The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

surprising is usually bad tbh .. its like failing to live up to its brand is 'surprising' but even moreso its 'jarring'

1975 is a great number one single for pitchfork because it bucks both the staid indie dude status quo & the more conservative aspects of the new poptimist regime at the same time, nice Leadership! esp compared to Bodak Yellow imho

(further mitski at #1 is slightly more conservative/less poptimist than kacey which is disappointing for me personally but good for list balance ... let 1975 have the singles but the more predictable/on brand choice gets albums)

imo they should've just switched snail mail and soccer mommy, it'd have paired well with the cardi/cupcakke upset: the more formally proficient artists who play more against type in their respective genres over the zesty hyped new stars.

soccer mommy also plays more with open tunings and ambient noise in a way that fits more with the ~soundscape~ leanings that p4k feels focused on at this point, snail mail just makes pretty good-to-sometimes-very good punk-pop

"stables" is awesome

Happy to see Mitski at #1 but lol @ Sleep being the only top 50 worthy metal band according to p4k (unless you count Deafheaven…).

mitski is a great pick for #1 and only someone who'd listened with half an ear would call her a conservative choice

plodding nonsense

you mean, dazzling, intricate and emotional songwriting with beautiful production and a flair for the unexpected

no laurel halo, no deal

didn't mind the p4k albums list (though it's missing most of my personal faves) but there was nothing on it I didn't already know so was mostly interesting to see their arbitrary ranking of artists/albums which I don't care much abt

and then there's lists like the Textura one which seem to exist in a seperate universe because I don't even know any of the ~100 artists that made the best music of 2018 in their world (but I'm checking it out now and there's def good stuff there)

you mean, dazzling, intricate and emotional songwriting with beautiful production and a flair for the unexpected

― imago, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 4:31 AM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk to me it sounded like tom tom club sorta

wat

Textura is extremely good for discoveries, and their recommendations usually make about 25% of my non-metal year lists, but they do exist in a highly idiosyncratic universe to the rest of the internet music community - that wonderful Anne Garner record that made their #1 has only four ratings on RYM (and one is mine). Chloe March (#4, another favourite of mine) has none. Maya Beiser (#1 classical) has none. Nobody seems to even listen to this stuff, it's crazy.

What sort of music is the Textura list in the main?

Maya Beiser is an incredible cellist, I just have a hard time overcoming my lack of appetence for anything David Lang-related. I'll be sure to check out Chloe March.

okayafrica list way upthread is real good
"fela in versace" probs my pick of the bunch

there's another okayafrica list today btw:

The 30 Best South African Songs of 2018
https://www.okayafrica.com/south-african-songs-best-2018-listen-stream/

awesome cheers

buuuut no solo simmy :'(

get a slightly creepy vibe off the textura list, reading through it, tbh

the Anne Garner album was definitely a nice find

get a slightly creepy vibe off the textura list, reading through it, tbh

How so? (I've only skimmed through it.)

It's impossible to imagine any British person who doesn't attend holiday camp festivals voluntarily choosing to listen to an artist called 'Soccer Mommy' though. I mean Snail Mail was bad enough you guys.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, December 11, 2018 2:16 AM (forty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

jess argued convincingly on fb 'snail mail' is actually the worse name for being chosen by someone who never actually used 'snail mail'

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Tuesday, December 11, 2018

I was going to ask on that Jess thread, "What about Speedy Ortiz?" (whom I like, a lot).

textura is in the same sort of ballpark as sites like a closer listen and fluid radio who also i think start putting out lists at this time of year if you . kind of the conservatoire end of experimental/ambient music, nothing at all street about anything they cover afaict, so it's a distinctly different flavour to the wire or something. it's sort of r3 late junction music?

late junction is more whimsical iirc

definitely more experimental hardanger fiddle tbf

you need to venn diagram this stuff for me

i truly love the hardanger fiddle. its absence in these lists smacks of small-minded prejudice and is quite creepy tbh

ogmor otm

Resident Advisor - 2018's Best Albums
https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3384

great to see some love for fatima in there, that's a really enjoyable record imo

i truly love the hardanger fiddle. its absence in these lists smacks of small-minded prejudice and is quite creepy tbh

cosign

Opium Hum's Top 40 (Not Black Metal or Doom Metal Edition):

40. Lawrence – Illusion
39. E L U C I D – Shit Don't Rhyme No More
38. Donny McCaslin – Blow.
37. Ripped to Shreds – 埋葬
36. Wata Igarashi – Niskala
35. Less Bells – Solifuge
34. Vessel – Queen of Golden Dogs
33. City Hunter – Deep Blood
32. Dead Can Dance – Dionysus
31. Arp – Zebra
30. Ilyas Ahmed – Closer to Stranger
29. Undersave – Sadistic Iterations... Tales of Mental Rearrangement
28. GosT – Possessor
27. Conway – Everybody Is F.O.O.D.
26. Lisa Gerrard & David Kuckhermann – Hiraeth
25. Marissa Nadler – For My Crimes
24. Nahja Mora – As Death
23. Kamaal Williams – The Return
22. Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses
21. Rival Consoles – Persona
20. Conner Youngblood – Cheyenne
19. Andrew W.K. – You're Not Alone
18. Scorched – Ecliptic Butchery
17. Anenon – Tongue
16. Heads. – Collider
15. The Caretaker – Everywhere at the End of Time - Stage 4
14. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
13. R+R=NOW – Collagically Speaking
12. Brigid Mae Power – The Two Worlds
11. Pusha T – Daytona
10. Father John Misty – God's Favorite Customer
9. Autechre – NTS Sessions 1-4
8. Steve Tibbetts – Life Of
7. Beach House – 7
6. Kelly Moran – Ultraviolet
5. Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
4. Tor Lundvall – A Dark Place
3. Mount Eerie – Now Only
2. Oneohtrix Point Never – Age Of
1. Low – Double Negative

http://opiumhum.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-40-favorite-albums-of-2018-not-black.html

Bit of a weird list, all things considered, which is at it should be.

Here's the full RA albums list:

Autechre - NTS Sessions 1-4
Julia Holter - Aviary
Fatima - And Yet It's All Love
Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still
Lucrecia Dalt - Anticlines
Various - 15 Years Of The Bunker
Varg - Nordic Flora Pt. 5: Crush
Sarah Davachi - Gave In Rest
Various - Don't Mess With Cupid, 'Cause Cupid Ain't Stupid
Robyn - Honey
serpentwithfeet - soil
Christoph De Babalon - If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It
Demdike Stare - Passion
Anthony Naples - Take Me With You
Jlin - Autobiography
Silvia Kastel - Air Lows
Martyn - Voids
Pendant - Make Me Know You Sweet
Yves Tumor - Safe In The Hands Of Love
Surgeon - Luminosity Device
Grouper - Grid Of Points
DJ Healer - Nothing 2 Loose
Prime Minister Of Doom - Mudshadow Propaganda
Marie Davidson - Working Class Woman
De Leon - De Leon
Blawan - Wet Will Always Dry
Hunee - Hunchin' All Night
SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
DJ Koze - Knock Knock
Tirzah - Devotion
Shinichi Atobe - Heat
Specter - Built To Last
Objekt - Cocoon Crush
Borusiade - A Body
JK Flesh - New Horizon
Tim Hecker - Konoyo
Various - Kulør 001
Deena Abdelwahed - Khonnar
HVL - Ostati
Skee Mask - Compro

https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3384

Anthony Naples - Take Me With You

^^
this is a good one, I think they only just reviewed it yesterday.

What would a surprising list from a mainstream publication even look like in 2018?

Would have liked to see Sons of Kemet or Makaya McCraven over Kamasi Washington as the the jazz pick but glad someone made it on

I just listened to SoK for the first time this morning and was glad to have something to scratch my Melt Yourself Down itch, and then of course I checked the personnel list.

lots of women over 35

to be fair to pfork, that was one of the few lists i've seen with both the neneh and cat power records in it. low and robyn too, but yeah, that's still not a lot

xp
what's kind of odd about Kamasi Washington being the anointed jazz pick for non-jazz pubs is that both those albums are much easier to digest than KW's

was bummed i didn't get to blurb anything for the pfork albums list but this was the second year in a row my list was radically different from the final lol

I thought Julia Holter might qualify but she's 34

I imagine Meghan Remy of US Girls is getting pretty close as well

tbh not a lot of ppl over 35 of any klnd on the Pfork list

absence of roisin murphy on most tracks lists is a global scandal tbh

Also a gross neglect of k-pop and happy hardcore.

what's kind of odd about Kamasi Washington being the anointed jazz pick for non-jazz pubs is that both those albums are much easier to digest than KW's

I actually feel like KW's uncompromising, exhaustive maximalist aesthetic is part of what non-jazz pubs admire about him. He seems like a "visionary" and reminds them of Coltrane. (I prefer the McCraven album, too.)

x-post--Looks like the Rosalia cut is the only non-English language track in the Pitchfork top 100 tracks.

xps i was a little disappointed BTS didn't show up on any tracks lists seeing as they've actually made it in america now & "idol" was such a triumph imo - organically blending into gqom into their sound for something that doesn't really sound much like anything else in either korean or american pop at the moment

they did show up on the noisey albums list i guess but i don't really rate the album

DJ Booth - 50 Best Hip-Hop and R&B Albums of 2018, Ranked
https://djbooth.net/features/2018-12-11-best-albums-2018-ranked

maura's point is undeniable, but yeah my version of a genuinely surprising list would be one that had multiple albums from outside the anglosphere.

jaymc: I agree it makes sense in that way. But I think they're doing their readers a disservice by limiting their presentation of jazz to that particular aesthetic. Just speaking personally I'm not sure I've heard every track on the KW yet, while I've listened to all of Universal Beings lots (SoK being even more digestible).