The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

Amorphis have become one of the most consistently strong metal bands today. The new album is superb.

http://remezcla.com/lists/music/the-10-best-urbano-songs-of-2018/

This list of urbano songs includes reggaeton, dembow, Latin trap, and hip-hop tracks from both the underground and the mainstream.

1. Bad Bunny - "Estamos Bien"
2. Cardi B - "I Like It" (ft. Bad Bunny & J Balvin)
3. C.Tangana - "Traicionero" (ft. Cromo X)
4. Nio García, Darell, and Casper Mágico - "Te Boté" Remix (ft. Ozuna, Bad Bunny, and Nicky Jam)
5. Mala Rodríguez - "Gitanas"

Plus 5 more

whew yes the "te boté" remix. a highlight of my year was hearing that blasting at a club (followed by becky g "mayores" lol)

OkayAfrica's Ghanaian tracks list: https://www.okayafrica.com/ghana-songs-music-best-2018-listen-stream

GuiltyBeatz x Mr Eazi x Patapaa x Pappy Kojo "Akwaaba"
Kuami Eugene "Wish Me Well"
Kwesi Arthur x M.anifest "Feels"
Shatta Wale "My Level"
Joey B x La Même Gang "Stables"
Amaarae "Fluid"
E.L "Ghana Meets Naija"
KiDi "Thunder"
Becca x Sarkodie "Nana"
Eddie Khae "Do The Dance"
La Même Gang "Stone Island"
Akwaboah x Strongman "Forget"
Efya x Mr Eazi "Mamee"
R2Bees x Wizkid "Supa"
B4Bonah x M.anifest "Devil Is A Liar (Remix)"
Juls x Kojey Radical "Normal"
Kwesi Arthur "Woara"
Sarkodie "Black Excellence"
Medikal x Kwesi Arthur x Ahtitude "How Much"
Wendy Shay "Bedroom Commando"
King Promise "Abena"
Miyaki "Anfara"
Mzvee x K "Bend Down"

Bit late on this but want to echo the praise upthread for the Eiko Ishibashi record. It's fucking gorgeous, I love it.

yeah, really nice. that and the don toliver records are the best discoveries from this year's list season

Oh I did not like Tierra Whack the first time I heard it but it’s somewhat amazing isn’t it?

Watching the 15 minute music video helps.

Yeah I *really* did not get the Tierra Whack album at all either, but with all the love it's getting I think I'm gonna have to revisit it

Afropop worldwide podcast/radio show "Stocking Stuffers"-new,and reissued African and Caribbean and Central American and Latinx

http://afropop.org/audio-programs/stocking-stuffers-2018

Ebo Taylor, Yen Ara (Ghana)
Angelique Kidjo, Remain in Light (Benin artist covers T. Heads)
Bokanté & Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley, What Heat, (US, Netherlands, Guadeloupe)
Ronnie Moipolai, I’m Not Hear to Hunt Rabbits, (Botswana guitarist)
“Listen All Around” Double cd comp of pre-independence music from central (Congo & more0 and east Africa
Bombino, Deran (Niger guitarist)
Delgres, Mo Jodi,(Paris-based Guadeloupe meets Creole Louisiana)
Stella Chiweshe, Kasahwa: Early Singles (Zimbabwe reissue)
Toko Telo, Diavola (Madagascar)
Damily, Valimbilo (Madagascar)
Doctor Nativo, Guatemaya (Guatemalan reggae-cumbia)
King Koya, Tierra de King Coya (Colombian techno-cumbia)
Anbessa Orchestra, Negestat (Ethiopiques led by Israelis in Brooklyn)
Hailu Mergia, Lala Belu (Ethiopia)
Sidi Touré, Toubalbero (Mali)
Fatoumata Diawara, Fenfo (Mali)
Harouna Samake, Kamele Blues (Mali)
Invisible System, Bamako Sessions (Mali)
Irene Mawela, Ari Pembele - Let's Rejoice (South African old-school mbaqanga singer)
Professor Rhythm, Professor 3 (South Affrican reissue on Awesome Tapes)
Qhizzo, Gqom Plug (South Africa)
Thabang Tabane, Matjale (South African Venda roots-jazz)
Lucibela, Laço Umbilical (Cape Verde singer's debut)
Los Rumberos De La Bahia, Mabagwe (Cuban rumba)
RAM, RAM 7 - August 1791 (Haiti)
Bachata Haiti, Bachata Haiti
Sarazino, Mama Funny Day (Paris-based Algerian singer)
MHD, 19 (Paris-based Afro-trap rapper whose parents are Guinean and Senegalese)
Moulay Masters, Moulay Ahmed El Hassani, Atlas Electric (Moroccan mountains)
Tallawit Timbouctou, Hali Diallo (Malian desert )
Dur-Dur Band, Dur-Dur Of Somalia
Two Niles to Make a Melody, the Violins and Synths of Sudan.
Cheikh Lô, Ne La Thiass vinyl reissue (Senegal)
African Scream Contest 2 (Benin)
Dr. Nico, Dieu De La Guitare vinyl reissue (Congo)
Bumba Massa, V70 (Congo)
Jupiter and Okwess, Kin Sonic (US release 2018) (Congo)
Bixiga 70, Quebra Cabeça (Brazil)

Opium Hum's top 40 black metal albums of 2018:

40. Hellfire Deathcult – Black Death Terroristic Onslaught
39. Provocator – Satan, Chaos, Blood and Terror
38. Lampir – The Alchemy of Cursed Blood
37. Autokrator – Hammer of the Heretics
36. Purity Renaissance – Purity Renaissance
35. Spectral Wound – Infernal Decadence
34. ION – A Path Unknown
33. Reverorum ib Malacht – Im Ra Distare Summum Soveris Seris Vas Innoble
32. Eigenlicht – Self-Annihilating Consciousness
31. Esoctrilihum – Inhüma
30. Alrakis – Echoes from η Carinae
29. Wolvennest – VOID
28. Carved Cross – The Yawning Abyss of Perdition
27. Cantique Lépreux – Paysages Polaires
26. Craft – White Noise and Black Metal
25. Echtra – BardO
24. Occelensbrigg – The Quest for the Star Mountain
23. Cor Scorpii – Ruin
22. Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods
21. Pa Vesh En – Church of Bones
20. Abstracter – Cinerous Incarnate
19. Severoth – When the Night Falls...
18. Nahtrunar – Mysterium Tremendum
17. Demonomancy – Poisoned Atonement
16. Sigh – Heir to Despair
15. Moenen of Xezbeth – Ancient Spells of Darkness...
14. Summoning – With Doom We Come
13. Slidhr – The Futile Fires of Man
12. Altar of Perversion – Intra Naos
11. Carpe Noctem – Vitrun
10. Mylingar – Döda Drömmar
9. Cosmic Church – Täyttymys
8. Panphage – Jord
7. Svartidauði – Revelations of the Red Sword
6. Ars Hmu – The Dawn of Black Pansophy
5. Iskandr – Euprosopon
4. Mahr – Antelux
3. Cultes des Ghoules – Sinister, or Treading the Darker Paths
2. Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury
1. Entropy Created Consciousness – Impressions of the Morning Star

http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-40-favorite-black-metal-records-of.html

He put together a doom metal top 10 as well:

10. CHRCH – Light Will Consume Us All
9. Dautha – Brethren of the Black Soil
8. Sunnata – Outlands
7. Eartaker – Harmonics
6. Author & Punisher – Beastland
5. Assumption – Absconditus
4. Hamferð – Tamsins Likam
3. Convocation – Scars Across
2. Sinistro – Sange Cássia
1. Ancestors – Suspended in Reflections

http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-10-favorite-doom-metal-records-of.html

Lol a doom list for those who hate doom, though Ancestors is a good album that's been slept on.

I don't really know why anyone needs another Sigh album tbh

Someone who needs 40 black metal albums might.

I do love that Dautha record.

I didn't even hear/know that Ancestors had a new one this year, must have been poorly promoted?

You could say the same for pretty much every metal band older than 10 years, but here we are, and it’s not all bad.

That Opium Hum list looks v/ interesting tho, I’ve hardly heard anything from it.

That's true I suppose, I guess I just find their style particularly exhausting to listen to an hour at a time as much as I hypothetically admire it

I didn't even hear/know that Ancestors had a new one this year, must have been poorly promoted?

It's on a small label called Pelagic; no publicity campaign that I'm aware of. I bought the digital version from the band's own Bandcamp page.

Ah, fits. I feel like the first couple records were considerably more visible.

Drowned In Sound’s 15 Favourite Albums of 2018
https://medium.com/drowned-in-sound/drowned-in-sounds-15-favourite-albums-of-2018-28c7ff3e68ab

15. Manic Street Preachers - Resistance is Futile
14. Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy
13. Suede - The Blue Hour
12. Blood Orange - Negro Swan
11. Metric - Art of Doubt
10. Muncie Girls - Fixed Ideals
9. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar
8. Chvrches - Love is Dead
7. Black Foxxes - Reiði
6. Anna Calvi - Hunter
5. SOPHIE - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
4. Gazelle Twin - Pastoral
3. Christine and the Queens - Chris
2. IDLES - Joy as an Act of Resistance
1. Low - Double Negative

7. Black Foxxes - Reiði

great album

it's not really fair at all but I have a hard time listening to or taking Metric seriously since those figures came out of the absurd levels of federal arts funding they've received at the expense of hundreds, if not thousands of more interesting acts

Damn, was not aware. I now subscribe to what you just said.

hundreds, thousands or some other metric factor

I'm late in getting to this, but the Senyawa album from the Wire list is really striking.

"...those figures came out of the absurd levels of federal arts funding they've received at the expense of hundreds, if not thousands of more interesting acts..."

A ridiculous and tired argument.

My response to learning about how much public money Metric et al. were receiving was to say "yay! can you give them more? and everybody else while you're at it?"

I did admit it wasn't a fair response!

And yes fgti if I weren't a petty prick that would be my attitude as well

hundreds, thousands or some other metric factor

― imago, Sunday, December 9, 2018 2:09 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hundreds of thousands

if reports are to be believed

Whatever issues I have with taking Metric's music seriously aren't due to those figures, though.

Anyway, yes, the Senyawa album is wonderful.

I believe I was tipped off to it by unperson's praise.

I kinda forgot about Metric

That's OK - I have no clue what Fahrenheits and yards and pounds are.

endless fun with this band name

so autechre is only on the wire list so far? is it not actually an "album"? you fucking guys talk about it so much, is it just an ilx thing?

"you guys" there are like 7 votes total on those nts session polls

endless fun with this band name

― dorsalstop, Sunday, December 9, 2018 11:00 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

infinite no matter how you measure it! haw

384 posts alone in whiney’s poll about an even greater number of posts in the autechre thread since the nts revive, idk seems like a lot to me. lots of good discussion too to be clear, i’d post / vote if i felt like i had something to add or had a good enough grasp on the material

just seems like a very important statement as a whole, yet it doesn’t exactly belong in the “underrated” thread, hence my query

xp

People who like the autechre are very vocal about it but obv an album where just listening to it once through front to back is the equivalent of a whole day's work is probably not going to do well on any list that reflects consensus/aggregation (except the wire obv!).

chris richards's for the washington post:

1. serpentwithfeet: soil
2. drakeo the ruler: cold devil
3. kacey musgraves: golden hour
4. blocboy jb: simi
5. lori mckenna: the tree
6. ashley monroe: sparrow
7. turnstile: time and space
8. eli keszler: stadium
9. steve tibbetts: life of
10. rico nasty: nasty

i've listened to the nts sessions at the expense of anything else for half this year and i have no regrets

i've listened to half of it about thirty times (a quarter a bit more, a quarter a bit less, the second half a lot less)

i would've listened to it even more if it were as compulsively listenable as elseq

Anyway, yes, the Senyawa album is wonderful.

The singer is so good.

I haven't felt like listening to much heavy music lately, but this is very interesting.

“brønshøj” from 2016 is just as good (better imo) and is more stripped down, has all the super weird and appealing elements and elasticity without being covered in distortion i.e. heavy

i'm not really surprised that people who listen to an eight hour long autechre record have a good deal to say about it

90 EASYFUN | Be Your USA (feat. Iiris)
89 HTRK | Mentions
88 FABIANA PALLADINO | Shimmer
87 BOY HARSHER | Face the Fire
86 GWENNO | Tir Ha Mor
85 A$AP ROCKY x TYLER THE CREATOR | Potato Salad
84 ROY MONTGOMERY | Landfall (feat. Grouper)
83 NADINE | Pews
82 NU GUINEA | Ddoje Facce
81 JACKIE COHEN | Bold
80 ROSEMARY FAIRWEATHER | MTV
79 DJ KOZE | Pick Up
78 STILL CORNERS | The Message
77 TORO Y MOI | Freelance
76 SUDAN ARCHIVES | Nont for Sale
75 MR TWIN SISTER | Echo Arms
74 THE GREEN CHILD | Her Majesty II
73 POSTILJONEN | Chasing Stars
72 BEA1991 | V4
71 MILJON | What Does It Take
70 OKLOU | Friendless
69 SNAIL MAIL | Pristine
68 BUZZY LEE | Walk Away
67 U.S. GIRLS | Poem
66 KIM PETRAS | Can’t Do Better
65 SALES | You Look Well
64 HATER | Fall Off
63 LAUNDER | Keep You Close (feat. SoKo)
62 EARL SWEATSHIRT | The Mint
61 LANA DEL REY | Venice Bitch
60 A$AP ROCKY | Gunz n Butter (feat. Juicy J)
59 WISHED BONE | Reasons
58 SUN JUNE | Young
57 LOU HAYTER | Cherry on Top
56 MORMOR | Heaven’s Only Wishful
55 BOYGENIUS | Me & My Dog
54 KORNÉL KOVÁCS | Babasonic
53 RAE MORRIS | Dancing With Character
52 PAULA TAPE | Agua Congas (Project Pablo remix)
51 POTTERY | Hank Williams
50 YOUNG GALAXY | Under My Wing
49 PAIGE STARK | Albatross
48 GROUPER | The Races
47 LEON BRIDGES | Bad Bad News
46 KERO KERO BONITO | Rest Stop
45 JESSICA PRATT | Poly Blue
44 MARIE DAVIDSON | So Right
43 MEN I TRUST | Show Me How
42 CAROLINE SAYS | Me Culpa
41 OURI | Escape
40 FOUR OF DIAMONDS | Stupid Things
39 JAY ROCK | King’s Dead (feat. Kendrick Lamar, Future + James Blake)
38 CINDY LEE | Dry Dive
37 PYNKIE | Dew ♥ (lo-fi version)
36 AVALON | Deadbeat Boy
35 DILLY DALLY | I Feel Free
34 PEGGY GOU | It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)
33 GEORGE CLANTON | Make It Forever
32 ANDRE 3000 | Me & My (To Bury Your Parents)
31 DOMENIQUE DUMONT | Sans Cesse, Mon Cheri
30 YUMI ZOUMA | Powder Blue / Cascine Park
29 JULIA HOLTER | Words I Heard
28 PLAYBOI CARTI | Shoota
27 BEACH HOUSE | L’Inconnue
26 JAMES BLAKE | Don’t Miss It
25 LANA DEL REY | Mariners Apartment Complex
24 PANDA BEAR | Part of the Math
23 VINCE STAPLES | FUN!
22 BARRIE | Canyons
21 CHROMATICS | Black Walls
20 JENNY HVAL | Spells
19 TESS ROBY | Catalyst
18 OKAY KAYA | Habitual Love
17 CASISDEAD | Pat Earrings
16 MOODYMANN | Got Me Coming Back Rite Now
15 BELLA BOO | Fire Fire
14 MACH-HOMMY | Floorseats* [*technically released in 2017 but the video just dropped this fall, so it stays]
13 FAYE WEBSTER | Kingston
12 KATE TEAGUE | Low Life
11 CHANNEL TRES | Topdown
10 MGMT | Me and Michael
09 MEN I TRUST | Say, can you hear
08 WESTERMAN | Confirmation
07 OTHA | I’m on Top
06 SOPHIE | Is it Cold in the Water?
05 ROBYN | Honey
04 TIRZAH | Gladly
03 ROSALÍA | Pienso en tu Mirá
02 AMEN DUNES | Believe
01 ARIANA GRANDE | No Tears Left to Cry

http://www.gorillavsbear.net/gorilla-vs-bears-songs-of-2018/

gorilla vs bear tracks list

Pitchfork tracks list is out. A bit of a surprise at #1.