, but something about the straightforwardness of it, the vocal performances, and the shredding guitars cut through the noise this year and got to me.
Full disclosure…I slightly regret watching the music video for this…the cheese factor gets amped up way more than with just pure audio…this may be one of those “the less I know, the better” records.
Natalia Lafourcade — Musas (Un Homenaje al Folclore Latinoamericano en Manos de Los Macorinos), Vol. 2
I know almost nothing about this wonderfully charming collection of Spanish songs. All I know is that Anthony Fantano wore yellow flannel (code for very positive review) for his review (which I didn’t even watch) and that Lafourcade’s voice is immediately enchanting. So here it is. It’s simple. It’s clean. It’s fireplace music. I have never skipped a song when it’s come up. That says a lot.
Portal — Ion
This record sounds like if lightning bolts where made of toxic sludge. Just the ugliest metal record. I love it. None of this music wants you to listen to it. And yet it sucks you in and does not let go like some Lovecraftian nightmare.
Rosalia — El Mal Querer
Combining her traditional flamenco training with modern production styles makes Rosalia’s new record just scream to be adored. Her voice is stunning and the songs here have that deep rooted tradition but imbued with a pop earworm mindset. It’s brilliant stuff.
Szun Waves — New Hymn To Freedom
I picked this record up for the sole reason that it had “Hymn To Freedom” in the title. That’s one of my favourite songs of all times, and how DARE anyone mess with it. So I grabbed the record out of curiousity at the audacity of ruining one of my all time favourites. Except Szun Waves didn’t ruin anything. Apparently it’s less about the music of “Hymn to Freedom” and more of a mindset thing. This is cosmic jazz music via krautrock drones. It’s a trance-like homage to the concept of Freedom, rather than a remix. It’s a swirling dance of modal beauty. I know I said that these weren’t albums 11 through 25, but this just might be 11.
Twin Shadow — Caer
This is my go to “melancholy but hopeful” record for this year. It’s not really exceptional in any particular way, but somehow it’s nostalgia-drenched pop comes together to be very, very listenable and I keep coming back to it. Kind of like the records featured guests HAIM put out I guess. But a little sadder.
Alright, here’s a random music related video that made me happy a bunch of times this year before a playlist of some additional stand out singles without any further explanation:
SINGLES PLAYLIST NOW:
Thanks for reading/listening! I’ll be back next week with my Top 10 Albums of 2018!
