The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

73. Beastmaker - EPs 1 – 8

In one of 2018’s best surprises, Beastmaker guitarist/vocalist (and, as it turns out, bassist and drummer, too) Trevor Church gave his fans eight EPs over the course of a single month, each containing four songs, each priced at $1. The music here is bare-bones biker-doom in the vein of Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Trouble, et al., but it’s also a leap forward for the group; the songs on these EPs frequently rock harder than either of Beastmaker’s two Rise Above full-lengths, delivering joyously simplistic retro thrills. Riff, wail, solo, repeat. What else do you need? - Phil Freeman

Nice! I did not expect to see this on any lists -- even the doom heads seemed overwhelmed. Also 62. Windhand.

69. Thalia Zedek Band - Fighting Season - She's playing the Hideout in Chicago tomorrow night.

"neutron dance" owns

― ufo, Wednesday, December 12, 2018 7:51 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Pointer Sisters Are Back And I Am Here For It

Resident Advisor - 2018's Best Tracks
https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3357

yeah! for The Skinny and PopMatters for picking Young Fathers #1

https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/opinion/albums-of-the-year/the-skinnys-top-50-albums-of-2018

https://www.billboard.com/articles/events/year-in-music-2018/8489483/best-songs-2018-staff-picks

pretty good list for the most part, til it gets sort of predictable at the top. Is this the first mention of Ezra Furman? Also, OTW!

bit of a short one here, RIP guitars

Guitar.com - Best guitar albums of 2018
https://guitar.com/features/best-guitar-albums-of-2018/

4. Robben Ford - Purple House (8/10
3. J Mascis - Elastic Days (8/10)
2. Doyle Bramhall II - Shades (8/10)
1. Boygenius – Boygenius EP (9/10)

I see more albums on this list!:
5. Tides of Man - Every Nothing
6. Kurt Vile - Bottle It In
7. Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
8. Joe Bonamassa - Redemption
9. Patrick Sweany - Ancient Noise
10. Johnny Marr - Call the Comet
11. Father John Misty - God's Favourite Customer
12. Eric Clapton - Life in 12 Bars
13. Gaz Coombes (really) - World's Strongest Man
14. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Tearing At The Seams
15. Jimi Hendrix - Both Sides of the Sky
16. Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus
17. The James Hunter Six - Whatever It Takes
18. First Aid Kit - Ruins

As usual, Cmd-F is turning up zero results for my likely aoty: Dan Weiss - Starebaby. I only picked it up two days ago at her gig but Jessica Moss's Entanglement is beautiful and didn't seem to make any of these lists.

I wrote Stereogum’s jazz list:

https://www.stereogum.com/2024885/best-jazz-albums-2018/franchises/list/

awesome thanks unperson, lots of stuff to check out

Cool. I think I'll listen to McCraven right now.

Neutron Dance clearly a single of the year contender.

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

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, November 15, 2018 11:08 AM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i guess no one would give a shit in january though

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Thursday, November 15, 2018 11:08 AM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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

― pomenitul, Thursday, November 15, 2018 11:36 AM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I tend not to think that anyone should make aoty lists until Jan 31 of the next year tbh. ILM sort of gets it right with this one.

That said, thanks for the list, unperson! There are a few things there that are already on my to-buy list and a few I'll definitely look into.

The clicks aren't going to be there in January

I would click in January.

Me too!

Not familiar with Dan Weiss, I'll add that album to my playlist.

I've been listening to the Séverine Ballon album from your classical list. It's pretty interesting and subtle. I'd want to listen more when I can really take time to focus on it (and without free-Spotify's commercials ever 20m). I like the col legno timbres and ponticello harmonics.

Dan Weiss is NYC modern jazz guys (Monder! Taborn! Mitchell!) playing complex prog- and metal-influenced compositions, at least a couple of which are inspired by Twin Peaks.

if twin sister don’t win ilx’s poll.....

― ||||||||, Wednesday, December 12, 2018 3:17 AM

I could see myself giving Jaipur #1 on my tracks ballot.

god i still get twin sister and twin shadow mixed up

here's the (unranked / sprawling) aquarium drunkard list
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2018/12/12/aquarium-drunkard-2018-year-in-review/

Dan Weiss is NYC modern jazz guys (Monder! Taborn! Mitchell!) playing complex prog- and metal-influenced compositions, at least a couple of which are inspired by Twin Peaks.

Sounds cool, looking forward to it.

As for Séverine Ballon, parts of Inconnaissance are a little too wispy and Wandelweiser-like for my tastes (I very much enjoy the stuff, it's just that it never crosses a certain threshold – pun intended). Her Solitude recital from 2015, featuring works by Rebecca Saunders, Mauro Lanza, James Dillon, Liza Lim and Thierry Blondeau, is an even better showcase imho, but both albums are very much worth hearing.

^^ along with the Resident Advisor album list, the Aquarium Drunkard list is the most interesting for me. Deserved shout-out to Sandro Perri, too!

xp

oh cool
I've been waiting for the AD list!

Yeah, that's an exciting one.

And, yes, "wispy and Wandelweiser-like" sounds right. I kept having to pause the album when almost any other sound got in the way!

lot of interesting sounding music on the AD list and bonus points for including Gumba Fire, that record is amazing

that's funny, I thought Gumba Fire was an older comp I'd overlooked until this year. But yeah it's fantastic!

One of my favourite ever comps I think, just one perfect beautiful tune after another

This from unperson's jazz list is extremely otm: "the Afrobeat-inspired Kokoroko’s 'Abusey Junction' shows that they need to release an album, like, yesterday."

(that's on the We Out Here comp of London jazz)

Seems this year RA and Mixmag should be the sites I should frequent more, I don’t agree with most of the consensus picks on hip hop, rock and pop singles yet I unashamedly love those top picks for Neutron Dance, Itgehane and Pick Up which seem to be the consensus electronic picks for this year.

Neutron Dance in particular is great and I assume will make it top 10 of the ilm poll considering inspector norse took #1 that year and this one sort of hits the same spots.

In history books, 2018 will be remembered as when Travis Scott unleashed a temporal rift that allowed disembodied voices of music’s past and present to echo throughout the psychedelic darkness.

https://www.factmag.com/2018/12/12/best-rap-2018/

Aquarium Drunkard’s EOY list is great as usual.

Gorillavsbear, Said the Gramophone, Raven Sings the Blues and Aquarium Drunkard are the music blogs that I’ve been following for almost 15 years and they always deliver on-brand, special EOY lists.

neutron dance absolutely rips. hadn't heard this

dance track I spent most time w this year (other than itgehane) was probably the palms trax remix of christine's "damn, dis-moi"

What Is 2018's Most Iconic Album? (Includes responses from Charli XCX, Chromeo, Nile Rodgers, Snail Mail, Lucy Dacus, and more)

https://www.gq.com/story/what-is-2018s-most-iconic-album?verso=true

Some years you get Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Magical Mystery Tour, The Velvet Underground, Songs of Leonard Cohen, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, and The Doors. And other years you get Silent Shout by The Knife (no disrespect to The Knife).

This is starting off great.

the blurb on Timberlake's album is beyond ludicrous

waht

consider the source xp

I like Silent Shout better than any of those albums :(

And I still wouldn’t diss them like that... also should have picked something more recent to diss like Frank Ocean’s Blonde.

the MGMT album was good tbh

I totally forgot Timberlake and Jay-Z/Beyonce put out albums this year

It's funnier (at least to GQ readership) the way they did it, to pick a year that feels more random and an album with a stronger "never heard of it" factor for their readers. 2xp

Also it’s wrong, for that particular year (2006) I believe it was either J Dilla’s Donuts or Joanna Newsom’s Ys the consensus picks iirc.

god that parenthetical about The Knife is the dumbest 5 words written in 2018

Also it’s wrong, for that particular year (2006) I believe it was either J Dilla’s Donuts or Joanna Newsom’s Ys the consensus picks iirc.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, December 12, 2018 1:51 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How soon we forget

http://www.bobdylan-comewritersandcritics.com/largeimages/magazine_covers/20070207-village-voice-us.jpg

A Jew on a motortrike!

the bitter southerner: the 30 best southern albums 2018

https://bittersoutherner.com/best-southern-albums-of-2018

(what were they thinking? xp)

Omg at that Vilage Voice cover.