Top 10 albums mid year
By Nick Beach
I’ve been ranking albums mid year and at year’s end for four years now and I’ve been writing on and off for about five years now and this had to be one of the toughest pieces I’ve ever written. 2018 has been a hell of a year for music and on top of that I like to be timely with things. I waited until mid July to publish this because I struggled so much to come up with my 10 favorite albums so far this year and to properly order them. Hey I tried here it is.
1.ye - Kanye West: I was puzzled even with the number one spot but yeah it goes to Kanye. I may be in the minority on the Internet with my opinion that Kanye’s run of short GOOD Music albums spanning over May and June was a good decision. ye has multiple songs I could legitimately see myself returning to in 10 years. No Mistakes and Ghost Town are generational songs that have still given me chills on every listen. I also think this minor run of people that are still hanging on to Kanye’s mainstream popularity playing Yikes and All Mine on the radio and in clubs is extremely fun because it makes me feel like a kid and Kanye’s talent hasn’t changed despite his public perception.
2.My Dear Melancholy - The Weeknd: Sticking with the short album route I think Abel produced one of the best albums of the year front to back. Try Me, Wasted Times and I was Never There seems to be the three song stretch I’ve returned to most this year. A stellar live performance also helped me make this decision but in terms of blending high level singing with high level production not much has matched My Dear Melancholy so far this year.
3.Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts: I think the shorter album typically has a much higher probability of every song being good not having as many potential skips on a full listen and Kids See Ghosts is a perfect example of that. Reborn has grown on me bigtime with the way Cudi changes his voice on that final chorus. Kanye’s verse on Cudi Montage is also my favorite verse of the year and it rivals Ghost Town for the song that induces the most emotion for me. Feel the Love is also so much fun and the screaming will make this an awesome pump up track for years to come.
4.Wide Awake! - Parquet Courts: Parquet Courts is a rock band from Denton, Texas residing in New York making some of the most creative music out today. I found the record from a positive Fantano review and wasn’t a huge fan after my first listen. After giving it another listen it really started to grow on me as some of the instrumental pallets and punk rock singing are so catchy and hard to stay away from. I see Parquet Courts as a band I’ll be listening to for years to come and they’ve really helped me get me rock fix in thus far in 2018.
5.Knock Knock - DJ Koze - Hats off to Noah Simpson for recommending this album to me as a good study album. Instead I used it as a packing album while moving out of my apartment when my school year was over and it’s been in rotation ever since. This is some of the most relaxed yet entertaining electronic music I’ve heard in a long time. Pick Up, Muddy Funster and Bonfire are definite highlights for me. It’s a long album you’ll never get sick of due to how versatile it is. It can be played in just about any atmosphere and brighten the mood on a dime.
6.Harder Than Ever - Lil Baby: I was a little late to the game with Baby as I started listening shortly before this record from the Atlanta emcee was released. He has now vaulted to hip hop stardom off his hit single Yes Indeed but Harder Than Ever has so much more than that. Cash, Life Goes On and First Class have some of the most catchy lyrics of the year and Southside is a certified banger from trap music’s best producer. The album is full of trap heat and Baby brings back the feeling of being an early Young Thug and Future fan as they began to gain far more recognition from the hip hop community a few years back.
7.Daytona - Pusha T: Now that the tears dry and the pain takes over, let’s talk that payola. This opening line to Push’s Santeria is a laid over my favorite beat in the run of Kanye produced albums for the GOOD Music camp. Daytona is an extremely memorable album full of hard production and gritty street rap from the longest running trapper of the year. The beat and vocal change in the middle of If You Know Your Know is so hard and the fact the song Infrared has become a squad wide joke and still manages to be a good song is pretty impressive.
8.Freddie - Freddie Gibbs: This is an album that could potentially vault higher on the year end list with more listens but the quality is surely there. The song Triple Threat is classic Gibbs delivering hard bars over a banger beat. The album is littered with classic Freddie Gibbs which I think was a huge hope for his fans after his last release You Only Live 2wice was a bit underwhelming.
9.Activated - Tee Grizzley: I initially expected to be higher on my list but with time I’ve realized it’s not as easy to get through the whole album as it is to my favorite tracks on it. Tee is still one of the best out at going from relentless rap to emotional singing and making it sound good with the snap of a finger but overall the project isn’t as good as its highlights. Jetskii Girzzley, Bag, Too Lit and Robbin are all stellar tracks however and remain firmly in rotation.
10.Culture II - Migos: I had to do it. No I know the album isn’t that great overall but it still has some of my favorite hip hop tracks this year that I will never stop going back to. This album has created countless jokes amongst my friends and me and has produced I couldn’t even tell you how many instagram captions and comments once our excitement for Huncho Jack died down. Supastars, CC, Too Much Jewelry, Open It Up and Movin’ Too Fast are amazing tracks from the Migos and you can’t discount their talent and ability to make fun hip hop despite their poor decision to make a 105 minute album with a ton of fluff.
