The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

yeah thr YM charts have value as long as you recognize their bizarre biases (which exist everywhere of course)

first & foremost the parrot fantano bias

I don't really find their biases more bizarre than most of these lists', though.

Yeah "Lift Yourself" came up on a playlist last night and I was struck by what a successful track it is, still makes me giggle, but with everything Kanye has gotten up to this year I wondered if it was being ranked at all

The three best albums I heard this year were Low and Tierra Whack and especially Rosalia, I rarely feel a feeling of "breathless anticipation" for what somebody is gonna release next but I got that feeling for all three artists

Anyway, I was listening to both and thinking I might have oversold the Anderson-Frisell comparison so I'm glad someone was turned on to the Frisell.xp

RYM is a fine list although the collective love of The People for Daughters is still a bit puzzling, but you cant like em all. I initially thought this was the inoffensive indiepop Daughter.

I didn’t know Kids See Ghosts was that critically maligned? Apart from the charisma-free Cudi it’s just as good in terms of production as the Pusha and Teyana Taylor records I think.

I like that Pitchfork has posted a list of rock albums (I assume other genres will follow)? Some unfamiliar names on there which I’ll check out.

did the world need another snail mail blurb j/k

haven't seen hop along appear much on these lists which is a shame

did the world need another snail mail blurb j/k

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, December 17, 2018 10:32 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

clearly p4k didn't think so, cause they used the same blurb for the best rock albums list as they did for their overall top 50

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/12/17/bandcamp-daily-staffers-on-their-favorite-albums-of-2018/

some good stuff on the Bandcamp editors' solo lists including my lads

clearly p4k didn't think so, cause they used the same blurb for the best rock albums list as they did for their overall top 50

― bros before HOOS (voodoo chili), Monday, December 17, 2018 8:36 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao i didn't even notice, delightful

Dazed - The 20 best K-pop songs of 2018
http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/42620/1/best-k-pop-songs-2018

PopMatters - The 20 Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2018
https://www.popmatters.com/best-experimental-albums-2018-2623308555.html

FACT - The best ambient of 2018
https://www.factmag.com/2018/12/16/best-ambient-2018/

Mixmag - The Top 50 Albums of 2018
https://mixmag.net/feature/top-albums-2018?curator=MusicREDEF

dazed kpop list is pretty decent, quite a few favorites in there

Fester's Lucky 13: 2018 Year-End Summary
http://fastnbulbous.com/lucky-18/

Spotify | 2018 Breakdown: Genre Lists | Shows, Videos | Movies, Television & Books

1. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
2. Graveyard – Peace
3. Peluché – Unforgettable
4. Mansion – First Death Of The Lutheran
5. Teen Judge – Teen Judge
6. Bambara – Shadow On Everything
7. Birth Of Joy – Hyper Focus
8. Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows – Hymns
9. Sir Robin & The Longbowmen – Prozacco
10. MaidaVale – Madness Is Too Pure
11. The Native Cats – John Sharp Toro
12. Messa – Feast For Water
13. Maggot Heart – Dusk To Dusk
14. Vanishing Kids – Creation
15. Lucifer – Lucifer II
16. Neurotic Fiction – Pulp Music
17. Sleep – The Sciences
18. Bas Jan – Yes I Jan
19. Ancestors – Suspended In Reflections
20. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Wasteland
21. White Denim – Performance
22. All Them Witches – ATW
23. The Exploding Eyes Orchestra – II
24. Body Type – Body Type EP
25. The Ocean Party – The Oddfellows’ Hall
26. Crepes – In Cahoots
27. Khemmis – Desolation
28. Windhand – Eternal Return
29. Santa Librada – Santa Librada
30. Pale Divine – Pale Divine
31. Wytch Hazel – II: Sojourn
32. Witch Mountain – Witch Mountain
33. Castle – Deal Thy Fate
34. Oh Sees – Smote Reverser
35. Amgala Temple – Invisible Airships
36. Dream Wife – Dream Wife
37. Goat Girl – Goat Girl
38. Viagra Boys – Street Worms
39. Melbourne Cans – Heat Of The Night
40. Ought – Room Inside The World
41. ILL – We Are ILL
42. Tropical Fuck Storm – A Laughing Death In Meatspace
43. The Third Sound – All Tomorrow’s Shadows
44. Steeple Remove – Vonal-Axis
45. Parades Against Parades – Driving Me Stoned
46. Sitka Sun – Sitka Sun
47. Wooden Shjips – V
48. Black Salvation – Uncertainty Is Bliss
49. Cave – Allways
50. Druid – The Seven Scrolls
51. Weedpecker – III
52. Kikagaku Moyo – Masana Temples
53. Needlepoint – The Diary Of Robert Reverie
54. Iceage – Beyondless
55. LITHICS – Mating Surfaces
56. Glintshake – Benefit
57. The Breeders – All Nerve
58. Shopping – The Official Body
59. Moab – Trough
60. Alastor – Slave To The Grave
61. The Necromancers – Of Blood And Wine
62. Spiritual Cramp – Television
63. King Buffalo – Longing To Be The Mountain
64. Tony Allen & Jeff Mills – Tomorrow Comes The Harvest
65. Orb – The Space Between
66. Somali Yacht Club – The Sea
67. Greenleaf – Hear The Rivers
68. High Reeper – High Reeper
69. Earthless – Black Heaven
70. JIRM – Surge Ex Monumentis
71. Choral Hearse – Mire Exhumed
72. Mythic Sunship – Upheaval
73. The Wizards – Rise Of The Serpent
74. Les Big Byrd – Iran Iraq IKEA
75. Magmakammer – Mindtripper
76. Amyl And The Sniffers – Big Attraction & Giddy Up
77. Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings
78. Ezra Collective – Juan Pablo: The Philospher EP
79. Maisha – There Is A Place
80. Al Doum & The Faryds – Spirit Rejoin
81. Goatman – Rhythms
82. Trés Oui – Poised To Flourish
83. Massage – Oh Boy
84. Salad Boys – This Is Glue
85. Electric Citizen – Helltown
86. Dunbarrow – Dunbarrow II
87. Nekromant – The Nekromant Lives
88. Crippled Black Phoenix – Great Escape
89. Green Dragon – Green Dragon
90. Dos Santos – Logos
91. Spiders – Killer Machine
92. LIINES – Stop-Start
93. Szun Waves – New Hymn To Freedom
94. Public Practice – Distance Is A Mirror EP
95. Rough Spells – Modern Kicks For The Solitary Witch EP
96. Petite Noir – La Maison Noir: The Gift And The Curse EP
97. Vital Idles – Left Hand
98. Sammal – Suuliekki
99. Black Moth – Anatomical Venus
100. Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin

boring top 2 but an otherwise cool list

To clarify, the RYM top 10 is kind of awful, but there's plenty of good stuff in the 100

I actually quite like the new (old) Car Seat Headrest album though - there's my terrible confession

the music industry's greatest terrible secret is that that kid is actually really fuckin' good at making killer indie rock songs. don't tell anyone, tho.

xp I like it a lot, too (though haven't really gone back to it much since around the time it came out). Don't know why it's some kind of dirty word around here...

I can't think of another current popular songwriter more desperately in need of an editor

i've hated on this board before but it's true that he has a few good songs!

just like get to the point my dude!

xxpost Matthew Healy

*ducks*

to be clear:

i do think CSH guy could use an editor
i also think Healy could use an editor, probably just as / almost as much
i like the 1975 way more than CSH

I agree Will Headrest can be long-winded; but I also feel like that can be part of his "charm," or something. (I wouldn't cut anything from Teens of Denial; even from the most drawn-out jams.)

Like he's the drunk guy on yr couch, still hanging when the rest of the guests have gone home, whose ranting is too much fun for you to kick him out & go to bed

pretty solid description as i think it perfectly explains why i don't like him

boring top 2 but an otherwise cool list

98% success ain't bad ;). Those interested in specific genres might find the breakdowns more interesting. For example:

Avant, Experimental, Modern Classical, Ambient & Drone

1. The Messthetics – The Messthetics
2. Secret Chiefs 3 – Malkhut
3. Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want
4. Anna von Hausswolff – Dead Magic
5. Toundra – Vortex
6. Black Dresses – WASTEISOLATION
7. The Skull Defekts – The Skull Defekts
8. Oneida – Romance
9. Nils Frahm – All Melody
10. Årabrot – Who Do You Love
11. Gnod – Chapel Perilous
12. The Garden – Mirror Might Steal Your Charm
13. Author & Punisher – Beastland

Art Pop

1. Peluché – Unforgettable
2. Vital Idles – Left Hand
3. Eiko Ishibashi – The Dreams My Bones Dream
4. Julia Holter – Aviary
5. Arc Iris – Icon Of Ego
6. Halo Maud – Je Suis Une Île
7. Mr Twin Sister – Salt
8. Jenny Hval – The Long Sleep EP
9. U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited
10. SOPHIE – OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES
11. The Black Queen – Infinite Games
12. Yves Tumor – Safe In The Hands Of Love
13. Gazelle Twin – Pastoral

multiple x-posts, but I got bored at work and didn't want to scroll through the entire Mixmag album list, so I scraped it.

1: Tirzah - Devotion
2: Skee Mask - Compro
3: DJ Koze - Knock Knock
4: Helena Hauff - Qualm
5: Jon Hopkins - Singularity
6: Objekt - Cocoon Crush
7: Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha
8: Sophie - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
9: Ross From Friends - Family Portrait
10: Marie Davidson - Working Class Woman
11: Martyn - Voids
12: Bruce - Sonder Somatic
13: Amnesia Scanner - Another Life
14: Nines - Crop Circle
15: Maribou State - Kingdoms in Colour
16: Children of Zeus - Travel Light
17: Robyn - Honey
18: Lotic - Power
19: Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still
20: George Fitzgerald - All that must be
21: Marquis Hawkes - The Marquis of Hawkes
22: Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of
23: Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar
24: Nu Guinea - Nuova Napoli
25: Yves Tumor - Safe in The Hands of Love
26: Spence Parker - Dance Music
27: Rüfüs Du Sol - Solace
28: Âme - Dream House
29: Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts
30: Oliver Coates - Shelley's on Zenn-LA
31: Mr Fingers - Cerebral Hemisphere
32: Pariah - Here From Where We Are
33: Max Cooper - One Hundred Billion Sparks
34: Mr G - A Part of Me Volume 2
35: Nils Frahm - All Melody
36: Break - Another Way
37: The Blaze - Dancehall
38: Soulwax - Essential
39: Detroit Swindle - High Life
40: HVL - Ostati
41: Orbital - Monsters Exist
42: Jensen Interceptor - Mother
43: Taiki Nulight - Murky Manor
44: The Digital Blonde - Neon
45: Blocks & Escher - Something Blue
46: Roman Flügel - Themes
47: DJ Taye - Still Trippin'
48: Parquet Courts - Wide Awake
49: Against All Logic - 2012-2017
50: Byran Chapman - 7 Shadows and Iron Lungs

Passion of the Weiss 50 Best Rap Songs

https://www.passionweiss.com/2018/12/16/best-rap-songs-2018/

nice to see Orbital finally make an appearance

Nice to see that Soulwax album appear but that Mixmag list top 10 is very obvious

I don’t like The 1975 and CSH at all and still don’t understand what it is that people like about them so much.

There are many artists outside my interests which I do understand why people might like them but these two in particular make me feel like I’m deaf because I just don’t hear what’s so special about their music.

That said I don’t hate them, I just don’t get it.

I can't help you w/the 1975 (tho I'm sure the long thread about them has some clues), but here's something I posted about why I love the CSH album from a few years back: Car Seat Headrest--Teens of Denial

CSH is decent but was incredibly overrated critically when his last album came out and the new version of Twin Fantasy only doubles down on all his weaknesses

he's got talent, sure, but "desperately needs an editor" is otm as well as desperately needing a good producer to help him stop making all his songs way longer than they need to be. he is simply not very good at writing the epics that he loves to unfortunately, and loves to drag out what should be a tight & catchy 3-4 minute pop song to 5+ minutes every single time

Feel like I need to give that Skee Mask record another go. I sorta liked it at first, then it fell off.

To clarify, the RYM top 10 is kind of awful, but there's plenty of good stuff in the 100

I actually quite like the new (old) Car Seat Headrest album though - there's my terrible confession

― imago

without having seen it i'm gonna say that the list from 401-500 is probably better than the list from 1-100

of course all lists get boring at the top, particularly those that involve reaching some sort of "consensus"

i picked up a lot from chaucerian myth's 2018 list, he suggested this record by bronzewing which i think he's possibly the only person to have heard? anyway it's great, like if yaraandoo was recorded in the '80s

tinymixtapes albums list:

https://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/2018-favorite-50-music-releases

50 Sheck Wes - MUDBOY
49 Satoshi Nakamoto - NYPD Records Volume 2: Satoshi Nakamoto's dOPENet
48 Amen Dunes - Freedom
47 JPEGMAFIA - Veteran
46 Gas - Rausch
45 Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!
44 Jeff Witscher - Approximately 1​,​000 Beers
43 Hermit and the Recluse - Orpheus vs. the Sirens
42 Matthew Revert / Vanessa Rossetto - Everyone Needs a Plan
41 Delroy Edwards - Rio Grande
40 Perfume - Future Pop
39 U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
38 Roc Marciano - Behold A Dark Horse
37 Beach House - 7
36 Teyana Taylor - K.T.S.E.
35 Seth Graham - Gasp
34 Sarah Davachi - Let Night Come On Bells End The Day
33 Laurel Halo - Raw Silk Uncut Wood
32 Armand Hammer - Paraffin
31 Rosalía - El Mal Querer
30 Klein - cc
29 Prime Minister of Doom - Mudshadow Propaganda / DJ Healer - Nothing 2 Loose
28 Fire-Toolz - Skinless X-1
27 Simple Affections - Simple Affections
26 The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time - Stage 4
25 Tierra Whack - Whack World
24 Eartheater - IRISIRI
23 Kanye West - ye
22 RP Boo - I'll Tell You What!
21 Tim Hecker - Konoyo
20 serpentwithfeet - soil
19 Amnesia Scanner - Another Life
18 Mitski - Be the Cowboy
17 Barrio Sur - बड़ा शोक (heart break)
16 Playboi Carti - Die Lit
15 Bamba Pana - Poaa
14 Pendant - Make Me Know You Sweet
13 Mount Eerie - Now Only
12 Julia Holter - Aviary
11 Eli Keszler - Stadium
10 Shygirl - Cruel Practice
9 Grouper - Grid of Points
8 Pusha T - Daytona
7 Low - Double Negative
6 Elysia Crampton - Elysia Crampton
5 Tirzah - Devotion
4 Charli XCX - Pop 2
3 Lolina - The Smoke
2 Yves Tumor - Safe in the Hands of Love
1 SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES

nice

serpentwithfeet and Tirzah are the big discoveries for me from the EOY lists.

I think I’ve had my fill.

these things are inevitably personal but I've never heard as much good new music as I have this year

I'm not even sure we should do this next year. I guess it gives a sort of limp foretaste of the big ILX poll

But really, most of these lists are falling over each other to boost exactly the same music in the same way, which encourages incurious listening habits. The great boon of the new streaming reality is that you can hear almost anything, and there's never been more to hear either. And if you can't put your faith in these lists, what's the point of them? I suppose a few are noteworthy, but in the main, and viewed collectively, they're stultifying

I mean that's obviously really pompous of me but as as ILXors I feel we actually have some sort of collective duty to listen to and chronicle as much as we possibly can

What would be good is some kind of automatic database that lists albums that appear in three or fewer of these lists. That kind of filter would make it more worthwhile. Like, nobody needs to know that Parquet Courts are apparently the 45th best band of the year yet again (morelike 450th amirite) but who's Eli Keszler, are they any good, etc

any news on the ilxor poll? think noms normally open round about now