@@@ Travis Scott: SICKO MODE (Epic, 2018) I guess we gotta send out 2018 with Drake showing up like an unwanted erection. This tune is getting a lot of love and I get the variety of sounds and parts but it’s the bounce and not the lyrics (or Drake) that got this track 151 million streams on the GooglePimp. It’s a little heavy on the pitch shifted sci-fi vocals and too heavy on the Drake who I can hope will take 2019 off. I’m not holding my breath on that.
@@@ Mitski: Nobody (Dead Oceans, 2018). I checked this record out when it first came out and was pretty shocked to see it land on almost everybody’s year end list. When she gets to the chorus I’m thinking this is some pretty light piano pop rock. Handclaps, funk guitar riff and just what the fuck why the love? Let me be clear, it’s not garbage but it’s like a pork rind — light, crunchy and not really good for you. I’ve never had but I don’t see how they taste good either. This one gets a big questions mark, c’mon America!
YTD recordings listened to: 701
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 380
Not good music: 270
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
@@@ Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper: Shallow (Interscope, 2018). There’s an easy joke here but I’ve avoided checking out this tune. This is dumb ballad cheese with too much reverb on both of their voices. I guess this is where Lady Gaga’s train was bound the whole time — up on the big screen and slinging arena rock cheese. It has 171 million views on the GooglePimp which begs the question: don’t folks have something better to do with their time than listen to this. I have to go brush my teeth as I have the taste of vomit in my mouth.
@@@ Post Malone: Wow (Republic/UMG, 2018). Impressively groomed sounds on this Christmas hip hop single. It doesn’t have much Santa in the tune unless he’s ho ho hoe-ing it up at the strip club but the video seems to trigger that holiday sploosh. I can’t say the lyrics have any conciousness or any sort of legs that would bring back listeners after more than two weeks but the bass and beats and the simple hook, damn wow.
YTD recordings listened to: 699
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 378
Not good music: 270
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
I’m all for folks showing who they are in their music and I’m all for equal rights, racial equality, economic equality, etc, but at the end of the day I want banging music that I return to. I don’t find that in Dirty Computer.
This track below (by Janelle Monae) meets all the requirements and the fact that this track was somewhat suffocated (read about it here) and Dirty Computer is on the year end lists as the best of this year says everything that’s wrong with the music business and the music PR, and music journalism. Too much about the personal lives and identities of the performers and not enough on the music.
I would rather listen to 1999 and to this tune as a combination of music and politics than the restrained and detached music on Dirty Computer.
@@@ Nils Frahm: All Melody (Erased Tapes, 2018) The #1 record off one of the more varied best of 2018 lists out of Esquire (of all places). The first tune is titled The Whole Universe Wants to be Touched which is quite an eye grabbing title. Let us see what Mr. Frahm has for us. The description of this record was one of combining classical music and pop. Of which I’m suspicious. Oh boy, it’s true with some cathedral organ, some choir action. Right here I want to hear Mother Mary cut a giant pussyfart! To keep shit fresh. Fuck that is so inapprops. This is gonna take its time and I’m not sure I’m up for giving said time. The third tune, A Place, brings in the electronic action and I’m more up for this combo platter. I’m finding this a tedious pace. The sounds are meticulous, they’re arranged well but it’s not holding my interest. It might hold yours.
@@@ Django Django: Marble Skies (Ribbon Music, 2018) Off the same best of list from Esquire. This is proudly marketed as straddling every genre they can reach which is usually a red flag for my ears. This first tune is a luxurious ’80 anchored synth/guitar thing with a lot of energy and maybe less purpose. Or porpoise whichever way you go. The second tune has a wooden dancehall beat and too many vocals. I fear this release is not going to work for me. This isn’t working for me. It’s too soft and nowhere for my taste.
@@@ First Aid Kit: Ruins (Columbia, 2018) These days an album of Swedish farts would go gold. Here we have two Swedish singers singing pop in various sonic settings. This first tune is kinda alt country sad. Okay, it looks like this is not pop, they’ve been rocking country/folk on the GooglePimp. Let’s check more but my first impression is that there are dozens of American outfits that do this schtick much better. I correct that, this is out there for non-country fans to hear pop singers do country songs. This is like Abba having a lesbian love baby with Emmylou Harris. It’s not awful, it’s pretty light.
YTD recordings listened to: 697
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 377
Not good music: 269
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
@@@ Lonnie Holley: MITH (Jagjaguwar, 2018) I’m intrigued as to how a black cat at this age got on a hipster imprint like Jagjiggedjaguwarnicious. He’s got a strange and slightly nasal voice that I dig and this first tune puts that into a chill keyboard centric arrangement. He’s taking the non-confrontational route to putting songs with titles like ‘I Snuck off a Slave Ship’ and ‘I Woke Up in a Fucked Up America’ out into the universe. This is the most startling lounge singer piano record I’ve heard in a long ass time. I appreciate his boldness and the sounds he puts with his lyrics are extremely unusual. My only criticism is that the tunes are all kinda long and rambly so I find it detracts a bit from what I think he’s trying to do. However, I give props to the formula and it’s an extremely creative set of decisions he made here.
@@@ U.S. Girls: In a Poem Unlimited (4AD, 2018) Released in February and brought back for U.S. Today’s best of 2018 list. I have not heard anything on 4AD that I’ve loved since the Pixies! This first tune is an indie funk kinda thing — slinky funk rock beat, some wah wah guitar, and a sexiness that is attempted but not convincing. At least to me. The second tune, Rage of Plastics, is a similar but with a different anchoring beat. I’m feeling like this is an attempt to turn the ABBA sound into an indie effort with concious lyrics. I’m not super into it but I get that we all have different tastes.
YTD recordings listened to: 694
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 375
Not good music: 268
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
@@@ Idles: Joy as an act of resistance (Partisan, 2018) #6 on the Guardian’s best of 2018 list. I don’t know what I expected but this is a rock/Brit rock/punk type of mash. I do like the jagged ridiculousness of the second tune ‘Never Trust a Man with a Perm’. The singer is full of accent and pugnacity. I guess being American stuck with this ass nugget Trump and seeing the word ‘resistance’ I was expecting something political. This is mostly a bar fight punk blaster which I’m into. I’m surprised it made it to the top ten at the Guardian for sure.
@@@ The 1975: Love It If We Made It (Polydor/Interscope, 2018) I got to this tune via an awful ass year end list. I think I’ve heard these guys before and wondered what the fuss is about. The production is flawless, a fly on this car is not to be tolerated. I’m not sure what you call this music. It sounds like a band, but it’s not rock and it’s sure as fuck cheesy. The sound of it is awful to my ears, it’s pure shopping mall arena business. The chorus is particularly notable for the mess of it. It’s got a synth bass, a guitar plink, some synth splashes, big vocal splanks, a guitar wail, and some drum fills. Talk about a buffet!!! Yet I hate it.
YTD recordings listened to: 692
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 374
Not good music: 267
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
@@@ Tropical Fuck Storm: A Laughing Death in Meatspace (Joyful Noise, 2018). It’s a great name and I got to this via the Slate best of 2018 list which hasn’t turned up any gems thus far. My first impression is that this first tune ‘You Let My Tyres Down’ is an update ’70s era classic rock tune. I like it, it’s just funny to hear. The second tune is more adventurous blending some noisy blasts with staccato guitar and oddly spaced out doubletracked vocals. I can tell you it’s been so long since I’ve heard a halfway interesting rock record I’m almost in shock. I’m going to swing back on this record.
@@@ Tracy Thorn: Record (Merge, 2018). Also off the Slate best of 2018. I’m not usually psyced about Merge releases and I notice they also put the ’18 Superchunk record up on their list so maybe they’re bffs or some such shit. It’s straight out of the previous sloppy rock to the ’80s influenced straight ass synth rock. This is most definitely for vanilla ice cream eaters — no funk, straight than Trump’s dick at a Miss America contest. I kid, I kid, I bet that shit is hooked like a banana. I don’t really like this kind of music so Imma tip without sending bad vibes out there. Everybody likes what they like even if I don’t like it.
@@@ Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty (Sunnyside, 2018) I’m a huge Wadada Leo Smith fan, he’s a badass trumpeter who does real ass music. This is blurbed as a power trio and usually when jazz cats go that way I think it’s gonna be soft (cuz it usually is) but this first tune is thick and dubby and surprisingly muscular. The artists and the label only give listeners 2 tracks to stream for free which I think is a tad cheap but they’re free to do as they wish. Ah, I found it up on the Apple Music. I’m also a fucking idiot because Wadada Leo Smith is not on this record, it’s a power trio with a guitar player. #dumbass. Any seasoned jazz listener would compare this to Sonny Sharrock’s Ask the Ages which does sport a horn player and is not in the trio format. I’m really feeling the rhythm section here, it’s really pleasurable listening. I like the guitar player just a tiny bit less but I’m feeling him more in the second tune. I’m going to have to swing back on this as I consistently love the rhythm section and am back and forth over the guitar player.
YTD recordings listened to: 690
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 373
Not good music: 266
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman
@@@ Sandro Perri: In Another Life (Constellation, 2018). Super friendly indie electronic off Slate’s best records of the year. The title track is synth based tune and I don’t love the singer who I think is Perri. Some of the electronic elements in this second tune are very nice. I think I prefer the instrumental ambient electronic. I would compare this to Paul Simon for millenials.
@@@ Robyn: Honey (Interscope, 2018). I’ve seen this record on a bunch of year end lists and while I wouldn’t say I’m disturbed by this I do feel this Swedish pop invasion has turned into something akin to an infection. I think her voice is too girl-ish sounding for my taste and I would rather listen to a big black diva singer like Mary J. Blige. There is also a distinct lack of funk going on here. If this had some swing to it I would be better able to get with the lyrics which I find tiresome.
@@@ Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile (Verve, 2018). I’m hesitant to check out a British jazz record mentioned on Slate that is compared to Sun Ra. They have a nice tuba player on this track and they are doing a sort of drum ensemble but I’m not finding the straight up other worldly weirdness of Sun Ra going on here. The second tune moves into a reggae jazz area. I like the energy and the playing here but I don’t find a record I would listen to over and over like I would wear out Alice Coltrane’s Ptah the El Daoud. If you’re gonna bring up Sun Ra in the marketing I’m gonna bring up Alice Coltrane.
YTD recordings listened to: 687
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 373
Not good music: 266
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac
A perfectly crafted combination of old school roots reggae flavors with a great band and a singer I like a whole bunch. The band is tight and relaxed simultaneously with space for organ solos, guitar business, etc.
2. Guy One: #1 Best (Philophon, 2018)
A unique large ensemble African record from Ghana that sports elements of Afrobeat this record smokes from beginning to end. Great playing, great singing and high energy. This is about as good as music gets. I have spun the fuck out of this record all year.
3. Melissa Laveaux: Radyo Swivel EP (No Format, 2018)
It must suck to be a Williamsburg indie hipster and see how a Haitian Canadian woman who lives in Paris does your hipster indie songwriter thing better than you could dream of.
4. Magrudergrind: II (Relapse, 2016)
All the players in the band are above average and they are tighter than a welldigger’s ass in the middle of the winter but it’s the drummer who takes the gold star. He thrashes, he sprays, he grooves, he drives the bus.
5. Irreversible Entanglements: Irreversible Entanglements (International Anthem, 2017)
This free jazz trio plays really well but the woman on the microphone doing the spoken word part is the star here and they burn all the way through. She coughs up more than a few cutting lines, especially in the first piece. Check it out.
6. Los Texmaniacs: Cruzando Borders (Smithsonian Folkways, 2018)
This is a beautiful and super musical mariachi record regardless of the politics involved here. Needless to say Trump is a fucking asshole and I’m a fan of Mexican culture. I’m particularly impressed with the accordion player but I’m super into accordion. Everybody in this band plays and sings at a super high level.
7. The Ballantynes: Liquor Store Gun Store Pawn Shop Church (La Ti Da, 2013)
If you took the Blues Brothers and put ’em in flannel shirts and gave them a lot of any old school white trash beer and removed the horn section and the frat boy bullshit you would have something very close to this record. It’s a guitar driven soul/rock record with a lot of guitars, a male and a female singer that both do good work with a slap-tastic ramped up band.
8. American Lips: Kiss the Void (Ancient Fashion, 2017)
It’s not easy to make a mainstream hooky rock record and have it sound fresh. These guys do a good job of recreating an early ’80s half punk/No Wave kind of thing but with a pop sensibility and plenty of hooks.
9. 700 Bliss: Spa 700 (Don Giovanni, 2018)
Organic electronic production and a pleasantly confrontational African American female MC/singer/spoken word artist headline this EP. A friend of mine says this has a retro electro feel but I’m not schooled enough in old school electro to know.
10. Tim Hecker: Konoyo (Kranky, 2018)
Tim Hecker’s new record, Konoyo, is dark. And it’s also unsettling. It’s also extremely well put together and beautiful. It is an ambient music record without drums or over rhythms with an emphasis on metallic sounds and bell like sounds
11. Shad: A Short Story About War (Secret City, 2018)
The lyrics on this record outperform — smart, conceptual, well thought out. It’s called a concept record but I think that’s bogus. Just because an MC is intelligent enough to connect warmongering with capitalism does not a concept album make. It’s called thinking motherfuckers.
The arrangements here are really good with no particular bent except maybe a retro thread — there are some jazzy sounds and mellow ones and there are more driving and urgent arrangements (for example the tune clipped below).
12. Vaudou Game: Otodi (Hot Casa, 2018) A tour de force of all funk genres with an absolutely ripping drummer and fantastic band energy. It’s hard to believe humans can be this funky.
13. Open Mike Eagle: Brick Body Kids Still Daydream (Mello Music, 2017)
I got to this hip hop record at the very beginning of this year but have struggled as to whether to put it on the ’17 or ’18 list so I’m going to put it on both as it’s that good. Incredibly well done lyrics and ear catching (but not poppy per se) arrangements take listeners to a whole ‘nother place. I can’t begin to praise the way this record is put together and executed, it’s hip hop and beyond hip hop at the same time.
14. Paul de Jong: You Fucken Sucker (Temporary Residence, 2018) In an era of shiny, happy people taking our civilization right over the cliff de Jong mixes the personal and implies the political with a tune like You Fucken Sucker. In addition to that nugget of true indie misery the ambient pieces towards the back of the record could be portraits of the opioid mind or the economically downtrodden or the millions of disconnected folks out there. Life is messy as fuck but rarely does that mess make it onto wax and the interwebz. DISCLAIMER: I worked on this record and I work with this musician.
15. Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz: Sonidos desde el camp para los animales y la vida salvaje (Self-released, 2018)
What makes a great free jazz hit? It’s a slippery question. This self-released sax/drums set ticks all the boxes for me. A little Ayler, a little Mu Sessions and just a freshness to the playing or a desire to play what other people might expect.
16. Tal National: Tantabara (Tal National/Fat Cat, 2018) I don’t usually go for the super stuffed songs but the melodic complexity of the guitarists combined with the drummer and the active singers makes for a glorious hot African mess. When they lean into the central grooves of the tunes it is ecstatic in nature.
17. Gouge Away: Burnt Sugar (Deathwish Inc, 2018) I have a soft spot for the angry female punk singers. Though these guys get into more than straight ahead power chord punk bashing they sport a classic up in your grille attitude. I don’t idolize the gent but it has that ragged Nirvana Bleach era energy and the drummer here kills it. They all kill it.
18. Babylon Trio: Habibi (Rebel Up, 2018)
Iraqi refugee musicians tear it up with Arabic street music flavored with euro club flourishes and some of the cheesiest and partyistic synth patches in years. The energy and the messiness of it is so refreshing. It’s ‘I don’t give a fuck’ messiness and not ‘I can’t play straight’ messiness.
@@@ Mammoth Grinder: Cosmic Crypt (Relapse, 2018) I haven’t heard a ton of metal this year that made me jump up and down but I snagged a few choices off a year end list at the AV club and this one led by the drummer for Power Trip looks engaging. It’s got a nice friendly mosh flavor to it. Just your meat and potatoes smackdown. It doesn’t have the same energy as Power Trip’s 2017 release which I really liked but it’s solid. It’s got a couple of the dudes from Iron Reagan whose name I like but about whom I know little.
@@@ Primal Rite: Dirge of Escapism (Revelation, 2018) This recording has a bit of a different feel to it than the Mammoth Grinder one above. That band name is very accurately chosen and this first tune is a bit math-y with a nice muscular stomp and some punk flavorings. The singer’s voice is fucked with and he sounds like he’s inside a big concrete tube and barely understandable. By the third tune Antivenom the water is at a full boil and the thrashing and grinding about is quite intense. I’m not feeling like this is best of 2018 for my list but it’s got a lot going for it.
@@@ Sumac: Love in Shadow (Thrill Jockey, 2018) Marketed as a largely improvised metal record there are four long ass pieces three of which clock in at over 15 minutes. I’m listening to the second tune right now and it is a noisy and energetic guitar record without being a full metal meltdown kinda record. The focus here is on playing as one would expect with 15 minute pieces. I like how it’s not a sloppy record by any means but it’s looser than most metal records. It is a big metal jam record. I like the sound of it and I will circle back on it when I have closer to 1 hour and 6 minutes.
YTD recordings listened to: 684
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 371
Not good music: 265
Best: 16
Honorable Mentions: 8
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac
Deep In the Music 