Albums of the Year (2018)

Albums of the Year
My apologies for not keeping a consistent blog (the semester got hectic near the end). But I am back nevertheless and here are my favorite albums released this year. 2018 was a great year for music for me personally, as many of these albums are joining my all-time favorites list. The following albums are in no particular order, however my definitive album of the year appears last. Without further ado, here is my incredibly basic list. 


God's Favorite Customer - Father John Misty
FJM steps back from the grandeur and scope of last year's Pure Comedy and releases a beautiful collection of love songs written for his wife.
Favorite Aspect: Lyrical Themes

Joy as an Act of Resistance - Idles
A noisy and ambitious punk album wrought with emotion.
Favorite Aspect: Overall sound

Little Dark Age - MGMT
A decade after they burst onto the pop scene, the duo known as MGMT have released some of their best songs yet, setting pop lyrics against catchy synth leads.
Favorite Aspect: Overall sound and aesthetic

Some Rap Songs - Earl Sweatshirt
Short but sweet, Earl delivers an experimental record comparable to the works of MF Doom.
Favorite Aspect: Production

Wide Awake - Parquet Courts
A unique genre blend featuring punk vocals and politically charged lyrics, as well as throwbacks to the olden days of rock.
Favorite Aspect: The blend of genres

You Won't Get What you Want - Daughters
The sound is crushing, foreboding, and overpowering; I love it.
Favorite Aspect: Overall sound

Wind Up Bird - Matthew Thiessen & the Earthquakes
Matt T.'s first full length solo album is most comparable to a summer drive through the hill country: relaxing in every way.
Favorite Aspect: Overall sound and aesthetic

Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts
Kanye West and Kid Cudi team up to produce a lean and mean hip-hop record.
Favorite Aspect: Pacing

Year of the Snitch - Death Grips
The experimental group for Sacramento is back with their most abstract album yet.
Favorite Aspect: Pacing

Album of the Year: Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) - Car Seat Headrest
Bandcamp's indie sweetheart has reworked the classic 2011 album into a work that exceeds it predecessor in almost every way.
Favorite Aspect: Everything

Comments

  1. RickJanuary 8, 2019 at 10:42 PM

    Disappointed that this song was not included in the list...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stratosphere - Duster

Image
  Stratosphere  - Duster (1998) Stratosphere  by Duster, or: a lesson in analysis. I remember fondly the time I visited Duster's Spotify page to discover, to my shock, that they had millions of monthly listeners (4.8 million as of writing this review). While in my mind, Duster was (and still is) a relatively obscure band, Tiktok had worked its algorithmic magic, and their song "Inside Out" had gone viral. Unlike your average male RYM-user, I'm not one to gatekeep; I was honestly glad Duster was receiving more attention and getting exposed to a new and wider audience. But the question I asked myself then is the question I ask myself now: of all 17 tracks off of Stratosphere , why "Inside Out"? The reason this review includes "A lesson in analysis" in its title is because I believe that reviewing Stratosphere  on a track-by-track basis misses the point and the feel of the album. Trust me, I've tried. When figuring out how much I like an album, a ...
Read more

The Legend of Chin - Switchfoot

Image
The Legend of Chin  - Switchfoot 1997, Re:think Ah, Switchfoot's charming debut record. I wasn't alive yet and these guys were already getting things started, albeit their line-up was a bit smaller at the time (Jon and Tim Foreman and Chad Butler). Even in their earliest iteration, Switchfoot was already establishing their style, one they would continue to develop over time. The result is a likable record from a band that showed promise. As you might have guessed, this album is a blend of what would become Switchfoot and a youthful side of the band that has, with age, been abandoned. On the track "Chem 6A," Jon sings about having "nothing but laziness" in a tongue-in-cheek song about teenaged indifference. The song "Might Have Ben Hur" is about a girl Jon is infatuated with; a handful of songs start with some pre-performance banter among the guys. All of this adds to the charm and youth that oozes out of the album. On the other hand, Jon was...
Read more

The Wall - Pink Floyd

Image
The Wall  - Pink Floyd 1979, Harvest Records (UK) / Columbia Records (US) Where else to start a doomed blog than with a review of my favorite album. While this may not be the greatest album of all time, it's the album that I appreciate the most (keep in mind I've only logged 363 albums at the time of writing this review). The Wall is a rock opera (an album with an overarching narrative) that chronicles a man's decent into insanity, chronicling every scar and misstep in his life, ultimately culminating in him building a "wall" to cut himself off from everyone. Through Roger Waters' and David Gilmore's smooth and sometimes absurd vocals, we are shown the inner thoughts of a man struggling to deal with his life and himself. We see his successes, his failures, his paranoia, and his isolation. The lyrics and delivery are top notch. While the lyrical subject matter is bold and executed perfectly, it would be a sin to overlook the skill of the band members. ...
Read more