The Best Music of 2018
Here we go again with a huge list of the best music I’ve found this year. I’m a bit short on time this year so forgive the brief descriptions and have a delve – there’s some splendid stuff around and hopefully, you’ll dig up some stuff that floats yer boat.
There’s a top ten of the best of the best then after that it’s all listed alphabetically. I mean, how do you really decide that number 76 is better than number 77?
1) Henry Blacker – The Making of Junior Bonner
This is noise rock at its taut, funky, pummelling best. Henry Blacker is the best thing since The Jesus Lizard – and I don’t mention that name lightly. Early Queens of The Stone Age is a touchstone but this is even gnarlier.
2) Hookworms – Microshift
This is sadly the swansong of Hookworms. That’s such a shame because this record introduced a startling change of direction to a cleaner sound that put me off initially but on repeated listens turned out to be a stunning success.
3) Arabrot – Who Do You Love
Sweden’s astonishing Arabrot are out on their own at the moment. This is a unique and powerful record that doesn’t easily fit into any neat category. It’s fierce and primal, cultured and precise – noise rock with a suit and tie on.
4) Immersion – Sleepless
In the absence of a new Wire LP this year we have to turn to Immersion, which is one of Colin Newman’s side projects with his wife, Malka Spiegel. And, what do you know, it’s quite marvellous instrumental stuff. This is the kind of record that you end up listening to a few times a day without even planning to do so.
5) Amen Dunes – Freedom
Amen Dunes here fleshes out his sparse, hypnotic sound with a classic 70’s rock backing to excellent effect.
6) Viagra Boys – Street Worms
These Swedish loons are filthy good fun. Sports (below) is the single of the year and the rest of the album is a marvellous breath of stale air.
7) Hampshire and Foat – Nightshade/The Honey Bear
This year we were treated to two offerings from this fascinating collaboration who make a sort of expansive, big-screen mixture of classical and Jazz. The Honeybear is the standout, the soundtrack to an imaginary children’s tale, it is sweet and gentle with the lightest dusting of strangeness and danger.
8) Yob – Our Raw Heart
Oh, now then, here’s something. Yob have always been mighty purveyors of brutal stoner doom but the lead singer’s brush with death seems to have been the catalyst that’s snapped everything into focus on this intense, thrilling career highlight.
9) Jon Hopkins – Singularity
Another massive statement from Jon Hopkins, who goes from strength to strength as he hones his skills in composing totally absorbing electronic music. This was designed to be listened to as one unified piece, I suggest you do so.
10) Weedpecker – III
I think there’s a new kind of music around. Examples of this not-quite-named stuff are this lot, King Buffalo, Samsara Blues Experiment, Somali Yacht Club and the excellent Elder. Its closest relative is, I guess, stoner rock but it’s cleaner, more melodic, a bit psychedelic and kind of grander. I can’t get enough of it. This latest offering by Poland’s Weedpecker is typically epic.
…here’s 60 or 70 more excellent records I heard this year, in alphabetical order – just so I don’t put them in twice 😉
Arp – Zebra
This playful album puts me in mind of the criminally underappreciated Startled Insects. It’s a soundtrack-y mixture of electronic music, jazz and modern classical that would be the perfect accompaniment to some show in which old Dave Attenborough encounters the beasts of the Amazon.
Beach House – 7
There’s laid back and then there’s Beach House. 7 further hones their mastery at crafting swooning Torch songs.
Beak – >>>
I guess that album name means really fast forward? Whatever, Beak are definitely on a track to the future here displaying a smorgasbord of inventive electronic shenanigans leaping off from a foothold in krautrock.
Beast – Ens
Beast is Koen Holtcamp of the marvellous drone band Mountains. He’s a bit more animated here and this album offers an intricate glissade of swirling notes.
Belly – Dove
Another welcome return. The first album in 20 years from Tanya Donnely’s Belly sees them resume right where they left off. Light and breezy indie pop goodness.
Bongripper – Terminal
If you’re a fan of misanthropic doom metal (and it’s perfectly OK if you aren’t) then you won’t want to miss this latest outing from Bongripper. They seem to be almost grinding to halt, mired in the morass of their trudging riffs. There’s two really long tracks, one’s called “slow” and the other is “death”.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Something Else
The first of two albums promised for 2018 turned out to be the only one in the midst of band member disputes, mixing issues and all kinds of anarchy. So, business as usual then. Nevertheless the songwriting conveyor belt that is Anton Newcombe comes up trumps again with another collection of 60’s infuenced psych-pop gems.
Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy
Spending a couple of years reworking an album from your prolific early years isn’t usually a bold step forward for an artist but Will Toledo more than justifies the decision with this huge, now gleaming, opus.
Carlton Melton – Mind Minerals
Mellow psych-improvisers Carlton Melton become even more horizontal on this release but they’re still inventive and completely together on the same, err.. vibe.
Cavern of Anti-Matter – Hormone Lemonade
Listen to the first track. Go on. 17 minutes of spacey 70’s synth wonder. The whole album continues in a similar vein, great stuff.
The Chills – Snowbound
Another delightful resurgence has been that of New Zealand’s The Chills. More than any band for me they display the very best of that country’s trademark heartfelt pop goodness. This is a splendid return to form and stands up there with their best work.
Chris Carter – Chemistry Lessons Volume 1
Throbbing Gristler Chris Carter’s solo album is a comprehensive exploration of all kinds of electronic possibilities. This is fiercely non-organic stuff, even the vocals are treated until they sound robotic.
Conan – Existential Void Guardian
Look at the name. Look at the cover. You know what’s coming. Let them in or they’ll just break your door down. Liverpool’s Conan make a particularly bludgeoning imagining of doom metal but, and here’s the thing, they’re constantly trying out new stuff and pulling the sticky tar of their sound around in interesting ways that make this rise far above their peers.
Confidence Man – Confident Music For Confident People
Australia’s Confidence Man made the shiny disco treat of the summer. Knowing, witty and sharp with danceable party tunes – what’s not to like?
Container – LP
Giving every album the same name is an indicator of the single-mindedness with which Container produces this excellently brutal and uncompromising techno.
Daniel Avery – Song For Alpha
One of the year’s best electronic albums. Meticulous and immersive.
Dengue Dengue Dengue – Semillero
Their press release says this; “A tropical storm of electronic psychedelia directly from Lima, Perú. A project always in constant evolution, exploring rhythms and sounds of the world.” That just about nails it. This is fierce, percussion-led, chanty, danceable weirdness.
Double Coda – The Glands
The Glands were a turn-of-century indie band from Athens Georgie. I’d never heard of them. They did two albums then the lead singer died and this is a posthumous collection of what was unreleased. They were terrific in a Pavementey sort of vein.
Emma Ruth Rundle
Emma Ruth Rundle makes a moody and impassioned musical stew that explores uncharted territory between Americana and gothic rock.
The Essex Green – Hardly Electronic
The return of the glorious harmonies and perfectly constructed chamber pop of The Essex Green was a most pleasant surprise. Their first album since 2006’s marvellous Cannibal Sea sees them broadening their palette slightly whilst retaining their seemingly effortless knack for constructing perfect pop gems.
First Aid Kit – Ruins
I’m a sucker for the pop-country vocal harmonies of these Swedish sisters.
Flasher – Constant Image
Catchy hooks abound in this cracking album of spiky, off kilter, post-punk from Washington D.C.’s Flasher. Play. Repeat.
Harmony Rockets – Lachesis / Clotho / Atropos
This is the alter ego of Mercury Rev, a wonderful band whose more recent work has been rather underwhelming. This isn’t though. Allowing themselves the freedom to roam across three long-form tracks that don’t have to conform to any defined song structure brings back their swirling sense of wonder.
Gary Lee Connor – Unicorn Curry
Ex-Screaming Tree Gary Lee Connor’s latest album continues the path of his solo career crafting catchy, fuzzy, 60’s psychedelia influenced tunes with his characteristic skill for lazering in on brainworm hooks and melodies.
Helena Deland – From The Series of Songs Altogether Unaccompanied I – VIII
This series of standalone songs is emphatically and maybe a bit pretentiously not an album. But the only way to pull that sort of stunt is to make it really, really good – and these songs are. So, it’s a bunch of sad songs that flit from genre to genre but all hold together remarkably well (despite not being an album of course – because everyone does them). The arrangements are what really makes this stand out – each song gets exactly what it needs, when it needs it.
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – An Angel Fell
This is inventive Jazz. Feel free to laugh. It’s great though.
Insecure Men – Insecure Men
Strange. Deeply strange. On the surface, these are simple, almost twee songs but there’s an undercurrent of deep weirdness.
James Holden, Camilo Tirado, Luke Abbot – Outdoor Museum of Fractals/555hz
One 45 minute track and one 32 minute one in which the exceptional James Holden and his collaborators continue to marry swirling sequenced electronics to organic rhythms. Exuberant and hypnotic.
Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
A bit more commercial than the last album but, hell, she deserves the success. Pop, funk and dance are some of the genres she skips over and she’s still 50 times more inventive than anyone else topping the charts.
King Buffalo – Longing to be the Mountain
King Buffalo step off the prairies with a lovely stew of Desert Rock and Americana slowed down to walking pace and delivered with blistering power.
The Lay Llamas
These Italian Psychonauts pitch in with another collection of inventive modern psych.
Leon Vynehall – Nothing is Still
Another super electronic release in a year that’s seen loads of them. This is dark cityscape stuff with a dark, pulsing urban feeling.
Let’s eat Grandma – I’m All Ears
A bit poppier and less out there than their debut which creates the very real prospect of these two making entering the charts as a kind of sleeper cell for the strange at some point in the future. That would be very fine.
Low – Double Negative
Low aren’t at all afraid to experiment with their trademark slowcore sound. Here they smash it up totally, songs drift in and out of focus smothered by crackles and hisses. A dark statement for dark times.
The Low Anthem – The Salt Doll Went to Measure The Depth Of The Sea
Very strange and very good indeed. The Low Anthem moved away from their folkish origins on their last, rather difficult album, but here find a new way to reinterpret themselves that is totally fresh without disappointing any of their old fans.
Luminous Bodies – Luminous Bodies
A right filthy reeking beast of a record in thrall to the mighty Butthole Surfers. A funny, foul, marvellous mess.
Mark Pritchard – The Four Worlds
Mark Pritchard shows no fear. He’s happy to experiment and push his electronic boundaries and this in-betweener LP is packed with fascinating stuff. All except one of the tracks here work out marvellously.
Menace Beach – Black Rainbow Sound
Nice progression from this Leeds band on their second album. Post-punk as spiky and hook-laden as you could wish for.
Messthetics – The Messthetics
I know you’ve always wondered what Fugazi’s whipcrack taut rhythm section would sound like behind a modern jazz outfit. No? Then maybe you should have, because it sounds very good indeed.
Mind Over Mirrors – Bellowing Sun
These Canadians make enveloping hypnotic music with rippling sequencers, and mysterious chants. I’m mystified why they don’t receive more attention.
Miss Red – K.O.
Pugilistic Israeli Dancehall backed by the exploding depth-charge beats of The Bug. It’s just as unique and splendid as you’d imagine.
Mogwai – Kin
Mogwai should just do soundtracks now in my not very humble opinion. This is another excellent one.
Nadja – Sonnborner
Deep and intense metally post-rock from the prolific Nadja. If you like this, dig in, They are hugely prolific so there’s a ton of stuff to discover.
Necro Deathmort – Overland
In which electronic doomsters Necro Deathmort continue to broaden their sound. They are one of those bands that sound completely different on every album they produce yet still manage to sound like absolutely nobody else.
Nils Frahm – All Melody
He’s quite the musician, is Nils Frahm. Taking a break from all his other projects to be, well, Nils Frahm, he drops this lovely and intricate collection of delicate compositions.
Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
Old Trent still has a trick or two up his sleeve. Here he loosens the fierce NIN sound a little with impressively raw and fresh results.
Ovlov – TRU
Chewy psyche at the rockier end of the patchouli spectrum.
The Orielles – Silver Dollar Moment
Best indie album of the year by a mile. Great catchy songs. They will go far. If I could have been bothered going past 10 then this would have been next.
Orquesta Okokan – Orquesta Okokan
Super Cuban stuff.
Pharaoh Overlord – Zero
Growly vocals are the major addition on the latest from these Finnish metal fun-lovers. Not the greatest fan of that normally but works well on these overdriven festivities.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – King of Cowards
That’s seven pigs, just to save you counting. These cheeky Geordie scallywags continue their mission to bring thumping psychedelic doom to the world.
Rezzett LP – Rezzett
Grimy lo-fi techno, scuzzed out and slowed down.
RMFTM & 10000 Russos – RMFTM & 10000 Russos
Dark and brooding psyche is the offspring of this union of two of the more inventive bands in the genre.
Rival Consoles – Persona
Another accomplished album from the forefront of modern thoughtful electronic music.
Saraty Khorwar – My East is Your West
A super live album that brings Eastern instruments and arrangements into a pastoral Jazz setting with delightful results.
Shame – Songs of Praise
Varied and inventive debut from these English alternative stars-in-the-making. Idles only wish they could be half as interesting.
Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
Band name of the year award goes to this stoner rock trio from Lviv, Ukraine. Their brand of music is an elegant and almost symphonic space rock.
Spiritflesh – Spiritflesh
You’d imagine that On-U Sound would have snapped this lot up back in the day for this terrific album of murky industrial electronics spliced with raw percussive beats.
Superchunk – What A Time to Be Alive
Their sound hasn’t changed except to become just a bit sharper and, well, better than in their first incarnation. Gleeful, in-your-face indie rock.
Superpitcher – The Golden Ravedays
12 EPs – each with two super-extended tracks offering fairly downtempo during and post club mellowness influenced, of course, by the Golden Ravedays of the early ’90s. The series is remarkably consistent with some real standouts like Bluesin on EP 5.
Tangents – New Bodies
This gathering of Australian clever-clogses produce a super-proficient blend of nearly everything you can think of that sits just off at the edges of Jazz, electronic music and a couple of other genres.
Thou – Magus
Mighty stoner-doom as bludgeoning and cathartic as you could hope for.
Uniform – The Long Form
Fierce, abrasive and extremely listenable noise rock from these angry young men. The lead singer don’t sound right happy.
White Denim – Performance
White Denim return to form here with this cracking offering that wears their 70’s classic rock influences proudly and to great effect.
Wooden Shjips – V
I was never convinced by Wooden Shjips but now I can’t even remember why not. Nice is a horrible wishy-washy adjective to saddle something with but I can’t help it. This is nice, mellow, lovingly crafted psych-rock.
Yo La Tengo – There’s A Riot Going On
In dark times it’s great to know there are some things you can rely on and Yo La Tengo is most definitely one of them. This is their protest album I guess but their form of protest is to craft a set of immaculate and understated songs and perform them impeccably. Take that!
So there you go. If you think I missed anything I’d love to know about it – can’t listen to everything, unfortunately. So why not let me know?