A Round of Sound

I’m getting right to the list this year, no time for an initial post as in past years. Also, this is the first year where I’ve decided to include streamed albums as being eligible for my list, rather than just albums I’ve purchased. Therefore, I don’t really feel the need to post everything I’ve listened to (although, I did try to track this the best I could). Just know I listened to a lot of albums in 2018 (close to 130 by my count), and if you don’t see something in my Top 50 you were expecting, then I either didn’t hear it, or just didn’t like it as much as you. As usual, only full-length albums released in 2018 are eligible for my list. That means no EPs, soundtracks, holiday albums, b-sides, or reissues will show up, even though I did come across a good bit of those, more than usual actually. Without further ado:

50) Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain

49) Birds In Row – We Already Lost The World

48) Now, Now – Saved

47) Neko Case – Hell On

46) The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

45) Death Cab For Cutie – Thank You For Today

44) George Clanton – Slide

43) Saintseneca – Pillars of Na

42) Lala Lala – The Lamb

41) Cursive – Vitriola

40) Amber Arcades – European Heartbreak

39) Foxing – Nearer My God

38) SOB X RBE – Gangin’

37) MGMT – Little Dark Age

36) Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

35) Natalie Prass – The Future and the Past

34) Closer – All This Will Be

33) Forth Wanderers – Forth Wanderers

32) Hinds – I Don’t Run

31) Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar

30) Robyn – Honey

29) Camp Cope – How To Socialise & Make Friends

28) Spiritualized – And Nothing Hurt

27) Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs

26) Nothing – Dance On The Blacktop

25) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs

24) Soccer Mommy – Clean

23) Typhoon – Offerings

22) Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy

21) Middle Kids – Lost Friends

20) Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth

19) Phosphorescent – C’est La Vie

18) Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel

17) Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog

16) Anderson .Paak – Oxnard

15) Flasher – Constant Image

14) Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer

13) Parquet Courts – Wide Awake!

12) Sarah Shook & The Disarmers – Years

11) U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited

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10) Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour

[MCA Nashville; released 3/30/2018]

Musgraves has her true crossover hit with these polished-to-a-sheen pop-country songs featuring her assured and impeccable songwriting.

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9) Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer

[Sub Pop; released 6/1/2018]

I can handle FJM’s cynicism when the songs are as accessible and melody driven as these, something I thought last year’s Pure Comedy lacked.

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8) Jeff Rosenstock – POST-

[Polyvinyl; released 1/5/2018]

Quietly released the very first new music Friday of 2018, I found myself coming back to these infectious punk-rock anthems all year long, perhaps more than any other album.

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7) Beach House – 7

[Sub Pop; released 5/11/2018]

The seventh album from the dream-pop duo is their best since 2010’s Teen Dream.

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6) Let’s Eat Grandma – I’m All Ears 

[Transgressive; released 6/29/2018]

Glimmering synth-pop that filled the Chvrches void left after that disappointingly bland release. The British pop duo may have an unfortunate name, but luckily the music rises above it.

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5) Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love 

[Anti-; released 7/13/2018]

Another gorgeous mesh of indie-rock and black metal – no one is making music like these guys.

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4) The Beths – Future Me Hates Me

[Carpark; released 8/10/2018]

The debut album from the New Zealand four-piece led by Elizabeth Stokes is filled to the brim with pop hooks and witty self-deprecating lyrics. One of my most listened to albums of 2018, it was hard for me not to put this #1.

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3) Snail Mail – Lush 

[Matador; released 6/8/2018]

One of, if not the most, anticipated debuts of the year came from the mind of 19 year old (!) Lindsay Jordan, and these songs perfectly showcase her wise-beyond-her-years songwriting while still displaying a youthful sentiment. She’s arrived and will continue to be one to watch.

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2) Lucy Dacus – Historian 

[Matador; released 3/2/2018]

A dense and visceral guitar-drenched album that doesn’t get lost in its weightiness thanks to Dacus’s soulful voice, knack for melody, and smart lyrics. Between this and the stunning boygenius EP, Dacus is probably my artist of the year.

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1) Mitski – Be The Cowboy 

[Dead Oceans; released 8/17/2018]

“I don’t want your pity, I just want somebody near me.”

Mitki’s been building up to this. Not that we would have been disappointed had Mitski Miyawaki merely recaptured her breakout Bury Me at Makeout Creek or her brilliant Puberty 2 (my #3 album of 2016) rather than expanding on it, but by the time the patented guitar-fuzz of Be The Cowboy’s opener “Geyser” fades into the synth-beat of “Why Didn’t You Stop Me”, it’s evident we’ve stumbled upon an artist in the midst of her triumph, and consequently the best album of 2018.

Somehow simultaneously expanding her ambitions while further refining her already airtight songwriting, Be The Cowboy scoots by at a brisk 14-song 32 minute pace, but contains more ideas than most artists could dream of, while never cheating the listener, or feeling indulgent – perhaps best exemplified on disco-infused anthem “Nobody” the album’s (and maybe year’s) best song.  Throughout Be The Cowboy, we’re still treated to Mitski’s anxious glitch-pop ballads, full of poignant lyrics and catchy melodies, but Be The Cowboy feels like a statement: an artist embracing her power and ensuring we all know it.