I’m not quite done sharing music from 2018, thanks to a buzzer-beating recommendation from a trusted friend. Wandelaar is the project of dutch composer Haron Aumaj, and it taps into some of ambient’s greatest works with floating and poetic use of piano and synthesizer. There’s plenty of room to breathe within the notes, allowing for each listen to be unique to one another, depending on the noise environment you listen in.
In love with this record in a big way. Make sure to support Haron & his label Queeste.
Wanna give a special shout-out to Bandcamp Daily for this month’s edition of Recommended Albums. Usually I go off my general knowledge of what’s being released, reviewed and talked about that month, but it seemed like everyone was just focusing on Best Of 2018 lists. It seemed like every site was shut down for the holidays. That is, except the good folks at Bandcamp. I found a good amount of records there that were treats to listen to, most of which I had never seen featured anywhere else.
What I’ve collected is an eclectic array of projects, ranging from potentially the biggest artist in the world, to a reissue of West African funk, to twinklecore emo, to gospel. Didn’t do any abstract comparisons this month, just a quick description for each. Enjoy listening & hope these don’t make you regret posting your Best Of 2018 list too early.
Algernon Cadwallader – Some Kind Of Cadwallader & Parrot Flies Reissues [Lauren Records]
Defunct, foundational twinklecore emo band got their catalog reissued. If you haven’t spent any time with this band but enjoy rock music, do yourself a favor and listen to these. I can’t listen to this type of music all the time but when it hits, it HITS. Big rippers.
Bad Bunny – X 100PRE [Rimas Entertainment LLC]
Possibly the biggest artist in the world right now. Latin trap, as they call it. If you don’t hear it here, you’ll likely hear it anywhere else. Production is for the most part insane.
Budgie – Holy Ghost Zone [HGZ]
Gospel samples with Bay Area bounce. The material in the samples themselves is incredible, so whatever is surrounding it is just icing on the cake. Moving both emotionally and physically. Reminds me of the 90s.
El Búho – Camino De Flores [Shika Shika]
Downtempo electronics fused with rainforest field recordings and traditional folk instrumentation from South & Central Americas. A constantly flowering, bubbling and evolving sound.
Hammock – Universalis [Self-Released]
Soothing, emotionally open post rock & ambient. Not a lot of dramatic swells, more music for guided introspection. Goshdarn pretty to boot.
MIKE – War In My Pen [10k]
It’s no wonder MIKE and Earl Sweatshirt are friends. Taps into that same woozy, dimly-lit, chopped-up airspace as Some Rap Songs.
Orchestre Abass – De Bassari Togo [Analog Africa]
Collection of tapes and singles from 1970s Togo, led by organist Malam Issa Abass. Aggressively funky, in a way that kicks up dust and spurs the body to thrash in rhythm.
박혜진 park hye jin – IF U WANT IT [clipp.art]
A winning combination: house & techno from South Korea with an ice cold emcee. Very barebones and low-key. No barnburners on here, but that’s totally cool.
Silent Servant – Shadows Of Death and Desire [Hospital Productions]
Dark, harrowing, maze-like goth techno + post-punk fusion. Is a techno + post-punk fusion just industrial? Not quite, I don’t think. Sounds like a terrifying villain chasing you.
Twist – Distancing [Buzz Records]
Ultra breezy indie pop rock with an emphasis on guitar lines and subtle psychedelic songwriting maneuvers. Not chock-full of hooks, but the ones present are STRONG. I predict I’ll be seeing a lot of Twist in 2019.
Had a moment today with Hiroshi Yoshimura’s 1986 album Green: I was standing on the top observation deck at the Whitney Museum in the rain, looking out at lower NYC. Watching all the little things conspire down below me, along with the pitter-patter of the rain against my coat made for a lovely, comforting sensory experience. Some may find standing in the cold rain is unpleasant, but if you’ve got an appropriate soundtrack, you can turn a dreary day into a cozy one.
If you haven’t listened to any of Yoshimura’s music, I recommend Green as well as his recently-reissued Music For Nine Post Cards. Had plenty of moments with that album as well. The man knows how to set a peaceful mood.
Looking back at my listening statistics for 2018, it is to my chagrin that this year only perpetuated my habit of almost exclusively listening to music that came out in the current year and ignoring everything else. I had very few discoveries this year, and when I did listen to something for the first time, usually it came with heavy recommendations, are already-established classics, or I was re-discovering after not getting back to it.
My year was defined by the ebbs and flows of releases throughout, but also my knack for themed playlists in the summer & early fall, a city-pop obsession that carried over from late last year, my progression through re-ranking the albums of the 2000s and a constant infatuation with Yo La Tengo and Grouper. Of course. Check out the 100 songs that defined my year chronologically below, along with my year-end listening stats underneath that. What you’ll find may shock you! (It won’t).
I’ve resolved we must live in the good timeline, solely because there is a high fidelity concert recording of a show from Grouper’s latest tour online. A bigger treat for me is that it was taped at the show I was at, so somewhere in the folds of the heavenly waveform is my body slowly fading away, disintegrating into dust and flying into the atmosphere, back from where I came. The spectrogram at the bottom of the video gives it away, but there are a few moments where you’ll want the volume loud for nice headphones or decent speakers. If you’re a Group-freek like me, you’ll be in bliss.
Over the past two years, I’ve made the arbitrary decision to rank the live shows I attended that year. It’s worked decently well, since I have gone to some shows in the past that just knocked my socks clean off into a waiting volcano, incinerating them and along with it any hope of having dry feet for the next 10,000 years. This year, however, was different. I feel like I was surrounded by volcanoes, each with a bigger desire for socks. There was no way I could rank which volcano was hungrier than the next: they’re volcanoes! Instead, I’ll write about the hungriest volcanoes instead. I feel like I’ve drifted away from the main point here. In short, here are the best and most memorable shows I attended this year, presented in chronological order. I thought that I wouldn’t see more shows in a year than in 2017, but I beat that in 2018. Two festivals helped, but even without them I still exceed last year’s ludicrous total. Make sure to scroll all the way down to see stats + every artist I saw.
(Notice – all the videos linked below are rando live videos, so in the future they might get taken down. For this, I apologize. I just want you to be exactly where my headspace was, yknow?)
29 FAVORITE SHOWS OF 2018:
Destroyer (+Mega Bog) @ Brooklyn Steel – 1/27/2018 The famous show that inspired the Essential Oil Dimension. Setlist likely could not have been better, plus seeing the band just sync up in a dreamy, hazy, formless pocket like that was beyond my wildest dreams. Dan Bejar is one cool customer, let me tell ya.
The Radio Dept. (+SRiD & Psychic Twin) @ Warsaw – 2/3/2018
This was just a wholesome good time. I ran into a good acquaintance at this show and hung together for most of it. Even though I was kinda dropped by another friend there, I had a sweet time talking and hanging. Plus the bands were great. Psychic Twin was killer – y’all should see her if you get the chance! Totally blew me away.
IDLES @ Hotel Vegas (SXSW) – 3/14/2018
The christening show of SXSW 2018 was a doozy. IDLES really put the clamp down on 2018 with their run at SX, with good reason. The whole place was moshing, I saw the entire staff of a South Carolinian radio station get swallowed up right before my eyes. The guitarist climbed and promptly fell out of a tree while wearing only underwear. Glad to have gotten to see these lads on a small stage before they start smashing down arenas.
G Flip @ Lucille’s (SXSW) – 3/15/2018
Felt a little like watching a star be born, especially since it was her second show EVER. Hasn’t quite taken off yet (how much can you do with only two songs in the world?) but G Flip is a natural born performer. The songs she has waiting in the chamber are pop perfection and a blast to see live. The kind of songs everyone was singing along to by the end of them, even though it was our first time hearing them. I was also standing behind her family from Australia, who were getting STUPID lit. Always fun to see a proud, lit fam for their super talented daughter. This is not to slight the second time I saw G Flip, which was with some music directors who got their mind blown when G Flip gets on drums during “About You” – I will never forget their faces.
Hop Along @ Cedar Street Courtyard (SXSW) – 3/16/2018
First time seeing Hop Along. Just wanted to put this on here. Singing along to the hits was about as satisfying as you’d think it would be. Love this band to bits.
Four Tet @ National Sawdust – 3/22/2018
I’ve never had a psychedelic experience through hallucinogenics, but I’d imagine that this came close to that feeling. Four Tet’s most recent live show included him playing in the center of a room amongst hanging, colored lightbulbs that were programmed to flow with the music. Watching Four Tet go through his songs live (it wasn’t just a DJ set, there was a ton of tech onstage with him) while the lights blinked and bobbed around in the audience and up into the ceiling was mind blowing. The stereo system itself was also surrounding the audience, so he would send sound to wrap around the room and move it around places, creating a multitude of hypnotic effects. I’ve already got my ticket to see him at Brooklyn Steel in February. I doubt it’ll capture the same magic as this did, but it’ll be another great, body-moving affair.
One Night, Three Shows – 4/13/2018 I went to three shows in one night because I wanted to. It wasn’t even CMJ.
Waxahatchee @ Warsaw – Happy to finally see them! Didn’t play my fav songs, but regardless, another great one to check off my priority list. Sad to skip Hurray For The Riff Raff, but I had two other shows to hit that night.
Young Galaxy @ Knitting Factory – SO happy to finally see YG, on what would turn out to be their potential final tour. They played the hits (“We Have Everything”, “Pretty Boy”) and even came out for an encore, something that the lead singer said didn’t happen often. They seemed so grateful for everyone being there. After being a fan for seven years, it felt great to finally groove out to their songs in real time.
U.S. Girls (+Gold Dime) @ Baby’s All Right – Their third show of the night as well. Funny how we crossed paths like that. Like I wrote in my Top 50 Albums of 2018 post, U.S. Girls was the most impressive act I saw all year, packing wicked talent and grooves onto a small, small stage. This was at 1am, mind you. It was a delirious fever dream of a show and I feel lucky to have gotten the chance to see it.
Kevin Morby + Hand Habits @ Bowery Ballroom – 4/21/2018
Another super wholesome show! I’ve love both Meg and Kevin so much, but seeing them play a show together was like heaven. New Hand Habits songs sounded amazing, and her old songs still shred like hell. As for Kev’s set: it was dope! The band is so in sync with each other. Also gotta love the moment when Meg jumps of Kevin’s back to rip a guitar solo while he sings. Just a sweet family outing.
serpentwithfeet @ The High Line Hotel – 5/6/2018
Definitive proof that I have been in the same room as Björk, less than four feet away at one point. Thanks to some Red Bull money, serpentwithfeet put on an elaborate performance at an old meeting hall in a historic NYC hotel, complete with props and small dolls placed on every chair. As for the music, if you haven’t treated yourself to a serpent show yet, you better get the heck on it, cowboy! He’s hilarious, immensely talented and something so refreshing amongst many acts that try their hardest to not care. Because serpent definitely cares, and I am grateful for it.
Bombino @ Brooklyn Bowl – 5/9/2018
Speaking of artists who care a lot, Bombino might just be the most skilled guitar player I’ve ever seen in my life. Whereas Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) is my favorite current guitarist, Bombino is the best shredder. My jaw was constantly left agape by the dude’s wicked shred skills, going off on multiple solos in non-Western modes, keys, what have you. Not to forget about his band, whom were also masterful in their own right and all stemmed from four or five different countries.
Fever Ray (+Bunny Michael) @ Brooklyn Hangar – 5/12/2018
One of my longest-standing bucket list artists, Fever Ray, was finally checked off this year with a feverish, unabashed, brilliant and horny performance in a remote hangar in Brooklyn. It was great and all to hear the fiery new material, but hearing her superstar band incorporate her older, more somber songs into this jacked-up framework was a blast and a half. This was nearly a decade of anticipation, folks!
Midori Takada (+Huerco S.) @ Murmrr – 5/23/2018
A master at work! Never thought I’d get the chance to see Midori Takada perform, but hey – New York, baby! Watching her do her thing on marimba, pseudo-taiko drums, cymbals and bells was amazing. The only detractor was the young boy sitting behind me, constantly fidgeting in his creaky seat and loud kid-whispering to his dad “daddy is that the lady?” and “daddy when is this over?” Why you would bring a little kid to a show like this I don’t know. Eventually they left, which was much appreciated. Thank you Midori!
Hit that read more for Oneohtrix, Yo La Tengo, Grouper, Nick Cave & more.
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Charli XCX’s groundbreaking Pop 2 “mixtape”. It has dominated my listening rotation since its release, as its future pop folds are incredibly easy to get, for lack of a better word, addicted to. I’ve been so addicted, in fact, that for the week I was writing my Best 50 Albums of 2018 post, I had Pop 2 as my #1 album. It was only until I saw a fellow music fan rank it as their #1, which opened the floodgates for me. In the end though, I kept everything as it were. This was not before I wrote seven whopping paragraphs about Pop 2, which you can read below.
In summation, Pop 2 is a milestone for music as a whole, in my opinion. It was the best album of 2017, the best album of 2018, and will continue being a force until I can’t bear to listen to it anymore. Read my original manuscript for the album below.
I wrote a lot in this post, so I’m gonna keep the intro brief. Thought music as a whole was pretty dang good this year. My top 20 records feel especially water tight. A good amount of pop-leaning stuff in there. Is that due to the traditionally indie publications that I read now putting a greater emphasis on pop coverage because it’s “cool”? Is it all being bought out by majors? Or am I just getting sucked into pop music more? I don’t like feeling like I’ve been brainwashed, so I’m gonna power through that. The bottom half is dominated by “experimental” records, which all kind of shuffled around throughout the year. Wish I liked that 0PN album more! Anyways, I hope you enjoy + find things you love that you didn’t know about before. Love ya.
Honorable Mentions:
AKA these are overlooked albums that deserve at least a listen no matter who you are!
Confidence Man – Confident Music For Confident People
Eleventeen Eston – At The Water
Fire-Toolz – Skinless X-1
Gia Margaret – There’s Always A Glimmer
Hermit & The Recluse – Orpheus Vs. The Sirens
Holy Fawn – Death Spells
Kate NV – для FOR
møl – JORD
North Americans – Going Steady
Ovlov – TRU
Pariah – Here From Where We Are
Rezzett – Rezzett LP
Rosali – Trouble Anyway
The Samps – Breakfast
Young Galaxy – Down Time
— — — — —
TOP 50:
50. Wished Bone – Cellar Belly
49. Teyana Taylor – K.T.S.E.
48. Natalia Lafourcade – Musas: Un Homenaje al Folclore Latinoamericano en Manos de Los Macorinos, Vol. 2 47. Flasher – Constant Image
46. Oneohtrix Point Never – Age Of
45. Mary Lattimore – Hundreds Of Days
44. Young Jesus – The Whole Thing Is Just There
43. Kelly Moran – Ultraviolet
42. Leon Vynehall – Nothing Is Still
41. Saintseneca – Pillar Of Na
40. Anenon – Tongue
39. Adrianne Lenker – abysskiss
38. Pusha T – DAYTONA
37. Camp Cope – How To Socialise And Make Friends
36. IDLES – Joy As An Act Of Resistance.
35. Daniel Bachman – The Morning Star
34. Natalie Prass – The Future And The Past
33. Kamasi Washington – Heaven & Earth
32. Caroline Says – No Fool Like An Old Fool
31. Bernice – Puff LP: In the air without a shape
30. Mountain Man – Magic Ship
29. Against All Logic – 2012-2017
28. Haley Heynderickx – I Need To Start A Garden
27. Kadhja Bonet – Childqueen
26. Denzel Curry – TA13OO
25. Julia Holter – Aviary
24. Palm – Rock Island 23. Renata Zeiguer – Old Ghost 22. Robyn – Honey
21. serpentwithfeet – soil
Happened to be sleeping for all of 2018 due to a 2017-induced coma? Take a sabbatical from modern life due to the avalanche of hellfire raining down upon us on a daily basis? Miss literally all of the music from 2018 that myself and many other like-minded goofball individuals found enjoyable? Feeling left out and would like to catch up on all that? Then oh hell yeah pimp: I’ve got what you need.
Immediately below you’ll find 90 of my favorite songs of 2018, alphabetized. Below that, you’ll find my top 10 songs of the year, RANKED. Each artist is only represented once. My top 5 favorite songs were easy to pull from this group of 100. The second five are just as strong, but had to be put under a bit of deliberation to get there. A nice batch of tunes this year, definitely leaning more indie than electronic, but also sprinkling in some noise, pop and experimental. It was tough whittling this whole thing down to just 100 songs in general, so you can listen to all of these and almost 100 more favorites gathered as the year progressed on my Spotify playlist below. Hope you enjoy + let me know if there’s anything you’re peeved at me for missing!
As the tradition goes, WARM VISIONS LIST WEEK gets kicked off with the EPs. The little appetizers to stimulate musical appetite, the accoutrements to dress the heavy-hitting long-players. Although, someone can be plenty satisfied by ordering just apps at a restaurant. This is essentially what’s happening here: we have a bunch of bite-sized packages that pack in flavor like no other, but exist on a separate section of the menu from the entrees. Quite a bit of flavor we have on deck here as well, from bouncing pseudo hip-house, to sugary sweet jangle pop, to experimental R&B, to interplanetary house bangers, to masochistic electronic. Let’s get it!
10. 700 Bliss – Spa 700
A bent metal baseball bat with golden bangles hanging from the handle is propped up in the corner of a concrete stairwell. — — — — —
Fiery collab between warrior poet and exciting experimental producer/DJ, incorporating non-western melodies and instrumentation with deep bass and tough vocal deliveries.
9. 1010 Benja SL – Two Houses
One motivated youth trains flocks of birds to spread the message of rebellion through distinct flight patterns during the changing of the morning guard.
— — — — —
Experimental pop with a super unique voice, showing flashes of absolute brilliance among some inconsistencies. One to watch for 2019.
8. Helena Deland – From The Series Of Songs “Altogether Unaccompanied” Vol. I-IV
At the bottom of a whirlpool, beside the tattered remains of lost ships, lays a resting, powerful spirit.
— — — — —
Patient, well-arranged tunes with vocals and instrumentals that pour in a steady stream. Seemingly effortless, subtle grooves.
7. Peggy Gou – Once
A virus from outer space that makes everyone dance has floated into our atmosphere!!!
— — — — —
Three interplanetary party bangers, an instant burner for anyone’s DJ set. Insane boogie.
6. Ravyn Lenae – Crush EP
The soundtrack to one’s perspective of an overlapping network of online chat rooms between friends & potential lovers after being grounded on the night of the big dance.
— — — — —
Slick, psychedelic R&B pop songs from a quickly-ascending star, evidence that a traditionally stellar pop voice can succeed over weird, cosmic guitar instrumentals.
5. Yuno – Moodie
Every patch of dirt that you step on with bare feet, a palm tree seed is planted.
— — — — —
Every good trope in indie rock from the past decade distilled into six killer songs.
4. Channel Tres – Channel Tres
Driving to the club, down a palm-lined street at night in a very expensive car, but continuing to avoid reaching the club because the playlist you made is too good and you don’t want it to end so soon.
— — — — —
Elastic, Detroit-leaning techno with coolest-customer West Coast emcee delivery. The type of music that makes you feel cool no matter what. Appropriately from the same label that brought us Yaeji.
3. boygenius – boygenius
Going home for Thanksgiving to confront and repair years-old trauma and wafting embarrassment with assorted parties in your small town.
— — — — —
Three of this decade’s most important new songwriters combine their powers for a highly impactful set of tunes, further establishing their long-lasting legacies of emotional intelligence.
2. Hatchie – Sugar & Spice
Like acquiring the Midas Touch but instead of gold, everything you touch turns to Valentine’s Day heart candies.
— — — — —
Refreshing, overdriven jangle pop thrown into a tornado of reverb. An overdose of pop rock sweetness. Calls upon the immediate respect from the old masters.
1. Smerz – Have fun
Across a foggy, strobe-lit club, a dancer stares at you intimidatingly.
— — — — —
Tough, smoky, intimidating house-touched electronic. A balanced euphoria of abrasive, smooth and mysterious textures. Masochistically addictive; a dark carnal pleasure. Unsurprisingly, they’re friends with SASSY 009, the creators of my fav EP from 2017.
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
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Upcoming Releases:
January 9: Dry Cleaning – Secret Love SAULT – Chapter 1 Winged Wheel – Desert So Green
January 16: A$AP Rocky – Don’t Be Dumb Jana Horn – Jana Horn Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore – Tragic Magic SASSY 009 – Dreamer+
February 6: Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter in Summer Daphni – Butterfly Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon – Seeing Is Forgetting Fabiano do Nascimento – Aquáticos Joshua Chuquimia-Crampton – Anata Mandy, Indiana – URGH Puma Blue – Croak Dream Ratboys – Singin’ To An Empty Chair
February 13: Charli XCX – Wuthering Heights Colin Stetson – Nethering Danny L Harle – Cerulean KMRU – Kin The Olympians – In Search of A Revival
February 20: Altin Gün – Garip Apparat – A Hum of Maybe
February 27: Buck Meek – The Mirror Fabiano do Nascimento – Vila GENA – The Pleasure Is Yours Gorillaz – The Mountain Gus Englehorn – The Broken Balladeer Heavenly – Highway to Heavenly LB aka LABAT – Feel So Good Around U Maria BC – Marathon Mitski – Nothings About to Happen to Me Nothing – a short history of decay Shane Parish – Autechre Guitar
March 6: Hater – Mosquito Natalie Jane Hill – Hopeful Woman Scout Gillett – Tough Touch Shabaka – Of The Earth waterbaby – Memory Be a Blade
March 13: Alexis Taylor – Paris In The Spring Colleen – Libres antes del final Crack Cloud – Peace and Purpose Cut Worms – Transmitter ELUCID – I Guess U Had To Be There James Blake – Trying Times Kim Gordon – PLAY ME The Notwist – News From Planet Zombie Ora Cogan – Hard Hearted Woman
March 27: Fcukers – Ö Holy Fuck – Event Beat José González – Against the Dying of the Light Robyn – Sexistential Snail Mail – Ricochet
April 3: Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire John Andrews & The Yawns – Streetsweeper Makthaverskan – Glass and Bones Sunn O))) – sunn O))) Wendy Eisenberg – Wendy Eisenberg
Warm Visions 