The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

wth is this

3. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, "Shallow"

we here at NME have whittles down 2018’s best releases into a list of 100 essential records

Man, even the opening blurb wasn't checked for typos.

Shallow is a jam get out

Rolling Stone - 50 Best Albums of 2018
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-best-albums-2018-764071/

50. Cupcakke - Ephorize
49. Esperanza Spalding - 12 Little Spells
48. The Carters - Everything is Love
47. Father John Misty - God's Favourite Customer
46. Sleep - The Sciences
45. Robyn - Honey
44. Jeff Tweedy - Warm
43. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter V
42. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere
41. Amanda Shires - To the Sunset
40. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!
39. Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch
38. Eric Crunch - Desperate Man
37. Tierra Whack - Whack World
36. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Sparkle Hard
35. Elvis Costello - Look Now
34. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
33. Neko Case - Hell-On
32. David Byrne - American Utopia
31. Rosalia - El Mar Querer
30. Free Cake for Every Creature - The Bluest Eye
29. Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
28. Florence and the Machine - High as Hope
27. Noname - Room 25
26. Snail Mail - Lush
25. Rae Sremmurd - SR3MM
24. Kali Uchis - Isolation
23. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
22. John Prine - The Tree of Forgiveness
21. Beach House - 7
20. The Beths - Future Me Hates Me
19. Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off Dog
18. Vince Staples - FM!
17. Lucy Dacus - Historian
16. Soccer Mommy - Clean
15. J Balvin - Vibras
14. Mitski - Be the Cowboy
13. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
12. Brandi Carlile - By The Way, I Forgive You
11. Paul McCartney - Egypt Station
10. Drake - Scorpion
9. Kurt Vile - Bottle It In
8. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper - A Star is Born
7. Pusha T - Daytona
6. Travis Scott - Astroworld
5. Ariana Grande - Sweetener
4. Pistol Annies - Interstate Gospel
3. Camila Cabello - Camila
2. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
1. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

Eric Crunch

ha

Allmusic - Favourite Pop Albums 2018
https://www.allmusic.com/year-in-review/2018/favorite-pop

^ daphne & celeste ahoy!

Good to see the Eric Crunch album, which no one has much liked.

That Esperanza Spalding record is terrible. It's not even good in the arty singer-songwriter way of her previous work, never mind as a jazz record.

I quite liked it idk

Finally, Amanda Shires. That record is so great.

We are in a bit of a weird circumstance in that the only song anyone seemingly gave a fuck about this year “the story of Adidon” is not showing up on these lists for whatever reasons

Camila at #3! That's... interesting.

the lists are HIDING A SONG

lol

story of adidon was no. 1 on noisey

but did ppl really care about as a song qua song or just about the gossip contained w/in it? contrast w "thank u next" for instance

it was a classic dis rap in the vein of "No Vaseline" or "Fuck Compton"

in the age of rap genius i question the extent to which diss songs even exist as music

speaking personally, i happened to be seeing "isle of dogs" when "story of adidon" dropped & as such simply read a bunch of tweets and texts about it and then read the lyrics on rap genius & haven't actually even heard the song itself

Gary Suarez did VinylMePlease's jazz list:

http://www.vinylmeplease.com/magazine/10-best-jazz-albums-2018/

His list and mine only had one title in common (Kamasi), but I could totally understand why he picked the records he did (I interviewed Azar Lawrence for my podcast this year, and that Javier Santiago album really is great) - except for the Noname album, which I haven't heard.

Rolling Stone's jazz list, by my friend Hank Shteamer (which part of me still can't believe is his real last name) is really good, too:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/20-best-jazz-albums-of-2018-766864/

I like that allmusic list. First time seeing Daphne & Celeste in any of these lists I think?

Seems like everyone forgot about Tove Styrke - Sway. I was expecting it to turn up in some pop based lists.

it was a classic dis rap in the vein of "No Vaseline" or "Fuck Compton"

― ebro the letter (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, December 13, 2018 12:16 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh I liked it a lot but it did go over the Story of OJ beat so to me it felt more like a mixtape thing

speaking personally, i happened to be seeing "isle of dogs" when "story of adidon" dropped & as such simply read a bunch of tweets and texts about it and then read the lyrics on rap genius & haven't actually even heard the song itself

― J0rdan S., Thursday, December 13, 2018 1:19 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

WTF is this post

Were you like in the movie theater watching a movie and reading Pusha T lyrics on your phone?

no when i got out of the movie you clown

"I was watching the racist dog movie when the blackface rap song came out" – the J0rdan diaries

lmao

Samuel L. Jackson can read the audiobook version

FACT - Best Albums of 2018
https://www.factmag.com/2018/12/13/the-50-best-albums-of-2018/

50 Mariah Carey - Caution
49 Low - Double Negative
48 Chevel - Always Yours
47 Various Artists - Patina Echoes
46 Kali Malone - Organ Dirges 2016​-​2017
45 Maxo Kream - Punken
44 Eli Keszler - Stadium
43 Marie Davidson - Working Class Woman
42 Skee Mask - Compro
41 Cecilia - Adoration
40 Teyana Taylor - K.T.S.E.
39 Laurel Halo - Raw Silk Uncut Wood
38 U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
37 H. Takahashi - Low Power
36 Bruce -Sonder Somatic
35 Playboi Carti - Die Lit
34 Kali Uchis - Isolation
33 Martyn Bootyspoon - Silk Eternity
32 Beta Librae - Sanguine Bond
31 City Girls - PERIOD
30 Tess Roby - Beacon
29 Young Nudy - Slimeball 3
28 Kelman Duran - 13th Month
27 Astrid Sonne - Human Lines
26 Hilary Woods - Colt
25 Space Afrika - Somewhere Decent to Live
24 TSVI - Inner Worlds
23 SOPHIE - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
22 CupcakKe - Ephorize
21 Sarah Davachi - Gave In Rest
20 Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy
19 Renick Bell - Turning Points
18 Yves Tumor - Safe In The Hands Of Love
17 Neville Watson - The Midnight Orchard
16 Amnesia Scanner - Another Life
15 Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs
14 DEBIT - Animus
13 Tirzah - Devotion
12 serpentwithfeet - soil
11 LSDXOXO - Body Mods
10 Duppy Gun - Miro Tape
09 Vessel - Queen Of Golden Dogs
08 Tierra Whack - Whack World
07 Gabor Lazar - Unfold
06 Aisha Devi - DNA Feelings
05 Rico Nasty - Nasty
04 Barker - Debiasing
03 Rosalía - El Mal Querer
02 Pendant - Make Me Know You Sweet
01 Lotic - Power

Kali Malone

totally misread this btw

good to see mariah place. that record is really good

Be The Mailman

xpost, too slow

Pitchfork - Best Experimental Albums of 2018
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-experimental-albums-of-2018/

It’s so funny to think that the old joke about Pitchfork was that they were hipsters and “they only cover bands you haven’t heard of” or w/e and now it’s like

"I’ve never been to an actual band concert." https://t.co/601WL9PBEg

— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) December 14, 2018

Like no beef at this piece of editorial, it’s totally fine, I just think it’s a funny trajectory from like 15 years ago

Meant to post that in the P4k thread but enjoy it here

some good things on here...

Noisey - 31 Essential Records You Might Have Missed This Year
https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/kzvkaz/essential-records-you-might-have-missed-2018

enjoying that 700 bliss record

Wondering what this year's L'Rain might be - the diamond in the Pitchfork experimental list rough. First glance suggests perhaps Kelly Moran - will check out

that noisey 31 sleeper list has some real gems

xp not this year's L'Rain but the Laraaji is really nice

happy to see KKB and local heroes Respire on that Noisey list

Rolling Stone - 50 Best Songs of 2018
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-best-songs-of-2018-764204/

they sure like drake eh

i have to wonder how the rolling stone lists are constructed, the way they're typical enough but always have one or two mediocre works by classic rock acts fairly high is just so odd. it was more understandable a decade ago when they went all out with that, giving every new springsteen etc. album a perfect score and album of the year but now that they don't lean as strongly towards doing that it feels even weirder

nice to see some love for tove styrke though

Listening to the Frederic Hand album from the Textura list and this is definitely up my alley. I have to say, though, that I'm a little intrigued by Textura's love of Hand. They listed him in 2016 too. I never see other classical guitar albums on their EOY lists. I think e.g. John Gordon Armstrong's album from last year and Steve Cowan's from 2016 were really good and more envelope-pushing. William Beauvais had a decent album in 2016 in an accessible style not that far removed from Hand's.

Probably one for the classical thread.

Safe from some weird choices at the top I find The Rolling Stone song list way better than the Pitchfork one.

Variety lists: https://variety.com/2018/music/opinion/best-albums-2018-cardi-b-janelle-monae-1203087394/