The 2018 end of the year music lists thread

fuck yeah

Also, mewithoutYou at 44.

that’s overrating the camp cope but still: cool list

I compiled Stereogum's Best Jazz of 2018 list (linked above), and used my monthly column for December to list 10 runners-up and 5 (actually 6) best reissues of the year:

https://www.stereogum.com/2026718/ugly-beauty-the-month-in-jazz-december-2018/franchises/ugly-beauty/

Runners-up, listed alphabetically:

The Bad Plus, Never Stop II
Amaro Freitas, Rasif
Art Hirahara, Sunward Bound
Joshua Redman/Ron Miles/Scott Colley/Brian Blade, Still Dreaming
Logan Richardson, Blues People
Javier Santiago, Phoenix
Wayne Shorter, Emanon
Thumbscrew, Ours/Theirs
Salim Washington, Dogon Revisited
Gabriel Zucker, Weighting

Reissues/Archival Releases of the Year:

Anthony Braxton, Sextet (Parker) 1993
Dave Douglas Quintet, Brazen Heart Live at Jazz Standard
Milford Graves, Bäbi
Wes Montgomery, In Paris: The Definitive ORTF Recording
Various Artists, J-Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan 1969-1984/Spiritual Jazz Vol. 8: Japan (tie)

That BV list is great except it's ordering seems pretty random and off.

I don't even know how a human or humans rank(s) 50-100 things it's just statistics or something right?

it's delusion

Fluxblog and Said the Gramophone both posted their 2018 song round-ups, which have become my annual means of catching up with all of the music that I've paid too little attention to during the rest of the year.

I always enjoy the Said the Gramophone round-up. The Mélissa Laveaux and Spice songs are the immediate discoveries for me.

enjoying digging through the said the gramophone list, it's always interesting. "Premier juin" by Lydia Képinski is a really nice find

thanks all! ILX is my secret weapon always

mine's always been a swift kick to the groin.

oh gosh what a great description of "long as i live". truly one of the best singles of her career.

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/pitchfork-readers-poll-results-2018/

pitchfork readers poll results a lot funnier than usual, i'm not surprised by bts fans making a coordinated effort but lol at the greta van fleet ballot-stuffing effort

Wow, I didn't know about a new Kyle Gann album so thanks for the Said the Gramophone list!

OK, wow, the album is fantastic.

oh wow i didn't know logan richardson had a new album, i really like him

thanks for the tip on the kyle gann sund4r this is good!

Somehow ye is both the fourth most underrated and the fourth most overrated album.

well it isn't the former

I'd like Kyle Gann's music better if he weren't so obviously biased against the European classical tradition. It's unfair, but I can't help it.

http://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2018.cfm

Big Daddy Nice's top 25 southern soul songs

http://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2018.cfm

List (with youtube links) includes as top 5:

Fat Daddy "the Blame"
Jeter Jones "Black Horse"
Sir Charles Jones "Squeeze me"
Tucka "Ain't No Getting Over Me"
Karen Wolfe "That Bitch Ain't me"

Pomenitul, you really mean that Gann is biased against postwar European new music composition, right? I think he loves the tradition as such. He even cites Haydn, Chopin, and Ravel in the notes to Hyperchromatica.

Yes, sorry, that wasn't entirely clear on my part.

Cool, just checking what you meant. He definitely has his biases/preferences but he is an expert on American experimentalism and tuning/temperament systems.

For sure. Like I said, I know I'm being unfair (I have similar feelings regarding Alex Ross).

surprised no eminem

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/30-best-hip-hop-albums-of-2018-771909/

The Slate critics roundtable discussion is out with essays and some lists on the bottom. Sometimes folks try to hard in such things to be all encompassing regarding music, politics, culture, but Jason King does it pretty well here I think, starting with Coltrane's lost album Both Directions At Once that's out this year, and mentioning a Leon Bridges track Bad, Bad News, M. Ndgeocello, Afrobeats, Prince and mentioning country music, French protests and much much more

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/2018-music-both-directions-at-once-coltrane.html

Phonica record shop:

http://offtherecord.net/best-of-2018-albums/
http://offtherecord.net/best-of-2018-singles/

ooh some cool ones in there, thanks, did not know about the SW/SVN album

Metacritic's best reviewed of 2018 list

https://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-albums-released-in-2018?ref=hp

sleeve, the clips i hear off this one sounded pretty nice - maybe up yr street too?

12. Sound Voyage
En Route To Thailand LP

(Free Soul Inc)

A very specific and original project from Krautrock maestro’s Niko Schabel & Tom Wieland, nothing else like this in the shop. The pair went on a sabbatical to Thailand, creating field recordings and digging rare records, they returned to the home studio to build this stunning and faithful combination of old-east meets the new west. As the sales notes aptly put it “Sounds like Kraftwerk jamming in a Thai temple with the locals and Moritz von Oswald on controls? Welcome to the next level, they simply call it Outernational Kraut Electronica. First stop: Thailand.”

yeah I was checking that one out as well, thanks!

this is a pretty good dubby track off that: bangkok echo

Sometimes folks try to hard in such things to be all encompassing

Oh yeah, the Slate critics' roundtable, where listening to both pop and country makes you "all-encompassing" when it comes to music.

That may seem the case, but this year there are a couple of contributors with more varying tastes (Jason King has jazz, afrobeats, UK r'n'b and more), Rawiya Kameir mentions afrobeats and dancehall... But no Unperson with avante-jazz and metal

Um, afrobeats and UK r'n'b and dancehall are just pop from other countries.

Good list from the German MusikExpress:

1: International Music – DIE BESTEN JAHRE
2: Tocotronic – DIE UNENDLICHKEIT
3: DJ Koze – KNOCK KNOCK
4: Sophie – OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES
5: Blood Orange – NEGRO SWAN
6: Soap&Skin – FROM GAS TO SOLID/YOU ARE MY FRIEND
7: Idles – JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE
8: Julia Holter – AVIARY
9: Goat Girl – GOAT GIRL
10: Helena Hauff – QUALM
11: Arctic Monkeys – TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL + CASINO
12: Die Nerven – FAKE
13: Kamasi Washington – HEAVEN AND EARTH
14: Drangsal – ZORES
15: Janelle Monáe – DIRTY COMPUTER
16: Mitski – BE THE COWBOY
17: Jon Hopkins – SINGULARITY
18: Christine & The Queens – CHRIS
19: The Good, The Bad & The Queen – MERRIE LAND
20: Serpentwithfeet – SOIL
21: Kurt Vile – BOTTLE IT IN
22: Snail Mail – LUSH
23: Perel – HERMETICA
24: Ezra Furman – TRANSANGELIC EXODUS
25: Beach House – 7
26: Isolation Berlin – VERGIFTE DICH
27: Nils Frahm – ALL MELODY
28: Robyn – HONEY
29: Low – DOUBLE NEGATIVE
30: Suede – THE BLUE HOUR
31: Shame – SONGS OF PRAISE
32: Anna Calvi – THE HUNTER
33: Ross From Friends – FAMILY PORTRAIT
34: A.A.L. (Against All Logic) – 2012–2017
35: Der Nino aus Wien – DER NINO AUS WIEN
36: Rhye – BLOOD
37: Florence & The Machine – HIGH AS HOPE
38: Villagers – THE ART OF PRETENDING TO SWIM
39: The Internet – HIVE MIND
40: Mouse On Mars – DIMENSIONAL PEOPLE
41: Fucked Up – DOSE YOUR DREAMS
42: Yves Tumor – SAFE IN THE HANDS OF LOVE
43: The Blaze – DANCEHALL
44: Lucy Dacus – HISTORIAN
45: Neneh Cherry – BROKEN POLITICS
46: Agar Agar – THE DOG AND THE FUTURE
47: Tim Hecker – KONOYO
48: Big Red Machine – BIG RED MACHINE
49: Haiyti – MONTENEGRO ZERO
50: Yung Hurn – 1220

It's about time, Norman Records

Les Inrockuptibles:

1. Flavien Berger — Contre-Temps
2. Arctic Monkeys — Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
3. Cat Power — Wanderer
4. MGMT — Little Dark Age
5. Idles — Joy as an Act of Resistance
6. Courtney Barnett — Tell Me How You Really Feel
7. Kanye West — ye
8. Jorja Smith — Lost & Found
9. Miossec — Les rescapés
10. Neneh Cherry — Broken Politics
11. Perez — Cavernes
12. Parquet Courts — Wide Awake!
13. Dominique A — La fragilité
14. Jeanne Added — Radiate
15. Jacco Gardner — Somnium
16. Snail Mail — Lush
17. Lomepal — Jeannine
18. Blood Orange — Negro Swan
19. A$AP Rocky — Testing
20. Car Seat Headrest — Twin Fantasy
21. Superorganism — Superorganism
22. Shame — Songs of Praise
23. Agar Agar — The Dog and the Future
24. Mitski — Be the Cowboy
25. Rosalía — El Mal Querer
26. Connan Mockasin — Jassbusters
27. Pusha T — Daytona
28. Insecure Men — Insecure Men
29. Rendez Vous — Superior State
30. Sophie — Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
31. Jean-Louis Murat — Il Francese
32. Alpha Wann — Une main lave l'autre
33. Damso — Lithopédion
34. Oneohtrix Point Never — Age Of
35. Franz Ferdinand — Always Ascending
36. Dream Wife — Dream Wife
37. U.S. Girls — In a Poem Unlimited
38. Young Fathers — Cocoa Sugar
39. Daniel Blumberg — Minus
40. Ty Segall — Freedom’s Goblin
41. Nas — NASIR
42. Kurt Vile — Bottle It In
43. Spiritualized — And Nothing Hurt
44. Helena Hauff — Qualm
45. Myth Syzer — Bisous
46. Amen Dunes — Freedom
47. Saba — Care for Me
48. Cardi B — Invasion of Privacy
49. Vald — XEU
50. Grand Blanc — Image au mur

Meh.

Tbf I haven't heard the #1 yet. And I'm only interested in their francophone suggestions anyway.

Norman Records have also done a reissues list, which is much more up my street tbh

https://www.normanrecords.com/features/albums-of-the-year-2018#best-reissues

Admittedly there were several undeniable classics in Norman's reissues list but I have to agree, the top new releases are leaving me relatively underwhelmed.

https://www.stereogum.com/2027032/barack-obama-best-songs-2018/news/

Someone send him an invite for the ILM EOY poll.

Listening to some of these and damn that Jupiter & Okwess track is a blast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mSmmo-_5t8

Norman Records have also done a reissues list, which is much more up my street tbh

https://www.normanrecords.com/features/albums-of-the-year-2018#best-reissues🕸

X-post- Yes to that Jupiter & Okwess track on the Obama list.

the playlist at the end of carl wilson’s last music club entry is good (disclaimer: i was part of it this year)

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/best-songs-2018-playlist-spotify.html

I realize it's linked above, but I think it's worth including Obama's full list here in the thread.

---

Barack Obama's favorite songs of 2018:

Apes••t by The Carters
Bad Bad News by Leon Bridges
Could’ve Been by H.E.R. (feat. Bryson Tiller)
Disco Yes by Tom Misch (feat. Poppy Ajudha)
Ekombe by Jupiter & Okwess
Every Time I Hear That Song by Brandi Carlile
Girl Goin’ Nowhere by Ashley McBryde
Historia De Un Amor by Tonina (feat. Javier Limón and Tali Rubinstein)
I Like It by Cardi B (feat. Bad Bunny and J Balvin)
Kevin’s Heart by J. Cole
King For A Day by Anderson East
Love Lies by Khalid & Normani
Make Me Feel by Janelle Monáe
Mary Don’t You Weep (Piano & A Microphone 1983 Version) by Prince
My Own Thing by Chance the Rapper (feat. Joey Purp)
Need a Little Time by Courtney Barnett
Nina Cried Power by Hozier (feat. Mavis Staples)
Nterini by Fatoumata Diawara
One Trick Ponies by Kurt Vile
Turnin’ Me Up by BJ the Chicago Kid
Wait by the River by Lord Huron
Wow Freestyle by Jay Rock (feat. Kendrick Lamar)

And in honor of one of the great jazz singers of all time, who died this year, a classic album: The Great American Songbook by Nancy Wilson