Top 50 Albums of 2018

The Top 50 Albums of 2018

Ian Brower

2018 was weird. Leaving a disastrous year in world politics aside, nothing about the last year in music feels normal. The album, as a format, experienced a complete overhaul in an attempt to fit the needs of a streaming-based marketplace, leading to a remarkable change in public expectations about the consistency of a piece of music. Simultaneously, music industry drama ran high, with numerous A-list artists taking to social media (or the studio) to air their disputes. Taking these two concepts together, some artists released the worst music of their career (looking at you Kanye), some released the best, and some released their most inconsistent (Drake put out the best singles of his life and somehow managed to follow them with his worst album). Despite all the major league drama, new artists in every genre managed to put out jaw-dropping debuts and secure positions as up and coming forces to be reckoned with. Likewise, an equal number of already-established artists reinvented themselves and put out the works of their career (so far). Here are my favorite records from all of those demographics, and I hope you like them as much as I did. Picking only fifty to include was downright agonizing, so if you don't see your favorite here feel free to @ me about it on Twitter, talk to me in person, or send me a message by following me to my house and leave a horse head under my bedsheets. Enjoy! 

Apple Music Playlist

Spotify Playlist

Twitter: @Ian_Brower

HONORABLE MENTION: 

The Beatles (White Album) [Super Deluxe] - The Beatles

(Calderstone)

Perhaps the best thing about the number 2018 is that it is exactly 50 greater than 1968. This year saw the half-century anniversary of many classic albums - Beggars Banquet, Electric Ladyland, Music from Big Pink, The Dock of the Bay, Aerial Ballet and more - but none were celebrated quite like this. This reissue of The Beatles' creative highpoint features a careful remaster by Giles Martin, a whole host of eye-opening demos, and (most importantly), the legendary Esher tapes. Never before has the public been given such a look into the creative process of the most famous band to ever exist and it is all thanks to the incredible job that was done in celebrating this record. Whether you are new to The Beatles (somehow) or a lifelong fan, I cannot recommend listening to this reissue enough. Read my full review of it here. 

LISTEN TO: "Dear Prudence" "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" "Helter Skelter" "Savoy Truffle"

50. 

RFA - RFA
(RFA)

Now that I am done praising them, let it be known that I fully blame The Beatles for the idea that rock n' roll needs to have some form of higher-art ambition, some greater ideology to aspire towards. Not every rock band with guitars needs a string section, to be crushingly moody, or to set the land speed record with their playing. They don't need to have drug-addled introspection or a sense of ironic detachment. Rock n' roll, first and foremost, needs to be fun, and that is one thing RFA does with preternatural ease, like The Fratellis minus all the lechery. Every song here is immediate, punchy, and irresistibly catchy. The drums swing, the guitars bite, and the vocals are impossibly cool, creating an album that strikes a perfect balance between danceable and heavy. RFA's debut album is the crisp sound of some young guys having the time of their lives by singing about girls, weed, and laziness. 

LISTEN TO: "Just Don't Turn the Lights On" "Farewell" "Goodbye, Stranger" "Don't Want to Think About It" 

49. 

Negro Swan - Blood Orange
(Domino)

I am fully convinced that Dev Hynes could not write a bad song if he wanted to. It simply isn't in his nature - across all four albums released under the Blood Orange moniker, I cannot recall a single song that sounds as if it was designed as filler. Negro Swan, although possibly Hynes' weakest outing since his debut (at least in the sense that the album's minimalism stands in such stark contrast to his usually lush production that it initially seems underwhelming), carries Dev's tradition of crafting painstakingly pretty songs that consistently defy genre labels. This album is a considerably sadder affair than his previous album, the masterpiece Freetown Sound, and the genre selection reflects that. Throughout the album are the bluest traces of ambient, soul, downtempo, and hip-hop, all mixed into a scattershot blend reflective of Hynes' polymath talents. Despite this, Negro Swan feels far more stylistically cohesive than his previous works, especially thematically. Hynes' deals with themes of depression, blackness, and queerness in a way far too grand for the scope of this paragraph, and again, the album's genre selections befit these topics well. While the minimal nature of the songs may be a bit offputting for longtime fans, myself included, this is an album that rewards repeated listens and does more than enough to deserve them. 

LISTEN TO: "Charcoal Baby" "Chewing Gum (Feat. A$AP Rocky & Project Pat)" "Dagenham Dream" "Smoke" 

48. 

Buck Meek - Buck Meek
(Keeled Scales)

There's something immediately beautiful about Buck Meek's voice. Listen to the way it twists about his words, how it drawls and whistles around the inflections our ears expect to hear and favors ones that cause it to resonate differently every time. It pops and wheezes, it jumps and crawls towards its destination. Yet, it feels friendly; warm without being suffocating, slippery but not shiny. It turns familiar country-folk melodies into something entirely their own. It is truly a wonder to listen to Buck Meek dance around both the standard and unconventional melodies written throughout this record, and his delivery makes them even more off-kilter. Even without the voice, this is still a standout country record. The lyrics, particularly on "Ruby", are like surrealist Americana poetry. The way with words shown in lines like "Ninety miles an hour through an electric storm / just another town or two / Until New Mexico" and "Why does my Coca-Cola taste like gasoline? / I see you fightin back a grin / You think you're foolin' me" is jaw-dropping in the way it can take American country imagery and phrasings and somehow make them seem so dizzyingly introspective. The record is also filled with subtly intricate guitar playing and a strong sense of melody, making it that much more listenable. Buck Meek is primarily known for his work as the guitarist for the stellar indie folk band Big Thief, but with this solo outing, he has shown himself to be more than capable of moving out of a supporting role.

LISTEN TO: "Cannonball!" "Ruby" "Sue" "Fool Me"

47. 

OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES - SOPHIE
(Transgressive / Future Classic)

SOPHIE is one of the most forward-thinking minds in music today, especially in the fields of pop and electronic music. Her previous solo work could best be described as pop music turned to 11, a wonderfully garish celebration of the synthetic plasticity and feminine power of pop music. Yet, rather than take her part in pop’s love of the individual, SOPHIE remained largely out of the limelight. She made her name producing for other artists, allowing her distinctive sound to enhance the work of others. Her first record felt more like a series of once-great pop songs gone gleefully awry than an introduction to the person behind SOPHIE. This is not the case on OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES, as this record is loaded with personality. Rather than attempt to re-try her debut record's series of singles format, SOPHIE instead creates a record that functions as a whole, with extended experimental passages building into the album's more "structured" songs. Those longer pieces do a cinematic job of building and releasing tension around the album's heavy hitters, which often take the form of pop explosions or glacial, transcendent ballads. Of course, everything here is coated with an intentionally heavy sheet of gloss and delivered with a fantastic sense of humor, as with everything in SOPHIE's universe. This album is catchy and filled with one of the strongest new personalities in experimental music, and certainly worth a listen for anybody looking to redefine their definition of pop.

LISTEN TO: "Ponyboy" "Faceshopping" "Is It Cold in the Water?" "Immaterial"

46. 

Only Love - The Armed
(Throat Ruiner)

In the best way possible, this record sounds like the feeling of a foot or hand that has fallen asleep. Between the breakneck drumming provided by Converge’s Ben Koller, the bright electronics, the blurry guitars, and the throat destroying but surprisingly melodic vocals, Only Love feels like it has an impossible amount of chaos packed into it. Converge's Kurt Ballou's typically masterful production benefits the album greatly in that regard, as he does a masterful job of giving each instrument its own space in the mix when things need to be clear, and letting everything gel together when things need to be overwhelming. Hired guns like Ballou and Koller bring an immense amount of energy to this record (not that The Armed are short on personality), but they are beside the point when it comes to songs as such as these. Somehow all at once, these are some of the heaviest, brightest, busiest, most technical, and catchiest songs in all of metal. The three vocalists (two male and one female) provide their own layers to the songs, each as essential as the other. As I mentioned before, even at their most inaccessible screeching, the vocals and even the instrumentation (particularly the guitars and synthesizers) have a strong sense of pop melody. This familiar aspect should serve to make the album more grounded, but somehow the warping of these tropes makes things feel even more demented. With Only Love, The Armed has created one of the best hardcore/metal albums in recent memory by ditching all of heavy music's stereotypes and creating some of their own.

LISTEN TO: "Witness" "Role Models" "Fortune's Daughter" "Luxury Themes"

45. 

All Talk! - Tim Atlas
(Tim Atlas)

Look, I’ll level with you. There are few more descriptions of a project more instantly repulsive than a “bedroom mini-album from a former contestant on The Voice!” but just hear me out. I know the image that sentence conjures. I want to hear some weird, fake-cool dude oversing poorly written pop songs over generic production like I want to be hit by a bus. Luckily for us, All Talk! is none of those things. All Talk! is a wonderfully understated album for somebody with talent show vocals, and it is all the better for it. Rather than attempt to carry the album on vocal power, Tim Atlas lets loose a great sense of melody and some surprisingly interesting instrumentation. It works perfectly - Tim's singing prowess works best when used to add delicate subtleties to his vocal lines and to reach melodies most singers can only hear in their heads. I really cannot overstate how catchy this album is. Production-wise, the album features a great blend of psychedelia, dream pop, and 80's synths that create a nice pillow for Atlas' voice to rest on. The instrumentation is interesting enough when listened to, but never big enough to detract from the real star here, the melodies. Rather, it creates a neon feel for an album that is deceptively funky and trippy all at once. It all sounds even better at night, and this seems intentional given the album's artwork. Tim Atlas has done a more than commendable job at defying expectations and creating an endlessly listenable mini-album, and given the rate with which he has been releasing singles, it looks as if we may get another one soon.

LISTEN TO: "Compromised" "Figure A" "Unwind" "Talk"

44. 

Waves - Donovan Wolfington
(Community Records)

Here lies one of indie punk’s most underrated bands. Donovan Wolfington has been doing this since 2011, and unfortunately, Waves is the band’s final album. Luckily enough, every second of Waves sounds like a band going out at the peak of their abilities. Donovan Wolfington's primary characteristic has been their ability to pull dozens of distinct ideas into a song that shapeshifts at will, never following any logical path. They have been able to do this through their instinctual songwriting sense, as well as their mind-boggling cohesion as a band. These aspects have been sharpened to the point of disbelief on Waves. It is almost laughable how good these guys are at their instruments, how easy these difficult songs come to them. Just listen to the way the drums, guitar, and bass interact on the title track and in the jaw-dropping midsection of "Church of Gravity." The band is unparalleled in their ability to switch gears and keep a listener guessing. Each song here has a dozen passages that could have been a full song, but they pass in the blink of an eye for a band with this magnitude of talent. These passages range from breakneck metal and cathartic screamed breakdowns to catchy pop punk and blissed out synth solos, and they all fit flawlessly into each song. It is a shame that a band as exceptional as Donovan Wolfington has to call it quits, but Waves is a perfect way to do it.

LISTEN TO: "Wave" "Ways" "Chapped Lips" "Church of Gravity"

43. 

Crush - Ravyn Lenae
(Atlantic / Three Twenty Three)

If I had to, I would bet the most used word in reviews of this EP is "promising" or one of its synonyms. The amount of talent on display across this EPs five tracks necessitates few other descriptors. Ravyn Lenae is pure potential. One listen to Crush reveals limitless possibilities and future directions - pop stardom, artsy neo-soul, slick hip-hop, anything. "Sticky" is the clear standout here (and one of my most listened songs this year) but every track hits a similarly brilliant high. It is impossible to praise this EP without mentioning the fantastic job Steve Lacy (another of R&B/soul's most promising young artists) did producing this, as well as on his features. The real star of the show is Ravyn, but she shines even brighter with Lacy setting her up with some top-notch production and serving as her duet foil at times, where Lenae outshines Lacy by a good margin. The instrumentals reflect excellent taste on her part, which was shown on her debut EP but not fully realized because of the beat selection. Now that the instrumentals can stand toe to toe with Lenae's presence the world is hers for the taking. 

LISTEN TO: "Sticky" "Computer Luv (feat. Steve Lacy)" "The Night Song" "4 Leaf Clover (feat. Steve Lacy)"

42. 

I'm All Ears - Let’s Eat Grandma
(Transgressive)

"There must be some guy behind this." That, somehow, was actually said about Let's Eat Grandma's debut album. People could not believe two 17-year-old British girls could have created such an album. Well, they did and they've done it one (two?) better at 19. SOPHIE takes the production on multiple tracks here, and the record as a whole owes a debt to her music as well as the rest of PC Music. That being said, Let's Eat Grandma does a remarkable job of creating their own sound within the "future pop" tag. The songs here feature some of the most interesting production of any album released this year, like a more psychedelic and less abrasive detour of the sounds found on SOPHIE's excellent record. The songs are a shockingly bright embrace of young femininity, particularly in a new age of technology. This heavy conceptualism is a tricky field to navigate, but Let's Eat Grandma does it with ease. The lyrics can occasionally sound secondary to the gigantic production and sticky melodies, but further investigation into them shows a deft grasp of young emotions amidst technology. The fact that they are delivered with some of the best melodies of the year and top-notch production makes them even better. I'm All Ears is the sound of two skilled young songwriters expressing themselves in a way that can only get better with time. 

LISTEN TO: "Hot Pink" "Falling Into Me" "I Will Be Waiting" "Ava"

41. 

Superclean, Vol. II - The Marías
(Superclean Records)

The Marías make the type of music that people love to think they're better than; moody, street-lit soul with a heavy emphasis on aesthetic and breathy, sensual vocals typically gets written off by "serious" music fans. The Marías certainly fit this description, but with an additional element: immaculate pop songwriting. Seriously, the hooks here are wonderful. Funnily enough, the lack of hooks is typically the primary flaw in this genre. Artists tend to use their aesthetic as a crutch, failing to flesh out their good ideas. Nothing on this EP feels anything less than perfectly designed: even the minute-long "Loverboy" feels essential, and the hooks there feel as carefully crafted as any in the full-length songs. The entire project retains a delicate, pillowy feel, and songs ebb and flow like waves over the listener. The vocals are more instrument than human and envelop the songs even further. That being said, there is an understated funkiness to the songs here. This is more obvious on "Careless" and the horn solo on "Ruthless," but even the instrumental on "Over the Moon" shows a band trying its best to refrain from grooving hard enough to disrupt the mood. Overall, the EP strikes a nice balance between its sultry slow jams and letting the band get dancy, but things tend to shift towards subdued whenever things are in doubt. While this EP is a fairly quiet affair, don't get it confused; there is a ton of depth and masterful songwriting here. 

LISTEN TO: "Ruthless" "Cariño" "Over the Moon" "Careless"

40. 

Map It Out - Macseal
(6131 Records)

Perhaps the best new movement in punk has been emo's fourth wave - semi-affectionately dubbed "party emo” by writers and fans. Bands like Mom Jeans., Just Friends, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Remo Drive, and Macseal, combine upbeat punk instrumentals and a high degree of musicianship with exaggerated (usually ironic or parodic) emo tropes like sad, nuanced lyricism and whiny vocals. All in all, it’s a catchy, exciting, and fun take on sad punk. Macseal is an undeniably talented young band that straddles the line between those newer bands and traditional emo-pop a la The Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World. Like any great rock record, Macseal sounds like they're having a ton of fun here despite the sadness of the songs. The lyrics are a fairly ironic and self-aware take on young adult existential angst. Like many of their contemporaries, the band has keen instincts for when to take themselves seriously and when to joke around, and when the lines are meant to be serious they hit like a ton of bricks. In addition to being skilled lyricists, the band is pretty good at their respective instruments. While they are considerably less math influenced than they were at the beginning of their career, the playing here is still impressive and the songwriting even more so. This EP is a collection of rock-solid songs, filled to the brim with witty lyrics, great hooks, and complicated but accessible songwriting. What's not to like?

LISTEN TO: "Sure Thing, Shelly" "Golden Hour" "Old Halls" "Sleeping In"

39. 

boygenius - boygenius
(Matador)

The qualifier “female” gets thrown around with disgusting frequency in music journalism. Most of the reviews concerning Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers were basically written with “... for a woman” at the end of each statement of praise. The homogenous label of "women in indie rock" provided the inspiration for boygenius' formation, a supergroup of "female fronted indie" type artists. The term supergroup has been largely watered down by old white guys attempting to recreate the interest their careers had back in the day, but boygenius does quite a job reclaiming it. This is how collaboration is supposed to sound; the record plays to each of the three artists' strengths while creating situations that emphasize the collaboration of such talent. On paper, a record with Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers is a dream. All three play compatible strands of indie music but have such strong personalities that they are distinct amongst their peers. All three have eardrum-shattering vocal power but can carry a tune on little more than a whisper when needed. All three are among the most devastatingly economic lyricists in indie music, capable of generating an intense emotional response with the shortest of phrasings. The trick with most supergroups is that even though all these shared attributes are brought to the table, they don't translate to the studio. This is the direct opposite of boygenius' dynamic. Few times before has a supergroup been able to seamlessly blend and enhance the individual talents of its members like this. Here's hoping they reunite for more than an EP next time. Fingers crossed.

LISTEN TO: "Bite the Hand" "Souvenir" "Stay Down" "Salt in the Wound"

38. 

Online - Triathalon
(Broken Circles)

Perhaps the worst musical trend of 2018 has been the gigantic uptick in post-chillwave, bedroom-produced hypnagogic pop. A whole wave of young musicians has realized it’s entirely possible to reproduce the same 80’s nostalgia-heavy, moody, substanceless pop over and over again to moderate success. These artists fill their music with lo-fi synths and jangly, chorus pedal guitars, in an attempt to ape Mac DeMarco, without his otherworldly charm and deceptively developed vocal and guitar skills (and especially minus his gift for unbelievably simple and effective songwriting) or copy early Rex Orange County. These artists are a dime a dozen, slathering their flat vocals with an ironic veneer as they sing about things from their suburban upbringings and love they poorly (and often problematically) understand. Triathalon is the best thing to have come from this movement. They share many of the movement's defining characteristics - lo-fi, swirly synths, blue-eyed soul melodies, an obsession with the internet and its culture - but do much to separate themselves from the chaff. First off, their musical skill is not to be doubted. The jazz interludes here make sure of that. The vocals here are anything but unaffected; they actually have an earnest, pleading quality to them. The melodies aren't flat and are actually some of the most unique of any record this year. The band still has the same bedtime aesthetic as their contemporaries, but instead of using it as a crutch they use it to their benefit. Take "Hard to Move" for example. The song has a suffocatingly breathy feel to it, and for a minute or two sounds largely like any song in the genre, albeit just better. Then, it happens. The song drops lo-fi for crystal-clarity, and it is jarring in the best way. Many of Triathalon's songs move this way, in shifting dynamics and changing sequences, and its testament to how much more developed their skills are than their peers'. To all the people making music in their bedroom (actually or in a studio set up to create that impression) - this is how it's done.

LISTEN TO: "Butter" "Hard to Move" "Bad Mood" "Training Day" 

37. 

Love Will Let You Down - Lounge FM
(Lounge FM)

Good psychedelic rock is a hard thing to pull off. Just ask the thousands of nameless bands who took acid once and tried turning into The Beatles - music had largely played out the potential avenues for psychedelic rock by the time the 70s rolled around. The advent of electronic music provided another opportunity to get trippy and is still resulting in some eye-popping (and as discussed in the review above, godawful) music. But what about jazz? On paper, jazz is a (somewhat) untapped source of psychedelia. The emphasis on textures and feels, the overwhelming expression, and the capacity for cool smoothness point to jazz as a logical branching point for rock bands looking to separate themselves from the pack. Unfortunately for them, jazz is hard. Lounge FM is ready to take that challenge. Lounge FM combines jazz, R&B, soul, and electronic into a sound they describe as like "taking a bath on a Friday night. Relaxed with the excitement of a Friday night." It's a perfect description. These songs swirl and envelop like hot bathwater, with a streak of giddy excitement (usually provided with bombastic guitar solos or uplifting chord changes) running through it. This is music with no faults. There is genuinely nothing to dislike here. The textures are so smooth, so pleasing, the vocals are so subtle, so melodic, and the instrumentation is so perfect, so tasteful, that the worst you can say about this record is that it l just "isn't for you." 

LISTEN TO: "Love Will Let You Down" "Sometimes" "Drugzzz" "Play Nice"

36. 

New Levels New Devils - Polyphia
(Equal Vision Records, Inc.)

I am more than willing to die in the hill that (most) instrumental music is awful. Nothing about hearing some middle-aged metal head who played guitar in his high school’s jazz band show off his sweet new sweep picking technique sounds even remotely appealing. Most non-electronic, non-jazz, instrumental music is just an excuse for musicians to show off under the guise of being “boundary-pushing” in their instrument. It’s BORING. It’s atonal, it’s uninteresting, and it’s inaccessible for people without a working knowledge of music. It’s impressive, yes, but it doesn’t make for great music. Polyphia's third album, New Levels New Devils, subverts the notion that instrumental music needs to be a slog without sacrificing an ounce of their blinding talent. One of the surprising things about these songs, aside from the skill displayed here, is how filled with hooks they are. Guitarist Tim Henson jokingly claims he is one of the best pop songwriters in the world and he isn’t entirely wrong. This is without a doubt a pop album by some measure, and some of these guitar parts feel lifted straight from the catchiest and funkiest of early 2000s radio pop. Polyphia has typically been classified as a metal band, and, sonically, the descriptor has been accurate until this album. On New Levels New Devils the band ditches their metal sound for a fatter, funkier sound with heavy influences from dance music. These influences plus their metal background creates an album that can swing, sprint, lumber, and swagger with ease and they all come together to make one of the most accessible and gratifying instrumental albums I have ever heard. 

LISTEN TO: "Nasty (feat. Jason Richardson)" "Saucy" "So Strange (feat. Cuco)" "Rich Kids (feat. Yvette Young)"

35.

 

Wait - Arlie
(Atlantic Recording Corporation)

Arlie’s debut EP immediately recalls the explosion of indietronica in the early 2010s - bands like Passion Pit, MGMT, CHVRCHES, M83, Phoenix, and Hot Chip come to mind. Perhaps it’s that Arlie shares these band’s ability to combine delightful, 50s-60s pop hooks and modern electronic psychedelia into a kaleidoscopic sound that eschews self-consciousness (but less than it lets on) for pure pop entertainment. The songs on Wait do something different than those artists, however - they are bitchy, in the best way. There is definitely a sort of world-weary cynicism here that belies the age of the group. "Didya Think" dunks on people who talk big about their dreams and say they're going to take the world on their own terms, but refuse to do the work required. "Tossing and Turning" is at once a sarcastic takedown of a culture that emphasizes reaching for fame, while also functioning as a reassurance that its ok to slow down, that there is no sense in breaking yourself to achieve society's unrealistic standards. The whole record features some truly ingenious songwriting, especially from an extremely young band who has JUST started to gain any sort of public recognition. Arlie is becoming a bit of an indie-pop darling, largely for their ridiculously catchy melodies and intuitive songwriting, and Wait serves as an excellent intro to a band you're going to wish you could say you liked from day one.

LISTEN TO: "Big Fat Mouth" "Barcelona Boots" "Too Long" "Tossing and Turning"

34. 

Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - Arctic Monkeys
(Domino)

Alex Turner has always seen himself as somewhat of a chameleon, despite the rest of the world seeing right through it all every time. Nobody over the age of 17 really bought it when he decided to slick his hair back and prowl the streets with 2013’s AM, although I must say he did a damn fine job playing the character. His new characters, including a seedy, degenerate lounge singer from an outer space hotel, somehow land more believably than AM's sultry player, although they're perhaps less glamorous upon initial impression. Alex Turner plays the part of a lush quite believably, and this character almost feels like the dude from AM ten years down the line, burnt out on nightlife and consumed by his loneliness. The character is sold by the band's new sonic palette, a mix of Beach Boys esque psych rock and lounge music, and the weary sleaziness of it all does an excellent job of underscoring Turner's madcap lyrics. All in all, it represents a massive departure from the band's original sound and a smaller but still significant shift away from AM. This album certainly sounds like the band's first that pays no mind to accessibility or fan expectations, and it is infinitely better off for it.

LISTEN TO: "Golden Trunks" "Four out of Five" "The World's First Ever Monster Truck Backflip" "The Ultracheese" 

33. 

Cheem TV - Cheem
(Cheem)

My first thought upon concluding my initial listen of Cheem TV was, more or less, “What the hell just happened?” This album was not my introduction to Cheem, for starters. I discussed their last album in my top 50 albums of 2017 list. Back then, they played a straightforward (relative to this album) style of emo-pop, with strong math-rock influences throughout. Those traits have been retained for this album, but added to them is an amalgamation of hip-hop, funk, jazz, metal, dance, R&B, and, most unbelievable of all, 2000s boy-band pop. I wish I was exaggerating or making some of those up, but I am not. I also wish I could say this record isn’t fantastic, but yet again, I cannot. This record has no business being this enjoyable. It is hilariously self-aware and unashamedly celebrates its own cheesiness. It is also irresistibly catchy and, amidst all the silliness, and many of the instrumentals are deceptively complex. In terms of raw, repetitive entertainment, the unbelievable hooks and eclectic instrumentals make this is a top five album of the year for me. Unfortunately, a few of the tracks are inconsistent, but when the band is on, they are on.

LISTEN TO: "Gala" "Luxury" "Flex / Reflex" "Zona (feat. Iso)"

32. 

Blend Inn - Hockey Dad
(Kanine Records)

Say what you will, but Australia’s punk scene certainly makes the country look like a fun place. Top notch bands like Skegss, Dune Rats, and Hockey Dad all hail from the land down under and play their own brand of rock n’ roll, with a lyrical emphasis on beer, weed, surfing, and friendship. Now, Australia has its share of serious punk bands (Violent Soho and The Smith Street Band come to mind) as well as some more-than-noteworthy young artists in other genres (Courtney Barnett, anybody?), but something about Hockey Dad has always transfixed me. They always sound so thrilled to be playing music, so ready to give it their all. This album is their more “serious” of their two and every track still oozes a sense of brotherly joy. In terms of their sound, Hockey Dad has ditched the fuzzy, muddy guitars of their debut for a more polished sound, one that can swing from sunny surf-pop to surprisingly tense post-punk. There's also a greater variety of songs here than on the debut, making it an overall more compelling listen by a good margin. This album feels at times like Hockey Dad had a list of complaints about their first album and set about fixing them one by one. Better, heavier production? Check. Greater song variety? Check. Songs about more things than beer, girls, and fun? Check. Even bigger, better hooks? Tough, but check.

LISTEN TO: "Danny" "Join the Club" "Disappoint Me" "Running Out"

31. 

God Level - 03 Greedo
(Alamo)

03 Greedo has been one of 2018's biggest thinkpieces, and that's on one level great and on another a complete shame. While Greedo's situation does provide some thought-provoking material, there is an unbelievable work ethic and a load of great music behind the story. God Level is the second of Greedo's excellent albums this year (and slightly superior to the first), as well as the last before his 20-year prison sentence.  Greedo's music (which is entirely self-written and self-produced) straddles the line between entertaining and uncomfortably autobiographical with every track, occasionally offering terrifyingly real glimpses into the mind of an exceptionally troubled individual. Greedo knows this is one of his strengths and uses his absurdly tough life to ground his work amidst some of his more silly or experimental songs. As with any 03 Greedo project, there is a ton of unnecessary music (a byproduct of Greedo's work ethic) and there is an alluring lack of polish on much of this stuff as well. Some of these songs are way too long, and 27 songs is a hilariously long tracklist, but it fits Greedo in a way. Firstly, it gives him room to show his diversity - singer and rapper, equally fluent in spacey, autotuned R&B and stumbling, drug-addled rap as he is in gangster rap and even flashes of classic hip-hop. The extreme disorganization and lack of polish are representative of Greedo's general mindset: he is who he is, confrontational and individualistic, and he is utterly unwilling to change that for anybody or anything. 

LISTEN TO: "Blower (feat. AD)" "Floating" "Fortnite (Remix) [feat. Rich The Kid]" "Never Bend (Remix) [feat. Lil Uzi Vert]"

 30. 

Sweetener - Ariana Grande
(Republic)

Ariana Grande has always been more album-focused than other stars at her level, but I have never felt that any of her projects fully landed. They were often marred by trend-chasing production, filler tracks, overshadowed by features, features brought in just for name value, and oversinging. Sweetener is easily Grande's best overall effort, as well as one of the best pop records of the year. Grande sounds less concerned than ever with producing a massive individual single for the charts, and it works to her advantage here. The songs are better produced, better written, and better sequenced than anything she has ever done. This album also feels like the first where Grande has been able to be herself, rather than an industry produced caricature of a young pop star. The more autobiographical songwriting never feels invasive and it doesn't need to, given the absolute storm of media attention Grande has been receiving lately. Funnily enough, Sweetener will likely be out-moded within the next few months. Ariana Grande has dropped the two best singles of her career in the time since this album was released, and her tragically difficult last year of life is, at the least, providing no shortage of attention for her work. Nobody in the business deserves to deal with what Ariana Grande has so gracefully handled this year (or last year), but if I have faith in anybody to come out stronger from it all, it's her.

LISTEN TO: "R.E.M." "sweetener" "breathin" "no tears left to cry"

29. 

Think: Peace - Clarence Clarity
(Deluxe Pain)

On Clarence Clarity’s debut album, it felt at times that he really, really wanted to hide the fact that he is an unbelievable pop songwriter. That album was dizzyingly layered with glitch electronics, vocal processing, and everything else a modern studio could throw onto a track. However, underneath the production, No Now was basically a giant album of early Brittney Spears and Justin Timberlake style 2000s pop. Now, do not confuse what I am about to say. Think: Peace is by no means a straightforward pop album. That being said, it seems that Clarence's time producing for (slightly) more conventional pop stars has toned down his reliance on experimental synthesizers and brought his love of boy-band pop to the forefront of his music. This album is considerably easier to digest than No Now. The lyrics are far less esoteric. The songs are far less cluttered and they follow conventional song structures a bit closer. For fans of No Now this change could have been quite disappointing - Clarence's debut's uncompromisingly weird songwriting was what made those hooks slap even harder, because you had to work to parse them from the chaos. Clarence Clarity makes up for this by simply writing even better hooks, across the board. These songs are so catchy that it almost makes you forget you are still listening to experimental pop. Clarence's love of boyband/diva pop comes through much stronger with the lessened experimentalism, and I genuinely feel that it gives Think: Peace an identity that stands next to the monolith of No Now.

LISTEN TO: "Adam & the Evil*" "Naysayer, Magick Obeyer" "Vapid Feels Ain't Vapid" "Law of Fives"

28.

Some Rap Songs - Earl Sweatshirt
(Tan Cressida / Columbia)

With Simple Rap Songs, Earl has created one of the most accessibly inaccessible projects of the year. Take any individual song on this record - unless you are well acquainted with the project it is likely to sound out of place, unfinished, or directionless. This is intentional, as Simple Rap Songs is meant to function as a unit, rather than a collection of songs. This is where the album becomes accessible. At only 25 minutes, Some Rap Songs is shorter than some jazz songs, and album-length listens fly by. Earl somehow managed to make a surprisingly easy listen from 15 avant-garde hip-hop vignettes. The songs themselves illustrate this concept as well. The lo-fi soul samples, short song lengths, and warped production make for a decidedly experimental listen, while Earl's technical dexterity the raw beauty of the collage-like production are viscerally enjoyable. Lyrically, Earl shows an unprecedented level of personal insight, and that means a lot from the guy who wrote "Chum." Earl reckons with the passing of his father and his love for his mother, as well as drugs, depression, growing into adulthood, and more here, and as always his hyper-dense lyrics require a bit of parsing to fully understand. His technical ability has lost nothing since his last record, but Earl definitely shows off less often here. The rapping is no less technical or lyrical but is perhaps less immediately impressive due to his voice's lower position in the mix. Earl's flow feels integrated into his beats more than ever here, and the newfound cohesion furthers the album's singularly unique feeling. Simple Rap Songs almost feels like a victory lap at times and Earl absolutely deserves to celebrate with a record like this.

LISTEN TO: "Nowhere2go" "December 24" "Ontheway! (feat. Standing On the Corner)" "The Mint (feat. Navy Blue)"

27. 

Smell Smoke - Vundabar
(Gawk Records)

How does a band known for their ceaselessly joyful indie rock make an album that reckons with the weight of the death of a loved one? Exactly like this. Do not let the subject of death turn you off to this record like it is some emotional trek or something - Smell Smoke is one of the most initially enjoyable projects of the year. Quirky, upbeat melodies abound throughout, and the instrumentals sound like an incredibly skilled band playing the most fun progressions they can fathom. One of the core concepts of Smell Smoke is that extreme loss and personal development does not have to come at the price of one's joy and spirit. While the lyrics can be fairly bleak at times, even that despair is delivered with anxious humor and a tongue in cheek feel. The instrumentals feel massive at times, strangely enough, because of their fuzzy production. The lo-fi production almost gives the songs a sense of "what-could-be," leaving their immenseness up the imagination. That being said, moments like the outro of "Diver" and the second half of "$$$" are some of the most exhilarating moments in music this year, production be damned. There is an undeniable sense of catharsis to many of these songs; their shifting structures allow for some truly breathtaking moments. Somehow Vundabar managed to turn a topic like death and loss into one of the most fun and repeatably listenable albums of the year, and they haven't even bothered to write the right year for the album's listed release date on Apple Music.

LISTEN TO: "Acetone" "Tonight I'm Wearing Silk" "Diver" "$$$"

26. 

Quarterthing - Joey Purp
(Joey Purp LLC)

Joey Purp isn’t the kind of guy to get worse at something - he has too much to lose and he knows it. 2016’s iiiDrops was one of the best hip-hop albums of that year, and it perfectly showcased Joey Purp’s talents. From street-wise hustler to blindingly toothed player, party-hard hedonist to faithful family man, Joey Purp brilliantly positioned himself at the crossroads of all these identities, able to switch into whichever suited the current song best. Quarterthing sees him expanding our view of his personality, while also rapping better, smarter, and cooler over more varied and interesting production. The album is a bit frontloaded, but only because Joey Purp decides to experiment more on the second half. These experiments nearly always work in his favor, largely because of his charisma. The album's first four songs are far more straightforward but no less enjoyable. From the first track, it is quite apparent that you are dealing with a next level emcee, and Joey Purp doesn't let his foot off the gas until the cooler-than-cool "Elastic." Here, the skeletal production cuts a sharp contrast to the gigantic chipmunk soul of the first three songs, and Purp switches his previously passionate deliver for a laid-back swagger. The album is filled with moments like these, more examples of how Purp has set up his image in such a pliable way. The songs range from huge brass soul, slick club bangers, and even experimental hip-hop and Purp never sounds even slightly out of place.

LISTEN TO: "24k Gold/Sanctified (feat. Ravyn Lenae & Jack Red)" "Godbody (feat. RZA) [Pt. 2]" "Hallelujah" "Paint Thinner"

25. 

Squeeze - Made Violent
(Trash Records)

95% of people who claim that there’s no good rock music anymore are just old men who are upset that music has continued to evolve and always will. The other 5% realize that forward motion is a necessity in the survival of any artform, but are burnt out on the endless commercial-ready blues-influenced pop-rock groups, descended from the post-El Camino mess that is The Black Keys and Hozier, minus his ability to write hooks that transcend the fact that all his music sounds like it was made with a different vibe of Target commercial in mind. Made Violent's second EP Squeeze exists solely as a middle finger in the face and a kick in the teeth to everybody who thinks good rock bands don't come around here no more. Made Violent is what every one of those awful "rock" bands on alt radio wishes they had the testicular fortitude to sound like; Made Violent is the logical extension of a generation that unironically considers Nirvana "classic rock" but thinks The Black Keys sold out by having the audacity to become famous. Made Violent doesn't shy away from classic rock tropes in the slightest - every song here will sound residually familiar to anybody with a working knowledge of rock music. Instead, they take those cliches and turn up the heavy to 11. Their sound is downright impressive - the bass guitar takes up a thrillingly huge space in the mix, and the guitars sound like a jet engine. The vocals go from a bluesy patter to throat-ripping screams without losing their catchiness, which is one of the best parts of the record. Every song here is ripe for a sing-a-long, probably in the middle of the mosh. Hopefully Made Violent follow this up with their long overdue debut LP, but until then we have two absolutely slamming EPs to hold us over.

LISTEN TO: "Baby Gold" "Squeeze" "Jealous King" "Right Kind of Crazy"

24. 

2012 - 2017 - Against All Logic
(Other People)

Although he's considered one of the essential artists of modern electronic music by many (including myself), Nicolas Jaar has never exactly been easy to digest for casual listeners. His music, whether under his own name, in the duo Darkside, or under the new moniker A.A.L. (Against All Logic), sits at the forefront of electronic music (or at least the electronic music that makes it to the blogs) whenever it is released. Some in the electronic community consider it accessible, but to the uninitiated, it can be downright daunting. His 2017 album Sirens is one of my all-time favorite releases in the genre - a perfect blend of his experimental tendencies and a newfound use of immediate, dancy electronica. 2012 - 2017 is a continuation of that notion, providing Jaar's most accessible music yet without losing all of his edge. 2012 - 2017 is a truly special album, one capable of joy and uplift as well as sweaty dance and laid back funk. Some of the sonics on this record are indescribable, they just need to be experienced. Jaar's ability to capture a feeling and dial it to 1000 is probably his greatest talent here, as many of these songs build and layer until they reach a breaking point high above the ground where they started. A few of the songs here wind a bit too long before that point but when this record soars it is unlike anything released in any genre this year.

LISTEN TO: "This Old House Is All I Have" "I Never Dream" "Cityfade" "Rave on U"

23. 

Die Lit - Playboi Carti
(AWGE/Interscope Records)

When we are able to look back on this age of hip-hop, there is a good chance we assign the label “post-hip-hop” to a few albums. I mean, we have done it with every other genre (post-punk, post-rock, post-hardcore, post-disco, etc), and hip-hop is no exception. "Post-" music is usually defined as being made by people responding or reacting to the original genre. A few albums, in my mind, would already fit this list; Atrocity Exhibition, The Money Store, Big Fish Theory, Black Up and more come to mind. These albums aren’t just experimental hip-hop; they’re the first experimental hip-hop albums made by artists that feel like a deliberate reaction against the genre’s golden ages. Die Lit will likely be considered in the same breath as those. While those albums were made by older artists (minus Vince Staples) in a response to the standards of hip-hop while they grew up, Die Lit is one of the first experimental hip-hop albums made by an artist who was born after the first golden age. Playboi Carti and the rest of his generation count a completely disparate set of influences than the ones before - ringtone rap, Timbaland's exotic sampling, pop rap, and Chief Keef's weirdo gangsterisms are far more forward in the brain than Biggie or Pac's storytelling. Die Lit represents such an utter rejection of the "rules" of hip-hop that it feels punk (and that's not just because of the Bad Brains inspired cover). There is huge energy throughout the record, contained in the bouncy beats and Carti's ceaseless hedonism. Playboi Carti has found a perfect foil in producer Pierre Bourne, and the two build off one another's styles until the end product comes out like a warped sugar rush of hooks. The features here sometimes provide a nice break from Carti's schtick, which can run tired at times, but more often than not they sound lost in Carti world, unable to match the energy of the beats or the lightning-quick changes of Carti's flow. Only Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, and Chief Keef truly hold their own without sacrificing their own quirks to keep up with Carti like Gunna and (shamelessly so) Nicki Minaj, or without sounding hilariously out of place like Skepta and Travis Scott. It may sound counter-intuitive to imagine absurdly talented rappers like Skepta and Nicki Minaj being "unable to keep up" with a rapper like Carti, but this album doesn't play by their rules. This is a new playing field, and a new game altogether.

LISTEN TO: "R.I.P." "Shoota (feat. Lil Uzi Vert)" "Mileage (feat. Chief Keef)" "FlatBed Freestyle" 

22. 

Isolation - Kali Uchis
(Rinse / Virgin EMI Records)

If I had to summarize Isolation in a single word, I might pick confident, or perhaps cinematic. Kali Uchis had primarily made her name as a featured artist until this record, and the huge stylistic range of her features made guessing the trajectory of Isolation a difficult task. Isolation continues to uphold Uchis’ ability to traverse genres rather than sticking to one sound. That being said, this is still a very cohesive album considering the number of genres throughout. Common themes include psychedelic production, soul/R&B/doo-wop-influenced vocals, and the near-constant presence of reggaetón. This range of sounds coexists based entirely on the skill with which Uchis pulls them off. I do not think I have heard a debut album this varied pulled off with such ease and confidence in a while. Debut albums just don't do this like she has. The melodies, the moods, the genres, everything is representative of an artist with a firm grasp on her craft. My only complaint is that things can sound a bit too clean at times. The live instrumentation sounds computerized throughout the record, and everything is pulled off so slickly that it betrays the emotional impact of a few of Uchis' vocal performances. Even when the album is meant to sound a bit more real it comes off too smoothly, and the Steve Lacy produced "Just A Stranger" and the bedroom-pop styled "In My Dreams" sound preposterously slick. Once this minor gripe is overlooked, the songs here have an extremely cinematic quality to them. They all sound like they could score a scene of a movie set in Miami or Los Angeles due to this slickness and the confidence exuded through them. Either way, Isolation is one of the most effortlessly enjoyable debut albums in recent memory, and certainly worth a listen for anybody with an appreciation for great, varied work. 

LISTEN TO: "Flight 22" "Your Teeth In My Neck" "After The Storm (feat. Tyler, The Creator & Bootsy Collins)" "Feel Like a Fool" 

21. 

God's Favorite Customer - Father John Misty
(Sub Pop Records)

Everybody kinda forgot Father John Misty put out an album this year, didn’t they? Perhaps it was the lack of grand artistic statement, the lack of brilliantly ironic and pretentious public stunts, the proximity to his last, overwhelmingly gigantic record, a combination of three, or something else, but everybody seems to have forgotten that Josh Tillman put out an incredible collection of music this year. Therein lies the problem - it is just a collection of music. There is a loose concept about living in a hotel, yes, but relative to Pure Comedy or I Love You, Honeybear this album is nothing but a compilation and it is likely that because of the lack of fanfare and flamboyance this album is being (relatively) overlooked. The biggest shame is that these are easily the most concise and digestible songs of Tillman's career, and some of his best written as well. They lack the lush instrumentation of ILYHB or the grand, sweeping statements of Pure Comedy but do more than compensate for them with Tillmans's vocal performances (he finally brings his wonderful falsetto out to play) and their melodies The stripped back instrumentation (which is still dense compared to most artist's scores) leaves Misty the room to show off his stunning voice, as well as create more space for himself to work with melody. The songs are also more stylistically varied than on Pure Comedy and the album is about half as long, making this a more accessible listen on nearly every front. The lyrics are as genius (and hilarious) as ever, and the songs are half as pretentious and twice as catchy. How could you ever forget an album like that?

LISTEN TO: "Just Dumb Enough to Try" "Please Don't Die" "Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All" "God's Favorite Customer" 

20. 

Swimming - Mac Miller
(Warner Bros. Records Inc.)

Mac Miller’s passing still does not feel real to me. When I first began to enjoy hip-hop, nearly 10 years ago, Mac Miller was one of the first artists in the genre I truly loved. This was during his frat rap phase, and even in my infancy with the genre, I knew it wasn’t very good. Yet, there was something inherently special about Mac Miller. As stupid as the music was, his goofy charisma and infectious joy was admirable and gave me a reason to listen to even the dumbest of his music. After Blue Slide Park Mac began to drop the kiddie act and embrace a headier, more artistic side that he pulled off surprisingly well, going from the kid taking handle pulls at the party to the guy shaking off his hangover the next morning. Soon enough, however, it became apparent that Miller had a serious problem. His work continued to darken, culminating with the legitimately concerning Faces. By this time it became obvious to everybody that Mac Miller was an incredible talent, far beyond hat he initially forecasted in his career, albeit an incredible talent plagued by some unsolvable demons. Somehow, Mac got better. He embraced love and positivity wholeheartedly, but to those who were there at the bottom it never quite felt like Mac was free. Maybe it was just me, but I always felt that we would lose Mac Miller before it was his time. Swimming is the last album released in his too short but stunningly prolific career, and while it was not intended as his closing statement it functions well enough like one. I debated not including this album on the list because it is impossible to evaluate my opinion of the record next to others that do not have this context, but I feel that #20 is a fair spot. I will not lie and say this record is some masterpiece, a stunning classic of the genre. Even with Mac's death, it does not sound like that and it never intended to. In fact, it is fairly understated next to a lot of his work, satisfied more with producing excellent songs than pushing the envelope or making a statement. In the light of his passing, many of the album's lines take new meaning and the album takes a different feel as a whole, but without that Swimming is simply a great album in the evolution cut short of one of hip-hop's most talented young stars. These songs are warm and inviting but contain their imperfections and hidden darkness, just like Mac himself. Say what you want about it, but this is undoubtedly the most honest set of songs in Mac Miller's career. His singing voice is far from perfect. The lyrics are uncomfortably self-reflective. There is not a ton of variety in terms of sounds. Despite all that this is a record of immense beauty, because this record sounds more as if it is truly what Mac Miller wanted to create, more than any of his others. There is an impression that these songs are exactly what Mac Miller wanted to write without catering to anybody else. They have their imperfections, but so did Mac Miller, and that is what makes this album deserving of praise. None of this is to say that these songs are bad, or disappointing by any means. Truly, this is the best full album of Mac Miller's career. I am just saying that looking to Swimming for some accidental, monumental artistic statement before his death is a losing battle. Instead of that, Mac gave us the album that he wanted to make at that point in his recovery process, unaware that it would be his last. If that isn't beautiful enough to you, I don't know what else you could want.

LISTEN TO: "Come Back to Earth" "Self Care" "Small Worlds" "2009" 

19. 

POST- - Jeff Rosenstock
(Polyvinyl Record Co.)

Do you know how cool you have to be to follow up the album of your (storied) career with a surprise drop at midnight on New Years Day? Jeff Rosenstock does. Usually, albums released in January lose their luster by year-end list season and fail to make lists, or in the case of explicitly political albums such as this one they often miss their relevancy by the end of the year. Jeff Rosenstock doesn't know what that's like. POST- sounds as prescient as it did nearly a year ago, just like WORRY. did when it was released in 2016. That's one of the best things about Jeff Rosenstock - he never goes out of style. He has successfully maintained a position of a DIY hero since the mid-1990s, he has a borderline psychic history of predicting major political shifts in the USA with his music, and has been releasing his best music over 20 years into his career. It just goes to show what happens when you are as pure a soul as Rosenstock. It also helps that POST- is an unbelievable album. While it does not quite aspire to the artistic formatting of WORRY. that is of little consequence with songs like these. Every song here is filled with sweeping band dynamics, huge sing-a-long choruses, and enough pop punk hooks to fill a mortal artist's career. If you have any vested interest in punk rock, Jeff Rosenstock's career is an absolute must and between this album and WORRY. it has never been a better time to start. Read my full thoughts about this album here.

LISTEN TO: "USA" "Yr Throat" "Melba" "Let Them Win"

18. 

Annihilated - Sectioned
(Independent)

Within the first five seconds of Annihilated it is made staggeringly apparent that Sectioned is not here to play around. In fact, they’re probably here to kill you. Listen to the beginning of that first song as many times as you need. It will never not immediately activate your fight or flight reflex, I promise you. That feedback will never not make the hair on your arms stand. That scream will never not make you jump. Those drums will never not sound like actual cannon blasts, and those guitars will never not sound like chainsaws roaring to life. If this sounds unpleasant to you, avoid this album like the plague because it does not let up from this primal, animalistic rage at any point in the next 43 minutes. This album cuts no deals, takes no prisoners, and spares nobody. Annihilated is the sound of pure violence but the scariest part of it all is that this rage is delivered with methodical, surgeon-like precision. This is easily the most complicated album on this list, and possibly the most complicated metal album I have enjoyed since the glory days of The Dillinger Escape Plan. That's not to say there aren't more complicated albums out there, or even albums that maintain this level of heaviness throughout. Bands like Converge, Nails, and more play at this level of skill or heaviness and have been doing it far longer than Sectioned. But while their albums are equally incredible in their own right, they are not this. Converge has moved onto higher, more complex emotions. Nails keep it a bit simpler when expressing their hellish rage. Other bands take their complexity and stretch it to dizzying lengths, but lose their immediacy in the process. Sectioned is in a league of their own when it comes to expressing such emotions with such precision.

LISTEN TO: "Annihilated" "Starved Lives" "Victorious, Neverending" "Release"

17. 

Nearer My God - Foxing
(Triple Crown Records) 

A tweet that I will never be able to forget says, more or less, that the new Foxing record is the best album Imagine Dragons has ever released. Every time I think about that tweet it raises my blood pressure significantly enough to shorten my lifespan, but I must admit it comes from a place of truth. Once upon a time (aka until this year), Foxing were the crown princes of emo music. They played a unique fusion of emo and post-rock, leading to quiet and painfully sad songs that would often rise to giant climaxes (as is the post-rock way). Their formula was a bit predictable, but they were good at it. Nearer My God would hardly be recognizable as a Foxing album if it were not for Connor Murphy's ridiculously powerful and recognizable voice. The tricky math passages and downcast emo are largely done away with and have been replaced with electronics, giant hooks, and anything else a band could use to make their record sound more monumental. This may be cribbing a bit from Ian Cohen's brilliant Pitchfork review, but he is absolutely right: Nearer My God sound like Foxing is actively trying, and trying hard, to make a classic record. The ambition shown on this album is mind-blowing. These songs are one climax after another, each one-upping the other with how big things can get. The whole record is a case study in the power of quiet-loud dynamics - and it doesn't get old at any point. Even when you know the drops (and that really is what they are) are coming, they still hit as hard as the first time. Therein lies the truth to the Imagine Dragons comparison - big, emotional drops made for center stage at a festival, a friendlier sound, and simpler, easier to follow music. On any level other than cosmetic, however, the Imagine Dragons comparison falls apart. Nearer My God, for all its newfound pomposity and pop ambition, was still made by one of the foremost art rock groups in music. These are still songs about sexting on cocaine, playing D&D while on ecstasy, pregnant exes reaffirming the idea that there is no God, being abused like a dog, and whatever the hell "Gameshark" is about. Foxing is still weird, they're still artsy, and they still write some of the saddest, screamiest songs in all of alternative rock. They just might soon be taking those oddities to a festival near you.

LISTEN TO: "Grand Paradise" "Lich Prince" "Nearer My God" "Bastardizer" 

16. 

Lush - Snail Mail

(Matador)

If Nearer My God is an indie record that tries too hard to be a classic and succeeds in spite of it, Lush is an indie record that isn’t trying at all but still hits that status. Nothing on this record feels forced in any way. Every second of every song sounds like it came naturally to Lindsey Jordan, flowing from her brain into the tape recorder. It is quite obvious that an immense amount of love and care went into the making of this record, but that never comes at the cost of how innate it all sounds. This is the kind of record that keeps other musicians up at night - not only because the songs are endlessly listenable but because this is the kind of effortlessly effortful album songwriters spend their entire lives chasing. Linsey Jordan is taking on a bit of a role as an indie darling right now, due to the success of this album. Too much of the dialogue around this record seems to obsess over Jordan's age and attempts to crown her as some sort of spokesperson for the next generation of "female-fronted indie." The reviews, often male written, do their best to sound complimentary while trying to hide the hidden text of "I didn't expect an album from an 18-year-old gay woman to be this good!" or, essentially, "I don't see women as part of the mainstream indie scene." They indirectly try to cut down her brilliance by associating her with her influences or her age, stopping just short of saying "I didn't expect this to be as good as it is." It all feels a bit like when an interviewer calls a black man well-spoken, a kind of double-edged compliment that is well-meaning on the surface but hiding a deep-seated bias. Jordan's music is not just incredible for a teenager, it is just incredible. She is not a spokesperson for female-fronted indie rock, she is probably the most promising new artist in indie rock. This is not to erase Jordan's identity as a gay woman in any way - it is an essential part of her art and she is brilliant with these identities rather than in spite of them - but I cannot for the life of me find a discussion of the album that does not weirdly obsess over the "feminine" and "youthful" qualities of the album instead of calling it what it is: incredible.

LISTEN TO: "Pristine" "Heat Wave" "Stick" "Golden Dream"

15. 

Hey Dude, Thanks for Coming - Elephant Jake
(934347 Records DK)

Elephant Jake is 2/2 on releasing incredible records without getting any sort of attention for it. It is simply criminal how few people are aware of music this good. Elephant Jake has received basically no reviews and no publicity aside from a few (very positive) threads on r/emo. This is a criminal overlook on the part of the DIY community, as Elephant Jake has every single characteristic that scene looks for in a great new band: confessional but bitingly smart lyrics, a Modern Baseball-like affinity for melody, and complicated but easy to follow musicianship (propelled by ridiculously complex drumming) sound like the exact formula for nearly every one of the scene's current buzz bands. Hey Dude, Thanks for Coming takes everything that made last year's Classic so excellent and does it better. The hooks are hookier, the drums are drummier, the lyrics are smarter (and quite a bit sharper), and the songs are much, much bigger. While the band still does not break any new ground in the indie punk/emo genre (which as a whole is not known for its innovation), they do what they do better than nearly anybody. This is a record full of fun, honest music that covers nearly any mood. If you consider yourself a part of any city's DIY punk scene, I would strongly recommend getting into Elephant Jake before everybody else is. 

LISTEN TO: "Kjerstin" "Joe Lamb is Beast Mode" "Hardwood Coolwhip" "Filling the Void With Jerry Seinfeld" 

14. 

Daytona - Pusha-T

(G.O.O.D. / Def Jam)

Pusha-T did himself a favor by acting like an old man when he first started rapping. Nobody ever used the words youthful or ignorant when describing Clipse, and because of that Pusha’s skill set has remained largely relevant over two decades into his career. His subject matter has changed little in that time - selling cocaine and the things he buys with the coke money - but he has not sounded this good rapping about it in quite a while. While none of the beats here are as experimental as the ones Pusha typically sounds best over, Kanye does a more than admirable job of producing here. The beats are soul-sample heavy and are strangely futuristic despite their obvious throwbacks. This kind of zone is where Pusha-T thrives best: futuristic and classic sounds like a pretty good summary of Pusha's whole deal. The album's length is also a stroke of genius - at only seven songs, the batting average is able to remain remarkably high. The only possible dud here is "Hard Piano (feat. Rick Ross)" and that is entirely the fault of Pusha's clunky first verse. Ross delivers an excellent feature, so even that song is not entirely lost. The rest of the songs are a masterclass in precise, menacing bars and the benefit of artist-tailored production. Kanye's verse on "What Would Meek Do?" stops it from being the album's true centerpiece, and the song has maybe Pusha's best verse since "Numbers On The Boards" or "Nosetalgia" from My Name Is My Name. Luckily the album closes on an absolute stunner. "Infrared" is one of the best songs of Pusha-T's career in nearly every single way, a straight shot across the bow of Drake and Cash Money, and we all know how the story goes from here. There's a reason you don't see Scorpion on this list.

LISTEN TO: "If You Know You Know" "Come Back Baby" "What Would Meek Do? (feat. Kanye West)" "Infrared"

13. 

Puppy Love - Mom Jeans.
(Counter Intuitive Records)

There is a fantastic Reddit comment somewhere, lost in the depths of the internet, written by somebody who knew Mom Jeans. when they were just a group of friends playing small shows in Berkeley. The comment goes into detail about how they knew from the moment they met the band that they would be big. They might not the most talented band (although I dare you to find a better rock drummer than Austin Carango who is not named Zach Hill or Jayson Gerycz) or anything like that, but they would inevitably be big because they had that X-factor, that thing that just made them likable. This sentiment permeates their sophomore album Puppy Love. Something about this record, and all of the band’s music, oozes endearing charm. Frontperson Eric Butler does not have an incredible voice, but I dare you to not get emotional as they sing “I tried to cut you out / But I still care about you” at the apex of “Sponsor Me Tape” as the guitars pound, horns blare, and Carango goes absolutely buck wild on drums. Butler’s lyrics are absolutely essential to band's charm, and their stream-of-consciousness poetry feel is often as impressive as it is relatable. I have previously (literally 25 albums ago) lauded this new wave of emo bands for knowing when to play up the ironic, relatably exaggerated sadness of their lyrics and when to make their feelings count, and Mom Jeans. is the absolute best at this idea. Butler's lyrics can be downright frightening in their intuition, as if Eric themselves is following me around or something, but they also possess a wonderful sense of semi-miserable humor at times. The lyrics are certainly one of the band's selling points but hardly their only. As I have mentioned before, Austin's drumming is simply divine, and it's not even worth attempting to explain when a video exists. Bart Starr from Graduating Life is a pivotal addition to the band, and his love of goofy guitar theatrics and cheesy dynamics only adds to the band's already tongue in cheek vibe. Brianda Goyos León of Just Friends absolutely brings it on her guest vocals and provides many of the album's most emotional moments with her extended vocal range and breathtaking power (more on her and other-guest-vocalist Sam Kless next). Between great songs, great friends, and great people, there is quite a bit to (puppy) love about this album.

LISTEN TO: "Sponsor Me Tape" "Glamorous" "You Can't Eat Cats, Kevin" "Jon Bong Jovi" 

12. 

Nothing But Love - Just Friends

(Counter Intuitive Records)

If you ever get the chance to see Just Friends live, take it. I don’t care if you have never heard a second of their music; this isn’t just any concert. In a year where I saw acts like Beyonce and JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Schoolboy Q, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Mac DeMarco, and more, none of them have stuck in my brain like Just Friends (I'm actually at the show in that video!). Their show is more a celebration than a concert. They are more often than not accompanied by labelmates Mom Jeans and Graduating Life, and all three bands swap and share their members. Just Friends has anywhere from eight to ten members at any time (not including the members from Mom Jeans and Grad Life who regularly join the band on tour and in the studio), including multiple guitarists, a horn section, and two fantastic vocalists. They are fronted by Sam Kless, who is easily one of the most charismatic and lovable frontmen in the business, and Brianda Goyos León, who as I mentioned an album ago has a show-stopping voice. Just Friends plays a fusion of punk, ska, funk, R&B, and hip-hop with lyrics focusing on the power of positivity, acceptance, and love. If that sounds cheesy, that's because it absolutely is and the band is fully aware of that. This record is about letting go of self-consciousness and learning to be unashamed of happiness and other emotions. It's repeatedly uplifting but never in an annoying way, like that one friend who never fails to be in a good mood. I cannot recommend this album enough, but if it isn't your thing then that's that. I can see people being annoyed by the deliberately cheesy style and the overwhelming positivity. The live shows, on the other hand, are non-negotiable. Go. 

LISTEN TO: "Never Gonna Bring You Down" "Supersonic" "Flex" "Faucet" 

11. 

Harlan & Alondra - Buddy 

(RCA Records)

Do you ever hear a debut record and see the artist’s career pathways unfolding in front of you? Listening to Buddy’s debut album is like watching planes leave from Woodley Airport, right next to Buddy’s childhood home at Harlan St. and Alondra Ave. The planes could be going almost anywhere, for almost any reason. It’s easy to feel this way listening to this album. Buddy can do almost anything - he's a great singer, rapper, hitmaker, and overall talent. Harlan & Alondra covers this ground and more. In this album, you can find everything from silky G-funk to fiery political rap and Buddy sounds like a natural at all of it, largely because of his skill at slipping between singing and rapping. If this kind of ease seems to contradict his "newness" to the game, it's because he is not that new. Buddy signed a deal with Pharell in 2011 when he was in his late teens that ended up being, largely. a waste of time. After almost a decade in the business (he's still only 24) Buddy has learned many of the lessons and gained the experience that makes the hip-hop industry so notoriously hard to navigate. His collaboration with Snoop Dogg is telling. Buddy exists in a long line of LA-bred rappers who spin their laid-back, tuneful flows over Dre-style production. Snoop sounds perfect on "The Blue." rather than out-of-place-ly familiar like such an iconic voice often can sound. Buddy doesn't try to rap with Snoop or show him up like a less experienced rapper would. Rather, he sticks to singing and creates one of the album's most memorable tracks. Buddy has the experience to navigate a difficult industry but the freshness and raw talent to be anything he wants. He's already collaborated with names like Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus, Pharell, Ty Dolla $ign, Snoop Dogg, and Khalid, and only has one album. I would expect great things.

LISTEN TO: "Trouble On Central" The Blue (feat. Snoop Dogg)" "Trippin' (feat. Khalid)" "Shine" 

10. 

Ordinary Corrupt Human Love - Deafheaven

(Anti)

Deafheaven is arguably the most important band in metal right now. Say that sentence to the wrong person and you will likely have a fight on your hands, but that does not make it less true. Deafheaven is nearly the only band in modern metal, especially black metal, with any sort of visibility that is experimenting at this level and managing to pull it off time and time again. Sure, other, smaller metal bands are innovating and a few are even synthesizing black metal with other genres, but, yet again, they are not Deafheaven. Their music does not have that It factor like Deafheaven. They don’t express beauty like Deafheaven. They don’t express pain like Deafheaven. They don’t express anger, fear, love, lust, euphoria, ambition, or really anything like Deafheaven. They can't. They can only hope to grasp at what Deafheaven is doing with metal. Find me another metal album in 2018 that sounds like black metal, rock n roll, shoegaze, dream pop, classical music, post-punk, post-rock, and more all at once. Words do not explain how big the Deafheaven sound is. Even from their debut, Deafheaven made their name by combining a variety of genres, all capable of conveying an inexpressible amount of emotion, together with black metal for a style that blows metal to heights so transcendent that most fans hardly classify Deafheaven as a metal band. In a way, Deafheaven is not a metal band. This isn't music to fit a genre, or to be classified. This is music designed for the highest, most passionate expression of human emotion by any means necessary, whether that comes from black metal or any other genre. Singer George Clarke's lyrics are positively gorgeous but completely indescernable without a lyric sheet, and this makes approximately zero difference to the emotional impact here. Knowing the lyrics means nothing with a voice like that. Those screams aren't intended to be lyrical or abrasive or cool or anything other than the rawest expression Clarke can muster. Even if you have never listened to metal in your life, even if the idea of screaming and pounding guitars and galloping drums makes you sick, even if you think there is no way you could ever relate to music where you don't know the lyrics, Deafheaven can mean something to you. This isn't metal, this is humanity.

LISTEN TO: "You Without End" "Honeycomb" "Canary Yellow" "Glint"

9. 

Beyondless - Iceage

(Matador)

Iceage has been an utter force of nature since their first album and people have noticed. Iggy Pop once called them the only truly dangerous punk band in modern music. Richard Hell wrote an essay to celebrate the release of this record. They have received universal critical acclaim and have legions of fans around the world. Iceage has always been relentlessly creative, always pushing themselves to greater heights and more innovative endeavors. They have formed friendships with artists in nearly every field and they devour any art, literature, or music they can get their hands on in order to provide inspiration for their work. They started as a vicious, teenaged art-punk group with their first album and then did the act one better on their second album. By that point, they had perfected the idea of musical propulsion and decided to change the playing field. There they brought in about a dozen instruments in addition to their guitars/bass/drums and wrote an album full of rowdy, European goth-tinged folk bangers and giant, emotive ballads. On Beyondless they add a debonaire, jazzy flair to that formula and create their most interesting sounding album yet. Singer Elias Rønnenfelt has perfected his image here: the handsome, drunken, hedonistic poet is a role that he has been chasing since the beginning of his career but has finally been obtained thanks to the instrumental selection and his improved lyricism. The album's assortment of horns is a brilliant addition, the best the band has done yet. These songs, plus Rønnenfelt's Rimbaud-esque demeanor, make everything here sound like an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel on ecstasy. a throwback to the cabaret but distinctly modern. Rønnenfelt is one of the most captivating presences in modern music, and the album sounds great, but it would all be for naught if the songs weren't so listenable. Luckily, Iceage has always had a gift for hooks and this is their best album on that front as well. Even when they were a hardcore band they had an almost pop-punk like way with melody and this album absolutely outdoes their previous ones on that front. I will not say this is the finest album of Iceage's career (even though it is my personal favorite) as all their projects are so markedly different, but I will say that it is undoubtedly one of the most impressive and essential listens of the year, even more so than some of the albums in front of it.

LISTEN TO: "Hurrah" "Painkiller (feat. Sky Ferreira)" "Thieves Like Us" "Showtime" 

8. 

Sex & Food - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

(Jagjaguwar)

Ruban Nielson might be my favorite individual figure in music today. He is one of the last guitar heroes, a cosmic soul explorer, freakishly gifted songwriter, and the owner of one of my favorite Twitter accounts to boot. His music sounds as if it was made by an alien living in the 1960s or 70s but never loses itself to pointless experimentalism or lets go of its love of soul-pop hooks. It's psychedelic without sounding like a dorm-room wall tapestry, hooky without feeling forced, aggressive without being jagged, funky without being jittery, soulful without trying, and out-there without being obtuse. It's like Prince through a kaleidoscope or Stevie Wonder under neon lights. I consider all of his records near-perfect, and this one is no exception. While this album does not quite hit the highs of its predecessor, Multi Love, it doesn't have to in order to be one of the best records released this year. Sex & Food is a considerably more stripped down affair than Multi Love, as well as a considerably weirder one. The hooks aren't quite as immediate, the songs take a little longer to be able to track, and the lyrics are a bit harder to sing along with. Ruban was undoubtedly reacting to Multi Love's success with this one. "American Guilt" is the most aggressive song Nielson has recorded since his days with The Mint Chicks, and the album's ballad is a strange, robotic song titled "Not in Love We're Just High." Both are phenomenal tracks, especially once a few listens lets you get around some of their oddities, but neither of these singles nor the third, "Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays" were meant to be a successor to anything on Multi Love. Sex & Food exists separately from that record. The only true callback to Multi Love is the spectacular "Hunnybee" which has, fittingly, has become the record's most popular song. "Hunnybee" is an endlessly infectious funk-disco number written to Ruban's daughter, and from first listen it is utterly undeniable. Ruban Nielson has created the weirdest album of his career, there's no doubt about that, but even at his peak weirdness, he is utterly unwilling to stop writing fantastic songs.

LISTEN TO: "Hunnybee" "The Internet of Love (That Way)" "Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays" "Not in Love We're Just High"

7. 

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships - The 1975

(Dirty Hit / Interscope) 

Matty Healy has a tendency to make too big of a statement. His Twitter account and his interviews are a minefield of intentional contradictions, edgy statements, and their subsequent apologies. Right after A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships was released, he said maybe his dumbest thing yet: that misogyny in rock music was dead, unlike hip-hop where it was more tolerated. It really boggles the mind how anybody could say this, let alone the owner of an almost entirely female record label. It later turned out, after an apology and clarification, that the quote was a bit of a misunderstanding and that Healy was attempting to reference rock's growing intolerance for misogynistic lyricism, but the statement still stands; Matty Healy usually doesn't know when to shut up. His music works the same. Sometimes, it attempts too much. It tries to be more than it is, it tries to do more than it can, it wants to take on more than it should. Luckily, this album takes exactly as much as it deserves. This is not an album for the subtle, by any means. The messages are broadcasted loud and clear here, and unlike the interviews, there is no room for misinterpretation. The music moves in big phrases and bigger choruses. Even the ballads sound as if they were made to be watched on a giant screen from the back of a stadium. Healy has no shame in it either - in fact, he loves it and hates it. He loves the attention but then feels awful for taking it. He loves the ambition but hates the anxiety of the unknown. This led him to turn towards heroin, which he kicked during the recording of this album ("I Couldn't Be More in Love" was recorded the day before he entered rehab and has an appropriately raw vocal performance). All of this and more shows on A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships and it is just brilliant. The album, for all its lack of subtlety, hits the nail on the head far more often than it doesn't. Lyrically, melodically, instrumentally, everything. It's catchy as anything you have ever heard, and the songs stare you right in the face with their honesty. It's all exactly what it should be. It's ambitious at every turn, constantly trying to make that kind of statement Healy loves to make without going too far and requiring an apology.

LISTEN TO: "Love It If We Made It" "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)" "I Couldn't Be More in Love" "I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)"

6. 

Be The Cowboy - Mitski

(Dead Oceans)

Nobody (HA) will be able to accuse Mitski of not shooting straight (HA) on Be The Cowboy. Her lyrics, which have always been one of her strengths - if not her biggest - are unflinchingly honest here. On 2016’s Puberty 2, Mitski occasionally let her meanings dissolve in metaphor or symbolism, left slightly more open to the listener, but on Be The Cowboy she doesn’t give an inch of misinterpretation. Sonically, this is not an aggressive record, but Mitski makes it fully apparent that the more laid-back sound does not mean she is here to play. She is deadly intense here, a one-woman-wrecking-crew for 33 minutes at a time. Mitski has never been one to embrace her topics from a submissive point of view, but on Be The Cowboy she takes the cowboy's masculine arrogance and reimagines it for purposes of reaching a new level of defiance. Even on the album's sadder or lonelier songs, Mitski is taking no shit. She stands in opposition to all, her music a conduit for her built up, "socially unacceptable" anger. The songs on Be The Cowboy, put simply, are breathtaking. Even from the opener, this album wastes no time proving that there is no sharper songwriter in indie music. Mitski has a once in a generation skill for writing massive, anthemic songs that she has shown herself capable of utilizing in the past but has never done so for entire albums. On Be The Cowboy nearly every song is the biggest song of her career, one after another. Mitski seems prepped to be selling out arenas yet again with this set of songs. They are too big, too dense, too well done to fit in some 200 capacity venue. These are songs for the stadium, loud and defiant and perfect for singing along. "Nobody" has perhaps the most excruciatingly economic hook of the year, so simple yet so perfect. It feels like something that has to have been written before, but you know it couldn't have existed because we would have known about it. From start to front, the song is a work of pure genius and there are at least 3 other songs on the album that rival it and a dozen more that are close. Be The Cowboy is an album that indie rock probably never imagined it could get in 2018, but is rightfully thankful that it received.

LISTEN TO: "Geyser" "A Pearl" "Nobody" "Two Slow Dancers"

5. 

CITY MORGUE VOL. 1: HELL OR HIGH WATER - City Morgue

(Republic Records)

Hip-hop’s infatuation with violence has long been one of the genre’s most visible (and controversial) aspects. The roots of this notion are deep - hip-hop has long been used as an outlet for the economic and social frustrations of America’s marginalized classes. Similarly, violence, implied or otherwise, has long been an effective means for those of whom society has given no other way to make themselves heard. Quite often polite society has misinterpreted the intelligent cataloging of violence as the encouraging of violence to further an often anti-black agenda that ignores the system that spawned this behavior. Nonetheless it seems that every few years hip-hop manages to raise the bar on its penchant for stylized violence; 2010 had Flockaveli, 2012 gave us Finally Rich, and since 2015 there has been a mainstream rush of consistently more macabre underground rappers This bar was pushed astronomically forward with the release VOL 1: HELL OR HIGH WATER. City Morgue’s disregard for destructive behavior is something that has always been hinted at in hip-hop but never quantified in such a jarring and compact manner. Take the the “SHINNERS 13” music video - in just three minutes it shows an arsenal’s worth of firearms (often wielded by children), graphic depictions of drug use including heroin, PCP, and cigarettes dipped in embalming fluid, dog fighting, firing guns in public, strippers, lighting fires in the streets, riding bikes on the hood of a Lamborghini, and spine-tingling medical footage. It is in every way fitting of a song and album meant to represent both America’s wet dream and worst nightmare, a terrifyingly modern exemplification of America’s obsession with shock culture and destructive isolation of minority communities. Regardless of one’s feelings towards the quality of the music, it is uncompromisingly noticeable and breathtakingly aggressive, the kind of statement that is impossible to ignore for anybody with ears. Despite all the anger, these songs are remarkably well constructed. They are filled with hooks and quotable lines, and the dichotomy between SosMula and ZillaKami’s rapping makes sure things never become stale (although with this sound and the short track lengths, it is pretty hard to lose focus). The songs also never overstay their welcome, which is essential with a style this overwhelming. The rapping, in terms of technical ability, is usually nothing to write home about but that is far from the point. It is nonetheless the most technical rap delivered with this level of intensity so far (that sounds good at least). Regardless of whether or not this kind of music is for you (it very well might not be), there is no denying that what has been done here is envelope-pushing, and certainly one of the most noticeable statements made on an album this year.

LISTEN TO: "Gravehop187" "Snow on tha Bluff" "SHINNERS13" "Sk8 Head"

4. 

Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves

(MCA Nashville)

Alright, alright I'll be the one to say it. Kacey Musgraves does too much acid to be bad at music. Semi-harmful jokes about the relationship between substance use and artistic ability aside, Musgraves' well-documented affinity for consciousness expansion feels decidedly out of step with a genre experiencing stagnation on the level of modern country music. She is one of the few artists there that is pushing themselves forward into the perilous oblivion, and on Golden Hour her relentless drive for self-actualization has resulted in one of the genre's masterpieces. Kacey Musgraves has managed to create what is easily the best country-pop album this decade, a legitimate classic of the genre. Talking down on modern country music has become a pastime for serious music fans lately, myself included (and this is usually for good reason) but only a fool could find something negative to say about this record. If we want to speak objectively, this is probably the best record of the year. Every song pushes the boundaries of modern country music, especially in their willingness to blend genres (and Musgraves' insane skill at pulling it off). On top of the oh-so-needed genre-bending, Musgraves has a God-given affinity for melody, casually throwing around hooks that artists from a dozen genres have worked their entire careers to write. I cannot overstate how important an album with these characteristics is for the state of country music in 2018. Country music needed an artist to come along and experiment with genres other than hip-hop (which has typically only been used by country artists to broaden the mainstream potential of their songs with little regard for issues of appropriation or respect for original artforms) and radio pop. Country music needed somebody who can write songs with hooks that stand on their own, rather than being propped up by big, glossy production and country music needed somebody who thought about their music as art, not just a product. I can think of maybe two classic albums (within their genre) released this year, and Golden Hour is indisputably one of them.

LISTEN TO: "Butterflies" "Space Cowboy" "Velvet Elvis" "High Horse"

3. 

FM! - Vince Staples

(Def Jam)

It's strange that Vince Staples' friendliest sounding project is also his most dangerous. Staples' music is usually fiercely experimental, combining off-kilter production with hyper-intelligent rapping to make something that is always uniquely Vince. Fan reactions to his experiments are often divided; Big Fish Theory was somewhat polarizing for listeners, particularly on the production front. Critics are nearly always unanimous about the brilliance of his work, but last year the fan response got to him a bit. He played it off in the most Vince Staples way possible, but it was easy to see that Staples felt he had something to prove on FM!. FM! features Staples' most "conventional" production in a while, possibly since his mixtape days, and Vince absolutely tears them apart. It almost feels like Vince is showing off how this is for him, because he takes these beats apart like it's nothing. The production, masterfully handled by Kenny Beats and Hagler, has an irresistible Bay Area bounce and SoCal swagger to it, and Vince's flows stick like glue over them. It all sounds effortless catchy, and Vince's rapping is so hook-filled, so locked into the beats, that it is impossible not to bob your head while listening. The guests here are also deployed perfectly. They never steal the show or even try to, but they enhance every track by adding things that Vince can't or shouldn't have to provide. The album's concept is well executed and consistently funny as well. It also makes the album's brevity feel a bit more natural as Vince is not usually one for medium length projects. His work is usually loaded with material or intentionally short, so this 22-minute outing is a bit unnatural for him. Luckily, with the interludes and radio takeover format things feel natural rather than too short. All the reviews for FM! have complained that the project is too short, or at least made some playful "My only complaint is that there isn't more!" joke like Vince doesn't have a well-established pattern of alternating short project and LP by year. Personally, I think the length is perfect for this style. A longer album gives Staples room to innovate and experiment, but on this relatively straightforward project he doesn't need that length. FM! is a brilliantly succinct and compulsively listenable mini-album that shows Vince not only at the top of his game, but Vince at the top of the game. 

LISTEN TO: "Feels Like Summer" "Relay" "Run the Bands" "FUN!"

2.

Happiness Hours - The Sidekicks

(Epitaph Records)

Who let a band like The Sidekicks make a record like this in 2018? The Sidekicks have been around for over two decades (which means they're all 75 in punk years), and have been one of the rare bands in the genre that has become better with every release. They started as a scrappy pop-punk band and have slowly morphed into a more mature, but still rollicking, sound over time. This is the band's fifth album and it is... transcendent. Happiness Hours is what sunshine on a cloudless Sunday day with the person you love sounds like. It's the smell of flowers as you walk to work, it's watching the sunset, it's a beer at the beach, it's driving through your hometown and feeling that strangely comforting nostalgia. It is the perfect blend of being in an incredible moment but feeling a strange sense of worry that you're not enjoying it enough. I have never found a record that so perfectly encapsulates that nagging in the back of your head reminding you that time will move on and this beautiful minute will pass but that it's still something to appreciate while you're in it, even though it won't last forever. Every song here is loaded with that sickeningly sweet feeling of having a good time but knowing moments aren't permanent and I cannot describe it in any other way than that it is wonderful. The twelve songs here are beyond punk, but not quite rock or pop or anything else. It's just sunshine. They have the energy and enthusiasm of punk but don't sound like punk so that genre label is mostly inapplicable here. They are just mashups of everything in those genres, and the sense of nervous anxiety makes everything sound even happier. There's nothing else to say here - just go listen to the album. I dare you to make it through "Twin's Twist" or "Weed Tent" without a smile on your face.

LISTEN TO: "Twin's Twist" "Don't Feel Like Dancing" "Weed Tent" "Medium in the Middle" 

1. 

Joy as an Act of Resistance - IDLES

(Partisan)

Joy as an Act of Resistance is not just the best record of the year, it is the most important. I mentioned in the Kacey Musgraves review that there were two legitimate "classic of their genre" level albums released this year. This is the other one. Joy is an absolutely essential record, the sound of 2018 distilled into 42 minutes. This is not only what punk should sound like in 2018, this is what punk needs to sound like in 2018. Every year sees the release of hundreds of enjoyable albums but only once or twice a decade can we see an album of this magnitude and cultural relevance. IDLES is the mouthpiece of an entire generation that barely knows they exist outside of the UK. IDLES turned heads with their debut album Brutalism last year as a smart, intense political punk band but Brutalism feels trivial next to the behemoth that is Joy. These lyrics are beyond whip-smart, they're borderline prophetic. The instrumentals are bigger than life itself, capable of conveying anger, frustration, guilt, tension, explosiveness, and every other conceivable emotion one feels living in an increasingly aware world that is being consumed by xenophobia, fascism, and racism a little more every day. The songs on Joy are the opposite of punk's too cool for school nihilism - these songs are vital, caring, and furious. These lyrics skewer toxic masculinity, fascism, sexism, fake love, and more while tearing apart and redesigning stupid liberal sloganeering and conservative evil alike. The messages on this record are above politics or partisanship. This is an album of right and wrong, and if it feels like it only attacks conservatives then that means you should probably take a look in the mirror. Joy tears apart useless, talking head liberals and their stupid obsessions with Harry Potter, sloganeering, and talk over action with nearly as much vitriol as it does the legitimate evils of the world, but it never gets confused by which side is at fault here. The matters at hand on this album are bigger than politics and should have never been politicized. Concepts like empathy are bigger than politics, and have been around far longer than our specific parties and will far outlast them. All of this would be for nothing if these songs weren't worth listening to, but that is laughably far from the truth here. These songs are the best written in any genre this year, no question about it. It should be impossible to write music this cathartic and violent but still so accessible and full of fun. Even if you turn your brain off and just listen, this is a once a year level album. The hooks are jubilant in their immensity, the instrumentals barrel forward with determinedly fervent energy, and everything just sounds so perfect. This is the punk album people wait their entire lives to hear, and my favorite album of 2018.

LISTEN TO:  "I'm Scum" "Danny Nedelko" "Love Song" "Great"


If you're reading this, it means you either finished it or put in the effort to scroll down and see what I put at #1. Both of those are more than worthy of a thank you. I really appreciate you reading this much text on my behalf and for taking the time to check out something I wrote. If you enjoyed this and know somebody who also would feel free to send or share it with them! I hope you have a great day and that you enjoyed my list (or at the least found some new music). Remember to support the artists you enjoy, share music with people you care about, and to tell your friends and family that you love them. 

Thank you. 

Ian Brower