I culled the following list/write-ups from a RYM list that I compiled, which can be read in full here:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Traviud/i-survived-2018-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-music-countdown/
Since we're all pretty familiar with top 15 lists from previous years, I will use that as a foundation and go from there.
Best albums:
15. Julia Holter - Aviary
In a word: overwhelming. This is spiritual jazz flavored by decades of experimental and modern classical music. There's no good way to describe this record; listen to it and allow yourself to be swept away.
Key tracks: Turn the Light On, I Shall Love 2, Words I Heard
14. Robyn - Honey
The best "comeback" album of 2018, but unlike most comeback albums, there was never any doubt this would be good. The first half is one reliable Robyn banger after another, while the second half takes her music into some fresh new directions.
Key tracks: Missing U, Honey, Ever Again
13. Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Fetti
One of those instances when the ingredients are amazing but the end result is somehow even better. Please drop Bandana soon, Freddie.
Key tracks: Saturday Night Special, Willie Lloyd
12. Pejzaż - Ostatni Dzień Lata
If you thought The Avalanche's Wildflower was excellent but wanted just a little bit more downtempo and nu-jazz in the mix, boy do I have the record for you!
Key tracks: Przyzwyczajamy Się, Ostatni Dzień Lata
11. Hookworms - Microshift
RIP to this now-canceled but endlessly great neo-psychedelic band. If you can ignore that the singer is an asshole, you can hopefully enjoy the year's finest musical shift this side of KKB, an invigorating mix of neo-psychedelia, krautrock and progressive electronic.
Key tracks: Negative Space, Ullswater
10. Melody's Echo Chamber - Bon voyage
Melody Prochet returns from a life-altering accident with her best record, a fresh and modern spin on neo-psychedelia that never fails to surprise, even when its influences are clear as day.
Key tracks: Cross My Heart, Quand les larmes d'un ange font danser la neige
9. Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place
My pick for the best band of 2018 capped off their incredible year with this, a varied, joyous and thoughtful stew of sounds that cemented Sarah Bonito as one of the most creative, relatable and charismatic artists in music today.
Key tracks: Time Today, Make Believe, Swimming
8. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
You won't believe how funky this is until you hear it. A groovy, psychedelic fever dream that evokes the best aspects of disco, funk and 1960s pop.
Key tracks: M.A.H., Rosebud, Time
7. Against All Logic - 2012-2017
One of the greatest deep house records of all time, it evokes nocturnal urban environments like nothing since Burial's peak. The sampling is top notch and it never fully sacrifices melody for groove.
Key tracks: I Never Dream, Cityfade
6. MGMT - Little Dark Age
Their best and first truly great record. They've brought synthpop into their sound a decade after everyone else and still sound fresh. That opening four-track run is a thing of beauty.
Key tracks: Little Dark Age, Me and Michael
5. Beach House - 7
Though it may not contain the band's highest peaks to date (Dive comes close), this is the band's most refined and skillfully-sequenced record, boasting unusually punchy textures, impressive flow and a psychedelic quality unlike their previous albums.
Key tracks: Dive, Black Car
4. Pusha T - Daytona
Gives Kanye the opportunity to reaffirm his immense talent as a producer while bringing Push out of the wilderness. The best producer/rapper collaborative record since Piñata.
Key tracks: If You Know You Know, The Games We Play, Infrared
3. DJ Koze - Knock Knock
The platonic ideal of a producer's record, merging top-shelf features with impressive sonic coherence and consistent quality.
Key tracks: Bonfire, Moving in a Liquid, Pick Up
2. Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year for me, it's a glorious mix of Animal Collective, Sweet Trip, Grizzly Bear and Stereolab that takes the listener on a journey to somewhere beautiful. Perhaps the ultimate example of indietronica and it dropped in 2018.
Key tracks: 쇠사슬 (These Chains), 함께 무너지기 (Crumbling Together)
1. Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (2018)
2018's most sweeping, ambitious and emotive rock listening experience. A record about personal growth and forgiveness that feels essential despite its designation as a re-recording.
Key tracks: Beach Life-in-Death, Bodys, Famous Prophets (Stars)
Just missed the cut:
Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs
Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks - Sparkle Hard
Mount Eerie - Now Only
Saba - Care For Me
Kali Uchis - Isolation
Best EPs:
5. Jenny Hval - The Long Sleep
An always singular and intriguing artist, this EP pares Hval's best qualities down to half an hour and gives us perhaps the best song of her career.
4. 水曜日のカンパネラ [Suiyoubi no Campanella] - ガラパゴス (Galapagos)
At 36 minutes, this is really more of an album-length release from one of the most consistent J-pop bands going. They're as danceable and sublime as ever, though in a perhaps more contemplative mood here than usual.
3. Hatchie - Sugar & Spice
This perfect marriage of Cocteau Twins-influenced dream pop and vintage jangle pop would be embraced as a classic if it had dropped in 1986.
2. Kero Kero Bonito - TOTEP
The band kicked off their masterful 2018 with a total about face in sound that presented endless possibility and undeniable charm. Not a bad track in the batch.
1. Sufjan Stevens - Mystery of Love
Three absolutely perfect songs from what I consider to be the most fruitful period of Sufjan's career.
Best archival release:
Prince - Piano & a Microphone 1983
One of the most talented men of the 20th and 21st centuries in his heyday, propped up in front of a piano in order to play some great songs. If that isn't enough, you also get a feverish after hours atmosphere, which seems to blend these tracks together into a flavorful soup of jazz and soul.
Best compilation:
Liz Phair - Girly-Sound to Guyville
One of the best records of the 90s packaged alongside three eye-opening independent releases that served as a blueprint for today's indie rock scene. Study and savor every second of this.
I might do a top songs list/playlist, but this is enough for now.
