I haven't seen one of these yet this year, and it's the time of year for it.
For me, the clear winner is Vulfpeck's Hill Climber album. So funky. So fresh. You can't listen to it and be in a bad mood after.
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Travis Scott Astroworld
Who put this shit together, Im the glue
2018 was an outstanding year for music and music discovery. It made this a very easy exercise.
Gunship - Dark All Day
Clairo - diary 001
Dawes - Passwords
The Internet - Hive Mind
Capital Cities - Solarize
Church of the Cosmic Skull - Science Fiction
Had never heard of The Church until just now. Man...their website is wayyy out there, but damn that's some pretty amazing music.
I was wondering if you'd include the Dawes album. I was really excited for it, but it all feels so adult-contemporary. Live show is still great though.
It's probably my least favorite Dawes album, but still good enough to make my top albums of the year. Living in the Future has become one of my favorite Dawes songs. The lyrics hit home.
Anthem of the peaceful army - greta van fleet
Came here to say this
I was really dissapointed with their debut LP. I enjoyed both EPs but wasn't thrilled with the LP. Then I read pitchforks review and initially was pissed at it, then I realized it was spot on. Sigh.
That review was not "spot on." He had two or three valid points, but they were buried amongst mean-spirited babbling about things that aren't even close to true, like them being a label-assembled rock facsimile designed solely to generate clicks and all that other nonsense. They're a couple kids from Michigan, and while their sound is still super derivative and they could stand to be a tad less pretentious on social media, there's signs they're beginning to create their own sound on the LP. The senior editor of Pitchfork distilling his site's entire body of work into a single article doesn't change any of that.
None of this is @ you, I just got super triggered thinking about that review. I guess you could say I want GVF to be great and lead the charge to bring rock and roll back to where pop is now, but I recognize that they are good not great and won't be great unless they evolve.
Agree 100%. Anthem may not have the character that the EPs had, but it still slays.
It's all good. I understand this is all subjective but what really got me about the article was the points about the lyrics and actually the click generation stuff. And honestly I think you kind of made a point for them in saying that their sound is derivative. That's pretty much the point he was trying to make. Since their sound is derivative they are perfect for the way streaming music is geared to find new music.
But I also totally agree with you in that I think they are young and still learning. They've seen a massive influx of fame and support and have plenty of time to find their way.
I did find the writer's joke about them being dressed by a Santa Fe palm reader with a gift certificate to Chico's absolutely hysterical.
This. Good album, not great. Its just good to hear something different and this hit the spot.
Uh, I wouldn't exactly characterize Greta van fleet as "different"
If this is how I get to hear new Zep, then so be it. I enjoy the hell out of the album.
that take is light years better than "i like greta van fleet because they sound different"
Agree with the good not great assessment of this album. I still really enjoyed it. In a day in age where a lot of rock music has an overproduced pop sound I appreciate the throw back.
Can cover bands be nominated for album of the year?
If a person who never plays an instrument, uses auto-tune for their vocals, and never writes lyrics can be called "a music artist", then yes.
None, Rock 'n Roll achieved perfection in 1974, it's a scientifically proven fact.
I'm enjoying the second half of the 1975's new record "A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships," and I really liked All Get Out's new album "No Bouquet."
Top 3:
1. Astroworld- Travis Scott
2. Trench- Twenty One Pilots
3. Black Panther- Kendrick Lamar + Other Artists
Daytona by Pusha T
Kamakazee by Eminem
YSIV by Logic
Awolnation - Here Come the Runts
Awolnation releases a new album and I only know this now?
Oh well, at least I've actually heard of Eminem.
Bosse-de-Nage - Further Still
San Francisco based post black metal act Bosse-de-Nage's 5th full length album takes the project in the direction of simpler, tighter compositions than any of their previous records. All of the tremolo picking blast beating goodness is still there, but in more condensed doses. This album also features another fine collection of flash-fiction lyrics that I really enjoy.
Lyrics link: Every day is the same; we get up at sunrise and begin our work on The Trench...
Deafheaven "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love"
MØL "JORD"
I thought OCHL was just ok. Honeycomb was a good single to release before the album came out though.
that's the consensus I've been hearing for Deafheaven's new release. MOL, on the other hand, I believe is severely underrated.
Lifers by Cody Jinks
Best country artist these days
Damn straight. I'd love to see him in concert. I like that song "Somewhere In The Middle" or something like that.
He and Ward Davis have been doing the rounds he came and played the national last year but I was out of town he was touring with whitey Morgan when he came through last
Nice. I saw Whiskey Myers at the National a week ago. Awesome venue.
Haha I was there too! Damn good show.
I saw Turnpike Troubadours last week at the National. Pretty good show!
The same like 8 of us have this same discussion every time Jinks/TT/Whiskey Myers/Tyler Childers/insert non mainstream country/southern rocker here. So glad all these guys are finally gaining what seems to be a bunch of traction...unfortunately that means the tickets are impossible to come by, get em while you can I just got some to a Childers concert at a bar here $25 was the original price they sold out before the venue had tickets and were being scalped for $75+
Pretty much.
Now if I could just get Ryan Bingham tickets on the east coast someplace...
Lifers gets my vote
Been on the Jinks wagon about 3 years now.
They played pre-race at Bristol in 2017 and were grrreat.
Jungle- Forever. Great makeout album if you're into that.
Denzel Curry - TA13OO
The Wonder Years - Sister Cities
Titus Andronicus - A Productive Cough
Chvrches - Love Is Dead
Leg for Titus Andronicus. They put on one of the best shows I've ever seen
A Productive Cough really, really surprised me. I've not listened to TA in a while so I checked this album out on a whim. It sounds like they got really drunk and listened to Exile on Main Street a bunch and wanted to do a record like that. That cover of "Like a Rolling Stone" makes me smile.
I liked Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Tearing at the Seams. I'm sure there were better releases but I don't get around to listening to many full albums these days.
While their most recent album was released in 2016, I've been enjoying almost everything by Whiskey Myers. Great live shows too.
Hell yeah, saw them in Richmond this past Saturday.
Haha I was there too! Damn good show.
I've been listening to these guys for years, they're great! When people thought their album was 'new,' I was like 'where the heck have yall been?!'
Ryan Bingham and Reckless Kelly are great too
Oh for sure. I've been on a Ryan Bingham kick for a while. I love "Island In The Sky", "Southside of Heaven", "Country Roads", and "Bread and Water", among others.
I know a lot of people don't like today's pop, but Camila Cabello's Camila was quite good.
I don't listen to a lot of pop and I haven't heard the album, but her singles this year were excellent.
I'm old
Eric Church, Desperate Man
Mumford & Sons, Delta
Greensky Bluegrass is dropping a new album in January - that will top my list for 2019.
I've been meaning to give delta a listen. How's it compared to their other stuff?
It's good - it's a little more progressive sounding than from when they released Babel, which has been my favorite.
Pusha T - Daytona. The first of Kanye's Montana summer projects. In my opinion, the best pure hip-hop album put out this year. Production was amazing, and Push didn't miss on any of the tracks. Classic in my opinion. Push also killed Drake.
J. Cole - KOD. Another very strong hip-hop album, and my second favorite this year. The only drawback was Cole doing that alter ego Kill Edward voice, it was mostly off-putting. But still, Cole came strong lyrically, and showed these young up & comers that he's not to be fucked with. Also, Cole killed every feature he was on this year.
Jorja Smith - Lost & Found. Sultry, soulful, smooth. Her r&b reminds me of a mix of Corrine Bailey Rae and Sade. I had this album on repeat for most of the summer.
Teyana Taylor - K.T.S.E. Another one of Kanye's Montana summer projects. It's really interesting hearing Teyana grow up, and with it you can hear the maturity in her music. Never would've made it probably my favorite cut on the album.
Goldlink - At What Cost. This album is actually from 2017 but I finally gave it a listen earlier this year. He's from D.C. and incorporates a lot of go-go sound into his music and that reminds me of home. His flow is underrated. Dude is pretty slept on if you ask me.
Rapsody - Leila's Wisdom. She's probably the best female rap artist in the game right now, and she's probably better than a lot of your favorite favorite rappers. Top notch production, butter smooth delivery, and she's got the bars and lyrics to back it all up.
Black Panther OST (various artists): I usually don't give a shit about soundtracks, but when I saw that it was going to be headed by K. dot I had up give it a listen... And was pleasantly surprised. I remember it came out a week before the movie, and it made me that much more hype for viewing it. Everybody brought their A game.
I'm trying to decide if I like Earl Sweatshirts lastest offering; Some Rap Songs. He kind switched to a broken, jazz/soul sound, production wise - reminds me a lot of Blu post "below the heavens". Some songs will be on repeat super heavy for me this winter, while others I can't seem to get into. He does put his soul into his music though. Dude is dealing with some pretty heavy depression it sounds like. That whole situation with his pops is shitty. Still, I'm appreciative that we got some new Earl this year though. Shattered Dreams is perfect.
This year I've also discovered a lot of artists that apparently I completely slept on over the past few years. Masego (another Va artist), Noname, YBN Cordae(this dude is going to blow up) & Ciscero to name a few.
Checked out YBN Cordae on the drive home today. I'm really digging his stuff so far.
I haven't heard anything from him that I don't like.
I am not at all a fan or rap music, but my son introduced me to "Care for Me" by Saba, and it is brilliant.
This year was mostly full of disappointments for me. MGMT is arguably the band's worst album. Kinda kitschy and doesn't stand up to repeated listenings. After a 5 year layoff Arctic Monkeys released a totally unnecessary attempt at a concept album. Can't even remember anything else that sounded that good. I actually forgot about Daytona. I had been looking forward to that but never got around to it.
I can't even go back and listen to Arctic Monkeys old, good stuff. I'm so traumatized by Tranquility that their entire discography has been corrupted for me.
That's funny, Tranquility was easily my most listened to album this year and also got me to go back and re-appreciate the rest of their records. I always liked them, but they're one of my clear-cut favorite bands now
Honestly, this was a crappy year for the stuff I generally listen to (you will see the trend in my nominees) and most of my purchasing was for older albums I hadn't gotten around to buying. That said, these are my favorites from the year:
Stone Temple Pilots (2018) [self titled... again]
Greta van Fleet - Anthem for the Peaceful Army (covered earlier)
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Tremonti - A Dying Machine
Superlatives:
Nah that APC album was really good
I've had a hard time listening to it. Most of the material resembled the moody stuff from emotive, and I really had expected / hoped for some faster/harder tracks to pickup where tracks like "Blue" and "Pet" had left off from their last full length original album. I'm sure this one will eventually grow on me at some point, but it just missed the mark for this year IMO.
The doomed sounded old school a perfect circle
Funny, I was just coming in to nominate Eat the Elephant for favorite of the year, mainly because I'm apparently getting old and it's the only new album this year I can actually name. But thank you for bringing the new AIC album to my attention. I will definitely have to seek that one out.
I'm definitely gonna have to agree with you on the new NIN album though. That was...not good.
1. Kids See Ghosts
2. Ye
3. I Love It (single)
A few of my favorites:
Vince Staples - FM! (Most underrated album of 2018 in Rap)
Brockhampton - iridescence
Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghost (my favorite album from 2018)
Pusha T - Daytona
6ix9ine - Dummy Boy (I listened to it expecting a god awful album but I was pleasantly surprised)
The Revivalists - Take Good Care
Mumford and Sons - Delta (this caught some flak from M&S purists but I loved how chilly and focused it was)
There's a ton I'm forgetting I'm sure. 2018 was good for me.
A few albums I was disappointed in:
The 1975, Greta Van Fleet, The Wombats, and Ye.
Now for everything non Kanye. I'd definitely have my top 2 as:
Kids at Play - Louis the Child
Best album of the year not even close tbh. Every song is good and about half are great. Definitely check them out if you like any electronic music and haven't heard of them.
And
irradescence - Brockhampton
Back after three albums last year this one is not as good as Saturation II but better than I and III. There's a solid 3-4 bangers if this is your type of music but I wasn't blown away.
Also gotta mention The Voidz because Casablancas. Love the first song on their album haven't really got through the rest.
Lastly any electronic fans should check out Chemical (Hex Cougar Remix) its only a single but has one of the craziest drops I've ever heard.
Chvrches - Love Is Dead. Couple of duds, but they continue to bang
We Were Promised Jetpacks - The More I Sleep The Less I Dream
Estrons - You Say I'm Too Much, I Say You're Not Enough. Good if you're into something a bit more...aggressive.
Pusha T - Daytona
I also cannot recommend staying away from the new Arctic Monkeys album hard enough. It is absolute trash.
Love is Dead is easily my least favorite album for CHVRCHES and it's not even close.
It did make me go back and listen to their first two albums more and I think I hit the tipping point this weekend where the newness of it no longer outweighs the betterness of their previous two albums. Wonderland, Miracle and Graffiti are still awesome, but I've never just skipped songs consistently like I do on this one. I actually built a playlist that left off the instrumental that leads into Wonderland, that duet with the guy from the National (I think) and the suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper slow where she hits like seventeen notes in one word.
Unheavenly Creatures, Coheed and Cambria
as a fan of their early stuff, I picked this up randomly and was very surprised.
Saw them twice over the summer with Taking Back Sunday, they are seriously one of the best live acts out there.
yep, was at the Charlotte show. Seeing them again in Feb in Asheville for what will be my 7th time. Always a great show
I was at the Baltimore and Philly shows. Luckily they're coming to Norfolk this tour so I don't have to travel.
https://g.co/kgs/UhedTX
Been listening to this one a lot.
American Aquarium - Things Change
Brent Cobb - Providence Canyon
Cody Jinks - Lifers
As self-professed 90's ska-punk kid, "Fight the Good Fight" from The Interrupters is quite enjoyable.
The Interrupters are pretty awesome. Super fun live band. Saw them several times this past spring/summer at festivals. They are coming to The Fillmore in Silver Spring in March. Will likely go see them again then.
Yeah, I saw them at Punk In Drublic festival in Richmond over the summer, will probably make the trip from VB to see them again this spring at The National.
Nice. I saw them at Punk in Drublic as well. On a side note, Bad Religion is incredible live. Every time I see them they blow me away. Almost lost it when they said they were going to be playing Suffer in its entirety that day.
That was great. I was stoked to finally see Mad Caddies too, they don't come to this coast very often.
Their set was solid as well. Would have liked to have heard "State of Mind," but you can't have everything I suppose. Ha. They did do that Propaghandi cover that was pretty sweet.
Kasvot Växt - 'í Rokk'
gesundheit
so this is gonna sound really out of place here but riding with my wife yesterday and heard Miley Cyrus' new song.
It was actually pretty good, nothing to write home about but she didn't sound crazy.
Make fun all you want but I know you will listen to is sooner or later in secret.
Her voice sounded incredible on SNL this weekend.
She still doing country now?
Okay, question for the hip-hop fans - I genuinely don't understand the hype for Astroworld. The beats are cool, but the lyrics are garbage at best - no witty wordplay, no intelligent discussion, nothing to be excited about. Why do people like this album?
That's more or less the trend, there are some guys still doing some lyrically great stuff, but a lot is just hard beats and catchy hooks
I finally caught Quaker City Night Hawks' 2016 album El Astronauta in 2018. Does that count? Their latest album is decent too, and does count as a 2018 album.
Torquila! Torquila! is still my favorite of the albums.
Good year for music this year for me. Personally I've got a top tier and then a bunch of really good albums
Top Tier:
1. Lucy Dacus - Historian
After her 2016 debut I thought she was one of the best young songwriters coming up, but now I'd argue she's one of the absolute best songwriters working today, period.
2. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
My most listened to this year. I'm sure this record rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, but I can't get enough of it.
3. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs
Top notch jangly indie rock. Their rhythm section + 3-guitar-front-line pack a lot more wallop than your typical band that meets that criteria though.
4. Screaming Females - All at Once
In a just world, this group would be celebrated as the greatest hard rock band of our era. They continue to hone their catchiness and sand down some of their more abrasive edges, but keep piling on heavy riffage and absurd solos powered by a backend that is what all rock rhythm sections should aspire to.
Other great albums in no particular order:
Leon Bridges - Beyond
Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!
JID - DiCapprio 2
Black Panther Soundtrack
Milo - budding ornithologists are weary of tired analogies
Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
Pusha T - Daytona
Andrew Bryant - Ain't It Like the Cosmos
Screaming Females did a cover of that Taylor Swift song "Shake it Off" for A.V. Club a couple of years ago that was pretty awesome. Couldn't find the original video, but looks like they put together something of an official video for it earlier this year.
For those interested:
+1 for RBCF and Screaming Females.
I actually thought 2018 was a solid year in music, albeit one that came on stronger in the second half. I often find that I struggle to recall what I was into earlier in the year, only to find out that most of those songs and albums were released the previous calendar year. This held true again in 2018, as there are a number of albums (namely Asking Alexandria's self-titled album) and songs (I really enjoyed "The Gold" by Manchester Orchestra, even if they've annoyed me to no end in the past) that lasted far longer than I anticipated. With all that being said, here's my list of favorite albums of 2018:
Briefly, I also enjoyed "Anthem of the Peaceful Army" by Greta Van Fleet, "ATTENTION ATTENTION" by Shinedown and "Vicious" by Halestorm.
Song-wise, some of my favorites were:
I've come to the conclusion that Kanye doesn't make good music anymore himself, but he's still a phenomenal producer.
This thread might as well be typed in swahili for me. Sorry i am old. I know nothing about any of these bands and ive never even heard of 99.9% of them. Did i say im old?