Albums of the Year 2018. Lists.
- Thread starter andrew d
- Start date
Colonel_Mad
pfm Member
Is it me or is proper artwork making a come back?
Some wonderful sleeve art on those lists. Obvious thought is it might be to do with the return of the 12" as a key format for this sort of music. Alternatively I might be talking balls.
Some wonderful sleeve art on those lists. Obvious thought is it might be to do with the return of the 12" as a key format for this sort of music. Alternatively I might be talking balls.
darrenyeats
pfm Member
Expanded list:
GoGo Penguin - A Humdrum Star (hi res at Qobuz)
Maisha - There Is A Place - thanks mikechadwick from new jazz thread, most tracks seem to get going a third or half the way through, repays patience! (24 bit at 7digital)
GoGo Penguin - A Humdrum Star (hi res at Qobuz)
Maisha - There Is A Place - thanks mikechadwick from new jazz thread, most tracks seem to get going a third or half the way through, repays patience! (24 bit at 7digital)
Bananahead
pfm Member
I bought the Idles album having previously thought that they were just a shouty band. I now regret not going to see them a few weeks ago.
James Evans
Bedroom Bodger
Late addition for Father John Misty's God's Favourite Customer.
Jonn
Tons of Trouble
Re. Low Double Negative. Just listened to this as it seems to be one of the most rated albums this year. Can’t see the point of the discordance and distortion. Trying too hard to be “different” and ends up sounding self consciously arty like a soundtrack to those shit videos which get shortlisted for the Turner Prize.
Sich
pfm Member
Different strokes I guess. they've been going many years and how they've managed to cross more experimental music (thinking Fennesz, Hazan Cloak etc.) with melody and song writing, I think, is a breath of fresh air and an arresting listen. It sounds to me like half-imagined songs, snippets of melody that you fill in the dots to. Great work and a watershed moment for them as a band.
guey
pfm Member
Kinnell, only three?
Right, sticking a virtual pin in the albums that have got a lot of plays round our gaff:
Confidence Man - Confident Music For Confident People
Jon Hassell - Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume 1)
Nakhane - You Will Not Die
But it could have been any of these:
GoGo Penguin - Humdrum Star
Nils Frahm - All Melody
Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending
Django Django - Marble Skies (and the accompanying Wrongtom dubs)
Gabe Gurnsey - Physical
David Byrne - American Utopia (he definitely won gig of the year though - twice)
The Necks - Body
Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still
DJ Koze - Knock Knock
Poppy Ackroyd - Resolve
Immersion - Sleepless
Erland Cooper - Solan Goose
Haiku Salut - There Is No Elsewhere
Portico Quartet - Untitled (AITAOA#2)
Trevor Jackson - System
John Grant - Love Is Magic
Creepshow - Mr Dynamite
Right, sticking a virtual pin in the albums that have got a lot of plays round our gaff:
Confidence Man - Confident Music For Confident People
Jon Hassell - Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume 1)
Nakhane - You Will Not Die
But it could have been any of these:
GoGo Penguin - Humdrum Star
Nils Frahm - All Melody
Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending
Django Django - Marble Skies (and the accompanying Wrongtom dubs)
Gabe Gurnsey - Physical
David Byrne - American Utopia (he definitely won gig of the year though - twice)
The Necks - Body
Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still
DJ Koze - Knock Knock
Poppy Ackroyd - Resolve
Immersion - Sleepless
Erland Cooper - Solan Goose
Haiku Salut - There Is No Elsewhere
Portico Quartet - Untitled (AITAOA#2)
Trevor Jackson - System
John Grant - Love Is Magic
Creepshow - Mr Dynamite
My faves:
01) Anna St. Louis - If Only There Was a River
02) Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden
03) Anna & Elizabeth - The Invisible Comes to Us
04) The Hanging Stars - Songs for Somewhere Else
05) Sarah Louise - Deeper Woods
06) Martha Scanlan - The River and the Light
07) Jim Ghedi - A Hymn for Ancient Land
08) Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them True
09) Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
10) Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains
01) Anna St. Louis - If Only There Was a River
Debut full-length studio release for the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter from Kansas City. A pastoral song suite, sometimes recreating American Primitivism and John Fahey-style fingerpicking. The record conveys a soothing and peaceful energy, a warm and inviting atmosphere. Stunning debut.
02) Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden
Songwriter from Portland/Oregon with her full-length debut album. The record has a strong acoustic feel to it, even when Haley Heynderickx switches to electric guitar. Warm melodies, some slightly strange, but wonderful guitar tunings, quirky lyrics, and a trembly singing voice. The songs are mostly lovely little sketches. An intricate, tender, delicate and beautiful record, but with a strong sense of humour. "I Need to Start a Garden" is only 30 minutes long, but it leaves a deep impression.
03) Anna & Elizabeth - The Invisible Comes to Us
A record subtly pushing folk music beyond the borders and seeking the outer limits with the electronic sounds, drones, loops and sequencers employed throughout the record, without ever forsaking the raw and earthy quality of the traditional songs. Minimalist arrangements, clearly based on traditional folk music, but the thrilling new spin they put to the songs makes this a bold, powerful and dauntless album.
04) The Hanging Stars - Songs for Somewhere Else
Country pop conveying a wonderful West Coast atmosphere with more than a tinge of psychedelia. Surprisingly, this is not a Californian band, but a group from London/UK. Their 2016 debut album "Over the Silvery Lake" was even better. Phantastic live band, saw them in May this year.
05) Sarah Louise - Deeper Woods
Third full-length release of the North Carolina leftfield folk singer-songwriter. The previous two albums were mainly instrumental guitar exercises, the new album features her singing on each of the tracks: And her strong, emotional and resonant voice is a great complement to her six-string sorcery. Inventive, haunting and daring experimental roots music.
06) Martha Scanlan - The River and the Light
Already the fourth album of this Montana-based Americana/folk singer-songwriter, but the first one that I became aware of. Sparse and intimate, with layers of subtle sounds. The instrumentation is creating poetic soundscapes that are drawing you into the songs.
07) Jim Ghedi - A Hymn for Ancient Land
6- and 12-string guitarist and singer from North Yorkshire with his second album. Largely instrumental pieces of pastoral music that evoke a strong sense of music and place conjuring up vibrant images of landscapes and countryside towns. Maybe the record is a bit oversentimental and saccharine in some places through the inclusion of orchestral elements, but the guitar playing is simply superb, sometimes reminiscent of Michael Chapman or an English John Fahey.
08) Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them True
Their second full-length album, following the wonderful "From Here" from 2015. The delivery of the songs is unadorned, with a sense of anger, fury and urgency, and rooted in their East London working class roots. A traditional folk record and sort of a punk manifesto at the same time.
09) Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
Catchy guitar riffs, infectious power-pop melodies, and just a ton of charm. Not as consistently brilliant as the 2014 predecessor "Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit", but joyously pleasing.
10) Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains
Another fine record from this young Canadian songwriter. Naked and sparse songs, carried by Colter Wall's dark and booming baritone voice.
01) Anna St. Louis - If Only There Was a River
02) Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden
03) Anna & Elizabeth - The Invisible Comes to Us
04) The Hanging Stars - Songs for Somewhere Else
05) Sarah Louise - Deeper Woods
06) Martha Scanlan - The River and the Light
07) Jim Ghedi - A Hymn for Ancient Land
08) Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them True
09) Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
10) Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains
01) Anna St. Louis - If Only There Was a River
Debut full-length studio release for the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter from Kansas City. A pastoral song suite, sometimes recreating American Primitivism and John Fahey-style fingerpicking. The record conveys a soothing and peaceful energy, a warm and inviting atmosphere. Stunning debut.
02) Haley Heynderickx - I Need to Start a Garden
Songwriter from Portland/Oregon with her full-length debut album. The record has a strong acoustic feel to it, even when Haley Heynderickx switches to electric guitar. Warm melodies, some slightly strange, but wonderful guitar tunings, quirky lyrics, and a trembly singing voice. The songs are mostly lovely little sketches. An intricate, tender, delicate and beautiful record, but with a strong sense of humour. "I Need to Start a Garden" is only 30 minutes long, but it leaves a deep impression.
03) Anna & Elizabeth - The Invisible Comes to Us
A record subtly pushing folk music beyond the borders and seeking the outer limits with the electronic sounds, drones, loops and sequencers employed throughout the record, without ever forsaking the raw and earthy quality of the traditional songs. Minimalist arrangements, clearly based on traditional folk music, but the thrilling new spin they put to the songs makes this a bold, powerful and dauntless album.
04) The Hanging Stars - Songs for Somewhere Else
Country pop conveying a wonderful West Coast atmosphere with more than a tinge of psychedelia. Surprisingly, this is not a Californian band, but a group from London/UK. Their 2016 debut album "Over the Silvery Lake" was even better. Phantastic live band, saw them in May this year.
05) Sarah Louise - Deeper Woods
Third full-length release of the North Carolina leftfield folk singer-songwriter. The previous two albums were mainly instrumental guitar exercises, the new album features her singing on each of the tracks: And her strong, emotional and resonant voice is a great complement to her six-string sorcery. Inventive, haunting and daring experimental roots music.
06) Martha Scanlan - The River and the Light
Already the fourth album of this Montana-based Americana/folk singer-songwriter, but the first one that I became aware of. Sparse and intimate, with layers of subtle sounds. The instrumentation is creating poetic soundscapes that are drawing you into the songs.
07) Jim Ghedi - A Hymn for Ancient Land
6- and 12-string guitarist and singer from North Yorkshire with his second album. Largely instrumental pieces of pastoral music that evoke a strong sense of music and place conjuring up vibrant images of landscapes and countryside towns. Maybe the record is a bit oversentimental and saccharine in some places through the inclusion of orchestral elements, but the guitar playing is simply superb, sometimes reminiscent of Michael Chapman or an English John Fahey.
08) Stick in the Wheel - Follow Them True
Their second full-length album, following the wonderful "From Here" from 2015. The delivery of the songs is unadorned, with a sense of anger, fury and urgency, and rooted in their East London working class roots. A traditional folk record and sort of a punk manifesto at the same time.
09) Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
Catchy guitar riffs, infectious power-pop melodies, and just a ton of charm. Not as consistently brilliant as the 2014 predecessor "Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit", but joyously pleasing.
10) Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains
Another fine record from this young Canadian songwriter. Naked and sparse songs, carried by Colter Wall's dark and booming baritone voice.
Dave H.
Revolutionary relativist
FWIW, I made a Spotify playlist of the tracks on Bleep’s 100 best tracks of 2018 compilation. I’m about 2/3 of the way through listening, and a couple of things have stood out enough to make a note of for me, at least. Worth a flick through if you like electronic stuff.
https://open.spotify.com/user/dave***t/playlist/2cKn0d5L6gcTAW0cCQ3pdg?si=kZQ_orf2Sc6JhWZJdWCf5g
Edit - probably worth linking the original list, as it’s got little write ups and so on - https://bleep.com/100-tracks-2018
https://open.spotify.com/user/dave***t/playlist/2cKn0d5L6gcTAW0cCQ3pdg?si=kZQ_orf2Sc6JhWZJdWCf5g
Edit - probably worth linking the original list, as it’s got little write ups and so on - https://bleep.com/100-tracks-2018
mjw
pfm Member
and another 50 compiled by the psaudio people (with some cross over to the OP’s list): https://www.psaudio.com/article/the-50-best-albums-of-2018/
darrenyeats
pfm Member
Just caught up with the Leifur James one, great.
Also agree about Ex:Re and GoGo Penguin.
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