The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

We’ll

It's gonna be Mitski and Musgraves, I'm guessing

Depending on the audience hip hop lists will either favor Pusha T and KSG or Denzel Curry and Noname.

Electronic token pick for zines that don’t really focus on house/techno will be AAL, Dj Koze, Ross from friends, Jon Hopkins... maybe Skee Mask.

Sons of Kemet and Kamashi seem like the token jazz picks this year.

Decibel's list:

40 Panopticon, The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness I and II, Bindrune
39 Hate Eternal, Upon Desolate Sands, Season of Mist
38 Cosmic Church, Tattymys, Self-released
37 KEN mode, Loved, Season of Mist
36 Monster Magnet, Mindfucker Napalm
35 Wake, Misery Rites, Translation Loss
34 Thou, Magus, Sacred Bones
33 Zeal and Ardor, Stranger Fruit, MVKA
32 Devouring Star, The Arteries of Heresy, Dark Descent
31 Corrosion of Conformity, No Cross No Crown, Nuclear Blast
30 Sepulcher, Panoptic Horror, Edged Circle Productions
29 Svalbard, It’s Hard To Have Hope, Translation Loss
28 Horrendous, Idol, Season of Mist
27 Abhorrence, Megalohydrothalassophobic, Svart
26 Visigoth, Conqueror’s Oath, Metal Blade
25 Mortuous, Through Wilderness, Tankcrimes
24 Portal, Ion, Profound Lore
23 Mournful Congregation, The Incubus of Karma, 20 Buck Spin
22 Sleep, The Sciences, Third Man
21 Funeral Mist, Hekatomb, Norma Evangelium Diaboli
20 Outer Heaven, Realms of Eternal Decay, Relapse
19 Varathron, Patriarchs of Evil, Agonia
18 The Atlas Moth, Coma Noir, Prosthetic
17 Tomb Mold, Manor of Infinite Forms, 20 Buck Spin
16 Satan, Cruel Magic, Metal Blade
15 Chapel of Disease, …And as We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye, Ván
14 Deafheaven, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, Anti-
13 Voivod, The Wake, Century Media
12 Haunt, Burst Into Flames, Shadow Kingdom
11 At the Gates, To Drink from the Night Itself, Century Media
10 Pig Destroyer, Head Cage, Relapse
9 Khemmis, Desolation, 20 Buck Spin
8 Immortal, Northern Chaos Gods, Nuclear Blast
7 Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Wasteland, Rise Above
6 Skeletonwitch, Devouring Radiant Light, Prosthetic
5 Judas Priest, Firepower, Columbia
4 Evoken, Hypnagogia, Profound Lore
3 UADA, Cult of a Dying Sun, Eisenwald
2 Tribulation, Down Below, Century Media
1 YOB, Our Raw Heart, Relapse

Sons of Kemet and Kamashi seem like the token jazz picks this year.

Makaya McCraven, too. (Full disclosure, I'm doing a jazz list for Stereogum and all 3 will be on it.)

I mean The 1975 album isn't even out yet

another year of me being totally baffled that websites adhere to magazine publishing schedules for year-end lists

i guess no one would give a shit in january though

Common journalistic decency dictates that you should wait till the 1st of December.

this evoken record is absolutely incredible thank you decibel

I haven't gotten around to it yet but of those I've heard from their top 10 the Skeletonwitch and Tribulation were both underwhelming, so I'm skeptical as to the rest. Evoken sounds like it'll be right up my alley, though.

I bought exactly five records with recorded-in-2018 material this year (out of over 500 total), I think I'm ready to walk away from this treadmill and focus on old jazz records

Senyawa is pretty cool, I do admit

the last couple Evoken records slayed, stoked to check out the new one

A strange list as always. They inexplicably include token the garage psych noir album from Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, but leave out the amazing Windhand album (not to mention Witch Mountain, Castle, Moab, Weedpecker and Wytch Hazel). I love Uncle Acid, but it's not really what Decibel normally covers, so why even bother? Graveyard, Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows, Lucifer, Druid, Alastor, All Them Witches, The Exploding Eyes Orchestra, The Necromancers and King Buffalo are all just as great.

hasn't been a great year for metal imo, and most of the best stuff falls into the hardcore/emo crossover bracket which decibel clearly doesn't want to touch

agreed it's weird windhand didn't make it. i like that record a lot

That newest Graveyard record is a bit of a dud imo

Time, who apparently do an albums list now.

http://time.com/5455075/best-albums-2018/

10. Camila Cabello - Camila
9. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
8. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
7. Troye Sivan - Bloom
6. Robyn - Honey
5. J Balvin - Vibras
4. Shawn Mendes - Shawn Mendes
3. Mitski - Be the Cowboy
2. Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer
1. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

Has the 1975 album been sent out to reviewers then?

Time 10 Best Songs of 2018

http://time.com/5455058/best-songs-2018/

10. Lizzo, “Boys”
9. Tom Misch, “It Runs Through Me (feat. De La Soul)”
8. Sigrid, “Sucker Punch”
7. Rüfüs Du Sol “No Place”
6. boygenius, “Ketchum, ID”
5. Mac Miller, “Self Care”
4. Joji, “YEAH RIGHT”
3. Ariana Grande, “thank u, next”
2. Childish Gambino, “This Is America”
1. Christine & the Queens, “Girlfriend” (feat. Dâm-Funk)”

Has the 1975 album been sent out to reviewers then?

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, November 16, 2018 8:05 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes

Will Time be the only list Shawn Mendes gets on?

goddamn either Time has somehow magically become hip or I am officially lame as hell because anywhere from 4 to 6 of those albums will probably be in my own top 10.

Time is I suspect much like Cosmopolitan in that they just let a single writer put together the lists, which means they are surprisingly coherent and curated.

Like the songs list is 1-5 = obvious inclusions, 6-10 = personal favourites

maybe marc benioff is a poptimist

Time lists are the best so far.

with an extremely low bar to clear

still anything that gets more people hearing mitski is a net positive

I bought exactly five records with recorded-in-2018 material this year (out of over 500 total), I think I'm ready to walk away from this treadmill and focus on old jazz records

Senyawa is pretty cool, I do admit

― #BreakingTheWorld (sleeve)

i mean to get off the treadmill, really i do, but i still love new music as much as i love old music. the i have just as many 2018 records added to my library at this point as i do 2017, which is a lot.

despite this i still haven't heard, or heard, didn't care about, and forgot, most of the acclaimed records in this thread so far. i guess it's good because they're apparently shit? but i'm too old to pretend i have good taste in music. i like records by old people everybody else has forgotten about. like the new chris connelly record!

The only big mainstream album I've heard all year was the Janelle Monáe, and I thought it was...a couple of good singles (and one really bad single) and a bunch of stuff I've already forgotten.

From the Decibel list, I've heard Hate Eternal (very good), Monster Magnet (OK), Horrendous (not for me), Visigoth (great), Sleep (yawn), Funeral Mist (amazing), Haunt (OK), Pig Destroyer (yawn), Judas Priest (better than I expected), and Tribulation (good).

Time list is mega corny but ofc ilx likes it 🙄

Time list is mega corny but ofc ilx likes it

It ticks all the 2018 boxes:

- more women than men
- token country album
- Robyn (an artist whose entire audience consists of music critics)
- two Latin artists
- two "rock" albums (but no actual rock)

I'm waiting for the Let's Eat Grandma album to show up on one of these...

Robyn (an artist whose entire audience consists of music critics)

rmde go to a gay club some time

^^^

xp
LEG was on the first list posted itt at #11

Of course we can't have more women than men, or any latin music, it's pc gone mad, the natural order is for real proper whiny white indie dude rock to dominate and anyone disagreeing must be just pretending to like other things to tick identity politics boxes, amirite fellas?

unperson isn't particularly interested in the dull flowers of indie rock iirc

the time list isn't corny bc it fills some imaginary quota

personally i don't think the troye or camila records can hang in a top ten. and the songs list is... not good

who even is J Balvin and what are the odds all their shit sounds like Despacito reheats

xxp yeah thought he probably didn't (seems unlikely on here anyway) but accusing people of tokenism simply for including more women than men puts him in the club with those dudes anyway

well yeah

who even is J Balvin and what are the odds all their shit sounds like Despacito reheats

― imago, Friday, November 16, 2018 2:41 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

One of the most popular artists in the world, and odds are small. It does, however, sound very derivative of the rap music that is notably missing in most part from either list

and the songs list is... not good

Anybody's tracks list that doesn't have Boo'd Up some place in the top 4 is a bad list and should be ignored on principle.

I like Boo'd Up just fine but it won't even make my Top 50 tbh

If you want to get around feeling obligated to include it, it’s worth mentioning it came out last year ... like early last year

pvmic

One of the most popular artists in the world, and odds are small. It does, however, sound very derivative of the rap music that is notably missing in most part from either list

screaming at Rufus Du Soul (an Australian band that's basically like Jon Hopkins x Coldplay) somehow making into that TIME song list

You started out well, but then mischaracterized Balvin’s music just to make a point about the rap music that is notably present in the upper echelons of both lists

― breastcrawl, Friday, November 16, 2018 4:29 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ur right about jbalvin, thats my bad, i was thinking of difft artists

i don't think cardi & childish gambino are very representative of the rap im talking about though -- travis/gunna/lil baby type music is not at all represented

*recordings. That word gives me a hard time for some reason.

Turns out all the tracks on the Dita Von Teese album were written by Sébastien Tellier so it self-consciously comes across as a Gainsbourg/Birkin tribute, down to the inclusion of a couple of French-language songs. If you're a Tellier fan – I find him mildly amusing, no more and no less – you'll probably like it.

And here's part 2:

20. Computer Magic - Danz
19. Gottfried Huppertz - Metropolis
18. Ryoji Ikeda - Music For Percussion
17. Toivo Tulev - Magnificat
16. Coppice - Surreal Air Fortress
15. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir - Choral Works by Schnittke & Pärt
14. Michael Cutting - Stills
13. James Newton Howard - Red Sparrow
12. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears
11. irr. app. (ext.) - A Transfigured System
10. various artists - Phantom Images
9. Rich Shapero & Elsiane - Rin, Tongue and Dorner
8. ionnalee - Everyone Afraid To Be Forgotten
7. Thom Yorke - Suspiria
6. Fia Fiell - All In The Same Room
5. Lauren Redhead - hearmleoþ—gieddunga
4. Morton Feldman - For John Cage (Mark Knoop & Aisha Orazbayeva)
3. Piggy Black Cross - Always Just Out of R.E.A.C.H. (Robotic Eclosion After Coming Hylozoic)
2. Lee Fraser - Cor Unvers
1. The Caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time - Stages 4 & 5

http://5against4.com/2018/12/31/best-albums-of-2018-part-2/

I'm shocked Kate Bush's box set didn't make that top 10!

My year-end Top 10. I'm a little skeptical as to what's going to materialize for Pazz & Jop, but if nothing else, its puzzling continuation gave me a push to again do this. Not sure I would have otherwise this year--and wouldn't have done so at least until February without the deadline.

That's a terrific blurb on "December 24th," a track I played several times that night.

Thanks. So frustrating that it's so short...

“Aliens in Our Midst,” their Twinkeyz cover. The Twinkeyz? Honest to god, never heard of them, but, if we can finesse our way around the lyric about the five-year-old friend who likes to dress in his sister’s clothes, my school’s music teacher and I are hoping to perform it at a future school assembly with my grade 3 class. (We’re very enlightened, promise; parents and principals sometimes have different ideas.)

Is there any way for an adult to attend a school assembly as a non-relative/teacher without looking like a creep?

(I mean, I went to my niece’s Christmas pageant last month, but they did nothing cooler than “Let It Go”).

If it happens, and I hope it does, I'll post a YouTube video privately and send you the link. As the nine-millionth reconfiguration of "Louie, Louie," it's amazingly easy to play on guitar (if it weren't, it'd be beyond me).

it's interesting to read that your way into "Miki Dora" was through the backstory! I fell in love with that song the first time I played the album, the slow build of the music and his voice drew me in, it wasn't until much later that I learned what the song was about

http://505indie.com.br/acervo/os-50-melhores-albuns-brasileiros-de-2018/

Elza Soares at 10; Carne Doce's Tonus at #1 (who?); 23 is Marcelo Cabral, avante-samba rock pal of Romulo Froes in Sao Paulo; 31- Gilberto Gil; 34. Heavy Baile – Carne de Pescoço is funk carioca; 38 is Ava Rocha-- more avante-samba

That's it?

One of the best lists for last, The Finest Kiss always finds singles I never knew existed. I added the ones available on Spotify to the end of my singles list: https://finestkiss.wordpress.com/2019/01/02/2018-singles-of-the-year/

Not all singles, but pop tracks selected from Dream/Art/Jangle pop, Shoegaze, etc.: https://open.spotify.com/user/1212496385/playlist/1TingElLqQsoqmRciGAUoy?si=ouXrBmV1TQutTAy4ShCoyg

yeah i've been digging the stuff on colemine this past year, nothing wrong with genre exercises if the feeling's there

had to look up whomst the Y in "GAPDY" was. earnestly thought it was Yeasayer

uhh wrong thread lol

https://finestkiss.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/notable-albums-of-2018/

As is often the case, I'm not on board with his #1, but it doesn't matter, there's plenty of great discoveries to be found. It also prompted me to re-listen and re-consider albums by Spirit of the Beehive, Honey Bucket and others. Ural Thomas & the Pain is a great choice for soul.

yeah, very good list ^ and the first one i've seen mention that Clearance record, which i really liked.

I’ve only seen the Shopping album on two other lists. Maybe the ILX love for Sacred Paws last year might carry over.

DIY yr own end of year music list: ILM's 2018 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING THREAD

Brainwashed.com's 2018 Readers Poll

Uproxx poll of 200 critics is linked on Pazz & Jop thread

Brainwashed's worst-of list partially atoning for their Weyes Blood/Jute Gyte outrage of 2016. Still regard the entire Swansbro get-up with sidelong distrust

lol at Soccer Mommy worst of the year
fuck Brainwashed readers

I mean I'm extremely happy to see Idles there but...yeah they're a suspect bunch

https://uproxx.com/critic-polls/uproxx-music-critics-poll-2018-albums/

Kacey Musgraves top album in this poll of 200 critics

https://uproxx.com/critic-polls/uproxx-music-critics-poll-2018-songs/

and here's the tracks list which is boringly close to the albums list with the addition of "this is america"

Here are the results of my poll of my year's worth of past selves:

1. CHVRCHES + WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA: "Out Of My Head"
2. Robyn: "Missing U"
3. The Winking Owl: "Try"
4. IKINÄ: "Vaatteet päältä"
5. Rave The Reqviem: "Saint Jvdas"
6. Muncie Girls: "Jeremy"
7. Kitten: "Strange Embrace"
8. Straatligkinders + Lucinda Neethling: "Herinner"
9. Christine and the Queens: "Doesn't matter (voleur de soleil)"
10. Per Gessle + Helena Josefsson: "Name You Beautiful"

#s 11-50 and oblique annotations here:

http://furia.com/newparticles/2019-01-04.html

great tunes there

Not sure where to plonk this, so here will do as I seem to have also started the thread.

https://centuriesofsound.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/2018-icon.jpg

Centuries of Sound - 2018

This is the tracklisting with just the 112 music tracks - there are also 98 clips of speech in-between which are listed behind the link. It's free to stream or download, and it's a bit long, sorry.

0:00:20 Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury – Excerpt from “Annihilation” OST
0:00:51 Mount Eerie – Distortion
0:01:07 MGMT – When You Die
0:02:02 Ravyn Lenae – Sticky
0:03:58 Grace Vonderkuhn – Worry
0:05:54 Anna von Hausswolff – The Truth, the Glow, the Fall
0:07:27 Tune-Yards – Colonizer
0:09:07 Spice – Tik Tak
0:10:41 Hoodboi – Glide feat. Tkay Maidza
0:13:13 Nilufer Yanya – Thanks 4 Nothing
0:15:29 Leif – Number 13
0:17:14 JPEGMAFIA – 1539 N. Calvert
0:18:47 Kero Kero Bonito – Only Acting
0:22:50 E Ruscha V – Who Are You
0:24:03 ionnalee – Blazing
0:24:52 Simmy ft. Sun-EL Musician – Ubala
0:26:51 Peach – Silky
0:29:40 700 Bliss – Cosmic Slop
0:31:05 Stormzy – Brit Awards Performance
0:31:34 Loski – Cool Kid
0:33:41 Andrew W.K. – Music Is Worth Living For
0:36:20 Jon Hopkins – Emerald Rush
0:40:05 Natalie Prass – Short Court Style
0:42:16 Doja Cat – Go To Town
0:44:46 Novelist – Stop Killing the Mandem
0:45:50 Peggy Gou – It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)
0:47:21 Bicep – Opal (Four Tet Remix)
0:49:31 Grouper – Parking Lot
0:52:00 Sarah Davachi – Hours in the Evening
0:53:08 Hammock – Build a Castle (Reinterpretation)
0:55:32 Cavern Of Anti-Matter – Solarised Sound
0:58:01 Tyler, The Creator – OKRA
0:59:42 Jimothy Lacoste – Subway System
1:02:08 Gila – 106 Slipper
1:03:09 Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Peacock
1:04:33 Henry Kaiser – Spoonful
1:04:50 Sons of Kemet – My Queen Is Ada Eastman
1:08:23 Cazzu – Chapiadora
1:10:31 Kali Uchis – In My Dreams
1:12:00 Autechre – All End
1:14:40 KAREN MEAT – Overdwelled
1:17:13 Donato Dozzy – Cleo
1:19:16 Róisín Murphy – All My Dreams
1:21:17 DJ Koze – Pick Up
1:22:45 Valee – Womp Womp (feat. Jeremih)
1:24:16 Childish Gambino – This Is America (Video Version)
1:26:35 Joy O, Ben Vince – Transition 2
1:28:04 Simian Mobile Disco – Defender (feat. The Deep Throat Choir)
1:29:33 Laura Jean – Girls On The TV
1:33:56 MEUTE – You & Me (Flume Remix)
1:37:33 Pusha T – If You Know You Know
1:39:22 Daphne & Celeste – BB
1:43:14 Melody’s Echo Chamber – Quand Les Larmes D’un Ange Font Danser La Neige
1:46:30 Lizzo – Boys
1:48:31 YOTA ft. MF DOOM – Drop the Bomb
1:50:05 Colin Stetson – Steve
1:51:34 Low – Fly
1:55:54 Hilary Woods – Sever
1:57:42 BLACKPINK – DDU-DU DDU-DU
1:59:30 DeJ Loaf feat. Leon Bridges – Liberated
2:01:56 Sophie – Immaterial
2:03:31 Koelsch & Tiga – HAL
2:06:19 Ella Mai – Boo’d Up
2:08:43 Emily Harrison – I’d like to thank the Academy (Tips on getting Prozac from your GP)
2:09:12 Mr Twin Sister – Jaipur
2:12:13 Denzel Curry – Black Balloons
2:14:31 Charli XCX – Focus
2:17:00 Mitski – Nobody
2:19:23 Moses Sumney – Rank & File
2:20:55 Yves Tumor – Noid
2:23:00 Daniel Avery – Quick Eternity (Four Tet Remix)
2:24:11 Daveed Diggs – Blindspotting – End Rap Scene
2:26:11 CHVRCHES – Out of My Head (feat. Wednesday Campanella)
2:28:55 Christine and the Queens – 5 Dollars
2:30:47 Kink – Perth (Dusky Remix)
2:31:35 Mac Miller – What’s the Use (feat. Thundercat)
2:35:00 Diana Gordon – Wolverine
2:36:16 Oh Sees – Sentient Oona
2:40:25 mewithoutYou – Julia (or, ‘Holy to the LORD’ on the Bells of Horses)
2:42:29 Louis Cole – When You’re Ugly
2:44:21 Paul Woolford feat. Kim English – Hang Up Your Hang Ups (The Only One) (CamelPhat Remix)
2:45:35 Szun Waves – Temple
2:47:30 Thom Yorke – Unmade
2:50:00 Tim Hecker – This Life
2:50:59 Suede – Roadkill
2:52:45 Illingsworth – Greens
2:53:50 Miljon – What Does It Take
2:55:50 Julia Holter – I Shall Love 2
3:00:02 Shackleton – Wakefulness & Obsession
3:02:01 Bruce – What
3:03:35 Low – Tempest
3:05:46 AdriAnne Lenker – Symbol
3:07:54 Sigrid – Sucker Punch
3:10:23 Lafawndah – Joseph
3:11:22 Marie Davidson – Work It
3:13:52 Lando Chill – Peso (feat. Quelle Chris & REY)
3:15:26 Toro y Moi – Freelance
3:17:16 Sam Wilkes – Tonight feat. Sam Gendel, Louis Cole & Brian Green
3:20:47 Daughters – Long Road No Turns
3:23:31 Neneh Cherry – Natural Skin Deep
3:25:07 Lone – Pulsar
3:26:20 Makaya McCraven – Mantra
3:27:47 Kelly Moran – Radian
3:29:07 Octo Octa – Beam Me Up (To The Goddess Mix)
3:30:57 The Good, The Bad & The Queen – Merrie Land
3:34:08 Zuli – Nari (feat. Abyusif, Mado $am, Abanob, R-Rhyme)
3:35:20 Earl Sweatshirt – Nowhere2go
3:36:37 Jonathan Personne – Comme Personne
3:38:18 The 1975 – Love It If We Made It
3:41:53 Holly Herndon & Jlin (feat. Spawn) – Godmother
3:43:10 Beta Librae – Problem Solving Program
3:45:10 Lubomyr Melnyk – Barcarolle
3:47:50 Andrew Bird – Bloodless