My Favourite Albums of 2018
In the first few months of 2018, I was actually scared that it wouldn’t be a very good year for music. I made a list last year of my top albums of 2017 where I reviewed twenty albums, and I didn’t know if I would have twenty this year the way things were going. How wrong I was! This year I have doubled my list to forty albums, and I’ve included Spotify links for easy access.
While my list last year was very hip hop-heavy, this year is a bit more diverse. Here is the breakdown:
Hip Hop — 14 or 35%
Pop — 7 or 17.5%
Metal — 6 or 15%
Electronic — 6 or 15%
Punk/Hardcore — 3 or 7.5%
Rock — 2 or 5%
Folk — 1 or 2.5%
Jazz — 1 or 2.5%
It took me a long time to write this list but I’m so glad I did. You don’t have to read it front to back, think of it like a directory for your perusing. I have included genre tags like last year so you know if you might be into it or not. And again, as a lot of good music does, the embedded YouTube links are likely to have explicit lyrics. Not safe for work!
40. The Field — Infinite Moment
Genres: Minimal Techno, Ambient Techno
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2DlMzYc
There are few electronic musicians more consistent than Swedish producer Axel Willner, better known as The Field. While he’s never released what I would consider a stone cold classic, he did come close with his 2007 debut From Here We Go Sublime. This year sees the release of Infinite Moment, his sixth studio album on the legendary German techno label Kompakt.
If you’ve heard The Field’s music before, you know what to expect. Lush, choral synth pads. Repetitive, hypnotic techno beats and chopped up vocal samples. He has a very distinct sound that has not changed much over the past decade. But I still look forward to every one of his releases because I know I will get some great, minimal techno for active listening or background noise for reading or studying.
So if you’ve never heard any of his albums, you could start here, go back to the beginning or put his whole discography on shuffle!
39. Sons of Kemet — Your Queen Is a Reptile
Genres: Afro-Jazz, Jazz-Funk
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Ht6Oke
I like to listen to modern jazz music from time to time, but it’s not a genre that would normally make it into my top albums of the year. Released on the famous jazz label Impulse, the danceable afro-jazz of Sons of Kemet’s Your Queen is a Reptile is hard not to like. Reminding me of the funky afro-beat of Fela Kuti, the album is funky, playful and at times sinister. The low brass instruments sound fantastic, I’m sure these guys put on a heck of a live show!
The bookending tracks are the only ones with prominent vocals, the politically charged lyrics heavily criticize the UK post-Brexit. The album’s title is an obvious jab at Queen Elizabeth II, with each track named after a famous African-American woman. If you like your jazz funky, fun and danceable, you can’t get wrong with this one.
38. Judas Priest — FIREPOWER
Genres: Heavy Metal
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IdLWyf
While I’ve always liked Judas Priest, I never really got into them as deeply as other classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Metallica and Iron Maiden. FIREPOWER is the eighteenth studio album in their nearly fifty-year career, so when I heard that it was their best since 1990’s Painkiller I was immediately intrigued.
This album just straight up rocks, I don’t even know if Painkiller or even their classic eighties period was this good! Every song rips, the riffs are fantastic, and yes Rob Halford’s lyrics can be really cheesy but they fit the style and his vocals sound as good as ever!
Even if you just have a passing interest in classic metal, you owe it to yourself to spin FIREPOWER at least once. It’s great to hear an old band rediscover what makes them great and create an album as effortless sounding as this.
37. Tomb Mold — Manor of Infinite Forms
Genres: Death Metal
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2NKYt2z
Death metal is a genre that I don’t really gravitate towards these days. In high school I was a big fan of melodic death metal bands like In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, but other than a few albums by bands like Gorguts and Ulcerate I haven’t heard any new death metal that has grabbed my attention. That is until I heard this new album from Toronto’s Tomb Mold.
Tomb Mold are straight up death metal, which is rare these days when bands in the genre tend to infuse their sound with black metal, grindcore, or go the tech death route. On this album they’ve managed to create a brutal sound that still has groovy, memorable riffs and great songwriting. With an album cover that looks like it came straight out of the early nineties, this band certainly sounds the part and have made an album that ranks with some of the best from that era.
36. The Body — I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer
Genres: Death Industrial, Drone Metal
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2QhmDir
The Body first caught my attention with their album No One Deserves Happiness two years ago. Their brand of droney sludge metal clicked with me instantly and I think that they’re one of the most unique and interesting bands in today’s metal scene.
After releasing some splits with other bands they have released the true follow up to that album this year. I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer tones done the sludge and sees them experimenting with power electronics and more industrial elements.
My favourite track is Nothing Stirs, which starts off with a distorted, electronic beat and slowly builds with washes of guitar drone and beautiful vocals from Kristin Hayter. This is probably a bit too out there for casual metal fans, but if you’re a fan of noisy industrial metal you owe it to yourself to check out this album!
35. Anna von Hausswolff — Dead Magic
Genres: Darkwave, Experimental Rock
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2PLK3fk
Dead Magic is Swedish musician Anna von Hausswolff’s fourth studio album, but it is the first one I’ve heard from her. This is her breakout album which has put her on the map in the experimental music scene. Drawing influence from eighties darkwave and gothic rock bands like Dead Can Dance and Swans, Hausswolff creates a creepy atmosphere and uses repetition and drones to great effect.
A twentieth-century pipe organ is featured throughout the album which adds to the gothic and creepy feel. The best example of this is on the opener The Truth, The Flow, The Fall which, after a four-minute ambient intro, settles into a hypnotic, organ-led waltz and closes out its twelve-minute runtime with organ and beautifully tortured vocals. If it wasn’t obvious by now, Dead Magic is not for the faint of heart. But for those of us into dark, experimental music, this is a real treat.
34. Skee Mask — Compro
Genres: Ambient Techno, Breakbeat
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2QhmZsE
Skee Mask is German producer Bryan Müller who also records music under the name SCNTST. While this is the first release I’ve heard from him, I am definitely impressed and consider this one of my top electronic albums of the year.
On Compro, Müller fuses dreamy, ambient soundscapes with nineties-style breakbeats (think Chemical Brothers and Prodigy) to create a truly unique sound. The vibe this album gives off reminds me of classic IDM like Autechre and Boards of Canada even though they don’t really sound alike.
If you’re a fan of ambient, breakbeat, minimal techno, or any style of nineties electronic music really, this album is definitely worth a listen. It’s interesting to hear a modern producer re-contextualizing these classic sounds.
33. Lil B — Platinum Flame
Genres: West Coast Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2xpwbjh
While I had stopped following Lil B’s output for a few years, last year’s Black Ken was my favourite release of his in a long time and made it into my top five albums of last year. I don’t like Platinum Flame nearly as much but it’s still a great album that continues Black Ken’s experimental, west-coast hyphy-inspired sound.
The latest in his Flame series which started with Blue Flame and Red Flame back in 2010, the album has a loose, mob-related narrative that plays out in several skits throughout the mixtape. With 28 tracks running almost two hours, this is by far the longest Flame mixtape. While it’s received some lukewarm reviews I personally like it a lot and it’s worth a listen if you were a fan of his Black Ken mixtape like I was.
32. Black Milk — FEVER
Genres: Conscious Hip Hop, Jazz Rap
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2HGan7p
Black Milk first came onto my radar back in 2010 with Album of the Year. It didn’t do a lot for me personally, but his latest album FEVER is great! The production is fantastic mixing live instruments, samples and synthesizers for a great experimental and jazzy sound.
Black Milk himself is a polarizing rapper, personally I don’t think he’s the greatest lyricist as there aren’t many memorable lines here. However, his flow on these beats is more than passable and with instrumentation this great, that’s all you really need. If you’re getting tired of all of the trap and mumble rap coming out these days, this one is definitely worth a listen. I really need to check out his other albums that I’ve been missing out on.
31. Kanye West — ye
Genres: Pop Rap, R&B
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2J3wzfV
Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you probably have some sort of opinion on Kanye West. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, we can all agree that Mr. West had a prolific year in 2018. After abruptly cancelling his Saint Pablo tour in 2016 and being hospitalized for hallucinations and paranoia, we heard little from him in 2017 other than rumours that he was recording in Wyoming.
ye is the second album to come out of the Wyoming sessions after Pusha T’s DAYTONA, and is considered one of Kanye’s weaker efforts along with 808s and Heartbreak and Jay-Z collab Watch the Throne. While I agree it is one of his weaker efforts, as a big Kanye fan I still dig this for the most part. While a few songs fall a little short of Kanye’s standard, this is still a short and interesting album with great production. It is interesting to hear Kanye talk openly about his mental health in his music like this.
30. Frank Ocean — Endless REDUX
Genres: Art Pop, R&B
Apple Music: https://apple.co/2CZrEtH
It’s somewhat controversial to classify this one as a 2018 album, but I didn’t hear this project until this Redux edition was released back in April of this year. Endless originally dropped back in 2016 as a visual album on Apple Music, the day before the release of his second studio album Blonde. Only Apple Music subscribers could watch the visual album until Ocean remastered it on vinyl, CD and VHS.
Endless isn’t quite on the same level as Blonde or channel ORANGE, but it’s still a great listen if you’re a fan of his work. Unfortunately, Endless is not available on any streaming services excluding the visual album which is still on Apple Music. Now that the physical release has sold out, there is no legal way to listen to this remastered version. That’s a real shame because more people should be able to hear this.
29. Avantdale Bowling Club — Avantdale Bowling Club
Genres: Jazz Rap, Modal Jazz
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2G6fKj9
Avantdale Bowling Club is the latest project from Kiwi musician Tom Scott. He is famous in his home country for his hip hop projects Home Brew and @Peace, but relatively unknown abroad. This self-titled album is equal parts hip hop and modal jazz, and it’s one of the best jazz rap albums I’ve heard since To Pimp a Butterfly.
The album begins with the incredible Years Gone By, a gorgeous chronicle of Scott’s life up until this point. It lays the groundwork for the rest of album, which features impressive jazz performances and great lyricism throughout.
Another highlight is F(r)iends, a more traditional hip hop track with great drumming, strings and piano. The heartbreaking outro finds Scott questioning his “so-called friends…they don’t hang around me anymore.” This is a great album and I look forward to more releases from the jazz rap trend which continues to grow in popularity.
28. Oneohtrix Point Never — Age Of
Genres: Progressive Electronic, Art Pop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Hdg0Iu
Daniel Lopatin, better known as Oneohtrix Point Never, is easily one of my favourite musicians recording music today. My first exposure to him was through his 2010 album Returnal, a modern take on the progressive electronic genre that I still have trouble getting into today. His last album Garden of Delete was my favourite of his so far. It’s a brilliant fusion of industrial, glitch and angsty industrial and grunge like his childhood favourites Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden.
I don’t like Age Of quite as much as his last album, but it sees him going in new directions as he does with every album. The whole thing has a baroque feel featuring lots of MIDI harpsichord and more of his own vocals than we’ve ever heard before. This one has been quite polarizing online but I personally think it’s another great entry in his catalog.
27. Kero Kero Bonito — Time ’n’ Place
Genres: Noise Pop, Dream Pop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2SyBvJO
Kero Kero Bonito started off making catchy electropop on their debut album Bonito Generation. Their sound was heavily influenced by the bubblegum bass scene, which makes sense as their drummer released music on the PC Music label as Kane West. On their follow-up Time ’n’ Place, the band trades in electropop for a catchy fusion of dream pop, noise pop and shoegaze reminiscent of the band Sweet Trip.
The highlights for me are the three singles: Make Believe, Only Acting and Time Today, all great pop tunes which play to the band’s strengths. While the album is admittedly top-heavy, the second half has grown on me after more spins. I like the baroque feel of Dear Future Self, the funky bass on If I’d Known and the dreamy vocals on Swimming. Time ’n’ Place is a successful musical pivot for the band which has me wondering where they’ll take their sound from here.
26. Yves Tumor — Safe in the Hands of Love
Genres: Art Pop, Experimental Rock
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2FpRZT3
Yves Tumor’s fourth album Safe in the Hands of Love is his most high-profile release yet. While it’s the first album I’ve heard from him, this is apparently much poppier and more accessible than his early work. His sound is very unique, finding an intersection between ambient, industrial and psychedelic art pop.
The three-song run of Noid, Licking an Orchid and Lifetime is about as good a run as you’ll hear on any album this year! Noid features a melodic string sample, great drums and some catchy vocals. Licking an Orchid is a moody, R&B ballad with some of the best basslines I’ve heard in a while. Lifetime, with its gorgeous vocal layering and fast-paced drumming gives it a gothic, post-punk vibe.
This one is quite experimental which makes it kind of hard to get into at first. But once it clicked, I knew Yves Tumor would be an artist to look out for in the future.
25. Vein — Errorzone
Genres: Metalcore, Mathcore
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2EmsQHz
Boston hardcore band Vein’s debut studio album Errorzone is one of the funnest metal albums I’ve heard this decade. Their fusion of metalcore and mathcore brings to mind bands like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan, but they have a clear alternative metal influence from bands like Helmet, Deftones and early Slipknot. While people have been throwing the infamous nu-metal tag on this album, I can’t really agree with the consensus. No hip hop influence here!
The music videos released for this album are fantastic, the one below is for the opening track, but the creepy video for Demise Automation was filmed in an abandoned hospital. They also sound fantastic live and I’m mad that I missed their Toronto show back in August. This is highly recommended for any metal fan, even if you find anything affiliated with nu-metal repulsive.
24. Parquet Courts — Wide Awake!
Genres: Art Punk, Post-Punk
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KCv2d9
Parquet Courts’ last album Human Performance quickly flew past my radar when it was released, but it wasn’t until this year’s Wide Awake! that I finally checked out the band. Considered their best album yet, Wide Awake! has a fun, quirky, dance-punk sound that brings to mind bands like Talking Heads, Gang of Four and Devo. The lyrics are dripping with sarcasm and cleverly comment on today’s political climate.
Produced by the legendary Danger Mouse, all the songs here sound great and the production gives them a real punch and sense of momentum. With this album, Parquet Courts have managed to make one of the most successful post-punk albums of the modern era. Their fun and danceable sound contrasts the moody dissonance of their contemporaries, but it is no less politically charged and intelligent.
23. Brockhampton — iridescence
Genres: Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2OP3mny
Brockhampton released a trio of fantastic albums last year with their Saturation trilogy, my second favourite release from 2017. The follow-up was delayed after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against key member Ameer Vann, which led to him being kicked out of the band.
iridescence is the first album in a new trilogy titled The Best Years of Our Lives. Compared to the Saturation trilogy the production is noisier, moodier and less playful. Lyrically, the group expresses their negative emotions surrounding the incident with Ameer and the downsides of fame. We also get more verses from Joba, Merlyn and bearface while Kevin Abstract and Matt Champion step back to give them the spotlight. While I don’t think it’s quite on the same level as the Saturation trilogy, I am still excited to hear how The Best Years of Our Lives plays out.
22. JPEGMAFIA — Veteran
Genres: Experimental Hip Hop, Glitch Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LPvvIR
Veteran was the first hip hop album I heard this year, and it’s managed to maintain a spot on this list since then. He released his debut album Black Ben Carson two years ago but it’s this sophomore album that has given him a huge surge in popularity this year.
The album’s title comes from the fact that JPEGMAFIA himself is a veteran, having served in the American Air Force for four years including a tour in Iraq. Having experienced a lot of racism growing up in the southern States, JPEGMAFIA’s music is political, aggressive and confrontational, lyrically trolling the alt-right and skeptics that currently plague America’s political discourse.
Entirely self-produced, the beats on Veteran are noisy and experimental, sometimes meandering but enjoyably so. If you like loud and experimental hip hop like Death Grips, Danny Brown or Kanye’s later work then this will be right up your alley.
21. MGMT — Little Dark Age
Genres: Synthpop, Psychedelic Pop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2BQGx0b
It’s weird to think that MGMT’s debut album Oracular Spectacular came out a decade ago. With its mega hits like Time to Pretend, Electric Feel and Kids, it seemed weird when the band followed it up with some less poppy and more psychedelic albums in the 2010s. While Congratulations seems to have a cult following despite the band’s change in sound, most people agree that their self-titled album is quite bad.
MGMT’s fourth album sees them reinventing themselves yet again, but this time for the better as this is arguably their best album! While there is nothing quite as fun and catchy as the three aforementioned songs from their first album, I love the sarcastic, synth pop vibe here that reminds me of eighties new wave. While I don’t think MGMT are indie veterans quite yet, it’s cool to see them releasing one of their best albums this late in their career.
20. Saba — CARE FOR ME
Genres: Conscious Hip Hop, Jazz Rap
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2EqbK77
Saba gained some attention in the last couple of years collaborating with rappers like Chance the Rapper and Noname. CARE FOR ME is the first album I’ve heard from him and it’s smooth, soulful and jazzy. The upright bass sounds great on LIFE and the piano on a bunch of these tracks adds to the jazzy feel. The live instruments combine well with the modern hip hop production that is more on the jazzy side of things rather than a 808-heavy trap sound.
While I consider this conscious hip hop, it isn’t political so much as it shows Saba being conscious of his own personal thoughts, emotions and relationships. If you like your hip hop moody, soulful and jazzy then this one’s for you.
19. Lil Wayne — Tha Carter V
Genres: Southern Hip Hop, Pop Rap
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2xIyJd8
Well this was a shocker. After the abysmal albums Rebirth and Tha Carter IV at the turn of the decade, disputes with Young Money Records’ Birdman delayed this album’s release for four years. Even though it took him so long to release the next installment in Tha Carter series, I think this is the best one yet!
While there aren’t as many mega-hits here as on his mainstream breakout Tha Carter III, this manages to be his most consistent album despite being eighty-seven minutes long. Wayne explores a variety of styles here, from trap (Let It Fly, Problems) to moodier rap tracks most likely influenced by the trendy, emo-rap of today (Don’t Cry, Mess).
My favourite track is Mona Lisa which features a fantastic guest verse from Kendrick Lamar. His croaky delivery made me realize that Kendrick owes more to Weezy than I originally realized. I hope Lil Wayne can maintain this comeback into the next decade.
18. Death Grips — Year of the Snitch
Genres: Experimental Hip Hop, Noise Rock
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2OPxNuA
Death Grips are certainly one of the weirder bands to achieve such a level of popularity this decade. They broke through with their 2011 mixtape Exmilitary and followed it up a year later with the even more popular and critically acclaimed The Money Store. Their heavy, experimental style fusing hip hop, hardcore punk and electronic has been hugely influential on hip hop music this decade.
Year of the Snitch is their six studio album and marks a subtle progression from their last album Bottomless Pit. The guitar tone on a lot of this album, most notably on Black Paint, gives me a late-60s early-70s prog rock vibe not unlike Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. Highlight track The Fear is especially experimental with its dissonant piano and frenetic drumming. If you’re a fan of Death Grips, this is another solid release from the band, if not you’ll still be left scratching your head.
17. Beach House — 7
Genres: Dream Pop, Shoegaze
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2jPqjcr
I wasn’t always a fan of Beach House. I discovered them through their album Teen Dream back in 2010 and while I thought it was alright back then, it is now one of the my favourite dream pop albums of the decade. 7 is another solid album from the band and probably their most consistent since Teen Dream.
My favourite track here is the first single Lemon Glow. Its lush synths give a psychedelic feel to their mellow dream pop sound. This album sounds like it could’ve been influenced by Slowdive’s self-titled album which made my list of top albums last year. While I do have to be in the mood to listen to Beach House, this album was the perfect soundtrack for relaxing on hot summer days.
16. Earl Sweatshirt — Some Rap Songs
Genres: Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2So7tbX
Earl Sweatshirt is often considered the most talented rapper to come out of the now defunct Odd Future collective. He is only twenty-four, but has been releasing music for almost a decade starting with his debut mixtape EARL at the age of sixteen. While his skills were immediately apparent and it remains my favourite release of his, the lyrics are extremely provocative dealing with murder, rape and illicit drug use.
This led to him being sent to a boarding school in Samoa by his mother, unfortunately at the height of Odd Future’s popularity. Some Rap Songs is his first release in three years, breaking away from his traditionally dark sound which has gotten bleaker with each release. The production chops up samples from soul, funk and jazz, reminding me of J Dilla and Madlib but more abstract and experimental than either. It’s great to hear from Earl again, he remains one of my favourite rappers of the modern era.
15. IDLES — Joy as an Act of Resistance.
Genres: Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2DVmmPP
After hearing Wide Awake! I didn’t think another post-punk album could impress me more this year. IDLES proved me wrong with Joy as an Act of Resistance, which is probably my favourite album title of the year as well. This is the first album I’ve heard from IDLES, but I am definitely a fan of their sound. They are unapologetically British and left-wing, and the lyrics are incredibly straight-forward, almost embarrassingly so I thought at first.
But the more I listened to this album, the more I began to love it. Opener Colossus is a slow burn that eventually explodes into a rapid-fire punk number. They mock the demonization of left-wing discourse on I’m Scum, with “this snowflake’s an avalanche” being one of my favourite lyrics of the year. Samaritans is another highlight with its critique of toxic masculinity. Highly recommended for fans of modern rock music in any form.
14. Playboi Carti — Die Lit
Genres: Trap Rap, Cloud Rap
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KgDr5L
Playboi Carti is definitely one of the more interesting artists to come out of the modern hip hop landscape. He released his self-titled debut mixtape on Interscope last year and while I didn’t like it at first, it quickly grew on me with its hypnotic, cloud rap production and Carti’s quirky persona. I would even go as far as to say that his mega hit Magnolia was my favourite song of last summer! He followed it up this year with Die Lit which is his first studio album.
Just like with his mixtape, I didn’t like Die Lit at first. Even a good portion of Carti’s fans would admit that he is technically not a good rapper at all. What makes him so appealing as an artist is his charisma and his ear for playful annunciation and cadence in his lyrics. The first time I heard R.I.P. I did not like it all, but the more I listened to it, and Die Lit in general, the more I began to appreciate what Carti and producer Pi’erre Bourne are accomplishing here. He has refined his own unique style, a playful world where weird mouth noises are plentiful and the last syllable of some words are unnecessary.
13. Nine Inch Nails — Bad Witch
Genres: Industrial Rock, Experimental Rock
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2tsuwre
Winner of the most surprising return to form of the year goes to Trent Reznor’s latest effort Bad Witch. Initially planned as the third in a trilogy of EPs, Bad Witch eventually grew into his ninth studio album which I personally think is his strongest since The Fragile nearly twenty years ago! Opening track Shit Mirror hits the ground running with some industrial, heavily-distorted guitars that sound closer to something off the 1992 EP Broken than any recent NIN material.
Most surprising is the introduction of saxophones into NIN’s sound, adding some dark jazz elements to tracks like Play the Goddamned Part and God Break Down the Door that remind me of David Bowie’s final album Blackstar. My favourite song on the album is the final track Over and Out which is centred around a groovy bass riff and some fantastic vocals from Trent.
While I’m not a huge fan of the penultimate instrumental track, everything else here is top notch. I never thought Mr. Reznor would release one of his best albums so late in his career, but now that it has happened I hope he takes some time off from film soundtracks to release more NIN material of this quality.
12. Mount Eerie — Now Only
Genres: Indie Folk, Singer/Songwriter
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2OolkgB
Mount Eerie released one of the most heartbreaking albums of last year in A Crow Looked at Me which was my ninth favourite album of 2017. Mount Eerie is the solo project of Phil Elverum of The Microphones’ fame who lost his wife to cancer two years ago. Now Only continues the themes of A Crow Looked at Me as Elverum continues to express the thoughts and emotions brought about by his wife’s death.
While not quite as emotionally devastating as A Crow Looked at Me, Now Only is a bit more diverse in its instrumentation and songwriting. It’s tough for me to decide which album I prefer, this is essentially a sequel to that album so they almost feel like one, big work. Lyrically this album is even more stream-of-consciousness than Crow bringing to mind Sun Kil Moon’s latest albums.
Some themes come up repeatedly throughout the album: the feeling that his wife died for no reason, how it’s awkward for him to play these “death songs” about “the echoes in [their] house now” to a live audience. You can tell that Elverum is in a different phase of grieving now, one where he has come to terms with his loss but still questioning what it all means.
11. Sleep — The Sciences
Genres: Stoner Metal, Doom Metal
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2qL8Xkc
Sleep are a band that are worshiped by fans of doom metal, stoner metal and other psychedelic sub-genres of metal music, but relatively unknown outside of that fanbase. I think that’s a shame because in my opinion Sleep were one of the best metal bands of the nineties! Seminal albums Holy Mountain and Dopesmoker have remained hugely influential on metal music even today. Unfortunately, disputes with their record label led to them breaking up before the turn of the millennium. After reuniting in 2009 for some live shows, rumours began to circulate about a possible new album.
The Sciences was released as a surprise album on April 20, 2018 with no advertising or lead-up whatsoever. The album has since gone on to be one of the most critically acclaimed metal albums of the year. While the tracks Sonic Titan and Antarcticans Thawed were written in the nineties, all the other tracks are brand new and show the band in top form.
This lineup of Sleep features original members Al Cisneros and Matt Pike, who went on to form the bands Om and High on Fire, respectively. On drums for the first time is Jason Roeder of Neurosis fame who feels right at home in Sleep’s heavy stoner sound. Highly recommended for fans of Black Sabbath, Kyuss and Electric Wizard.
10. Daughters — You Won’t Get What You Want
Genres: Noise Rock, Industrial Rock
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2C1TYJj
Daughters are an American noise rock band that hadn’t released new music since their self-titled album eight years ago. When a band has been on hiatus for that long, they often have difficulty doing justice to their existing body of work. Daughters do this and then some on You Won’t Get What You Want, a title that implies a change in sound and in this case one we deserve.
Compared to the self-titled, which was a short but sweet noise rock thrill ride, You Won’t Get What You Want slows down the pace to great effect. They have also incorporated some industrial elements which bring to mind early Swans and other bands from the No Wave era. My favourite track is Satan in the Wait, which slowly builds during its run time creating a sense of impending dread.
While this is definitely new territory for the band, several elements remain the same: the dissonant guitar work, the David Yow-esque vocals of Alexis Marshall, and an epic, dense atmosphere which pervades the entire album. You Won’t Get What You Want is uncompromising in its vision and will probably be considered one of the best noise rock albums of the decade. I can’t wait to see them live in Toronto next March!
9. Deafheaven — Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Genres: Blackgaze, Post-Metal
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2uvIlFx
Deafheaven has been a controversial and polarizing metal band since the release of their breakthrough sophomore album Sunbather. The band’s sound is a blend of black metal, post-rock and shoegaze, reminiscent of the projects of French musician Neige like Amesoeurs and Alcest (seriously, if you like Deafheaven check out those bands if you haven’t). While many consider Sunbather one of the best metal albums of the decade, others find its combination of black metal and post-rock elements unappealing.
Ordinary Corrupt Human Love is their fourth studio album and it is definitely their least “metal” album so far. This is immediately apparent in the opening track You Without End, a piano-driven piece that sets the mood for the rest of the album. That isn’t to say that they’ve abandoned black metal entirely, but it is making up less and less of the band’s core sound.
The highlights for me are the singles Honeycomb and Canary Yellow which see the band blending genres more confidently than they ever have in the past. Heck, there are some riffs on here that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Foo Fighters album! While Sunbather has some meandering interludes and awkward genre switch-ups, it still has Dream House which is one of my favourite metal songs of the decade. But who knows, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love may turn out to be my favourite Deafheaven album in time. It’s certainly their most consistent.
8. Pusha T — DAYTONA
Genres: Trap Rap, Hardcore Hip Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IOzq8l
It’s hard to talk about this album without mentioning Pusha T’s feud with Drake which became the year’s biggest rap beef. On DAYTONA’s final track Infrared, Pusha wastes no time reducing Drake’s success to his hooks and ghostwriters, separating Drake from “[him]self and the Coles and Kendricks.” Drake fired back with Duppy Freestyle, attempting to paint Pusha T as a washed up rapper way past his prime, jealous of someone younger and more relevant like himself.
Let’s just say no one listens to Duppy Freestyle anymore. King Push released the now legendary The Story of Adidon, laying down one of the most brutal diss tracks in hip hop history. He accuses Drake of hiding his child with a porn star from the public eye out of shame, waiting to tell the world to boost his upcoming line with Adidas. It escalated the beef from talent to character, severely damaging Drake’s highly marketable persona.
My point is that Pusha T won because Drake’s Scorpion sucked and DAYTONA is one of the best hip hop albums of the year. This was also the first release from the Wyoming sessions with all production done by Kanye West himself. You’ve probably heard it already, but if you haven’t and you’re a hip hop fan, it’s never too late.
7. SOPHIE — OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES
Genres: Bubblegum Bass, Deconstructed Club
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Bp7KHP
While OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES (a Mad Gab for “I Love Every Person’s Insides”) is SOPHIE’s debut full-length, she had already made a name for herself with a slew of otherworldly singles over the past five years. The first was BIPP, still one of my favourite dance tracks of the decade, with its colourful, plastic-sounding production that matches the water slide on the album art.
While nothing really sounded like BIPP when it came out, it helped spawn an entire genre of electronic music now known as “bubblegum bass” which was further popularized by artists on the record label PC Music. While Sophie’s early singles were eventually released as the compilation PRODUCT, I still find the singles more easily digestible individually.
Compared to PRODUCT, SOPHIE’s latest release finds her experimenting with darker, more industrial sounds, something she only flirted with in the past. While some of these tracks could work on the dance floor, SOPHIE seems more interested in experimenting with unique sounds and textures. While that makes OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES more of a bedroom dance record than anything, this is a must for anyone looking for today’s most creative and experimental electronic music.
6. Kacey Musgraves — Golden Hour
Genres: Country Pop, Singer/Songwriter
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2K9kWES
The first time I listened to Golden Hour, I was walking through the streets of Melbourne, Australia. It had been released fairly recently and the positive reviews from Pitchfork and elsewhere had piqued my curiosity. While I listen to nearly every genre of music under the sun, country and country pop are some of the few that I’ve had trouble getting behind.
So you can imagine my surprise when I first listened to this! Kacey Musgraves is a fantastic songwriter and she is making the kind of music that I wish Taylor Swift would. While she tackles similar musical themes as Taylor, she does so with maturity instead of coming across like a whiny teenager’s diary.
Her voice and acoustic guitar playing are both fantastic, and every song here is tight, polished and memorable. While she’s been doing her thing for over a decade now, Golden Hour has been a huge album for her, landing her some performances on late night talk shows and even Saturday Night Live! Whether you’re a big country pop fan or not at all like me, you need to listen to this album to hear what all the fuss is about.
5. DJ Healer — Nothing 2 Loose
Genres: Ambient House, Deep House
YouTube: https://youtu.be/5ZN5-e9i5dg
Ambient house is an interesting genre which has had a sort of revival over the last few years. Pioneered in the early 1990s by artists like The Orb and Biosphere, modern producers like Leon Vynehall, Four Tet and Bicep have attempted fresh takes on the style to mixed results.
DJ Healer, who releases music under a bunch of names including DJ Metatron, Prince of Denmark, Traumprinz and Prime Minister of Doom, has released what I think is the best ambient house release of the decade so far in Nothing 2 Loose. The album was a vinyl-only release with a very limited run, but for those of us that missed out the full album is available for streaming on YouTube (link above).
My first listen was not what I expected at all. The first two tracks are pure ambient, messing with my expectations slightly, but the album really kicks off with 2 the Dark. I love the moody, 2-step beat and it’s the closest I’ve heard anyone come to the atmosphere of Burial’s classic album Untrue.
The album has strong themes of spirituality and Christianity which come through in both the music and lyrical snippets throughout the album. This would normally be a turn off for me, but it is tastefully done and really makes this album unique. My favourite track is We Are Going Nowhere, one of my favourite deep house tracks of the decade. It’s a subtle, minimal dance track that I imagine angels in heaven would dance to at two in the morning. No matter what guise this guy releases music under, he’s definitely one of the most interesting producers in electronic music right now.
4. Low — Double Negative
Genres: Glitch Pop, Ambient Pop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2My3Wo4
Low are one of my favourite bands from the nineties. While I want to call them underrated, those who do know them tend to like them a lot. Considered part of the slowcore movement which peaked in the early nineties with bands like Red House Painters and Codeine, their debut album I Could Live in Hope is a masterpiece of slow, dreamy and sad indie rock that is perfect for rainy days and late night bus rides.
Their albums released throughout the nineties are all very good, but they managed to make another masterpiece in 2001 with Things We Lost in the Fire. The track Sunflower especially, which may be my favourite Low track ever, captivates me immediately with its melancholic guitar chords, drum brushes and beautiful vocal melodies. They might be my favourite “when you feel sad” band ever.
That being said, I haven’t heard many of their albums released after Things We Lost in the Fire. From what I can tell, they seem to have fallen into a comfortable sound that hardcore fans love. However, their last few albums haven’t received the same critical buzz as their nineties works.
That is until this year with the release of Double Negative, their twelfth studio album. While they apparently flirted with glitchy, electronic elements on their last album Ones and Sixes, this album is a very strong shift in that direction. This is immediately apparent from the opener Quorum, beginning with a loop of white noise that the song builds off of.
The production on Double Negative is very electronic, with whatever live instruments remain sounding digitally manipulated in some way. It strongly contrasts the trio’s trademark sound of drum brushes, clean guitar and vocals. What remains is their knack for melancholic vocal melodies and harmonies, which made me realize how important it is to the band’s core sound.
The production on this album is truly astonishing, and it makes me wonder how a band I enjoy this much can sound so different yet still be just as good! These are still pop tracks for the most part, but they are not afraid to diverge into experimental loops of vocal snippets and other sounds. This really doesn’t sound like anything else I’ve heard in the best way.
If you haven’t heard of Low, this is actually a great place to start. Just know their other albums don’t really sound like this, but hopefully their future ones will.
3. KIDS SEE GHOSTS — KIDS SEE GHOSTS
Genres: Pop Rap, Experimental Hip Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2y1E1TJ
KIDS SEE GHOSTS, the new collaborative project from Kanye West and Kid Cudi, was the third album to be released from Ye’s Wyoming sessions. My expectations for this album were quite low, even though I’m a big Kanye West fan I can’t say the same for Kid Cudi. Fortunately, this is not only my favourite Wyoming release but one of my favourite albums of the year period!
What really makes this album great for me is the experimental, psychedelic production from Kanye, which I think is his strongest work since Yeezus. It perfectly fits the great album art by Japanese artist Takahashi Murakami, who also did the artwork for Kanye’s album Graduation.
Starting things off with a bang, Feel the Love features a verse from Pusha T and climaxes with some noisy percussion and shouted gun sounds from Kanye. Fire and Cudi Montage experiment with the grunge-hip hop fusion Cudi flirted with on his album Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven, but under Kanye’s guidance the results here are much better.
4th Dimension samples Louis Prima’s What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’), which may seem like too obvious a sample to pull off but it sounds great here. Freeee is a sequel to Ghost Town on Kanye’s ye album, a significant improvement over the first part with some great sampled drums and guitars.
My two favourite songs on the album are Reborn and the title track. Reborn features a catchy hook from Kid Cudi on top of a beautiful piano loop. The way the mid-paced beat lurches along, especially at the end as Cudi repeats “keep moving forward,” is fantastic and probably my favourite moment on the whole album.
Kids See Ghosts is the most experimental song on the album, with production that sounds downright tropical with wood blocks and psychedelic synth work. It’s a trippy song that doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard in the realm of hip hop.
While the general consensus is that DAYTONA is the strongest Wyoming album, I gotta give it to KIDS SEE GHOSTS. While Pusha’s album is also an instant hip hop masterpiece, Kanye and Cudi have crafted a truly unique record filled with lush production and influences from a variety of genres. I hope this isn’t the only release we get from this project!
2. Against All Logic — 2012–2017
Genres: Deep House, Microhouse
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2BOSAuc
Nicolas Jaar has spent the past decade releasing what I think is some of the most interesting electronic music around. His breakthrough 2011 album Space Is Only Noise, released when he was only twenty-one, saw him crafting catchy pop tracks drawing influence from ambient, house and IDM. I was drawn to his sound immediately and it’s still one of my favourite headphone albums.
After four years of dormancy he released his Nymphs series of EPs, the first of which was originally released under the name Don’t Break My Love back in 2011, with Nymphs II and Nymphs III following in 2015. Pomegranates is meant to be an alternative soundtrack to the 1969 film The Colour of Pomegranates, and he released the true follow up to Space Is Only Noise with the album Sirens in 2016.
As electronic musicians tend to do, Jaar was playing live DJ sets under the alternate pseudonym Against All Logic, playing edits of what sound like disco, soul and funk tracks. 2012–2017 is a compilation of the edits he made during these years, which explains why we heard little from Jaar from 2011 to 2015. If you couldn’t guess by its ranking on this list, this is my favourite Jaar release yet.
The album’s production is quite dark and lo-fi sounding, similar to the outsider house movement but not nearly as experimental. Jaar chops up samples from the disco era and turns them into melancholic and sometimes beautiful deep house tracks.
My favourite cuts are I Never Dream, with its gorgeous chopped up vocal samples and epic builds and drops, and Cityfade, with its catchy piano loop which sounds like it came from the deep house of eighties Chicago. Despite this album pulling samples from a wide variety of dance music, don’t expect to be putting this on at a pool party! It is quite moody and more suited for a nightclub at two in the morning.
While this album was critically well received, it did receive an entertainingly negative review from respected music website Resident Advisor and has its fair share of detractors who claim it is “not real house music.” If you think I’m exaggerating, this is actually the back cover art on the official vinyl release!
This one is definitely joining my essential collection of house and techno. I think it’s one of the defining achievements in either genre this decade.
1. Denzel Curry — TA13OO
Genres: Trap Rap, Southern Hip Hop
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2K2Qd7n
Denzel Curry’s third studio album TA13OO cemented its spot as my album of the year quickly after its release. For those not familiar with Denzel Curry, he got his start through his affiliation with the Memphis rap revival scene of the early 2010s.
Memphis rap is a subgenre of hip hop that peaked in the early to mid-nineties, pioneered by acts such as Three 6 Mafia and Tommy Wright III. The sound is distinct for its heavy use of 808s, piano loops, and samples from horror films. After the Internet made access to this era of hip hop much more accessible, the Memphis sound was revived in the 2010s through artists like Lil Ugly Mane, SpaceGhostPurrp and Denzel Curry.
Curry released his debut album Nostalgia 64 when he was only eighteen years old in 2013. After the meme-like success of his single Ultimate, he released the album Imperial in 2016. He abandoned the Memphis rap sound for a more trap-influenced one which still had a southern flare. While I thought it was a great album, I didn’t think he had it in him to make my favourite album of the year, but here we are!
With TA13OO, Curry evolves and modernizes his sound even further, bringing in more trap influence and even some sounds from the trendy emo-rap of artists like XXXTentacion and Lil Peep. While I’m not a fan of the whole emo-rap craze, Curry does it better than I’ve heard from any rapper yet.
The album is divided into three acts: Light, Grey and Dark. As the album progresses, the production becomes darker and more 808-heavy. The subtle progression from the Outkast-inspired, southern hip hop of the title track to the aggressive trap closer Black Metal Terrorist is quite impressive!
The album’s most popular single is Clout Cobain, whose viral music video is one of my favourites of the year. Denzel likens our modern, social media landscape to a circus, with the audience egging him on to kill himself (spoiler alert: he does). It’s a dark but catchy trap banger that deals with suicidal thoughts and how the current hip hop landscape glorifies depression and drug abuse.
Vengeance is another highlight, with its reverb-drenched, emo-rap chorus and a great guest verse from JPEGMAFIA who brags about “[making] it past twenty-five” (relatable). TA13OO is easily Zeltron’s best effort yet, a fantastic melting pot of the many sounds of southern hip hop.
